11 Nov 08 Eastgate Wins World Series of Poker
Peter Eastgate won the World Series of Poker main event early this morning, pulling down a cool $9.1 million. Eastgate, a 22 year-old professional poker player from Denmark, became the youngest player ever to win the WSOP, beating Phil Hellmuth’s record by two years. Hellmuth, poker’s bad boy, called to wish him luck yesterday afternoon.
It became clear that second-place finisher Ivan Demidov had no read on Eastgate last night, he was much too aggressive when Eastgate held very strong hands. Demidov, who took home $5.8 million, ended the tournament by going all-in when Eastgate was sitting with a wheel straight. None of the final table players had been able to read Eastgate over the past two days. The night before Dennis Phillips wound up in third place by attempting a bluff when Eastgate was holding a set of threes.
The final table action will be shown tonight on ESPN.
10 Nov 08 Greedy Republican Billionaires
It’s obvious to everyone that the Republican Party is in disarray and beginning to splinter. There are three distinct ideological factions that came together during the Nixon and Reagan years: the greedy billionaires, the Christian warriors, and the libertarian outsiders. These groups are moving in opposing directions, and may no longer be able to stifle their differences in the interest of exercising political power. We’ll take a look at all three of these factions beginning with the greedy Republican billionaires (GRB), or as I prefer to think of them sometimes, the greedy Republican bastards.
Though not all GRB members are billionaires, they hope to be someday. They are the primary source of funds for Republican candidates, and thus are the lifeblood of the party. Their primary motivation is the pursuit of money. Their focus is directed towards paying as little taxes as possible and exercising maximum control over the marketplace. For the most part they work from the shadows, occasionally popping up with self-serving propaganda such as “What’s good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa.” They profit from war, as long as it doesn’t get too out of control. Anyone or anything that might come between them and money is a potential target.
You don’t have to look far to see the GRB in action. GRB icon Rupert Murdoch owns FUX News and the Wall Street Journal, which promote the GRB agenda with every word and image. Walmart is the prime example of the GRB business plan. They would prefer to have no workplace rules, and no responsibility for pension funds or health care plans. The GRB hate unions with a passion that runs much deeper than in the other two party factions. Another hallmark is their authoritarian nature: George W. Bush “The Decider” personifies this inclination.
Next we’ll begin to explore the Christian Republican Warrior (CRW) wing of the party. Can they continue to co-exist with the GRB faction? If so, it’s going to be a bumpy ride at the very least.
09 Nov 08 World Series of Poker Final Table - 9 Nov 2008
The first part of the final table of the World Series of Poker main event is being played today in Las Vegas. They’ll suspend play for the day when they’re down to the final two, and pick the action up tomorrow evening. ESPN will be showing play from both days on Tuesday night in a two hour special, they paid big bucks to delay the final table until November and get exclusive broadcast rights. Today we’re getting an online audio broadcast sponsored by Bluff Magazine, which is not nearly as good as the pay-per-view broadcast last year but still better than nothing. I’ll be updating these results as play continues this evening.
Craig Marquis finished 9th winning $900K.
Kelly Kim finished 8th winning $1.2 million.
Chino Rheem finished 7th winning $1.7 million.
Darus Suharto finished 6th winning $2.4 million.
Scott Montgomery finished 5th winning $3.0 million.
Ylon Schwartz finished 4th winning $3.7 million.
Dennis Phillips finished 3rd winning $4.5 million.
2nd - $5.8 million
1st - $9.1 million.
Chip Stacks:
1) Peter Eastgate - 82,585,000
2) Ivan Demidov - 54,000,000
09 Nov 08 Bookshelf: Coyote Blue
Christopher Moore writes novels that blend offbeat characters, deities and chaos into an absurdly humorous mix. In Coyote Blue
When Coyote got home his wife was waiting. “Beaver took the lodge,” she said.
“Yep,” Coyote said.
“Where’s your ass?” she asked.
“Beaver got that too.”
“You know,” she said, “there’s a twelve-step program for gambling. You should look into it.”
“Twelve steps.” Coyote laughed. “I’ll bet I can do it in six.”
08 Nov 08 One Last Slap On The Ass
Sarah Palin gets one last slap on the ass from David Letterman. You know she liked it lol.
08 Nov 08 The Real McCain
Did you wonder what he was thinking during that concession speech? Wonder no more!
07 Nov 08 Sarah Palin the Scapegoat
Sarah Palin does too know that Africa is a continent, you know she does and I know she does. So what if she only wore a towel to answer her hotel room door? Did she take it off for those big Republican guns? Nooooooo she didn’t, did she. What’s really happening here is that the Greedy Billionaire wing of the Republican party is afraid of her. Very afraid. And they should be.
07 Nov 08 Britney Spears Naked
Why post “Womanizer” featuring Britney Spears naked in a sauna? Because we can lol. Thanks to the new MTV Music site we’ll be posting a hot track every once in a while. Enjoy!
07 Nov 08 Advice To Obama
David Alan Grier dropped a few words of advice in Obama’s direction last night on Chocolate News.
06 Nov 08 The Senate Races in 2010
Some Republicans may be sitting back breathing a sigh of relief now, thinking that they can still control the country because there are enough Republican Senators left to filibuster. Some Progressives may feel that the main job is done now that the Democrats have elected a President and majorities in both houses of Congress. Both of those assumptions are wrong, for opposing reasons.
