Today’s Finds + Open Thread
By Bronwyn on June 29, 2010 at 10:45 PM in Current Affairs
Below are some gems I found on the ‘net today. Share what you discovered too.
“Feingold leads by 2,” Public Policy Polling:
It’s looking more and more likely that Wisconsin will be in the top tier of competitive Senate races this fall. Russ Feingold leads challenger Ron Johnson by only two points, 45-43. …
Yowza. Especially since Ron Johnson “is largely unknown to voters in the state.” Btw, the comments are a fun read; PPP’s readers point out that Rasmussen, invariably pilloried by Democrats as a rightwing pollster, also had Feingold by 2 in its May poll.
“Of Burgers, Ballots and Bogus Polls,” BradBlog.com: “Without full transparency and citizen oversight, there is almost no way to root out (election) fraud, as hopefully Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas now understands…”
Ah yes. I vividly recall the days at Daily Kos when diarists wrote compelling diaries about the potential for minor or massive fraud with any electronic voting system. The purists argued (often convincingly imho) that the only fraud-proof system is a paper ballot. As I recall, Canada uses paper ballots and manages to get election results on election night. Kos and his army of elite diarists attacked the “fraud-ists” and drove many away from Daily Kos. NOW Kos has discovered that polls he ordered were fraudulent, and wrote a diary today exposing the fraud he discovered. Oops. This write-up is excellent.
“Union official: Obama used me as a middleman to talk to Blagojevich about the Senate seat,” Hot Air:
Preface: This is about testimony in Blago’s trial. The Blago Blog at the Chicago Sun-Times has the transcript in “Tom Balanoff: Obama called day before election about Jarrett appointment.” From Hot Air:
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Nothing criminal about The One’s behavior here — to this day, there hasn’t been a single accusation that he considered a quid pro quo with Blago to appoint his candidate of choice — but this does suggest that Team Barry’s report on all this in December 2008 was a sham. The claim that Obama had spoken to a middleman about the seat had been made previously, but not until now did the middleman himself step forward to confirm it. Meet Tom Balanoff of — ta da — SEIU:
[...]
The obvious question: If no one’s alleging a quid pro quo, why didn’t Obama want his contact with Balanoff disclosed in the report? The obvious answer: Because, in December 2008, they were still in the full flush of Hopenchange and eager to sell the public on how this would be the most transparent, ethical, fantastic administration evah. A description of back-channel contacts between The One and America’s dirtiest governor (involving union cronies, no less) wouldn’t have fit that narrative. So — assuming Balanoff’s telling the truth — they simply covered it up. They were lying before the guy was even sworn in.
“Winter’s Bone Is the Best Movie I’ve Seen This Year (Or Hope to),” Huffington Post:
In American movies, we don’t often see how we really live, but you will in Winter’s Bone, and you don’t need to have had a rough childhood in the back woods for this movie to make you feel the grittiness and glory of life — or for you to know, like you would know how to find your bed in the dark, that this is probably the best movie you will see this year. And maybe longer.
Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik, was adapted from a novel by Daniel Woodrell. [To buy the paperback from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.] It was made in the Ozarks, often in the homes of the people who live there. Shot digitally on a mingy budget, it could pass for state-of-the-art Hollywood — just raw and unvarnished, like Hollywood never is.
The story is simple; this is a straightforward thriller. Ree’s father, Jessup Dolly, was busted a while back for cooking methamphetamine. To make bond, he put up his family’s house and 300 acres of virgin timber. Now his court date is a week away — and he’s nowhere to be found. The local lawman drives out to warn Ree that the Dollys are in danger of losing their home. …
00000Oh, this sounds good. There are so few movies I find truly worth devoting time to, so I love to check out movie reviews before I see a film. I especially yearn for movies with real human beings in real settings. Computer-created scenery and characters, no matter how well they’re done, always look fake to me.
Btw, my fav hang-out to read multiple reviews is IMDb.com.
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