You never have enough black t-shirts

A quick politicaly roundup this morning and a short musing.

Salon is excerpting Joe Conason's new book this week. Part one is here. Joe is one of my favorite bloggers/pundits. He is always right on, passionate without being shrill, strident and smart. While being gracious and literate, this introductury experpt shows that Joe is once again willing to take the gloves off when it comes to answering the Coulters and Limbaughs of the world. This quote summarizes his thesis.

"If Americans have a common fault, however, it's our tendency to suffer from historical amnesia. Too many of us have forgotten, or never learned, what kind of country America was under the conservative rule that preceded the century of liberal reform. And too many of us have no idea whose ideas and energy brought about the reforms we now take for granted."

Another thought provoking piece on Salon is this one on the candidacy of Arianna Huffington. Generally, I like Arianna and agree with many of her views on corporate greed, but I think she is showing some intellectual dishonesty in her candidacy and stated positions. This sums up my point.

"And Huffington is against the recall, but only sort of. "I'm asking voters to vote their consciences," Huffington told Salon Thursday. "If they want to send a message to Republicans about the way they're using the recall provision to unseat Gray Davis, even though he had been democratically elected nine months ago, then vote no on the recall. But if they want to use this opportunity to bring some fundamental change to the way that California is governed, then vote yes on the recall."

For Huffington, the choice is apparently an easy one: 'I'm personally voting yes on the recall," she said. "Even though I'm against the power grab, the opportunity in the middle of the chaos is too important to me.'"

If you've been following Doonesbury lately, I wonder how long it is going to be until Lt. Willard is sent into Al Amok to remove Duke with extreme prejudice? The horror, the horror.

At TPM, Josh Marshall highlights this exchange between Wolf Blitzer and Wesley Clark. Other than the dig on the hair and the delightful spanking Clark gives Tom Delay, could this graf indicate that he may jump into the presidential race...

"But beyond that, Wolf, he's got it exactly backward. It's upside down. I am saying what I believe. And I'm being drawn into the political process because of what I believe and what I've said about it."

Stay tuned.

On to today's musings. I think it was Jerry Garcia who said that you can never have enough black t-shirts. Yesterday some biological imprint kicked in, going back to being lead by the hand by my mother through the Wilshire and Farifax May Co. (which is now part of the LA County Museum of Art, and hurray that the classic building is being preserved). Yes, it is mid August and Futurballa went clothes shopping. I shop like a guy and was in and out of Mervyn's in 20 minutes with three pairs of jeans, two polos, and a pack of Jockey brand black tees. I pride myself on my ability to shop like a kamikaze and am fortunate enough to work at a job where shoes are pratically an option. My theory is that if a guy finds something comfortable, he'll just take several, possibly but not necessarily in different colors. Clothes shopping should be at best a once a year activity. On the other hand I can spend endless hours researching the latest electronic gadget or new piece of photo gear, reading reviews, finding the best price, browsing at assorted retailers, asking questions of poorly informed sales people, before making my final purchase.

Sometime this week Futurballa plans to spend some time discussing Man Ray. Our favorite artist/dadaist/photographer. be sure to check back.