That’s all I can surmise from Terry McAuliffe’s boast that Hillary "won" Michigan.
Goddamned I wonder if these people give a damn how aggravating such statements are to people in MI whose Hillary-supporting Governor and other top leaders played chicken with the DNC and lost … our vote.
Facts never stood in Terry McAuliffe’s way before, you weren’t expecting sumthin’ different now?
All I can say is, if that’s what they’re saying to Supers, they might as well close up shop and go home. Because if I were a super I’d laugh in their face … If I were feeling polite.
Hillary “Damn the rules” Clinton
* FL, MI early votes should count
* “Committed” Delegates can vote for whoever they want
Is she for the Rule of Law, or no?
Bob in HI
Yeah, well, if Mcaulliffe were telling me that my daughter was beautiful and brilliant, he would still annoy the living hell out of me. Something about him I have never been able to stand. Howard Wolfson either. She almost deserves to lose just for having these two. That’s without even getting to Penn….
O/T, but a good place to say quickly that one of Glenzilla’s best frequent commentators, DCLaw1, has started his own blog.
http://insideoutthebeltway.blogspot.com/
I think he’ll be a potent new addition to the “team”, a fast wing 3/4. If contact sports are not your favorite source for analogies, how about the church. We’re not the choir, exactly; perhaps we’re the proverbial DFH Berkeley and UofM PhD’s and ABD’s and JD’s who want to start playing guitars and flutes in mass instead of that darn organ that the MSM plays so badly it has Bach rotating in his grave.
So this law dude will be blogging about sports and church choirs? Beats politics I guess…..
Not too exhausted from pouring over election results, I see, that you’ve lost your snark. *g* Complementary talent, my boy, not replacing anyone on the EW/FDL team, but a useful replacement for the no-longer-daily fix from Scott Horton.
The more the merrier, and we can use all the help we can get i might add. There is a lot to fix….
EW – It is not how many you have had that is the critical discovery here, it is how many more you have left to enjoy. Skoal!
Thanks. But you had better start thinking whether you want a big bottle of Scotch or a big bottle of whiskey or a small bottle of both to go with your bourbon.
Though I might have to lug the damn things to CO to hand them off to you.
Burb! Am much more of a whiskey guy. But after a few more weeks of this primary, I’ll probably drink about anything.
You’ll find na’ but “whisky” even in the Lowlands. And Bourbons are in France; you don’t drink ‘em.
If you are going to drink bourbon, it must be made in Kentucky
Favorite brand? Just in case EW is bowled over by the choices in duty free.
It’ll likely be Middleton, particularly if I make it to Cork (mr. emptywheel’s close friends from college live around the corner from the distillery).
Family home, until the blight.
Um, there’s a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon sitting on my counter, with bmaz’ name on it, that Uncle Sam doesn’t want me to send.
Silly. I didn’t go to France for Bourbon!
bmaz, you never know when snark will get you. I started singing with a church choir 25 years ago, started singing opera 4 years later, and now have sung 50 operas, most recently Il Trovatore. Is that enough to start a flame war?
I’m still waiting for Cheney to morph (partly) into Rigoletto. Same dynamics; his envy and resentments are so self-defeating.
Not to besmirch Rigoletto…
“We’re not the choir, exactly; perhaps we’re the proverbial DFH Berkeley and UofM PhD’s and ABD’s and JD’s who want to start playing guitars and flutes in mass instead of that darn organ that the MSM plays so badly it has Bach rotating in his grave.”
“Yo.” (Raises hand.)
Bob in HI
Guitar, base or flute?
“Guitar, base or flute?”
Guitar or bass. Even played a mandolin once.
Bob in HI
And as I commented at FDL:
I’m sure the poohbahs of punditry will slice that six hundred ways to Sunday (and get it wrong), but however it’s sliced, there’s some real meaning in an almost 20% gender difference.
I am praying that moron MacAuliffe gets laryngitis and soon.
I have rarely had that kind of visceral response. He’s just lucky I wasn’t live.
In other breaking news, mr. emptywheel moved my Third Coast Ale to the back of the fridge and I thought, for a moment, that I had had 4 more beers than I have had.
Damn, I wish I could get to a beer, but I’m on liveblog duty tonight. Gah.
I avoided typing anything about Mac’s stupid assed comment about Michigan because I was afraid I’d get vicious instead of snarky. I swear if I ever see that man in person I will rip his lips off.
Sounds like you could use another; imagine it’s been a long day. That missing beer thingy never happens to me; I never count, especially not if it’s real ale.
