Well, lets see...

The lovely and talented Casey got to spend part of her weekend in the hospital with what were thought to be broken ribs courtesy of a "tussle" in Saturday's game. X-rays said no, just deep contusions meaning that her streak of game appearances is in doubt his week. Like me, she's not real big on the Vicodin Express to Happyland but, as of tonight, I think the all-important "goddamit, that's hurts!" demographic may have pushed Vidodin into the lead so, right about now, she's probably as stoned as she would have been every night had she had gone to her second choice, UC Santa Cruz.

Back here on the mainland, Fenway (seen above modeling a kicky new scarf given to him by the nurses at the vets) seems to have developed a mouth problem. Last night the ever-observant and sniffy mrs tbogg, noted that Fenway's breath had turned wallpaper-peeling awful which is unusual because at his age he's moved somewhere past puppy-breath and into the "breath smells like hot" days. Later in the evening, and by "evening" I mean after we went to bed, he expressed his discomfort by walking on us while we were asleep. A half hour of sleep: walk on my chest. Another forty minutes of napping: stand on my head. Repeat all night long. Discomfort for everyone!

For his part, Beckham kept licking around Fenway's lips/jowls, so we followed his lead (not the licking part) and it was definitely something wrong in the mouth. As with Satchmo, first thing in the morning, off to the vet we went.  Something is wrong, but it couldn't be established exactly what it is, so tomorrow he gets knocked out for a more complete oral exam as well as x-rays. The smart money right now is on an abcessed tooth. Tonight he's zonked out on painkillers and antibiotics and earlier I watched him walk headfirst into some cabinets which was sad/funny, but mostly funny.

Bassets are, by design, sad looking and an unhappy basset puppy with a sore mouth is like a vale of tears made hairy.

I just hope he doesn't need braces.

Now off to bed for me to catch up on some sleep. You'll just have to get your Sarah Palin fix elsewhere like here where we find out that Palin supporters are every bit as stupid as her and have to be shielded from 'gotcha' questions (like "why do you support Sarah Palin?") from the press. For such a disorganized campaign, they sure employ a lot of control freaks...

Quoth the Pantload:

The whole argument ultimately depends on the assumption that Americans are too stupid and racist to make any meaningful distinctions about anything.

That's what we've been saying in a very serious and thoughtful argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care until pretty much everyone said it months ago.

Colombian superstar Shakira says Democrat Barack Obama is the best candidate for president, citing his leadership skills.

In a statement Saturday, the Grammy-winning pop artist said Obama can restore peace and the world's confidence in the United States. Obama faces Republican presidential nominee John McCain in the Nov. 4 election.

Obama said he was honored to receive the singer's endorsement. The Illinois senator praised Shakira as a role model for young Latinas in the U.S. and beyond.

Shakira encouraged U.S. Latinos to vote in November.

The United States "has a profound importance to me, and I think to the whole world as well," she said.

Do it for the world.
Do it for the children.
Do it for Shakira's ass.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden has canceled his campaign appearances Monday and Tuesday after the death of his mother-in-law Sunday.

Biden spokesman David Wade said Bonny Jean Jacobs, the mother of Biden's wife, Jill, died Sunday after a long illness.

Jacobs was 78 and lived in Willow Grove, Pa. Wade described her as a "homemaker and avid gardener with a lifelong love of reading."

It should be noted that, at 78, the late Mrs. Jacobs is only six years older than former prisoner of war John McCain. Now it is entirely unlikely that Mrs. Jacobs spent five and a half years being tortured in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp which might have had some bearing on her untimely death, but we do know that she had the good fortune to live in a country where women outlive men by slightly over five years.

Not that any of the math or actuarial tables mean anything.

Just. Well. You know...

Ever since Ellie May Wasillabilly danced around the issue of whether she ever reads anything outside of housewife porn and the bible she's been making a special effort to prove that she does too read important stuff. First she pointed out that she reads ""The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and The Economist."

I wasn't aware that the Economist carried Marmaduke. Live and learn.

Then she proved that she reads the New York Times by mentioning that they wrote something about that colored fella who is running against McMaverick:

“There is a lot of interest, I guess, in what I read and what I’ve read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago."

Please note the possesive "my copy of today’s New York Times". Subtle.

Now, in an overt attempt to grab the soccer mom vote, she turns to their favorite source of information:

"I was readin' on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day? You'll never believe what the quote was. It was Madeline Albright, the former Secretary of State and UN Ambassador, and Madeline has to say as her quote of the day for Starbucks, now she said it and I didn't, she said, "There's a place in hell reserved for women who don't support other women."

Given her new found appreciation for the written word I, for one, look forward to her warming up the crowds with a few Bazooka Joe jokes.

Oh yah, he's some kinda funny guy with one of his eyes all missin', you betcha'...

Just a couple of guys sitting in a room full of invisible patriots

It seems like only yesterday  (Thursday 8-ish in the evening to be more or less exact) when the ole perfesser was rallying the troops (and by "troops" I mean the 101st Fighting Keyboarders - Culture Rescue Division) to stand up to "the man":

If you want to have a media environment that isn't dominated by the Gwen Ifills and Keith Olbermanns of the world, you need to ensure that other kinds of voices flourish. That means supporting the alternatives with your eyeballs, your subscriptions, your advertiser-patronage (and you could write those advertisers and tell them you're happy that they're supporting that kind of programming, too -- they probably don't get many letters like that, so they'll be noticed) -- basically, your money. Businesses need money to flourish. There's a vast underserved population out there, for news, entertainment, movies, etc., and if people start serving it, the current "mainstream" media won't be so mainstream anymore. So if you're unhappy with current offerings, put your money where your mouth is.

Unfortunately cheapness, laziness, and complacency are the new opiates of the masses (along with Hot Pockets®) and, just like the opportunity to go fight those existential wars in Afraqistan or wherever, the masses chose this weekend to take a pass:

That would be $1.2 million on Friday (we're #9! we're #9!)  in 1639 theatres for $732 per screen. Comparatively a movie about a talking chihuahua (not Nancy Pfotenhauer) took in $7.8 million or $2426 per screen.

A view from the frontlines:

Reporting Back   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

An e-mail: "My husband and I just went to see American Carol. This is a really big deal because my husband has not been to a movie in a theatre since my daughter forced him to see Lord of the Rings, before that, it was Hannah and Her Sisters... So - this was a big, big deal. We went to the 1: 30 show, there was only about 20 people in the theatre, but we all laughed and rolled our eyes.... It was funny in the same way Airplane and Naked Gun. So, I wish more people would see it."

Odd that people are staying away in droves since going to see it since the Most Influential Person Who Has Ever Lived made a special appeal:

This is an effort here by some highly talented, very qualified people, and it's funny. It's a kind of treatment that's true about some oaf like Michael Moore that you'll never see Hollywood make other than this. So if you've got time this weekend, in addition to throwing down a couple bucks -- if you can get credit at the bank to get some out of your ATM. I know we're on the brink of collapse here, but if your ATM is still dispensing cash, go get some money and go see the movie. And while you have a nice night and enjoy yourself, you'll also be supporting some good people. These guys are putting it on the line here. You know, we sit around and ask, "When's Hollywood going to do something? When's Hollywood going to...?" Here's some people that are doing it. It's called An American Carol. You'll laugh yourself silly through a lot of it, and you'll also be making a statement.

So, given the numbers, it looks like conservatives chose to make a "statement" by voting with their feet asses.

Same as it ever was...

Not that they didn't have good reasons.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday accused Democrat Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists" because of his association with a former 1960s radical, stepping up the campaign's effort to portray Obama as unacceptable to American voters.

[...]

Palin told a group of donors at a private airport, "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." She also said, "This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America."

Sarah Palin delighted to extend a warm welcome to Alaska secessionists earlier this year:

(Photo courtesy of Reuters)

Without girls like you,
There'd be no fun,
We'd go to the club and not see anyone.

Without girls like you,
There's no nightlife,
All those men just go home to their wives.

Don't be mad at me,
Cuz you're pushing thirty,
And your old tricks no longer work.

You should have known from the jump,
That you always get dumped,
So dust off your fuck me pumps
- Amy Winehouse

Okay. I read the transcript, watched some excerpts, read some commentary and the conclusion I came to is that people thought Sarah Plain was cute and spunky and adorable... bit not necessarily Vice Presidential material. If she did anything last night, it was to salvage some of her reputation but that's not going to get her and the "First Dude" out of Alaska unless it's to star in a sitcom ( I Love Lucy meets The Beverly Hillbillies). I can't speak for (or like) the folks in Flyoverstan but, as a West Coast Islamoelitist, I'm not particularly charmed by "you betcha's" "doggone it's" and the other "jes folks" expressions that dazzle people like David Broder when they go out on their Pulse of the Nation/Touch A Hillbilly walking tours. You say banana, I say canned corn.

And while Sarah Palin's Momapalooza may continue to draw some crowds, she's the David Blaine of middle class banality, last nights milk and cookies talk with America doesn't look like a game changer and she's not going to have the warm glow of Dick Cheney's satanic foundry to keep her toasty when a chill wind comes roaring down from the north.

Baby please! They're waiting for us on the Lido deck. Don't make a scene...

This is hilarious.

Stephen Spruiell and Andy McCarthy bitching each other out at the Corner:

In somewhat abbreviated form: you start, Stephen:

I also have to say that, for all the flak we gave her, Gwen Ifill did a good job. Of course, it's impossible to know how much said flak put her on notice and influenced the tone of her questions. I don't think this debate was very substantive, but it wasn't a fiasco either.

Andy, you have something to say?

Steve, c'mon. Ifill did not do a good job. She asked straightforward questions and didn't get in the way of the answers. If that satisfies you, I guess that's fine. But it was an unmitigated disgrace for her to be presiding — and she is smart enough to know that, so not stepping aside was a culpable act. Will you be there when the book comes out on inauguration day, commenting, as Ifill rakes it in, that maybe she didn't do such a great job?

And we didn't give her flak. We pointed out the existence of a conflict of interest so blatant no MSM operative would have let anyone other than one of their own get away with it.

Tomorrow, the press will gleefully note that "even Stephen Spruiell of National Review conceded that 'Gwen Ifill did a good job.'" And those of us who argued that the job was about more than asking questions will be painted as hysterions. I don't expect anything different from Ifill's pals, but do we have to help them?

Stephen:

Andy, I've seen nearly all the debates this year, and I've heard some moderators ask some astoundingly bad questions. But Ifill didn't ask any obviously loaded, leading or "gotcha" type questions, and all in all she played it pretty fair. I agree that her behavior leading up to the debate — not informing the debate commission about her book, playing the race card against her critics — was appalling, and I wrote as much, and even the Columbia Journalism Review agreed that she had a conflict of interest. I agree with you on that point. And you agree with me that she asked straightforward questions. So what do we disagree about?

Andy:

Well, Steve, we disagree that she did a good job.  You said she did, I think she did an appalling job.  The job is about more than the asking of the questions.  And the overall context here, which you don't mention, is that the media is in the tank for Obama. 

By putting your blinders on, focusing only on tonight's Q&A, and pronouncing "job well done, Gwen," you have discredited those of us who've protested the unfairness of this Obamedia dominated process in which a Lefty journalist with a financial stake in the outcome of the election was permitted to pose as an objective moderator.  (I'm surprised to have to remind you of this, but the applicable standard is appearance of impropriety — we are not supposed to have to judge Ifill by her line-by-line performance; her stake in the outcome means bias is presumed.) 

By discrediting the Ifill critics as overwrought (which is how, I assume you know, your assessment will be taken), you undermine the argument that the mainstream press is pulling for (and slanting its coverage toward) Obama.  You thus give the media the cover they crave as they continue to engage in brazenly biased reporting — you will be cited henceforth as the wise, reasonable conservative who acknowledges that the press is doing a good job and that those nutty, reactionary right-wingers have nothing to complain about.

Other than that, yes, we're in complete agreement.

Stephen:

For Pete's sake, Andy, I just created a feature for the Media Blog called "In the Tank," and Gwen Ifill was our inaugural inductee! You're acting like I'm out to embarrass Ifill's critics, when I'm one of those critics. I'm not trying to undermine any of the points you, I, or anyone else made about Ifill's conduct prior to tonight's debate. I just commented on her performance as moderator, which was probably influenced (I wrote) by our criticism of her in-the-tankness. Sheesh. 

Andy:

That's great, Steve.  I'm sure the media will call you first to make sure they're accurately representing what you were "trying to" do before they quote you.  After all, when it gets down to brass tacks, they really do a good job.

Oh, snap!

 I know a couple of fellas who won't be sharing a berth, much less a cabin, on the upcoming NRO cruise.