In Passing

Over the last few days, we have lost some great ones. Individuals like Dick Martin, who at a time of political tumult, teamed with Dan Rowan and forged a great variety show.

“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” the hyperactive, joke-packed show that Mr. Martin and Mr. Rowan rode to fame, made conventional television variety programs seem instantly passé and the sitcom brand of humor seem too meek for the times.

The show was a collage of one-liners, non sequiturs, sight gags and double-entendres the likes of which prime time had rarely seen, and it proved that viewers were eager for more than sleepily paced plots and polite song-and-dance.

There was Sydney Pollack, who for as great of a director he was, there was also a great actor.

A former acting teacher who became an in-demand character actor, Pollack had memorable on-screen turns in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives and his own Tootsie, in which he played Hoffman's exasperated acting agent.

And just the other day, another Comic genius left us in Harvey Korman. The venerable straight man who struggled keeping a straight face:

"Give me something bizarre to play, or put me in a dress and I'm fine," Korman jokingly said in a 2005 Chicago Sun-Times interview.

Korman and Conway developed an uncanny rapport that made them arguably one of television's most lethal comic teams; Conway's on-camera ad-libs often made Korman crack up; producers wisely kept them in the show.

But buried in all the big names, was a man that many of us grew up with. The director of some of the best Star Trek episodes passed away. Joseph Pevney was 96:

Pevney directed 14 episodes of the 1960s series, including "The City on the Edge of Forever," in which Capt. Kirk and Spock travel back in time to the Depression, and "The Trouble With Tribbles," in which the starship Enterprise is infested with cute, furry creatures.

. . .

Pevney directed with precision and was highly organized "but he was very relaxed -- in fact, jovial -- in the way he directed," said George Takei, who played Sulu. "I enjoyed working with him."

. . .

In the 1960s and '70s Pevney turned to television, directing dozens of episodes of series such as "Wagon Train," "Fantasy Island," "The Incredible Hulk" and "Trapper John, M.D."

UPDATE: Another Trek tie's obit obit noticed. The composer of the perpetual earworm Star Trek TV Theme, Alexander "Sandy" Courage:

Over a decades-long career, Courage collaborated on dozens of movies and orchestrated some of the greatest musicals of the 1950s and 1960s, including "My Fair Lady," "Hello, Dolly!" "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Gigi," "Porgy and Bess" and "Fiddler on the Roof."

But his most famous work is undoubtedly the "Star Trek" theme, which he composed, arranged and conducted in a week in 1965.

"I have to confess to the world that I am not a science fiction fan," Courage said in an interview for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's Archive of American Television in 2000. "Never have been. I think it's just marvelous malarkey. ... So you write some, you hope, marvelous malarkey music that goes with it."

Eye for an Eye

via Englehart at The Courant:

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Ex Bush mouthpiece writes a book:

In excerpts from a 341-page book to be released Monday, Scott McClellan writes on Iraq that Bush "and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."

"[I]n this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security," McClellan wrote.

OK, that's not really news. Most of us that don't wear the GOP blinders knew that. How about a good bomb shell.

Rove and fellow White House advisers Elliot Abrams and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were accused of leaking the name of Plame -- whose husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, had gone public with charges the Bush administration had "twisted" facts to justify the war in Iraq.

Libby was convicted last year of lying to a grand jury and federal agents investigating the leak. Bush commuted his 30-month prison term, calling it excessive. At the time, McClellan called the three "good individuals" and said he spoke to them before telling reporters they were not involved.

"I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood," he wrote. "It would ultimately prove fatal to my ability to serve the president effectively."

Well that's no shocker either. One more shot:

"One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas talking about the good old days of his time as the press secretary," Bush said at that conference. "And I can assure you, I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done."

Ok, Ok. Now we are getting somewhere. That is certainly something that probably isn't going to happen now. Poor Scotty will be blacklisted now.

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Memorial Day 2008

Paid my respects to a variety of family members this weekend. My good friend Pat and I visited 8 different cemeteries over the course of a 24 hour road trip. We went to Shieldsville, Montgomery and St. Henry tracking our Irish roots. Stopped in Cleveland for my Great Great Great Grandparents who died in the 1870s.

We then went into St. Peter to spend some quality time with the living. Had a great time at Patrick's on Third. Patty melts for dinner of course, before venturing next door for some patio partying at Stoli's new pad. He is tracking the remodel, here.

