One of my favorite customers from the store, a Miss Jane Jacobs (not the dead one) is a few rows behind me in the audience. What an interesting coincidence. Ok, I am ready for this to start!

And they’re out! The president of CUNY is telling us all about how CUNY is big and has 240,000 Undergrads. 

One of the panelists looks like he’s falling asleep, but I think he’s just writing or reading something. But his head is a little tilted, so looks are deceiving. 

So, small biographies. These are all very important people- de Soto is chair of the Fed of Peru. Klein we know. Stiglitz has won a Nobel and works at Columbia.

Okay, so the panel was very interesting. Klein and Stiglitz were pretty amazing. They were on point and Naomi brought up an excellent point about Indian Oranizers coming to New Orleans post katrina. She said the organizers said that if this had happened in India, there would be massive protests, but we did not have such a thing happening. They supported Obama and talked about the death knell of free market capitalism. Naomi was gracious and did not plug her book, instead praising Stiglitz for his Nobel.  The problem was de Soto. He had one talking point and that was it. He talked about property rights. He’s some kind of libertarian south american economist. Except I guess he’s kind of like al-Maliki of Iraq, who spent tons of time in america and then came back to rescue his home country.  de Soto had a very clean european accent.  He actually said that Katrina wasn’t had bad because at least we knew who owned the houses that was ruined. I spoke to a friend who’d also attended the Panel afterwards and she was also mad at de Soto for hijacking the Panel. The moderator was not forceful enough in enforcing the topic at hand. All in all, I learned a lot, but I wish Klein and Stiglitz were the only ones there.

I don’t want to waste the batteries on Nortia, so I am using my phone for now.

It’s in the Prochansky auditorium here, where many CUNY honors college events are held. It feels different to be here voluntarily. I’ve been on this stage. He’ll, I’ve been backstage here.

Strange. It’s not nostalgia. I don’t know what to call it. Oh well, more in a bit.

She insists this is a french delicacy that is served in fancy restaurants.

This is my family. Made of delusion.

Question One is by an older man which a question of how regular americans will be bailed out. Obama is tying recovery to last week’s bailout deal. McCain put a dig in about how Obama refused to come to 14 town hall meetings over the summer. He proposes a further bailout of the actual mortgages. I can’t imagine his base is happy about that. 

Wow, McCain answered Brokaw’s question about who he’d appoint as treasury secretary. “Not you.” Kinda bitchy. 

9:10 Warren Buffett is not someone I’m impressed with. 
Next Question: Young Black Dude.
McCain sounded condescending. But I am so in the tank.
Fuck you, McCain. It’s not true that you suspended your campaign. You continued airing ads and your people continued attacking. Fannie and Freddie were not the problem - subprime mortgages were. He’s just lying.
Good on Obama for pointing out that Rick Davis was a lobbyist for Fannie. I honestly can’t believe McCain is going to these places where he can be easily rebutted.

9:17 I used to respect McCain, but now I revile him. 
Question 3: Older white lady. Her question was completely incoherent. She seemed really nervous and angry. Poor lady. Obama is answering her question pretty well and being humble. Oh my god, reaching across the aisle to Lieberman is not really reaching across the aisle. It’s reaching across the room.

9:23 I like how Tom Brokaw is following up on what they’ve said so that the debate is not entirely dominated by the angry people in the audience. McCain looks so old. He thinks entitlement programs are the worst problem in america. sigh. 

9:28 Go Fiorra from Chicago. She sounds like a fiesty lady. McCain is not answering her question about what sacrifices we’d have to make. Obama says we need to cut our energy usage.  

9:34 Using a hatchet instead of a scalpel. Very nicely said. McCain’s jello to the wall one is not as great. Is anyone going to mention that McCain wants to cut medicare almost entirely? See Rachel Maddow’s show yesterday for references.

9:41 McCain looks angry. Good, let him get angry so the american people can see how unstable. What McCain? Lobbyists? They all work for you! 
Question 4: Young Black Woman. They’re being very balanced. This question is about green energy. I mean, the answer seems obvious to me - the government has to hire people. The way we got out of the great depression was the government paying people to build shit for ww2. So now, lets hire people to build our new turbines and power plants. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Government is the solution.

9:47  Whenever McCain says my friends, I want to barf. 
Question 5: Middle aged white Lady. Should Healthcare be treated as a commodity? Although I liked Clinton’s health plan better, Obama’s really much better than McCain’s gutting.

Here is what I think McCain is saying when he said that Obama will find you. ‘If you do not support me, a black man will come into your house and be black there.”
This is one of Obama’s strongsuit here and he better hammer it home.

9:59 This debate I am having more trouble liveblogging because I am paying a whole lot of attention to it. What is this gimme question? Middle Aged White guy. Where are the hispanics and asians in this racial hodgepodge?

We’ve been discussing veiled references to race this whole time. There are a lot of them.

“I don’t understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.” Whooo! Everyone in the bar cheered.  

Shit, I pressed something and lost the last half hour of what I wrote. And it was funny, too.

We’ve had fondue, wine and lambic, and we are excited to be watching the debate on MSNBC.

8:58 : We’re all cheering Keith Olberman. How did Keith get so good? David Gregory is allright, I guess. He’s inoffensive. 

9:04 They both look good. Sarah’s got a flattering dress on. Joe’s hair looks great. Biden’s got the first question. He’s basically explaining Obama’s views, for those people who I guess weren’t paying attention to 15 speeches. 

Oh, she brings up a kid’s soccer game. You betcha! Biden’s looking straight at her but she is speaking directly to the camera. She did just basically agreed with Biden’s views on the economy. 

9:10 Wow, she looked straight at him. But he’s not looking at the camera so much, I wish he’d look up more. She’s livelier than she’s been in any interview so far. 

Oh my god, she said JOE SIX PACK! I didnt think she’d go with that line.

9:15 I am kind of astounded that she just said she would not answer the questions asked by the moderator. I think that’s really disrespectful. 

Biden’s doing a good job of stressing values - and she is really pandering to the far right. 

9:21 fucking ZING! The ultimate bridge to nowhere! And she can’t even reply. I think he destroyed her on that segment. She looks like she’s reading the notes on her hand. 

9:26 Biden’s just tied the guv’nr to a tax in Alaska. He gave her credit in a really lovely and backhanded way.

“More revelation made aware now?” Palin speak english gud.

“My ticket on energy versus your ticket’s energy also.”

“How do we get there to affect the impacts?”

9:33: Biden’s clearly owned her on this energy thing - where she’s supposed to be the expect. “If you don’t know how it happened, you can’t fix it.”

She can’t pronounce nuclear either. 

9:37 Biden approves of my future marriage. Palin thinks she’s very tolerant. Riiiight. 

9:40 Palin is currently not speaking in sentences. Biden’s doing a good job of giving shorter answers that are succinct. Palin is prattling on

9:45 Does Palin know where Pakistan is? Biden sounds so sure of his policy on Pakistan and Afganistan. I don’t think she knows the name of any leader besides Ahmadinejad. 

9:45 Does she have any fucking right to talk about Women’s Rights? 
I kind of love how both Biden and Obama have hammered in on McCain’s refusal to meet with Zapatera, the awesome president of Spain. The one who legalized same sex marriage. Yeah, that one.

9:53 ”I’m so encouraged that we both love Israel!” Aw, Shucks! 
It seems palin thinks that nuclear weapons are the results of overpopulation.  

10:00 “Have not said anything different but that.” Yay for ending with a hanging participle. 

10:04 Here she is completely ignoring the question about Darfur! Answer the question, Qualin. She’s soapboxing before nearly every question.

10:07 “John McCain knows what evil is.” Yes, that’s because he is evil. 
This question about how one would continue the policies of their running mates is such a gimme. Just reiterate the policies of your dudeman. Also; Joe Biden spends a lot of time at Home Depot. That’s my kind of man. Maybe he can build me a treehouse.  

10:13 When Palin said “Her reward is in heaven” i almost started vomiting. Apparently, the vice president works with disabled children. Perhaps the vice president of the PTA? 

10:18 Yes, but what is your biggest weakness? You aren’t answering the question. 
Aw, Joe almost cried when talking about his family. I know he wasn’t meaning to, but it was a real moment that helped make him vulnerable.

10:24  I think this has been the first question she has truly answered the entire body of - if there has been anything about her that has changed throughout her career. She often ends sentences with Also. You think she’d stop that considering SNL… 

Closing Statements: Like Erin just said, she’s using closing remarks the whole time. We’ll sit and tell our children about a time when people were free? Yes, I can see that conversation when the US is taken over by the new Republic of Gilead and women are forbidden to read. 

Joe Biden is cute.

in conclusion; sarah palin is awful person. I am afraid for our country if she wins. 

And he had a Zune.

I know why those PhD programs didn’t take me. I know nothing about semiotics, optimality theory, and pragmatics. My knowledge of phonetics is cursory at best. My writing sample sucked.

But I still love that stuff, and would love to learn. But how does one accomplish this? I can’t just read textbooks. I feel as if I have loved and lost.

Ah, linguistics. We will reunite someday.

Today we went to visit my mother’s grave in staten island. I had to get up very early and go all the way to Bensonhurst to catch the ride with my father.
Once we got there, my father inspected the gravestone and began cleaning it. He brushed off the dust and then poured a clear liquid over the surface to wash the stone. That liquid was Perrier.

Only in my family.

I know the exact point when Clinton lost me and I know the exact reason she did. It’s less to do with politics and more to do with interpersonal relations and an amazing online article.

If anyone hasn’t read the Geek Social Fallacies article, I strongly encourage you to do so. It is almost entirely correct.

I’d add just one more thing.

Geek Social Fallacy #6 - Friends stick by each other, no matter what.

This social fallacy states that if your friend hurts someone, or is a liar, or reaches an incorrect conclusion, they are still your friend. This fallacy gives people 2nd and 3rd and 4th chances after egregious behavior. Sometimes the excuse is that the behavior was done to someone else. Sometimes the excuse is that the perpetrator will not do that again (it was a one time thing, I swear). And sometimes there’s no excuse at all. People who use GSF #6 will never give up on a person. That would be mean and wrong. After all, everyone can be redeemed, just like Anne Rice said. There is no point of no return. There is no mathematical impossibility. You stick by your guns (or friends) or you are weak.

It’s stubbornness, plain and simple. it’s refusing to admit you’re wrong until the last possible moment, as to avoid humiliation in the short term.

But it makes you look dumb.

I think Clinton would make a stronger president than Obama. But she should have dropped out once the math showed that she’d have to win each remaining state by 60-40 or higher to get the right delegate count. That was in.. March?

But she has so much to prove and so much riding on her. To drop out in march would lead to months of being called weak or spineless. But it’d be over by now.

That was HRC’s fatal flaw: wanting to postpone the inevitable. Because just like that shitty friend, the other shoe will eventually drop and you’ll have to deal with the shit no matter what.