PSoTD

Or maybe one of those fruity drinks with umbrellas in them!

I like it.

Last year I asked my blogroll this question:

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

A lot of you posted. But now I want to ask you all a slightly different question to consider in the next week.

What should the federal holiday, "Labor Day", mean to America? And how should we appropriately honor the day?

If you choose to post on this question, let me know and I'll link to it next week.

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Do you want to know why people want the wealthy taxed at a higher percentage? And inheritance taxes? Maybe things like this are part of it...

Leona Helmsley's decision to leave $12 million to her dog so it could live out its life in luxury proved once and for all that she was not one of the little people.

It's because the middle class, and the poor, see lots and lots of examples where the super-wealthy have no freaking clue how to wisely spend their money after they're not around to spend it. 12 million could do a lot of good, and maybe it eventually will after this dog dies, but not due to Leona Helmsley's vision.

From Hampden Township

Trick-or-Treat night will be held Thursday October 25th from 6 to 8 p.m.

Good grief. That's almost a week from the real Halloween. What is the possible difference between holding it on a Thursday and holding it on a Wednesday. The artificial need for consistency on this is watering down the holiday.

There's a real reason for the township to avoid holding trick-or-treat on a Friday or Saturday night - the theory being that kids are less watched on weekend nights, can stay up later, parents hire babysitters, etc., so there's more opportunity for kids to create mischief. Better to hold it on a school night.

But I absolutely don't understand the theory of taking it from a Wednesday night and moving it almost a week prior.

Have you ever noticed that in the technology world, product being "agnostic" is considered a good thing?

Even Milton does.

There may be a lot of reasons to ensure the date for school opening in Pennsylvania is after Labor Day, but I'm very sure that the reason for it shouldn't be that amusement parks need cheap labor.

Most school boards, for now, prefer a pre-Labor Day start, which gives schools greater flexibility to make up any time lost to snow days or other reasons. Public schools must provide 180 days of instruction by June 30, so the school boards association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association -- the state's largest teachers' union -- oppose a mandate.

The House's education and tourism committees, however, have endorsed legislation requiring school to start after Labor Day, saying a mandate would help Pennsylvania's economy.

A study released in September by a bipartisan legislative panel found that starting school after Labor Day statewide would add $378 million annually to the state's economy, including $164 million in direct travel and tourism spending.

Amusement parks are a big attraction, for example, and they rely on teen labor.

Kennywood Park's parent company employs about 3,000 high school and college students at its three parks in western Pennsylvania.

Hersheypark is another large employer of young people and a big tourist attraction.

First of all, I hate these state vapor factoids of how much a policy change may increase or decrease the economy, particularly when it is dependent on so much policy from other states (hint to PA: if schools in states surrounding Pennsylvania start in August, then those kids won't be part of this perceived tourism push). Of course, if these are Pennsylvanians spending this money, then I'm confused how this really adds to the state's economy. The money was already here. It adds to the tourism economy. But it may be removing from a different economy.

Secondly, what about the costs (as opposed to the revenues) of kids being home for summer? Ask many employers, and one of the reasons that less gets done in summer is because parents have to be home more for their kids, who aren't in school. Was that included in their factoring? I have no clue what that cost is, but I know it has to be a real cost.

I will admit, I'm not the biggest fan of school starting before Labor Day in our district, but I do believe that the school board is making that decision based on the needs of the educational community - kids and teachers - that improve the bottom line of educating for our kids. I do not trust the tourism industry, or the Tourism committee, to do the same, and I don't want education policy driven by tourism needs unless they can prove a greater good beyond invented dollar totals.

Strange concept.

Restaurants are not only places to enjoy a good meal, but they can also be places to entertain yourself and blow off steam from the pressures of daily life.

In China, various themed restaurants and bars are booming in major cities. The Whale Inside is one of several "dark" themed restaurants - aimed at stress reduction and anger release.

The restaurant's original concept was to provide a dining experience in total darkness, thus allowing customers to relax. But the restaurant also offers a number of anger-releasing options. These include punching a sandbag and the restaurant's star attraction - smashing porcelain against the wall. The restaurant's manager says that the sensation and smashing noise help people let go of their aggression and prevent depression.

This makes as much sense as any other form of gambling... From Belize

With an increase in celebrity sightings and television reviews, San Pedro is fast becoming a hot spot for film crews. This time around, a film crew from the PBS Channel was on our island jewel filming a segment about San Pedro and its world famous Chicken Drop at the Pier Lounge Bar.

PBS, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is a non-profit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 355 public television stations. A trusted community resource, PBS uses the power of noncommercial television, the Internet and other media to enrich the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services that inform inspire and delight. PBS features television's best children's, cultural, educational, history, nature, news, public affairs and science programming. The film crew was on hand to catch footage of the Pier Lounge's local cultural event, the Chicken Drop.

How the game works? The proprietor sells you a numbered square for $1.00. At the announced moment, an assistant appears with a large wicker basket containing one or more live chickens. The basket is opened up, and one of the participants is assigned the task of grabbing a chicken, gently shaking it, blowing on its rear end, and tossing the jostled bird onto the numbered squares. Herein begins much shouting and verbal encouragement in hopes that said chicken, after strutting about, will eventually elect to "drop" upon the numbered square that you have previously purchased. The winner receives a $100, but has the task of cleaning up after the chicken. With the Travel Channel having a segment and the PBS channel filming the Chicken Drop it is without a doubt the most popular filmed event in San Pedro.

Here's a funny thing about those conservative bloggers actually attacking the police for the arrest: Larry Craig pled guilty.

As for this thought:

Perhaps we should get rid of the fools in the party.

Maybe you should start with Larry Craig.

I swear, Bush comes off as a stooge, even on the White House web site. He does not, and can not, lead, even his own administration. About the Gonzales resignation:

After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position, and I accept his decision. It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.

Never mind the whinyass crying about "politics" from a guy who pushed for the most politicized administration ever - Mr. 50% plus 1 can pout all he wants about that. No, it's this part:

"created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department"

we should really focus on. Bush knew this? And refused to do anything about it. And would have kept on allowing it to happen unless Gonzales quit? Who thinks that is leadership?

Following an idiot doesn't make the idiot a leader. It just proves the followers are stupid.

There's a lot of negativity to the term "hippie" these days, and negativity to whoever may be perceived to have been one at one time. Kids tend to define hippies with one visible trait - long hair. Long-haired males are/were hippies, long-haired women could have been. Kids today aren't aware of many other visible possibilities, such as bell bottom jeans and flower power shirts, and are definitely not really aware of some subcultural aspects, such as drug experimentation and opposition to war.

I heard my six year old negatively talking about hippies earlier in the summer, and I tried to find out where he got this talk from. Not from us. Kindergarten? Friends? Neighbor kids? He seemed to have just absorbed it from the attitudes of some in Central Pennsylvania, with no specific authorship. A few weeks ago I had to pull out some photos, me and some friends when I was in high school and in college. Long hair. Facial hair.

"Dad was a hippie" he laughed.

I explained to him that there was nothing wrong about being a hippie. Some people might call me a hippie, some might not. I was a long-hair for a while. I wore jeans with holes in them before they sold them like that. People can call me a hippie if they want. I don't see it as a bad thing. Hippies did a lot of good things - they helped raise the nation's understanding to stop an awful war, they worked to make things more fair for people. They promoted love. They sought new solutions. There's a lot to respect about what the "hippies" of the 1960s and 1970s did.

I haven't heard him talk negatively about hippies since then. I can't be sure that I made a point, or if he just is smart enough to avoid the topic so he doesn't have to look at those old photos again. But I think it's time that parents quit allowing the bashing of hippies by those ignorant of the time period. And kids ought to know that having long hair certainly isn't something that should be disparaged.

From Alberto Gonzales' resignation statement:

Even my worst days as Attorney General have been better than my father’s best days.

I wonder what his father would think about that. Wedding day, birth of kids, graduations... better than all that? Wow, Alberto must really think his father's life sucked.

The Moderate Voice has more.

Literally... there seems to be a rash of "anti-sagging" ordinances around the country.

Sure seems like a lot of noticeable changes happening in my tiny view of the business world recently.

Somebody finally is taking over the space that used to be Good's Furniture on the Carlisle Pike. Has it been empty for two, or three, years?

The former West Shore Health Club, after thirty plus years, disappeared from their location on St. John's Church Road. They've been replaced, I guess, as Planet Fitness, in the Hampden Center. Bumble Bee Hollow West - where we had our son's birthday party just a year ago - is closing their doors after Labor Day, having sold their land for residential development.

These are all pretty noticeable landmarks on the West Shore. The landscape changes.

Whoever Larry Craig really is, it's apparent that he's not able to stand up for the important decisions he's actually making for himself. Which makes him pretty sad.

Here's their list of the top albums from 30 years ago. Doesn't even matter what their criteria is - what stands out as either great or suckage to you?

United Mine Workers of America sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, calling on Congress to appoint "an independent, bi-partisan committee of coal mine safety experts to investigate the Crandall Canyon disaster."

And it's going to happen...

The House Labor Committee chairman on Monday asked Murray Energy Corp. to turn over a slew of documents related to the Crandall Canyon mine, saying the recent tragic events there "raise many troubling questions."

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who heads the committee with oversight of federal mine regulators, requested the company produce 13 different categories of internal documents, including any complaints or transfer requests by miners, engineering studies and even pre-shift and on-shift exam books regarding the safety of the mine.

"Specifically, I am concerned about the safety of the mining operation at Crandall Canyon and the stewardship of mine operations" by Murray Energy and it's subsidiary, UtahAmerica Energy Inc., leading up to the mine accident that has cost three rescuers lives and possibly six more feared dead, Miller wrote to the company's legal counsel Monday.

Some blog posts you may have missed:

100,000,000 blogs. Really?

BlueGrassRoots moved. Everyone seems to be moving. Have you moved?

Congrats, GeekyMom and husband, on 13 years. Next year R and I celebrate 15 years. And it is still surprising in some ways that after so many years we still like being around each other. How many other non-blood relatives can you say that about?

What a great idea: Audubon has launched a new addition to their Audubon at Home web section called Birds to Help.

What the hell is going on with the Metro system in DC?

A bigger threat than terrorism.

If someone you knew drank several pots of coffee a day, would you think they knew much personally about the nuances of flavor? How could they, with their mouth completely and constantly coated in coffee?

And yet, there's Rachael Ray.

Q. You must drink a ton of coffee.

A. It's several pots a day. I'm not proud of it, but it's true. And I can't make coffee, that's the hysterical part. That cranky girl I was telling you about, while she was writing this book she was getting her husband out of bed at 3 in the morning to make the coffee. I just can't get it right. I can't bake and I can't make coffee.

First of all, people really need to start defining what they mean by "winning the war".

And they need to quit moving the goalposts. Be honest. Here's how America is going to decide on the Iraq War: they will assess the real costs of "winning the war" versus the real costs of "losing the war" and they'll vote accordingly. Right now, it looks to me that most Americans think the cost, in blood, money, future status of the American military AND the American reputation, is much higher to "win the war" than it is to "lose the war", however defined. That's why people polled wanted us to get out of Iraq. They've made a gut level decision.

Why gut level? Because that's really all they have. Most of what they get from the Bush Administration and conservative pundits looks like pie-in-the-sky fantasy, and they're not willing to bet on that when they're getting rising death totals and stories about a depleted military and bubbling questions about reinstating the draft. They get platitudes from the Republicans, not much more from the Democrats, and statistics in the news media.

Statistics mean more than platitudes to Americans. A realistic longterm game plan means more than platitudes to Americans. Be honest, quit talking in terms of September 2007 and start talking in terms of September 2017 if you're interested in convincing Americans about "winning the war". Because 2006 showed that they're going to vote against who they think are more platitudinous for the war.

I'm not quite sure that's enough at this point (for him). Actions should have consequences.

Definitely not enough for this administration.

As a Chicago Bears fan, I'm getting a little concerned that he's not going to pan out as well as expected this year.

From PennLive:

The midstate senior high schools that are projected to have the greatest enrollment growth and the greatest enrollment decline in 10 years, according to the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education:

GROWTH

1. Palmyra+27.0%
2. Lebanon+14.9%
3. Hershey+13.0%
4. Waynesboro+11.4%
5. Cumberland Valley+11.3%
6. Mechanicsburg+11.2%
7. Chambersburg+9.7%
8. Camp Hill+9.4%
9. Susquehanna Twp.+9.4%
10. Greencastle-Antrim+8.8%

Here's a little known fact about me - when I was 11 and 12, I delivered TV Guides. They didn't use to mail them, and I think they cost more in the store. They would rely on a delivery system similar to the newspaper kid delivery system, or at least did so to a point.

This was the late 1960s, of course. I had at my biggest point perhaps 20 customers. You had to have 15 as a minimum to keep a route, and I was always at risk of dropping below that. TV Guides cost 15 cents in those days, and I would keep 4 cents of every sale. Woo hoo! 60 to 80 cents a week for an hour's work (except it was always a pain each month to collect, because you'd inevitably have to keep going back to the same houses for the money).

I know they scrapped that system a few years after I did it, and went directly to mail and raised their prices. Didn't seem to hurt them, I guess, although we don't subscribe. There aren't many self-professed ex TV Guide delivery folks on the Internet - I guess the subject just doesn't come up.

For David Broder to go home. He's earned his retirement. He needs to quit squatting on a fable of a reputation, and enjoy his remaining years doing something more beneficial for society, something recreational that will no longer force him to find sillier and sillier ways to trumpet his Broderisms.

I'm all for people working as long as they can do their job usefully and credibly, but Broder seems to be beyond that point. Today's column is just a case in point. Broder seems to believe that a third party candidate for President should exist because people don't want to vote for Democrats or Republicans. That is a worthless position. It is a wasteful position. If, if, if... if Broder were even correct that Americans want a third party candidate, that choice would be driven by policy plans, and not because they were a third party candidate. We want health insurance fixed and reasonably priced. We want out of the Iraq War. We want responsible politicians that work in a more clear environment. We want those things.

David Broder doesn't do anything to try to help Americans resolve these wants, in one way or another. He simply writes about diversions. He's cooked, he's done, and it's time for him to go home.

Who would buy this?

Playboy bobbleheads...

Some things can still surprise me on the web, such as "Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke".

The windmills of Central PA.

(from the account of sokref1)

I must drive the fetid spirit of Gary Wright from this blog!!

Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo actually said that no one saw the current financial turmoil coming. Shouldn't that be grounds for firing?

Unfortunately, this really is too close to the truth to be funny.

At 12 deaths per 1,000, the maternal mortality rate is near third-world levels. Heckuva job, America.

Okay, what is SWBMNS, anyway?

The Lady Speaks posted a little late, but pretty accurately, IMHO, about Joe Lieberman.

My wife naked? WHAAAAA?!?!?

Stitch for the Senate. A different way to voice your opinion of the war.

Whatever happened to Gary Wright, anyway?

You have to give him credit - of all the songs that incorporate all those now keyboard cliches, he actually used them to some mood effect.

So what's the union going to do about the Federal Government disappearing behind the mine owner for all things public in the Utah Mine tragedy?

One of the things that comes out of the Bush Administration on a pretty regular basis is the practice of discounting. What's the true cost of the Iraq War? They won't give us the cost, in casualties, in money, without a discount - it's always the lowest number they can try to force on the public.

When you have to sell crap, you have to discount. Sure, it's crap, but it's half off, or a third of the price, etc. You can never go beyond platitudes to describe your crap, but you can always keep cutting the cost. "It makes your life better, and at half the price of the other guys!" It's still crap not worth even close to the price, but it's cheaper than what the other guy is pushing.

Bush treats the Iraq War like something sold in a dollar store, and unfortunately, that's actually an insult to those stores.

Mid-Atlantic weather blogging. Kinda cool!

I must admit, I've built a life where I, personally, don't have to deal much with traffic. I live in Central Pennsylvania, not an area with problems in general concerning traffic. Oh yeah, we may complain about the Carlisle Pike, but c'mon.

Yesterday my daughter and I went to the Phillies-Dodgers game, a businessperson's special. The game ended shortly after 4 PM.

We returned home around 9 PM. Traffic... everywhere. It really took a lot of the enjoyment of the game away.

I'm a big boy, I know that big cities have big traffic, but you tend to forget the scope of it when you're as spoiled as I am about traffic. Hell, I work at home. I, personally, probably drive less than 10 miles per day 4 days a week.

It's not like I'm not used to traffic. I learned to drive in California's Bay Area. Back in my previous job incarnation, I had to go to DC and Philadelphia semi-regularly. I've driven in traffic jams a lot, but now I'm completely out of practice.

And I prefer to be out of practice. The worst thing about traffic isn't the crappy behavior you see from other drivers, but the crappy feelings I find in myself. I feel ugly driving in that stuff, emotionally ugly. Frustrated. Judging people because of their lack of "fair play" in driving. Judging them because of their lack of attentiveness on the road. Judging them because they choose to live bunched together, yet with enough spread, that it creates such traffic.

Yep, I get ugly. It's not for me.

This isn't a rant about Philadelphia. I've been in worse traffic backups - I still have bad memories of an experience in Los Angeles, and yesterday seemed pretty similar to something we went through once in going from San Francisco to Livermore. This is just an acknowledgement - I hate this kind of traffic enough that I choose to live away from it, and plan to always live away from it. I have to dip in once in a while, but I just can't make it part of my everyday life.

That's what this "surge is working" chant really is. Here's some actual metrics to judge the surge by.

It's just a matter of time now for Technorati, unless somebody with deep pockets wants to buy them.

I thought this was pretty sound advice.

According to this article, public nudity is losing its power to shock.

The practice has seemed to be overused the past few years. More importantly, maybe we shouldn't find the naked body as shocking anyway - so maybe this is a good thing in a way.

On the other hand, I shudder to think what kind of natural things protesters might find to use for "shock value" in the future. Poop ins?

George W. Bush hopes to rig federal regulations to prevent children and low income families from getting health insurance.

In order to keep the program focused on low-income children, the Bush administration has notified state officials that before they can enroll children from families earning above 250 percent of the federal poverty level — $51,625 for a family of four — states must first enroll at least 95 percent of children from families earning below twice the poverty level.

Dennis Smith, director of the federal Center for Medicaid and State Operations, said the new requirement is "aggressive, but doable."

State officials and Congressional Democrats such as Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark, D-Calif., disagreed.

"There aren't any states that are going to get 95 percent of people signed into these programs," Stark said. "They have set a hurdle that's impossible. They might as well just come out and say let's kick kids off the rolls."

Catherine Hess, senior program director at the National Academy for State Health Policy, said Vermont has the nation's highest enrollment rate at roughly 92 percent.

Another new requirement calls for new enrollees above 250 percent of poverty to go without insurance for a year before they can enroll in SCHIP. The new rules also require the new higher income enrollees to pay co-payments or premiums that are roughly what they'd pay in the private market.

In 2006, the average premium for health insurance for a family of four was $11,500. - and increasing nearly ten percent a year. Good luck fitting that into a $60,000 family budget.

Why does George Bush hate poor kids?

Yeah, I know this is a Republican trick to increase votes for their guy in the general election, but it's also a great way to water down the importance of California as a Presidential battleground, too.

California voters are inclined to support a proposed ballot initiative that would change how the Golden State allocates its electoral votes in presidential campaigns, but they're not yet sold on the idea, a Field Poll released today showed.

Currently, California employs a winner-take-all system that awards the state's entire 55 electoral votes to the winner of the state's popular vote.

Under the proposed measure, which could be on the June 2008 ballot, the presidential election would become, in essence, a congressional district-by-congressional district contest. The winner of the statewide popular vote would receive two electoral votes, but the remaining votes would go to the winner in each of the 53 congressional districts.

Let's just say, for argument's sakes, that this change might create a split, such as 33 votes for the Democrat, and 22 votes for the Republican. That's a difference of 11 votes.

That's Tennessee. That's Indiana. California will be lessening their importance, in the overall scheme of total votes, to the value of those states. If that's what they want to do, they'll be regretting their loss of power in Presidential politics.

I'm a sucker for a good backscratch, and I suppose there's many, many of us out there like that. Not a backrub, mind you - but the actual use of nails, gently, to scratch my back. Of course, finding volunteers to do such a thing is pretty near impossible, since you really can't ask but those who are the very closest to you in today's society. I guess it's like personal grooming in other primates - there's a familiarity and a personal ranking requirement involved at some level.

Earlier this year I thought (and I still do) that a series of "backscratching" tee-shirts could sell well on CafePress. And maybe, just maybe, it would bring the practice of backscratching into a more publicly appreciated thinking. I even talked to a local artist about designing the shirts, but she ended up working some other gig and kind of dropped off the radar. Design, and language, are the keys to making a t-shirt actually sell. Here were some of my lame word ideas at that time:

Help.
I Need My Back Scratched.

I'm Ready For My Back To Be Scratched Now.

I've Got Back Scratch Fever.
(nuh nuh nuh)

Clearly, I don't have the words yet, and I've realized that I'm really never going to get this done. Plus, somebody's thinking along the same lines - and more power to them. Hell, I'm probably going to buy this one.

Wishing for high speed access to the Internet be available everywhere in Pennsylvania won't get it done. Neither will goofy legislation mandating that cable companies provide it.

This whole legislative idea seems to me to be some sort of cross between pandering to voters complaining about access and finding additional revenue sources through a statewide cable television franchise law.

Here's an idea - how about wireless?

Philadelphia has it all.

Yeah, really. 30 years ago, Sebastian Cabot, who portrayed the character Mr. French, died. Surprisingly, Mr. French was a very enduring character on a fairly uneventful show, at least for my generation. This clip is interesting, if only because it serves as a time capsule of what seems to me to be a very long time ago.

(The saddest thing about "Family Affair" was that the second best character, sadly, was Mrs. Beasley...)

I wish I could say otherwise, but this doesn't seem to me to be a surprising situation for the mine owner/miner families/government to find themselves in at this point.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, at least publicly, it seems that Bob Murray has been a big problem. I won't argue his motivations since I can't know them. But he has come across terribly on television, and done so rather continually. Whether he's doing so or not, he's appeared to be inaccurate and perhaps dissembling. In addition, he's really made little public effort towards "expectation management" - he's built up this possibility all this time that the miners were alive, even though there was no evidence indicating such. He also built up an expectation of a "rescue" that would come sooner than this. We can all be hopeful and optimistic, but it has to be tempered officially with a grimmer potential reality.

But Bob Murray isn't necessarily trained to do these things, and really shouldn't have been the public spokesperson for rescue efforts after the first day or two. There needed to be a dispassionate, focused, believable, trusted voice for this effort, one with nothing other than mine safety in general as a priority, speaking to the public. This did not happen, for reasons that are beyond me. If this had been an airline crash, we'd see NTSB or FBI taking the lead with information to the public - not an airline CEO. If this had been a sinking cruise ship at sea, we'd hear from the Coast Guard, not the cruise line. The government would take charge, privately and publicly. This has not happened here, at least on the public side, and that's been a problem since the beginning.

I know, I have the worst title lines in the biz. That's my schtick.

But really, I'm here to help. Rox at Rox Populi commented, on a post containing a photo of Ann Althouse that remained front and center just WAY TOO LONG...

Okay, you need to mosey Ms. Egg Salad along...-

Posted by: PSoTD | Aug 20, 2007 11:58:46 AM

Yeah, can't seem to get back into the groove.

Posted by: Roxanne | Aug 21, 2007 6:46:11 AM

So I'm asking you - help her get her groove thing back.

Our newest member of the household, a sweetie with laser eyes!

Anyone else think that Comcast is doing a crappy job of spamfiltering - by blocking legitimate emails?

That are worth reading...

A note to the Berks County Democrats.

Rick Klau has put together a site of interest for those of us with young families: SaferToys.org.

Every once in a while we all are reminded why Oliver North is a Traitor.

MadKane wants to know your opinion: What’s the real reason Karl Rove resigned?

All the good bloggers are dropping the pseudonyms these days. Pretty soon it'll just be the riffraff like me still clinging to them. But then it'll be retro...

When is a FedEx employee not a FedEx employee?

Sure seems like someone could write a big hit song called "Obesity in the U.S.A."

I don't understand why upscale, million dollar homes would be built without fire hydrants in the neighborhood.

Note to Hillary, as the frontrunner, and to any other candidate who is thinking about the calculations involved in selecting a Vice Presidential candidate: I don't care about geography, and I don't care about gender or race. I care about the direction of this country. I do not want to see a repeat of the mistake made by Gore and the Democrats in 2000 with the Lieberman selection, because whoever is selected is likely to be (eventually) a heavyweight candidate in a Presidential election, and their opinions and policy choices matter. A LOT. Selecting a Vice Presidential candidate should be more about what Democrats hope to pursue as policy in the next open party nomination process, and less about "the math", because people really don't vote for a candidate based on the Vice Presidential nominee.

And that is exactly what I'm going to read into it. This is a policy decision. And if a politician is picked with some difficult policy preferences to stomach simply because of "the math", I'm going to have some serious problems going forward with this party.

I suspect this is a story we won't hear after Hurricane Dean gets through the Cayman Islands, but...

Dean was expected to pass to the south of the Caymans but the government said it still posed a "significant threat" to the islands. Forecasters said the islands could receive up to 12 inches of rain.

Hundreds of frantic vacationers lined up at ticket counters for special flights home, and many slept on the airport floor. Cayman Islands Gov. Stuart Jack said all but 1,500 tourists had been evacuated from the British territory by Sunday afternoon.

So... did all the tourists get out, or were some stuck there because of airline issues?

Here's some Cayman webcams to check out, if you're curious.

Well, at least one.

They sure love the film, "The Blob".

Does Tom Friedman read blogs? One of the beauties of blogging is that a writer's work can be treated as a reflection of how he or she thinks, and some analysis can be made of how they come to conclusions.

One of the weaknesses of newspapers is that they treat a writer's work much more as a transitory experience. This is a major flaw in the editorial room, and it allows for writers to continue writing - and being clearly wrongheaded - for years and years and years, because each written exercise in boneheadedness is seen separately and not as part of a flotilla of feebleism.

Really, it is time for newspapers to review their columnists, and the ones that have been grossly and constantly proven wrong about the most important items of the day, such as Iraq, should be dropped. Particularly in light of analysis, readily available, that shows an inept kind of determination process. Keeping them on just is more editorial crapping into the pool of information the newspaper is supposedly trying to maintain.

And it's one of the most tense non-life-threatening things I've experienced, particularly when you don't know if you're going to get on a plane.

Farther west, the low-lying Cayman Islands are expected to take a direct hit on Monday. Tourists there jammed Owens International Airport in snaking lines that stretched outside onto a lawn. A police officer with a bullhorn kept order. Under still-sunny skies, many tourists flopped under the shade of a tree outside, surrounded by their luggage.

Cayman Airways added 15 flights to Florida from the wealthy British territory, and they were quickly sold out.

Two years ago our family was in the Caymans when a hurricane threatened the island, and we had to leave early with a throng of others that wanted out, also. Two years before, the island was devastated by a hurricane, a fact that is still visible on the island today. You do NOT want to be on the Cayman Islands during a hurricane.

Cayman Airways seems to be pretty responsible about adding flights to get folks out. But I have to ask - what about the other airlines that fly people in and out every week? I think that most airlines, such as US Air and Continental, fly once a week into the Caymans on Saturday, and hopefully they didn't fly any tourists in today just in time for this hurricane.

I'm sure we'll be able to read about some tourists that were on the Caymans when Hurricane Dean hits, but the question will be whether it was by choice or by airline logistics.

Last night when I returned from walking our dog, there was a hawk standing in the middle of our street. A biker had stopped to check it out as well, and we thought it was hurt and couldn't fly. I called the police to find out where I should report it, but as I was talking to the police, the hawk flew up to a nearby tree. It was dusk, and we couldn't tell if he was injured or bleeding, but since he could fly, I told the police everything seemed okay.

This morning we woke to the hawk hanging out under one of our pine trees in the back yard. This seems to be pretty odd behavior for the hawk, since we have them all over the place around here and this is the first time I can remember one hanging out on the ground. I took the fuzzy photo below just before he flew off again, for another close tree. He can take off and fly, but I can't tell how well, since he doesn't fly for long.

I read this article about a locality trying to put McMansion construction under additional review, and a sentence popped out at me:

"The market is saying young people want larger homes and they're putting them on the lots we have," Russell Dennis, a builder and Wellesley resident, told the board. "You're looking to change the game."

McMansions are usually something of the 6 bedroom, 6 bathroom variety - one of the things I've noticed when reading about them is the ridiculous number of bathrooms they have.

So why do young people need them? Do they have huge families? Expecting to have a huge family? U.S. trends on birthrates point to parenting later, rather than earlier, and smaller families. So, who are these people?

More importantly than that, however, is this - have they thought how their house may be used in 30 years, assuming it stands that long? My house is over 40 years old, and with proper maintenance can serve AT LEAST that long again, barring unexpected acts of God or man. It's a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom home with a good sized lot and lots of flexibility in remodeling - I know, we just went through a big remodel job. It's considerably lower priced in the marketplace than a McMansion, in a good neighborhood with three parks and a creek, and you can buy a house in my neighborhood, spend 200 grand in remodeling it, and still not come to half the price of the McMansions selling around here.

I'm very confident that there will be a marketplace in 30 years for my home, at a decent price for both me and the buyer.

I'm pretty confident that the marketplace for McMansions AS THEY ARE will suck in 30 years. They come complete with high price, restrictive covenants, and an increasingly bad reputation for both value and values.

If I were a locality, I'd be concerned about this, too. And if I were a buyer, I think I'd start wondering, why is the locality so concerned?

I'm amazed that there will actually be the first annual "A Christmas Story" convention this year.

Maybe it's just a sexual compliment.

Hopefully, the process continues peacefully.

In the subprime mortgage debacle, there are plenty of bad guys - lenders, sellers, buyers, builders... that worked the same side of Living Irresponsibly Beyond Your Means Avenue. Right now we're hearing about the kicking that certain lenders and other big businesses are getting in the stock market relative to this debacle, which to my way of thinking, makes the life view a little more palatable on Maintaining Within Your Financial Reality Street.

However, it seems to me that we've been through this already, recently, with the largely IRRESPONSIBLE and the medium Irresponsible and the minute irresponsible, and that was through the DotCom bust. And sure, there were big companies that disappeared and distresses for investment companies and some people lost their job and all that, but here's a question:

Did it percolate to your local area?
Were the people in your local area - the stock brokers, the investment people, that pushed DotCom irresponsibly and locally, hurt by their market?
Did the marketplace make a local correction for those people?

I'm not talking about if business had a downturn. I'm wondering whether there were local repercussions - personal repercussions - for these folks. Did Mr. SellAnything get a reputation as a ripoff artist, and did local folks punish him for being so callous to the needs of his neighbors and friends?

I guess what I'm getting at is the investment folks corollary in this recent affair - the real estate companies and individual realtors that focused, catered, and eventually abused the real estate marketplace in order to sell higher priced real estate to a portion of marketplace that had no business buying it. If you've looked at buying a home the past 5 years or so in your area, and you even looked occasionally at the high priced market, you had to notice some realtor names popping up, over and over and over again, for these million dollar plus properties.

And here's my question about them - what will be their downside for doing so? Will the public know that they were part of building this bubble? Is it possible for the public to find out the eventual foreclosure rate on houses sold by an agent? How does the marketplace "grade" these participants in the scandal?

Or do they just get to take their money and keep on going like nothing they did really was wrong?

How the rockers (and others in music) went.

The pride of Oxford, Ohio.

Just a few things about housing for sale in Central Pennsylvania today.

I did a few searches for not new homes for sale that are priced at over $500,000. Some results:

7 Homes in Camp Hill of which at least 3 were built since 1997

33 in the 17050 Zip Code of Mechanicsburg of which 24 were built since 1997

23 in the 17055 Zip Code of Mechanicsburg of which 15 were built since 1997

One of the big differences in the pre 1997 and the post 1997 houses at this price level, besides the age of the home, is the acreage that comes with the property. You tend to get a LOT more with the pre-1997 homes.

I've always wondered how the marketplace would support developments such as Pinehurst if the loan industry tightened up. I guess we're going to find out.

Interesting question. He has to know he has no hope of winning, no hope of being the VP choice. So the question is, does he do more to advance his policy causes by running, or by not running?

I think there's a valid consideration, brought up in this article, that on at least some issues, Kucinich isn't helping his policy causes by running.

There are 14 teams in the AL, and 16 teams in the NL. The AL West is the only 4 team division, and the NL Central is the only 6 team division. There are some natural disadvantages created by these constructs, in fairness to the entire league. It makes sense that the NL Central, if there's a team appropriate to do so with, move a team to the AL West.

And there is an appropriate team for this - the Houston Astros. It would give the Texas Rangers some sense of rivalry.

Why hasn't this been done already?

I got this taken care of, I guess I'm safe now.

One of our neighbors for over 12 years - and a genuinely sweet man - Harry passed away yesterday. He had been in declining health for a few years, but he still was a friendly and kind man even during his health problems, and he definitely made a rewarding impression on our kids, and my wife and I.

It's funny how you know your neighbors as they are today, and can know very little earlier history about them. Although my daughter and I had talked a few times to Harry about basketball, since she was playing and I was coaching, he never mentioned his attendance at Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game. And it never occurred to me to "Google" Harry until the past few days.

Harry was one of the good guys, in the neighborhood and anywhere else. Our family was richer by the luck of the draw of living so close to him.

I wonder what he uses to slick his hair back.

I really think that Democratic Party pundits should be smarter than to publicize that they'd like someone in their party to emulate Karl Rove. In fact, we should be getting as far away from that as we can.

We can advocate passion and focus in politics. But Karl Rove was much, much more than that - and much, much less. Republicans are going to be paying a heavy price in the years ahead for his allegiance to a person over their Party, and Americans are constantly paying a price for his allegiance to a person over the Constitution.

Whatever the Democratic Party pursues that it believes is right, it should pursue it as that belief, but never, never, ever again sully the reputation and the appearance of that belief by suggesting we need a Karl Rove.

Budowsky deserves to be repudiated up and down the line. How can a guy who recommended "n 2002 for a “Star Spangled” national unity ticket of Bob Kerrey and John McCain" be someone that ANYONE should listen to about "conviction politics"?

That are worth the read.

FINALLY!!!!! Adelphia Rigas' Report to Federal Prison.

I think John Gibson just really, really, really, really wants to be the subject of a skit on The Daily Show. He really, really, really, really, really needs attention.

I have an idea for a political talk show, where you take one live person and one cartoon character, and splice it together. Of course, if the live person were Bob Beckel, then it would be two cartoon characters.

Note to self: post about the absence of Heckyl and Jekyll cartoon images on the Net someday.

I didn't know that Alberto Gonzales was sent to Iraq recently. Who'd he fire?

On a scale of 1 to 10 on being interested in the Van Halen reunion, with 10 being most interested, put me down for about a... 1.

The whole discussion lately about the subprime mortgage debacle has lead to a media treatment of certain lenders as, well, "certain":

The downside for sellers might be the activity is impacting cap rates, the rate of return on property. With so much supply hitting the market, buyers are now demanding a higher cap rate which means a lower price for property.

"We have already seen them level off in certain markets and for certain asset classes. This trend will become even more pronounced in the months ahead," said Mr. Hutcheson.

or...

Weber, who sits on the ECB's Governing Council, said checks with banks show that the dangers are limited. "We have confirmed our impression that the increased risks in certain market segments are insulated, and that the profit impact for credit institutions is limited overall."

In fact, if you look around Google News for long, you realize that many business reports out there recently are loudly proclaiming a company or industry's distance from the subprime market, in language that falls just short of calling the subprime market "icky", "having cooties", etc.

This is all to be expected, but I wonder, when will this stigma fall to the realtors and builders that have been feeding this marketplace? I know that in our area, there are certain realtors that focus on a... higher priced housing market than the average, and they need a hungry market to bring those prices even higher. They need riskier mortgages. They needed the subprime marketplace.

And they benefited from it. So my question is - when will they be stigmatized? When will they be known as "certain real estate brokers"?

Whee!

With 25,000 state-owned bridges, Pennsylvania has the third largest number of bridges in the nation, but we lead the nation in the number of bridges classified as "structurally deficient." The average age of bridges on the state system is 50 years old.

Here's the list of bridges.

It's tense.

The independent Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone has released more results from last Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary elections. In the latest results released Tuesday, Ernest Koroma of the opposition All Peoples’ Congress (APC) party continues to lead incumbent Vice President Solomon Berewa of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). Charles Margai of the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) party is in third place.

Andrew Kromah is executive director of SKYY FM in Freetown and KISS FM in Bo, both VOA affiliates. He told VOA that although it is still too early in the vote count, it appears Vice President Berewa might be in some trouble.

Hopefully the country will be successful in holding this election, with any change of power occurring without violence. But it's very tense.

We were going to continue updating this website with photos and news reports of the last few days and the unfolding results as well as events of today's exciting day for Sierra Leoneans. Unfortunately, our offices at 17 Garrison Street have been surrounded by irate youths of the All People's Congress who are loudly remarking that they will deal with those who published that their Leader is an illiterate. We are closing down and escaping until tomorrow morning when the place is brighter... Rest assured that all staff are going to be safe. The secretaries and drivers and production men have already left and the publisher has called for back-up who have safely escorted her out. She is currently at the British Council attending the last press conference of the day. All staff are however safe and the police have been informed. We will be back tomorrow. Bye for now.

© Copyright by Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

I can't say I'm actually a birdwatcher, although I have a Birds of North America book and binoculars for birdwatching, and went on a birdwatching hike (which was pretty cool) while in Sedona. Maybe I'm a novice (and episodic) birdwatcher.

But you don't have to be an expert to appreciate eBird - but you can appreciate what the experts have spotted in your area. I've been saving this site for a while, and it was time to share.

Look for an underground economy in anti-emetics to hurl itself against this technology.

And in the latest dose of news that seems to have leaped out of a comic book and landed on the pages of USA Today, that paper reports on the Homeland Security department’s newest toy, a “powerful beam of light that temporarily blinds anyone who looks on it.”

Officially known as an LED Incapacitator, the light saber-like device has been dubbed a “puke ray” by one online publication.

“It’s like someone shooting off a flashbulb in your face every few seconds,” said Bob Lieberman, president of Intelligent Optical, which is developing the devices. “Because of the wavelengths and frequencies we use, there are psychophysical effects – a real disorientation. The reaction can range through vertigo to nausea.”

Which sounds fine, except that the Homeland Security department wants it to be “in the hands of thousands of policemen, border agents and National Guardsmen” by 2010, hinting that it planned to solve the immigration problem by blinding the Mexicans into staying on their side of the border. Who needs a wall when you’ve got a thousands points of nausea-inducing light?

My high school (Granada High School in Livermore, California) has a memorial web page for alumni that have passed, sorted by year.

I think it's actually privately maintained by a graduate from the "other" high school in town, Livermore High School.

I just wanted to say that I think this is a good feature for all high school web sites to incorporate in their web site, as well as an "accomplishments" page. High schools (just like colleges) are more than just the students and faculty at the school in the present, but also are summed up by the accomplishments and community of previous classes, and I'm not sure that relying on the profit margins of Classmates adequately serves those purposes.

Would like to see my high school do more of this kind of thing.

Yes, convergence is possible. Wait for the popular crusade of the American version of The Sex Pastor.

I like this song, but I wish the video was of her, in performance. Mostly posted for the sound.

Here's a vote for the Boyd Big Tree Conservation area. We were there Sunday for a "Butterfly Safari" and the air was full of them.

I think Susie nailed it - Turdblossom wants to work for Fred Thompson.

I really didn't know that such a device was the key to my happiness until I saw this web site.

Welcome Back, Rox.

Maybe it was swamp gas...

Aviation officials from Iraq's Kurdish region on Saturday dismissed reports that a Swedish airliner had been targeted by a missile as it took off with 130 passengers on board.

According to the Swedish TT news agency, the pilots of a MD-83 jet saw flashes in the sky on Thursday as they took off from Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq and feared they may be under attack.

But the chairman of the Sulaimaniyah Airport Authority, Kamaran Ahmed, said a local investigation found no evidence that a missile was fired and blamed the scare on bright lights being used on the ground.

"We think that the object that had been noticed by the pilot 'suspiciously' was a special type of 'high intensity lighting projector' mounted on vehicles usually used by hunters in the area," he said, in a statement in English.

The beam could also have been from a light used by farmers during a rush to harvest in the region, the statement added, while insisting that security forces had searched a 30-kilometre (18-mile) diameter area around the airport.

The Kurdish regional government also said there was no reason to worry.

"No plane at the Sulaimaniyah International Airport has come under attack.

Just in case you were wondering.

One of the things that seems to me could improve air travel considerably in this country would be the placement of at least one airport, centrally located in the United States, that only served as a transfer hub for flights. We already have the hub system for various airlines, whether it be in Chicago or Dallas or Atlanta or elsewhere, and I'm not talking about necessarily replacing those, particularly for smaller regional flight systems and for hubs which also tend to serve as final destinations.

But the idea that I have to fly to Atlanta, or wherever, just because only ONE AIRLINE has a transfer hub there, when my whole intention is to get from Denver to Harrisburg, seems to me to be ridiculous. Why couldn't the United States develop a huge property in the middle of the United States in which to create an airport that can serve as a transfer hub for ALL airlines? A place which would only serve as a transfer point, so the airport wouldn't be burdened with the components of air travel that must serve either initial destination or final destination customers, such as initial check-in, or baggage claim, or initial screening security, etc. A place so huge that 5 or 6 large airlines could place their North American - and even regional - transfers within the facility.

Such a place could be developed including the following criteria:

Weather. It would have to provide preferred weather for operations on a high level. We have hubs now that are greatly impacted by weather (hello, O'Hare) and we don't need to replicate that.

Staging City. There would need to be a large city that could be used as the "jumping off" point for development of such an airport, probably within 3-4 hours drive away, so that supplies and labor have an orderly positioning point during the development of the project.

Land - There has to be enough land available to build an airport of this magnitude, and enough land available to set aside for future development of the airport (for example, if successful, more terminals for hubs).

Cost.

Clearly, I'm spitballing, and I'm no expert on airports or hub traffic building or anything like that, but I'd be very interested to read any studies that are along these lines. Such a project, if it could greatly assist air traffic and the flying experience in this country, could also serve as regional economic development engine. But clearly, studies at the detail level of this are required for any serious consideration to be given the idea.

One of the major advantages to such a hub airport, I think, is that resources spent today on passengers using the airport for initial departure or final destination can be spent on how to improve the transfer experience. That's a lot of money, and space, that can be used. Long-term parking, rental cars, airport hotels, baggage claim, security... the list goes on and on.

Another would be even greater flexibility in flight arrangements. Currently, I cannot get from Harrisburg to Bakersfield, California without going through Philadelphia, then Phoenix. Or Philadelphia, then San Francisco. Whatever it is, there's two places I have to go. If we had a national hub, in theory I could get just about anywhere through the hub, particularly if the airlines provide greater handshaking and sharing of flights (and revenue) from connections. If I can take US Air to AAH (America's Airline Hub), then catch a Southwest Flight from there to Bakersfield, and on the return, visa versa, I'd greatly prefer that.

And - I'd probably use Harrisburg's airport as my departure/destination, rather than driving to Philadelphia to leave from there.

Anyways, clearly this is just an idea that's time may never come, but I wanted to put it out there, since I don't see anything else like this being floated on the Internet.

I'm not really one, but we do go to a game or two every year. The team's web site has a listing of all the players that have come through Harrisburg. So, I decided to try to build an all-time Senators teams based on the Major League Experience of those players. Mine is below, if you feel like playing along, throw yours into comments.

1B - Matt Stairs
2B - Jose Vidro
SS - Orlando Cabrera
3B - Jeff King
LF - Moises Alou
CF - Rondell White
RF - Vladimir Guerrero
Catcher - Michael Barrett
Starting Pitcher - Rick Reed
Relief Pitcher - Ugueth Urbina

Tough position for Cliff Floyd. If he played a little more CF I could see pushing White out.

With special guest Kula Shaker!

I see a lot of this crap from time to time when I look around conservative blogs:

NOTHING will bring the Far Left into the Pro-American fold ever again. EVER.

But what I never see any of these wusslingers explain is what they mean by Pro-American fold. What is their idea of Pro-American? How do they define it? Because as far as I'm concerned, I think that's what the real debate is about - how do we define a positive America?

Not that I expect these kind of poser commenters to have much to contribute to such a discussion.

Ugh.

Declassified papers in Canada show that in 2002 officials suspected that the US had sent a Syrian-born Canadian, Maher Arar, to Syria to be tortured.

The previously blacked-out passages in the documents were released after a court order.

US security officials arrested Mr Arar at a New York airport in 2002 and deported him to Syria.

In Canada, a government inquiry completely exonerated Mr Arar of any links with terrorist groups.

The Canadian government had fought to keep the unreleased sections of documents submitted to the Maher Arar inquiry from coming out.

They reveal that in 2002 a Canadian intelligence official in Washington wrote to his superiors about the so-called rendition to third countries by the FBI and the CIA.

In the same year, in October, the deputy director of Canada's intelligence agency wrote: " I think that the US would like to get Arar to Jordan, where they can have their way with him."

That was just two days after US officials sent Maher Arar to Syria, via Jordan. He had been detained while changing planes at John F Kennedy airport in New York.

He was imprisoned for almost a year and it is widely accepted in Canada that he was tortured, although Syria has denied this.

Farmer gets lost in own corn maze

A British farmer who became lost in his own five-acre "maize maze" said he decided to cut his way out because he had to take his daughter to a party.

Paul Barkes said he was mowing the paths of the Chicken Run corn maze at his Thorpe Farm Country Park and Falconry Center when he became disoriented, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

Anyone who thinks we need a horrible terrorist event in our country to "wake America up" is a potential terrorist. It doesn't matter what the reasoning is - they believe in the use of terrorism as a means to an objective of purpose in this country. And all of those people should be shipped out of this country immediately, even if Fox News can't staff their network anymore.

Confused in Carlisle ...

Two Virginia men have been cited for a fight in a motel parking lot over an issue of geography.

Middlesex Twp. police said that about 11:45 Thursday night, John L. Snyder Jr., 26, of Lake Ridge, Va., and Jermaine R. Graham, 24 of Stafford, Va., who both work for a moving company, got into an argument over whether Virginia was north or south of Pennsylvania. The fight was broken up by co-workers.

Snyder suffered minor injuries from the fight and from falling down because of his level of intoxication, police said. He was taken to Carlisle Medical Center and was cited for public intoxication. Graham, who had no injuries, was cited for disorderly conduct.

Hopefully the drunk guy was the one who thought Virginia was north.

Genius.

I could see this being a big hit in ballpark parking lots as well.

On Monday, I asked this question:

Will Joe Lieberman support the Republican candidate for President in 2008, reasons why or why not, and what's the political value to him?

and asked bloggers to blog about it.

Many did, with thought-provoking posts. I've linked all the ones I've found below, and I strongly recommend that you read them. ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE IN THE NEWS MEDIA. Because if you're in the news media, and particularly, if you're in political reporting, there's no reason for you to be surprised, or even worse, to feign surprise, if and when Joe Lieberman chooses to endorse the Republican candidate for President in 2008. IT IS EXPECTED. What's more, by your feigned shock, you'll be adding to a narrative that Republicans will want to push - that moderates should vote for Republicans, because look at Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller.

So, political media - educate yourselves on voter expectations. Read these blogs.

• Forecasting Lieberman
  
• Who will be Joe’s date?
  
• Turncoat Joe
  
• Lieberman & The 2008 Election
  
• How Independent Can A WarWhore Be?
  
• Joe Lieberman for Vice President
  
• The Night of the Living Lieberman
  
• PSoTD Wants Me To Talk About Joe Lieberman
  
• Who will Chancellor Palpatine Joe Lieberman support [from the GOP] in 2008?
  
• Ze Hot Fleshes
  
• Because He Asked
  
• Joe neocon Lieberman and Iraq
  
• Since he asked...
  
• Joe Lieberman is a Republican
  
• Joe Lieberman sold his soul a long time ago
  

If I missed your post, let me know and I'll add it.

Nice to know we haven't bothered to spend Homeland Security money that could effectively increase the number of burn unit beds in this country.

Remember the meddlesome neighbor, Mrs. Crabtree, on Bewitched, always poking her head into everyone's business? Sometimes Bush's "foreign policy" reminds me of her. From Taiwan:

Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Randy Schriver said yesterday that the United States is opposed to the content of a referendum proposed by Taiwan's ruling party on the issue of whether Taiwan should join the United Nations under the name of Taiwan, saying that since more 70 percent of Taiwan's citizenry support the idea, there is no need to hold such a referendum.

Schriver made the statement at a press conference in Taipei as a leader of a visiting group from the American Enterprise Institute. Schriver arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a five-day visit aimed at obtaining the latest information on the nation's political and electoral situation, according to David Wang (王建業), spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Schriver said he and his AEI research team will publish a report on Taiwan-U.S. relations early next year which will cover opinions from different political parties in Taiwan and the U.S. and will be submitted to the U.S. president.

Describing his conversation with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Wednesday, Schriver said he told Chen that the U.S. government is opposed to the content of the proposed referendum but not the idea of a referendum per se.

I wonder how he'd feel if it was his own family - and only his family - that suffered in this supposedly needed terrorist attack. Is that a fair price for temporary unity?

While zoning out at the gas pump at Turkey Hill, our local convenience store chain, I took a good look at their odd corporate logo for the first time. What the heck is that misshapen blob in the middle is supposed to represent? Is it a stylized turkey head? I can't figure it out.

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: HARRYPLOPPER.COM
Created on: 21-Jul-07
Expires on: 21-Jul-09
Last Updated on: 21-Jul-07

I guess this government practice just seems to me to have trouble written all over it.

Three opposition lawmakers in Tajikistan have released an open letter to President Emomali Rahmon objecting to the closing of mosques by Tajik authorities, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reported.

Tajikistan, which has started a campaign to reregister mosques, has closed and destroyed a number of unregistered places of worship.

The letter, signed by Muhiddin Kabiri, Mohammad Sherif Himmatzoda, and Khodzhi Akbar Turadzhonzoda states that many mosques remain unregistered due to bureaucratic problems.

Two mosques were destroyed last week and many more were closed down in Dushanbe’s Sino district for functioning without a license.

There are some 300 mosques in Dushanbe. Most of the buildings are used by local people as community centers for all kind of social gatherings as well as for prayers.

Authorities have been blaming some imams for illegally using these buildings for prayers.

In the latest move placing pressure on religious institutions, authorities in Dushanbe have ordered hundreds of local imams to take a special test of religious knowledge to prove their fitness for the job.

I think it is absolute BS that ISPs are creating roadblocks for legitimate email to be delivered and then charging those legitimate emailers for a way around those roadblocks. This is a bad precedent to accept, and the captive marketplace really can't afford to let it get entrenched as a business practice without some public consideration (read governmental hearings) of alternatives.

Yeah, I agree with the tone of this post, and it's interesting to see a breakdown of receiving ISPs for an email list: Spamfilters have become a big problem for those who have legitimate one-to-many email communications responsibilities. And I really don't appreciate the "tough noogies" attitude that many ISPs seem to harbor towards legitimate emailers.

Wow, the Granada Bowl in Livermore is closing next year to make room for some additional home development.

I know you probably don't care, but it was one of those places I hung out at for a while in the 1970s while growing up. For a while, it had the only football video game (the one where you had a ball wheel you rolled to move the player and you would slap at it intensely to get your player past the defense) and best Space Invaders game in town.

I haven't been to Livermore much since 2001 when my mother passed away, but for 10 years before that, I would come back to town every so often and be amazed/surprised/encouraged/disappointed by all the changes that were going on there. I'm sure my next stop there will be even more surprising to me.

I'm not a fan of Democratic Presidential candidates saying this kind of stuff:

Clinton is doing her best to stay above the fray, as she did on Tuesday night in a Democratic debate in Chicago, shrugging off attacks from her rivals and emphasizing the need for unity to defeat the Republicans.

"You know, I've noticed in the last few days that a lot of the other campaigns have been using my name a lot. But I'm here because I think we need to change America. And it's not to get in fights with Democrats," she said.

"I want the Democrats to win. And I want a united Democratic Party that will stand against the Republicans," she said.

Look, as far as Americans are generally concerned, we want results, and it's up to candidates to prioritize the results they're looking to get for Americans, and explain how they're going to do that. Standing up against Republicans? I'm sorry, I'm not looking for an opposition candidate, I'm looking for someone who can figure out how to get America on her way to getting better - it's a proactive approach, not a reactive approach, that I want.

And for wanting Democrats to win? WE KNOW THAT. Don't insult our intelligence.

Newt Gingrich, recently:

“None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war," Newt Gingrich told a group of about 300 students attending a conference for collegiate conservatives.

The news of Gingrich’s bold departure from the contentions of our current administration that we are indeed winning the war on terror sent shock waves literally around the world. According to a news article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week, the United States – and logically the Western world – must take immediate steps both to wean ourselves off of imported Middle Eastern petroleum and at the same time to develop vigorous programs for creating alternative energy sources while exploring and utilizing our own extensive domestic oil, coal and oil shale reserves.

The former Speaker of the House from Georgia openly and strongly criticized fellow Republicans for not having addressed the very real threats facing the United States from Islamofascist groups and rogue nations which are all supported and sustained by our own petrodollars.

“We controlled the White House and both houses of Congress for six years, " he said, “and don't think you can look and say that was a great success."

To a point, you have to agree with Gingrich in his assessment - we are not effectively trying to win a war on terrorism. He does admit that the Republicans are playing a PR game for purposes of PR, with no real design to make a change. We are prolonging a "war" for the purposes of keeping Republicans in office, nothing more, nothing less.

But Gingrich still thinks that terrorism is something we can "war" against. We can't, just like we can't "war" against homicide, or theft, or sexual assault, or fraud. We can provide tools for safety, we can educate the public, we can enforce the laws, we can try to heal the world of terrorism - but we can't "war" against it. There are always going to be sick individuals that that will gravitate to an idealogy of hate. Protecting people from that, and trying to strengthen healthy ways to keep people from doing that, is what we should be doing. We have to win the battle of the minds, not the battle of the bodies. Wars are not the way to do that.

From Atrios:

I think the only time I met Terry McAuliffe was when he wandered by at the Palm when I was having lunch with Begala and Carville. Yes that's a jokey namedropping thing. But more to the point, when I see him on the teevee I realize my resistance to Clinton is largely due to a desire to flush out the Clintonite shadow government and move on to the new. It isn't that I'm strongly opposed to these people, it's that I'm opposed to the permanent Washington floating world and my belief that anything which disrupts the permanent class is, in and of itself, a good thing.

You can see why conservatives loved the term-limits idea, it's part of the same concept of removing a permanent ruling class - and one that is starting to treat elective seats as inheritable by birth - by any means possible.

Unfortunately, the elective seats are just the pinnacle of that class. The consulting, lobbying, and administrative bureaucracies that now encase every elected seat are where the real deadwood is, and only by electing people who don't surround themselves with the same old deadwood can we hope to have new ideas and thinking get into power positions in Washington.

I don't know about you, but I really would like this to be the last election in which the names James Carville and Terry McAuliffe get bandied around with a Presidential candidate.

And it isn't about steroids.

I don't know why everyone doesn't try to avoid connecting flights at this airport.

O’Hare International Airport again ranked worst among major U.S. airports for on-time departures during the first half of the year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Less than 65 percent of flights left O’Hare on time between January 1 and June 30, placing it last among 32 major U.S. airports, according to federal statistics released Monday.

O’Hare also was worst during the same period last year, but its percentage of on-time flights declined from 70.4 percent to 64.6 percent.

14 years ago, as we were coming back from our wedding in California and trying to catch a connecting flight in Baltimore to St. Lucia, we were delayed at O'Hare for 6 hours because of weather, and we vowed never to fly through there again.

My mother-in-law has had countless problems with flights through Chicago, but because she has some sort of fixation on getting flight miles through United Airlines, she still goes through there. Last night they had a big storm in Chicago, and she ended up spending the night in a hotel a half hour from the airport instead of our house.

Hopefully she'll figure it out - avoid Chicago O'Hare at nearly any cost. There's just way too many reasons why delays and cancellations happen there.

For whatever reason, I always thought of Trinidad and Tobago as a place devoid of religious tensions:

Four marble murtis (statues) costing $100,000 have been ordered by leading members of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha for the Temple on the Sea.

These will replace the ones that were vandalised on Friday night when intruders entered the temple, damaged the murtis and left them on the floor of the temple.

The intruders also attempted to burn down the temple.

The damage to the national shrine was estimated at $100,000.

Devant Maharaj, co-ordinator for the murtis project, said the donors-Nal Ramsingh, Thirbhawon Seegobin, and Sat Maharaj-have ordered them and they are expected to be installed at a special Hindu ceremony next February.

...

Hundreds of Hindu devotees yesterday visited the temple at Waterloo to get a first-hand view of the extent of the damage. Many of the devotees openly expressed disgust at what some fear is an attack on the Hindu community.

UNC Political Leader Basdeo Panday said he had faith in the ability of the police to catch the vandals.

Panday also said: "I can only hope that this is not the beginning of election violence. It is a senseless act and clearly intended to provoke."

K-Dum cites gay porn actor and conservative hack Matt Sanchez as a credible source on Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

Somebody take his blogging license away. Please.

A few days ago I posted this guest post at Susie's:

The timing is about right for Democrats to start stating the obvious suspicion: Joe Lieberman will endorse a Republican Candidate for President in 2008. There’s no reason to cede news value to the Republicans for such an “announcement” next year, when some regular drumbeating of this political opportunity for Lieberman can easily reduce it. Democrats shouldn’t be concerned that by doing so now they will appear to be “moderating” the Republican candidates, but should be concerned that a Lieberman announcement of support of the Republican nominee next year will be reacted to by the shallow national media in such a way.

In short - the likelihood is too great that Lieberman will support ANY REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT in 2008 over ANY DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT in 2008 to ignore until it happens. It won’t be about people, but about power, and about Lieberman’s future political opportunities. Rather than act dismayed when it does happen, Democrats should be honest in the news media - and repetitively vocal - about why Joe Lieberman may just do that next year.

I just don't trust the Democratic Party Establishment to call Lieberman on this now. I am afraid they will dilly and dally and fret and hope that Joe doesn't go all turncoat in the Presidential Election and when the day comes that he does (and you just know it's going to happen), the Democratic Party will get bathed in a propaganda push about how the moderate Democrats are splitting from the "liberal left", bleh bleh bleh, and the response will be incredibly, but foreseeably, weak. Beyond weak, to the point of pathetic.

And it doesn't have to happen. News shock value does not have to be ceded to the Republican candidate. There's no reason there can't be a discussion about this now - including the positive and negative reasons why Lieberman might support a Republican - in the media.

So I'm asking the bloggers below - those on the PSoTD blogroll - to post about this question this week: Will Joe Lieberman support the Republican candidate for President in 2008, reasons why or why not, and what's the political value to him?

Let's get the Expose Joe's Date in 2008 party going!

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I don't know why, but in the past month it seems like every time I've opened an already-opened International Delight coffee creamer, it spits creamer all over from pressure that has built up inside the container. We've used this creamer for a long time, and the design of the container doesn't seem to have changed, so why does this happen now?

At Red Rock State Park in Arizona:

From Today's Zaman:

Veteran syndicated US columnist Robert D. Novak has said he would be happy if his reporting about an operation before it took place rendered inoperable a joint US-Turkish military move to suppress terrorist action by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in Iraq.

Robert D. Novak His article, published Monday, led to much speculation in the Turkish media, almost all of which agreed that it was a "pre-emptive leak." Novak said that US officials are planning a US-Turkish operation that, if successful, would avert a Turkish invasion of Iraq.

Participating in a meeting held at the Washington-based think tank The Heritage Foundation on Thursday, Novak responded to questions from Turkish journalists about the information provided in his article.

Novak said he received the information from a Congress member who was against such an operation and later found two additional sources confirming the same information. Milliyet daily's veteran Washington correspondent, Yasemin Çongar, highlighted in her article on Friday that Novak used the third-person singular masculine, hinting that his source was a male member of Congress.

In his article Novak said that Eric S. Edelman, a former aide to US Vice President Dick Cheney and now undersecretary of defense for policy, last week gave secret briefings concerning the issue on Capitol Hill. "While detailed operational plans are necessarily concealed, the broad outlines have been presented to select members of Congress as required by law," Novak wrote, adding that "US Special Forces are to work with the Turkish army to suppress the Kurds' guerilla campaign."

Novak told Turkish journalists that the planned operation aimed at killing PKK leaders and he was personally against such an idea. "If an improper operation has been sabotaged because of this article, it would make both me and the member of Congress who gave me the information happy," he was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency in remarks translated into Turkish.

When asked whether he believed that his article had harmed US interests and served to advance the interests of the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by the US and a majority of the international community, Novak said: "You're calling the [PKK] a terrorist organization. Others call them 'the Kurds' freedom fighters.' I said this once on television and got into trouble. I believe that one side's 'terrorist' is the other side's 'freedom fighter.'" The fight between Turkish security forces and the PKK dates back to 1984 and has resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of both civilians and soldiers.

Maybe you better pay attention as the tide comes in.

Hey Penn State, what's the dealio? The BugMobile doesn't seem to be getting out much anymore?

I recommend the buffalo flank. Delicious.

The House Democrats got caught with their pants down last night when they gaveled a vote to close while votes were still flip-flopping and accidently ended up on the wrong side of the count.

The NY Times describes a scene straight out of Animal House with the G.O.P playing the Deltas, John Boehner as Otter, Michael McNulty as Greg Marmalard and Steny Hoyer as Dean Wormer...

“Shame! Shame!” Republicans chanted across the aisle. Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., thumped the back of a chair in rhythm with the chant. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, repeatedly covered his mouth with his hand, pretended to cough and bellowed a barnyard epithet.

McNulty, whom Democrats often tap to preside over contentious debates, could be heard on television insisting “I called it 214-214.”

Hoyer asked for unanimous consent to vacate the vote. Republicans objected. He then moved to reconsider the vote. Boehner moved to adjourn, a motion that was not in order during the reconsideration vote. Most Republicans walked out of the chamber in protest.

House Republicans are now threatening to hold their breath until they turn blue if the Democrats don't honor the original vote. I guess you can't blame them since not much has being going right for them lately. Even a victory on technicality is a victory.

I say put 'em on Double Secret Probation!

It's perfectly sane to take nuking Islamabad off the table in our pursuit of Bin Laden. Enough with the mindless posturing. Barack Obama is starting to win me over.

A few weeks ago, I was driving on 83 towards Baltimore, and the corn fields were very, very short - it was clear that it was a bad growing season down there.

On the other hand, I was driving out in Western Cumberland County last week, and the corn looked pretty normal for this time of year. I thought the drought that I had been noticing was regional. But apparently, it's spotty around here.

Pennsylvania’s drought situation could be best described as inconsistent. While some counties are seeing significant drought conditions, others have had plenty of rain this summer.

“I’ve never seen a summer where there have been such good crops, yet you drive only 20 miles, and there are crops that are dryer than normal,” said Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff.

How Did I Get This When I Don't Even Have Text Messaging?!?!?!

Organizers of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Austria next month are offering the faithful a foretaste: daily cell phone text messages with quotes from the pontiff.

The Archdiocese of Vienna said the service, which began Sunday and will continue through the pope's Sept. 7-9 visit, will provide free excerpts of his sermons, blessings and writings.

Some of the quotations will date to the pope's days as a cardinal in Germany, church leaders said.

"Right through the summer vacation period, there will be carefully selected quotations for thinking about God, the Christian faith, human nature and the meaning of life," organizers said Monday in a statement.

The archdiocese said people can sign up for the text messages and there's no extra charge apart from the usual costs to send messages.

I must admit, I'm a little curious as to how many people would actually sign up for this. Of course, I see it as a combination of two things I really don't want much part of, so I'm not going to get the appeal, I'm sure.

I was given Versed to put me out prior to my arthroscopic surgery yesterday. It was very effective, and when I came to, I felt a bit groggy only for a few minutes and then I felt like I was pretty much back to normal.

However, both my wife and my daughter have been telling me about ordinary events that occurred yesterday between 9:30 AM and 1 PM or so that involved me that I have no, or only very, very fuzzy recollections of. Other recollections, such as watching Tora! Tora! Tora! on television, are pretty clear. This isn't usually an issue for me, so I thought maybe there was some sort of memory issue with versed - and found these postings about the drug.

The Irregular Times wonders if Justice Roberts gets out his Big Bag of Shrooms on weekends.

... I doubt the suggestion in the Daily News article that these seizures could be brought on by stress. The kind of stress that is required to bring on seizures is pretty rare in places like out on the golf course or on a boat dock at a vacation home. If John Roberts really is having stress-induced seizures that lead him to lose consciousness and fall down while playing golf and walking out on the dock at his oceanside vacation home, then he’s a maniac.

There is something other than stress that can induce “seizures” that make people fall down and lose consciousness: Psychoactive drugs. Remember when Britney Spears all of a sudden lost consciousness and had to be carried out of her birthday party? It wasn’t stress that caused that incident.

How do we know that Justice John Roberts isn’t losing consciousness because he’s on some kind of drug obtained by prescription or on the street?

Put down the bong!

Dear MLB,

I know that the career home run mark is one of your game's most fabled, treasured records. However, I think you should know that the daily overload of coverage of Barry Bonds at this point, including the daily inclusion of whatever game the San Francisco Giants are playing on ESPN, is making this lifetime baseball fan pretty sickened. I can't stand the guy's "tude", couldn't even when he was a Pittsburgh Pirate, and it definitely makes it a lot easier to look for ANYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN BASEBALL AT THIS POINT IN TIME.

Oh, and by adding a healthy dose of Bud Selig every day on top of this - well, all you need is Pete Rose showing up now and you'll have a trifecta of some of baseball's most unlikeable recent personalities.

And wheeze.

The Yemeni government has hired a European PR firm and increased its security in a move to support its tourism industry following a recent suicide bomb attack, Gulf News reports.

Seven Spanish tourists were killed earlier this month when a suicide bomber drove a bomb-laded truck into the vehicle they were travelling in.

It was the first terrorist attack against tourists in the country, which currently earns around 2% of its GDP from tourism. Tour operators say the attack has lost them more than half of July bookings from European travellers. Trademark Tourism, which operates affiliates in Europe, Asia and Latin America, has been appointed to portray the country as safe to travel in and emphasise its culture, history and natural beauty.

The government will host a series of summer festivals to attract Gulf tourists, which account for three quarters of tourism revenues. It will also invite foreign media to the country in coming months to report on their experiences and help change perceptions.

Minister of Tourism Nabeel Hassan Al Fakih said security measures include placing 15 additional police vehicles to protect the road to the popular Hadramaut region.

Now I know why you see so many! One waddled across the road in front of me tonight. Slower than groundhogs. Luckily for our local Pepe LePew, my reactions are cat-like!

So the robots have figured this out. We're either doomed, or saved.

It's such a pretty view.

Finally, today's my date with the dreaded knee surgery... Whee! I'll be back sometime after I wake up after the a-scoping.