PSoTD

Really? There are no such web pages yet?

I find that hard to believe.

And no, there are no prizes.

Truckers invaded downtown Harrisburg today to protest the high price of diesel fuel.

Watch out for the Jimmy hauling hogs!

I recently had a conversation with my sister-in-law as she was thinking about starting her own business. She's in the food service industry - a chef - and wants to capitalize more directly on her own skills. No problem with that, but running a small business is a whole web of required skills, and over time most of the businesses that succeed have notable quality in those skill sets, and most of those that fail don't have enough quality. It's not just about the actual provision of service or product.

Anyway, the real gist of what I was trying to say to her was that I didn't see this as a time to take a big risk in small business - the less start up cost, the less maintenance cost, the better - unless you already had experience in building a business and were successful. This economy is becoming more risk-averse all the time, both commercially and consumer-wise.

I'm going to forward her this article, I think it has the same kinds of issues to consider. And a nugget of real wisdom:

I advocate starting a new business without incurring debt.

There's plenty of time to do that if you figure out how to generate revenue.

Any user experiences to share on Basecamp project management software?

Who deserves to be booed, and booed lustily.
So does most of the rest of America.

Does your employer have one?

Well, our daughter's basketball season ended yesterday with a tournament at Mount Saint Mary's College in Maryland. Our 5th and 6th grade girls played as tough as they could, winning the first game before running into much taller competition.

It's a long season even as a rec coach, and I'm surprised to admit that I'm ready for it to have ended now. Our daughter has already started softball practice, and our son starts baseball practice on Monday, and I'm ready for the change in sports seasons.

BTW, if you're ever looking for a place to eat at when in Emmittsburg, I can recommend Dave & Jane's Crab House. We only got sandwiches there, but for the price we received more food than we could finish. If we're at this tournament again next year we'll go back.

Once again about the Washington Post's priority for important stories. I don't blame James Carville for having the kind of personality that desires attention from all at all times, but I don't understand why the Washington Post thinks that what he has to say in this writeup would interest anyone at all. Who cares?

Some of the antics of The Tubes:

Definitely a contender for the stupidest whining of the campaign so far:

After envisioning Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama stumping from one end of the state to the other, dipping into diners and delis, all but taking up residence here in the run-up to the state’s critical April 22 primary, Pennsylvania Democrats are teetering on the edge of a letdown.

Having seen far less of Clinton and Obama than they had expected and nearing the halfway point between the last contest in Mississippi and their big primary day, they want to know: Where’s the love?

“We feel neglected here,” said Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who has not yet endorsed a candidate. “People just assumed that, because they had such a long period, they would spend a lot of time in the state.”

Please. Normal people don't want six weeks of political saturation in March and April. Plus, the campaigns want to peak right on election day. Neglected? What did you expect?

There's already too much carry-on loading going on when you fly. This will just slow down disembarking that much more:

A German travel firm, OssiUrlaub, is taking bookings for a nudist day trip from Erfurt, Germany, to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom. The trial excursion is planned for July 5.

The plane's 55 passengers will have to remain clothed until they board, and must dress before they disembark. The crew and pilots will stay dressed for security reasons.

...

Kohler says one has to be a fan of nudism in order to truly understand how liberating it can be to soar above the clouds in the buff.

Germans — even those with corpulent bodies that have long since succumbed to gravity — have long enjoyed nude sunbathing, which is permitted in many public parks. Stripping down is a tradition that runs especially deep in the formerly communist eastern part of Germany, where being nude was regarded as a cherished expression of freedom.

There's even a name for the movement: Free Body Culture.

But the idea of nudist flights begs some questions. Where will people strip down? And, more important, what about the cleanliness of the seats?

"People will just take off their clothes when they are in their seat and not at the airport," Kohler says. "And we will hand out towels with our logo so that people can put them on the seats."

I have to spend most of the day there tomorrow. Any suggestions of things to do or places to eat during down time would be MOST welcome.

By the way, I'm happy with the peace sign by Atom Age Tattoo if you're looking for some artwork on your body on the West Shore.

You would think that bars would make a bigger deal of celebrating the end of Prohibition. Any excuse, you know.

After all, today is supposed to be a school day.

There was a time that I would visit DailyKos every day for news and opinion about political events and activities, but I doubt I visit there even once a month at this point. It's been over a year since I've posted a diary there.

Am I the exception to the trend? I look at DK's sitemeter traffic, and they've increased traffic considerably this year:

What about you? Do you visit DailyKos more or less this year than in 2007 at this point? What am I missing?

A new tradition is born - the weekly interesting hot tub pic from Flickr.

But school's in today. The CV School Teachers' strike seems to have been averted with a tentative agreement.

Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) & Miles Kane (The Rascals) are The Last Shadow Puppets!

Long-shot presidential candidate Mike Gravel told supporters Wednesday he is leaving the Democratic Party to join the Libertarian Party.

Funny... I don't think my wife is part of that 15%. I smell carrots.

"Note to dads...What gets us in the mood:"

1. Foreplay 45%
2. Romantic gestures, like flowers and holding hands 29%
3. Choreplay (i.e., Dad chipping in around the house) 15%
4. A glass of wine 11%

Apparently that's the preferred way to describe an uptick in burglaries.

Interesting people searcher site, probably a treat for stalkers. I have to wonder about what people would think if they knew they were searchable in it, though. On the free version, I searched for my Grandma, and they listed her with three possible addresses, and they also list possible relatives and/or roommates. The "roommates" listed aren't roommates at all, but must have lived at her apartment either before or after she resided there.

Definitely one of those dual "interesting/creepy" web sites.

I wonder what the volume of traffic their web site gets now...

No, I'm not stopping blogging, but I'm taking a break from blogging about the primary race until April 1. Six weeks is a LONG LONG TIME to be looking at what's going on here in Pennsylvania, and this is a good way to keep from going insane before election day.

Plus, I'm slowly coming to a conclusion that bloggers are unwittingly making this campaign more divisive than it needs be by trumpeting every nuanced slight in favor of their candidate and against the other candidate. We're so involved in responding to today's events that we fail to take a more overall approach to the campaign. I want some time to think more about what's going on, without feeling the need to post something about it. And so... primary spring break.

And besides all that... there's just way too many places to go for some sort of "he said, she said" blogging. Gotta try to be different...

Are there any detergents you just can't use due to allergies or reactions?

A few interesting posts for your consideration:

Wegmans? No Bus For You!

All Wegmans' stores have a corporate policy against allowing public transportation onto their property and none of the three Wegmans stores in the Lehigh Valley enjoy public transportation into their store parking lots.

So THIS is what you have to do if you get a lot of comments on your blog.

It makes sense that lower tariffs could increase the costs from invasive species.

Waxed Paper Negatives.

News of the unexpected: Mike Huckabee defends Jeremiah Wright. I bet there aren't many Republicans that will agree with Huckabee.

The six word memoir meme keeps bouncing around, and I'm never asked, so I'm just going to snag it and shoot it out to others anyways. How about this for my life description: Almost always landing on my feet. Then I'm supposed to tag five others, so here it is: Daddy Democrat, Excuse the Mess, Halushki, Frank, and The Spinning Goth.

Is this really what Pennsylvania wants?

Pennsylvania rivals gun-friendly Southern states like Virginia or Georgia as a firearms exporter, according to data from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Each year, hundreds of guns seized from criminals in New York and New Jersey are traced back to Pennsylvania gun stores, the ATF statistics show.

In 2006, ATF traced 332 guns from New Jersey crimes back to Pennsylvania gun dealers. No other state sent more.

