Totally Pointless Question of the Day

Which is worse - being forced to sit through a Steven Seagal movie marathon, or being forced to sit through a Jean Claude Van Damme movie marathon?

For the record...

There is no better combo than a cup of coffee and the Boredoms' Vision Creation Newsun to get you going in the morning.

A Support Ribbon I Can Support

While I've always been rather ambivalent about the whole "support ribbon" on cars (you're a breast cancer survivor? My deepest respect and congratulations. Support our troops? Um....is anybody against our troops? And isn't your yellow ribbon just a display of faux-patriotism wrapped up in a failure to really commit anything more substantial to our troops?).

However, if there's one support ribbon I can fully support, it's this one.

Facial Hair in the Cabinet

Allow me to echo Obama's disappointment that Bill Richardson shaved his beard. With Eric Holder and his moustache already nominated for AG, and the announcement of Richardson, I was hoping that we were finally seeing a full-blown return of facial hair to national politics after a long, cold winter. Alas, Holder must hold down the fort alone for now while Richardson in Commerce panders to the pro-Gillette lobby.

UPDATE FROM ERIK: It seems that Obama shares Trend's disappointment.

Updated Pointless Maps

I haven't updated these in like 2 years and have done a decent amount of traveling since then. In a desperate attempt to put off grading, I might as well do it now. So here we go.


visited 42 states (84%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president



visited 13 states (5.77%)
Create your own visited map of The World or determine the next president

A Competitor

There is a new competitor for Mr. Trend's best sports name ever:

Cut by the New York Jets today, one Juan Wong.

Does Maureen Dowd Ever Have Anything Good To Offer?

I believe the answer is no.

Her latest hot air concerns the John Edwards $400 hair cut. Dowd, that siren of substance, of course makes a big deal out of it. In one of her seemingly ad nauseum columns on this matter, she writes, "Following his star turn primping his hair for two minutes on a YouTube video to the tune of "I Feel Pretty," Mr. Edwards this week had to pay back the $800 charged to his campaign for two shearings at Torrenueva Hair Designs in Beverly Hills. He seems intent of proving that he is a Breck Girl -- and a Material Boy."

I could not give a flying fuck about how much John Edwards pays for his haircut. Neither should you. It's his money and I don't care how he spends it. What I care about is what he thinks about health care, the war, the environment, abortion, gay rights, fighting poverty, and other issues. We should care, virtually to the exclusion of all other matters, about what candidates say about issues. If we care primarily about the image of our candidates, the Republicans are one step ahead.

I say this because I know through friends that at the very least the Obama campaign is using the haircut to attack Edwards within Democratic circles. That's just not really acceptable to me. I don't think it makes me think too much less about Obama; hell, Edwards would probably do the same thing. But it says a lot about problems within the American political system.

I've said this before and no doubt I will say it again--but how do columnists at the Times get their jobs? I, or you, could do at least as good. Probably far better. This is what passes for writing at editorial page of the nation's most prestigious paper???

See also Paul Waldman and Matt Yglesias, among many others.