I got in a slow morning of work today. I've completely transitioned to the new software that my company is using, and I've slowed down a fair bit. That will pick back up though eventually. My main problem is that I'm only allowed to work 40 hours per week now, and I'd rather work 60.
For lunch today, Epril and I went to Bigby's. It was Epril's thought to have hamburgers, and I remember somebody telling me that Bigby's were the best in town, so that is where we went. Of course, when we got there, I had a hamburger and Epril had pork chops. The hamburger was good... but not award-winning.
After lunch, Epril and I did some shopping. We bought a new HDMI cable for the home theater, and two more wedding albums to put all of the extra photos in. Then it was back home where Epril filled the albums, while I tried (again unsuccessfully) to get the BluRay audio to output through the home theater system, instead of just the television speakers. (Sony technical support won't help me as I have a BluRay player from America and a TV and home theater from The Philippines. I'm totally at a loss.)
My Motorstar motorcycle is broken again. This time it is the ignition key; it won't turn, so the motorcycle can't be started. I have to call the shop on Monday to have them come pick the thing up again to be fixed. I've graciously come to accept the fact that I've been ripped off with this motorcycle. If it was more of an inconvenience than catching one of CDO's ultra-cheap cabs... if it were more expensive than $4 or $5 at a time to fix... if I wouldn't feel guilty selling the p.o.s. to somebody else... then I'd probably be pissed, but it's not going to accomplish anything anyway. So fuck it.
Tonight, Epril and I joined up with the local expats for our friend Bennie's birthday party at Zax. We had such a good time. Epril and I both miss Pattaya sometimes, mostly because CDO can be a little slow, and there are so many things to do in Pattaya. But, nights like tonight, hanging out with all our new friends and having an uproariously good time... laughing until our cheeks got cramps... we don't miss Pattaya that much at all — just our friends there, of course.
The folks over at electoral-vote.com, one of the best election tracking sites on the internet, made an interesting observation:
The likelihood (according to fivethirtyeight.com, my other top recommendation for election tracking) of the Democrats getting 59 Senate seats this year is currently at about 42%. If the Democrats wind up with 59 seats in the Senate, that is only one Senator short of a filibuster-proof majority — an almost unstoppable majority.
[In order to get from 59 to 60, after the election,] President Obama could appoint Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) or Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to the cabinet, thus demonstrating his bipartisanship and also flipping a seat (the governors of both states are Democrats).
Interesting thought, eh? I wonder if either of those Senators would take that kind of offer, knowing what would happen?
I suppose first off, it is a question of knowing which "ranks higher" in American politics: A position like Treasury Secretary or that of being a senior Senator. Then second, if Treasury Secretary were higher, it would have to be so much more higher and powerful that either of those Senators could be convinced to throw their fellow Republican Senate minority entirely under the bus.
Well, there is currently a 30% chance that the Democrats will win 60 seats outright in this election. Then, the above-mentioned theoretical Obama cabinet appointments might not be necessary... except to finally get rid of Joe Lieberman.
Actually, the Piso bounced up over 48 for the first time about 2 weeks ago, and then it dropped back down and yo-yo'ed inside of 47. Hopefully this most recent dash between the newly-moved goal posts sticks.
Next stop, 50.
And, since it's been a while, I'll make another prediction: I predict that within 6 months, the Piso will be 55 to the dollar, and within one year will be 60 to the dollar. UPDATE:
I was reading back through some comments and predictions I made in this post from 5½ months ago:
I would say that we've been in "pivotal financial times" for the last 6 years; the last 8-10 years if you want to be finicky... ever since the Asian Crash and Dot Com Bust. However, the housing crisis of the last 12-24 months is probably the biggest threat to global financial security currently, and that will probably have resolved itself (most likely for the worst) in the next 6-8 months. I have a feeling that we will know the lay of the land long before "2008-2009" is in the here and now.
Of course, one of you thought you were smarter than me:
funny isnt it how all Jils predictions seem to correlate with whats best for him.......
greater housing declines ( he doesnt own a house in US) and yet this also corresponds somehow to a stronger dollar and more spending power for him
i dont beliueve there will be any serious consequences for the world economy from the US housing decline.
I don't know how many of you have ever heard The Refreshments sing "Mekong", but if it doesn't make you miss Thailand, nothing will.
