Interesting - Bush/Cheney care about race issues

More specifically, they care what race the photographers who cover them are.

I'm sure they want to know that info just so they can be inclusive, right?

Hiatus

I'll be at a business retreat Wed-Friday, so I+H will be on a short break. In the meantime, be sure and watch Barack Obama tonight at the convention, and read the funnies to pass the time.

Playlist

Got to this quicker than I thought! Be sure and leave a comment if you'd like me to make you a disc.

1. The Distance -- Cake
2. Ping One Down -- Gomez
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien -- Radiohead
4. Hate To Say I Told You So -- The Hives
5. Commerce, TX -- Ben Kweller
6. Title and Registration -- Death Cab for Cutie
7. Hey Julie -- Fountains Of Wayne
8. Texas Trilogy: Train Ride -- Lyle Lovett
9. Nashville -- David Mead
10. Pecan Pie -- Golden Smog
11. Burndt Jamb -- Weezer
12. Driving Me Mad -- Neil Finn
13. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter... -- Pearl Jam
14. Holyman -- Blind Melon
15. Jesus, Etc. -- Wilco
16. Take Good Care Of Me -- Jason Falkner
17. Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground -- The White Stripes
18. Hoochie Coochie Man -- Eric Clapton
19. Soon -- Squirrel Nut Zippers
20. Once Around The Block -- Badly Drawn Boy
21. From Now On -- Ron Sexsmith

Helpful - what to listen to at work

KEXP 90.3 FM
Reliable stream. Good variety.

Free Mix CD

I'm stealing Indigo's idea and sending out a mix CD I made for a friend's road trip this summer. I'll publish the playlist this weekend, and if you'd like a copy, just let me know. Non-Illinoisans, please e-mail your current address.

Offer open to the first 20 regular I+H readers who respond.

Another reason to hate Duke

Nothing personal, Shah family, but seriously.

Another Interesting, Partisan Link

Sorry, Nolen. Flash link here.

The burbs

Had a great weekend in West Chester, PA for a wedding. Catholic weddings aren't known for being unique, but this one had some very nice personal touches, including bilingual vows. A touching ceremony.

I was born in PA and have family in Pittsburgh and Philly, so it's always nice to go back. There was definitely another reason the trip was great, though.

Interesting = Hilarious

Watch the video. But not at work.

Da Coach is ticked off

Check out this picture.

Letter to the Ed.

I wrote my first letter to the editor that was inspired by the 2% Solution.

It's in response to the
Chicago Tribune editorial from Sunday, "Will Congress kill welfare reform?"

Here it is:

Your editorial on welfare reform on Sunday ("Will Congress kill welfare reform?" 7/11/04) has a funny definition of success.

You tout the 1996 welfare reform law as "the most impressive domestic policy reform in a generation." Why? Because "the number of families relying on public aid has plunged by 54 percent."

While that sounds pretty impressive, you write just a little further down that although "welfare caseloads have shrunk, [those] who managed to work themselves off of public aid haven't necessarily escaped poverty."

Dear editorial board, please read that again, use some logic, and then tell us what a great success our welfare program is, if people who work full-time are still living in poverty. If success of welfare reform is measured by how many children and families move from the ranks of non-working poor to working poor, haven't we missed the point?

It is time to take the issue of the working poor seriously. The fact is, no matter how many job training programs we create, there will always be low-paying, unskilled jobs out there, and we will always need people to work them. I believe the question compassionate conservatives and liberals alike should be asking is: In a country as rich as ours, can we find the money to guarantee that parents working full-time earn enough wages for their family to live on?

Interesting - US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) doesn't mind bestiality

Moron.:

'It does not affect your daily life very much if your neighbor marries a box turtle. But that does not mean it is right. . . . Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife.'
-- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), advocating a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in a speech Thursday to the Heritage Foundation. "

Nice argument, idiot. Substitute "African-American" for "box turtle" and you'll get Jesse Helms' campaign platform, circa 1948.

Not helpful -- Book Review

Poker Nation is an OK book, but since several of my poker foes read this blog, I will instead say that it was worthless and stupid. Not worth reading at all. In fact, I think that all of you should just go on instinct, and not read or study the game at all. It's more natural that way.

Helpful -- Book Review

Moneyball should be required reading for baseball fans. If you want an idea as to why the Oakland A's (and now the LA Dodgers) are in first place consistently while spending very little money, read it.

