In her own words

TakeThatBilliKid!—CT
Originally uploaded by billikidbrand

Thought that I'd let Sarah Palin speak for herself...

Here she is talking to Katie Couric on whether or not the $700m bailout planned for Wall Street might be better funnelled through the tax payers.

"That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

Does it remind you of this at all?


www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

A real quickie

Prenent un Bany. Taking a Bath.
Originally uploaded by ¡arturii!

I just wrote a line for a car that said

"It's about a belief that you have to squeeze every drop of fun out of life, otherwise life will squeeze every drop of fun out of you"

It's too good a line to be wasted on a car... so I'm printing bumper stickers instead.

real post later

Bush Porn

I love Jonathan Yeo. This image of George Bush is made of hundreds of fragments of porn mags (Bush has fucked America see?)... his new Paris Hilton portrait has the same conceit - though here it may be a literal comment rather than a metaphorical one.

Still up in the air as to whether McCain and Obama will debate this week (I think yes)... everyone is hoping that McCain says the word "Depends" as they're a brand of geriatric incontinence pant and would make the YouTubers' days. Stay tuned....

No to debating

mccain_simpsons_2008
Originally uploaded by exocetseye

So with a grand gesture John McCain has moved to sidestep the first of the presidential debates in a bid to "return to Washington to deal with the economic crisis."

Except of course McCain has nothing to do with the solving of the crisis. He's not on the committees. He's not on any of the hearings. And his signature isn't needed only any legislature.

Plus as an proponent of Bush economics I'm not entirely sure that we want him looking at the economy.

A political move then. A chance to show that he's prepared to put country before even his own bid to become president. And it may well work that way for him, It also gives the TV news people a new story to focus on - just as all of the policy scrutiny was losing him ground. So it's good politics.

Obama says that the debate is still on. "In my mind it's more important then ever that we present ourselves to the American people and try to describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy,"

He's also offered to issue a joint statement with McCain on the whole issue. Good politics too.

Of course neither men, nor the country, need worry as the President has focused his laser like mind on the problem and will address the nation tonight at 9.01pm. Issue solved them.

Gay Aiken

Clay Aiken and you thought he was gay
Originally uploaded by fateridder

So in what turned out to be news that shocked nobody at all it turns out that recent father of one and relentless 'gay rumor denier' Clay Aiken (you know - he came second to the fat guy on American Idol years ago) is gay.

Of course the Clay Mates will be upset.
The God spot brigade will be dismayed (at Clays choice of spot)
And the rest of us won't care.

Linday Lohan is a lesbian
Clay Aiken is gay
Kevin Spacey's dog likes midnight cruising spots
And the world keeps turning.

Phew

Everything old...

Santiago Calatrava's new bridge for Venice
Originally uploaded by FrizzText

Part of my job is to infuse new thinking (and on my better days new WAYS of thinking) into a process that's been about coming up with something saleable.

It's not easy - people are conditioned into a way of thinking that becomes so natural it seems virtually impossible to break. Throw in a client with similar issues and you get a hard veneer of cynicism ('well nobody is going to BUY that') around the one of intellectual atrophy.

So ad agencies tend to start with the advertising and then ask 'is there something else we can tack on for interest'

Companies tend to start with the current product and ask 'is there a subtle variation that we could make to bring back some interest?' - rather than asking 'is there another way to fulfil the promise of this product?'

Shareholders look at the long term plan and nod, while demanding that the short term plan deliver immediate results - even to the detriment of the long term vision.

And so on and so forth. It's all about getting through the day. But a lifetime spent trying to get through the day is a lifetime spent wishing yourself out of a situation; and that can't be healthy.

I'm not sure what this post is all about... I think it's frustration that I can't change everything at once... but it might not be. Perhaps it's fear that I'm running out of chances to crack the veneer. Oh well...

Indian summer continues to throw out shocks

Full moon rising!
Originally uploaded by harrieseldon

So the stock exchange is melting, my tax dollars have just been used to buy up bad debt as the country nationalized the foreclosure business and Sarah Palin stands closer than ever to the Oval Office ---> but yesterday the sun shone, the temperatures hit 28c and my attention was pulled toward a far more pressing matter; where can you find an outdoor pool, in Michigan, in mid September.

The answer - you can't. Unless you're a member of a snooty club or you're a naturist who doesn't mind sharing your rays with the leathered and gnarled bodies of people who have spent too long shunning dermatological advice to worry about it now. And why do naturists SO love those 'slatted ribbon' loungers? Surely they're an accident waiting to happen - how many dangly old guys have stood up quickly and felt the pang of early castration, huh?

