The Tedder P. Schoenhopfer Policy Exchange

Click on the links for bigger pictures! Dexie (short for Dexter, or actually “Sir Pointdexter Louise Whitecrest”) is the bigger one (male), who is pretty independent but loves to play and attack, and becomes super duper cuddly at night and always wants to snuggle in the bed. Little Foo is female and tinier, and all she ever wants to do is cuddle and be petted. Foo also loves her little mousie toy and carried it around from room to room her first couple days here.

Here are Dexie and Foo cuddling together on their favorite chair.

Dexie was sleeping by himself for awhile before Foo joined him:

Meanwhile, Foo was getting some cuddle time, which is all she ever wants:

When she’s not cuddling, Foo is obsessed with sitting on the laptop keyboard, especially while you’re trying to use it:

They just woke up but for awhile they were sleeping together, on their favorite chair of course.

Foo has since woken up and of course spent her waking moments trying to jump on Arastu’s computer while he is sending an email.

Arastu got two kittens.  They are orange and white, and tiny.  It’s a brother and sister.

What should he name them?

This stuff sounds really cool, we should try it sometime:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html?em&ex=1212120000&en=274b68f15762bf52&ei=5087%0A

 After the “more” click is an article from the Wall Street Journal about former press spokeperson Scott McClellan.  He’s now acting all righteous — what I want to know is what he’s doing now to make things right — besides cashing in.  Maybe others have followed this story. (more…)

My tiny Fujitsu computer’s space bar is stuck so I have to send it in for repair. This seems relatively normal and although a big inconvenience, I do not consider it a ripoff. But I was going to adopt Evvie’s old Dell laptop to substitute while it’s gone and here’s where I was ripped off. Mainly so I could continue to easily share files with my big desktop, we had to either upgrade to XP Professional or Vista in order to have the “offline files” feature.  Both cost about the same, around $200.  So we decided to upgrade to Vista because eventually,  like it or not, we’ll all have to do that. So I went to the Vista website, dutifully downloaded and ran the update advisor program to evaluate the computer, and it listed the Dell Inspiron 700m and it said something like “you can upgrade!” But after two failed hours-long installations that only failed at the very end, I went to the Dell website and find out this computer is NOT upgradable. RIPOFF!!!!

Then, there’s Verizon, the most dishonest evil company I know. Out of their many ripoff practices, the one I highlight right now is their strategy where they sneak-add features to unsuspecting landline phone service customers. About a year ago I went online and got rid of a bunch of services that we would never have asked for, and I got $40 a month taken off our bill!! So yesterday we once again looked closely at our account online– you can’t tell these things from the printed bill — and we discovered we were being charged for new services, such as *69 and “ultra call forwarding,” that we had never requested. Why would anybody with caller ID ever pay for *69, which is a number you can call to find out who called you. Why would I ever have ordered ultra call forwarding for our second line? I know they’re doing this to millions of people and making millions. Susan and Arastu, can’t we sue them? You could win justice and recompense for the oppressed consumers and then use the legal fees to set up your own law firm. Wouldn’t that be great?

In the Media and Ad pages of the business section.  Here

New York Magazine is a really fun magazine with great articles, gossip and humor. I just looked at their website for the first time, and it looks pretty neat too. Check out electopedia a “guide to everything there is to know about the candidates.”

For instance, here are excerpts from”Taste in alcohol”

Obama:”…Making a campaign swing through a sports bar in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Obama left seventh-eighths of a Yuengling untouched, then chatted with a local about the low-priced brew, according to ABC News. “What do they call it? A Yuengling?” Obama asked. “Trying a Pennsylvania beer, that’s what I’m talking about … Is it expensive, though? Wanna make sure it’s not some designer beer or something.” The New York Times has it that at a campaign event in North Liberty, Indiana, Obama checked out what the veterans were drinking, announced “I’m going to have a Bud,” and took big swigs from the bottle. Finally, on May 6, at a bar in North Carolina, Obama demanded to know “Where’s my beer?” “loud enough,” according to the New York Times’ Caucus blog, “for the reporters to hear….”

Clinton: “…During a 2004 dinner in Estonia with Senators Lindsay Graham, Susan Collins, and John McCain, Clinton followed local custom by pouring shots of vodka for the entire party. McCain later denied that they held a “vodka-drinking contest,” as the New York Times reported, but according to The Atlantic, praised Clinton’s ability to “hold her liquor.”

Now that I’ve pretty much memorized every episode of all seven seasons of The West Wing, it was time to revisit The American President. This continues a little spate of political movies inspired by our recent jaunt to Washington; last week we watched Dave again. The American President was still a really good movie, but this time around Doug and I were a little distracted by the aforementioned memorization of The West Wing. Not only did we pick up on even more actors who were in both the movie and the tv show than we’d noticed before; this time we caught subplots, episode titles, and whole hunks of dialog. Sorkin wrote such a good movie, and then he was able to turn it into an even better tv show, that I don’t mind at all that he reused and expanded on the movie to make the show.

Dave was a lot of fun (although much less realistic), and it was great fun to see one of my favorite scenelets of all–when the White House tour guide, walking backward, leading her group, says, “We’re walking, we’re walking, we’re stopping”. It’s just a little piece but it stuck with me.

I have never seen Mister Smith Goes to Washington and should put that on my list. I welcome your suggestions for other DC movies.

I want to donate 1/2 of my stimulus payment to some worthy cause, especially one that the Republicans hate!  Some causes that immediately sprung to mind are detainees defense fund, comprehensive sex ed, or fighting telecom immunity.  But really, I want my donation to help the Democratic nominee.  I would donate to the party or the candidate, but I don’t trust them to use my dollars effectively.  Really. I think the most effective use would be super hard-hitting negative ads about McCain.  MoveOn is pretty good at that, but is there some slimy 501c3 that will start nasty rumors about McCain?  That’s where I want to donate.

What does everyone think?

I have secretly held this prediction for a long time, but now I want to get it out before it becomes “conventional wisdom:”

The presidential race will be a landslide win for Obama.  (I think of a landslide as more than 5 points. This is the presidency we’re talking about, after all.)

There are many factors pointing to a big Obama win.  Here is my Top Ten List, in no particular order:

1. Historians and pollsters agree that the most reliable indication of who will win the White House is the poll number for the question of whether or not America is on the wrong track.  Currently 80% of Americans think that it is–a record for the poll.

2.  Obama has out-fundraised McCain by an absolutely ridiculous amount (I’m not doing any research for this post so I don’t have the exact number.)

3. Americans currently line up with Democrats on EVERY major issue except one: Immigration.  Unfortunately for McCain, he has broken from his party on this issue!

4. The Republican “brand” is at an all-time low, thanks to George W. and the many Republican Congressional scandals.

5.  Both McCain and Obama have repeatedly called for a “clean” campaign.  Since the 2000 race McCain has shown a genuine aversion to nasty tactics.  This will only help Obama, who is running on a platform of change in politics.  Furthermore, when all the 527s start releasing nasty anti-Obama ads, McCain will call for them to be stopped, with no avail, causing him to look ineffective. (Note: this has already happened at least once.)

6. Compare their speeches and speaking styles.  Need more be said?  P.S. Debates, which were not Obama’s strong suit against Hillary, will favor him over McCain.

7. Ageism/Racism.  McCain would be the oldest person elected president.  Polls have shown that people care more about their president being really old than being black OR a woman!  (of course, we have to take these kind of sentiments with a grain of salt.  We have had really old presidents.)

8.  Conservatives hate McCain.  Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter hate him as much as they hate John Kerry, as do more respectable conservatives like George F. Will and McLaughlin.  Not only that, but I have heard these more “respectable” names admit personal affection for Obama.

9. Obama has proven a far superior campaign manager.  His team is terrifically smart and disciplined.  Let’s remember that McCain’s campaign has already collapsed once this primary cycle.

10.  At Obama’s lowest point yet, which came after Pennsylvania, he still polled ahead of McCain by 2.2 points. At that time, the Wright controversy was in full effect, Hillary looked like she had changed the momentum, and McCain’s favorables were at an all time high.  However, McCain has thus far completely failed to capitalize on the divisive primary.  Since North Carolina, and a basic assurance of the Obama nomination, Obama has steadily crept back up day-by-day.  Today he leads McCain by 5.5 points. (OK, I did a tiny bit of research.)

Well, that’s my list!  In terms of when the “landslide” might become evident, remember this: on the day that Hillary drops out (or the days after) Obama is virtually guaranteed a least a 10-point bump.  The crucial question of the entire campaign will be how McCain responds.  Based on these factors that I have briefly described, I think that Obama will take the 10 points and never look back!

Go Democrats!

Jenny and I saw the Sarah Parker movie last night and really enjoyed it.  Marshall was right, it was really funny.  I think Jenny was a little shocked by the nude and sex scenes but I wasn’t.  They were probably too graphic for Jon.  I can’t find the movie thread.

Jackie Chan is known for super clever, awesome fight scenes in his movie. I know Dad will love this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1cHynIXweE

Ok, here’s another hilarious comic I stumbled upon:

Gramma–Three Belles to win–$2.00

Auntie Sue==Pyro  $5.00 to win

Julie  Big Brown  $10.00 To win