When I asked for feedback about my site a few weeks ago (what do you like, what do you not want here), there were more comments about no politics than anything in the things that people don’t want to see here.

So with that, the Democratic debate. Or should I say the debate about the debate.

Seems that there are two schools of thought (maybe three) regarding the debate this week in Pennsylvania:

1. Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos asked red-herring questions in the first forty minutes of the debate, rehashing irrelevant questions of Obama specifically which the media has overblown lately (e.g., his small town quote, the Weather Underground guy, etc).
2. Charles Gibson and George Stephanopous asked tough questions about character and policy; they pointedly pushed the front-runner and brought to light issues which may be the key to whether he will win the General Election or not. Obama and Clinton agree on many topics, so what’s the point of rehashing them again?
3. Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos inadvertently continued to prolong the Democratic Party’s mess of selecting their nominee, setting up a train wreck of a National Convention and strengthening McCain’s case to be President

The Washington Post has a great summary to check out, complete with comments from every blogger, media analyst, and pundit who’s weighed in on whether ABC did a good job with the debate or not.

I didn’t watch the debate and currently have no time to dive in, but the summary is a great recap, imo. Thank you, Howard Kurtz.

Call of Duty2
Originally uploaded by csquard

1-2 sentences per caption. Obviously, it seems parents care a little less with the third child vs the first…

PokerStars Game #16796044522: Hold’em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2008/04/17 - 13:30:12 (ET)
Table ‘Menkib IV’ 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: beta77 ($223.90 in chips)
Seat 2: csquard ($118.95 in chips)
Seat 3: Thois ($105.35 in chips)
Seat 4: pipsen222 ($63.95 in chips)
Seat 5: Mawgs ($32.15 in chips)
Seat 6: aflavy ($99.15 in chips)
beta77: posts small blind $0.50
csquard : posts big blind $1

Holecards:
Dealt to csquard [ ]
CALL Thois, $1
RAISE pipsen222, $2 to $3
CALL Mawgs, $3
FOLD aflavy
FOLD beta77
CALL csquard , $2
CALL Thois, $2

Flop: (Pot: $12.5)
[ ]
CHECK csquard :
CHECK Thois:
BET pipsen222, $2
CALL Mawgs, $2
CALL csquard , $2
FOLD Thois

Turn: (Pot: $18.5)
[ ] [ ]
CHECK csquard :
BET pipsen222, $4
FOLD Mawgs
RAISE csquard , $10 to $14
CALL pipsen222, $10

River: (Pot: $46.5)
[ ] [ ]
BET csquard , $40
CALL pipsen222, $40

Showdown:
csquard : shows [ ] (a flush Ace high)
pipsen222: mucks hand
csquard collected $123 .50 from pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot $126.50 | Rake $3

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: beta77 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: csquard (big blind) showed [ ] and won ($123.50) with a flush Ace high
Seat 3: Thois folded on the Flop
Seat 4: pipsen222 mucked [ ]
Seat 5: Mawgs folded on the Turn
Seat 6: aflavy (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

The Atlanta Hawks bound into the playoffs with a 37-45 record, the worst regular season record for an NBA team headed to the playoffs since the ‘85-’86 Bulls (30-52). If you look at the NBA standings, Golden State, Portland, and Sacramento finished with better records in the Western Conference yet missed out on the playoffs.

Why not do away with all of the divisions and conferences, play a balanced schedule, and have a sixteen-team playoff? Here are the match-ups if you went with the sixteen best teams now:

1 Boston v 16 Portland I’m not sure who would be seeded ahead, but let’s go with point differential for the sake of argument to give the Trailblazers the lower see. Should be a Boston win.

8 Utah v 9 Orlando I know so little about the NBA, I have nothing much to say here (go Dwight Howard?)

5 San Antonio v 12 Golden State I’m a huge Tim Duncan fan, so let’s hope they get through this squad. btw, this is the Warrior squad out of the playoffs.

4 New Orleans v 13 Cleveland Upset special? Can King James carry his team to upset the upstarts from the Crescent City?

In the bottom bracket:

2 Detroit v 15 Toronto I like Chris Bosh, but the Pistons roll here.

7 Phoenix v 10 Dallas Very nice match-up. I like the Suns in spite of Shaq.

6 Houston v 11 Denver The Rockets are bizarre and will win if they keep the mini-bar unlocked in the Nugget locker room.

3 LA Lakers v 14 Washington Easy first round for Kobe et al.

If the seeds were to hold up, that would put the second round like this:

1 Boston v 8 Utah
4 New Orleans v 5 San Antonio
3 LA Lakers v 6 Houston
2 Detroit v 7 Phoenix

Since we’re on a roll, why don’t we relegate the bottom three teams to a Triple-A league (Miami, Seattle, and Memphis)?

And does anyone really care about the NBA or the NHL out there?

Just in case you need to feel a little worse about your tax filing yesterday, John Paulson led the Hedge Fund crowd with $3.7b in personal earnings last year.

And what have I been doing with my time? Is hedging the same as hemming and hawing?

It’s a big question for me, do I overhaul this and go deeper, hack around with a much lower cost, or drift away? Alot of goodness seems to come with the $3k, but could I get a return on it? I just don’t know…

These guys are dreadful, but they could arguably win (or lose) every game this season (maybe they lose to the Chargers, smokkee…).

ESPN has drop-down menus for all teams this season.

OK, I at least I’m not the least productive person on the planet anymore…

http://view.break.com/487616 - Watch more free videos

Found at Neatorama.

IC, Do U C2?
Originally uploaded by cobalt123

Sweet shot (thanks cobalt123!)

Just in case you needed more convincing, MGM Mirage (operator of the Bellagio and the largest casino company in the world) announced a layoff of 440 managers amid two consecutive months of revenue decline. Room rates are down nearly 20% from a year ago, a clear sign conventioneers have cut back and gone elsewhere.