Sunday, February 25, 2007

Is he experienced?!?

Watch the clip below and then stop wondering if Obama has enough foreign policy experience to win the White House.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Values

This is the second time in two weeks that Andrew Sullivan has driven me bat shit crazy.

Before heading to work this morning, I read this post and it really pissed me off. I tried not to think about it at all today, but found myself still bothered by it, so now I just need to vent.

Sully writes:
Personal responsibility is also one of them. When I think of a gay person who lives responsibly, saves his or her money, goes to church, contributes to charity and settles down in a stable relationship, I think: conservative. When such a couple wants to get married, I think: conservative. When such a person decides to serve his country in the military, I think: conservative.


Remove, if you will, the "gay conservatives" focus of the original post and examine the rubbish left behind. The implied meaning is that, whenever he thinks of the opposite of conservatism...say it with me now...what's the word...ah, yes...liberalism, he envisions a group of people out of control and utterly reckless...a collection of unpatriotic, fornicating heathens who are unfamiliar with the concepts of monogamy (or personal finance).

The values that Sullivan attempts to claim in the name of conservatism are values that many (most?) Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, strive for. But, no...liberals and Democrats couldn't do things like serve in the military , or have lasting, committed marriages, or be charitable with their wealth.

This is dreck of the worst sort by a person who is capable of far better...or perhaps I'm giving too much credit to Mr. Sullivan here. This is the same person who (still) proudly boasts of his involvement in printing extended excerpts from Charles Murry's odious work, The Bell Curve in the pages of The New Republic. I keep hoping he'll elevate the conversation, but he keeps letting me down.

To further sully the discourse -pun fully intended- Sullivan (who seems to have take a recent liking to smearing entire groups of people..."pc liberals" here), acts shocked that someone else might react to his snark with indignation.

Seriously...what the hell is going on here?

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Monday night TV blogging

I figure that since I watch both 24 and Heroes, I need to start running down the recent developments.

Heroes:
Great episode. Peter is finally starting to get control over his powers (which are considerable, when you examine what he's absorbed so far: flight, telekinesis, regeneration, premonition, invisibility). Good to see him start to become a bit of a bad ass instead of a pushover.

Interesting to see that Hiro seems to have gotten his powers back (under duress...maybe they never left at all?), but a bummer that he seems to be parting ways with Ando.

Claire is starting to push back against her dad's deceptions and this is the second time in recent weeks we've seen Mr. Bennett lose control of a situation (first there was Sylar breaking out of prison and going after his wife, now this). Looks like things get worse for him next week when Parkman and Radioactive Man (and the random Israeli chick?) look to get some answers.

Mohindar is a pretty dim bulb for such a smart guy. In the last two weeks, Sylar has totally taken two new powers from people he's murdered with Mohindar in the immediate vicinity. It's going to be interesting to see if Sylar can control the power he acquired last night (the ability to hear practically anything, including heartbeats).

Well, so much for Simone, huh? Nice shot Isaac!

Also, it was nice to NOT see any of the Nikki/Micha/D.L. arc. Let's just figure out what the hell is wrong with Nikki/Jessica and move on, ok?

24
OMFG...CHARLES LOGAN WTFBBQFTW!

Monday, February 19, 2007

Last King of Scotland review

Quality flick. Every review that I've seen hits at least one nail on the head; the movie really hinges on Forrest Whitaker's Idi Amin, and he's spectacular.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Banging the (war) drums...loudly

So, the President today said he knows that the Iranian government is supplying the insurgents in Iraq with armor-piercing weapons. Just like we knew about the WMD's? Just like we knew that we'd be greeted as liberators by the Iraqis?

Seriously...this country doesn't want a new war (over 60% of the country doesn't even want us in Iraq any more...not to even mention Afghanistan).

This is lunacy. George Bush has zero credibility and can not be trusted to lead a competent war effort. The public has to stop this now.

Hang'em High

Since when did it become acceptable to use the editorial pages of influential American newspaers to call for the execution of congressmen?

Pressing the reset button

Since they couldn't get it right in Iraq, they're going to give it another go in Iran. Make sure to read the linked story from Vanity Fair...it's an eye-opener.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Swamped

Things are crazy right now, but I hope to be back to something resembling a regular posting schedule soon.

In the meantime, Writer's Block by Peter Bjorn & John and The Postmarks self-titled album are helping me retain my sanity.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Friday, February 09, 2007

Congrats to the 22 Fillmore

Winner of the "Worst MUNI Line" contest run by SFist.

