Girl of Prince

Sarah Palin, Alaska’s next senator?

A huge number of votes in Alaska remain uncounted, and in the balance is the Senate seat of Sen. Ted Stevens, convicted felon. According to Nate Silver, there’s a decent chance that challenger Mark Begich will manage to erase the margin of 3,200 votes once the counting, which begins Wednesday, is done. But what happens if he doesn’t?

There appears to be a consensus that Stevens will not, under any circumstances, serve out his term. Even conservative senators are urging their colleagues to get ready to expel Stevens, and Republican leader Mitch McConnell said there is “zero chance” he’ll avoid that fate. Those seem like pretty good indicators that the necessary 67 votes are there to expel Stevens.

If Stevens is reelected only to be expelled or resign, things start to get weird, even by local standards. Alaska’s exact procedure for filling an incomplete Senate term is unknown, because it hasn’t been tested since it was last changed, and there are questions about its constitutionality. The state has a history of changing these laws frequently, to suit immediate partisan concerns (see this Anchorage Daily News article for a brief history). The last modification of the law came in 2004, after Gov. Frank Murkowski infuriated Alaskans by appointing his daughter Lisa to fill the Senate seat he had vacated.

Gopac

In response, the Alaska Legislature passed a law taking away the governor’s power of appointment and mandating a special election, but providing for an interim gubernatorial appointment. Not satisfied by this, irascible Alaskan voters passed an initiative that provides for the same procedure, minus the interim appointment. (At the same time, they reelected legacy appointment Lisa Murkowski to a full term. Go figure.) Which law applies? The 17th Amendment to the Constitution empowers state legislatures to determine the procedure for replacing senators. But the state of Alaska empowers its own people to legislate through the initiative process. Nobody had bothered to figure this out before now — maybe they just figured Alaska’s senators were immortal.

So — because we know this is what you’re wondering — can Sarah Palin appoint herself to Ted Stevens’ seat, or does she have to run for it? Short answer: If she wants the seat, she has to run for it, one way or the other. She doesn’t, so far as Salon can tell, have an opinion on the constitutional question. But keep an eye out for her becoming a 17th Amendment fundamentalist.

Actually, considering the public outrage over the Murkowski family’s nepotism, it seems safe to guess that Alaskans wouldn’t cotton to a Palin self-appointment, even an interim one. (Also, historically, governors who appoint themselves to the Senate basically end their careers by doing so.) If she wants to come to Washington and attend all those Georgetown cocktail parties, her best bet is probably to run in the special election. And she’d have a good chance at it. Her approval may be lower than it once was, but it’s still 65 percent, which is nothing to sneeze at.

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Pre-UFC 91 Conference Call Notes

Alright, so I sat in on the conference call with Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar today as a representative of FightTicker.com. So I’m going to post some of my thoughts on the conference call just to give you guys the basic rundown of what happened. There was a lot of repetition, so I’ve boiled down the parts that I found the most interesting.

Brock admitted that he is not too concerned about anything and that his training camp in Minnesota has, he believes, prepared him for every position. He isn’t going to shy away from any position and he feel ready for everything that Randy is going to throw at him. He was softballed a handful of questions about whether or not he feels ready to fight off of his back or in the clinch, and of course he answered yes.

Randy feels very confident in his ability to deal with Brock, though he didn’t get as many questions about whether or not he feels ready for a fight. There were only a few boring questions about how Randy feels his experience will play in. He said something to the extent of “I think it will help” every time. (not a verbatim quote)

Brock also showed Randy a good deal of respect, and said, at one point during the interview “I don’t think Randy is old.” It was obvious that he wanted to get to the cage. On his condition going into the fight he said: “I’m at peace with his life? at peace with God. I’m enjoying my life. I’m just waiting for the cage door to close on the 15th, and for two great athletes to meet.”

I inquired about Brock and Randy’s training partners to try and get a feel on what they were training for. Randy said he had been working with a lot of big guys who know how to wrestle. He named Shane Carwin, John Juarez, Josh Hendricks, “a big guy from New Zealand? Bryce,” plus the usual suspects. He also said it was great to have Robert Drysdale in the gym to help him with his submissions.

I asked Brock a question geared towards what he has done to work on his submission game, and Brock talked a little about his trainer Greg Nelson and super-super-heavyweight jiu-jitsu champion Comprido. He has been working with a lot of guys who have wrestled with Randy, but all of them are, as can be expected wrestlers.

With the last question of the conference, David Meltzer (who I’ve been reading in his article in the Oakland Tribune for a long time) asked how Randy thinks Brock will matchup with Nogueira or Mir. Randy said he had been focused on this fight, and didn’t know why he would even think about something like that. Meltzer then asked Randy how he thought he [Randy] would match up with either Nogueira or Mir. Randy pointed out that he said already that he had been focused only on this fight, and in the space between the moderator closing out the interview Brock said, “That was a really stupid question.”

Overall, interesting stuff. It does give me a little more respect for Brock to listen to how calm he is before this fight and how much respect he is showing his opponents. He is definitely a showman, and a very charismatic guy, but he’s also sane and more than just a caricature. Randy is definitely a smart guy, but he seemed pretty quiet during the conference, not really willing to discuss gameplans (and who could blame him, with his opponent on the line).

Obama seance

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Ask the Readers: How Can I Know Whom to Trust?

joleen wrote this week with a in perfect accord situation. she’s a canadian who has been working overseas in china for the past six years. she has accumulated substantial savings in the local currency, but has no idea what to do with her money. she writes: i was recently approached by a financial advisor who works for a …

Blog Marketing - Does it work?

blog marketing. what is it? well a blog is category of like a website that you can succeed in place of free. if you can make frequent posts to it with original, fresh content, then you might attract visitors and search engine interest. this gives you an occasion to promote your business break. there are millions of blogs …

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JIMMIE REIGN is a “DIFFERENT PERSON”

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you might think back on this beautiful starlets’ pop-infused previous unwed “make you wait”but now……jimmie reignis a”different person”
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Trouble in the woods for Dubya

This short posting at buzzflash has been circulating around since yesterday. We can’t vouch for its authenticity, but it at least rings true:

Steak Night at the Deer Camp - A South Arkansas Message to George W. by John R. Bomar

Hey George, I hate to have tell you this, son, but they’re talking bad about you out at the deer camp. That’s real bad. When you’ve lost the deer-camp-boys you’re in big trouble around here.

You see, these are the real good ol’ boys, the ones who make up the backbone in this part of the woods. They’re the ones who build the houses, sell the insurance, install the plumbing and fix your air conditioner when it goes on the blink. They’re just regular, hard working Joe’s trying to make life a little better and get ahead. And up to now they’ve done pretty good. Many of them own their own businesses and are members of the chamber and pay a lot of taxes – a lot of taxes. And a whole bunch of them read the papers and keep up with what’s going on in the world.

Pejorative

George, they’re a calling you a liar. Yep, they are. And if it’s one thing they don’t cotton to, it’s a liar, George. They know liars; they’ve had liars for employees and dealt with liars in trying to do businesses. “Cain’t’ trust a liar” just about sums it up around here, George.

Now, if you’re a known liar we’d give you a nod in passing, but we wouldn’t stop to talk. We’d try to be sociable enough if forced to be around you, but we’d leave as soon as possible. Out at the deer camp we’d mostly try and leave you out of the conversation, but if your name came up we’d all give each other that look that says; “yea, we know about dealin’ with him.”

That’s bad George. Real bad … real hard to get over around here, George.

I guess it’s partly cause we come from pioneer stock. Most of our people moved here from Tennessee and Alabama, and before that Georgia and the Carolinas and some from Virginia. We come from a long line of survivors, George. Only the survivors got this far. They survived by their wits and hard, honest work, with a little luck thrown in. Excuse’ me for saying so, but they also learnt’ real early how to separate the chicken salad from the chicken s****, George. They watched out for what people did rather than pay too much attention to what they said. Their Grandpas taught em’ that.

And, oh yea, these ol’ boys, they really don’t like being played for a fool when they’ve kindly given you the benefit of the doubt. On a scale of one to ten George, that’s a ten.

Yep, deer-camp-boys are proud of their roots and try and hold on to the old ways, as much as they can nowadays. They know the understanding and teachings of their Grannies come hard learned. They’re hardscrabble folk, George, and they judge a man by his handshake, the honesty in his eye and the sincerity in his voice. They’re nice enough when you first meet, that’s the way their Mama’s raised them, but they don’t really take you in till you’ve proved yourself. You know that puddin’ George, its proof tells the tale.

Well, guess that’s about it, friend. Just thought I’d pass this along in case you was interested. Cause when you lose the deer-camp-boys around here, George, there ain’t much left.

John R. BomarArkadelphia, Arkansas

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Voting Day Observations

i’m not exactly liveblogging here… but i want to use this post to give up you a few of my observations as the day goes along: 2:05 no on prop 8 responds to “outrage” over mormon missionaries ad: the ad has been produced by an codifying not affiliated with our campaign. mr. schubert should direct his questions to …

Supreme Court oral arguments in FCC v. Fox (General Thoughts)

Minnesota public radio

today was a big day — and not just because there was an election contemporary on! as i mentioned yesterday, the other big news was that the u.s. supreme court was hearing oral arguments in the potentially unforgettable emancipate speech invalid of federal communications commission v. fox television stations, inc. again, all the background you …
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Nothing Up (or on) Their Sleeves

Lots of readers wrote in over the weekend regarding Saturday’s Oregon/Cal game, which featured the unusual sight of solid yellow vs. solid white. But here’s something else unusual about that game: no TV numbers for either team.

