PSoTD

Seriously, Comcast - you have to give the users the option of how they want to use the spamfilter. Comcast shouldn't haphazardly block legitimate email - and Comcast is doing just that.

In all honesty, I think use of spamfilters by ISPs should be an issue looked at by the Congress, except I'm afraid of what this Congress might end up doing to these non-truck tubes.

Time to be really honest.

What does the federal holiday, "Labor Day", really mean to you?

I'm tagging the following bloggers to post their feelings about it on their sites. And I'll post mine tomorrow.

42, 100 monkeys typing., 750 Volts, A Big Fat Slob, A Grand Illusion, above average jane, After School Snack, Agitprop, The All Spin Zone, alphabitch, The Alternate Brain, AMERICAblog, America's Hometown, An Old Soul, Ang's Weird Ideas, The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat, Annie's Annals, Audacity, Aunt Elinor Fights Crime, AverageBusinessman, Ayn Clouter's Blog, BARBARIAN Blog, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Barnestormin, Blah3, Blankbaby, Blanton's and Ashton's, blogenlust, BlondeSense, Body and Soul, Bootstrap Analysis, Brian's Political Donnybrook, Byzantium's Shores, Can't Keep Quiet, Capitol Ideas, The Chronic Curmudgeon, Coffee House Studio, Collective Sigh, The Command T.O.C., Comments from Left Field, Confined Space, Content, Creek Running North, Crushed by Inertia, cuddlefish, The CultureGhost, Cup O' Joe, Cutting to the Chase, The Cynic, Daddy Democrat, Daily Kos, The DAOU Report, Dialogic, Dohiyi Mir, Edicts of Nancy, Effect Measure, Eschaton, expostulation, Fact-esque, fatcat politics, Fester's Place, firedoglake, Fixer and Gordon, Folkbum, Froth Slosh B'Gosh, The Funny Farm, Geeky Mom, GnostiNews, Gort42, Granny Insanity, Halushki, The Heretik, I See Invisible People, I'm Just Waiting for the Robot Invasion, Iddybud, iFlipFlop, ISOU, It's My Country Too, It's Recess-Time Somewhere, I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake, Jesus' General, Just A Bump in the Beltway, Keystone Politics, King of Zembla, Lab Kat, The Lady Speaks, Last Left Turn Before Hooterville, The Left Coaster, LJ's Blogorific, Loaded Mouth, Macswain, MadKane, Majikthise, Making Light, Mamie: Inside/Out, Masson's Blog, memeorandum, Middle Earth Journal, Mister Anchovy, A Mockingbird's Medley, The Moderate Voice, MoxieGrrrl, Neverending Rainbow, NewsHog, next direction, The Next Hurrah, Night Bird's Fountain, NoGodBlog.com, No More Apples, No More Mister Nice Blog, Norbizness, Norwegianity, Obsidian Wings, Ole Blue the Heretic, OnBackground, On the Left Tip, The Online Magazine Formerly Known As Rob's Blog, The Opinion Mill, Pam's House Blend, Pandagon, Paperwight's Fair Shot, PCNBlog, Pen-Elayne, philly, Philly Future, Photon Theory, Pinko Feminist Hellcat, Poverty Barn, Preemptive Karma, The Price of Liberty is Vigilance, Progressive Blog Digest, Progressive Society Blog, Proof Through the Night, Radical Hapa, Random Thoughts, [--raw muses & codfish II--], The Reaction, Red State Diaries, RichardBellikoff.com, Roger Ailes, Rook's Rants, Rowhouse Logic, Rox Populi, The Rude Pundit, ScaramoucheBlog, Seeing the Forest, Shakespeare's Sister, The Sideshow, Simianbrain, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Smorgasblog, Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane, Speedkill, State of Grace, State of the Day, Suburban Guerrilla, sumo merriment, Swerve Left, T. Rex's Guide to Life, The Tally Ho, The Tattered Coat, TBogg, Thoughts of an Average Woman, Toad in the Hole, TommyWonk, Uncle Horn Head, Upon Further Review, Upper Left, Very Simple, Wampum, What Do I Know?, Why Are We Back In Iraq?, Why Now?, Windy City Lefty, Women's Autonomy and Sexual Sovereignty Movements, Worlds, The Yellow Doggerel Democrat, Young Philly Politics

1906 ITU National Strike Produced Eight-Hour Day

A century ago, the International Typographical Union set the stage for the eight-hour day in American workplaces with a $4 million campaign.

In 1906, the ITU struck most major U.S. cities to demand an eight-hour work day. The union had lost a fight for a nine-hour day a few years earlier. But this time, the union spent over $4 million to support its striking locals. Not only did the ITU win an eight-hour work day, but the ITU strike paved the way for similar gains by the five other printing unions.

A great advance for a better life by the working class for $4 million, even when inflation adjusted, considering that America has now had 100 years of the eight-hour work day.

And why isn't he campaigning for Lieberman?

Check out some of Lynn Swann's gubernatorial campaign advertising purchases on Google:

Rick Santorum
Bob Casey
Ed Rendell
Franco Harris
Terry Bradshaw

I wonder how many other former Steelers are now part of Swann's political advertising campaign?

From Ted Watts, author of The First Labor Day Parade.

The first parade was not held on a Monday, but on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. The parade was repeated annually without interruption, but not always on a Monday, until several states and then the Congress in 1894, settled on the first Monday in September.

Those first parades were really protest rallies for the adoption of the 8-hour day, rather than the, often tame civic events they have involved into. Participants had to give up a day's pay in order to march. The New York City Central Labor Union (CLU) even levied a fine on non-participants!

And what should parades on next year's Labor Day rally for?

Is Comcast really blanket blocking all email determined as "spam" in Brightmail and not providing them as a junk folder so that each user can make the determination of spam?

Are they really being that clumsy towards legitimate forwarding mailservers?

If you use Comcast, do you know what legitimate email you're not getting?

and found a big hole in my backyard.

For CNN, NBC, Fox, etc.,...

How much did the John Mark Karr excess cost?
How much did the John Mark Karr excess make?

Thankfully there are drag racers, at least they have an idea what this upcoming holiday is about.

Top Fuel driver David Baca won't let the pomp and circumstance surrounding this weekend's prestigious 52nd annual Mac Tool U.S. Nationals overshadow the real meaning of this extended holiday weekend and he's using his 8,000-horsepower Mach 1 Air Services dragster to prove his point.

Throughout the extended race weekend, which leads into Monday's eliminations on Labor Day, Baca and his team will salute the American worker with a large decal on each side of his red, white, and blue racecar. It's his way of paying homage to the men and women that have made the United States of America the best country on Earth.

"In drag racing, we think about Labor Day and we think about Indy and the U.S. Nationals," said Baca, who was the No. 1 qualifier here in 2003. "We're programmed that way and that's cool. But I don't want people to lose sight of the fact this is Labor Day weekend. It's not just an extra day off, or even Indy weekend, it's the way we thank the American worker for all they have done to make this country great.

Raiders sign Jeff George.

I am amazed. AMAZED. And appalled, by how little coverage of Labor Day is given by labor unions. A great PR opportunity, and what do they do online? Not very much. I guess I should be happy that they don't crap all over the holiday and demean the meaning of it even further, but really, that's just pathetic.

At least the New York City Central Labor Council has a countdown to the annual parade. That's more than most.

Following along the Labor Day theme...

This looked promising - the AFL-CIO has a "Labor Day" movie page. And there's some clips there, but they could go much further.

Every year around Christmas there are blog posts and emails and radio broadcasts and television shows dedicated to the "best Christmas movies/shows ever made". When you participate in the discussion, naturally the debate comes along to discussing why the movie or show is best - and although there may be production quality components to the debate, a bigger part is the lessons that are taught within the program.

There really aren't many "Labor Day" movies - I can't even think of one. But there are plenty of movies about labor, and improving the worklife. I think it would be useful for the celebration of Labor Day to have a national discussion of the great movies about working and labor and the work environment, although not necessarily about unions. It's an easy way to remind people what the point of next Monday was or ought to be.

Since the AFL-CIO whiffed on this, I'll do my part. What are the top ten most hope-inspiring labor or work environment movies ever made?

It's almost here.

Labor Day is a national legal holiday that is over 100 years old. It grew out of a celebration and parade in honor of the working class by the Knights of Labor in 1882 in New York. In 1884, the Knights held a large parade in New York City celebrating the working class. The parade was held on the first Monday in September. The Knights passed a resolution to hold all future parades on the same day, designated by them as Labor Day.

Over the years, it has evolved from a purely labor union celebration into a general "last fling of summer" festival.

Of all the unuseful things that unions have done over the years, the loss of defining Labor Day may be the single most grating example. Instead of a holiday in which the working class celebrates itself and their improved lot over the years annually - and as a focal point in which future improvements can be hoped for - we treat it as a celebratory point of the "end of summer". That REALLY helps the working class in their struggle for a better life.

I'll be checking next week to see what unions are doing publicly to promote Labor Day. Not to promote their particular union, but to promote the working person and to instill pride in the working class for being the class that actually gets the work done in this country. Or, as the line in "It's A Wonderful Life" goes, the majority of living and loving and dying in this country. Workers - and I mean every level of work, with no differentiation between white and blue collar jobs - should enjoy a celebration of the benefit they provide the economy of this nation. And there should be a reflection about the better life we all have as workers, and a personal commitment to improvements in the future. It is time we quit trading it in for a salute to the end of summer which is more an honor of the school calendar than anything else. And to that end, unions should be trying to uplift the holiday for the sake of ALL workers. We'll see what happens.

That's a goal of ours this weekend at Berkeley Springs State Park, in West Virginia.

Did you enjoy the post?

Our youngest had his last day of preschool yesterday. Next week he starts kindergarten - it'll be at the same place that he has been going for several years, but now we're into public instruction.

I've been driving to the same place - The Children's Garden in Shiremanstown, for 9 years most every weekday mornings, and before our son finishes kindergarten, it'll be ten years. It is hard to believe that I've been doing the same route for so long. Nine years: four different cars we've driven, four different carseats, countless numbers of toys in the backseat, probably over a hundred field trips with our kids through The Children's Garden over the years.

It's been a great nine years with The Children's Garden, and both kids are smart and happy and have enjoyed both their teachers and their classmates. One of the things I have enjoyed the most about it so far is the interaction between everyone. At our daughter's public school, she catches the bus to and from school, and our interaction with the kids in her class and her teachers is fairly limited. But at the preschool, we're there everyday the kids are, dropping off and picking up, talking with the other kids in the class, the parents of other kids, the teachers, the administrators. Most of the kids that are in our son's kindergarten class have been in the preschool program with him for years, and they know us, and we know them. The Children's Garden has been a special environment for our kids - and for us as parents - and I ought to try to capture and catalog the next year in my mind, because after this year, that's the only place I'll be able to experience them.

This deserves to be reprinted around the nation's newspapers:

Our Reckless Employee
George Bush says we don"t understand the nature of the world, but he doesn"t comprehend the nature of the presidency.

by James Heflin - August 24, 2006

It must be hard to be president and maintain a sense of life beyond security perimeters and G-men with earpieces. But there's more than that behind a naive statement George W. Bush uttered last week. After federal judge Anna Diggs Taylor issued a ruling that laid waste Attorney General Gonzalez' novel defense of Bush's extra-constitutional eavesdropping habit--that, in effect, the judge had no right to judge George, the argument also currently employed by Saddam Hussein--Bush claimed that "those who herald this decision simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live." It's hard to swallow that line from a man who is himself so very distant from the world in which the rest of us live. And that's the crux of the Bush problem: Bush, ensconced in his privileged life, has lost sight, or perhaps never even had sight of his actual, constitutionally decreed job decription.

In the Bush era, a lot of words have been drained of their once useful meanings. "Hypocrisy," for instance, is but the fading shadow of its former glory. Last week, when Bush and his pals trotted out to show the cameras lots of chiselled resolve in the face of a terrorist plot across the ocean, the word was begging to be hauled out. The Boston Globe reported that many types of liquid explosive-detecting technology have already been produced, and some have proven to work well. But "the TSA has not outfitted airports with the devices, in part, because officials have to prioritize where they spend limited dollars." George Bush projected his resolve from a safe distance--he already has scanning technology at the White House.

But of all the terms left without meaning, there is one which most strongly deserves revival. It sounds positively quaint in the age of Bush propaganda. George Bush, whether he knows it or not, is a "public servant." He is subservient to you. To me. And most of all, to the Constitution. His oath of office, after all, calls for him to protect that venerable document, that enshrining of all the rights that he and his see as mere impediments to their "unitary executive" and wartime powers theory.

A majority of the nation seems to have repeatedly been hoodwinked into a very different view of Bush's job. The term "public servant" has disappeared from public discourse, and perception managers like Karl Rove would just as soon usher it quietly into the graveyard where its cousins "liberal democracy" and "greater good" now wander, diaphanous specters.

The word deserves revival, if only to give a name to what Bush has defied in order that we might better explain it to those who would prefer a protective, strict father figure as leader. We don't elect bosses--we elect employees. Just because you get the corner office doesn't mean you own the building.

If you accept, as the Constitution sets out, that Bush is merely the head of one of three equal centers of power among public servants, it becomes all too clear just how far Bush is from any notion of public servitude. Jesus reversed his disciples' expectations by washing their feet. That, as Bush should know if he is the devotee of the Bible his conservative Christian base believes him to be, is the Biblical view of power through servitude.

It's time to inject a few choice words back into what remains of our public discourse, poisoned though it has been by a relentless and amoral onslaught of perception management over reality-based substance. Our reckless employee thinks we don't understand that he should be in charge of the whole shop.

The most frightening aspect of Bush's words is that he really seems to believe that his constitutional duties could include ignoring what the Constitution says. If he ignores our founding document, what is "America" but a nostalgic campaign buzzword?

Bush, faced with the presidential role of servitude, has not acted as the law requires him to do, let alone as his favorite philosopher Jesus might. Bush has instead let his own feet be washed, set the rest of the water aside for a few friends, and charged us for the towel.

An overdue thanks to these blogs for blogrolling us...

Ole Blue the Heretic

fatcat politics

The Online Magazine Formerly Known As Rob's Blog

Thank you!

This sure sounds like wishful thinking by competitors as they talk about the problems Dell is having...

What is the world’s largest catfish?

Big Brass Alliance seems to be in the high weeds. Viagra, Dildos, and the such are being posted about by blog spammers. I've removed my link to it - but still 483 blogs link to it. That means the links FROM Big Brass Alliance have a value in the search engines. Perhaps it should be used to just link to the blogs who participated and leave it at that?

You know the drill - in comments, list the artist and the album name for each or any shown album. You can click on the photo to see a larger view.

Ryanair's web site is a bit quirky, what with the picture of Churchill in an advertisement for flights saying "Let's Beat Terrorism". Then there's the Irish airline's New Airport Security Procedures...

Tragic.

Passenger count declines at HIA

The number of passengers flying in and out of Harrisburg International Airport has decreased about 13 percent since this time last year, according to the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, which owns HIA.

At the authority's meeting this morning in Carlisle, board member David McIntosh said the number of airplane seats available for sale has also decreased this year -- by 17 percent -- because of bankruptcy-related cutbacks.

Dear HIA and Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority,

I would like nothing better than to fly out of Harrisburg International Airport on the two to four flights we do a year. The new airport is quite nice and convenient.

Unfortunately, it is also too expensive to fly out of at this time. Every flight we check is a couple hundred dollars more, roundtrip, than a similar flight out of Philadelphia. I hate the extra drive time hours on every flight we take, but when we're buying four tickets, it just doesn't make sense to pay the premium just to fly out of Harrisburg.

Figure out a solution to this, and you'll gain the passengers back. Fail to figure it out, and you're destined to remain in this situation.

I'm assuming this newspaper is named after the obsolete political party. Does anyone know of any other newspaper in the country called the Whig?

At least for those going to school. So in honor of that...

What's your favorite memory of the Summer of 2006?

Atrios states a primer for reporters covering Lieberman:

If you are writing about Joe Lieberman's activities in the US Senate it is fair to refer to label him as Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT).

However, if you are writing about his election campaign you should label him according to the party he has formed and joined, the Connecticut for Lieberman party. So, (CFL-CT) it is.

XPN wants to know your top ten favorites. For me, it changes upon the day, but still...

Newspapers could do a lot worse than asking the barbers in their area to consider blogging about local items in exchange for advertising in their newspaper. For anyone that doesn't go to a popular barber, it's amazing how much local news/opinion and most importantly, deals and tips, are discussed there. Barbers are insiders to a subset of the local community, and seem like a great source of content for blogging.

I have to say, this "blog" sounds like pure lobbying.

Last year for the Ceasefire campaign, top pollsters Geoffrey Garin (D) and Bill McInturff (R) conducted identical, partisan polls to determine Americans’ top health care priorities [view QuickTime video clip]. Two of the most important reforms respondents identified included 1) providing better preventive health care to all Americans (73%) and 2) helping control the amount of out of pocket health care costs (70%).

Congress can start to address these issues by supporting computerization of medical records and interoperability between software platforms. One Ceasefire event in 2005 with Senator Hillary Clinton (D) and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R) addressed these issues [view QuickTime video clip], referencing the Institute of Medicine’s claim that 98,000 lives are lost every year because of “preventable medical errors.” Senator Clinton suggested many of these deaths are the result of inefficiencies in a system in need of an upgrade, and former Speaker Gingrich agreed.

I'm not going to argue that better efficiencies can't improve the two issues listed above, but... it seems to me that a lot of cost is a supply and demand issue, and that a lot of preventive health care options are educational issues. Wouldn't those two areas be more effective ways to focus a supposed bipartisan effort to improve healthcare in this country? Or does bipartisan just mean big corporate money in federal contracts?

This article suggests that new tools on the market may force Google's hand.

I don't live in an ocean beach community, so I've never considered the fact that local government entities on the coast have to come up with "Shark Plans". And this story was about one that was actually put into effect.

For whatever reason, I find that kinda interesting.

I have an idea of how we get out of Iraq.

We leave, and everyone that wants to come with us, can come along. We'll pay.

I mean, President Bush and the Republicans are so set on providing freedom and democracy and free enterprise for the Iraqis. So why are we trying to recreate the wheel? They keep telling us we're the most free and democratic nation on the earth. So why not give the Iraqis that want it the real thing?

Would it really be that expensive to create temporary housing in Texas and Alaska and Wyoming and Utah and any other state with great expanses, states that so generously support the idea through elective result that we're dedicated to give a way of life to people of another nation? More expensive than what we're doing? Would it cost more lives?

Imagine - all the money we'd be spending for providing this way of life to Iraqis would stay right here, in America. Soldiers could come home. We give Iraqis the choice - a vote with their feet - in what they want to do. We'll support them the first year.

So what's wrong with this idea? Why aren't we investigating it? Has there been a cost/benefit analysis? Wouldn't we be accomplishing our stated goal of bringing democracy and freedom to those who want it?

Okay, at least one of these is considered a classic. Show off your knowledge of artists and album names in comments.

As before, you can see a larger version of the photo by clicking on it.

Passing news...

He loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we're learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he's still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can't get enough of fart jokes. He's also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides, but forget about getting people to gas about that.

File under SBD - Story's bit disgusting.

From The News Star:

Term limits are the boogeyman waiting around the corner for Louisiana's long-serving lawmakers. Legislators complain about them, wish to reverse them and are looking to remain in politics despite them. But they can't get rid of them.

As Louisiana gets its first taste of state-level term limits in 2007, a new report on their impact around the country seems only to bolster state legislators' disdain for them.

The study says term limits haven't fulfilled the promise that the composition of state House and Senate chambers would dramatically change, offering more women, minorities or younger people a chance to serve. And the traditional cast of characters has not been swept out of politics because they simply switch political jobs.

So, Louisiana will do as they do in California and many other places, some Senators will run for the House and some House members will run for the Senate. Still, it opens up some House seats that normally might not have opened up. Many of those that don't run for - or don't win - a different seat, will become lobbyists. So many of the faces remain the same, although there is some change.

Term limits are a good example of a simple solution in search of a problem. What term limits does is force people in geographic areas into different house-specific representation after a period of time. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't widen the playing field for elective office and it doesn't guarantee a change in the appearance of the kinds of people elected. And it doesn't do anything to open up the elective process, which requires change that devalues the power of money in an elective campaign. Term limits don't do anything to money.

One of the things missing from all the recent stories about this "study" about term limits are options to make policy to deliver the changes that the study says term limits fail to do. And I do believe that this study's authors need to be in the forefront of every article:

The study was done by the Joint Project on Term Limits — a collaborative of the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council on State Governments, the State Legislative Leaders Foundation and a group of political science professionals.

Who's on the committees of NCSL? State legislators. Who comprises the leadership of CSG? Governors and state legislators. What about that Board of Directors of SLLF? State legislators again. They all seem to have membership with a career interest against term limits. So the story is that groups of state legislators have released a study that term limits for state legislators isn't that great? Wow, that's really news!

I just wanted to perk up the traffic a bit at some of the blogs listed as "microbes" at The Truth Laid Bear. There's interesting stuff there!

Eye Prefer Paris: Yes, I Cannes

Java Zen:Thinking Out Loud: In-Flight Internet Abandoned

The Fishing Bobber: Fishing Without Water

Where Even Minds Go Blank: What You Don’t Know

A Very Friday Blog: There are no pictures of Maria Sharapova in this posting

Enjoy!

I'm a Reds fan, but I think this will happen only if the National League is so weak that a 19 and 19 finish will hold up. I wish the Reds were better than that, but I just don't see them being able to do much better than that from here on out. Somebody's going to get hot and take it away from the Reds, I just know it. I think there are two key matchups left to determine the wildcard for the NL. One is Cincinnati versus San Diego - they haven't played each other yet and have several games remaining. The same holds true for Philadelphia versus Houston, and even though Houston keeps losing, they have too much talent to not make one more stab at the playoffs. I think one of those 4 teams ends up taking the wildcard, and if I had to bet, I'd guess San Diego.

I fell asleep on the couch during Jon Stewart tonight. When I awoke, a very very special piece of Satan's programming was on my television. I watched for nearly a half hour, not believing the turdeous crapalocity before me. I thought it could get no worse than Artie Lange, comedy's version of a heavily leaking sewage pipe in mid-August in the only restaurant for miles near Death Valley, but I was wrong.

Damn it, I am not seeing any critical thought in news reports about the comments Lieberman made about Rumsfeld.

I'll say it again. Lieberman is getting away with a parsing here. He says Rumsfeld should quit. He does NOT say that Rumsfeld should be fired. There is a difference - one is not an accounting and judgement of specific failures, and one is. Lieberman refuses to ask for judgement. I think it’s because he doesn’t want to split his Republican support in November.

It seems to me there needs to be some sort of online meeting place for projects involving political blogs, which for shorthand I'll call blogjects. It isn't so much a place to discuss possible blogjects, but a place to look for people and resources to participate and for volunteers to find out about them.

For example, earlier this year I embarked on a blogject to convince the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) that they needed to incorporate a blog into their programming. I needed volunteers, mostly to post content about programming and activities by PCN, and I tried several things. I posted about it to DailyKos as a diary, I posted to PhillyFuture as an article, and I emailed several Pennsylvania bloggers that follow Pennsylvania government and politics. A few bloggers agreed to participate, but without the efforts of one (Bill Bostic) there would not have had enough content to make this blogject actually work.

If there had been programming or other technical expertise needed that was beyond my abilities, it probably wouldn't have worked either.

Anyone know of such a place? This seems like the kind of programming/hubbing idea that would interest Kos, but I think this kind of site should be more like Craigslist and less like any particular political blog. Isn't this a natural step in the evolution of grassroots blogging that's time has come?

Think about how World War II ended.

That's right - the bomb.

I think that's the point of the "World War III" talk - to get the American public behind the possibility of the United States using larger and larger weapons of mass destruction.

OSHA proposes $143,000 in fines for Russellville plant

Associated Press RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. - The federal government has proposed $143,000 in fines for Gold Kist for allegedly exposing workers to serious and repeated safety hazards at its Russellville poultry processing plant, labor officials said Wednesday.

"When employers shirk their responsibility to keep workplaces free of hazards, the results can be tragic for workers and their families," said Roberto Sanchez, the Birmingham-area director for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Gold Kist was cited for 21 serious violations totaling $90,000 in fines for unsafe floor conditions, inadequate personal protective equipment and insufficient machine guarding. The company also received two repeat citations, with a fine of $50,000, for not keeping conveyor belt work areas free from fall hazards and other unsafe conditions. OSHA issued one other citation, with a fine of $3,000, for not complying with required record-keeping procedures.

The company plans to contest some of the citations and proposed fines within the next 15 days.