Monday morning we made a dash to Nicollet where I have a genealogical gold mine. over a dozen direct ancestors spread over 4 generation ins this small German Lutheran cemetery. We made it back to St. Peter in time for the Memorial Day service. My Godfather is still a member of the honor guard, proudly carrying the POW/MIA flag. The service was full of the necessary pomp and patriotism.

Afterwards, we went back south to Madelia, to visit Seth (whose grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War) and snoop around. Finally we headed back home, but not without stopping in Henderson. The Dummer plot holds my dad's step brother, who was killed in combat during World War II.

I hope you all had a restful extended weekend, but took the time to remember those, both living and passed, who made the commitment to protect our freedoms, the very freedoms we appreciated over the long weekend.

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Sol 0

The Phoenix has landed!

5:30 pm
Phoenix is now on the surface of Mars, much to the joy of everyone here in Mission Control. As icing on the cake, we've found that the lander is tilted only one quarter of a degree, which means we've landed nearly perfectly level. The next step for Phoenix is surface initialization during which the solar arrays, Surface Stereo Imager (SSI), Biobarrier (which has been protecting the robotic arm from contamination since it was sterilized on Earth) and meteorological mast will deploy. We should have data regarding the status of these deployments when Odyssey makes its first pass in less than two hours. Engineers in Mission Control are saying that our actual landing went far smoother than any simulation or test that was ever done. Stay tuned.

RushIsABand!

Just roused from my post concert nap. What an amazing show. I'll have a review up soon. Here ls a quick pic of Neil who is riding his motorcycle from stop to stop.

Smoking Victim

Grandma's Saloon and Eatery, on the West Bank's Seven Corners is closing its doors. This popular hangout has endured most everything the economy has thrown at it, but the smoking ban on top of the other factors was too much.

Brian Daugherty, Grandma's general manager, said he opted out of the lease after being "legislated out of business." He blamed a host of laws -- a 2005 bill that doesn't allow tips to be counted as part of the minimum wage, the smoking ban, the 21-year-old drinking age and lower limits on blood-alcohol levels -- for a drop in business and rising expenses.

I haven't had a cigarette in over 6 months, but that hasn't changed my view of the rights of a private business to allow the use of legal products in their establishments.

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RUSH for Sale

I may have a line on a ticket or two for Tomorrow's show. Main Floor, face value. If you are interested contact me via the comments or directly to my e-mail box:

comments (at) centrisity.com

Pre-show festivities in the garage around 5:ish.

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Barack Obama - Presumptive Nominee

Sen. Obama reached the first major milestone yesterday, a majority of pledged/elected delegates. Coupled with the Super Delegate bleed, he now has a 28 SD lead, its over. Really, its all over.

I took a peak at Electoral-Vote to see if there were any polling shifts. Clinton still appears to be the more electable, but upon further analysis, its not hopeless.

The three key states in this cycle will be Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Clinton leads in all three, Obama leads in Pennsylvania, but is behind in Ohio and Florida. However, he is within margin of error, actually only 1 point off McCain.

There is no telling what will happen during the meat of this cycle, but there is clear signals from both campaigns to keep it clean. Obama has had better success in reeling in his supporters. We saw that McCain still struggles with party control.

Also, I noticed another modification since the Smear Boater days:

What 527 groups ultimately do depends on how lawyers advising these groups interpret a series of Federal Election Commission cases over the past two years that heavily fined 527 organizations that participated in the 2004 presidential election.

Among those fined was the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which raised unsubstantiated allegations about John Kerry's Vietnam war record. The FEC has since adopted rules that say groups can air "issue ads" but can't criticize the character of a candidate.

"We can't do in 2008 what we did in 2004," said Chris LaCivita, a Republican operative who worked on the Swift Boat ad campaign. "Everything has to be issue based."

Under those types of guidelines, we may have been spared another 4 years of Bush II. For now, we'll have to hope that the current guidelines are observed.

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The Most Effective Member

Sen. John McCain on Sen Edward Kennedy:

“the single most effective member of the Senate,”

Even the best case scenario for Sen Ted isn't very optimistic. I wish him and the family well during this difficult time.

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The Gift that Keeps On Giving

Bush to actively campaign for McCain

"The president believes very strongly that, if we get out and take our message to voters, that we can be successful," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Bush, who has not been with McCain since a Rose Garden event on March 5, will appear with the Arizona senator at a fundraiser May 27 in Phoenix.

