Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Pundits Pun-ditting

An interesting trio of editorials in today's Washington Post from three of the biggest names in political punditry, George Will, David Broder, and Robert Novak.

Although Robert Novak has almost become a parody of himself he can still punch a few good columns out. Here he talks some sense about Hillary's recent assassination gaffe and her other antics and ties it to Milton's 17th century poem, Samson Agonistes,  wherein the blind Samson brings the temple down upon himself. Only problem with the analogy is that I think Hillary knows exactly what she's doing and the blind comparison doesn't work.

George Will doesn't like McCain's idea of going to Congress periodically and answering questions, assuming he gets the nomination. He mentions how it kinda, sorta flies in the face of our supposed separation of powers, and the fact that most public sort of situations like this are nothing more than dog and pony shows these days. As usual he adds a dash of historical perspective. Worth a read.

David Broder highlights a 27-year old interview featuring the now deceased Hamilton Jordan that might or might not show how difficult it would be for Obama to govern should he win. I'm going to miss Broder when he sort of retires at the end of the year. We don't get depth like this anymore.

Proof of Alien Life To Be Shown on Video

I hope my GottaBeMobile buddy Rob Bushway goes to see this when it comes to Colorado Springs. Apparently a video showing a living alien is going to be shown in Denver tomorrow by Jeff Peckman in an attempt to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission. The video has been deemed not a fake (hmmm?)and shows an alien peeping through a window. I'm not convinced, about the video that is. I imagine there are other life forms out there. Big place the universe and tough to say it couldn't be.

Apparently Peckman isn't going to allow his video to be filmed or distributed (where's Robert Scoble with his QIK videos when we need him) because the video is going to be a part of a documentary sometime down the road. How much you want to bet this will be on YouTube before the day is over tomorrow?

Via

Rocky Mountain News

Technorati Tags: Aliens

Young Hillary Clinton

While ultimately predictable, this at least is worth a few chuckles.

Via Bang The Drum

Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth To Be Staged as an Opera

Cue the Valkyries. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is going to move from the big screen to the big stage and be staged as an Opera by Milan's La Scala opera house in 2011. Opera and Global Warming. Who knew? I can also hear jokes being readied for late night TV about the Fat Lady singing.

Via the AP

Technorati Tags: An Inconvenient Truth,Al Gore,La Scala

Spam on the Rise

But it isn't the spam we're all familiar with our inboxes. Apparently with the economy doing so poorly and folks skimping, sales of cans of spam are up. Who knew?

 

Via MSNBC

Why Amazon.com Shipping Drives Me Nuts

I love to shop at Amazon.com. Simple. Easy. Direct. Most of the time. Then occasionally this happens. I make and order. For whatever reason (usually because a product is sold by another distributor) it is divided into multiple shipments. That's not the problem. The problem is how it is shipped in my particular situation.

I'm never home during the day and shipping to my home address is not a good idea, whether or not the package requires a signature. In fact, no one is home during the day. This is usually not a problem, because I use my office shipping address for online orders.

Here's the catch. Our street address at the office, required for most shipping, is not recognized by the US Post Office because we do not have a mail box in front of our location. We have a PO Box where we pick up our mail every day. If something arrives shipped to the office at our local post office with the street shipping address the local post office (literally less than a block from our office) will return it in a heartbeat, due to regulations.

This happens when Amazon or the other seller decides to use the USPS without telling me and there is no way I can find to check this out prior to finding out that instructions have already gone out to the shipper. Of course that comes in email announcing that the product has been shipped via USPS and by the way, don't reply to this email, and once we've shipped it, it is out of our hands. This usually results in the package being returned and a long arduous process of getting a refund or credit.

In case, you're wondering, no we can't install a mail box for more obscure town code reasons than the post office regulations.

There has got to be a better way for Amazon and their partners to do this.

Scott McClellan's Book: No Shock, No Awe, Just Same Sad Story

Finally something to knock the Presidential Follies out of the news cycle. At least until the candidates start having to ask questions about it. Scott McClellan's new book, What Happened: Inside The Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, has a title that semiotically hints that you'll finally get the real skinny on what went down. Of course the juicy parts leaked, containing, (get ready for the shocking part), that the Bush administration used propaganda to sell the Iraq war to us! It offers other awe inspiring insights, like that Cheney worked on everything behind the scenes, the Plame scandal had roots in Rove's office, and yada, yada, yada. Been there. Done that. Like watching a bad play you have to sit through because you have a friend in the cast. Roger Ebert would call this an idiot plot if it was a movie.

Most thinking folk have already passed judgment on what we've been able to learn from all of the Bush White House shenanigans that have dragged us all of down with them. I haven't read the book, but from what I've read in the press today, there is nothing shocking or nothing that commands awe involved here. It is just more of the same sad story we've been living with for quite some time, as evidenced by the legion of Bush cronies who are now trashing McClellan, with the same, predictable, kind of vicious responses that they have always used to attack anyone who disagrees with them. McClellan was quite good at that kind of behavior too, as I remember. Again, predictable, and unless you haven't been paying attention, completely a part of the same old script.

Claude Rains would have a hard time keeping a straight face with this ongoing farce.

Technorati Tags: Scott McClellan,What Happened: Inside The Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception

I've Been Waiting for Hugh to Comment On This

I knew it was just a question of time before Hugh MacLeod weighed in on this.

My comment from a week ago is here.

Is This a National or a Personal Reminder From Bush?

It is National Hurricane Preparedness Week according to the President in this proclamation. So, I'm just asking, is this more of a personal reminder than a national one? Did he send a copy to the relevant agencies?

I don't think this has anything to do with the ill winds blowing about Scott McClellan's new book.

Puppet Debates

Loren Feldman continues to entertain and provoke with his tech industry puppet troupe. This time taking on the Jason Calacanis/Dave Winer spat that has been running since last year's Gnomedex. Too bad that he didn't have puppets for both. I'm sure that's coming though.

Technorati Tags: Loren Feldman,1938 Media,Jason Calacanis,Dave Winer