Sunday Funnies & So Much More

Joe Biden has never been my favorite Democrat -- like many of us, he talks too much, plus he blew the Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito hearings -- but nonetheless I think he'll make a good candidate for vice-president and a good veep. He has more stature than any available person in either party, he relish campaigning in the national spotlight, he's intelligent, and his presence addresses the perception of a so-called (and greatly overrated) experience gap between Obama and McCain...

Last night, Premium T. and I saw the Monsters of the Accordion (including our friend Amy Denio) at Fremont Abbey. Calling the place an "abbey" is a more than a little bit of a stretch, although T. was correct in pointing out that the floor felt like stone. Amy dedicated her song "Ballintubber Abbey" to us; she wrote it while staying at Carrowholly last winter. You can hear it here. After, we had dinner at Brad's Swingside Cafe, where Brad's wife, the County Mayo-born artist Helen O'Toole, stopped by our table for a chat. Brad's is one of those places where you feel like you're eating at someone's home. A home, that is, with an extensive wine list and medallions of organic lamb and venison fricasee for dinner...

Don't miss Sunday Election Issues at As Time Goes By. It provides links to elder blogger perspectives on the election, including this fascinating view from Germany. For example: "...the press would like to say that people came to hear Obama speak because they think he is a rock star. It just is not so. They are curious about his so-called rock star status, but they travelled from far and wide to hear him speak about history, politics, and his vision for America. Is it so hard to believe that hundreds of thousands of people are interested in such matters?" Maybe not in Germany...

Here's my idea of an abbey...

John McCain shows off his knowledge of technology and film history here...

Don't miss Bottle Shock, a delightful indie film about the events leading up to a 1976 blind wine tasting in which upstart California wines beat out established French vineyards. It's nothing that sports movies haven't been doing for years, but the wine country milieu adds a little extra something for the palate...

Good ol' Dick Cheney: Anything to help a pal...

Leonard Pitts writes movingly of the film Katrina's Children. It won't be coming to a theatre near you, but you can get it here. "We forget that children are in the room...We push our agendas and assign our blame and impose our narratives and forget that they are right there, taking it in. Yet, if some of them were failed by schools, community and family, all were failed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the mayor, the governor, the emergency-management director, and the president. And don't think they don't know"...

Rick Warren didn't understand his own question, writes Paul Krugman, who then explains the difference between Bill Gates rich, super rich, rich, and the middle class. He also points out that the Obama tax plan retains the middle class provisions of the Bush tax cuts...

Anna Quindlen explains who is really playing the "race card," although she finds "Caucasian card" to be a more apt descriptor. "The McCain forces have accused the Democrats of injecting race into the campaign. That's silly. The man [Obama] is black. His candidacy is indivisible from that fact, given the history and pathology of this country. When Obama said he did not look like the guys on our currency and that his opponents were likely to portray him as the Other, he was stating the obvious."