Here we go, another Wednesday. There was a rather disappointing poll released last night here in the NY-25, with the Bush rubber stamp, Jim Walsh, supposedly 9.5% ahead of Dan Maffei, his Democratic challenger. Shortly after its release, though, there was this:
The Post-Standard/NewsChannel 9 poll, completed by Zogby International of Utica, was released at 5 p.m., but quickly recalled after the pollster discovered an error that tainted the results.
Zogby has agreed to do an entirely new poll.
Gee, I wonder what’s up with that? Whatever happens, I have a feeling it’s gonna be a long, rather excruciating couple of weeks ’til election day.
:crap::crap::crap::crap::eek::eek::eek::eek::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck:
❓ whatever :sheep: le
:joe::joe::joe::joe::shock::shock::eek::eek::eek:
Another no news morning :eek::eek:
U.S. generals call for Democratic takeover
Disgusted with the leadership of the Iraq war, two retired generals say the GOP must go. Plus: More than 100 current military personnel join a campaign to get the U.S. out of Iraq — now.
By Mark Benjamin
Oct. 25, 2006 | WASHINGTON — Two retired senior Army generals, who served in Iraq and previously voted Republican, are now openly endorsing a Democratic takeover of Congress. The generals, and an active-duty senior military official, told Salon in separate interviews that they believe a Democratic victory will help reverse course from what they consider to be a disastrous Bush administration policy in Iraq. The two retired generals, Maj. Gen. John Batiste and Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, first openly criticized the handling of the war last spring, when they called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
“The best thing that can happen right now is for one or both of our houses to go Democratic so we can have some oversight,” Batiste, who led the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, told Salon. Batiste describes himself as a “lifelong Republican.” But now, he said, “It is time for a change.”
Eaton, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004, agrees that Democratic control of Congress could be the best way to wrest control from the Bush administration and steer the United States away from a gravely flawed strategy in Iraq. “The way out that I see is to hand the House and the Senate to the Democrats and get this thing turned around,” Eaton explained, adding that such sentiment is growing among retired and active-duty military leaders. “Most of us see two more years of the same if the Republicans stay in power,” he said. He also noted, “You could not have tortured me enough to vote for Mr. Kerry or Mr. Gore, but I’m not at all thrilled with who I did vote for.”
An active-duty senior military official who also served in Iraq said that, among a surprising number of his otherwise “very conservative” colleagues, there is hope that Democrats will gain control of Congress. “I will tell you, in the circles I talk to, the only way to enable or enact change is to change the leadership,” he said.
http://tinyurl.com/yxut7t
==============================
Its to bad some general with 15000 or so troops under his command didn’t say that..:crap::rant1:
U.S. Would Win New War but It Would Be Dirtier: Pace
By REUTERS
Published: October 24, 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has the capacity to defeat any enemy with overwhelming power, despite the Iraq war, but a new conflict would involve more brute force and civilian casualties, the top U.S. general said on Tuesday.
Asked about any potential threat from North Korea, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not know the intent of the Pyongyang leadership but the U.S. military could cope with any potential enemy….
***
Pace said the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan meant some precision weapons and intelligence systems were already in use and could not be immediately be deployed elsewhere.
“It would be more brute force, wherever we might have to go next, than it would be if we weren’t already involved in the war we have going on in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Pace said.
“You would end up not having all of the precision weapons that you might otherwise have going into a second theater, wherever it might happen to be, and therefore you would end up using more dumb bombs, so to speak, more brute force, than you would otherwise,” he said….
http://tinyurl.com/y7gtlm
===============================
:yuck:
Humans living far beyond planet’s means: WWF
Oct 24
By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING (Reuters) – Humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need two planets’ worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends, the WWF conservation group said on Tuesday.
Populations of many species, from fish to mammals, had fallen by about a third from 1970 to 2003 largely because of human threats such as pollution, clearing of forests and overfishing, the group also said in a two-yearly report.
“For more than 20 years we have exceeded the earth’s ability to support a consumptive lifestyle that is unsustainable and we cannot afford to continue down this path,” WWF Director-General James Leape said, launching the WWF’s 2006 Living Planet Report.
“If everyone around the world lived as those in America, we would need five planets to support us,” Leape, an American, said in Beijing….
***
(The report) said that the footprint from use of fossil fuels, whose heat-trapping emissions are widely blamed for pushing up world temperatures, was the fastest-growing cause of strain….
http://tinyurl.com/yfmdtg
===============================
:yuck::yuck:
Elections could be most costly in US history
By Holly Yeager in Washington
Published: October 24 2006 21:00 | Last updated: October 24 2006 21:00
Next month’s midterm elections will be the most costly congressional races in US history, with business interests contributing three-quarters of the estimated $2.6bn that will be spent, says a non-partisan research group.
http://tinyurl.com/y2fy67
==============================
How many poor kids would that feed :crap::yuck::barf:
A SUPERPOWER IN DECLINE
America’s Middle Class Has Become Globalization’s Loser
By Gabor Steingart
At the beginning of the 21st century, the United States is still a superpower. But it’s a superpower facing competition from beyond its borders as well as internal difficulties. Its lower and middle classes are turning out to be the losers of globalization.
http://tinyurl.com/ydltez
=============================
In the case you haven’t noticed..:yuck:
YEA :banana::yippee: FRED is #1 thru #7 :yippee::banana:YEA
BERLIN (EJP)— The leader of Germany’s Jewish community has warned that the rising number of neo-Nazi attacks recorded this year reminded her of the Hitler era.
