audioregurgitation
ericthek
lyzurgyk
Money's the Question, Not the Answer
Sex: A Great Question, A Better Answer
I Read These Blogs
The Divided States Of bu$hmeriKa 2
Drinking Liberally in New Milford
Independent Bloggers' Alliance
Last Left Turn Before Hooterville
Making Conservatives Cringe since 1977
The Online Magazine Formerly Known As Rob's Blog
out of my mind in mechanicsburg
My opinion on much of Joe Lieberman's politics: The majority of people are sick of it. They think our political system is sick. I blame politicians and news media who have created an environment of symbiotic dipshittery.
Weird. It looks like Adobe recently stopped offering a 30-day trial version of Dreamweaver. Wonder why...
And guess what. It's vacant of any facts, and yet has lots of plums, such as the title, "Meet on the Web, More Likely to Divorce?", and...:
But more than 10 years after the Internet transformed dating, one question remains: Are these couples living happily ever after, or are they more likely to meet with divorce lawyers?Although there are no official divorce statistics for those who met online, one thing is certain: Just as in marriages that began in more traditional ways, love stories created from online matches don't always have fairy tale endings.
Okay, this just in - we're going to write about something we have no data on.
Or under the heading "Online Affairs Rising":
There's no formal data, but some lawyers say they are seeing more of these clients show up on their doorsteps. New Jersey divorce attorney Eric Spevak is one of them. He says online-dating-related splits started picking up at his practice about five years ago. Spevak estimates that on average, one out of four or five of his firm's divorce cases stem from online dating. "I think it's a trend that will continue," he says.
Oh yes, Eric Spevak, who is trolling to future divorcees as the expert on online-dating-marriage-divorces, is the go-to guy. Neat!
I'm not an advocate (or opponent) for online relationships, but sometimes you have to call BS on a story.
I've always felt that graduation ceremonies are for graduates, their families and friends. That's it. It's their accomplishment that is being celebrated, their success at completing a program of higher education.
Why don't colleges survey their graduates to determine who they wish to have as speakers at commencement? Sure, pre-Internet, that couldn't be done, but now it can. Why should graduates have to suffer through the rantings of someone they don't appreciate on their big day?
Why should colleges treat this as being all about them? It's really about marking the point of separation from them by graduates - so why let colleges make the choice for commencement speaker alone?
Perhaps St. Vincent College will pick up on this thrust, and won't allow St. Vincent President Jim Towey to make such choices without graduating student approval in the future. That is, unless they want Cheney to speak there next year.
A few weeks ago, using Avedon Carol's blogroll, I posted this:
below are a list of blogs that I would appreciate being blogrolled from, and that I think the content here is appropriate to be blogrolled from on a regular basis. And I'd provide a link back, obviously. I'm mostly curious as to whether anyone will salute such an approach - you know, blog barter diplomacy.
It worked better than I expected - and I've added several blogs to the blogroll due to it, and so, I thought I'd try it again. This time, I'll use Skippy's blogroll, as seen below:
Blah3 - CorrenteWire - Cryptome - Dependable Renegage - Excuse the Mess... That was Just My Head - First Draft - Main and Central - One Good Move - Rising Hegemon - Scrutiny Hooligans - Today in Iraq - WTF Is It Now? - American Leftist - And, yes, I DO take it personally - The Barefoot Bum - Big Tent Democrat - Blue Girl, Red State - Democratic Left Infoasis - Dr. X's Free Associations - Drawing The Line - Edgeing - Hill Country Gal - Jelly Pizza - Kmareka - Left End of the Dial - Lotus - Surviving a Dark Time - The Mandarin - my Thinking spot - Never in Our Names - The Osterly Times - Peace, Love and Erica Campbell - Real's World - SocraticGadfly - VidiotSpeak - Welcome to Pottersville - Welcome to the Revolution - The American Street - Booman Tribune - Calitics - ePluribus Media - Independent Bloggers' Alliance - MyDD - My Left Wing - Square State - SoapBox Blue Jersey - West Virginia Blue - 618 Rants and Raves - The Adventures of the Smart Patrol - The Agonist - Alien & Sedition - Altercation - Alternet's Peek - All Things Democrat - Amahchewahwah - American Politics Journal - American Samizdat - And Yes, I Do Take It Personally - Apostropher - Arblogger - Archy - Are You Effin' Kidding Me? - As I Please - B12 Solipsism - Bad Attitudes - Badtux the Snarky Penguin - The Barefoot Bum - Bear Waller Hollar - Michael Berube Online - A Bird and a Bottle - Billmon - Blast Off! - BlogAmY - The Blogging Curmudgeon - Blogging Out Loud - Bloggityblog-Blog-Blog - Blogtopus - Blogwood: Norwood's Nattering - BlondeSense - Blue Gal - Blue Girl, Red State - Blue Grass Roots - Blue Streak - Body and Soul - The Brad Blog - Bride of Acheron - Brilliant at Breakfast - The Broad View - Bring It On - Buddhist Jihad - Bunko Squad - Burned Over District - Busy, Busy, Busy - Cannablog - Captain Dyke - Chapomatic - Chuck for - Coeruleus - The Core4 - The Countess - Covert History - Coyote Mercury - Staring at Empty Pages - Crooks & Liars - Cynical Nation - D-Day - The Daily Background - The Daily Blatt - dKos Bloggers - Dashiell - Gail Davis - DC Media Girl - Brad De Long - Deb's Quirky Web - The Democratic Daily - Democratic Veteran - Disguested in St. Louis - Dizzy Dayz - DemoKat - D.R. Scott's Pulp Culture - Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Done With Mirrors - Down With Tyranny! - Doxagora - Echidne of the Snakes - Electrolite - Ellen's Illinois 10th Congressional District Blog - Evil George's Personal Website - Evil Mommy - Ex Cathedra - Faux Real - Fiat Lux - Fire Ant - Firedog Lake - First Draft - Fold to Combine - Folkbum's Rambles and Rants - Foreign Policy Watch - The Galloping Beaver - Bob Geiger - Good Nonsense - Grits for Breakfast - Gropinator - The Gypsy's Caravan - The Hackenblog by ginger mayerson - Happy Furry Puppy Story Time w/Norbizness - Harp and Sword - Bob Harris - Hoffmania - Hoot at the Dark - Hotflash - Howard-Empowered People - Hullabaloo - Humor Has It - If I Ran the Zoo - The Immoral Minority - The Impolitic - Incertus - Instaputz - Interrobang's Internationale:The Real Interroblog - Intrepid Liberal Journal - Jelly Pizza - The Jewish Blog - Jinky the Cat - Jobsanger - John's Blog - Just Ain't Right - The Kenosha Kid's Blog - Kid Oakland - The Kitchen Sink Collective - Knoxviews - Last One Speaks - The Left End of the Dial v2.0 - Lawnorder - Left I on the News - Left in SF - Lean Left - Liberal Catnip - Liberal Common Sense - Liberal Oasis - A Lie A Day - Like Sunday - Linkmeister - Loaded Mouth - Lunaville - Mahablog - Main St. USA - Majikthise - Make Them Accountable - Man Eegee - Taylor Marsh - Max Speak - Media Needle - Mia Culpa - Migra Matters - Mister Apologist - Mr. Helpful - Mixter's Mix - The Moderate Man - Monkeyfister - My Thinking Corner - My Two Cents - My View of It - Needlenose - The Needs of the Few - Newsback - The News Blog by Steve Gilliard - Newscoma - Newsroom-L.Net - New Pairodimes - Nine Pearls - No Blood for Hubris - No Fish, No Nuts - North Shore Journal - Old Fashioned Patriot - Objectivist v. Constuctivist v. Theist - Olio - Orcinus - P! - Pacific Views - Patriot Daily - Patriside - Peace Tree Farm - People's Republic of Seabrook - Perception Managers - Peripetia - Pissed on Politics - Plucky Punk's Happyland - Plum Crazy - Political Animal - The Political Cat - Politickybitch - The Poor Man Institute - Pudentilla's Perspective - Pygalgia - Ranger Against War - Rants from the Rookery - Reality Frame - The Reef Ahead - Resident Bush - Rittenhouse Review - Rodger A. Payne's Blog - Roger Ailes, Over and Out - Rubber Hose - Rude Pundit - Ruminate This - Sack of Monkeys in My Pocket - Sadly, No! - Scoobie Davis - Shadow of the Hegemon - Simply Left Behind - Sisyphus Shrugged - Skimble - Louise Slaughter - Smirking Chimp - the S.N.A.F.U. principle - Snow Moon - Solarray - Spiiderweb - The Spinning Goth - Spocko's Brain - Spontaneous Arising - Staring at Empty Pages - SteveAudio - The Strange Death of Liberal America - Stump Lane - Survivor Left Blogistan - The Talent Show - Talk Left - Talking Dog - Tami, The One True - Tholos of Athena - Three Wise Men - Tbogg - Tom Tomorrow - Joe Trippi - The Truth Laid Bear - Truth Serum - Two Ton Green Blog - Universal Health - Unsolicited Opinion - The Vanity Press - Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy - Virgotext - Vodka Pundit - Vidiot Speak - Waiting for Dorothy - Watergate Summer - Westminster Wisdom - West Virginia Blue - Whiskey Fire - The Whole American Hog - WTF Is It Now? - tblog - Xoverboard - Zen Comix - ZenYenta -Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments - The Biomes Blog - A Blog Around the Clock - Deltoid (Tim Lambert) - The Intersection (Chris Mooney) - Mike the Mad Biologist(Mike) - Pharyngula, by PZ Myers - Quark Soup - Respectful Insolence - Science and Politics
(yeah, it's a huge list)
I dunno, this caught my eye for some reason as something to do:
May 19, 2007 – Art Walk and Wine Tasting, 12 noon - 5pm, Downtown Mechanicsburg.
The event features artist's in area businesses and wine tasting at designated businesses (not all businesses will have the wine tasting). Wine glasses will be available for purchase before the event at the 2nd Floor Gallery on Market St. Proceeds from this event will help to fund "Concerts on the Corner" during the summer.
Mechanicsburg is a quaint little town outside of Harrisburg, and I could see this being pretty successful. I'm not tied into the Mechanicsburg Chamber or the local artist community, so I'm not sure who is involved or what the local art community can contribute, but if we're around maybe we'll do this.
That's right. I made it last night for dinner, first time in years, maybe decades. Kids didn't like it. I wasn't thrilled either, but I ate my share of the glop. Oh well. Probably won't do that again.
In "honor" of our dinner, news about Hamburger Helper:
Hamburger Helper is giving away up to $15,000 a month to help fund projects in communities throughout the country. However, that program ends next month, with the final award being announced Tuesday, May 15.Oregon's Governor is chowing down on Hamburger Helper.
This week the Governor of Oregon is finding out how challenging it can be to feed a family on a food stamp budget....
"We try to keep it simple as possible... that's why during the week we have a lot of polish sausages, macaroni and cheese, hamburger helper, things that are quick and easy"
We may not harbor fond memories of family dinners gathered around a steaming skillet of Hamburger Helper, but there's no doubt that most of us have a soft spot for comforting one-pot meals. When everyone's working -- even the kids -- casseroles are a necessary convenience. Convenience, however, often comes at a price, hence the popularity of almost-prepared dishes like the hamburger one. But you can still help your ground meat and make a great meal without opening a box.
Bon Appetit!
What kind of mulch do you use?
(btw, this might deter insects but attract kids)
as if it's not legitimate. But it is a legitimate question:
One of the things that the National Democratic Party ought to be doing is creating a seal of sorts for the National Republican Party that it can use in the long-term as part of its message about the Republican Party.
And it should definitely carry imagery of one Mr. George W. Bush - probably a recognizable silhouette. That Party deserves to be tagged with the Dubya stigma forever.
And some other items of interest:
If you're so inclined, there's a debate tonight with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel.
Best line about Rich Little's "comedy" performance at the Correspondents Dinner, from a commenter at Balloon Juice:
"If Rich Little was actually funny he would have come up onto stage with a perfect Stephen Colbert impression and destroyed the whole bunch again."
Well, at least Turner County High School eventually had an integrated prom. Or will have, in 2007. You know, CNN is in Georgia, you'd think they would have reported on this story in their backyard before today.
My neighbor has this sort of fungus growing in his mulch.
Condi gets her subpoena. About time.
Great question, rarely gets asked. What does "win" mean for the United States in Iraq?
Good to know the Top Ten Internet Crimes of 2006 so you're not a victim of it in 2007.
I haven't seen much this year to recommend the NBA, either.
I'd like to see this experiment for a month, just once, by a news organization such as CNN. Instead of labeling people as Republicans or Democrats, any elected official would be labeled as a member of either the majority party in Congress, or the minority party in Congress.
It's pretty clear that David Broder isn't paying attention - or no longer can pay attention - to the world anymore. At least the world I see. Anyone out there think there's just one war going on right now? I see two:
The War on Terror - which is why we we went to Afghanistan.
The War in Iraq - which is the war Reid says we cannot win - because we've allowed a civil war to start.
There's been a lot of confusion of the two wars, but there are two, and America knows it, regardless of how the Bush Administration tries to combine them. Does Broder understand that? Unknown, but his nitpicking of Reid's language about the "war" is really a waste of opportunity to write about something meaningful, and really is just a bone of contentiousness to give Republicans to chew on.
I'm sorry, comparing Senator Harry Reid to Alberto Gonzales is an insult to anyone listening. Gonzales is going to end up being seen as THE WORST ATTORNEY GENERAL IN OUR HISTORY. In the WORST PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION IN OUR HISTORY. Reid won't be seen as the worst anything. By making this comparison, Broder is implying that as long as Reid is in the Senate, it's okay for Gonzales to be AG. That is an unacceptable argument for anyone to be making.
At this point, people ought to be asking, what is Broder's motivation for why he writes what he writes? There's a lot of blogging out there that he's "confused", but nobody seems to call Broder out and ask him why he's writing what he does. Does he honestly think the perspective he's writing from - and the political alchemy he seems to expect from the Democrats but not from the Republicans - is reasonable? Is acceptable to Americans? Or is it what the bosses want...
And so I just don't get all the Rosie (palm) verbal lathering by Republican bloggers.
Stewart should win in a landslide. McCain's candidacy is caught in a Bushslide.
Bush's good times - when make believe wasn't disproven:
April 24, 2003
President Gives Iraq Update to Workers of Tank Plant in Lima, Ohio
Remarks by the President at Lima Army Tank Plant - Lima, OhioOur mission -- besides removing the regime that threatened us, besides ending a place where the terrorists could find a friend, besides getting rid of weapons of mass destruction -- our mission has been to bring a humanitarian aid and restore basic services, and put this country, Iraq, on the road to self- government. And we'll stay as long as it takes to complete our mission. And then all our forces are going to leave Iraq and come home. (Applause.)
And we're making progress. There's tangible, visible progress on the ground there in Iraq. Step by step, the citizens of that country are reclaiming their own country. They're identifying former officials who are guilty of crimes. That deck of cards seems to be getting complete over time. (Laughter.) They're volunteering for citizens patrols to provide security in the cities. They're beginning to understand that they need to step up and be responsible citizens if they want to live in peace and a free society.
