Perspective on Dean

In 1992, Bill Clinton:

1. Lost the first 10 primaries/caucuses until Georgia in March
2. Wasn’t sealed up as the real front-runner until June
3. Beat King George I in the November Election

‘Nuff said.

West Needs Earlier Primaries

Predictably, Kerry has won Washington, but more interesting is the rest of the results:

Obviously, the “left” coast isn’t like the rest of America. Were California (the largest state in terms of population and delegates) or even Washington allowed to vote earlier, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Let’s face it, and I think few will argue here, Kerry isn’t winning because he’s so fantastic, he’s winning because of the “safe vote” factor present in middle-of-the-road states like Iowa, and the friggin’ endless — and entirely premature — media attention on “Dean’s Downfall” following those early primaries.

All things considered, Dean’s showing in WA is respectable. Let’s see how Michigan shapes up. I suspect Dean won’t do so well there.

Last Stand in Cheeseville

The Dean camp sent around an email this morning proclaiming Wisconsin as a do-or-die primary and begging for a whopping $200. (What happened to the $100 revolution?) The goal is $700k by Sunday, and amazingly they’ve nearly got $300k already.

I like Dean, but I’m afraid it may be over. It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with him, and it’s got everything to do with the Dems singularly focused on getting Bush out of office. Kerry’s about as exciting as watching moss grow on a rock, but voters are playing out the hypothetical matchup between Dem-X vs. Bush and then casting their votes. Dean seems volatile, and I’m not talking about his energy or “the Dean scream,” but that for which he deserves the most credit: a grassroots surge in attention to this election. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this scares people. Too many images of dirty hippies and tree huggers, perhaps. In a society resistant to change, Kerry is predictable and staid.

I’m hoping Dean does win a few states. He’s second in delegates, and the longer this plays out the less chance there is of whomever the nominee is peaking too early. Furthermore, he’s less of a liability as Bush seems to be doing a damn good job of imploding all by himself. The 9/11 Commission, now expected to release it’s report in late summer, could be the final nail in the coffin for Bush.

UPDATE 1pm: Here’s clearly still got some mojo, having raised $450k already. Also, the amount requested in the email apparently isn’t the same for everyone. While they asked me for $200, only $50 was requested of others. Odd — somehow they’ve profiled me. You can contribute here. It’s good for everyone (including Kerry) if Dean stays involved. He’s clearly raised the bar and awareness. Dean deserves all the credit for shaking up this election.

Periodic Table of Condiments

Bring science to your fridge.

I Swear I Didn’t Do It

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Preliminary tests on a white, powdery substance found in the mailroom of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist indicate the presence of the deadly substance ricin, a Homeland Security official said Monday.

Full story.

On Janet’s Boob…

Seriously, what the hell is everyone so worked up about? The FCC is launching an investigation for Christ’s sake! Now that’s important government business. Maybe if it were some white woman’s titty, we wouldn’t be all up in such a tissy. But I digress…

“They’re breasts mamma, and every woman’s got ’em!”

Let’s put things in perspective: professional athletes are currently on trial for rape and murder. Movie stars and music artists arrive at every award show in some state of undress. Who can forget Lil’ Kim at the MTV Music Awards and then Dianna Ross actually fondling it? (She was drunk, no doubt.) Every shirtless guy in clothing ads now has his pants riding below the hair line. Any kid walking down the Las Vegas strip sees hundreds of naked women ready to “massage” them in their hotel room. Janet’s own brother had sex with young boys! And I’m afraid your 12 year old has probably seen more melons than just cantaloupes on the Internet. Hell, the ads were more racy. And you’re worried about a long-shot of Janet’s dirty pillow? BFD!

CBS finger pointed to MTV who produced the show, MTV claimed ignorance. Like that makes a dif — they’re both owned by Viacom. Of course, MTV promised something “shocking” before the show then capitalized on it afterwards, and TiVo even jumped in the foray today claiming it was replayed a record number of times by it’s DVR owners. Justin claimed it was some sort of “wardrobe malfunction.” (Houston, we have a problem!) But Janet finally admitted it was, indeed, planned.

Best I can figure, this is all over one nipple. Were Janet sporting a pastie, we’d all be fine and we could all go back to our nice Christian lives. But now our children are destroyed, and the FCC will burn a few mil “investigating” the incident. Let me save them some time: her breast was exposed on TV. End of story.

Look people, get a grip. You’re way too uptight. Maybe if you all looked at more boobs (including nipples), you’d be a bit more relaxed and move on to more pressing matters. Oh, say for example, the excessive amounts of gratuitous violence that permeates every movie, TV show, and news hour?

At any rate, and it’s not like I watch football, the game was good… down to the wire. Natch, I only watched for Jake Delhomme.

Acura, Interrupted

I got my car back today, costing me $1930.73. I have full coverage, but I did not choose to claim this incident. Here’s why… and it’s a real scam within the insurance industry.

Considering that no one claimed fault (see previous entries 1, 2), my insurance basically considers it my fault. I can somewhat understand this, as I could of caused the damage myself and tried to claim it. Never the less, it leaves a real problem: someone can do real damage to your car in a parking lot and stick you with the bill. This is exactly what happened to me. I imagine if my insurance company spent as much time with me as my friends do, they’d understand at what lengths I go to prevent such damage to my car, but that isn’t the case… so essentially, it’s “my fault.” My deductible being a relatively low $500, I called to ask at what point they’d raise my insurance. That ceiling was $1000. So repairs over $1500 would stick me with a blemish on my “insurance record” along with higher premiums in the future. And it’s not like I could of switched companies, they all talk to each other. In other words, I would of paid for it — many times over — should I have claimed it. What bullshit.

Why did I not claim it? Aside from the insurance premium increase, considering it’s a $40k car this $2k worth of damage isn’t really “worth” the claim. The insurance company, of course, plans things this way making “every day” damage you could suffer from in any Safeway parking lot being a real liability. Caveat emptor. Given a massive collision, I’d of reeled in the insurance… but this really sucks. I wasn’t even present for the damage, I can do no finger pointing, so I’m stuck with the bill. Given the identity of the culprit, however, my homicidal tendencies would be hard to suppress. At the very least, I’d extract $2k… through whatever means necessary.

But anyway, the good news is, the car looks perfect and I think I picked a good spot to have it repaired: Bay Area Body Spa. I know, it sounds very “Bay Area,” but they did do a good job, and the place was chock full of European luxury cars, which gave me solace… somehow.

I love my car. Acura invented the Japanese luxury market, and while they’ve fallen from the forefront, now dominated by Lexus, they still do things right: good, solid, feature-packed cars engineered by Honda. It’s not quite as plush as say, a BMW, on the inside, but it’s still comfortable and feature-rich (the Japanese don’t shy away from gadgets), but it’s also never in the shop, which can’t be said for the German luxury cars.

Considering the car is now “marred” by this experience, I will no doubt have a new one soon, but I may hold out for a new M5. Yeah, I know, just after bashing the Germans, but… it is an M5. But it’s also twice the cost of a new TL, if not more. Bang for your buck will likely win out, but we’ll see. I suppose I should get a new job first.

Bottom line, I suppose: consider your future cost when making claims.

Fundamentalist Regimes

Catching the last bit of the State of the Union, and I’m loving the irony: fundamentalist regimes: bad, but turning the U.S. into one: good! Faith-based initiatives, the attack on same-sex marriage, vilifying “activist judges,” eroding civil rights via The PATRIOT Act, increasing abstinence programs in schools (doing so in Bush’s Texas caused the teen pregnancy rate to rise for the first time in decades). Lots of black and white rhetoric. Good vs. Evil. Whether a Muslim Cleric or George W. Bush, it’s all pushing fundamentalism.

God Bless America. Ahem.

Update: Okay, now I’m watching the Democratic response. What you’d expect, but how much work has Nancy Pelosi had done? She said she was in college 43 years ago. That makes her at least 61. Let’s see: brow lift, eyes, face lift, chin suck? Think there might be some collagen (or Perlaine) in that upper lip too.

Arnold Gets Compassionate

Budget highlights:

• $454M cut from disabled in-home services (yeah, those people are BEST suited to get off their asses and get a job!)
• $6.6M cut from AIDS treatment programs
• $6.1M cut from breast cancer detection programs
• $4.2M cut from indigent health care
• $623M cut from fees to medical doctors (10% reduction, most doctors don’t even accept medical as it is!)

Also targeted: California’s Healthy Families program and higher education. Schools are closing, and the bay area city of Richmond is nearly bankrupt meaning a complete closing of all public services including fire and police.

Arnold luvs you. But shuddup, because you voted for him!