Albany, NY -- Life Imitates Art
John Spencer, who played Vice Presidential candidate Leo McGarry on the West Wing,
died today of a heart attack at the age of 58.
This is pretty devastating... Leo was my favorite character on perhaps my favorite show on TV, and he's gone, just like that.
So, any guesses as to what this means for the show? Since they haven't filmed the election yet, I presume he's going to have to suddenly die, probably of a heart attack. Not creative, but I don't see a way around it. If you have any better ideas, post 'em to the comment thread for this post.
Albany, NY -- Week 15 NFL Picks
K-Hole's taken the first three weeks here, but I'm not doing too badly, at .500.
Tampa Bay (+4½) at New EnglandJB: Pats
K-Hole: Pats
Kansas City (+3) at NY GiantsJB: Giants
K-Hole: KC
Denver (-9) at BuffaloJB: Buffalo
K-Hole: Denver
Pittsburgh (-3) at MinnesotaJB: Steelers
K-Hole: Vikings
Atlanta (+3) at ChicagoJB: Chicago
K-Hole: Atlanta
Dallas (+3) at WashingtonJB: Cowboys
K-Hole: Skins
Seattle (-7) at TennesseeJB: Seattle
K-Hole: Seattle
San Francisco (+15) at JacksonvilleJB: Niners
K-Hole: Jacksonville
Carolina (-7½) at New OrleansJB: Panthers
K-Hole: Panthers
Cincinnati (-7) at DetroitJB: Bengals
K-Hole: Bengals
Green Bay (+3) at BaltimoreJB: Packers
K-Hole: Packers
New York Jets (+8) at MiamiJB: Jets
K-Hole: Fins
Philadelphia (+3½) at St. LouisJB: Rams
K-Hole: Eagles
Cleveland (+3) at OaklandJB: Raiders
K-Hole: Raiders
Arizona (-1) at HoustonJB: Cardinals
K-Hole: Cardinals
Binghamton, NY -- Looking back
Two years ago the Bush administration said that we would have two million jobs created each year for the duration of his time in office.
Of course that never came to be, and we instead had closer to one million jobs created in 2004 and a similar number this past year. Many claim this is a result of foreigners coming in and taking jobs domestically and/or our jobs moving overseas.
Cue the "They took our jeeeooobs!" chant.
Unfortunately the solution to our job shortage isn't that easy. As we fall further behind the rest of the world in industrial efficiency, we're going to continue to lose manufacturing jobs as companies shut down domestically and relocate in East Asia and Latin America. The answer is also not about shutting down industrial unions -- often blamed for the high wage our manufacturing workers receive relative to the rest of the world. Rather the solution lies in retraining our manufacturing workforce.
When GM shut down several plants in Michigan fifteen years ago, nearly everyone was unable to find a new job because they were not properly trained for anything other than auto production. Rather than dealing with the problem as it was starting, we ignored it. And every year we continue to shed manufacturing jobs. Meanwhile, the jobs we lose to outsourcing each year actually help out our economy. For example, by eliminating the tariff barriers we used to have on Chinese textiles, the price of clothing fell. Accounting for inflation, a shirt that cost $25 in 1970 costs about $5 today (in 1970 dollars). Cheaper goods means more spending. And more spending means the economy will grow and thus new jobs will be created. That's where the job retraining programs come in so that our existing workforce will fit the new jobs that are created.
Albany, NY -- Finally, Torture is Bad
After weeks of wrangling, President Bush
has finally accepted Senator John McCain's call against inhuman treatment of prisoners.
Good news, but should this have even taken one minute of hesitation?
Albany, NY -- Arrested Development Saved by Showtime?
According to Yahoo,
Showtime might pick up Fox's cancelled series Arrested Development.
I'd write more, but I'm too busy watching Arrested Development!
