Clinton Led Obama Among Black Voters
People who think that Geraldine Ferraro is right, and Barack Obama is the frontrunner in the Democratic race because of his race, have forgotten that Hillary Clinton led among black voters six months ago:
Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead over Sen. Barack Obama, her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, is growing among African-American voters who are registered Democrats, and particularly among black women, a poll said Wednesday.
Among black registered Democrats overall, Clinton had a 57 percent to 33 percent lead over Obama.
That's up from 53 percent for Clinton and 36 percent for Obama in a poll carried out in April.
Clinton had the support of black voters and lost it.
Adam Rogers Failed His Wisdom Check
I've read a lot of tributes to Gary Gygax, the late Dungeons & Dragons cocreator who inspired me to spend my teen years with 20-sided dice, graph paper and painted metal half-orc prestidigitators. Although I mock myself as a former dungeon master -- and not the cool kind -- I disliked Wired editor Adam Rogers' tribute to Gygax in today's New York Times.
Decades after his own adolescence, Rogers still feels defensive about playing D&D:
Even in the heyday of Dungeons & Dragons, when his company was selling millions of copies and parents feared that the game was somehow related to Satan worship, Mr. Gygax's creation seemed like a niche product. Kids played it in basements instead of socializing. (To be fair, you needed at least three people to play -- two adventurers and one Dungeon Master to guide the game -- so Dungeons & Dragons was social. Demented and sad, but social.) Nevertheless, the game taught the right lessons to the right people.
My sons are approaching the years where peer pressure is huge, and one of the things I try to teach them is that you don't have to apologize for liking something because other people think it's uncool. The safest posture as a teen is to rag on everything. When I raised the possibility that liking [insert hobby here] didn't make you a nerd, and in point of fact the people who mock it are themselves the true nerds, the near-teens in the car retreated into their happy place. And one of them called me a nerd. I suspect this is one of the things you have to learn for yourself.
Rogers needs to attach a high-minded purpose to playing a game he liked, as if sending your ninth level elven fighter thief through the Fortress of Badabaskor wasn't an accomplishment unless it was a learning experience. When he suggests that "the realization that everyone else was engaged in role-playing all the time gave my universe rules and order," it reminds me of journalists like Bob Costas who wax poetic on the deeper meaning of baseball, lest they be taken for rubes who just like to see grown men play with their balls.
Great Political Blog: Washington Wire
If you're looking for a political blog that isn't just a bunch of bloviating and spin, the Wall Street Journal runs the excellent Washington Wire out of DC.
As the news broke yesterday of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer paying for sex during a DC trip, Washington Wire compiled a history of sex scandals in the nation's capitol that goes all the way back to Thomas Jefferson.
My favorite:
1976 -- Rep. Wayne L. Hayes, an Ohio Democrat and chairman of the House Administration Committee, resigned after a scandal broke involving his giving a raise to his mistress, secretary Elizabeth Ray. She later told reporters "I can't type. I can't file. I can't even answer the phone.”
She must have been good at taking dictation.
FBI File: Giuseppe Zangara's Attempt to Kill FDR
While doing some fact-checking for Pulp Guns, a set of pulp-novel sourcebooks for the GURPS roleplaying game, I found the FBI file on Giuseppe Zangara's failed attempt to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
After Roosevelt spoke at a Miami park on Feb. 15, 1933, Zangara fired several shots with a cheap .32-caliber pistol as he was perched on a wobbly bench. He missed the president-elect but hit others, including Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who died from his wounds 19 days later.
Zangara, a 32-year-old Italian bricklayer with mental health problems driven by chronic abdominal pain, was caught and immediately confessed. He told police, "I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists." The FBI file contains a transcript of his interview by Dade County Sheriff Dan Hardie (pictured here with Zangara), which includes this exchange:
Hardie: Where did you buy pistol?
Zangara: In a store.
Hardie: What store -- where?
Zangara: On Miami avenue.
Hardie: What kind of store?
Zangara: Loan [unreadable]
Hardie: Money to loan?
Zangara: Yes.
...
Hardie: In the store where you bought the pistol -- was he a Jew?
Zangara: Yes.
Hardie: Did you tell him why you bought the pistol?
Zangara: No.
Hardie: Did he ask you why you bought it?
Zangara: No, he got the money. That's all he wanted.
Hardie: How much did you pay for it?
Zangara: Eight dollars, he said and I gave it to him.
The transcript doesn't explain the motivation for Sheriff Hardie's "was he a Jew?" question, stark prejudice that stands out in the 75-year-old document. American anti-Jewish sentiment was growing in the 1930s, led by figures as prominent as automaker Henry Ford and broadcaster Father Coughlin. I guess Hardie thought the Jews might be working with the I-talians, since there's nothing secret banking cabals want more than killing all capitalists.
