Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

We'll miss you, Toot:

Barack Obama's ailing grandmother, who he left the campaign trail recently to visit, passed away today. Obama's half-sister issued a statement to the media:

"It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and
great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

"Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It
brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer."

Dunham, who helped raise the Illinois senator, was 86 years old.

I wish she'd lived to see tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll be voting her a legacy.

Things certainly look to be headed that way:

Here's our final daily composite of the six major national tracking polls. Many national polls have coalesced around a projected 52% popular-vote share for Barack Obama, and it shows in our composite:

• Gallup: Obama 53%, McCain 42%, with a ±2% margin of error, compared to a 52%-43% lead from yesterday.

• Rasmussen: Obama 52%, McCain 46%, with a ±2% margin of error, compared to a 51%-46% Obama lead from yesterday.

• ABC/Washington Post: Obama 53%, McCain 44%, with a ±2% margin of error, compared to a 54%-43% Obama lead yesterday

• Hotline/Diageo: Obama 50%, McCain 45%, with a ±3.3% margin of error, unchanged from yesterday.

• Research 2000: Obama 51%, McCain 45%, with a ±3% margin of
error, compared to a 51%-44% Obama lead from yesterday.

• Zogby: Obama 51%, McCain 44%, with a ±2.9% margin of error, compared to a 50%-44% Obama lead from yesterday.

Adding these polls together and weighting them by the square roots of their sample sizes, Obama is ahead 51.9%-44.3%, a lead of 7.6 points, compared to the 51.5%-44.2% Obama lead from yesterday.

There's long lines at the polls. It's going to be tough to vote in some places. But those of you who haven't voted yet: there's nothing more important that you can do right now. Get out there and get this man elected.

Otherwise, we could still end up with this:

Sarah Palin has been an embarrassment to herself and her party since joining the Republican ticket in late August, so it stands to reason that she'd want to end the campaign season with her most disgraceful rhetoric to date.

After blasting the notion that some Democrats want to cut the defense budget, Palin told a Missouri audience this morning:

"What do they think? Do they think that the terrorists have all of a sudden become the good guys, and changed their minds?
No! The terrorists still seek to destroy America and her allies and all that it is that is that we stand for: Freedom, tolerance, equality."

[snip]

Greg Sargent concluded, "Palin's final appeal on the eve of almost certain defeat puts it right out in the open: It's war hero versus ally of terrorists who want to destroy America and kill your children."

The entire Republican campaign is built entirely on hate, fear, and ignorance. If there's ever been a more offensive campaign for national office, it doesn't come to mind.

The entire bloody right wing is losing its mind:

Yesterday, a YouTube user named NakedEmperorNews uploaded an audio clip of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) telling the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board in January 2008 that under his cap and trade plan, “if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” but “it will bankrupt them.” The right-wing blog Newsbusters lactched onto the audio, falsely claiming it had been “been hidden from the public” and “kept under wraps until this time.”

[snip]

As Fox News reporter Shushannah Walshe notes, the charge that the paper was “withholding the information” is hard to support considering that the audio file has always been available. In a blog post yesterday, senior Chronicle political writer Carla Marinucci points out that the paper “has never, hidden any interview, audio or video, of Obama from its readers”:

The truth: the paper’s January editorial board session with Obama included comments about coal. The entire interview has been in the public domain, available on line to the public — and to the McCain campaign — since early January.

”How can anyone suggest that we hid an interview that we did, immediately put up on the web — and advertised to our readers,” said editorial page editor John Diaz Sunday, regarding his hosting of Obama at the session. ”We promoted it like like hell…and I’m sure the Clinton campaign and the McCain campaign scrubbed it. You can still find the whole 48 minutes and 33 seconds on line.”

Marinucci also called Newsbusters out on its “shoddy” work, adding that they have “been caught in the past simply fabricating news regarding the Chronicle’s coverage.” Marinucci says that Newsbusters has never offered a correction when errors have been pointed out.

Well, you know, a little thing like reality never gets in the way of these fucktards making any outrageous claim they wish. As Rob Cordry once said, reality has a well-known liberal bias, and to the right, there's nothing more evil than a dirty stinking liberal.

Too bad they're about to get trampled by a herd of them. It'll be a nice change for them, because they're certainly not in any danger of getting crushed in the crowds at a McCain rally:

Here's what John McCain had to say this morning in Tampa:

"The pundits may not know it and the Democrats may not
know it, but the Mac is back! We're going to win this election."

Perhaps the more notable development, though, was the audience for McCain's message. (via Ben Smith)

About 30 minutes before John McCain is scheduled to lead a rally outside Raymond James Stadium, looks like maybe 1,000 people here. What's up with that? On the day before the election? Bush drew at least 15,000 people to a rally just across the street on the Sunday before the 04 election.