Oh, and by the way, bunting is stupid.

Helpful - Voter Registration link

If you have never voted before, and you vote in this election for the first time, I will buy you buffalo wings. Seriously. Go register.

Helpful -- Book review

The Two Percent Solution by Matt Miller is one of the most rational, thoughtful books I've read in a long time. I've been craving red-meat liberal political books (e.g. Al Franken) but lo and behold, at the library last week I found this book instead. Miller is Definitely a Democrat, but in talking with plenty of powerful Republicans, he finds that the most pressing domestic problems (lack of health insurance, poor education in urban schools, and widespread poverty among full-time workers) can be solved with fully-funded, market-based programs.

He figures out that as long as Democrats fight the market-based part, and Republicans fight the fully-funded part, we'll end up screwed.

I'm returning the book on Monday, so you can find it at the Harold Washington library in the Popular Collection next week.

Interesting - Movie Scripts!

Thank you Wachs for finding this screenplay site. Now I can make sure all my quotes from "Caddyshack" and "Friday" are accurate.

Helpful in fighting bigotry

This is why politics are important. Click the link and spread the word.

Plans for Sunday night

Here's what I'll be doing. I didn't want to mass e-mail so I'll blog it instead:

Hi,

I just signed up for a phone banking party run by MoveOn PAC. We're going to register voters in one of the important "battleground" states that will decide the election. It'll be fun - and a powerful way to help defeat George W. Bush. Want to come to the party? You can sign up at:

http://action.moveonpac.org/phone/selectmtg.html?event_ids=152989

Here are the details:

Kerry for President!
649 West Arlington Place
Chicago, IL 60614
Sunday, July 11, 07:00 PM

You can find other parties in your area -- or sign up to host your own -- by going to:

http://action.moveonpac.org/phone/

We'll have a list of unregistered voters to call, and scripts to read when we're on the phone. Afterwards, we'll send a helpful kit to anyone who tells us they'd like to register to vote, and follow up to make sure they do. This has been shown to be a very effective way to register voters - and there's never been a more important time to boost registration than in the lead-up to this November's election!

Since we'll be spending a good deal of the time at the party on the phone, it's important that you bring your own cell phone. But lists of folks to call, scripts of what to say, and good company will be provided.

I hope to see you there!

Last chance for GMail

I've got 4 more invites. Leave a comment here if you want one.

Wrong headline

I like "Cardinal Fan Just Won't Take the Hint" better.

New summer blockbuster

Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle

Neil Patrick Harris is god.

Helpful Review: The Cooler

HItz recommended The Cooler to me, and I watched it last week. Disappointed. Good acting, I guess, but the script had so many holes, I couldn't hold on.

For example, let's say you happen to work in Alec Baldwin's casino, and one day at work you and your girlfriend watch as big mean Alec whacks your son's legs with a sledge hammer and kicks his pregnant wife in the crotch. What do you think will happen if you clock back in the next day and get in a fight with him and his goons?

What if you're the girlfriend? Would you hang around the shady apartment all by yourself, maybe lay out at the pool the rest of the week? "What? The crazy psycho guy is coming for me next? I think I'll yell in his face - he would never hurt me!"

And I'm sorry, but no 70-year-old guy is just going to get away with beating the crap out of some guy in plain view at the craps table. I've seen CSI.

Finally, men and women everywhere should agree that the multiple William H Macy nude scenes easily cancel out the foxiness of Maria Bello.

Stars: 2 of 5

Way to go Lance

The only Texan I root for.

MoveOn phone banking

After poker night on Friday or Saturday, anyone want to host this? I've done a few of these community events with the Dean campaign, and it's a good time.

Good idea

Choose a VP who is smart, likable, and well-spoken. Now really, was that so hard?

We're on the map

Representin' tha Diversey Brown line!

Not helpful...

...but fascinating.
Contains music. Also contains mullet.

(thanks to Josh at claptrap*)

Those crazy Houston-area Catholics...

...sure are rowdy, aren't they, Indigo?

Double whammy

Interesting and Helpful. New right-hand link Snopes.com is a crucial resource for people who are the targets of the occasional (or frequent) garbage e-mail forward. You know, the pleading notes that tell you to tell everyone you know that deodorant is the leading cause of breast cancer (undetermined) or that crazy teens are playing a new game called
Spunkball. (false)