Swindle

Joe Klein's take on Charles Krauthammer from the Politico article from a bit ago. I had no idea Krauthammer is confined to a wheelchair. The comment by Klein on the face of it is pretty horrible. Franklin Roosevelt, anyone?

I'd be happy if next season we didn't hear stuff like: You are the best. See you in the finale. Greatest performance eveh!!!! That could be a hit single on the radio. etc. The nonsense out of the judges' pieholes is getting silly. Give the performers real feedback and leave it at that. Also, the clear double standard between performers is crap. I remember one of the judges gave Danny an 'A for effort' for Scream On. If someone like Anoop had done that, he'd have been destroyed. The voters likes underdogs. They don't like being told who the best.

Expecting Vince to take the high road is foolish.

Pretty simple what happened. The demographics of people voting worked against Adam. Tweens and bible thumpers united to give Kris the win. Personally, I liked Allison, so I never had a rooting interest in the finale. I am not really big on Adam and his screaming, but the reactions of his fans on the AI boards are fairly amusing.

Vince has moved the event to the Staples Center. What I find strange is ESPN is egging Vince on, when basketball and RAW will be competing for viewers. Why let Vince promote his product? I imagine RAW will have alot of Nuggets bashing. Should be fun to watch.

It's a strange thing. A large segment of tweens will vote for guys like Kris, but in real life they'll be the first in line for the latest Miley CD. So, I do think Allison has a shot at a career with that in mind. As for Kris, he was/is the least objectionable of the three guys. Danny was villain of the season. Adam is flamboyant. Kris is just sort of there with a pleasant if not unremarkable voice. It isn't my thing, but I understand his advancement to the finals.

“What lies in the shadow of the statue?” The question Ilana and her group have been asking. Richard answered it in Latin, … "Ille qui nos omnis servabit." Translation: "He who will save us all." Candidate? Service to the island and Jacob, I'd suppose. He was suppose to pilot flight 815 if you recall his background from season4. The flashback in a prior episode makes it clear when they tell Miles he shouldn't go to work for Widmore. Then we see Jacob visiting Ilana in a flashback. They work for Jacob. Reinforcements for Richard and the Others, maybe. They also expose Fake!Locke as, well, fake. Interesting question. If he can see Jacob, if Ben, Widmore, past leaders didn't have real contact with Jacob, why isn't Richard the outright leader? I'd assume it plays into the experiments Jacob is conducting. He believes humanity can change. Richard is a go between to test people's faith? Ben obviously failed.

So, who is Jacob's nemesis/friend/associate/rival? I so want to call him Esau. He doesn't like that ship showing up in the past (the Black Rock). "They always come, fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same." Jacob disagrees and is trying to prove him wrong. "It only ends once. Any time before that, it’s progress." Free will vs. destiny....hmmm. Dark dude manipulates Locke and Ben to get the result he wants (Jacob dead), open season on the inhabitants of the island, while Jacob on the other hand believes in the free will of humanity, telling Hugo he always has a choice. Jacob seemed like he was willing to die at the hands of Ben and Not!Locke because I think he knows the Losties will come back and finally free the island from the clutches of the Dark Dude. This also goes back to Locke's convo with Walt way back in the pilot, "Two sides: One is light; one is dark." Ben did say dead is dead, but Jack told Richard not to give up on Locke. I still think the Real!Locke is not totally out of the picture yet. Jacob did bless/touch him in the past. He can't just be conned, killed, and that's that.

Loved the mythology in the finale. This has been one big long con by anti-Jacob. Locke has always been a mark. Ben goes from master manipulator to pawn. The Others really were the good guys!

Picked up a book a Walmart recently on a whim.... Small Favor. It's actually deep in a series of books following the adventures of a wizard. The fact that I have never read another of them didn't take away from my enjoyment. Easy to figure out the players and the conflict. Its a fun book.

One of Kris/Allison will go tonight. The other will go next week. But I am telling you, Danny is never going to live down "Scream On"... it was like he was trying to pull off Adam and failed. The reason for the deuts is simple. The 4 judge format makes it impossible to let them sing two songs a piece. Also, they paired the legit rockers against the faux-rockers and it was clear as day who were the worst. My rankings for the night: Adam/Allison duet Adam Allison Danny/Kris deut Kris GAP Danny If there were justice in the world, Danny would go, but it ain't going to happen. I'm not even sure why people support the guy. He is the next Taylor Hicks.

Worst performance of all time?

Source: Favre, Vikes to discuss playing http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4142857 And so it begins...

Who's Who On The Crew... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0nHj2WTTa0

I didn't even know he was sick, but now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing him on tv in awhile. Cancer sucks. The Dole ticket was dead in the water, but I do remember being struck by what a strong personality Kemp was during the campaign.

This sounds like a pointless endeavor.

I never said anything of the sort. Anyway, the other chuck isn't all negative, that's the smallest percentage of their results. I think we have a fairly apathetic media. The study even says the coverage is less focused on the policy agenda Obama is pushing and playing up his personality and leadership qualities.

Or you could just look at a pew study.. How the President Fared In the Press vs. Clinton and Bush

Eh, he's trying to save his seat. That's the bottom line. The idea that it was based upon deep ideological reasons is nonsense. The guy is the worst kind of a cynical politician. He switch 40yrs ago, now he is switching again. He'll be pushed to the left by because I'm sure he'll face a democratic primary opponent. They can dig up old Bush videos of him praising Spector. Thus, the guy is going to have to go left as he finishes out his term to build up cred with the Dem primary voters. The larger implications is a further step to the left for Washington. The idea of a filibuster-proof majority that will rubber stamp Nancy Pelosi is truly frightening. The Republicans remain completely ineffective as an opposition party. The national media is nothing more than a live-in maid giving Obama fellatio. I don't see much from the so-called blue dog dems these days. Very depressing.

Last night, looks like this is going to be the most remembered question of Obama.... "During these first 100 days, what has surprised you the most about this office? Enchanted you the most from serving in this office? Humbled you the most? And troubled you the most?" sad. grim. pathetic. I expect the Obama admin to be up for this kind of foolishness, but if we are giving up an hour of network tv, it should be something that doesn't waste our time. I had it on ABC, waiting for Lost, and ABC newsguy Charles Gipson noted Obama had1362 days left in his first term... umm, are we forgoing a re-election now? Yikes. These are supposed to be the guys that keep politicians honest. Meanwhile, a depressing look at the media: Watchdogs are heeling for Obama snip Ho hum ho hum. Thank god for the internet.

It annoys me they have that guy on Sunday Night Football, honestly. Its like other sections of the NBC brand is endorsing and giving credibility to his shrill partisanship.

Follow this train of thought. Horace has Miles go pick up the body, then return to the barracks. Then he has Miles turn around and take the body to Chang at the Orchid. Its just stupid. He should have told Miles to take the package directly to Orchid to begin with. The only reason to return to the barracks is for writers to get Hugo involved, so Miles is forced to spill his lame-o daddy issues to the audience. Lazy writing. Horrible episode.

Supposedly, that lady applied to for a job at Fox News twice. That's according to gawker.com so take it for what its worth.

John Stewart put it like this. Fox News has become the hippies. CNN is now the man. And MSNBC is just a comedy central wannabe with all the teabaging jokes.