PSoTD

Take your own advice.

Don't keep putting it off, dude. Socialist doctors are notoriously inept at head-from-butt removal. And imagine the waiting list you could stuck on over there at the Corner

Be concerned. Be very concerned.

Kos just posted his first Reader Poll since John Edwards withdrew.

Jan 24
Edwards 42
Obama 41
HRC 9

Jan 30
Obama 76
HRC 11

The Minions of the Great Orange Satan have spoken!

I think there's an Andrew Sullivan joke in here somewhere.

Did John McCain trademark that phrase or something? Seems like I can't see a clip of him now without him throwing it around somewhere.

It is amazing how unusable that site has become. Some college ought to be teaching a course over the last 8 years of that web site called "Evolution of a Propaganda Site".

I just can't see how fogged bathroom mirrors rate a complaint at hotels. Short of spending what is likely to be a ridiculous amount of money for FOG-OFF, doesn't everyone's mirrors fog up when they shower? Is it really such a pain?

You'll have to check out the site to see what the events are. But I doubt we'll see the Benwa Ball Race on ESPN.

Walk Score is a cool pre-buy or pre-rent online research tool.

Some months of the year, I think of in terms of a holiday or event that occurs during that month. For example, December is close to synonymous with Christmas to me, and June still means the end of school, thanks to the old cycle of life.

What about February? Anything notable to you about February?

Swampland's Karen Tumulty experiences Life In These Internets.

Be careful with that thesaurus!

Hopefully he'll give Pennsylvania a positive spin...

Midstate pollster and political analyst G. Terry Madonna takes on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Thursday night.

The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal reports that Madonna taped a segment as a straight man with "Daily Show" correspondent Demetri Martin, a New York-based comedian, last week.

He deserved WAY better treatment than he got from the press as far as depth and totality of coverage was concerned, and if only the press had been less "Inside Hollywood" about their approach and more "Inside Governance", this election could have been completely different. But we can say that every election. I think the linked article does give Edwards due credit for his push of issues into the race - and into both parties' primaries. But now the question is, with Edwards seemingly out of the race, will those issues - and the approach of taking on existing powers, rather than dealing with them - disappear as well?

I hope not. The tendency amongst politicians to scorn Edwards' points about corporate political power as "populism", instead of admitting it as an electoral power reality, is very discouraging to me. Those scornful politicians are not intending, and will not eventually, solve the problems that come with the gross imbalance of power between institutions and the flexible mass of like-minded individuals. We need people who will tackle the issue of big money, big lobbying, and the sense of a "governing class". These other people, those who scorn that very idea? They need to be washed out of the system, as quickly as possible.

So cheers to you, John Edwards. Perhaps you have decided that the best way to push your planks at this point are to leave them available to the two remaining contenders, and let them show the voters how much they believe in them, rather than have them argue against you. You open the field this way. I would have liked to have voted for you, but I still intend to vote for the candidate that seems most aligned on my positions on corporate/institutional political power and the Iraq War. It's down to two, now.

Is it coincidence? Florida's primary delegates go to the candidate who derided "Bridge to Nowhere" the most in Florida's Republican Candidate Debate last Thursday:

Election Results:

1st - McCain
2nd - Romney
3rd - Giuliani

Number of mentions of the Bridge to Nowhere in last Thursday's debate in Florida:

McCain - 4 times
Romney - 1 time
Giuliani - 0 times

Note to Romney - start loudly hating on the Bridge to Nowhere if you want to win the nomination. Don't worry about making Hulk Angry.

If you can judge a company's future by the sheer desperation of lurching into a cheesy email spam strategy, then I think Countrywide should be deemed VERY desperate. I'm getting a couple of these cheesemails every day.

Like they have for hockey and soccer with Twin Ponds. Something like this...

But this is apparently not the time for a basketball/volleyball facility business model. Nolan Fieldhouse seems to be for sale, for less than what it was bought for...

I have a Kennedy story! In the summer of 79, my ex-girlfriend from high school was house-sitting in Georgetown for one of the Kennedy clan. (I think - but am not positive - it was Ted's wife Joan.) At the time, my ex was a college student in Pittsburgh and I was living in South Carolina. We hadn't had much contact but somehow or other she invited me to visit her there. I don't remember much about the visit except that she was staying on the top floor of the house and that I made her listen to the new "London Calling" album by the Clash more times than I'm sure she wanted to. No Kennedys were home and my ex and I did not reconcile. (Hi DeeDee, wherever you are!) End of Kennedy story.

Yesterday, Ted Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama and I'm kind of impressed. I don't remember much about John or Bobby other than their murders. The only real memory I have of JFK's assassination is an imprint of how upset all the adults were. However I have plenty of memories of Ted back before the right wing wackos turned him into a caricature (with some help from Ted). There was a time he actually did seem like he could take the torch from his older brothers and become President. I still have respect for the man because of the issues he has fought for in the Senate over the years. I don't know the inside baseball involved but it really surprised me to see him take sides against HRC. It makes me more comfortable with Obama. For me, this was an important endorsement.

A couple of mornings a week I stop at the AM/PM on the way into work and grab a bottle of orange juice. (I'm one of those few who don't like coffee.) The juice is $1.49 for a 16 oz. bottle but they are always running a "2 for $2.22" special. So I'm constantly getting pressured by the chicks at the cash register to buy the second bottle. I explain that I don't want two orange juices and that I can't drink it tomorrow because I'll be in a different office. But they won't let up. Hell, if I was after a deal I'd go to BJ's, buy a flipping case of orange juices and carry them around in my trunk!

Today they were at it again. Anybody want an OJ?

Don't forget to invite him to your Mardi Gras extravaganza!

Who knows when this will show up in the Harrisburg area, if ever, and what Comcast will charge for it, but it does sound like a big environment changer for the Internet...

Brian L. Roberts Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Comcast Corporation Keynote Remarks 2008 Consumer Electronics Show Las Vegas, NV January 8, 2008

...

RYAN: Wait a second – I know about “broadband,” of course, but not “wideband.” What’s that?

BRIAN: It’s cable's next big thing – a huge technological breakthrough called DOCSIS 3.0. It takes us to a whole new level of speed and bandwidth.

RYAN: So how does it work?

BRIAN: Today, when we deliver broadband, we’re using spectrum on our cable system that’s equivalent to one 6Mhz analog television channel. That lets us provide broadband speeds of up to twelve to sixteen megabits per second using our unique PowerBoost™ technology. Now, using DOCSIS 3.0, we can bond together four or more of those standard analog channels. This will let us deliver speeds of up to 100 megabits per second over the next two years.

Is it really necessary that 25 cable channels present the State of the Union address live?

It just seems like overkill.

Huckabee challenges Romney over fried chicken.

PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN) – Mitt Romney's failure to eat fried chicken with the skin on is nothing short of blasphemy here in the South, according to GOP rival Mike Huckabee.

Romney, of Massachusetts, dug into a piece fried chicken at KFC while campaigning in Lutz, Florida on Saturday, but not before peeling off what most would consider the best part — the crispy skin.

It *is* the best part but damned if I eat the skin either.

The Republican candidates appear to have similar taste in music to PSoTD.

As Mitt Romney made his weeklong crisscross through Florida, his campaign aides put a few songs into heavy rotation: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” - a favorite, by the way, of Hillary Clinton’s - and Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation.” The latter, said Florida campaign director Mandy Fletcher, was picked because “the idea is that there’s too much conversation in Washington, not enough doing. He’s a doer.”

Also frequently queued up on the portable stereo: Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Aint’ Seen Nothing Yet,” played so often that members of the traveling press corps, some of whom have been tailing Romney since Labor Day, have taken to wearily chanting the song’s refrain - “buh-buh-buh-baby” - while hunched over their laptops.

Giuliani made the score to the appropriately titled “Rudy” - a movie about a pint-sized Notre Dame football player overcoming the odds - a fixture throughout his campaign.

But this week, as polls showed Giuliani trailing frontrunners McCain and Romney, his campaign swapped out the stately instrumental at a recent event with the more dynamic “The Best of Both Worlds” - the Van Halen song, not the Miley Cyrus tune of the same title, Hannah Montana fans being presumably too young to vote.

“Music is a useful tool to instill emotion in a person,” said Shelton Berg, dean of the University of Miami Frost School of Music. “If you hit a demographic with a song that reminds them of a time in their lives, their aspirations, you plug into that in a powerful way.”

In a chat with reporters on the campaign’s Florida press bus, McCain admitted to a liking for ABBA.

“You can go everywhere, and it’s like, `Oh ABBA, I can’t stand them,’ but they happen to have sold more records than anybody,” McCain said.

His pick: “Take a Chance.”

No "Dream Weaver"?

Governor Knoll.

Last night we were having a last beer in a local establishment, four of us, all Dads, and one says to me:

"That's different, now that your kids are older..."

and I think it was the first time I had heard that. It was one of those moments where a different way to think about my (and our) situation was crystallized by someone else, and it stopped me a bit in my tracks.

Yes, we know our kids are "getting" older, and there's all these signs that have been coming up - giving away the toddler stuff that we've used for two children, the tiny desks, the little chairs, and now we're planning on repainting both kids' rooms this summer to replace the current "kiddy" images with something more tween-and-teen friendly.

But there's a difference between seeing your children as "getting older" and seeing them as "now older". Didn't know that before last night.

Let me go on record now, I think this effort by Technorati's David Sifry isn't going to be used much. At least legitimately:

In 3 months it will be only used by spammers, thank you very much David and Martin... One couldn't expect any less from you...

I dunno, I think the "creative" people at CNN that thought of and approved this dumbass diminution of the primary process ought to be included in the "Demotion Derby".

If this were a fifty percent African American country, Barack Obama would be our next President.

Frankly, the guy underwhelms me on substance but I don't watch television so I'm sure I'm missing out on his style points. Digby says it's all about the youth vote but I guess I'm not in touch with that demographic either.

I'll have no problem voting for Barack in November but I haven't decided yet who I'll be voting for in the primary.

If you had your choice of anything for breakfast this Sunday morning, what would it be?

Not much else to do down Craley way.

Police charged Toby Taylor, 37, of the 100 block of Oak Leaf Drive with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. As of Thursday night, he was in York County prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Police said they responded to Taylor's home late Wednesday night in the Restless Oaks Village mobile home park for a reported electrocution that turned into a cardiac arrest.

Once there, police found Kirsten Taylor, 29, unconscious. She was taken to York Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:25 p.m., according to the county coroner's office.

Toby Taylor first told police his wife was shocked as she used a hair dryer, but later admitted he had lied, charging documents state.

"He said that they hook up clips to his wife's nipples and he plugs the cord into an electric strip and he shocks her," charging documents state.

Sad story especially if you read the comments.

Apparently they are some of the most sensitive wimps in any State Capitol. The public hurt their feelings!

Seriously, does the lobbying community want such crybabies working for them?

The New Pornographers performing the incredible "My Rights Versus Yours" on Letterman.

Under your wheels, the hope of spring
Mirage of loss, a few more things
You left your sorrow dangling
It hangs in air like a school cheer

Complex notes inside the chords
On every wall inflections carved
Deep as lakes and dark as stars
Remember we were the volunteers

(Ooooh) Courts knew this and nothing more
(Ooooh) Now it's my rights versus yours

Under your wheels, your hopeless reign
You fall too hard—we're up too late
We hang suspended from the heights
Until it's safer to walk here

Under your wheels, your chance is with
The easy call, the called-off search
The medicine, it still won't work
But there's dangerous levels of it here

(Ooooh) Same thing as the other time
(Ooooh) But now it's your rights versus mine

The truth in one free afternoon
The truth in one free afternoon

Under my wheels the chance is held
Gave me to save me from myself
Spectacles painted with my shaking hand

Fingers in paints, in paints we brought
Thinking we'd leave them when we're not
Flying the flags of new empires in rags

The new empire in rags
The truth in one free afternoon
A new empire in rags
The truth in one free afternoon
A new empire in rags
The truth in one free afternoon
A new empire in rags
The truth in one free afternoon

Under your wheels, the fits and starts
The time to dabble in the arts
To tease the packs of dogs in charge
But kid it's all wasted on me

Under your wheels, the hope of spring
Mirage of loss, a few more things
The medicine it still won't sing
But there's dangerous levels of it here

(Your rights over my rights now
We came to the right place
Your rights over my rights now
Your rights over my rights now
We came to the right place
Your rights over my rights now
Your rights over my rights now)

An outsider can look at this story and say, "If Hillary Clinton's political party, and Democratic Party candidates, cannot trust her to keep up her agreement, why should any voter trust her?"

She can say all she wants about disenfranchising voters in Michigan and Florida, and I agree with her to a point, but there was a time and a place to stake her position to that point, she didn't do it, and everyone else - including the voters of Michigan - acted accordingly based on the agreed rules. Either voters, and Democrats, can trust Hillary Clinton at her word, or they can't. It's up to her to prove it, one way or another. She's failing to prove trustworthiness here.

And it is a big one... in comments, write something interesting about Morgantown, Pennsylvania.

Why can't we bring back the Tweed Water Spaniel?

It's strange - I guess I've just never thought about how humanity not only bred animals into specific breeds, but also didn't allow them to breed, causing their "extinction".

From Bub56

Who keeps whispering "Raise taxes"? Is it subliminal Republican advertising? Is it some sort of Kevin Nealon inspired effort, saying one thing but saying the truth in the middle?

Who is the Tax Whisperer?

They're perfectly harmless. I think.

At which point Charles Krauthammer will mock them. Consistent ignorance is voter bliss!

I bet it wasn't hot tubs.

It may not be bin Laden, or Al Qaeda, or even Hillary Clinton. It may be Republican Senator Ted Stevens. I'm waiting for the transcript of last night's debate to count the references to "bridge to nowhere".

You know, if she can't shut him up in the campaign, how can Hillary shut him up if she's President? This kind of feeding of the media of the most general identity politics is very sad, particularly because you know that somehow the Clintons see an advantage to it.

Bill Clinton has a reputation as a President that he's clearly on his way to crapping all over as a candidate's spouse. He's become the most obnoxious spouse out there as far as I can tell.

I agree with Ed Leach:

Ed Leach of Hampden Twp. said it might be too late to do anything about the heavy traffic that brings the Carlisle Pike to a standstill more often than not.

"There's a shopping center here, a minimall there, everywhere you turn around, there is another mall," Leach said. "They let people build all these shopping areas, but they haven't built the highway infrastructure to keep up with all the traffic.

"We're beyond the point where they can do anything about it," he said.

Both Hampden and Silver Spring Townships are to blame for allowing building to create such road congestion without any good answer to dealing with the congestion. The real downside is that residential and simple two-lane roads are now being used as get-arounds for the traffic, and because those routes are longer, people are much more likely to speed - since they're already establishing that they're in a hurry because they chose to avoid the Pike.

Cumberland Valley School District ought to be weighing in on this as well, since they have so many educational facilities dependent on the Carlisle Pike for transportation of kids.

Whoever it is, that person keeps sending me spam at Yahoo! I don't love that.

I wonder if John McCain becomes the nominee for the Republicans this year for President, that we might see the former Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, named as his VP candidate. If there's one major electoral eastern state that might be snaggable for the Republicans this year, Pennsylvania would probably be it, but only if Ridge were there to help. He's a pretty popular former Governor in this state, he could contrast his "good times" tenure versus the Democratic leadership of Ed Rendell, and his military and Homeland Security experience probably could be used beneficially.

There are no other Pennsylvania Republicans that would help McCain. Period.

From Harrisburg's Craigslist:

Hey I just got a pogo stick and am looking for anybody ages 17-30 that pogos as well. If you are from the Harrisburg, Lebanon, Lancaster area please email me and perhaps we can get together and jump around town.

How did I miss this movie, being "The Birds" fan that I am? It even had Rod Taylor in it.

What a sad story the domain politics.com has become. Check out a few of it's past iterations, courtesy of the Wayback Machine:

December 21, 1997
November 10, 2000
August 13, 2001
December 31, 2003
November 1, 2004

And then finally, on July 20, 2006, where we are today:

Backflip Domains is currently interested in purchasing high quality generic domain names that do not infringe on anyone's intellectual property rights such as politics.com, cookie.com, and on.com.

If you have such domains for sale please email us below and include asking price(s). We are also interested in purchasing entire domain portfolios.

Due to volume we can not respond to all messages. We will respond to all offers that meet our quality and price requirements.

All transactions are conducted through a secure escrow process to protect both parties.

Contact us at: domaincookie@yahoo.com

Sure seems like it could have worked out much better than that.

Would a significant economic recession increase, or decrease, email spam?

One of the things about corporate citizenship, and the information you can find out about the concept online, is that they seem to be quid pro quo. Give something to get something. This consulting firm is an example of such writing:

By providing practical solutions to the contemporary problems facing industry related to globalization, sustainability practices, and corporate accountability, CCI facilitates measurable success by connecting western based companies with valuable options to take greater advantage of local markets.

The vision for CCI was born from decades of field experience that took its founder, Kim Veness across much of the developing world. Working in grassroots level sustainability programs with indigenous peoples around the world, and watching their interactions with western business interests, a vision was conceived – to use the emerging marketplace as a driver for sustainable social development while creating profits for business.

I'm for businesses making money, but there needs to be a driver for the argument of citizenship for citizenship's sake, and that driver will not be coming from the business community. As long as profitability is a standard for corporate citizenship, we'll find a very murky environment to define the term.

Citizens have to coalesce and work together to define the concept sans corporations.

It exists!

The best thing about Fred Thompson's run for President - it got him off Law and Order.

Sam - don't run for office.

Michael Medved has an interesting point, but fails to recognize that the personalities he mentions have been big losers for a long, long time.

I had just noticed that nobody had posted that phrase in Google. Period. With the economy's outlook, I'm just setting a marker.

His name? CNN Reporter Joe Johns.

JOHNS: Right. The Nobel Prize-winning African-American author, Toni Morrison, famously observed about Bill Clinton, "This is our first black president, blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime."

Do you think Bill Clinton was our first black president?

That would be an appropriate question to ask Toni Morrison. Maybe that would be an appropriate question to ask Joe Johns, since he thought it was worth asking. But in a debate season in which we have seen at least a couple of moronic questions in every debate, to me, at least, this has been the worst.

Questioners should see themselves as having a responsibility, and that responsibility is this: By asking this question, what can voters get from the response that can tell them something valuable about the candidate(s) that may assist in their voting decision? That is the pure smell test.

Johns' question failed, because it doesn't go to policy, it doesn't go to philosophy, it doesn't go to outlook, it doesn't go to anything other than grading a former President on a freaking racial basis. Appalling.

Obama fumbled around with an answer, but frankly, I'm waiting for a candidate eventually to say at a debate, "That's really quite a silly question and a waste of valuable debate time, and I'm going to pass on answering it because I think there's much more important things to discuss."

but we're Trapped.

I can't say I'm particularly informed about the process of how Martin Luther King Day became a national holiday, but I believe that in order for a holiday to be deemed as "religious", it ought to start as a religious holiday, rather than start as a government-observed holiday. I recognize that King was clergy, but that alone does not make celebration of his life and accomplishments a "religious" celebration.

It should, however, be a day to fully expand our humanity towards others.

More on corporate citizenship:

Above all, a new imperative for business, best described as "global corporate citizenship," must be recognized. It expresses the conviction that companies not only must be engaged with their stakeholders but are themselves stakeholders alongside governments and civil society. International business leaders must fully commit to sustainable development and address paramount global challenges, including climate change, the provision of public health care, energy conservation, and the management of resources, particularly water. Because these global issues increasingly impact business, not to engage with them can hurt the bottom line. Because global citizenship is in a corporation's enlightened self-interest, it is sustainable. Addressing global issues can be good both for the corporation and for society at a time of increasing globalization and diminishing state influence.

I can't tell you what the rest of the report by Klaus Schwab says because it's for fee, but again, what is missing from this paragraph, at least, is the standard and expectation by individual citizens of corporate behavior. That's not a complaint about this report. It's a recognition that there needs to be a discussion and a debate by citizens at a particular level that corporate behavior has impact, and standards and expectations relayed to corporations BY THE CITIZENRY. The argument that the market will tell corporations what is good and bad behavior is an exercise in relativism between markets - what is good for employees may be not so fun for stockholders, what might be good for India is bad for South Dakota - and doesn't try to adopt some expectation of fairness.

Until told, corporations are free to adopt their own standards for "corporate citizenship". There needs to be a model for individuals to state their expectations collectively and effectively.

The Bus Station seems to cover a LOT of territory.

Interesting data site concerning web site traffic.

Okay, Old Man Winter, you win, it's cold out there!

Flickr's amazing. Where else could you find over 500 pictures of sump pumps?

I see this as a positive, in general, the work of Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. And it is important. But there's also a point of perspective that has to be remembered here:

It's corporate, and it's somewhat top down, and the individual is rarely mentioned as the discussion is about citizen amongst institutions.

And you can see it in the way thing are discussed, that this can be construed to be a search to find "what is good for the corporation in corporate citizenship". There's nothing wrong with that by itself, but it is a partial effort. There needs to be an equal effort:

What is good for the individual citizen in corporate citizenship?

I'd like to see university work towards this goal. I realize that individual citizens won't likely pony up the money to create or continue such a Center, so financing is an issue. But maybe there's a way to put something together like this, and maybe it's something that ex-politicians who see the need for this, because they were always railing about corporate lobbyists in Washington, can try to build.

Dear International Delight Management,

You may want to have a discussion with your packaging design department. Your coffee creamer plastic bottles might contain some sweet syrup to improve the taste of coffee, but they are also fabulous vessels to leak that same syrup in one's refrigerator. We try not to buy your product because the container malfunctions so often. Maybe you should just copy Nestle's.

Sincerely,

A Coffee Drinkin' Household

Photo by machschnell18t

Found this via Geeky Mom. I still strongly prefer Edwards to Obama, however.

83% Barack Obama
80% Mike Gravel
80% John Edwards
79% Dennis Kucinich
77% Joe Biden
77% Bill Richardson
76% Chris Dodd
75% Hillary Clinton
40% John McCain
38% Rudy Giuliani
37% Ron Paul
32% Mitt Romney
29% Mike Huckabee
25% Tom Tancredo
21% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Because somebody will.

Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie will become the only state park with beaches patrolled by lifeguards.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says it is cutting 84 lifeguard positions at 15 other state parks with beaches.

Man, they're everywhere this year!

The thumbnail-size insect has hurt fruit and soybean crops in China and Japan. Researchers say the bug probably hitched a ride to the United States on shipping containers — much like the emerald ash borer that has recently damaged trees across the state.

The stink bugs were first reported in Pennsylvania in 1998, and have since spread from New York to Virginia.

The species could pose a serious problem to agriculture because it has no natural predators, parasites, or diseases to help control its population.

During the winter, they like to crawl through cracks into homes to escape the cold.

But they are harmless to people — except for the unpleasant odor they release when disturbed.

Found one hanging out in my shower this morning. Flush! I'd suspect my housekeeping but even my compulsively tidy friends are finding them.

This question is about design, and ease on the eyes and the ability to read:

Which blog do you find easiest to scan and read?

I see a national market brewing for heavy internet users that will want to tell any provider that changes from flat rate to usage rate charging a big FO.

After all, it was those very heavy users that really provided a base in the first place to expose "light users" to the benefits of higher speed. Likely to be hurt the most by a practice of billing high-speed Internet subscribers based on their amount of usage rather than a flat fee: small businesses that use the Internet to expand their viability.

Finally, here's the big question - what kind of reduced price is Time Warner going to give the light users that don't meet whatever usage threshold they are going to use? I don't see how they can argue that today's price is the minimum, if they're blaming 5% of the client base for 50% of the network bandwidth and plan to charge them for that, then the other 95% ought to see a reduction in cost.

Otherwise, it's just a plan to jab for profit.

Is the nation getting louder during sex?

Are you concerned if someone hears you making love?

52.7% No
6.3% Only if its the kids.
28.7% Sometimes.
12.3% Yes

Total votes: 4836

This story would be funny, if the protagonists, Countrywide and Mozilo, weren't so involved in such national damage.

And if Mozilo wasn't paid so handsomely for all the ugliness.

The CEO of Countrywide Financial sold off $145 million worth of company stock options months before Countrywide plunged toward bankruptcy in the subprime mortgage crisis.

