The Chocolate Dog

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 5:14 AM | Permalink | Comments

Check out this story I read this morning. I am all but sure people who believe that FOX news is fair and balanced must have the IQ's of rock snails.

FOX News is in the desperate throes of backing a losing party. Despite what Megyn "Obama's Baby Mama" Kelly would have you believe, FOX has been the GOP's mouthpiece throughout this election, viciously maligning Barack Obama while pushing the party's conservative agenda. (For proof of just how much slander they have spewed, check out FOX Attacks Obama, FOX Attacks Obama 2, or FOX Attacks Obama Just Like Kerry.) In fact, I hold them as responsible as McCain's most bigoted supporters for stoking the racial prejudice and xenophobic hatred that we're now seeing in campaign events across the country. Amazingly though, the Obama campaign has begun calling out FOX for their loathsome media bias.

First, Obama criticized FOX on national television during the third presidential debate. Then, in an interview for The New York Times Sunday magazine, Obama told Matt Bai, "I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls." And now we have Obama staffers confronting FOX on their own network. Just watch as Bill Burton remains unflappable during this heated exchange with Kelly, who completely loses her cool.

In response to McCain's ludicrous attack on Obama for being "the Redistributor" of wealth -- an attack FOX has of course perpetuated and exacerbated with their Joe the Plumber socialist nonsense -- Burton calmly tells Kelly: "This is a fake news controversy drummed up by the all too common alliance of FOX News, the Drudge Report and John McCain, who apparently decided to close out his campaign with the same false, desperate attacks that have failed for months."

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments

The way that the GOP spin-doctors are ranting on about voter fraud and ACORN one would think that they have some kind of selective amnesia concerning the 2000 election. Yes allegations of voter fraud and abuse should be thoroughly investigated but I personally think that The Republicans are worried about something like the 1992 election happening again. An unforeseen voter base rising out of apathy and obscurity to turn an election. The end of 8 plus years of Republican doctrine being replaced from the left by a progressive new face. The parallels are not exact but they are interesting.

This from The La Times:

Yesterday the Los Angeles Times reported on the Republican voter registration outfit who had allegedly been illegally changing thousands of registrations from Democratic to Republican.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

The resource is clean, renewable and vast. In fact, it covers 70 percent of the planet. That would be the ocean, with endless waves and ceaseless tides that can be harnessed to create electricity with zero carbon or particulate emissions. If logistical, environmental and efficiency challenges can be overcome -- a big "if" -- this could be a major clean energy source for the half of the world's population who live within 50 miles of coasts.

So far wave and tidal power have not been tapped on a commercial scale, but a number of pilot projects are underway worldwide and so far the prospects seem relatively promising.

This summer the world's first commercial offshore wave power project was launched off the coast of Portugal. The Agucadora Wave Park consists of three 142-meter-long hinged steel tubes called Pelamis machines. As waves move along the tubes, they move up and down and hydraulic devices at the joints generate electricity. The project plans call for 25 Pelamis machines generating up to 21 megawatts of power, which would save 60,000 tons of carbon emissions per year compared to a fossil fuel plant making the same amount of energy.

Meanwhile a commercial shore-based wave energy project was also launched in Islay, Scotland. The LIMPET, or Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer, is attached to the shore and uses the waves' momentum to funnel air into turbines to produce electricity. Plans are also in the works for a 40-turbine, four megawatt wave project in Scotland's Siadar Bay which could provide electricity for a fifth of Scotland's population.

Australia, England and Israel are among other countries where the government and private companies are actively pursuing wave power.

As with other renewable energy methods the US is lagging behind Europe, but there are a number of wave power projects in the works off the west coast. In September Oregon State University's Hatfield Center and the University of Washington secured a $6.25 million, five-year grant from the Department of Energy for wave energy development including an experimental project involving large energy-generating buoys about 12 miles off Newport, Ore.

"It's very much an emerging technology," said Roger Bedard, head of ocean power for the Electric Power Research Institute, the research and development arm of the utility industry. "I am not ready to say whether the US or the world should add wave power to the portfolio of energy options. What are the effects on sedimentation, fish, marine mammals, whales migrating from Alaska to Baja? First we need to do pilot testing and get hardware in the water to answer these questions."

Bedard said there are currently about 40 device developers in various stages of development. About six are doing full scale prototype testing, he said, and about 25 more have done subscale testing in the ocean. Others are still testing devices in wave tanks.

In December 2007 the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) issued its first permit for a hydrokinetic wave energy project in the U.S., the Makah Bay Offshore Wave Pilot Project which calls for four floating buoys and an underwater transmission cable two miles off the coast of Washington state. It is being developed by the company Finavera Renewables Ocean Energy and expected to power 150 homes. But Bedard said it still needs permits from multiple government agencies, a lengthy and costly process, to proceed.

"Unfortunately in this country the regulators want to know what the environmental effects are before we put it in the water, but we need to do pilot tests in the water to know," he said. "It's a catch 22." In 2008, FERC permit applications for wave energy projects were filed by Pacific Gas & Electric in Mendocino and Humboldt County, Calif.; and by other private companies in California and Oregon. "PG&E has all the coast of California with good strong waves as their territory," said Bedard. "They're the one utility that can really capitalize in a big way in the future in wave energy."

The company Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is developing a wave project off Reedsport, Ore. involving 10 buoys similar to the ones being tested by Oregon State, which could generate enough power for 1,500 homes. They are still seeking permits but hope to launch a pilot buoy next summer. These buoys need waves at least four feet high and can work in waves up to 22 feet high, according to the company. The motion of the waves essentially moves a piston up and down inside the buoy, which generates electricity magnetically. OPT, founded by an Australian surfer, is a publicly traded company that launched its first test buoy in New Jersey in 1997. An OPT buoy that produces 40 kilowatts is about 52 feet long and 12 feet in diameter, with about 13 feet rising above the ocean surface.

An Irish company called Wavebob with headquarters in Annapolis is also hoping to develop wave projects on the US west coast. The Pacific has much stronger waves than the Atlantic, since winds blow west to east across the globe and hence gain power all across the Pacific before hitting the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington. Wave power is also about 10 times stronger in winter than summer.

George Boehlert, director of the Hatfield Center and a professor of fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State, noted that the Pacific Northwest is conducive to wave power because it not only has steady, powerful waves but also electricity transmission infrastructure near the coast.

"There are an awful lot of places where you have very good wave energy, but you don't necessarily have a mechanism to transport it where the power is needed." he said.

"In Oregon we had a lot of industries related to timber and mills at the coast. So we have a lot of substations essentially right near the beach."

The Oregon governor's office has instituted a program to fast track wave power projects, and state officials hope wave power could help them meet a goal of getting 20 percent of the state's power from renewable sources by 2025. A government grant helped form the Oregon Wave Energy Trust, a public-private partnership to study the development of "responsible wave energy."

Wave power has been explored more than tidal power, partly because tidal power is more limited geographically. The power of the tides can generally only be harnessed in a narrow passageway between large bodies of water, for example between a bay or estuary and the open ocean. A major tidal power plant is operating in the Bay of Fundy between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, known for having the world's largest low tide-high tide gap at up to 50 feet. But this project and other proposed tide power schemes involving dams or turbines in the Bay of Fundy have raised serious environmental concerns, including shoreline erosion, contamination and whales stuck behind the generating apparatus.

In the U.S., many tidal areas only vary by about three feet between high and low tide, meaning much less potential energy. But Bedard said places like under the Golden Gate Bridge could still be attractive for tidal power, since they are close to populations which need electricity. "San Francisco is right there, you just plug it into the city," he said. "In Puget Sound, the Admiralty Inlet is just 20 miles from downtown Seattle. Whereas in Alaska, you have a huge tidal resource, but no people and no transmission wires."

There are a number of wave power technologies being tested worldwide, including the Pelamis tubes and the buoys being used off the Pacific Northwest. Boehlert said Oregon State also has experimented with a different prototype he describes as "basically an electromagnetic system like shakeup flashlights."

"Where wave energy is today is similar to where wind was 15 or 20 years ago," said Justin Klure, former director of the Oregon Wave Energy Trust and a consultant with the company Pacific Energy Ventures. "You had four blades, five blades, vertical, horizontal, towers of all heights. Now a 100-meter tower with three blades is the technology of choice. It will be a while before we can make a determination on what technology is most efficient in extracting the linear motion of waves into electricity. It might not be one single device like wind -- there might be multiple devices that make sense."

Researchers at the University of Southampton are developing huge rubber "snakes" known as Anacondas which they hope can generate power more cheaply than most wave technologies, to the tune of six cents per kilowatt hour. The 200-meter-long, seven-meter-diameter Anacondas are rubber tubes sealed, filled with water and placed in the sea facing oncoming waves. The motion of rolling waves passing over them moves the water inside in a "bulge" toward a turbine at one end of the tube to generate electricity.

A technology is being tested off Australia which involves a piston pump attached to the sea floor moved by a float rising and falling on the waves above. Another device developed by the company Energen Wave Power involves floating pontoons and multiple "pivot arms" that capture wave energy. One of Bedard's favorites is an "artificial muscle" being developed at Stanford University which he says, "is very much like a rubber band. You stretch it, and it makes energy." He noted simple devices like this are key, since the off shore location makes maintenance difficult and costly.

"Since the ocean concentrates energy from wind into waves, it's a much higher density resource than wind or solar," he said. "That means the machine to extract it can be smaller, which means less capital. But the kicker is the deployment and maintenance cost. The ocean is a remote and hostile place. Unless developers make something highly highly reliable (that doesn't need much maintenance) it won't be economically successful."

Energy from wave projects is transmitted to the grid through undersea electrical cables, which are commonly used for various purposes including offshore wind farms that are prevalent off several European countries and in development in the U.S.

While land-based and offshore wind farms -most notably the proposed Cape Wind project in the Nantucket Sound -- have provoked significant opposition because of their effects on views, wave energy buoys would be virtually unnoticeable to people onshore.

However wave energy does raise serious environmental concerns, especially in places like the federal Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, where the Makah project would be located. Oregon State is beginning to investigate whether their buoys could alter gray whale migration routes, ocean currents or sand dispersal patterns. Environmentalists also worry about the electromagnetism from undersea transmission cables. And some worry wave power operations could impede the commercial fishing and crabbing industries which are economically crucial to the Pacific Northwest.

"If there are egregious environmental effects, we should not add wave power to our portfolio," said Bedard. "If there are negative effects but they are outweighed greatly by the negative effects of other supplies like coal, maybe we should consider it. (Wave power) should be adaptively managed as part of the national energy supply portfolio."

"It's clear there's a lot of energy in the ocean yet to be tapped," added Klure. "There's no free lunch, there are risks. It's a risk worth taking but we need to do it in a very logical, sequential manner to explore what the real long-term potential is."

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments

I read this article this morning in The Washington Post. Not world changing but interesting none the less. I find my self saying Joe Wulzelbizellebizzlebacher constantly. I have heard and read the correct pronunciation but since I break into hysterical laughter ever time I say his name my way I have not bothered to correct my self overly much.

By the way John McCain isn't the only one who can't seem to get the guys name right.

"The real winner" of Wednesday night's debate, John McCain said yesterday at a campaign stop in Downingtown, Pa., "was Joe the Plumber."

That might depend on the definition of "winner."

Joe the Plumber, a.k.a. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio, is suddenly (sort of) a household name, featured in a McCain ad and sought after by networks news anchors and newspaper reporters. McCain would like to meet him in person this weekend, but Wurzelbacher's got a date on Mike Huckabee's Fox News show and might not have the time.

But the emergence of Joe has allowed the state of Ohio to locate the man it says owes nearly $1,200 in back taxes. His motives for confronting Sen. Barack Obama at a campaign stop in his neighborhood earlier this week are the subject of intense Internet speculation. The city of Toledo is preparing a letter to his employer seeking to determine whether he is violating city codes, and the plumbers union is on his tail.

"Joe the Plumber really isn't a plumber," said Thomas Joseph, business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, whose national membership has endorsed Obama.

Wurzelbacher, 34, had already taken tentative steps onto the national stage after talking to Obama on Sunday as the Democrat toured his suburban neighborhood outside Toledo. Wurzelbacher told Obama that he wants to buy the plumbing company he works for, and that his potential income of more than $250,000 would make him eligible for increased taxes under Obama's proposals.
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"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" Wurzelbacher asked.

Obama's answer to that and a question about the flat tax -- that Obama thought it better to "spread the wealth around" -- captured the attention of conservative media and the McCain campaign.

"Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day," McCain told Obama at the start of Wednesday night's debate. "And he wanted to buy the business, but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes," deferring what McCain called "the American dream."

Joe the Plumber quickly became a metaphor for the middle class, and between them, McCain and Obama mentioned him more than two dozen times.

The result was an avalanche of attention: "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric on the phone, "Good Morning America" awaiting an interview, reporters in the driveway of his modest home.

"I'm completely flabbergasted with this whole thing," he told reporters. He did not return a phone call from The Washington Post.

The morning also showed that the spotlight can be unwelcome. Reporters wondering who Wurzelbacher is quickly found that he owes the state of Ohio $1,182 in back taxes, leading sharp-tongued liberal commentators to say he was not so much concerned about rising taxes as paying taxes at all. (A spokeswoman for the state said it is possible Wurzelbacher did not know about the lien.)
This Story

Wurzelbacher also acknowledged to reporters that he did not have a plumber's license but said he did not need one to do residential work with the two-man Newell Heating and Plumbing Co., which does have a license.

David Golis, a manager in Toledo's office of building inspections, said that is incorrect. "We were just discussing that we will send a letter to the owner of Newell reminding him" of the city's requirement that all who do plumbing work be licensed or in apprentice or journeyman programs, Golis said.

Union manager Joseph said that Wurzelbacher applied for an apprentice program in 2003 but never completed the work.

And Wurzelbacher told reporters that the goal of buying the business was more aspirational than firm. He said his income is "not even close" to the levels at which Obama's proposed tax increases would kick in.

Even if Wurzelbacher's hypothetical were true, tax experts said it is unclear whether he would pay higher taxes under Obama's plan.
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Wurzelbacher told Couric that it is Obama's approach to tax increases that are worrisome. "When's he going to decide that $100,000 is too much, you know?" the divorced father of a 13-year-old son said. "I mean, you're on a slippery slope here. You vote on somebody who decides that $250,000 and you're rich? And $100,000 and you're rich? I mean, where does it end?"

McCain senior adviser Matt McDonald said Thursday that the Republican nominee had mentioned Wurzelbacher's encounter with Obama in a previous speech, but the campaign had not said he would be the centerpiece of McCain's debate performance.

That Wurzelbacher is not a licensed plumber or that his situation is not relevant to Obama's tax proposal did not give him pause, McDonald said. "He's a guy who asked a question that needed to be asked," McDonald said. "He's not a campaign staffer; he's not a surrogate. He's not someone who was vetted, and this wasn't something orchestrated by the campaign."

Appearing on CBS's "Late Show With David Letterman" on Thursday night, McCain mentioned the attention Joe the Plumber was getting and said, "Joe, if you're watching, I'm sorry."

Earlier in the day in New Hampshire, Obama said McCain advocates tax plans that favor the rich.

"He's trying to suggest that a plumber is the guy he's fighting for," Obama said. "How many plumbers do you know that are making a quarter-million dollars a year?"

Wurzelbacher has made that he is conservative and no fan of Obama -- he told Couric that Obama's answer to his question was a "tap dance" that was "almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr." -- but declined to say who he will be voting for Nov. 4.

That is between him and the lever in the voting booth, he said.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

The husband of Sarah Palin, Todd Palin seated behind a White House desk and shaping national policy could be one of the most dangerous aspects of a potential Sarah Palin presidency.

An overlooked part of the Alaska state trooper investigation is its finding on the influence of Gov. Palin's husband, Todd -- the "First Dude" or, as he is known around the Alaska statehouse, the "First Gentleman", or as I like to call him “First #%$&”.

This is crucial in view of the age of the Republican nominee, John McCain, 72, and the fact that he has suffered from melanoma skin cancer. His doctors have pronounced him in excellent health, but his age and the serious nature of this type of cancer should focus attention on his running mate and her operating methods.

A fascinating picture of Todd Palin's influence in Alaska's capital is provided in the report of a legislative investigation that concluded that Gov. Palin unlawfully abused her power in seeking the firing of a state trooper once married to her sister. The report, released Friday, also criticized Palin for allowing Todd Palin to push hard for the dismissal of Trooper Mike Wooten.