"We have one of the best records in the poultry industry," Wayne Lord, vice president of corporate relations, said. "Our company has won numerous awards for our safety programs. Safety is a top priority."

Great P.R. ain't the same as following the law, Mr. Lord.

From CBS News:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, attacked by fellow Democrats as being too close to the White House on the Iraq War, on Sunday called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign but said the United States cannot "walk away" from the Iraqis.

Now that is weak. It's okay for Rumsfeld to "walk away" from the Iraqis but not the rest of us. If Lieberman wants Rumsfeld out, then don't suggest he quit. Call for his firing. What's Lieberman afraid of - Republican ire? Exactly - and we all know why.

Okay, they're not all obscure, but it's still a good musical album quiz. Can you name the bands and albums for all nine shown below? You can open a bigger Flickr view of the photo by clicking on it. Post what you can in comments...

I have been downright ashamed of the national news media many times over the past ten to fifteen years. Part of that shame is a flaw in construction: citizens hold the news media as a standard of some sort for valuable and truthful information, but we force that process into a for-profit design that often limits, and sometimes dissolves, any useful standard at all.

At this very moment our country is suffering from a grotesque abuse of the citizens' perceived standard. I'm not talking about Iraq or Bush or elections.

I'm talking about the JonBenet Ramsey case, and the arrest of John Karr.

I'm not denying that it's a news story, it clearly is. But if one prioritizes the importance and value of a story based on the amount of time and space devoted to a story, the news networks and news publications are defining the JonBenet Ramsey case as the most important and valuable story to Americans the past week.

It may be the most titillating. It may be the most shocking. It is neither the most important or valuable story, and the corporate construction of the news industry prevents that determination to the benefit of Americans. There's not enough competition in news to provide an alternative. We see this happen over and over and over again. It isn't going to change unless the competitive construction of the national news industry is changed.

One way to change this is to promote strategies for competition - true competition - in the marketplace. This probably means government policy. How does America promote more ownership in the news industry in America of more news outlets? What government structured policies benefit the already empowered news corporations to the deficit of smaller news delivery entities? How do we make the news process more competitive within individual markets?

This is something that a national Democrat should be asking, and asking regularly. Sadly, it can't be a Democrat at this point that is considering running for President, because no candidate at this point can afford to alienate an entire media power construct within the purpose of altering it. But there are national Democrats that can carry the questions loudly that are not candidates for that office. It is time for them to ask loudly and nationally:

Is the national news media spending too much time and resources on the JonBenet Ramsey case? And if so, why?

Note: I see Arianna Huffington has some similar feelings.

We had no rain in Camp Hill for 21 days until Saturday afternoon. What we received was relatively brief - it may have rained for a half an hour or so - but everything has been so parched that you could practically hear nature let out a big sigh of relief as it came down.

Last night we received a bit more. Still... apparently this has not yet been a drought.

But I have been saving money on lawnmower gas.

From the St. Petersburg Times:

Jose Alvarez Jeronimo had been in Florida about six months, working construction jobs without legal status, his brother said. He loved Latin music and was religious.

The 16-year-old Jeronimo died Thursday evening after being struck by lightning while working on the roof of a house under construction in Wesley Chapel.

According to state and federal law, he never should have been up there.

Florida Statutes say employers who hire underage workers can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in prison and up to $2,500 in fines.

"Generally, minors are not supposed to be involved in roofing operations because there's a perception that it's dangerous," said Karen Buesing, a Tampa labor and employment attorney.

She added: "If you're standing on top of a roof and lightning strikes, it doesn't matter what your age is."

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office ruled Jeronimo's death accidental and has referred the issues of his age and immigration status to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

A Tampa OSHA official did not return calls for comment Friday.

Juan Jeronimo, 21, arrived at the scene and identified his brother. Up to then authorities thought Jose Jeronimo was 18, the sheriff's report said.

Juan Jeronimo said he doesn't think his brother lied about his age to his bosses.

Messages left with RAC Construction Framing owner Raudel Carrizal, who employed Jeronimo, and Tripp Trademark Homes, which is building the house, were not returned Friday evening.

I didn't realize that there were so many re-installations of The Ten Commandments for so many causes. There's The Ten Commandments of cell phone etiquette; The Ten Commandments for C Programmers; The Ten Commandments of Keyword Selection; The Ten Commandments of Access; The Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction; The Ten Commandments for Managing a Young Growing Business; The Ten Commandments of Family Law Economics; The Ten Commandments of Car Care; and so on and so on. Only God Knows (and maybe Google!) how many of them there really are.

All this has to be a hurdle for The Ten Commandments Project, with the stated goal of getting 10 million children within 10 years to memorize the 10 Commandments. Of course, I'm not sure why memorization is the goal, since I think the idea was that God wanted people to live by them - not just know them. I've memorized Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, but I don't intend to spend my life being as mimsy as the borogoves.

I have decided that each day I'll post a labor violation news snippet in honor of Labor Day. Labor Day will be here in a few weeks, and sadly, most Americans see it as the end of summer rather than a holiday to celebrate efforts to improve their lot in the workforce.

From Belle, WV:

A coal sampling and analysis company in Belle has agreed to pay 55-thousand-dollars in back wages and damages to settle allegations that it violated federal labor law.

The US Department of Labor announced the agreement with Mineral Labs today.

Mineral Labs and company President Paul Lyon agreed to pay the money to 95 workers. The agreement settles a civil complaint filed in federal court in Charleston by the Department of Labor.

The agency says employees were routinely docked 30 minutes per day for lunch periods -- even though their work duties frequently prevented them from taking an uninterrupted lunch.

Mineral Labs also allegedly failed to maintain adequate wage and hour records.

No wonder the Republican Congress is so weak as an institution.

With President Bush's poll numbers stuck in the cellar and Republicans in danger of losing control of Congress, the White House is turning to one of its most popular figures for help.

Laura Bush is back on the campaign trail.

The first lady traveled to Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia on Wednesday and headlined fund-raisers for three Republican candidates, including Kentucky Congressman Geoff Davis and Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine.

...

"She comes in bringing the star power of the White House, but she is not expected to answer policy questions or have to defend the decisions made by the administration," Walter said. "In that sense, she is able to come in less as a policy figure and more as a personality.

"It's like getting the benefit of a White House visit without the political baggage."

Thought I'd prod the visiting browsers for memories or thoughts about this relatively obscure 70s/80s band...

Do you remember Starcastle?

Wow, Dick Cheney must be breaking mirrors with his scowl today after seeing this review of his buddy George:

If I were a conspiracy theorist I would be starting to conclude that you were some sort of Iranian Candidate, an agent of Tehran, brilliantly executing a covert strategy to enhance the prestige and power of the ayatollahs.

That's not a blog. That's a conservative in the London Times.

And runs on an "Orderly Exit Strategy from Iraq" platform, they had better have a plan formulated about dealing with this kind of press push.

America's muddled viewpoint on terrorism regulation is evident in the logic of the Executive Editor of the Topeka Capital-Journal, saying that the new carry-on rules are good...

"For years, airlines and luggage companies alike have touted the convenience of carry-on suitcases. The advantage was obvious -- no long waits at baggage claims, no possibility of lost luggage, no hassle, period.

Now, it's a major hassle carrying on anything. Thanks to last week's terrorist scare -- a plan to simultaneously blow up planes flying from London to the United States -- already-tight airport security has been racheted up even more.

And that's OK. Good, even. And necessary. A little added inconvenience is a small price to pay to ensure travelers arrive safely and on time. (Based on our experience last week, passengers flying on United will have to settle for safe)."

He argues that plane safety requires that carry-ons become such a hassle that you don't want to bring them - and later on, explains that he's going to take the train to Chicago. One of the main reasons? He can have carryon.

So it appears to me he'd rather have convenience than safety - otherwise, why take the clearly less secure route? Here is a fairly prominent citizen of our country saying that he'd rather pay for convenience than safety - in both terms of money and time - in his long distance transportation. It's not like terrorists haven't bombed trains.

America's marketplace is in the process of "voting" on degrees of convenience and safety on the terrorism issue. The new Carry On rules seem to be a dividing point - and if they continue, will fester as such - on which side America's consumers want to stay. We can't keep bouncing from one side to another depending on whether there is an alarm or not. At some point, we'll have to decide whether inconvenience or risk applied across the board is acceptable.

From the Christian Science Monitor

In the week since British police conducted a major counterterrorism operation against an alleged plot to blow up airline flights between Britain and the US, a series of false alarms has shown how tense people have become about the threat of a terrorist attack in America. While all of the events were originally described, or considered, possible terrorist activities, none of them has been shown to have any connection with terrorism.

There's a lot of sudden tension the past few months as far as government and the media is concerned. And I wonder about that - is it because there's the expectation, with the five year anniversary of 9/11 coming up, and all the continuing violence in the world, that something is going to happen here? Or is it because the government knows a little about something, enough to know something is brewing in the near future but not enough to stop it? I wonder about the British reaction to the airline terrorist plot, and whether it was more a message to the terrorists that they're aware of plots and want to put the seed of doubt in their minds as to whether they know about it, rather than a message to citizens that they've got things under control. I don't know. But all the false alarms, and all the media and government hollering about alarms, makes me wonder.

Perhaps Todd Platts and other local Republicans are concerned about Bush somehow hurting them. (Courtesy of York Daily Record)

(Talk about low expectations: check out the response when Bush starts up a Harley)

Sometime in our country's future, there's going to be an unintentional literary contest of sorts, as writers develop novels that incorporate this time period within a commentary of our societal fabric, of what this time is going to be called, in particular the years directly after 9/11. Our country has other time periods in which novels can be classified, such as The Great Depression or Reconstruction, and I suspect that we're living in a time that is going to be the work of some of the great authors of the future.

I hope to live long enough to see what this time is generalized into as a term. At this point, I personally see it as "The Great Pall" or "The Malignant Redirection", but it will be up to those who can sweep our time into a greater narrative to define this time. I do hope that it is not simplified as just "The Bush Years", because, for one thing, it's really been more of the anti-Bush Years as far as most of the world seems to be going, and for a second, I think our nation needs to learn a lot more about itself from this time than how it interprets one President.

Like I said, we all went to a corn maze last Sunday. Maize Quest is fun and a good side trip to rural agricultural Pennsylvania.

From the Des Moines Register

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, in Iowa today to help raise money for Republicans and give thanks to volunteers who assisted after Hurricane Katrina last year, said he's not running for president in 2008.

I'm not sure Barbour believes this, but I really doubt there are more than a couple of hundred people in the country that think Barbour is viable for a national campaign. He's so obviously not a legitimate candidate for President. Lobbying as a background would be very tough in a national campaign.

I don't know what that advertisement is really about at the right, but I can't think of anyone that would want a John McCain ringtone unless they are some kind of incredibly dweebish "conservative maverick" political wannabee. What the hell does it sound like? Is it the sound of McCain politely laughing while having his ass handed to him by Jon Stewart? It's just an appallingly stupid marketing approach.

I've been thinking a bit about Tony Snow, the current White House Press Secretary, and I've got to say, I think the guy has made a horrible career move.

Bush has two years left, and it's going to be a rough two years for him. If the White House thinks it sucks to be hammered by some Democrats, some of the national media and most of national and world opinion, they're in for a bit of a surprise when their own folks start hammering them next. A crappy November election result for the GOP, and a "Bush is the loser killing the Republican Party" meme will start. Republicans will argue with non-Republicans, but they are not going to argue with Republican voters. Bush will be blamed for all Republican woes. That blame will leach into his most publicly visible hench... staff, including Snow.

Sure, it might sting a bit to Tony Snow's ears when he hears how Bush screwed up America's future, but he can tell himself that's partisan. But to hear that Snow was part of the screwing of the Republican Party - well, that's gonna put a hurt on the job options.

What will the future hold for employment of Bush's press flacks? Will people remember Ari Fleischer as the press face of the loser Bush Administration? Doubtful, he's been gone too long. And too quiet since. Scott McClellan wasn't likely to burble up into an opportunity for something relatively visible in national politics again anyway - I'd be moderately surprised to see his name in the national news again for anything future career related other than criminal prosecutions of members of the Administration. But Snow had a career on Fox News, and he's young enough to try to get another national broadcasting gig. But will he be wanted? He jumped onto a sinking boat, the opposite of what Fleischer or McClellan did. Liberals won't expect much truth from him anyways, and conservatives may be willing to write off everyone related to the final GWB years as bad history best forgotten. That's going to make for a rather invisible Tony Snow after 2008.

It wouldn't surprise me if Snow sees this coming, and tries to bail on the White House after the November elections after a small grace period, say in March or April 2007. Still, what call is there for a flack that can't even see how badly his own career path will be damaged by his choices, even amongst Republicans?

Why would any community want a blast "'equivalent to 593 tons of TNT' near them? If Nevada doesn't want it, why would Indiana?

A massive nonnuclear explosion aimed at testing the capability of "bunker busting" weapons for the military could take place in Lawrence County, according to a newspaper report.

But a spokeswoman for the government's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is planning the test, wouldn't confirm that a limestone quarry near Mitchell is one of the sites under consideration.

Cheri Abdelnour said the agency is "assessing several possible sites" for the explosion, but it's premature to say where they are.

The $23 million test, called Divine Strake, had been scheduled to take place this summer in the Nevada desert. It would involve detonating 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, a common explosive.

If in Britain...

Win £1000 and the chance to get your sex toy made!

Think you know what would make the perfect sex toy? You could win £1,000 and have your idea turned into reality! Leading online sex toy retailer LoveHoney has teamed up with international sex expert Tracey Cox and the Orgasm Army sex toy review site to launch the UK's first ever Design A Sex Toy competition.

Of course, I'd be more interested if in the likelihood of an American version of this contest, they team up with the The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest for some real eyeopeners.

Found on a Google search for the term "Christian":

Subaru Sweeps X Games 12 http://www.subaru.com/misc/allwheeldeal06/index.jsp?model=impreza The Subaru Impreza WRX STI It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru. www.subaru.com

I dunno, I think it may have peaked as a blogging trend.

Why would Senators Carper, Pryor and Salazar expect support from Democrats when they run for re-election when they don't support Democrats themselves?

PCN has made their first post on PCNBlog. Give them some comments - they deserve some positive feedback.

Today's question is about relatively new folks to blogging:

Who are some of the most interesting new voices in blogging?

I do it from time to time while driving in the car, just to hear how mean the talking points are. But yesterday's show was an ear-opener. Limbaugh wasn't there, somebody named Paul W. Smith was guesthosting. He had as a guest a Stephen Slivinski, from The Cato Institute, who was there to discuss his book Buck Wild, the premise of which is that the national GOP leaders have built a party of Big Government, and that Bush's government had increased the "real" cost of government more than any President since LBJ.

Slivinski is a proponent of small government, and used his time to discuss the evolution of Republicans to becoming the biggest spenders. One of his biggest points was that the Republican Party won't likely get back to being the Party of Small Government unless it loses an election, and suggested that the GOP is most effective in reducing government when it is working in a split-government situation, where Democrats lead some facet of federal government, whether a house of Congress or the Presidency. Basically, Slivinski was arguing that conservatives need the Republicans to lose the '06 and/or '08 elections to get back to their philosophy.

I listened, because I expected callers to hammer him.

They didn't.

One caller, I believe, disagreed with Slivinski's premises, and that was it. Every other caller expressed disappointment in the Republican Party. Smith seemed to be on board as well.

Let's just review how amazing this is: A person comes on to the Rush Limbaugh show, and argues that Republicans need to lose control of Congress this year, and maybe more in 2008, in order for them to return to their values. He isn't ripped apart by callers, there's no angry mob waiting for him in the parking lot, and the host doesn't suggest he's a terrorist sympathizer. There's two ways to observe this:

1 - Rush Limbaugh's listeners are getting smarter about Republican politicians; and/or,

2 - The awful performance of Bush and the Bush Congress has become undeniable to even the most Republican partisan.

Either way, the attitude at this depth of partisan Republicania ought to be very discouraging to Republicans.

I think Slivinski is just a bit ahead of national Republicans on this. He's taking the next page from Ken Mehlman's strategy book, one that Mehlman probably doesn't even know about yet. While Mehlman is ineffectively trying to push "Adapt to Win" as the replacement to "Stay the Course" as the Republican motto on Iraq, Slivinski has discovered "Lose to Win" as a Republican governing strategy. I wish Republicans the best of luck with that in 2006.

Josh Marshall talks about lining up to say "No".

How many state capitol buildings have you actually been inside?

