Quote for the Day

Bill Clinton in 2004:
" Now, one of Clinton's laws of politics is this. If one candidate is trying to scare you and the other one is try get you to think, if one candidate is appealing to your fears and the other one is appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."

I think he secretly wants Obama to win and is sabotaging his wife's run at the Presidency. He probably told her to use that stupid phone ringing at 3am ad (below) because he knew it would backfire.

Good Michelle Obama Story

I actually think Newsweek does a pretty good unbiased reporting job.

CAMPAIGN 2008
Barack’s Rock
She's the one who keeps him real, the one who makes sure running for leader of the free world doesn't go to his head. Michelle's story.

A Particular Mission: Michelle is not part of discussions on policy and ad buys; her role is to keep the candidate's feet on the ground
Newsweek Feb 25, 2008 Issue

Michelle Obama was never much interested in calling attention to herself. As an undergrad at Princeton in the 1980s, she was interested in social change, but didn't run for student government. Instead, she spent her free time running a literacy program for kids from the local neighborhoods. At Harvard Law, she took part in demonstrations demanding more minority students and professors. Yet unlike another more prominent Harvard Law student who would later take up the cause, she was not one to hold forth with high-flown oratory about the need for diversity. "When Barak Obama spoke, people got quiet and listened," recalls Prof. Randall Kennedy. "Michelle had a more modest, quieter, lower profile." Barack won election as president of the Law Review. Michelle put her energy into a less glamorous pursuit: recruiting black undergrads to Harvard Law from other schools. For her, politics wasn't so much about being inspirational as it was being practical—about getting something specific done, says Charles Ogletree, one of her professors. "She was not trying to get ahead."

She no longer has the luxury of keeping a low profile. Now a very public figure, Michelle has accepted the role of aspiring First Lady and the sometimes uncomfortable scrutiny that comes with it. On the campaign trail, she is sometimes slated as the opening act, introducing Barack to the audience. Direct and plain-spoken, with an edgy sense of humor uncommon in a political spouse, she complements her husband's more grandiose style. She can be tough, and even a little steely, an attitude that stems, at least in part, from wanting to live up to the high expectations her father set for her. She wants to change the world, but she also wants to win this thing now that they're so deeply invested. If his loftiness can set him apart from the crowd, her bluntness draws them in. Standing up before large audiences wasn't easy at first. "I've never participated at this level in any of his campaigns," she told NEWSWEEK last week. "I have usually chosen to just appear when necessary."

From the beginning of the campaign, Michelle made it clear to her husband that she would give the effort her all ("We need to be in there now, while we're still fresh and open and fearless and bold," she told Vanity Fair last December), but not at the expense of family life. At two meetings with the candidate and his political aides shortly before he announced his intention to run, she grilled them about particulars, practical concerns that had nothing to do with his sweeping themes of "hope" and "change." What demands would the campaign place on their lives? Where would the money come from? Could they really take on the Clinton machine and win, or was this just an extended ego trip? "She didn't want Barack to launch some kind of empty effort here," says senior strategist David Axelrod.

Michelle also raised concerns about her husband's safety. It was one of the first questions her own family had asked her when she first aired the possibility of running. He would soon be assigned Secret Service protection very early in the campaign, in response to the huge crowds he was drawing and threatening e-mails. Michelle, who now has a security team of her own, does not like to discuss the possibility of Barack's getting hurt. "We are grateful the Secret Service is a part of it," she told NEWSWEEK last summer. "I'm probably more grateful than Barack, who loves to live a very normal life. This is the first sign that our lives aren't normal."

At the meetings, Axelrod and the other aides addressed each of Michelle's questions. "Suffusing these discussions was, if we did it, she and he both wanted to make sure it was consistent with who he is and what he thinks, and wouldn't distort that," says Axelrod. She has expressed fears that the nastiness of presidential politics could wind up sucking the idealism out of her husband, leaving him just another soulless, cynical Washington pol. "Michelle has always been in the camp of, 'Let's not forget what we're fighting for'," Axelrod says. After the meetings, Michelle gave Barack her blessing.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/112849

Texas - Still Bush Country

A tee-shirt worn by a Baylor student in the back of a Huckabee rally:

"Loved By Few

Feared By Many

Respected By All

W"

For Hamilton

Since I know you like the Bomb Iran song

Hillary - Vote for me or Die

Seriously.....I fully expect that if Obama is the nominee ads like this will be run against him by McCain. That is fine to me since you are saying a war veteran and long standing member of the armed services committee 'could' keep you safer, but Hillary. Is she turning into a Republican?



By the way - Since she is now trailing in Texas she is thinking about suing the Texas Democratic Party over their caucus set up Go Away Hillary . The set up does suck and is confusing but to come out a few days before they are set to caucus with the threat of a lawsuit, is just asinine. They tried the same thing in Nevada. Seriously, "If you don't vote for me I am going to take my ball and go home". Grow up!

Can McCain be President?

I have no doubt that McCain should and will be eligible to become President, but it is interesting that we have never seen this argued. I think another interesting thing to watch is who will actually bring this to a court against McCain. I have no doubt it will be some out of left field filing but it will be interesting to see if it is a disgruntled ultraconservative or liberal group that tries to take this to the courts.

Here is an excerpt from the NY Times article by Carl Hulse:

“There are powerful arguments that Senator McCain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,” said Sarah H. Duggin, an associate professor of law at Catholic University who has studied the issue extensively. “It is not a slam-dunk situation.”

Mr. McCain was born on a military installation in the Canal Zone, where his mother and father, a Navy officer, were stationed. His campaign advisers say they are comfortable that Mr. McCain meets the requirement and note that the question was researched for his first presidential bid in 1999 and reviewed again this time around.

But given mounting interest, the campaign recently asked Theodore B. Olson, a former solicitor general now advising Mr. McCain, to prepare a detailed legal analysis. “I don’t have much doubt about it,” said Mr. Olson, who added, though, that he still needed to finish his research.

I believe that this law was a big reason I failed to live up to my own personal expectations. When, as a young boy, I learned that being born in Switzerland meant I could never be President, I realized all those people that said, "You can be anything you want to be," were full of sh!t. It was all downhill after that.

MLK and Other Fun Drawings by my 6-Year Old

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

I believe that quote is an important one to include here today because I find that quotes can make you sound more fancy and intelligent. They're a great way to align yourself with someone else's brilliance, and all you have to do is copy and paste. It's a sweet little scam, really.

I thought we could help celebrate it by remembering not only Dr. King's work, but my son's own reflections on race in this very special drawing from last month...

If you're having any trouble reading it, it says

I like my Dad.
My Dad is white.

I pretty much had the same reaction as his teacher.
I haven't had time to do an in-depth interview with him, but we did discuss it briefly and I'm happy and relieved to report the two sentences are not dependent on each other.

He wrote sentence 1: Because I'm "nice".

He wrote sentence 2: Because I'm "mostly white, But when he colors me a little apricot."

He then confirmed that these were completely separate thoughts, and that he does not like me BECAUSE I'm mostly white or even a little apricot.

But then as far as the drawing goes, he says it's not even of me, it's of him looking at a boat. Which is bullshit, given that I was the star of both sentences.

It's fine, at least I have my new hip-hop name: Li'l Apricot.

On to drawing 2...

Well I don't know really what else to say. Obviously his teacher took the easy road out. If I've ever seen a drawing that deserved a WOW --this is it !!

Kimmel vs. Damon

If you have not seen the videos (they are a bit long) between Jimmy Kimmel's girlfriend Sarah Silverman - I'm F**king Matt Damon - and then the most recent one from Kimmel back to Silverman - I'm F**king Ben Affleck - worth a good laugh.

I'm F**king Matt Damon Video
I'm F**king Ben Affleck

...I think Jimmy Kimmel wins on star power alone.

