Events

First, Parker got an aversion to box fans. Then ceiling fans. Now he's afraid of anything attached to a ceiling, like light fixtures. Seriously: he keeps looking up at the track lights or ceiling fans in whatever room he's in. Oddly, when a ceilng fan rotates fast enough, he can't see it, and then isn't afraid of it. But light fixtures? They don't do anything, and no amount of demonstrating that I have the power of light and dark over these things seems to ameliorate his anxiety. Has anyone else seen...

I'm forced to watch TBS while the Cubs are in the playoffs—at least until I'm forced to watch (shudder) Fox—so I'm seeing TV ads ("commercials" in the vernacular) as if anew. Aside from the NLDS being brought to us by erections, I'm trying to wrap my mind around Gillette running ads in favor of their new 5-blade razor by trashing their existing 3-blade razor. I happen to use their 3-blade razor. I think I could probably make do with two blades, or even one; but seriously, five? And why trash your own...

I couldn't figure out who the GOP VP candidate reminded me of until just now. She's Dolores Umbridge—with lipstick.

How is it that the team with the most wins in the league faces a team that ended four games over .500 and then falls apart? It's just sad. You'd think in a hundred years someone would figure out why the Cubs can't win the pennant.

Sadly, between the two of them, the English language will be the loser in this debate. (All times Central U.S.) 20:04: First laugh line of the debate: "John McCain is a reformer." 20:08: "Team of mavericks." WTF? 20:15: First, "I'm not going to answer the questions." Second, she eliminated the fool tax? What, she was tired of paying it? 20:23: I just noticed Palin's "mine's-bigger-than-yours" lapel pin. Bless her heart. 20:30: Let's create jobs by not buying any more foreign oil? I think she's stumping...

But he did it! The worst President in U.S. history (polls open in 33 days and 8 hours) has gotten our national debt up to $10,024,724,896,912.49. That works out to $161,583.27 per person who voted for him in 2004, in case you were wondering.

It just occurred to me: three of the four candidates for President and Vice President live in the 1st, 48th, and 49th states, and the fourth was born in the 50th. One way or another (and you know which way I prefer), a state that didn't exist when half of the candidates were born will send its first citizen (or native) to the White House. Did anyone else notice this?

Why? Because both the Cubs and the White Sox are still playing baseball. Chicago's minor-league team on the South Side won a 1-run game against Minnesota to clinch the American League Central Division last night to the total underwhelm of those of us who live north of Roosevelt Road. They now get to play the Tampa Bay Rays, starting tomorrow afternoon. I have to concede there is some history here. The last time both teams played in the post-season, the Cubs beat the White Sox in the World Series—the...

At this writing, The Economist's readers prefer Obama 8,146 to 3. No, that's not a typo, it really is a ratio of 2700:1. I should point out, The Economist is a conservative newspaper. Of course, as McCain's supporters would be quick to point out, their readership is almost exclusively highly-educated, well-read, and wealthy, not the sorts of people you'd want to hunt moose with. Good thing they're not running the world or anything.

Let's review. President Clinton, the "tax-and-spend" Democrat, left office with a $122 billion surplus. President Bush, the "conservative" Republican, is on track to leave office with a $10,000 billion debt. I say $10,000 billion because "$10 trillion" seems smaller than "$10,000,000,000,000" but is in fact the same number. Or put another way: Clinton, +$122,000,000,000; Bush, (-$10,000,000,000,000). More personally: Clinton left every American with $428.07 in Government surplus; Bush will leave each of...