Current TV on the events of 10/5:

Wall to wall coverage of Occupy Wall Street as protesters face another wave of mass arrests.

MSNBC on the events of 10/5:

Wall to wall coverage of the fact that Steve Jobs died.

via Salon

So, for those of you who don't already know, I work as a developer for some big financial services company.

Today I had a conversation something like this:

Project manager:  NetRunner, can you tell me the requirements for the work you're doing for client XYZ?

NetRunner: Don't worry about it, I already have what I need.

Project manager: Oh.  Well, the manager of the QA department is asking me to put the requirements for you into the final requirements doc I'm giving him.

NetRunner: You realize he's pushing you for those requirements so that they're documented for me, don't you?

Project manager: Correct.

NetRunner: ... and you're asking me to document the requirements for you?

Project manager: He's going to chew me out if I don't give them to him.

Rude Fictional NetRunner: You want me to take time out of my day to do your job, so you can satisfy the mad QA guy who's only chewing you out because he's trying to stop you from doing exactly what you're doing right now?  Go fuck yourself.  Take notes next time you're on a requirements gathering call with a client!

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Rand Paul (Tea Party) defeats Trey Grayson (Establishment Republican) for Republican nomination for KY-Sen

Joe Sestak (Netroots) defeats Arlen Specter (Former Republican, Establishment Democrat) for Democratic nomination for PA-Sen

Jack Conway (Netroots) defeats Dan Mongiardo (Establishment Democrat) for Democratic nomination for KY-Sen

Mark Critz (D) defeats Tim Burns (R) in PA-12 special election (not a Primary, this is Democrats winning a House election)

And in Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln (Corporatist Democrat) and Bill Halter (Netroots) are going to have a runoff.

That's a perfect sweep from where I sit.  The less electable Republican won his primary (I'm talking about you, Rand Paul), the more electable progressives won their nominations in KY and PA, the Democrat handily defeated the Republican in the special election (defending Jack Murtha's seat in a swing district), and the 3-way primary race in Arkansas will go to run off, and assuming Halter picks up the stray anti-Lincoln voters, he'll be able to rid us of Blanche Lincoln's traitorous ass.

In all, a good night.

I feel like putting out some predictions for this fall's elections while it's still anyone's guess as to what happens.

So here they are:

... more inside ...

For your collective or individual amusement:

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In 1993, calling health care reform Hillarycare was a smart idea because you tied something people weren't sure they needed to a fairly unlikeable person.

In 2009, calling health care reform Obamacare is tying a desperately needed reform to a very popular person.

Just sayin'.

During the election, I picked up this habit of bookmarking articles I came across in my websurfing that I thought were particularly interesting, thoughtful, or just a great expression of a policy or ideal that resonated with me.  It started as a reference library for combating Republican/McCain campaign lies, but it's transformed over time into my blog equivalent of an upvote.

Lately it seems I bookmark a lot, but rarely find a good excuse to use it, so I've been thinking of doing semi-regular link dumps, just in case people are curious in the sorts of stuff that I stuff into my brain on a regular basis.

So, without further ado, here's my first set of handpicked links:

• Matt Yglesias on The Noble Eightfold Path of Consumer Protection
• Yglesias again, this time on Rationing, the Post Office, and the Public Option
• Chris Hayes of the Nation, taking the time to help the GOP answer some questions about healthcare
• In the same vein, one DailyKos diarist is ready to surrender to Republican demands on health care
• Getting a bit more serious, Hunter draws some uncomfortable lines between the nutty right wing protests of today, and the anti-civil rights protests of yesteryear (which another diary underscores)
• Steven Pearlstein momentarily awakens from his newspaper-induced torpor, and stands up to say that the media is failing to do its job
• And finally, to take at least one break from the theme, here's Paul Krugman on our economic outlook.

Having trouble following the recent Republican scandals? TPM put this up, and I feel compelled to share it.

I stumbled across this article today while searching for some advice on ways to make quick cash off tradeskills.  Instead of being a simple "make Titansteel Destroyers" type of thing, it's a detailed analysis of the Great WoW Depression (which I hadn't even noticed) and the real world one (which I kinda had noticed). It's a fascinating read, even if you don't play World of Warcraft.

http://greedygoblin.blogspot.com/2009/04/deflation.html

I came across this article on DailyKos yesterday:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/24/04124/0642

Ultimately, it's an analysis of Obama's speech from last night by a linguistics professor, but in the course of that analysis he gives perhaps one of the most clear and accurate descriptions of the fundamentals of what progressives believe, and how the specific policy positions progressives have stem from those underlying principles that I've read.

In a related note, here's the word cloud for Obama's speech:

And the cloud for Jindal's response:

You can see the difference between the parties pretty clearly, just from that alone.

Of course, it's not actually a ticket to any event, like, say, the swearing in, or the Inaugural Ball or anything.   But still, it's a pretty nice touch.

Anyone else out there get one?  I hear one was sent to everyone on the Obama donor list.

Update: Found another pic to link.

TPM doing their best to make me think this election won't be stolen:

 http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/republican_voter_suppression_a.php

I just saw this over on DailyKos, apparently they had their car vandalized for having an Obama bumper sticker.

Read their article here.

To borrow Rachel Maddow's phrase, someone talk me down about this.

Are we going to have ourselves a revolution when Obama wins this thing?

 Can a body language expert tell me what the hell this means?

First, the Politico article, titled Climing from the Wreckage.  This is the most detailed breakdown of yesterday and today's events I've seen.

Second, the Washington Post has a story about a petition being made by 200 academic economists (non-Wall Street) to Congress, asking them to delay passing any bailout plan without taking the time to properly consider the effect of the proposal, in particular:

1. Its fairness.
2. Its ambiguity.
3. Its long-term effects.

I've been saying it myself for a while, but I came across this article on the NY Times today, about a professor of economics from George Mason University making an argument why Libertarians should rally behind Obama.

He puts it more succintly than I have, but I think it's worth a read for those Libertarians out there.

Now it's on, full bore, until November 4th.  Any bets on where polls will settle once the convention bounces tamp down, in a week or two?

The next big events are the debates.  Here's the schedule:

First presidential debate
Friday, September 26
The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.
Jim Lehrer
Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS

Vice presidential debate
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
Gwen Ifill
Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor,
Washington Week, PBS

Second presidential debate (town meeting)
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.
Tom Brokaw
Special Correspondent, NBC News

Third presidential debate
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
Bob Schieffer
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation

I'll be serving popcorn for the VP debate, I'm expecting fireworks.