Thoughts on Dean
This is interesting:

"There's no gut-check required for Dean. Dean just needs to be Dean," said Dal LaMagna, founder of the Progressive Government Institute. "He's the kind of person who's a collaborator, a facilitator. He's not someone who has a clique or who will only talk to people in his clique."

Yeah, Dean definitely doesn't have a core group of supporters that are oblivious to the outside world and the future of the party. Definitely not. No clique here.

Road kill candy upsets animal rights activists
Link:

Animal rights activists are disgusted by a new candy from Kraft Foods Inc. that's shaped like critters run over by cars -- complete with tire treads.

The fruity-flavored Trolli Road Kill Gummi Candy -- in shapes of partly flattened snakes, chickens and squirrels -- fosters cruelty toward animals, according to the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"It sends the wrong message to children, that it's OK to harm animals. And that's the wrong message, especially from a so-called wholesome corporation like Kraft," said society spokesman Matthew Stanton.

The society is considering petition drives, boycotts and letter-writing campaigns to get the candy pulled from the market, Stanton said.

We can't even eat fake animals? What's next - they won't want us poaching?

Clear Channel Reports Net Loss
Link:

Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest radio station chain, posted a quarterly net loss on Friday after a $4.9 billion asset-impairment charge.

"We think Clear Channel's lack of revenue growth is representative of the struggles of the radio industry...," said Frederick Moran, an analyst at the Stanford Financial Group."


He said Clear Channel was likely to face an uphill battle in the first half of 2005 as it executes its strategy of cutting advertising air time and raising rates.

Hold on, I'm just... trying to get a hold of myself. This is just so tragic. I just... I wish them the best in their recovery.
Anyone have a tissue?

What??
Double-take story of the week.

Drudge reports on Pope
So when you heard about the Pope getting a tracheotomy, what did you think an appropriate headline would be? If you're name is Matt Drudge, this was your answer:



The Drudge Report: because when the bar has hit the ground, there's always someone ready to start digging.

Hoaxer's face revealed
Apparently the police have released the sketch of a man who called a soldier's wife, reporting that her husband was dead (he was not). The sketch? Well, it looks like this:



Why pursue someone who has already been run over by a steamroller?

Dean Headed to Upstate New York
Hey, look! Politics is finally rearing its ugly head around my area. And who better to bring it here than... Howard Dean. Now that he is leading our party, he is on a campaign to unify the Democrats.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean spreads his message of grass-roots organizing tonight at Alfred University and Wednesday at Cornell University in Ithaca, just days after his intense verbal jousting with new State Republican Chairman Stephen J. Minarik of Rochester. And in a telephone interview Monday with The Buffalo News, Dean labeled upstate the kind of turf already proving more receptive to the Democratic gospel.

"They don't balance budgets, they're cutting back on local school budgets, and they're loading people up with unfunded mandates," Dean said of the GOP. "That's been awful for places like upstate New York."

OK! Way to go, Howard! You've successfully unified New York! Now, what do you say we try for one of those red states? Or even a swing state? Or even any state other than New York and California.
Yeah, this Dean leadership looks like it's gonna work out wonderfully...

A serious moment...
I came home from a weekend off to find that Hunter S. Thompson has killed himself.

If you haven't checked out his work, notably Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, do so immediately.

"Wild Behavior"
It appears as if one of Bush's old best friends from his days as governor had taped some of their conversations as he looked forward to the possibility of running for President.

Preparing to meet Christian leaders in September 1998, Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead, "As you said, there are some code words. There are some proper ways to say things, and some improper ways." He added, "I am going to say that I've accepted Christ into my life. And that's a true statement."

But Mr. Bush also repeatedly worried that prominent evangelical Christians would not like his refusal "to kick gays." At the same time, he was wary of unnerving secular voters by meeting publicly with evangelical leaders. When he thought his aides had agreed to such a meeting, Mr. Bush complained to Karl Rove, his political strategist, "What the hell is this about?"

Mr. Bush, who has acknowledged a drinking problem years ago, told Mr. Wead on the tapes that he could withstand scrutiny of his past. He said it involved nothing more than "just, you know, wild behavior." He worried, though, that allegations of cocaine use would surface in the campaign, and he blamed his opponents for stirring rumors. "If nobody shows up, there's no story," he told Mr. Wead, "and if somebody shows up, it is going to be made up." But when Mr. Wead said that Mr. Bush had in the past publicly denied using cocaine, Mr. Bush replied, "I haven't denied anything."

He refused to answer reporters' questions about his past behavior, he said, even though it might cost him the election. Defending his approach, Mr. Bush said: "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."

So, what you're telling me is that Bush did drugs, hates gays, and is overly religious? Wow, way to go, New York Times. You really got a breaking story here.

"Wild Behavior"
Link:

As George W. Bush was first moving onto the national political stage, he often turned for advice to an old friend who secretly taped some of their private conversations, creating a rare record of the future president as a politician and a personality.

In the last several weeks, that friend, Doug Wead, an author and former aide to Mr. Bush's father, disclosed the tapes' existence to a reporter and played about a dozen of them.

Preparing to meet Christian leaders in September 1998, Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead, "As you said, there are some code words. There are some proper ways to say things, and some improper ways." He added, "I am going to say that I've accepted Christ into my life. And that's a true statement."

But Mr. Bush also repeatedly worried that prominent evangelical Christians would not like his refusal "to kick gays." At the same time, he was wary of unnerving secular voters by meeting publicly with evangelical leaders. When he thought his aides had agreed to such a meeting, Mr. Bush complained to Karl Rove, his political strategist, "What the hell is this about?"

But when Mr. Wead said that Mr. Bush had in the past publicly denied using cocaine, Mr. Bush replied, "I haven't denied anything." He refused to answer reporters' questions about his past behavior, he said, even though it might cost him the election. Defending his approach, Mr. Bush said: "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."

Bush has done drugs, hates gays, and is overly religious? Holy shit, this is breaking news.