Why are TV numbers called TV numbers anyway? Reader John Ramey, a play-by-play announcer who sent me a note on Saturday afternoon, explains:

Football announcers’ vantage point is often perpendicular to the action of play. So the front and back jersey numbers are sometimes out of view, especially right before the snap. Fortunately, auxiliary numbers on the shoulders or the ever-shrinking sleeve have become an essential part of the football jersey at the college and pro levels (or on the helmet, like at Alabama — GREAT for play-by-play guys).

Unfortunately, Nike’s quest to ruin uniforms has included the repeated omission of auxiliary numbers. This is a real bitch. Cal and Oregon are playing right now and both lack this critical uniform component. And it’s out of control at the high school level, where media considerations are considerably lower. On behalf of play-by-play guys everywhere, please bring attention to this. Those side numbers really matter!

Confession: For all our endless chatter about Oregon’s uniforms, it hadn’t occurred to me until very recently that none of their jerseys have TV numbers. Also wasn’t aware that this was a new trend at the college level (it’s moot in the NFL, where TV numbers are mandatory). So: Which other schools don’t wear TV numbers? We might have to create a special category for schools like Alabama, which have helmet numbers instead of TV numbers. If you’ve got anything to contribute in this regard, send it here.

Sponsor Shout-Out: I know it’s a little early to be thinking about Xmas shopping, but one of our advertisers — Joe Hilseberg’s excellent Jersey NameFrame operation — has set a November 15th deadline for placing orders that can be delivered in time for the holidays. That’s Joe at left — he only smiles like that when he’s got a beer in his hand, and he won’t be able to afford more beer unless he sells some NameFrames, so go ahead and order now. You’ll feel good about having at least one person crossed off your shopping list so early in the game, plus you’ll get a 10% discount for mentioning Uni Watch, so it’s a win-win.

Elections 08

Election Night Research Project Reminder: Remember, if you spot any talking heads wearing purple neckties or other purple attire tonight, please send some screen grabs my way. Thanks.

Signal Flare: Dave Graf, please get in touch. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Blackhawks will retire No. 3 for Keith Magnuson and Pierre Pilote on November 12th (with thanks to James Huening). ? And speaking of NHL number retirements, the Canadiens have big plans for Patrick Roy’s ceremony (with thanks to Dave Frolick). ? Regarding that NNOB player on the New Mexico sidelines: Several readers mentioned that New Mexico coach Rocky Long encourages walk-ons and red shirts, who generally don’t get nameplates until they are going to actually play in a game. ? I never thought I&#821

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Quickies Redux

jessica alba in staten island on the attack of her latest film an invisible announce of my own (10/31) + british socialite pixie geldof has pierced nipples (nsfw) [drunken stepfather] + jessica gomes topless pictures from gq italy [egotastic!] + diddy is the black pope [just jared] + foxy brown slips a nip (nsfw) [taxidrivermovie] + first year christina aguilera …

FBI Operation frees 75 child prostitutes in US cities

21st century teen slavery

Dozens of juveniles have been freed from forced prostitution by a nationwide operation that resulted in the arrests of hundreds of other people, t

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Vinatieri, Colts boot Patriots on Sunday night

adam vinatieri, who booted winning discipline goals in two of their super trundle victories and then let go as a free ingredient, kicked a 52-yarder with 8:05 left sunday to broadcast the indianapolis colts an 18-15 victory.

Michael rockefeller

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Voting tools for volunteers on the go

posted by steve kanefsky and jerry morrison, google mobile engineers(cross-posted from the google mobile blog)with the u.s. elections less than a week away, voting drives are ramping up. civic parties and non-partisan groups in like manner are sending out volunteers to encourage citizens to vote on november 4. to colour sure these volunteers have the same voter info tools at one’s disposal to them on their phone as on their computer, we’ve now launched a unstationary voting locator tool on m.google.com/elections. (click here to send this to your phone.)

College football standings

at once, volunteers can type in the home address of any registered voter and learn his or her voting location, whether they’re in an business making phone calls, working from a kiosk set up outdoors, or affluent door to door. while on the go, they can use google maps for mobile to find their next direct or display directions to voting locations.

of obviously, between talking to passive voters, volunteers can chip out the elections section in google news for movable for the latest updates (go here on your phone), or upright search for a neighbourhood coffee store to stay warm.
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