Well I came all the way from Taipei today. Now Bangkok's pouring rain, And I haven't seen my girl in 15,000 miles. Well is it true it's always happy hour here? And if it is, I'd like to stay a while. Well as cliche as it may sound, I'd like to raise another round. And if your bottle's empty, Help yourself to mine. Thank you for your time. And here's to life.
The voter registration group ACORN has a problem: It hires unemployed people to go out and register voters. These people working for ACORN apparently get paid by the number of voters they register. Therefore these workers sometimes tend not to be too discriminatory when registering people to vote; oftentimes the registrations are useless, duplicates, or downright fraudulent. It's the same problem ACORN has faced during every election since its founding almost 40 years ago.
Anyway, this year, ACORN apparently has submitted approximately 30,000 fraudulent voter registrations. Hence, the folks on Fox News, Michelle Malkin, Pajamas Media, and all of the similar Republican blogs are up in arms about ACORN and this "massive voter fraud". I haven't been watching, but it's apparently the number one news story if you are the kind of person who watches Fox News. Evidently, the story even made it as far as the right-leaning Wall Street Journal today.
Some points Fox News (et. al.) fails to mention:
One: The 30,000 registrations were out of a total of 1 million registrations submitted... about a 3% disqualification rate.
Two: ACORN checks each registration they get. However, by lawACORN must submit every registration they receive; they can't throw registrations away just because they might be (or are) fraudulent, although they do fire workers and have law enforcement charge those workers who are obviously "gaming the system". They submit the bad registrations to the registrar, but mark them as "questionable". The 30,000 fraudulent registrations this year were in part registrations that ACORN had marked as "questionable" before handing them in. Duplicate registrations, deceased voters, spelling errors, and incorrect addresses (a bit more difficult for ACORN to perfunctorily pick out) made up the rest. Fox News and company is basically accusing ACORN of committing a crime when ACORN was actually doing exactly what they were required by law to do.
Three: If some shifty ACORN workers convinced even a thousand people to register more than once to vote, that's one thing. (Is registering to vote twice even illegal?) However, shifty ACORN workers somehow convincing a thousand people to commit a felony by getting them to vote twice (with nothing in it for the people breaking the law) in the upcoming election is another thing altogether. Just because Mickey Mouse registers to vote doesn't mean that he's going to actually show up. Therefore: Even a ton of invalid voter registrations will almost certainly not lead to an ounce of "massive voter fraud."
Four:Why would ACORN voluntarily pay workers money for registrations that will almost certainly be rejected by the registrar, tarnish their image, and (as above, possibly) break the law? As above, unless those 30,000 disqualified voter registrations were expected to be used by 30,000 people (one of them in a mouse suit, apparently) to vote twice (and risk felony prosecution), it was a waste of money, and obviously only resulted in tons of bad publicity.
Five: Just so you know, this same argument about ACORN was brought up 4 years ago by Republicans (including Michelle Malkin) during the last election as well. The DOJ found no wrongdoing then, either.
Six: In addition, many of the individual accusations about ACORN that you are hearing on Fox News, which may seem credible, are actually made up. (ACORN "voter fraud" is even being reported in counties where ACORN wasn't even operating.) After 40 years in the business... after nearly a decade of being the #1 target for every Republican accusation of voter fraud... after registering millions of people to vote, why would ACORN risk their existence and their good work on hairball schemes that would at best (the above-mentioned election law and procedural hindrances notwithstanding) result in nothing more than a few thousand fraudulent votes?
Seven: Let's face facts. ACORN registers almost exclusively poor people to vote, primarily black people, mainly in cities. Who do you think one million poor, black, city people are going to vote for in this election? If you are a member of the Republican political machine facing a get-out-the-vote effort of such partisan magnitude, you wouldn't waste a second trying to do at least something about it... discredit it, slow it, hinder it... anything. Excluding the six previous bits of information, with this fact alone, you should have enough to suspect that this might be simply a page torn from the book of Dirty Election Tricks, and nothing more.
Eight: Since I take it upon myself to point out political hypocrisy when I see it, I'll add the following as a postscript parenthetical: (The Republicans are doing the "guilt-by-association" thing again, this time linking Obama to ACORN. Apparently he gave leadership seminars and did legal pro bono work and other dastardly things for the organization's branch in Chicago. So, just for the record, John McCain addressed an ACORN rally in 2006.)
So there it is: The ACORN nonsense that you've been hearing about, put in a little bit broader perspective. I hope it helps.
All of the wedding photos are a bit dark, but they did capture some great moments, and perfect images. I chose the best of about 350 and put them here.
Epril getting some final touches from her mother. Actually, the wedding planner brought in three makeup artists (all transgendered) to handle the wedding party's dressing, hair and makeup. They did a really good job.
My sister, Nancy, Dad and Mom, Neal and Jeanne. My family flew halfway around the world to attend this wedding. I only wish they would have stayed longer than 6 days.
The hillside chapel before the ceremony. It really was a gorgeous view. We rented a large chalet on the hill to the right above this location. It was a bit of a climb up all those stairs though. Off to the left is a great view of the ocean, and back past the front of the chapel is a gorgeous pavillion surrounded by tropical gardens where we had cocktails.
Epril's father, Eddie, and Groomsman Junrey. Epril's father isn't big on smiling for photos, but he really was proud and excited (and just a little nervous) about the day... but that's pretty much how it was for all of us.
Eric, Maid of Honor Susan, and Bob waiting for the ceremony to start. Eric and Bob (along with Stan) flew in from Thailand. My friend Joe was a last-minute cancelation due to a work visa snafu in Thailand. He was missed.
Cocktails served up on the hill before the wedding. There was shrimp, cheese sticks, tempura, as well as an open bar. (Unfortunately, no club soda water could be found for the wedding, so my many vodka-soda drinking guests were a bit let down.)
Best Man Stan, walking down the aisle. (Wedding parties walk in a different order in marriages in The Philippines.) I can't imagine anybody being more excited about being a Best Man than Stan was when I asked him. He took his role in the wedding very seriously, trying several times (at "sober moments" he called them... though decidedly not the case) before the wedding to confirm with me that I was certain I was doing the right thing in marrying Epril. "I have to ask as my duty as Best Man," he said.
Me walking down the aisle with my father and mother. Epril and I wanted to get married in a church originally, but the Catholic Church simply required too much paperwork and class attendance and confirmations and proof of this and that, and there were no Protestant churches within a reasonable distance of Jasaan.
Flower girls Doreen and little Way-Way. In Filipino weddings, they don't hesitate to send out an entire army of little flower girls in advance of the bride, instead of just one girl, like in America.
Ring Bearer Daniel.
Epril walking down from the Chalet overlooking the ocean which we rented for the wedding. (No, I don't know why there are bubbles either. I left out pictures of the smoke machine that went off when Epril walked into the chapel. All I could think of as Epril came out of that cloud of smoke was the way professional wrestlers and football teams burst into an arena through a fog bank to screaming cheers and ear-splitting music... not an entrance I would associate with a solemn and weighty moment... but eh, it didn't really bother me. Besides, Epril was beautiful and a sight to behold, smoke or no smoke.
Here comes the Bride.
The beginning of the ceremony.
Mayor Jardin of Jasaan officiated and gave a speech, while Pastor Lagos offered a prayer and gave quite a nice sermon. (Pastor Lagos wasn't authorized to perform marriages however.) Right during the minute or two that Epril and I were giving our wedding vows, there was a light rain shower... barely a misting. It finished right as we were declared married. It's considered good luck in The Philippines to have a rain shower like this on your wedding day. To have such a shower start right as we started giving our vows, and have it finish right after "I now pronounce you man and wife" must be spectacularly good luck.
Happily married.
Still happily married.
Epril and I, and my Dad and Mom.
The wedding party: (Left to right) Epril's younger sister Ednil, Epril's best friend Marifel, Epril's older sister and Maid of Honor Susan. Epril and me (obviously). Best Man Stan from Thailand, Epril's cousin Junrey, and my friend Mike from The Philippines. Yes... 4 flower girls in total.
Epril and I with the Gontinas family: Ednil, Susan, my Father-in-Law, my Mother-in-Law, younger sister Inday, and then down in front, little sister Dimple, and Susan's daughter, Doreen.
Epril and I with some of our guests. For certain readers (and you'll know who you are), note the fellow in the blue shirt, third from the right: That's Nathan Atienza.
Still happily married, 15 minutes on...