Found 7 relatively good sized Monarch caterpillars on one pretty denuded milkweed in the sideyard on Saturday. Fortunately we have several more on the side, so moved them all so they could each have their own plant - and they started to munch happily there.

It is better to keep your armies at the ready and to be suspected of military power limitations, than to commit your armies and have it proven.

Man, I hope Bush tries to ride a Harley. After seeing him on a Segway, I can just imagine the results. As long as he doesn't kill anybody, comedy gold.

Did you know tomorrow is National Relaxation Day?

I like this kind of statistic, kept on Casey Roncaglione's web site, who is the Democratic Candidate 164th District Pennsylvania House Of Representatives...

HOMES VISITED SO FAR
5745

I think this should be an expected stat by the candidate-visiting web public.

I'm just sure the lessons learned by their kids will be beneficial to the world. Three-year-olds wearing cashmere and silks? I'm sure the hungry appreciate that story.

I think we're going to a corn maze today, so if you're looking for additional reading material, let me recommend:

Bill's Diamond Blog: A New Poster Child for the GOP

archy: Blow Up the Poor

I'll save the best for last... Tucker Carlson on "Dancing With the Stars"? You know Olbermann is looking forward to that...

Central Pennsylvanians curious about the direction their local PBS station may be evolving might want to check out this.

It is part of a Corporation for Public Broadcasting project sampling a number of public television CEOs to "imagine their stations in 2012 from three perspectives: (1) from the viewer's living room, (2) from the board room of a local foundation, and (3) from inside the station." Interesting.

Every day there are an average of nearly 117 deaths from motor vehicle accidents in the United States.

That statistic provides a bit of perspective.

We did for a bit.

Seriously, if you didn't, you deserve an F in Bushistory.

If being seen as tough on terrorism is Bush's best attribute, and he can only muster a 55% approval rating directly after a discovered terrorist plot, I would suggest that his (and his Republican Party enablers) hat is none too secure.

For a Democratic Party member of the United States Senate to say something like this...

"Joe Lieberman has served the state of Connecticut as U.S. Senator over his past three terms, and Democrats have nothing to regret for having elected him as their nominee during that time. However, the Democratic Party voters of Connecticut have decided that Joe's been in the Senate long enough, and they chose Ned Lamont to be their nominee for U.S. Senator this November. Joe has a choice to make - either make the majority of Democratic Party voters this year regret having elected Joe Lieberman in the past by disregarding the primary vote, or accept the will of the people. I honor the vote of the people, and fully support Ned Lamont as the Democratic Party's candidate for U.S. Senator in Connecticut this year, and I DO NOT support disrespect of the party's voters. Furthermore, Joe should recognize that the Democratic Caucus does not provide committee seat assignments for members of other political parties. Either Joe is a Democrat, and will accept the will of Democratic Primary voters, or he is not. The choice is his."

I'm still thinking of getting one.

Interesting statistics from this article:

I hope the trend for personal advice columns keeps heading in that direction - all the way to zero.

Yeah, I'm an old t-shirt fiend. I can't throw them out unless they tear or get some sort of bizarre stain on them (like tar or paint or some other house repair type of stuff...). The older they get, the more worn, the more comfortable. Many of my t-shirts in regular "wear rotation" are 5 years old or more. My wife is in charge of finally pulling the items that have aged so much that she can no longer stand to look at them. She has told me before that a 47-year old man's nipples shouldn't poke through a threadbare shirt, and I was the offending example. Yes, I'm quite the prize.

Now that I've painted such a pleasant picture for you, here is today's question:

How old is the oldest piece of "regular day" clothing you wear? (for followup, what makes it so treasured?)

The first public draft of the Organization's Campaign Plan is now online. Check it out.

With all the hassles that come with travel by air, burdened now by additional delays that will come with new security practices, will Americans decide they'd rather vacation in 2007 within driving distance?

Places like Mackinac Island, Michigan, are hoping they will. 2006 has been a down year for the spot.

It appears to me that Pennsylvania Cable Network will be the second state-based public affairs cable channel - that is, one that covers state government - that will have its own blog, if it does come to pass. I checked the following cable channel web sites, and other than for Illinois, didn't see anything like a blog on them...

TVW (Washington State)
The California Channel
The Connecticut Network
The Illinois Channel
NET Television (Nebraska)
Gavel to Gavel Alaska
KET (Kentucky)
Michigan Government Television
New York State Legislative Proceedings

The Illinois "blog" doesn't seem to try to synch up to programming. C-SPAN does not have a blog, either.

What do you think will be the least safe mode of motorized transportation this upcoming September 11th?

It's his priorities about who he will speak with, and when he will speak with them.

Karl Rove, Bush strategist and leaker? Election day, before the polls closed. (according to the White House)

Chris Dodd, Connecticut's other U.S. Senator (and Democrat)? Not election day...

Earlier that evening, Lieberman spurned a meeting with Dodd, his longtime colleague who had come to caution against making a hasty decision to run as an independent and to explain why he would be supporting Lamont in the fall, according to a Democratic official who asked not to be identified in order to speak freely about events on primary night.

Because everyone needs a happy hippo photo to lighten their day sometimes. This resident of the New Jersey State Aquarium is a bit of a ham.

It is a big story, still unfolding.

Predictable, but sad: Why do some Republican bloggers have to attack other Americans during such an event? Check out some of this beautiful prose by conservative bloggers this morning:

But hey, according to the left all we need is to give these wayward Muslims a hug and the war on terror will go away. It's all our fault anyways.

and...

Watch now as the Left wail and moan, if only we would get out of Afghanistan and Iraq none of this would be happening. Further, the left will say this is a direct result of the current fighting in Lebanon.

You peace-at-any-price demotards, fricking idiots need to take heed and pull your heads out of the sand and then your asses.

already know it deep down, but should still read The Quiet Death of the Major Re-Launch.

Today, after unknown numbers of Republican incumbents called Crawford to beg George W. Bush to do something... ANYTHING... to help them out in their November elections, this is what Tony Snow came up with as he proactively spoke on the Connecticut primary:

As for the primary election in Connecticut last night, I know there's a lot of concern and interest about that. Democratic voters in Connecticut have made their choice, and they have chosen Ned Lamont over Senator Lieberman. Just a couple of observations. Key leaders in the national Democratic Party have made it clear — let me back up. This is a defining moment in some ways for the Democratic Party. I know a lot of people have tried to make this a referendum on the President; I would flip it. I think instead it's a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you. And it is probably worth trying to trace through some of the implications of that position, because it is clearly going to be one of the central issues as we get ready for the election campaign this year, that is, the mid-term elections.

Tactic One: Lie.

What National Democratic leaders can Tony Snow be talking about? Bill Clinton? Joe Biden? Barbara Boxer? All supported Lieberman. What is Snow talking about?

This, however, is much better...

Democracies operate on different principles than totalitarian states. In a democracy, you have to respond to the will of the people. In a democracy within the United States, whether it be Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont competing for votes in Connecticut, or on the local level, dealing with the needs for people to have safe streets, good schools and services they can depend upon, those are the things. You respond to the stated desires of the people. In totalitarian states, the despot alone has the opportunity to declare what he or she wants to do, and frankly, quite often they are much more warlike.

Tactic two: Tell the truth in a confusing way.

Let's see - at this point in time, a majority of Americans - the will of the people, some would say - want us to commit to a plan to leave Iraq. Ned Lamont just won a primary over a sitting incumbent and his position was just that.

George W. Bush wants to stay until we accomplish whatever it is that George W. Bush decides is acceptable. This is not in line with the majority of Americans, according to the polls, and so not really in line with "the will of the people."

So who's the despot, Mr. Snow?

I almost feel sorry for those Republican incumbents who are so afraid of the voter wrath that very well could be awaiting them in early November, if only in this way: they're depending on George W. Bush. As we've seen over the past five years, there's not much hope in that.

A couple of nights ago we received free tickets from a local television station to see Superman Returns in 3D at the Whitaker Center. It wasn't really a movie we were planning to see, but we were pleasantly surprised. The 3D was kinda cool, as were most of the effects, but I think the star of the movie was clearly Kevin Spacey as villain Lex Luthor.

So I thought there was a good question in there:

Who has portrayed the best movie villain in the 21st Century? (And I'll include the year 2000 for these purposes)

Okay, okay... to prevent unanimous selection and lack of discussion, you're not allowed to include anyone from Fahrenheit 9-11.

Back in December, I took up a little project to try to convince Pennsylvania Cable Network to develop their own blog. (I wrote about it here) The idea was to build a rudimentary blog about PCN, get it started, and try to convince them they should do the same.

Hopefully, we're near success. I met with Rick Cochran at PCN to transfer PCNBlog on Monday, and the hope is that next week they'll start to post their own material there. Hopefully, there will come a point where they'll tie in the blog and their call-in programs. It's too early to declare victory, but I'm hopeful.

From Eschaton:

From the Today Show this morning:

...

LIEBERMAN: Respectfully, no. I am committed to this campaign, to a different kind of politics, to bringing the Democratic Party back from Ned Lamont, Maxine Waters to the mainstream, and for doing something for the people of Connecticut. That's what this is all about: which one of us, Lamont or me, can do more for the future of our people here in Connecticut. And on that basis, I'm going forward with confidence, purpose and some real optimism.

I just want to know how, if Joe Lieberman is elected somehow, he's going to be able to do anything for the people of Connecticut. If Republicans are in power, are they going to give him what he wants in budgets or policy, when they see his seat as takeable in six years? If Democrats are in power, are they really going to want to help a guy who is constantly pissing on the party? Connecticut will be down to one Senator - Chris Dodd - to get all their stuff done. He is incredibly isolated at this point. Anything Lieberman touches will be anathema to both parties. He could possibly use his dynamic personality to get things done, except he doesn't have any. He is a lame duck today. He has no future beyond that status, even if somehow elected.

Why would any state vote to do that to themselves?

Apparently, he's pretty hopeful.

Finally, the Connecticut Primary is over, but Joe Lieberman insists he isn't done. He is continuing to state that he plans to run as an independent in the fall, as is his right if he can file properly and completely.

Democratic Party incumbents who may want to endorse Lieberman's candidacy because of friendship ought to remember that - losing primary candidates can run in the general election as independents if they can qualify for the ballot. What Joe Lieberman is claiming is that the Democratic Party primary doesn't matter to him anymore because he was somehow miscast. This isn't lost on many of us, and I think there will be a keen eye kept on any Senator or Representative or other elected Democratic Party official who aligns to that point of view by backing Lieberman's candidacy. Joe Lieberman is threatening to tear apart the process and the value of the party primary for his own elective purposes. If a sitting 3-term incumbent from the party doesn't respect the primary process, why should any challenging candidate do so in the future?

Gonna be gone most of the day on a field trip with my daughter - the summer camp is going to a waterpark today. Today's question:

What's your favorite recipe for catfish?

Especially those around the Chesapeake Bay.

From the Wood River Journal, Idaho.

Spirit of wilderness not honored

Editor:

On June 7, 2006, the USDA Forest Service announced plans to give authority to Wildlife Services to use aircraft for aerial gunning, motorized vehicles and equipment to set out poison baits and M-44 cyanide guns to kill what grazing permittees consider to be "nuisance animals" like wolves, bears, coyotes, and foxes in wilderness areas. This proposal violates every aspect of the Wilderness Act. I understand that grazing of domestic livestock is allowed in wilderness areas but this proposal removes all semblance of ecosystem management in favor of a few special interests.

The Wilderness Act was enacted by Congress in 1964 to protect these special lands in as pristine condition as possible and reads: "To secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness ... and to leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness..." The Forest Service itself uses a brochure about the Sawtooth Wilderness from which I quote: "The Wilderness provides shelter to many native species of plants and wildlife, as well as a refuge for visitors seeking solitude."

This proposal violates the Wilderness Act as follows:

. Natural systems are to dominate in the wilderness.

. Predators are a critical part of an ecosystem.

. Serving special interests of a few violates the rights of all Americans on their public lands.

. Presents a danger to all wildlife-and to humans and pets.

. Humans are busy consuming all habitats-can we not leave some areas for wildlife?

. Public lands belong to all Americans-not the few who hold grazing permits.

USDA Wildlife Services already uses your tax dollars to "make wildlands safe for permittees to graze their animals" but if these animals cannot be safe from poisons and guns in the wilderness areas, where can they exist? Grazing on public lands is destructive enough to the lands themselves but this proposal goes over the top to please a few individuals who profit from using your public lands. Please write: Director, Wilderness and Wild Scenic Resources, U.S. Forest Service, 201 14th Street, Washington D.C. 20250 or send an e-mail to: PDM@fs.fed.us by Aug. 7, 2006.

Christine Gertschen

Director, Sawtooth Science Institute

Sun Valley

Alternet has more.

If you could pick any living person to be a guest blogger on your blog for one week, who would you pick?

People actually call Harrisburg a vacation destination.

If people like this would spend as much time trying to figure out solutions to problems as they do trying to figure out how to attack and label those who have solutions they don't like, perhaps the world would function a hell of a lot better.

I had them in my bloglines reader, and realized that they just aren't updated anymore. Time to say goodbye to...

Culture Kitchen, BlogWood: Norwood's Nattering, AintNoBadDude, Howling at a Waning Moon, Catch, Mike's Blog Roundup.

I guess that means I should add six more to my subscriptions. I grabbed six from the Fact-esque blogroll that are regularly updated.

Edwards beat Cheney in the '04 VP debate.

From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

Three-term veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman is opposed by political newcomer Ned Lamont, and the polls are showing that Lamont might win.

So Lieberman is calling in the heavy hitters ranging from former President Bill Clinton to Hawaii's Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Just as interesting is Inouye's endorsement. Lamont, a multimillionaire businessman, is making the best of a campaign built around the opposition to the war in Iraq because Lieberman is President Bush's biggest Democratic supporter.

If he loses to anti-war Democrat Lamont in the primary, Lieberman says he is considering going into the general election anyway by running as an independent. And Inouye said he would remain with the hawkish Lieberman.

The progressive Democrats in Hawaii must be hitting the replay button on their TiVos as they try to fit Inouye's endorsement of Lieberman next to his endorsement of Dan Akaka, who is running an "I told you Iraq was wrong, wrong, wrong" campaign.

Precisely what is the value of an Inouye endorsement if he supports pro-Iraq and anti-Iraq senators?

Just being in the Senate might speak louder than a voting record.

I'll be honest, I've never really considered the possibility of tourism in space for myself, and kind of wondered what the perceived interest was. This seems like it could be part of the desire...

From today's talking head circuit: Lieberman and Lamont went on ABC's "This Week", and sent their surrogates to NBC's "Meet the Press". What does that say about MTP?

An article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News today covers what local celebrities use for their cell phone ring. The whole idea of buying a different ring tune seems somewhat alien to me. But then, I use my cell phone differently than most other folks.

First of all, I only give the number to folks who I expect will be calling me while I'm on the road. I've had my current cell phone number for three years or so, and I doubt more than 6 or 7 people have my cell phone number, and I'm fine with that.

Secondly - I rarely have my cell phone on unless I'm making a call or expecting a call, or am checking for messages. My wife thinks this is odd, my friends as well, but I don't really care. I see the cell phone as primarily my way of contacting someone else - and not the other way around. Life is full of interruptions as it is, and this is one I can control - so I usually do.

Kathy pointed me to this site a few days ago. Excellent idea and site, using the web to share experiences and consolidate information about airline performance for the consumer.

Sound starts after 42 seconds. Entertaining enough, love the song, of course, by UFO.

I can't claim I understand all the reasons why Lieberman is losing in the polls in Connecticut, but I'm pretty sure it's not the mythology purported by Robert Kagan.

Maybe someday there will be some media analysis of the editorials concerning the 2006 Lieberman primary. One of the ways to analyze it would be to create a subset - DC based editorialists, such as Kagan, and non-Beltway based editorialists. A third set could be Connecticut only based editorialists.

At that point, analysis of editorials along a scale for pro and con sentiment towards the Lieberman and Lamont campaigns - for each candidate in each editorial - can be developed. Would Beltway-based editorialists measure considerably different than non-Beltway editorialists? If so, then perhaps some research can go into determining why.

Not that most of us don't suspect that it's in good part because the government industry culture in Washington is feeling threatened by what is happening in Connecticut in this campaign, but it's always good to have some sort of statistical "evidence" as to why someone's opinion sets off the BS Meter.

By the way, my best guess as to why Lieberman is losing in Connecticut - he's more of the same, and he's not able to sell that anymore - Connecticut's sick of it. 2004 showed him for the poor candidate he really is, and 2006 appears to be putting the exclamation point on it.

In addition to being an enjoyable Aquarium, the New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden has a great river view of Philadelphia...

Is whether he's still going to have a gig after his miserable Connecticut "lobbying" performance. That's a reputation stainer in the industry - not necessarily his position, just the performance and strategy...

I mean, what will his clients think?

AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS, INC.
AIR PRODUCTS HEALTHCARE
AMERICAN HOMECARE SUPPLY
LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL, INC

Pioneer Photo Albums, Inc., and others in that industry may find it a hard slog to survive in the business:

About one-third of digital camera users in the UK are not backing up their photographs, reveals research.

But at the same time, the survey of 2,227 consumers revealed 89% of those quizzed now own a digital camera or camera-phone.

...

The survey also found that people are changing the ways they view their snaps. The traditional photo album may be in demise; about seven out of 10 are printing less than a quarter of their images, while 30% said that they did not print out any hard-copies.

Photographers are increasingly turning to the internet to upload their pictures.

Trade credit insurer Euler Hermes predicts that business failures will increase by 8 percent in the United States next year.

Corporate insolvencies are down this year, primarily due to bankruptcy reform, according to Euler Hermes. But a cooling housing market, high energy prices and rising interest rates "will certainly put pressure on business failures throughout the next year," says Dan North, chief economist for Euler Hermes.

Prognosticators, prognosticate...

What will Joe Lieberman be doing a year from today?

What is the fastest growing vacation trend around?

Apparently, this.

I wish Gore's numbers were better, though.

From The American Enterprise:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said recently that "we are in the early stages of what I would describe as the third world war." Citing fresh examples of North Korean belligerency, Islamic terrorism in India, ongoing fighting in Afghanistan, insurgency in Iraq, support for Hezbollah terrorism by Iran and Syria, the related fighting between Israel and Lebanon, and the arrests of terrorists aspiring to murder Americans, Gingrich analogized the current state of affairs to the Great War and World War II.

...

Simply declaring World War III will not suddenly clarify the stakes for the American people. As we have seen, the phrase is imperfect. It could even be rejected by some as a scare tactic. If, though, administration officials were to consider using such language, it may serve them to make it part of a wide-ranging rethinking of public affairs and public diplomacy.

Words matter, especially in this war.

Until there's a public consensus that there's a World War III, it's irresponsible to suggest that the White House use the term to push their agenda. The public names wars. I don't think George W. Bush said "let's call our excursion to Iraq, the Iraq War" but that's what we call it. Apparently "Operation Iraqi Freedom" just didn't cut it.

If they start using such language, I hope Democrats and the public at large rethinks all legal courses of action taken to remove such people from office immediately. IMMEDIATELY.

I don't understand why some conservatives can't see the irony of a pro-military simultaneous with an anti-big government attitude. There is nothing bigger, as far as big government is concerned, than war. Nothing. Compare it to any other government program and they are historical footnotes by comparison. War changes population sizes, war changes national boundaries, war changes the way all government expenditures are formulated and spent, war takes valuable resources out of the civilian population for use out of country, war impacts the economy, etc., etc., etc.

The military is the most controlling government entity we have. It tells people what to do, where to live, what they can and can't wear, etc., etc., etc. It is the ultimate big government agency.

If you're pro big military, then you're pro big government. Period.

Not talkin' 'bout religion. Talkin' 'bout buildings.

What's the most attractive looking place of worship you've seen in person, outside, inside, or both?

There was a movie a few years back, it was a pretty popular movie, made lots of money, won some big awards, had this guy named Tom Hanks in it. It was called Saving Private Ryan, and yes, it was a war movie, and it was a special effects movie, and it was a hero movie, and I'm sure if people want to delve into it they'll tell me it was more than that.

And I agree. One of the biggest themes about this movie was about how our government was willing to sacrifice something for the benefit of others. It wasn't just about war and saving the world from the Nazis, it wasn't just about the expenditure of some lives so that one particular person could be saved - it was about how government can try to move heaven and earth to save something for other generations - in this case a son, a future father, a future grandfather.

Hollywood likes to make these movies in terms of war, but tries its magic on other subjects considerably less often. This is a shame, because there are plenty of examples where both the American government and specific American people sacrificed in order to provide something for generations to come, and deserve attention as well, the kind of attention that a quality movie producer and a well-written script and a much-liked movie star can provide.

So, Hollywood, I have a suggestion. Find the producer that will lovingly tell the tale of the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Get the best screenwriters in the business, incorporate some of the beautiful music that has come from the area, and sign up some well-loved and high-achievement talent to perform in the movie. Tell the tale as you best can do, because America will not only appreciate it, but needs to hear it. People gave more than money. They gave away their property, their homes of their ancestry... they were heroes.

Someone said it yesterday, and whoever did had it right - let's just stop any use of that imagery, please. It's unfortunate this happened, and it gives Lieberman a talking point that isn't about defending awful positions and woeful arguments as to why he's doing so, but the national press has to remember - it wasn't a campaign that did it, it was a blogger. Yes, blogs are important, but they aren't political campaigns. Jane Hamsher isn't running for Senate, so the press needs to focus on the political positions and not on distractions being pumped by Lieberman's campaign, and, of course, conservative blogs.

I see they're in the news again. Is there really any business strategy argument out there that indicates that AOL can be the big winner in any internet-related business segment? The kind of winning that will allow AOL to continue in the marketplace longterm? I just don't see it...

They're being used by Santorum's folks.

Looks like he'll be giving hugs to old friends at the Pennsylvania Press Club on August 28.

Not that you're really asking, but Brian tagged me, and I'm still in post-travel haze and don't have anything else earthshattering to post... so I must participate as part of the Zombie Bloggerhood...

If I make a bowl of ice cream at home, I always microwave it for about 6-7 seconds so that it gets good and melty. Mmmm, melty.

When I grow a beard (about two short times a year) it comes in three colors of whisker: brown, red, and now gray.

I like to run a floor fan in our bedroom, blowing on me, almost all year long. White noise and breeze puts me to sleep.

If I had college to do all over again, I'd study entomology. I'm an interested amateur.

When I was a kid, I went to five different elementary schools. We moved a LOT.

Apparently I am to name five other bloggers to participate. So, here goes:

Above Average Jane
Fact-esque
Geeky Mom
Toad in the Hole
Uncle Horn Head

Now don't make me look bad... post yours as well!

This just in: Dennis Miller wasn't funny in 1992, 9 years before 9/11.

Took this photo a couple of weeks ago - I just like it. Makes a good wallpaper.

The Federal Government may do something along the lines of what I'm going to suggest, and if so, I hope somebody points me in that direction.

I flew United this weekend, and it sucked almost every way it could. Cancelled flights, long lines, continuing delays... and the worst thing about it was that United did not appear to be even remotely close to adequate staffing at their ticket center in Philadelphia. I had to go through the ticket lines twice - once upon my first cancellation, the second upon a 3 hour plus delay that was going to keep me from catching my connecting in LA (which was, of course, never to arrive that night, leaving me with the option of taking the shuttle to Bakersfield from LAX or staying the night at a cheap hotel in LA - I took the shuttle). I didn't fly ONE United flight on Saturday. And frankly, I don't plan on taking any United flights again for a long, long, time.

I'm writing United, but I sure feel that it's unsatisfactory. When I booked my flight, I had options to book through USAir, Continental, or United. The prices were similar, I took United because of the arrival and departure times, which ended up not mattering. What I wish I had access to when I booked my flight was a statistical complaint compilation of airlines, put together by an unrelated third party, done by an organization I know and have some trust level in the data.

What I would like is for the FAA to do this. I'd like them to catalog and code complaints for every airline with flights in the U.S., and make the overall information available to the public on the web. I'd like to know number of complaints by various category per 1 million air miles. It's not the federal government's job to provide customer service for those complaints, but it is a worthwhile job to hold a current and continuing statistical analysis of those complaints to the feet of the airlines. And, as part of law, all airline web sites would be required to post their most current "analysis" at their site, as well as have it as the centralized FAA web site.

Maybe this is already being done and I wasn't savvy enough to find it. But if it isn't... I think it's time.

Have you been to the baths there?

Here you go - tell everyone in comments about your absolutely worst airline experience.

But then what can one expect from someone who believes:

"People first. Then money. Then things."

Apparently, experiences don't fit anywhere into her accountingview of life. Kind of revealing...