No no, I had a delightful day. I did something I rarely, rarely do.
I shopped. Bought a sweet little girly dress. You see, I’m making a pilgrimage next week, to the land of Haggis. So I bought a dress.
Shoes too.
Sorry, I should specify. The real land of Haggis, not PA.
You’re vacating us again??? Didn’t you just come back from a vacation?
Uhmmmm…can we come along this time too?
Rumor has it that Scotland and Ireland (pilgrimage to Haggis, then a pilgrimage to Beamish) both have wifi.
Unlike Kentucky.
Please say “howdy” to my forebears, and tell them…ahmmm…we were gonna come back, but we got stuck here when we ran out of money…yeah, that’s the story.
Oh, much better than here, I guarantee. You’d have to be brushing the dragon’s teeth to find a spot without wifi in Eire; Skye or John O’Groat’s perhaps among the heathen Celts.
I’m pretty much sticking to Dublin, Offaly and maybe–if I get crazy for really fresh Beamish–Cork.
So I should have a lifeline.
Whew, that’s a relief, though I’m partial to the less than 24 hours old Guinness in Dublin. The only way to start looking for Finnegan.
That goes without saying, seeing as how mom and pop-in-law live 50 minutes outside St. James.
Heh. Might have to take up some Beamish meself. My mother’s great-great-grandmother was a Cavanagh from Cork.
The Scots will never be the same; or are you claiming that haggis is from the Sceptered Isle?
The correct response to (phonetically) “kimmer a ha hoo?” is “ha goo mah, tappah let … kimmer a ha hoo hain?”
Just in case.
OMG! Next thing you know it will be rosy cheeks and lipstick!
Well, I certainly missed an important announcement by staying out late last night. Have a wonderful trip!
Haven’t been to Glasgow in many yrs.- it was for a theatre festival. The city was grand, & filled w/generous, friendly people.
Here’s a little Bon Voyage music for you:
Button Accordion Graham Irvine Pipe Marches
ROTFL!
That Mr. emptywheel…
Mr. Klynn is laughing at your moment of OMG I drank how much?
I’m thinking, “She even bought a dress and shoes for a TRIP? WHAT is going to happen news-wise? Especially because she’ll be out of the country?”
I might note my mother is of the clan MacIntosh…
Did Scotland Department of Tourism send you a free trip in hopes of more positive haggis commentary?
My husband is of the clan “Irish but looks damn good in a kilt.”
So I bought a dress.
Ah, and now you’ll make him look damn better by his side in a dress, got it…
Just remember “tilt” rhymes with kilt and many a joke will contain both when in reference to a certain gender in a kilt. Overheard many a bawdy joke at clan gatherings as a child…
Should we start a pool as to “WHAT” will hit the fan while you are gone.
Boston Legal very fun right now!!!
The last wedding in which mr. emptywheel wore a kilt, the 6′2″ guy doing cartwheels was slightly more amusing than the Scottish salute.
To which salute are you referring?
The full frontal one.
Aye, well they did play it on the pipes then. *g*
You have us in stitches right now…
Are you willing to “open the EW away pool” and predict what will hit the fan?
EOH? Which salute?
Which salute? I couldn’t tell whether EW was mesmerized more by the Scottish salute, which I assume is done on the pipes, or Mr. EW inverted while doing cartwheels in his authentic kilt.
No no.
1) Mr. emptywheel didn’t do the carthwheels, Colin did.
2) The “salute” in question is a full frontal salute the bride. Suffice it to say at least 10 gentleman will be in kilts–the traditional manner.
Oh, and no. We’ve got a wedding to attend in Glasgow. And maybe a cousin to visit in Edinburgh.
a journey that does not take you through the new british air terminal at heathrow, i hope. otherwise, may i suggest wearing your wedding ensemble on the flight over.
Amsterdam.
So if we get bumped, we at least get to do something interesting.
Amsterdam? I spent a week there one night…
No doubt window shopping in the old cathedral district.
Amsterdam. Schiphol is efficient and the city would be an entertaining place to have to lay over for a day or two.
Plus, I’m ready to bump us up to First and World Club to make it comfortable.
I’ll be on vacation, after all.
Don’t go easy on the free champagne. Just bring a few aspirin to use before landing.
Oh trust me, I’m pretty good at international flights.
Yes, I’ve lost a few bags and spilled a little champagne in my time as well.
Well, I assume you are talking about the Heineken Brewery, just up the street from the Rijksmuseum.
There are better Dutch beers, but H lager will do in a pinch, or anywhere else. I prefer bitter and real ale.
No, no, no. Today, Pennsylvania proved that “bitter” doesn’t matter…
I guess that must be why I’m an Obama supporter; I like the Extra Special Bitter (Fuller’s, of course).
Fuller’s of Chiswick. London Pride, indeed.
Fred, pull this fellow another pint; he’s goin’ daft so he might as well feel good about it.
Just had a thought: it was about the money.
That last-minute Hail Mary Nuke-Iran-to-Glass commentary? I’ll bet you it was a dogwhistle call for more “walking about” money. Remember that Obama didn’t use it, refused to do so.
Oh, I bet she raised some walking around money. Not sure if you saw my comment on DKos, but my aunt and uncle (from Montgomery Cty PA), when I told them about the walking around money, said, “Obama may learn he can’t change everything at once. You have to change gradually.”
Yeah. That’s what happened. I missed your comment, sorry — but I’ll bet your family members are right, and the margin is the difference between walk around money and none.
Explains why HRC seems a little smug and practiced right now in her speech; she bought the margin.
Man, and I thought this was going to be another crappy political discussion when I saw the post. I must publicly apologize to EW for privately busting her chops over putting it up!
beer, dresses,shoes, haggis, weddings, bourbon, whiskey, beamish, kilts, tilts, cartwheels, weddings, duty free…
You mean this wasn’t a political discussion?
Only the best kind of political discussion. And damn near the only one that will get us through this primary.
I don’t know if you all are watching or not, but the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs are playing the best first round playoff series I have ever seen. double overtime disappointment for the Suns in the first game. Game two on currently.
Believe it or not, i actually went to see 3 or 4 operas when I was in my early 20s and they were not nearly as painful as I had thought. Couple were pretty interesting. I salute your effort.
I never got past singing about living in a Parisian garret while dying of consumption, though I was in Beijing for that Pucci guy’s Turbot or sumpin’.
An elegant dramatic medium beyond my comprehension. I’m rather like Sgt. Lewis asking Morse about a song sung by Maria Callas, “Was it from Cats?”
Meanie ;-))
FWIW: If you want a great little bit of Chinese opera, I recommend one of my all-time favorite movies: “The King of Masks. Opera inspires young child to greatness… after much travail.
Great movie (subtitled); the opera’s really just the icing on a splendidly told story.
The vocal range of traditional Chinese opera, its shrill nasality to my uneducated western mind, is like nails on a chalkboard.
Well, I’m no expert of Chinese opera. But I love that movie, and the visual splendor that I imagine maccacio saw must have been a real treat. Some of the Chinese instruments have a wonderful quality that is extraordinary when mixed with Western orchestras. (If you ever saw ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ you’ve may have some sense of it.
Did I get us to the complete other side of the planet…?
Back to the British Isles, via the Stones…
There’s probably a case to be made that the Stones “Sympathy for the Devil” is a late 20th c update of “Don Juan in Hell.” (However, I’ll let a music critic make the case better than I can.)
Turnadot! That was the one I actually liked the best. I am not even cultured enough for Cats or other Broadway fare for the most part, but i have been to a ton of Stones and Clapton concerts. Pretty much any other loud rock n roll band too.
I’ve sung Turandot twice, and seen it at the Met and in a Roman Amphitheater in Fiesole, it never fails to thrill.
The production of Turandot on the Great Wall was visually and historically spectacular, though the open-air and the throngs of people were somewhat distracting. The ride home was longer than the opera.
I listened to all of the San Jose-Calgary Game 7. Very hard fought series helped by the dramatics of the Calgary announcer.
I don’t know squat about hockey other than our local team is coached and managed by Gretzky, and the most popular player ever here is Jeremy Roenick. The local news is crazy about Roenick’s temporary return to greatness in the game you watched.
Boy soprano until age 15. Still managed to sire two children.
Congrats. The Venetians would be envious.
Yeah, but I can’t read Anne Rice any more without shuddering.
And I thought, based on the title of the post, that McCain was kicking the bucket or something. Oh well, at least the ’stros have finally found their bats.
With all due respect to EW, I submit the following amendment for consideration:
Did you notice that in the coverage, too? Keith was the only one who seemed to care that Obama has an–according to Chuck Todd–insurmountable lead.
Sorry; no teevee on here, and don’t even have a feed on the Toobz at the moment; was simply opining off your written comment.
(On late, finishing up some stuff and have EW in a window to keep me sane…. Beamish sounding realllly good right now…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx-4Llb56Y4
Incidentally–anyone notice delegate totals for PA?