“Anti-Semitic and far-right attacks have reached a (level) and aggressiveness which reminds of the period after 1933,” said Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, at a conference Tuesday in Berlin about the fight against extreme-right.
Neo-Nazi crime in Germany has risen by about 20 percent this year in tandem with the increasing brutality of attacks by rightists, German officials say.
“Those who speak of ’regrettable incidents’ are glossing over a danger for the entire society,” said Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor.
She added : “It is not just a problem for Jewish citizens in our country.”
http://tinyurl.com/yyv5h9
==============================
Fanciests and Nazis everywhere :eek::eek::crap::yuck::paranoid::paranoid:
:yippee::yippee::yippee: Druid is number 8 :yippee::yippee::yippee:
How are things with you this am.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said North Korea should not be driven
into a corner if the world wants to rein in its nuclear weapons program.
“You must never push one of the participants in talks into a corner”, Mr Putin
said in a live TV phone-in with Russians nationwide.
He said some negotiators “failed to find the right tone” with North Korea.
Mr Putin said a solution could be found “with goodwill”. North Korea said
on 9 October it had tested a nuclear weapon.
http://tinyurl.com/twyao
==============================
I wonder if he will back up his words with a little game of nuclear chess if GW is not impresed.:eek::eek::yuck::paranoid:
The Eastern Mediterranean, a “Second Front” guarded by NATO?
There has been a significant build-up of military force, including naval power, in Lebanon and the waters of the Eastern Mediterranean. This force is composed of troops and naval vessels from several NATO countries including Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, Germany, and the Netherlands.
NATO’s “Operation Active Endeavor,” implemented in the wake of 9/11 is fully integrated into the U.S. sponsored “War on Terrorism”. The Operation is overseen by the Commander of “NATO Allied Naval Forces, Southern Europe” based in Naples.
In this context, a NATO naval task force of warships has been monitoring the Eastern Mediterranean since late 2001, years before the Israeli aerial siege of Lebanon (2006). This task force of NATO warships has been “trained and prepared for a prolonged operation in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2001.”45
According to one Israeli source, the NATO military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean is part of the war plans pertaining to Syria and Iran:
“This expectation has brought together the greatest sea and air armada Europe has ever assembled at any point on earth since World War II: two carriers with 75 fighter-bombers, spy planes and helicopters on their decks; 15 warships of various types – 7 French, 5 Italian, 2-3 Greek., 3-5 German, and 5 American; thousands of Marines – French, Italian and German, as well as 1,800 U.S. Marines. It is improbably billed as support for a mere 7,000 European soldiers who are deployed in Lebanon to prevent the dwindling Israeli force of 4-5,000 soldiers and some 15-16,000 Hezbollah militiamen from coming to blows as well as for humanitarian odd jobs. (…) So, if not for Lebanon, what is this fine array of naval power really there for? First, according to our military sources , the European participants feel the need of a strong naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean to prevent a possible Iranian-U.S.-Israeli war igniting an Iranian long-range Shahab missile attack on Europe; second, as a deterrent to dissuade Syria and Hezbollah from opening a second front against America and Israel from their Eastern Mediterranean coasts.” 46
In the case of a war with Syria and Iran, NATO forces in the Eastern Mediterranean would no doubt play a decisive role. The Eastern Mediterranean would become one of several fronts, which could include Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf.
http://tinyurl.com/nbu2d
==============================
Five carrier battle groups in the Gulf and now this :eek::eek::eek::eek:
A young ex-stray decided to venture forth and has come back 3days later with a bloody nose and bruised mouth but THE CAT CAME BACK…:yippee::billcat::yippee:
Wizard of Odd gets to visit his Vet later. No sleep again. Rats.
Great Posts:!: How are you and your weather:?:
From the KUSA weather center:eek:
Tonight, cloudy with rain and snow showers in the southwest, partly cloudy in the north. Lows in the upper 20s and mid 30s.
Western Slope, tonight, cloudy south with light showers in the southwest, partly cloudy in the extreme north with lows in the 40s.
SNOW AND STRONG WINDS ARE HEADING TO DENVER THURSDAY MORNING
:eek::eek:
Fred, re 12 :eek::fustrate: :eek::fustrate::pirate:
I have turned into a mush = :cold:
hey fred hey druid
fred is our early morning newscaster.
amazing that the world wrestling federation is so concerned about the environment!
(that’l be the day)
glad the wanderer returned druid. is he fixed yet?
Druid: Sounds like your cat discovered some wild life. Around here stray animals just not so mysteriously disappear.. Usually a cat’s paw print five inches or so across is found near by.:eek:
:banana::banana: Hi Roxie :banana::banana:
:wink:roxieseattle, :nod: yes he is fixed but some ex-strays just have to play “wild” periodically.
Fred, you are talking about when they would disappear at feeding time in the “wild” mountains :eek::wink::eek:
:joe:Must brew and infuse tea:joe: :omg:
The big cats are quite stealthy but probably come down the drainages from the mountains during the winter months and utilize the urban wildlife as lunch.. The dept of wildlife used to capture them and depending on the number of offenses put them to sleep or return them to the foot hills..Lately they have become quite stealthy and are getting harder to find.:eek:
I’m too tired to post anything coherent about last night’s FL gubernatorial debate, so I’ll link instead:
http://tinyurl.com/ynyzot
Jim Davis did reasonably well, not spectacularly, but I thought a lot better than Crist. I especially liked his frequent use of the phrase “Stay the course,” using it as a negative now that Chimpy has abandoned it.
Reform Party candidate Max Linn did not particpate, due to a judicial ruling Tuesday that overruled Monday’s ruling. Linn is polling at about 2%, so his non-particpation was a non-factor.
Say what you will about third-party candidates, but Linn’s is a vanity candidacy, and his participation would have distracted from the debate. If he wants to come back in four years with a more serious campaign, more power to him.
6:58. Time for snooze, I mean work. :joe::joe::joe:
one of my outdoor cats (he owns the back porch/came with the house) has disappeared several times. once he came back covered (soaked) in oil – cooking oil I think. my se asian neighbors have a fry pot outside. I think he went for a leftover and fell in. he’s at least 8 y.o., has been FIV positive as long as i’ve had him. he’s used up around eleven of his nine lives…
fred, I am so fortunate to not live among predators — i’d have to take in every cat I saw.
I watched that Florida’s Governors debate on C-span this morning. I though the dem seemed to skirt all the problems with band aids. The thug just denied the problems existed .. same o same o :gate::omg:
In thinking about that article on the navel build up in the mederterainan ..I doubt that is true since it took seemingly forever to get ships to Lebanon to evacuate the Europeans and NATO seems hard up to get more troops for Afghanistan. Most of the Western European nations had their navy’s destroyed during WWII and have relied on the SBR for military protection ever since. I think the EU defense forces only amount to several thousand troops.:bf:
BEIJING (Reuters) – Humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need two planets’ worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends, the WWF conservation group said on Tuesday.
😥 not surprising
they’re talking aboug genital warts on the Young Turks?????
Hello Druid and Fred :joe::pent:: :nod:
:yippee::yippee::yippee::yippee: Hi Susan :yippee::yippee::yippee::yippee:
most senators, according to this guest on the Young Turks, have a failing record on voting for Veterans issues…
Sociopaths
Central to understanding individuals diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder is that they appear to experience a limited range of human emotions. This can explain their lack of empathy for the suffering of others, since they cannot experience the emotion associated with either empathy or suffering. Risk-seeking behavior and substance abuse may be attempts to escape feeling empty or emotionally void. The rage exhibited by psychopaths and the anxiety associated with certain types of antisocial personality disorder may represent the limit of emotion experienced, or there may be physiological responses without analogy to emotion experienced by others.
According to the older theory of Freudian psychoanalysis, a sociopath has a strong superego that overpowers the id. The theory proposes that internalized morals of our unconscious mind are restricted from surfacing to the ego and consciousness. However, this explanation provides no insight into the cause or treatment of the problem.
Research has shown that individuals with antisocial personality disorder are indifferent to the possibility of physical pain or many punishments, and show no indications that they experience fear when so threatened. This may explain their apparent disregard for the consequences of their actions, and their aforementioned lack of empathy.
One approach to explaining antisocial personality disorder behaviors is put forth by sociobiology, a science that attempts to understand and explain a wide variety of human behavior based on evolutionary biology. One route to doing so is by exploring evolutionarily stable strategies; that is, attempting to discern whether the APD phenotype has evolved because it gains fitness specifically within, or alongside, the survival strategies of other humans exhibiting different, perhaps complementary behaviours, e.g. in a symbiotic or parasitic manner. For example, in one well-known 1995 paper by Linda Mealey, chronic antisocial/criminal behavior is explained as a combination of two such strategies
http://tinyurl.com/ymjh8t
==============================
Someone needs to see if there is any correlation between this and three martini lunches.:bf:
:wink:Susan Joy, tea:joe: Cheers :alc: :pent: To the Season :banana: :pent:
Happy Samhain :pent:
Here we go, another Wednesday. There was a rather disappointing poll released last night here in the NY-25, with the Bush rubber stamp, Jim Walsh, supposedly 9.5% ahead of Dan Maffei, his Democratic challenger. Shortly after its release, though, there was this:
The Post-Standard/NewsChannel 9 poll, completed by Zogby International of Utica, was released at 5 p.m., but quickly recalled after the pollster discovered an error that tainted the results.
Zogby has agreed to do an entirely new poll.
Gee, I wonder what’s up with that? Whatever happens, I have a feeling it’s gonna be a long, rather excruciating couple of weeks ’til election day.
I’ll agree with that… I think we’ll be hearing stories similar to this every day or two until election time. It’s going to be a wild ride.
Australia is to build one of the world’s biggest solar power plants as part of a major new strategy by the government to combat climate change.
Canberra said it would be contributing A$75m (US$57m) to the A$420m plant due to be built in the state of Victoria.
The government also announced A$50m in funding towards a major project to reduce carbon emissions from coal.
Australia, a leading exporter in coal – has been criticised for failing to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
The government had argued that the 1997 agreement on greenhouse gas emissions would damage the domestic economy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6083600.stm
================================
:?::?::?:
I know this is local to me, and nobody probably gives a crap, but here’s what the deal with the poll in my congressional district is. It’s also a bit of a lesson as to how much you can believe polls and pollsters.
The poll results were given to the Maffei (he’s the Democratic challenger) campaign in the afternoon, but only the raw results (Walsh – the Republican – up by 9%). The crosstabs didn’t come through until 4:30, and when they started to look at them, they saw that the registration sample was completely erroneous. It wasn’t just off by a little–it was fatally flawed.
In the NY-25th, actual Republican registration is 36.4 percent and Democratic registration is 32.4 percent.
Zogby weighted the poll to reflect the NY-24th’s voter registration, which is 44 percent Republican and 31 percent Democrat (not to mention that this year, any credible pollster is finding that Democratic identification is running four points higher than Democratic registration). In other words, Zogby’s poll gave Walsh at least an 8 point – and perhaps as high as 12 point – artificial push towards Republicans.
