sorry sorry sorry

Yeah, anyone out there reading this, I haven't updated in a while. So much for updating daily. I was doing so well until I told people that I was updating daily. Nuts!

OK, here we go with a run-down of today's reads and whatnot.

• First off: I don't think Democrats get it. They were elected to end the Iraq war. The reason that their approval is in the tank is because they refuse to push back at Bush. We forget that the Congress is more powerful than the President. Meanwhile, as the Democrats shrink from a fight, THE fight, THE moral question of our government today, the Bush Administration plans yet another surge. Because the one we had was working so well already. Don't look now, but the new Iraq strategy looks an awful lot like the old one...

• Speaking of Slate, if you haven't seen their slideshow on lolcats, you should do it now.

• Emo: SERIOUS GODDAMNED BUSINESS.

• Obama and Edwards are trying to harness the power of the interwebs for their campaigns. I understand the appeal of the netroots, and in particular, the fundraising potential. Still, I can't help but disbelieve the voting base. Take a look at the discrepancy between the online Ron Paul/Mike Gravel phenomenon and compare it to Gallup. A net phenomenon doesn't necessarily equal a good campaign. One need only look at Obama's less-than-buoyant numbers to see that youth power and cool cred will not bring the bread-and-butter union, elderly, and minority voters out for the Democratic primaries. Besides, there's always the risk of something dumb.

• Does IU do something like this? I just have memories of couches and Foreman grills littering the streets of Bloomington. We should totally have a yard sale out on Dunn Meadow.

• While this will probably end up being lame, the possibility of a Daft Punk-Kanye West collaboration has too much awesomeness potential to ignore.

• Mmm, car cake. It takes 100 kg of sugar to bake a pretty cake. Tasty. See more pics here.

• Yesterday, the earth officially became more urban than rural. Does concentrating our carbon (and other polluting) impact in cities help or hurt? I was thinking about this myself. On the one hand, there's less waste in buildings, but on the other, buildings leave their lights on more often, and the direct effect on residents is much worse. I don't really know. But a significant milestone has been passed, and no one noticed.

• Google: doing no evil? Geez, I'm kinda scared. Think about how much information of mine Google has. All my e-mails (full of private information and surely off-color, racist, sexist, etc. remarks) are on their servers. Everything I've ever typed into Google is on their servers. If this is the future of Google, shouldn't we be scared? Or should we just forget about it? I'm inclined to just shrug for now.

• Yeah, I know I always point to Greenwald. Still, a good read. All that talk of the "surprising" number of American Muslims who support attacks on civilians is rather vapid, as a decent number of white Christian Jack Bauer wannabes also support attacking civilians, like I dunno, this guy.

And finally this video (NSFW.. violence): RAMBO IV! Decapitation IN-TRAILER! Washed-up action stars, for the win!