Down the hill to the reception, where we cut our cake(s), had a champagne toast, and ate lots of food.
Then dancing. We hired a local nightclub band which Epril and I adore called The Sunriser Band. They play oldies like it's nobody's business. The most notable part is that their lead singer is a flaming gay boy with makeup and all... but he belts out The Platters, Elvis, and Tom Jones better than those guys could ever do it themselves, and knows how to play to a crowd and entertain better than any front-man I've ever seen.
Epril dancing with Best Man Stan. No... she didn't leave me for him. We're still happily married.
Epril throwing the bouquet, older sister Susan catching it. (That's Stan's girlfriend Diana off to the left side with her hands as far away from a catching effort as possible. I think Stan warned her not to try: He gets excited over any marriage as long as it's not his own.)
In The Philippines, male guests limbo under a ribbon with Epril's garter on it. The first man to touch the garter loses (or wins, depending on your point of view). Epril and I made sure to hold the ribbon nice and high for all the male guests until it was Eric's turn. It was my idea to drop the garter on him, but you can see from the look on Eric's face whom he thought was to blame.
Eric putting the garter on bouquet-catcher, Susan. Eric is extra-shy, but was a great sport and managed to get through the activity.
Epril and I and our parents.
Still happily married.
Then, we danced the rest of the night away.
After the reception, it was off to the nearby village square where Epril and I had hired Daddy Aldrin and Baby Jelly of the local M.O.R. radio station to come and set up a disco. We had a big fireworks display before the party started. We had a fence put up around the entire party site, and then had a separate area fenced off for the wedding guests with chairs, tables, and an open bar. The disco brought out at least 700 people (probably closer to 1,000 with all of the people outside of the fence included), and went on until 2:00 a.m. Epril and I had a dance up on stage in front of the huge crowd, and the disco overall was a huge success, and the security we hired did a good job of making sure there were no problems.
After the disco, of course, it was back to the resort hotel where all of the rooms were filled by the wedding guests from out of town.
All in all, Epril and I couldn't have imagined a better wedding day... and we've been reminding ourselves of that fact pretty much every day since. All of the guests, with some coming from so far away; the picture-perfect wedding ceremony (quite a worry there for a while that it would be far too brief and simple and secular an event); the cocktails and dinner and dancing and wedding games that went off without a hitch; and the fireworks and massive village party after all the rest to top it off.
I hope you enjoy the photos. The memories will last Epril and I a lifetime. Thank you to all who attended, and thank you for all of your well-wishes.
Just a little history lesson on presidential campaigns in order to show you that — contrary to what you might be inclined to believe — if anything, presidential politics is much more clean and civil now than at many (many) points in American history.
Stan has lots of photos of our wedding up on his blog. (Thanks for letting me steal the above photo, Stan.) Epril and I are still waiting for the official wedding photos. In the meantime, you can read/view Stan's posts here:
Okay kids. The E-wife (that would be Epril) and I are finally back home, ready to enjoy the beginnings of our domestic bliss. However, we've been going for a week solid with festivities and entertaining. Both of us are dead on our feet to tell the truth.
However, we've saved the next four days off from work to regroup and revitalize (and open presents), so hopefully (assuming the photos start flowing in from all sources, hint hint) we'll be putting up blog entries of our wedding soon.
Hold tight and check back! Now, we're going to sleep.
It was out to Basamanggas Resort again to do the final planning for the wedding. This time, we brought along the wedding planners. So it was Epril and myself, Epril's mother and Aunty Puring, four people from the wedding planner, and two people from the resort.
We walked around the different areas of the hotel where the wedding would be held: The ceremony itself, cocktail hour, the reception, and then off to the nearby park where we will be having the local celebrity radio deejay (with an opening band playing oldies dance music) put on an outdoor nightclub which the whole village can enjoy.
Basically it was Epril and I walking around pointing out the general layout of things ("some tables here, put the bar here") and little nitpicks ("can you get that waterfall working?").
We then went to the restaurant and ordered all of the little fingerfoods that would be served during cocktails (shrimp, calamari, tempura, and cheese sticks), and then the wedding planners and hotel managers set about figuring the numbers.
It was then, I think, that the wedding planners realized that the cost of the wedding they were putting on, and the price which they charged me for it were much closer together than they were happy with. It was when I started rattling off a list of sodas to bring up to the cocktail hour (150 cokes, a case of Diet Coke, soda water, tonic water...) that they stopped me and said, "You never mentioned that you would need sodas."
So basically because the wedding planners' profit margin got too low, I now have to shell out $100 to pay for the soda at the cocktail hour. Also, I didn't plan for enough chairs and tables at the concert in the park, so in order to double that number, I have to pay out another $20 for that. It's just annoying more than anything. Mostly now I'm just nervous that when the wedding rolls around, I'll be hit with all kinds of "but you didn't ask" surprises: "Excuse me, but why is everybody drinking beer out of bottles and soda out of cans?" "Because you didn't say you wanted glasses."
I missed work this morning, as Epril and I drove out to Jasaan today to meet with the Mayor there, who is going to be marrying us. (Aside story: Catholic church? You need less paperwork to get an American passport than to get a Catholic marriage certificate. Protestant church? None within 20 miles of Jasaan, and no Protestant minister was willing to marry people outside of the 4 walls of his church. Judge? Out of town for the weekend.) Our scheduled meeting with the mayor was unfortunately cancelled, as Hizzoner was still in Manila... couldn't even be reached by telephone.
So, in order to make the trip not a complete waste, we went to the resort hotel where the wedding would be. We found a gorgeous pavillion up on the hill overlooking the ocean and the islands, surrounded by tropical gardens and trees where we would have the ceremony. A nearby little gathering of bamboo nipa huts and shade trees would be the place for the cocktails and chitchat with guests after Epril and I are married. After that, we went down to the restaurant, where Epril and I (and mom and dad and Auntie Puring and Uncle Bob) settled on, ordered, and ate the 5 dishes that will be served at our wedding.
Epril and I then drove back to Cagayan De Oro, with a stop at the wedding planner, who will be joining us for a trip back out to Jasaan on Monday for a look at all the facilities.
When I got home in the early afternoon, the internet was down, and stayed down for 90 minutes. Then, when the internet came back on, I found that my VPN was broken. After 60 minutes working with technical support it was (by sheer luck) discovered that somehow my password had been changed to "password". Complete effing mystery, that.
So by the time I got logged back in to work, it was time to go out again: Epril and I went off to Spooks Friday evening family buffet, where we dropped of wedding invitations to our friends there. My side of the wedding guests (which includes friends that Epril and I have made together) totals 7 couples from Cagayan de Oro, 5 friends from Thailand, an old friend and his wife from Manila, and my mother, father, and sister from America. Epril's side of the wedding guests (which includes her family and old local friends) is... well... a complete mystery to me actually. I've teased her about not inviting enough people, and told her that I'm paying for 150 people regardless of how many show up... so the total had better be close to that. She just smiles and nods her head, and says she'll try.
Epril and I got home at 7:30 and watched Ratatouille on The Disney Channel.
Oh: I finally hooked up the Playstation 3 to the internet yesterday. It has a built-in internet browser as well. So altogether, it's a Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Blu-Ray player, DVD player, and internet terminal... all for $500. Surfing the internet on a 60-inch computer monitor from your comfy couch is definitely cool too.
So, all in all, a rather fruitful, frustrating, involuntary day away from work.
The $85 billion that the federal government spent saving AIG from sinking represents exactly $283 for every man, woman, and child in America. Every man, woman, and child in America was forced to shell out $283 because a private business made very bad business decisions.
It's one thing (although still not acceptable in my eyes) when farmers or airlines are on the verge because they can't compete in the modern world, and the federal government helps them out. It's a completely new level of government funding of poor private business practices and weaknesses though when the federal government saves a private business from it's own stupid mistakes. UPDATE:
Looks like the new price tag is $700 billion... You just spent $2,333 because Wall Street financial tycoons were too greedy. Well, I've been bitching that the $700 billion we've spent so far on the 6-year Iraq war could have been better-spent domestically. Here's my reward.
(And yes... I'm well aware that the alternative not spending $700 billion, and doing nothing instead was likely much worse. Perhaps the 3,000 or 4,000 people who were making $3 million or $4 million per year off of these deals might be "encouraged" to kick in just a little extra instead. What ever happened to The Stupid Tax?)
