Gonzales out?

Longtime readers will recall that I predicted the number of Democratic House seat picked up exactly and missed the Senate total by one in the 2006 midterm elections. I'm doubling down, putting my prediction rep on the line to predict that in two week's time, Alberto Gonzales will not be the Attorney General of the United States. I'm accepting individual wagers of up to $2.50.

Oscar thoughts

As if you care...

High point was Marty winning at last. Ever since I've been into movies, I've been upset about Scorsese getting snubbed for so many great works. He was due, and he's owed. I don't care if he got it for Kundun, but I just saw The Departed last week and it seemed worthy of its awards.

Low point would be Melissa Etheridge winning best song. My beef isn't with her per se, though I've always found her unlistenable, but a song that played over the credits beating out the Dreamgirls songs that were better written and were integral to the movie. My biggest beef with Dreamgirls is that the songs and arrangements sounded not at all like Motown, but at least these were songs.

That will be the last time I post about a musical, movie or otherwise.

Also to note- ellen=snooze.

Obama on Iraq, in 2002

The war in Iraq was supported, on one level or another, by nearly every serious candidate for President, on either party- with one notable exception. Watch this interview the Barack Obama gave in late 2002, before the invasion took place.

I recognize that there is a big distinction between being a Senator, in the case of McCain, Clinton or Edwards and deferring to the President and being the President who proactively sought to make war with Iraq. The #1 question as it pertains to Iraq and the 2008 election is whether a candidate would have made the same mistake as President. John McCain seems to intimate that he would have, but would have run the war more competently. John Edwards says sorry, and we're waiting for Hillary's definitive answer. I'm inclined to support Barack Obama next year for a number of reasons, but chief among those is that on the issue of the day, he was right from the beginning and understood the risks with such clarity, it sounds like a post-mortem.

What was it like back in 2006?

Does anyone agree that myspace is crystalizing into a snapshot of what the world was like in 2006?

Best Practice: Soul

Watch this clip of Bill WIthers, being perfect. You will never be this good at whatever it is that you do. Thanks to Jesse Thorn (TSOYA Blog) for the find. Enjoy.

Alberto Gonzales: No Constitutional Right of Habeas Corpus

Allow me to pick up my jaw from the floor.

Chairman Leahy

To know that Patrick Leahy chairs his committee and is no longer a minority party outsider gives me a sense of optimism that AG Gonzales and W will be held accountable in the year to come.

YouTube and Blogs

They don't seem to mix. [Edit- maybe they do?]

Best Practice - Baked Potato

"Hot potato, pass the potato"

The baked potato is a great New Sincerity food. Best practice? Wash, poke a few times with a fork, coat with canola oil and coat modestly with kosher salt. Bake at 450° for 60-70 minutes directly on the oven rack. Put some foil or a baking sheet in the rack below the potatoes to catch the stray drops of oil. From there, you're on your own.

5 things

So I was tagged by Mike Brown, but like any pyramid scheme, someone has to be at the bottom. There are no bloggers left to tag, so I feel like a lowly Herbalife recruit with a bag full of magic potions, but no takers. Start blogging now! Ask me how!

At any rate, did you know...

1. ...I genuinely like my job, but I find my course of employment to be the least interesting thing about me and I probably think it's the least interesting thing about you? [note to readers: not you specifically, but most other people]

2. ...after 28 years of near-absolute abstention, I've become an insufferable coffee snob in 9 short months?

3. ...liberal/progressive blogosphere be still, but I still think there are a couple of presidents worse than W, even if none served two terms or after the invention of the telephone? OK, maybe one, but still.

4. ...I've never eaten mayonnaise in an unadulterated state, nor as a condiment?

5. ...I've owned music in many media? Yes I have. First tapes (simultaneous purchase, Singapore 1983) were Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man" and Michael Jackson's "Thriller", which was also my first LP. First 45" single was "We Are the World" (Philadelphia 1985). (I don't remember my first 12", as my first and only 20 were bought in the space of a summer, Hollywood 1995). First cassingle was Neneh Cherry "Buffalo Stance" (Saugus, CA 1989). First CD was Bobby Brown "Don't be Cruel" (Valencia, CA 1989). FIrst CD single was Public Enemy's "Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man" (Newhall, CA 1990) with the non-album solid B-side "Get the F@% Outta Dodge". First illicit download- Usher "My Way"(1) (Davis, CA 1998), first legit download (single) Neil Young "Old Man" (Valencia, 2003) and (album) James Brown "Live at the Apollo" (2004).

Footnotes
(1) In my defense, I didn't pay for Usher and 1997/1998 was the worst musical era of my lifetime, by a longshot. Also, this was pre-napster (for mac at least) and finding MP3s was like casting a net and taking what you got.