Maffei passed that information along to WSYR (the TV station that co-commissioned the poll) and to the local newspaper (the Post-Standard – the other co-sponsor) at about ten minutes to five and told them that the poll was crap, and that any candidate who got a poll back with a sample that bad would immediately send it back and have it re-run. They said that at a minimum, they should call Zogby and ask him to explain the weighting. The TV station’s 5 o’clock news ran the story using the flawed data anyway (this will shock you, but they are owned by Clearchannel, which has actually donated money to the Republican’s campaign – how’s that for fair and balanced?), then retracted the story in their 5:30 broadcast.
John Zogby personally called WSYR to apologize, said the data is so fundamentally flawed that they will have to throw it all out and go back into the field, and that in the entire history of his organization, they have never made this kind of mistake before. Hmm.
hey susan
you say they’re discussing pj’s rogues gallery?
oops, another sexually transmitted disease. republicans are more like chlamydia — before you notice there’s cancer metastatising (?) thru the electorate.
Hey Roxie…:peace:
(not to mention that this year, any credible pollster is finding that Democratic identification is running four points higher than Democratic registration) Good point… So what’s up with Zogby? Yes, any pollster would take that into consideration. Isn’t Zogby the one who predicted Kerry would win heavily based on exit polls and then was actually on the Daily Show (I think) hemming and hawing trying to explain what happened…maybe I shouldn’t connect things like that though
another
biological explanation of the high risk anti-social behavior is a nervous system that is down regulated — less sensitive to stimulous.
psychopaths (sociopaths in the current vernacular) require a much higher level of input to provide sufficient charge to achieve threshold effect.
Yeah, I posted about the report card that IAVA (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America) gave for US Senators (a letter grade as to how well they support US troops, Vets, and their families, based on over 300 votes) yesterday.
Here’s a list, ordered by grade (descending). Every single Democrat got a higher grade than any Republican. The worst Democrat was Ben Nelson with a B-. Three Republicans got C’s. The rest are even worse.
I don’t know when soldiers and military families are going to start to realize that all the Republicans do is talk tough, and then screw them over. Maybe this is the year.
so much, I guess, for the Republican “we support our troops” line…
Kathy’s ( the lady lives in the next cubicle ) husband is in the 4th infantry division as a captain in charge of a tank company and has been in Iraq 4 times now. She says that a lot of the troops at Fort Carson would be more than happy to chase the rethug congress critters down the street with their tanks. 😮
By the way, I don’t know if y’all saw this over at MyDD (Chris Bowers, another native CNY’er; gotta watch out for those guys), but it will explain the post of Republican candidates this morning. Those of you with blogs (you could even start on, just for this) may want to consider doing the same. I dunno how effective it will be, but it seems to be really pissing off the wingnuts, which makes it worthwhile.
Yeah, well, story in Salon today:
Marc and Sam :omg: Kinison.
Good Morning. :joe: So, on that Google bomb, do you just post that whole list on that page? Or would you post one at a time with a piece of the story. I am unfamiliar with google bombing.:doh:
I’ve seen that pic of Sam and Marc. It’s funny.
Report Warns of Potential Voting Problems in 10 States
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; Page A03
Two weeks before the midterm elections, at least 10 states, including Maryland, remain ripe for voting problems, according to a study released yesterday by a nonpartisan clearinghouse that tracks electoral reforms across the United States.
The report by Electionline.org says those states, and possibly others, could encounter trouble on Election Day because they have a combustible mix of fledgling voting-machine technology, confusion over voting procedures or recent litigation over election rules — and close races.
The report cautions that the Nov. 7 elections, which will determine which political party controls the House and Senate, promise “to bring more of what voters have come to expect since the 2000 elections — a divided body politic, an election system in flux and the possibility — if not certainty — of problems at polls nationwide.”
In a state-by-state canvass, the 75-page report singles out places, such as Indiana and Arizona, where courts have upheld stringent new laws requiring voters to show poll workers specific forms of identification. It cites states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, which have switched to electronic voting machines whose accuracy has been challenged. And it points to states such as Colorado and Washington, which have departed from the tradition of polling sites in neighborhood precincts.
MORE….
Just the list of names and links. Google weighs its search results based on how many links there are to a given page. In other words, if I search for Kristapea, and ten pages link to, say, this page, but 1,000 pages link to Ghostgrrrl, then Ghostgrrl is considered more relevant and will appear higher. So, if there are a billion websites linking to the story about Jon Kyl from the Phoenix Times that says “Who’s Arizona’s other U.S. senator? Here’s a clue: He makes Dubya look like a liberal,” then when somebody does a search for “Jon Kyl,” to see if they should maybe vote for him, that story will be very high in the results (probably #1, if there are a billion links to it).
G’mornin’, all! I’m ensconced at my Dad and stepmom’s place on Staten Island, and they’re just waking up (I’ve been holed up in the guest room-cum-office for three hours, listening to the full NY version of Democracy Now no my walkman, catching up on the NY Times and SI Advance, and reading my email). Nice to catch Sam Seder in the daytime, which doesn’t happen in San Francisco. It’s not Marc or Mike, but it’ll do.
Ok, so anyone here going to be in Manhattan this afternoon? I’ll be wandering around there this afternoon, can’t decide whether to put myself on automatic and wander around the village or be purposeful and get to a museum. Raw foods eatery is on the agenda, though, so I’ll see. I’m looking forward to the ferry ride, I always like that. :pup::joe::cat:
Wow, I’ve had a few beers hit me pretty hard (especially out in the sun), but this is a bit much.