Written by Bryan (just Bryan) of YouAreDumb.net (the snarkiest website on the internet) regarding The Lady Lynn Forrester De Rothschild, Democrat doyenne, telecom heiress, Hillary supporter, who married a rich English lord several decades her senior, who now is declaring her support for the Republican ticket:
"Oh, you may SAY you're pro-choice, but it sure is easy to support Sarah Palin and lie to yourself that she's a centrist when you're menopausal and the only thing that comes out of your husband's dick is a small cloud of stale Earl Grey powder."
Sometimes, a great insult is a clever double entendre, or a puckish play of words, or a well-conceived witticism to express your dislike for people, deftly using their own smarmy qualities to belittle them. Other times it's just . . . exactly right . . . to go ahead and crudely insult their spouse's genitals. I don't know why this is so. It just is.
For those of you who have been living far from the internet over the past year, Failblog is one of the funniest websites around. It finds examples of... well... "fail" (and "win") from around the world and puts them up for your enjoyment.
About 20 years ago, a friend of the family introduced me to Yo Yo Ma's collaboration with Bobby McFerrin, and I was instantly hooked... primarily on Bobby McFerrin and his voice.
I first discovered the Bulgarian Women's Choir by accident, hanging out at the college radio station one day about 15 years ago listening to promotional tapes that record labels sent in. I've been a fan ever since.
Here's a simple test: Read these 20 reasonable questions that the press would like to ask potential President Sarah Palin. Ask yourself if she has the knowledge and wisdom to actually be able to answer them. Ask yourself if you want this woman as president of your country. Ask yourself if you want this woman thrown into a face-to-face situation with a hostile, cunning or lubricious world leader.
In a broad and long-term sense, would you have responded differently to the attacks of 9/11?
Is Iraq a democracy?
What’s the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?
What is your preferred plan for peace between Israel and Palestine? A two state solution? What about Jerusalem?
How do you feel about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recent visit to Syria? Do you believe the United States should negotiate with leaders like President Bashar al-Assad?
Nearly 40 percent of the world's population lives in China and India. Who are those countries' leaders?
Do you support the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which would lift restrictions on sales of nuclear technology and fuel to India, a country which hasn’t signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty?
Other than more drilling, what steps do you suggest the U.S. take in order to move toward energy independence? Do you believe more investment is needed in alternative energy research? If so, how would you recommend this funding be allocated?
How would you balance concerns over human rights and freedom in China with the United States' growing economic interdependence with that country?
What's more important: securing Russia's cooperation on nuclear proliferation and Iran, or supporting Georgia's NATO bid? If Vladimir Putin called you on the phone and said, "It's one or the other," what would you tell him?
Critique the foreign policy of the last administration. Name its single greatest success, and its most critical failure.
What do you think will be the most defining foreign-policy issue in the next five years?
What role should the United States play in the global effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS? Should it support contraception, or abstinence only?
You've said that the federal government spends too much money. What, in your view, is the appropriate level of spending as a percentage of GDP?
You're an advocate of reducing environmental restrictions on drilling. How much oil needs to be found in the United States before the country achieves energy independence?
What are your picks for the three most enlightening books written on foreign policy in the last five years?
Who among the world's leaders can be listed as the top three friends of the United States and why?
In your opinion, which U.S. president was the most successful world leader and why?
Which U.S. political thinkers, writers, and politicians would you enlist to advise you on matters of foreign policy and why?
Who is the first world leader you'd like to meet with and why?
Ask yourself honestly if you think Joe Biden or Barack Obama (or John McCain) haven't spent a fair portion of their years pondering these questions (and many others) and how to answer them. Ask yourself if you believe Sarah Palin has. It's a fair question.
By the way: It looks like Charlie Gibson, being the first to interview Sarah Palin, may not be tossing her the softball biopic questions that everybody thought he would. Check out this video teaser of the interview. Two questions: First, what does she think of the Bush Doctrine (which gives America the right of anticipatory self defense)? (Summary of the answer: She has no idea what it is, and grasps about in vague generalities until Mr. Gibson pushes her in the right direction.) Second, does she support unilateral American sorties into Waziristan without Pakistani permission or support? (Summary of the answer: She uses general campaign talking points and sound bites in vague generalities that could be used to answer any question regarding specifities and tactics of the war on terror in any country anywhere on the planet.)
Davis says Palin won't give any interviews until she feels "comfortable" giving one. And this morning he added that she wouldn't give any "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."
