Mitt watch

This weekend, the Southern Republican Leadership Conference met in Memphis, Tennessee. There were lots of speeches and whatnot, but most interesting to me were the results of the straw poll.

The session culminated with a straw poll of delegates, organized by The Hotline, a political newsletter. The results were clouded by a request by Mr. McCain that his supporters cast write-in votes for President Bush, as a show of support for the president.

Mr. Frist won 37 percent of the 1,427 ballots cast, an unsurprising result in his home state: 82 percent of his votes came from Tennessee.

Mr. Romney came in second with 14 percent of the vote.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Allen tied at 10 percent, while Mr. McCain drew 5 percent, Mr. Huckabee 4 percent and Mr. Brownback 1.5 percent.

Very interesting. Should Mitt Romney be encouraged that he managed a second place finish? (And Tennessee is solidly in the Bible Belt, full of the kind of good Christian folk that hate and fear Mormons for a variety of real and imaginary reasons.) Or should he be discouraged because he got only 14% of the vote? I think a case can be made either way.

There were also other things going on here, such as McCain telling "his supporters cast write-in votes for President Bush" as a show of solidarity and support. But even adding the McCain and Bush vote together, you get 15%, which is about what Mitt got. That makes Mitt's showing even more impressive to me.

It was also interesting to see Romney trying out his stump speeches. From what I read of it, he seems to be running as a traditional anti-government, pro-defense Republican:

Mr. Romney's criticism of spending in the past four years drew a wave of applause and captured what has been a subject of increasing unhappiness by this White House. But Mr. Romney tempered that implicit criticism by praising Mr. Bush's record on terrorism. "Thank heavens we have a president who recognizes the extent of this threat," he said. "Thank heavens the president recognizes the greatest ally peace has on this planet is a strong United States."

He has also moved rightwards on social issues like abortion, which means he may not be trying to run as a centrist at all. It's a surprising stance for a guy who is governor of Massachusetts, but Mitt's first problem is getting through the primaries. I still think he hasn't got a chance at the nomination, but perhaps he's got a shot at a cabinet spot or even a VP nod.

Time will tell.

--EL DOLOR

Sick presidents

Via Geek Press, an interesting list of every American president, and the health problems each suffered. Fascinating stuff, although I had to look up a lot of medical terms.

Because I am a huge nerd, I went through and compiled a list of the most common ailments:

(9) Pneumonia
(8) Depression
(8) Stroke
(7) Gunshot wound
(7) Heart failure
(7) Malaria
(6) Cold
(6) Dysentery
(6) Heart attack
(5) Alcoholism
(5) Arthritis
(5) Hypertension
(4) Atherosclerosis
(4) Gout
(4) Headache
(4) Hearing loss
(4) Indigestion
(4) Obesity
(4) Tuberculosis
(3) Angina
(3) Asthma
(3) Boils
(3) Cerebral hemorrhage
(3) Diptheria
(3) Gall bladder disease
(3) Hair loss
(3) Heart disease
(3) Hemorrhoids
(3) Myopia
(3) Presbyopia
(3) Scarlet fever
(3) Sebaceous cyst
(3) Smallpox
(3) Typhoid fever

I'm not a doctor, so some of these things I was not sure how to count. There are lots of different cancers and 'nomas and whatnot, for instance, and I have no idea how to group those. So I didn't. Which means you probably ought to check out the link yourself.

But anyway, pretty cool, huh?

--SOLOMON MBANASO

Carpincho

Let me just say as a man who as actually eaten capybara, that it is not tasty. I do not know why someone would be looking for a recipe, even if they are permissible for Catholics during Lent.

The carpincho, as it is known in Paraguay, is a river-dwelling hamster-like creature the size of a pig. Some people say they resemble Rodents Of Unusual Size from Princess Bride. That's not true. They don't look alike.

But they do TASTE alike. Blecch.

--PAN YUE-HAN

Cartoon jihad still not finished

The worldwide campaign to avenge the dreaded cartoons of blasphemy continues. It's pretty depressing, actually. It's hard to believe that people are still so angry about this.

Maybe fluffy baby bunnies would help quell their rage. The only way to know for sure is to get DARPA to develop some kind of cluster bomb capable of delivering this adorable ordnance.

--JAN DEPAUW

Lawnmower Man

Read an interesting news story yesterday, and I'm still not sure what I think of it.

Arapahoe County is threatening to fire a veteran Public Works employee for promoting the fact that he is an English speaking American.

. . .

The problems began last spring. Gray, 50, owns a lawn service business on the side. He was routinely driving to work in his pickup truck towing a trailer that he uses to carry lawn mowing equipment for his business. On the side of his trailer, the married father of two affixed a sign that reads "Lawn Services Done With Pride!! By An English Speaking American."

The sign also gives Gray's phone number and the lettering is over a background of an American flag.

"There are a lot of people in the lawn service that are non-English speaking," Gray said. "Customers and different people were telling me that they have a hard time trying to communicate with them about the work they want done on their yards. I just want to let people know they at least can communicate with me when I do work on their property."

To this point, my sympathies are all with Mr. Gray. I have to say when I visit my parents in Texas, all the lawn crews I see are composed mostly of men who speak Spanish. People like my parents, customers like my parents, sometimes have a hard time communicating with them.

I don't think there's anything wrong with advertising the fact that English is your native language. And I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to do business with someone who speaks your language and can communicate with you. I wish I had the option to choose English-speaking Americans for technical support for my laptop.

Unfortunately, in the next paragraph, we get to something more problematic:

Gray also wore a hat to work that says "U.S. Border Patrol," which he says was a gift from his son.

Arapahoe County officials told Gray the sign and hat must go or else. In a Nov. 10, 2005, letter, his supervisor Monty Sedlak wrote the following:

"Some of your conduct ... is reprehensible and discriminatory to our non-English speaking and/or Hispanic workforce. You are in violation of ... guidelines which ensure a workplace free from harassment and sensitive to the diversity of employees."

. . .

Gray said he believes his First Amendment rights are at stake, and he said he is "not about to surrender."

"I got a new supervisor," said Gray. "He's a politically correct, bleeding heart liberal. I believe in what I'm doing. I got to stand up for what I believe in and I don't think I'm doing a thing wrong. Of course I don't want to lose my job, but I can't back down from something I believe in. Like I say, they're just chipping away at our rights and freedoms."

All-righty then. Let me give you a little tip, Mr. Gray. If you want people to believe that you are not an anti-immigrant bigot, that you're the innocent victim of a "politically correct, bleeding heart liberal" witch hunt, you probably should not wear a hat that says "Border Patrol."

Good grief.

--JUAN PENA

Good night, and screw you.

Last night I watched the Oscars with a group of friends, pretty much all of whom were more excited about the whole business than I am. A bunch of girls (and one dude) who just love everything about celebrities. I don't know what you call that. Glamourphiles, maybe. They all tuned in two hours before the awards started, to watch the pre-game show on E, and talk about everyone's clothes. I tell you all this, my imaginary readers, so you can know that this was a very friendly audience.

The first big award was for best supporting actor, which went to George Clooney for Syriana. In one of the few politically-tinged moments of the evening, Clooney ended his acceptance speech with this comment:

"And finally, I would say that, you know, we are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it's probably a good thing. We're the ones who talk about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. And we, you know, we bring up subjects. This Academy, this group of people, gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud to be a part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch."

Clooney's speech was a reaction to an earlier monologue bit from Jon Stewart:

"I'm from New York and I've been here a week and a half. A lot of people say this town is too liberal. Out of touch with mainstream America. A modern day beachfront Sodom and Gomorrah. A black hole where innocence is obliterated. An endless orgy of sexual gratification and greed.

"I don't really have a joke here...and I just thought you should know a lot of people are saying that."

Clooney turned Stewart's jab into a compliment for the Hollywood community, gathered there in the audience. But there was a much larger audience gathered in living rooms around the nation, and Clooney's remark certainly did not compliment them. 'I'm proud to be out of touch with the people watching this show at home, the people who buy the tickets to my movies and pay my salary. Because I'm better than them.' Wow.

Like the guys at Powerline, I'm not sure whether Clooney is right about the movie business being the progressive vanguard, showing America the way. I am sure they like to think of themselves that way. But the first big Hollywood movie about AIDS was Philadelphia, which came out in 1993. Were Americans were still 'whispering' about AIDS then? Maybe there's more truth to the claim about civil rights, although I suspect that Clooney is wearing rose-colored glasses when he sees this, too. (Sidney Poitier got an Oscar in 1964, the first ever for an African-American actor. The second was not awarded until 2002.)

Even if he was right, I am sure that his statement bothered a lot of people in the room where I was watching. And these are not political people. These are girls in their twenties who love Hollywood celebrities. And they were clearly a little upset to see George Clooney tell them that he is glad to not be like them. It was jarring.

But, I think it certainly showed that Clooney was right about one thing. He is out of touch.

