You might be interested to know that the Seattle Storm are the new WNBA Champions in a 3 game sweep.

Well, just wait until the Lady Huskies get started.

In not the news another weekend of prison porn starting at 10.  No Dave, Jon, or Stephen.  Of the 2 rallies to be held on the 30th I prefer ‘Keep Fear Alive’ to Jon’s neo Broderism.  Stephen is funnier than you too Jon.  Interesting and sad that they didn’t even think of including a lefty alternative.

• Bravo– Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous x 2
• Disney– WALL-E
• Discovery– Man, Woman, Wild (last week’s and new), Beyond Survival With Les Stroud (premier)
• ESPN– College Throwball, Kansas @ Southern Mississippi
• ESPN2– High School Throwball from Georgia, Columbus Carver @ Lagrange
• Food– Chopped (Champions Part 3)
• FX– Grandma’s Boy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall (again)
• Oxygen– Liar Liar x 2
• SciFi– Warehouse 13 x 2 (including this Season Premier), Haven (premier)
• Style– Coyote Ugly
• TBS– The Heartbreak Kid x 2
• TLC– Say Yes to the Dress marathon (including new)
• Turner Classic– The Moon Is Blue, The Man With the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger Night)
• TNT– 10,000 B.C. x 2
• Toon– Sym-Bionic Titan (Series Premier), Generator Rex (premier), Clone Wars (Season 3 Premier)
• USA– The Bourne Ultimatum

Later-

• AMC– Sudden Impact
• Disney– Phineas and Ferb
• ESPN2– College Throwball, California @ Nevada
• Turner Classic– Baby Doll
• TNT– Terminator 2: Judgment Day (best of the series)
• USA– Casino Royale

Alton does breakfast.  Adult Swim has Childrens Hospital, American Dad, The Mighty Boosh (Party, next to last episode of Season 3), Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (Hell Hath Fury, episode 2)

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Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Taliban kidnap candidate on eve of Afghan poll

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

Fri Sep 17, 12:39 pm ET

Another longish story, but I hope you’ll bear with me.  It was originally published on TomDispatch but has found it’s way to Grist and Firedog Lake and now via Eschaton to The Stars Hollow Gazette.  I’ve edited it for space.

My Road Trip With a Solar Rock Star- Or Notes on the Enthusiasm Gap

Posted by Bill McKibben at 8:12am, September 16, 2010.

(W)e tracked down the solar panels that once had graced the White House roof, way back in the 1970s under Jimmy Carter. After Ronald Reagan took them down, they’d spent the last few decades on the cafeteria roof at Unity College in rural Maine.  That college’s president, Mitch Thomashow, immediately offered us a panel to take back to the White House. Better still, he encouraged three of his students to accompany the panel, not to mention allowing the college’s sustainability coordinators to help manage the trip.

…

It couldn’t have been more fun. Wherever we could, we’d fire up the panel, pour a gallon of water in the top, point it toward the sun, and eight or nine minutes later you’d have steaming hot water coming out the bottom. Thirty-one years old and it worked like a charm — a vexing reminder that we’ve known how to do this stuff for decades. We just haven’t done it.

…

There was just one nagging concern as we headed south.  We still hadn’t heard anything conclusive from the White House. We’d asked them — for two months — if they’d accept the old panel as a historical relic returned home, and if they’d commit to installing new ones soon.  We’d even found a company, Sungevity, that was eager to provide them free.  Indeed, as word of our trip spread, other solar companies kept making the same offer.  Still, the White House never really responded, not until Thursday evening around six p.m. when they suddenly agreed to a meeting at nine the next morning.

…

Now, let me say that I already knew Jean Altomare, Amanda Nelson, and Jamie Nemecek were special, but my guess is the bureaucrats hadn’t figured that out. Unity is out in the woods, and these kids were majoring in things like wildlife conservation. They’d never had an encounter like this.  It stood to reason that they’d be cowed. But they weren’t.

One after another, respectfully but firmly, they asked a series of tough questions, and refused to be filibustered by yet another stream of administration-enhancing data. Here’s what they wanted to know: if the administration was serious about spreading the word on renewable energy, why wouldn’t it do the obvious thing and put solar panels on the White House?  When the administrators proudly proffered a clipping from some interior page of the Washington Post about their “greening the government initiative,” Amanda calmly pointed out that none of her neighbors read the Post, and that, by contrast, the solar panels had made it onto David Letterman.

To their queries, the bureaucrats refused to provide any answer.  At all.  One kept smiling in an odd way and saying, “If reporters call and ask us, we will provide our rationale,” but whatever it was, they wouldn’t provide it to us.

It was all a little odd, to say the least. They refused to accept the Carter panel as a historic relic, or even to pose for a picture with the students and the petition they’d brought with them. Asked to do something easy and symbolic to rekindle a little of the joy that had turned out so many of us as volunteers for Obama in 2008, they point blank said no. In a less than overwhelming gesture, they did, however, pass out Xeroxed copies of a 2009 memorandum from Vice President Biden about federal energy policy.

I can tell you exactly what it felt like, because those three students were brave and walked out graciously, heads high, and kept their tears back until we got to the sidewalk. And then they didn’t keep them back, because it’s a tough thing to learn for the first time how politics can work.

If you want to know about the much-discussed enthusiasm gap between Democratic and Republican bases, in other words, this was it in action. As Jean Altomare told the New York Times, “We went in without any doubt about the importance of this. They handed us a pamphlet.” And Amanda Nelson added, “I didn’t expect I’d get to shake President Obama’s hand, but it was really shocking to me to find out that they really didn’t seem to care.”

Last chance for our Boys this week.  Ditto Keith and Rachel all night (wonder if she’ll follow up on Biden’s disasterous interview last night?  More from Taylor Marsh and Cujo359).

• ABC Family– The Notebook
• Comedy– Futurama (including 2 of this season’s episodes)
• Disney– Underdog
• E!– Heartbreakers
• ESPN– College Throwball, Cincinnati at North Carolina State
• ESPN2– WNBA Finals Game 3- Storm @ Dream (Seattle could sweep tonight)
• Food– Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin, Ace of Cakes (premiers)
• FX– Forgetting Sarah Marshall, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League (premiers)
• History– The Universe (premier)
• TBS– Twister (other than Helen Hunt not much to recommend it)
• Turner Classic– Underworld U.S.A., Hamlet (Olivier)
• TLC– Sr. v. Jr. (last week’s and new), BBQ Pitmasters (premier)
• Toon– Total Drama World Tour, Regular Show, MAD (repeats of this week’s)
• TNT– The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Dark Blue x 2 (this week’s)

I have to admit I didn’t understand It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia at first, but it’s Cheers on acid ironically starring Rhea’s husband Danny.

Later-

• AMC– Mad Men (this week’s), The Enforcer
• Comedy– More Futurama
• FX– Terriers (this week’s)
• SciFi– WCG Ultimate Gamer (premier)
• Turner Classics– The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, dark)
• Adult Swim– Delocated (fairly recent)
• USA– Covert Affairs (this week’s)

Jon has Bill Clinton, Stephen Christiane Amanpour.  Alton does Soybeans.  Boondocks– The Fund-raiser (good work if you can get it).

Ay, marry, is it?

But to my mind, though I am native here and to the manner born, it is a custom more honour’d in the breach than the observance.  This heavy-headed revel east and west makes us traduced and tax’d of other nations.

They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase soil our addition; and indeed it takes from our achievements, though perform’d at height, the pith and marrow of our attribute.

So, oft it chances in particular men, that for some vicious mole of nature in them, as in their birth - wherein they are not guilty since nature cannot choose his origin - by the o’ergrowth of some complexion oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason, or by some habit that too much o’er-leavens the form of plausive manners; that these men, carrying I say the stamp of one defect, being nature’s livery or fortune’s star - their virtues else be they as pure as grace, as infinite as man may undergo - shall in the general censure take corruption from that particular fault, the dram of ale doth all the noble substance of a doubt to his own scandal.

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Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Pope kicks off British visit with abuse scandal regrets

by Gildas Le Roux, AFP

1 hr 19 mins ago

As I noted last night in Prime Time, I had to turn Joe Biden’s interview with Rachel Maddow off because I can’t really afford a new TV.  I wondered if others noticed the savage disconnect between the Institutional Democrats and reality.

Well, Gregg Levine at Firedog Lake did.  I’ll spare you the embedded video because I don’t want responsibility for your monitor either, but I’ll quote extensively as it’s a long piece.

Biden Scolds Dem Voters for Enthusiasm Gap; Tells Progressives to "Get in Gear"

By: Gregg Levine, Thursday September 16, 2010 7:00 am

Vice President Joe Biden made room in his busy schedule Wednesday to appear on “The Rachel Maddow Show” to address the much-reported enthusiasm gap between fired-up Tea-publicans and a disappointed Democratic base. How do I know that was his reason? He said so…

…

Biden then launches into a list of Democratic accomplishments-tobacco regulation, hate crime laws, insuring kids (SCHIP…)-none of them, as best I recall, ones that were first enacted during the Obama Administration…

…

Actually, Mr. Vice President, you didn’t mention a single thing that your administration or this Democratically controlled 111th Congress has gotten done. You are just telling progressives out there that they “better get energized,” that they “get in gear,” that they “should not stay home” come November.

Why? Because. . . because. . . Pete Sessions!

Joe Biden is not saying Democrats need an excited progressive base to win in November, and here is what the administration is going to do to excite them; Biden is saying Dems need an excited base-so the progressive base damn well better get excited. Period.

…

He (Obama) brought us goals? Obama gave us the goals? Progressives haven’t been articulating goals since. . . when now? 2006? 2002? 1932? 1916? . . . 1899? OK, maybe Biden just phrased that badly-but still, Joe, what goals have been met, exactly?

…

(T)he progressive base hasn’t been warning about the opposition? It has been the progressive blogosphere, far out in front of any Democratic Party organ, that has been telling the establishment that they had created space for the Tea Parties by aligning the White House too closely with the banksters. It was progressives that begged for a bigger stimulus, a jobs agenda, and health care reform that actually helped people and did so before the midterm elections.

…

Make no mistake, what Joe Biden was doing last night was blaming progressives now for Democratic losses later.

…

Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, I was a consultant-of the branding and marketing variety-and Biden’s performance reminds me of some of my worst clients from those days. These guys (and gals) would sit behind the two-way mirror watching focus groups, and they would deride the respondents and curse about how their stupid target consumers were wrong-wrong!-about their product. It was the consumer who was doing a bad job of understanding the product. It was the consumer that was not paying attention to the right things. It was the consumer that had failed to understand the benefits of these clients’ brands.

Those were not successful brands. And without a change in their point of view, they didn’t become successful brands.

…

(B)enefits were not what Vice President Biden was selling to Rachel Maddow and her presumably progressive audience on Wednesday. Biden went with fear and loathing, blame and bluster. That strategy didn’t work for my clients in boom times, and it won’t work for Democrats now.

I dunno, I think your best bet is gloating with Keith and Rachel tonight.

• Bravo– Top Chef marathon (including Part 2 of the Season Finale)
• Discovery– Man v. Wild (last week’s and new)
• ESPN– Yankees @ Rays, Dodgers @ Giants
• FX– Terriers x 3 (premier)
• Lifetime– Waitress
• Oxygen– Catwoman x 2 (so you don’t miss it.  Truly horrible)
• Turner Classic– Al Capone, The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (gangsta)
• TNT– Dark Blue x 2 (both premiers)
• Travel– Man v. Food marathon (including premier, Niagra.  There was this one place I used to go where you could get a Porterhouse for $6 right across from the Mall and within spitting distance of the Falls.)

Later-

• AMC– Rubicon (this week’s), Dirty Harry
• Bravo– More Top Chef (another premier.  What about ‘Finale’ are they misunderstanding?)
• Turner Classic– King of the Roaring ’20s: The Story of Arnold Rothstein
• USA– Covert Affairs (repeat of last night’s Season Finale)

Jon has Jon Hamm, Stephen Saul Griffith.  Alton does Rice and Beans (they’re better than you think).  Boondocks– Smokin’ With Cigarettes.

It all started on the day that I died. If there had been an obituary, it would have described the unremarkable life of an unremarkable woman, survived by no one. But there was no obituary, because the day that I died was also the day I started to live. But that comes later. This was my life. Days blended together, consistently ordinary, thanks to a job that was the practical version of my passion. I was supposed to be an artist by now. Instead, I was designing ads for beauty cream.

The day I died was the day I started to live. In my old life, I longed for someone to see what was special in me. You did, and for that, you’ll always be in my heart. But what I really needed was for me to see it. And now I do. You’re a good man, Tom. But you live in a world that has no place for someone like me. You see, sometimes I’m good. Oh, I’m very good. But sometimes I’m bad. But only as bad as I wanna be. Freedom is power. To live a life untamed and unafraid is the gift that I’ve been given, and so my journey begins.

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Seven civilians killed in US-Iraqi raid

by Azhar Shalal, AFP

Wed Sep 15, 11:46 am ET

First of all, the reasons the Beltway pundits and bloggers are concentrating on O’Donnell’s defeat of Castle is that it’s in their backyard, the margin was huge, and those idiots really didn’t expect it because they have no fucking clue how much we hate their elite corporatist butt-kissing asses.

But if you really want to do a little celebrating I’d like to draw your attention to two less covered and more positive victories last night.

The first is Ann Kuster’s 42% margin over Katrina Swett in New Hampshire’s 2nd District-

Kuster  handily defeated self-styled Blue Dog Katrina Swett, who co-chaired Joe Lieberman’s 2004 presidential campaign. Kuster, a lawyer, community activist and women’s health expert, had the support of progressive groups like MoveOn, Democracy for America, Progressive Campaign Change Committee and EMILY’s List. Swett ran hard to Kuster’s right and tried to paint Kuster’s progressive supporters as an electoral liability.

The second is the abject FAILURE of Mike Bloomberg’s hand picked Wall Street Representative Reshma Saujani in her race against Carolyn Maloney in New York’s 14th District.

There is some really twisted logic behind the notion that Obama would be vulnerable in 2012 if the economy’s bad, and yet the country would look to a creature of Wall Street like Mike Bloomberg for salvation.  Of course, it’s equally twisted that the tea parties exploded in response to the bank bailouts, and yet Bain Capital billionaire Mitt Romney is their favorite for 2012. Maybe that gave them hope.

But it didn’t work out so well yesterday.  The millions that Wall Street pumped into Saujani’s campaign at the behest of Team Bloomberg cast her irrevocably as a tool of Wall Street in the eyes of voters who have had quite enough from the financial oligarchy.  She wound up with only a pathetic 19% of the vote.

Michael Bloomberg and his proxies couldn’t even orchestrate a serious challenge to a congressional seat in a year of unprecedented dissatisfaction with incumbents.   If 19% doesn’t qualify as a public rebuke of their organizing abilities, I don’t know what does.

Tonight is Game 2 of the WNBA Basketball Finals.  Bet you didn’t even know.

There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South… Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow… Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave… Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind…

Can I tell you how much I hate Gone with the Wind?  As over rated and romanticized as Ayn Rand and her purile pre-pubescent fantasies of noble rape at the hand of a strong and masterful man.  Not to mention the naked racism.  As bad as anything in Birth of a Nation only with sound and in Technicolor.

Once I had hopes that we had put these shameful chapters behind us, if not in the Remorseless Revolutionary Struggle that claimed over 364 thousand (I don’t count Slavers), then certainly in the Civil Rights Movement.  But Bigots will not be thwarted.  They’ll not be satisfied until their racism is met with the applause of the approving and the shameful silence of those who should know better.

The past is never dead. It’s not even past. To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow.

• ABC Family– Melissa & Joey (premier), Love & Basketball
• AMC– Death Wish II x 2 (even more soul destroying than the first, I’m going to stop reporting on these)
• Bravo– Flipping Out (last week’s and new), The Rachel Zoe Project (premier)
• ESPN– World Series of Poker (2 premiers)
• ESPN2– Dream @ Storm
• Food– Chopped Champions (Round 3 of 4)
• FX– Prom Night (much worse than the 1980 original with Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen)
• Oxygen– Bad Girls Club (most recent and new), Hair Battle Spectacular (premier)
• SciFi– Warehouse 13 (last week’s and new)
• Speed– Monster Jam (with Inside Monster Jam 2!)
• Turner Classic– Gone with the Wind
• Toon– Unnatural History, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (premiers)
• USA– Covert Affairs (2 part Season Finale)
• Vs.– Major League

Later-

• AMC– Hamburger Hill
• FX– Terriers (Series Premier repeat)
• SciFi– Haven (this week’s)
• USA– Psych (this week’s)
• VH1– Roxanne (not Steve Martin’s best, that would be The Jerk, but watchable)

Jon has Tony Blair, Stephen Sean Wilentz.  Alton does Broccoli.  Boondocks, A Date With the Booty Warrior.

Tony Blair-

• Liar
• Murderer
• War Criminal

Unable to show his face in any civilized country.

May he end his long, long life of suffering locked in a dank cell at Spandau, despised and forgotten.

I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’ll never understand or forgive myself. And if a bullet gets me, so help me, I’ll laugh at myself for being an idiot. There’s one thing I do know… and that is that I love you, Scarlett. In spite of you and me and the whole silly world going to pieces around us, I love you. Because we’re alike. Bad lots, both of us. Selfish and shrewd. But able to look things in the eyes as we call them by their right names.

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