Unelectable.

Biography of President George W. Bush

Hustle and bustle

Andrea and I had a busy weekend. We visited a friend of hers selling Brazilian jewelry at a wine tasting in Livermore. After that, we had dinner in Pleasanton and stuck around for a Christmas parade. Then we went to her newspaper's holiday party. Needless to say, I was very tired.

Hopefully, next weekend will be much calmer.

They can't even tell the truth when the news is good...

(via Atrios):

White House Version of Mid-Air Exchange Disputed

Finally, some common sense in e-voting

Wired News: E-Votes Must Leave a Paper Trail

Sometimes, California politicians can get it right.

DeLay's next fundraiser?

Funny reference to a story in one of my recent posts.

San Diego Fire Warnings Were Repeatedly Ignored

Once again, people get the government they deserve. Or in other words, sometimes, taxes are a good thing.

G.O.P. Leader Solicits Money for Charity Tied to Convention

From today's New York Times:

It is an unusual charity brochure: a 13-page document, complete with pictures of fireworks and a golf course, that invites potential donors to give as much as $500,000 to spend time with Tom DeLay during the Republican convention in New York City next summer and to have part of the money go to help abused and neglected children.

Representative DeLay, who has both done work for troubled children and drawn criticism for his aggressive political fund-raising in his career in Congress, said through his staff that the entire effort was fundamentally intended to help children. But aides to Mr. DeLay, the House majority leader from Texas, acknowledged that part of the money would go to pay for late-night convention parties, a luxury suite during President Bush (news - web sites)'s speech at Madison Square Garden and yacht cruises.

Classy.

Back in the 21st century!

I have phone AND Internet service now. Now my house is truly a home.

Occupational Hazards - How the Pentagon forgot about running Iraq. By Jacob Weisberg

Nice one by Slate's Jacob Weisberg.

Back during the 2000 campaign, George Will and others argued that presidential intelligence didn't matter. This notion was reinforced after Sept. 11, when it became fashionable to argue that Bush's "moral clarity" was preferable to the ability to comprehend many sides of a complicated issue. In fact, presidential intelligence does matter. The intellectual qualities Bush lacks—historical knowledge, interest in the details of policy, and substantive (as opposed to political) judgment—might well have prevented the quagmire we're facing in Iraq right now. A more engaged president—one who understood, for instance, the difference between the Sunnis and the Shiites—surely would have asked about Plan B.

Almost completely moved in

With some help from Andrea, I'm pretty much settled into my new apartment in Sunnyvale. One glitch: I still have no phone service, though Pac-Bell insists they've turned it on. And that, of course, means I have no Internet access.

But why can't the media report on all the copters that aren't getting shot down?

U.S. Helicopter Downed in Iraq, 15 Soldiers Killed

My, what a good idea it was to invade Iraq. Bush is so smart.

Rock the vote

Read about security problems with Diebold's electronic voting machines. They threaten democracy and have the nerve to sue people pointing out that fact.

Where there's smoke...

Andrea and I went to a going-away dinner party last night hosted by Alex and her husband Chris, which was fun. But as we got closer to their house, about an hour away in "The O.C.," we could smell the smoke, see the haze and -- we think -- feel the heat of the Southern California fire.

This morning, that haze and smell had drifted all the way up to Los Angeles itself. Scary.

We visited the new Walt Disney Concert Hall, the fancy new architectural landmark by Frank Gehry. It was awesome and beautiful. We also visited the almost-as-new Los Angeles Cathedral. Andrea and I agreed that it looked a little bunker-ish for a church, which presumably aims to reach out into the broader community. But I thought the inside was really nice, an understaed, spartan arrangement.

It's unfortunate that it took my moving away to inspire us to see Los Angeles' cultural heritage.

Thousands flee as wind fuels flames

This must be why there's a weird haze outside and pieces of ash are floating everywhere. I'm not kidding.

According to Ann Coulter, this is treason

Rumsfeld Challenges Progress in War on Terror

Ah yes, the wisdom of overseas outsourcing

Pakistani transcriber threatens UCSF over back pay

Budget cuts at the copy desk?

Oops.

(from The Smoking Gun)

It's not exactly "Dewey Defeats Truman," but the New York Post made a colossal error today on its editorial page. The paper somehow printed an editorial bemoaning last night's Yankees loss to the Boston Red Sox, noting that the "Curse of the Bambino boomeranged this year" and that the Bronx Bombers "couldn't get the job done at home." The editorial concluded, "Wait'll next year!" Obviously, the Post piece was drafted while the Yanks were trailing the Sox, but was--unbelievably--not yanked when the club tied the game in the eighth inning and won it on Aaron Boone's walkoff home run in the 11th.

I sometimes lose sleep wondering whether I misspelled a name in a story that's gone to press or get sick to my stomach when I discover an easy-to-check error. I can't imagine what the editors at the Post are thinking.

I feel safer already

At Iraqi Depot, Missiles Galore and No Guards

Is it just me, or is Donald Rumsfeld looking dumber every minute?

Crossing the picket line

Doing our best to imitate France, pretty much everyone in L.A. went on strike this week. I don't have to ride the bus, but I do have to buy groceries. The workers have a right to strike, of course, and it's always in a person's best interest to maximixe one's salary. But at the same time I don't feel too much sympathy for them. Their main gripe is that they'll finally have to start shelling out co-pays. I say this is a good thing. One of the reasons health care costs are spiralling is because drugmakers and hospitals can keep raising prices, knowing insurance will pick up most of the tab. If people had to pay more of the costs, demand would wane, and prices wouldn't continue going up so quickly.

Of course, insurance should be set up in such a way as to encourage preventative care, without triggering abuses by patients or doctors.

Hey! Maybe we could set up some organization designed to carefully watch costs -- set up discounts with networks of doctors and reward them for being more efficient and making costs part of the health care equation -- and pass those savings onto the insured. Oh yeah, that's what an HMO is supposed to do.

Welcome to the real world, grocery clerks.

On the move again

I've signed the lease, ordered electric and phone (more importantly, DSL) service and contacted the movers.

I'll be in a decent location in Sunnyvale about 10 minutes away from work. It's Andrea's old apartment complex, only the rent has dropped $150 since she lived there, not counting the $50 discount I get because of the death of the previous tenant. The renter was required to tell me about the passing, presumably because the law reflects the sensibilities of thr Bay Area's Chinese population.

Anyway, I'm close to a grocery store and In-and-Out Burger, and a short walk takes me to a P.F. Changs's, Starbucks, Borders and misc. places. And then there's downtown Sunnyvale, which has a few shops and restaurants.

And of course, my beautiful girlfriend is a short drive away.