--JOHANNES CLERK

Fatwa against Dell

Ace has a post up about the hell that is Dell Computer's customer support. All I can say is Amen. I bought a Dell laptop a couple of years ago, and I paid half as much for the customer support plan as for the computer itself. I know that extended warranties are supposed to be free money for the company, but I had just come off some pretty serious problems with a previous laptop which happened as soon as the one-year warranty expired. So I paid a lot of money to get the warranty extended for four years.

I can't decide whether or not that decision was a mistake. On the one hand, there have been numerous problems with the computer. I have had to replace the motherboard twice, which costs as much as a brand-new computer, much less the warranty extension. On the other hand, every time I call their customer service, I suffer. They've already got my money, so the best thing that can happen for them at this point is that they keep my money without spending any of that money to, you know, fix my computer when there are problems.

So every time I call them, they make the experience as painful as possible. I almost always speak to someone in India. And pretty much no matter what number I call, they tell me that I called the wrong department. They they give me a new number to call (usually one which I already have, and often the number that I just called) and promise to transfer me. Then my call either gets disconnected or gets transferred to a totally random Dell person who also says I called the wrong department. I never, never never, never get any help until I have talked with at least four wrong people and been disconnected at least once.

When I finally get someone who claims to be a technician who can help me, of course, that person is usually a complete idiot who knows as much about computers as my mom and is just reading off some script. No matter what problem I have with my computer, their solution is to reformat my hard drive. Why? Well, because it's an extremely unpleasant process that takes time and effort on my part, and makes me very nervous. If the cure they offer always sounds worse than the disease, then they don't have to actually cure me. And that's the best outcome for them. They already have my money, right?

I hate to admit that they have trained me, just like Pavlov's dog. I now accept several small problems that make my everyday computer experience crappy, because I can't take the thought of dealing with Dell "customer care." It's somewhere between Kafka and Dante's Inferno. So I just sit here with a broken computer, and they keep my money.

I hate them. I wish I had bought the super-duper-ultra-warranty that forces them to replace the computer even if you break it on purpose-- because if I had, I would smash this laptop with a sledge hammer at least once a month, just to make them lose money replacing my computer over and over again. Ugh. I'm choking on my own rage, here.

So, uh... Don't buy a Dell computer. They suck. That's all.

--JOHANN F. WEISHAUPT

One game to rule them all

Wow. Dean pointed out this video of Will Wright demonstrating his latest computer game. The game is called SPORE. The video is 35 minutes long, but you have got to watch it. When I finished I just wanted to watch more. Failing that, I watched it again. It's unbelievable. It's the game I have been waiting my whole life to play. I can't wait to give this man my money.

I'm such a nerd.

--CHISAIBU

Trouble in Munuvia?

For the last week or two, I have been having a lot of trouble getting my browser to access Ace of Spades HQ, the Llama Butchers, and other MuNu blogs. I switch browsers and still the same trouble. On the other hand, about one time in ten I get through with no problem, and see no complaints about their server or whatever. Is anyone else having this difficulty, or is it just me?

--CASA DE DOLOR

Great works

Everybody's doing it. Why not me? (This is a list of great works that somebody put together. The ones I have read are in bold.)

--REDBEARD

Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua — Things Fall Apart
Agee, James — A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane — Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James — Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel — Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul — The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte — Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily — Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert — The Stranger
Cather, Willa — Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey — The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton — The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate — The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph — Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore — The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen — The Red Badge of Courage
Dante — Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel — Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel — Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles — A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor — Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick — Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore — An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre — The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George — The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph — Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo — Selected Essays
Faulkner, William — As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William — The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry — Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott — The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave — Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox — The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von — Faust
Golding, William — Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas — Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel — The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph — Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest — A Farewell to Arms
Homer — The Iliad
Homer — The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor — The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale — Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous — Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik — A Doll's House
James, Henry — The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry — The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James — A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz — The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong — The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper — To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair — Babbitt
London, Jack — The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas — The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García — One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman — Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman — Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur — The Crucible
Morrison, Toni — Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery — A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene — Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George — Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris — Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia — The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan — Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel — Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas — The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria — All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond — Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry — Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. — The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William — Hamlet
Shakespeare, William — Macbeth
Shakespeare, William — A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William — Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard — Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary — Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon — Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander — One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles — Antigone
Sophocles — Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John — The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis — Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher — Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan — Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William — Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David — Walden
Tolstoy, Leo — War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan — Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark — The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire — Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. — Slaughterhouse–Five
Walker, Alice — The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith — The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora — Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt — Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar — The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee — The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia — To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard — Native Son