Rex Kickass

Their ideologies are pretty similar. But Chavez does hold a lot of legitimacy in Caracas and Venezuela. There is a strong liberal pull in Latin America that you might not think. It's how Daniel Ortega went from deposed dictator to elected president in Nicaragua.

That's exactly what it means.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Dec 4, 2007 -> 05:38 PM) Now see, they didn't say they couldn't prove them, only that the claims can't be disproved. If they said ' we couldn't prove or disprove them', that would be a little more even handed. Just saying we couldn't disprove them leaves the impression that they ARE true. WHich they probably are, but that is a different issue. Except here's the problem. You have a Senator who has made his career, in part by running against gay rights. Yet he chooses to have gay sex with lots of random partners, allegedly. This is not a new allegation, and rumors have been swirling around him about this for 25 years. In all likelihood, these allegations are probably on the money. What gain does someone have to make this allegation? Let alone eight different men who tell roughly the same story before its been reported and who live in different states and don't know each other? This probably would have never come out had Larry Craig actually resigned when he got caught soliciting sex in an airport from a cop. But he made a promise to the people he served and chose not to abide by it. Larry Craig is not a man of his word, and that's been pretty clear. Besides its a battle of conflicting stories. The truth is: if I have to choose honesty between a prostitute and a politician, I'm choosing the prostitute's word. His motives usually aren't hidden.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Dec 3, 2007 -> 12:51 PM) The "wide stance" makes Sen. Craig a power bottom, no doubt. omg. thats kinda hilarious

QUOTE(The Bones @ Dec 1, 2007 -> 12:25 AM) Probably my favorite album of the year. Saw her at the Vic last week and she put on a great show! The Go! Team - Proof of Youth is another one that I enjoyed alot this year. I've never heard their first album but supposedly it's better than this one so I'll have to check that out as well. I heard that album for the first time last night driving home from NYC. I see the appeal. I need to listen to it a bit more, but my top 11 could quickly add a 12th I think.

Grover Norquist, at least, disclosed who he was. Part of me thinks its crappy that Clinton and Obama voters got questions in, but at the same time... most of these questions were vetted by the candidates' staff ahead of time. So why does it really matter?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 29, 2007 -> 09:20 AM) Do you think the candidates think or talk for THEMSELVES? Of course they need their writers Hahaha. Great point!

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 29, 2007 -> 10:13 AM) On this one, I get the strike. There's so much more revenue streams then ever before, yet the writers are still paid like it's 1963 (adjusted for inflation). They should get a higher cut up front knowing that their material has more channels of distribution then even 5 years ago. I believe the writers want their residual to climb from 4 cents per DVD to 8 cents per DVD sold, and they want to get something from online distribution - but are willing to take a token sum until a standard business model for that distribution is developed. Sadly, Carson Daly is breaking the strike. I wouldn't mind someone like Conan breaking the strike if he refused to do a monologue, skits or even crack a joke during an interview.

Samsung u740 is what I own and i like it. Smaller than a RAZR, but with a QWERTY keyboard.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2007 -> 08:31 PM) Garbage. If the writers want to picket, hey, that's fine. But the idea that such a strike will interrupt the dialogue that will help decide who the leader of the free world will be is just assinine. If you're fighting for labor support, three weeks before a caucus in a state that labor can have a real effect on, you aren't crossing that picket line. Most of those candidates wouldn't dare. It would be insulting to the labor movement in general. And the first rule of politics is you don't s*** in the bed you've made. And the Democrat's bed is Union Made. Have the debate somewhere else with a different moderator.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Nov 28, 2007 -> 07:07 PM) OK, here it is. Writers are striking! Picketing, making lame protest signs, etc. Fine. Why are talk show hosts refusing to go on because of their strike? Leno, Letterman, etc all have contracts to host their shows. How can they not work ('honoring the strike'), and still have a job? Or at least not be docked pay for non-performance? Is there some arcane law regarding unions that most people don't know about? I remember when the one hotel in Chicago that was being striked against for a loooong time, and some teamsters decided that they weren't going to deliver to the hotel to honor the strik. How can they do that and not get in trouble? Leno and Letterman, Conan and Kimmel are all also writers. They are members of the Writer's Guild. And as such, they have a duty to strike. Can they be fired for it? Maybe, but in some respects its worth the risk. Do you honestly think ABC wouldn't go after a s***-canned Leno because he wouldn't scab a writer's strike? Why do they support it? Because the issues they are striking over (residuals from DVD and internet) also affect them too. And if you think this is bad, if the writers don't win, wait til the SAG goes on strike next year when their contract expires. (And it'll happen over the same issues.)

A few months ago, I realized I couldn't come up with a top five list for the year yet. Usually it's because I can't find five albums I really like that year. This year, it's because I don't think I can narrow it down. So what albums do you just absolutely love? Albums that came out in 2007 that I think are definitely worth checking out. 1. Miss Platnum - Chefa Romania meets Germany meets Missy Elliott. Big girls singing about Mercedes-Benz and demanding to "Give Me The Food" make this one of my favorite hip-hop/R&B albums to come out this year, despite (or because of) its obvious cheese factor. 2. Britney Spears - Blackout This album is a serious jam, and just nasty and full of hotness. Possibly because she seemingly had very little to do with the album. The album is a hot mess, but tracks like "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)" and "Piece of Me" are pure ProTools genius. 3. M.I.A. - Kala A D.I.Y. dance album that's alternately goofy, innovative and political at the same time. "Paper Planes" has one of the best hooks I've had in a long time, using sound effects for lyrics. 4. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Living With The Living Despite some heavy handed politics that ruins a few tracks like "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb.," there are few better representations of honest straight ahead story telling rock music, and often times Ted Leo is strongest when singing about love, like "Me and You and a Bottle of Bucky". Even the bonus EP hits hard, fast and well. 5. Yoko Ono - Yes, I'm A Witch You're 73, and you're still so important that the Flaming Lips, Peaches and The Polyphonic Spree wants to re-record your music with you at lead vocals. Enough said. 6. The Gay Blades - Ghosts Local NYC/NJ two piece rock band puts together a first record with incredibly sophisticated songwriting covering just about every good thing about every element in music using just guitars and drums. Picture the White Stripes with talent, sung by a hipster channeling Meatloaf. 7. Tegan & Sara - The Con Unlike T.a.T.u., these girls are real lesbians. They're sisters too. It really doesn't matter much when it comes to their music. But it's simple and incredibly catchy and really great. "Back In Your Head" and "Soil, Soil" really stand out in this acoustically themed record. 8. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights The album from the band that played for Amy Winehouse. The lead singer used to be a prison guard at Rikers Island prison in New York. Not only does it sound like the best album of 1966, it sounds like the best record of 2007. Every inch of this classic soul sound blows me away. Album of the year. 9. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala I'm a sucker for Scandinavians. Especially ones who sound like Jonathan Richman. Really strong storyteller with a great sense of humor, like being a "fake boyfriend" to a female friend in "A Postcard to Nina." 10. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup A kid in his early 20s channels the atmosphere of Paris in the turn of the century. The turn of the 20th century. So impressive. 11. Bran Van 3000 - Rosee Screw the Arcade Fire, the best music from Montreal comes from the Bran Van 3000 collective. Every album is like a mix tape, any genre that sticks. Amazing samples, and an album easy to get lost into. (Currently only available in Canada)

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 28, 2007 -> 01:23 PM) And JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUST by coincidence, a hit piece was put out by the MSM on Huckabee today. Now why TODAY? Media isn't biased my ass as this wasn't timed PERFECTLY now was it? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/huckabee_record I'm sure it has nothing to do with a biased media. This is just the day that Guiliani or Romney fed the story to the reporter.

The problem you have here is that the issue is framed in the terms that the White House has framed it for four years. Stay the course or "cut and run." For the last four years, it has been painted that there is no third way solution for Iraq.

And it was just a routine burglary gone horribly awry, no? This story is really sad, regardless.

The person this really sucks for is the MS voter. He/she putt Lott back in for a six year term last year. If Lott was so bored with the Senate then, why did he want re-election?

Hey look, this is kinda making problems for Mississippi. Turns out state law says that if a Senator resigns in MS during a year that is not an election year, the governor must call a special election and the seat will remain vacant until this special election happens. So if Trent Lott resigns in 2007, MS has to have a special election (which may end up costing the RSCC a lot of money that they don't have.) If Trent Lott resigns in 2008, Barbour gets to appoint a Senator to hold the spot until the November election - BUT Lott no longer gets a non-stop ticket to K street and instead has to wait two years before he can become a lobbyist.

What you said. Positive steps would be supporting large quick increase in CAFE standards. Removing the truck/SUV exemption from them. I love the idea of energy independence, but we need to find a better way to do it, beyond corn subsidies and rhetoric.

Nobody, he wants to be a lobbyist and doesn't want to wait two years to do it.

Or maybe not so curious after all.... Turns out that if you leave the Senate by the end of the year, you are not beholden to the new ethics rules which prevent sitting Congressmen from becoming lobbyists for two years after you leave office.

But it means nothing. It's Mississippi. The state run by Hailey Barbour. I just don't see much to get worked up about here. The timing is odd though, I must say.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 25, 2007 -> 08:00 PM) Yet the assumption is the CTA is corrupt and mismanaged. Which may be true. There are many problems which plague the CTA beyond bloated and inept management. The main one is that the collar counties get the bulk of per person RTA funds despite the fact that the infrastructure that needs the most upkeep and the bulk of the riders travel within Cook County.

QUOTE(NUKE @ Nov 26, 2007 -> 07:59 AM) They sold the Skyway off and around the country there are a lot of bridges and other infrastructure that is being sold to produce cash for governments. The sale of the Skyway is being used as an example as to exactly why Asset Monetization is a bad idea here in New Jersey.

#2 GOP Senator Trent Lott (MS) resigning by the end of the year to "Pursue other opportunities." http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/26/lot...sign/index.html

Actually no. If we were in that EXACT position, we would not have been even charged with perjury, I wager. It's an argument of interpretation vs lying under oath - and its a pretty thin one.