The list.

Jeb Bush’s campaign is over, and while we all know it was a big waste of money — the exclamation point alone was probably about $4 million — the actual semi-itemized list is sort of interesting.

Eighty-four million on advertising (and they still couldn’t figure out Donald Trump). Parking cost $15,800, $88,387 on “branding,” which will always sound to me like something you do to cattle. Pizza consumed $4,837, or rather, $4,837 was consumed in the form of pizza.

I love pizza, just like everybody else. Ate some today, in fact, but where is it written pizza is the only food for political campaigns? I’d like to start a third party, dedicated to eating Chinese food instead of pizza. Or maybe takeout fried chicken.

A tiring Monday with a long staff meeting, which always takes it out of me — all that sitting. Then pizza, then more meeting, then the drive home. Sitting, sitting, sitting. At the end of the month we’re moving to a co-working space, which has many standing-desk options, and I intend to take advantage of them. The booty will be the summer project.

And while we’re both a) tired; and b) below the belt, some good news from the health beat — the HPV vaccine is a smashing success:

A vaccine introduced a decade ago to combat the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer has already reduced the virus’s prevalence in teenage girls by almost two-thirds, federal researchers said Monday.

Even for women in their early 20s, a group with lower vaccination rates, the most dangerous strains of human papillomavirus, or HPV, have still been reduced by more than a third.

“We’re seeing the impact of the vaccine as it marches down the line for age groups, and that’s incredibly exciting,” said Dr. Amy B. Middleman, the chief of adolescent medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, who was not involved in the study. “A minority of females in this country have been immunized, but we’re seeing a public health impact that is quite expansive.”

Of course it’s still a hard sell to parents who never want to admit their children, boys and girls, might have sex lives some day. Science won’t change their minds, but it’s still a welcome improvement.

So, then, let’s close with a giggle: The Onion, nailing it yet again:

Warning that the flora in the immediate vicinity withers and turns black at an alarming rate, scientists from Cornell University alerted the public Monday that all plant life within a 30-yard radius of each of presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s campaign signs is rapidly dying off.

Blight. OK, then. Happy Tuesday.

Posted at 12:15 am in Current events |
 

30 responses to “The list.”

  1. Dexter said on February 23, 2016 at 4:12 am

    Well, nance, the great Frankie MacDonald of Sydney, Nova Scotia always alert us to big upcoming storms and reminds us how to prepare, one necessity being “go buy lots of pizza and Chinese food”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uo9HDTrbKU
    Frankie is “on the spectrum”, which just makes him the great Frankie MacDonald.

    HPV vaccine certainly was a big breakthrough. I remember the big splash it made in media reporting. A friend of my wife’s had a young daughter before the vaccine who had “a cancer scare”, sometimes called “a pre-cancerous condition”. The mother had the church put the kid on the prayer list, but nobody ever discussed the reason the kid got sick was not just God’s will, it was rampant teen-age sexual engagements. Probably, just sayin’…from what we have learned from all the coverage of the vaccine’s coming about.

    Deborah, just yesterday I heard a mirror story…Steven Tyler was going on TV, a talk show, and he insisted on a full length mirror just out of camera range, so he could see his own every move and expression. Odd, I thought, then the radio man telling the story said, “I loved it, it was just the perfect rock-star move.”

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  2. Andrea said on February 23, 2016 at 8:17 am

    Dexter, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “make love to the camera.”

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  3. Suzanne said on February 23, 2016 at 8:24 am

    The bits of Jeb! that I saw on the campaign trail gave me the sense that his heart was not in the campaign.

    I am having some fun watching a rabidly conservative very religious former co-worker post his completely unglued thoughts on Facebook at the prospects of Trump getting the GOP nomination. “He’s not really a conservative!!” When someone commented that as a believer, he should know that God is in control, he went on & on about how it is his Christian duty to warn people about Trump-“Danger! Danger Will Robinson!”

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  4. Peter said on February 23, 2016 at 8:55 am

    I thought this Onion story was outstanding –
    http://www.theonion.com/article/vatican-city-residents-rally-save-st-peters-basili-52386
    but the folks at Preservation Illinois didn’t find it all too funny….

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  5. Charlotte said on February 23, 2016 at 10:17 am

    Sitting sitting sitting is MAKING ME CRAZY. Stupid ankle, heal faster. I’ve been at a standing desk for my Cisco job for years — I do have an old ice cream counter stool that Himself found in his stash that I use sometimes, but mostly I stand. Cured my “carpal tunnel” (never went to a doc) issues, as well as that weird knot one gets behind your shoulder blade from the mouse. One of the things I’m trying to figure out is whether I have to re-organize my office or not. Once I get off the couch that is.

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  6. Mark P said on February 23, 2016 at 10:20 am

    I think Jeb? figured the nomination was his by default; all he had to do was sit back and let the money and votes roll in. He seemed confused and inept when it came to actual campaigning.

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  7. brian stouder said on February 23, 2016 at 10:59 am

    So did Mitt – last time around – and it was good enough to win the nomination, if not the general election.

    I really think that, two elections ago, John McCain missed the chance to electrify his candidacy by nominating a genuinely intelligent woman, such as Senator Hutchinson from Texas.

    As it is, and for a semi-non sequitur, I think McCain is large piece of ‘dark matter’ that will exert a great deal of influence on the 2016 general election, if Trump wins the nomination.

    Trump’s heartless, thoughtless, and indeed reckless dismissal of McCain’s unstinting valor and resolve in the face of years of relentlessly cruel inhumanity (the sort of thing that Trump now energetically advocates for the US to lower itself to) cannot possibly withstand the considered judgement of the American electorate…..

    right?

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  8. alex said on February 23, 2016 at 11:08 am

    I think Jeb also misunderestimated (his brother’s word, so fitting here) the level of rancor in the GOP base. Empty suits like Jeb have always been able to wink and nudge their way through the process while their more fanatical competitors eventually hoisted themselves by their own petard. This time around the rules have changed. Appearing the least bit sensible and pleasant mannered has become a major liability instead of a saving grace. Donald Trump is about to lead the party over the cliff and it deserves to fall.

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  9. Deborah said on February 23, 2016 at 11:09 am

    And so it begins, my day of travel. I will have plenty of time to be online in my various sitting and waiting venues. I’m with you on sitting, it’s really bad for you. I guess I don’t have enough padding on my butt to be comfortable. I seek cushy seats whenever I can.

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  10. Jolene said on February 23, 2016 at 11:36 am

    A reporter’s obituary for the Jeb Bush campaign. Seems on target. I didn’t want him to be president, but he was, at least, sane and decent, which is more than can be said of some still in the race.

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  11. Julie Robinson said on February 23, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    This morning I listened to an interview with a Jeb! true believer, a fundraiser who was sure the problem was with the other people in charge, who just didn’t present Jebby correctly to the world.

    But during the time he was Florida’s Governor, my sister would tell me new tales of horror every week. Forget Terry Schiavo, forget the hanging chads, forget Columba sneaking in luxury goods without reporting them to Customs. Worst of all is the way he treated those who worked for the state, people like my sister, who gave her all for the WIC program.

    Sis didn’t have a raise for seven years, but her health insurance went up while covering less. Cardiac rehab, as an example, was not covered. In his zeal to cut government costs, he laid off 1/3 of the WIC department at a time when their client load had doubled. The pressure was unrelenting, and I’m sure it contributed to her health problems. Anyone who treats their employees like that is neither sane nor decent, and the door can’t hit him hard enough on his way out. Buh-bye.

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  12. Sue said on February 23, 2016 at 12:12 pm

    Jolene and Julie:
    http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/jeb-bush-is-not-a-joke-hes-a-sack-of-shit-1760506457

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  13. Scout said on February 23, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    From Gin & Tacos today:
    “In the future we may look back at the Jeb! campaign as one of the most spectacular failures in the history of American politics. One got the impression all along that he was their Mitt Romney-esque fallback option, that if none of the other candidates caught fire the big money people behind the party could go with Jeb! and at the very least feel confident that he wouldn’t screw anything up too badly. His ineptitude as a candidate took everyone by surprise. He proved incapable of generating any momentum despite his massive bank account and near-universal name recognition. Imagine Hillary Clinton spending $150 million and never finishing better than 4th in a primary and you get the picture of what Bush managed to do.

    The stunning failure of their empty vessel / cipher / hereditary heir apparent has left the GOP scrambling, though. Trump’s level of support is what it is, and if the party could unify behind one other candidate he remains beatable. But which one? Jeb! was abysmal. Rand Paul was a non-starter. Recycled evangelical puds like Santorum and Huckabee never got off the ground. Christie was never taken seriously. Fiorina sounded good on paper but whenever she opened her mouth everything in the room died. Kasich is far too dull and too “liberal” (the imaginary GOP version of liberal) to appease competing factions in the party. Carson really isn’t even running. That leaves Cruz, who looks like a cut-rate mortician and sounds like the lunatic he is, and Rubio, who can’t seem to do anything except repeat canned phrases interminably.”

    The whole link is worth a read.
    http://www.ginandtacos.com/2016/02/22/trumped/

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  14. Scout said on February 23, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    From Gin & Tacos today:
    “In the future we may look back at the Jeb! campaign as one of the most spectacular failures in the history of American politics. One got the impression all along that he was their Mitt Romney-esque fallback option, that if none of the other candidates caught fire the big money people behind the party could go with Jeb! and at the very least feel confident that he wouldn’t screw anything up too badly. His ineptitude as a candidate took everyone by surprise. He proved incapable of generating any momentum despite his massive bank account and near-universal name recognition. Imagine Hillary Clinton spending $150 million and never finishing better than 4th in a primary and you get the picture of what Bush managed to do.

    The stunning failure of their empty vessel / cipher / hereditary heir apparent has left the GOP scrambling, though. Trump’s level of support is what it is, and if the party could unify behind one other candidate he remains beatable. But which one? Jeb! was abysmal. Rand Paul was a non-starter. Recycled evangelical puds like Santorum and Huckabee never got off the ground. Christie was never taken seriously. Fiorina sounded good on paper but whenever she opened her mouth everything in the room died. Kasich is far too dull and too “liberal” (the imaginary GOP version of liberal) to appease competing factions in the party. Carson really isn’t even running. That leaves Cruz, who looks like a cut-rate mortician and sounds like the lunatic he is, and Rubio, who can’t seem to do anything except repeat canned phrases interminably.”

    The whole link is worth a read.
    http://www.ginandtacos.com/2016/02/22/trumped/

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  15. Bitter Scribe said on February 23, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    Well, the Republican base didn’t want a RINO or a “cuckservative” or whatever they’re calling sane candidates these days. So they’re getting their wish this year.

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  16. brian stouder said on February 23, 2016 at 12:20 pm

    Rachel Maddow pointed out something I’d not read or heard before, last night:

    The Republican party has not won a presidential race since 1928, without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket….!!

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  17. Sherri said on February 23, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    Surprise, surprise, the FBI is lying. I said when I first posted about the Apple-FBI fight that it was never about just one phone, it was about legal precedent. Now we know that despite FBI director’s Comey’s heart-tugging plea about just accessing this one phones for the families of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting, there’s a whole list of pending cases where the government has asked Apple to hack into locked iPhones under the authority of the All Writs Act. The FBI went public with this case because it’s about terrorism, but they win here, they win the others, and and it will spread to the DEA and to state and local authorities. What will be the checks on them? Well, it depends. When they find a friendly judge who doesn’t understand much about technology, there’s not much of a check at all. For a while, the DEA was running hard to get warrants for all over the country through a judge in Riverside, CA who was rubberstamping warrants as fast as he could sign them.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/02/apple-is-right-the-fbi-wants-to-break-into-lots-of-phones/470607/

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  18. Sherri said on February 23, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    And if we’re sharing Onion stories today, here’s an apropos one: http://www.theonion.com/article/female-presidential-candidate-who-was-united-state-52367

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  19. Jolene said on February 23, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    More political comedy: Samantha Bee gives John Kasich the shellacking he deserves on reproductive freedom issues.

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  20. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 23, 2016 at 3:10 pm

    1958, Brian. [vanishes]

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  21. brian stouder said on February 23, 2016 at 3:17 pm

    1958, President Eisenhour was two years into his second term with VP Nixon…

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  22. brian stouder said on February 23, 2016 at 3:24 pm

    …make that Eisenhower

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  23. Charlotte said on February 23, 2016 at 5:05 pm

    Julie — my brother worked for decades for the tent company who did, among other things, all the White House events (and because they has Secret Service clearance, a lot of the campaign events). NO ONE was as loathed by “the help” as Barbara Bush, who was known as the “meanest woman who ever lived.”
    Also, make sure your guys know not to try to take a discreet leak in the White House flower beds — men on zip lines with Very Large Guns descend from the roof!

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  24. Deborah said on February 23, 2016 at 5:29 pm

    I had read that Barbara Bush was a bitch. She looks kinda iron fisted.

    I’m at the airport, and I have a long wait before boarding. I wish the train times were better getting here. But I usually like getting to the airport earlier rather than later. I hate that gut wrenching feeling when you’re racing to the gate. I had preTSA again, I love that, no shoe removal, no taking your laptop out and short lines. I seem to get it a lot, as I said before it’s probably because I’m a little old lady. I have a good book to read so I’m all set.

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  25. Sherri said on February 23, 2016 at 7:19 pm

    So the Republican members of the Senate judiciary committee say they won’t even pretend to hold hearings on an Obama SCOTUS nominee. If Clinton wins in November, but the Democrats don’t take the Senate, what are the odds that they will do the same to her nominee? They’ll come up with some reason other than just “we don’t want a majority of the Court appointed by Democrats”, but that will be why. There is no shame anymore, no social norms they aren’t willing to break, and they seem more afraid of being primaried from their right than being defeated from their left. How does our government continue to work when one party refuses to let anything happen unless they’re in charge of everything?

    The possibility, even probability of Trump being the Republican nominee is far from the scariest thing about the Republican party.

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  26. Dexter said on February 23, 2016 at 7:44 pm

    I don’t throw the word “love” around , especially at the attitudes and feeling about art performed by men, but I have no qualms in saying I love Graham Nash’s art. I have been a big fan since The Hollies.
    I am with the thoughts about maybe parking the nostalgia car for a while and focussing on now and what’s ahead, so here’s an absolutely brand new song by 74 year old Graham Nash. This was performed about 48 hours ago, or at least posted then…he wrote and sings this song for his girlfriend Amy. (Oh…he also gave a live update today about Joni Mitchell (tune out Joni haters). She is improving, she has a team that watch out for her, ensuring proper food and sleep, and she has therapists manipulate her limbs and generally try tom help her in many ways. She is getting better daily)
    The new song:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iZJp1kQm30

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  27. BigHank53 said on February 23, 2016 at 10:06 pm

    Here’s a Barbara Bush story for you all. I’m going from memory but it was printed in the Boston Globe Magazine around 1990–not online anywhere that I’ve been able to find. She told this heartwarming story about her husband reading a newspaper story concerning a family living in Houston housing projects whose infant had been bitten on the face by a rat. George H.W. comes home and pulls the crib they no longer need out of the attic and fixes it up and drives it over to the impoverished family so their child doesn’t have to sleep on the floor! What a hero!

    Except.

    At the time her husband was in Congress. The people living in the rat-infested housing projects were his constituents. George H. W. Bush was one of the few people on the planet who could call up the mayor of Houston or the head of the housing authority and ask “Why are my constituents being bitten by rats? Do you need more money? Do you need help finding an exterminator? Do I need to call you up every week and be a goddamn pest about this?” Instead he does what any soft-hearted shlub could do, instead of oh, I don’t know, his actual fucking job.

    And this is the story that Barbara Bush decides to tell a reporter in order to illustrate what a great dude her husband was. I wasn’t real surprised when he lost in ’92.

    Jeb! had Florida’s Attorney General look into the police report and original 911 call that Michael Schaivo made when he found his wife Terri unconscious–could he be charged with negligence, and so lose his guardianship? There was no turd left unfondled while Governor Bush was trying to cozy up to the right-to-lifers.

    A final tidbit: does anyone recall why Terri Schaivo fell into a coma and won that million-dollar malpractice settlement the wingnuts accused her husband of coveting? Botched fertility treatments!

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  28. St Bitch said on February 24, 2016 at 12:38 am

    A haunting bedtime serenade from Graham Nash, Dex. “Is my future just my past?”

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  29. Dexter said on February 24, 2016 at 1:36 am

    Since pizza is sort of a topic today, here’s some interesting pies:
    http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/best-pizza-places-in-the-us

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  30. Brandon said on February 24, 2016 at 3:08 am

    http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-10/news/mn-382_1_white-house

    First Lady Barbara Bush says she once encountered a rat in the White House swimming pool.

    “It did not look like a Walt Disney rat, I’ll tell you that,” Mrs. Bush told the Houston Post in an interview published today. “I was out of that pool so much faster than I thought I could.”

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