New York, NY -- Greetings from Osama's Homo-Bortion-Pot and Commie Jizz-porium
From Crooks and Liars, thanks Daniel and Alighieri, Jon Stewart
fires a return salvo at Bill O'Reilly in the "War Against Christmas."
By the way, did you know that you can't screenshot a WMV? Neither did I, until now.
New York, NY -- More Katrina Woes in Louisiana
Another report from Monroe, Lousiana, courtesy of CableMonkey, who lives there:
Evacuees living in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers at Double K Estates trailer park still do not have access to regular transportation, although they have lived at the site for more than a month.
Former Metairie resident Patty Roderick moved into her trailer after the Community Residential Center at the former State Farm building closed at the end of October. Roderick drove a taxi in Jefferson and Orleans parishes but has not been able to find employment since moving to Monroe. Roderick said she has spoken with employers, but without a vehicle or access to a bus, she cannot guarantee a regular ride to work.Click here to read on. Suffice it to say it's not very flattering to FEMA.
New York, NY -- Week 14 NFL Results
Not so hot this week; both K-Hole and I were under .500.
JB: 6-9-1
K-Hole: 7-8-1
Our overall record is now:
JB: 23-23-2
K-Hole: 27-19-2
So, K-Hole's now up $30 on me. I've got three weeks left to make it up. Can it be done?
New York, NY -- Daily Show Suffers a Loss
I missed the Daily Show last night (got into my hotel right at 11:30 and caught Colbert), but apparently
they aired a rerun because:
An employee of the Comedy Central program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" has committed suicide, leading the network to suspend production of Monday night's episode of the program, a spokesman confirmed.
Bill Clarey, 25, took his own life over the weekend, according to the network. A former "Daily Show" intern, Clarey also worked as a receptionist at the program's offices in New York.
Will Jon mention this tonight?
(Thanks to Ted)
New York, NY -- Tasini a Yid?
According to his bio, Hillary Clinton's progressive challenger
Jonathan Tasini is:
In 1971, Jonathan moved to Israel where he spent seven years, completing high school and two years studying psychology and philosophy at Tel Aviv University. In Israel, he was involved in the Histradut, the country’s labor federation’s political activities, as well as the early flowering of a serious debate about peace.Good for his chances here in the boroughs, no?
New York, NY -- Another Reason to Hate Credit Card Companies
Credit card companies are
sending scads of solicitations to people who are newly bankrupt. Here's a case of capitalism gone completely evil:
Bankers defend the practice of soliciting the newly bankrupt, saying it gives them a chance to build a new credit history.
"The people coming out of bankruptcy need an opportunity to get back on their feet," said Laura Fisher, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association, the industry's largest trade group.
"If you take away the opportunity to get credit," Ms. Fisher said, "it's like taking away the want ads from a job-seeker."Yes. That's right. The way to help the bankrupt is to give them credit cards. I remember learning that there's an Old Testament passage which forbids putting stumbling blocks in front of the blind that I think would apply here.
New York, NY -- A Disappointing, Albeit Tasty, Drive
From the smallest hotel room I've ever stayed in (at $250 per), at the Comfort Inn in W. 35th...
'member how I
took NY Route 17 all the way from I-84 across the southern tier on my way to Toronto? Well, driving to Manhattan tonight, I decided to take it the opposite way, as I was under the impression that going east, it went all the way to NYC. Well, sadly, it doesn't. It really
more or less ends at Thruway Exit 16. Well, just to spite the bastards at the NYS DOT, I took NJ Route 17 down instead. So there.
The highlight of the trip was dinner at
Miss Lucy's Kitchen in Saugerties. It's only a couple of minutes off of the Thruway at Exit 20. I had filet mignon topped with stilton cheese and it was juicy and cheesy and oh so delicious!
And speaking of delicious, check out the
new search engine del.icio.us. I haven't had much time to play with it, but according to Ted, "Its a search engine but different than Google. It only picks up those related topics that have had the most hits by other people... in other words, it narrows the field dramatically."