A three delegate difference with over 85% of the vote in.
EW — You’ll be happy to know that MSNBC just flashed a map with MI and FL noted in school bus yellow, with all other states in blue or grey.
Oh jeebus, somebody put Pat Buchanan out of his, I mean, our misery. What a decrepit stupid shilling old f*ck; wonder how much HRC is paying him.
Did they have a picture of McAuliffe superimposed on it, vomiting from pain?
No, a picture of his stuffed, lipless head on pike, eyes wide with the final shock.
If only. [sigh]
I saw the Beijing Opera at Lincoln Center, The Monkey King. More like Cirque du Soleil than La Traviata.
OMG!!!
I am sooooo envious ;-))
Good for you!
Excellent news.
I’ll bet it was lovely; whole different style, really.
Clearly, some on these toobz just haven’t seen a good opera.
There’s nothing like it.
I’ll have to say it was a shock to my western ears, but then, think what ours must sound like to a Chinese.
Tomorrow’s NYT editorial is up: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04…..ref=slogin
‘Twould seem a bit ironic that the stately Times is whining about the decorum of the candidate that they heartily endorsed back in the day.
There was a time when I admired Terry McAuliffe. I thought he had a great life–literally synonymous with the title of his book–very successful lawyer after working with banks, representing some huge monied clients–ran the DNC for four years, fantastically smart fund raiser, advised Bill Clinton on how to turn a financial hole into a $109 million cushion (wherever it came from), survived the scum of the Global Crossing crisis, and five nice kids and equally nice wife.
But a lot of us don’t take orders from someone who spews cascades of pure mean spirited bullshit who can barely be distinguished from Karl Rove, and although not very smart, recognize that if you can put your team on a field where the other one doesn’t show, you can do all kinds of dances in the end zone claiming that you won if you’re delusional enough.
For that reason and that reason alone, if the winner of the delegates doesn’t get the nomination, (despite McAuliffe’s changing goal posts and calling Super D’s “automatic delegates” millions of us will vote for down ticket candidates we’ve known for years and are glad to support, but not for President of the U.S. That’s not a splinter group–it’s a movement and has been for months.
The numbers for McAuliffe and his candidate to win the delegate vote are purely impossible.
I’m seeing the results, HRC with a 55-45 lead, but only 40-37 in delegates. I guess we have to wait to see the final delegate count in PA?
The delegate count in Pa. extrapolates very much like Texas, i.e. more credit is awarded for delegates in the districts that turned out heavily during the 2006 mid-term elections, and urban black areas were much heavier in turnout than Western and Central Pa.
There are something like three types of PA delegates: congressional districts, state-wide, and some screwy third type that is determined by a ritual involving a fried squirrel, alcohol, a Penn State cheerleader, and an open-minded observer.
There still is one?
I thought they would have either drunk themselves insensible, or left the state by now.
I’m trying to figure that out. Chuck Todd predicted Hillary would net 14 delegates. if it ends up even CLOSE to 3, it’s a huge Obama win.
As you know the big media epicenter suburbs have not reported yet.
This gives you a bit of a sketch of delegate extrapolation in Pa.
Delegate results could be delayed in Pennsylvania
I was going off Kos’ stats, which indicated 94% of the precincts reported. I made the error of thinking that was “votes counted”. So the final tally would still seem up in the air.
Puccini’s Turandot seems like an Italian opera with oriental sets, something a fan like Inspector Morse would have enjoyed to rapture. The singing in traditional Chinese opera, I suspect, is very different. I appreciate the art form, but know neither western nor Chinese opera enough to enjoy it.
Well, I’m no expert, but I gather that it’s changed a great deal (at least in western Europe and US) the past generation. The stages, set designs, sound systems, lighting… all make for really remarkable productions that I think are probably necessary when competing against other types of entertainment.
Although, I have to admit the most fun thing that I’ve seen the past year was Spamalot. Nothing like a bawdy, over-the-top Monty Python ripoff! Very fun.
Hey, where did you see Spamalot? Vegas? I am dying to see it.
Nope; it came to Seattle.
And as might be expected in such a fine city, it was clear that a large portion of the audience knew at least half that musical by heart.
Not sure where the production is at present; but the production that I saw was very fun, and the audience was in a great mood and did plenty of ’singing along’, which made it even more fun.
EW, are you actually watching TV? I am amazed that anyone can watch the cablebots for any extended period of time, in fact, I dread my morning work out where the choices range from stupid on the morning shows to the blood-pressure raising of the cable nets.
