Four posts for Mike Scott

I have been derelict in my blogging. The other night I had all these ideas for posts and I left Firefox open with something like 25 tabs open with interesting links to discuss sometime in the future. Ok, so I have finally gotten around to updating "the blog." Thanks to Mike Scott and an Anonymous Michigan State fan for reminding me that people actually read this blog sometimes.

At this point, my raison d'etre for this blog is a jumbly mix... on the one hand I want to be informative and capture the zeitgeist... on the other hand I just think something is brilliant or hilarious and therefore want to share the joy of discovery. So here goes:

1) David Brooks. I was talking with a friend of mine about one of my favorite syndicated columnists... David Brooks. He is really good about framing complex issues in understandable and apt ways. Sometimes his generalizations are too broad, and I disagree with some of his positions, but overall he makes me think and I appreciate his ability to boil down the issues. He is pithy. Check out his wikipedia article ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brooks_%28journalist%29 ) and his articles on NYT ( link ) if they ask you for a login name get somone else's at bugmenot

2) Videos. Two brilliant parody videos from collegehumor.com
--> Linkin Park cliche video parody... brilliant.
--> Minesweeper: the movie... also brilliant.

3) Presidential election 2008 Dash For Cash. I am closely following this election. My theory is that due to McCain-Feingold finance reform bill, small donations of money by "the little guy" like you and me have a lot of sway. The Federal limit that any one individual can give is $2300, so politicians are going to be depending on a lot more small donations. If one million people each gave $10 that's ten million dollars. Check out this news article for a (IMHO) well thought out opinion on the value of money to the POTUS 2008 election. Don't wait until October to start paying attention... even better, I recommend giving money to the candidate of your choice. Read this article for more ... http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23040314-26397,00.html

4) POTUS 2008 redux. see below for the websites and wikipedia articles on various candidates. Yes, I am a dork, but I think that having all this information in one place could be valuable

a. My Descriptions. (alpha order to convey neutrality)

--> Rudy Guiliani -- 911 Mayor, ruled NYC with an iron fist
--> Mike Huckabee -- Baptist Preacher, Populist Arkansas Governer, and Rock Bassist
--> John McCain -- War Hero Maverick
--> Mitt Romney -- Mormon Harvard MBA, Massachusetts Governor, Olympics savior from a Michigan political family
--> Fred Thompson -- Watergate Lawyer turned Actor turned Senator. Pithy/Lazy/Floppy-faced "Consistent Conservative"
--> Ron Paul -- Tech-savvy Libertarian Kook

--> Hillary Clinton - well-connected She-Bill, one term senator promotes universal health care
--> John Edwards - North Carolina populist with a passion for the poor; hates corporations
--> Barack Obama - Chicago union organizer, one-term senator, and optimist who thinks we can change if we do this together for the future.


b. Campaign Websites
--> Rudy Guiliani -- http://www.joinrudy2008.com/
--> Mike Huckabee -- http://www.mikehuckabee.com/
--> John McCain -- http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=gorganic
--> Mitt Romney -- http://www.mittromney.com/
--> Fred Thompson -- http://www.fred08.com/
--> Ron Paul -- http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

--> Hillary Clinton -- http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
--> John Edwards -- http://www.johnedwards.com/splash/
--> Barack Obama -- http://www.barackobama.com/

c. Wikipedia

--> Rudy Guiliani -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani
--> Mike Huckabee -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee
--> John McCain -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain
--> Mitt Romney -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney
--> Fred Thompson -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Thompson
--> Ron Paul -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Paul

--> Hillary Clinton -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_Clinton
--> John Edwards -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edwards
--> Barack Obama -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Ok I know I said four posts but here is number five... who's counting?

5) Blogs, and the word Hustings. Virginia has a particularly strong political blogging community. ( http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4040). Also the word hustings is awesome. If you are cool, you will read this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustings)