If you can't shoot free throws, you don't deserve to win.

OMG, a preacher said some bullshit!

A few issues...

-In my view, Obama, a former Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago, probably isn't very religious. I suspect his heart of hearts view on Jesus rising from the dead is as genuine as his views on overthrowing NAFTA, via Dr. Goolsbee.
-I enjoyed Reason contributor Jesse Walker's comment on this:
"If you don't have a friend -- a real friend, someone who means something to you and sometimes influences your decisions -- who occasionally expresses a nutty opinion ("The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color") or an impolitic truth ("a country and a culture controlled by rich white people"), then you really, really need to get out more. Obama's connection to Wright is like his cigarette habit, his willingness to talk about his past drug use, his fondness for gritty TV shows [the Wire] -- it's a sign that there's an actual human being in that suit after all, no matter how empty it may seem when he's blathering about "an insistence on small miracles" and the like...
-Barbara Walters asked this of Obama on The View:
"When Don Imus was fired for his comments about the Rutgers team, you said, 'Nobody on my staff would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anyone in any ethnic group.'"
Nice observation.
-What I like about all of this is that I see it as a progression toward accountability and a progression toward acknowledging religion for the astrology that it is.

Addendum: http://www.slate.com//id/2187277/pagenum/all

Not sure how I missed that.

Michael Ware on Maher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSP0CYEvq4w

This guy is pretty badass.

Obama's Gotta Take the [Samantha] Power Back!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I23fjRN-PGc

HT: Sam the WM

Statistics for the Masses

Regarding a fatal car accident in Minneapolis, Channel 4 news offered this nugget based on a study by Progressive Insurance:

"[Car accidents] are more than twice as likely to take place 1 mile from home compared to 20 miles from home."

Anyone else see the obvious problem with this?

This seems like it will be a good ad campaign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdeEPhdpay0

Ad agency is BBDO New York. Article here...

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/03/new_balance_tri.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7

I predict a good week on the Street.

I thought this was a pretty good segment for Meet the Press. The guests, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett, did an overall nice job of discussing economics at a higher level than what is typical on MTP. And, if you think about it, for being one of the better shows on TV (which I've discussed ad nauseum I'm aware), the ratio of bad to good economic discussion is startling high.

That said, the CNBC correspondents were measuredly rosy in their views for the coming year, with Ms. Bartiromo indicating on at least two occasions that the "stimulus package" would stimulate the economy.

Both were pro-Fed interventions as part of a "kitchen-sink" strategy that will help stave off a sharp downturn. Ms. Burnett, in particular, was cognizant of inflationary fears, acknowledging it numerous times in her comments — though not exhibiting any hawkishness. It was kind of strange.

While certainly not Kudlow and Cramer, both were a bit more optimistic than seems justified by the "facts on the ground." As individuals with plenty of off the record access to C-level folks, I suspect their private views are a bit more Bear-ish.

Is JPM raising the bid?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/24deal.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

OOTM Single: My Bloody Valentine — Only Shallow

My late, secular contribution to St. Patrick's Day.

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system at 3am.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTWumj6qpmI

MAHER: What if – what if Barack Obama, or conversely, Hillary, is ahead in popular vote, delegates and states won, is that enough, even if they’re short of the 225 – what is it, 2025 delegates you need to – to actually confirm the nomination – if they’ve won popular vote, states, delegates – is that enough, if one of them wins that, for the other guy to say, “Okay, you got it”?

McAULIFFE: Someone is going to get the necessary delegates. Right now, there are about 315 what we call “super delegates” still sitting out. June 1^st is Puerto Rico, which, Bill, you and I should go down and cover that. A couple of pina coladas down there at the Caribe Hilton to finish up the last primary. But then—

MAHER: [overlapping] All right. But – but, let’s not bring Bill Clinton, because we don’t need trouble. [laughter]

McAULIFFE: He doesn’t drink.

MAHER: But, wait a second—[satellite signal is lost, goes to test pattern/tone] [crowd groans] Ohhh. Now, do we – thank you, Terry. [laughter] [applause] You were a fabulous guest. [laughter] And – and, look at that. Those are all the questions I had for you, Terry. [laughter] Is – is Terry gone from just the—

TECHNICIAN [off-camera]: Yeah, Terry’s gone.

TECHNICIAN [off-camera]: He is gone.

----

I'm... I'm... radio silent.

OOTM Single: Mountain Goats — Heretic Pride

Ecce homo

Another thing

No more html bullshit. If I wanted, I could link nearly everything to Wikipedia.

www.ifyouwanttofollowmylink.com, cut and paste.

Besides, it's kind of old school. It'll be like changing your own oil, which, ladies, I would certainly do, if I didn't have misgivings about opportunity cost.

apple+c,
m

New Rule — Get HBO

"If Congress believes that lies about HGHs are more important than lies about WMDs, torture, wiretapping, and outing a CIA agent, they need to tell us what drugs they're on. The only way the DOJ should be involved in this [Clemens] case is if Al Qaeda hijacked the hypodermic needle and flew it into Clemens' ass." - Bill Maher (02-29-08)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again — Real Time With Bill Maher is the best political show on television. Without the dictate of keeping politically correct the sabbath that binds Meet the Press (although Mr. Russert typically is excellent, given the confines), Maher's conversational direction guides the panel toward issues that actually matter, although I often disagree with his opinions. Then again, perhaps I'm just hopped because Hitchens was on again (but he didn't flip off the crowd.)

If you need extra convincing, check out Brian Caplan at EconLog.
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2005/11/tranquility_for.html

Hired...

...by ESPN for March Madness. I dig it.

But will he get fired again? Maybe not fired, but I'm betting he says something pretty nutty before the Dance is over.

OOTM Flashback: Is a prospective First Lady allowed to sling this much cleavage?

Photo courtesy of drinking beers with Bellmer, watching Fox News, laughing our asses off, and just happening to have a digital camera lying around...

Update:

Verdict from the Right Wing: NO!

Back when McCain won SC, Chris Matthews brought up on numerous occasions how much like a First Lady Ms. McCain looked. I didn't think of it at the time, but it's quite funny considering my cleavage commentary only half a year earlier. But, if the McCain candicacy has reminded us (including Rudy and Hillary) of anything, it's that six months is indeed an eternity in politics.

"When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyygTVlFRLk&feature=related

Pardon the seemingly incongruous link between Mr. Hitchens and Ms. Rand. Methinks they would have in fact enjoyed a cigarette together, or, perhaps, a Hobohookah.

This is worth checking out if you can tolerate the multiple YouTube clips and the out of sync audio. This is Hitchens at his typical best, facing a clown much more terrifying than anything found in a Stephen King novel. The fact that an idiot can with legitimacy cite Oxford so frequently is at best a good-natured knock against the Rhodes Scholar-readers of my blog and (while not quite "at worst") more seriously a reminder against the appeal to authority. As my late grandfather used to say, "There's nothing worse than an educated fool."

When you use "Xerox" the way you use "aspirin", we get a headache.

Did anyone else notice the irony in Hillary's "change you can Xerox" line?

In accusing Barack Obama of plagiarism (which it certainly was not), she verbified Xerox's trademark, something the company has vehemently fought against.

From Xerox's website:

"The Xerox Trademark Xerox is a famous trademark and trade name. Xerox as a trademark is properly used only as a brand name to identify the company's products and services. The Xerox trademark should always be used as a proper adjective followed by the generic name of the product: e.g., Xerox printer. The Xerox trademark should never be used as a verb. The trade name Xerox is an abbreviation for the company's full legal name: Xerox Corporation.

XEROX is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation."

Never place a period where god has placed a comma!

God Make Americans Look Like a Bunch of Jackasses

Why was "God Bless America" sang before the beginning of the US Open Tennis final. How stupid. What does that even mean?

Splendid way to make Americans look like a bunch of ignorant, anti-intellectual goons.

Random Observations

• Christianity continues to appear sillier by the day
• There's a widespread misunderstanding of the value that financial professionals add to "society."
  
• When's the last time you actually listened to Mr. Bush for over 30 seconds? For me, I'd say the State of the Union. Otherwise, he's unbearable.
• Does it make sense that the average investment banker works more than the President?
  
• The Cato Institute consistently sponsors high-quality, intellectual discussions on pressing matters of the day (check out their podcasts on iTunes)
  
• Business schools — believe it or not — do a poor job of conveying the value of markets to their students.
• Windows is inferior to OS X in almost all ways, sans Excel shortcuts.
  
• What's wrong with lobbying? The distaste for lobbying is predicated on the belief that the government isn't screwing people, organizations and industries on a daily basis. I'll challenge that premise.
• In that vain, as EconLog suggested, political debate would be more fruitful if politicians were asked to state the assumptions behind their assertions.
  
• The HoboHookah is a very cool product.
• Dog fighting is not something that interests me. However, as much as I think it's in poor taste, I have to question the value of hanging Michael Vick out to dry for it. After all, Hemingway loved bull fighting.
  
• Doesn't it make sense for private organizations (NFL, MLB, etc.) to defer to the courts on matters of guilt and innocence? It's a principled position, but, for some reason, it's easier to throw people to the wolves, pre-trial.
  
• When you have a three hour erection, should you really wait that additional hour to contact your doctor?
• A new Scientology bullshit center just opened in Minneapolis. That's kind of embarrassing.
• I saw The Bridge close up today. That's the kind of large shit that inclineth men toward atheism.
  

I hope to continue blogging, but working makes it difficult. I'll make a concerted effort to throw some more stuff up here on a regular basis.

Grand Opening: Apple Store, West Towne Mall

10:00 a.m., Saturday, July 7

Dammit. I leave for Minneapolis tomorrow.