Swagger Wagon

Ken AshfordYoutube1 Comment

The couple from the Toyota Sienna TV commercials get bizaaay representin' their suburban lifestyle on Youtube, yo. Actually, this is a great marketing campaign by Toyota.  Enjoy:

Running On Water

Ken AshfordYoutubeLeave a Comment

It's a new sport some guys invented called "liquid mountaineering" – a fancy name for running on the surface of a lake. It sounds like a joke, but it's for real.  And these guys are pretty good.

Big Hollywood Whine Of The Day

Ken AshfordDisasters, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

Jeffrey Jena at the conservative entertainment site, Big Hollywood: A few years ago one of the most culturally significant cities in the United States ended up under water and millions of Americans rushed to her aid. A lot of conservatives and liberals joined church and civic groups and headed to The Big Easy to help rebuild the city. The Hollywood … Read More

Nobody Likes “Ken” Anymore

Ken AshfordPolls, Popular Culture1 Comment

TOP BABY NAMES OF 2009 RELEASED: Rank indicators as compared to previous year:up  down  up more than 10 ranks  down more than 10 ranks  same rank   new on charts Male Female 1 AIDAN/AIDEN/ADEN 1 AMELIA/EMILIA 2 NOAH 2 ISABELLA/IZABELLA 3 LIAM 3 AVA 4 CAYDEN/CADEN/KAYDEN/KADEN 4 SOPHIA/SOFIA 5 ETHAN 5 OLIVIA 6 JACKSON 6 MADELINE/MADELYN/MADELYNN 7 LANDON 7 LILY/LILLY … Read More

So Far, The Attacks On Kagen Are Lame

Ken AshfordConstitution, Obama Opposition, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

The Hill: Republicans are questioning Elena Kagan’s ties to a liberal icon and the nation’s first African American Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall. In its first memo to reporters since Kagan’s nomination to the high court became public, the Republican National Committee highlighted Kagan’s tribute to Marshall in a 1993 law review article published shortly after his death.  Kagan quoted … Read More

Maine Republicans Officially Go Tea Party

Ken AshfordObama Opposition, Tea PartyLeave a Comment

AP: A group of Knox County conservatives succeeded Saturday in tossing the state Republican Party's proposed platform and adopting an entirely new one, an event that threatened to overshadow the seven gubernatorial candidates seeking to make an impression at the state GOP convention. The new platform reaffirms a pledge to the U.S. Constitution and the Maine Constitution — not any … Read More

Return To Kent State

Ken AshfordHistoryLeave a Comment

Just last week, I noted the 40th anniversary of the Kent State killings, so it's strange that I am back writing about it again, so soon. But this is kind of big. There's much that we all know about Kent State.  Students protesting Vietnam.  National Guard presence on the campus.  The retreat of the National Guard to the top of … Read More

It’s Kagen

Ken AshfordSupreme CourtLeave a Comment

Obama is nominating Elena Kagen to replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court.  Kagan is currently the Solicitor General representing the United States before the Supreme Court, after a six-year stint as dean of Harvard Law School.  This is the first time in 40 years that a Supreme Court nominee has not previously been a judge. I won't weigh in … Read More

Thoughts On Betty White On SNL

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

Betty White's "schtick" is that she doesn't talk like an 88 year old woman should.  With an apple pie face and sultry voice, you laugh when she says something that would make a sailor blush. And it was put to good effect with the "double entrendre" version of "The Delicious Dish", a spoof NPR cooking show, in which Betty touted … Read More

RIP Lena Horne

Ken AshfordIn PassingLeave a Comment

A class act: Lena Horne, the elegant and statuesque singer who broke down color barriers by becoming one of Hollywood's first African-American female stars, and who later made a triumphant return to Broadway, died on May 9 at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She was 92 and lived in Manhattan. Ms. Horne first came to prominence in … Read More

Here We Go Again: Another NYC Bomb?

Ken AshfordBreaking News, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

BREAKING 1:34 pm….. 47th Street in NYC is being evacuated due to suspicious package…. UPDATE 1:36 pm…. CNN says all of Times Square is being evacuated UPDATE 1:55 pm…  It's a suspicious cooler outside the Marriott…. or is it? UPDATE 2:18 pm…  Opening back up.  Must have been, well, a cooler.  Apparently, a robot was deployed…. It was kind of … Read More

Road To Recovery

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & DeficitLeave a Comment

Job numbers for April looked good: There was a gain of 290,000 jobs in the month, up from a revised 230,000 jobs added in March. It was the largest number of jobs added to the labor force since March 2006. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a gain of 187,000 jobs. With upward revisions for both March and February, there … Read More