Schwazenegger's "message"

Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger had a not-so-subtle message for Democratic assemblyman Tom Ammiano. The first letters of the first seven lines were "F-U-C-K-Y-O-U."

A coincidence?

Gary Langer writes the odds are one in ten billion of this happening by coincidence, as Schwazenegger's spokesperson (understandably) said.

Here’s how not to figure it precisely, rather a quick and unsophisticated back-of-the-envelope calculation: If the odds of picking a particular letter at random are one in 26, doing it over seven selections (the number of letters in question) is (1/26)^7, or .0000000001245. Just about one in 10 billion.

Now, the odds are not even to picking each letter. It depends on the amount of words that start with those seven letters -- plus, not as many words start with an "x" or "z" (I think none of of the words in this post do, for example) -- though more will, admittedly, start with a "t" than a "k."

I'd love for someone who actually has knowledge of this sort of thing to tell us the odds of this happening by pure coincidence.

That said, even if it's not coincidence (I am almost 100 percent certain that it did not), I still find it funny that Schwarzenegger 1) did this and 2) thought he could get away with it. Should a sitting governor do these sort of juvenile pranks?

Nope. But it's still funny.

All those CIA conspiracy theorists just got tons more ammo

From the New York Times, speaking of Afghani president Hamid Karzai's brother:

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home.

Good times. It's been going on for eight years, apparently.

Bloomberg breaks record for most self-funding in political race

All I can say is: Wow.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the Wall Street mogul whose fortune catapulted him into New York’s City Hall, has set another staggering financial record: He has now spent more of his own money than any other individual in United States history in the pursuit of public office.

He's spent $85 million of his own money so far. And he could spend up to $140 million by the time all is said and done.

Orly Taitz's meltdown is epic

I almost feel bad for her.

I know that everyone has already seen this, but it's worth watching again just for the utter insanity of the clip.

What the "beer summit" could have been...

From the always-great (even if I don't get it about 32 percent of the time) XKCD:



Click for full size.

Sarah Palin's speech as interpreted by William Shatner

Shatner is a god. Yeah, I said it.

Congressional birthers admit Obama was born in the US

It's a small thing, but everyone present in the House today voted on a proclamation that, in part, said Obama was born in Hawaii. The non-binding resolution was ostensibly about the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood.

Among the Yes votes: Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), the lead sponsor of the infamous "Birther Bill" to require presidential candidates to present their birth certificates, and who had previously said he wouldn't "swear on a stack of Bibles" that Obama is a natural-born American citizen. Several other co-sponsors of the Birther Bill also voted yes: Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Dan Burton (R-IN), John Culberson (R-TX), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), and Ted Poe (R-TX).

The far-Right Wing of the Republican Party (some would argue that is the base) will be so disappointed.

Is this an insult or a compliment to Obama?

FIFA (the world governing body of soccer) President Sepp Blatter stopped by the White House to see new President Barack Obama.

The Blatter-led FIFA delegation to the White House also included FIFA Vice-President and CONCACAF president Jack Warner, FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke, and U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati.

CBS News White House reporter Mark Knoller wrote on his Twitter account following the meeting, most likely from the pool report:

Blatter says Obama is not good enough with a soccer ball to play on a winning team - but is good enough for a losing team.

Blatter also invited Obama to South Africa in 2010 for the World Cup; Obama is attempting to bring the World Cup to the United States in either 2018 or 2022. The 32-team tournament is arguably the biggest sporting event in the world.

So Obama might just make an appearance to help out on that front.

Obama's daughters play the game and in a letter to Blatter about getting the World Cup in the United States, Obama cited playing in his youth in Indonesia.

So how much skill does Obama have? Well, at least a little bit accordign to, again, Knoller's Twitter:

Soccer in the Oval Office: Soccer federation chief gives Obama a soccer ball and says he kicked it around and even headed it.

Sarah Palin is a hypocrite

At least, I think so, based on these two paragraphs from the Washington Post:

ANCHORAGE -- Sarah Palin, who rose from obscurity to become Alaska's governor three years ago, began her career as a combative whistleblower crusading against state political corruption. She accused GOP leaders of violating ethics laws, then publicized details of the confidential investigations.
[...]
Yet as she steps down, she and her attorney are demanding that whistleblowers be sanctioned for sharing details of pending investigations of her conduct. This week, her attorney threatened to sue whistleblowers for violating secrecy laws, and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell (R), who will replace her, asked the state's attorney general to take steps to "prevent leaks" in ethics probes.

Imagine what Palin the whistleblower would have said about Palin the ethics investigation denialist.

Buehrle pitches perfect game; gets congratulatory call from Obama

Pretty cool that our president is so open about his sports fanship; a lot of politicians try to play to the center and assuage both sides (Richardson famously said that he was both Red Sox and Yankees fan while on the campaign trail).

But Obama is a partisan White Sox fan; the's not a Cubs fan even though he's from Chicago -- he'a a Southsider.

And today White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game. Naturally, Obama called him up from his motorcade to congratulate him.

After the game he was treated to congratulation from one of the team's biggest fans, President Obama. Obama called Buehrle from his motorcade this afternoon and congratulated him on the "extraordinary achievement." He joked with Buehrle that perhaps the pitcher had gotten gained some luck from the fact that Obama wore a White Sox team jacket when he threw out the first pitch at last week's Major League Baseball All Star Game.

"As a fan it's extraordinary. When you're a White Sox fan and you know the guy who did it, it makes it that much better," Obama said in a conversation with White house Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Increased black voters in '08 nearly erased racial gap

From the New York Times:

In last year’s presidential election, younger blacks voted in greater proportions than whites for the first time and black women turned out at a higher rate than any other racial, ethnic and gender group, a census analysis released Monday confirmed.

As a result, in the election that produced the nation’s first black president, the historic gap between black and white voter participation rates over all virtually evaporated.
[...]
Compared with 2004, the voting rate for black, Asian and Hispanic voters increased by about four percentage points. The rate for whites declined by one percentage point.

If this keeps up, the Republican Party should be scared -- minorities tend to overwhelmingly vote Democratic.

And with minorities growing in percentage (especially Hispanics), the Republicans will need to change their politics or be left behind. If it's not too late.

Barack Obama and Willie Mays

Fixing Obama's throwing motion

Though conservatives are all abuzz with the news that Obama's first pitch at the All Star Game last night wasn't very good ("Bush may have ruined the economy but at least he could throw a baseball!"), Deadspin found links to three experts who analyzed Obama's throw.

What did they say? Well, his technique wasn't all that good, but it wasn't that surprising since he never played baseball even as a kid.

As Dr. Mike Marshall, a former MLB reliever, said:

I've seen him shoot jump shots. He has an excellent shooting stroke. It's not all that much different throwing a baseball. It takes training, though, and I'd like him to spend as much time as he can on fixing the economy.

At least he's better at baseball than bowling, though.

Ichiro wants to wear jeans

A cool little story from the All Star game about Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki, his link to hall of fame player George Sisler and, yes, meeting Barack Obama (Obama threw out the first pitch of the All Star game).

Obama, visiting the clubhouses, stopped and signed a ball for Ichiro, who gave a slight bow upon meeting the President and appeared as giddy and excited as a kid.

"My idea, when I saw him, was to say, 'What's up?' to him," Ichiro said. "But I got nervous. You know, he has that kind of aura about him. So I got nervous and I didn't say that to him. I was a little disappointed about that.

"But I realized after seeing him today that presidents wear jeans, too. So my hope is that our skipper, [Don] Wakamatsu, was watching that and we can wear jeans on our flights, as well."

Drudge still rules their world

Who would have thought to actually look at the video?

Important notice to all politicians (re: Michael Jackson funeral)

Hilarious from musings:

In anticipation of the 'round the clock coverage of Michael Jackson's funeral tomorrow and the toxicology report due to be released on Thursday, if you have (1) an affair you'd like to admit to, (2) an addiction you feel should be revealed, (3) federal or state taxes you have not paid...

Go there to see 4, 5, 6, 7.

And is it kind of sad that in eight years people might be asking, "Do you remember where you were when you heard Michael Jackson died?" just like people now ask "Where were you when you heard about 9/11?"

And some of these people will completely mean it. As for me, I'm having a hard time remembering where I was and it wasn't even a month ago. It only feels like a year since he passed away.

Another deep thought

When someone does something nonsensical and most of the world agrees that what that person did was nonsensical, but that person decides to blame everyone else for not understanding, is that acting like a five year old or pulling a Palin?

Deep thought

Quitting your job is apparently the first step in getting a promotion -- at least to the Right.

Disney animatronic Obama doesn't look much like Obama

In fact, it's kinda scary looking.

Jon Stewart to Mark Sanford: "God killed Michael Jackson to save your ass!"

Will the Mark Sanford thing ever go away?

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