An Obama-turned-Clinton supporter, Jack Johnson, was selected in consultation with the Clinton campaign to be a pledged delegate for Maryland at the convention. That was February. Now, he's changed his mind.

"I cannot in good conscience go to the convention and not support Barack," Johnson said in an interview. "She ran a great campaign, but she fell short of the line."

This is Johnson's second change of heart in the race. He had allowed his name to be listed as a supporter by the Obama campaign in December.

Unlike superdelegates, who are free to endorse either candidate, Johnson is one of 28 pledged delegates who have agreed to represent the 36 percent of Maryland Democrats who voted for Clinton on Feb. 12.

Johnson was mad in love with Obama in December, but couldn't pass up the chance to be a pledged delegate for Clinton. He got what he wanted and now it's time to drive home the dagger. His reasoning:

"My job is to bring unity, and we will not have unity in Maryland if Barack Obama is not the nominee," he said.

I'm going to miss it when this farce of a nominating contest is over.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:44 AM | Comments (20)
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Airports will begin installing "interactive ads," basically touch-screens that react to inputs.

Below, a dog chases a virtual ball on a touch-screen soccer field. more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:32 AM | Comments (27)
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That shit really ran next to an Oregon weekly's endorsement of Obama.

Love the white horsey in the background. Nice touch.

Geraghty recaps some of this Messiah mania.

Sigh.

It's going to work-- you do realize that, don't you?

Eighty-two percent of Americans now say the United States is seriously on the wrong track, up 10 points in the last year, with a third of respondents citing the economy and jobs as their top voting issue.

Overall, Democrats have a 21-point advantage over Republicans as the party best-equipped to handle the nation's problems, the poll found.

...

In a general election matchup, McCain trails Democratic front-runner Barack Obama by 7 points, 44 percent to 51 percent.

Ron Paul's supporters may be nuts, as Bob Beckel says, but they only call Ron Paul "The Only Man Who Can Save America." Emphasis on man.

Barack Obama's supporters are even more frenzied, and there are about 20 times more of them, and they actually believe Obama is a god -- or at least sent by God, to deliver them all from evil.

The only consolation I can take is that it will be the crushing disappointment when the "god" Obama cannot manage the miracles his disciples believe him capable of.

Oh, he'll manage some miracles. Losing Iraq, appointing very liberal Supreme Court justices and tilting the courts to the left for the next generation, raising taxes, demolishing the economy.

But bringing "hope" and "change" beyond that? Nope.

A Slushop: Slublog thinks that that Obama painting is something that a drunk Thomas Kincaid might paint. And offers this as evidence.

Dude, where's the white horsey? I loved that horsey.

Everyone's Got a Little Obama In 'Em:

Another Slu photoshop.

Posted by: Ace at 09:08 AM | Comments (209)
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Now this is the sort of foreign-policy acumen I've been waiting for. Sayeth the Lamb of Chicago:

This effort to undermine LebanonÂ’s elected government needs to stop, and all those who have influence with Hezbollah must press them to stand down immediately.

...

ItÂ’s time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new Lebanese consensus that focuses on electoral reform, an end to the current corrupt patronage system, and the development of the economy that provides for a fair distribution of services, opportunities and employment.

Ah! Well that ought to do it then.

Noah Pollak notes that "those who have influence with Hezballah" -- that is, Iran and Syria -- are precisely those encouraging Hezballah to make war on Lebanon. So precisely why "those who have influence with Hezballah" would work to stop them from doing exactly that which they've ordered them to do is not exactly clear.

But Bush, you know, is an idiot.

Oh, and Here's a Shock: Having successfully wooed the hard left under his banner in the primaries, Obama decides it's okay to display the "false patriotism" of a flag pin again, just in time for the general election campaign.

Posted by: Ace at 08:21 AM | Comments (42)
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Kind of cool. It's apparently not a photographic memory, but a "superior autobiographical memory," allowing her (or inflicting up on her) the ability to remember just about everything that's ever happened to her.

I have a question about how they've determined her to be "bona fide," though. They determine this, they say, by checking her recall versus the diaries she's kept since a teenager; but that doesn't prove she remembers her life. That proves she's memorized her own diaries.

Another big offer of proof from her as well as another man who's stepped forward to reveal his gift is the fact that she can remember what day of the week any particular date fell upon. The trouble is... there's a mathematical formula to determine that. I don't know it off the top of my head (obviously), and, being crap at math, I probably couldn't crunch the numbers within a second or two, but I'm sure other people can.

So I don't know. It's not so much that I doubt this is possible as I'm just unimpressed by the proof that these people can remember what they say they remember.

August 8th, 1983: I ate a grilled cheese sandwich and watched a Simon & Simon episode on VHS. That A.J. can be such a square.

Who's going to call bullshit? Hell, there's a 10% chance that's actually right, anyway.

I can haz certification as having a superior autobiographical memory?

And? The Rocketeer isn't impressed--

Big whoop. Every woman I've ever known claims this. It's especially true for every slight (perceived or real), every neutral-to-negative comment about her weight, hairstyle, sartorial choices, cooking, conversational skills, etc. In fact, it's the very reason no man, anywhere, will ever "win" an argument with a woman, whether she actually, in truth, "wins" or not. How the fuck is this news?

Posted by: Ace at 07:49 AM | Comments (59)
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Rich Lowry on Obama's media strategy.

No, wait, make that the media's Obama strategy.

Here are the Obama rules in detail: He can’t be called a “liberal” (“the same names and labels they pin on everyone,” as Obama puts it); his toughness on the war on terror can’t be questioned (“attempts to play on our fears”); his extreme positions on social issues can’t be exposed (“the same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives” and “turn us against each other”); and his Chicago background too is off-limits (“pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy”). Besides that, it should be a freewheeling and spirited campaign.

Democrats always want cultural issues not to matter because they are on the least-popular side of many of them, and want patriotic symbols like the Pledge of Allegiance and flag pins to be irrelevant when they can’t manage to nominate presidential candidates who wholeheartedly embrace them (which shouldn’t be that difficult). As for “fear” and “division,” they are vaporous pejoratives that can be applied to any warning of negative consequences of a given policy or any political position that doesn’t command 100 percent assent. In his North Carolina speech, Obama said the Iraq war “has not made us safer,” and that McCain’s ideas are “out of touch” with “American values.” How fearfully divisive.

We could take Obama’s rules in good faith if he never calls John McCain a “conservative” or labels him in any other way. If he never criticizes him for his association with George Bush. If he doesn’t jump on his gaffes (like McCain’s 100-years-in-Iraq comment that Obama distorted and harped on for weeks). And if he never says anything that would tend to make Americans fearful about the future or divide them (i.e., say things that some people agree with and others don’t).

This is, of course, an impossible standard. Obama doesnÂ’t expect anyone to live up to it except John McCain.

Posted by: Ace at 07:33 AM | Comments (17)
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Google Earth? Ha! Match this, dirt eaters.

In an effort to make you even less productive at work (as if that's possible), and distract you from the various failings of Vista, Microsoft has released WorldWide Telescope

WorldWide Telescope, developed by Microsoft's research arm, knits together images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and others.

Computer users can browse through the galaxy on their own or take guided tours of different outer-space destinations developed by astronomers and academics.

Naturally, most of you will stumble into a black hole and never be heard from again, but that just frees up bandwith for the rest of us.

Breaking: LauraW is a dork.

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:19 AM | Comments (28)
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Drudge had this linked on Monday, but I don't really feel too guilty posting it since it's an extension and update to the Ronulan post we had here on Sunday. If you didn't read it then shame on you for having an actual life, or whatever you call it. The original post was specifically about Professor Science's plan to use stealth and subterfuge in the Washington State GOP convention in order to get delegates seated for the national GOP convention, and then cause chaos.

But it looks like the plan is a little more widespread than in just one state, according to this entry on an LA Times political blog.

"Ron Paul's Forces Quietly Plot GOP Convention Revolt Against McCain."

I'm intrigued...can you tell us more?

Virtually all the nation's political attention in recent weeks has focused on the compelling state-by-state presidential nomination struggle between two Democrats and the potential for party-splitting strife over there.

But in the meantime, quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September.

But why?

But what's been largely overlooked is Paul's candidacy as a reflection of a powerful lingering dissatisfaction with the Arizona senator among the party's most conservative conservatives.

It's all so clear now. Hear that, most conservative conservatives? Dissatisfied with McCain? Your only refuge now is to flee to the warm embrace of the good doctor.

In the last three months, Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upward of a million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.

Just face the inevitable.

They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot. Paul, who's running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party.

Revolution? No, it's all about LOVE.

We can has delegates!

UPDATE FROM LAURAW: Jenjhiss told me he really wanted to post a video of this tune below the fold, but true to his moron roots, did not know how. Also he claims he was too tired this morning to figure it out and is headed to bed. Fuckin' vampire.

So on behalf of Zhenzhess, please enjoy a little ZZ Top. Played over clips from Mars Attacks, because it was there. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 02:40 AM | Comments (39)
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A true hero, Irene saved thousands of children from death. Today, she passed away at the age of 98.

Irene Sendler, known to many as the “female Schindler”, rescued children and babies imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, smuggling them out in bags, or through the sewers, and hiding them with friendly families around Warsaw.

Donning a Star of David armband used by the Nazis to mark out Jews, she passed incognito in the ghetto to organise the escape plans.

She was eventually arrested by the Gestapo, tortured and condemned to death.

She escaped, and lived another 65 years, last year receiving recognition from Poland for all she had done. The title to this post was from the letter she wrote acknowledging the honor.

A slideshow presentation is here.

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:09 PM | Comments (44)
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All Kiss fans will jam to this cover version of a classic rock ballad. Close your eyes, listen, and enjoy. Real music at its best.

Posted by: Open Blog at 03:31 PM | Comments (30)
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