they will pardon a tasty swamp bug on thanksgiving

I have no concept of how long this has been floating around the interwebs, but there are some photos of the contested ballots in the Franken/Coleman senate election in Minnesota.

Of particular interest to me is this bad boy right here:



Is there more to this than meets the eye? Does this voter know something about Al Franken and the other candidates he or she voted for that we don't? Is there a secret cabal of lizard people infiltrating - nay dominating - our highest branches of government?

I, for one, welcome our new lizard overlords.

Wolfpack 41, Tar Holes 10

I don't want to say that I called it or anything, but I called it.

how is how rdu doin' doing?

I think this email from our fearless leader says it all:

We are the #1 search result for "tazed at funeral." We have a lot to be proud of today.

That we do, Scott, that we do.

playoff system? yes we can.

The change we need. And by "we," I mean NCAA Division I (or Bowl Subdivision, if you prefer*) football. Barack Obama, our president elect, has come out on the side of a playoff. So Barack Obama is a Bears fan who wants a playoff for college football. If I see him at a State game buddying up with Rod Brind'Amour, I'm ready to declare him the greatest president ever without him having even been sworn in.

Of course, with the political season having not yet died down, he even took a shot at those who disagree with him; adding "I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this." John Swofford is not a serious fan of college football.

*No one does.

teams played football this weekend

Wolfpack 21, Demon Deacons 17 - Russell Wilson was amazing and the NC State defense came up big when it needed to the most in this game, which will boost my expectations for next season just enough that the cycle of being a Wolfpack fan can continue when the basketball team(1-0 after avenging our loss to the mighty Privateers of New Orleans) inevitably crushes my soul. I watched this game in the rain with newly-married Mr. Shmecki McShmam (formerly Laul Peeland). State beating a top 25 team after a rough season is more fun than a little rain can stop.

Also? I've figured out State's niche for the season. Does your school play football in North Carolina? Were there high expectations for your season? NC State will ruin it. ECU? Ruined. Duke? Ruined. Wake? Ruined. UNC? On notice.

If we'd had App State on the schedule, we could have gone to a bowl...

Terps 17, Tar Holes 15 - Here's the other reason Carolina is on notice. Their quarterback seems to have left his ability to play or even recognize a football game in his other pants.

UPDATE: Sexton is now fighting for the job he earned through a string of injury and incompetence from the two guys who were ahead of him this season. I can only hope that this causes the kind of chemistry issues that can keep States in-state win streak alive.

Bears 3, Dirty Cheating Packers more than 3 - So. This is bad. Three-way tie for the division lead. It looks bad. The Bears need at least four of the next six to win the division, as I see it. If their defense continues to get ripped up, it isn't happening. Not that the offense had a great game or anything(they didn't, they had the opposite of a great game), but remember when they were the liability rather than the defense? What happened?

Eagles 13, Bengals 13 - The NFL's first tie in six years. I hate ties, but not for the reason everyone else does. I hate ties because I'll hear about how the concept of the tie is the worst thing in sports. Normally, I'd agree. But I'm cool with the way the NFL works it. If neither team can score in any way in 15 minutes with the game on the line, neither team deserves a win.

just a small bit of what my problem with prop 8 is

I might add more later about how dangerous legislating faith...or even your (incorrect) perception of it is...later. This is pretty good for now, though.

SUPER SPARKLE SHOWCASE sunday morning recap

The finale was a grand success. Lots of fun, bits on top of bits, and each contestant bringing it hard so that we can say the best show was definitely the last one. Congrats to Jon, who won by setting the bar incredibly high in the first two weeks and playing strong enough to stay ahead by the time everyone else caught up.

I've praised the contestants to no end and I don't think I need to tell you how awesome I was, but there is something I've left out of all these recaps. Jason Matthews worked long and strange hours to pull this thing together so that the rest of us could just focus on having fun with his show.

Thanks, JMatt. Get some rest. There's going to be high demand for a season 2.

north carolina went blue - anything can happen

So. The Chicago Bears will take the field against the 8-0 Tennessee Titans. At quarterback, Kyle Orton - formerly the "rookie sensation" - formerly the "game manager" - formerly the "pro bowl slam dunk" - won't be playing quarterback. Rex - formerly "means king" - formerly - injury prone - formerly good/bad Rex - Grossman will. Brian Urlacher is a shadow of his former self. The secondary is decimated. Can the Bears get a win on Sunday?



Yes we can.

what i would do, not that anyone asked

I'm still not sure I believe it, really. North Carolina is a blue state, and the Democrats have all but a stranglehold on the Senate. You'll have to forgive me, but all I can think right now is "don't screw this up." The Democrats, with Obama as their leader, now have a serious chance at making good on the change that has been promised. Both in the tone in DC and in the policy in this country.

I believe Obama will reach across the aisle. But if he's going to do it well, some of us will have to wait on some of the grand designs we might have for a government operating from left-of-center.

At this point, taking some measures to stabilize the economy is job one. There's a lame duck session of Congress to go, and maybe something will get done there, but we'll need something real and something strong to bounce our economy back all the way. No-brainer. Everyone wants that.

So Mr. President-elect, work with some Democrats and Republicans on getting that taken care of. Let them have some input. Let them propose things. Compromise. In the midst of all of this, though, remember that you're in charge and they'll have to concede more than you will. You have, with the Democratic party, a pretty strong mandate.

Up next, it will be time to start dotting the final Is and crossing the final Ts in Iraq. Also, it will be time to focus on the hills between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is also something that both sides can be even quicker to come to an agreement on, as we all know it needs to be done.

Suddenly, you've reached across the aisle, just as you promised on two pretty large issues. Then you have your political capital. Then it's time to look at health care and the other issues that have divided the political leaders for so long. That will be when we see just how far we've come.

SUPER SPARKLE SHOWCASE sunday morning recap on a thursday

The word of the week was junk. Stuffed tights, not-so-stuffed tights, and a pair boxers without a button fly all made appearances while a fourth contestant's backup dancer rubbed his junk all up on me(clearly not the way to get a high score). The crowd loved it, and the SUPER SPARKLE SHOWCASE had a helluva night.

What could have been a disaster, when one contestant took somewhere between 4 minutes and eternity to set up his interpretive dance, turned out to be a beautifully fun moment where PT and I got to really have a go at each other(all in good fun and totally in character, of course). The show is supposed to be about the contestants, but that was just a ton of fun.

This week's video? Enjoy Chris Moore's crotch-tastic performance.

Next week is the final week, and the contestants have been ordered only to SPARKLE. I can't wait to see what they'll do with it.

there's plenty to talk about, but...

For now Media Matters has the best point: will the media-at-large remember that they actually called Bush's 2004 victory "a mandate?"