[July 15, 2000]
She's even next to me on the Blog Elements. Creepy. W
Observations from our night at the Brickskeller:
- Don is so whipped, and for good reason. SpiffyGirl is indeed spiffy, sexy, smart and sassy. To top it all off – she’s a Republican. :::swoon::: We all know who wears the spiked dog-collar in that couple! (SpiffyGirl coming soon to a web browser near you)
- John only reveals his face (by shaving) maybe once a year. It’s not as frightening as you might expect from someone who just might be prone to lab-borne mutations.
- Fred is a mental volcano, lying dormant for long periods of time, then erupting with something clever and funny when least expected.
- Lyn and Steve drank no tequila, but the day will come.
- Kevin is easy to elude.
- Pets.com sock puppets are a big hit in bars – the table next to us brought theirs, and let us play with it for a bit. I’m kicking myself for not bringing my camera.
- A bar with an 850-beer menu just cries out for some kind of database.
Gore gets Salon's Lie of the Week award for his remarks before the NAACP this week. Pandering? Color me shocked. W
Governor Bush must have done a decent job in Texas, since he has a FIFTY (five-zero) point lead in polls there:
In Texas, Bush led Gore by 50 points, 71 percent to 20 percent and again Nader seemed to have little appeal.
Thanks to Kevin for the link. W
Oh, the tales we have to tell from last night.... by this afternoon, I promise.. W
Your coffee is hot. Your tobacco causes lung cancer. Your jury has run amok. I would be surprised if this verdict doesn't get significantly trimmed on appeal. To get a feel for the size of this verdict, $145 billion is about one-half of the U.S. Defense budget, $272 billion, in 1997. W
So who's the PR genius at the FBI who decided to name it Carnivore? Some underly-macho pre-teen programmer at DOJ must been projecting his insecurity with that one. Why not just call it Predator, or Inturder, or Invader? In fact, this is so badly named, I'm starting to think it's a red herring for something REALLY bad the FBI's cooked up, code name: Fluffy Bunny. W
[July 14, 2000]
In DC? Join us tonight, 8:00pm, at the Brickskeller Inn. W
Thanks in part to Schyler, I get a ton of hits for Jessica Beil searches. What would happen if I mentioned Anna Kournikova? Britney Spears? Russell Crowe? Darva Conger? Would I suffer for being such a naked hit slut? W
Thanks to TeamGOP.com for the links below - they're always a great source for GOP headlines. W
I suspect that Mr. Hoffa is just trying to start a bidding war by attending the GOP convention - there's no doubt he'll follow up with the Dem convention. Why the hell are we letting the Dems get the last word again?? W
Sure we all know it's not going to happen... but what if? Players choose Watts as 'Veepstakes' winner- July 12, 2000 W
[July 13, 2000]
Once again, the Veepstakes illustrate just how badly the Dems' bench is depleted this cycle. USA Today reports that:
Although no final choice has been made, Gore confidants say Florida Sen. Bob Graham and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry have emerged among the finalists.
Also, Rep. Dick Gephardt has been playing coy, fueling speculation that he's in the running as well. Why these choices are good news for the Republican ticket:
- Sen. Kerry adds little to the ticket. If Gore isn't winning Massachusetts without him, he's not winning. His nationwide name recognition is low, and half of that is confusion with the better Senator Kerrey, Bob of Nebraska.
- Dick Gephardt might be able to help Gore pull out of his tailspin in Missouri, but would clearly be a bone thrown to the unions, who are threatening to break Nader's way. Picking Gephardt, though, is like snipping the wrong wire to defuse the bomb. Gore and Gephardt reportedly loathe each other, and that tension is the last thing the Democratic ticket needs. Republican activists, on the other hand, are cackling with glee at the prospect of a Gore/Gephardt ticket. Besides decapitating the Dems' effort to retake Congress, a Gephardt candidacy will provide the RNC and the Bush campaign with miles of video footage of Gephardt blasting Gore. The GOP would reap all the benefits of going negative while getting none of the blame.
- Bob Graham, two years ago, was the 800-pound gorilla of Florida politics. But then he decided not to run against Jeb Bush for governor. While Gore despareately needs to pick up Florida to win the white House, it's not at all clear that picking Graham will seal the deal with popular governor Bush mobilizing the troops. Besides electoral concerns, Graham is past his prime as a campaigner, has low national visibility, and is personally so low-key that he may further sap the life out of this ticket. He's the best pick of the three, but that's not saying much.
Of course, there's still hope that Gore will screw this up as badly as he has the rest of this campaign. I can't wait to see what kind of damage he'll do to himself. W
But Fred, it makes perfect sense for Lars to hang out with Orrin. After all, they're both musicians. W
Bryant Gumbel is an idiot and CBS reeks of hypocrisy. W
By some harmonic convergence of legal knowledge, today's bar review lecture was on domestic relations, in which I leanred that the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a fit of progressivity, allows cousins to marry. So Bryan, you may not need to go to Hell if you win her affections, you just might need to move here.
And yes, I know I promised not to discuss the bar, but this seemed particularly pertinent. W
Katie Holmes snatched Elian! W
[July 12, 2000]
Ok, really and for good this time. Netscape tamed. Same conditions apply. W
Via Q: Arctic Mars habitat faces setback - shades of Kim Stanley Robinson! (the other trilogy I tackled this year) W
Hide the booze and lock up your daughters! DC area bloggers will be gathering this Friday night. W
[July 11, 2000]
I think I've killed all the Netscape bugaboos in the CSS. Please yell at me if they're still there. W
e-pimpin' again, after some time off:
- Cruel Intentions, the movie; and
- the BarBri bar review course
Enjoy, and thanks for the pocket change. W
Lyn and Steve have arrived. Both seem very nice in person; we'll see how that holds up after a few tequila shots. W
Despite that nick and I share an affiliation with the purple, they must have changed the secret language since I graduated, because I cannot for the life of me understand this cryptic dude. W
[July 10, 2000]
Quoth Morton:
What Gore doesn't say -- and Bush should -- is that the Democrat's plan would put the federal government in charge of drug pricing and coverage decisions, almost certainly inhibiting lifesaving medical research and innovation.
'zactly! W
Just ran across this today - last fall, reknowned liberal legal scholar Laurence Tribe released a new edition of his Constitutional Law treatise in which he asserts that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual, not collective, right. This has, of course, angered many other liberal scholars who view his shift as a betrayal. Here's the actual quote, as cited in the brief of ACADEMICS FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT, filed in U.S. v. Emerson, in the Fifth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals:
Rather the amendment achieves its central purpose by assuring that the federal government may not disarm individual citizens without some unusually strong justification consistent with the authority of the states to organize their own militias. That assurance in turn is provided through recognizing a right (admittedly of uncertain scope) on the part of individuals to possess and use firearms in the defense of themselves and their homes--not a right to hunt for game, quite clearly, and certainly not a right to employ firearms to commit aggressive acts against other persons--a right that directly limits action by Congress or by the Executive Branch and may well, in addition, be among the privileges or immunities of United States citizens protected by § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment against state or local government action.
It's scary - this is the second time in three months I've found myself agreeing with Professor Tribe. I wonder which one of us is getting smarter? W
[July 9, 2000]
Jenn is half right: The Gators are not "good" football. Y'all know the rest. W
I am very bitter about Netscape's inability to render CSS properly. W
I have mixed feelings about last night's show. The venue, T. T. Reynolds, is intimate in the manner of a rectal exam - you can practically hear the snap of the rubber glove as you pay the cover charge. The bar is built into an old rowhouse that is much deeper than it is wide, with the stage in the center, facing the side wall. This means there's about fifteen feet between the stage and the back wall, and anyone listening to the band has to press up against each other along that wall - the constant flow of wait staff into the adjacent kitchen prevents anyone from actually getting next to the stage. In July this configuration means a loud, hot, crowded, unconfortable experience.
Of course, there are advantages to standing less than ten feet from the stage - my buddy took advantage of our position to actually hand Mary a can of Natty Bo during "Blue Skies over Dundalk." Mary, needless to say, was very appreciative. Despite the shortcomings of the venue, and the fact that she went on a full two hours later than promised, Mary rocked the house with just about every song from both albums. The recent addition of a new lead guitarist, known only as "Dave," allowed Mary to focus more on charming the audience than fussing with the guitar - hopefully, the addition of Dave will allow slightly more complex songwriting in the future. W