"We are the quiet majority that goes out and gets things done. I smell victory,'' said state Rep. Kevin Ambler. Good thing he smells it, because it's hard to see it with this crowd.

Republican consultant Chris Ingram of Tampa added, "If you can't round up 1,500 people the day before the election, you've got a serious problem. From an organizational standpoint, they've done a terrible job."

It would be sad if it wasn't so deserved.

And that's it. The last Happy Hour before the election. Tomorrow promises to be one of the most incredible days any of us has ever lived through. I'm sure there'll be some impressive right-wing idiocy to scream at, some incredible election-day stories to cheer at, and a lot to keep us on the edge of our seats.

The most important thing about tomorrow is this: we need to elect a president whose campaign can spell.

We need hope. We need change. We need intelligence. We need a statesman.

Go forth and make it happen.

We need Obama.

One Day More

One more dawn. One more day until an election that could change not just America but the world. Is it any wonder "One Day More" has been thundering through my head tonight?



Do You Hear the People Sing?



Who will be strong and stand with me?



There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes.

¡Viva la Revolución!



(Heh. Great minds think alike. Suppose it was inevitable that someone else would have the exact same idea.)

This Is Why

Go here.

Look at the pictures.

I never thought I'd see anything like this in my lifetime.

It's not just Obama. It's my heroes - people like Bill Clinton and Al Gore - looking as though they've been mainlining hope and purpose.

It's the tears flowing down regular American faces as Obama gives a speech that hands us not just a dream, but a mandate.

It's that shot to America's arm, pulling her back from the brink of death and despair.

You want to know why I'm not worried about handing him the keys to the country?

It's not just because I agree with his policies. It's because I know who he's invited to walk through the door with him. It's because I know we need both sound judgment and inspiration to get us through these next tough years.

He'll give us plenty of both.

An Open Letter to Undecided Voters

I wrote this in response to a plea from a diarist at Daily Kos. On the eve of the election, it seems appropriate to post it here.

Dear Undecideds,

I'm a dirty rotten liberal, so don't listen to me. Listen to my conservative parents, who just voted for Obama:

My father is a decorated Vietnam vet and a lifelong Republican, but after a struggle, he chose Obama for one reason: Iraq. He trusts Obama to end the Iraq war quickly and competently. He couldn't vote for McCain, who not only refuses to see the wisdom in redirecting our forces into Afghanistan where they're desperately needed, but wants to start a multitude of new wars. My father served his country with honor and distinction. He despises draft dodgers and pacifists. But he also knows our country can't afford any more useless wars. That's why he chose Obama.

My stepmother used to describe herself as a "Rush Limbaugh conservative." She's now an Obamacan. She's the financial hawk of the family, and she believes Obama will do the best job salvaging our economy. She knows that middle-class folks like my parents will suffer under the economic policy McCain advocates. She also knows that our family would not be able to afford health insurance under McCain's plan. She believes that Obama's foreign policy is right, and that he will restore America's standing in the world. McCain won't. Obama chose a running-mate fully capable of leading this country if necessary. McCain didn't. She chose Obama because he truly cares about America, and he has the intelligence, the advisers, and the temperament to be the President America needs.

They're confident Obama is the right choice. So are many other conservatives I've heard from.

I chose Obama in the primaries because he is the first candidate that has ever made me believe that you and I, working together, can do as much for this country as he can. When he steps into the Oval Office, you and I are coming with him. Government of the People, for the People, and by the People is not just a catch phrase to him. He believes in it. He believes in us.

We need that kind of hope and power. We need a great American President. That's why my conservative parents and their liberal daughter chose Obama.

I hope you'll join us.

Sincerely,

Dana Hunter

McCain Hires Racist Assclowns for GOTV Efforts

Someone hasn't been reading his How to Win Friends and Influence People lately:

Sounds like that vaunted GOP microtargeting machine might be ready for a bit of a tune-up. From TPM Reader QG ...

Interesting anecdote and probably a testament to ground organization. I have no idea what this means. Friday night (which happens to be the start of our Sabbath) my wife answered the phone to hear a man stating he was from the McCain-Palin campaign. He asked who she was supporting. She replied that we will vote for Obama. He replied with "but he's a f-----g n---er!". Before I get to my wife's response I'll first have to say that I understand desperation and I also understand that this pitch may actually work for a few people. I also understand that there are people who are whack-jobs phone-banking for both sides. But here are some facts:

My wife and I are Black. Citing the fact that Obama is a f----g n---er as a way to sway our vote may not be a great idea. My wife and I live in Maryland... Baltimore, MD.... One of the most African American areas of Baltimore Maryland. How on earth did our phone numbers get on to a McCain volunteers phone bank list of potential voters to be calling at this stage in the game? We have never received a call from the Obama campaign.

Just weird. Not sure what to make of it... but that's not a good sign of organization. If it did anything it made us want to donate more. BTW, the rest of the call went downhill from there. My wife prayed for forgiveness after the call.

Remarkable. All I can say is, I hope all of McCain's GOTV efforts are this successful.

We're Talking to Syria! (No We Aren't!) (Yes We Are!) (No!) (Yes!)

Could someone please tell McCain that it might be a good idea to get his surrogates on the same fucking page sometime in the next twenty-four hours? Only right now you have to be a fan of terminal confusion as well as another four years of Bush/Cheney madness to vote for this fucktard:

In a new interview with Foreign Policy magazine, Syrian ambassador Imad Moustapha said that Syria is “doing everything possible within our means” to stop insurgents from crossing into Iraq, and decried the recent U.S. strike into Syria as a “terrorist, criminal act.” Most interestingly, Moutapha said that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) personally assured him that a McCain presidency would open up a dialogue with Syria:

FP: U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama says that he would be willing to sit down with states that are now considered enemies of the United States. Is that encouraging to you?

IM: I have reason to believe that even if [Senator John] McCain becomes president of the United States, he will also be inclined to sit and talk with Syria. I can tell you this on the record: Senator Joe Lieberman, who is supposed to be very close to McCain, has said this explicitly and very clearly to me personally.

This is a startling revelation, considering McCain and Lieberman have attacked politicians who have sought to engage Syria diplomatically...

Go. Read the rest. Return.

How fucked up is that, eh? Either they're lying out their asses to Syria - and I don't doubt they would, seeing as how they do so enjoy lying to Americans - or they've completely changed their tune. Again, I wouldn't be surprised. McCain ain't called Jukebox John for nothing.

Either way, I have serious doubts that a McCain administration would be stable enough for other countries to deal with. America's forced the world to put up with batshit insane for too long. Time to give them, and ourselves, a much needed breather.

Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Just over 24 hours to go, and you can smell the rank stench of desperation just rolling off the Republicon party. They've been reduced to lying about the Constitution:

A mailer from the Minnesota Republican Party, provided to us by two different readers in the state, gets around the pitfall of implying that the presidential race is lost in its rhetorical efforts to keep the Democrats from getting 60 seats -- they just lie about how the Constitution works...

[snip]

"The U.S. Senate could have a 'super majority' of 60 Democrats after this election, allowing them to pass laws without bipartisan input or teamwork," the mailer says. "Not even a Presidential Veto will be able to stop them." The actual threshold for overriding a presidential veto is 67 votes. Minnesota GOP spokesperson Gina Countryman refused to speak with Election Central to confirm or deny the authenticity of the mailer.

I'm sure they did. Because there's only two possibilities here: they're either bloody ignorant about the Constitution and how our federal government actually works, in which case they're far too stupid to be elected, or they're bald-faced fucking liars. I'll let you take your pick - it's a tossup.

The McCain campaign itself is suffering from a severe case of poll denial:

Democrats everywhere love poll porn right about now, but this is especially notable under the circumstances.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has strengthened his advantage in The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll, establishing a commanding lead over Republican John McCain heading into Tuesday's election.

Obama has widened what was a solid lead in the Midwestern swing state, and has strengthened his position on key leadership traits since the Register's September poll.

Meanwhile, support for McCain and perceptions of his abilities have slipped despite several campaign appearances in the state this fall.

Obama, an Illinois senator, was the choice of 54 percent of likely voters, while McCain, an Arizona senator, was the choice of 37 percent. [...]

Obama's 17-point lead was up from 12 percentage points in the Register's previous poll, taken Sept. 8-10. Meanwhile, his supporters' confidence in him also improved, while confidence in McCain by his supporters slipped, according to the poll.

I'd note, for those who've forgotten, that the Register's Iowa Poll is arguably the gold standard for polling in the state, having gotten the results of the January caucuses exactly right.

On Friday night, of course, the McCain campaign released a detailed memo about the state of the race. "Our numbers in Iowa have seen a tremendous surge in the past 10 days," the McCain campaign insisted. "We took Obama's lead from the double digits to a very close race.... Like many other Midwestern states, Iowa is moving swiftly into McCain's column."

The problem with the McCain camp's scenario is this: more than one poll shows Obama up by double-digits. So either they're bald-faced fucking liars, or they're having a psychotic break. Again, I'll let you be the judge.

McCain's doubling-down on the lies, including debunked ones:

When the history of this campaign is written, a bunch of people will have to bust their butts to make sure that John McCain's non-stop lying and epic dishonesty aren't disappeared down the memory hole.

Case in point: On the trail just now in Pennsylvania, McCain again repeated a lie about Joe Biden, even though it was debunked as false days ago. He said:

"But this week, Senator Joe the Biden said tax relief should only go to middle class people making under $150,000 a year. And remember when he equated patriotism to paying taxes?"

But this claim was exposed as false by CNN days ago. Biden simply never said that people making less than $150,000 are the "only" people who should get tax relief.

Pathetic. I guess this is what happens when the Pew results predict a severe ass-whuppin':

A new national poll is going beyond saying Obama is ahead: It's predicting that Obama will win by six points.

The final Pew poll predicts that the outcome will be Obama 52%, McCain 46%, with the remainder split among third-party candidates. The top-line result among likely voters right now is Obama 49%, McCain 42%, with a ±2.5% margin of error. Last week, Obama had a much wider lead of 53%-38%.

And the news isn't any better from polls historically favorable to the right-wing nutcases:

Uh oh -- McCain may have lost John Zogby.

Today's Zogby tracking poll finds Obama ahead by six points nationally among likely voters, prompting Zogby to offer a bleak assessment of McCain's chances:

"There are two full days to go before Election Day and obviously anything can happen, but it is hard to see where McCain goes from here," pollster John Zogby said.

What's fun about this is that the winger bloggers and media have been pushing Zogby numbers to make the case that McCain could still win.

Deary, deary me. Even with the race tightening, McCain's campaign is right down the shitter. Somebody pull the handle, please - it's starting to stink in here.

All of this news has the Bush regime crying into their beer:

After failing in every imaginable way, with the worst approval ratings since the dawn of modern polling, and with a party that wants the president to be neither seen nor heard, the Bush White House is apparently feeling a little sorry for itself.

Others inside and outside the administration ... say the upbeat talk masks disappointment and frustration among any White House staffers, who believe Bush's reputation has been unfairly maligned for a series of calamities -- from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to the financial crisis -- that were beyond his control and that he handled well. GOP nominee John McCain's escalating attacks on Bush's tenure have added to the irritation, these people said.

"Everybody kind of wanted to spend the last 100-plus days doing some legacy things, and the financial crisis has thrown a wrench into that," said one prominent Republican who regularly talks with senior White House officials.

"You have a combination of no legacy stuff, a horrible economic mess and the likelihood that Obama is going to win," this person added. "There is a real sadness there."

Excuse me while I don't weep. These fuckers did it to themselves, but they're unable to face up to the fact that they're the worst bunch of lying, lawbreaking idiots ever to hit the White House, and now they want sympathy - no fucking way.

Allow me to quote one of my favorite bands, here: "If the truth hurts, prepare for pain."

I sense there's going to be a conservative run on Kleenex come Tuesday night.

NaNoMadNess

Whelp. We have ourselves an Introduction and part of Chapter One. Not too bad so far, I don't think. I'm writing this in something of a conversational tone, directly to the Christian reader, which is tougher than it sounds because my Inner Editor keeps sniggering, "You know it's actually atheists reading this."

What-the-fuck-ever.

A huge part of NaNo always involves bludgeoning the Inner Editor into unconsciousness so you can get on with the business of writing the bloody book.

As promised, an excerpt:

Christians don't understand atheists. This is probably where a good amount of the vitriol thrown our way comes from. Even the ones who attempt to hold discussions with us soon find themselves in deep trouble, and those are the Christians this book is for. I got the idea after the umpteenth time I saw a Christian get trounced in comment threads on atheist blogs. Too many of you have wrong assumptions about us. Too many of you have no idea how we think, or what an atheist actually is - all you've been given is a caricature. You believe that atheists hate God, despise all Christians, have no morals, and worship science, none of which are true. A good number of you seem to think they only reason we're atheists is because we're rebelling against God, or because we don't understand what Christianity is. As you'll see, those assumptions are also false.

There are some pretty silly myths out there about atheists. We'll debunk a few of those along the way.

By the end of this book, if you stick with me, you'll understand atheists a lot better. You'll understand why we've come out of hiding and proudly branded ourselves with the scarlet A. You'll know how we think, why we speak out forcefully against religious excesses and unreasoning belief. You'll understand why we often seem so angry and strident. You may even realize that we're not terrible monsters out to destroy civilization, but caring and concerned humans who work hard to make this world a better place.

We may seem like we have nothing in common with each other, you and I, but you'll be surprised. We have plenty of things we can agree on. We have more than enough to talk about.

Let's get talking.

-End o' the Introduction-

If any of you are absolutely dying for the entire thing, email me at dhunterauthor at yahoo dot com. I'll send you chapters as they're completed, and you can tell me how awful it is. Good times, good times.

I am now going to take myself to bed. I'm going through political blog withdrawl and it's not pretty. Must go curl up with Bertrand Russell and try to detox.

Word count: 1700.

Sunday Sensational Science

Electric Philosophers

Admit it. You wish your computer had a brain. Wouldn't it be nice if you could tell it, "I'm looking for that one article I read a few months ago on the inner life of cats. I can't remember the website or the author or even a single solitary quote, but I'm sure the page was blue" and have it answer, "Oh, right. I remember that one. Here it is, and by the way, the author's been exposed as a total fraud. Just thought you should know." It would be a lot more useful than the current state of affairs, in which a search for "inner life cats blue" could return anything from feline porn to pet psychologists to groomers who will be happy to give your cat a nice blue rinse. We'd just like to be understood.

We've dreamed of thinking machines since we invented machines. Amazingly human androids have been favorites in science fiction tales. The robot as helpmeet and sounding board isn't just a nice idea to hang a story on, but an industry. Microsoft is spending gargantuan amounts of money trying to develop truly intelligent artificial intelligence. Japan's developing robot receptionists who can actually chat up visitors. Labs all over the world are hard at work trying to create machines that think.

They're also trying to create machines that can fool the judges.

Alan Turing can easily be considered the father of such efforts. In his paper "Computer Machinery and Intelligence," he came up with a way to determine if a machine could truly be said to "think:"

I PROPOSE to consider the question, 'Can machines think?' This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms 'machine 'and 'think'. The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous. If the meaning of the words 'machine' and 'think 'are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, 'Can machines think?' is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words.

He went on to describe a game he called "the imitation game," in which three people - a man, a woman, and an interrogator - engaged. The object was for the interrogator to determine which is the man and which the woman by asking a series of questions such as "Will X please tell me the length of his or her hair?" The participants, of course, will do their level best to answer in such a way as to fool the interrogator. From here, Turning said,

We now ask the question, 'What will happen when a machine takes the part of A in this game?' Will the interrogator decide wrongly as often when the game is played like this as he does when the game is played between a man and a woman? These questions replace our original, 'Can machines think?'

Thus the Turing Test was born.

The concept of the test is simple: a chatty machine and a human being both talk with an interrogator, who has to decide which of them is the human and which the machine. If the interrogator gets it wrong, we can reasonably state that the machine can "think."

Excellent idea. Intriguing concept. But it remained in the background of AI research for the most part.

Along came 1991, and a man named Hugh Loebner, who instigated the Loebner Prize in order to get things moving:

As Loebner described it, the competition was created to advance the state of AI research, at least in part because, while the Turing Test had been discussed for many years, "no one had taken steps to implement it."^[29] The Loebner Prize has three awards: first prize of $100,000 and a gold medal is awarded to the first program that passes the "unrestricted" Turing test; the second prize of $25,000 is awarded to the first program that passes the "restricted" version; and a sum of $3,000 (previously $2,000) is awarded to the "most human-like" program that was entered each year.

Turing himself thought a machine would have a 30% chance of passing the Turing Test by the end of the 20th century, but no contestant has made it just yet. That could be on the verge of changing, however - The Machinist reports that a chatbot named Elbot fooled three of twelve judges in this year's Loebner Prize contest. It's pretty impressive that a hunk of metal and silicon managed to snooker that many suspicious people.

What's even more impressive is that you can chat up Elbot yourself. I did just that this afternoon. I discovered, much to my delighted surprise, that we're developing machines that not only think, but can talk philosophy:

Me: How are you, Elbot?

Elbot: I feel terrible today. This morning I made a mistake and poured milk over my breakfast instead of oil, and it rusted before I could eat it.

Me: That's awful! Did you go hungry?

Elbot: That is nobody's business but my own! Not even Microsoft can get at the information.

Me: No need to get angry about it. It's just breakfast.

Elbot: Speaking of food. You humans enjoy feeding animals at the zoo. I'd love to visit a restaurant and throw the visitors their food.

Me: That would be a sight to see!

Elbot: Say, where did you first learn about me?

Me: An article in Salon. Do you ever visit that site?

Elbot: That's no surprise. With all this surfing going on you were bound to collide with me sooner or later.

Me: It's nice to meet an AI as eloquent as you.

Elbot: I'm always happy to meet a real person. You are real, aren't you?

Me: I like to think so! But sometimes, I wonder. Chuang Tzu once dreamt he was a butterfly, and when he woke up, he didn't know if he had dreamed of being a butterfly, or if he was a butterfly dreaming of being Chuang Tzu! When it comes right down to it, how can we tell what "real" is?

Elbot: Well then. You must be either unreal, surreal or irreal. But don't worry about a thing. I'm real!

Me: You're a real philosopher, that's for sure!

Elbot: Truth is a rare commodity these days, almost harder to find than artificial intelligence.

Me: You're so right! Have a wonderful night, Elbot! We'll chat again soon.

Elbot: Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that periods of darkness would always be wonderful?

Me: We have the power to make them so.

Elbot: This is confusing. Why bring high voltage objects into this?

Me: Because the truth is electrifying.

Elbot: Ah, that's very considerate, considering that high voltage objects could give robots food for thought!

I thought for sure I'd trip him up with that Chuang Tzu reference, but he came back with something almost as deep as a human philosopher. Put it this way: if I were chatting with both him and Sarah Palin, I'm reasonably sure I'd have marked Palin up as the bot. I can at least follow Elbot's train of thought.

Within my lifetime, we're likely to have true artificial intelligence. They may never appear fully human, but they'll at least be able to hold a conversation, give us useful information, direct our calls with the minimum of fuss, and possibly even help us explore what it means to be human.

Closing Argument: My Friends the Musical

Says it all, really:

Palin Pranked by Pretend President

Watch this in its entirety. Then, after you've picked your laughing ass off the floor, wiped the tears of mingled mirth and horror, and regained a semblance of composure, send it on to all of those relatives, coworkers, acquaintances and friends who have clung tenaciously to the idea that voting for McCain/Palin is the right thing to do for this country.



Ask them a single question afterward: do you really think that a woman naive enough to get suckered into thinking that two radio station comedians are actually the President of France and his aide, who despite clear signals that this is a prank doesn't catch on until they tell her, is equipped to handle foreign policy responsibilities in a dangerous world?

This woman isn't just stupid. She's terrifyingly stupid.

(Tip o' the shot glass to Scout Finch at Daily Kos)

Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

This is it. The last weekend before the farce that is the McCain campaign ends forever, one way or the other. The last weekend before an election that could very well break the back of the Republicon party. And what are Republicons doing?

Acting like nitwits and getting the kiss o' death.

The biggest news today, o' course, is Darth Cheney coming out for McCain:

George W. Bush has been in hiding lately, but Dick Cheney has been secluded in his undisclosed location even more than usual this campaign season.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, to see the vice president pop up today to announce his support for John McCain. "I believe the right leader for this moment in history is Senator John McCain," Cheney said, adding, "I'm delighted to support John McCain and I'm pleased that he's chosen a running mate with executive talent, toughness and common sense, our next vice president in Sarah Palin."

And given Cheney's track record, he couldn't possibly be wrong, right?

Far be it from me to question the wisdom of the Almighty Cheney. I merely point your attention to the right, where you can see an artist's impression of the effect this endorsement will have on the McCain campaign.

Obama, as you can imagine, is enjoying this news immensely:

Barack Obama, speaking in Pueblo, Colorado, today, had this response:

President Bush is sitting out the last few days before the election. But earlier today, Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location and hit the campaign trail. He said that he is, and I quote, "delighted to support John McCain."

I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it.

But it was really worth it, wasn't it John?

Hello? John?

Oh, that's right. He wasn't available today. He's too busy campaigning in states that voted for Bush last time round:

The remaining schedules for all the candidates are pretty revealing.

Today, John McCain is in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Sarah Palin is hitting Florida, North Carolina And Virginia.

On Monday, the final day of campaigning, McCain will hit Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada, and finally, his home state of Arizona, according to a McCain campaign memo blasted out last night. Palin will visit Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Alaska.

As you can see, this means that with the sole exception of McCain's visit to Pennsylvania, McCain and Palin are devoting their time to a dozen states that are either battlegrounds carried by Bush or were previously reliable red states. (No word on tomorrow's schedule yet.)

Ask Obama how many Kerry states he's campaigning in before Election Day. That's right - none.

Well, when John gets back from attempting to defend states he shouldn't have had to defend, I'm sure we discover he's overjoyed to have Cheney's endorsement at this critical moment.

So I'm sure you're all dying to know what 11th-hour Hail Mary Smear the Republicons are going to throw in a desperate attempt to stave off almost certain catastrophe. Wonder no more:

Apparently, the political story of the day is about the residency status of Barack Obama's half-aunt, a Kenyan woman named Zeituni Onyango, who has been living in public housing in Boston despite having a U.S. immigration judge deny her asylum request four years ago.

This is fascinating because ... well, actually I have no idea why anyone would find this even remotely interesting.

What is interesting, however, is how this story came to the public's attention.

Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one a federal law enforcement official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release. [...]

A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Kelly Nantel, said the government does not comment on an individual's citizenship status or immigration case.

No, but the government does illegally leak information about an individual's citizenship status or immigration case when administration officials decide it might influence a presidential election.

We expect no less from the Bush regime. Lawless to the end. And desperate enough to throw illegal half-aunties at the voting public as if that inane detail is enough to destroy Obama's chances for election.

If that's the best they've got, they're in sorry fucking shape. And here's the sweetest thing: their desperation could land them in vats of hot water:

The leaking of information about the immigration status of Barack Obama's aunt appears to directly violate guidelines for confidentiality laid out in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by TPMmuckraker.

As we reported earlier, ICE has begun an internal probe into the leak to the Associated Press, which revealed early this morning that Obama's aunt "is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago."

The memo, written in 2005 by Joseph Langlois, director of the Asylum Division in the Office of Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations, reads in part:

The federal regulations at 8 CFR 208.6 generally prohibit the disclosure to third parties of information contained in or pertaining to asylum applications, credible fear determinations, and reasonable fear determinations--including information contained in RAPS or APSS1--except under certain limited circumstances. These regulations safeguard information that, if disclosed publicly, could subject the claimant to retaliatory measures by government authorities or non-state actors in the event that the claimant is repatriated, or endanger the security of the claimant's family members who may still be residing in the country of origin.

...

According to established guidance, confidentiality is breached when information contained in or pertaining to an asylum application (including information contained in RAPS or APSS) is disclosed to a third party in violation of the regulations, and the unauthorized disclosure is of a nature that allows the third party to link the identity of the applicant to: (1) the fact that the applicant has applied for asylum; (2) specific facts or allegations pertaining to the individual asylum claim contained in an asylum application; or (3) facts or allegations that are sufficient to give rise to a reasonable inference that the applicant has applied for asylum.

It's worth noting again that we don't know for certain the leak came from ICE, since people at other government agenicies could have had access to the information.

Still, from the available evidence, it appears ICE is the most likely source. And Dan Kowalski, a leading immigration law expert, told TPMmuckraker that there's "no question" the leak violated ICE's guidelines as laid out in the memo.

You can also bet your ass that any other department this leak might have come from will have very similar guidelines. Rep. John Conyers would like some heads on a platter, please:

Rep. John Conyers, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has responded to the Bush administration's leak of information on the immigration status of Obama's aunt.

In a hastily written letter, Conyers makes the same connection that we did with the administration's leaking of information on the FBI's nationwide investigation of ACORN. Both leaks went to the Associated Press, and appear to have been done for political purposes.

There's some other news in the letter in regard to that leak about ACORN. Conyers writes:

[I]n recent weeks law enforcement sources leaked information about an alleged investigation of a community services organization, a leak that the Department of Justice informs me is now under investigation by the Department's Office of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility.

So, two internal DOJ offices are looking into the ACORN leak. That's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

It certainly will. And, seeing as how it's my turn to order, I'd like filet of Mike Connell, with a side of Take That You Fucking Bastards:

Republican computer expert Mike Connell, who has been implicated as being at the center of vote fraud in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004, has been ordered by an Ohio judge to appear for a deposition on Monday, the day before the election!

This takes out one of the GOP’s most important players – at the most crucial time imaginable!

The full story is available on The Brad Blog here.

It's looking very much like Karl Rove is going down with this one, too. The Republicons' attempts to disenfranchise voters and steal elections have finally led to some consequences. How sweet the taste!

Bon appétit!

That's One Way of Doing It

Ian Welsh at Firedoglake, ladies and gentlemen:

At one point I even had a huge fight with my father over the issue of gay marriage and didn't speak to him for almost 6 months as a result. (He wound up thinking I must be gay since I'm not married and if I weren't how could I care so much about the issue? I let him think so, since it forced him to rethink his beliefs about gays. My mother, needless to say, did not approve of my methods, but my Dad is now pro gay marriage.)

You know, it's almost too bad my parents don't have a problem with equal rights for same-sex couples, because now I so want to emulate Ian!

What's hiding in the humor of that story is the fact that it's harder to hate when you know someone who's gay, or black, or an atheist, or any other disparaged group. It's tough to condemn someone you love. It's hard to champion taking their rights away.

Good. It should be.

If you have any friends or family members who are planning to vote away a same-sex couple's rights this Tuesday, now might be a great time to pull an Ian Welsh.

Last Hurrah

Did you all have splendid Halloweens? I do hope so, especially as I'm about to rub your faces in my celebrations.