The same year, 461 Pennsylvania guns were seized in New York City and state. Only Virginia sent more crime guns there, ATF found.

The game of chicken appears to be ending. They called a strike, starting on Thursday.

I hate flying into Chicago's O'Hare Airport, it's usually a lengthy delay in process. However, on both ends of my trip to Anaheim, it was fine. On Wednesday evening, it was the customary crowding you would expect at O'Hare.

But yesterday? I've been in O'Hare on Sunday afternoon many times, and it's always been a zoo. Not Easter Sunday, though. It took me five minutes to order AND GET my cheeseburger and beer from the Billy Goat Tavern spot in the food court. I had no problem finding a place to sit in the food court, or at my flight's waiting area. There were no lines going out the door of the bathroom.

It wasn't empty, but I wasn't feeling stress from sheer human density, either. Will have to file that away for future travel plans.

Seems like a natural application for "social networking" so people can get a game going.

We need Round Table Pizza in Pennsylvania. CMON!!!

UCLA fans abused the NCAA tournament in Anaheim with non-attendance last weekend. The first game of the second round was STILL maybe half-full, only to fill up for the last game of the day with UCLA. I don't know if it's because scalpers snagged all the tickets or what, but that was a pathetic attendance performance for what is a great sports event. No wonder Los Angeles doesn't have a pro football team.

I want no part of that LA traffic. Claim Jumpers is pretty tasty, and giant helpings.

The Los Angeles area is actually very pretty at night, if you stand on a high point and watch all the tiny lights twinkling as far as the eye can see. During the day, of course, is a different story.

The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful

I want you to be crazy cause you're boring baby when you're straight.

In case you're wondering, Weis Markets is open today but Giant is not.

As compiled by Entertainment Weekly...

1. Only one album may represent each year. 2. All bands had to have been signed to an independent label for the album. 3. The list only includes bands.

1984: The Replacements, Let It Be
1985: The Smiths, Meat Is Murder
1986: R.E.M., Life's Rich Pageant
1987: Dinosaur Jr., You're Living All Over Me
1988: Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
1989: The Pixies, Doolittle
1990: Fugazi, Repeater
1991: My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
1992: Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted
1993: Built To Spill, Ultimate Alternative Wavers
1994: Guided By Voices, Bee Thousand
1995: Archers Of Loaf, Vee Vee
1996: Belle And Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister
1997: Modest Mouse, The Lonesome Crowded West
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
1999: Sleater-Kinney, The Hot Rock
2000: Yo La Tengo, And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
2001: The Shins, Oh, Inverted World
2002: Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
2003: The White Stripes, Elephant
2004: Arcade Fire, Funeral
2005: Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
2006: The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America
2007: Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2008: Radiohead, In Rainbows

I think I owned nine of these (84,85,87,88,89,92,99,06,07). I'm sure somebody can top that.

Thursday night in Manheim ...

MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A man running around a Lancaster County Chuck E. Cheese restaurant on Thursday evening was spitting and yelling "I have hepatitis C," police said.

Manheim Township police said they arrived at the Chuck E. Cheese of Fruitville Pike around 7:45 p.m. and found David Ecenrode, 45, of Ephrata outside the restaurant. He was taken to a local hospital. Police said they have not confirmed whether he has hepatitis C.

"He was running around acting crazy and spitting, which I think that was probably most significant cause for concern because you're in an eating establishment and this guy's spitting and then on top of that announcing that he has Hepatitis C," said Sgt. Tom Rudzinski.

Chuck E. Cheese managers closed the facility and told patrons to wash with soap and water.

Hey if you're going to buy pizza from a giant rat, what do you expect?

We saw 4 games. Best game was BYU - Texas A&M, a matchup between better coaching and better athletes. The athletes won.

Mississippi Valley State had the worst warm up togs - they looked like little green elves. It was probably a good indicator as to how they would play versus UCLA.

NO BEER AT THE TOURNAMENT VENUE... YEAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH.

Texas A&M's cheerleaders whooped everyone else's. They look and dance like NBA pros.

Krazy Krab needs to sue - Stanford has the most ridiculous mascot - some kind of stupid dancing tree with pirate gear - that I've seen in 20 years. And the tree isn't nearly as entertaining as Krazy Krab.

I think Marquette can beat Stanford, but it'll take their best game. There's no way A&M is going to beat UCLA unless UCLA gets very, very, very stupid.

UCLA fans are, well, enough to drive out thousands at halftime last night.

Operator - Nothing to Lose

We're ahead in the toilet race.

BEIJING, Mar 19 (Reuters) - Beijing organisers are refitting the toilets at three main Olympic venues after complaints from foreign athletes about having to squat, an official said on Wednesday.

Most toilets in China are still of the squat rather than sit-down variety, as spectators and competitors at recent test events in otherwise state of the art venues like the "Water Cube" aquatics centre discovered.

"In my personal point of view, there are cultural differences between Chinese and Western people. Chinese are more used to squat toilets," said Yao Hui, a senior official responsible for the management of Olympic venues.

Sounds like a job for Jiffy Zhang!

While the boss is away, the Clintonistas will play!

(Just kidding, just kidding ...)

Also known as the curse of the first round fiasco:

Pittsburgh

Here's a suggestion for a rule of thumb for determining when a game is out of reach, so that you can move to the next game...

Real estate woes in Lebanon County...

Once considered the fastest-growing municipality in Lebanon County, South Londonderry Township is now at a dead stop — and that could mean some budget cuts in the near future, according to one township official.

Thomas Ernharth, township manager, told the board of supervisors Tuesday night that revenue from the real-estate-transfer tax dropped significantly in February.

A transfer tax of 1 percent of the sale price is assessed whenever real estate is purchased. The township and the school district split the proceeds.

“For the month of February, we received a total of $4,000,” he said. “In previous years, we received twenty to twenty-four thousand a month. That’s a significant hit to our budget.”

Knowing the economy was slow, Ernharth said, he estimated the amount of the tax the township would receive in 2008 at a total of $200,000, or about $16,000 a month.

Just two or three homes in the township were sold last month, he said.

America survives because Abraham Lincoln didn't have a thousand twits blathering about his every word.

I'm looking for recommendations. We're looking for a nice hotel that won't eat up all our vacation money that is located within walking distance of some sites in Rome. Yes, Italy.

6 pages of teacher retirements?

BTW, as a friend of mine said, doesn't 4.5 seem like the number?

Glendale School District, which straddles Cambria and Clearfield counties, is providing lessons in Mandarin Chinese to every kindergarten through sixth grade class and to one class in each of the junior and senior high schools.

Unless there's a health issue, he seems like a natural pick for McCain to make as a running mate, especially if Pennsylvania is supposed to be so important in the General Election.

Herb Asher, an Ohio State University political science professor, said Graham would make the most sense among the three S.C. Republicans.

"A guy like Lindsey Graham is better known nationally and has broader appeal," Asher said.

Asher added, though, that choosing a running mate from South Carolina -- or another Deep South state -- could be perceived as a sign of political weakness in McCain's general election campaign.

"Presumably, he would be shoring up what should be a fairly solid Republican base," Asher said. "John McCain should be looking for someone from the Great Lakes states or another battleground region."

More likely choices for McCain, Asher said, would be Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.

While the rest of you were out drinking green beer, my team wrapped up 2nd place for the regular season in the West Shore Recreation Co-Rec BB league tonight. That's good for a T-Shirt and a gift certificate to Garfield's. Woo hoo!

Playoffs next week.

Is our economic system, currently or possibly, a collectively self-managing system?

The Big D word is being used more and more. And more and more and more.

Is there a relationship between March Madness and when men schedule their vasectomies? Or will there be?

Oh man, I've been busted:

On the question of defining agnosticism, one of the comments here nailed it IMHO:

The common forms are some variant of “I don’t know if there’s a God or not,” either a weak version that claims there’s simply not enough evidence to make a determination or a stronger version that says the question isn’t answerable. In both cases there’s no belief, there’s abstention. I’ve honestly never encountered someone claiming to be agnostic who wasn’t either one of those...

And for the Irish in you, here are 17 Irish recipes in 17 Days to celebrate St Patrick's.

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s our family was one of those stereotypical "car camp across America" vacationers. We'd pack up Dad's station wagon with the tent and camping gear, our clothes, food, and away we'd go. A few of these trips we totaled somewhere around 5000 miles of travel, which meant a lot of campgrounds.

Back then, KOA was the place we'd go if we weren't at a national park. It used to be that KOAs were everywhere, or at least seemed like it to me, but now they're less visible. I'm not sure if this is because of the rise of many lower-priced highway motel chains, or because the appeal of car-camping is limited and it didn't take long for America to make a different choice, or if it was an increase in camping competition for KOA that reduced their number, but it does seem to me that there are less of them visible on the road today.

Maybe this is due to an improvement in KOA's facility standards. I remember some of the KOAs that we stayed at when I was a kid as not much more than an open field and a water spigot. A nice one had a swimming pool. Now they offer wireless internet, planned activities, bicycle rentals... some offer cabins with heat or air conditioning... it's a different experience, it seems now.

Anyone out there been to a KOA recently?

How is local, smalltime tourism impacted by recession? Particularly one that is partly fueled by high energy prices?

For example, the weekend trip - do families do more of the small, cheaper trips in a trade off from longer, more expensive trips, or do those trips stop altogether? How recession-proof is a place like Blue Rocks Family Campground, compared to a place like Mackinac Island in Michigan? One is a three-day trip for most families, the other is a longer vacation destination, with the requisite travel time and costs involved.

So what do people cut back on first?

The Sacramento Bee now has a place where Californians can do that. I was able to find out what a few of my friends make that are employed by the state. But I'm really not sure how the searchability of salary of state employees really helps the general public. What's the practical value of this, other than allowing people to rummage around and find out the base salary of their acquaintances?

All employers, whether they be public or private, profit or nonprofit, pay employees with a variety of devices - base salary, bonuses, overtime, benefits, etc. Focusing on one without incorporating the whole package seems very piecemeal. Doing it without including a job description, rather than just a title, seems piecemeal as well.

Having said all that, I'm surprised at how low a lot of the base salaries for state employees seem to be for a relatively expensive housing market such as California...

Would you believe it's March Madness?

photo by designer d

Here's how NOAA pushes this winter's temperatures:

NOAA: Coolest Winter Since 2001 for U.S., Globe

Is that good news? In the first bullet point:

In the contiguous United States, the average winter temperature was 33.2°F (0.6°C), which was 0.2°F (0.1°C) above the 20th century average...

And then there's this point:

February was 61st warmest in the contiguous U.S. and 15th warmest globally on record.

Hardly seems like the headline is the best measure of the information.

Do you have one of these in your living room?

Okay, okay, here's your chance to push your favorite AC/DC albums and/or songs. I always had Powerage close by, and anyone in my car would soon get a dose of "Sin City".

Keeping them awake so they can drink more...

Energy drinks with alcohol aimed at youths

The images, culled from social networking sites, flashed on a screen: young people laughing, partying, clutching colorful cans of drinks with names like Sparks, Joose and Tilt.

...

Energy drinks with alcohol are dangerous, they are targeted at young people and are hard to distinguish from their nonalcoholic counterparts, the speakers said at a conference Friday morning at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

...

The drinks, with their sleek graphics, are referred to as a "speedball in a can," cost less than energy drinks without alcohol and are marketed on Web sites designed to appeal to young people, Ventura County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Geoff Dean told the audience.

"They are intentionally marketing these to a certain segment," Dean said.

Three cans of one of the beverages equals five shots of whiskey and contains the caffeine of 15 Diet Pepsi's, Dean said.

The stimulant of the energy drinks can mask how intoxicated a person is and prevent them from realizing how much alcohol they have consumed, according to Ventura County Limits. The stimulant effect can also make a person not realize they are drunk. Both energy drinks and alcohol cause dehydration.

...

The Sheriff's Department was recently successful in getting one major grocery chain to separate alcohol energy drinks from nonalcoholic energy drinks.

Weird. Alcoholic beverages cost less than nonalcoholic beverages that they're trying to emulate?

Yep, I'm not surprised - Rick Adelman is doing a damn good job for the Houston Rockets this year.

I bet this isn't the way you remember it.

I'm not going to bring up acute alcohol poisoning.

They meet.

On this presidential rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton can agree: They sometimes disagree with their trash-talking supporters and will try to cool it. Advisers to the Democratic candidates shed some light Friday on the private chat the two candidates had Thursday on the Senate floor.

The talk lasted three or four minutes in full view of reporters watching on the balcony above who could see them talking, but not hear what they said.

"They approached one another and spoke about how supporters for both campaigns have said things they reject," said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer. "They agreed that the contrasts between their respective records, qualifications and issues should be what drives this campaign, and nothing else."

An Obama adviser, speaking on a condition of anonymity about the private conversation, gave a similar account, while stressing that it was Obama who approached Clinton on the subject. They committed to making sure that their supporters don't get overheated in the future, the adviser said.

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?

Sweet harmony!

That's Obama-speak for "Alabama in the middle".

On a call with some of his major California donors yesterday, Barack Obama acknowledged that Pennsylvania will be a steep uphill battle, and said that his aim is to get within 10 points of Hillary there, something that he said would be a "victory" for him, according to a donor on the call.

"He said that Pennsylvania is tough for them and that the demographics really are not the best for them," the donor tells me, adding that Obama was speaking to the group of 40-odd contributors via conference call.

Okay, now I'm taking the "No Primary Blogging" pledge too!

How many Democrats are thinking:

If we find a way to screw this up and not win the Presidency in November, I'm leaving the party.

We're Number One!

Penn State will beat Michigan the next two seasons, at least when it comes to stadium seating capacity.

The Wolverines' Michigan Stadium seats 107,501 people, making it the nation's largest stadium.

"The Big House" holds about 200 more people than Penn State's Beaver Stadium, the runner-up.

But Michigan Stadium will lose some seats as officials improve wheelchair accessibility to settle a lawsuit.

That means seating capacity at Michigan will dip to 106,201 the next two seasons, putting Beaver Stadium on top.

I know nobody else cares about this, but I like flour tortillas, and recently we've been buying our groceries at Giant in Camp Hill. Here's something for Giant to consider - you need to find out who's screwing up the manufacturing process of your store-brand flour tortillas, because they are seriously and ridiculously pathetic. It appears they are packaged while still damp and they stick together like glue and can't be peeled apart without tearing, so you end up with a third of a tortilla here and half a tortilla there with holes and rips in it. I thought it was just a one time thing, but now that we've bought the same old shit for three straight weeks, I'm getting more likely to return to Karns, where I know they sell tortillas made by people who know how to make tortillas.

Seriously - thinking "these shitty tortillas" while making lunch gets old.

Depending on the price and his injury recovery, Kevin Jones might be a good pickup for the Chicago Bears.

I dunno, I just have a distaste for this.