Ouch. I had a compression fracture of just one vertebra, and let me tell you, it hurt like hell (for quite a while). She’s gonna be pretty damn sore (and a little bit shorter; I lost about ¼”). Good thing it was light beer, or she’d have been a goner.
Had a tractor-trailer full of beer roll over about five miles away from one of the colleges I used to attend (and I use the term loosely). We “raced” to get the beer cans, too.
Well, I’d be pretty mad if I raced to an overturned beer truck only to find Bud Light. :yuck:
Ok, I’m off to get ready for the trek from SI to Manhattan. Have a good day, everyone!
:joe:
A major anti-immigration group is accusing the Bush Administration of creating a “shadow government,” by “engaging in collaborative relations with Mexico and Canada outside the U.S. Constitution,” RAW STORY has learned.
The Minuteman Project sent out a press release late Tuesday evening hyping their Web site, which is showcasing 1,000 documents allegedly obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) by World Net Daily columnist Jerome Corsi.
“The documents give clear evidence that the Bush administration has created a ‘shadow government,'” Corsi said in the press release.
Corsi claims to have “hundreds of pages of e-mails from U.S. executive branch administrators who are copying the e-mail to somewhere between 25 to 100 people, a third of whom are in the U.S. bureaucracy, a third of whom are in the Mexican bureaucracy and a third of whom are in the Canadian bureaucracy.”
“They are sharing their laws and regulations so we can ‘harmonize’ and ‘integrate’ our laws into a North American structure, not a USA structure,” Corsi said.
http://tinyurl.com/yeyoh7
===============================
Sounds like the North American Union was not a pipe dream.:gate::omg::jason::jason::jason:
Ha. Yeah, Bud (light, medium, or heavy) wouldn’t be my first choice, that’s for sure. I kinda like the Stout, myself, and I’m partial to the Dunkel Bier (dark beer), though I’ve developed a bit of a taste for Molson XXX (7.3%).
Rogue Brutal Bitter is one of my faves and of course, beer made by monks is always good too. :40:
MOOSE DROOL BROWN ALE
from Big Sky Brewing Company in missoula, montana.
beautiful beer!
rogue makes
some other nice beers, too. dead guy ale, I think it’s called.
more suggestions please, I love a good beer tasting party.
http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/splash/default.aspx
http://www.bearrepublic.com/ourbeers.php
Hoping we will all be hoisting a few in two weeks!
I really like Young’s Oatmeal Stout, from Ram’s Gate Brewery. Of course, I like the Guinness, too (genetic, I think). And Wahrsteiner Dunkelbier (also genetic, I guess). And of course the microbrews from around here. But, if a tractor trailer load of Budweiser happened to find its way into my back yard, I reckon I’d just have to find something to do with it.
I hoisted more than a few in 2004. I took the day after the election off, and drank beer while following the results on election night. Things looked great all day long at work, but as the polls started closing, well, things got worser and worser. I really can’t be having that happen again this year.
Hey, Kevin, have you seen this?
Tsk, tsk, tsk. What would Anita Bryant say? Is she still alive?
I think that 2 weeks is the day after election day. I thought that the bars were closed on ED. Just hoping…
The bar’s never closed at my house. :alc: Actually, here in godless NYS, they don’t close the bars. I don’t think they close them in very many states anymore (you almost have to be drunk to vote for some of these people).
Elie Wiesel the next president of Israel?
http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgowan10252006.html
Hey, Kevin, have you seen this?
A young rising star in the Republican Party has boasted to witnesses of his sexual relationship with Charlie Crist, the frontrunner in the Florida governor’s race who has repeatedly denied that he is gay.
Comment by pjsauter — October 25, 2006 @ 4:40 pm
Holy shit! :omg:
There have been rumors about Crist’s sexuality for years, mostly because he’s in his 40’s (actually, he’s now 50) and single. No one has been able to prove or disprove the rumors. Crist has always stood by the Seinfeldian assertion of “not that there’s anything wrong with that,” and I never really cared one way or the other, apart from not wanting to perpetuate the stereotype, being in my 40’s and single my own self. 🙂
In fact, earlier this year there was a story about a supposed one-nighter Crist had with a woman about 17 or so years ago, who is now claiming she bore his love child. It struck me as a little odd because they supposedly met at a bar within walking distance of my place. I used to stagger home from there on a regular basis, and I don’t remember ever seeing Crist in there. The silver head of hair and perpetual suntan would have been hard to miss, even back then.
PJ, the article you posted is MUCH more specific than anything else I’ve ever read about Crist, including the naming of names, which leads me to believe there could be something to it. Not that his sexuality makes a diffference in how he governs, but as a Repig who opposes gay marriage and adoption, he would turn out to be quite the hypocrite if the story is true. Not that a Repig candidate being a hypocrite would be much of a surprise.
I’ll keep my eyes peeled to see if anything further unfolds with this story. It would make Monday night’s second debate a lot more interesting, that’s for sure. I think Chris Matthews is going to be moderating the debate, not that he would bring it up or anything. (The FL NBC stations are sponsoring the debate, hence Matthews. I would have preferred Keith Olbermann, but that’s just me.)
Not to mention that network sweeps begin the Thursday before the election. This would be quite the ratings coup for one (or all) of our local investigative news teams.
But on the bright side, if the story is true, at least Crist’s supposed liasons were with adults.