Asked at the daily White House news briefing whether one could expect to see a lot of Bush and McCain together, Stanzel said: "I think you'll see the president out on the campaign trail quite a bit. We'll keep you posted on their events that they may have together."

I think they are exactly correct. The President should actively campaign, right along side McCain when ever possible. He should embrace his Presidency and present McCain to the American people as the one who will, and can, continue his policies and programs.

Yeap, that's the ticket!

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Sticking with a Fork

Now that Edwards has factored into the Nomination tussle, one more high profile endorsement sits out there, and the 'watch' is on. Should Vice President Al Gore come out for Obama soon, the presumptive label on Obama would be official

``The Al Gore watch starts now,'' said Ken Goldstein, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Gore, who is one of the party's superdelegates, has indicated he won't give his endorsement until the primary contest is finished. His spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, said yesterday that Gore had no further comment.

Obama and Gore

Obama said he has spoken to Gore ``periodically'' over the past several months about policies and ideas.

``I'm not really pushing for an endorsement,'' Obama told reporters on his plane last night as he flew to Chicago. ``I'd love to have it, but when you've won the Nobel Peace Prize, making an endorsement politically is maybe a step down.''

Seriously, it really doesn't matter. This race is over, and short of a catastrophic collapse, it will be Obama -v- McCain. Both candidates have vowed a clean fight. Obama has even reeled in some outside groups to do his best to control his own message.

The Right, of course, is a 'damaged brand'. The results in Mississippi made that clear.

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Rush Countdown

Rushisaband

Thursday, May 22nd, Xcel Energy Center

I'll be there, again, will you!!

In other news, John Rutsey, founding drummer for Rush passed away of an apparent heart attack. Rutsey performed on the first RUSH debut album before being replaced by Neil Peart.

John Rutsey, a founding member of Toronto rock band Rush, passed away this weekend according to Rush management company Anthem Entertainment. He was 55.

Rutsey was famous for playing on Rush’s 1974 debut album, including the song “In The Mood,” before deciding to leave the group due to health concerns. Rutsey suffered from diabetes and was unable to go on extended tours with the group.

Rutsey was replaced by drummer Neil Peart, which marked a turning point in the band’s sound towards progressive rock.

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Turning a Darker Shade of Blue

When things like this happen, I'm thinking even the 6th-MN may be in play:

A Democrat won the race for a GOP-held congressional seat in northern Mississippi yesterday, leaving the once-dominant House Republicans reeling from their third special-election defeat of the spring.

. . .

"No one could have imagined the tsunami that just crashed on Republicans in Mississippi," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an interview after the victory. "There is no district that is safe for Republican candidates."

And before the Righties start squawking about me just trying to stir the pot, here is a message from your own:

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, sounded an alarm for all GOP candidates "to take stock of their campaigns and position themselves for challenging campaigns this fall" while lashing themselves to the presidential candidacy of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

"The political environment is such that voters remain pessimistic about the direction of the country and the Republican Party in general. . . . Time is short," Cole said in a statement.

Now, if you have been following these recent special election battles, you'll know that the Right has tried their standard attacks and attempted to see how a Barack 'ball and chain' would effect their electability. Their strategy failed . . . . miserably:

the National Republican Congressional Committee sponsored a television ad tying Childers to Obama and the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

In the ad, Childers is shown next to Kerry and Obama while the Illinois senator's ranking from the National Journal as the most liberal senator is noted. Read more on the ad controversy

In an ad paid for by Davis, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is shown and a narrator chastises Childers for not publicly denouncing the pastor's controversial remarks.

It would appear that the RNC's tool box is empty, and their ability to get traction on new attacks has shown the electorate to be much less susceptible to the slime. This will force the Right to actually engage in debate, and discuss issues, a tactic they fear most.

Overall this is frustrating news for the Right, and especially local congressional Republican candidates. They are facing a competitive retention in the 3rd, where the Democratic candidate is a much closer moderate fit than the fringe candidate Paulson. Sgt. Sarvi is set up to be the Tim Walz sleeper in the 2nd. What is most embarrassing for the MNGOP is that Michele Bachmann is their best, and only credible hope at retention. They must be proud!

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HiJacking

The GOP is so desperate they have decided to attempt a HiJack of the 'Change' slogan, and boy did they jump off the deep end:

It looks like Republicans will counter the Democratic push for change from the years of the Bush administration with their own pledge to deliver, drum roll please, “the change you deserve.”

Hmm, 'Change you Deserve'. Here is the stickler, our friend from the South has been linked all over the national blogosphere for her pointing out the TradeMark on that slogan

Americans have heard that slogan time and again.

Unfortunately, it wasn't pimped for political discourse, but to market an anti-depressant.

According to Wikipedia, the prescription drug "Venlafaxine is used primarily for the treatment of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder in adults."

The brand name version, Effexor, is sold by Wyeth, which marketed it using the slogan, "The Change You Deserve™."

The GOP is kleptoing a slogan used to sell depression medication, seems apropos. Maybe they are just giving up already.

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Electability?

Don't listen to the GOPers behind the curtain. If the election were held today, Clinton would beat McCain; Obama, probably not.

RealClear Politics has the current snapshot in time.

Pennsylvania has Obama up 1.2 but Clinton outside the margin of error with a +6.8%
Ohio shoe McCain over Obama +3.4% with Clinton holding him off at +5.4%. And the dangling chads in Florida stay with McCain, handily, at +9.0%, yet Clinton with a shot +1.7%

Even Electoral-Vote.com shows the electability reality

280 Clinton
258 McCain

254 Obama
273 McCain

And what of my favorite Right leaning Pollster, Rassmussen. They've decided the Democratic nomination battle is over, and will stop tracking it.

However, while Senator Clinton has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure, she is a close second and the race is over. It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.

We don't need no stinking elections, we have Rassmussen to decide for us.

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Happy Birthday, MN!

Minnesota is 150 years old today.

After you have wished your Mother a happy day, stop by the capitol and participate in the festivities.

Several of my ancestors were Minnesota Pioneers including my Great Great Grandfather Seth Trowbridge. I leave you with his picture, and obituary as printed in the Madelia Messenger, April 9, 1915

Madelia Messenger
April 9, 1915

Another Pioneer Gone
Mr. Seth Trowbridge, one of the very early pioneers of this section, breathed his last at his home in this village at 1:40 a.m. Wednesday, April 7. He contracted a cold on February 22nd, which developed into pneumonia and was the cause of his death. Mr. Trowbridge was born July 1st, 1828. The funeral will be held at the Presbyterian church at 2 o'clock tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon. Obituary next week.

Madelia Messenger
April 16, 1915

Mr. Seth Trowbridge

Mr. Seth Trowbridge, the announcement of whose death appeared in these columns last week, was born in Preble, Courtland County, NY. At the age of seventeen years he bought his time from his father, paying therefore the sum of $10, and started out in the world to fight his own way.

He left New York in 1847, in company with his brother, Milo, in a covered sleigh, headed for the state of Ohio, and there he worked making staves in the timber country, until 1850 when he returned to New York and was married to Miss Angeline E. Comstock, and soon afterward returned to Ohio with his bride. Of this marriage one daughter, Mrs Alice V. Adams of Lewiston, Idaho survives.

In 1854, with his brother, Alexander, he went to the state of Texas, but not finding conditions there to his liking, he returned to Ohio, and later visited Illinois and Minnesota. He was pleased with Minesota and in 1856, moved to Winona county. In later years he told friends the coldest winters he ever experienced in Minnesota were those of 1856 and 1857.

His second marriage was to Miss. Clarrissa A Brown, the ceremony being performed at Rochester. To this union four children remain. They are: W. E. Trowbridge of St. Paul, Mrs. Minnie Manning of St. James, Mrs. Hattie M Anderson of Unionville, Mo. , and John J Trowbridge (my Great Grandfather) of Madelia, MN.

Mr. and Mrs. Trowbridge left Winona county for Watonwan county in 1868, and for a time they farmed about two sections of land in Fieldon township, about six miles south of Madelia, but they were practically ruined by the grasshoppers and prairie fires, and then moved to their farm north of town. Later they built the brick house in Madelia, where he has lived most of the time since, dividing his time between his home here and the farm.

For many years Mr. and Mrs. Trowbridge served meals in the brick building, and many of the "old timers" remembered the price charged for meals-- all you can eat for 15 cents.

Mrs. Trowbrdige died in May. 1903.

Those from out of town who attended the funeral are : Mrs. Manning and son of St. James, Mrs. C. L. Anderson of Unionville Mo., Mr and Mrs. W. E. Trowbrdige of St. Paul, Lewis Trowbridge of Rosendale, Mr. W. G. Manning, Mr.s J., J. Lenertz and son , Mr. and Mrs. Peter King, Mrs. J. C. Bermel, Mrs. Hottinger and Mrs. E. C. Fuller of St. James and Mr. Avon Gillman of Truman.

Enjoy your day!

Twins Win

I was really tempted to turn off the game last night. Our Twinkies blew a nice lead after Boof gets shelled and Rincon couldn't close the deal in the 5th. Down 6-5 we then went through shut out baseball for the rest of the game.

I wasn't really keyed in, but as we were sitting in the bottom of the 9th, something interesting happened. The club manufactured a comeback the old fashioned way. A hit here, a bunt sacrifice there, a walk, and a stolen base while a green back was up to bat.

Delmon Young led off the ninth with a single to center and was bunted over to second by Matt Tolbert. While Carlos Gomez batted, Young stole third.

Gomez . . . drawing a walk

Up came Lamb . . . He kept his at-bat alive with a couple of foul balls off Papelbon, who hit 97 miles per hour on the gun. Gomez stole second during the at-bat, putting the winning run in scoring position.

Lamb was down on the count 1-2, fouling off a few after that. Then, CRACK, a chopper just inside the 3rd base line, enough to score both base runners and the win.

The STRIB Headline said it all; Twins' Lamb Chop - Served to go!

A scrappy, never say die, we'll fight till the end, victory. Reminded my of a Twins Club from 1991.

I'm glad I didn't turn the channel.

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We've Been Stimulated

True to their word, the IRS dumped our stimulus funds into the bank. Joint filing, two kids, $1800.00.

Half will go to buy down our only short term debt account, the other half will be used for stimulating. Unfortunately, what has made the short list of our shopping list are either Japanese or Chinese products. So with the exception of local retailers, truckers, and some dock handlers, not sure how much the purchase will actually assist in this trickle around experiment.

What are YOU going to do with your windfall?

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The Hillary Bunny

via Bagley:

Time to Suspend?

Both Sen Clinton's and Sen Obama's spin machines are in full force. You can sense from their post election night E-Mails where they are at.

An out of character 'reserved' HIllary Campaign:

Tonight's victory in Indiana was close, and a margin that narrow means just one thing: every single thing you did to help us win in Indiana helped make the difference.

From Obama:

As of Tuesday morning, we needed just 273 delegates to clinch the nomination. When the votes are fully counted Wednesday morning, we will have gained more than a third of them in a single day.

We have a clear path to victory.

And he's right!

But it wasn't that long ago, that Senator Obama drew the line in the sand:

"You know, Sen. Clinton is more favored in Pennsylvania,” he added, “and I'm right now a little more favored in North Carolina, so Indiana right now may end up being the tiebreaker.

And to be fair, Obama set the goal posts, and Hillary won the tiebreaker, so maybe she should fight on.

Personally, I think it is time. There is only a few more weeks until the last primaries. Then the DNC will pressure the Super-Ds to get off the fence. If Hillary waits that long to acknowledge the inevitable, her withdrawal will be hollow and the healing more difficult to take place.

The negativity we have seen in this campaign, be it from Hillary or the Right is only the tip of the iceberg. Time to let the GOP put all their guns on the future President Obama so he can continue to display the courage, character and experience he will bring to a fresh new White House. Should he falter or fall, Hillary will still be there to grab the mantle, but the likelihood of that happening are nill.

I'm not ready to officially hop on the train yet. I'm just glad I don't have a dog in this fight. I just wish it would be over so I can roll up my sleeves and get to work. Too much is at stake to let this opportunity slip away!

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Duck Hunting

I'll be in the classroom all day today, and last night I had company till later than normal. Johnny's dad, 'the Colonel ' was in town so they stopped by. A career Army guy he retired from his Pentagon job in 1998. It was my first time meeting him so we had much to talk about. No shocker here, he is a diehard Obama supporter. Maybe more on that another time.

For now, I'll just have to point you to Phoenix Woman's counterpoint of Pat Condon AP puffy on MDE. From the Intro:

Condon's article read as a classic puff piece. If it wasn't for Condon's writing skills being several notches above Brodkorb's (that is to say that Condon actually writes as if he made it alive out of his seventh-grade English class), one could suspect the man known in local blogging circles as "STB" (Spawn of Turd Blossom) of having written it himself.

Hmmm, Spawn of Turd Blossom. When you think of it, that is actually a compliment. To be compared to the greatest smear artist of all time should be an honor I would suppose.

Anywho, read the whole thing, there is so much there. For me, my day is full and I need to get ready for my students!

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Walz's Veteran Status

In an article on Steve Sarvi's endorsement we find this:

""Sarvi is now the third Iraq veteran running for Congress in Minnesota as a Democrat this fall: The other two are Ashwin Madia, the endorsed DFL candidate in the Third District, and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, who represents the state's First District.""

According to Congressman Tim Walz's website he is not, nor has ever claimed to be, an Iraqi war veteran. He served in "Operation Enduring Freedom".

A correction request was sent to the Strib and I received the following reply from the original reporter of the story (printed with permission):

Thanks for your e-mail. I appreciate you pointing out the mistake - please understand it was an honest one, and we're correcting it.

I understand how easily this error could have happened and am pleased it will be corrected.

Thanks Emily!

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H/T (BSP)

Loving Beer to Death

Now, I like my beer, but not this much:

Glenwood village administrator Bill Bramanti's favorite beer is Pabst Blue Ribbon. He loves it.

Really loves it.

So much so that he's already had his coffin specially made, and it's designed to look like a can of the trendy brew. Bramanti isn't sick, so he doesn't plan on needing it just yet. For now he plans to use it as a cooler.

My wife asks me if I want to be buried or cremated. I look at her with a soft smile on my face and say . . .frozen *grin*

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Puffy

In the much talked about puff piece on Mike over at MDE, many of us who were contacted by the AP writer are still scratching their heads. See, when Mr. Condon made initial contact, we were lead to believe this story was going to be more of an exposé exposing the exposer.

Here's what I mean, from the original media request (posted with permission)

"I know you've been critical of Brodkorb on disclosure issues. This is an aspect of his existence I'd like to explore a bit further, and I'm curious if you'd be willing to explain to me how exactly you think he's falling short in this regard."

We talked at length about my posts here, here, and here. None of the conversation made it into the story. I guess I am holding out hope that an alternate article is in the works to provide balance from the backslapping puffiness of this one. But I am not holding my breath.

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Closed to the Public

It wasn't that long ago that a Paid Republican Operative was complaining about access to private events being attending by soon to be Senator Al Franken. Yet his own party refuses to allow access to media at their public conventions. theUpTake has the video:

Minnesota’s Republican Party seems very camera-shy. Over the past several months Republicans have prevented journalists from recording their candidates at events. The latest incident was rather dramatic as Gavin Sullivan was tossed out of the Republican convention for district 42B for shooting video.

The UpTake’s Mike McIntee shows us Gavin Sullivan’s video and talks to another journalist who has been tossed out twice from Republican events.

The DFL, of course, allows for the credentialing of all media types regardless of ideological bent. That's what openness is about.

Fishing for a Fissure

Let's be clear, polls are nothing more than a snapshot of a moment in time. Their accuracy is no better than the methodology used, and the credibility of those responding. But for the subject of this post, numbers matter.

Real Clear Politics has been tracking general election scenarios for awhile now. Now one would think, with all the internal scuffling going down in the Democratic endorsement battle, that McCain, at least for now, should be cleaning house. But that is not the case.

When we look at general election polling, both candidates seem to hold up pretty well. Granted, there is movement at this early stage, but there is no sign of fracturing within the party. The Right will point to the Obama -v- Clinton factions bickering within the blogosphere, but that is inside baseball. The general populace, I believe, is pretty flexible at this point. They, like myself, recognize the importance of returning the White House to the party of sanity.

I don't read too much into the "I won't vote for your candidate if mine doesn't win" talk. When I see numbers like this, as early as it is, it sure looks to me like the Democratic candidate, regardless of whom, is set up nicely for a November 'W'

Now, anything can happen in the world of presidential politics, but one thing I am pretty confident about, the fissure in the party is greatly exaggerated.

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King Recovering

Look out, he is getting better:

UPDATE (11am): Many thanks to all of you. I just took the most tiring, most exciting 10-minute, 150 foot walk ever taken by this human being and found I had a wire for my laptop here. I am shocked beyond words at the outpouring of friendship shown me the last few days by you all on the comments, in other posts and people who've come by the hospital so far. I'm a little too weak to do lots of blogging, so this is all for today most likely. I'll tell you the rest of the story sometime. But when I tell people that virtual friends can be just as vital as those in real time, your comments, thoughts and prayers will be Exhibit A for the prosecution. God blesses me with your friendship. --kb

My favorite in the comment thread:

What some people will do to get out of teaching the last week of classes!!!

My hopes for a continued and speedy recovery!

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