President-elect Obama is sending a very loud and clear message with the impending appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff. Emanuel, who has a reputation for being both tough and pragmatic, will be taking names. There will undoubtedly be direct consequences for any failure to support Obama. The Republicans, who are likely to attempt to filibuster, will be targeted on all levels, particularly during the 2010 elections. Any Democrat who strays from the party line will likewise be at risk for both appropriations and future campaign support. Joe Lieberman can kiss his ass goodbye on January 21, 2009.
In two years Barack Obama raised approximately $650 million in support of his campaign agenda. He is fully capable of raising another couple hundred million in the next two years to target anyone who tries to impede his progress in achieving that agenda. Rahm Emanuel will be managing the payback list. The Senators on the lists below are up for election in 2010. If any one of them, from either party, gets in Obama’s way the payback will be profound and immediate.
Democratic Incumbent Races
Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas
Barbara Boxer of California
Ken Salazar of Colorado
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
Replacement for Barack Obama in Illinois
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Harry Reid of Nevada
Chuck Schumer of New York
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota
Ron Wyden of Oregon
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Patty Murray of Washington
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
Republican Incumbent Races
Richard Shelby of Alabama
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
John McCain of Arizona
Mel Martinez of Florida
Johnny Isakson of Georgia
Mike Crapo of Idaho
Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Jim Bunning of Kentucky
David Vitter of Louisiana
Kit Bond of Missouri
Judd Gregg of New Hampshire
Richard Burr of North Carolina
George Voinovich of Ohio
Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
Jim DeMint of South Carolina
John Thune of South Dakota
Bob Bennett of Utah
05 Nov 08 Yes We Did!
This Week In Blackness - Episode 12
05 Nov 08 Obama’s Acceptance Speech
Yes, he’s all that, and his kids are cute too. 
05 Nov 08 Still Speechless
As much as I had hoped for it, and worked for it, and expected it, I was still in a state of shock when Obama gave his speech last night. I will go out on a limb and say that I believe he is more pragmatic than the conservatives think he is, and less liberal than the progressives think he is. I expect that he will change the country and the world in the ways he has promised, however some of the stops on that journey are likely to surprise all of us.
There were other very important elections last night, and I’ll have a lot to say about all of them. But not quite yet. I’m still enjoying the afterglow of Obama’s victory and want to savor it a little while longer.
04 Nov 08 Game, Set, Match OBAMA
CNN just joined MSNBC in calling the state of Ohio for Obama. John McCain no longer has any way to get to 270 electoral votes. Congrats to Barack Obama, the next President of the USA.
04 Nov 08 Voter’s Checklist
The checklist for watching election returns:
Potato Chips - Kettle Cooked Jalapeno
Dip - Spicy Bean Dip
Ice Cream - Ben & Jerry’s Brownie Cheesecake
Microwave Dinner - Amy’s Organic Santa Fe Enchiladas
And just in case it takes a while for the results to come in, two 16 oz. cans of Monster Energy.
04 Nov 08 Will Rogers Said It Best
“I am not a member of any organized political party, I’m a Democrat.”
-Will Rogers
That could be the tagline to any number of stories about the Democratic party here in southwest Colorado. I generally prefer to be registered as an Independent or Unaligned voter, because half the time I agree with one party or the other and half the time I don’t agree with either of them. But when it looked like there was going to be a real choice between the two parties I signed up as a Democrat so I could help pick this year’s candidate.
Somewhere along the way I discovered that Colorado is a caucus state, which seemed like a good idea for a short time. You get to hang out and meet people and shoot the bull at the caucus party and that sounded like more fun than just checking off a box on a form. Then they announced when the caucus was going to be held and it didn’t sound so fun at all. The Democrats held their meetings on a Tuesday night in mid-winter when it was -10F outside and the roads were iced up bad. I live a good distance from town, so I stayed home. I was doubly glad I did when I heard what happened to the people who showed up. They had to sit there and listen to all sorts of heavy political propaganda for three hours before they were allowed to say they wanted Hillary or Obama and go home.
The main impact of the campaigns in this county has been the sign-stealing squadrons. Mostly they were made up of good Republican teenage cowboys. My first Obama sign lasted about 12 hours. Finally, I nailed one to the elm tree down at the road with so many nails that it’s going to take me an hour to take it down. Some of the Obama teenagers finally got up the courage to go out sign-stealing a couple days ago, and now there isn’t a McCain sign or an Obama sign left standing anywhere in the county. Not even at the Republican Headquarters, and I was real proud of those kids for that.
This morning I’ll be driving voters to the poll. I expect the process to be frustrating and screwed up, because it’s being run by some kid from Berkeley who talks a good game but seems to lack awareness that he’s swimming in a sea full of Republicans. The first time I met him he put on his best smile and insisted with lots of energy that we were going to turn Montezuma County blue. I looked at him for a second or two and asked “Are you high?” but he said that he wasn’t. Eventually he admitted that if we can get 45% of the farmers and cowboys to vote for Obama we’ll be doing real good.
He sent me to drive a lady to the early voting office at the county seat last week, but it turned out she was in a full-time nursing home and suffering from dementia. That boy from Berkeley really does have a silver tongue, he totally convinced her to vote for Obama. Sadly, she forgot all about it by the time I got there. I expect to be sent down more than a few dirt roads today to meet up with people who’ll say “I mailed in my ballot last week.” Some 70% of the people in this county have already handled voting, but maybe there’ll be one or two Democrats out there today who haven’t done it yet. I hope so, because otherwise I’ll be sitting half the day in the campaign office, eating pizza and getting fat.