Turandot is a powerful opera, four of the principals sing fairly traditional Italian arias, but there are three secondary characters, Ping, Pang, and Pong, whose music has an Eastern flavor, and there is one chorus number that is very 20th century.
Singing in a full production of it must have been an incredible experience.
Absolutely! It takes a lot of effort to learn the show, the costumes are unwieldy, the stage is steeply raked, we wore masks, and I loved it and if I didn’t have to have a day job to support my opera habit, I would hit the road and sing chorus anywhere they would have me.
Wow. What a great way to master the music, as well as to hear it.
(Your posts remind me to ‘borrow’ a copy of Turandot from my ancient mum next time I happen to see her.)
Sorry to be such a rotten elitist, but I thought you were in TN or thereabouts, and frankly I had not realized there was such an active opera in that part of the US.
Another benefit of the EW blog…
He IS in Tennessee. They got kultcha there too. It is just us heathens in the desert that have none…
Nice to learn a bit more about other regions; via something other than the Food channel and sports. (Travel doesn’t always tease out details about opera in TN.)
As for the primary… and/or the election…
What I’m most interested in is the rate of turnout for Dems in PA.
How many people actually turned out to vote for McCain? As opposed to the combined Dem vote? THAT’s the real story, or so it seems to this onlooker.
I think that has been the untold story of this whole election. The Dem turnout has been literally killing the GOP turnout. even here in Arizona, a traditionally GOP state and McCains home state, the Dem total votes equalled the GOP total primary votes. That is unheard of here. This phenomenon nationally bodes very well.
I was dumbfounded when I heard of several people I know in Boise who attended a Barak Obama speech there. (These are not people that I would **ever** have expected to go to a ‘political rally’.) Arizona?! Idaho?!
What in the world is going on…??!
(FWIW, when Al Gore took his climate speech to Boise in the past year or so, they had to reschedule it from a smaller arena, because the interest was so high. I understand that he filled up the Boise State football stadium. You know something’s weird when the football stadium in Boise isn’t big enough for all the people who want to hear Al Gore talk about the weather (!))
I’m totally fascinated at what seem to be very deep, and strongly felt, changing attitudes. I just don’t recall anything like this in my lifetime, which includes VietNam and W’Gate.
Obama drew 14,000 to the old Coloseum (old dilapidated Suns stadium) here, with another thousand or two standing outside. Clinton had a rally at a South Phoenix (wrong side of the tracks kind of area) high school gym and 10,000+ people showed up for that! Just insane response; McCain hasn’t gotten more that 3,000-4,000 for any rally. I read about similar stuff in every state. Or even better. But then you see these polls with McCain and any Dem essentially tied. I don’t think that pollsters have the metrics yet to get a bead on the undercurrent that is really happening. At least that is my hope…
Call it a gut response with no sophistication whatsoever as to polling nuances, but at this point, the dynamic where the democratic focus can be squarely on McCain is just not there obviously. Despite the gloom and doom forcasted about what the 527s and ancillary machines would do to either candidate, I think that the landscape for McCain will shift dramatically once a candidate can begin to focus on how he would translate in the White House.
I think you’ve hit a moving target here.
This election seems like something that the polls have a very limited ability to describe.
Polls are probably as overpriced as pundits, and losing ‘information value’ at the same rate. Pundits rely on polls; polls need pundits. It’s a closed loop that fails to describe the dynamics or emotional character of what’s happening.
10,000 for Hillary, while McCain attracts 4,000… and Obama is like a political revivalist packing ‘em in. (Apart from which candidate anyone here may support,this suggests Hillary is phenomenally resilient, as is her spouse.)
Not sure quite what’s going on, but the polls seem to be too crude a tool to capture the dynamic that’s happening.
We do live in interesting times.
It’s nice to see people engaged by politics, but I can’t stand to pay attention to very much of the campaigning. The negativity is toxic and corrosive; the Dems would be wise to clean up the emotional tone. (See NYT OpEd today.)
Boy do I agree with the toxicity part. I have a little different take on the root cause of the toxicity (I think the nature of the news coverage drove the campaign there, but of course the NYT isn’t going to cop to any such thing). I probably didn’t describe it in enough detail, but the turnout part for the Dems here was astounding. The crowd at the Obama thing was mind blowing (I tried to go, saw the line out of the parking lot and down the street, laughed and left – I am too old for that); Clinton drawing 10,000+ to the South Phoenix high school gym, relatively speaking, was every bit, and maybe more, impressive. People were registering to vote left and right and, more importantly, signing up to work for the general. Never seen anything like it in Arizona.
You’ve got the Santa Fe Opera! How far can that be?
I saw “Madame Butterfly” and “Street Scene” at Opera Theater of St. Louis. The opera we will probably end up seeing this year if at all is Una cosa rara because my husband did not want to see another tragedy. This year they are also putting on Walton’s “Troilus and Cressida”. I cannot afford to salivate.
After several years telemarketing for the St. Louis Symphony I suspect I am now allergic to Puccini.
Everybody seems to be up late tonight watching the results – “nessun dorma”, one might say (sing?) Perhaps some Glenmorangie and water will help – the Pennsylvania result seems to be a bit of a Rohrschach test for both sides, Hillary clinging to the barest double digit win to justify staying in the race, and Obama stating that he cut Hillary’s lead in half in her best state outside of NY. And the band played on….
Nessun Dorma, si, ma all’alba vincero.
I love the choral part before the finale of the aria….
“Il nome suo nessun saprà… E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!”
…gives me chills every time. Although I have a weakness for Mozart when it comes to opera.
That is a beautiful line, we sing it off-stage, and I sang it falsetto (it is written for tenors) just for the pleasure of it.
rOTL, Nashville has a level 3 company, our budget is around 2.25 million, and we sell pretty well. We are building an opera center for rehearsal and workshopping and very small operas. This season was Samson and Delilah, a world premiere of Elmer Gantry that drew a mention in the NYT Arts section on a Sunday (it was marvelous), H.M.S. Pinafore and Il Trovatore.
That’s enormously heartening; it takes so much energy to build things, and that sounds ambitious. You’ve definitely upended my (evidently pedestrian) assumptions, perhaps because I associate TN with “Grand Ole Opry”, and not with vibrant opera — certainly not with premieres. My mind is a bit wider now; thx.
(FWIW: It took Seattle until a few years ago to build an opera house (our previous opera house was a refurbished armory that had been revamped for the 1962 World’s Fair). It does make a difference to have a nice venue.
I lived there for 4 years when I went to Vandy, and Nashville has grown considerably culturally and other ways since then (*g* more than a couple years ago).
I’ve got some water for your Glenmorangie … spit!
Islays or nothing, baby. Laphroaig. Lagavulin. Yummy. Peat moss.
Oh, I think you are being unfair to Glenmorangie, particularly in sherry barrels, but I agree on one point – Real Scots (and my ancestors came to Canada in 1752 after they backed Bonnie Prince Charlie) drink Talisker!
I have no issue with Glenmorangie in sherry barrels. But when it’s suggested that it should be taken out and drunk … then we have a problem.
Just teasing (as I hope you already knew).
Trash talk is a hallowed tradition in Wheelland – sports teams, choice of libation, it’s part of the culture here!! I was just about to mock Bmaz for drinking corn squeezins’ instead of real whisky….. /s
Yes, nothing beats aging in oak casks already used to mature sherry. Ask St. John.
Burnt peat moss, but good with a cigar. Flavorful, but anti-social at weddings.
News to me. Our best-man’s toast was with Lagavulin (which her dad ponied up for … her side is Catholic, so think 250 guests). Meanwhile, the piper played on the escarpment. Cool party, if I saw so myself.
That’s my kind of wedding.
Glenmorangie and water? I prefer a wee dram of Macallan’s 16, with a drop of ice.
Yes, spring water, just a touch, it releases the aroma beautifully. And Macallan 16 is a gorgeous drink. Maybe we should send some to Bmaz instead of that rheumatiz medicine he likes….
They tell me bourbon and branch water is the only true Southern beverage. I prefer whisky, or even a touch of Black Bush. bmaz should ask EW to bring back a liter of that from Dublin.
Alert to EW, not that you don’t already have it:
http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/loc/7/2470437.php
The 55-45 vote spread, Clinton-Obama, seems consistent with the traditional racial polarity in western PA. If it gives Mrs. Clinton only three more delegates than Obama, 40-37, I’d say she’s pushing a rope.
Now she’s up 6.
I see, with 60 more delegates still to apportion. The mind boggles.
It seems that only 20 are the third, weird type, out of 158. I’m now seeing 67 to 51 (on C&L), which leaves 40.
i don’t care which candidate you call your own, I suggest that the DNC really went so overboard with their “proportional” delegate allocation system that they made a freaking mess. I never particularly liked winner take all, but there ought to be some significant bonus for actually winning a state. How they currently have it almost assures that no candidate can pull away and actually win the damn nomination if there is anywhere near a competitive race. If we are going to insist on having a nominee prior to the convention, there ought to be metrics where one can actually win the stinking thing.
You describe a votes/delegates allocation formula that neuters the voters’ choice and leaves it up to delegateering at the convention, with anything like a competitive race between ANY two top contenders. I can’t imagine the DNC wanted that to happen.
The problem is, if you have the cutoff to easy to get to, then more than one person can get there.
With that said, the current system stinks.
As to the “open-minded observer,” I have a few friends left there that I’d classify as such. (I only moved to Iowa 10 months ago.)
More seriously, it will take a while to figure out the third type of delegate.
People can differ as to the way to establish the metric, and I sure agree with you that this crazy quilt byzantine method that few people could reproduce unless they are deeply involved in a particular state should change.
There is an overwhelming compelling case to standardize things, and to have rotating regional primaries.
And as to Michigan and Florida, there should never again be a repeat where so many engaged people should be excluded from the primary.
Ditto all of that. Seriously agree with that.
Well fuck. Spurs beat the Suns again.
“Well fuck. Spurs beat the Suns again.”
Well,I guess that trade for Shaq worked real good, huh?
Bob in HI
Suns fan
Crooks and Liars reports a delegate spread of 67-51, Clinton-Obama, based on “96% reporting”. Not good numbers for Obama supporters, but still a long row for Mrs. Clinton to hoe.
OMFG. I would have said McAuliffe won Gaffe of the Night, but Joe Sestak just said that Clinton was emerging as the grassroots candidate.
Agh. This guy needs to catch a clue.
That’s it, I need a drink and to hit the sack. I can’t take anymore bullshit and stupid than I’ve consumed this evening.
That’ll teach you to watch the tv instead of hanging around here.
Well, the Suns suck, but the Diamonbacks are on a major roll so far this year. Another win tonight and Brandon Webb is 5-0 to start the season.
I could not understand the Shaq trade for a fast team like the Suns!! And remember, in the Baseball Trash Talk thread I called a Boston – Arizona World Series, a Sox sweep of course!
bob melvin was in my high school class. he had a total crush on my best friend. haven’t seen him since he and another h.s. bud showed up backstage at a grateful dead show i was working when he was a catcher for the giants.
sherman, to the wayback machine!
Melvin seems like a great guy. I don’t know if they can keep it up all year, but this is really a good fun team. they are all young, bright, nice and charismatic. And Melvin seems like a perfect manager for them. Very refreshing for a pro sports team.
Ishmael – my mother’s family are very entrenched, going way back, Kentuckians. My grandfather was even head general or whatever of the Kentucky Colonels. Ain’t nuthin wrong with the rheumatiz medicine they distill down there!
Actually, when I think of some of the stuff that I would drink during law school…. well, price and proof were the priorities!!
Heh, it is certainly not an exercise that lends itself to sobriety now is it?
Yeah, “sober as a judge” never made sense to law students!
Even as a grad student, I hope you were able to avoid “fortified wine”. I do remember a “friend” introducing me to Long Island “Iced Tea”. Still haven’t forgiven them.
I recall that we used to stockpile lots of Mateus and Riunite because we thought that would be more appealing in case we were lucky enough that the female students would come to the party…. ah, school days!!!
The mention of “wine” from twist-off cap bottles, when that was considered a treat, tells me it’s time for dreamland. Adieu.
In the exit polls, in a question that is always lied about in terms of under reflecting the real value, 13% said they voted for their choice due to race, and 75% of that 13% voted Clinton.
Race has been, and always will be a factor in a country deeply driven by visceral engrained prejudices and superstition.
Oh, and I have to back him on the splash of water. Scots have earned PhDs in chemistry explaining how it works.
So that’s why the ice in the whisky works. It melts. Especially useful to have with cask strength beverages.
Actually, it doesn’t work as well with ice. You shouldn’t “shock” a good scotch with something that cold. It really should be a splash of water.
Ice, if I may be blunt, is for people who don’t like the taste of what they are drinking. It slows the receptors on the tongue.
And the Irish agree … cold Guinness is disgusting.
Not “on the rocks” American style, just a cube to swirl and melt, when you need to make one last for the entire faculty soiree.
I agree about beer, cellar temperature. Ice-chilled lagers are tasteless, which for most American lagers is preferable, though there are dozens of good ones and a few great ones.
I spent a week in Portland (Oregon) once, and FWIW it has the best variety and quality of craft beer I have yet found in America, from lager to stout.
Metro DC has a good variety of micro-brewers, and I had a memorable experience at the Anchor brewery in SFO. I would enjoy a “wine tour” through the Portland brewers. Sounds like a venue for some to-be-arranged Yearly EW/FDL Summit, after DC, of course.
@157: If you hear the “rocks” cracking, it’s a shock.
@158: Popov vodka in plastic bottles … oh, the days.
What, no peppermint Schnaps in the two-liter bottle?
ewwwwwwwwww…
Comments like that are harmful to browser and other communications assets.
…cringing away from the computer…
Not to worry, only observed the imbibing and its after effects from a distance. Not recommended. But among poor grad students, especially those trying to get their research published under their own, rather than their adviser’s name, I’ve heard it has a calming effect on the mind as well as teh wallet.
Um, how many think we are getting the true story here?
I do not know what the facility in syria was that was destroyed, or even if there was anything of significance there at all, but I am also darn near positive that whatever the deal was, it is being contorted and used in a scam for some bullshit Bushco scheme.
on greg pallast’s blog he has an article about some secret meeting down in new orleans that bush sr and jr,the pres of mexico,prime minister of canada,plus the n American competitive council,(execs of wal mart,chevron,lockeed,plus 27 multinational masters of the universe)are having.Some big nafta plan to bring duty free china products into mexico and redistribute them as mexican products.
Any bets on wether this might involve the Hunt ranch portal?
While everybody is beating themselvs up over this election stuff this “North American Prosperity Council” is seeing to it that “elections” are a thing of the past
maybe,( elections would be just for show) would be a better way to put it
Gosh, I’m sorry I missed the party last night. Scotland, Amsterdam, Talisker, opera — and I slept through the whole thing.
strider7, that is the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership, which is an official (in all three countries) if shady twist on NAFTA. The “three amigos” meet irregularly (last summer in Montebello, Quebec) to put a shine on things, but the work is done by the North American Competitiveness Council — reps of ten Canadian corporations, ten Mexican, and twelve American, all the big guys (Lockheed Martin, WalMart, etc), plus of course all the government minions. They produce “administrative agreements” — ie, they are changing all kinds of things to do with trade and “security” in private without runnning them past Congress or Parliament. Your examples sound entirely possible.
They call the changes to regulatory standards “harmonizing.” In practice, harmonizing means, eg, that we now allow higher levels of pesticides on imported produce than we used to because we had to harmonize with you. No one asked the people about that — it was just announced. And God knows what plans they have for the borders, but the main thrust seems to be to make things easier for trade and tougher for people.
I thought the optics of Bush’s hosting this meeting in New Orleans were stupefyingly awful. The left up here is very alert to this stuff. In the U.S., opposition to the SPP has been sort of taken over by far-right wingnuts who run on overblown conspiracy theories, which is why, I gather, American lefties tend to shy away from the subject. Pity, because the SPP is definitely underway.
PS: Here’s Palast saying more or less what I wrote above. Barlow is more than trustworthy, amazingly persistent woman over a lot of years.
Dunno, but it’s an interesting question.
When we were talking abut the Hunt land a bit back, I had suggested that the Hunt parcel was an attempt to build a free trade zone “gate city” on the US-Mexico border. I figured Hunt looked at the $$$ in Dubai and thought he would like one just like Kish, Chabaha or the new biggie — Dubai.
preview….Chabahar
coffee needed especially after going to bed participating in this thread…The dreams I had…insane…
From < <strong>a href=”http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/”>First Read:
Our superdelegate total is Clinton 262, Obama 237.
In all, Obama now leads by 131 overall: 1,719-1,588.
First Read
Obama picked up Superdelegate Okalhoma Governor Brad Henry this morning–a prelude of things to come writ large.
“Street Scene” is by Kurt Weill; there is no consensus on whether it is an opera or a musical.
This weekend is “Daughter of the Regiment” with Natalie Dessay! To see it I and my husband would have to walk an hour to the Art Museum. Will not happen.
I remember that “Elmer Gantry” story, and it slipped my mind that the opera in question was in Nashville.
I essentially don’t know squat about hockey either. Can Roenick have another game like that against Dallas?
After actually consulting The Google, to drive from Phoenix to Santa Fe essentially would take a whole day.
i used to ski Taos frequently, and always spent a day/night in Santa Fe on the way in or out. It is a VERY long haul to drive from Phx. Crikey, it takes you the better part of a day to fly into Albuquerque and drive up from there