Blogging Blue

Here’s some classic 80’s music:

And here’s a Thanksgiving song for all three of my loyal readers:

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

This is a great example of how “waste products” from industrial or agricultural processes can be put to good use:

Considering how much cheese is produced right here in Wisconsin, I think it’d make great sense for some municipality to look into this process as a means of reducing winter weather-related traffic accidents and possibly reducing costs as well.

Just a few random political tidbits that caught my eye today…

• Fox News announced today Hannity and Colmes are splitting up. After 12 years, Alan Colmes is leaving “Hannity & Colmes” at the end of the year, leaving Sean Hannity to go it alone. Something tells me we won’t see the addition of another “liberal” to take Colmes’ place on the show, leaving us with just “Hannity.”
• The speculation as to who would succeed Vice President-elect Joe Biden in the United States Senate is over, with Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner appointing Ted Kaufman as Biden’s replacement until 2010. Kaufman is Joe Biden’s longtime senior adviser, currently serving as the co-chair of Biden’s transition team in addition to having spent roughly 20 years as Biden’s Senate chief of staff. Obviously the appointment of Kaufman to fill Biden’s seat means we’ll likely see Senator Beau Biden in 2010.
• I’m encouraged by news president-elect Obama has named Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Geithner’s gotten good marks for his performance as chairman of the New York Federal Reserve, and investors have already responded positively to news of Geithner’s appointment, with Wall Street finishing up for two consecutive days.
• And finally, it looks like New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has been tapped as president-elect Obama’s Commerce Secretary. Considering Richardson served as Energy Secretary under President Clinton and was once considered a possible running mate and Secretary of State for Obama, Commerce Secretary seems like a step down. Then again, Richardson can’t run for a third term as governor of New Mexico due to term limits, so I suppose he’s just trying to guarantee he’s got a job past 2010.

Sure, these commercials have nothing to do with politics, but I don’t want to be a one-trick pony, and I think they’re hilarious.

The Reasonable Progressive (who’s a girl, by the way) posted an entry linking to two blog analyzers, the first of which determines the relative readability of a blog, while the second determines the gender of the person writing the blog.

According to the Blog Readability Test, Blogging Blue rates at a College (Postgrad) reading level, while the Gender Analyzer has “strong indicators that http://www.bloggingblue.com is written by a man (92%).”

Heh….I’m just glad to know this blog rated out as being written by a man.

…so here’s some Johnny Cash. First up is Cash’s version of “Hurt,” originally done by Nine Inch Nails:

And next is “God’s Gonna Cut You Down:”

Finally, some classic Cash:

I’ll admit I had reservations about the merger of XM and Sirius, the two satellite radio companies, simply because I was concerned about which channels would stay and which channels would go once the merger was completed, and while some folks still aren’t sold on the merger, I’m liking what I’m hearing thus far.

After the shakeup of XM’s channels was completed, I was pleased to find POTUS, XM’s political news and talk channel, had made the cut and was still on the air. Despite my status as an OMG FLAMING LIBRUL, I appreciate the pretty unbiased coverage of our nation’s political scene by POTUS, and I’m glad it made the cut.

It’s just too bad the newly merged XM didn’t get rid of all those kooky right-wing talk channels…

• I’m happy the 2008 election has come to a close with the election of President-elect Barack Obama.
• Though I’ll not have as much easy blog fodder, I certainly am glad to not have to suffer through all the negative ads we saw during this campaign. To be honest, I was getting awfully tired of hearing, “candidate so and so eats babies” and “candidate X is a communist marxist socialist Muslim” ads.
• I look forward to hearing and reading more about the kinds of people President-elect Obama will choose to serve in his administration and more specifically his Cabinet. “Rahmbo” Emmanuel is already on board as White House Chief of Staff, and I’ve heard there’s already a lot of jockeying among notable Democrats for the marquee positions in an Obama Cabinet. (Bill Richardson for Secretary of State, anyone?)
• Isn’t it too early to start the 2012 election positioning? Apparently not, as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal already has a visit to Iowa planned for next month, and I’ve also heard a rumor (I’ve not been able to find any mention of it on the intertubes) that former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will be visiting Iowa in November as well.

…because I think this song is Hot with a capital H: