- I live in a new urbanist neighborhood in the bay area, so I am biased on the subject, but it seems that my hometown (and the surrounding Buffalo region) is having a difficult time accepting the concept of walkable communities, which is a shame.
- Hillary Clinton won California -- somewhat handily -- in the February primary, but Barack Obama "is now preferred as the party nominee by a landslide 51 to 38 percent," undercutting the New York senator's argument that she is more electable in the general election.
- The press should stop covering the stupid things that stupid pastors say. Pastors are inconsequential. (And god doesn't exist. There, I said it.)
- And aside from moderating the worst debate in modern history just last month, ABC News' Charlie Gibson claims that the press did nothing wrong in the run-up to the Iraq war. "I think the questions were asked [before the war began]. It was just a drumbeat of support from the administration. It is not our job to debate them. It is our job to ask the questions." You're right, it is not your job to debate them. But it is your job to question their answers. And that is where the media failed.
- Listening to Bush, McCain and the republican talk machine, the surge is "working," however April has been "the deadliest month [for U.S. forces] since September."
- The president has received a stay-of-execution (of sorts) with the report that the economy grew at 0.6% in the first quarter, and did not contract.
- And the inventor of LSD, or "acid," has died at age 102. "I produced the substance as a medicine. ... It's not my fault if people abused it."
- President Bush has reached another new low: 31 percent approval. "Bush's approval rating five years ago, at the start of the Iraq war, was 71 percent, and that 40-point drop is almost identical to the drop President Lyndon Johnson faced during the Vietnam War."
- With Michigan and Florida not counting, it will be difficult for Hillary Clinton to catch up to Barack Obama. Although, self-destruction is not out of the realm of possibility.
- And John McCain, a so-called expert on foreign policy, mistakenly and continuously suggested that Iran was training al Qaeda. Not just suggested, plainly stated.
- While one family was torn apart and a political future was torn down with the devastating Eliot Spitzer news, gutless white-collar criminals danced in the street, or more matter-of-factly, Wall Street day-traders applauded on the trading room floor.
- Instead of skewering Bush and his administration, Keith Olbermann's Special Comment tonight will focus on Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
- And "an exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network." Enough said, although Dick Cheney still believes there must've been some coordination, there just had to.
- Barack Obama will be endoresed by former GOP Senator Lincoln Chafee. Will Hillary Clinton find someone on the other side of the aisle? Maybe Joe Lieberman.
- Clinton has substantial leads in Ohio and Pennsylvania. If Clinton sweeps the big states -- California, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas (not including Illinois) -- she will have a case to be the nominee.
- John McCain, the GOP nominee for president, is continuing to court the base, which may make or break his campaign. He has changed footing and voted against a ban on torture.
- And Clinton promises that she will take the nomination to the convention. She has to say that, or she will look silly. Edwards did the same thing. As did Romney. If Clinton loses on March 4th, she will concede the following day.
- This is what life, er, politics, is all about. A new poll in California shows "Hillary Clinton with a very narrow three-percentage point lead over Barack Obama."
- After watching last night's GOP debate, you would think that the primary will be a referendum on Reagan's legacy. By the way, why don't the democrats have an FDR Library debate? Mr. Obama, would Franklin Delano Roosevelt endorse you for president?
- And what was with the creepy Air Force One backdrop? The republicans are so worried about the coming election, they are opting for subliminal messages.
- And speaking of Air Force One, to my surprise President Bush was in the Bay Area yesterday. It wasn't covered in the morning news, and I didn't learn of it until later in the day. Conservatives do not fret, "Bush kept intact his record of never visiting San Francisco during his presidency." But he did raise a cool $1.5 million.
- I guess I can kiss my future television career goodbye because I find "Fuck Notre Dame, fuck Touchdown Jesus, and fuck Jesus," hilarious. In fact, I'm going to use that one tomorrow at work.
- Interesting (and ballsy) move by the vice-president. On the same day it is reported that the widespread belief that the administration trumped up the threat that Iraq posed is in fact true, Cheney insists that "fighting the war on terror is a long-term enterprise."
- And thanks to Fred Thompson dropping out, Mitt Romney is now neck-and-neck with John McCain in Florida polls. As close as the democratic race may be -- historically close between two potentially history-making candidates -- the republican race may even be closer. If Giuliani survives Florida, and Huckabee regains his footing...
- Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups. Chuck Norris pushes the earth down. But he may also be hurting Muke Huckabee's campaign because " Chuck Norris is great at attracting attention--but he's lousy at actually convincing people to vote for Huckabee."
- Mitt Romney is giving up on South Carolina, and heading to Nevada. A sound political decision.
- And just what Americans need, a MedFICO score, which "will aid hospitals in assessing a patient’s ability to pay their medical bills." I'm sorry, your MedFICO average is 716, and we require a 720 or greater to repair your broken leg.
Kids, do not do this at home; stay in school.
- Obama may find enough support in New York to make the state competitive, possibly giving Hillary a run for her money in a state she hoped that she would not have to spend too much money. Hillary losing New York would almost be as embarrassing as Al Gore losing Tennessee. New York is also a winner-take-all primary.
- This is an interesting -- and not all that outrageous -- tactic by the city of Cleveland, suing the banks because their "subprime lending practices created a public nuisance that hurt property values and city tax collections." Do mortgage agents sleep at night? Or is the fear of vampire slayers too great?
- The U.S. will need permission to fight terrorists in the tribal regions of Pakistan, according to President Musharraf. When does Pakistan leave the ally category exactly?
- And good, honest, hard-working Californians can now relax in their homes, since the court has ruled that "police can't enter a home without a warrant just because they see someone inside smoking marijuana." Light 'em up.
- The latest issue with same-sex marriage... same-sex divorce. One in every two.
- The best new law of the new year: In California, it is now illegal to "smoke with a child under 18 in the car - whether the vehicle is in motion or not." That is a good first step; now to increase the fine from $100 to life in prison, is the next.
- And America's mayor believes that more war will equal more votes. In semi-related news, Rudy Giuliani now trails -- eep -- John McCain nationally.
