Brief thoughts on Bill Clinton's marathon DNC speech.

Re Bill Clinton's 48-minute reprise of his Number One spoken-word hit from 1992, PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST:

I thought Clinton's too-long speech had its effective moments in making case for Obama's re-election--though it's too much to expect either Clinton or Al Gore (who touted his friendship with JP Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon on Current TV) to apologize for NAFTA and repealing Glass-Steagal, helping create the mess Obama has tried (albeit mildly) to clean up and Romney/Ryan would only make worse.

Some notes on Barnes and Noble--the last national bookstore chain standing.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/10/barnes-noble-cfo-joseph-lombardi-resigns-.html

Went into the Calabasas, CA store Tuesday night and noticed that, before closing, the only place to pay for book/other purchases was through the cashier in the coffee/food area.

Was at the store in Woodland Hills last night and noticed that, like Borders, B and N is staking a fair amount of store space on selling to perceived "hot" consumers.  In B and N's case, it's children (whereas Borders in its latter phase was feverish to sell TWILIGHT and other teen-goth romances).

Guessing that B and N will announce more store closings in 2012.

[UPDATE 10/26/11: I was prescient.  The B and N at the Westside Pavilion in West L.A. will close by the end of this year: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2011/10/barnes_noble_westside_pav.php]