As for your question, according to Wikipedia Anita Bryant isn’t dead yet. But it’s Wikipedia, so who the hell knows for sure.
:rofl2:
I just love to see these freaking hypocrites get nailed. I really like what Barney Frank had to say on Bill Maher the other night.
Yeah, I looked Anita up. Still living, I guess. I was pretty surprised to see she was born in 1940. I figured she was probably 50’ish back in the 70’s.
“Two Israeli warplanes and a German navy vessel have clashed off the Lebanese coast, the Defense Ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday without giving further details.
Germany daily Der Tagesspiegel earlier on Wednesday quoted a junior German defense minister as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over the German ship and fired two shots.
The jets also released infra-red countermeasures to ward off any rocket attack, the paper quoted him as saying.
The minister did not say when the incident happened or what had caused it, the paper said.
“I can confirm that there was an incident,” a ministry spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. An investigation was underway and he therefore was unable to provide further information, he added.”
http://tinyurl.com/yzexq5
———————————
Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Wednesday denied reports that two Israel Air Force warplanes clashed with a German navy vessel off the Lebanese coast.
The Germany daily Der Tagesspiegel earlier on Wednesday quoted a junior German defense minister as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over the German ship and fired two shots.
http://tinyurl.com/y84lm8
————————————————
“”I can confirm that there was an incident,” a German defence ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. He declined to give further details because an investigation was underway.
Israel’s Channel Two television, quoting military sources, described one undated incident where jets had been scrambled when a helicopter took off from a German aircraft carrier close to Israeli waters without identifying itself.
The planes realised the mistake, did not engage the helicopter and returned home, Channel Two said.
In another incident described by the television station, jets deployed anti-missile chaff off the Lebanese coast. This may have been detected by the German navy, Channel Two said.”
http://tinyurl.com/yd9c5o
==============================
Sounds like fun ..I do not believe Germany has nuclear weapons though..:paranoid::paranoid:
Hmm, slow day again..I’ll see if I can make some news if I can’t find any…
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 – 4:08 PM……. Currently 63 °
but
The Denver metro area is under a Winter Storm Warning that will go from midnight Wednesday until noon on Thursday.
9NEWS Meteorologist Kathy Sabine says cold air is moving in from the north at the same time moisture from what is left of Tropical Storm Paul is surging up from the south.
Kathy says it will start to rain overnight and it will change into snow for many areas as temperatures get colder.
Downtown Denver could see 3 to 6 inches of snow, but the southern and western suburbs could get much more, according to Kathy. She says those areas, especially locations above 6,000 feet, could see as much as 10 inches of snow.
=============================
This is known affectionately as the warm before the storm..:crap::eek::paranoid:
Iraqi Prime Minister Lambastes U.S.
BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at the United States Wednesday, saying his popularly elected government would not bend to U.S.-imposed benchmarks and timelines and criticizing a U.S. and Iraqi military operation in a Shiite slum of Baghdad that left at least five people dead and 20 wounded.
Maliki’s comments came a day after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the prime minister had agreed to timelines for accomplishing several critical goals, including developing plans to deal with militias, amend the constitution and equitably distribute Iraq’s oil revenues.
“I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it,” Maliki said Wednesday at a nationally televised news conference. “The Americans have the right to review their policies, but we do not believe in a timetables.”
read the full story here.
NJ top court rules that gay couples have same marriage rights as heterosexual couples under the state constitution
RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday October 25, 2006
Gay couples have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples under the New Jersey state constitution, New Jersey’s state Supreme Court ruled today.
The Court stopped short of fully approving same-sex marriage but gave lawmakers six months to act. The legislature must grant either civil unions or marriage rights to same-sex couples.
more
http://tinyurl.com/yboa4e
============================
:eek::yippee::paranoid:
# 70 – well reading this and not looking at your name I know, for instance, that it’s not Kevin in Florida writing it…
New Jersey court recognizes right to same-sex unions
TRENTON, New Jersey (CNN) — The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s constitution gives gay and lesbian couples all the rights of married heterosexual couples.
But the court left it to the state legislature to decide what to call the relationship.
It gave lawmakers 180 days to either include gay and lesbian couples in the state’s existing marriage laws or grant those rights under the title civil unions.
The decision mirrors the one made in 1999 by Vermont’s highest court, which allowed gay and lesbian couples all the rights of marriage but left it to the legislature to decide how to grant them.
The next year the Vermont Legislature chose to call such relationships civil unions, and a firestorm of controversy ensued around the country.
In its 4-3 ruling, the New Jersey court said, “The issue is not about the transformation of the traditional definition of marriage, but about the unequal dispensation of benefits and privileges to one of two similarly situated classes of people.”
read the full story here.
Nouri al-Maliki must have broken all his puppet strings. I will bet Hillary will be indigent. 😮
During final election push, scandal sidelines Hastert
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sidelined by scandal, House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been largely absent from the campaign trail this month as Democrats mount their strongest challenge in a decade to the Republicans’ grip on the House.
“I’m going to be in 30-some districts,” the Illinois Republican said in early October. “We’re going to be continuing on the trail. We have a story to tell.”
But that was before the full impact of the Mark Foley episode sank in — and before the House ethics committee began investigating what Hastert and other Republican leaders knew about the Florida congressman’s inappropriate communications with teenage male pages.
Now, two weeks before the November 7 midterm elections, the speaker is a symbol of the scandal — and, as such, a potential liability — for many of his endangered rank-and-file Republicans fighting to win re-election in a campaign environment favoring Democrats.
“It’s not that he’s toxic. It’s just that the situation is,” said longtime GOP consultant Rich Galen, lamenting the headwinds Republicans face as they seek to hang onto power. “Even if he’s benign, benign ain’t enough if you’re five points back.”
read the full story here.
I think that it snowed in Georgia and the northern part of Florida once .. maybe ..well..:hot:
Bush is an idiot! End of story.
Sure, it’s snowed in Florida – even Miami.
Watching the Battle for Control in the House and Senate — Oct. 25, 2006
A slew of new statewide polls hit the streets yesterday and today and, as we continue the Countdown to Election Day, the surveys foreshadow a wild finish to a very competitive battle for control of the Senate.
Mason-Dixon Political & Media Research conducted nine separate polls for MSNBC and McClatchy newspapers, while the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg did surveys in five of the nine states.
The polls confirmed that two incumbent Republican senators — Ohio’s Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum — are in deep trouble. DeWine trails Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown in polls by both news groups. Only Mason-Dixon polled in Pennsylvania, and that showed that Santorum, long considered the most vulnerable incumbent senator in the country, is running behind state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. in the Mason-Dixon survey. by 51 percent to 39 percent.
In the three states considered the fulcrum of the battle for the Senate — Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia — the Mason-Dixon surveys found the contests exceedingly close — well within the margin of error, although they did not always agree on who was ahead.
In Missouri, Democratic state Auditor Claire McCaskill (D) led Republican Sen. Jim Talent by 46 percent to 43 percent in the Mason-Dixon poll, but trailed Talent 48-45 percent in the L.A. Times-Bloomberg survey. In Virginia, Republican Sen. George Allen held a lead of 47 percent to 43 percent over former Navy Secretary Jim Webb in the Mason-Dixon poll, but the L.A. Times-Bloomberg survey put Webb ahead 47-44 percent. In Tennessee, both sets of polls showed former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R) led Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr.
The Mason-Dixon poll showed Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee trailing former Democratic Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island, while both sets of polls showed Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez leading Republican state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey.
If there was one surprise in the new polls, it came in Montana. There, according to Mason-Dixon, state Sen. Jon Tester (D) held only a 46 percent to 43 percent lead over Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, a smaller margin than in recent polls. Burns has long been considered a long-shot for re-election most of the year, but, the Mason-Dixon survey suggests that writing off Burns might be a mistake.
The data suggest that it’s risky to base predictions on a single poll but together provide a reminder that, with 13 days left in the election, the battle for the Senate remains too close to call.
read the full story here.
BTW, this Washington Post Article shows with 9 contested races in the US Senate, 5 lean Democrat, 4 are toss-ups and NONE lean Republican. So how many do we need to control the Senate?
What? Our glorious leader an idiot? How dare you say such a thing? Being The Decider is very hard work, you know.
I vaguely remember it snowing in Brownsville Texas once. I think thats even farther south than Miami.
Hmm…I guess when it’s rare like that they enjoy it (unless it kills crops or stuff like that)
Sure, it’s snowed in Florida – even Miami.
Comment by pjsauter — October 25, 2006 @ 6:35 pm
PJ’s link mentioned the snow Jacksonville received in 1989. We got some around Tampa Bay as well. Just enough to stick on the ground for a few minutes and make the roads a little slippery. In Syracuse, they probably wouldn’t have even counted it as snowfall.
I remember driving to my boss’ new house for a Christmas party, and being greeted by rolling blackouts courtesy of Florida Power once I got there.
The problem is that Bush is not much different from the CEO’s of quite a few of the fortune 500 corporations.. All of them are second or third generation wealthy sociopaths, :yuck::crap::paranoid:
Most of the time snow causes heart attacks among the people who moved to the sun belt to avoid the snow. This seems to be very prevalent among people driving cars on ice. :eek::eek::paranoid:
I should have known Wonkette would be all over Charlie Crist.
(So to speak.)
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/charlie%20crist/
Enough speculation for one night. I need :40:
Yeah, we laugh when we see news reports of an inch of snow closing schools and causing massive traffic incidents. I’ll tell ya, we haven’t had any snow that stuck yet, but damn, winter’s in the air. I recall trick-or-treating in in the snow on many occasions, and we’ve had more than a couple election day snow storms.
Charlie ought to pander to the Hispanic voters, and change his first name to Jesus.
Comet SWAN update:
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Comet SWAN is brightening! Most unexpectedly, last night observers reported the comet glowing as bright as magnitude 4.3 as seen in 10×50 binoculars — and detectable to the unaided eye in a dark sky. It’s currently in the center of northern Corona Borealis, well placed in the west-northwest after dark.
This nice binocular comet (C/2006 M4) is still near at its brightest, about magnitude 6.0, and it’s getting higher in the moonless sky right after dark. It’s conveniently placed in the northwest, in Bootes heading toward Corona Borealis.
Go here for info on visible comets:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/comets.html
Peter B is about as full of solutions as Fartman is .. We will be the best informed slaves the world ever had.:bf:
Hey, give him a call and tell him what needs to be done. Toll-Free: 1-888-5-PeterB, (1-888-573-8372).
Ah, reminds me of high school. Maybe I’ll get my 90mm telescope out and have a look. Except, I think it’s cloudy out.
Holy shit! Peter B. looks like Frasier Crane!
Peter B’s screener said that discussion was over..Peter B is to the left but from my slight exposure to him seems to be a peace at any price nick … Americans do everything through elections and its immaterial how many people get scvrewed in between. :bf::bf:
Damn. You shoulda asked if you could talk to Frasier, then.
Or asked him what the hell he’s doing with a radio show, when Marc Maron doesn’t have one!
I still prefer him to Rachel, though. She was really starting to bug me.
I don’t give Rachel Maddow a chance to bug me. My nerves are on end as it is. I’m gonna have to go to the Doc soon and get some kind of pill that will keep me just this side of dreamland. Awake and functioning, blissful, but oblivious to the world. Is that possible?
A small group of active-duty military members opposed to the war have created a Web site intended to collect thousands of signatures of other service members. People can submit their name, rank and duty station if they support statements denouncing the American invasion. “Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price,” the Web site, appealforredress.org, says. “It is time for U.S. troops to come home.” The electronic grievances will be passed along to members of Congress, according to the Web site. Jonathan Hutto, a Navy seaman based in Norfolk, Va., who set up the Web site a month ago, said the group had collected 118 names and was trying to verify that they were legitimate service members.
When I lived in NW Alabama away from city lights I could see so much more. These big city lights ruin everything. No wonder I stay so grounded and wound up like a watch! The night sky is so beautiful. I’d be in a much better mood if I could see the heavens from time to time. I guess I need to buy a tent and go camping. Would be nice to have a telescope again. I’d like to re-live the better parts of my youth.
Who’s got the pot?:bong:
It’s a cool drizzly 55 degrees here in Birmingham. Just got back from a drive up to the office to pickup my work for tomorrow. Hwy 280 traffic is hell! I might as well be living in Atlanta. Geez! No wonder my nerves are on end! And this election will be the death of me yet. We better win or I won’t be responsible for my actions.
If it turns out the election is stolen or does not achieve the desired results I still suggest studying what happened in Central America in the 1980’s or what is happening in Iraq..
The thugs must be confronted with an unpalatable alternative.
I doubt there will be more than a whimper should the Rethugs steal the election. How would we prove it with no paper trail?
Exit polls .. They didn’t recount in the Ukraine they just went into the streets.. The legal process takes to long anyhow.
I’m gonna be optimistic and say we’re gonna take back both the House and the Senate. That an asteroid will fall on Dick Chaney and Geo W. Bush thereby installing the first woman as President. Nancy Pelosi! How is that for dreaming?
Wonder who Pelosi would choose as her VP?
I would put a bigger bet on a stealth SS27 than a astroid.
well, Peter B has some good bumper music. :yippee:
Who is Peter B? Is he good? How can I listen? Hello Kristapea!!!
Peter B is Peter B Collins.. he is on Nova M ..use the links on the right side of the web page
Thanks Fred. So he’s better than Rachel?
Peter B and Hartman have been on the air at least three years now.. Peter was one of the first lefty talkers.
Listening now. His voice sounds a little like the late Peter Jennings. Nice voice.
Wonder how well this stream is gonna hold up when Mike Malloy debuts on Oct 30?
A lot of people think he sounds like Peter Jennings.
sam seder is on olbermann
‘Bout to climb into bed. Before I go I thought I’d offer up this link. Cool site which looks at the latest polling information to project Senate and House winners. Take a look. And offter up donations to the Dems in the TN, Mo and Va., Senate seats. We CAN win back the Senate too! YES, we can! Go here.
So, that talk of beer earlier got me to thinkin’ :40: so I went down to the corner store and got me an Ommegang ale from Cooperstown NY. It is a rich, fruity, aromatic burgundian brew and it was the cheapest pint with a cork and cage I could find at $4.99( it’s a dollar cheaper at the Sunflower Market) It sure is yummy! :40:
Oh, yeah I’ve had that. Not bad. Good alcohol content, too.
I dont get this google bomb thing….what does the code do? There isnt a very good explanation there…do I paste the code for my state in the html or in the regular text? Should it be just my state or all of the states?
What does it do?
Am I just dumb to not get this?
Google weighs its search results based on how many links there are to a given page.
In other words, if I search for Melina, and ten pages link to, say, this page, but 1,000 pages link to Ripcoco, then Ripcoco is considered more relevant and will appear higher in the list of results.
If 100,000 web pages link to a story about Joe Lieberman, then when I do a google search for Joe Lieberman, the page that has all those other pages linking to it will appear high on the list of results.
So, just post the whole list of names, with the links to the stories about them.
Hey Melina,
I just copied and pasted the whole list of links and titled it “Articles Galore!” That’s all I did.
Hey Sheeple, you’re probably all getting this e mail from Marc but here it is anyway:
Hey Folks-
Jim Earl and I are guest hosting the Jerry Springer radio show tomorrow and Friday. I don’t know where it is on or what time it is on. I know we’re doing it though. It’ll be pretty stripped down but we’ll try to be entertaining. Aside from that you’re on your own if you want to listen.
You can go here:
http://www.airamerica.com/springer/
Love,
Marc Maron
Suzie’s p.s….http://www.wcpt850.com/ carries Springer and so does
the Ohio station http://www.wsai.com/main.html
yeah Susan! i was just about to write to you guys to listen to Springer….that’s so odd.:fustrate:
but Maron and Jim will be on tomorrow and Friday:banana::yippee:
is someone going to record it??
That’ll be fun. Be sure to call the show 1-877-34-jerry
ahhhh…the best thing is you can actually call them!! 1-877-34-jerry
that is, if it’s live and not pre-recorded:paranoid:
haha…Trav, we’re on the same wavelength:nod:
wow. I guess we were.:paranoid:
alright, well, I’ll see you peeps later
night night everyone:fist:
6 days till:reaper:
uh..16 days till..:tommygun::jason::spank::nixon::fist::banana::slap: