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Arizona Goes to... Obama?!?

According to electoral-vote.com, McCain's lead is now down to as little as two points (apparently the result of a Zimmerman poll) in Arizona.

Only news that shocking would distract from the fact that McCain leads Georgia by only three points.

Remember that pollsters call "likely voters" meaning, people who have voted in prior elections. The "get out the vote" initiatives of the Democrats are outsigning new voters 2-1, and many of those new voters, particularly in the South, are black. Of those black voters, 9/10 state they'll vote for Obama.

In other words, any state that McCain is leading by a few points can safely be considered a toss-up state, particularly in the South.

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But You Knew That Already...

Yes, Palin is an idiot. But what you may not know is the latest foot she stuck in her mouth.

October 7, 2008: Barack Obama: "I disagree with Sen. McCain about an across-the-board freeze... That's using a hatchet to cut the federal budget. I want to use a scalpel so that people who need help are getting help and those of us, like myself and Sen. McCain, who don't need help, aren't getting it.

October 11, 2008: John McCain: "My friends, right now we need a hatchet and a scalpel. I'll give you both."

The takeaway? If Barack Obama is going to be frugal, then John McCain is going to be frugaler.

Now, listen to what Sarah Palin just said today:

Wow, fruit flies in Paris, huh? Sounds so exotic and wasteful!

In reality this "earmark" was for the US Department of Agriculture's European Biological Control Laboratory, in Montpelier France-- 470 miles away from Paris. (But then again, if you have foreign policy experience because you live "close" to Russia, then I suppose Montpelier/Paris-- it's the same thing). Anyway, this facility is intended for the US Department of Agriculture to cooperate with international agencies in solving "acute agricultural and environmental problems".

One of these acute environmental problems is the explosive growth of olive fruit flies in California. If you've heard of the Washington state apple maggot problem, this makes that problem pale in comparison. This pest has "been responsible for losses of 100% of some table cultivars and up to 80% of oil value. For table olive growers, the presence of even a few infested fruit can lead to rejection of an entire crop." [Source: UC Davis]

Palin, who wouldn't know her head from her ass, doesn't seem to realize that the facility in Montpelier is conducting reseearch on, for example, parasitic wasps that are indigenous to the Mediterranean area (like Montpelier-- Paris is closer to the Atlantic), which are natural predators of the olive fruit fly. Should we just introduce European wasps to California and "hope it all works out", or is that research better conducted in Montpelier, Sarah?

Then again, from an intellectual strawweight who doesn't recognize that it's important to understand the origins of global warming to fix it, this isn't particularly surprising.

But in the same "policy" speech, Sarah said:

For many parents of children with disabilities, the most valuable thing of all is information. Early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference.

Hey Sarah, while you were suggesting we cut wasteful pork like "fruit fly research" to help fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, research at UNC has shown that research on "Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders".

Oh, and one of those pet projects like "the bridges", was an earmark that you asked for before you turned it down because it was embarrassing, and then took and spent the money in Alaska anyway...

Sarah, your hypocrisy and vacuity have no bounds. You (and I'm sad to say, your enthusiastic and unwavering supporters) are a classic example of everything that is wrong with America today.

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Video du Jour

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If The Election Were Held Today...

On September 3rd, I predicted:

This election is going to be a blowout. Obama is going to easily surpass 300 electoral votes (just short of 350), and the only double digit states that McCain will carry will be Arizona (natch), Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Tennesee, North Carolina and Georgia. Maybe McCain will get Ohio, but I think Obama will get Florida.

Happily, I was wrong. It's looking quite likely now, that Obama is going to far exceed 350 electoral votes (today that count is 375!), and McCain is not only going to lose Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia (where he trails by 6-7 points each), today, Missouri, North Carolina and Florida are all leaning toward Obama (by two points each).

Also on September 27th, I wrote:

Following the October 2nd VP debate, I'm thinking that at least half of the battleground states (Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri) are going to swing to Obama.

Today, that prediction came true. All six of those states are now leaning toward Obama by anywhere between two to seven points.

On top of that, Montana and North Dakota are now a even race, and South Dakota and Georgia have weakened considerably (where McCain leads each by six points).

Furthermore, I think that there may be a few election day surprises for McCain in the heavily African-American deep south where the Obama campaign has been driving new voter registrations. For example, I think Obama might just win Mississippi, where the polls (oriented towards previous voters) show McCain leads by 10 points.

Time will tell.

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Bad Drivers Suck

So I'm driving home, and I'm about 2 minutes away from my house, getting ready to turn off the main street near my house. It's a five lane road, two lanes each way, with one center turn lane.

As I turn into what appears to be a clear turn lane, I notice a car that's in the turn lane that's trying to use the center turn lane as a merging lane to enter traffic coming the opposite way.

"Dumbass", I think to myself, and stop to give the guy enough room.

The guy begins to move forward. I'm thinking "OK, with this many cars on the road..." (there are four full lanes of traffic at this point) "... traffic must have stopped so once he merges into traffic I'll be able to go..."

He's 30 yards out, now 20, still staying in the same turn lane. Why is he driving in the turn lane? 15 yards out. OK, now he's at about 20 mph... Uh, dude, turn into your lane.

OK, good, he's starting to turn... 10 yards, 25mph... DUDE, TURN YOUR WHEEL, OR HIT YOUR FREAKING BRAKES! 5 yards... DO YOU NOT FREAKING SEE ME OMG, TURN YOUR WHEEL!

Nope, the moron plows his front left bumper into my front left bumper at about 20mph. Mangles my front bumper and forward left quarter panel, deploys his airbags, and rips his bumper clear off and ruptures his AC and/or radiator.

^#@$!

^#@$!

Now it's night time, and his lights are on so I can't see his face but I think it's safe to say one of two things occured here:

• The guy was driving forward, while looking over his shoulder, so he didn't see me until he practically hit me (MORON!)
• The guy was driving forward, saw me right in front of him, couldn't see that he had clearance to enter his lane, and took 20-30 yards to enter traffic when even a small sharp course correction on his steering wheel would have avoided hitting me (MORON!)

The police report says it nice and clear: "Unit 1 missed his turn and drove straight into another vehicle. Driver of unit 1 said he missed his turn and didn't see the other car. Unit 2 was stopped, ready to make a legal left turn."

I feel a massive headache coming on, and I think it's going to be about fighting insurance companies... The driver, who claimed it wasn't his fault (his airbags went off, mine didn't) has a non-first tier insurance company. It's listed on the police report as "WA Auto" and as a very popular SEO term, returns 0 hits of a real company on Google. My insurance company states that the only match for that insurance company is "Washington Automotive" in Federal Way, with a phone number of (253) 838-9100. That number has been disconnected, and reverse phone lookup turns up "Arrowhead-Claims-Management" as the owner.

Google indicates they (might?) have a website, as there are many hits for this business name:

• www.acmclaims.com/WhoWeAre.html
• arrowheadgrp.com
• www.arrowheadclaims.com

The bad news? I'm out my $500 deductible before my insurance company completes the subrogation process (where they get the funds from the party at fault). The good news? My repair is likely to be much more than $500, so they're going to be motivated to get their own money from his insurance so I'm likely to get that money sooner than later.

What I didn't do well was to get his insurance information (I thought I'd have the details on the police report), but what I did do well was to involve the police (I called 911) as the guy started to claim that he wasn't at fault. (I wasn't about the let this situation become a his word vs. mine situation with two insurance companies)

Anyway. My evening has been destroyed, as has the front of my car. (MORON!)

Here's a visual depiction of the area and the sequence of events and where I was going and where he was going.


And the sad state of my car.

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Headed to Northern Europe

Disney announced their Summer 2010 cruises recently, with ports of call in Dover, England; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Warnemünde, Germany (Berlin); St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden.

They also have itineraries back to the Mediterranean the same summer (our 2007 Mediterranean cruise was amazing) and I highly recommend it.

With two new ships on the way, Disney will be making more ports of call more frequently. And as an avid cruiser (and now, with a child in tow) and Disney nut, I foresee many Disney Cruises in our future.

Of course, like any Disney vacation, the more the merrier! So if you want to join us, drop me a line and I'll send you our itinerary.

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Powell Challenges Smear Tactics

On Meet the Press today, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama.

Much of what Powell said has been said before, but Powell is the first that I know of that condemned the McCain campaign for something I haven't heard other conservatives bring up.

Lakeville South High School, Lakeville, Minnesota, Friday October 10, 2008: At a town hall meeting organized by the McCain campaign, Gayle Quinnell, of Shakopee, Minnesota, comes to the microphone during the Q&A period. Gayle states frankly, "I don't trust Obama, I have read about him. He's an Arab."

John McCain interrupts, "No, maam", and takes the microphone away from her. He continues, "No, maam. He's a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with him on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about."

McCain's comments are insightful. Why contrast the assertion of being Arab against being a decent family man, or being a citizen? Here are a few people, let's decide if they're good family men or not.

General John Abizaid, the commander of US CENTCOM in Iraq: Arab? Yes. Good family man? Well we know he's an Arab, therefore we can conclude that he ... (is?/is not?) a decent family man...
John Sununu, Republican Senator of New Hampshire: Arab? Yes. Good family man? Well is is an Arab... Therefore we know for sure that he (is?/is not?) a decent family man.

Someone call the Pentagon and Senate and alert them to the fact that Arabs are serving in the US Army and the Senate! Clearly they can't be citizens!

We know how Gayle Quinnell would answer those questions, and we know the awkward way that McCain answered Gayle's assertion, something that wasn't lost on Powell.

I’ve also been disappointed frankly by some of the approaches that Senator McCain ..., or his campaign has, on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about.
...
What they’re trying to connect [Obama] to is some kind of terrorist feelings, and I think that’s inappropriate.
...
I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture, at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave, and as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards, purple heart, bronze star, showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old, and then at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have a Star of David, it had a crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11. And he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life.

And for those of you out there that look at the Electoral maps and are amazed that the McCain campaign can still command such strong leads in places like Oklahoma and Utah, remember that there is a segment of the populace in America (and these segments are apparently particularly strong in certain swaths across America) that believe that you can't be a decent family man if you are an Arab or a Muslim... That people who are from Kenya, that people from Indonesia, that people from Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia-- these are people who don't love their children as much as white Christian Americans do.

P.S. The photo essay was in the New Yorker. Here's the image he mentioned of Elsheba Khan mourning.
P.P.S. Before you consider that maybe I'm reading too much into Gayle's opinions, see this video interview of her after McCain rebuked her: Quinnell disputing McCain's assertions.

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Somebody Get Me a Plunger

Sunday October 12th, a quiet suburb in Ohio -- A 34 year old man is throwing a football around with his 13 year old son when a gaunt politician, campaigning in his neighborhood, is fawned over by his neighbors.

Frustrated that his naive neighbors weren't "asking him tough enough questions", Samuel J. Wurzelbacher decides to approach the candidate. "I thought, you know, I'll go over there. I've always wanted to ask one of these guys a question and really corner them."

He shakes hands with the candidate and tells him that he wants to buy the business he works for, and asks "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"

Now it turns out that the politician was Barack Obama, and Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher is "Joe the Plumber" that McCain was trying to rub in Obama's face during the debate:

McCain: Now, my old buddy, Joe, Joe the plumber, is out there. Now, Joe, Senator Obama's plan, if you're a small business and you are able [to buy the company] -- and your [boss] -- the guy that sells to you will not have his capital gains tax increase, which Senator Obama wants, if you're out there, my friend, and you've got employees, and you've got kids, if you don't get -- adopt the health care plan that Senator Obama mandates, he's going to fine you.

Now, Senator Obama, I'd like -- still like to know what that fine is going to be, and I don't think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America's economy.

This is the famous exchange that leads to McCain's "Deer in the Headlights" moment:

Obama: I just described what my plan is. And I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there. Here's your fine -- zero. You won't pay a fine, because...

McCain (incredulous): Zero?!? [Deer in Headlights Look]

Obama: Zero, because as I said in our last debate and I'll repeat, John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees, but are not doing it.

But the debate was only part of the story. Here's what you may not have heard:

• Joe is not even a licensed plumber.
• Joe never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumber's union.
• He's employee number two in a two person company.
• A plumber's median salary is $42K... How can he afford buying a $250K profitable business?
• By the way: Joe the Plumber has unpaid property taxes of $1100

But let's dig in a little deeper. Assume Joe the Plumber is in a position to buy out his boss (let's say he inherited a sum of money)... Obama's tax plan applies to income... So he'd have to earn more than $250K/year, not spend it on buying a company.

For a company worth buying at $250K, that kind of valuation implies (at 1x-2x revenues) $125-$250K a year in earnings. If I had a business pulling in $250K doing plumbing, and a median licensed plumber earns $42K, I could hire two licensed plumbers, an accountant and an office manager, goof off all day and bring in $80K-90K a year (minus expenses). Why would I ever sell that to one of my employees for $250K? Answer: I wouldn't. So the answer is that revenues are probably a lot closer to $125K/year than $250K/year.

At $125K a year, I could afford a dim-wit, unlicensed plumber's assistant at $35K a year, I could afford to pay myself maybe 30% over median ($56K/year) or $91K/year in salaries, so long as I keep my expenses and costs of doing business at under $34K/year.

At that rate, an Obama tax plan looks really, really attractive, both for me, and my employee. Shoot, even if my employee won the lottery and decided to buy me out at $250K, the company is only bringing in $125K/year, and paying two employees salaries that are well below the $250K threshhold where Obama's plan starts to cost me more than I pay in taxes today.

Even then... If you can make $250K as a plumbing contractor in this housing market I would be ecstatic to pay $900 more in taxes under an Obama presidency, because if I'm pulling in $280K per year, I wouldn't exactly call that "hurting". In fact, when unemployment is at unprecedented levels in years, and retirement plans at fractions of their value, I'd be counting my lucky stars that I'm paying taxes on $280K/year.

But let's call a spade a spade. If Joe the (not quite a) Plumber, can't afford to pay his property taxes, how can he buy a profitable plumbing business from his boss? How can he stay in business if, by buying out his boss, there are no licensed plumbers working for this company anymore? And if buying this company is going to result in higher taxes, we're back to the fact that now the boss is making more than $250K/year.

The story just doesn't make sense. It sounds like a half-witted half-thought-out concocted scenario that some Joe made up while playing football with his son when Barack Obama came walking by. He happened to hear some conservative TV or Radio show that misrepresented Obama's tax plan, and decided that if he presented the situation as if he was going to buy his boss' business for $250K that surely that would mean his taxes would go up.

Instead of trying (and failing) to pull a "Gotcha!" on Barack, Joe ought to go and get a plumbing license, and pay his back taxes. Then we can take a look at how he's going to buy out what appears to be his bosses extremely profitable plumbing business... once we figure out how a guy who probably makes less than $40K/year (again: median pay for licensed, apprenticed, unionized plumbers is $42K/year) could conceivably have $250K in cash burning a hole in his pocket in this housing market...

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Landslide...

By now, the outcome is already clear-- Obama is going to win. The only question is by how much.

It's more likely a scenario for Obama to win Indiana and North Carolina than for McCain to win all seven battleground states. Even in that most unlikeliest of scenarios, McCain would still be 18 electoral votes behind, votes he'd have to earn from at least two additional Obama-leaning states like Virginia and Colorado, the latter of which Obama is leading by six points.

That leaves Obama with a significant mandate, and a handy lead in both legislative houses.

The legacy of the Bush administration is a clear case study that allows for the repudiation of basic tenets of conservative Republican politics. Trickle down economics. Rampant unregulation. Cronyism. Anti-intellectualism. Cynical legislation like "No Child Left Behind" and the "Blue Skies" and "Clear Water" acts. Lack of accountability for 9/11, Intelligence Failures, Katrina, Civil Rights Abuses, Wiretapping, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and the every day sapping of the strength of America by failed energy policy, failed health care, and failed education...

I simply don't think McCain/Palin are credible to bring meaningful changes to the issues and obstacles I just mentioned, and the good news is Obama looks like he will have a strong mandate and a Congress that he can work with to make some significant progress over the next eight years.

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A Few Things to Keep In Mind About ACORN...

The McCain campaign, lacking any kind of cohesive message about what they offer as a contrast to Obama, are raising the sceptre of the ACORN "scandal".

Here's what to keep in mind about ACORN as you hear the McCain campaign rail against it.

• McCain was for it before he was against it. To the tune of being ACORN's keynote speaker in 2006!
• These are not the droids you're looking for. No really, I swear, this isn't a Jedi Mind Trick! ACORN's employees get paid by the hour (not by each registration) avoiding the conflict of interest that would create. But let's remember this is at best registration fraud. This is distinct from voter fraud because you still have to show your ID and prove you are who you say you are in most polling locations. If, as the motive would indicate, people are just submitting fraudulent registrations to defraud ACORN of funds, that doesn't necessarily mean that the people they're trying to register are going to be able to undermine the actual election without a bunch of fake ID cards.
• And to that point, guess who's been at the forefront of uncovering this voter registration fraud? No, it's not the McCain campaign, it's ACORN themselves, who are trying to prevent being defrauded by unscrupulous ACORN activists. It's ACORN bringing these issue to the attention of the state secretaries of state when they detect that such fraud is going on... So ACORN is policing itself, hardly some kind of liberal vote-stealing conspiracy that the McCain campaign would have you believe.
• By law, ACORN is required to submit the voter registrations, even if they have reason to believe they are falsified. Otherwise, it's an ethics quagmire! Think about it. If ACORN had the discretion to decide what applications to submit, they could manipulate voter registrations by only submitting applications from poor areas...
• It's up to the State to take action when ACORN denotes an application as flagged as questionable.

Bottom line? Much like the rest of the McCain campaign, there's no signal, only noise. Nothing to see here folks, other than a landslide in the making and red herrings abound from the McCain camp.

Actually, that's not going far enough. The truth of it is that people casting stones at ACORN are doing so because they're afraid of an election where poor and minority voters have a voice. The good news is that Obama has such a groundswell of mainstream appeal that it won't have to come to the efforts of ACORN to win the election. ACORN is simply going to help make it be a landslide.


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An Inconvenient Truth...

...isn't just a movie by Al Gore.

It's also the findings of the Branchflower report.

Here's the executive summary:

1. Palin abused her power by violating the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
2. Monegan's refusal to dismiss Wooten was "a contributing factor" in Palin's firing him.

In case there is any doubt, here is a key passage of that document:

Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda.

And what was Sarah's response?

Palin: Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that...

If by "cleared" she meant "implicated", and by "pleased" she meant "chagrined", then that would at least make her, oh, I don't know, a rational human being?!

I think this speaks to her general flaccidity of intellect. And if it's not a lack of intellect, it's a shameful lack of accountability for the truth and reason.

I've suggested that there ought to be a clinical name for the actions of certain Republicans. Add this to the list: Palinophrenia: "To cling to the bald faced lies of innocence and absolution when confronted with the undeniable truth of your guilt."

What I have a hard time understanding is (absent the obvious landslide by which Obama is going to win the election) why so many people are apparently still standing by the McCain/Palin ticket.

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The Next Time...

...Sarah Palin suggests that Barack Obama is "Pallin' around" with a terrorist, let's consider asking her about her ties to the Alaska Independence Party... (see video)

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Support For My Theory

A few days ago, I wrote on cosmic theories, and stated:

Simply stated, my idea is that the universe continues to expand until the energy imparted upon all of the mass is sufficiently expended such that the universe begins to contract.

As it does, a critical mass begins to coalesce, and once enough of it does, the concentration of mass/gravity/energy gets so great that the fundamental nature of mass/gravity/energy are fundamentally changed for a fraction of a second, and the totality of this primordial mass explodes in (another) big bang. In essence, the entire universe is like a human heart, contracting and expanding in many cycles of creation and destruction.

Today I happened across a Scientific American article called Big Bang or Big Bounce?: New Theory on the Universe's Birth. And to my pleasant surprise, I found a portion that is supportive of this theory:

Gravity is typically an attractive force. ... But loop gravity suggests that the atomic structure of spacetime changes the nature of gravity at very high energy densities, making it repulsive. Imagine space as a sponge and mass and energy as water. The porous sponge can store water but only up to a certain amount. Fully soaked, it can absorb no more and instead repels water. Similarly, an atomic quantum space is porous and has a finite amount of storage space for energy. When energy densities become too large, repulsive forces come into play.

In other words, "the fundamental nature of mass/gravity/energy are fundamentally changed for a fraction of a second, and the totality of this primordial mass explodes in (another) big bang"... just like I wrote.

Now, I never said I came up with this idea (while I did discover it independently I don't assert I was the first) but it is interesting to note that the mathematics to support it was completed only in 2006. Meanwhile I recall discussing these ideas with my Physics professor as an undergrad in 1994.

I guess this sort of gives me a glimpse of what kinds of stuff I might have studied if I had remained in academia and astrophysics.

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When It Rains...

...it pours...

I just uploaded a ton of Carson pics to Flickr. Check out the set of his pictures.

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Palin Says "Also"... A Lot...

I pointed this out to my mother in law this weekend... It's hard to disagree, as these clips illustrate.





She also tends to use "th" nouns, like "those", "there", "that", "they" and "them", often without actually providing a previous reference to a particular noun prior to doing so. There's so little distinct meaning in anything that she says, that you might as well remove all proper nouns and replace them with abstract ones... Both sentences carry about the same amount of meaning.

Actual Palin Quote: "It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state."
What she might as well have said: "It is from there that we send those out to make sure that that is being kept on this very powerful thing, that, because they are right there, they are right next to this."

Anyway. Here are my other observations of what's going on in the world.

• Palin is "taking the gloves off" by bringing up Pastor Wright again
• Except Palin's own pastor attempted to dispel witchcraft from Palin... What is this, 1692?
• Except McCain's Hagee problem...
• Except for Palin's Alaska secessionist party affiliations...
• Rolling Stone has an insightful video on 5 McCain Myths

And on a lighter note:

• I know what my next vacation is going to be
• Christine and I got to see Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount on Sunday
• It was a good production, but the Paramount can't compare to the theater dedicated to PotO at the Venetian in Las Vegas
• Sarah Brightman's "All I Ask of You" continues to set the standard of the vocals for that role (but then again, I didn't expect that this production would surprass her)
• If I had to distill it down to a 3 second clip about why Sarah Brightman has yet to be surpassed, it would be this one (the 3 second clip starts at 3:02-- "say you'll love me")...
• I realize that's a studio recording, but her stage performances are probably just as amazing

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Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is McCain

"I will make them famous, and you will know their names."

A line delivered with conviction, repeated at numerous occasions.

The hallmark of a maverick. A principled fiscal conservative. The guy who's a thorn in the side of his own party. He who has never won Ms. Congeniality.

The bill that just got signed by Bush includes Earmarks for Race Tracks, Restaurant Construction Projects, Tax Credit Extensions for American Samoa and Puerto Rico, Incentives for Rum Production in the US Virgin Islands, Mine Rescue Team Training, Railroad Track Construction, Investments in Washington DC, Wool Tariffs, Tax Breaks for Film and Television Productions, Childrens Toy Arrows, Reclassification of Payments Made in the Exxon Valdez Litigation, Farming Machine Depreciation Rules, Roads for Rural Schools, Funds for the Use of Federal Lands by State and Local Governments, Hurricane Ike Disaster Relief...

So, I guess it's only a matter of time for John McCain to use his campaign to chastise and publicize the names of those that voted for this irresponsible pork, right?

Or maybe not, since John McCain voted for the bill.

If it weren't so tragic, it might be funny.

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Tomorrow's the Day...

That Sarah's going to finally cook the GOP goose in the VP debate. I'm surprised she's made it this far. The strategy of keeping her from the press has worked so far, but it's going to blow up in their faces once the US sees what a train wreck she is.

Do I exaggerate? Hardly. Consider this transcript:

Couric: What happens if the goal of democracy doesn't produce the desired outcome? In Gaza, the U.S. pushed hard for elections and Hamas won.

Palin: Yeah, well especially in that region, though, we have to protect those who do seek democracy and support those who seek protections for the people who live there.

Uh, did she just defend Hamas, which as even Wikipedia notes, "Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, and the United States"?!?

Palin: What we're seeing in the last couple of days here in New York is a President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who would come on our soil and express such disdain for one of our closest allies and friends, Israel ...

Didn't she just a moment ago get done talking about "protecting" those who "seek democracy" in a Gaza strip and Hamas context? Now she's talking about Iran and Ahmadinejad's anti-Israeli comments? ... Hey, Sarah, ... newsflash ... Just look up Hamas on Wikipedia and they'll tell you "Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel"...

Palin: ... and we're hearing the evil that he speaks and if hearing him doesn't allow Americans to commit more solidly to protecting the friends and allies that we need, especially there in the Mideast, then nothing will."

Look, what Americans need to commit to more solidly than anything else is to stop the charade of seriously considering clearly incompetent candidates for the highest offices in the land.

This is serious stuff. We need a VP who can speak intelligently about the kinds of cases that might come to the supreme court. We need a VP who can identify those who are state sponsors of terrorism (or financed by them). We need a VP who can articulate her position succinctly and in the appropriate amount of detail. We need someone whose idea of foreign policy experience isn't simply sharing a maritime border along which the population of polar bears outnumbers that of people.

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