adam @ 404

No, probably not an ah-ha moment for anyone anywhere, but sometimes you have to wonder if politicians have a grasp on the basics of political economy rather than just a rhetorical grasp.

From If Barack Obama’s a socialist, what’s George W. Bush?

MCCAIN: Of course. It was a package that had to be enacted because the economy was about to go into the tank…. That’s the reason why we have governments, to help those who need help, who can’t help themselves, and when time of crisis to step in and do what’s necessary to preserve the lives and futures of innocent people. It wasn’t Main Street America that caused this. It was Washington and Wall Street.

This was in response to a question that asked if McCain isn’t just a smidgen “socialist” for voting for the Bank Bailout. If you read the response in relative isolation it starts to sound like socialism only means giving economic help directly to citizens, but if you give it to a private institution, rhetorically speaking, it’s just a regular ‘ole government bailout to help citizens.

You know, rhetorically speaking. The crappy irony being that you gave government money to banks, not people, so not actually all that social after all.

The chain smoker at the end of the hallway in my apartment building has moved out. On Saturday, I walked by to see the building manager standing inside an empty apartment with the maintenance guy (who was cackling for some reason). You have no idea how happy this makes me. I have gotten colds multiple times as a result of this guys second hand, lingering smoke. The world is a beautiful place!

You’ve probably already been there, but StumbleUpon just released a new browser-agnostic toolbar. After using it I have to say, it’s the first web application that has made me this excited about the Web in a very long time. It’s easy to find weird, fun, old school unique web sites again. Long live stumbling upon!