Unless, of course, every lifelong fan of every team in baseball should get such a chance. If not, then what makes Billy Crystal so special?

And if the two campaigns can please demonstrate some message control to keep us out of the ditch on this topic from now on, that would be great.

We live too far away to send our kids to a day camp in State College, but your Bug Camp for Kids looks like it could be something special. Why not consider a week long overnight camp? Yes, it would cost more, but you could also draw from a greater area of attendees.

Howard Fineman spent Tuesday evening on Countdown implying that the value of the Ferraro comments for the Clinton campaign was a message to the voters of Central Pennsylvania:

Mississippi has come and gone. We‘re heading into six weeks of Pennsylvania. It‘s said by others, including James Carville, a Democrat who used to work for the Clintons, that Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with Alabama in between, white Alabama, not black Alabama. You may draw your own conclusions about why the Clinton people feel they think they can back up Gerry Ferraro at this moment.

Regardless of the intent of Ferraro's statements, something tells me we're going to get six weeks of Central Pennsylvania trashing by television's talking heads.

This analysis basically says that Obama has no shot of winning Pennsylvania in the primary, and his only option is to keep the loss down to a minimum so that he can overcome the difference with North Carolina and Indiana afterwards.

You are at risk of making a VERY TERRIBLE mistake in your campaign. You need to get a unified message out that you are behind some sort of DNC-approved, fair method for revoting in Florida and Michigan - and come up with some standards that make sense. This floating of the 50-50 split seating idea makes as little sense as seating the delegates as "elected" in the unapproved primaries - that is, it makes no sense.

Quit being stupid about this, and get ahead of the curve.

One sufferer shares ...

To be a Clinton blogger in the progressive blogosphere is to be hated, shunned, passed without notice in the street. We sit home on Friday nights, cursing at Chris Matthews and being censored by Al Giordano for commenting too often in a field of swaying Obama supplication. We're not welcome at all the best dKos parties - if we show up, we're cursed with the universal epithet of those who challenge the Obama hegemony: "troll," they call us. Sometimes "f'ing troll." We're Rovian in our embrace of the monster, closet Bush backers and much worse - Lieberman types!

I feel your pain, brother!

(Except for the part about sitting home on Friday nights)

It's not the voters' fault. So if a revote can be done, it should be done. Obama's camp ought to clearly get behind a revote now instead of dawdling, and get his team prepared in both states.

Hillary has had bad delegate news since Friday of last week. So Rick Klein's logic is, any time that delegates aren't being won by Obama is an advantage for Hillary Clinton. Agreed. Hillary's best time as a candidate was before there were votes being cast. Once that started, she started losing.

Here's a clue - results matter. Hillary is not only losing in the delegate race, she's running out of time and available delegates, also. And I suspect that six weeks of no elections is TOO much time for Clinton - there's at least as great of risk that she'll turn off available voters with a negative effort than win them. She sure didn't do very well with all that lead up time she had in Iowa.

Mississippi total vote in the Democratic Party Presidential Primary, 1996: 93,788

Mississippi total vote in the Democratic Party Presidential Primary, 2000: 88,602

Mississippi total vote in the Democratic Party Presidential Primary, 2004: 76,298

Mississippi total vote in the Democratic Party Presidential Primary, 2008 (99% precincts): Over 408,000

Let me put this another way - Obama's margin of victory yesterday was higher than the total number of voters in any of the past three Democratic Presidential primaries in Mississippi.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting anxious for CV to list their summer programs.

Sound and fury, accomplishing nothing.

All but a handful of states have made preparations to comply with a May 1 deadline for compliance with the federal Real ID law that mandates secure driver's licenses be issued only to legal residents of the United States, according to specialists inside and outside the federal government.

The states’ quiet steps to fall in line with the law appear to contradict state officials’ blustering claims that they will resist the new requirements.

This is a good rule of thumb for HOA Presidents - if the board is going to make a ruling about a home in the development and you support the ruling, you should ask yourself a few things:

1 - Will outsiders think this ruling is ridiculous?
2 - If the news media covers it, will I have the conviction to explain to them why the board made this decision?
3 - If not - why am I President?

Because declining on on-camera interview after a resident has called out the board diminishes whatever reasoning you had. In this case, maybe there was good reasoning, maybe there wasn't, but the entire development looks silly and petty unless you go out there and make your point.

If she insists on humiliating herself, well, that's the way it goes.

Is that really necessary?

Maybe people forget who she is, maybe people don't care, but it's tough to watch her own party try to pick her bones clean. Strongly criticize her foolish comments but this eye-for-eye stuff is bad mojo. And Obama doesn't need to go there.

Teenage riot.

Central Dauphin School District has removed salt from the tables in its secondary school cafeterias this school year, and CD High School students are venting their displeasure on Facebook.com, the social networking Web site.

Despite the complaints, CD could be leading a trend. In recent years, schools have complied with federal regulations and state guidelines to limit fat, sugar and calories in school meals. Now they're turning their attention to sodium.

"Federal guidelines recommend no more than 11/2 grams of sodium [less than a teaspoon], and we do encourage schools to take the salt shakers off the tables, but we don't mandate it," said Margarita Maisterrena, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food and nutrition service.

...

CD senior Alex Knapp bristled at the new rule.

"We understand where they're coming from with wellness, but our concern is, why can't we as students be trusted with the decision regarding our salt intake?" he said in a phone interview. "Why are they still providing us with soft pretzels, which are covered with salt?"

Some students bring salt packets from nearby restaurants, he said.

Limiting sodium intake is meant to decelerate growing rates of metabolic syndrome, in which high blood pressure, obesity and other factors contribute to heart disease, said associate director of food services Cindy Magee, a dietitian.

I'm all for this. Who salts their food anymore? Simple preventative measures now beat the heck out of illness and medical bills in 25 years. So just shaddap and do what you're told, kids. It's for your own good. You'll thank us later. Really.

Hillary Clinton filled The Forum for her noon rally in Harrisburg, as some who waited in long lines are now being turned away.

The Forum's seating capacity is about 2,100. Doors opened for the noon rally at 10 a.m., and a long line of people stretched from the door of the Forum. The line goes to Commonwealth Avenue, around the corner and down Walnut Street.

A Bressler couple, Brian and Nicole Salov, brought their four-year-old daughter, Hillary, who they named after the Democratic presidential hopeful.

I skipped it. Anybody get down there or watch on PCN? Wonder how long Mayor Reed spoke for? That's what scared me off.

Fifty-nine percent of Hillary Clinton supporters favor a quick decision to form a "dream ticket" with both Clinton and Barack Obama, while a majority of Obama supporters oppose the idea and would rather the campaign for the nomination continue.

Putting the sentiments of the two candidates' supporters together (and adding in a few undecideds), the overall results from the latest Gallup Poll, conducted March 6-9, show 51% of Democrats favoring an immediate settlement on a joint ticket between the two candidates, while 45% of Democrats think the candidates should soldier on. (Four percent have no opinion on the issue.)

One possible reason Clinton supporters are more likely than Obama supporters to favor negotiating a joint ticket now is that Clinton supporters may be more worried that she will lose if the campaigning continues. (Obama is currently ahead in numbers of pledged delegates, and most experts believe Clinton will have difficulty erasing that lead if the primaries and caucuses remain close contests.)

Well, that is one possible reason. Here's another - everyone knew that Hillary was going to run for President. So everyone that ran this year believed that they were a better candidate than Hillary, in fact, so much more importantly better that it was worth the hassle of running against a frontrunner with an experienced and previously successful political machine.

Lo and behold, one of those candidates actually is proving superior in the primary process up to this point, and the question is - does that candidate need Hillary Clinton on the ticket? And it appears that a majority of supporters for Obama not only believe they don't need Hillary Clinton on the ticket, but they don't want Hillary as VP if elected.

Hillary supporters, on the other hand, seem to feel they need Obama. What does that say about the relative strength of electability of each candidate?

I rarely have meetings. I think this article grossly simplifies the hierarchy of meetings. For example, this question:

Mr. McKay's confession helps answer the question of why, if everybody hates meetings so much, do we have so many of them?

is a great determinant of the hierarchy of meetings. Is this a meeting called together by the general participants in the meeting? If so, this is likely to be an interactive and information-rich meeting.

Is it a meeting called together by a superior - a boss or a client? If so, this has a greater potential to NOT be interactive, but rather either a one-way communication dynamic where the superior speechifies to the called together audience, or where the called-upon provide presentation skits to the superior.

I think it's these kinds of meetings - particularly the latter - that people tend to dislike. At least in the one-to-all presentation meeting, it can be short, although brutal, depending on the speaker's presentation capabilities. In the all-to-one model, however, you'll almost ALWAYS get a lot of poor presentation, and poor presentation leads to a lot of questions and follow up because information was not delivered in an ingestible fashion, which means that the poorest of the presenters get the most time in these meetings.

Yeeeaargh. I worked for a company in which we had 2 or 3 of these all-to-one meetings each week, and it was part of what drove me away. I can't stand these kinds of meetings. I will find ways out of them.

These are too expensive, but I think this is a really smart idea.

One of the biggest space hogs we have in our kitchen are coffee cups. With the handles, they clog up the cabinets, they are unwieldy for stacking, and we have a lot of them, because we do silly things like buy a coffee cup as a souvenir for a weekend trip or vacation, and then don't want to put them away in a box later.

Something like this gets some of them out of the cupboard, and even better, maybe they could put detachable handles on these things, because the handles are a space eater.

Hey, Philadelphians: Maybe, just maybe, that parking ticket you received isn't really valid.

Is anonymous posting really that bad? Well, the often-affiliated spamming is, but just anonymity?

There's now a Slow Food Harrisburg blog.

I dunno, I don't think this ATM for books concept will take off, but I've been wrong here before...

Is being infected with malaria worth $2000?

Such an opinion about basketball is the creation of spectators and not participants. Get off your butts and play!

As performed by Jeffrey Lewis.

Most people don't read blogs, magazines, newspapers, toilet paper packaging, you name it, most people don't read it.

Meet the New Media, same as the Old Media.

I must admit I was a little surprised. I have not been fired in a long time (decades, really), and I think I'm having a pretty good run in the crowded precincts of political commentary. True, my last few postings at TPM Café were not in keeping with the overwhelming majority of their articles, making and making the case for Senator Barack Obama. I questioned the value of an Idaho caucus victory. I criticized Maureen Dowd's column suggesting that when a perfect female candidate came along, the media would be delighted to support her. I suggested that "Josh" might have waited to get more survey results before he posted his video embracing the ultimately erroneous Zogby predictions for the California primary the afternoon before the primary. But I thought that the new media of the blogosphere was actually established in part to offset what they considered the tendency of the MSM to cut its coverage to suit its preexisting, largely establishment, predilections. So I was blithely oblivious to the possibility that my dissenting views on the inevitability and divinity of the Obama candidacy might cause a problem.

I always thought Josh Marshall was aiming a bit higher on the journalistic ladder with his site. Too bad.

You know that somehow Spitzer's troubles will turn into a reason to nominate Hillary Clinton.

See what happens when you play too many angles.

See, I was trying to explain to someone the “okey-doke.” Y’all know the okey-doke? It’s when someone’s trying to bamboozle you, when they’re trying to hoodwink you. They are trying to hoodwink you. You can’t say that he’s not ready on day one, unless he’s willing to be your vice president and then he’s ready on day one.

Hanging curveball ... crushed by Babe Obama!

(I'm going for the sports analogy record)

No exaggeration too glaring.

Speaking to the New Yorker, top Clinton strategist Mark Penn boasted that Hillary's wins in the Texas and Ohio primaries, and the campaign's attacks against Obama that led to those victories, mean the Obama machine's progress has been totally halted. "We broke his momentum completely," Penn said.

I guess the game is to get your talking points out in the media but it's still annoying.

I'd say Hillary made goal line stands on first and second down in Texas and Ohio but still has to stop a couple more downs and then somehow get the ball to the other end of the field.

And whatever momentum Obama may have lost, I'm sure Mark Penn can build back up for him in the next six weeks.

Entertaining enough movie. I wouldn't really compare it to Jaws, however. Except that they're making a sequel...

Alabama State, which looks like they are on their way to the NCAA Tournament from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, has a 7 foot 1 inch center named Chief Kickingstallionsims. C'mon, make Brent Musberger try to say that.

All in for Hillary.

Secretary of State Al Sharpton! Now that's creative!!

It seems to me that the nominating convention for the Democratic Party is much more like a caucus than an election. If the Clinton campaign is so convinced that caucuses are undemocratic, how do they feel about the convention?

Hey Ed Rendell...

MR. RUSSERT: Would you accept the caucus in Michigan?

GOV. RENDELL: No. Caucuses are undemocratic. That's another thing. We talk about the superdelegates being undemocratic. If you're a caucus, older people can't vote, older people who vote by absentee ballot. There's no absentee ballots in a caucus. Tim, if you're a shift worker and a lot of our workers, because they're low-income workers, are shift workers, you can't vote in a caucus. So we want primaries. That's the way we elect presidents. We don't have caucuses to elect presidents in the fall. Let's have a primary. Let's decide this. Let's hear from the Obama campaign about a revote in Florida and Michigan.

MR. RUSSERT: So the Iowa caucus, the Nevada caucus were undemocratic.

GOV. RENDELL: Undemocratic compared to primaries, yes.

Maybe Ed would prefer that instead of a convention, we simply take the candidate with the most votes at the end of the campaign? That would be most democratic, right?

I have a question - does Hillary's campaign, given time in a state, start to wear poorly on more and more people? There's been a general credit given to Obama that when he turns his attention to a state, that his numbers go up. But maybe there's a part of this that too much HRC dampens her numbers as well? When Hillary and Obama showed up, her poll numbers in Texas and Ohio initially went down. Was that Obama, was that Clinton, or was it both?

Rasmussen on 3/6 shows Hillary at 52% in Pennsylvania, Obama at 37%, and uncommitted at 11%. How hard is that 52% support?

Any bloggers out there with firsthand experience with this product?

This is one way to splinter the Democratic Party.

It's clear that for either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic presidential nomination, they'll have to win the majority of superdelegates at the convention. But what if the superdelegates split right down the middle like Democrats across the nation?

Talk of a joint ticket -- Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama -- might be an elegant solution to the problem. But what if Clinton wins the popular vote and Obama wins the majority of delegates? What if the next two months of campaigning turns so ugly they can't stand each other? Would either candidate willingly step aside to take the number two spot?

The answer might be for someone else entirely to step into the race at the convention. The most likely candidate would be Al Gore. Most Democrats think he was robbed of the presidency in 2000 by the Supreme Court and could be the only one to unite the party.

I like Al Gore, and I wish he had run. But he didn't. He's made absolutely no commitment to voters or the country about being President for almost 8 years. There's been way too much work, way too much money, and way too much emotion invested into these campaigns to expect that an appointment candidate, rather than an elected candidate, would be preferable to a large segment of the voters. It would destroy the primary process by rendering it secondary and bypassable.

If there's one thing that both candidates ought to agree on at this point - and they should do so publicly - it is this: Either Clinton or Obama should be the nominee for President of the Democratic Party in 2008. Period.

Somebody tell these guys drugs are bad!

I'm not much of a Black Crowes fan but you should own this record.

Is there a post from TalkLeft you won't highlight? Seriously, it's the same thing, over and over and over: Rip Obama, glorify Hillary. BORING. Pick one BTD post per week, everyone will get the gist.

HRC coming to the 'Burg on Tuesday.

Just a few days after Hillary Rodham Clinton assured her presidential campaign would come to Pennsylvania, she is planning a rally in Harrisburg.

Clinton's campaign announced a rally at noon Tuesday, one of three rallies she has scheduled in Pennsylvania early next week. The Harrisburg visit is tentatively scheduled for The Forum and will be open to the public, campaign officials said.

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed plans to attend the rally, and he said Friday that he is endorsing Clinton, citing her "extensive experience."

"The political landscape is littered with a lot of good ideas because people didn't have the experience to get them done. Hillary Clinton has the experience," said Reed.

Rumor has it that if Hillary wins, Reed will be rewarded with a newly created post of "Ambassador to the American Old West".

Everybody listen up!

"My responsibility as speaker is to make sure that I have a Democratic majority in the Congress of the United States," she said. "So while I want these candidates to operate on a proper tone so one of them will be in the White House, I have to insist upon it because I can't have their - if you want to call it bickering - have an impact on my congressional races."

Pelosi said she believes that supporters of both Obama and Clinton, after a long and exciting race, have grown strongly attached to their candidate. She worries how those voters will react when - inevitably - one of the two candidates loses.

"So many new people are involved because of Barack Obama, and we don't want them to be disenchanted," Pelosi said. "On the other hand, there is a chance that he might not win, and hopefully he will keep them in the fold. I think it will be about his leadership, too - whether he wins or not - to keep them in the fold and to attract others."

She said the same is true if Clinton loses the fight for the nomination. Many of Clinton's supporters, especially women, are just as passionate about her candidacy, and those voters will be crucial in November, Pelosi said. Tough hides needed

"You have to have a thick skin in this business. You can win or you don't win, but it doesn't mean you pick up your marbles and go away," she said.

I didn't know he was alive!

Wait until Laura Bush runs in 2016.

More of Pennsylvania will know it, intimately, within a few years.

One of the things that is becoming more likely - still not likely, but getting much closer to becoming reality - is that this will be the last year I keep the official party affiliation of Democrat. No, I'm nowhere near becoming a Republican. But I strongly believe there should be more than two political parties in this country vying for power, and the fact that there are only two is why we're having such a shitty three weeks of campaigning now. There's only two choices in the campaign, which allows negativity personal attacks to become the campaign tactic of choice and everything else goes out the window.

And, so, if I believe there should be more than two strong political parties in this country, how am I helping accomplish that by sticking in the Democratic Party. Especially because that party hardly ever goes close to prioritizing the issues I'm interested in, or approaching the job of politics in a way I can appreciate? The Pennsylvania state Democrats are a joke. Bill DeWeese? Vince Fumo? Catherine Baker Knoll? Arrrgh.

Nationally, I've never seen the Democratic Party put a Presidential candidate into the White House that I was particularly enthused about. Gore was close but of course didn't win the prize. I was not a fan of Bill Clinton, particularly after he fucked up the last two years with the stupidest sex scandal of history, and also how the Clintons screwed up the health care debate for a decade by their secretive and haughty approach at the beginning of his term. I liked Edwards 4 years ago and this year, but he didn't have a chance. Kerry was only acceptable as a replacement for Bush. I like Obama better than Hillary - I think his demeanor is better for the White House, I think he has a long view and I believe in people power as a counterweight to money power, which is his thing and the greatest difference in my mind between him and Hillary. The Democratic Party could change under Obama. The Democratic Party will not change under Hillary. The Democratic Party is losing me, and will need to change to retain me. And yet, I'm feeling that the Democratic Party can't change, can't embrace the power of people as an equal to the power of money.

I would rather buy into a candidate I could be enthused about, with positions I'm interested in, with beliefs I think are intertwined with mine. Just buying the same old product every time because it has a party label isn't the way to do it. Perhaps being an Independent is a more appropriate approach for me at this time. I'm strongly considering it for the future.

Interesting site, especially the One Step Ahead section, which lists ten blogs whose posts a day earlier best represented the collective buzz the next day.

No disrespect to hairless typists in particular, but I think I can generally say with a high degree of confidence that most National Review "writers" have the likeable qualities that God gave leeches.

Well, at least as with as much confidence as I have in the writer linked.

I grabbed the freebie The Real Estate Book from the grocery store yesterday, Volume 18, Number 3. Published every 4 weeks, so I'll look for the next one in about a month. The stats:

32 pages including front and back cover.
4 ads with price reduced.

Sounds like a good band name. It's been a crime for a long time, and it seems to be making a comeback.

Third-generation beekeeper Roscoe Hall spent the last year fretting over a disease that's inexplicably caused thousands of his industrious insects to abandon their colonies.

Now, entire hives are disappearing, too.

In the long, flat valley where the nation's almonds grow, bee thieves are striking hard this winter, nabbing increasingly valuable hives from farmers' fields where bees are used to pollinate blossoming nut trees.

A few weeks ago, 180 of Hall's hives were lifted over a period of days, a bit of banditry he estimates cost him nearly $70,000 in lost bees, pollination fees and honey production.

'If a man doesn't have his bees under lock and key these days, he's going to pay for it,' Hall said as he opened one of his remaining hives to reveal thousands of amber-colored bees busy in the honeycomb. 'Even then they'll find a way of breaking the lock.'

Jim Brady, Executive Editor of Washingtonpost.com, was asked the following question:

At this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, a panel of futurists claimed that print newspapers wouldn't exist by 2014. To what extent do you agree with this?

Statements that broad are bound to be wrong. The Washington Post will absolutely exist in 2012, as will other big newspapers like The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. I do think you're already seeing midsized and smaller papers deciding to go the Web-only route. If you look at current online revenues, all newspaper companies are still struggling to make money on the Web. But since the publishing costs online are microscopic compared to print, and with newsprint costs going up many newspapers are figuring they can save a lot of money by going online-only.

Again, such a broad statement is absolutely wrong. But there will be a lot of newspapers in the next 5 years that go web-only, in the US at least.

The question was about 2014, Brady assured only that the Washington Post would be around in 2012. Hmmmm.

Is this how the Democratic Party ends?

Dial it down, people. We all gotta live together after this nomination.

Something good to think about... they're coming to the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg on May 30th...

Alright, that's enough Hillary Clinton campaign for me. She wins, I can no longer go on thinking I might somehow vote for her, she's forced my hand. Perhaps it was only a shadow of a hope, but the past few weeks it has been eclipsed by her campaign's spasms of attack. I want Obama to win Pennsylvania and end this process. Clinton's top campaign people (read Wolfson and Penn) are embarrassments. I don't want those kinds of nitwits near the White House, and I don't trust a decisionmaker who relies on them. Her tax records should be publicly available, and saying so doesn't make Obama another Ken Starr.

Hillary Clinton has not passed the Commander-in-Chief threshold, and neither has John McCain, and neither has Obama, because you have to be one to pass it, and even some that are, such as the current President, fail to meet the threshold. Clinton should quit blowing smoke out her ass that she and McCain are the only two candidates that have passed her mythical standard, because if Hillary Clinton has passed it, then so has Laura Bush. And frankly, that's a damn scary standard to be believing in.

