Get Cynical

No way they’ll let her debate Biden next week. She’s been interviewed twice now (I’m not counting Hannity) and she ends up looking like a moose deer caught in the headlights each time. What do you Cynics think?

(via Balloon Juice)

From Plattsburgh State Art Museum:

Rockwell Kent was originally approached in 1926 by R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Lakeside Press to do illustrations for Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast. Kent rejected, but suggested Moby Dick instead. Kent was given complete freedom to design and illustrate the three-volume set. Extensive archival material exists at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Rockwell Kent Papers, that document the project.

Completed in 1930, the Deluxe Edition of 1,000 copies, in three volumes and encased in a metal slipcase, sold out immediately.

Soon the Random House edition, circulated through the Book of the Month Club, was published. Selling for $3.50 each. This version was also an immediate success, with its infamous cover and dust jacket that failed to recognize the author.

For the last 75 years, Moby Dick, with illustrations by Rockwell Kent has been in publication in the US, even with R. R. Donnelley, Inc. reluctant to support a mass produced edition in 1930 for fear it would have an adverse effect on their edition.

(via The Beat)

From The Big Picture:

When NASA’s last scheduled Space Shuttle mission lands in June of 2010, the United States will not have the capability to get astronauts into space again until the scheduled launch of the new Orion spacecraft in 2015. Over those five years, the U.S. manned space program will be relying heavily on Russia and its Baikonur Cosmodrome facility in Kazakhstan. Baikonur is an entire Kazakh city, rented and administered by Russia. The Cosmodrome was founded in 1955, making it one of the oldest space launch facilites still in operation. Here are collected some photographs of manned and unmanned launches from Baikonur over the past several years.

I’m suspending blogging at Cynical-C so that I can concentrate on my car loan.

CNN is reporting that McCain wants to postpone Friday’s presidential debate and move it to when the VP debate would be. The VP debate would be moved to October 2, 2009.

Bwahahaha:

“He can’t run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?”

“What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!”

From Politico.com:

Barack Obama indicated this afternoon he intended to go forward with Friday’s debate as planned, saying “it’s more important than ever” that the presidential candidates lay out their principles to voters.

“This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Obama told reporters at a news conference in Florida.

“In my mind, actually, it’s more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and try to describe where we want to take the country and where we wnt to take the economy as well as dealing with some of the issues of foreign policy that were initially the subject of the debate,” he said.

From Oliver Willis.

He also wants to postpone the debate on Friday.

NEW YORK (CNN) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington and focus on the “historic” crisis facing the U.S. economy.

The Arizona senator called on his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, to do the same.

The Obama campaign announced that Obama would make a statement shortly.

He also urged organizers of Friday’s presidential debate at the University of Mississippi to postpone the event.

“I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself,” McCain told reporters in New York. “It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.” Video Watch McCain’s announcement »

It was not immediately clear how extensive the suspension he announced would be — whether it would include dropping television advertising or just canceling scheduled appearances. McCain took no questions after reading his statement.

Clay Aiken fans attempt to come to terms with his sexuality:

This is a gut wrenching day for The ClayNation. Somebody wake me up, I hope its a dream.

I am having a really hard time with this!!! I am trying to be patient and wait to see what Clay says in the interview.

I wish him well and hope he gets some peace of mind now BUT I feel he lied to everyone-especially us fans. He should have just said so years ago. I feel like we were “used”. I still love to hear him sing but I also feel he has now become like a Michael Jackson and it’s a bit too weird! He isn’t just the plain ordinary person with the values he first stood for.-but it’s just my opinion.

please tell me I’m not the only one who is shocked beyond belief! I feel numb I’m so upset. This can’t be real!! How can you guys say this won’t change anything? This changes EVERYTHING. I don’t even know what to think right now.

(via Waxy)