Today's number is one

Taliban now control a third of country

Weekly Watch

This is a new project and I would appreciate your thoughts about making the Weekly Watch more useful and pertinent. I hope you all can find something of interest below. Thanks to many of you for the links you contributed. Thanks to JcT for a home, and to Joe for his help and advice. Any great stories that didn't make it? Please add them in the comments below. This is an open thread which means you should chime in with any comment you wish to make.

Good Sunday Morning, and Welcome To Openly Eccentric, your Sunday Morning News show of no consequence whatsoever, in which I detail the stories that I personally find important, and rant and rave about things that are on my mind.

Election days, come and go. But the struggle of the people, to create a government which represents all of us, and not just the one percent—a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial, and environmental justice—that struggle continues. And I look forward, to being part of that struggle, with you.

I thought that was a good speech. I think it would have been a better speech, without all that lauding ladled onto The Mad Bomber. But then, it wasn't my speech.

I have never agreed with The Cranky Brooklyn Deli Man, on everything. To turn it around: the Deli Man, he does not believe, everything that I believe. But then again, neither does anyone else on the planet.

I think the Deli Man, he is a good man. And I think he meant it, when he said:

I understand, that many people, here, in this convention hall, and around the country, are disappointed, about the final results of the nominating process.

I think it's fair to say, that no one is more disappointed, than I am.

The Deli Man, he has now made a Finding. And from that, he has reached a Conclusion. The Finding, it is this:

The Hairball is a bully and a demagogue. The Hairball has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign.

In objective Reality, every word of that is True.

The Deli Man's Conclusion, however, after having made this Finding, it is that people should then vote for The Mad Bomber, to be the president.

I think the Deli Man, he has the right, to come to this Conclusion. If he wants to. But I also think, that just because that is his Conclusion, that doesn't mean that everybody else, has to Conclude so, too.

It is kinda like when the Science Men, they dig up a bone. They all look at it, and then all agree on the Finding: this is a bone. But then come the Conclusions. "This bone, it is from an elephant," pronounces the first Science Man. "Actually," asserts the second Science Man, "it is from a donkey." "It is clear that this bone, it is a Fringe event," propounds the third Science Man. And the fourth Science Man, he Concludes: "This bone does not really exist."

And so it goes. As they say: other voices, other rooms. And all that.

A Note About Creativity

Nothing deep or philosophical in this evenings post just a few thoughts on creativity and ruts.

First some things that advance or help creativity. No long explanations here, just stuff that has worked for me:

What a farce, taking a nice DFH word, with positive connotations, and co-opting it with political newspeak.

Welcome to Video News! My apologies for no official DNC video news open thread yesterday. But Oreo the Diabetic Pootie had a crisis at 3 AM yesterday, so Ginger and I were up half the night. Oreo and Ginger seem to have recovered in full, so we have resumed normal function.

Gratuitous Oreo and Ginger photo: