Either Relevant or True » Some of us have been over the edge for a long time.

Tie: Orchid.

Segue:: Sorry, I didn’t catch this one.

Worst Person:: Self-styled “McCain surrogate” Sean Hannity.

5.Praising each other, and even wearing the same shade of blue, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hit the campaign trail in New Hampshire today. I have to agree with Keith; the pictures are lovely, whether the negotiations behind the scenes are, or not.

4. Chris Hayes from The Nation makes an astute political observation in the middle of a discussion about whether Obama is as bipartisan as he says he is. “Voters want bipartisanship to do things. If lawmakers use bipartisanship to help an old lady cross the street, that’s good. If they drive the van that helps run her over, it’s not.” Thank you, sir. We can all see why you work at The Nation, despite your Chris O’Donnell-like appearance that might lead one to treat you like a college kid that got ahead of himself. Nicely done. Wish I’d said it.Also, I love it that you say you’re “proud to be hard left.”

Bushed!
Comedian, Simpsons voice and friend of “Countdown” Harry Shearer’s new CD won’t be promoted on conservative media juggernaut Clear Channel.

Blackwater headquarters got raided, and in the process, they got caught with illegal Romanian weapons

Oddball:
The Smithsonian Institution was founded on this date in 1846.

3. The New Yorker’s Washington editor Ryan Lizza joins Keith to talk about government-hater Grover Norquist’s “John Kerry with a tan,” comments. Appalling, yes, but given that the GOP has been running on racial fear and animus since 1968, I don’t even know if it counts as news, sadly. It would be more shocking to me if Norquist ever said something I could get behind.

2. Worse: Congressman Delahunt and Cheney counsel David Addington.

Worser: Richard Johnson, editor of Page Six.

1. I have to admit I was confused by tonight’s number one, although still relieved it was not Hollywood-centered. Why asparagus? Something about the chemical composition of Martian soil? Or is it a weather thing? Pretty interesting discovery that Martian soil could grow plants, though.

I just spotted this short write-up about the Olbermann/Greenwald dustup at Firedoglake.com

http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/27/glenzilla-vs-olbermann-john-dean-weighs-in/

I sincerely hope Keith isn’t wading into some kind of a trap with his special comment on Monday.

Jove –

I don’t know what kind of “trap” KO could be wading in. He has his opinion, others have their own. Neither are necessarily “right” or “wrong.”

Keith has been discussing this over at Daily Kos. As for a “trap” I think KO’s comment says it all:

“Special Comment on FISA and Obama, Monday…
Not sure he’ll like it, not sure you’ll like it, not sure Mr. Greenwald will like it. But I’ll like it.”

As for my opinion — the FISA bill is a lousy law. It is poorly written, confusing and vague. However, it is a Catch-22 as we can see by all the discussion and controversy. Vote for it and you are supporting unConstitutional executive power; vote against it, you leave the USA vulnerable to “terrorists.” What to do in an election year?

Obama could lead the charge against the FISA bill…whatever positive points may have for security or not — he could vote for the flawed bill, get elected and change all that crap…or he could vote “present” and duck the issue (with resulting condemnation from all sides). What would you do if you were Obama

As for whether or not KO is focusing too much on what John Dean says — I thought Dean brought up several good points about the bill being flawed, about its dangerousness and about a possible way to get the telecoms if they get civil immunity. Whether those hold up in the real world remains to be seen.

But this shows the issues facing a politician during a Presidential election. I don’t think Obama is pandering to the right or rejecting his Left roots. Politics is too much a gray field. I just wish Obama would be a bit more open about his true thoughts on FISA and what he would do about it as president.

And as far as the Left blogosphere goes — I think they too often don’t see the forest for the trees. And as far as KO’s role in this — I think it is rather charming that he has so much hope that a way exists to “get” the telecoms if the bill does not.

I found the song via Googleing the interwebs. (It “Googleing” even a word?)

The segue du jour was “The Cowpie Song” by Da Yoopers.

I might have known James would be on the fact-finding tip.
Thanks, Craven.
But we really sit around and talk about “Countdown” together, so I’m not just being a slob.

Don’t worry. here’s their website

http://www.dayoopers.com

They’re from Upper Michigan, BTW.

Chicating –

Finally had a chance to view Friday’s Countdown video podcast…

Here’s the scoop on the #1 story — Martian asparagus…

The Phoenix Lander on Mars took a soil sample and ran it through chemical analysis (it also heated it and saw water vapor meaning water has been there in the past). The soil’s chemical composition is alkaline which on Earth (and, therefore, probably on Mars) good to grow certain plants, namely asparagus, beans, turnips but not fruits, etc. Same reason why certain crops or plants or flowers cannot be grown naturally everywhere on Earth…because of the condition of soil make-up as well as weather and other environmental issues.

However, due to Mars’ thin atmosphere, it gets more ultraviolet radiation from the sun (even though it is farther from the sun than Earth). That ultraviolet radiation is a life killer — so any existing life on Mars would have to live below the surface and most likely be more bacterial or viral than what we have on Earth…at least now.

Why is this important? Besides the age-old question about life on Mars, if humans ever travel there, knowing that the Martian soil can grow plants could allow crews to grow food in it, provide it has proper protection from the radiation, perhaps in special greenhouse situations. That as well as possible water on Mars would mean humans could better live off the surface and not have to bring heavy (i.e. expensive) consumables with them.

Does that help?

I did think the Marvin Martian veggies were cute, however!

The Daily Kos on Thursday had a discussion on one of KO’s recent diaries about who provides the “Ha!” laugh during the Oddball segment. Some folks thought it was Tweety others thought it was Pee Wee Herman.

On Friday, the commentators indicated that the “Ha” on Friday’s Oddball actually was Pee Wee instead of Tweety this time — that KO or the Countdown crew made the substitute as a joke.

I couldn’t tell - what do y’all think?

Every time I see the subject line for this recap, the same thought comes, so here goes:

Some of us were BORN over the edge.

RSS feed for comments on this post.