Noise Pop 2007

Teh Awesome.

I got tickets for The Changes show on March 3 at the Rickshaw Stop. Should be solid.

I'd love to see the French Kicks at Slim's, but the tickets are pretty much gone.

She's leaving on a jet-plane

The Washington Times (no stranger to making baseless claims against liberals and Democrats) ran a story this week indicating that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) inquired about the use of a military plane for trips with her staff back to her home in San Francisco. Unsurprisingly, this set of the right wing echo chamber (H/T Talking Points Memo):
DOBBS: Lisa, let me see if I've got this right. She wants a plane that accommodates 42 people, private stateroom. And the reason is because she wants to be able to go nonstop from Washington to the West Coast? My goodness, she could have done that in the plane that Hastert was using (italics added).

SYLVESTER: That's exactly correct, Lou. You've got that. It would be 42 people, and clearly she won't be the only one on this plane. She wants to have members of the congressional delegation. And her critics will say, look, this is a very nice perk that she can share with her colleagues and use as leverage, should she need to.

DOBBS: Well, it's really a fascinating thing: 42. She could take a circus with her, for crying out loud. All right, thank you very much, Lisa Sylvester.


The interesting thing about this story is that...it's not true. Think Progress has the goods here. Basically, the Sergent at Arms of the House inquired about the possibility of military transport for Pelosi (former House speaker Denny Hassert had access to a military plane; the consequences of living in post-9/11 America) and a larger plane was needed for Pelosi since she would be traveling non-stop from D.C. to San Francisco...just a little bit further than the trip from D.C. to Chicago.

Never let a little fact checking stand in the way of a sensational story.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Strong Beer Month

I didn't know San Francisco had one, but I support this venture wholeheartedly!

Monday, February 05, 2007

12 steps will set him free

Gavin to get treatment for alcohol addiction.

Vote for the Worst Muni Line!

SFist is now taking votes for the worst MUNI line. The finalists:
38
22
30
19
J Church

I've had considerable experience with the 22, the 30, and the J. They're all bad, but for different reasons (the 22 - crowded, smelly, takes forever; the 30 - mostly just crowded; the J - never around).

If forced to select one of those, it would be the 22 (which I thankfully haven't had to ride in quite some time). I'm picking the 38 to win the whole thing though.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

7 x 7 Eat + Drink Awards

7 x 7 just released the results of their first annual reader poll and while some of the choices make sense (Best Pre-Theater: Jardiniere; Best SF Classic: Tadich Grill), there's some evidence that the reader base for 7 x 7 needs to broaden its horizons. Selections I would contest:

Best Burger:
Reader selection - Barney's
My selections: Street, Balboa Cafe

I would easily nominate the burgers at Street and Balboa Cafe as being better than Barney's. Street's burger is perfect: nicely seasoned and juicy. The burger is served on a baguette at Balboa, which is a nice touch.

Best Pizza:
Reader selection - Little Star
My selection - Paxti's

Of the three deep dish joints in the Bay Area that I've had, my personal favorite is Paxti's in Hayes Valley. It's not that Little Star is bad (it's not). It's just that Paxti's pizza is just more of what I expect out of Chicago style pizza: the slices are bigger, there's more toppings and sauce...it just feels like a more authentic experience to me.

Best Mexican:
Reader selection: Mamacita.
My selection - Maya

For upscale Mexican, my money is on Maya.

Best Vietnamese: Reader selection: Slanted Door
My selection: Bong Su

This is probably a little blasphemous, but I dined at newcomer Bong Su during Dine about Town last month and it was fantastic. The space is beautiful, the food was very good, and it's not quite the scene that you'll get at the Slanted Door.

Best Desserts
Reader selection: Citizen Cake
My selection: Tartine Bakery

Don't take my word for it, read the glowing review of Tartine from last week's New York Times travel section.

Queen Mary 2 docking in S.F.



This is going to be pretty cool, especially since I should be able to see it from my apartment.

Super Bowl XLI

I'm taking the Monsters of the Midway.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Asleep at the switch?

I don't like writing this, and it may just be early in the day so folks haven't gotten around to it yet, but in light of the Gavin Newsom scandal, the left blogosphere has been VERY quiet to date. I would imagine many sites would be having a field day if it were Rudy G. who was at the center of a scandal like this.

Can't look the other way, folks.

Update: Here comes the light brigade...The Plank, The Left Coaster and Christopher Hayes weigh in.

The post in which our mayor does something trite

Gavin...really? Your secretary who just happened to be married to your campaign manager?

Update: More from SFist.