And I think it's time the party give Hillary a mighty assdrop kick for promoting John McCain over her opponent in the primary. She's done it several times. It is not acceptable. It is Joe Liebermanish, but on a grander scale, and it deserves more than the polite reprimand that Lieberman received, but a "what a stupid piece of shit strategy" lambasting. Because if Hillary Clinton wants to promote this Commander-in-Chief focus as the standard for voting for the candidate, she loses to John McCain, and she loses badly.

It's not only not acceptable, it's not credible, and John McCain will call her on it if she's the candidate. John McCain is a war hero, and nobody is going to take that away from him. Hillary voted for a war. Whooptie-fucking-doo, congratulations to you, Hillary. That's her big thing - she voted for a war, a war most Americans don't support, and yet that is a big positive? That doesn't trump being a war hero. At least opposing the war opens the debate.

This scare tactic approach to campaigning is so Bushesque. Democrats have been complaining about Bush doing it for many years. Where are those voices now?

And Rupert Murdoch runs with it!

Yesterday, I was on the subway to work. An elderly black man was reading Murdoch's tabloid, NY Post. He turned to a page with 2 photos similar to photos in a Daily Kos recommended Diary: "March 5, 2008 — A prominent left-wing Web site is questioning whether Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is playing the race card - by darkening the tone of Barack Obama's skin in a new TV attack ad."

Propaganda from dKos is so useful to Republicans, that Murdoch is giving it wings.

There's been plenty of ill-advised fire on both sides but disappointing to see this kind of silliness from an influential figure like Kos. Will the A-List lefty bloggers ruin the netroots for November? Who would have guessed the combustible Atrios would be one of the few keeping his powder dry?

Makes me glad I'm a Z-Lister.

And so now, we have 7 weeks of Pennsylvania Democratic Presidential Primary campaigning ahead of us. I believe this quote is appropriate:

"There's so much time that the candidates are not going to be just flying back and forth between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia," said David Sweet, a Harrisburg lawyer who was manager of Gov. Rendell's 2002 campaign and is now supporting Obama.

"It's going to get down to looking at polls to see if the western part of Washington County is in play, what parts of Allentown to visit, or even the upper vs. the lower portion of Dauphin County," Sweet said.

And don't forget about Cumberland County. Sure, there's a lot of red out here, but there's a few liberal bloggers out on the West Shore as well, and maybe, just maybe we could get our act together to have a Drinking Liberally meeting if Obama or Hillary wanted to visit such esteemed individuals.

Just don't send Mark Penn or any other grouchy members of either campaign.

Seriously, I wonder how much business at local diners the upcoming time will provide Pennsylvania. Meet and greet, meet and greet, meet and greet...

Making sausage with the Clinton campaign.

Penn has been a lightning rod ever since the 1996 campaign. More comfortable with data than people, he promoted a centrist approach that was policy-driven and successful but bloodless. He earned a passel of enemies along the way. Longtime Clinton advisers such as Ickes, James Carville, Rahm Emanuel, John Podesta and Paul Begala openly despise him, and some even nicknamed him "Schlumbo." Ickes and others tried unsuccessfully to get Penn fired from Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign.

Penn did not make a lot of new friends in his latest campaign, arguing against any apologies for Clinton's vote to go to war with Iraq and generating resentment with PowerPoint survey presentations that did not give colleagues the data they sought. He chastised a campaign aide who described him in a campaign document as "pollster" instead of his title "chief strategist." At the same time, Penn's firm has taken in $10 million from the campaign, the vast bulk of which has gone to direct mail and polling, with about $240,000 for the consulting team. But defenders point to the strategist's record of success and say opponents are too focused on personality.

....

Ickes was characteristically blunt on the conference call after Super Tuesday. It was quite likely that Clinton would lose the next 11 contests, colleagues recall him saying. Cecil had submitted plans for post-Feb. 5 states, but they had been rejected. The campaign had not initially thought the nomination battle would go beyond Super Tuesday and it was out of cash. "We were running on fumes," one aide said.

Nerves were raw by this point. Penn and Grunwald engaged in a 15-minute squabble that later made it into the media over which ad to run in Virginia. He wanted an ominous one called "Freefall" that warned of bad economic times, while she wanted one called "Can Do" featuring the candidate talking against patriotic music about solving problems. Cecil grew so exasperated, he stood up and left. "This is ridiculous," he said, according to people in the room. "You guys need to grow up. You're acting like kids. I've got work to do."

A more explosive example of the stress came a few days later. Phil Singer, the campaign's deputy communications director, emerged from a meeting on Feb. 11 and without explanation started angrily cursing the war room. "[Expletive] all of you," he shouted, according to a witness, then stormed out and did not return for several days.

Penn was growing increasingly aggravated by what he saw as an untenable management structure, which another aide described as an "oligarchy at the top." Penn had no real people of his own on the inside and chafed whenever Solis Doyle or Ickes got involved in his sphere. At one point, he and Ickes, who have been battling each other within the Clinton orbit for a dozen years, lost their tempers during a conference call, according to two participants.

"[Expletive] you!" Ickes shouted.

"[Expletive] you!" Penn replied.

"[Expletive] you!" Ickes shouted again.

If you don't like your job, just remember it could be worse. You could work on a political campaign.

This sounds like a good idea, maybe the NBA could do something to run with it here.

The official TRIBASKET presentation in Castilla y León took place at the Monasterio de Prado in Valladolid on Tuesday. TRIBASKET is a new competition of the Scholastic Basketball Program (PEB), which is directed at children 11-18 years old, and will kick off all over Spain with the collaboration of the autonomous federations.

...

TRIBASKET consists of three categories: SHOOTING (free throws, two and three-point shots, SKILLS (ball handling) and PLAY (1 on 1, 2 on 2, and 3 on 3). During these competitions, awards will be given for for skills, and it´s not necessary that the players are on any formal team or be in the Federation to participate. Therefore, any boy or girl who is interested can sign up individually and participate in any desired category.

The competition will develop a local level and then within the autonomous communities, and will play out the final round in Madrid in June, as the best players of the 19 autonomous communities compete for the Spanish championship title in the different categories.

I think we need a few of these.

Everyone wants a bottled water when they're in the hot tub, but bottled water is so wasteful...

Your chance to participate is here.

The Patriot-News is looking for local readers who would like to join an advisory panel that will enable newspaper departments to obtain information about topics important to the production and operation of the newspaper's business.

Much of the Reader E-Panel's work will be done online, according to Mike Fazzolari, research coordinator. however, some projects will be completed with panelists attending discussion groups at the newspaper's office.

To register, candidates can complete an online survey that captures reading patterns, basic demographics and contact information. Readers without Internet access may call the Inside Line at 717-255-1212, ext. 7950.

The sweet sound and awesome choreography of The Manhattans.

I want one of these jumpsuits!

I think these clowns ought to consider the legal requirements for proving fraud.

But more importantly, they should wear facepaint.

From Evil Blue himself.

I got one!

For those of us concerned about an extended primary battle hurting the Democratic nominee, think back to last season's Major League Baseball playoffs. The Red Sox had to fight out of a 3-1 deficit against the Indians while the Rockies coasted to a NLCS sweep of Arizona. Yet when the World Series came Boston crushed Colorado!

What do you think?

Pennsylvania really, really needs to change this image:

It's been said that Pennsylvania consists of Pittsburgh on one side, Philadelphia on the other, and Alabama in the middle.

When somebody actually uses that as some sort of analysis of Pennsylvania's politics, or a socioeconomic analysis, or whatever, then I usually look at that person as either full of shit or dumb as shit. First of all, it's an old adage that didn't even make sense whenever it was first created. Exactly how is Central Pennsylvania like Alabama? Those who say this line should be forced to explain exactly what they mean.

Secondly, it ignores what is going on in Central Pennsylvania - pockets of growth greater than the state average. In the 21st Century, Cumberland County has been growing at 4 times the rate of the entire state. Centre County - nearly 3 times. Franklin County? Six times the state rate. York County - seven times. Meanwhile, Allegheny County is losing population, Philadelphia County is losing people, and many of the counties surrounding Pennsylvania's two biggest cities have slowed down in growth.

Why is that? Because Central Pennsylvania is a relative bargain in cost. Cultural, recreational and educational assets are growing in the local regions and in addition, the advantages of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, New York City and Pittsburgh are a short drive away. Is that what they mean by that comparison with Alabama?

No matter where your place of employment:

NO Criminal Record.

NO drug/alcohol/drama problems.

NO sloppy/bad habits, crappy attitudes.

NO Rock Star/Egomaniacs.

NO yea I have been tattooing out of my trailer for 6 yrs.

NO Phone Interviews ! Only call to set up an Interview. Have portfolio and References available.

Is this the best freebie web-based live URL link checker out there still?

Well, this rain ain't gonna be nothing compared to the political downpour we're about to face as the primary season shifts here.

Congratulations to Hillary Clinton - she did what her campaign said she had to do.

You know, I bet that if you crumbled a bag of potato chips into tiny tiny pieces, you'd be surprised how little matter you actually have.

Hey Hillary ... what's up with this?

Don't foul the nest.

Their nemesis retires!

Who are these people who say they are voting for Gravel?

Hey, where did it go? Did Pennsylvania give up on using DSF for their primary official web site?

And stores that do this shouldn't ever be trusted again.

You know that Sharper Image gift card you got for Christmas? Right now, it's worthless. And other gift cards in your wallet could lose their value, too.

As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year.

The Sharper Image announced late last month that it was suspending the acceptance of gift cards, at least temporarily. It urged shoppers to check the company Web site later this month for an update. That is typical of businesses that reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which treats gift cards as a loan to the company, not as cash.

The number of retail bankruptcies or liquidations this year is expected to reach the highest levels since the 1991 recession.

Brian Riley, senior analyst at The TowerGroup, estimates that shoppers could lose more than $75 million just from stores and restaurant closings in 2008.

Two-thirds of Democrats say a victory in either Ohio or Texas would be reason enough for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) to keep her historic bid for the party's presidential nomination alive, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Two losses, however, would dramatically change the equation. Only 29 percent of Democrats said Clinton should drop out if she loses one of the two big states, but that number jumps to 51 percent if she loses both. About two-thirds of men and liberals indicated that she should give up her bid under those circumstances. And among those closely following the campaign, nearly six in 10 said she should quit the race if she loses both Texas and Ohio, states that her husband, former president Bill Clinton, has called must-wins.

This result doesn't make much sense to me. Why would a close two-state loss be worse than a narrow one state victory and a large other state loss? Silly poll structure.

If the race continues after Tuesday, it's going to get more ugly and divisive. I just don't see why Democrats would really want that unless there is a real sea change in momentum.

Found in a Welsh lobster pot.

LONDON (AFP) - British marine experts have found what they claim is a world first — a six-legged octopus, or "hexapus," whom they have christened Henry.

The unique sea creature, which has two limbs fewer than a normal octopus, is believed to be the result of a birth defect rather than an accident, say his keepers at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre in northwest England.

"We've scoured the Internet and talked to lots of other aquariums and no-one has ever heard of another case of a six-legged octopus," said supervisor Carey Duckhouse.

Henry was discovered in a lobster pot off the north Wales coast two weeks ago, and was one of eight creatures that Sea Life staff picked up from a local marine zoo there — where staff hadn't noticed his missing legs.

I don't have a clever comment. I just wanted to say "hexapus".

The 1-2 inches of it during the day kind of storms.

I think the focus by the Democrats on the "Commander-in-Chief" role in government needs to be much more historical and much less comparative. If there needs to be a general discussion of our wartime Presidents, from Madison to Bush II, great. But it is to the Democrats' benefit to discuss the role in historic, rather than personal, terms.

But as a Bears fan, I'm relieved that Chicago decided to give Lance Briggs a 6 year contract rather than Bernard Berrian. Although, this might say something about the worries about Brian Urlacher's back.

And still we don't know - why the hell are Crackerjacks referenced in the song?

They have their "first full state welcome for any leader since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003."

Pomp and ceremony greeted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his arrival in Iraq on Sunday, the fanfare a stark contrast to the rushed and secretive visits of his bitter rival U.S. President George W. Bush.

Ahmadinejad held hands with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani as they walked down a red carpet to the tune of their countries' national anthems, his visit the first by an Iranian president since the two neighbours fought a ruinous war in the 1980s.

His warm reception, in which he was hugged and kissed by Iraqi officials and presented with flowers by children, was Iraq's first full state welcome for any leader since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it?

You're like me, a full-sized cart person, having to go down every aisle, looking at the long list of items compiled.

You find yourself in the packaged food aisles. You look at the packages. Hey, prices haven't really changed. But wait a minute, that box is smaller. There's only 12 cookies in this container? Does this salad dressing really have an eye dropper to distribute the sauce?

The kids keep getting bigger, eating more. The packages keep getting smaller. Oh, except over there in dairy, and in packaged meat. There they get bigger - no, we don't want you buying 10 ounces of colby cheese, you have to buy 16 ounces. Eggs? You really can't buy 6 any more, you'll have to buy 12 or 24. Sorry. That's just the way it is.

What games they play with us. The packaged food doesn't expire for a long, long, long time so the contents are small, you'll be back to buy next week. The expirables, such as dairy, they maximize your weekly purchase, because it isn't going to last that long in your refrigerator, anyways. And in both times, every time a packaging size changes, there's a price increase. We know it, they know it, they just try to hide it a little by changing the quantity.

And we mull around the aisles and just take it. What can we do? Everyone in the supply chain is in the game - the grocery, the distributors, the manufacturers. We have to figure out something better to do, as consumers, than walk around with glazed eyes in the grocery, remembering the old days when ice cream came in half gallons instead of 1.75 quarts.

In our preparation for a vacation in Italy, we're trying different Italian wines. The Luna di Luna post below was something we found about a month ago, and it's just good company wine, period. Yesterday I stumbled onto this wine magazine, Decanter, while searching for good Italian wines. They had this bizarre little poll listed:

Should wines be made specifically for women?

No, it’s patronising - 87%
Yes, women’s palates differ - 6%
Yes, women prefer simpler wines - 7%

Is there any research out there that would suggest a reason for a "woman's wine" other than some sort of marketing approach? I just thought the whole idea was contrary to my experience of drinking wine with friends in general.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were voted the fifth greatest Scottish band of all time in a 2005 survey.

Difficult to adequately describe. "Sensational" is reasonably accurate.

What NTodd said.

photo by JasonTromm

So when am I going to see a news story about one of these events having an impact on specific Pennsylvania local government bond ratings?

The Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC) lost its triple-A credit rating, due to guarantees it had made on structured securities, and this raised serious questions about whether it could meet obligations on US$220bil (RM708bil) of municipal bonds that it had also guaranteed.