Angelo Mozilo earned $48 million last year and stands to walk away with an additional $115 million in severance and benefits if Bank of America goes through with its plan, announced last week, to buy Countrywide for $4.1 billion. Mr. Mozilo got out comfortably in time. Most investors didn't, as the company's stock price fell from about $40 to less than $6. Meanwhile, thousands of borrowers across the country were losing their homes and defaulting on Countrywide's loans.

Maybe Mozilo is too busy to speak in San Diego because he's gotta talk to the lawyers...

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants to know how Mr. Mozilo can rake in millions while so many others lost everything.

... they better start running!!

PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) — Upset that his 7-year-old son wouldn't wear a Green Bay Packers jersey during the team's playoff victory Saturday, a man restrained the boy for an hour with tape and taped the jersey onto him.

Mathew Kowald was cited for disorderly conduct in connection with the incident with his son at their home in Pardeeville, Lt. Wayne Smith of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department said. Pardeeville is about 30 miles north of Madison.

The 36-year-old Kowald was arrested Monday after his wife told authorities about the incident. Kowald was taken to the county jail and held until Wednesday, when he pleaded no contest, paid a fine of $186 and was released.

Although they may get through their childhood undamaged if he has to wait for a Bears playoff victory.

There are still a lot of pretty stupid ideas having considerable money spent on it basically because people think the Internet will somehow change how people interact with the concept even though it is clear that in reality THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED. They need a label.

I suggest they be considered This Year's CueCat, or something like that.

David Brzoska IS the Tiger Beetle Man.

And yes, I much appreciate news stories about amateur entomologists. But Mr. Brzoska is more than that, having spent so much of his life in the study of these animals.

I don't know about you, but the past two days have seemed like "dialup" slow at times.

One down, 33.4 million to go.

Maybe it'll be a little more even in the number of questions asked per candidate. Can't MSNBC even try to provide some parity in question numbers?

These debates are like watching surrogate boxing. Questions from the news media are intended to fulfill the media's need, not the voters and not the candidates. I don't, and we shouldn't, care about the news media's need to be able to run 10 second "gotcha" clips like the dishonest effort that Tim Russert made both during and after the debate last night about keeping troops in Iraq. Well, I guess we should care that Tim Russert is more interested in his advantage than the country's when asking questions, but that's not a surprise to anyone who pays attention.

Here's a great question Edwards asked Obama:

Well, let me start this question. This is about campaign finances. And let me start it by saying the obvious, which is, all three of us have raised a great deal of money in this campaign, so this is not preachy or holier-than-thou in any possible way.

What we know is that all three of us want to do something about health care in this country. We also know that until recently, Senator Clinton had raised more money from drug companies and insurance companies than any candidate, Democrat or Republican, until you passed her, Senator Obama, recently to go to number one.

My question is, do you think these people expect something for this money?

Why do they give it? Do they think that it's for good government? Why do they do it?

The answer wasn't good.

SEN. OBAMA: Well, let's be clear, John. I just want to make sure that we understand. I don't take money from federal lobbyists. I don't take money from PACs.

MR. EDWARDS: As I don't either.

SEN. OBAMA: As you don't either.

What happens is, is that you've got — if you've got a mid-level executive at a drug company or insurance company who is inspired by my message of change, and they send me money, then that's recorded as money from the drug or the insurance industry, even though it's not organized, coordinated or in any way subject to the problems that you see when lobbyists are given money. But — and I'm proud of the fact that I've raised more money from small donors than anybody else, and that we're getting 25, 50, $100 donations, and we've done very well doing it that way.

Now, what I'm also proud of is the fact that in reducing special interest lobbying, I alone of the candidates here have actually taken away the power of lobbyists. Part of the reason that you know who's bundling money for various candidates is because of a law I passed this year which says, lobbyists, if you are taking money from anybody and putting it together and then giving it to a member of Congress, that has to be disclosed. Ultimately what I'd like to see is a system of public financing of campaigns, and I'm a cosponsor of the proposal that's in the Senate right now.

That's what we have to fight for.

In the meantime, what I'm very proud of is to make sure that we continue to make progress at the federal level to push back the influence that lobbyists have right now. And that's something that I'm going to continue to work on.

However, I'm willing to give Obama a pass on this answer for now - I don't think the question was expected, and I don't think it is thought about outside the box much by either Obama or Clinton. But this question - and more delving questions - must be asked, and the issue should be probed within the context of the election. People vote their pocketbooks. There's a reason that so many in the insurance or drug companies are "inspired" by the message. What is it? The news media does not ask these kinds of questions. Obama's answer is really an indictment of the debate system and the news media - Presidential candidates are not asked these kinds of basic structural questions about how Washington operates, or to discuss the morals involved in that operation. Candidates are not forced to think about it. In fact, because questions are not continually asked about this area, candidates are forced NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT, and to think about the answers for the trivial items that will be asked, such as:

"Given the decision to run for president in the first place has to be and should be one of the most important and memorable decision-making moments any American can make, tell us when you made that decision."

I'm pretty sure that asking for a time frame for when they made the decision didn't help one voter make a decision for who they will vote.

I'd like to see a debate of ALL candidate questions to other candidates, and make the moderators ONLY moderators. No questions from the audience, no questions from the news media.

Interesting - at this site, you might be able to find a post by someone else who has gone through - or is doing - the same thing as you.

If you ever wanted to have a locker room skit of guys poking each other in the butt, over and over and over and over and over and over and over, then consider doing a good writeup on baseball's steroid story.

Hard to believe the value decline in this decade. From Hoovers:

The company has seen its ownership change a number of times. After being acquired by VeriSign for about $15 billion in 2000, Network Solutions was sold to investment firm Pivotal Group in 2003 for $100 million. Pivotal sold Network Solutions to General Atlantic, a private equity firm specializing in information technology companies, early in 2007.

I wonder what General Atlantic thinks of Network Solutions' status - and reputation - in the marketplace at this point.

This is very unethical on their part. If you whois a domain on Network Solutions, they reserve it in an effort to force you to buy it at their exorbitant prices. Total ripoff.

They do not deserve yours - or anyone's - business. Nor do they deserve the privilege of being a domain registrar any longer.

Complete BS on their part. I hope one of the other registrars sues them.

Oh, the irony of this bit of email spam:

Countrywide: The Trusted Name in Home Loans

My mortgage with them is less than a year old. Favorable fixed rate, everything's good, why would I do a deal with them now? Desperation...

When will some media types wise up, create a cable channel covering only homicides 24/7, and take away the advertising revenue that CNN gets for about 8 hours a day of their programming?

Seriously - just how national is the Cesar Laurean - Maria Lauterbach case anyways?

There's a lot of buzz out there about the health benefits of the neti pot.

For 21 straight years I've dutifully pumped my body full of drugs with names like Zyrtec, Optivar, Astelin, Benadryl, Nasalcort, Allegra, Singulair, Nasonex, Claritan, Clarinex and Seldane - shelling out anywhere from $10 to $35 per month, per drug, just for the right to breathe.

Last year, my allergies were so bad in the winter and spring, I was spending $100 a month on a three-drug cocktail, just so I could see (the allergies affected my eyes), breathe and sleep.

That, the medical experts told me, was my only choice.

So imagine my surprise the first time I tried the "neti pot."

The neti pot is a simple device - it looks like an Aladdin lamp crossed with an old-fashioned cream pourer - that allows users to engage in nasal irrigation.

What's nasal irrigation? Well, it's what it sounds like. You pour a salt-water solution up one nostril and it comes out the other.

It was my wife who first told me about the neti pot. She saw it on Oprah. Dr. Oz was pimping it as a solution for allergy and sinusitis sufferers. The practice of nasal irrigation goes back many years, he said. It's a yogi purification practice.

When I first heard about it and saw the videos of people using it online, I said: "No way. There's no way I'm pouring crap up my nose and letting it come out the other side. That's gross. And stupid."

And then my wife bought me one for Christmas. And to be a good sport I tried it.

I was blown away.

It works wonders. I've used it twice a day - after I brush my teeth in the morning and at night - for three weeks.

I'm off the drugs.

Bad News for the Coupon Clipper mailhouse companies - the web is catching on.

What were you thinking?

The never-ending "war vote" debate continues...

In interviews and at a recent campaign event, [the Clintons] have said that Mr. Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, helped draft the resolution, which they said was proof that the measure was more about urging Saddam Hussein to comply with weapons inspections, instead of authorizing combat.

Mrs. Clinton repeated the claim Sunday during an interview on “Meet the Press,” saying “Chuck Hagel, who helped to draft the resolution, said it was not a vote for war.”

“It was a vote to use the threat of force against Saddam Hussein, who never did anything without being made to do so,” Mrs. Clinton said.

That vote was no more a blank check for invading Iraq than a gun permit is a blank check to run around shooting up the town. The mistake was not having done an adequate background check on the guy we gave the gun to.

I see the Cowboys suffered from the Curse of the Buffalo Bills Coach - no head coach of the Buffalo Bills has ever won a Super Bowl as a head coach anywhere.

You know, I don't think there is such a thing.

Once we get past the primaries and to the general election, the issue of illegal immigration will be lobbed by the Republican candidate at the Democratic candidate. I think it will be useful to use the opportunity to discuss the greater issue of citizenship, and to try to bring the national debate towards that issue. I don't think we resolve the immigration discussion unless we come to a national understanding of the issue of citizenship. And to that extent, I think it should also be mandatory for the discussion to include consideration of what makes a good corporate citizen in the United States, and what Americans should expect of a good corporate citizen.

It's a political question that NEVER gets asked in those terms, and never gets discussed by a citizenship parameter. I'm pretty sure it is something that Edwards could sew into the conversation fairly effectively, and America would be the better for it. I'm very unclear as to whether Obama would bring it up successfully, and I have strong doubts that Hillary Clinton would even open such a debate.

And because of that, it would make sense to me that Edwards open that debate now, because he may not be around to finish it, but at least he's here to start it.

I have really mixed feelings about same-day-as-caucus voter registration for a party caucus. Seems like it really opens the opportunity for gaming the system and the results by members of another political party.

The Nevada Democratic Presidential Caucus will be held on Jan. 19. Doors will open at 11 a.m. at more than 1,000 sites throughout Nevada.

Participants sign in and their names are checked against the voter rolls.

People not registered to vote, nonpartisans, Republicans, and others may register as Democrats at the door.

There are likely to be none. It's not only because of his lack of frontrunner status.

Governors are usually the big campaign horse for a political party in a state, and for that party's fundraising efforts. Everything that Edwards talks about concerning lobbyist money, special interests, and how money gets represented much better than voters in Washington, DC., also applies to the state capitals, on a smaller scale.

Because of a Governor's position as the big fundraising source for a state political party, and because almost anyone elected Governor has taken advantage of the campaign funding structures to get there in the first place, it's incredibly unlikely that Edwards would ever get an endorsement from a Governor until after he was the nominee. If we saw Edwards get such an endorsement, it would be a strong sign that his populism on the subject was growing beyond the Presidential campaign level.

If I had to pick my favorite, or most impacting, teacher that I had in high school, it would be Jerome Burg. I had him for a couple of years when I wrote, and then was "editor" (such as it was) of our high school newspaper. He let us have fun, he seemed to prefer us as irreverent rather than serious, and that worked for us.

There's an interesting article about him in the Infinite Thinking blog, and it appears he still lets students discover the path to best learn while providing them with new and different ways to look - and discuss - what is being taught.

I haven't ever had an interest in becoming a teacher, but if I had, Mr. Burg would have been the role model. I'm glad to see he's getting some attention for his efforts.

We're hoping this year to go to the Tuscany region of Italy - we've never been to Europe, period, so this will be completely new to us. If you have tales or experiences of visiting Italy that you want to share, post in comments, it will be greatly appreciated.

We love Tuscan dishes, and of course, it doesn't take long on the Internet to find a wide variety of claims of locations claiming to have the best Tuscan cuisine. We haven't decided on whether we're going to Pisa or not, but articles like this make it hard to pass up.

... but "some degree of coercion" is just fine!

Finally, what roils me about Sen. McCain on this issue is his demagoguery. None of us likes torture or even most lesser forms of coercion. There are times, though, when some degree of coercion is necessary — even Sen. McCain has acknowledged that.

There is actually a good reason to for the eventual Republican candidate for President to choose Joe Lieberman as the Vice Presidential candidate - as fall guy. If the Republicans know, deep down, that they are going to lose the Presidential Election in November, then they can get a twofer with Joementum - they can claim they tried "unity" as a campaign and it failed, which then can be argued for not diluting partisan message, and they can blame Lieberman specifically for the loss, and claim that it isn't a rejection of the Republican message, and live for another day with a better candidate in another election year. Actually, a three-fer, because that way no other future Republican candidate can be greatly stained with the election loss of 2008. Maybe Jack Kemp could better speak to that issue.

Literally. My step-mother sent us a crate of oranges, and we've been looking for ways to eat them. We had friends over last night, so I thought, perfect, let's come up with a dessert that uses some serious oranges. Here's what we had: fresh oranges with spiced red wine syrup.

Refrigerated, not too filling, sweet and cinnamony, a great way to end a nice evening, and a cool down from being in the hot tub. Recommended.

PennLive keeps a list of bloggers. So I thought I'd promote their blogroll.

A Big Fat Slob -- Above Average Jane -- After Work Chronicles -- Around the House - Pa. Builders Association -- Beetles Beat -- Bethlehem Blog Times -- Beyond Scrapple: A Guide to LV Dining -- Bicycle Commuting Now -- Billtown Blog -- BlogHarrisburg -- Bolnius.com -- CaseyHasABat -- Central PA Gazelle -- Communications Vault -- Content -- cygweb -- Dilettante's Dilemma -- Easton Undressed -- Eating Out in Harrisburg -- Everything Forks -- Fleeting Moments -- Floor 9 -- Garden Design Ideas -- GettysBLOG -- Grassroots PA -- Halushki: Most unique, butter and onions -- HarrisBlog PA -- Harrisburg Happening -- Harrisburg Night Life -- Jaboobie -- Jersey Mike -- The Junk Drawer -- Karns Quality Blog -- Keystone Biking -- Lehigh Valley Ramblings -- Letters to My Daughters -- Like I Was Saying... -- Linglestown Gazette -- Look Out Lehigh Valley -- Midstate runners -- Molovinsky on Allentown -- Momentary Language -- Mschindler.com: life, politics, art, culture, and me, me, me! (plus being a dad!) -- News Over Coffee -- Northridge in Carlise -- Nitevilla Dot Net -- Our West End Neighborhood -- PA WaterCooler -- Residents Who Care -- Smith Create -- State Theatre Watch -- The Know It All of Lehigh Valley -- The Life of a Publisher -- There Is No Name on My Jersey

Yeah, it's Farm Show time around here.

from jzlomek

Eating at Ruby Tuesday's tonight and got stuck behind Slow Salad Bar Person. Picking out specific pieces of lettuce, exactly six carrots, five tomatoes and seven chick peas. You know who you are. Speed it up!

then the Lawrence O'Donnell would be the prize orchard variety.

I don't know what O'Donnell has against Edwards specifically, but I think the suggestion that to support Edwards is to support nothing other than the Southern white man who stood in the way of the black man, is so incredibly unfair to people who support his positions that I don't see why O'Donnell deserves to write any more for the Huffington Post. That is truly some thinking to despise.

I got a parking meter with "Insert Soul" graffiti scrawled on its face this morning.

So how many minutes do I get for it?

I've been impressed with Pray for Rain's soundtrack work ever since Sid and Nancy. You can sample some of their work on MP3 files at their site.

And Tweety is starting to piss you off with his attitudes, I have two words you should at some point say while the tape is rolling:

Joshua Eilberg

Maybe a couple of times, I suspect it will annoy him.

Jay Newton-Small covers politics for TIME. She has covered the Bush 43 White House and also Congress from the DeLay era to the present.

If there's a less informative way to state how much time a reporter has had to gain wisdom while reporting on Washington, I haven't seen it. DeLay era? In theory, this could mean since 2005. You know, right before the Hastert era.

I'm just asking.

Somehow, this purported deal in the works reminds me of an "It's A Wonderful Life" exchange:

Potter (laughs): George, now that's just what I like so much about you. (pleasantly and smoothly-like a snake) George, I'm an old man, and most people hate me. But I don't like them either, so that makes it all even. You know just as well as I do that I run practically everything in this town but the Bailey Building and Loan. You know, also, that for a number of years I've been trying to get control of it...or kill it. But I haven't been able to do it. You have been stopping me. In fact, you have beaten me, George, and as anyone in this county can tell you, that takes some doing. Take during the depression, for instance. You and I were the only ones that kept our heads. You saved the Building and Loan, and I saved all the rest.

George: Yes. Well, most people say you stole all the rest.

Potter: The envious ones say that, George, the suckers.

Angry Pennsylvania taxpayers want to stop the State Legislature from giving away free calendars.

Activist Tim Potts of Democracy Rising PA said the calendars are mere self-promotion.

"It is not as though people are sending them letters saying, 'You need to send me a calendar.' The state ought to be selling those calendars, not giving them away," Potts said. "That way the taxpayers would be getting a benefit out of it."

The Senate paid $41,500 to print 56,500 calendars. The House paid $90,000 to print 240,000 calendars, records showed.

House leaders did not respond to requests for comment.

"The calendar is one of the many informational materials made available to constituents, such as the Pennsylvania Manual, road maps, other travel information, packets of educational material for school groups, and brochures describing various state programs," said Erik Arneson, a spokesman for Senate Republicans.

"The calendars contain no politically motivated content," said Charlie Tocci, a spokesman for Senate Democrats. "This year's edition features Pennsylvania natives who became American military heroes."

Nathan Benefield of the Commonwealth Foundation said printing doesn't begin to cover the total cost. Benefield said the three calendars his office received each carried $1.65 postage.

"Some of the 296,500 were kept to give out by hand. If I assumed that 200,000 were mailed, that puts the total cost to taxpayers at $371,500," Benefield said.

I dunno. As a Pennsylvania taxpayer, I can't excited about this. The calendars do have a bit of educational value. Your kid might learn something if you stuck one up in the kitchen. The Angry Taxpayers squad will probably have them taking out historical markers next.

I guess it's possible some people may decide to vote for the nice man who gave them a calendar. Maybe they could print fewer of them, do them a bit cheaper or stop mailing them out. But in a sixty billion dollar budget, there have to be more egregious areas of waste to focus on.

I think this one has a lot of catches to it - meaning that the value of it isn't very clear. I can see Kerry's endorsement of Obama being a negative for Edwards, but I can also see it being a negative for Obama. Kerry is not seen as a change agent, and the last presidential campaign left him as damaged goods. But, perhaps in Massachusetts, it would do Obama some good against Clinton. And there's fundraising avenues.

There's really only one good "candidate" endorsement waiting out there - and that's Al Gore.

Some interesting posts to read, if you're curious:

Blackwater increases DC lobbying presence. Something for John Edwards to talk about. A lot.

The Left Coaster says that John Edwards is not going to be President, but is making populism a part of the campaign. If I was confident that the remaining Democratic candidates would all stick with that, I might say that's quite an achievement - but I'm not confident about that, at all.

And Big Tent Democrat, who hasn't spent too much time saying great things about Edwards, also touts that John Edwards' theory of change is about to emerge triumphant.

I'm not quite seeing how Edwards could win a brokered convention, however, unless his vote total is very near being the top total.

A new holster from Taser International Inc. holds not only your stun gun but a music player too. About time! Now we can have lists of top songs to listen to while tasing.

Rook may be behind the cow abductions.

Looks like Pennsylvania is going to get another animal hunting season.

Dear neighbors,

Don't do this. Please.

Why doesn't a reporter ask Bush what he means by the term "threat to world peace" when he accuses others of being one? Or just ask him what world peace he's talking about?

Beth Hart can really belt, that is for sure.

I'm thinking ahead - if you know of a place where I can buy an inflatable Santa Claus that does NOT require electrical power - preferably one no larger than 4 foot tall - let me know.

I know, I know, trust me, it's really not THAT strange.

The impeachment petition. Don't we want to know any more?

I wonder if their members would appreciate having 5 foot graphic signs of slaughtered animals in front of church on Sunday. Or video of capital punishment. Or have Fred Phelps and company as guests of dishonor.

The last thing Sophia Crites expected to see on her way to church Sunday morning was a 5-foot image of an aborted fetus.

But there it was, at the intersection of U.S. 21 and S.C. 802 on Lady's Island, and her 6-year-old son saw it, too.

"He's been having nightmares," the Lady's Island resident said Tuesday. "He can't get it out of his mind."

The images and the people holding them appeared again Monday in front of the Chick-fil-A on Boundary Street and again Tuesday at the same Lady's Island intersection.

"It was a baby at 30 weeks of gestation," Crites said. "Very obviously dead, very covered in blood, very graphic."

The images of fetuses were accompanied by signs that said "Hillary's Holocaust," according to several people who said they saw them, an apparent reference to Hillary Clinton, a pro-choice presidential candidate. Also displayed were images of dead bodies and a sign that said "Hitler's Holocaust."

The local displays, which also included a stop on Hilton Head Island over the weekend, were a joint effort between Columbia Christians for Life, a South Carolina-based group led by Steve Lefemine, and Milwaukee-based Missionaries to the Preborn.

According to Columbia Christians for Life's Web site, the group is a "witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, through establishing a faithful and compassionate Christian presence at the child-killing centers."

Randy McCoy, a St. Helena Island resident, hosted the anti-abortion group during its stay in Beaufort.

"We have a contingent of people not accustomed to seeing (those displays)," he said Tuesday night. "Children are always our biggest concern, but children need to know as well what an abortion looks like."

But several Beaufort County residents think this group was way off-base.

Kathy Hulbert, director at Sea Island Presbyterian Day School on Lady's Island, said she saw the signs when she headed into work at about 8:15 Tuesday morning.

"I appreciate the fact that we live in the U.S. and that they have the right to express their beliefs," said Hulbert, who says she's pro-life. "But at that time of the morning, many young children are going to school. It's very disturbing, and it's difficult for people to have to explain that to their children."

There are several schools and day cares within 2 miles of the U.S. 21/S.C. 802 intersection, including St. Peter's Catholic School.

"I've gotten some feedback about (the signs), and the feedback of course was not positive," said Bill Gabrielson, principal at St. Peter's. "I think while certainly the position of the school is strongly pro-life, there is a question of age-appropriateness to any kind of instruction. The posters certainly are not appropriate for young children."

Gabrielson said while he can "sympathize with the ends they have in mind, the means are not ones I can personally justify."

"There are ways to communicate messages that are important and pertinent without going to the point of seeing such unpleasant realities."

But McCoy, who said he showed the same images to his granddaughter when she was about 5 years old, disagrees.

"It's gotta be a shock to them, but somewhere along the line it has to be presented," he said.

Steve Troutman, owner of the Chick-fil-A on Boundary Street, said he received calls at home from angry customers when the protesters showed up on the sidewalk on U.S. 21 in front of his store.

"They were on the public right of way," he said. "But what is perceived was that we were supporting that, and nothing can be further from the truth."

There is something satisfying with having the "political professionals" look like they don't know shit when the results come in. Congratulations to Hillary - I don't like her as a candidate as much as I need to vote for her, but I dislike the media's design to deign a nominee after 2 or 3 states much more.

I do wonder if there's some blowback on Obama's "youth movement" that we saw last night. A lot of what we heard for the past few days was about bringing out the 18-24 year olds to vote, how they were going to change the landscape, that the baby boomers were getting moved over. It wasn't Obama saying this, just the simplistic news media, as usual. I really don't think that most over-24 voters really want the 18-24 year olds deciding who will be the next President. I don't think that message sits well - nor should we expect any message that says that a small subset of voters will determine the election in any year.

Mike Martz will make the 49ers a playoff team next year.

I've haven't made up my mind yet but I think it's beneficial to see the Obama / Clinton contest continue. Keep it on the up and up and may the best candidate win it all!

Plus she makes all the right wing wackos cry.

PS - See ya round, Mitt and Freddie!

Last year we remodeled our house, and when it was over we refinanced, and as always, took a fixed interest rate. No ARMs for us. Our mortgage company? Countrywide.

Yesterday we get junk mail, like we've been getting pretty regularly now, from Countrywide trying to offer us something called the Fastrack Loan Program, which is meant to entice us into a fixed period adjustable rate with a 5 figure dollar number which they describe as cashing out "from home equity".