SNL - Texas Debate Spoof -- Obama v. Clinton

If you didn't catch Saturday Night Live this weekend, a pretty funny upcoming Texas debate spoof. I like Hillary's "...actually it was my lifelong dream to lose Maryland to Sen. Obama."

The Audacity of Hopelessness

Great article - The Hillary Campaign

Shame on You HRC

I saw this press conference from HRC today regarding some campaign fliers the Obama campaign is using in Ohio and it is the typical Clinton attack. I feel like this is a re-run of 1992-2000 and I hope Democrats are smart enough to see through the smoke screen the Clintons create when they are backed into a corner. It was very easy to blame the media for a "vast Right-wing conspiracy" whenever she and Bill were questioned about their policies or actions, but I didn't think she could use the same defense within her own party. It is an arrogance that is incomprehensible to me and I am constantly baffled by those that still believe her.

She attacks Obama for disagreeing with her platform of universal health care. They have a fundamental difference in what they believe is the right way to handle health care and Obama has sent out fliers outlining the differences and Clinton thinks this is below the belt. You're right Hillary how dare someone talk about an issue and why they disagree with you. How divisive of Obama to disagree with the great and powerful Clinton on policy. It is truly a low blow to put that disagreement into a logical format and share it with the public. She cannot defend her policy so she attacks the messenger.

She compares Obama disagreeing with universal health care to Karl Rove and the Bush campaigns of 2000 and 2004. I don't see the correlation and frankly it is the desperate act of a desperate campaign. The part that scares me is that she does this 3 days before the vote so that people will hear over and over again her comparing Obama and Rove, it has worked for the Clintons in the past to make these broad accusations that are baseless but make a great sound bite. They switch the issue from a focus on issues to a focus on why they are persecuted to garner a sympathy vote. Here's hoping the voters in Texas and Ohio are as tired of this tactic as I am.

UPDATE: Obama Responds - The Response

Discussion Topic #1 - Foreign Travel/Immigration

We haven't had a real good discussion in while so I am going start a few.

There was some crazy stat out there that said only around 5% (I think) of US citizens have a passport. Here are my questions
1. Where have you traveled in the world and has this made a difference in how you look at the world? I have been to Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica twice, Scotland, Ireland, and New Zealand. I can honestly say that going to other countries and talking with the locals really has broaden my mind to how the world as a whole functions. That how our policies really do effect the entire world - and it does matter. Everyone I have met from the hotel owners in Costa Rica to our Irish B&B owner in Derry to teh kiwis in New Zealand all really do say that the image of the US has taken a huge hit over the past 7 years. This may not matter to some people, but it does matter to me.

2. Immigration - This could be a very lengthy discussion, but in as short a synopsis as you can give, where do you stand? My feeling is that there are currently (who knows really) around 15 million illegals in the US now. Because of 25+ years of failures these people have made it to the US and some have been working for 10,15,20 years. I say you accept that they have 'made it', ask them to come forward without the risk of being deported, have them pay a fine and back taxes if they need to and make them US citizens. I really don't know what other realistic option we have. There is no way to gather them all up and deport them - we can't pay for our police forces as is and the national guard is in Iraq. We can't put them all in jail. What do we do?

You Can't Manufacture Grass Roots Charisma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FvyGydc8no

This little video is titled Hillary4U&Me
Here is the counter 'the people are behind us' video from Hillary's camp.

They actually put this out. This is now the laughing stock of online
campaign videos. --Thank God America can see through this manufactured candidate.

Huckabee Won't Go Silently Into the Night

Pretty tough talk towards the GOP

Top Power Forward Visits ASU

This kid - Renardo Sidney - visited ASU on Saturday. Even though we lost the game it sounds like it was a good visit and to see us high on his list is a good sign.

Arizona last call

Bill Simmons wrote about last call at the Super Bowl in his most recent mail bag article. Simmons Article

Here is his quote and my response:

Here was my biggest issue: Last call in Arizona is 1:45 a.m., with bars "closing" for good at 2 a.m. and kicking people out a few minutes later. When you're bidding God knows how much money for a Super Bowl, couldn't you bend the rules and extend last call to 4 or 5 a.m. for four days? Isn't the host city trying to show everyone a good time? What's fun about turning in at 2 a.m., especially when it takes 25-30 minutes to go from Point A to Point B? Assuming you have a 7:30 p.m. dinner, and you're heading out to parties starting at 9:30-10, that's not a lot of time to "party," right? If Barack Obama is reading this, I hope he adds the following idea to his increasingly spectacular presidential campaign: Every Super Bowl city is required to extend last call to at least 4 a.m. YES, WE CAN!

I went to college at ASU and during the early 90's and last call was 12:45 with a 1 am closing. I believe it was a factor in ASU being one of the best party schools year in year out. We were forced to skip dinner altogether consume huge amounts of beer between 6-12 pm and then find a liquor store and a location to continue festivities.

I also think skipping one meal a day accounts for all the amazing bodies you see anywhere near campus. When food becomes more important than drink it is time to graduate and get a real job (most likely outside the state). The 2 am concession was added for the first Super Bowl held in AZ in 1996 and ASU hasn't been named #1 party school since. It allowed the less committed partiers to be able to survive and get their dinners, destroyin the weeding out process of drinking on an empty stomach with only a few happy hour wings to help absorb the alcohol.

2 am, better for corporate honchos and middle aged sportswriters, bad for an American institution and a history of drunkenness.

First of the 2008 Political Bumber Stickers

ASU Recruits Reaction to Stoops' Comments

I love that these kids already hate the UofA. By the way, the one recruit has a 1490 SAT...pretty impressive. Stoops Digging a Deeper Hole

Great Book -- Check it out

I just read this book on the advice of last week's Newsweek. It was great however a little disturbing. Surprising what a tangled web of farm subsidies, food surplus, and corporate research and development contribute to what we now eat.

What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire, how we answer it today, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, may well determine our very survival as a species. Should we eat a fast-food hamburger? Something organic? Or perhaps something we hunt, gather, or grow ourselves? The omnivore’s dilemma has returned with a vengeance, as the cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet confronts us with a bewildering and treacherous food landscape. What’s at stake in our eating choices is not only our own and our children’s health, but the health of the environment that sustains life on earth.

In this groundbreaking book, one of America’s most fascinating, original, and elegant writers turns his own omnivorous mind to the seemingly straightforward question of what we should have for dinner.

To find out, Pollan follows each of the food chains that sustain us—industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves—from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating. His absorbing narrative takes us from Iowa cornfields to food-science laboratories, from feedlots and fast-food restaurants to organic farms and hunting grounds, always emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the handful of plant and animal species we depend on. Each time Pollan sits down to a meal, he deploys his unique blend of personal and investigative journalism to trace the origins of everything consumed, revealing what we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods and flavors reflects our evolutionary inheritance.

The surprising answers Pollan offers to the simple question posed by this book have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the way we think about the politics and pleasure of eating. For anyone who reads it, dinner will never again look, or taste, quite the same.

http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php

The Week in Sports

A small recap:

Some high school senior makes up a story that he was being recruited by Cal and Oregon - including a press conference - classic. NV Senior's Web of Lies
ASU Sweeps Nogales Tech in basketball - No Lute, No Wins
UofA's Stoops stick his foot in his mouth...again - ASU is like a JC
The Suns trade Marion for Shaq - strange. Shaq to AZ
Clemens is off to Congress - Does anyone care? - Clemens vs. Waxman
Soccer Power Ranking. For those who care - SI Power Rankings

The McCain - Yes We Can - Parody

Some of you may have seen all these stars get together to make a video collage of Obama's speeches, etc. Well they just came out with a parody of that video - with the words of McCain being the focus.

Jan 15, 2008
Rare photo of ugly female student shocks Arizona St. community

TEMPE, AZ - Arizona State University officials were scrambling on Tuesday to determine how an unattractive female student was able to be photographed at a recent basketball game - a photo which was then published by CNN/SI and has since rocked the school to its core.

"Arizona State University has a reputation that we need to uphold at all costs," said school President Dr. Michael Crow. "We've forged a singular image in the academic world - that of a place teeming with some of the hottest pieces of co-ed ass imaginable. When you think of Arizona State, you think of one thing only - some nubile 19 year-old with a tan, lithe body, with a snug T-shirt barely covering her supple yet firm breasts. We've worked too hard for to long at building this image to let some...well, let's just say Washington State-caliber student...ruin it for all of us."

The photo in question appeared in a CNN/SI online photo gallery called http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0801/campus.superfans.jan15/content.1.html?eref=google_phpm Crow promised an immediate investigation into the situation, which he characterized as "extremely complex.""First off, we need to find out how our PR and marketing team could let this happen," Crow said. "Our entire team of publicists is trained to spot any media camera from up to 200 yards away and immediately direct them towards the most attractive female students. Obviously, something went wrong there. And clearly, we'll have to review our security procedures at home game."

Starting in 1987, Arizona State has offered students who do not meet certain height, weight, cup size and "overall attractiveness" requirements special seating in a section called "The Cow Palace", located in a dark, hidden corner of the stadium or arena. In addition, all "Cow Palace" members are encouraged to wear complimentary masks depicting the current head coach of the sports team playing as a way to "encourage excitement and spirit among our genetically-challenged students."

"Clearly, this person snuck into the general student seating," Crow said. "Whether security thought she was some sort of malted ice cream salesperson, or if she intimidated them through the threat of bulk and force, it's hard to say."Crow said the University would institute an immediate emergency plan aimed at raising its Overall Hotness Index (OHI) level back to pre-incident levels. Measures include: an immediate sale on baby doll and cut-off T-shirts at the student bookstore; installation of free tanning booths and beauty salons outside of every on-campus building; contacting Playboy about a "Girls of Arizona State" spread as quickly as possible; and hiring of 10-12 additional Certified Bikini Inspectors to act as a last line of defense.

(Note: There was originally a picture of a female ASU student who, in my opinion, was not up to the usual hotness levels of most Sun Devil coeds (as evidenced below), at the beginning of this post. To placate a handful of Chubby Chasers who got all offended about it avoid hurting anyone's feelings, I took that photo down. Although if you go to the original CNN/SI photo section, I bet you can guess who it is...)

The Obama Supporters

I can honestly say I was very surprised and impressed by this on the street interview. My assumption is that this depth of knowledge is rare and his dad being a pediatrician most likely gives him more of a healthcare background, but you can tell the guy doing the interview is pretty impressed by the end.

Candidates Net Worth

This is always interesting to look at as people pander to middle america.
How Much Are They Worth

Pic of the Day

This one never gets old

VPs?

OK - So we are coming down to the final few candidates. I think McCain has locked up the GOP race. Although Obama and Hillary are still in a heated battle let's speculate VPs....why not.

McCain - Huckabee, Lindsey Graham (Sen. South Car.), Giuliani, Charlie Christ (FL Gov.), Sam Brownback (Sen. KS). My choice is Graham. He is a well respected Senator and is from the South, which as we saw on Tuesday night is a bad area for McCain. I think Huckabee would be too easy to attack on things he said as a pastor.

Clinton - Ed Rendell (Gov. PA), Wesley Clark, Tom Vilsak (Gov. IA),Evan Bayh (Sen. IN). My choice is Evan Bayh

Obama - John Edwards, Janet Napolitano (Gov. AZ - altough she would be a good Attorney General), Biden?, Tom Daschle, ..i don't know. He has the support of a lot of old/experienced Senators like Kennedy, Leahy, Kerry, etc but he needs someone to come n that has experience in gov't.

Thoughts?

Football Recruitment Final

#14 Class according to Scout. Nice synopsis of the key players.
ASU 2008 Class

AZ Republic Article
ESPN PAC 10 Overview

Crazy Home Theatres

Just check these out....I kind of like the Titanic set up.
Stunning Theatres