Sarah Palin could be the President of the United States in four and a half months. We tend to think of this as an abstraction; but it's true. And yet today she's so unprepared and knows so little about the challenges and tasks facing the country that she can't even give a softball interview.
We got all of the spelling errors taken out of the first draft of the wedding invitations today.
In the evening, it was out to Zax, where I hired the world's best wedding band to be the opening act for the M-O-R. deejays.
I love being just floored by talent, and this band definitely did that. I was talking to the lead singer before he went on and said, "You know, with your band and the girls singing... have you ever heard of Boney-M?" (Boney-M is a relatively obscure German pop group from the 1970s.)
"Oh... Rivers of Babylon!"
"Uh..."
"Daddy Cool?"
"Not sure... I just know a song called Rasputin."
"Sure. I've heard of them."
He then went on stage, and the band proceeded to do five (did they even write more songs than that?) songs in a row from Boney-M, including Rasputin... fantastic. And for those of you coming to the wedding, wait until you hear their "Platters medley." Doo-whop will come alive in the jungles of Mindanao.
My predictions over the candidates' vice presidential picks were a little off. Obama didn't pick John Edwards... but the disclosure of Senator Edwards' secret love child with his mistress, well... I certainly can be excused for not seeing that one coming.
I actually got Senator McCain's vice presidential pick correct in a way: I predicted he would pick a woman. I just didn't expect him to pick a completely unknown, vastly unqualified and hyper-psycho-conservative woman. Sheesh.
I thoroughly enjoy listening to McCain's campaign staff explain how this woman, Sarah Palin, has so much "executive experience". They claim that being governor of Alaska makes her more qualified to be President than Obama's vice presidential pick, Joe Biden, with 36 years in the Senate (or even John McCain, apparently, by association). They seem to think that 20 months of governing the 4th-least-populated state in America (fewer people than Memphis, Tennesee) combined with a minor in political science from The University of Idaho is all that a person needs in order to be President of The United States. (I won't even get into the "governing Alaska which is right next to Russia and Canada = more foreign policy experience than Obama" idea some conservatives are trying out.)
Just a thought: Obama's campaign has more people working for it than there are employees of the executive branch of the Alaskan state government. Hell, if you include volunteers, Obama's campaign has more people working for it than the small village of which Sarah Palin was mayor has living in it.
For those of you who are hip and cool enough to get it, I read a comment on another blog that summed up the Republican ticket so perfectly:
"Applicants to the Paramount Motion Picture School", May 1925.I spent a few hours last night looking through this site, Shorpy.com, which is just a collection of old photographs mostly from about 1860 to 1940. It's a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time looking at the people and you know what I noticed? People were really really ugly back at the turn of the 20th century. Rich and poor people alike... everybody was ugly.
Mrs. Raymond Belmont, wife of the famous banker and equestrian (Belmont Park). He didn't marry for looks, obviously. Dec. 1915.I looked at the men and women — well, mostly the women; I'm not a good judge of male beauty — and found them all to be at best average-looking by today's standards. The mill workers and migrant farmers, the debutantes and the actresses, the athletes and the students... all generally unattractive.
Grace Valentine, famous film actress, 1920.But then, oddly enough, in the pictures that started in the 1940's, people became better-looking. The women looked more feminine with softer features. The men seemed better-looking as well. Could modern medicine, access to better nutrition, and (dare I say?) selective breeding have improved/changed our appearances in a century so substantially?
Ruth Malcomson, Miss America, 1924.I suppose it is possible to say that even though I looked through 600 photographs, and examined several thousand faces — and found the majority of them could be considered "homely" — I somehow got a poor sampling of faces from the turn of the century, but I doubt it. Of course, there were a few pretty faces to be seen as well... but none of them so far above average as to be remarkable (note the photo of Miss America here). Mostly, I think it is safe to say that we are definitely and considerably better looking than we were a century ago.
Tonight, Epril and I joined up with the local expats for our friend Bennie's birthday party at Zax. We had such a good time. Epril and I both miss Pattaya sometimes, mostly because CDO can be a little slow, and there are so many things to do in Pattaya. But, nights like tonight, hanging out with all our new friends and having an uproariously good time... laughing until our cheeks got cramps... we don't miss Pattaya that much at all — just our friends there, of course.