Wooten had been married to the governor's sister. Their divorce was messy (Pretty much all divorces are). Wooten's career as a trooper was apparently messy as well. He had been accused of illegally shooting a moose, drinking beer in a patrol car and using a Taser gun on his stepson. Here in The South those types of activities are more likely to win you an accommodation rather than instigate disciplinary action. Wooten was disciplined before Palin became governor and was allowed to remain a trooper. Issue settled right?

Nope.

When Palin took over, the Wooten case was high on the family agenda, with Todd Palin leading the effort to get rid of the trooper. I am familuar with this sort of clannish persecution personally so maybe it hits a nerve with me.

According to Associated Press writer Mike Apuzzo, Todd Palin had "extraordinary access to the governor's office" and he "used that access to try to get [Wooten] fired."

His target was Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he refused to fire Wooten.

The report on the matter, by investigator Stephen Branchflower, a retired state prosecutor, shows how Todd Palin operates.

Monegan's secretary, Cassandra Byrne, said that on Jan. 4, 2007, she received a phone call from the governor's office. An aide told her "the First Gentleman would like to have a meeting with Commissioner Walt Monegan. At the time, I was not familiar with the term 'First Gentleman.' So I kept asking 'Who?' and she eventually said 'Todd Palin.' I said, 'Oh, Okay,' so we set the time and the place which was the governor's office in Anchorage. "

Investigator Branchflower said that when Monegan arrived there he was directed into the governor's office. Todd Palin, wearing a business suit, was alone, waiting for him. "Mr. Palin was seated at a large conference table and invited Mr. Monegan to sit," the report said. Hasn’t James Bond been in this type of situation a few times?

Monegan said, "What I recalled was Todd sitting there. He had three stacks of paper in an array in front of him" dealing with the Wooten case. One was from the Department of Public Safety, under which Alaska state troopers serve. The other two stacks were back issues of “Moose Blasting Monthly” and “Glacial Go-Go Girls” respectively (Okay, I’m kiding about the last two but it could happen).

Monegan told Branchflower that he got "the impression that Todd was not happy with the investigation [that the department had made before disciplining Wooten].

"He told me that he [Wooten] just got a few days off [suspension] and didn't think that was enough. And this guy shouldn't be a trooper."

Describing Todd Palin, Monegan said, "I saw someone who was somewhat animated. Not certainly out of control but he was passionate about how he was addressing the issue. Hell, I’d be passionate too if I had to answer to the Ice Queen back at the old home stead.

"And my impression was that he was venting. I mean there was a complaint, the troopers investigated it and that they had come up with a conclusion and that he was not happy with the conclusion."

The telling vignette shows Todd Palin's position in the governor's office. Dressed in a business suit, seated behind a big conference table with state documents in front of him, he tried to tell the state's top cop how to do his job.

This is a man who was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a radical group advocating Alaskan secession from the United States. Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, told TPM Muckraker that Palin registered as an AIP member in October 1995 and continued in that status until 2000, when he registered as undeclared for a few months. He registered as an AIP member again and remained with the party until 2002, when he registered as undeclared.

What other radical ideas are percolating in the mind of a man who is now portrayed in the media as sort of a lovable guys' guy?

If Sarah Palin ever becomes president, it is safe to assume that the First Gentleman of Alaska will slip into the role of First Gentleman of the United States with as much access to the Oval Office as he has to the governor's office in Anchorage.

That is a truly scary thought.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments

I woke up this morning to a ringing telephone. It was God calling, urging me to get over the afterlife thing as quickly as possible.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments

Horoscope for October 6 to October 12
By Wiccan Chicken & Pagan Penguin

Aries . No, you can't ease your financial woes by selling your half-eaten sandwich on E-bay.

Taurus . You will watch Watermelon Nights about 35 times before you start weeping because you aren't a cute, happy, singing watermelon...you're just shaped like one.

Today's Birthday : You share the same birthday as Drew Carey. Good, now there is at least one thing interesting about you.

Gemini . You will step in poo this week and kinda like it. It will become a new livelong fixation that will get you a prime spot on a Jerry Springer ripoff show.

Cancer . Nice gas guzzling vehicle you drive there, Al Gore. You know what they say about large carbon footprints...small carbon-based manhoods.

Leo . Your unusual sexual desires are not normal and you should seek help.

Virgo. Your pack rat tendencies are becoming a nuisance to your friends and family. What the heck are you going to do with 75 Chinese food containers with no lids and four metric tons of twist ties?

Libra . That burger you ate last week was made out of people. If it's any consolation, they weren't really nice people. Well, except for one of them. She was really sweet and always recycled.

Scorpio. Every time you Google yourself, a baby kitten dies.

Sagittarius . Your body isn't full of "love bumps". Those are just rolls of hideous fat. And possibly tumors.

Capricorn . Money matters might have you under stress this month. You can always just sell a kidney, or maybe one of your children. Or some of your childrens' kidneys!

Aquarius . Since fall is in the air, now is a good time to refresh your wardrobe, and that even includes your undergarments. At the moment, your underwear has more tracks than your local railroad.

Pisces . It's time for a career change! Before you send out your generic resume to a zillion companies, try to make sure you take down that photo of you pretending to felicitate the Ronald McDonald statue that comes up on Google image searches.


Buddhist Monkey Proverb of the Day: War does not determine who is right; it determines who is left.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments

HorrorScopes September 30 -October 5
By Wiccan Chicken & Pagan Penguin

Aries . Warming something frozen up in the microwave does not make you a chef. Besides, roadkill should really be grilled or at least deep fried in lard.

Taurus . Your ass has exceeded the weight limit of your pants. Next time, invest in a forklift as an accessory.

Gemini. Your neighbors can smell your laundry hamper from their living room. You should probably pull grandma out of there before they call the cops.

Today's Birthday : As you try to take a bite out of your birthday cake, someone will come up next to you and punch you in the face.

Cancer. Do the world a favor and skip that onion bagel in the morning. Oh, you didn't have an onion bagel? Then what the heck are you brushing your teeth with - armpits?

Leo. You will get your snout stuck in a jar trying to get "Hunny". You will panic and slowly asphyxiate.

Virgo. You are depleting the world's water supply with your horribly dry sense of humor.

Libra. You better watch your step. This level has lava pits. And no magic mushrooms.

Scorpio. Try to shake things up a little bit. But not babies. You should really stop shaking babies, it's rude.

Sagittarius. You will invent colon-lingus. You might wanna try flossing afterwards.

Capricorn. You might think you are dark and mysterious, but really you're more awkward and creepy. I mean, what kind of person gets aroused driving past cemeteries?

Aquarius. Your childhood scars are not an excuse to be a douchebag all the time. But your face is. Oh!

Pisces. Life has been rough for you lately, so you should let loose and do something wild. Like maybe get a new haircut or kick a puppy.


Buddhist Monkey Proverb of the Day: If the shoe fits, wear it. Unless you're a woman. Then you have to buy a smaller size of it, in every color, and only wear it once and complain about it the whole time.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 6:33 AM | Permalink | Comments

Weekend Edition Saturday, October 4, 2008 · Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, first came to national attention as one of the House managers in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. The former Republican congressman from Georgia tells Scott Simon he is opposed to what he calls the "bailout from hell."

Instead, Barr says, the government should be prosecuting fraud and looking for private entities to buy up troubled institutions.

He believes the U.S. has no business being in Iraq and would bring the troops home upon assuming office. In Afghanistan, Barr proposes to use the military "much more wisely" and isn't convinced that a massive presence of troops is required.

Everyone should be able to get health care — if they want it, Barr says. Government should be spending its time "reducing and removing the onerous regulations that actually prevent people from being able to afford health care."

Barr doesn't see anything wrong with government agencies exchanging information or engaging in surveillance, as long as they stay within the Fourth Amendment and federal laws. What should never be condoned, Barr says, is a president who wields absolute authority to gather intelligence.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Comments

A friend forwarded me this as a possible job opportunity:

Reply to:
Date: 2008-10-04, 6:59AM

"I need english tutor for my son as soon as pissible in Charleston

* Compensation: $450
* This is a part-time job.
* OK for recruiters to contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests."

Please note "pissible".

Well, I don't think her son is the only one who needs a tutor...

Seriously, you can not write stuff this good.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 4:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFSSvtaaF-c

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments

Apologies if you have already received via e-mail these two items, which have made their way around the Internet, reaching no doubt millions of people. They represent a digital version of an underground communique system that's too risque (or just plain brutally on target, and always opinionated) to be posted or printed in the above-ground version of the media . But the Masher believes in Sunlight.

Enjoy, and thanks to the people -- you know who you are -- spreading around these brilliant commentaries like prairie fire.

***

To: S.T.

Subject: Not Spam -- Important Business Offer!!!

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars U.S. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully,

Minister of Treasury Paulson

***

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.!!

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

Sarah Palin was apparently unhappy with the way she presented herself during a recent interview on CBS conducted by Katie Couric. It would seem evidenced in a later interview that what she was unhappy about was not a lack of being properly prepared for the interview, her conduct appearance, or anything else she had direct control over or responsibility for. Typical. Palin blames Couric for the way the the interview was conducted and more specifically the questions the CBS anchor asked.

This can happen. Journalist many times are influenced by their own agendas and personal beliefs. That in and of itself is not always an improper thing so long as it is known that the bias exist and is open. It becomes an ethics issue when it is portrayed as unbiased. Most of the major news reporting agencies try to avoid this sort of agenda pushing deceptive journalism (The big obvious exception is of course FOX news). Other news organizations (Or specific “Journalist) drop all pretense as to their political position but are quit open about it. I listen to Air America and read a varity of left leaning periodicals. I don’t expect them to play very favorably to GOP candidates any more than I would expect Rush Limbaugh to be nice to Ralph Nader (Or to stop popping prescription meds while preaching about the villainy of drug users). I my self write with my beliefs and attitudes very openly displayed. I do my research check my facts as best I can and present them as I see them through my eyes. I am biased. I am also not a professional journalist. I am just an amateur hack essay writer. I am not in the business of presenting unbiased news.

So the question remains (still, after my long-winded rant) Did Couric cross some line of journalist ethics during her interview with Palin? Palin sure things so. I however do not.

Appearing on a friendlier news outlet the Fox news network (Now there is some “Fair and Balanced” reporting. Gov. Sarah Palin said she was "annoyed" with the way Katie Couric handled their interview and complained that the CBS Evening News host failed to give her the opportunity to take a proverbial axe to Barack Obama.

I thought this was an interview not an ad campaign spot where that sort of “axe grinding” is generally regulated to or a debate were things are ...well debated. This was a question and answer session. If you don’t like how you think the public will precieve your answers to questions then either you are worried about the public being aware of your stance on certain issues (In which case you are perpetuating a deception by trying to conceal parts of your agenda) or you are not sure of the answers in the first place. Either way it’s a P.R. problem and your own responsibility .

In a portion of her sit-down with Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron, Palin claimed that Couric's questions -- which produced a series of staggeringly embarrassing responses -- put her in a lose-lose position.

"The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed," she said. "It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."

For the record, Couric asked her, among other things, what type of news sources she turns to for information, which Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with, why Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience, her opinion of the bailout package for Wall Street, and where she thought Vice President Dick Cheney erred. Which one of those questions was designed to trip her up (as opposed to, say, give viewers a better sense of her character and views) is tough to ascertain.

Later in her interview with Cameron, Palin offered a sense of what she thinks would have been a fairer set of questions. Unsurprisingly, they all would have provided her the opportunity to rail against Obama.

"In those Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he's made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of the comments that he has made about Afghanistan -- what we are doing there, supposedly just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless. I want to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that's also an indication of being outside the Washington elite, outside of the media elite also. I just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."

Well she should be happy now. Fox has provided her with a platform to make a campaign speech rather than grant an interview. Yes, there is a fine line between the two and a very fine line between a presentation of ones agenda and the presentation of an disguised attack on ones opponents .I my OPINION Sarah Palin crossed that line not Katie Couric. Rather than answer questions about herself she chose to raise questions about Obama. I will assume she is happy now to have had another opportunity to get what she wanted originally from CBS.

As far as what she wanted? Well...

Mrs. Palin, wanted to conduct a campaign speech not participate in an interview.

Click Here to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ear3W1usG1c

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

Music is the only proof of God or Monster that I have ever found or is it proof that, as I have always said, that the only beauty that exist is in the hearts of men and how we see the natural world in all it's unrecognized glory.

Posted by Saint Tuesday at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments