Kitt: Thank The Flying Spaghetti Monster Glenn showed up to clarify the source of his book title. I saw your 'request' to Secretary Bystander as I was heading out the door, and couldn't decide if I'd actually go look for that title through Glenn's comments - 3 days worth as I recall - or, just delegate the search to sysprog.

ondelette: sophrosyne A term I haven't seen used since high school Honors English. Gad! How long ago was that? I do not want to know.

Anonymust: I'd find a chart of the candidates' star, sun, moon, and planet ascendancies to be as trustworthy as anything they'd say right now. By the time all of the feedback loops and dynamics of human interactions play out, I'm suspicious that we could have predicted the nomination with a random number generator.

Mona: Thanks for the heads up. Poor Hilzoy. That is so damned sad.

Bebop: Tramadol and Amoxicillin? What the heck did you tangle with? Doesn't sound good, although if you experience this: the result may be ... vaginal yeast infection (vaginal fungal infection) - Whoa, man! You got a much bigger problem. More seriously, take care of yourself, eh?

LWM: Thanks for the Nation/Sirota link. It was a good read. And, captures some of my anxiety nicely. I am - for now - taking some (very small) comfort in Iowa's track record of predicting winners. But, if Obama gets the nod - thanks to Iowa's track record - my blood will run cold as ice.

To the Watts family, and to Bob's family at Salon.

dialouge = (dialog)^2 + 4.3(deluge)^3

Sort of sums it up well. Might even be a viable function. But does it have a saddle point?

What is the html code for a superscript, by the way? And, does Salon accept it?

Bebop, you'd best be taking that Amoxicillin! All of it. Or, Pedinska's likely to have stern words for you. You'll find a hairball in your soup for sure.

Thanks for the Moon of Alabama prompt. I have it linked but hadn't been there in awhile. Interesting post up about Obama and change. Once past the surface of appearance, there isn't much change, is there? Certainly, electing an African American would be a major big deal, and a welcome one, too. However, if you're looking for a change for the better in foreign and domestic policy, Moon sure didn't find it in Obama. The only good thing, if a good thing is to be had, is, as Che Pasa notes today, we aren't going to go back to some rosy point in the past. The only way out lies forward. Forward to what is the question. Got a feeling the economy may answer. I'm not sure I'm going to like that place, and there's little any of the candidates will be able to do to influence it, either.

Thanks for letting me know Bob Watts through your eyes. Seems as though he may have been as lucky to have you, as you were to have him. It's nice when the world works right. My condolences to his family and his colleagues.

LWM: I'm in favor of no tokens. Not a female token. Not an African American token. That doesn't mean I couldn't be (momentarily) excited by the fact that either could be a "first." The thrill would wear off quickly if the merit wasn't there to back it up. But the longer I listen to walter_map, the less I'm inclined to think it matters. Replacing the BushDogs, DINOs and NeoCons in congress is probably a more pressing priority.

Bebop: I'm not sure tramadol is approved for squirrels. On the other hand, I'd not be above some serious pain reduction for some of the squirrels on this thread. Anesthesia would be even better.

Deep thought of the day: Humanity dances past, and I stare at it in wonder. - Jkalos Boy, do I share that sentiment.

In Frank Rich today for his column on Huckabee...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/opinion/06rich.html?hp

and, I saw another one by Paul Krugman a few says ago.

keep it up! only 50 to go... (counting this one)

fwiw, I am deathly neutral on cheese, and will defend to the death my right to stay neutral.

should have been 58

We know Glenn hates rice b/c Mona (the previously proclaimed Sheriff of the thread) said he does. But, can we be sure about Glenn's take on cheese? One thing is certain, if Glenn were to post about cheese, any kind of cheese, any cheese not mentioned would be sure Glenn was wrong, NAY, DEAD WRONG (or worse), to promote that other cheese.

Ah, gee, thanks.

I'll have to clean the cheese off my monitor for that screed on No Cheese? Bang!

Or, rather, should it be fowl cheese?

Martin Feldstein, former chairman of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, “said the odds of a recession have risen to more than 50 percent after a report showing unemployment jumped in December. ‘We are now talking about more likely than not,’ Feldstein said.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/07/thinkfast-january-7-2008/

983 and counting

That said, I really don't have any cheese in this game.

And, cheese kisses - chocolatized or not - just doesn't have any appeal. Gah! Goat breath.

Isn't that like quiche? Cheese, chickens, and France!

Joan Walsh isn't my favorite writer on the web. But, I appreciated her observation that the major bloggers on the web have not held forth on endorsements. You, Atrios, Digby... are all holding your own preferences in reserve. Doubtless any number of people will come by today and accuse you of shilling for John Edwards (bamage doesn't count), but remarkably, where other major bloggers, like Andrew Sullivan have picked a favorite, the adults (sorry, Andrew) have not. Credit where credit is due. Hard to know how the results might be different if the media did its job rather than look for ways to entertain itself.