The Last Word

"I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence -- providing they have the facts, providing they have the information."

"I think it's realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: 'I despair. The world's no good.' That's a perverse idealist. It's practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That's very realistic."

-- Studs Terkel, 1912-2008

Family Album

Quote of the Week

"I'm not surprised. Dick Cheney has been wrong on everything else the last eight years. He's on a roll."

-- Joe Biden, commenting on Dick Cheney's recent endorsement of John McCain

The Biggest Loser

Joey Buttafuoco.

John Bobbitt.

The Runaway Bride.

Darva Conger.

Joe the Plumber.

I swear to God -- the South Park guys couldn't have come up with something this good:

The Huffington Post: Joe the Plumber Eyes Book Deal, Hires Eddie Money and Grand Funk Railroad's Publicity Team/11.1.08

(By the way, how much does that picture just scream that it's only a matter of time before Joe's doing guest matches on WWE Raw growling "Lemme get a HELL YEAH!" at the top of his lungs?)

Flunk'd

The Dallas Morning News: Sarah Palin Prank Called, Tells Fake French President Sarkozy, "We Should Go Hunting Together."/11.1.08

"(Marc-Antoine) Audette, posing as Sarkozy, speaks in an exaggerated French accent and drops ample hints that the conversation is a joke. But Palin seemingly does not pick up on them. He tells Palin one of his favorite pastimes is hunting, also a passion of the 44-year-old Alaska governor.

"I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun," the fake Sarkozy says.

He proposes they go hunting together by helicopter, something he says he has never done.

"Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done," Palin counters. "We can kill two birds with one stone that way."

The Huffington Post: Prank Call Reveals Palin to be Excitable (and Gullible) 10-Year-Old/11.1.08

Listening Post: El Dia de los Muertos Edition

Screw Halloween -- the short period that follows is actually one of my favorite times of the year. Christians call it "All Saint's Day" or "All Soul's Day," but in Mexico -- or in Los Angeles, where I spent several years of my life -- it's known as "El Dia de los Muertos," or "The Day of the Dead." Do me the favor of not pointing out the irony of my being vehemently anti-religion and yet willing to appreciate a holiday steeped in religious symbolism and iconography. I'm just weird like that. And there's simply no denying the eerie beauty of the Day of the Dead celebration.

In honor of El Dia de los Muertos, I suggest you eat a few candy skulls and listen to this: a playfully surrealist masterpiece that's often overlooked as one of the best songs of the 90s.

It's Los Lobos' Kiko and the Lavender Moon.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Perfect for the Halloween Hangover, from 1956 it's Chuck Jones's Broomstick Bunny.