A real Saturday

Looks like this weekend might be a real weekend.

We start tomorrow with the gym and then pilates (as ever) before heading out first to Ferndale and then to the newly minted Russell Bizarre. From there it's off to The Whitney for dinner before heading out to the Fox Theater for some comedy c/o Kathy Griffin. We finish the night with a quick cocktail at Cliff Bells - a 30s throwback speakeasy with an easy style that feels like the Detroit of old.

Looking forward to it

Seems that Joe The Plumer, ain't a plumber

Joe the Plumber's story just sprang a few leaks Thursday.

Turns out that the man who was held up by John McCain as the typical, hard-working American taxpayer

- Isn't really a licensed plumber.
- Owes nearly $1,200 in back taxes.
- Is called Samuel

Now Joe's in trouble

He doesn't have a plumber's license, but said he didn't need one because he works for someone else at a company that does residential work.

But it seems he'd still need to be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo, and he's not, said David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection.

And then there was the matter of his taxes.

Wurzelbacher owes the state of Ohio $1,182.98 in personal income tax, according to Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records.

In January 2007, Ohio's Department of Taxation filed a claim on his property until he pays the debt.

But he does seem to be a Republican at least - a registered Republican at that

He said he was "a fan of the military and McCain"

But that doesn't mean that he's prepared to be a McCain puppet/

Joe T. Plumber said a McCain campaign official contacted him several days before the debate to ask him to appear with the candidate at a Toledo rally but he's now unsure if he'll attend, since he's now scheduled to be in New York for TV interviews.

Final word (as ever) to Obama

"He's trying to suggest that a plumber is the guy he's fighting for. How many plumbers you know that are making a quarter-million dollars a year?"

This is "Joe the plumber"

This is Joe The Plumber.

Joe may well win the election for John McCain.

He was certainly the center of last night's debate.

You see McCain wants to cut Corporate income tax rates.
That means lots of money for big corporations, tiny savings for small business and nothing for workers.

Obama wants to cut taxes on income under $200,000
And to not raise tax on anyone making less that $250,000
That $250,000 limit applies to small business too.

Now the stats say that 98% of small businesses make less than $250,000
So 98% of small businesses would pay no more tax under Obama.

BUT

Joe the plumber is thinking of buying a business.
That business would make between $250,000 and $270,000 a year

That means he may, possibly, at worst pay an extra $20 a week in tax.

DISASTER

He looks ordinary.
He's going to be taxed more.
OBAMA IS A COMMUNIST

That's how it's going to play.
The 98% who pay no more - or get a reduction have no face
Joe Plumber has a face.

The families that will get tax savings are a mass, with no face
Joe Plumber has a sad face.

The fact that this is a guy who doesn't own a business.
A guy who says he 'might buy a business'
And the fact that that business is right on the cusp of a small increase in tax on a small part of its income
Combined with the fact that he emerged to talk to Obama a day before the debate
And was easily found afterwards.

Makes me think that Joe Plumber was a plant.

If he was then McCain deserves the election - it's brilliant politics.
If he wasn't then God must love John McCain - and he'll win anyway.

Things (I think) just took a turn towards the Red

When Penguins Attack

Penguin (Batman Returns)
Originally uploaded by _Villains

So he last debate tonight and it looks as though Penguin move-a-like John McCain really only has one option.

He needs to slander, to attack and to lie (Obama is a radical Muslim, his wife has a huge diseased cock, his children are in training to become suicide bombers and his mother isn't dead - she's giving Osama Bin Laden blowjobs in her Pakistani cave)

Then after the debate, when nobody is looking he needs to quietly apologize, claim that the fact checking may have been off and then promptly change the subject ("Have you noticed how good Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin is?")

The result? 70m people hear the slander. 7m people note the retraction. 63m think twice about Obama.

Hey mud sticks, and if the mud can also remind people that he's black too all the better. This is war. Well it's not. But it should be. Hand them both bayonettes and tell them that the last man breathing is the new President.

This ought to be good

Arab is a 4 letter word

Arabian in Red
Originally uploaded by HMsa

After the hoo-haa following McCain correcting an equally elderly bigot who claimed "I don't trust Obama. I've read about him and he's an Arab." nobody seems to be questioning the implication that Arabs can't be trusted.

I mean George Bush trusts them enough to take their money when his 'businesses' run dry, enough to hold hands in public as they walk through scented gardens, enough to prop up several Arab regimes that other people may have questioned. But no - that's not enough for Joe Six Pack or Susan Soccermom.

These guys have decided that if you don't sing hymns from a dreary book of a Sunday you're an enemy of the great idea that is America. America is Xtain dammit. It's a monoculture. It's a force for good. And you're all bent on our destruction.

Racism, it seems, is fine - just so long as you get the group tha Hollywood is currently casting as villains.

It's sad. It's pathetic. It's where we are in the world.

We want change

Best Homeless Sign Ever
Originally uploaded by rowkitcat

We open on a politician at on stage

The crowd are chanting
"We want Change, We want Change"
A wave of a thousand voices in unison

The politician smiles.
He raises his hands.
"Change is coming" he intones, a deep baritone that fills the space.

A pause

"No. We want change" the crowd replies.

We cut away from the politician to see that the crowd is made up of a thousand homeless people, each holding a cup.

The crowd starts up again

"We want change. We want change."

Voice Over : More and more Americans are finding themselves desperate for change. And it's only going to get worse. November 4th is your chance to stop the bleed to the street.


(I'd find it funny anyway)

So here I am in Dallas

1530 Main
Originally uploaded by the urban fabric

alas not at the Hotel Joule pictured but stealing wireless at a Sheraton hotel that's as resolutely brown as any that I've seen in aeons.

It's an "in and out" day - here to present at a sales conference and then off into the sky and back to Detroit in search of my car in the world's most confusing car park.

Should get home a little after midnight... and have a 7am so gonna be a knackered bunny.

Still have a good book and there's a new men's health in my bag - plus the new North Terminal is much, nuch friendlier than the 50 year old Smith terminal it replaced