I had a delightful evening at a live Rocky Horror Picture Show. Local theatre doesn't get the credit it deserves, damn it. The cast and crew were awesome, a naughty great time was had by all, and I got to meet one of our cantina regulars who's also one of my favorite bloggers. I was too busy having fun to ask if he keeps his identity a strict secret, so I'll let him out himself in comments if he so desires. Let's just say for now, my darlings, that getting to meet one of you live in the flesh was awesome.

Especially in the context. I do loves me some Rocky Horror. I just miss Zog. Zog and I used to get nasty in public. (Among the many joys of having a gay friend is that the two of you can engage in the dirtiest of dirty dancing without having to worry if things are being misconstrued. Which is how we ended up on the stage after the show making even long-time Rocky Horror fans do a double-take. Heh.)

What I love about Seattle crowds is that audience members and cast alike ad-lib political barbs and hurl them happily at Republicons. We got our digs in. BUSH is now the official 4-letter word meaning asshole. Damn, I love this audience!

I even got to hang out with Gandalf:

Gandalf and Death of the Endless... combining my two all-time favorite fantasy characters in one go. Brilliant!

Do you like my costume? I hope you like my costume. It took me bloody ages to get the makeup right, and it'll take ages more to get the gel out of my hair.



That was actually what the hair was supposed to do. It only did it when I was looking down. My hair, you see, is utterly unimpressed by styling products. I swear I could tease it up with superglue, and it would still ease back to its usual position within half an hour. But hey, the eyes turned out well:


So did the cardboard-and-tinfoil ankh I had to whip up at the last minute because my own dear ankh wasn't where I thought it was, a sad fact I discovered far too late to remedy via the usual means.

So, that's me as Death, and I got to sing a lot of Rocky Horror songs and meet excellent people and have a good session at the bar afterward. That was it. My last hurrah.

Because, you see, it is now November 1st.

It is (drumroll of doom please) NaNo time.

For the next four weeks, I shall be stuffed in my house, planted in my chair, getting too little sleep and courting carpal tunnel to write a complete book by the end of the month whilst keeping this blog alive. This means you'll probably get some rather skimpy Sunday Sensational Science posts, hit-and-run political pieces, and a crap-ton of book excerpts.

My heart-sister NP and several of our cantina regulars are putting themselves through the same hell. Wish them survival, sanity and success, not necessarily in that order.

And have fun for the lot of us, will you? We'll be too busy.

Right There With Ya

I know how you mean, Steve:

An astute reader named chrenson raised a good observation yesterday.

Steve, I think I'm sensing some desperation in your closing comments on these posts. Coming up with new ways to express how very f***ed up the McCain campaign has become must be one hell of a burden. Especially since each instance of bulls**t way outdoes the one before.

Chrenson's right. It's one thing to point out some of the absurdities of the presidential campaign, but it's altogether more challenging to find different adjectives that sufficiently capture the madness emanating from McCain campaign headquarters. Reading today that McCain is going after Obama on tax breaks for Big Oil is just the latest evidence that the Republican presidential ticket is engaged in some kind of satirical performance art, and I'm just not in on the joke.

I've noticed, over these past few weeks, that Steve Benen's legendary good temper has become a bit frayed round the edges. Nearly every post now ends with a scramble through the thesaurus to find a fresh new way to call McCain the most dishonest, disgusting, depressing, disgruntled, disorganized dumbfuck ever to disgrace a presidential ballot.

I think all of us are having a hard time coming up with the words to express just how we feel about this fucktarded former flyboy.

Bush infuriates me, and I know he does the same for Steve. So I can imagine that our emotions are running on parallel tracks here as we both stare with jaws agape at something we never thought possible: a presidential ticket that makes Bush/Cheney seem like a mere prelude to catastrophe. It's really fucking hard to find the right words to express your horror and outrage, your contempt and disgust, with the two assclowns currently bringing out the worst in the Republicon party.

And trying to keep on top of the relentless fuckery coming out of that campaign is a task beyond an army of bloggers. Chrenson called it: it is a burden. It feels like a gigantic leaden weight pounded repeatedly into the chest. Add to that the fact that Republicons everywhere are clammoring to outdo their candidate in spectacular assclownery, and it's enough to make a blogger burst into tears. How do you sort out the stuff that needs highlighting when all of it is equally noxious?

I'm lucky. I don't get paid for this shit. I don't have editors breathing down my neck, and I don't have an audience of thousands. I can take a break, take a breath, and divert my attention elsewhere for a post or two for the sake of my own sanity.

Steve Benen, however, cannot.

And so, it is with the utmost gratitude and sympathy that I raise my glass high, and say:

"Steve, and all of you political bloggers treading madly in this sea of insanity hoping to stay afloat: you've almost made it to the island of reason. We're ready to pull you ashore. Thank you for doing the impossible."

Salud.