I don't know Stephen Brandt, Executive Vice President of Countrywide, but this seems like a very, very stupid thing for us to do, considering our already low interest rate. Do they really think so low of their customers? Or are they that desperate? Or both?

I suspect we get some marketing letter from Countrywide to change or add financing with them every two weeks at this point. A year ago, we didn't get any, and they were our mortgage company then, too. Smells desperate.

January 8th, and it might be 70 degree outside. Fresh air...

It's sad to see that an entity that portrayed itself as a leader in the "new economy" would report such shitty "old journalism" headlines as: Obama, McCain nab early votes in N.H. towns

I know it's a Reuters feed. Reject this kind of story placement on your front page. This story is about 17 votes. Total. Our block has more votes than that.

I know that bloggers do a lot of blasting of print media and headline writers, but it is time we take on organizations such as Yahoo and Google as well. This is as irresponsible of news prioritizing as you can see on election day. 17 votes are 17 votes. Mike Gravel will probably get that many today, and you won't see it headlined on Yahoo!

I guess I don't have a problem with them starting as early as they have, but I think the bunching of them is very unhelpful to the process of electing a President that will serve for four years. Frankly, I think the problem is bad enough that it's worth investigating a Constitutional Amendment seeking to limit how many states can hold a Presidential primary in a given month. It's pretty clear that the states can't work out this process for themselves, and the problem will probably be so bad that we'll have a Super Tuesday type of event on the first week of primary season in 2012.

But, of course, there's little chance that the issue of public service volunteerism will be discussed in Pennsylvania by candidates in the primary, because by the time the primary schedule reaches Pennsylvania, the news media will have decreed both races over.

maybe one of these days I'll want to add a sidebar of videos, apparently I could use Vodpod for that.

I'll be repeating this request about once a week, I suspect it's going to take a while. Let me know which category below you belong in. If I received your request, you should show below:

Boiling Springs Bloggers
Camp Hill Bloggers

Content
Halushki

Carlisle Bloggers
Dillsburg Bloggers
Duncannon Bloggers
Enola Bloggers
Lemoyne Bloggers
Marysville Bloggers

Mechanicsburg Bloggers

Out of My Mind in Mechanicsburg

Mount Holly Springs Bloggers
New Cumberland Bloggers
New Kingstown Bloggers
Shiremanstown Bloggers
Wormleysburg Bloggers

for your consideration.

I'm not really a big fan of Hillary Clinton, but I think there is a real problem in how her campaign has been covered versus Obama's. When she was the "inevitable" candidate, there was a constant pursuit for cracks in the armor. The news media wanted a horse race.

Now we have a horse race, and the television news media is ready to declare Obama the inevitable candidate, all the news is that Obama has the momentum and will be swamping and perhaps ending the Clinton candidacy in practically a matter of minutes. Seconds. Did it just happen? Let's go to Wolf Blitzer live, for the latest on the upcoming autopsy of Hillary Clinton's campaign.

They're so easily bored. Cats could probably provide great longevity in coverage. Where's Puss Blitzer, anyways?

So much less than useful. And worse than that, it's really a disservice to the concept of citizenry - which, I think we can safely agree, the television news media doesn't fit well within anymore.

One of the questions that hasn't really been asked is what a John Edwards Presidency might mean for the future of Democratic Party campaign fundraising. If he were somehow to win the nomination and the general election, on a resource strategy of no PAC or special interest funding, then what impact would that have on Democratic Party campaigns for races at the Congressional, Gubernatorial and other levels in the future? Would it become some sort of standard?

We may not find out, but I'm surprised I haven't seen the discussion somewhere.

LAW ENFORCEMENT ESKIMO PLUNGE 2008 - supporting Special Olympics Pennsylvania AREA M.

I'm sure that viewership will be high. But I think the NCAA may want to consider getting their bowl games done before the NFL playoffs begin. They are starting to get a bit - afterthoughty. It's funny - the college basketball championship process is MUCH better than the NBA championship process, but the NFL championship process beats the hell out of the NCAA football championship process, IMHO.

Post inspired by Jill.

Performed by George Winston.

From Blanket Michael Jackson...

We actually watched it. My quick impressions:

Most importantly at this point, get Richardson off the stage. He had some of the funnier lines of the night, but 95% of his time talking is a waste of valuable debate time at this point. He's not going to get the nomination, and because of that anything he says about his "administration" is a nonstarter in the first place. And, I think debate performances like last night hurt, rather than help, his chances at being VP. He does not appear ready to lead this nation, which is an issue.

Which brings me to Hillary. Pretty good performance, although she clearly had trouble holding her temper when Obama and Edwards tag teamed her. However, those nuts are mixed in that bag she's holding called experience, and for every one that she can tout, there's another one that makes people groan. Still, I thought she mostly came off likeable, and perhaps capable of continuing her campaign as an underdog and still winning. But I did think she made the big mistake of the evening, which I'll post down below.

John Edwards, I still want to vote for you, but it's time to pivot from the emotional appeal to the specifics of your proposals in these debates. I know that big lobbying organizations and big institutions are powerfully manipulating the game in Washington. I hear that you want to take them on, and I believe that you will do this in a way much more active than any of the other candidates. I support that. Now I want to know how.

Obama - no mistakes last night. Almost always appeared thoughtful and, dare I say, presidential. I thought his line about "words do matter" as the best of the night. I thought that was the big gaffe of the night, too, by Hillary, when she tut-tutted powerful speech, because it was a bit of an insult to those who are following Obama, and it also implied that she didn't think the ability to build public force mattered.

How can we compete with hot robot sex?

An artificial intelligence expert claims we will be having sex with robots by 2050.

David Levy says by then robots will be nearly indistinguishable from real people.

In his book, Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot relationships, he writes: ‘Great sex on tap for everyone, 24/7. What’s not to like?’

According to Levy, the people who are most likely to benefit from these sexbots are those so ugly or isolated that they have trouble finding human romance.

He said: "They’re lonely, they’re miserable. I think society will be a much better place when they have an alternative that satisfies them without doing any harm to other people."

Still, isn't the human romance, or the sexual tension, a major part of the whole experience?

The Wyoming Republican Party - Exercising in Futility.

Was out to dinner last night at the Texas Roadhouse which opened last month near the Capital City Mall. (Be on the lookout for my upcoming guidebook, "Dining Out on the Harrisburg West Shore for $20 a Night"!) The Roadhouse is still packing them in. I think it's the free peanuts. There was an eighty minute wait so we ate at the bar.

I ordered Oven Roasted Chicken with a dry baked and green beans (good deal for nine bucks!). When my order arrived, I asked the bartender for ketchup. He immediately takes a glance at my plate - as if to decide whether my meal requires ketchup! What's with that? Hey buddy ... I like ketchup on my baked potato! What's it to you? I put it on chicken too! Now just go get the Heinz bottle and skip the editorial comment.

I've also been subjected to eyerolls from waitresses when asking for a fork to eat buffalo wings - apparently another food faux pas.

We took down the Christmas Cards yesterday. This year we received 4 or 5 annual wrapup holiday newsletters from friends and family as well. That's probably par for the course.

Only one of them was actually interesting to read. It's not that the rest of them didn't lead interesting lives or had news to provide - but they weren't well written. They weren't written with the intention of giving the reader enjoyment, or at the very least, news.

I think that Hallmark and all other card providers ought to provide a free link to Christmas News Letters - Suggestions and Examples as a favor to society. People do some mindnumbing things with these end-of-year newsletters. We received one that actually described the plants that were put in a garden, and the exciting growth results. Flowers. People have to remember that when they're doing these kinds of newsletters, they're sending to a general group, and they need to focus on content - and the details - that would be of interest to the general group. In the case of the garden, a picture equals 1000 words, so don't waste the 1000 words, because I won't get through it.

I'm no grinch, I like getting the holiday letters when they're well done. But it's a craft that people don't prepare enough for before they undertake it.

Every once in a while I save these kinds of things, thinking I'm going to post them for reference, but then never find time. I found HTML Tags sometime last year and held onto it for just that purpose.

I just don't think the fear strategy is going to serve Hillary well in New Hampshire or anywhere else during the primary season:

Clinton usually only talks about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when she speaks of her work helping Ground Zero workers cope with medical problems.

But in an airport hangar this morning, she said: "We have people who are plotting against us right now, getting ready to repeat the atrocity of Sept 11. We know it, I see the intelligence reports."

She also said, "I don’t think there has ever been a more important decision for the citizens of New Hampshire."

Only one thought comes to mind when reading that passage: puke.

Time's bearded blowhard considers Iowa a victory for civility.

Iowa's decision was about style, not substance. Obama didn't offer many new ideas and precious few that were different from his opponents'. He offered civility. At one point, Clinton tried "Turn Up The Heat" as her slogan and, throughout, John Edwards' rhetoric was so hot that it eventually burned him to a cinder. Obama's unspoken slogan was, "Turn Down the Heat." The blogger Daily Kos endorsed Obama at first then, frustrated by the lack of fire, un-endorsed him. The far left wing of the Democratic Party may have to re-think the value of vitriol now.

Atrios must be seething.

Will boobs grow if you put onions in a bra?

(I'm testing KathyF's theory that vegans are attracted to onion boobs. So if you're a vegan on an onion boob search, please help a researcher out and leave a comment!)

Stomach Flu Spread By Contaminated Computer Keyboards

For Iowa's Bed and Breakfast Inns.

I'm curious to see a number as to how much money the caucus generated for Iowa as a tourism item.

There's going to be a slugfest between Clinton and Obama over the next month. This could provide Edwards with an opportunity to be the likeable unattacked candidate with a progressive message. But that seems like about the only longshot chance he has. Money's likely to be a problem. The anti-Clinton vote is going to sway to Obama. The media is currently swooning for Obama.

In previous years, this vote status might have meant something:

Total pledged delegates assigned: 45
Unpledged delegates and pledged delegates yet to be assigned:5163

But I'm not sure it does this year.

Part of that was Obama's victory speech last night. It was a great speech, a transcendent speech. And people are looking for that. If he stays in that stratasphere for the next month, this race is over. I'm sure Clinton's advisors know this.

I'm sure Edwards' is in it until February 5th, at least. Kudos for Dodd and Biden for realizing the impossibility of their campaigns. I would suspect that Kucinich and Richardson won't be far behind.

One of the things I think is kinda BS about this Iowa Caucus today is the direction by candidates to their supporters on who to support if they're not viable at 15%. First Kucinich, now it might be Richardson. I know it's not a new thing, but I would hope that caucusers were supporting candidates for their positions and their personality, and the practice of telling voters who to vote for wouldn't be a position or a personality that I could remotely support. Kinda ugly effort at political control if you ask me.

Sounds like the brisk winds and cold temperatures on New Year's Day cut back the attendance of the Penguin Plunge at City Island. That was one of the reasons we didn't attend this year. I think there were nearly 400 of us last year, but this year, apparently about 150.

Still, you can watch the silliness from the comfort of your own PC now.

Last night the gang was having our usual debate over where to eat. The choices were down to Mikado, a West Shore BYOB Benihana knock off and the iconic beer grease and bimbo emporium Hooters. Actually I was the only one suggesting Hooters. I don't even really like Hooters - overpriced, bad music, spotty service - but always get a kick out of the instant and intense repulsion it inspires in many females.

So we ended up at Mikados for a salt drenched dinner. But the incident got me thinking of the potential for a Hibachi-style Hooters where naughtily clad babes perform meat preparation with fire, knives and salt shakers at your table! Instead of the signature "flaming volcano", cutie chefs could turn twin onion domes into "flaming boobs". And think of the possible targets for shrimp flipping.

Entrepreneurs are free to run with this concept but I expect at least a gift certificate.

First of all, there are some more Edwards-related posts I think are worth reading:

Edwards Pulls a Trump Card
Michael Moore: Who Is the Best Dem Candidate on the Issues?
John Edwards: The Future Is Now
I think I want Edwards to win the nomination
Edwards looking for Richardson's non-viable groups?

If Edwards had voted against the war, I think he'd be a shoe-in at this point - assuming that Kerry would have picked him as his VP candidate in '04. Hell, if he had voted against the war, perhaps he'd have been the Presidential candidate in '04.

Some other things - What will we do when our infrastructure breaks down? It does happen in the U.S., so don't think it can't.

Steve Forbes' Year End Stock Market Prediction is Waaaay Off. And why anyone would buy Forbes Magazine is beyond me. It's practically 100 percent advertising, some of it the most schlocky gimicky stuff thinkable. CueCat, anyone?

I really hope that Edwards wins in Iowa today, and that translates into a competitive three person race for the foreseeable future. I'm much closer to the positions - and the belief in walking softly while carrying a big stick - that Edwards has been presenting, as opposed to Obama or Clinton. I'm not sure that this is a growing blogger sentiment, but I've been thinking this way for quite a while, but now that we're actually at the first primary event, I've decided to get off the fence. Part of it is that the deal isn't sealed for me completely, but I think Edwards deserves more time, more primary, and more focus to see if he can seal the deal.

Any quasi-regulars going?

Even for the Detroit Lions, this seems pretty stupid. The Lions give up the most points of any team in the NFL and they fire the offensive coordinator. They were in the middle of the pack on scoring points.

Oil hits $100 a barrel.

Oil prices reached the symbolic level of $100 a barrel for the first time on Wednesday, a long-awaited milestone in an era of rapidly escalating energy demand.

Crude oil futures for February delivery hit $100 on the New York Mercantile Exchange shortly after noon New York time, before falling back slightly. Oil prices, which had fallen to a low of $50 a barrel at the beginning of 2007, have quadrupled since 2003.

...

Gasoline has lagged the rise in the price of oil. It stands at a nationwide average of $3.05 a gallon for regular grade, according to AAA, the automobile club. That is below the all-time peak in May of $3.23 a gallon, but it is 73 cents higher than at this time a year ago. Some analysts worry that gasoline could hit $4 a gallon by next spring if oil prices remain at high levels...

Damned illegal immigrants!

Picked up the great Kaiser Chiefs disc as a gift for a lucky friend at Borders over the holidays. Was surprised to find that I didn't have to sign my credit card receipt since the purchase was under 25 dollars. Is this strictly a Borders policy or some new federal regulation change? Smart idea! It's not like my signature is legible anyway.

I wonder how many other people are going to write that date on checks today.

How much longer can he run a campaign that basically says "vote for this other guy"?

Seriously, time to pull the plug at that point.

These were delicious yesterday.

Whatever that means. These broken up work weeks play havoc with focus.

This is basically what Hillary Clinton is saying with this:

Clinton mocked Edwards's rising anger on the stump.

Taking on corporate domination of politics was not "something you have to do by yelling and screaming. Save your energy. Get the job done," she said.

I'm sorry, but Hillary Clinton is going to lose a one on one debate against John Edwards most of the time. Edwards made a career out of convincing people through speech and presentation to make a decision. He has made a career out of making people believe. Hillary Clinton has made a career out of claiming functionality. That is not going to win a debate.

Get the job done. Hillary Clinton exposes herself with this statement - she doesn't understand the job Edwards is talking about. How does a politician reduce the power of money in politics, and its corrupting influence, if that politician can't summon a power that may match it? John Edwards understands that many Americans - probably most Americans - are angry about how this country has been run for quite a while. We're angry about politicians wasting time getting changes made, we're angry about how benefits of governance seem to gravitate to the rich and powerful rather than spread throughout the populace, and we're angry about the ignorance of the very issues we want worked upon. And what stands in the way of these things happening? Existing power bases, with their existing power tool - money.

So John Edwards taps into that anger, because that's the strongest thing he has that can help him get to a point to make a change in government. Angry people take actions - sometimes rash, sometimes beneficial. Did the Berlin Wall come down because people saved their energy? No. Did America begin because people saved their energy? No.

There's a difference between feeding anger into a mob, and focusing anger towards positive change. I believe the latter is what Edwards is trying to do, and I believe that Hillary Clinton is opposed to it. I'm not sure if it's because she's afraid of change, or whether it's because she's been a beneficiary of the current system and change will wreck any future advancement she might attain. But when she mocks John Edwards, she mocks a sizeable amount of the population that thinks he's on the right track, and that can't possibly help her.

I suspect, with the real estate market smelling like it's going to be overripe for a while, that we'll see a lot more companies like this and this specializing in high end and theme basement remodeling, as owners upgrade their existing homes rather than trying to sell and buy another in the current climate.

If you're in the International Space Station on New Year's Eve?

I'm done counting.