Many Iraqis are now reviving religious rituals which were forbidden by the old regime. See, a free society honors religion. A free society is a society which believes in the freedom of religion. And many Iraqis are now -- (applause.) Many Iraqis are now speaking their mind in public. That's a good sign. (Laughter.) That means a new day has come in Iraq. When Saddam was the dictator, and you spoke your mind he would cut out your tongue and leave you to bleed to death in a town square. No fooling. That's how he dealt with dissidence.
Today, in Iraq, there's discussion, debate, protest, all the hallmarks of liberty. (Laughter and applause.) The path to freedom may not always be neat and orderly, but it is the right of every person and every nation. This country believes that freedom is God's gift to every individual on the face of the Earth. (Applause.)
Last week there was an historic gathering that occurred in the city of al Nasiriyah, where Iraqis met openly and freely to discuss the future of their country. And out of that meeting came this declaration by the Iraqis that were there: Iraq must be democratic. And that's the goal, the commitment of the United States and our coalition partners -- Iraq must be democratic. And as new Iraqi leaders begin to emerge, we'll work with them. One thing is certain: We will not impose a government on Iraq. We will help that nation build a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people. (Applause.)
Our country and our good allies are working to create the conditions for lasting peace. We're aiding the advance of peace by seeking the advance of freedom. Free societies do not nurture bitterness, or the ideologies of terror and murder. Free societies are founded on the belief that every life has equal value. Free societies -- free societies turn creative gifts of men and women toward progress and the betterment of their own lives. American interests and American founding beliefs lead in the same direction. We stand for human liberty. (Applause.)
Second, the Democratic leadership's proposal is aimed at restricting the ability of our generals to direct the fight in Iraq. They've imposed legislative mandates, they passed legislative mandates telling them which enemies they can engage and which they cannot. That means our commanders in the middle of a combat zone would have to take fighting directions from legislators 6,000 miles away on Capitol Hill. The result would be a marked advantage for our enemies and a greater danger for our troops
I can't see how the advantage would be any greater for the enemy, or the danger any greater to the troops, than allowing George W. Bush to be Commander in Chief. That has been absolutely disastrous. So, if we're for improving our chances, the first course of business should be removing Bush from office.
To be fair to Sheryl Crow, it's only natural to think of TP when you think of Karl Rove.
While waiting for my doctor's appointment today, Fox News was shoved down our throats in the waiting room, and low and behold, there's the Amazing Shrinking President on television, trying to convince America that he's right about Iraq and Congress is wrong. Did he look believable? No. Did he look like he believed what he was saying? Not particularly. He looked like a man who is defeated himself, but won't admit it to anyone else. Defeated in his efforts, defeated in his philosophy, with no energy and no effort to find "the answer" for the country beyond repeating what he has done and said.
Bush is defeat, personalized. As long as he's in charge, America has been defeated, because of lack of brainpower and reasoning and ability in the White House.
It's too late for Iraq as it was envisioned. Bush has lost it. Bush. Has. Lost. It. And he's spent 4 years, treasure and blood doing so. And he's committed to losing more until his term is over.
Americans decry losing wars, and they decry those who point out a losing effort, and they decry those who want to get out of losing wars. But there's a point where brains have to trump brawn, that mind must be used over muscle, that the wise must be listened to over the loud. We can't win this war with George W. Bush as President. There's no way. He's not a leader - look at the national polls. He's not smart about war. Look at our Iraq experience. He's a drain on this country. And he's not doing anything now except managing until the end of the season, to take a baseball analogy. He knows he's going to be fired. It's just that he knows the owner will wait until the end of the season to dump him.
Is America really going to let this awful President keep us in Iraq? Only if Congress lets him.
Heard an acquaintance who has a daughter with cerebral palsy talking about raising her a few weeks ago. I just haven't thought much from perspectives like hers before, and it makes me a bit sad that I haven't. She had been asked by a friend about the most tiring parts of raising her child, and one of the things she mentioned was fundraising. She hates fundraising, because it makes her feel like some kind of "loser" for not being able to afford what her child needs. But both her and her husband work, and they raise her child, and her needs have considerably extra costs, of which insurance doesn't completely cover (and in some cases doesn't cover at all).
The biggest problem about fundraising is the amount of work it takes to do it - coordination, management, development, etc. I think about the amount of work my wife and I go through raising our own children and having jobs and paying mortgages and I wonder how somebody who has a semi-regular need for a fundraiser finds the time to do what is required to make the fundraiser successful. It seems like it needs to be turnkey to a point, something that can be turned on and off based on need.
I wonder if the minds that came up with CafePress might be able to create such a fundraising venue, online. Is there a web opportunity to help these families out?
Don't drink anything while watching, because this is full of spit-takes.
Some stories you may have missed:
Apparently, THIS is the biggest mass murder in U.S. History, back in 1927. Oh, and opposition to higher taxes was involved.
BlueGrassRoots states that Windows Vista sucks.
Note to Philadelphia - unemployment rates seems to track national patterns, not local economic development projects.
I love this version of "My Generation".
I'm so sick of MoDo. How would she like it if the press regularly uncovered worthless tidbits of her life that were implied as values as to how she does her job? What kind of tampons does she buy? Does she get her eyebrows waxed? How many times a day does she brush her teeth?
Here's another question - how much money did Washington spend on his hair? How much did Lincoln spend on his hats? How about FDR and those cigarette holders?
How did Continental Divide miss being on this list?
Is it time we have a national discussion about the merits of the Navy's Blue Angels? They've been around a long time - Nimitz ordered them started - and I understand that they have entertainment value, but what is the real value to the Navy, in actual evidence?
There are lots of little municipal parks like this in Central Pennsylvania. This one is in Camp Hill.
In honor of the start of the season.
When I was a kid, I don't believe there was anything called "tee ball". Now it's somewhat of an institution, although many leagues now call it "instructional league".
So why doesn't Noah Stahl go to private school?
If you don't have children or wish to send yours to private school, opponents of capitalism say too bad - you must sacrifice your earnings to pay for the public education of others.
Ah, hypocrisy - this was written by a student at Iowa State University trying to state that "forced sacrifice" isn't necessary. Iowa State University isn't a private school. The State of Iowa currently pays for 48% of the cost of education at the Regent universities, including Iowa State University.
They aren't general managers, so let Petrie do the job.
Musselman fired by the Sacramento Kings.
Now, if we can somehow work it that we pick up Mike Conley Jr. in the draft...
Any Republican that still thinks that Alberto Gonzales should be Attorney General prioritizes loyalty over all other values. In fact, all other values are superseded by loyalty. It's a damaging choice of highest value, but it's the choice of those who are insecure as their own decisionmaking.
This also explains the 30 percent or so that still think the Loyalty Chief is doing a good job.
If Bush had poll numbers that were above urinal cakes, the idea that Gonzales' staying on is loyal would be laughable. He would be seen as damaging to the Bush presidency, and loyalty would require him to leave the Administration.
However, with Bush's continued minimal level of support, Gonzales actually doesn't hurt him much. Those of us appalled by the self-admitted pathetic management by Gonzales have already been appalled by similar management results in Iraq and with Katrina. We are not surprised by the mismanagement. We are grossly disappointed that it is approved by the President to continue.
But with Katrina and to some point with Iraq, eventually those loyal were let go in an effort to protect the President's standing in America. Brownie was dropped. Paul Bremer was sent packing. Even Rumsfeld lost his title.
Bush's poll numbers are hurting America, because he no longer has much to lose, and he's behaving as if he knows it. He expands the war, he says he's planning to veto funding for the troops, he keeps Gonzales though even Senate Republicans are calling on Gonzales to leave. And honestly, what does Bush have to lose?
In terms of support, it's hard to say what would wake up the remaining 30 or so percent. Bush could eat a baby's head served to him by Cheney on television, and as long as he was repeating Republican mantra while doing it, there would still be this unmoved support. "Mistakes were made," Bush would admit, "but there was no way of knowing I was eating a baby's head. Now stop talking about this, or the terrorists win." And Limbaugh and crew would repeat it, and the loyalty-driven Bushies would repeat it, and the Bushfollowers would accept it.
Competence, understanding, effectiveness and intelligence all matter, and America has suffered from a deficit of this from the Executive Branch through this decade. All we get is Republican loyalty, which just brings another heaping bowlful of new shit every month or so. When are the 30 percenters going to wake up and realize that loyalty is a one-way street with this Administration, and they're going to end up suffering as much as the rest of us?
And all the other wonderful things that kids call cleft chins.
And a list of my siblings-in-cleft...In a question-and-answer period after his speech, Rove was asked whose idea it was to start a pre-emptive war in Iraq.
``I think it was Osama bin Laden's,'' Rove replied.
Maybe we really shouldn't consider it "global unionism" until countries like China and India are under the umbrella. This is more like "Trans-Atlantic" unionism.
But for anyone in a long distance relationship, here are some tips for making homemade porn.
Lesson in short: Communities shouldn't install on their web site an online bulletin board unless they accept that they eventually will have disagreements take place on the message board.
Having said that, there's a lot of value of taking disagreements to a bulletin board, the primary value being that all sides can have their arguments and their point-making capabilities displayed for all to see, and people aren't loaded with just one side's viewpoint. Organizations need to have rules for acceptable behavior and language on a bulletin board, and manage the board so those rules are followed, but it's not an impossible situation to manage.
Followup: Posting about bulletin boards is dangerous, too - see all the comment spam it generates below.
After showing a government issued photo ID – his green card – and a driver's license to prove his Virginia residency, Cho Seung-Hui charged $571 on a credit card and walked out of Roanoke Firearms with a new 9 mm Glock 19 and 50 rounds of ammunition.
"If we see a resident alien with a credit card, it's usually a good indication that they're a good upstanding citizen, not someone who would go on a shooting spree," Markell says.
Pennsylvania is second only to New York in projected production potential for wind energy east of the Mississippi, according to the wind energy association. Wind turbines installed in Pennsylvania are projected to produce 179 megawatts of electricity annually, with another 80 megawatts proposed or under construction. A megawatt is roughly enough energy to power 1 million homes.
So much out there, it's easy to do, especially when a story like Virginia Tech dominates so much thought and conversation. Check them out:
Who will be the first to go: Gonzales or Wolfowitz?
I wish I had enough money to buy a mammoth. I wouldn't buy one, but wish I had the cash.
Good for Home Depot, who have embarked what they claim will be the largest green labeling program in American retailing.
I wonder after the whole Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction thing if nipple jewelry sales increased.
Can you feel the inflation?
Kucinich knows the order for impeachment. Cheney first.
I suspect you're not looking at this content through a Blackberry right now...
I guess I'm no doctor. Ortho looked at my knee, I get an MRI today, but he thinks it is a meniscus tear (torn cartilage). Arthroscopy likely. Apparently pretty common for people my age. That's a saying I'm going to learn to hate - people my age.
There's too many people who immediately wanted to jump on the possibility that yesterday's murders at Virginia Tech could have been a conspiracy - and perhaps terrorism. The world is full of angry people, and unfortunately, too many of them are willing to commit violence. There's no conspiracy in that.
But, I have to admit, this incident suggests something out to me - how possible it is that one person - one previously relatively unknown person - could entice the United States to the brink of war. Just imagine if this shooter had been from the Middle East. Imagine further that the murderer had come from Iranian descent, with relatives still in Iran. The angry people of America would be out in force, deep in bloodlust. No proof of connection to Iran would be accepted by this crowd. Would Bush try to satiate their bloodlust?
Shouldn't it be a required skill for elected officials?
PITTSTON TWP. — Faced with an electricity bill emergency, firefighters turned up the heat on the township supervisors Thursday.Members of the Pittston Township Volunteer Fire Department met with the township supervisors in the afternoon to request the township pay the company’s overdue bills to avoid a power shutoff next week.
After a two-hour meeting filled with arguing, shouting and podium pounding, Supervisors John Paglianite, Joseph Adams and Anthony Attardo agreed to pay the latest electricity and phone bills and study other ways to help.
PPL threatened to shut off the power to the Bryden Street firehouse on March 27 unless an overdue bill of about $203 was paid. Another bill is coming March 28 for about $109. The fire company also owes about $212 in wireless and regular phone bills.
The company had sent the electricity and phone bills to the supervisors for the township to pay because the fire company is receiving about $5,000 less from the township this year. That’s because the supervisors eliminated the 14-mill real estate tax on residential properties last year.
The fire company previously received about 1 mill worth of tax revenue, equal to about $14,000, each year, but with the tax now just imposed on commercial properties, the company only received $8,800 last year.
The supervisors claimed they did not know what impact the tax cut would have.
Brilliant!
Isn't this more than one nation's airwaves should endure?
Here's my question about Mr. King: How many times, particularly in the last 22 years, has someone said:
"Oh, it's Larry King."
You sit there on the couch with your remote, it's a commercial on the program you're watching, so you go hunting for something interesting for a couple of minutes. CNN is good for two minute chunks of material, so you flip to CNN. And then you realize...
"Oh, it's Larry King."
and you're off to another channel.
I don't want to ignore this story in the blog, because nationally we're all thinking about it and discussing it. On the other hand, there's still so little known and yet so much repetitive blogging about it, there's little need to add to it. It is a national tragedy, and I'm like everyone else, sad and angry that so much life was wasted yesterday by the actions of one violent criminal.
When the public knows so little about what occurred at Virginia Tech today, what is the upside of blogging speculation that it could be terrorist-related? I guess I really don't understand why, when in a position of ignorance that most of us are currently in about the facts of the case, somebody would do this.
I'm short on time to blog today and also looking for some new music to listen to, so...
What new recordings has been released in the last few months that you're really enjoying and want to recommend?
But I don't get canker sores very much any more...
A new over-the-counter patch may help canker sores heal faster.
Scientists (including the patch's inventor) announced that news today in New Orleans at the 85th general session of the International Association for Dental Research.
The researchers studied 46 adults with recurrent canker sores, also called recurrent aphthous ulcers.
Half of the patients received the patches, called Cankermelts, which the researchers say contain licorice extract to curb inflammation. Those patients were told to put the herbal patch over their canker sore for 16 hours per day but not to wear the patches while sleeping.
For comparison, the other patients didn't get the patches and agreed not to use any other canker sore treatment.
Every day for eight days, the patients rated their canker sore pain and got their canker sores photographed and checked by the researchers.
Before treatment, the patients' average canker sore pain and average canker sore size was similar for both groups.
But by the end of the eight-day study, the patients who wore the canker sore patches had less canker sore pain and smaller canker sores than the untreated group.
Well, although it seemed like my recuperation from my knee injury in late February was close to complete, and I was feeling pretty good about my self-diagnosis and treatment, I re-injured it Friday and I'm now convinced that a look by an orthopedist is required. Pretty disappointing, I had gotten back to playing basketball with very little pain, and then I mess up my knee again chasing a softball down a hill.
TOOBIN: Well, Gonzales has two things going for him on Tuesday. One is the Democrats on that committee are absolutely terrible at asking questions. They are incompetent questioners, as they illustrated during the Roberts and Alito hearings. They like to talk much more than they like to ask questions. So that's a big thing that Gonzales has going for him.
No shit. I am so sick of the speeches when serious questions are needing to be asked. I hope, in a way, that Toobin's point should be a spur to these Senators to get their shit together and ask the toughest of questions.
Unfortunately, this question can't be answered in a vacuum, or ivory halls. It doesn't include scope or reach or degrees or real options. Would I rather have Bush gone than Imus gone? Of course. Would I rather have O'Reilly off the air than Imus? Of course. But that's not the choice available to the marketplace. The marketplace choice is, can the MSNBC and CBS audiences grow, and be better served, and MSNBC and CBS better compensated, by someone other than Don Imus? MSNBC and CBS made the decision that the answer was yes after this fiasco. Many bloggers, including myself, felt that way LONG BEFORE this incident ever occurred.
It's a question that isn't asked often enough about everyone in the news media. Take Tim Russert. Could NBC grow marketplace and improve political coverage by replacing Tim Russert with someone else? It's a worthwhile discussion in my opinion, but it won't be discussed by the media at large unless Russert screws up royally, either by severely diminished ratings or an Imus-sized blunder.
Some of Althouse's commenters recognize that Imus will probably get another gig if he wants, and will still have distribution. And maybe he won't have learned, and will say much of the same thing he has been saying. In that case, perhaps Althouse will consider a better question:
What kinds of standards and practices should America expect from television and radio "news" programming now?
Thivai posted a pretty humorous image.
One of the things about this concept of "brain drain" is that there's been so little research into what actually causes it. Are people that get a considerably higher education more likely to move around, or chase warmer climates, or do people who are more interested in living in various places and chasing warmer climates more likely to get a considerably higher education? I'm all for bringing better paying jobs into Pennsylvania, but I think there should be an emphasis on homegrowing them rather than importing them...
Attention local governments: it was the zoning laws that prevented Al Gore from installing solar panels. Wake up!
Did you know that atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rate out of all religiously labeled groups?
Effect Measure found a pretty cool story about flu vaccine made in insect cells.
I have nevertheless asked the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility to further investigate this matter. Working with the department's Office of Inspector General, these nonpartisan professionals will complete their own independent investigation so that Congress and the American people can be 100 percent assured of what I believe and what the investigation thus far has shown: that nothing improper occurred.
A week can't go by without somebody saying something downright stupid about their opinion, married to the fact that they don't have kids. I'm so unappreciative of the sentiment in certain cases that I'm going to highlight it. Today's contributor is one Josie Aguirre...
Because new school construction doesn't affect seniors directly, bond organizers said getting the information about the amendment is crucial."I wasn't really thinking of voting for the bond because I don't have kids in school anymore and I didn't want to pay taxes for it," said Josie Aguirre, a Central El Paso resident who frequents the Sacramento Senior Center.
A tax freeze "might change my mind ... but my taxes are still high."
Benezette Township in Elk County will soon be home to the largest elk-watching and education center in the eastern United States, state officials announced.With $7.6 million already committed to the project, the proposed center would add another element to the Pennsylvania Wilds region, which has attracted thousands of visitors and helped spur the local economy.
The 7,000-square-foot facility - featuring interpretive exhibits, wildlife trails and viewing blinds, along with year-round restrooms and parking for vehicles and buses - will come to fruition thanks to a 30-year agreement between the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
"This new center will give us additional opportunities to reach out to new visitors, give them a wonderful outdoor experience and share the story of the conservation efforts that have restored the elk herd, and many other natural and wild areas in Pennsylvania," Gov. Ed Rendell said in announcing the development of the center.
All told, the state's wild elk herd, the largest in the Northeast, draws more than 75,000 visitors to the area each fall, officials said. Benezette Township is located in the heart of the Wilds region, which covers Elk, Cameron, McKean, Potter, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, Tioga and Warren counties.
All, of course, leads to my "elk story".
My brother and his family from Southern California came to visit us one time and we took them up to Lake Tobias, which our daughter really liked at the time (I think she was about 4). They have all the animals, including elk, wandering around their property, and they take you out in a bus that has had its top cut off so you can go for a "safari" ride. Kids love it.
They warned us that the male elk out in the area was in rutting season, and because of that, very aggressive. We sat down on the bus and started riding, and our nephew, who was about 6 or 7 at the time, sat at the "window" seat.
Sure enough, an elk spotted us as we were moving and came up chasing us. His antlers practically reached into the bus, and our nephew wasn't really liking this huge wild animal running right along side of him, keeping up with the bus and staying just about eyeball to eyeball with our nephew, 10 feet away.
And then the elk screamed. That surprised all of us, and our nephew ended up burying his head into his Dad's shoulder. It's really surprising how loud - and how high - an elk screams.
The hangout on St. John's Road received a pretty good review from HarrisburgNightlife.
The old saw about sex draining energy from athletes - unless, of course, it's right before a game - doesn't have much scientific evidence.
On the other hand, it may be more illuminating if they measure for aggressiveness and sex-deprivation.
I really wish Aaron would continue with this blog. I really like the idea of figuring out the marketplace origins of a business's architecture.
Maybe, just maybe, Jack Black could handle the Burton Cummings vocals now on this song.
Because he's probably heading for a Soil Himself Weekend with the news that Don Imus was fired from CBS Radio as well.
And now, perhaps, MSNBC and CBS Radio can show Headline News, Fox News, and those rightwing radio stations something by putting on some programming that is actually worth broadcasting. We can hope until proven otherwise.
Somebody needs to secure the computers used for sending those emails. Now.
Of course, it's about the Chicago Bears:
The Bears are not convinced Rex Grossman will improve simply by continuing to add maturity. They are installing some shotgun plays for him to use this fall. He worked extensively from the gun at Florida and is extremely comfortable in that alignment. Coordinator Ron Turner is not a fan of the shotgun, but good coaching means incorporating strengths of players, which is what the Bears are doing with Grossman....
Thank you. This is going to make a big difference on passing downs.
Why did Republicans elect such a stooge...
Turkey's army chief said Thursday the military had launched several "large scale" offensives against rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring northern Iraq.
Washington repeatedly has cautioned Turkey against staging a cross-border offensive, fearing that it could destabilize the region and antagonize Iraqi Kurds, who are allied with the U.S.
But Iraq's government is barely able to control its own cities. U.S. commanders, who are battling the Iraqi insurgency in the middle of the country, are stretched too thin to take on Turkish Kurds hiding in remote mountains near the frontier.
On Monday, the Turkish government demanded again that U.S. and Iraqi officials crack down on guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
"An operation into Iraq is necessary," said Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the head of Turkey's powerful military. "The PKK has huge freedom of movement in Iraq ... It has spread its roots in Iraq."
Buyukanit said the military already was moving against separatists in the southeast.
Iraq's Parliament building bombed.
Iraq really, really, really needed us to have a different President, one that could think and plan and consider repercussions, one that would set policy after considering all the options instead of trying to create backstory after setting policy. They desperately needed us to change leadership directions in 2004. We failed them, and by we, I mean all the Americans that imcomprehensibly voted for Bush. Well, actually it was comprehensible, it just wasn't very responsible or intelligent or useful or grown-up.
Oh, and those people failed the rest of the world, and the rest of America, as well. And if they're not sorry and ashamed for doing it by now, then I suspect they'll never be. These are not the people that should run our government. They are not the people who should be in news media. They are the people that in the future should be ignored and avoided under almost any circumstance. They cannot govern, this much is clear. None of them deserve another chance. They are failures, and they are committed to continuing failure, and building backstories in an attempt to legitimize their failures. Stop them.
I think this is a pretty interesting idea. I'd like to see more city and town managers have a blog.
I work at home. Sometimes I find these kinds of articles about working at home interesting. Mostly, it's about setting boundaries between home life and work life. There's a lot of simple, obvious truths in this article, although there's also a lot of things where your mileage may vary, such as:
Dress for work. There's no time to be a slob. Take a shower and look like you're going somewhere."I rarely wear blue jeans to work in my house," said Kidder, 51, founder of the nonprofit Band of Angels, which advocates for people with Down syndrome. "There's something about being in jeans and a T-shirt that makes it too easy to throw in a load of laundry."
