Coincidence?

Speaking of David Icke, a thought occurred to me while watching the Presidential debate the other night. In Icke's book, he makes several claims about the shape-shifting fourth-dimensional reptilians that have infiltrated our planed and control our government (no, really). But, in making all these claims, he never actually proves anything.

John McCain and Sarah Palin are using the same strategy in their campaign. Every time Palin responds to a policy-related question, she replies that McCain is a 'maverick' and that they will take on the Washington establishment. When McCain is asked what he would do as president about a given issue, he talks on and on about how he will 'work across the aisle.' Neither one of the ever says what they would actually do about anything.

I'm not sure what this means, but it can't be good.

Ummm...

Good lord. What sort of country is this?

Videos from With Leather and The Postmen.

A Little Off the Top 04/17/2008

I've been neglecting my link dump lately, so let's get right to it:

Slate has an interesting look at game theory as it applies to dinner party guests. It turns out, ladies, that I'm getting more desirable with age. Better get me while you still can...

UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law has declined to fire John Yoo, best known for authoring a Justice Department memo justifying the US military's use of torture in Iraq. Though this isn't the place I'dve chosen to make a stand, in some ways it's nice to see the alma mater standing up to the left for once. When I was on campus, events featuring even marginally conservative speakers were often shut down due to protest and general liberal outrage.

Apparently Charlie Hustle wasn't a very good gambler. The Sports Economist provides a link to a break down of Pete Rose's bets.

Last but not least, California Golden Blogs has a mini-breakdown of some of the differences in academic standards between Cal and UCLA.

That should keep y'all busy for a while. A quick shout out to the Golden Bears Men's Baseball team, currently 23-9, and ranked 8th in this weeks Baseball America poll.

Mikey B., we hardly knew ye...

This is getting dangerously close to being old news (and perhaps it already is), but Michael Bloomberg officially withdrew from the race he was never officially in. Count me among the nine people who are sorry to see him go. Not that America was ready to elect a short, Jewish billionaire as president of the United States. But still...

I don't pay much attention to NYC politics. As long as the subways are on time and relatively clean, I don't particularly care (although I do sometimes wonder exactly they're doing with all the city taxes I pay). But Bloomberg always struck me as a great mayor for the city, a confident technocrat who wasn't afraid to call in competent help when confronted with an issue he didn't know much about.

He has a great populist touch, giving out free hot chocolate and sleds to kids during our recent snow storm.

And, most importantly for me, Bloomberg isn't bogged down in partisanship like so many of our politicians. Hell, the man only chose the Republican party because he saw a clearer route to the mayoral nomination. He's not afraid to cross the aisle, to transcend petty Democratic/Republican squabbles, to do what is best for the city.

Now that the wheat has separated from the chaff, we're left with three very competent, very qualified candidates, none of whom I'm particularly excited about. Was I excited about a President Bloomberg? That's probably pushing it. But I do think he possesses the combination of experience, independence and transcendence that we need in our next executive-in-chief. It felt like much less of a compromise, whereas now I'll spend the next eight months trying to distinguish between three ok choices.

Makes me wonder what might have been...