h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's a very petty sort of thing to do... but in the clip I saw, there were only three women visible. I think it's one of those vocal minority things. And yeah, McCain's stance is wide on some things, but on women's rights, he fails miserably.

I'm thinking of learning to rap, and billing myself as "M.C. Cain"

I hadn't heard of Carly before your post, Ti, and I live here!

The Utah 3rd Congressional District seat is officially open, Chris Cannon was unseated last night in the Republican Primary by a former Chief of Staff for our Governor. He will be running against some guy I have never heard of.

Is there a possibility a Democrat could take the seat?

Not likely, the 3rd doesn't have enough of Salt Lake County in it. I am just glad to see Cannon gone, he didn't represent me in any way.

What's the new Republican candidate like?

I don't know anything about him aside from he doesn't live in the district (easy thing to happen since Salt Lake County is split 2 or 3 ways) and he was Chief of Staff to Gov. Huntman.

He's a typical Utah Republican. He wants to restrict government involvement in education, wants only private health insurance, no social programs, etc. Oh and he lives in one of the richest communities in Utah. It is unfortunate that he will likely trounce the Democrat, Bennion Spencer.

I failed miserably at predicting when Hillary would drop out... anyone want to speculate on when John and Barack will choose their running mates, and/or who those running mates will be?

I'll start with John McCain choosing Mitt Romney on Friday, August 29th, and Barack Obama choosing Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on August 15th.

Not ready to make those predictions yet. Out of curiosity Irv, why do you pick those two?

On McCain's veep: I think that McCain has two options at this point. He can either find someone who appeals to independents and moderate democrats, or he can find someone who appeals to the Republican base. If he goes with someone who independents like, he risks alienating the base, who might then vote for a third party, or just stay home. He might count on his "Maverick" reputation to help him out with independents, and really work on the base. If he wants to do that, Huckabee is a good choice. He's popular, he's not as scary to independents as some other evangelicals (he looks like such a sweet man!) and he's been a preacher, so the Christian Coalition will love him. August 28th is the day the Deomcratic National Convention wraps up. McCain might want to suppress the traditional post-convention bump by announcing his running mate right as the Democrats close their convention, so he can get Obama out of the news as the Republicans get ready to start their convention on the following Monday.

On Obama's Veep: I think Obama needs two things: he needs to unify his party, and he needs to shore up his "experience" issue. The female governor of a traditionally "red" state like Kansas does both, since she has executive branch experience, something Obama doesn't, and should prove to Hillary supporters that Obama isn't a misogynist -- which makes it easier to paint McCain as a misogynist, considering his stance on women's issues. Since Kansas is a "red" state she'll be viewed as a moderate, so she won't scare off independents.

Another option would be Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, but you can't have her d@mn it, she's ours! The date is just a guess.

I like Huckabee all right. At least he has a sense of humor - did you see him on Saturday Night Live?

There's an interesting series on BBC Radio 4 this week- US presidential elections as repored by the BBC's Alistair Cooke, who hosted a weekly "letter from america' on BBC Radio, and who also made the classic TV Series Alistair Cooke's America.

HAve a listen, the first three episodes are up already.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/book_week.shtml

I always used to listen to Alistair Cooke.

From the 'What news story has caught your attention today?' thread:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/07/30/a_new_attack_on_birth_control/

'The administration does not need approval of Congress to put this rule into effect.'

Of course. He still has a few months left to screw things up for Americans. Why am I not surprised?

On a lighter note, from the 'Any YouTube gems you'd like to share?' thread, where we aren't too concerned if the video is really on youtube or somewhere else:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/

http://www.legitgov.org/cia_re-kills_al-masri_300708.html

...

Though I must admit this is the first time I've come across Citizens for Legitimate Government - has anyone else heard about them before?