Potpourri for a Conventional Monday

POLITICAL

1. McCain Features Moron In Ad – Well, not really. But I do think any Clinton supporter who is so ticked off that they are going to vote for John McCain is showing … profound lack of reasoning. (I’d feel the same about a Huckabee supporter who decided to shift his vote to Obama.)
2. Warren Vs. Dobson: The Difference is Tone – And that’s a quote from Rick Warren himself. Though he comes off as a lot more warm and fuzzy and cheerful than James Dobson, on fundamental Religious Right items he’s still rock-solid in the conservative side of things.
3. New Poll shows slight majority favors keeping religion… – The Pew Poll actually indicates that a slight majority favors keeping churches out of politics, as well as less bragging by candidates about how religious they are.
4. The Right (Over)Reacts to Biden – See, you don’t need to worry about Democratic religious themes because, see, Obama is a “fake Christian” and Biden is a “fake Catholic.” 
5. Get Excited Again – There are a couple of articles linked here I need to read more closely, but it’s nice to see something about Obama that’s not an attack from McCain or coverage about the convention.
6. Even More Political Chutzpah [Dispatches from the… – “Celebrities don’t have to worry about family budgets. But we sure do.” Says the campaign of Mr. “Let My Staff Get Back To You On How Many Houses We Own.” I also love this line from the comments: “The Republicans have Obama portrayed as a Muslim member of a crazy Christian church; a marxist celebrity who wants to raise their taxes and doesn’t care about their problems; an unqualified elitist” — without any consideration about how contradictory those items all are.
7. McCain Flip-Flops On Women’s Lives – In yet another position shift from only 8 years ago, McCain will not fight against the GOP platform against abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or risk of death to the mother. This one clearly falls into the “political expediency” category.
8. And so goeth the Eisenhower wing of the party… – Literally the Eisenhower wing.

NON-POLITICAL

1. Writer who photographed HP Lovecraft’s headstone ordered… – If you can’t baton-stroke people for anything they’re doing, you can always win Security Guard Points by accusing them of stealing taking a picture.
2. Memo to Windows Vista [Uncertain Principles] – Programs that change configuration settings I have explicitly made, and without warning, bug the living hell out of me. In addition to this case, I hate it when MS applications (esp. Office) change settings I have personally and intentionally made about programs not seizing focus from other programs.
3. Oh, this looks like it has a ton of potential – Adding Virtuality to my list of shows to watch when they start.
4. IESB.net – Movie News, Reviews, Interviews and More!… – What The Hobbit by Hellboy director Del Toro probably won’t include (but it’s still cool).