As neither option really appealed to me I spent yesterday at the gym, at Pilates and then driving - quickly from lake to lake and farm to farm. Much fun to be had on twisty, narrow, unpoliced roads (legal fun of course) and as my car doesn't really come to life at speeds below 60mph it was nice to get out and see what all the Mustang fuss is about. Still managed to average 27.7mpg (that's 33.1mph for you big gallon Brits) - so not too bad a blast.

Today it's small appliance shopping with a friend who has a new place and no toaster / George Foreman Grill / Kettle - while Jude sends out the last of her 'jock packages'. Lovely.

Another day another creaking closet

dnews david archuletta fox 13
Originally uploaded by love.archu

So after Supergrass and Low the office today plays host to the Davids - Archueletta and Cook who will be crooning and doodling their way through their conractual obligations to Fox while men in shiny suits chomp noisily on rawn cocktail starters... good practice then for their Vegas / Cruiseliner futures.

It's another gorgeous day here - with skies bluer than Sinatra's contacts and temperatures warmer than a Dolly Parton hug. So I'm going to go to my last meeting, ditch my shiny suit and head home - where Jude and Nadia are turning locally sourced poroduce into delicious pot roast dishes for a party tonight.

15 more days of summer (according to accuweather) - and after last week's torrential reminder of what's to come I intend to get out and make the most of them

Standing in line to withdraw your cash

Lugging
Originally uploaded by Jōsé

So it seems financial armegeddon is upon us. In the US banks are collapsing more often than Lindsey Lohan, in the UK they're being forced into shotgun marriages faster than a pregnant Palin daughter and the news stations are frothing at the mouth as the meltdown continues. It's horrible. Really horrible. And yet the malls are full, the credit cards are being swiped and people are going about their business as though their house wasn't about to be repossessed by an institution on the verge of going under.

Bad news for me - as I'm about a year away from the job market and total financial meltdown is hardly conducive to a tasty, well paid, post somewhere warm.

Of course a year from now we'll have a new US president and he may well fix everything. Okay, he may well fix something. Or at least be smiley enough to make us feel that he might fix something. And that might just be enough. My suspicion though is that the next president could well be John McCain (currently tied in the polls) - and of course McCain is 100% in lock step with Bush on the economy, which may be an indicator of not much changing on Wall Street.

The fact of course that McCain is currently tied despite his party having been in power for 9-11, wiretapping, pre-emptive war against the wrong country, Guantanamo bay, secret torture sites, billions lost in cash in Iraq, several 'gay scandals', the response to Katrina, the collapse of Wall St, record job losses, the weakest dollar in forever, a record deficit and Britney's metltdown is amazing.

Joe Biden put it well this morning. "People are ready for a change. They want the country to move in a different direction, They're just not sure that they can trust Barack Obama and Joe Biden to give them the change that they want. They're not ready to make that leap of faith yet. We need to win them over. Not on the issues, they're with us there. But on the fact that we can be trusted to do what we say we're going to do."

And that's why McCain may still win. He's also a change. If he can convince people that it was Bush (rather than the Republicans) that ran the country into the ground and that he is a change from Bush then he has that base covered. Plus it takes just one misstep, one fuck up, one bad phrase or weird scandal to sink the Obama boat. "You see, you can't trust them" is what McCain needs.

So if I was Obama I'd try to make Bush stick to McCain like a shit covered barnacle.

If I was McCain I'd go "they're two faced shifty liars" on Obama's ass.

Meanwhile I'll be standing in line to get my money out of my sinking bank and into something less risky. Any suggestions?

Perfect Driving Day

A Beautiful Fiery Death
Originally uploaded by Flying Fin

Today seemed like the last day of summer. As I drove home with the windows open and the sun low in the sky, the breeze a warm 27c on my arms and the streets full of people trying to eek out the last days of outdoor dining it felt both perfect and sad,

A great day to own a convertable - but close enough to winter to remind you why you don't

If I want to be provocative, well that ain't a sin

If I want to be provocative, well that ain't a sin
Originally uploaded by candinski

Well for a while now the blog has been deader than Hillary Clinton's eyes as she praises Barack Obama. It's been a busy time. The parents have been in town, the rain has been torrential (though as soon as they left the skies turned an azure blue and the clouds moved on leaving only the diamond light of early fall) - most of all though I've been swamped under the weight of too many projects, on too tight a timeline with too few people to help. Or at least it seems that way. Things will get done. work will go out. And the world will get back to normal soon. It always does.

The picture I have partly because I think that it's a beautiful image and partly I will admit to drive traffic. You see that picture and some text that says either "beautiful naked girl with a pearl necklace" or better still "the post op tranny I'm going to marry" will see this blog hit upon more times than a fat girl at a cake convention (or something)

And I need the hits. This blog is dying. Partly because I'm not. Partly because the sense of fun has been replaced by a 'duty to post' and partly because y'all have better things to do when the sun is shining and the outside world is beckoning - its hot breath sexy on your neck as it urges you outside.

And with that thought I'm blowing this joint and heading for lunch

Why McCain is going to win..

fear is your reptilian brain
Originally uploaded by absentee_redstate

My friends Alex and Dave have asked me "Is McCain really going to win?" and "What makes you think that?"

Other than the polls - showing McCain level and America warming to the moose eating MILF (if she didn't have a habit of getting pregnant at the thought of foreplay) - I think that Jeffrey Lord may have something when he talks about America and the Reptillian brain. And that my boss here may have something when he talks about Freudian instinct.

Freud first.

When you're talking about how America is hurting (on the Economy say) you wheel out the mother figure to say how she feels your pain and how she's going to help soothe it.

When you're talking about things that scare you (terrorism, extremism, homosexuals) you wheel out the guy who has been in battle and who believes in going out and kicking some ass. It's the father figure.

The issue for the Democrats is that for all of his feminine talk of "Hope" and "Healing" Obama can't be as female as the walking symbol of fertility that is Palin.

When it comes to Manning up then Biden is more nuanced and less 'my dad will kick your dad's ass' than McCain.

And nobody has seen that this is an Obama vs Palin; Biden vs. McCain contest.

Now the Republicans may make a mistake by 'Manning Up' Palin. Strapping a dildo and a shotgun on her and selling her as a guy is tempting. They shouldn't. She should cry (look what it did for Hillary), she should empathize and she should care.

So that's point one.... McCain has the Freud thing down.

Reason Two " The "reptilian brain" - responsible for two and only two things: survival and reproduction.

democrats have long shunned the Reptilian and promoted higher order areas of the brain. Cortexes responsible for Logic and Intelligence.

The result - John Kerry being accused of being "Too French" and Obama being labelled an 'elitist' just because he happens to be smart.

American culture thinks with its gut. An American presidential candidate doesn't need to be extremely reptilian, only more reptilian than his opponent is.

Americans are not culturally disposed to thinking. Witness the way they get into college - multiple choice SAT tests rather than wordy French style essays. America is a culture of action, of rebellion, of instinct.

When it comes to choosing between two candidates for president, we gravitate instinctively to the one perceived as more "reptilian." In essence - "We don't want our presidents to think too much."

We want a President who will act. A president we could have a beer with. A President that we can relate to, Not a president who is smarter than us or more erudite than us, or more visionary than us.

We want them to 'feel it in their gut', to 'hear the voice of Jesus' and be certain of their instincts. We want that because we think that the gut is essential to survival.

So Reptillian Brain : Survival and Reproduction. And we have a warrior and a mother on the ticket. Against a thinker and a debater.

Wow this blog is getting heavy huh?

My last Palin post for a while

Thinking About Gov. Palin
Originally uploaded by Larry Miller

... you know I'm sure she believes that she's a good woman and that goodness is enough when it comes to ruling the world --- or at least that goodness equates with rightness and gives you the moral justification to do anything. It's the Bush Doctrine. If they're evil-doers then you're do-gooders. Therefore anything they do is evil. Anything you do is good. Difference? You have right (and Jezus) on your side. A simplistic view of the world to be sure but a clear one - and America hates lack of clarity.

Anyway Palin interview today. She admitted that until very recently she'd only been out of the country to Canada and Mexico. But said that a recent trip to a US army base (US Soil then) in Kuwait and Germany had "Changed her life" - she didn't say how.

She'd never met a foreign leader. But didn't think that mattered (I have a feeling that Russian shadow puppet master Putin may eat her liver as an appetizer - but that's also true of Obama; or anybody with a pulse)

Oddly she thought that her time as a former chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission made her a good person to talk about energy independence and a reduction in the American thirst for oil and gas. Hmmm - and I'm a violent maniac who should therefore be charged with looking after the weapons cache in a kindergarten (they have them, in Alaska, it's a moose thing)

Pressed about what insights into recent Russian actions in Georgia she had, Palin answered: "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." - really, she did.

She was a little stuck on the Bush pre-emptive strike doctrine. Well clueless actually. She didn't go as far as to say "We did that?" but it was close

On Bush --- ""I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation,"

But she did back down on her God's War stance... she said at her former church that "our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God."

Asked whether she thought the United States was fighting a holy war, she said she meant to convey that she agreed with Abraham Lincoln's quote that "I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words."

It's too fucking desperate for words. And they're going to win

Everything I know abt Sarah Palin

McCain/Palin '08
Originally uploaded by R.A.M.O.N.E.

She had a good line at the convention "America is at war but the only time I hear Barack Obama talk about Victory is when he's talking about his own campaign"

She supported a Safe Haven Bill - allowing mothers to give up newborn babies without penalty, if say t hebaby was really ugly or its hair clashed with the carpets (or something)

Voted Okay to deny benefits to same sex couples in 2006, then flip flopped in 2008 Vetoing a bill denying benefits to gays

Wants to "Collect DNA samples from felons" - quite how she'd do that we're not sure but in my head it involves rubber gloves, a prostate probe and a 15 minute 'leave us be' window

Wants to teach creationism alongside evolution in schools - you know the idea that God had a plan that included evolution and anything else that might come along that makes a belief in God seem a little primative. 'Cause he's like, really meta - you know?

Convinced McCain to drill offshore - probably by telling him that there's viagra there

She's not exactly Al Gore having....
Opposed protections for salmon from mining contamination.
Sued US government to stop listing polar bear as endangered.
encouraged timber, mining, drilling, & fishing.
Lobbied that Feds shouldn't list beluga whales as endangered.
Said we should convince the rest of the nation to open ANWR.

Is fertile

Has fertile daughter

Supported infamous "Bridge to Nowhere"; now criticizes it. Kinda flip floppy

Promotes Alaska wherever she can - even recommending its Big Game Hunting to troops in Kuwait

And of course she wants Teacher Led Prayer in Schools

A vagina, a flag, a gun and she'd shoot Al Gore given a chance.... she's great

I saw a nice headline today

careful it's that car!
Originally uploaded by rollinoldman

looking at a sportscar that has really managed to improve its MPG

"Drinks less. Just as Mean"

I loved that.

And wished I'd thought of it.

It's all in the moments people, all in the moments

Busier than ever

It's a busy day today. The meetings are jammed back to back; the thinking time cut to nothing and the end of day stretched long beyond dusk and into what looks like being a COLD (2c cold) night.

I've been up since 4am - trying to stay on top of everything. Which is weird. And tiring. And I have a 7am meeting tomorrow morning - which is just dreadful and means that I'll have to skip the gym (something I hate doing)

Still the new t-shirts are SMALL and they seem to fit, I'm getting stronger and Jude is working her way through applications to some pretty interesting places.

So it's not all stress.

Holding my shit together

This week is going to be an exercise in holding my shit together. Work is insane at the moment and the projects are going to keep flying in just as fast as I manage to direct them to the appropriate people.

The temptation is to eat into personal time and get the stuff done at weekends and at 3am when you wake up with palpitations over all that needs to be done.

Actually the temptation is just to eat.

Or to skip the gym.

And eat instead.

But I will not bend, I will not yield and I will hold on to the idea that a year from now I'll be doing the same shit from a different location. Or I'm hoping to be.
Which reminds me - gee people along on the Green Card and check out agencies in Asia.

Still - people have it worse ---> and the sun is shining.

The pic - btw - is from the cycle racing that happened around A2 yesterday. Alongside a bookfest. Very different pace at each.

Football

You lookin' at me?
Originally uploaded by Andrew Morrell Photography

So yesterday we went to the football - along with 106,000 other brave souls.

Michigan pretty much sucked, their inability to throw a ball reminding me of wee Petey McGuire back in 2nd grade. But they started strong and held on for a win that convinced nobody that this was a team destined for anything.

Still the sun shone, the temps crept into the mid 20s and the crwd played its part in making for something memorable. So all was good.

Birthday today. Jude bought me photographer's lights... me much happy.

The next house will have a 'studio' for me - lots of white walls and sound deadening so that nobody will hear the screams.

Brrrr

CHRISTmas
Originally uploaded by Kristina_5

So with the clouds gathering and the temperatures plummeting it seemed only too apt that we head for the small "Bavarian" town of Frankenmuth --> where old people line the streets in hope of a peak at some Lederhosen and the world's largest open-all-year Christmas store plys a very off Autumn trade.

But first to the Outlet Mall where I availed myself of The North Face sale and acquired a fleece - which I then wore against the outside chill (last week's 35c is this week's 18c and it feels as though hell is attempting to call in a billion debts by freezing over all at once)

Lunch was downstairs in a "Bavarian", knick-knack-bakery-carvery basement. Entertainment was courtesy of around 200 old cars (very much in the Cruiser mode with a few Impala thrown in) which cruised the street as the old people watched, munching on a chocolate cheese cruelly named Lorraine (or something)

It was cold. It was gray. But we had Jude's car so we were quick and comfortable and the music was what I've come to know as "Single Entendre Soul" - think Otis Redding singing "Stroke it baby left, stroke it baby right, stroke it baby, stroke it we don't wanna take all night" and you have it,

Tres bizzare all around

Grey Cloudy Sky

Grey Cloudy Sky
Originally uploaded by carl_lexicon (longpalindrome.com)

I think that says it all.

The parents landed
The weather turned from gorgeous to gray

Work started to get more demanding
And me's miserable