The Virtual Record of My Opinionated Rantings

Rahm Emanuel. Captain F-Bomb. Possibly the current politician with the least self-censorship.

He is our new Chief of Staff.

Emanuel brings more to the Obama staff than colorful language. In fact, he brings something very important: a pro-Israel mindset. While I'm no guru when it comes to economic and foreign affairs, even I know that this is a good thing. Israel is a great ally, and many of us who are further right and less brainwashed than, let's say, your average Daily Kos reader, were worried about the President Elect's anti-Israeli contacts getting the best of his easily-influenced young mind.

But enough about the silly, meaningful things I like about Emanuel. Let's get to the good stuff:

• Rahm Emanuel once mailed a dead fish to a pollster who annoyed him.
• At a post-Lewinski appearance with Former President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Emanuel told Blair, “This is important. Don’t f*** it up.”
• As Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, Emanuel once told Democrats not to make appearances on the Colbert Report to "avoid embarrassing themselves."
  

Warning: The following video implies dirty, dirty words. You have been warned.

According to the Franken campaign, this is not a valid vote for Norm Coleman. You see, there are extraneous marks outside of the oval, and that may very well be an 'X' through the bubble.



"The Franken campaign challenged this Hennepin County ballot, saying the voter intended to vote for Franken, but mistakenly wrote the candidate's name in for Soil and Water Conservation District 5." More from Minnesota Public Radio.

As of last Wednesday, about 92% of the ballots cast in the race had been manually recounted, and despite attempts such as these from the former SNL Comedian, Norm Coleman was leading by a few hundred votes. There is still no clear winner, and seeing as ballots keep showing up in the funniest places... (*insert expletive that properly expresses my frustration*).

Honestly, though I may be a bad person for saying so, if it takes nearly a month to find your vote, it shouldn't count. If you can't follow directions that require you only to fill in the bubble next to the person you want in office and to get a new ballot if you make a mistake, your vote shouldn't count. Honestly, I'm against early voting in its entirety, and absentee voting should be limited to the elderly and those serving our country overseas. You can register to vote in your temporary residence with just a smidgen of forethought. Any program that is so blatantly ill-protected against fraud is not one that I want decided who makes my decisions for me.

If you're anything like me, you never really paid attention to who wrote the latest episode of your favorite show. You love (or hate) the plot, but you credit (or blame) the actors, or the directors, or maybe even the producer. I figured the writer didn't mean anything.

Then I had the pleasure of meeting Rift Fournier, who's written for shows like Charlie's Angels and NYPD Blue, and I learned that the writer is possibly the most interesting person involved in production.

I say that based solely on Mr. Fournier's personality. I could be dead wrong about the rest of them, so just in case I vow at this moment in time to never meet another one. I think it would be difficult to be a boring individual with a lifetime that began with an artist and a Frenchman, was changed by Polio, and included writing for Sid Caesar and working with Norwegians ("Scandinavia is seriously white. Not a diverse place.").

Of course, our class did not feature Rift for the sake of our amusement (though he is a thoroughly amusing man); we received some great advice.

"There are no original ideas in the world. None."

"Unless you're a reader, you will not make it."

"If you really want a job...bug the Hell out of them."

I gained new confidence in my spastic part-time career history when he told us how he put himself through law school as Deputy Sheriff and Deputy Coroner. At one point he wrote jokes for the prime price of $5 each while selling aluminum siding over the phone.

Advice is all well and good, but I honestly could not portray him through a few wise words and a brief life overview. Then again, I can't think of a way to really put the sense of entertainment that was abundant in that room into words. I mean, honestly, I don't believe there is a person in that class who was expecting a discussion of Grey's Anatomy ("She wasn't a dynamite dyke," he told us, reflecting on the firing of Brooke Smith.).


My notes are incomplete, because I was honestly absorbed in the stories he told. I've earned a new respect for people behind the scenes, and a different fascination entirely with Rift Fournier. Did I mention that his name was changed when he was young? The church wouldn't baptize him as Rift, because there weren't any "St. Rift"s, and as he himself said, there are "none in the near future."


P.S. Here is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, in case you were curious. Check out www.drhorrible.com to buy the videos on iTunes.

Two questions:

1) What career path are you exploring? Specifically, I'm curious about legal and broadcasting/media fields.

2) Who did you cast your vote for on Nov. 4th?


I am curious. Your answers can help me figure something out, and I'd really appreciate it.

I can also promise not to attack anyone for who their ballot was cast for. You all know where I stand, and the election is over and I am going to be living under the same administration as everyone else.

There's this little show I like to watch, called House. This show is about a cynical jerk wad of a doctor who is sort of a super genius. Dr. Gregory House, the title character, is played by the brilliant and oddly attractive Hugh Laurie (see image at right). The only problem I've found with House is that it airs on Tuesday nights. Tuesday nights I spend sitting in an ugly chair next to the door of my dorm building playing Solitaire and listening to music.

Did I say this was a problem? I meant this is awesomeness in physical form.

Why? Well, you see, Fox decided to put full, current episodes of House online.

This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Even though I don't get to watch it as it airs, I have the privilege of being paid to play mindless computer games and I don't have to miss out on my favorite show.

Fox knows that in this electronic age, the way to succeed is through the brilliant and deliberate merging of communication mediums. They know that people like me have a busy schedule, and would often rather watch their favorite shows at 2AM as opposed to 8PM.

The best part of House, aside from the British eye candy, is the dialogue. Dr. House says some positively snarky and hysterical things throughout each episode, and Fox knows it. Fox took the liberty of giving me a directory of the best quotes from each episode!

"Dying people lie too. Wish they'd worked less, been nicer, opened orphanages for kittens. If you really want to do something, you do it. You don't save it for a sound bite."

...because who needs support from the government when you can get donations from citizens with such amazing credentials!

Name: JarackBoe BOamabiden
Address: 2345 Fak Addrss Lane
Phone: 555-555-5555
Email: barackjoe@obama.com

Name: John Galt
Address: 1957 Ayn Rand Lane
City: Galts Gulch
State: CO
Zip: 99999

Oddly enough, the individuals attempting these donations also tried the same information through McCain's site and were rejected to to a disagreement between identity information and credit card information.

This is a standard safeguard on any online commerce tool.

The usual reason for disabling it is to allow for overseas donations.

There's the information. Check out Ace of Spades for a more in depth appraisal of The One's financial doings.