%HTMLlat1; ]> There Is No Cat http://www.thereisnocat.com/ 'There Is No Cat' is a weblog exploring the interests of Ralph Brandi, including, but not limited to, radio, international affairs, web site building and information architecture, the Internet in general, movies, and music. Ralph Brandi Ralph Brandi There Is No Cat en-us Copyright (c) 2002-2009, Ralph Brandi There Is No Cat http://www.thereisnocat.com/ http://www.thereisnocat.com/images/nocatbadge.gif Not a hint http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme905.html ... 2008-12-28T21:42:10-04:00 You are being watched. Stop Blogging. Take it to the street instead.

Tags:

No comments (yet)

]]> Amazing http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme904.html ... 2008-11-05T00:00:03-04:00 Our President

It's a new day.

Tags:

2 comments

]]> Silent Telephone http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme903.html I'm home sick today. I've been home on previous election days mainly because I was working from home at the time.... 2008-11-04T16:22:54-04:00 I'm home sick today. I've been home on previous election days mainly because I was working from home at the time. One thing I find interestingly different about this year is that I haven't received any phone calls from local or national Democrats to get me out to vote. In past years, by 3:30 pm, when I'm writing this, I would have gotten at least two or three recorded calls from my local Congressman (my Congressman is a rocket scientist!), from prominent Democrats, former Presidents, that sort of thing. This year, nothing.

I actually see this as an improvement. The Obama campaign probably has a pretty good idea that they can count on my vote, based on my contributions. And for the first time, when I went to vote I noticed poll watchers behind the poll workers who signed us in, marking down everyone who voted so they know who to call to prod to get to the polls. I don't remember seeing that in previous years.

Another thing that struck me about this year was that in previous years, my wife and I would receive a lot of literature from our local candidates addressed to each of us individually. She kept her maiden name, so previous campaigns presumably couldn't figure out that we were one family. This year, my Congressman the rocket scientist sent all his literature to both of us, addressed to "The Brandi and Lombardo family". Maybe it just took a rocket scientist to figure that out, but I hope that it means that the Democrats are campaigning smarter around the country and that Howard Dean's development of a national database for all Democrats to use is bearing fruit.

Tags:

No comments (yet)

]]> I voted http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme902.html ... 2008-11-04T14:19:19-04:00 Voting

Did you?

Tags:

1 comment

]]> Maverick! http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme901.html ... 2008-10-07T22:34:56-04:00 Maverick, maverick, maverick. I've been watching John McCain get all Mavericky in the debate tonight.

McCain isn't a Maverick. He's a Pinto: he explodes when you hit him.

(This may not make sense to people who don't remember these cars....)

Tags:

2 comments

]]> Flat tire http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme900.html The first time I visited Sarah Palin Is Your New Bicycle's Flat Tire (which happened to be on my new iPhone when I was on my way to work the other day), this is what I got: If my mind wasn't already made up, that surely did it.... 2008-09-23T22:44:26-04:00 The first time I visited Sarah Palin Is Your New Bicycle's Flat Tire (which happened to be on my new iPhone when I was on my way to work the other day), this is what I got:

Sarah Palin dropped your new iPhone

If my mind wasn't already made up, that surely did it....

Tags:

1 comment

]]> You feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats... http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme899.html I'm really glad we're borrowing from our oh-so-generous children and grandchildren (metaphorically speaking here, since I don't have any of either) to bail out our investments and mortgages and stuff.... 2008-09-19T22:01:31-04:00 I'm really glad we're borrowing from our oh-so-generous children and grandchildren (metaphorically speaking here, since I don't have any of either) to bail out our investments and mortgages and stuff. I hope that by preventing our investments from suffering the consequences of their ill management we're able to leave those future generations enough money to pay the debt we're running up for them.

Tags:

1 comment

]]> McCain lies his way to defeat http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme898.html If there was ever any doubt that four years of John McCain would be at least as bad as the last eight of Dubya, the constant lying by McCain's campaign in the past month should put that to rest.... 2008-09-15T00:30:39-04:00 If there was ever any doubt that four years of John McCain would be at least as bad as the last eight of Dubya, the constant lying by McCain's campaign in the past month should put that to rest. Now that his campaign is being run by acolytes of Karl Rove, the Bush administration's insistence that they're able to create their own reality, no matter what the "reality-based community" says, has reached its logical conclusion. McCain and his third wife running mate aren't even subtle about it; they repeat blatant lies even after they've been debunked, defend them on television shows, clearly hoping to create their own reality. History repeats, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

One thing that gives me some hope is that the media is starting to call them on it. AmericaBlog has a lengthy compilation of articles and columns where the usual tendency of the traditional media to soft-pedal such things with euphemisms falls by the wayside. The emerging narrative is of a candidate who, in his final chance at the brass ring, has lost his moral compass, has sold his soul, and would rather lose his integrity than lose the election. As Al Gore found out in 2000, once such a perception (whether it's true or not) is embedded in people's view of the race, it's difficult-to-impossible to overcome. It's amazing to me to see this happen. McCain used to refer to the press as his base, and he has so squandered the good will he built up with them over the years that they're finally turning on him.

If this really takes hold as the new conventional wisdom the way it seems like it's starting to, Obama will win in a landslide. The myth of McCain being an "honorable man" will be destroyed once and for all.

Tags:

1 comment

]]> Pride http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme897.html I'd just like to say that after recent events, I'm awfully proud to be an American.... 2008-08-31T11:05:56-04:00 I'd just like to say that after recent events, I'm awfully proud to be an American. I mean, where else on Earth could a random housewife be catapulted first into a Governorship on the basis that she's not the incumbent, and then into potentially being a heartbeat away from being the most powerful person on Earth because of her plumbing? And ahead of all those people who might actually be qualified for the job? It's truly inspiring. Random chance can change your life! Why, thanks to this, I can believe as a fat man in my middle forties with no appropriate qualifications that I may yet fulfill my childhood ambition of being an astronaut! Nowhere else on Earth, I tell you. I gotta go get some lottery tickets.

Tags:

1 comment

]]> Your move http://www.thereisnocat.com/showme896.html ... 2008-08-30T20:44:18-04:00 Chess board

Seen in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

No comments (yet)

]]>