Web design duoh, Veerle Pieters and Geert Leyseele, launched their new lovely business site.

A heartfelt clip from a man who gets to meet Obama.

A few readers have pointed me to an eighty-two-year-old political blogger, Helen Philpot, and haven’t have a moment to read it until now. She has some good points:

I started out in this election supporting Hillary Clinton because I believed our country needed a women’s point of view in the Oval Office. I truly believe that women approach education, war, healthcare, the environment, poverty, etc. differently. Of course then I met Sarah Palin and realized that some women are just bitches who only want to change their wardrobe and your religious freedoms.

It’s not a surprise that Ngoc Khue chooses to sing songs that are connected to her upbringing. It’s a surprise that she delivers them in such a restraint, stilted manner. Listen to her third album with a strange title, 365.hahoi.nk, which reads like a web address, one couldn’t picture how the beautiful, calm Ha Noi could turn Ngoc Khue into an eccentric sorcerer.

Gone are playful phrasings and wizard of flows that distinguish Ngoc Khue from the rest of the pop bubble. Ngoc Khue minus the wildness is simply boring. The closest cut that carries a bit of her idiosyncratic touches is Nguyen Vinh Tien’s “Ha Noi.” She alters her flow and soars like a songbird flying through Ho Tay. The blues solo piano on the break adds a fresh gleam to the tune. Ngoc Khue should have recorded his second album, Ngoi Tren Vach Nang, as well. Hoang Phuc Thang’s “Ha Noi Dem Mua Dong” has a nice blues-jazz groove, but she sounds retread. On Phu Quang and Quoc Chuong’s “Lang Dang Chieu Dong Ha Noi,” she suffers badly through the low notes. Her breathings are heavy and she sounds tired.

365.hahoi.nk is a well-crafted concept; however, Ngoc Khue is not the right choice for the songs. Hong Nhung would have a perfect singer to deliver these slow, picturesque ballads. These tunes don’t allow Ngoc Khue to push her vocals. Even Phan Cuong and Le Minh Son didn’t help release the creative beast in her.

Andy, a junior high school soccer buddy of mine, is a jazz musician. I once asked him something about his future and his answer was “to become a jazz musician.” I had no idea what jazz was at that age and I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life at that point, but he had already decided on his dream job. It looks like he has indeed followed his dream.

Some nice jazz tunes for trick or treat including Philly Joe Jones’s “Blues for Dracula,” Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You” and Wayne Shorter’s “Witch Hunt.”

AP:

Vietnam is considering a ban on small-chested people driving motorbikes – a proposal that has provoked widespread disbelief, all the more in this nation of slightly built people.

Is this a sexist joke?

Anne Applebaum:

The larger point, though, is that if I’m not voting for McCain — and, after a long struggle, I’ve realized that I can’t — maybe it’s worth explaining why, for I suspect there are other independent voters who feel the same. Particularly because it’s not his campaign, disjointed though that has been, that finally repulses me: It’s his rapidly deteriorating, increasingly anti-intellectual, no longer even recognizably conservative Republican Party. His problems are not technical; they do not have to do with ads, fundraising or tactics, as some have suggested. They are institutional; they have to do with his colleagues, advisers and supporters.

Fox News anchorwoman stated that majority of Americans think that Fox is the least biased out there according to a Rasmussen report. Check the source again and you can see the woman’s lie:

There is one major exception to the belief that media outlets have a liberal bias—Fox News. Thirty-one percent (31%) of Americans say it has a bias that favors conservatives while 15% say it has a liberal bias.

She’s pretty fair and balanced, her face that is.

A reader writes:

I just want to check in to say “Hi” and to thank you for keeping me informed of Politics. I enjoyed reading your blog lately and find it very informative. I totally share your views of the politicians. It’s the first time I ever pay much attention to an election. And yes…I voted for Obama just last Saturday. I reviewed it several times before casting my ballot to make sure the machine doesn’t accidently switch my vote to papa McCain 🙂 and to make sure that every Democratic politician’s name was checked 🙂 The wait time wasn’t so bad for early voting…about 1 hr. It’s a privilege to vote for Mr. Obama. Can’t wait to see him step into the White House.

If this blog helps Obama gets one vote, I have done my job as a patriot. Thank you for sharing your email.