Zombie blogging a zombie candidate

Sarah Palin could be a zombie candidate. If she decides to run, she'll have to endure months of ridicule about her impulsiveness, indecisiveness and flip-flopping. Would that stop her?

Zombies never die, so the blog is going to go dormant unless and until Sarah comes back to life, politically. But right now there isn't anything more to say about her. She's being ignored by the media, because they have actual candidates to cover. Sure, she may continue to rant and rave via Facebook and Twitter, but I've never thought any of that warranted a response.

It's better to be for something than against something, so I recommend that everyone remember to vote. For 2012 there are 61 congressional seats held by Republicans in districts that voted for President Obama in 2008. Many of the tea partiers elected in 2010 could be voted out next year, if people get out and vote.

Hasta la vista.

Happy Halloween! Find a scary movie

Today is Halloween, and it's not too late to grab a scary movie. The Washington Post has a slideshow of stills from nineteen "scary" movies. This photo is a still from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre of 1974. I've seen the 2003 remake, which was very good, and I have the original on my wishlist. The original is relatively expensive, so it may be excellent.

The other stills at the slideshow are from: Nosferatu, The Phantom of the Opera, Psycho, The Birds, Rosemary's Baby, Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, Jaws, The Omen, Carrie, Halloween, Alien, The Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th, The Shining, Scanners, An American Werewolf in London, Poltergeist, and The Thing.

The Washington Post's article is "From ‘Paranormal Activity’ to ‘Nosferatu,’ a look at the scariest movies of all time." Interestingly, a still from Paranormal Activity isn't included in the slideshow, but there is a link to "‘Paranormal Activity 3’: Is the found footage horror movie played out?"


The Los Angeles Times has "50 Creature Features," "Celluloid mutants, werewolves and blobs -- the stuff of nightmares. Play the videos, and vote for the greatest monster movie ever."

I like the Childs Play movies, which didn't make either list. "Chuckie" is scary!

I'll watch 1994's Ed Wood, which received an Academy Award for Martin Landau's makeup. Landau played Bela Lugosi.

Uh-oh! NBC confirms Herman Cain's accuser in sexual harassment case received a settlement.

"NBC News has confirmed that one woman received a settlement from the National Restaurant Association after complaining about inappropriate sexual conduct by Herman Cain."

"NBC News is not disclosing the name of the woman nor characterizing who she is." ...

See "NBC confirms one Cain accuser received cash settlement."

Update: Politico has a story, "Herman Cain accused by two women of inappropriate behavior."

Young Turks (VIDEO) and L.A. Times on Rick Perry's Donors + Bonus full "drunk" video -- Twofer VIDEO!

The Young Turks did a show about how well Rick Perry's donors do in Texas:



The L.A. Times' original reporting referred to at the beginning of the video is "Gov. Rick Perry's big donors fare well in Texas."


Here is a complete video of Perry at a fundraiser for New Hampshire's Cornerstone Action, "an advocacy group that has been pushing for repeal of the state's same-sex marriage law." He doesn't appear to be "drunk."



TIME Magazine has "Tongue-Tied Texan: The New Rick Perry Sounds a Lot Like the Old Rick Perry."

Palin Family Circus News -- Friday, October 28, 2011

E!Online's Marc Malkin writes, in "Does Julianne Moore Nail Sarah Palin? You Betcha!"

We cannot wait to see Game Change, HBO's adaptation of the book of the same name about the 2008 presidential election.

Julianne Moore plays Sarah Palin. If what we've seen and heard is any indication of things to come, her portrayal is downright freaky.

Sarah Paulson, who plays Republican strategist Nicole Wallace in the film, says Moore could easily pass for the failed vice presidential candidate.

"I will say there were several times where I'd be standing there on set and she would walk by and I would see her peripherally," Paulson told me while promoting her new awards season favorite, Martha Marcy May Marlene (in theaters now). "I'd take a quick glance and I'd be like, 'Why the hell is Sarah Palin on our set?' It's so weird.["]

There are a couple of interesting video's at the E!Online story: Ted Casablanca's "Pissed List: Bristol Palin," and "Levi Johnston Spills Palin Secrets." I would have embedded one of them, but it autoplayed when it was embedded.


According to Pop2it's "Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in 'Game Change' first-look photo," Game Change will also include "Woody Harrlson as Steven Schmidt, McCain's senior advisor, "CSI's" Larry Sullivan as Palin's deputy chief of staff Chris Edwards and "Temple Grandin's" Melissa Farman as Bristol."


There are two hotel room scenes from Game Change that should be in the movie: 1) the morning of the Katie Couric interview, on page 398 and 2) debate prep, on pages 401-2. On page 401, Sarah Palin tells Nicolle Wallace, "If I'd known everything I know now, I would not have done this." Those were clues that she'd never run again. Don't miss the movie!


They're spying on you! A new website reveals that "Sarah Palin’s 683,681 Twitter followers are likely to be religious married parents who like reading books." That may be true, but "Charlie Sheen’s Twitter 5.1 million-strong audience are iPhone users, tweet a lot and 'like to party'." Take that! Sarah Palin. -- From "New site lets celebrity Twitter users ‘know their followers’"


SarahPAC finally got it's act together and obtained an SSL certificate for sarahpacdonate.com. An earlier certificate expired on 10/21; the new one was issued on 10/25 and expires on 10/24/2012. This time, they might set a reminder in their calendar/appointment software. Set it, forget it, then a reminder will go off before it expires ... Organization 101.


The circus news seems to be going the way of the hard news. With the Palins in hiding, there isn't much going on, so enjoy a palin-free weekend! Week? Month? Year?

Does the Internet make us dumb?

Jonathan Kay, writing in Canada's National Post, considers how video could be oversimplifying political issues: "The political act of explaining why one likes, or doesn't like, a particular politician or policy once required thought and argument - effort, in other words. Now, it's so much easier: You just paste a single YouTube link to your Facebook page, and you're done. On to the next issue."

Kay cites two examples: a video made by "left-wing filmmakers" at a Sarah Palin book signing, and a video made by "Lazy conservatives who instinctively are repelled by the Occupy Wall Street movement, but can't be bothered to intellectually engage with the issue, ... ."

Kay goes on to write:

... I'm old enough to remember the early 1990s, a time when starry-eyed futurists believed the Internet would make all of us smarter. We would learn new languages, surf newspapers from around the world, cultivate international pen pals, become more enlightened people by exposing ourselves to different opinions. Twenty years later, it turns out that all this was starry-eyed nonsense: All we want from the web is to have our own ideological biases read back to us in the most hysterical and entertaining form possible - preferably with neat little YouTube links that we can pass around to our friends.

Experts call it the "confirmation bias" - our natural psychological attraction toward data or anecdotes that serve to support our pre-existing attitudes and bigotries. It's something that always has been part of human nature. But the combination of social media with cheap online video technology has turbocharged the confirmation bias to the point where rational political dialogue is in danger of extinction. ...

Is "confirmation bias" a problem? Somewhere, I've read that the internet is appealing because people can get their "news" on the internet without ever encountering a disagreeable opinion.

I never expected to learn new languages with the internet. I am able to read several newspapers. Years ago, the internet wasn't widely used; now it's available and used by a lot more people. The audience has expanded.

If it's any consolation, the "left-wing" video has been viewed almost 2,000,000 times; the "lazy conservative" video has only 200,000 hits, so far.

Jonathan Kay's complete post is here. By the way, the woman speaking in the "lazy conservative" video was a substitute teacher in L.A. She has been fired.

Is the Declaration of Independence legal?

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has an interesting article titled, "Is the US Declaration of Independence illegal?" It describes a recent debate between British and American lawyers over the Declaration's legality.

British and American lawyers might be inclined to disagree over the legality of the Declaration. But why? The Declaration had fifty-six signers, many of whom were wealthy, and the last sentence of the Declaraion reads, "... for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

It's apparent that the signers were aware -- assuming they read the document -- that they weren't signing a simple petition; they were aware that they might lose their lives, fortunes and honor. So, it's fair to say that they were aware that what they were doing might be treasonous. Of course, because the revolution was successful, trying the signers for treason wasn't an option. In fact, by signing the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the British recognized that the United States of America was an independent nation.

Does anyone know why we're continually subjected to these faux "debates?"