Monday, September 29, 2008

Blakes big blog post week of 9/28/08


Top 3 things I'm likely to do this week:

1. Enjoy my first week of fall term
2. Enjoy my Wife's spinach lasagna
3. Punch the first person who blames this financial crises on minority homeowners directly in the mouth (for further explanation see http://www.stephenbainbridge.com/index.php/punditry/they_make_you_embarrassed_to_be_a_conservative)

National Politics Roundup:

THA BAYLOWT
This bailout vote should be pretty damn interesting, set to start at 1 PM EST today. So far from the debate one could infer the battle lines look like this so far:

Yep
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Gary Miller (R-CA)
Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Mel Watt (D-NC)
Jim Marshall (D-GA)
Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
Tom Davis (R-VA)
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
Chris Shays (R-CT)
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
John Dingell (D-MI)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)
John Tanner (D-TN)
Jim Oberstar (D-MN)
Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Bill Foster (D-IL)
John Spratt (D-SC)
John Campbell (R-CA)
Melissa Bean (D-IL)
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Naw
Ron Paul (R-TX)
Virgil Goode (R-VA)
Gresham Barrett (R-SC)
Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Ted Poe (R-TX)
Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI)
Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
Todd Akin (R-MO)
Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Michelle Bachmann (R-MN)

So far what we're seeing are members going beyond party lines to assert their own positions, ie what they actually believe should be done. What do I think? Honestly I have no clue. I am afraid that if the Democrats own this bill and it becomes unpopular Obama may get dragged down and lose in November. This would be really unfortunate for a lot of reasons, the least of these being that although theres a huge amount of blame to go around for this crisis - most of it goes to the bush administration.

THA DEBAYTE:

At times the whole thing seemed pretty tedious. I think Obama really did benefit from all those primary debates, but still, neither him nor McCain are great debaters. Looking at polling it seems that the whole thing was a victory for Obama. We'll see how the daily trackers go this week. If Obama continues this lead he could very well win this election. Thats assuming there isn't an October surprise around the corner.

***

Oregon Politics Roundup:

Obama effigy hung at George Fox
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlnR7kQP7tXQKA0872BAweYKqPFQD93DPDBG0

You always have to cringe about stuff like this, especially when its in our state. Honestly I'm surprised stuff like this doesn't happen more often in insular evangelical communities. In my experience with churches I've certainly come across more than my share of implicitly racist, anti-arab and us vs them sentiment. In many ways mainstream evangelical culture has become the culture of suburban white America, I have a feeling we'll be dealing with the consequences of that for a long time.

Jeff Merkley: Kicking ass and eating Hot Dogs

http://www.pollster.com/polls/or/08-or-sen-ge-svm.php

Our Senate race is now one of the most exciting races in the country. How did Merkley do it? I think a great part of it has to do with Obama's coattails and of course the large gains in voter registration for the Oregon Democratic Party. I think another part of Merkley's surge is due to Gordon Smith's campaign. His ads have been too negative, the illegal immigrant scandal at Smith Frozen Foods and the fact that hes alienated his GOP support by praising Obama in his positive ads have all contributed to this opportunity for the Democrats to pick off the last Republican senator on the west coast.

Kate Brown and Rick Dancer - who are they again?

"According to a poll conducted by the Portland Tribune and Fox 12, 33 percent of Oregonians said they would be backing Brown, and 25 percent said they would vote for Dancer. That leaves 38 percent of voters undecided in the race for Oregon's Secretary of State."

Holy smokes! 38 Percent? I keep on telling people how important this race is, as the winner will decide our new congressional boundaries in 2010. I'm sure the upcoming debates will sway some folks, and again, Obama will have some nice coattails.

***

In other news.....

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND ARE PLAYING THE SUPERBOWL~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, an event over 30 years in the making. This also sets the tentative release for the next E street band album sometime in early 2009. Great news all around. My hopes for the setlist? I'd like him to play some of these kinds of songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_ynmzbFsh4



Highly unlikely I know. I just hope we get something more than Born in the USA era hits.

Movie Review:

"Slacker Uprising" - Michael Moore - 2008

Two Stars **/*****

Theres a reason why Michael Moore released this for free, it would have been panned unmercifully by critics. Although the musical performances are great the messianic attitude of moore is more than palpable. As usually he he portrays his opposition as idiotic whack jobs. Which is true in many cases, but I've encountered the same kinds of people among democratic ranks. He also makes a point of mentioning that the cities he visited went for Kerry as some evidence of his power of persuasion. Wow, large cities and college towns went for Kerry? NO SHIT SHERLOCK. Watch Michael Moore's next scathing expose about how rurual counties are more likely to vote Republican.

Funny Youtube of the week:

No comments: