i just found this in the nation

it's from 2000 but it further states what sort of man paul newman was

Pete Goes (Anti)Ballistic

By Paul Newman

EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul Newman, one of the greatest actors of his generation and an ardent advocate for peace and progressive causes, died Friday at 83. A great friend and supporter of The Nation, Newman also was an occasional contributor to the magazine. In this piece, written in August 2000, he cast the nuclear arms race in characteristically sardonic and deeply personal terms. We will miss him.

My grandson, Pete, is simultaneously perusing the New York Times and playing chess with our next-door neighbor, who chortles and takes Pete's rook.
Pete is four and a half and is about to overtake Leonardo da Vinci, both in art and science. The neighbor is 43, an ex-intelligence officer and a spokesperson for the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. He outweighs Pete by 191 pounds but, as noted, is no match for the kid upstairs, if you get my meaning.

The big guy captures Pete's rook. "You are weak on defense, kiddo," he chortles.

Pete slithers his queen across the board. "Checkmate," says the kid. "You are weak on defense, here and at work." He points to the headline:

Key Missile Parts Are Left Untested as Booster Fails

"His team just flunked yet another of many missile tests, Gramps. A leaky defense umbrella, if ever I saw one."

"We only flunked the first, most proven, reliable stage of the test, kiddo," says the big guy. "The most sophisticated, complicated, experimental, unsuccessful, least likely elements of the test never got a chance to fail, so how do you know they wouldn't succeed? As Defense Secretary Cohen said, 'The test was a disappointment, but it was one of those failures that was at least expected.'".............

i am torn (so to speak)

about destroying books. but hell, LOOK at these


Mike Stilkey has been featured before on our site... his whimsical book figures (maybe pulp fiction heroes?) are great addition to someone's collection or library

"The Book of Nails" by Daniel Essig:

from dark roasted blend

please check out the other photos as well

please do this

i don't know if you've ever listened to pandora or not. if the not, DO SO. it's AMAZING. you make your OWN radio stations. it's wicked cool. please call congress ASAP

Pandora, SOMA FM, other net radio broadcasters ask supporters to call Congress ASAP.

Posted by Xeni Jardin,Tom Conrad of Pandora tweets, "Help save @pandora_radio: call 202-225-3121 NOW, ask for your rep, & ask them to support H.R. 7084. Critical vote Saturday AM., so call now!"

In more than 140 characters, on the Pandora blog:

After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, artists and record companies are finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save Pandora and Internet radio. But just as we've gotten close, large traditional broadcast radio companies have launched a covert lobbying campaign to sabotage our progress...............

oh no, paul newman died

he lived in my state. i support his hole in the wall gang (really, he didn't HAVE to do this, BUT HE DID)

not only was he a great actor, he was a GREAT HUMAN BEING

The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Honors the Life and Legacy of its Beloved Founder Paul Newman
............Paul’s dream lives on in the joy, magic and healing power of Camp. What an extraordinary privilege to have shared his friendship and affection. ...........

Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83

Paul Newman, superstar who personified cool onscreen, dies at 83 after battling cancer

AP

(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.

Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues........

Paul Newman Dies at 83

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Paul Newman in 2006.

ah of course

it's the NEGROES that caused the crisis! we should have known! (that is sarcasm for those of you that didn't know)

Bachmann Blames President Clinton, ‘Blacks,’ And ‘Other Minorities’ For Current Financial Crisis»

Yesterday in a Senate hearing on the financial crisis, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke on what caused the situation. To make her point, she read from an article called “How A Clinton-Era Rule Rewrite Made Subprime Crisis Inevitable,” written by Terry Jones in the right-wing publication Investor’s Business Daily.

The article criticizes the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for pushing “Fannie and Freddie to aggressively lend to minority communities.” Jones goes on to say that Clinton was misguided to push “homeownership as a way to open the door for blacks and other minorities to enter the middle class.”

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) sharply criticized Bachmann and other conservatives who have been trying to pin the economic crisis on minorities:

I personally am not going to just sit by and let people trash programs that helped folks get into housing who have been struggling to get in......

this is what SMART people want

61 of 'em at that!

Burned by Bush, Skittish Nobel Laureates Rally Behind Obama

By Sarah Lai Stirland

A list of 61 Nobel Laureates issued an open letter to their fellow Americans Thursday urging them to vote for Barack Obama.

Asked about the basis of their support, a small sub-group of those scientists' answered: Because he's a safe bet, and because he would make science education and research funding a priority.

A trio of Nobel Laureates reached out to the media together with the Obama campaign Thursday to explain their support. They sounded haunted by the past eight years of the Bush Administration's unflagging record of fudging scientific evidence to suit political aims, and by its powerfully symbolic exile of its science advisers from the White House.

"We join this effort because we strongly believe that US science policy has been disastrous during the past several years, and that we need new and visionary leadership to ensure America’s dominant position in the sciences, and to maintain our nation’s competitiveness in the world." said Bob Horvitz, a MIT biologist who won a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2002.

The Nobel Laureates noted that federal funding has been important in helping them with their own achievements and discoveries.

The three scientists who held a conference call with reporters Thursday said that they couldn't trust John McCain's positions regarding science policy because of political pressure from religious conservatives. They were particularly concerned about McCain's position on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research......

hmmmmmmmmmmm she's scary stupid

it scares the shite out o' ME fo sho
and like someone on msnbc said in the wee hours of this morning, biden was right out there giving his play by play AFTER the debate, WHERE THE F**K was sarevil? (well we all know why they're keeping her locked away. not cause she doesn't have a penis. it's because she's as the three stooges would say, an ignoramus!)

Cafferty to Blitzer: 'Don't make excuses' for Palin
For those who feel sympathy for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during her recent response to a question on the bailout, here is a word of advice.

Don't tell Jack Cafferty.

The CNN anchorman lambasted Palin for her thoughts on the $700 billion bailout proposed by the Bush administration. After showing a clip of the Alaskan governor's Friday interview with Katie Couric on CBS' The Early Show, he had this to say.

"If John McCain wins, this woman will be one 72-year-old's heartbeat away from being president of the United States, and if that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should," Cafferty said............

Conservative columnist: Palin 'clearly out of her league,' should quit race
After a series of fumbling interviews, Sarah Palin's sheen is beginning to fade, even among some Republicans.

National Review's Kathleen Parker laments that the hockey mom turned PTA head turned governor actually might not be ready to be a heartbeat from the presidency.Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League........

Paraguay's president says he turned down offer to meet Palin
Steve Clemons
Apparently not everyone wants to have their photograph taken with Sarah Palin.

Paraguay President Fernando Lugo, while attending both the UN General Assembly meetings and the Clinton Global Initiative, shared with friends over dinner some of the other meetings he had been having in New York.

After enumerating the various heads of state he'd met with, the room went silent and then laughed a bit when he confided that he was approached about meeting with GOP Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

President Lugo said he turned the meeting down.
...........

the numbskull is up to her numbskullery best (again)

from VetVoice

Sarah Palin Links Iraq to 9/11 (again)

by: Brandon Friedman

Reporters have been clamoring for weeks to get a shot at asking Sarah Palin questions in an unstructured setting. When they finally got the opportunity this morning, Palin again demonstrated why the McCain campaign has striven to keep her hidden away. Because during her brief press appearance today, presumably to the horror of the campaign, the Alaska governor wasted no time in linking Iraq to 9/11:

it's not that everybody else isn't doing it

it's that she's standing up at podiums and airing commercials saying she's NOT doing it. make her accountable NOW because later IS too late

is there even going to BE a later? i don't know it's rather doom and gloom out there, no?

she's NOT who she says she is and you all know it

Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show

By James V. Grimaldi and Robert O'Harrow Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writers
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows.
The 41 gifts Palin accepted during her 20 months as governor include honorific tributes, expensive artwork and free travel for a family member. They also include more than $2,500 in personal items from Calista, a large Alaska native corporation with a variety of pending state regulatory and budgetary issues, and a gold-nugget pin valued at $1,200 from the city of Nome, which lobbies on municipal, local and capital budget matters, documents show. About a quarter of the entities bestowing gifts on the governor are represented by one of Alaska's most influential mining lobbyists, who said in an interview that she was not involved in the tributes.

and we have this from rollingstone.com/">rolling stone

The Truth About Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's credentials as a "reformer" are nothing but spin. She has sided with Big Oil, lobbied to increase pork spending and abused her public power to carry out personal vendettas. Here's a guide to separating myth from fact.

TIM DICKINSON

THE MYTH: "She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay. And made a profit!" — John McCain, at a campaign stop in Wisconsin

THE FACTS: No one bought the jet online. It was eventually sold through an aircraft broker — at a loss to taxpayers of nearly $600,000....

.........

THE MYTH: "We ... championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress." — Sarah Palin, convention speech

THE FACTS: As mayor, employed a lobbyist who also worked for Jack Abramoff to secure $27 million in pork spending for Wasilla — more than $4,000 per resident. In her two years as governor, requested $453 million in earmarks. Alaska ranks first in the nation for pork, raking in seven times the national average.............

............

THE MYTH: "She's from a small town with small-town values." — Fred Thompson, convention speech

THE FACTS: Wasilla and the surrounding valley recently named the meth capital of Alaska, with 42 meth labs busted in a single year.............

because we're living in oz

and we're in wonderland and everything is rosy and cozy and nice. because the trees drip lemon drops and money lines our streets.

because they think we're stupid - they think by shutting people who dare speak the truth OR they think by lying to us we won't find out about all THEIR dirty little secrets
once again FAIR AND BALANCED MY BIG FAT ASS

Fox host tells guest mentioning McCain role in Keating Five scandal to 'pipe down'
Nick Juliano

'Cut his mike,' producer suggests

The Keating Five scandal, and John McCain's role in it, has received relatively little mention in presidential campaign coverage, and at least one Fox News host seems dedicated to keeping it that way.

Appearing Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, radio host Mike Papantonio tried to remind viewers about McCain's intervention with federal regulators on behalf of real estate mogul Charles Keating, who was trying to avoid regulations of a savings and loan he owned during the S&L crisis of the 1980s.

F&F's Steve Doocy told Papantonio to "pipe down," called him "rude" and demanded he "cut it out." A show producer could be overheard saying "cut his mike."

As Papantonio tries one last time to explain the details of the Keating Five scandal, Doocy again cuts him off.

"This is not the History Channel," he says....

please don't elect this numbskull

and i'm being nice

In CBS Interview, Palin Cites 'Victory' in Iraq

By Howard Kurtz

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sarah Palin, describing the need for more troops in Afghanistan, said the United States has achieved "victory" in Iraq.

In an interview with CBS's Katie Couric, the second part of which airs tonight, the Alaska governor pointed to logistical problems in battling the Taliban: "Things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that -- Bin Laden is -- is hiding out right now and . . . and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement. There . . . there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that . . . a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq. And as I say, Katie, that we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq."........

i love cake

i don't even know where to start. i'm going to ramble. sure i love cake, the kind one bakes (as long as it's vegan) but i mean THIS CAKE
who by the way have the following on their homepage of their website:


"I think God's will has to be done in unifying
people and companies to get that gas line
built, so pray for that."

-- Sarah Palin

anyway, i usually publish or link to vegan recipes and vegan blogs on my craft, recipe, 'nice stuff ONLY' blog, the reformed pirate. however, i vowed NEVER to post about or talk about anything political on that blog. so i'm doing this post HERE.

i found the BEST NAMED BLOG EVER today and it's a VEGAN blog too. however, unless you were a fan of cake, you'd never 'get' it. i included the video at the bottom of this post and that's why the post is here at the ol' madwoman blog and not the reformed pirate blog. the video is ummmmmmmm well it includes some political stuff

anyway, the vegan blog i found is called (i hope you're ready for this):

seitan is my motor (i am SO SO SO very amused by that, i can't even tell you)

the actual blog moved here seitan is my motor but the one above still is working too. please watch the video below to 'GET' the blog title

'nuff said

'tifanie'? TIFANIE????????????????????/
Nothing says 'economic crisis' like the return of the $5,000 make-up lady

John Aravosis (DC) ·
Yes, nothing quite says "I feel your pain" like a $5,000 make-up artist at your beck and call the same day you declare that you've stopped campaigning to show that you "get" the economic crisis.

Tell me the woman on the right, making up John McCain today for his Katie Couric interview, isn't the same woman who previously made John McCain up to the left, the $5,000 American Idol make-up artist McCain has previously hired...............

what a guy!

don't worry, he's not JUST racist, he's a misogynist too!

there is so much to say, but at the same time, i have to just shut up now. my mind is almost at the melting point (not just about this, but EVERYTHING)

Metairie lawmaker considers bill to fund sterilizations

by Richard A. Webster Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS - State Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, fears Louisiana may be headed toward an economic crisis if the percentage of people dependent on the government is not decreased.

His solution: pay impoverished women $1,000 to have their tubes tied so they will stop having babies they can’t afford.

The idea came to LaBruzzo after hurricanes Katrina and Gustav when the state was forced to evacuate, shelter and care for tens of thousands of people.

"I realized that all these people were in Louisiana's care and what a massive financial responsibility that is to the state," LaBruzzo said. "I said, 'I wonder if it might be a good idea to pay some of these people to get sterilized.'"

LaBruzzo said he is researching the issue, and if he finds that the number of people on welfare has increased on a dramatic and continuous basis over the past several decades, he may introduce a bill during the next legislative session promoting voluntary sterilization in exchange for monetary compensation.......

...........

Reaction to LaBruzzo's proposal has been swift. It has been called racist and reminiscent of the genocidal policies of the Nazis.

Shana Griffin, interim director of the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic, described it as a modern day version of eugenics, a theory that promotes improving humanity’s future by decreasing the number of babies produced by people who are seen as physically, socially or mentally deficient.............

becuase this is what christian colleges

are supposed to do??????????????????? yeah, it's mighty christian of ya!

Obama effigy hung from tree at US Christian college

Officials at a US Christian college have launched an investigation after a cardboard effigy of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was hung from a tree, a statement said Wednesday.

George Fox University, in Newberg, Oregon, said in a statement on its website that the cutout of Obama was found hanging from a tree on campus early Tuesday morning before being removed by staff.

A sign reading "Act Six reject" was taped to the cutout. Act Six is a scholarship program run by the college granted to 10 student leaders from urban Portland. Most of the students currently benefiting from the program are ethnic minorities, the statement said.

George Fox University President Robin Baker was to address the college's 1,800-strong undergraduate body later Wednesday............

i haven't watched him in forever

partly because my television has been rendered non-operational (oh i have another brand new one - still in the box. i'm just sort of grooving on NO tv at my house. i WATCH tv other places, just not here). but i've always watched and LOVED letterman. i cannot stomach leno and i have an even more averse reaction to o'brien. i cannot watch o'brien for more than 3 minutes without wanting to puke. i have tried many a time. he's popular. i feel i'm missing something. well, i just can't do it!

anyway, i love letterman EVEN MORE now!

and please note, mccain can't debate barack obama BUT HE HAS TIME TO TALK TO F**KING KATIE COURIC?????????????????? WTF????????????????????

McCain mocked by Letterman after 'Late Night' cancellation
After receiving a call from the McCain campaign canceling an appearance on tonight's Late Night with David Letterman, it was discovered that McCain stopped down the street to be interviewed by CBS' Katie Couric rather than rushing back to Washington to work on the proposed Wall Street bailout, as Letterman had been told.

"Hey Senator," Letterman mocked in front of live video of the interview, "can I give you a ride home?"

Letterman had earlier expressed suspicion at McCain's move to suspend his campaign. "This doesn't smell right," he said. "This isn't the way a tested hero behaves."

"I think someone's putting something in his Metamucil...He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second-string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?"
..................

the following video is a SCREAM and it's sad too. it's funny in that dave goes on for over 9 minutes about mccevil. he starts out saying how much he admires the man. what a hero mccevil is. THEN ...well, you just have to WATCH IT. it's worth it, i promise (the last line is precious)

isn't right here right now

EXACTLY when you want to hear the people who could be your next president? don't you want to know what they are going to DO about this crisis? (hopefully NOT give 700 billion to the people who CAUSED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE)

at any rate, sure i think both barack and mccevil SHOULD take time to DO SOMETHING about this crisis. to participate, to think, to talk, to help. HOWEVER, a debate takes a couple of hours. the prep takes a while, sure. let's say a DAY. traveling and the like

mccevil, i NEED NOW MORE THAN EVER TO HEAR WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP ME AND OUR COUNTRY

McCain suspends campaign, wants to delay debate until after bailout vote
Muriel Kane and Dave Edwards
John McCain has said he will suspend his presidential campaign Thursday and wants to postpone Friday's scheduled debate with Democratic candidate Barack Obama to return to Washington and work on a solution to the financial crisis gripping the country.

Obama said he was caught off guard by McCain's televised proposal and insisted that the American people deserved to hear the two candidates outline their economic proposals during their first side-by-side appearance.

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time that the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said. "I think that it is going to be part of the president's job to be able to deal with more than one thing at once.......

nothins gonna change my world

all you have to do is promise to vote

and you'll be sent a free download of wilco and fleet foxes singing dylan's i shall be released

...........

Such tumultuous times. And in the spirit of giveaways that seem to be sweeping the nation, we've got something free for you. No it's not a pile of cash (sorry) but rather an audio postcard of sorts from a summer's night in Oregon with our friends the Fleet Foxes & a lovely Bob Dylan tune. All we ask is you check the "I pledge to vote in the 2008 Election" button below. If you can spare it, we also encourage you to consider a donation to Feeding America . (and please feel free to pass this link along to friends, family members, etc.).........

(found via boing boing)

uh - oh

someone is fibbin'. is it the grey lady or is it the mccain campaign? hmmmmmmmmmmm

NYT: McCain lied about campaign manager Rick Davis' ties to Fannie and Freddie
John Aravosis (DC)

A rather thick article from the NYT, but the gist of it is that McCain on Sunday night said that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, who was paid $2m by Fannie and Freddie to help keep them deregulated, had nothing to do with either group since he left their employ in 2005. Not true, we learn, via the NYT.

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

They said they did not recall Mr. Davis doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee composed of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the coming midterm congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s his firm, Davis & Manafort, was kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis’s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who was widely expected by 2006 to run again for the White House....

Freddie Mac’s roughly $500,000 in payments to Davis & Manafort began immediately after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in late 2005 disbanded an advocacy coalition that they had set up and hired Mr. Davis to run, the people familiar with the arrangement said...............

into the light of the dark black night.............

aw c'mon it's funny!

isn't it scary

there are people like ron owen in the world? this heap o' crap is in australia but we have plenty of 'em here so not to worry

why are they so afraid? methinks thou doth protest too much ron owen (if you get what i'm sayin')

Only gay right is to die, says Ron Owen's sticker

By Michael McKenna

GUN lobbyist Ron Owen has been told he is entitled to express his homophobic views, but that he went too far with the bumper sticker: "Gay Rights? Under God's law the only rights gays have is the right to die."

Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Tribunal found Mr Owen guilty of inciting hatred against homosexuals with the bumper sticker when he parked his car outside the Cooloola Shire Council officers in Gympie, north of Brisbane.

The publisher of the ultra-right-wing pro-militia magazine Lock Stock & Barrel and former local councillor was also chastised on Monday for comments he made in the ensuing public outcry that engulfed the rural community, The Australian reports.

The former president of the National Firearm Owners of Australia was taken to the tribunal by several local lesbians, who claimed they had been offended despite only one having seen the bumper sticker.

Two of the women were awarded $5000, with a third awarded $2500 in damages.

Tribunal member Darryl Rangiah handed down a 77-page decision, which also ordered Mr Owen to publish a written apology for inciting hatred and causing offence to the homosexual community of Gympie........

the f**king steamin' pile o' shite is at it again

jabba the limburger is loving to hear himself talk 'folks'. i HATE him saying that; 'folks' that is. and no, i don't listen to him. his program is on RIGHT before one i DO listen to (it's a local ct radio show, afternoon drive with colin mcenroe). sometimes i change the channel a bit early and accidentally hear flush the hutt jabbering on like he actually KNOWS something. like he actually has the FACTS. he is so effing self-absorbed i just cannot IMAGINE how people can listen to him for more than 2 minutes. really, i can't.

anyway, it should NOT matter if one is african-american OR arab-american. it DOES matter though. i'm NOT naiive enough to think mr and ms middle america have issues with arab-americans. they do and we all know they do. HELL, THEY HAVE ISSUES WITH AFRICAN AMERICANS as well (don't say we as a country don't because we as a country DO)
Rush Limbaugh Attacks Obama with Lies and Bigotry

Posted by Booman, Booman Tribune
From Media Matters:

On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is "not black," and went on to ask: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American."

Think about it.

As of 2006, Arbitron ratings indicated that The Rush Limbaugh Show had a minimum weekly audience of 13.5 million listeners, making it the largest radio talk show audience in the United States.

Somewhere around 14 million Americans were assured today that Barack Obama is not African-American, but Arab-American. Here is the ethnic composition of Kenya, where Barack Obama's father came from (according to the CIA):

Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African (Asian, European, and Arab) 1%

Barack Obama Sr. was a member of the Luo tribe. They are not Arab. In fact, the vast majority of them are not even Muslim.

The Luo traditionally believed in an afterlife and a supreme creator, whom they called Nyasaye, and had a strong ancestor cult. Today most Kenya Luo are Christians, and a small number are Muslim.

In fact Barack Obama Sr. would not have been even nominally Muslim if his father (Barack's grandfather) had not converted.

His father, Onyango Obama (c. 1895-1979, buried at Alego),[1] belonged to the Luo tribe and was born Onyango, son of Obama (buried at Kendu Bay, Kenya) and wife Nyaoke, in one of their villages. Before working as a cook for missionaries in Nairobi, Onyango had travelled widely, enlisting with the name Onyango Obama in the British colonial forces during World War I and visiting Europe, India, and Zanzibar, where he converted from Christianity to Islam............

no one should be surprised

the outlook is 'grim'. no, we're not talking about the economy or global warming or iraq or the victims of natural disasters or the lack of health care (what was it...hmmm.....LET THEM EAT CAKE!!! but remember what happened to her that said it)

it's afghanistan.


and NO ONE should be surprised the real story won't be released until AFTER the election.

please someone who is planning on voting for mccain / palevil PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave one tiny iddy biddy comment and tell me why. i just have to know

'Grim' Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US

No Plans to Declassify" New National Intelligence Estimate for White House

By BRIAN ROSS

US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process.

Officials say a draft of the classified NIE, representing the key judgments of the US intelligence community's 17 agencies and departments, is being circulated in Washington and a final "coordination meeting" of the agencies involved, under the direction of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is scheduled in the next few weeks.

According to people who have been briefed, the NIE will paint a "grim" picture of the situation in Afghanistan, seven years after the US invaded in an effort to dismantle the al Qaeda network and its Taliban protectors.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Vanee Vines, said "it is not the ODNI's policy to publicly comment on national intelligence products that may or may not be in production."

The finished secret NIE would be sent to the White House and other policy makers.

Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, has made it his policy that such key judgments "should not be declassified", although several have recently, including a report on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"That does not portend that this is going to become a standard practice," McConnell said it a guidance memo last year.

Seth Jones, an expert on Afghanistan at the Rand Corporation think tank, called the situation in Afghanistan "dire.".......

street art

by peter gibson


(via dark roasted blend)

maverick?

that was some dude's name in a movie about flyin' cowboys

it AIN'T john mccain
Factcheck.org: It's true that Mccain voted 95% of the time with Bush
John Aravosis (DC) ·

From Factcheck.org, an independent site that both campaigns cite as a legit source:

Is it true John McCain voted with George Bush 95 percent of the time?

The Obama campaign keeps claiming McCain has voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time. Is this true? Is this significant?

A: Yes, it's true, according to Congressional Quarterly's assessment of McCain's voting record.................

i love paula deen

and it's not for any of the reasons you'd think

i don't love her because of the food she cooks. i'm vegan and that woman cooks her bacon in butter (and no, i'm NOT kidding). i WOULD love to be sitting in her kitchen and having a cup of coffee with her though. i'd even love to cook for HER - show her you can eat something tasty and NOT filled with grease and mayo (ok ok ok i WAS a former mayo addict till i went all out vegan) and meat and butter

i don't love her because she had 'mr jimmy' (as in carter) and ms rosalynn on and cooked and ate with them at THEIR place

i don't love her because she has dogs roaming around her kitchen while she cooks (and lady bird talking and chirping away in the background)

i don't love her because of how much she loves her family and friends. you can tell how much she loved those gone by too, just by how she talks about them

i don't love her because she had michelle obama on this saturday night (i watched it and enjoyed michelle chowing down on fried shrimp and telling paula what their family enjoyed eating). oh all right, having michelle obama on made me love paula deen EVEN MORE than i already did

i just love paula because she was rather broke, was a single mother, was afraid to go out of her house (for a period of time) AND pulled herself up by her bootstraps and DID something about it. she started her own bid-nez and TOOK CARE of her own bid-nez!

aw paula i think you're swell!

Michelle Obama Cooks Up Quite a Political Dish on the Food Network
Posted by Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake

Michelle Obama scored a huge coup, with an appearance on Paula's Party on Food Network, taking her "home cooking mama" appeal straight to the most sought-after demographic this year: women. Get this from People Magazine:

"She was everything I thought she would be: Smart, great sense of humor and loves to talk about family," Deen told PEOPLE of meeting Mrs. Obama.

The pair prepared fried shrimp for Deen's show and Deen said, "I can tell she spends time in the kitchen – she was very relaxed when we cooked. And that lady is a good eater."

Not that it shows. "Did I tell you she is in the best shape ever? Everyone was staring at her amazing arms!" said Deen.

Food Network doesn't allow political ads, so this was huge in terms of reach-out. Both campaigns have been running ads designed to hit female viewers -- during talk shows, soap operas, you name it. Demographic strategery.

This year, the NYTimes writes about the Oprah-ization of campaign marketing to women. And Karen Tumulty at Time has hit on a "maxed-out moms" phrasing for the volatile bloc candidates are courting. .......

a MUST read

no comments from me necessary!
Sarah Palin's Creationism Will Rape the Environment
By Chip Ward, Tomdispatch.com.

Despite the media feeding frenzy, we still may be asking ourselves, "Just who exactly is Sarah Palin?" Mixed in with the Davy-Crockett-meets-SuperMom vignettes -- all those moose hunting, ice fishing, snowmobiling, baby-juggling, and hockey-momming moments -- we've also learned that she doesn't care much for her former brother-in-law and wasn't afraid to use her office to go after his job as a state trooper; that she was for the "bridge to nowhere" before she was against it; that she's against earmarks unless they benefit her constituents; that she can deliver a snappy wisecracking speech, thinks banning books in libraries is okay, considers herself a pit bull with lipstick, and above all else, wants to drill the ever-lovin' daylights out of every corner of her home state (which John McCain's handlers have somehow translated into being against Big Oil, since she insisted on a marginally bigger cut of the profits for Alaskans).

Oh, and -- not that this is very important to Americans or the planet -- she now thinks that global warming might possibly be human-made sorta though she didn't before, despite the fact that the state she governs is on the frontline of climate change. And, of course, she's a classic right-wing, fundamentalist Christian: against abortion -- check; against same-sex marriage -- check; against stem-cell research -- check; favors teaching Creationism in public schools -- check.

It's that last item, her willingness to put Creationism up against the teaching of evolutionary science in the classroom on a he-says-she-says basis, that's far more revealing of just who our new Republican vice presidential candidate is than we generally assume. It deserves the long, hard look that it hasn't yet gotten. Most Democrats and progressives tend to think of the teaching of Creationism as a mere sidebar item on their agenda of political don't-likes, but it's not. Sarah Palin's bias towards Creationism is a window into her political soul and a measure of John McCain's hypocrisy..........

just when you thought 'those people*'

couldn't get any worse...THEY DO




NM GOP leader under fire for 'Hispanics above blacks' slur
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
A local Republican Party leader in New Mexico has set off a firestorm by suggesting in an interview that Hispanics are racists who won't vote for a black candidate. Now even the state Republican chairman is calling for his resignation.

Fernando C' de Baca, who heads the GOP in Bernalillo County, was quoted by BBC reporter Jon Kelly on Friday as saying that even though the polls show Barack Obama with a substantial lead over John McCain among Hispanic voters, "The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African-Americans came here as slaves. ... Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president."

The Hispanic community has reacted to de Baca's remarks with anger. Ralph Arellanes of the Hispanic Roundtable of New Mexico told CNN, "I'm insulted and I'm outraged." The Obama campaign issued a similar statement by the speaker of the New Mexico House, Democrat Ben Lujan, saying, "I am outraged. ... It is an insult to the Hispanic community and to all of the voters of New Mexico.."
........






*by 'those people' i mean republicans in general. not all of them. MOST of them though

i'm curious

is ANYONE going to ask sarevil if she believes in the rapture? i am almost certain of the answer. do YOU want someone's finger on the button that believes in the rapture?

do you love your friends, your family, your neighbors?

humans?

animals?

the country?

the planet?

life itself?

IS someone going to ask sarevil?

please
please
please

someone ASK HER

i am so laughing!

wicked funny

(she has a tub WITHOUT handles!!!)

there's a video at the link

no embed code so if you want to see it you'll have to click

Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins

By James Morgan
Science reporter, BBC News

Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300 BC - a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious temple was built.

The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring's original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought.

The dating is the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by Profs Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright.

The duo found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a centre of healing.

Others have argued that the monument was a shrine to worship ancestors, or a calendar to mark the solstices.

A documentary following the progress of the recent dig has been recorded by the BBC Timewatch series. It will be broadcast on Saturday 27 September.......

speechless (again)

(except of course to say, how much more proof does one need???)

Bankrupt AIG Underwrote McCain's 'Reform Institute'

By Mark Ames

John McCain is making a big show of criticizing the government "bailout" of insurance giant AIG. But it turns out that AIG, which received $85 billion in US tax dollars earlier this week, is one of the largest donors to McCain's pet think tank, the comically named "Reform Institute," which he co-founded in 2001 "in direct response to the millions of Americans who, during the 2000 presidential campaign, expressed profound disillusionment with corrupt fundraising activities." Apparently, AIG was so troubled over the issue of corrupt fundraising activities that they loaded in as one of the top VIP donors in McCain's nonprofit think-tank, whose website lists AIG in the "over $50,000" donor category--although exactly how much over that $50,000 is still unclear. Nor is it clear why AIG had any business donating so much money to a think tank whose work in no way overlapped with the insurance company's--unless, of course, that money was just meant to gain access to McCain.........

they use such mild and gentle words

such as 'unease'. i am thinking if this EVER happens we're f**ked royally!!! (but how COULD it happen? it just CANNOT period.)

how spot on is this editorial?

Hiding in Plain Sight

Why is Sarah Palin granting so few interviews?

JOHN McCAIN selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate 23 days ago. Since then, Ms. Palin has not held a single news conference with the national media. She has answered only a handful of questions from voters and reporters. She sat down for a lengthy discussion with one nonpartisan interviewer, ABC's Charles Gibson, and granted another interview to conservative Sean Hannity of Fox News, as well as a sit-down with People magazine and some interviews with Alaska media. Where Dick Cheney made the rounds of five news shows the weekend after he was tapped by George W. Bush, Ms. Palin has not turned up on a single Sunday program.

Mr. McCain's selection of an inexperienced and relatively unknown figure was unsettling, and the campaign's decision to keep her sequestered from serious interchanges with reporters and voters serves only to deepen the unease. Mr. McCain is entitled to choose the person he thinks would be best for the job. He is not entitled to keep the public from being able to make an informed assessment of that judgment..........

i missed the sunday morning shows

not that i usually watch them anyway. i get too angry when i watch the 'news' shows on television. for some reason or another, i get angry when i READ them too, but i'm far less vocal. i talk back to the tv, i don't talk back to the paper or the net. yeah, i don't get me either

ABC Panel Tears Into McCain: Not Presidential, Age Should Be An Issue

Sam Stein

For John McCain, the panel discussion on This Week with George Stephanopoulos could not have been more brutal.

Minutes after conservative columnist George Will declared that the Senator was decidedly un-presidential is his unexpected call for the firing of SEC Chairman Chris Cox, Sam Donaldson, the long-time ABC hand, said that McCain's erratic message on the economy again raised questions about his age.

"I suppose the McCain campaign's hope is that when there's a big crisis, people will go for age and experience," said Will. "The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn't John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said 'let's fire somebody.' And picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason... It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate."

Donaldson then jumped in: "It was two days after the he said the fundamentals of the economy were strong. His talking points have gotten all mixed up. And I think the question of age is back on the table."..........

hmmmmmmm

let's be realistic though. if one has seven or eight homes, one needs a car or TWO at each of those homes, NO?

mais oui!
McCain ridiculed over 13 car fleet

Barack Obama's backers Sunday branded Republican John McCain as out of touch and guilty of betraying US workers after it was reported his family owns 13 cars, including several foreign models.

The Republican presidential hopeful and his family have already faced ridicule and criticism from Democrats over a property portfolio which includes seven homes.

The United Auto Workers union (UAW) accused the Arizona senator in a conference call organized by Democrats of not telling the truth about always buying American cars, as the family fleet reportedly includes a Honda and a Volkswagen.

"When he's in the midwest, he tells voters he supports the industry," UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said, referring to economically bereft battleground states........

.........Newsweek said that Obama and his wife Michelle own a single car, a Ford Escape Hybrid, which was dubbed by Gettelfinger as a "green machine" emblematic of a future generation of US vehicles..............

another bullshite study

not unlike the one that said women are happier if they do more 'house work' (not putting house work down some people like to do that more than others). it sounds to me like someone is trying to 'keep us in our place'
on the other hand..... the explanations livingston and judge cite make a bit of sense to me.

it's NOT bullshite women earn less than men for the same jobs. THAT my dears is sadly true. 'studies' like this are NOT going to assist in correcting that either

Study Ties Wage Disparities To Outlook on Gender Roles

By Shankar Vedantam

Washington Post Staff Writer

Men with egalitarian attitudes about the role of women in society earn significantly less on average than men who hold more traditional views about women's place in the world, according to a study being reported today.

It is the first time social scientists have produced evidence that large numbers of men might be victims of gender-related income disparities. The study raises the provocative possibility that a substantial part of the widely discussed gap in income between men and women who do the same work is really a gap between men with a traditional outlook and everyone else.

The differences found in the study were substantial. Men with traditional attitudes about gender roles earned $11,930 more a year than men with egalitarian views and $14,404 more than women with traditional attitudes. The comparisons were based on men and women working in the same kinds of jobs with the same levels of education and putting in the same number of hours per week................

...........Livingston and Judge said there are two possible explanations: Traditional-minded men might negotiate much harder for better salaries, especially when compared with traditional-minded women. Alternatively, it could also be that employers discriminate against women and men who do not subscribe to traditional gender roles.

"It could be that traditional men are hypercompetitive salary negotiators -- the Donald Trump prototype, perhaps," Judge said. "It could be on the employer side that, subconsciously, the men who are egalitarian are seen as effete."

Livingston, a doctoral candidate in management, added: "People make others uncomfortable when they disconfirm stereotypes -- we don't know how to interpret them.".......

instead of keeping on EYE on others

i think we ought to be keeping BOTH eyes on sarevil and toddevil. doesn't anyone else have that gut feeling about them? something not quite right? something not exactly as it seems?

not because they expect civilization to end any day now and only people like them (yeah, i don't quite know what that means either but i DO know i'm not considered to be people like them) will be left roaming the reborn earth

'First Dude' Todd Palin Illustrates Alaska's Blend of Private and Public

By Alec MacGillis and Karl Vick

Washington Post Staff Writers
ANCHORAGE -- Todd Palin grew up as the archetypal Alaskan -- salmon fisherman, champion snowmobiler, North Slope oil worker. But since his wife became governor 20 months ago, his portfolio has broadened: househusband, babysitter, senior adviser, legislative liaison, and -- when the occasion warrants -- enforcer and protector.

He has supervised renovations to the governor's mansion and hopscotched by plane back and forth to Juneau to juggle duties as father and "First Dude," as he has come to be known. And to a degree that has surprised many state government observers, Todd Palin also has become involved in policy, sitting in on his wife's meetings, traveling on state business and weighing in on some legislative issues.

John Harris, the Republican speaker of the Alaska House, said he had never been called by the spouse of a governor before the two calls he got from Todd Palin. One was to argue for moving the state capital to Anchorage. The other was to ask Harris to "keep an eye" on a key aide who had an affair with the wife of one of Todd's best friends.

Political hands in both parties say the Palins are often referred to as a team -- "Sarah and Todd" -- and one Democratic lawmaker said Todd Palin has become her "de facto chief of staff.".........

wow wow and wow

Hawking unveils 'strangest clock'

A £1m clock called the "time eater" has been unveiled at Cambridge University by Professor Stephen Hawking.

The author of A Brief History of Time was guest of honour when the unique clock, which has no hands or numbers, was revealed at Corpus Christi College.

Dubbed the strangest clock in the world, it features a giant grasshopper and has 60 slits cut into its face which light up to show the time.

Its creator John Taylor said he "wanted to make timekeeping interesting".

The Corpus Clock will stand outside the college's library and will be on view to the public.

Tribute

Dr Taylor is an inventor and horologist - one who studies the measurement of time - and was a student at Corpus Christi in the 1950s.

He has given the clock as a gift to his former college...............

coolness daddy-o (AND mommy-o)

(via makezine)

i MORE than agree

i would go so as to say (AND i HAVE said) she is THE WORST POSSIBLE CHOICE FOR VICE PRESIDENT IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. i'd be a damn better choice

British minister says Palin is 'horrendous'

Agence France-Presse
MANCHESTER, England (AFP) — A British government minister attacked Republican US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as "horrendous" at the Labour Party conference on Saturday.

The outburst from Communities Secretary Hazel Blears threatens to undermine Prime Minister Gordon Brown's determination for the British government to maintain a neutral position in the US presidential election.

Speaking at a fringe meeting of the centre-left party during its annual party conference in Manchester, Blears said Palin was capitalising on people's disillusionment with regular politics.

"I just think there is so much anti-politics -- not just in this country but around the world," Blears said.

"One of the reasons why Sarah Palin has been such a phenomenon is because she's anti-politics, anti-Washington.....

nail his good ol' white boy ass down

get those records and not just SOME of 'em. GET ALL OF 'EM. they belong to us. the citizens of the united states of america (i understand SOME may be confidential and i understand if they are redacted or cannot be released at all. however, NONE of them should be destroyed or withheld by the giant dick

Cheney Is Told to Keep Official Records

Judge's Order Responds to Suit Filed by Open-Government Advocates, Historians

By Christopher Lee

Washington Post Staff Writer

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction yesterday ordering Vice President Cheney and the National Archives to preserve all of his official records.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's order came in response to a lawsuit filed this month by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group, joined by several historians and open-government advocates, warned that Cheney might destroy or withhold important documents as the Bush administration winds down if he interprets the Presidential Records Act of 1978 as applying to only some of his official papers.

That, in turn, could deprive historians and the general public of valuable records that illustrate Cheney's role in forming U.S. policy over the past 7 1/2 years, they argued. He is widely considered to be the most influential vice president in history.........