Today, of course, Americans don't ensure the safety of our homeland with dogged vigilance against a worldwide conspiracy of Jews. Such suspicions are laughable and hateful.
We have a better question: Was he a Muslim?
Loading Ad Javascript with PHP
I serve ads on the Drudge Retort using Blogads, a great ad broker that occasionally has trouble serving the ads. When this happens, pages on the Retort load more slowly because they can't fetch a Javascript program and CSS stylesheet required by Blogads.
I decided to fix this problem by writing Cache Remote File, a PHP script that performs three functions:
- Save a cached copy of a remote file
- Display the cached copy for 10 minutes before requesting the file again
- Display the cached copy when the remote server is offline or slow
The script will give up trying to load the remote file after three seconds, which keeps it from hanging when the remote server is having difficulties. It can be customized to load any URL of any content type and requires PHP 4 or higher with cURL support. I've released it under the GPL. Let me know if you have any problems with it or can improve the script.
Matt Drudge Flamed for Blowing Prince Harry's Cover
Matt Drudge reported yesterday that Prince Harry was fighting in Afghanistan, news that was being kept secret by the British media to prevent him from being targeted by the Taliban. I awoke this morning to a bunch of misdirected hate mail intended for Drudge, sent to me using the news tip box on the Drudge Retort.
If my inbox is any indication, Drudge must be getting hammered this morning for breaking the news:
You suck!
Reporting on his service is well within you rights.
It is also sleazeball ----.
The freedom to express any view does not give you the leeway to express any view. Grow up and learn what that 1st amendment means -- within a responsible society. I am very liberal, but I don't think that any ------- is a genius ...
Your reported expose of Prince Harry's military presence was reckless and should not have been done.
I can't believe you would release a story that puts the lives of soldiers in danger, and force Prince Harry to return from where he wants to be. Shame on you!
News flash ... your an ------- DRUDGE
You shameless useless -------. Most other media had the selfrespect and maturity to stick to an agreement. But you pondlife you just couldn't.
I hope you go bankrupt and your pages of useless slime disappear. All you have done is put Prince Harry's life at risk. You selfish sewer rat.
I must convey my absolute disgust at your ineptitude (look it up)at printing the whereabouts and activities of Prince Harry. Not content with making a complete mess of your own country and that of every country that listens to your foreign policies, you have to start meddling in the affairs of Great Britain.
SHAME ON YOU for exposing Prince Harry and his very brave colleagues to even more danger. You're an ass. You better pray he gets home safely.
Subject: Hope to boycott Drudge Report Sponsors
Your advertisement appears at drudge.com on the story which announces that Prince Harry is serving in Afghanistan.
The British royal family requested the press not report on this story to protect Harry and his comrade in arms from becoming targeted by the Taliban. Mr. Drudge's report puts them at risk.
I implore you to pull your advertisement from drudge.com immediately. Anyone who financially supports such an irresponsible reporter is not worthy of my or ANY responsible person's business. Mr. Drudge should not put the lives of men at risk who are fighting and dying for his precious 1st Amendment rights to make money.
Please explain any action (or inaction) you take so I can share it with my fellow veterans, their families, their friends, and anyone else who will listen. Rest assured that I will do so.
Sincerely,
[name removed], Lt. Colonel, USAF (Retired)
Subject: Matt, You Ass!
Matt:
Giving the Taliban a free shot at Prince Harry borders on attepmted murder. You are an ass! My hope is that one day you are outed in a similarly dangerous manner.
I will never read your rag again.
Pissed in New Orleans
Subject: Lowlifes
Drudge are a bunch of lowlifes. What with friendly fire, who needs Americans as our allies. By reporting about Prince Harry they are sentencing him and his comrades. Give us the French anytime
Some people on the Retort think I'm enjoying Drudge's predicament, but I agree with his decision to report the story. He wasn't a party to the agreement by the British media to keep the service a secret, and by the time he reported Harry's service, Germany's Bild newspaper and an Australian magazine had also covered it. The prince was such an obvious terror target that he was withdrawn immediately after Drudge reported the news. Why should Drudge have believed it was still a secret, given the appearances in other media?
Si Se Puede, Kumar Patel
Andres Useche has released Si Se Puede, a Spanish response to Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" music video for Barack Obama. If you're in the camp that's inspired by Obama's campaign, as I.am, you'll probably like this one too. It's a nice though politically barbed call for Latinos to rally behind Obama in the Texas primary March 4.
There's an unexpected guest star at the 3:44 mark.
That's the actor Kal Penn, an American of Gujarati Indian descent. This is the first time the star of the Harold & Kumar films and House, M.D has portrayed a Latino.
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