That's about a person's own mental focus, not about keeping boundaries between home and work. Frankly, people should wear what makes them most comfortable and successful at doing their job. Whether people wear shorts and a tank top or a three-piece suit is up to them, but the idea that someone who isn't going to meet anyone for work all day should dress up as if they are seems to me to be a bit silly.
The part about interaction, at least for me, really hits home. I try to talk to a couple of clients about work each day on the phone - it's good for business and good for them, but it's also good for me. I also have a couple of work-related stops, and a coffee shop stop, as part of my routine every day. Sitting in a room working on a computer all day without human interaction isn't good for me in the non-work hours.
This really isn't related to anything other than a discussion we were having at the coffee shop...
For whatever reason, I really thought after the 1980 David Letterman morning show that Rich Hall would have had a bigger career than he has had so far. He has had a pretty good career, I guess, but back then I thought he was so damn funny.
Proof: Here, Here, Here, Here, and elsewhere...
Unfortunately, Imus can't do the prideful thing and disappear from public view. Exposed as beyond insensitive and suspected of being quite racist, he can't see the damage he's caused and continues to cause.
I'm not talking this time about the Rutgers basketball team, or black women. I'm talking about the television pundit class. He's accidentally exposed them for what they are - hypocrits. They sit and verbally judge and lay down moral judgements all the time as part of their job, but they don't seem to see themselves as part of that same spectrum, subject to the same pressures, and targets of the same blame industry that they worked so hard to create.
In this respect, Imus is doing us an unintentional favor. This hypocrisy - the "judge others by my words, but not me" approach to infotainment has long sickened the national debate. The practitioners of it need to be excised from that debate, for the health of discussion. The lineup of people supporting Imus are the people supporting, and benefitting, from this hypocrisy. So, in a way, it's good for them to stand up, and proudly proclaim their solidarity with this cancerous punditocracy. We now know more about who deserves a speedier exit from the public eye - and this includes the programming management at MSNBC.
Just a blurb that shows how the weather has been the past month.
Tonight our daughter had softball practice. Practices started almost a month ago, supposedly, although this was only their third practice on a softball field. Their game season starts next week. Her coach has been coaching sports for a long time, and he told us that he was relatively satisfied with how the girls are doing, but that it would likely be a rough starting season, because he's never even been close to having as few practices before the season starts.
I'm expecting three inning games, in our allotted 1 and a quarter hour time periods, with maximum run scoring.
I have a couple of hoodies that I wear. I wear the hood when it's cold, for example yesterday when I took our son to his T-Ball practice. But I have to admit to a suspicion whenever I see some young guy wearing an oversized hoodie in a "warm" place. I saw some kid driving with one on yesterday, a big old hoodie that had to limit his peripheral vision for driving. I think that's just stupid - just like I think wearing any big hats while driving is stupid, because it can only serve to impair visibility.
You see younger people wearing hoodies indoors at lots of places - the video store, the movies, etc. I admit, I just don't get it. And I hope the practice is well over by the time our kids get to later teenage years.
Now I see the reputation of the hoodie has now lead to its being controlled in schools.
When McKeesport Principal Tim Gabauer noticed more and more junior high students wearing trendy hooded sweatshirts, he decided that "hoodies" are as much a problem as they are a fashion statement.In an era of low-rise pants and midriff tops, McKeesport and other school districts have decided that hoodies simply cover up too much.
Students say they like hoodies for comfort and convenience.
But McKeesport and other school districts have banned the jackets and pullovers because they can conceal contraband or even indicate gang involvement. Many schools are restricting how hoodies are worn.
"It's much easier for kids to conceal something and have access to it (in a hoodie)," Gabauer said. "We want to do what we can to provide a safe atmosphere. It didn't seem like anything radical, just a way to enforce safety."
Indeed, police reports often describe robbery suspects wearing hooded sweatshirts to hide their identity.
And if you peruse a news search on Google for the term "hoodie", you do find it quite often in robbery stories:
93-year-old woman is victim of theft bid
Baskin Robbins reports fifth robbery in 2007
Mom chases down suspected bike thief
I doubt we'll be buying the kids many hoodies...
The military says an improvised explosive device is to blame for a Cumberland County man's death.
Commander Philip Murphy-Sweet, 42, of Hampden Township, was killed in Baghdad, Iraq on Saturday.
He was permanently assigned to the Naval Inventory Control Point, and was serving a six-month assignment, supporting Coalition troops in Iraq.
I didn't know this man, but I know that there's a family, including three small kids, and friends that are suffering now, and will continue to miss him. May the rest of us honor his and their sacrifices as we do what we believe is right to bring an end to the war.
MSNBC has given themselves three weeks to find alternative programming to replace Imus. If they fail to do this, they're in for very long-term PR attacks. Deservedly.
Furthermore, there is no way that this should be dropped by those who are pressing it. If we want to get hate and bigotry off of the radiowaves, then a standard has to be set somewhere, and that standard can only start with a responsible party. Is MSNBC responsible? That's what the real question is here.
So here's the poll in the Allentown Morning Call:
When do you think Phillies manager Charlie Manuel will get fired?
Less than 14% of those responding said he won't be fired. The correct answer should have been: After last season.
You had to be there, I guess. I was there, and I still don't get it.
I've been wondering about something - why isn't Joe Lieberman running for the Democratic Party nomination for President? We all know his history - ran as VP candidate in '00, ran for President in '04 and failed pretty miserably, but still, what is keeping him from running now? From all of his accounts, he believes that the Democratic Party is poorly divided on the Iraq and WOT questions, and running for President would be his chance to lead. Sure, he wouldn't have a chance to win the election, but that's not necessarily what leadership is all about, and he would still have his cushy Senate job waiting for him when he finished running, if his philosophy towards that in 2000 and 2004 is any indicator.
To be clear, I wouldn't vote for Joe Lieberman. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have anything to offer to the debate.
Has anyone asked Joe Lieberman why he isn't running? I wonder if he recognizes that he's so reviled by so many Democrats that at this point, he must lay low and away from anything he actually wishes to support. Would a Joe Lieberman candidacy create MORE or LESS support for the Iraq War? Would it create MORE or LESS support for the way Bush has waged the War on Terror?
Why isn't Joe running?
So time for a little question. Who has better press with kids?
This guy?
Or this guy?
Granada High School, in Livermore, California.
I ran track, and it's one of my fonder memories of high school, so I figured a picture of their relatively new track hits home as well as anything for me. The track when I was there sucked - dirt track that puddled up during the winter, and then in the spring the mud was scarred by our track spikes and we dug ruts in the inner lanes from mile and 2 mile practice, and then it dried up like concrete and the inner lanes were almost impossible to run on because of the ruts and spike tears. This is a big improvement.
You know you're getting old when you don't recognize the names of almost all the teachers at your high school. I looked at Granada's faculty list - I remember two names. TWO!
Of course, it has been 30 years since I graduated from there...
Archy has an interesting post about how the Greeks made things to last, and what it did to their economy.
Dear Major League Baseball:
"The Natural" is not a motion picture classic, even within the limited category of "baseball movies".
Horrible piece.
Bleh.
Sincerely,
PSoTD
We bought a new front door a few months ago, it had to be stained the way we wanted it, and it was delivered last week and installed at the beginning of this week. This comes full with a new lock set, and so the old key is now retired.
It's a funny thing, the key. On a keychain full of competitors for your attention, you place the most important in "key" positions for easy finding by vision and somewhat easier fumbling by hand. I always had to visually search for this key - the shape was similar to another key I hold (not for the house) on the same chain. This one stood out visually, however, because of its color.
Of course, a key that is brown or bronze or whatever this color is can still be hard to find at night. I've spent many nights, particularly after coming home from playing Wednesday night hoops, holding my keys up to capture a bit of the streetlight so I can identify this one from the other key. That's probably how I'll remember it, if I remember it.
It's really disturbing how many of America's largest papers are the playground of the dumbest fuck editorialists (DFEs) in the industry. Smaller newspapers have better talent. Period.
Are your public schools closed today for Good Friday?
If so, why? At this point in time, how many families and children are involved in observing this day in a way that prevents them from going to school? I guess I'm not quite sure of the reasoning as to why government takes today off. As a society, we clearly don't expect the private sector to take today off. So what's the reasoning for the public sector?
t's no secret that U.S. Rep. Mike Pence is solidly behind the Bush administration's Iraq policy.On the floor of the House and in visits back home with Hoosier constituents, the Republican 6th District representative makes no bones about his position that the war in Iraq is the proper and correct course for the U.S. He's a straight shooter, if you will, and speaks with great conviction.
But last weekend, during a visit to Iraq and its capital city of Baghdad with three of his congressional Republican colleagues, his comments left a lot of folks shaking their heads.
Joining Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham and Rep. Rick Renzi on a walk-through of a Baghdad marketplace, Pence declared that the experience reminded him of "a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime."
It seemed to many back home in Indiana — and to some of the merchants in the Baghdad neighborhood Pence visited — an incredibly inappropriate comment.
Consider that during the tour Pence and the other lawmaker s wore bulletproof vests and were accompanied by 100 American troops and armored Humvees as Blackhawk and Apache helicopters kept watch overhead.
Doesn't sound much to us like a summertime Hoosier market.
Maybe this sounds more like a summertime Hoosier market:
21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital. The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.
State of the Day and The Anonymous Liberal are also appalled by all of this.
Strawberry Square will become the new, temporary, home of Harrisburg University.
It's good to see all the enthusiasm going towards good ole' H.U. (I look forward to the cheerleading lyrics). There's even a countdown page with construction cam for the school, all within a pretty nice looking web site. Good for all involved.
Of course Billy Donovan is staying in Florida.
It never made any sense to me that Billy Donovan would leave the Florida men's basketball coaching job for Kentucky. Why? He's building a program for the ages there. What can Kentucky really offer him that's better? In 20 years, when people talk about the great college basketball programs, and Florida is mentioned, Donovan's name will be synonymous with it. His star as a sports hero in Florida is in ascent. He's going to be set for life. Kentucky couldn't offer that. In fact, Kentucky can only offer high expectations and a historical construct to be compared to, while at Florida, Donovan creates those expectations himself and is in charge of his remaining history.
College basketball isn't like football, recruiting dozens of players per season to the school. You need a team of 10 or a few more. You don't need 40 or 60 men. So the institutional benefits to recruiting are less, and coaches can recruit based on their history, rather than the school's. Kentucky wasn't going to help Donovan's recruiting, but Donovan could have helped Kentucky's.
Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA, Indiana - these are the "elite" NCAA Men's Basketball programs, and surprise, surprise, they are all inextricably linked to a head coach that "made" each program. And once that head coach leaves, the school's luster diminishes over time. And so, Kentucky needed Billy Donovan a lot more than Donovan needed Kentucky, and once Donovan reviewed how much more Florida served his needs, the decision was easy.
Billy Donovan is bright about his career, but this was a no-brainer.
Sound familiar? Who hasn't heard a parent, or been a parent, and say these things?
If we had scads of money, The Eldest could go to all kinds of enrichment programs. As #4 in a class of 750, she's been recommended by her teachers for several special summer programs. Leadership programs, academic programs, dance programs. The invitations keep rolling in, but each gets stacked into the wish pile because she knows that the cost is prohibitive.
So that American mythology that says you can do whatever you want if you just work hard enough? Tell that to my kid who's talented and intelligent; a good student and hard worker. She's not apt to believe you because she's learning the hard way that money opens doors. Were she born into a wealthy family, she'd be going to two or three really cool summer programs this year and next. She'd be building her resume and making contacts and going to Washington, D.C. to attend seminars and symposiums taught by panels of the movers and shakers she sees on C-SPAN.
But it's not to be for her because we simply don't have the financial means to boost this child's future.
This is all good and fine, except that things change, and I don't really see this as Froomkin's responsibility to keep the rest of us informed as to who belongs. I do, however, see it as a reasonable feature of the White House Correspondents' Association to do so on their web site.
I'm not sure who is managing their site - if anyone - but it's an homage to how professional organization web sites should not look today. The damaging "last updated" component shows several pages stagnant for over a year. Design appears to be from the mid nineties. These folks put on a big dinner and have the President attend, and yet leave their site like this? The past few years, the Dinner has received a lot of public attention. Maybe they ought to use a little money and spruce up their web appearance.
I mean, c'mon, the White House News Photographers Association has a MUCH BETTER site.
Wouldn't surprise me. Shouldn't surprise McCain, either.
A newborn baby was one of at least 14 children and adults killed when a suicide bomber detonated a lorry laden with explosives close to a primary school in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk yesterday.
The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital. The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.
When I was growing up in Indiana, this was one of my favorite meals, particularly in the rare times we went to a menu-order restaurant (as opposed to a smorgasboard). The way I remember them best is with coleslaw on them as well. A few years ago, I spent a few days in Marion, Indiana, and reacquainted myself with the sandwich after nearly 20 years of not having them. Strangely, most restaurants in California and in Pennsylvania do NOT offer anything like the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich.
Are you a fan? If so, where's your favorite place to get a Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich?
CNN is replacing both of its morning show anchors with recent recruits from other networks, sources familiar with the shake-up confirmed last night.
Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien are out at "American Morning," which has struggled recently in the ratings. The pair, who are not related, will make way for John Roberts, a former CBS anchor and correspondent, and Kiran Chetry, who recently jumped to CNN from Fox News.
Every time I see John Roberts on CNN guest-anchoring some news program, the same thought goes through my head: He enjoys the political horserace stuff WAY TOO MUCH. Last night he was on Anderson Cooper, and he seemed to be in total glee when the talk was about candidates' money reporting and poll numbers. I realize this information is somewhat newsworthy, but I wonder if Roberts' smiling and self-enjoyed retorting is a bad sign for his editorial preferences going forward.
I get email.
Microsoft retiring List Builder Service
Effective 12:00 noon PDT on June 1st 2007 Microsoft will retire its List Builder service. To help you transition away from the service, we are giving you free service for a limited period of time and providing instructions for exporting your subscriber data and saving your campaign reports. Please read below for more details including when you will see changes.
We understand how important keeping in touch with your subscribers is, whether they are customers or other interest groups with whom you communicate. To continue serving your subscribers with newsletters and other customer communications, we invite you to learn how you can sign up for e-mail marketing services with Constant Contact®.
Yeah, yeah, I know, List Builder has sucked for years, but a few of our clients used it because it was useful to them even in its very limited functionality, and there was no real incentive to move. Now we'll have to move them. This is a sign of how insignificant Microsoft's service has become - I think this is the very first blog post about the retirement of Microsoft's List Builder service. Talk about a foregone conclusion...
After years of staying slim on a humble diet of fish, vegetables and rice, Japanese are developing a sweet tooth. That‘s proving a business opportunity for Krispy Kreme and other fast-food chains from the U.S., home of the Big Gulp and supersized fries.
"The texture was fluffy and sticky, unlike any other doughnut," said Yoji Yahagi, 22, who stood in line with his girlfriend to eat two chocolate doughnuts each.
"People aren‘t satiated. That‘s why they are going for doughnuts and ice cream. It‘s a search for satiation," said Hojo, who wrote "Super Calorie Recipes."
Earlier this year, McDonald‘s Corp. got such rave reviews for the Mega Mac, selling at a brisk 1.7 million in four days, it‘s bringing back the four-patty burger in April and May.
And with enthusiasm running high for American food, Burger King Corp. plans to return this summer. It withdrew from Japan in 2001 after a price war with McDonald‘s.
The trend is so widespread Japanese coined the phrase "in-your-face-food" to describe it, underlining an apparent desire to escape the stresses of a health-conscious regimen and let go for a change.
There is an irony here:
The shift is ironic coming at a time when Americans are turning to Japanese food like sushi and tofu in an effort to stay trim. Japanese are far skinnier on average than the American population, according to World Health Organization statistics.
Angel City (aka The Angels). I caught these guys opening for somebody in a Bay Area club during the early 1980s, and they were great. From Australia - and they'll remind you of another band from there.
Note: their lyrics are kinda spooky appropriate for today...
That's a GREAT NCAA basketball championship team. I'd take this team versus almost any other NCAA champion of the past. Except maybe that 1982 North Carolina team.
I have started to wonder why Americans don't start asking for more democracy in news media. That's right - democracy. For example: The White House Press Corps. Americans have no say in who covers the White House. But it doesn't have to be that way. The Washington Post could poll their readers to determine who THEY think should cover the White House. NBC could poll their viewers. It could be done, but one reason it isn't done is because news consumers don't demand it.
So why don't we? Why don't we start harping at our news institutions for an open policy for public input into reporter choices? And for editors as well?
Eight former staffers of the Santa Barbara News-Press, who claim they were illegally fired in the latest dispute at the embattled paper, have launched a new Web site of their own, where they plan to cover local stories until they get their jobs back.Dubbed "Santa Barbara Newsroom," the ad-free site, at www.santabarbaranewsroom.com, launched Monday with stories about local issues such as school relocation plans and property taxes, as well as a few editorial columns.
The news site's staff includes Anna Davison, Melissa Evans, Dawn Hobbs, Rob Kuznia, Barney McManigal, Thomas Schultz and John Zant, all of whom were fired earlier this year from the News-Press after hanging a banner over a freeway urging boycott of the paper. Reporter Melinda Burns, also on staff, was fired last year.
"We're engaged in this effort as an interim project until we get reinstated to the newspaper," said Hobbs. "That is what we do, we cover journalism. This is a way for us to resume doing what we love doing, and continue to cover the community."
Burns agreed, adding "for now, we are excited about being back doing reporting."
In a related development, Burns wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Los Angeles Times, published Monday, which discussed the need for legislation that would protect efforts to unionize.
If you had to pick three politicians that hope to have careers past 2008 that are most closely associated to George W. Bush, which three politicians would it be?
In other words, who has the greatest Bush taint?
Just an experiment. Using an edited version of Avedon Carol's blogroll, below are a list of blogs that I would appreciate being blogrolled from, and that I think the content here is appropriate to be blogrolled from on a regular basis. And I'd provide a link back, obviously. I'm mostly curious as to whether anyone will salute such an approach - you know, blog barter diplomacy.
Atrios - Demosthenes - Rittenhouse Review - Maxspeak - Public Nuisance - Scoobie Davis - Silt³ - Whiskeyfire - Echidne Of The Snakes - First Draft - Corrente - Rising Hegemon - Hullabaloo - - Talk Left - Dispatch from the Trenches - Frameshop - Crooks and Liars - Tim Porter's First Draft - LiberalOasis - Common Sense - Daily Kos - Lefty Directory - MyDD - Infothought - Progressive Gold - The Public Health Press - Balkinization - News Hounds - GOTV - The Brad Blog - Informed Comment - UN Dispatch - War and Piece - Unclaimed Territory - Schneier on Security - Tennessee Guerilla Women - Looking Glass - Charles Kuffner - Brad DeLong - Busy, Busy, Busy - Blah3 - Norbizness - Oliver Willis - The Carpetbagger Report - Down With Tyranny - A Level Gaze - Professor B - Monkey Media Report - The Grumpy Forester - Majikthise - Uggabugga - Pacific Views - Alas - Booman Tribune - Matthew Yglesias - Jack Cluth - The American Street - Slacktivist - Xymphora - Eccentricity - GailOnline - Sisyphus Shrugged - Interesting Times - Talking Dog - Liberal Desert - TBogg - Anger Management - Seeing The Forest - The Agonist - Bob Geiger - Orcinus - King of Zembla - Mark Kleiman - Liquid List - Wampum - Skimble - Michael Bérubé - No More Mr. Nice Blog - Fanatical Apathy - Mark Evanier - Roger Ailes - Scratchings - BadAttitudes - Peevish - The Mahablog - Steve Gilliard's News BlogScrutiny Hooligans - Respectful of Otters - Max Blumenthal - Two Glasses - Everythingisruined - Running Scared - Sadly, No! - WTF Is It Now? - Attytood - Alicublog - Angry Bear - Crooked Timber - No Capital - Alternative Hippo - Newsrack - The Rude Pundit - Ezra Klein - Trish Wilson's Blog - Jon Swift - Mercury Rising - Lance Mannion - Lawyers, Guns and Money - Agitprop - Yellow Doggerel Democrat - The Ostroy Report - Reptile Wisdom - AintNoBadDude - StoutDem - Adam Magazine - The Poor Man - Neal Pollack - Jesus' General - Fafblog - Biomes Blog - Mrray Waas - Katrina vanden Heuvel - Kevin Drum - Talking Points - Altercation - Dan Perkins - Conason - Tapped - TomPaine weblog - MoJo Blog - Sirotablog - Jim Hightower - Chris Floyd - Michaelangelo Signorile - Huffington Post - Naomi Klein - James Wolcott - Bear Left - Lean Left - Left i - The Left Coaster - Upper Left - Left End of the Dial - Here's What's Left - Left in the West
One of the things I think a blogger should do is to give some impressions, from time to time, of their marketplace experiences, like I did below. There's nothing wrong with a blogger promoting or dissing a business based on their experiences with that business as long as they are honest about that experience, and if they are not rewarded or punished based on their blogging about that business.
I don't see many political bloggers doing this, which seems to be a missed opportunity. The politics of government and the politics of the business marketplace transect in so many places, and political bloggers often take their personal experience to make a point about government - so why not about the marketplace?
We have two big sports chain retail stores on the West Shore that we go to for equipment - Dick's Sporting Goods, and Dunham's Sports.
Well, it used to be two. But quite frankly, the Dunham's on the West Shore sucks. Sucks like it's ready to go out of business kind of suck. I've witnessed chain retail stores behave this way before - lack of product, lack of competitive prices, lack of motivated staffing - and they usually go out of business pretty shortly once they get to this point.
I have gone twice to Dunham's for the kids in the past week - once for baseball equipment, the other time for softball cleats. It is closer to my house, and I figure, maybe they'll have what I'm looking for. But in neither case did they have adequate selection, let alone prices. Both times I ended up going to Dick's Sporting Goods, and both times I bought from them. It's to the point that now I probably won't even bother going to Dunham's, I'm that discouraged by their offerings.
And so, for me, they are already out of business.
"Kids, kids! There's a deer in the back yard!"
They both jump up from their seats in the family room and come running to the back sliding glass door.
"Where is it?" asked my son.
"Look at the top of the hill," I answered.
My daughter admitted "I don't see it."
"APRIL FOOLS!"
Our ten year old daughter looked me in the eye. "Is today April first?" I nodded, and she smiled.
They both tore up the stairs. Then I hear:
"Hey Mom! There's a fox in the front yard!"
Penn State offers one for kids. I think it's a GREAT idea, but I have one recommendation - offer it around the state. We live too far away to take advantage of a day camp in State College, but I bet if they also shipped it out to various Penn State schools around the state, it would be successful AND grow the Entomology Program at Penn State.
