I stumbled upon MHD – a MTV channel that actually plays music videos (and concerts) – last night around 3:00 am after waking up and my body deciding it was 9:00 am.  As applicable, check it out if you’re all HD-ed out.

Three cool videos from last night that I didn’t know existed…

Lorretta Lynn featuring Jack White:

Paul McCartney:

Red Hot Chili Peppers:

A rare mid work posting but…

Ted, nice call on palin as originally seen in the comment sections of a few postings on BccList.com here, here, here, and here. As I commented back, it still doesn’t help the ticket.

For example, what happens if this grossly aging man dies within the next 4 years?  Do we really want a 44 year old with experience in Alaskan politics leading the free world?  Also, isn’t this pick a little too abstract for middle America to understand?  Either abstract or idiotic.

Update: The Obama camp of course came out with the following statement… “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9000 with zero foreign-policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

Not a good sign for anyone that still somehow supports the republican candidate after the last 8 years…

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/the_enthusiasm_gap.php

“John McCain, it seems, is having trouble filling a 10,000 seat theater in Dayton.  They’re giving away free tickets in several states and plan to bus in supporters. The VP announcement can’t be overshadowed by a less-than-capacity crowd.”

Shawn, thank you.

Excellent speech. gop, it’s over. Clip/highlights/recap tomorrow. Impressive.

P.S. Can’t wait until mccain’s temperament gets discussed further as Obama briefly mentioned tonight.  That recent Time Magazine awkwardness won’t help.

BOUNCE!

Update:

“Pardon My French, But You’re an Asshole! Asshole!”

Sounds like grandpa mccain woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  After you’ve read the Time interview, scroll back up to the top.  Directly to the right of the picture at the top is a link where you can listen to his entire interview which includes all media outlets.  I would highly recommend listening the interview – it’s fcking crazy!  No, his answers below don’t sound as “strong” as they seem – he sounded fcking cracked out.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1836909,00.html

Time Magazine transcript:

What do you want voters to know coming out of the Republican Convention — about you, about your candidacy?
I’m prepared to be President of the United States, and I’ll put my country first.

There’s a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us?
Read it in my books.

I’ve read your books.
No, I’m not going to define it.

But honor in politics?
I defined it in five books. Read my books.

[Your] campaign today is more disciplined, more traditional, more aggressive. From your point of view, why the change?
I will do as much as we possibly can do to provide as much access to the press as possible.

But beyond the press, sir, just in terms of …
I think we’re running a fine campaign, and this is where we are.

Do you miss the old way of doing it?
I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Really? Come on, Senator.
I’ll provide as much access as possible …

In 2000, after the primaries, you went back to South Carolina to talk about what you felt was a mistake you had made on the Confederate flag. Is there anything so far about this campaign that you wish you could take back or you might revisit when it’s over?
[Does not answer.]

Do I know you? [Says with a laugh.]
[Long pause.] I’m very happy with the way our campaign has been conducted, and I am very pleased and humbled to have the nomination of the Republican Party.

You do acknowledge there was a change in the campaign, in the way you had run the campaign?
[Shakes his head.]

You don’t acknowledge that? O.K., when your aides came to you and you decided, having been attacked by Barack Obama, to run some of those ads, was there a debate?
The campaign responded as planned.

Jumping around a bit: in your books, you’ve talked about what it was like to go through the Keating Five experience, and you’ve been quoted as saying it was one of the worst experiences of your life. Someone else quoted you as saying it was even worse than being a POW …
That’s another one of those statements made 17 or 18 years ago which was out of the context of the conversation I was having. Of course the worst, the toughest experience of my life was being imprisoned, so people can pluck phrases from 17 or 18 years ago …

I wasn’t suggesting it as a negative thing. I was just saying that …
I’m just suggesting it was taken out of context. I understand how comments are taken out of context from time to time. But obviously, the toughest time of my life, physically and [in] every other way, would be the time that I almost died in prison camp. And I think most Americans understand that.

How different are you from President Bush? Are you in step with your party? Are you independent from your party?
My record shows that I have put my country first and I follow the philosophy and traditions of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Sometimes that is not in keeping with the present Administration or my colleagues, but I’ve always put my country first, whether it’s saying I didn’t support the decision to go to Lebanon or my fighting against the corruption in Washington or out-of-control pork-barrel spending, which has led to members of Congress residing in federal prison. So I’ve always stood up for a set of principles and a philosophy that I think have been pretty consistent over the years.

Your tougher line on Russia, which predated [the Russian invasion of Georgia], now to many looks prescient. Others say it’s indicative of a belligerent approach to foreign policy that would perhaps further exacerbate the tensions being created with our allies and others around the world under the Bush Administration. How do you respond to that critique?
Well, it reminds me of some of the arguments we went through when Ronald Reagan became President of the United States. I think Russian behavior has been very clear, and I’ve pointed it out for quite a period of time, and the chronicle of their actions has been well known since President [Vladimir] Putin came to power, and I believe that it’s very important that Russia behave in a manner befitting a very strong nation. They’re not doing so at this time, so therefore I will criticize and in some cases — in the case of the aggression against Georgia — condemn them.

You were a very enthusiastic supporter of the invasion of Iraq and, in the early stages, of the Bush Administration’s handling of the war. Are those judgments you’d like to revisit?
Well, my record is clear. I believe that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein. I believe it’s clear that he had every intention to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. I can only imagine what Saddam Hussein would be doing with the wealth he would acquire with oil at $110 and $120 a barrel. I was one of the first to point out the failure of strategy in Iraq under [former Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld. I was criticized for being disloyal to the Republicans and the President. I was the first to say I would lose a campaign rather than lose a war. I supported the surge. No observer over the last two years would say the surge hasn’t succeeded. I believe we did the right thing.

A lot of people know about your service from your books, but most people don’t know that you have two sons currently in the military. Can you describe what it means to have Jack and Jimmy in uniform?
We don’t discuss our sons.

I’ll take Obama’s tax plan, please. Though I would be slightly better off with mccain’s plan, that could all change in the matter of a slightly unexpected brush with unemployment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html

Conor, thank you.

I’m looking forward to the budget being somewhat balanced again like the Clinton days.

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

CNN, thank you for running a mainpage article stating – without regards to accuracy – that the tax rebates helped truly boost the economy.

P.S.  Don’t forget about consumer credit spending going horrible out of control as originally seen on BccList.com here…

Is that cop seriously stomach bumping him across the street?  Was that other cop really smoking a cigar while on duty and cuffing a “criminal.”  Given the apparent makeup of the Denver Police Department, it looks like Colorado would be a huge win if Obama can somehow pull it off in the fall.

After Bill/Hillary’s speeches and Spielberg’s film, get ready for a dem bounce coming to a poll near you within the next few days or so. I am pleased the mccain camp decided to inaccurately portray the party as broken/split pre-convention as seen originally on BccList.com here.

Update: The aforementioned bounce officialy seen here…

Of course, US crude stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week.  And, don’t forget about that hurricane that won’t have any impact to our access to oil.  Gotta love speculation. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7584747.stm

Due to a resistance (technically speaking) at $125 a barrel, oil shouldn’t climb above $120-$125 a barrel and should steeply fall after the hurricane passes without any true impact to our supply.  Sell high around $120 a barrel and buy back lower around $100-$110 (or less) a barrel.

Kucinich is crazy as a cat – e.g. the UFO sighting he reported and bouncing all over the stage during this clip – but, it was a good speech from last night.

Digg, thank you.

Leo Dicaprio – it’s time for a sequel…

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0827/p12s01-woaf.html

“For years, African militias have used proceeds from precious natural resources to fund conflicts – a practice dramatized in the 2006 Hollywood film “Blood Diamond.” Now, there’s a new twist: blood cows.

Warring rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo are stealing and selling livestock to finance a conflict sparked by spillover from the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 were killed.

“It’s just like the mining resources,” says Alpha Sow, head of the local office of the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC). “Part of this money goes to buy munitions.”

Gervais Ruhubika and his partners, who have a small farm in army-controlled territory outside Goma, saw their herd dwindle from 200 to 120. To make matters worse, Congolese soldiers also claimed a stake in the cows.

“Every morning,” he says, “they came and demanded almost all the milk.”

RealClearWorld, thank you.