Pontifications and Other Mindless Banter
March 1, 2006
From the "Could-this-be-a-promotion-in-the-works? Yeah-Right!" Department
Anyone who follows news/politics knows about the Press’ use of the term “Senior Administration Official”, this clandestine office seems to know EVERYTHING that happens in the White House. It is as if this lone individual works in EVERY office of the White House AND Old Executive Office Building (OEOB).
Who is this enigmatic official with all the knowlege of the Executive Branch of the Government, and how come even the chumpiest of the chumpy reporterettes have access to him.
And how can he remain so annonymous?
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From the "Freedom-of-Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly and DOH!" Department
Americans apparently know more about “The Simpsons” than they do about the First Amendment.
From Breit-Bart-dot-com
Hattip: Wizbang
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March 2, 2006
After the administrivial snaffu I mentioned last month, welcome to the First Full Month of Searchy Fun.
For those of you who came in late, these are the top 20 search strings used to find Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com through the various Search Engines on the World Wide Web.
We see some old friends again, this month.
Lets get to checking!
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From the "Mystery-Comment-Theater-Three-Thousand" Department
Don’t look now, but Dad just made the 3000th Comment on Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com.
Seems fitting that my biggest fan made the milestone comment.
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From the "*polite-stare* Be-seeing-you..." Department
One of the strangest events in a bloggers life is when a blogger’s personal life and their blog life collide.
Some of the oddest and most unpredictable things happen. And I think that the idea of this collision of real and internet life is lost on the non-blogger.
So much so that bloggers have come up with global Disclaimers to help intercept such events.
Hattip: Risawn of Incoherant Ramblings
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March 3, 2006
From the "I-look-forward-to-killing-you-soon" Department
There are two types of people in this world.
- People who think Ninjas are cool
- And liars
Anyways, the fan forum over at Alpha-Shade (A great web comic you should be reading) pointed me to the video Pod Cast for Ask-A-Ninja.
While the iPod version is not that great, the vid-feed on the blog is way better.
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March 6, 2006
From the "Pankake-Indeed" Department
This webheadline made me look twice:
The Rachel Corrie Pancake Breakfast
Talk about an insensitive title!
(Too bad it isn’t a joke)
Hattip: Little Green Footballs
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From the "You've-got-Politics-in-Pennsylvania" Department
The Writing Company points me to an article on RealClearPolitics on the recent political importance of the great state [Commonweath] of Pennsylvania (The home state of The Editors of Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com)
The Pennsylvania Paradox
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March 7, 2006
From the "Too-many-brands-in-the-fire" Department
Not much of an update today. Because I’ve been revamping some of the extra pages to fit the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com theme.
It will take me awhile (and each page is increasing my post count [and I don't quite like that -.ed])
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March 8, 2006
From the "This-is-dedicated-to..." Department
As I referenced in the last post, I was re-vamping the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com About pages.
My least favorite of the existing pages was the “Whom do you Trust” page. I needed a page for one of the six critical questions, and I just didn’t have a theme for it. But as I revampted it, I had a great idea.
I hope you like it too!
Whom do you Trust?
From the "Two-heads-are-better-than-none" Department
A few weeks ago, Cisco approached me about a zany idea he had. Since he liked our online debates so much, he wanted to create a website to facilitate such debate (and not clutter Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com with all of it)
After some online collaboration, we created:
Two-Headed-Monster
Two Republicans without Talking Points
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March 9, 2006
From the "One-Man-One-Vote, doesn't-say-anything-about-being-alive!" Department
Last Night, I was so bored, I did a little analytical project. I’ve been thinking about the Electoral College lately, and how some states have a lot of weight in the process of electing the President of the United States.
For example, today, a candidate only needs to win 11-of-50 states to win 271 electoral votes (you need 269 to tie).
Fortunately, those eleven states are widespread in the current political landscape that no partisan candidate can swing them all.
