Lucky Adrastus

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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Lucky Adrastus" journal:

November 13th, 2006
02:12 am [Link]	Iron Chef For Small-Brained Humans (i.e. Women Apparently) Well, they finally put Rachel Ray on Iron Chef. And Giada de Laurentiis too (as if I really cared -- let's say it all together, food isn't sexy, food isn't sexy, food isn't sexy -- it's food). Anyway, the theme of this episode is extreme condescension to the pretty girls. They both go through "training" with male Iron Chefs. Ray: "I'm a cook, not a chef". Iron Chef Bobby Flay to de Laurentiis: "You'll do just fine... if the secret ingredient is corn or sweet potatoes." Then they don't even run their own kitchens -- each is only assistant to their respective male Iron Chefs. Their interviews focus on their "fear". de Laurentiis: "I'm just worried about freezing up." Announcer Alton Brown gets into the upittyness, calling the girls "special culinary guests", and two of Food Network's "best know personalities". So apparently even food nerds like Alton Brown (and, uh, me?) are supposed to look down on these two. Yuck. Couldn't they just have had a cook-off between the two "personalities"? It's not as if the world would come to an end if Rachel Ray didn't use foie gras and de Laurentiis' cake isn't topped with a multi-colored sugar sculpture. It's just food. Isn't is supposed to be, y'know, fun? Current Mood: grumpy (5 comments \| Leave a comment)
November 8th, 2006
09:35 am [Link]	Why Secretary Lieberman Isn't LIkely I'm as dissapointed with Lieberman's recent positions as anyone else. But I can't agree with what I'm hearing from so many corners: that Lieberman will replace Rumsfield as SecDef, allowing the Republican governor of CT to replace him in the Senate, throwing it back to the Dems. (This assumes that the Dems take the Senate, of course, which appears likely this morning.) There are two (and a half) absoluely fatal flaws to the Lieberman flip theory, as far as I can see: (1) The Secretary of Defense must be approved by the Senate. The 50 remaining Senate Democrats would be able to fillibuster the nomination. (2) Lieberman would be giving up a guaranteed six-year term in the Senate, with a good shot at reelection, for a two year slot in a Lame Duck Bush administration. [As a subset of this point, how desirable would it be to run Iraq policy at this point anyway? Bush couldn't find anyone credible to run FEMA... But Lieberman is pretty delusional on this point]. (2 1/2) CT has already has a kind of "Shadow Senator", a popular mainstream Democrat whose been bidding his time to become Senator in a state where the two slots were held by popular Democrats only a few years older than him. Richard Blumenthal, the state attorney general. If Lieberman gives up his slot, it'll eventually end up in Blumenthal's hands (there aren't any credible Republicans in the state beyond the governor herself). It'd be infinetly harder to get it back from Blumenthal than from Lamont. Now Lieberman could still change his vote, or even just resign out of spite (although why bother running for reelection then?) My impression is that in Lieber-land they really do think he's the future of the Democratic party. I think for ideological reasons he wouldn't want to out-and-out declare he's a Republican. Especially since he's getting to keep his seniority in the Senate, with the Dems (most of whom declined to really camapaign against him anyway). UPDATE: Well, two hours later I'm proud (arrogant) to say that this post looks pretty prescient, as Bush just nominated Robert Gates for DefSec. Now, if only I knew anything about Robert Gates. I doubt Bush could win on anyone controversial... Current Mood: thoughtful (Leave a comment)
November 7th, 2006
09:10 pm [Link]	:) CNN just called the house for the Democrats!!! Per Wolf Blitzer: "The will represent a significant change in the balance of power between the executive and the legislative." You better fucking believe it. Current Mood: satisfied (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
08:38 pm [Link]	More on that... Per NewDonkey, no matter what how else the rest of the night goes, it's been a great term for defeating atrocious pols. Includling primary losses and resignations, the last year has seen the demise of: Tom Delay Rick Santorum Ralph Reed Katherine Harris Ken Blackwell Cynthia McKinney (lone democrat on my sht list) Washington is going to be a much butter run place. (And Ohio in the case of "religious" fascist Ken Blackwell). Current Mood:* happy (Leave a comment)
08:13 pm [Link]	Early in the Night Just watched the concession speech of Senator Man-on... well, I won't kick a dog while he's down. The concession speech of Senator Santorum. Soon-to-be ex-Senator. (Ok, a little kick there). He was very gracious, and asked his supporters to cheer Casey. I know it's pro-forma, but it's still nice to see. It's still early in the night. There's not anything unusual happening in the house, so that'll likely go Dem as expected. The Senate is still very much in play (races still in the run: VA, MO, TN, MT). We'd need three of those four, which is possible, but difficult. Even if we only narrow the gap in the Senate, but don't win it, there'll still be wins over a lot of lousy republicans (see e.g. Senator Man-On-Dog [yeah, I've gotten over my sympathy]). Democrats did great this term in the Senate with only 45 votes. Now they'll have at least 47 votes, plus a House with subpoena power. So it's a good night even if we don't take the Senate. Current Mood: good (Leave a comment)
October 26th, 2006
12:22 am [Link]	Quick Apologies Sorry for the paucity of posts. I've been very busy at a new job for about two months now. It's pretty much all I think about, but I think I shouldn't post about it on the off chance that anything I say might hinder my job advancement. Actually, considering that I have to re-apply several times in the near future (it's a government, civil-service kind of job) let's not say that I might hinder my "job advancement" but rather my "job have-ment". Yes, I just graduated UCLA Law Review and have approximately zero job security and basically no salary. So anyway, not to many posts even though I've got a lot of stories to tell. You'll just have to ask me about it in person (or on telephone, etc...) Now if only I weren't so busy I could start keeping up with my friends... Current Mood: tired (Leave a comment)
October 22nd, 2006
10:56 am [Link]	This could be nothing, or it could be frickin' huge. Apparently this morning on "Meet the Press", Senator Obama switched from "I'm not going to run for President" to "I'm going to decide after the midterms whether to run for President". AP reporting. In the world of Presidential politics that's normally lingo for "I'm currently planning to run". Almost everyone who says that ends up running. Hmm... Clinton/Obama, or Clinton vs. Obama? Maybe both... (Leave a comment)
10:17 am [Link]	Speaking of Campaign Ads If Harold Ford, the Democratic Senate candidate in Tenessee, wins his race he'll be the first African-American elected to represent a southern state since Reconstruction. Is it any coincidence that the point of this campaign ad is pretty explicity "Harold Ford sleeps with white women"? This is, of course, a southern state. It features a blonde woman making thuddingly obvious reference to having "met Harold at the playboy party." It opens with a white brunette talking about how "Harold Ford looks nice" and closes with the obnoxious blonde cooing "call me" to Ford. Shouldn't this be a "Macaca" moment in this Senate campaign? I think it's more explicit than calling a kid an obscure word that happens to be a slur in Tunisia. BONUS FACTOID: I already noted that Ford would be the first black senator elected from the south since Reconstruction. It's not exactly just a southern problem. He'd be only the fourth black senator elected in the US, period, since Reconstruction. (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
12:44 am [Link]	Brr... Now this is a powerful campaign ad. Also a rather stark update on Michael J. Fox's condition. Current Mood: sad (Leave a comment)
October 9th, 2006
11:31 pm [Link]	Little Dictum Will the North Korea nuclear tests push Foleygate out of the news? No. In the American consciousness, sex trumps violence. We bombed Iraq during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Guess which one got more coverage. This will always apply, with one minor exception. That exception? 9/11 pushed Gary Condit out of the news. But he still lost his bid for reelection. And the North Korea thing doesn't have anywhere near the magnitude of 9/11. (Leave a comment)

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