Bale vs. the Bailout

Here's a little Dark Knight/State of the Union action for you. Love it!

Image: Bruce Wayne worries about the plummeting DJIA and what it means for shareholders.

Separation of Church, State, and Witchcraft

This video, shot in 2005, shows our dear Sarah Palin undergoing a service that, um, protects her from witches! Awwwwesome. As an added bonus, the church where it's happening does not pay taxes.

Although, hell, maybe it worked. Remember, in 2005, Sarah held no government position whatsoever. She lost a run for lieutenant governor in 2002, the year in which she ended her stint as small-town mayor. She then chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission for a couple years, then God knows what she did until becoming governor in December 2006.

Or maybe God doesn't wanna know, if it was hunting witches.

Sheepdog

Just found this cartoon online. Yikes.

No Foriegn Policy Experience, But She Does Speak . . . "Gibberish"

After last week's impassioned and genuine Late Show, in which, as we've all seen by now, David Letterman abandoned all pretenses and told us what he really thinks about the McCain camp, it seems that a lot of analysts and journalists have also decided to say, "You know what? This isn't funny anymore." (Conservatives, too, as I've mentioned below.) Even Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's brilliant portrayals of Sarah Palin and Katie Couric feel a bit more horrifying than humorous after this sobering thought occurs to the viewer: The girls didn't write this skit. Sarah Palin actually reasoned that, hey, you can see Russia from Alaska and "I'll look it up and get back to ya." It was just there for the taking.

A coworker, fortunate enough to be released from work at 3:00, just IMed me from home and said that he "just listened to Fareed Zakaria on CNN just really sum it all up about Palin." While the video link is not up yet, there is lots from Zakaria from this past weekend, including his Newsweek commentary "Palin is Ready? Please," and this Q&A on the piece.

Though a fan of McCain's, Zakaria bluntly admits that Palin "has simply never thought about these subjects before and is dangerously ignorant and unprepared," answered Katie Couric in "gibberish," and "has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue."

Our country just ran out of money. And okay, while I exaggerate a bit (case in point) it is absurd, especially now, that Zakaria isn't.

UPDATE: Here's the clip, Zakaria with Wolf Blitzer. I like how he essentially says any financial success Palin's given Alaska is from spreading out money earned by digging holes.

This Is What We're Risking

This picture, taken in Alaska, is so beautiful. It almost makes me wish Sarah would get a low-tier job in Washington where she will be endlessly overridden and can do no harm. Then maybe they could be safe.

Conservatives Turn Intelligent

Though I'm always wary of being too optimistic, especially in times when people are talking of a second Great Depression and without irony, I think McCain may have truly set himself back a bit this week. His "suspension" of his campaign seems to not have accomplished what he hoped; he will be appearing tonight at the first presidential debate; and Sarah Palin is losing a bit of her charm now that the novelty is wearing off and people are actually listening to her in interviews.

This has become evident by an increase in op-eds written by conservatives this week. It's exactly what we need to be seeing: People going beyond party lines, unafraid of being called "flip-floppers," realizing that we are in a dire situation and it's critical to make the right choice in November, no matter how uncharacteristic it may feel. This is not your average election, and we as a people need to look beyond black and white, red and blue.

Here are two enlightening pieces, one by former proclaimed Palin supporter and conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, who, after seeing Palin's recent TV appearances, has enlisted her intelligence and openmindedness to allow her to retract her support.

The other is from Wick Allison, lifelong conservative and editor in chief of D Magazine. Yes, the D is for Dallas, and yes, that is in Texas. But he begins by saying "Barack Obama strikes a chord with me like no political figure since Ronald Reagan. To explain why, I need to explain why I am a conservative and what it means to me."

Somehow, in the delusional political climate of the last decade, Americans were taught that voting for or agreeing with one thing and later changing your mind is a bad thing.

It is never wrong to critically reconsider something and decide what you think is right. Circumstances change; and the ability to recognize that and take action for what you believe in is far more important than stubborn, detrimental commitment.

McCain Can't Multi-Task

This video is perhaps the most necessary viewing material to come out of the past few weeks. Yesterday, as part of McCain's movement to "suspend his campaign," he canceled an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman only hours before it was set to tape.

Letterman, a longtime TV personality and essentially, broadcast journalist, abandoned the entertainer/non-biased interview side of things and told audiences what he really thought: That he was "more than a little disappointed by this behavior," that it was scary that McCain did not trust Sarah Palin to handle the campaign in his absence, and that it was frightening to think that McCain could not handle two things at once, giving the impression that he could just quit on obligations while serving as president.

McCain called Letterman personally, saying that he was racing to the airport and "going to go save the country." The senator, unaware that most TV studios have satellite TVs where employees can watch other network programs being filmed, was seen only a few minutes later getting his makeup done on the set of the Evening News with Katie Couric, and not "racing" to D.C. at all.

Guest Keith Olbermann summed it up bluntly: "I think he dissed you." I think he disrespected all of us.