Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL

Just in case you missed it, here's the clip of Tina Fey working her magic by imitating Sarah Palin during her Katie Couric interview. Yes, I know you've probably seen this but I got an email from the Secret Society of Liberal Bloggers demanding to know why I hadn't followed their directive to post the clip so, you know, here it is.

Strap on a Jet Wing and Fly!

Sometimes I like to make sure that important things don't get missed in the churn of the daily news cycle. In this case, crazy Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy strapped on a jet powered carbon fiber wing, leapt out of an airplane and zipped across the English Channel from Calais, France to Dover, England.



Yes, the economy is falling apart, Congress is considering the riskiest loan in history and we had to have a debate about having the presidential debate. Those are all important issues and deserving of news coverage. But in Europe, they are forging a future toward the Jetsons.

Jed Bartlet Speaks with Barack Obama

Maureen Dowd is a gifted political commentator, of that there can be no doubt. However, when she has an absolutely brilliant idea like having The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin conjure up a meeting between the finest fictional political mind to ever occupy the Oval Office and a real life Democrat who shares some similarities, then you get an indication of just how in touch she is with the culture of the moment.

Her Sunday column was written by Sorkin as a meeting between Obama and Bartlet and he has lost none of his ability since leaving The West Wing. The good senator from Illinois needs to throw the heat like this:

BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

So click here, read the column and then forward it to everyone you know. It's ridiculous to think the Republicans will somehow snowball us into thinking that this time things will be different. It's time to get fired up.

How Many Cars do You Own, Senator McCain?

The answer is 13. John McCain owns 13 cars. And 7 houses. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not going to sit here and dump on someone who is successful but in this case the man is a United States senator who earns $165,000 per year. That's a good salary but that stack of tall dollars isn't high enough to buy 13 sets of wheels. I'm not sure what to think about a maverick who married up and then tries to tell me he cares about regular working folks.

If anyone is keeping count, Senator Obama owns one car. An American made Ford Escape Hybrid. I like those. They're good on gas and look snazzy when you haul the kids around.

The reason this interests me is that the McCain campaign suddenly repackaged themselves as the ticket of change at the Republican campaign. The senator spoke about shaking up the old boys network with regard to the economic disaster. It's almost as if we're all supposed to forget that Senator McCain has been in Washington for decades and that his party has had the presidency for 8 years while they controlled the Congress for another six.

To put it simply, everything about Barack Obama represents change. He's smart but hasn't been in Washington long enough to be truly part of the establishment. He's earned everything he has through hard work. He overcame tough circumstances to be educated at the finest schools in America. Don't get me wrong, John McCain has accomplished much and has a decent legislative record. None of that, however, gets us around the fact that his party's push for less regulation helped ignite the current economic crisis and they've started an unecessary war in Iraq.

The country needs true change right now. We need someone who thinks differently, has fresh ideas and excites people. I don't see Senator McCain filling up football stadiums with supporters. In fact, the Republican convention looked like the land of the walking dead.

We shouldn't be afraid to shake things up this year. There is no fabled golden age to return to. America has only ever done great things when we shook off the dust of history and charged forward with new ideas. We need to be brave enough to shake things up once again.

Soon I Will be Invincible

That's the title of Austin Grossman's first novel. This engrossing sci-fi/ super hero novel takes place in our familiar, modern world but chronicles the experience of two characters, the villainous Dr. Impossible and the neophyte hero Fatale. Dr. Impossible is a mad scientist whose powers make him one of the smartest, if not the smartest man on Earth. Fatale is a female cyborg who is drifting through life unemployed until she gets a call from the Champions super group.

This is a fun book. No cliche is left unexplored as our characters drive through the story. Dr. Impossible has run every scheme known in his many bids to Dominate the World. However, he keeps ending up in jail and after years of being beaten by heroes he finally uses some time in prison for self exploration. Is this the best he can do with his magnificent gifts? Couldn't there be more for him to accomplish? Hasn't he been thwarted enough? This examination continues throughout the novel even as he repeats his mistakes because, after all, this time wil be different!

I'm the smartest man in the world. Once I wore a cape in public, and fought battles against men who could fly, who had metal skin, who could kill you with their eyes. I fought CoreFire to a standstill, and the Super Squadron, and the Champions. Now I have to shuffle through a cafeteria line with men who tried to pass bad checks. Now I have to wonder if there will be chocolate milk in the dispenser. And whether the smartest man in the world has done the smartest thing he could do with his life.-Dr. Impossible.

Fatale's narrative gives us a fun view of what life inside a group of heroes would be like. Sure in public they're the Beatles but in their headquarters, behind closed doors, they're just as sick and tired of each other as any group of people can be.

This book was worth reading just for the sheer lunacy of the names. Baron Ether, Kosmic Klaw, oh yes, those are villian names. They revel in the excitement of their evil identiies. Orbital death rays, fungus armies, battle blimps and freeze rays capture the plans of any villian worth his odd name. Geez, just look at the title. It's the kind of title that reaches out and seizes you, demanding to be purchased. There is page after page of this kind of imagination.

Grossman's plotting is solid. He makes the most of mining the super hero genre for all it's worth, right down to the ridiculous chapter names. Readers of graphic novels, comics and sci-fi will appreciate what he has accomplished with this look behind the scenes. The humor and introspection of the characters will attract any reader who revels in a good story. For his first time at bat, Grossman hit a home run.

Community Support for Nemenz IGA at the Hubbard City Council Meeting

They came before Hubbard City Council for more than an hour, employees and their supporters who wanted nothing more than a fair shot at keeping their jobs. More than one hundred people packed the city council chambers and let it be known that on an even playing field, these employees can make their customers happy and support the community. One by one employees and their supporters spoke about how much they enjoyed their work and how grateful they were that Henry Nemenz gave them an opportunity to work in the town most of them call home.

Also in attendance at the meeting were members of local charities, like the St. Vincent DePaul Society, who said the store provided help to more than 290 Hubbard families. Last year, when the Hubbard Little Eagles football team had their funds embezzled, Mr. Nemenz sponsored a dinner that allowed them to raise enough money to have a season. He has also aided the Hubbard Environmental & Land Preservation group oppose a landfill.

73% of the employees of Nemenz IGA are residents of Hubbard. Their jobs are in danger because the United Food and Commercial Workers union, local 880 has been picketing the grocery store for a year. Owner Henry Nemenz stated that the business fell off 40% once picketers from the UFCW showed up in August 2007. The difficult decision to close the store had to be made.

All may not be lost, however.

When asked what people could do to keep the store open Mr. Nemenz said "Shop there." In an interview with the local press after the meeting, the owner stated "The support here has been so overwhelming to me, that I have to try desperately to keep the store open."

It has been clear for some time that the UFCW wanted the store to close if it could not get its way. The union is responsible for a vacant store, a loss of jobs and a loss of tax revenue.

Not surprisingly, no members of UFCW Local 880 spoke at the meeting or if they were there, none admitted their allegiance to the union. Hubbard City Council will invite them to appear at the meeting on September 15th. If they have a legitimate complaint, that will be the venue to air it. If not, it will be clear that their sole purpose for picketing the store was to close it down. It will be interesting to see if they have the courage to stand before the community they have so grievously injured to answer for what they have done.