Primary Wrap Up

Tom Edsall has got a good write up of last night's results over at HuffPost. Barack Obama won a huge 15-point victory in North Carolina and narrowly lost Indiana by less than 2-points. To make a long story short: he exceeded expectations. I also thought that his speech last night in NC was much better than his Pennslyvania concescion speech in Indiana a few weeks ago. Obama was on message and he got in a few good zingers at McCain. The crowd seemed electrified by his speech, like they used to be back in January and February, hopefully this means his once again ensnared the momentum that marked his early candidacy.

Well, I'm a broken record when it comes to my commentary on Hillary Clinton, but it's time for her to drop out. She's lost any momentum she once had and her argument for the superdelegates was pretty much negated last night. She has also reportedly lent another $6.4 million to her campaign. It's clear that the end is near for her campaign. It's unfortunate that her run is most likely going to end on such a negative note, but when you really think about it, you end a campaign because you experience a defeat, these things rarely end positively.

Also, to my amusement, Sam Stein reports that St. John had a rough night. He won majorities in North Carolina and Indiana but Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul were able to pick up a combined 20% of the Republican vote in each state. This is notable because only Paul is still in the race. His Maverickness will need some crazy straight talk to maverick his way out of that debacle.

Review: Iron Man

Last Friday night I checked out Iron Man. Turns out that it's the second best superhero movie I've ever seen behind the brilliant Batman Begins (yeah alliteration!). So far, the movie's been getting rave reviews and it pulled in $200+ million at the box office last weekend. Needless to say, I didn't need much convinicing to reach the determination that the flick was awesome.

The film begins in Afghanistan (updated from Vietnam in the comics) where billionaire weapons manufacturer Tony Stark (played excellently by Robert Downey Jr.) is en route to Bagram Air Force base after demonstrating a new weapons system, Jericho, to the American military brass. The convoy is subsequently attacked by a local warlord and Tony Stark is captured. I should also mention that Stark is grievously injured in the attack and he is saved by a fellow prisoner. The prisoner hooks up a car battery to Stark's chest which keeps the shrapnel from entering his heart. Stark's captors order him to build a Jericho for them. With the help of his fellow prisoner, Stark builds a prototype weapons suit instead and escapes from the warlord's grasps. Stark eventually makes his way back to Malibu, CA and to Stark Industries where he is met by his assitant Pepper Potts (endearingly portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow),his business partner Obadiah Stone (Jeff Bridges, oh and by the way, he is, as usual, ingenious in this role) and his best friend Maj. Jim Rhodes (Terrance Howard). At a press conference, Stark announces that he will no longer manufacture weapons, much to the chagrin of Stone and the plot takes off from there. If I were delve into it any further I would spoil a great movie for you, that you really need to see.

Iron Man was simply very well done. Jon Favreau has assembled a top-notch cast and crafted a superb film. Downey Jr., Paltrow, Bridges, and Howard all are at the top of their game in Iron Man. Favreau deserves major props for his visionary casting of Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Downey Jr. approaches the role with visible understanding and humor. Iron Man, resembles Batman Begins, in the sense that both films did not let character development and dialouge take a back seat to action. That being said, the special effects and fight sequences are very good, culminating in a great face off between Iron Man and Iron Monger. Iron Man is a can't miss film that will be enjoyed by comic lovers and non-geeks alike. Also, fans of Marvel comics should make sure to stick around after the credits for a, needless to say, provocative final scene.

Rating: ***1/2

*Uwe Boll/Michael Bay Bad **Keeanu Reevesish ***Great ****Excellent

His Maverickness the Flip-Flopper

Sam Stein has a blockbuster article up over at the HuffPost with some money quotes from St. John of Mavericka on Iraq. The best is this snippet with perpetual McCain cheerleader Chris "Mocho Man" Matthews:

Host Chris Matthews pressed McCain on the issue. "You've heard the ideological argument to keep U.S. forces in the Middle East. I've heard it from the hawks. They say, keep United States military presence in the Middle East, like we have with the 7th Fleet in Asia. We have the German...the South Korean component. Do you think we could get along without it?"McCain held fast, rejecting the very policy he urges today. "I not only think we could get along without it, but I think one of our big problems has been the fact that many Iraqis resent American military presence," he responded. "And I don't pretend to know exactly Iraqi public opinion. But as soon as we can reduce our visibility as much as possible, the better I think it is going to be."

Is it just me, or does it seem like he's embraced the position that he used to decry? I seem to remember a comment about staying in Iraq for 100 years. See, I thought St. John was too mavericky to do stuff like that. My God, did he flip-flop? Surely a maverick, no, the Maverick, wouldn't pander to the neocons and switch his position. Get with it people (and by people I mean the MSM), McCain used to and for the most part still does (with the exception of Iraq) take whatever position helps him the most politically. He flipped on tax cuts, immigration, Iraq, campaign finance, you name it bitches, if it's flippable, Johnny Mav flipped. Will this get any coverage in the McCain coddling MSM? Well Olbermann will probably talk about it, but everyone else will ignore it as they always do. Yet another reason to blisteringly hate St. John and his loyal subjects in the media.

Catholicism's Slow but Certain Death

Reading this Harold Meyerson post over at TAPPED provided the catalyst I finally needed to write a post dealing with the Catholic Church and the decline of Catholicism, particularly in the U.S. Meyerson's post is a commentary on the self-proclaimed "Prince of Darkness" Bob Novak's column criticizing the Archbishops of Washington D.C. and New York allowing pro-choice elected officals (most prominently Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, and Teddy Kennedy) to receive communion at the Papal Mass celebrated in DC a couple of weeks ago. Essentially, Novak is upset that these sinful politicians are allowed to receive the body and blood of Christ despite their support for abortion rights. Novak notes that the Archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, forbids pro-choice elected officials from receiving communion, and this is the "proper" course.

It's stuff like this that signals the death of the Catholic Church in America. When a church is in a period of growth, as the Catholic Church repeatedly states it is, the goal is to attract as many new members as possible. However, when prominent Catholic columnists like Bob Novak make a fuss over pro-choice Catholic politicians receiving communion, it turns people off. Now I don't really know anything about this Archbishop Burke, but it seems to me like his decision to in effect regulate communion, will have the exact opposite effect he's hoping for. The Catholic Church seems to be trapped in an effort to reshape the world around its own viewpoint. Most religions in the 21st century have taken the opposite approach, and sought to adapt in order to fit with the times. For example, Evangelicals are beginning to focus more on combatting poverty and global warming than their old culture war crusades. The Catholic Church either doesn't get this, or it stubbornly refuses to change. While a lot people believe the culprit is the former, I believe it's the latter. Look, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is not made up of a bunch of idiots, these guys know their numbers in the States, and Western Europe are shrinking. They attribute this phenomena to declining morality as opposed to the rigidity of the Church. In essence, the problem is the people, not the Church. The Catholic Church needs to understand that social norms and expectations vary over time. An institution, in this case the Catholic Church, with few exceptions, cannot hope to reassert its moral principles on the American public. Today the Church would need the cooperation of the government and the media to accomplish such a task. While certain elements of both estates are in alingment with the Church, there is not enough strength to push this agenda through.

It should also be mentioned that the sexual abuse scandal hasn't helped the Church either. Hypocrisy is poison in 21st century America. It doesn't matter how much people love you, they will adore watching you burn after you've been proven to be, or even just accused of being, a hypocrite. Plus, the cover up that ensued, eminating from the highest levels of the Vatican, only made things worse. The sex scandal killed the Catholic Church in the eyes of millions of Americans. Now Catholic priests are the butts of many a joke. Desptie being born and raised as in a Catholic family, I was never offended by these jokes. They were deserved. When you have thousands of priests abusing little boys and then launch a massive cover up operation, you deserve to be the butt of a few jokes. Bill Maher said it perfectly, the Catholic Church is the Bear Sterns of organized religion. If a day care company with thousands of employees abusing children was discovered, and the the corporate board attempted to conceal this, the perpetrating employees along with the entire board would've been thrown in prison and the company would've been sold. But if your the Catholic Church, the same rules don't apply.

Chances are the Catholic Church could gain more members or at least hault its slide by doing some of the following:

1. Allow priests to marry
2. Accept gay men into the priesthood
3. ALLOW WOMEN TO BE PRIESTS
4. The Catholic Church is nearly unparelled in its dedication to social justice, this is an invaluable asset, focusing more on this trait as oppossed to tired old culture wars would likely catch the eyes and ears of many socially conscious and impressionable people

Sadly, I think the chance of any of these things happening is pretty much zilch. An institution that fails to reorient itself in order to be fit with the times is doomed to a gradual and final exit.

This will never end!

Well a new AP/Ipsos poll shows Hillary Clinton leading St. John of the Straight Talk by 9 points nationally. Needless to say, this is not good news for Barack Obama, who leads McCain by a meager 2 percentage points, i.e. within the poll's margin of error. I'll admit it, it's hard to ask Clinton to drop out when she just won Pennsylvania and she's shallacking McCain in national polls. Everyone talks about how every contest from here on out is a "must win" for Clinton, but let's be honest, they're starting to be "must wins" for Obama as well. If he can somehow pull out victories in Indiana and North Carolina, that would take a lot of the wind out of Clinton's sales. While there are certainly a lot of white working class voters (Obama'a bane) in IN and NC, I think Obama has a decent shot at winning both states. First off, there are a lot of African-Americans in North Carolina, which should hopefully lock it up for him. Plus, look at all the colleges in Indiana: Purdue, Notre Dame, Valparaiso, Butler, University of Indiana, IUPUI, etc. If Obama can continue to turn out college aged voters in Indiana like he has been elsewhere he should be in good shape. Nevertheless, poll results like this will keep both candidates alive for some time.

P.S. These results demonstrate that there is cause for optimism considering that even with Bittergate, the Wright controversy, and faux sniper fire dominating the 24-hour McCain-loving media cycle, both Democratic candidates are running even or ahead of his Maverickness!

The Abercrombie Vote

Well, you already know Barack Obama lost last night, but how about those three dudes behind him with the Abercrombie & Fitch shirts. Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias both have posts on these guys here and here. Read the comments on both posts, they are hilarious! I'm actually really surprised that the Obama campaign let these guys stand behind him. First off, in light of Bittergate, Obama's attempts to reach out to working class voters won't be helped by the presence of three upper-middle class frat boy douchebags. Plus you could see people texting in the background. It was just piss poor coordination by the Obama campaign that resulted in a concession speech mixed with a heavy dose of superficiality. Seriously, the whole thing brought back memories of high school that I've been trying to repress for 5 years! Now, in the end, this really isn't a big deal. It's not going to sink Obama and it's not going to birth another scandal. It just means that Barack Obama was momentarily associated with a segment of American society that prides itself on status symbols and mocho effete.

P.S. I'm pretty sure that's not Larry David behind Obama, but it sure as hell does look like him. David has campaigned for Obama in the past though, so I could be wrong. But I'm gonna stick with it not being him.

Photo used courtesy of flickr user _aa_ April 22, 2008

Trouble in Houston

It seems as if Miguel Tejada is in a lot of trouble. First off, it turns out that Miguel's last name is Tejeda not Tejada. Also he lied about his age, he's 33 not 31 (Why!?! Plus at least make it more than a two year difference!). Finally, there is of course Tejada's surfacing in the Mitchell Report for possible steroid usage. If your asking, what's the big deal. Here's the big deal: Tejada lied about his age and name while applying for a green card post-immigration. Plus, when applying for a green card, the applicant is asked about drug usage. Whoops! This could all lead to Tejada getting deported; or, at best, he could be turned into an informant to rat out other players to the Feds. I have to say, while I shouldn't, I actually kind of feel sorry for Tejada, or should I say Tejeda. Basically the only reason any of this is coming to light is the fact that the guy more likely than not joined the Roid Raiders club (Canseco, Giambi, Piatt, etc.) in Oakland. I mean, let's be honest, in late 90's Oakland, who wasn't juiced!?! The men in the A's clubhouse had more testosterone pumping than the rest of the Bay Area combined. Clearly, Tejada has made a number of bad decisions, but you have to wonder how many other players out there have just as many skeletons in there closet (cough cough Ankiel cough).

Now that I got the pleasantries and compassion out of the way, in the interest of full disclosure I should acknowledge that as a Brewers fan the Houston Astros are one of my favorite opponents. Pretty much every time the Brewers play the Astros (whether in Milwaukee or Houston) we just beat the living shit out of them. Seriously, we won a game in Houston like 15-1 last year! What?! Needless to say, if this causes the famously dysfunctional Astros to become more dysfunctional, the only wisdom I can impart is that this is natural selection taking its course.

Finally, in other baseball related news, I love 5 gum. Seriously, it's freakin' fantastic. I was at CVS over lunch and noticed for the first time that 5 is manufactured by Wrigley. This causes a dilemma for me. I love the gum, but I hate to think that my love of 5 gum is in some way support for the Cubs. But what can I really do? Wrigley pretty much has a defacto monopoly on the chewing gum market, and it's just so damn good! Ideas?

Photo used courtesy of flickr user gajdam1 Apirl 18, 2008.