Palin believes dinosaurs and men once coexisted

Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago -- about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct -- the teacher said.

Full Story in the LA Times

Roman siege engine for sale

The things you can find on eBay ...

"Ever wanted to own a full-scale Roman siege engine? Now you can!

The ballista was successfully built and managed to fire a very heavy stone ball some 127 yards. (Remember, these things used to successfully lay siege to entire cities.)

The ballista, dissembled, has been in our Scotland timber yard since then, so we have decided to make some room (quite a bit of room, actually) and sell it on eBay.

The ballista has aged gracefully and needs a little restoration work to get it back into shape again – though as a demonstration piece rather than as a fireable weapon. We’ve decided to sell the ballista ‘as seen’ for those who fancy constructing it themselves – though we are very happy to provide construction as an additional service. (To be fair, we recommend it – it will take people with timber expertise to do the required work.)

Our full-size Roman siege catapult for sale on eBay"

T.O. speaks up

By Vic Carucci

It only took one loss for Terrell Owens to complain that he isn't a large enough part of the Cowboys' offense. That might have been true in Week 3 against Green Bay, but it wasn't the case against Washington. The Cowboys lost that game mainly because they didn't run the ball enough and because their defense couldn't stop Jason Campbell and the rest of the Redskins' passing attack. Owens always wants us to believe that when he speaks out, tossing his quarterback and coaches under the bus in the process, he is just showing his competitive nature. Not true. What he is showing is what we have seen so many times before -- the ability to destroy whatever cohesion his team, even one loaded with multiple stars, is able to build. Managing their ultra-high expectations is hard enough for the Cowboys without Owens being so quick to place blame when things turn sour. Any chance he'll figure that out? I'm not holding my breath.

(Vic Carucci is a senior columnist for NFL.com)

I'm not holding my breath either, Vic.

As of this moment ...

4176 Brave men and women are dead due to the cabal's greed in Iraq.

Support Our Troops ... Bring Them Home Today!

Dumb Crook News

Oh, my head hurts ...

From the "They walk among us" Department:

Thousands of dollar bills stolen from a restaurant in California's high desert could not have been more clearly marked ...

The Homestead had a tradition of customers writing messages on the currency and hanging it on the walls.

Authorities say that didn't stop 34-year-old Donald Dejarnette from using some of the cash last week to pay for - of all things - a court fine.

Kern County sheriff's Sgt. Tyson Davis said a clerk immediately recognized the bills.

Some even had "Homestead" written on them.

Dejarnette and four others have been arrested on suspicion of taking $8,000 from the restaurant.

About $1,000 has been recovered.

The sheriff's department Tuesday didn't know whether any of the suspects has hired an attorney.

(Want to lay odds on some of that $7,000 still missing will be used to pay for these idiots' lawyers?)

Here Kitty, Kitty

A police officer didn't think much of a call to shoo off a bothersome "kitty cat" at a Casper, Wyoming home on Monday. But after the officer arrived at the home, he ran for cover after seeing a male mountain lion weighing 80 to 90 pounds.

Beverly Hood said she was inside when she first saw the mountain lion lying on her porch Monday. Hood said the lion hissed at her, but she wasn't scared.

She called 911, animal control and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and reported that she had a bothersome "big cat." A dispatcher told Officer Mike Ableman that it was a house cat.

A game warden tranquilized the mountain lion and the animal was relocated.

Portland newspaper draws protestors over DVD insert

About 70 protesters gathered outside The Oregonian Monday morning to reprimand the newspaper for distributing an hourlong DVD, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” as paid advertising in its Sunday editions.
In a brief news conference, speakers characterized the DVD as Muslim-bashing propaganda promoting fear, hate and division.

“It is a moral obligation of a newspaper in a community to inform, not misinform,” said the Rev. Chuck Cooper, director of ministries of Micah’s Village, a progressive Christian community near Clackamas.

“Obsession” conflicts with Oregon values of equity, diversity and inclusion, said Kayse Jama, executive director of the Center for Intercultural Organizing in North Portland, which organized the demonstration with help from The Good Faith Coalitiom and other faith and human rights groups.

The Oregonian distributed the DVD because it has an obligation to make its advertising as open as possible under the principle of free speech, Publisher Fred Stickel said. Newspapers generally accept all advertising that is not illegal or blatantly immoral.

Full Story @ Oregon Live

Invasion of the Jelly Crab Aliens

Interesting isn't it!?

Spicy chili kills amateur chef?!

Andrew Lee, aged 33, apparently died after making and eating an intensely spicy chili. Lee was apparently in good health and toxicologists are running tests to figure out exactly what killed him.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

The forklift driver from Edlington, West Yorkshire in England, made a tomato sauce with red chillies grown by his father, but after eating it suffered intense discomfort and itching.

Mr Lee went to bed and asked his girlfriend, Samantha Bailey, to scratch his back until he fell asleep.

When she woke in the morning he was dead, possibly after suffering a heart attack, The Guardian said.

Chef dies after eating 'super hot' chili

Woman Dressed as Cow Gets a Month in Jail

32-year-old Michele Allen received a one-month sentence for disorderly conduct after police received complaints that she was dressed in a cow costume and chasing children, blocking traffic, and urinating on a neighbor's porch.

She wore the costume again when she appeared for sentencing.

One Month in Corral for Disorderly Woman

Muslim Children Gassed at Dayton Mosque

You knew it had to happen!

With all the hate and fear mongering coming from the wing-nuts it was only a matter of when and where not if it would happen ...

Friday, September 26th ended a week in which thousands of copies of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West -- the fear-mongering, anti-Muslim documentary being distributed by the millions in swing states via DVDs inserted in major newspapers and through the U.S. mail -- were distributed by mail in Ohio.

The same day, a "chemical irritant" was sprayed through a window of the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton, where 300 people were gathered for a Ramadan prayer service.

The room that the chemical was sprayed into was the room where babies and children were being kept while their mothers were engaged in prayers.

This, apparently, is what the scare tactic political campaigning of John McCain's supporters has led to -- Americans perpetrating a terrorist attack against innocent children on American soil.

Muslim Children Gassed at Dayton Mosque After Obsession DVD Hits Ohio

No Carte Blanche, No Bailout

The House repugicans voted down the Bailout yesterday because it did not give Carte Blanche to the shrub and the cabal with no accountability something the Democratcs will never allow.

We the taxpayers are tired of and will not pay for the "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets, as put by Pelosi.

What is amazing is that voting down the Bailout is the right thing to do but the repugicans did it for the wrong reasons.

The Bailout as proposed by the cabal would suffer the same fate from the Democrats but there it would be for the right reasons.

The thieves that caused the problem should have to pay the cost of fixing it - not the taxpayers.
They should go Bankrupt like they have forced many taxpayers to do.

In Raleigh, semi-precious finds all over town

Jeweler has left gifts in boxes throughout the city as a viral marketing campaign.

Somewhere in Raleigh right now there is a small black-and-white striped box tied up with a red ribbon. Inside, there are earrings or a necklace, possibly pearls. It could be on a park bench, or in restaurant.

Find it and it's yours.

No strings. No hidden cameras. Just a feel-good moment during these less-than-feel-good economic times, courtesy of Trey Bailey.

Bailey, director of operations for Bailey's Fine Jewelry, a Raleigh institution, decided last month to try a little viral advertising campaign. Since then he and his staff have left 20 gifts around the city. The first was found by Cecilia Upchurch of Raleigh, whose curiosity was piqued when she saw the little box on a patio table at Cafe Carolina & Bakery in Cameron Village.

“It was Sept. 11, and people were hesitant to touch it,” Upchurch said. “It was nicely wrapped and as pretty as could be. I picked it up and underneath the box the note said, ‘Finder's keeper.'”

She took the box inside the restaurant and opened it in front of the manager. Inside was a pearl stretch bracelet.

It was just luck that Upchurch was even there that day. Both her parents are ill and live in separate nursing facilities. She usually eats lunch in her car on the way to visit them. On that day, her mother was feeling good and told Upchurch to treat herself to lunch instead of driving to the facility.

Upchurch wore the bracelet to dinner that night. She told all her friends about it. She wore it to church and told everyone there. She even told the story on her family's Web site.

Bailey's viral marketing had taken off.

Companies pay thousands of dollars for such publicity. For Bailey's, the cost isn't as high as one might think. Most of the gifts range from $20 to $100. “It's not cheap, but it's not terribly expensive,” Bailey said. Indeed, he just started similar campaigns in Rocky Mount and Greenville, N.C., where he also has stores.

Bailey said he also likes to hear the stories behind the people who find them. “It's a great, intimate way to get to know your customers and your community,” he said.

For now, he plans to continue the campaign indefinitely.

He did consider that someone might think the box was dangerous.

“I thought about it. But then I said, ‘Why should I be so cynical?' I shouldn't let that keep me from doing something that's good.”

Carolina On My Mind

Just watch the video as James Taylor sings "Carolina on my mind" and you will understand why we are in heaven here in western North Carolina.

Charge dropped against man accused of passing gas

Finally some sense from somebody:

A West Virginia man accused of passing gas and fanning it toward a police officer no longer faces a battery charge. The Kanawha County prosecutor's office requested that the charge be dropped against 34-year-old Jose Cruz.

According to a criminal complaint, Cruz passed gas and made a fanning motion toward patrolman T.E. Parsons after being taken to the police station for a breathalyzer test. Cruz denies fanning the gas and says his request to use a restroom when first arriving at the station was denied.

An assistant says Magistrate Jack Pauley signed a motion to dismiss the charge Thursday.

Cruz, who was arrested Tuesday, still faces driving under the influence and other charges.

*****

While 'passing gas' is not the most polite thing to do it hardly rises to the level of 'battery' as Cruz was originally charged with so dismissing that charge was the only call to make ... now as to the DUI and other charges - if he was intoxicated throw the bum under the jailhouse.

Just in case you missed it ...

Two posts back I posted the news blurb that we all in North Carolina knew was fact but now the national pollsters are saying it as well:

Obama leads in North Carolina among voters.

This has always been a 'Blue' state. We have just been hijacked of late like Florida and Ohio were in 2000 and 2004.

Black Monday for the third Time!

Today - The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 777.68 points, its biggest one-day drop in history.

It ended down 7% at 10365.45, down 9.3% since the crisis erupted a few weeks ago on Wall Street following the meltdown of Lehman Brothers holdings.

The three worst days in in economic history for the United States have all been under the repugicans allowing more and more greed.

So tell me .... What is that horseshit about repugicans being better for the economy, again?

Blurb

Obama leads McPain 47-45 in North Carolina.

Mysterious cargo on Iranian tanker kills Somali pirates

Somali pirates who hijacked an Iranian shipping vessel said to be carrying either "minerals" or "small arms and chemical weapons" have, en masse, fallen ill with a mysterious disease. The head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme has been threatened with a lawsuit by the Iranian government for issuing spooky statements to the press to the effect that there was some kind of evil "chemicals" on the ship.

He told one news publication, The Long War Journal, that during the six days he had negotiated with the pirates, a number of them had become sick and died.

“That ship is unusual,” he was quoted as saying. “It is not carrying a normal shipment.”

The pirates did reveal that they had tried to inspect the ship’s cargo containers when some of them fell sick — but the containers were locked.

Osman’s delegation spoke to the ship’s captain and its engineer by cellphone, demanding to know more about the cargo.

Initially it was claimed the cargo contained “crude oil”; later it was said to be “minerals”.

And Mwangura has added: “Our sources say it contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals.”

But IRISL has denied that — and threatened legal action against Mwangura. The company has reportedly paid the pirates 200,000 — the first of several “ransom installments”, but that, too, has been denied.

Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship

South Dakota court asked whether profanity is disorderly

The South Dakota Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments over whether yelling profanities at a passing police officer is protected speech under the U.S. Constitution.

Attorneys for Marcus Suhn argued the First and 14th Amendments protected him and a misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction should be overturned. He appealed to the high court after being convicted for a Sept. 2, 2007, exchange with Police Officer David Gibson.

The Constitution gives Americans to express ideas and opinions freely, Suhn's attorney, Robert Fite said. "That right also gives us the right to criticize our government and its agencies without fear of retribution."

But Assistant Attorney General Ann Meyer countered that a lower court judge was right in concluding Suhn's exclamations fell under the "fighting words" exception of the First Amendment.

Meyer also said the disorderly conduct charge was appropriate because Suhn uttered the profanities among a crowd of bar patrons, which created a risk, Meyer said.

"You've got 100 people coming out of the bars who presumably have been drinking," Meyer said.

Suhn, 23, and dozens of other patrons were gathered on the sidewalk in downtown Brookings, home of South Dakota State University and its nearly 12,000 students.

Gibson was on patrol when he saw and heard Suhn let out a string of obscenities that included several derogatory references to police officers.

Fite described the statement as 16 words amounting to profane criticism toward police. The lawyer, acknowledging the decorum of the court, told justices he would not expound unless they wanted him to read the entire quote.

Gibson confronted Suhn, but he was ignored until Gibson grabbed Suhn's arm and arrested him for disorderly conduct for the vulgar diatribe.

Fite argued it was only Suhn's words that prompted the arrest because Suhn had no direct confrontation with the officer, so the fighting words argument doesn't apply.

"I don't think there's any way Suhn can be convicted for speech only," Fite said.

Some justices asked the prosecutor whether there would be more arrests for language that has become common.

"Those particular words during my era, you would get your mouth washed out with soap. Now you hear them on television," said Justice Judith Meierhenry.

But Meyer argued that it was also the context, not only the words, that violated the law and created the risk.

"He just let it fly with his profanity towards police officers and the public and everybody's caught up in it and that's unreasonable noise," she said.

Suhn had been sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $150, plus court fees. His jail sentence was suspended before he served any jail time.

The high court is meeting this week at South Dakota State University. It's ruling in Suhn's case is expected in several months.

It's the (information) economy, stupid.

Shava Nerad shares a new essay, below, about the current economic crisis:

Accounting methods really haven't been updated to keep up with the changes as service and information economy overlays have changed the game. We have no way to account for our greatest assets in the modern economy -- talent, staff loyalty, team productivity in innovation, effective communication of information through media and business channels, and so on. These are all without accounting value in our current systems.

Today, value is added by shifting assets through complex smoke-and-mirror complexities in the financial markets. Or, value is created by applying talent (our largest intangible) stabilized by loyalty and passion to task (our least quantified intangibles, and the root of real innovation and productivity) in the information economy.

Tangible industries -- heavy industries, retail,... -- have been transformed by supply chain innovations, but even globalized, are well enough understood.

But a huge amount of the wealth creation since the invention of the transistor is intangible, and since we have no way to quantify and account for innovation, creativity, excellent records of technical teams, and so on, the market has tried to find tricks to value them, mostly through the stocks of information economy firms.

Since so few people really understand tech, PR, marketing and flim-flam have become the greatest influence on the value of any technical or informationally complex company.

Iconoclasm: Wall Street -- the chickens come home to roost

The scariest thing about Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power.

Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV -and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation.

(...) The great insight of the Palin VP choice is that huge chunks of American voters no longer even demand that their candidates actually have policy positions; they simply consume them as media entertainment, rooting for or against them according to the reflexive prejudices of their demographic, as they would for reality-show contestants or sitcom characters.

The scariest thing about Sarah Palin isn't how unqualified she is - it's what her candidacy says about America

Woman's Eyes Randomly Shut For Days

Natalie Adler, 21, of Australia, has a bizarre and mysterious medical condition that cause her eyes to swell shut for several days each week. Physicians at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital have no idea what's causing the condition that has affected Adler since she was 17. The doctors had temporary success treating her with Botox. Their next step is to try electrical stimulation.

From ABC News:

"She's a one-off and we don't have a diagnosis," said Professor Justin O'Day of the hospital's neuro-ophthalmology department...

Ms Adler plans her life around her condition, but still misses some important dates.

"On my 18th birthday, my eyes were closed, but on my 21st they were open, so I had a party," she said.

"Not being able to go to the football or seeing my friends as much is what I miss the most."

"Woman unable to open eyes 3 days a week"

Gun groups to appeal decision to toss lawsuit

From the "They still don't have a clue" Department:

Gun rights groups are appealing a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit seeking the right to carry guns in parts of the world's busiest airport.

U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob tossed the lawsuit Friday, ruling that GeorgiaCarry.org offered no evidence why a new Georgia law would allow weapons into unsecured areas of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

State Rep. Tim Bearden, a repugican who co-sponsored the gun law, hopes to win on appeal.

*****

Now I am not the biggest fan of DHS but I get this feeling that even they can't be that stupid - allowing guns in Airports!?

These peckerwoods in Georgia (no surprise a repugican is 'pushing' the whacked notion) want to carry guns in the Airport ... and you wonder where the 'Hick' stereotype comes from ...

Peter Gabriel's Shock the Monkey

Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life

Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out the trees
Now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey

Fox the fox
Rat the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I cant take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Wheels keep turning
Somethings burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life

Watch the video here.

"Alaska Women Reject Palin" Rally

The rally was held on September 13th and the piece below was posted on the 14th over on Kos.
I have waited to post anything about the rally until I saw the knee-jerking from the repugicans ... didn't need to wait this long as they jerked convulsively immediately - but give'em enough rope and all that.

Today I saw where one knot-head was saying there was only eight people at the rally so it is 'hardly a movement' ... he must have one of the 'faith-based calculators' mentioned in the piece below to come up with that bullshit.

So I post the photos and you can count the number of people attending for yourself.
(If you are using one of those 'faith-based calculators,' don't bother you have already been supplied with the number of people attending,)

From Kos:

"We begin in Anchorage, Alaska, where a group of average women decided to hold a small rally to let it be known that their Governor, Sarah Palin, does not represent their views on many of the issues that are important in their lives.

They put together a press release and sent it to the Anchorage media outlets. A local right-wing talk show host broadcast the names and phone numbers of the two organizers over the air. They began receiving a series of harassing phone calls for the remainder of that afternoon. The leading TV station picked up the story on Thursday. Alaska Public Radio Network put up some audio.

An anonymous caller contacted the local media on Friday afternoon and told them they were one of the organizers, and the rally had been cancelled. Someone even faxed forged a document saying the Secret Service had cancelled the permit for the rally, even though no permit is required. Some people were putting an awful lot of effort in to making sure no dissent would be heard from Alaska.

Well, it didn't work. Despite overcast skies and a forecast for rain, there was a rally here today. Oh man, was there! In fact, it was by most accounts the largest protest rally in the history of Alaska. The Anchorage Daily News wrote that the rally drew an "estimated" 1500 people. Let me be clear: the organizers used a hand-clicker and counted at least 1,483 Alaskans, mostly women, who showed up to say that Sarah Palin does not speak for them. They also counted 93 McCain/Palin supporters. The national media loves to say that Sarah Palin enjoys an "80% popularity rating" in Alaska. Do the math on todays rally, and you'd need a faith-based calculator to get 80%. This was grassroots activism at its best - Alaskans coming out to speak their minds on a host of issues."

The site of the rally.

At 10:30 AM, the sidewalk was empty.

So was the lawn.

Would anyone show up?

It started out small.

Then a few more showed up.

Was this it?

Nope - the rally gets bigger.

Holy cow!

Seriously. Wow.

Probably the biggest protest rally in Alaska history. I can believe that.

The Theme of the Day

This woman wasn't buying it.

And neither was this this one.

Or this whole family.

Oh, snap!

No shortage of Pitbulls and Lipstick.

A smart young girl.

Two of my favorites.

Another good one.

These two women weren't buying the hype, either.

An excellent question. Governor?

Lots of other folks here support her choice, too.

I sense a pattern developing here...

Folks weren't wild about her ideas on war, either.

Here's a hockey mom with a different opinion.

Less gas, more frustration

Dealing with Ike ...

Gasoline-starved motorists hoping that the start of the week would bring good news faced a disappointing reality this morning -- there was little improvement over the weekend.

The second week of the region's gas shortage began just like the first week ended -- with promises that more gas is coming, but little fuel available.

Motorists reported most stations closed again Monday morning, with long lines forming at the few spots were gasoline was available.

When is relief coming?

Nobody seems to know.

Officials from local government, the AAA and gas suppliers told motorists Friday to use the gasoline they had and wait for the supply situation to improve over the weekend. But the improvement never came.

Woman, 79, dies in home invasion

Gastonia police: Mary Parnell had a heart attack when a suspect fleeing officers entered her house.

David Hains spent Sunday night writing the eulogy for his 79-year-old mother-in-law, who died from a heart attack when a man invaded her Gaston County home, police said.

“It's bad enough to lose someone. But to lose someone in an unjust way like this – it's a very difficult thing to deal with.”

Mary Parnell was reading a novel in her home office Friday afternoon when police say a man burst into her home while police were hunting for two credit union robbery suspects.

Larry Whitfield, 20, and Quanterrious McCoy, 20, both of Charlotte, were being pursued by officers after the two men attempted to rob the Fort Financial Credit Union on New Hope Road in Gastonia.

Whitfield and McCoy wrecked their car on Interstate 85 at the Belmont/Mount Holly exit, and ran into the woods.

Gastonia police, working with sheriff's deputies, state troopers and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, found McCoy hiding under a car. Witnesses told police that a man identified as Whitfield first broke into one house and confronted the owner with a knife before running to Parnell's house.

An autopsy showed she died of a heart attack. Witnesses told police they saw Whitfield running away. A sheriff's deputy found him a short time later under a brier bush nearby.

Whitfield was charged with first-degree murder under the state's felony murder rule, which applies when someone dies in the commission of a felony, said Gastonia Police Capt. C.L. Shaw.

Whitfield also faces kidnapping charges, stemming from circumstances that occurred inside at least one of the homes he entered, Shaw said, declining to elaborate. In addition, Whitfield was charged with attempted robbery and felony breaking and entering, Shaw said. Whitfield was being held in the Gaston County Jail without bond Sunday night.

McCoy was charged with attempted armed robbery and was also being held in jail. His bond amount was not available.

Both men are expected in court today.

Parnell's family said she was in good health and didn't suffer any other injuries besides the heart attack.

Relatives remembered her Sunday as a “sparkling” woman who was devoted to her five grandchildren and her husband of nearly 50 years, Herman. He was attending a funeral Friday when the death occurred, said Hains, communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.

Parnell grew up in the New Hope area of Gaston County and married her high school sweetheart. She worked at a bank while raising her four children and spent her retired years reading novels and mysteries and playing solitaire on her computer.

“When you spoke with her on the telephone or in person she literally was smiling all the time,” Hains said. “She seemed to always be delighted in your presence.”

Painter takes on North Carolina Battle

An influential Carolinas Revolutionary War battle may soon have a fresh perspective on canvas.

Kentucky painter Richard Luce has joined re-enactors on the Overmountain Victory Trail as they recreate the 1780 march that led to the Battle of Kings Mountain.

A militia of mountain frontiersmen worked their way from Virginia to North Carolina to defeat British troops and help set up the final American victory at Yorktown.

Luce intends to do a series of battle paintings and is taking photos and making notes of the re-enactment as part of his research.

He told the Kingsport (Tennessee) Times-News during a stop in Bluff City, Tennessee, last week that the re-enactors help him gather “magic moments” of action and emotion.

He hopes his trip with the Overmountain Men will lead to a series of paintings about the battle.

“I hope to make this a national campaign to spread the story,” he said. “It's a great story that needs to be told.”

British Gen. Henry Clinton called the campaign “the first chain of evils that … ended in the loss of America.” Thomas Jefferson described it as “the turn of the tide of success.”

Hot Tub in a Dumpster

Hey, he may not have been the first to think of it. But, he is the first to do it - we think.

Michel de Broin built a hot tub in a dumpster: "The dumpster is used to frame its contents - 1649 litres of filtered, chlorinated water. Its interior is lined with waterproof blue material while a pump and filter system ensures the purity of its contents. "

Read all about it @ Blue Monochrom | 2003

Just in case you're interested ...

If it wasn't for the Jaguars last week I would still be at 100% for predicting the outcomes of the NFL games.

So far that is the only one I have missed - including the games today!

Celebrity Chef

Paul McCartney making Mashed Potatoes.

And you thought he could only write the world's greatest songs, didn't you!

From the people that matter

The results are in from the people that matter - the people actually voting:

Obama wins the first debate hands down

In every poll Obama is the winner of the first debate "in the opinion of actual voters" with a average of 50% saying he won and all McPain could do was an average of 24%.

24% - hardly a winning percentage as the repugicans are still vainly trying to claim.

Also, if you factor in the inherent racial bias cited at 6% - that would be 56% for Obama and 18% for McPain ... should the bigots vote for the candidate rather than the 'race'.

No matter how you slice it Obama won.

Bo Diddley

Damn, this is good!

The campaign theme song

The McPalin campaign announced it's new theme song more in keeping with it's true tone and nature:

Lies - The Knickerbockers

Stem cell breakthrough: Scientists Find Way to Regress Adult Cells to Embryonic State

Scientists are reporting today that they have overcome a major obstacle to using a promising alternative to embryonic stem cells, bolstering the prospects for bypassing the political and ethical tempest that has embroiled hopes for a new generation of medical treatments.

The researchers said they found a safe way to coax adult cells to regress into an embryonic state, alleviating what had been the most worrisome uncertainty about developing the cells into potential cures.

Full Story: Washington Post

Daily Funny

A LITTLE BRITISH HUMOR

The train was quite crowded, so a U. S. Marine walked the entire length looking for a seat, but the only seat left was taken by a well dressed, middle-aged, French woman's poodle.

The war-weary Marine asked, 'Ma'am, may I have that seat?'

The French woman just sniffed and said to no one in particular 'Americans are so rude. My little Fifi is using that seat.'

The Marine walked the entire train again, but the only seat left was under that dog.

'Please, ma'am. May I sit down? I'm very tired.'

She snorted, 'Not only are you Americans rude, you are also arrogant!'

This time the Marine didn't say a word; he just picked up the little dog, tossed it out the train window, and sat down.

The woman shrieked, 'Someone must defend my honor! This American should be put in his place!'

An English gentleman sitting nearby spoke up, 'Sir, you Americans often seem to have a penchant for doing the wrong thing. You hold the fork in the wrong hand. You drive your autos on the wrong side of the road. And now, sir, you seem to have thrown the wrong bitch out the window.'

North Carolina to buy Grandfather Mountain

This is great news ...

North Carolina is buying the nearly 6,000-foot Grandfather Mountain peak and about 2,600 surrounding acres of wilderness, preserving an iconic natural treasure enjoyed by generations.

The $12 million deal also gives the state a conservation easement on the 600-acre park area, popular with visitors for its Mile High Swinging Bridge, nature museum and animal habitat that includes the mountain's beloved bears. The deal, to be announced Monday, is intended to protect the land and its abundant wildlife and vegetation from development.

Read the Full Story here.

Obama in North Carolina

Fresh from winning the first presidential debate, Democrat Barack Obama said Saturday that his Repugican rival, John McPain, is not clued into the economic struggles of average Americans.

“Through 90 minutes of debate, John McPain had a lot to say about me, but he didn't have anything to say about you,” Obama told a sprawling crowd in downtown Greensboro that police estimated at 20,000.

“He didn't even say the words, ‘middle class,'” Obama said. “He didn't even say the words ‘working people.'”

Obama, the Illinois senator, along with his vice presidential running mate, Joe Biden, sought repeatedly to tie McPain to the policies of the shrub on both the economy and the war in Iraq.

The post-debate trip to North Carolina – followed by a stop later in the day in Virginia – underscored the importance that Obama is placing on two traditionally red-leaning Southern states.

This was the fourth general election appearance by Obama in North Carolina, where he continues to draw immense crowds not seen here since 1980. It was Biden's second visit.

By comparison, McPain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have yet to campaign here, and McPain officials could not say when they might.

Buzz Jacobs, McCain's Southeastern regional director, said McCain would do well in North Carolina in part because rural conservatives trusted his foreign policy experience and because they liked McCain's ideas of tax cuts, trimming back government and eliminating waste. He said that while Obama talked about the current financial crisis, McCain suspended his campaign this week and returned to Washington to address it.

Some in the crowd had traveled distances to see Obama.

Among them was Joan McNamara, an elderly retired school teacher from New Bern, who left her house at 4 a.m. to attend the noon-time rally.

“I don't think he (Mcpain) would raise his finger if I was sick,” McNamara said. “He (Obama) is a people person. He wants to do things for people.”

Biden, the Delaware senator, questioned McPain's wisdom on foreign affairs, leading the crowd on a “John McPain is wrong” mantra. He said McPain was wrong about the people of Iraq viewing Americans as liberators, wrong about the presence of weapons of mass destruction, and wrong that Afghanistan had been pacified.

“At this point we need more than a brave soldier,” Biden said referring to McPain. “We need a wise leader.”

Obama spent most of his time talking about the financial crisis, which he said was caused by “greed and irresponsibility” on both Wall Street and in Washington.

He tied McPain to the sort of deregulation that contributed to Wall Street's problems. And he derided McPain's claim that he would take on special interests.

“He says he'll take on the corporate lobbyists, but he put seven of the biggest lobbyists in Washington in charge of his campaign,” Obama said. “And if you think those lobbyists are working day and night to elect my opponent just to put themselves out of business, well, I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska.”

Obama said he would support the $700 billion bailout plan only if it met several conditions:

1. An independent board, selected by Democrats and Republicans, must oversee how the money is spent.

2. The $700 billion must eventually be returned to taxpayers.

3. The bailout must also help homeowners struggling to stay in their homes.

4. The CEOs who wrecked their companies cannot be financially rewarded.

“I will not allow this program to become a welfare program for Wall Street speculators,” Obama said.

Obama made his speech in front of the J. Douglas Galyon Depot, an old Southern Railway train station, amid tight security, including rooftop sharpshooters. The crowd spread out for several city blocks, and large sections of downtown Greensboro were barricaded. Obama and Biden walked on stage to the strains of rocker Bruce Springsteen's “The Rising.”

The highest-ranking Democratic candidate to appear with Obama was Ronnie Ansley, the Democratic candidate for state agriculture commissioner. But several Democratic leaders are scheduled to hold a news conference for Obama on Monday at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh.

Waterfall Wonderland

Need a waterfall to soup up your autumn getaway? That splashing sound is closer than you think. And better than ever.

For the past several years, DuPont State Forest – two hours west of Charlotte – has offered a triple treat: three tumbling cascades that can be viewed in one morning's hike. Since February, waterfall-watchers have been able to add a fourth by stretching their walk another couple of miles.

At the 10,400-acre forest between Hendersonville and Brevard, three spots – Hooker, Triple and High falls – have been where visitors gathered to watch the Little River take succeeding plunges down a mountainside on its way to Cascade Lake.

Now, with a 35-acre gift from E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., you can walk from High Falls to the spot higher up the river where famous Bridal Veil Falls sends a spray of sparkling drops down a long, sloping incline of rock. Previously, Bridal Veil was accessed only by a two-mile hike from another section of the forest.

“Hike” is the operative word at DuPont. Though there are several parking lots on its edges, the only way into the forest is on foot or horseback unless you rent one of the forest's picnic shelters (or if you're disabled – you'll get a special drive-in permit).

Start at the Hooker Falls parking lot, by the Little River bridge on DuPont Road-Staton Road. (The road's name changes at the Henderson-Transylvania county line.) A quarter-mile trail leads to a handicapped-accessible viewing area and a small beach beside the 12-foot falls.

The scene might look familiar: It figured in the movie “Last of the Mohicans.” When his enemies were closing in, hero Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis, although a stuntman performs in this particular scene) soared off Hooker in a canoe and escaped.

Across the road, and a half-mile up the mountain, you'll reach three-tiered, 150-foot- high Triple Falls. A half-mile farther up is 120-foot High Falls. Go another 1.5 to 2 miles, and you're at Bridal Veil. The entire round trip is more than five miles, David Brown estimates. He supervises DuPont for the N.C. Forest Service.

Trails and roads are detailed and rated as easy, moderate or difficult in $8 waterproof maps available through www.dupontforest.com. You can also download a free maps from the Internet.

Vehicles are generally prohibited because there's not enough parking space to accommodate many cars, Brown says. They end up being parked roadside, destroying the vegetation the forest service strives to protect.

Not to mention wrecking the peace and quiet that distinguishes the forest from a public park, says a member of the auxiliary organization Friends of DuPont Forest. Chris McDonnell practically shudders as he utters the term “boom boxes.” The 400-member group helps build trails and sponsor events. It compiles information, offers information at kiosks and runs the forest's Web site.

DuPont's hardwoods and pines serve as a teaching forest for the state, illustrating good forest-management practices.

For most of the 120,000 visitors a year, however, the forest is primarily a beautiful spot – sometimes as backdrop for weddings, often the scene of family reunions. The head count, by the way, rivals the count at N.C. state parks, where average annual attendance varies from 70,000 to 1 million.

Though there's an impressive stone chimney at one shelter – a relic of an old mountain lodge – no open fires are permitted. Neither is camping. Swimming and wading are permitted in five forest lakes and in pools below the falls, but not at the top of the falls or the middle section of Triple Falls. Climbing on rocks beside the falls is prohibited.

Hikers, mountain bikers, marathoners and equestrians share the 80 miles of trails, which are largely maintained by volunteers, many of them from the Pisgah region of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association and the Pisgah Trailblazers, an equestrian club. Guided horseback rides are arranged through nearby Ultimate Ride Campground.

Anglers cast into the river and the lakes, the largest of which, Lake Julia, is 99 acres. Trout fishing around the falls is subject to a delayed-harvest rule: Whatever's caught October-May has to be released. Hunting is permitted in season in the forest, but the area around the falls is off-limits.

Track teams train in DuPont, and Hendersonville has its annual 26.2-mile DuPont Marathon here. The run, which attracts up to 500 entrants, will be Oct. 12.

“About one-quarter of our entire users are mountain bikers,” Brown says. That's about 25,000 cyclists annually, coming from a wide area.

“If you're in DuPont State Forest in March or April, you will see a bunch of Canadians,” says Woody Keen, a cyclist and Friends of DuPont Forest member. It's still snowing in Canada when wildflowers, including yellow and pink lady slippers, are getting ready to bloom at DuPont, he says. “The scenic beauty of the area, the climate, the weather, the waterfalls, those are big draws.”

There was a time all of this was largely unknown. The forest was the site of a DuPont X-ray plant, and only company employees enjoyed the falls and the recreation they provided.

In 1996, DuPont sold the plant and offered the state more than 7,000 acres, including Hooker Falls, on favorable terms. In 2000, after the Triple and High falls area came within a hair's-breadth of becoming a gated housing development, the state exercised its right of eminent domain and bought those falls and surrounding acreage for $24.5 million. In February, DuPont gave the state the 35 acres that gives new access to Bridal Veil Falls.

A wide assortment of the forest's fans pitches in on a continuing basis. Building construction technology classes led by Eric Hurley at Western Piedmont Community College, in Morganton, are responsible for many of the physical improvements. They include stairs that wind down steep rocks to Triple Falls, sturdy picnic tables at several locations and a pier at Lake Julia. “I love that place,” says Hurley, who played a British soldier in “Mohicans.”

Even non-hikers get a chance to “love that place” two weekends each year, when the Friends sponsor their Tour de Falls. They rent small school buses and operate a shuttle to Triple, High and Bridal Veil falls and Lake Julia. The $10 tours are on Mother's Day weekend and, this year, Oct. 18-19. The tickets go fast. Last fall, several hundred people had to be turned away.

Once on the buses, sightseers can get off at any stop and eat whatever picnic lunch they've brought, then hop on the next shuttle. “Every 20 minutes there's something going by,” McDonnell says.

Or, if they're mesmerized by the sight of a falls, they can do like Hurley: “I love just going down there and sitting on a rock.”

Taliban assassins kill ranking Afghan policewoman

Two Taliban assassins on a motorbike shot and killed a senior policewoman as she left for work in Afghanistan's largest southern city Sunday and gravely wounded her son.

Malalai Kakar, 41, who led Kandahar city's department of crimes against women, was leaving home Sunday when she was killed, said Zalmai Ayubi, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor. Her 18-year-old son was wounded, he said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Militants frequently attack projects, schools and businesses run by women. The hard-line Taliban regime, which was ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, did not allow women outside the home without a male escort.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the assassination, as did the European Union, which said it was "appalled by the brutal targeting" of Kakar.

"Any murder of a police officer is to be condemned, but the killing of a female officer whose service was not only to her country, but to Afghan women, to whom Ms. Kakar served as an example, is particularly abhorrent," the EU said in a statement.

Elsewhere in Kandahar province, a suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked a border police convoy in Spin Boldak district, killing three policemen and three civilians, said the regional border police chief, Abdul Razzaq.

The blast wounded 17 others, including 15 civilians and two officers, Razzaq said.

Taliban militants use suicide attacks in their campaign against Afghan and foreign troops in the country. The majority of the victims in such bombings are civilians.

As of this moment ...

4174 Men and women are dead in Iraq due to the cabal's greed.

UCLA group discovers humongous prime number

Mathematicians at UCLA have discovered a 13 million-digit prime number, a long-sought milestone that makes them eligible for a $100,000 prize.

The group found the 46th known Mersenne prime last month on a network of 75 computers running Windows XP. The number was verified by a different computer system running a different algorithm.

"We're delighted," said UCLA's Edson Smith, the leader of the effort. "Now we're looking for the next one, despite the odds."

It's the eighth Mersenne prime discovered at UCLA.

Primes are numbers like three, seven and 11 that are divisible by only two whole positive numbers: themselves and one.

Mersenne primes - named for their discoverer, 17th century French mathematician Marin Mersenne - are expressed as 2P-1, or two to the power of "P" minus one. P is itself a prime number. For the new prime, P is 43,112,609.

Thousands of people around the world have been participating in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, or GIMPS, a cooperative system in which underused computing power is harnessed to perform the calculations needed to find and verify Mersenne primes.

The $100,000 prize is being offered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for finding the first Mersenne prime with more than 10 million digits. The foundation supports individual rights on the Internet and set up the prime number prize to promote cooperative computing using the Web.

The prize could be awarded when the new prime is published, probably next year.

Paul Newman dies at 83

Paul Newman, the legendary actor whose steely blue eyes, good-humored charm and advocacy of worthy causes made him one of the most renowned figures in American arts, has died of cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He was 83.

He died Friday, according to spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic.

Teen wanted mom dead to pay for breast work

A Colorado teenager hired men to kill his mother so he could use her money to get breast implants for his girlfriend, police said.

Nikita Lee Weis, 18, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, said Fountain Deputy Police Chief Mike Barnett.

His girlfriend, Sophia Nicole Alsept, and two men police said he hired, Juan Antonio Velez Gonzalez, 18, and Brandon Michael Soroka, 19, were arrested on the same charge.

Weis' mother, Hyun Weis, was attacked Thursday with a small wooden baseball bat at her home but escaped, authorities said. She was released Friday from a hospital.

Barnett said Weis wanted to sell his mother's car and use money in her bank accounts to pay for breast implants for Alsept, 21.

Barnett also said the suspects discussed wrapping Hyun Weis' body in plastic and dumping it in the desert in New Mexico or Arizona.

All were being held on $50,000 bail. Officials did not know whether they had attorneys and said they couldn't get messages to them.

Fountain is about 10 miles south of Colorado Springs.

Freight brakeman in deadly LA train collision sues

The brakeman on the freight train in a deadly collision near Los Angeles is suing the other railroad and the companies that provide its engineers.

Dominick Fravola and his wife sued Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. They say the Sept. 12 crash happened because the defendants allowed dangerous conditions to persist.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages, medical and psychological expenses and loss of income. His wife also seeks damages for loss of consortium.

The lawsuit names the Metrolink service, as well as Veolia Transportation and a subsidiary. Metrolink and Veolia declined to comment.

In the accident, a Metrolink train ran a red signal and collided with the Union Pacific freight. Twenty-five people died.

It's much clearer now?

Found this on several websites and it rings true

*****

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a onstitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local sports reporter, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left
your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including
the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with
no other option in sex 20 education in your state's school system while
your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in
a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city
community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values
don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote
until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

Serbia probes Nazi charges against US man

Serbia's war crimes court is investigating genocide allegations against a man accused of serving as a Nazi officer before emigrating to the United States and retiring outside Seattle.

The court said Friday that 86-year-old Peter Egner, who lives in a suburban retirement community, is suspected of committing genocide and other war crimes against civilians in Belgrade while serving as a Nazi officer during the occupation of Serbia in 1941-44.

The court offered no more details about Egner's alleged role in the atrocities. The opening of an investigation is a key step toward formal indictment and a trial.

Serbia has said it would seek Egner's extradition from the United States. The head of the Israeli branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Center this month encouraged Serbia to try Egner and two more alleged Nazis here.

The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal court in July to revoke Egner's American citizenship because he had not disclosed details about his past when he applied for the citizenship.

Egner immigrated to the U.S. in 1960 and applied for citizenship, the complaint said. Officials say he falsely claimed that he served as a rank-and-file infantry sergeant in the German army, and he was granted U.S. citizenship in 1966.

Egner's lawyer Robert Gibbs this month asked a federal judge to reject the demand. He said Egner denies any involvement in wartime mistreatment and is being accused of atrocities committed by others.

Revoking Egner's U.S. citizenship would pave the way for his extradition to Serbia.

Egner is accused of being a guard and interpreter for a Nazi squad that killed thousand of Jews, Gypsies and political dissidents in Belgrade.

The Justice Department, citing Nazi documents, said that in the fall of 1941, Egner's unit executed 11,164 people - mostly Serbian Jewish men, suspected communists and Gypsies - and that in early 1942, it killed 6,280 Serbian Jewish women and children who were held as prisoners. In two months, those women and children allegedly were taken from the camp and forced into an especially designed van, in which they were gassed with carbon monoxide.

Serbian war crimes prosecutor's office has said it was working closely with American officials on Egner's case.

The war crimes court noted in its statement Friday that "any delay could prevent efficient conduct of this investigation" because of the advanced age of Egner and any possible witnesses.

As of this moment ...

4173 Brave men and women are dead in Iraq due to the cabal's greed!

And I Quote

"Palin is mediocre, again, regurgitating talking points mechanically, not thinking.
Palin's just babbling. I am truly embarrassed for her. I can't watch this train wreck."

~ Rod Dreher, Conservative handjob

You know it's bad when one of the most blatant apologists for the repugicans loses the hardon they have for all things neo-con.

And I Quote

"Sarah Palin's performance in the tiny vignettes of unscripted dialogue
in which we've been allowed to see her has been frightening and pity-inducing."

~ Glenn Greenwald

Man flies personal jet wing across English Channel

Yves Rossy jumped out of a plane over Calais, France today and flew his jet-propelled wing across the English Channel. After crossing the water, he released his parachute and floated safely to the ground. From the Associated Press:

Backed by a gentle breeze, Rossy crossed the Channel in 13 minutes, averaging 125 miles per hour. In a final flourish, he did a figure eight as he came over England, although the wind blew him away from his planned landing spot next to the lighthouse.

"It was perfect. Blue sky, sunny, no clouds, perfect conditions," the Swiss pilot said after touching down in an adjacent field. He said he wanted to show, "it is possible to fly, a little bit, like a bird."

"Swiss man flies over Channel on jet wing"
Rossy's FusionMan site

Jack Cafferty, what do really think?

Jack Cafferty thinks Palin is a laughingstock and calls her pathetic.

No-name storm lands with rain, gusts in Carolinas

We don't even get a name ... phooey!

A storm that never quite gained tropical strength or a name over the Atlantic blew ashore with drenching rain Friday in the Carolinas, knocking out power and sending rain, gusty winds and high surf far up the Atlantic seaboard.

Although the center of the storm was well to the south, forecasters said it was so large that rain and some wind would be felt in the Northeast. Small craft advisories, meaning strong winds or gusts and choppy seas, were issued from Savannah, Ga., to Maine.

"Much of the winds have diminished," said meteorologist Dave Loewenthal at the National Weather Service in Wilmington. "It's a very large system. It goes all up and down the eastern seaboard."

Loewenthal said the system's center would "continue west throughout the day and then make a more northerly track along the Appalachians. You can have a lot of rain on the east side of the mountains, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

The storm was expected to continue bringing coastal flooding, rip currents and high surf to the mid-Atlantic shore over the weekend.

Forecasters turned their attention to Tropical Storm Kyle in the open Atlantic, south of Bermuda. The National Hurricane Center said Kyle could become a hurricane by Saturday as it moved north.

At 8 a.m., Kyle was located about 500 miles south-southwest of Bermuda and moving north-northwest near 13 mph with top sustained winds near 60 mph. Tropical storm force winds extended out from the center up to 160 miles, mainly east of the center.

A tropical storm watch was in effect for Bermuda.

In the Carolinas, the storm knocked out power to about 3,400 utility customers but few serious problems were reported.

A dozen houses were condemned in the Outer Banks town of Nags Head when waves exposed septic tanks, WRAL-TV reported. Officials said wind-driven tides flooded NC Highway 12 at times on Hatteras Island.

Forecasters said the storm lacked the ingredients of a tropical system, but had looked enough like one that the National Hurricane Center sent aircraft into it several times to explore.

"This was very close to a tropical system," said Brandon Vincent of the National Weather Service office in Raleigh. "Before it came inland, it had a pretty impressive radar impression that was reminiscent of a tropical storm."

By 9 a.m. Friday, the storm center was about 70 miles inland from Myrtle Beach, S.C., near the North Carolina border and had weakened, said Brandon Vincent of the National Weather Service office in Raleigh.

Vincent said the storm would bring up to 2 inches of rain to some parts of the Carolinas after setting a daily record of 4.16 inches in Wilmington on Thursday. Winds would gust up to 30 mph in the western Piedmont area before dying out in the afternoon.

"We'll see some breezy conditions," he said. "No big deal, just a little breezy."

Paul McCartney performs for thousands in Tel Aviv

After a 43-year wait, Paul McCartney performed his first concert in Israel on Thursday, kicking it off with the familiar Beatles' song "Hello, Goodbye" to the joy of tens of thousands of cheering fans. McCartney billed the concert "Friendship First," saying he's on a mission of peace for Israel and the Palestinians.

Singing "Give Peace a Chance," he stopped and let the audience sing the chorus alone. "Here tonight you sang it, you want it," the 66-year-old rocker said. He dedicated the song to his fellow Beatle, John Lennon, who was killed in New York in 1980.

Fireworks lit the sky as McCartney sang "Live and Let Die."

A crowd made up of Israelis of all ages, estimated at 40,000, cheered as McCartney performed outdoors in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park on a warm late summer night. Some wore T-shirts with the slogan, "I love Paul."

He greeted the crowd with a mixture of English and Hebrew, wishing them "shana tova," happy new year, ahead of next week's Jewish new year holiday. He added "Ramadan kareem" in Arabic, a greeting to Muslims, who are marking their holy month.

His repertoire included many Beatles hits, as well as songs from his post-Beatles group, Wings. The songs included "Yesterday," "Back in the USSR," "Hey Jude" and "Jet." He added two encores.

Nadav Erez, 31, from the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, danced enthusiastically throughout the concert.

"He should have come here long ago, he should have come again and again, he should come again and again and again," Erez said.

The Beatles had been scheduled to perform in 1965. But in one of the country's most widely repeated tales, an Israeli official supposedly called off the concert for fear it would corrupt the nation's youth. Only in recent weeks, it turns out the story may not have been true.

So pervasive is this story that Israel's ambassador in London, Ron Prosor, sent a letter to McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving Beatles, to express regret over the matter.

"Israel missed a chance to learn from the most influential musicians of the decade, and the Beatles missed an opportunity to reach out to one of the most passionate audiences in the world," he wrote. He invited them to play during this year's celebrations marking Israel's 60th anniversary.

When McCartney announced plans for Thursday's concert, he acknowledged the brouhaha, saying he was finally coming "43 years after being banned by the Israeli government." He promised to give fans "the night they have been waiting decades for."

Ahead of the concert, newspaper columnist Yossi Sarid, son of the Israeli official who allegedly banned the Beatles, went on a campaign to clear his father's name. Sarid claimed his father had nothing to do with the decision, and that it involved a more mundane feud between two Israeli concert promoters.

Sarid, reached ahead of the concert, said he hadn't heard from McCartney's people and had no plans to attend. "The tickets are too expensive," he said.

A small group of Palestinians had urged McCartney to call off the show, saying it was supporting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. A radical Muslim preacher in Lebanon also called on McCartney to cancel the show.

During a visit to the biblical town of Bethlehem on Wednesday, McCartney brushed off the criticism.

"I get criticized everywhere I go, but I don't listen to them," McCartney said. "I'm bringing a message of peace, and I think that's what the region needs."

October Surprise

This financial raping of the world was planned
This IS the "October Surprise" we have been talking about, folks.
It has been planned for years - ever since Prescott Bush fell in love with Mussolini and Hitler.
And yes, my friends ... they plan to rob us blind.

The proof is call-girl Ashley Alexander Dupre.

Ashley, or "Kristin" has no particular connection to the government plan to dump over a trillion dollars of taxpayer debt notes on Wall Street in order to reward Wall Street for it's irresponsible behaviour.
She just happened to be the pawn sacrificed to take down New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who as governor, and previously as Attorney General of New York was one of the only mature adults in government willing to take on the corporate criminals on Wall Street during a time when the 'Federal government' (read cabal), had abdicated its responsibilities and partnered with the crooks to rape us.

Spitzer was unraveling the bailout plot, so he had to be silenced.
Only a moron would believe that random bank audits led to his exposure as a serial "John" as they claim.
Alan Dershowitz shows the overwhelming doubt in The Entrapment of Eliot.
He was under intense surveillance - the sort that the shrub won't allow to be reviewed by the courts.
There are no criminal charges against Spitzer as of yet (and there won't be) ... the evidence could not be presented in court as it was a result of surveillance without a warrant.

A month before he was taken down, Eliot Spitzer wrote a Feb. 14, 2008 Op-Ed for the New York Times titled Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers in which he detailed the cabal's efforts to prevent the States from taking any steps to forestall the current crisis.

As Spitzer was being taken down, in March 2008, the first $200 Billion dollar installment of the plan was being made.
Didn't know the bailout started back in March, did you?
That's when the Fed's Bernanke loaned 1/5th of a trillion dollars to the very thieves we are now promising another $700 billion to.
Greg Palast connected those dots back on March 14: Eliot's Mess The $200 billion bail-out for predator banks and Spitzer charges are intimately linked.
Add to that the $300 Billion spent on the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and Bear Stearns tea parties.
That's $1.2 Trillion in less than 8 months. Someone is cashing out fast ... and there is that ninety odd acres in Paraguay, you know.