Okay, I'm quitting right here

Do you believe in a red state Jesus or a blue state Jesus? 

CNN

Seriously. This has gone too far.

I'm voting for Jill Stein for president, on the grounds that she's been arrested more times than the other two put together, who deserve it more.

I'm voting for Elizabeth Warren for senator from Massachusetts because she will not reach across the aisle (I hope) like Scott Brown claims he will.

And voting on a couple of local matters.

This is been the most mean-spirited election year I can recall ever having witnessed, and I'm not just talking about the R's. I am not convinced either one of the major-party candidates has my best interest at heart.

The feeling is mutual.

And that's the last thought I am giving to the whole affair.

Is that sort of like re-virginizing, or the opposite?

Media titan Rupert Murdoch sent a rather dire message to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie early Saturday morning, telling him he must "re-declare" for Romney after welcoming President Obama to New Jersey in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/murdoch-chris-christie-obama-sandy-romney-mitt-2012-11#ixzz2BBesvUVu

A totally new way to avoid hours and hours of work

https://ifttt.com/wtf

Stop the world, I want to get off

Daylight savings time ends tonight which means yet another hour of extra political cruft headed straight at you Bunky.

Don't forget to set your clock back.

These are guys you really do not want to put in charge of anything

"Are the campaigns identifying their supporters to third-party trackers? Are they directly undermining the anonymity properties that they are so quick to invoke?" Mr. Mayer wrote in a blog post published on Thursday morning. "Yes, they are."

New York Times

The stragglers

The stragglers, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

From Tom Tomorrow

The Amazing Mittdrake

Your tax dollars at work

WASHINGTON — The security guards at a nuclear weapons plant who failed to stop an 82-year-old nun from reaching a bomb fuel storage building earlier this year were also cheating on a recertification exam, according to an internal investigation by the Department of Energy, which owns the weapons plant. 

New York Times

Is anyone minding the store? Anyone?

Ohio Undecided Voter

iPhone photo:  Phil Compton

Manhattan after the storm

At 102nd Street and Lexington Avenue, a passenger happily waited as Khandoker Ahmed, a driver with his off-duty lights on, took a bathroom break. As he drove to Fifth Avenue, car flow was quickly outpaced by pedestrians walking their dogs.  

New York Times

Just about back to normal already.

No matter what you smoke

Netherlands highways will glow in the dark starting in mid-2013

Ars Technica

We were missing something?

Government code-breakers are working on deciphering a message that has remained a secret for 70 years.… 

It is thought the contents of the note, once decoded, could provide fresh information from World War II.

BBC

Think of it as your personal reality show

A federal court ruling Tuesday served yet another blow to U.S. citizens’ dwindling expectations of privacy from government surveillance. A U.S. district judge sided with the Justice Department to rule that it was reasonable for DEA agents to enter a property without permission or a warrant  to install multiple “covert digital surveillance cameras.”

Salon

Guys in Oklahoma needing bigger (ahem) guns

In Stillwater, about 65 miles north of Oklahoma City, the owner of the Stillwater Armory gun shop said the new law has brought about a subtle change in buying habits. Customers with small handguns that are easy to conceal have been buying larger weapons, with longer barrels that hold additional rounds, as they prepare to wear their guns unconcealed.

New York Times

An album of nature photos…

… from CNN

Why it's not called the English Channel

The high waves brought cargo shipping to a standstill on the Great Lakes. Freighters as long as 1,000 feet haul loads of iron ore, coal and other bulk commodities on the lakes. Most if not all have took refuge in harbors or bays to escape the storm's wrath.

The Weather Channel

Take a deep breath, Bunky…get a grip

Long days for millions in Sandy's wake - CBS News

The most devastating storm in decades to hit the country's most densely populated region upended man and nature as it rolled back the clock on 21st-century lives, cutting off modern communication and leaving millions without power Tuesday as thousands who fled their water-menaced homes wondered when — if — life would return to normal.

Nature…

…and the Yellow cab company. 

Dispatch from our Midwest Bureau

Poor David Brooks, determined to continue his support for Gov Romney and running out of rationalizations to extol his candidacy. 

I go with the commenters who cried Marlarky! But the following comment is worth sending on:

JBC  Indianapolis  NYT Pick

Best piece of satire you've written in years, Mr. Brooks. Almost made me spit out my morning coffee. A real knee-slapper.

But seriously (since you weren't). 

"But Republicans in Congress would probably go along. They wouldn’t want to destroy a Republican president."

This is the problem. The question should never be about supporting or destroying a president, it should be about advancing the nation and its citizens, something Republicans seem to have little interest in doing anymore. We've made it all about the politicians instead of the body politic.

-p

When I am president…

…I will make them put the sign that says "shake well" someplace a person can actually see it. Mumble mumble something something.

Having blown away all available metaphors…

…Hurricane Sandy churned inland as a downgraded storm. 

New York Times

The tragedy of it all

Superstorm Sandy knocks out Gawker and Huffington Post

Where the rubber meets the road and just sits there going nowhere

Power providers reported outages in every state from North Carolina to the Canadian border and as far inland as Ohio and Indiana.…

And now, we hear, perhaps as far as Wisconsin.

So if you own an all-electric car here's where you get out and push.

Big storm so far

Big storm so far, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

In Western Mass… Puddles, lots of leaves blown down, the occasional duck..

Picky, picky

Romney Auto Ad Misleads - NYTimes.com

There’s rich irony here. The campaign that doesn’t care about fact checkers invokes fact checkers, and then disregards the facts.

Make a note: Should have bought more chips

The big storm isn't even here yet and already I'm out of chips. Should have bought many, many more. It's difficult to know, here in the Area of Uncertainty, exactly how many because so far there's nothing much to get excited about. It's pretty windy but I've seen worse, and it's barely raining at all.

My little monastic corner of cyberspace is all aglow with battery-charger LED's, however, because my motto for today is, everything stays plugged in all the time. 

Imagination fails

Western Massachusetts bracing for the worst, hoping for the best, as Hurricane Sandy's path predicted to head inland after hitting New Jersey coast | masslive.com

Officials say they are poised to spring to action…

You're kidding, right?

Why Won't Mitt Romney Go on Any Late Night Shows? - Yahoo! News

 

All the pirates and all the King's men

14 rescued, 2 missing from tall ship off NC - Yahoo! News

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — A replica tall ship caught in Hurricane Sandy's wrath began taking on water, forcing the crew to abandon the boat in rough seas off the North Carolina coast. The Coast Guard rescued 14 crew members by helicopter Monday but two people were still missing.

 

Squishy buns

I was opening a package of sauerkraut yesterday when it occured to me if I had some squishy buns, some hot dogs, and the right kind of mustard I could make killer kraut dogs just like that guy on the corner, with the cart. So I went to the grocery store this morning and got those things because what else are you going to do while you are waiting around to be blown to perdition by a monster wind. Which is, by the way, starting to kick up a little but still not too bad. So here I am eating a kraut dog, which pretty much makes it all worthwhile. Except, maybe a little short on mustard. Maybe I should try another one and see.

Notes from the Area of Uncertainty

It's cool but not really cold, breezy, and there is just a little spritz of moisture in the air. Walking around in it makes you feel like a head of lettuce about to become a salad.

I'm thinking you could sell anything this morning – anything – if you just put a sign on it that says storm supplies.

Yesterday I saw a big flock of geese overhead flying east. This morning I saw them all flapping back the other way. Oh oh. They're watching the Weather Channel too?

Storm's not even here yet and already running out of things to say

Like a hand pushing water in a bathtub, the winds of a hurricane push the water of the Atlantic Ocean. 

New York Times

Let's just get on with it, okay?

Can it possibly be that bad?

Alex Klein, a junior at University of Pennsylvania majoring in urban studies, said [about the approaching hurricane Sandy]…"If worse comes to worst, we'll just study." 

Philadelphia Inquirer

Pretty good storm map from Google

Fun!

O O O O hio

As USA Today reported Thursday, in an effort to make voting easier, Ohio sent absentee ballots to 1.43 million voters who requested them; 800,000 people who asked for those ballots have received them but not yet completed them. Any one of those 800,000 who decides to vote in person on Election Day instead will be given a provisional ballot to ensure they are not voting twice — once by absentee ballot and again at the polls. That means potentially tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of ballots will be provisional, which under Ohio state law won’t be counted until Nov. 17 at the earliest. Four years ago Ohio had 207,000 provisional ballots. It’s not hard to see the additional provisional ballots from the 800,000 would-be absentee voters adding up to enough votes to make a difference this time around.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/26/election-nightmare-scenarios-what-could-happen-on-nov-7/#ixzz2Acp4AL8X

Next you're going to tell me water is wet and potato chips are no good without the salt

 The funds from the Indiana Toll Road lease provided a short-term, politically easy win for Gov. Mitch Daniels and his allies, to the long-term detriment of future generations.

UNDERNEWS

Top US financial regulators…

(Reuters) - Top U.S. financial regulators have told two senators a bill they are sponsoring would give the president undue influence on supervisory authorities… 

Reuters

… should just sit down and be thankful they're not doing hard time.

American schoolhouse

American schoolhouse, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.