George Lakoff takes a crack at distinguishing some very glaring differences between the two Democratic frontrunners, who seem to have a ton of overlap when it comes to policy positions:

First, triangulation: moving to the right—adopting right-wing positions—to get more votes. Bill Clinton did it and Hillary believes in it. It is what she means by “bipartisanship.” Obama means the opposite by “bipartisanship.” To Obama, it is a recognition that central progressive moral principles are fundamental American principles. For him, bipartisanship means finding people who call themselves “conservatives” or “independents,” but who share those central American values with progressives. Obama thus doesn’t have to surrender or dilute his principles for the sake of “bipartisanship.”

The second is incrementalism: Hillary believes in getting lots of small carefully crafted policies through, one at a time, step by small step, real but almost unnoticed. Obama believes in bold moves and the building of a movement in which the bold moves are demanded by the people and celebrated when they happen. This is the reason why Hillary talks about “I,” I,” “I” (the crafter of the policy) and Obama talks about “you” and “we” (the people who demand it and who jointly carry it out).

The third is interest group politics: Hillary looks at politics through interests and interest groups, seeking policies that satisfy the interests of such groups. Obama’s thinking emphasizes empathy over interest groups. He also sees empathy as central to the very idea of America. The result is a positive politics grounded in empathy and caring that is also patriotic and uplifting.

I think there is another even more important reason why Hillary says. “I, I, I.” Because when she says “We” we are are not thinking of us and her, we are thinking of her and Bill.

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, one often wonders how much celebrity is enough to satisfy one’s needs without being too much to allow for a normal life.

James Galdolfini has just the right amount of fame. The best way to quantify that level?

If you have just the right amount of fame, you can punch someone in the face and they’ll still hang around to get an autograph and a picture with you.

[Gandolfini] became enraged when the man, brandishing a notepad and pen, came too close to the actor’s fiance, Deborah Lin, and Gandolfini hit out, grabbing him by the collar and punching him in the face…

But the actor soon calmed down, and before leaving he apologized to the fan, taking time to sign the autograph and pose for a picture, according to the New York Daily News.

In our desperate quest to get our hands on some new TV content, Tim Goodman gets folks pumped up for the return of Lost

At first, ABC said it wasn’t going to send out screeners of the Season 4 premiere of “Lost.” Too many spoilers, the network said. Can’t trust the critics.

Then, over the weekend, ABC sent an e-mail to critics saying, yes, they could watch the first two episodes online. A DVD appeared on Monday.

Three words for Thursday’s first episode: Oh. My. God.

ABC kindly sent the second episode as well. Three more words: Oh. My. God.

ABC will be catching viewers up in a few ways over the next couple of nights. So if you’ve never watched and HBO’s new shrink show (more on this later) is not fulfilling the more science-fictiony, car chasey you, there’s still time to get on this, um, plane.

I endorse Barack Obama for President. My endorsement is born out of support for Obama and a deep belief that we don’t need another four years of Clintons in the White House.

Why Obama?

In 2004, Barack Obama burst onto the national scene when he gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Along with a handful of other bloggers, I was up in the rafters of the Fleet Center covering the event. Obama brought the house down. More than a few people quietly wished the Dems had a candidate like that rather than John Kerry stiffly “reporting for duty.”

Now we do have that candidate. I quickly bore with those who argue that Obama doesn’t have enough experience or that we shouldn’t place too much emphasis on his speaking ability. Being smart, being a leader and being able to communicate, motivate and inspire are the key traits I look for in a president. Obama has them.

The tenor of the debate between Republicans and Democrats is totally ridiculous. Unity across the political aisle is a bigger underdog than my kid’s pop warner team against the Patriots (and my kid is 20 months), but we need to aspire to it. And Obama is the one person in the race who has a shot of at least moving us in the right direction. Is there any doubt that four years of Hillary means four years during which the divide in this country will deepen?

During the South Carolina primary, the Clintons gave us a glimpse into the very unctuous and impossible beast we were supposed to ignore: The two headed president. Twice as calculating. Twice as self-serving. Now voters have seen it and it will hurt them and the Democratic Party if “they” get the nomination.

Let me skip the detailed analysis of Bill Clinton’s role in the campaign thus far and simply ask this question: if Bill Clinton completely disappeared, would you vote for Hillary Clinton?

No one is more disgusted with the far Right Wing and its behavior during the Clinton years than I am. But there was more to the story. Bill Clinton let his team and his Party and his country down in a massive way. As I said many years ago, his behavior was reprehensible and it deeply hurt the Democrats. Don’t let the celebrity blur reality. With the writer’s strike, I am seeing just about all the reruns I can take.

We need a unifier and a fresh face to lead the Democratic Party, and more importantly, the country. If Obama can win the nomination (which is still quite a long shot), he will win the White House. I don’t think that’s true for Hillary. I don’t think she is the right person at the right time. I do think Obama will do an excellent job, surround himself by the right people and inspire (rather than embarrass) us when the need arises.

Here are fifteen relatively easy (but maybe not so obvious) ways to become carbon neutral and help save your planet.

1. Find someone who is down on their luck and pay them nearly nothing to wash your clothes in the river.
2. It’s common knowledge that carjacking gets other drivers off the road and therefore keeps the net emissions level neutral. That’s old news. The new idea? Carpool carjacking. Get a group of several friends and jack someone’s car together.
3. Guess how many trees were cut down in an effort to bring you the latest episode of Real World Hollywood? None. Love Earth. Stop with the reading.
4. The latest trend is to convince consumers to buy products that are better for the environment (in terms of materials, distance traveled during delivery, etc). The truth is, there is only one way to be sure that your consumption is carbon neutral. Steal shit.
5. If you turn down your thermostat by one degree, you can save up to 3% on your monthly heating bill. If you scare your neighbors into their panic room for 30 days, you can save just about 100% on their monthly bill.
6. Use cloth diapers and tie the changing of those diapers to demonstrable achievements by your infant.
7. Immediately after moving into your sprawling suburban mansion, pioneer a movement to stop the spread of such unsightly sprawl from that moment forward.
8. Convince your cat to shit in a low-flow toilet. (Tip: Start with simpler bathroom activities)
9. When it comes to gift-giving, instead of buying a manufactured, over-packaged gift that will eventually end up cluttering our landfill, consider dedicating a week of your carbon neutrality to a loved one.
10. Both paper and plastic grocery bags tax the environment. Eat your groceries in the store (preferably in a less trafficked aisle).
11. Shotgun whenever you smoke a joint. Exhaling pot smoke into the environment is a lot cleaner when you first blow your hit into someone else’s mouth and then let them exhale it. (This is often most fun if you can find an attractive stranger who looks like he/she might like pot). The beauty here? It’s better for the atmosphere and the final exhale of smoke technically goes onto the other person’s ledger.
12. Instead of making a trip to the dump your first step when discarding unwanted wares, rent a hybrid vehicle and transport those items to a place where you can safely dump them onto a stranger’s lawn. What about them? Fuck them. You want to save the planet or do you want to be Mister Nice Guy?
13. Pretend your car is out of gas and convince fellow motorists to push you to your destination (especially effective at drive-thrus).
14. One can just as easily acquire critical and time sensitive information when performing recycled water boarding.
15. Give someone who owns a Hummer a real hummer. No man needs both.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that workers can be fired for using medical pot. Is there, really, any more nonsensical set of laws that the ones around medical marijuana? So you have pain or a debilitating disease and pot gives you some relief (and is, by the way, about 10 times weaker than most of the drugs that would otherwise be prescribed). First, we needed voters in California to limit the exposure to prosecution for both doctor and patient (it often seems unclear why we don’t have to do that for every other prescription drug, especially those known to cause real damage). Now, the Court has ruled that even if you do have a prescription, you can be canned for toking off the job.

The court ruled against Gary Ross, a 45-year-old computer technician who was fired by a Sacramento firm for testing positive for marijuana despite a doctor’s note saying he needed the drug to combat back spasms that cause severe pain.

We might as well cancel the internet.