Some Belated Soccer Notes

My day to day life has been consuming my time a good bit, but did want to stick my head in for a few moments and address some recent events in the world’s most popular sport.

I’ve been putting this post together in my head for weeks and one of the points I was about to make was that being an Arsenal fan was going to be tough this year. Now I’m not so sure. Clearly, RobinVan Persie is going to have to be healthy; he’s scored half of their goals in league play this year.

I was also wondering if Arsene Wenger’s skill at picking players and nurturing their talent was waning. Thierry Henry’s career took off under Wenger. Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri were inspired signings, Aaron Ramsey is progressing wonderfully and Jack Wilshire will be a terrific asset when he returns from injury. Yet Marouane Chamakh has been a major disappointment, Nicklas Bendtner is out on loan to Sunderland and I doubt if he will be on the team next year, I last saw Sébastien Squalacci on a milk carton and Andrei Arshavin, is to be charitable, very inconsistent.

The English game is a lot different, isn’t it Andre Villas-Boas? You might want to bolster that midfield a bit and get some help on the back line.

This has got to be one of the strangest Champions League Group stages I can remember: Manchester City may not move on, while a Cypriot  team is leading a group with FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk, both of which may be eliminated.

I have a good friend originally from Turin who pulls for Inter Milan. He’s had a tough year. How tough? He’s more optimistic about the Italian National Team in Euro 2012 than he is about Inter. Hang in there, Massimo.

Wayne Rooney’s temper got the best of him in a Euro 2012 qualifier against  Montenegro and he received a red card and three game suspension. This has given Fabio Capello, the England coach a tough decision to make: put Rooney on the squad even if he won’t be available for the group stage or find someone else.

Manchester United may have beaten Everton on Saturday, but what I saw failed to impress me, at least defensively. I do not see what Alex Ferguson sees in Jonny Evans. I really don’t.

A bit of fixture congestion is building up for FC Barcelona. The current schedule has them facing Real Madrid on December 10 and appearing in the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup on December 15 (the CONMEBOL and UEFA Champions enter the competition at that stage) in Japan. I’m not sure if that schedule will hold, but there’s not a lot of room to maneuver: their next team is currently scheduled for December 17, the day before the Club World Cup championship and third place games and then the Christmas break starts.

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Busted, disgusted

An interesting piece by Nate Silver on conservative blogosphere reaction to the Cain sexual harassment story (which is starting to interest me in terms of phenomena like this, if not in and of itself):

The conservative blogs that I counted were those that had been linked to on Memorandum, an aggregation website, either Monday night or earlier that day.

I then classified the reactions as being either basically sympathetic to Mr. Cain, unsympathetic to Mr. Cain, or fairly neutral and adopting more of a wait-and-see approach. There were 46 conservative journalists or bloggers who wrote in enough detail about the allegations to allow me to characterize them in this way. (You can see the way I classified each individual blogger here — there were certainly a few debatable calls.)

Overall, the reactions were quite sympathetic. I counted 23 bloggers who either defended Mr. Cain or harshly critiqued the reporting in the story. There were just 6 bloggers, meanwhile, who took a largely unsympathetic position toward Mr. Cain.

[....]

[P]articularly given the already extant tensions between the political establishment, which is broadly dismissive of Mr. Cain, and the conservative grass-roots, which has evident affection for him, the accusations might carry less weight against him than they would against a more “mainstream” candidate.

The general trend in establishment media is to suck up more and more to the far right, whether it’s Kaplan and NYT deciding to follow every O’Keefe story or CNN hiring Erick Erickson (which doesn’t bother me, but is just a sign o’ the times), while nothing that they do can assuage the right’s hatred and hatred distrust. What’s the point?

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RSS reader bleg

The new version of Google Reader is a disaster, weird colors, doesn’t size properly, red buttons everywhere for stuff you don’t want to do.

Are there any decent RSS readers for Mac? I tried bloglines but it makes it a pain to migrate my Google subscriptions over. Is there anything else that’s good?

Am I wrong to think that Google has gone so wrong—first with Buzz, then with this—that I should think about having an alternative to Gmail in case they shit that bed too?

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Virginia GOP Halloween-themed email featuring zombie Obama with a bullet in his head? [updated]

Not cool, dudes.

Surprise! Some Republicans somewhere did something really stupid:

Virginia Republicans were in apology mode Monday over a Halloween-themed email that depicted a zombie-like President Obama with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head.

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Speaking of incoherent speaking

ABL wrote something below that reminded me of a seemingly forgotten nugget from those sepia-toned years way back in Bush junior’s first term. Did anyone else watch shrub’s live address after the New York blackout in 2003? Completely. Shitfaced. I mean beet-red, unable to frame a sentence in common English, needs help to and from the podium booze-clobbered. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; the guy was hosting a private fundraiser at the time and maybe that’s what it takes to reel in the big bucks. But definitely not the best approach when your main point is to reassure a frightened public that someone vertical capable is running the country.

If anyone has a clip of the full address to upload to YouTube or something, that would be awesome. The networks all spliced their rebroadcasts into a series of five second snippets because, honest to god, the last thing Americans needed at the time was to know that the President is face down on tile gurgling vomit when that three AM phone call comes.

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Yes, we Cain

I have no interest in this Cain sexual harassment story. Do any of you have any interest in it?

There’s only one part that amuses me, and that’s the conservative claim that the librul media did this. I agree with those who say that Rove dropped a dime here. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s all in the game.

Also too, I am hoping that Juan Williams and Richard Cohen weigh in on this.

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Monday Night Open Thread

Had about 45 kids tonight and ran out of candy with 45 minutes left, so I had to turn the front porch light off and hide. Really weird- last year was a nicer night, and I had half as many kids. This year it was drizzling, and there were kids everywhere.

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Be Careful Out There: Vampire Beast-With-Two-Backs Edition

Jumping on the CDC’s Zombie-Apocalypse-Preparedness bandwagon, Planned Parenthood offer some very sage advice:

Let’s face it: vampires can rack up a lot of sexual partners over the years. Your vampire might be the same age as you, or she or he might be thousands of years old. But no matter how old you are, if you’re going to jump into bed with a vampire, you’re going to need more than a clove of garlic to protect your health.

Check the link for the rest of the 411.  My favorite bit:

Vampires might be immortal, but you’re not.

True, dat.

Remember—with vampires, you might be thinking of a night to remember, but for them, it’s always fangs for the mammaries.

(Rimshot, please.)

Happy Hallowe’en, all. (And this should serve as an open thread, no?)

PS: really cool old NSFW in our prudish time pic below the jump.

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Herman Cain’s Final Flip-Flop on Abortion [updated w/ video]

He finally got it right! There’s no more flip for him to flop!

Herman Cain really should have read his War on Women GOP Handbook before he allowed himself to be questioned on his stances on abortion. He has flip-flopped so many times, it’s hard to keep track.

Luckily, Think Progress already broke it down:

Abortion Is ‘Her Choice’: Over the course of one Fox News interview on Oct. 11, Cain insisted that “people shouldn’t be free to abort because if we don’t protect the sanctity of life from conception, we will also start to play God relative to life at the end of life.” But when asked whether a rape victim should have the choice, Cain said, “That’s her choice. That’s not government choice.”

Don’t Tell Women What To Do: On Oct. 19, Cain seemed to further his seemingly pro-choice position. “It’s not the government’s role, or anybody else’s role, to make that decision” on whether a sexual assault victim should seek an abortion, he said. “It ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. Not me as president.”

A Family Can Have An ‘Illegal’ Abortion: On Oct. 20, Cain tried to shut out the uproar over his confusion: “I am 100 percent pro-life. End of story.” But the very next day, he added another chapter to his position. “Look, abortion should not be legal. That is clear. But if the family made a decision to break the law, that’s that family’s decision. That’s all I’m trying to say,” he said on Fox.

Pro-Life, No Exceptions: In that same interview, Cain finally declared that he was “pro-life from conception, no exceptions.” Apologetic for his “problematic” answers, he stated with finality, “I don’t know how much more I can say that if I am pro-life from conception no exceptions.

Pro-Life, With Exceptions: As noted, Cain’s campaign clarified yesterday that Cain actually does believe in exceptions and that “Abortions should be allowed in the instances of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at stake.”

Today Cain finally got it right: Pro-Life, No Exceptions. Herman Cain now believes that life begins at conception:

Phew!  I was getting concerned!

The GOP position on abortion has grown increasingly radical as they chip away at abortion rights and women’s right to decide whether or not to quarter creatures in their uteri.

The GOP is so radical, that at a certain point, life is going to begin before a man and woman even remove their undergarments. That’s the next logical step: “Life begins when a gentleman looks at a dame and says ‘Hey sweetcheeks! Come ovah heah! How you doin’?’”

It just makes sense.

[cross-posted at ABLC]

 

(edited to change “Pro-Choice” to “Pro-Life.”)

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The end of my “Grift-athon” is nigh!

So listen here, y’all.  I made an off-hand joke about sending tote bags to those who donated to my fundraiser.  But then it occurred to me that I really should send a little somethin’-somethin’ to those who donate to my fundraiser.  After all, if I don’t, then you’re not going to give me the rest of your cash next spring, right?

So it’s happening, people!  I’m sending you a tote bag, which I will make with my own two hands!  (If you donated less than 20 bucks, I’ll send you a sticker—maybe scratch ‘n sniff. )¹

The amazing Amanda Underwood (aka @underwoodchamp) offered her graphic design stylings to create a logo for my new craft adventure, and voila!

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Was Rick Perry Hammered During His New Hampshire Speech or What?

I’m going with “yes.”

I’m not judging the man for drinking. (Hey, I loves me my scotch.) But if I were running for president, I probably wouldn’t give a speech wasted. (Probably.)

Check out the clip below, which went viral this weekend.  If you don’t have the stamina to watch 8 minutes of Rick Perry (I almost didn’t), you should at least watch the first 3 minutes. It’s… um… interesting:

Fom Daily Mail:

Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas told Huffington Post after the speech: ‘It was different’, but added he had never seen anything like it before

A Perry spokesman said in an email: ‘The Governor is passionate about the issues he talks about.’

Those in attendance said that passion is not a word to describe his performance, off the wall, bizarre and rambling though, were more adequate.

One Republican operative who watched the video called it ‘strange and peculiar’, and said it could prove fatal to Perry’s campaign.  Others questioned whether he was on medication or if he had had a few drinks before he came on stage. Nevertheless, he appeared uncomfortable and erratic in parts and sweat glistened on his forehead.

His camp have yet to issue an official statement about the speech.

At least now we know what a pre-wagon George Bush would’ve sounded like.

[via Daily Mail]

[cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles]

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Get ready for your close-up

Can’t Explain has review of one of my favorite movies of all-time, Sunset Boulevard. I saw it at the Castro in San Francisco in the 90s in a double feature with “In A Lonely Place”. That was the most fun I’ve ever had at the movies, partly because I like the movies so much (“In A Lonely Place” I only like in a campy way), partly because it was such a great audience. I wouldn’t have understood half the things they applauded (like Buster Keaton’s cameo) had my hard-core film friend not explained it all to me.

What’s your best movie-going experience ever?

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Human Banner in San Francisco Reads “Tax the 1%”

This weekend, one thousand people got together in San Francisco to create a human banner, and it was exactly awesome:

From Human Banner SF:

“I work hard every day,” said event organizer and Bay Area cab driver, Brad Newsham. “It isn’t right that I pay higher taxes than billionaires like Warren Buffet. And actually, Mr. Buffet agrees with me on this.” Recently the “Buffet Rule” has become a touchstone of Obama’s proposal to tax millionaires to fund his job program. Republicans in Congress have blocked both initiatives, but recent polls show that 73% of Americans (including 66% of Republicans, and 52% of Tea Partiers) support the Buffet Rule and want to raise taxes on millionaires. [1]

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A Little Song In Your Heart

So, this just happened.

And I got nothin’. I’m just waiting for the credits to roll.

The thread, he is open. Commence.

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Social Security & the Reverse Robin Hoods

Sometimes the headlines are almost enough. Almost. Via Charlie Pierce at Esquire, “In Which the Washington Post Pisses Off Krugman Again“:

On Sunday, The Washington Post, a once-great newspaper now d/b/a Graham’s Chicken ‘n Waffles, published a “news analysis” on the state of the Social Security system that explained that it’s time for us seriously to consider “reforming” the system in such a way that it never again does what it was designed to do by that spendthrift bastard FDR, and in such a way that the financial-services sector of our economy can grab as much of that Social Security money as it can and then do as much for old people as the financial-services sector has done for real estate in Nevada…

... Dean Baker at the Center for Economic & Policy Research explains how the “Washington Post Discards All Journalistic Standards In Attack on Social Security“:

... This article also repeatedly refers to the debate over cutting benefits as being an “ideological battle.” There is no evidence presented in this piece that there is any ideological issue at stake. On the one hand are hundreds of millions of workers who want to see the benefits that they paid for. On the other hand are many wealthy people, exemplified by people like Peter Peterson and Erskine Bowles who would rather use Social Security money to keep their own taxes low or to serve other purposes.

This is a battle over who gets the money. The references to ideology just confuse the situation.

For truly scarey Halloween thrills, click the link and read Baker’s full dissection of the three-card-monte dishonesty of the busy, busy Kochsuckers. As the local tag does not quite phrase it, he guts these idiots so I don’t have to pretend to understand economics.

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