They are California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Of course, historically, this has not always been the case…
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March 10, 2006
From the "The-second-era-of-the-United-States-of-America" Department
Yesterday, I looked at the power centers of National Politics in the Electoral College, up to the Civil War. It was no surprise that the two major centres were the NorthEast (with New England) and the South.
From here on out, the South would be its own entity. (As I previously discussed in a previous post, the Democratic Party would find its loyal base in the South.)
But the Nation, as a whole was, expanding west, and new states were still forming in the plains, and rocky mountain regions.
However, if you look closely, a new power centre was forming in the Midwest.
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March 13, 2006
From the "The-Electoral-History-of-the-United-States :: Part-Three" Department
In my Previous two Posts, I’ve been discussing the importance of geographic centres of power in Presidential Election Politics.
In the first era of our nation, we saw how the issue of Slavery was dependent on the Southern Population, and its continued presence as a power center in the national scale.
After the Civil War, we saw how the Democratic Power Base remained strong in in the south. While the Republicans enjoied their powerbase (with higher electoral votes) in the Northeast and Midwest. Few Democrats (even with homestate advantages) could make a dent north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Then came the Great Depression and World War II, and FDR’s commanding popularity. The Democrats had it made, now with Truman at the helm. But then something happened.
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From the "I-have-become-death; the-Destroyer-of-Workplaces" Department
Independent Sources points us to this interesting article from the AOL News Network‘s Money Section:
Cubicles: The great mistake
Robert Oppenheimer agonized over building the A-bomb. Alfred Nobel got queasy about creating dynamite. Robert Propst invented nothing so destructive. Yet before he died in 2000, he lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called “monolithic insanity.”
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March 14, 2006
From the "Realisticly-Cautious" Department
Those are two words which really appeal to me, at a personal level.
Where did I get them?
Well, from my Personal DNA
See my report here
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From the "iWar-of-the-iWorlds" Department
Two things for the AstroGeek in me, today:
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March 15, 2006
From the "According-to-Einstein's-theory-of-relativity, Chuck-Norris-can-actually-roundhouse-kick-you-yesterday" Department
What is it, all of the sudden, about Chuck Norris?
There is even a website [Link Removed for Editor's Sanity - ed.] with all these insane statements surrounding Chuck Norris.
I can already tell this is going to be one of those annoying internet memes that will never go away…
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March 16, 2006
From the "Aren't-you-a-little-short-for-a-StorTrooper?" Department
StorTroopers are back!
StorTroopers-dot-com
The best thing since before HeroMachine
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From the "An-OnRamp-in-every-garage" Department
I read this story on h-t-t-p-colon forward-slash forward-slash slash-dot-dot-org over at CNSNews-dot-com:
Pelosi Hints at Democrats’ ‘Unified’ Agenda
There are some familiar Democratic Platform points, but the last one in this quote caught my eye:
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March 17, 2006
From the "Ginsburg-the-headless-Supreme-Court-Justice (With-apologies-to-Warren-Zevon)" Department
I previously pontificated about Justice Scalia, and Justice Stevens, but recently, Justice Ginsburg has been in the news. As I’ve previously mentioned, Ms. Ginsburg is of the opposite philosphy to Justice Scalia, epescially around the area of the use of foreign precident.
Scalia believes the Constitution is paramout
Ginsburg believes otherwise.
Shortly before naping in the Court Chambers, Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke in South Africa on the subject of The Value of a Comparative Perspective in Constitutional Adjudication
Hattip: Powerline
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From the "al-Qaeda Which-Has-Nothing-to-Do-With-Iraq in Iraq Which-Has-Nothing-to-Do-With-al-Qaeda" Department
ABC Reports that there might actually BE a connection between Saddam and Osama.
Forbid the thought!
Hattips: Michelle Malkin, Expose-The-Left
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March 20, 2006
From the "Legos: Is-there-anything-they-can't-do?" Department
Maybe the Pirates of the Indian Ocean should equip themselves with one of these, before attacking the U.S. Navy.
Lego SuperCarrier
(BTW: Its the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman CVN 75)
When can I get one?
Lego Hattip: VodkaPundit
Pirate Hattip: Independent Sources
From the "T.O. Pwned!" Department
The Most-Hated-Team-in-Football has acquired the contract for the most hated player in football: Terrell Owens.
Somehow, it’s fitting.
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March 21, 2006
From the "My-Spending-is-reduced, despite-a-steady-accumulation-of-wealth-in-my-savings-account" Department
Fox Butterfield is the now-retired Crime Reporter for the New York Times; and unfortunately the subject of a major joke at his expense.
What is the joke you say?
Well, it is something that James Taranto of Best of the Web Today calls “The Butterfield Effect”
To put simply, Fox Butterfield has a concern that there is an increasing population of criminal inmates in prison, despite a reduced crime rate.
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March 22, 2006
From the "Damn-you,
EvilHomer, you-win-this-time."
Department
Cisco sented me the following yesterday, I’m not sure of the original source:
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From the "Shut-Up-Helen, Next-Question" Department
Helen Thomas of UPI has been a fixture of the White House Press Corp for longer than I’ve been alive. She was one of the first to figure out that Ronald Reagan had a weakness for reporters in red dresses during press conferences. It wasn’t until the Bill Clinton Administration that I learned that she was deeply in love with Democratic Presidents. And compared to Democratic Presidents, who was more lovable than William Jefferson Clinton.
*Bill Clinton Voice* “Helen, I love you”
During the first “W” Administration, she was notably absent from White House Press conferences, and I honestly thought she was dead. But websites like Dead Or Alive never confirmed it.
And this year, she and David Gregory of NBC have been the most unhinged correspondents in the White House Press Room.
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March 23, 2006
From the "The-Smart-Party, For-Smart-People...and-you!" Department
One of the most unfortunate events of the 2004 Election was the fizzeling of the mighty-mighty NeoWhig party, and their power candidate Chest Notgerman.
I spoke on the NeoWhig party when the The-Roommate-Formerly-Known-as-Matthew-Maynard introduced them to me back in October of 2003.
But, on a whim, I returned to the oracle of all that is NeoWhig and found that Neo-Whig-dot-com had been updated for the 2008 Presidential Election!
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March 24, 2006
From the "It's-made-in-Chernobyl, Spam!" Department
Is it just me, or have the Spammers come in full force this week?
Ever since St. Patricks Day, I’ve been getting countless amounts of E-mail, Trackback, and Comment Spam at Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com.
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March 25, 2006
From the "Heizenberg-Uncertainty-Principle-in-Spam-form" Department
As soon as I posted the previous article, the Spam stopped!
What’s going on?
March 26, 2006
From the "This-is-for-what-you-did-to-my-Brother!" Department
Once again, my webhost decided to go belly up.
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March 28, 2006
From the "Nothing-says-black-like-a-ring-of-Cherenkov-blue" Department
I really cannot say enough about coffee, can I?
Like here.
Or here.
Or here.
Or here.
But Sid Dabster, of User-Friendly-dot-org says it in such an appreciable way:
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From the "Oh-you-can-tell-by-the-way-I-can-use-my-shuriken, I'm-a-ninja-baby-and-its-time-for-workin'" Department
Dad sented me the following article last night:
Dhani Jones Arrested For Dance Fever
As most of you might know, Dhani Jones is currently my favorite Eagle on the Philadelphia Eagles roster. (#55, Strong Side Linebacker, from the “Established 1817 – University of Michigan”)
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March 29, 2006
From the "GREEN-CARDS!" Department
This is a topic that was covered over at Two-Headed-Monster, but it is now a hot topic in the U.S. Senate.
What is all the discussion about?
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From the "We-appreciate-your-suggestions-and-feedback, We're-forwarding-your-request-to-our-Product-Developers-for-investigation" Department
Okay, I’ve been doing this Week-at-a-Glance thing on Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com for awhile. I’m not sure if I like it or not, so I’m asking you, the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com reader for some post-deployment-feedback.
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March 30, 2006
From the "No, I'm-listening-to-Sean-Hannity, Really! Er, I-mean, I'm-listening-to-Al-Franken!" Department
One complaint I now have about my Sirius Radio service is their new marketing campaign around their new “Playboy Channel”
It is a free channel, that you must Otp-in to add to your service. (This is Sirius’ version of Parental Control :: which, ironicly, they do not do for their new “Cosmopolitan Channel” which is equally as vulgar, if you go by the Magazines themselves) I know all about the Playboy Channel, not because I’ve opted-in, but because I get to hear this commercial twice an hour, when the talk-shows are on their commecial breaks.
Anyways, I sent a complaint to the people at Sirius, about their Marketing, do you think I have a right to complain?
See below:
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From the "How-many-Jacksons-does-it-take-to-make-a-Grant?" Department
When G.B. and I worked for my mother’s small business Garden Stand, we were cashiers without cash registers, or fancy computerized Point-of-Sale systems. So we had to ring up a sale, take money, make change and record the sale all with a sales pad and pen. (Thus was my introduction to Retail.) So Mom often quizzed us on what the popular money looked like.
Ang and I would have to rattle off what was on the front and back of each of the major dollar bills, all the way to the $100 dollar bill. (And yes, we did deal in 100s often) [Its amazing how much money people will put into their gardens!]
Over the years, I’ve noticed that most people do not know what is on their dollar bills, let alone can recite who or what is on them.
So I put together this little quiz…
How Well Do You Know Your Currencies? (Answers revealed at the end)
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March 31, 2006
From the "SQL-that-doesn't-'Seek-well'" Department
You may have noticed (but I hope not) that the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Vernacular module is not working. I fear this is a result of the server hijinx from Sunday.
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From the "This-is-an-illegal-and-immoral-war, and-everyone-invovled-should-be-punished-to-the-fullest-extent of-the-law; but-I-support-the-troops!" Department
In one of the silliest stories on the airwaves yesterday, was the incident where Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney slugged a Capitol Police officer:
WASHINGTON – Rep. Cynthia McKinney and a police officer scuffled Wednesday after the Georgia Democrat entered a House office building unrecognized and refused to stop when asked, according to U.S. Capitol Police.
McKinney, a sixth-term congresswoman who represents suburban Atlanta, struck the officer according to one account, a police official said, adding there were conflicting accounts. The officer, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident, spoke only on condition of anonymity.
‘A confrontation ensued’
By one police account, she walked around a metal detector and an officer asked her several times to stop. When she did not, the officer tried to stop her, and she then struck the officer, according to that account.
In her statement, McKinney said most members of Congress expect Capitol police to recognize them. “I was urgently trying to get to an important meeting on time to fulfill my obligations to my constituents. Unfortunately, the police officer did not recognize me as a member of Congress and a confrontation ensued,” she said. “I did not have on my congressional pin but showed the police officer my congressional ID.”
Hattip: Expose the Left
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From the "Of-course-you-know, this-means-I-have-to-talk-about-War." Department
I was tempted to make this a Modernist Papers article, but I’m learning about this as you are…
Powerline pointed me to an interesting political pontification over at big-lizards-dot-net.
The Two Branches of Government
Check this out:
Just forget everything. Forget everything They ever taught you — it’s garbage anyway.
Yeah, yeah, I know what you learned; I learned it too. There are three branches of federal government, not two:
Excutive
Legislative
Dictatorial
But those are just the branches of the temporary government, the elected/appointed wing. There is another wing of the government… the permanent government. And that comprises only two branches:
The State branch
The Defense branch
The permanent (or “bureaucratic”) wing of government prevails from Congress to Congress and across all administrations. It never disappears; new members are simply assimilated, Borg-like, into the massmind. Old members are sloughed off like a snake shedding its skin to expose the bright, pink, new skin beneath… which in mere hours looks just like the old skin (and believe me, thisssss is sssomething I have sssssssstudied.)
In each administration, one or the other branch of the permanent government is ascendant. You can always tell which branch by which secretary is stronger — the Secretary of Talkfare or the Secretary of Warfare:
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