Basic Economics

Just think of the Furballs

A Glenwood Springs animal shelter was trying to find homes for 86 cats rescued from a two-bedroom condominium. The Colorado Animal Rescue Shelter received the cats on Wednesday. Since then, workers have been scrambling to accommodate the animals at area shelters and homes.

Executive director Leslie Rockey said many appear to be healthy but in need of a bath.

Garfield County sheriff's spokeswoman Tanny McGinnis said the cats were strays taken in by a woman. The woman called for help, saying she couldn't take care of the cats while moving from her Battlement Mesa condo.

The woman's name was not released because no charges were filed.

Might not be a bad idea at that

An intersection in southeastern Idaho has proven unlucky for a woman who's been in two car accidents at the same crossroads since August. Kris Payne was driving at the intersection of Pole Line and Eldredge roads on Thursday when another driver ran a red light and collided into her Chevy Blazer.

Six weeks ago, Payne was driving at the same intersection when another driver also ran the red light and collided into her vehicle. Payne said she plans to go to a local hospital and to determine whether her back and shoulder were injured.

The other driver injured her ankle during the accident and police cited her for running a red light.

After two accidents at the same intersection, Payne said she's going to find another route to work.

Holy crap, Batman!

A man who state police said had a blood alcohol level more than six times the legal limit when he was arrested in July has pleaded no contest to drunken driving.

As part of a plea deal, Stanley Kobierowski was sentenced Friday to one year probation, a $500 fine, 40 hours of community service and a one-year loss of his driver's license.

The 34-year-old Kobierowski was arrested after driving into a highway message board on Interstate 95. Authorities said he had the highest blood alcohol level ever recorded for anyone in Rhode Island who wasn't dead.

Police said Kobierowski registered a .489, then a .491, breathalyzer tests. The legal limit in Rhode Island is .08.

Obama, in N.C., keeps economy at center stage

Barack Obama sought to keep the focus on the economy today as he took a break from preparing for Tuesday's debate with Repugican John McPain.

“Obviously we woke up this morning and saw the markets are still in turmoil,” he told reporters outside the Grove Park Inn. “The contagion is spreading to all parts of the globe.

“It is a reminder that the rescue package that was passed last week is not the end of our efforts to deal with the economy, it is only the beginning.”

Obama repeated his call for a new stimulus package and for the extension of unemployment benefits.

He promised to “keep on talking about the economy” even as he chided the McPain campaign for wanting to “turn the page.”

Obama sped off in a motorcade to 12 Bones Smokehouse, a riverside barbecue restaurant whose walls are decorated with a Cheerwine sign and bumper stickers. He surprised a lunchtime crowd and ordered ribs, sweet tea, pork barbecue, collard and corn pudding for himself and his staff.

While his takeout order was prepared, he walked through the squat restaurant, congested with reporters and TV cameras, and greeted diners including Maria Stanis of Asheville.

“I told him to kick butt,” she said. “He said, ‘You know we will.”

Tour Guides Don't Want To Be Tested

Philadelphia's plan to test and license tour guides is on hold. Lawyers for three tour guides who challenged the plan say a federal judge Monday temporarily blocked the city from enforcing the testing law. It was scheduled to take effect next Monday. Mayor Michael Nutter signed the law in April amid concerns that some guides were telling Philadelphia's history inaccurately. The three guides say it violates their free speech rights. The guides' lawyers say the judge's order prevents the law from being enforced for six months or until the litigation is resolved.

*****

Give me a break ... I need an aspirin - things like this give me a headache.

Take the test fools.
Knowing the correct history is not an abridgment of your right to free speech.
It is however, a prerequisite for a tour guide who dispenses that same historical data to those who entrust that they do so (and pay them to do so) ... the tourists via the city of Philadelphia.
Now, if the city proscribed a entire dialog to be cited verbatim with no deviations that the tour guides must follow - then that would be an abridgment of their right to free speech and self expression.
Barring such ... the tour guides are at liberty to present the historical data as they see fit- the correct data.
So where in the bloody blazes does taking a test on the history of Philadelphia interfere with their right to free speech?

Obama widens lead in national poll

This poll was conducted after the VP debate, and Palin's lame attacks.

*****

Fifty-three percent of likely voters say they are backing Obama for president.

A majority of Americans say Palin would be unqualified to serve as president if it became necessary, and her unfavorable rating has doubled.

Entire Poll

US Congress Members Told Martial Law Would Be Imposed if Bailout Bill Didn't Pass

In this YouTube clip, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) says some congresspeople were told in private briefings that if they did not pass the bailout bill, circumstances would soon force the federal government to "impose martial law."

They are trying to steal our country away from us. And they almost succeeded. But for the ineptness and outright stupidity of the shrub and his cabal the would have ... however, the gods did not wish it so and caused that ineptness and stupidity to shine brightly so that even the blind could see and assured they failed.

The Maverick Family in Texas Asks: "Who You Callin' a Maverick?"

New York Times writer and Texas son John Schwartz wrote this piece about the family in Texas who bear the name being co-opted by John McCain's presidential campaign.

[T]o those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch — and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive.

“I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.

In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.

Who You Callin’ a Maverick?

Image: Mr. Samuel Augustus Maverick, of Texas.

2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Three scientists split the 2008 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of HIV and HPV. French researchers Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barre-Sinoussi first identified human immunodeficiency virus in 1983 and German scientist Harald zur Hausen discovered the human papilloma virus which leads to cervical cancer.

From the New York Times:

Of the more than 100 human papilloma viruses now known, about 40 infect the genital tract, and 15 of them put women at high risk for cervical cancer. Papilloma viruses account for more than 5 percent of all cancers worldwide.

The Karolinska Institute said that discovery of H.I.V. by the French scientists, Dr. Barre-Sinoussi and Dr. Montagnier, led to blood tests to detect the infection and to anti-retroviral drugs that are effective in prolonging the lives of patients. The tests are now used to screen blood donations, making the blood supply safer for transfusions. The viral discovery has also led to an understanding of the natural history of H.I.V. infection in people, which ultimately leads to AIDS unless treated.

Three Europeans Win the 2008 Nobel for Medicine

Photo of Jupiter from Earth

This is the sharpest "whole Jupiter" photo ever taken from Earth. It was snapped with a telescope using special adaptive optics to reduce fuzz.

From National Geographic:

Captured using a new computer-assisted process and a 27-foot (8.2-meter) telescope in Chile, the result is sharp enough to show features as small as 180 miles (300 kilometers) across...

Adaptive optics, (UC Berkeley/SETI Institute astronomer Franck) Marchis said, adjusts for distortions caused by the Earth's atmosphere, "providing images as if the telescope was in space."

New Jupiter Image: Sharpest View Ever From Earth

Full Resolution Image

Keating-McPain: Fraud and Financial Crisis ... Sound familiar?

Funny thing about criminal acts ... people tend to remember them.
McPain wants you to forget.
Sorry, Charlie, no can do.

Sarah Palin just messed with Texas

Uh, oh ...

From over at jmooneyham.com comes this little tidbit:

Sarah Palin just messed with Texas

I've lived among Texans twice: for some months in the 1970s, and then again for several months in 2001.

Many Texans don't think of their state the same way we other Americans may think of our own. This is reflected in the exclamation "Don't mess with Texas!", as well as other items.

Although McCain's kept Sarah Palin on the tightest leash of any VP candidate in history for what are now obvious reasons (like the first ABC and CBS interviews), no containment measure can be perfect.

And so Sarah Palin came out and called Texas a "little sister state" to Alaska.

OOPS!

Although the Texas newspaper(s) which initially reported this seemed to have hastily scrubbed it from their web sites almost immediately afterwards, it was too late: the words were already out of her mouth and in the media ether.

I suspect a panicked McCain campaign immediately launched a huge effort to collect and destroy any videos which might exist of Palin mouthing the words, as well.

But as of Saturday morning, there were already about a quarter million result hits on Google for the quote.

It is good to be visiting here in Alaska's little sister state Texas - Google Search (already 242,000 results as of 10-4-08)

So what? you might ask. It doesn't sound like anything special to me.

Well, you're probably not a Texan, either.

Is it possible Palin's comment will turn deep-red Texas blue in the election? Well, Texas (like my native Tennesee) can usually be taken for granted by Republicans in elections.

But as I said before, Texans are a different breed from other state natives, in how they view their own state. So it'd be a very Texan thing to do, to shock the hell out of the GOP, and vote for Obama.

Especially after being told their state was little sister to Alaska.

Texas is nobody's little sister. Or little brother. Or little, PERIOD.

And come election day, they might just decide to show McCain-Palin how big Texas really is.

*****

... She's gone and done it now!

The Forgotten War

As of Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, 539 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

Some of us have not forgot.

Old Forum News

Friends tell me that the wing-nuts are still attacking and deriding everyone that does not kowtow to their dogma over on a forum that I used to post on.
Even to the point of misquoting me and parsing statements to look and sound as they want them to.

Rather pathetic, isn't it.

It is amazing that they think no one notices.

Hate is always noticed and called out, yet when called out the haters redouble their hate and accuse those who have the temerity to call them out of being the haters.
They abuse, deride and belittle all others then accuse their victims of what they do and claim to be the 'real victims'.

That is the reason I left the forum.

No restraint, either self or administrative, on these n'er-do-wells ... and by all reports from all friends, both liberal and conservative, that still check in on that forum (many do not have anything to do with it as well), it is business as usual - if you don't think the shrub and the cabal are the second coming or that McPain/Pale-lyn aren't da bomb, then you are attacked, derided, slandered, belittled and the like even if you are not there (especially if you are not there it seems).

Biker dies in fall rally at Myrtle Beach

New town ordinances kept turnout down, bikers, vendors say

(I know they kept us from being there)

An N.C. motorcycle rider became the first fatality on Myrtle Beach roads during the area's fall bike rally after his bike collided with a car over the weekend, marking the end of an event that law enforcement officials said otherwise went smoothly.

Clarence Thomas Potter, 59, of Kenansville - about 60 miles northwest of Wilmington - died early Sunday morning at New Hanover Regional Medical Center after being taken there by helicopter. The crash occurred about 8 p.m. Saturday at 21st Avenue North and Robert M. Grissom Parkway.

The crash happened on the last night of The Pilgrimage, the fall Harley-Davidson rally, which ended Sunday. The rally started Oct. 1, shortly after Myrtle Beach passed new laws targeting the area's spring rallies. Three of the city's 15 new ordinances and amendments took effect in the past two weeks, and they began being enforced during this fall rally.

The effort, bikers and vendors said, meant fewer people came to the area for this year's event.

Kevin O'Brien, who drove up from Charleston for the rally, was disappointed. "The May rally was good, but there's not many people out here at all."

Myrtle Beach police held two checkpoints during the event, and, on Saturday, one at Farrow Parkway became the site of a biker protest against the new laws, which include decibel limits for bikes.

"Obviously, we're happy that there weren't more fatalities," said Sgt. John Bertang of the Myrtle Beach Police Department. "Considering the amount of people and how many bikes were in town, there were a relatively low number of collisions."

Bruce Kligman, the owner of Klig's Kites, found his own way to protest the new laws at the vendor booth he set up at Broadway at the Beach. A toy rat was caught in a mousetrap, mechanically writhing next to a sign that said: "Myrtle Beach City Council."

Kligman said business was relatively good this year, despite worries that the city's new laws would discourage bikers from attending the rally and decrease sales.

"Everybody was concerned with what was going on," he said. "I think it's crazy to chase money out of this town."

Sherry Emmons and Tom Emmons of Cincinnati said they would not have showed up this year had they known about the city's new laws before booking their hotel room.

"A lot of people are worried about next year," Sherry Emmons said.

"That's their concern. They don't want a good thing to be ruined."

The Emmonses said they would wait to see how the new laws affected the spring rally before making plans to come back next fall.

But despite the turmoil surrounding this year's rally, Linda Turner of Goldsboro, N.C., said she'd be back.

"I've got two best friends that live here," she said. "I'm coming regardless."

Potter, the motorcyclist who died Sunday, considered himself a regular at the Myrtle Beach rallies, said Cynthia Potter, his wife. He was a former firefighter and department of corrections worker who owned a pig farm, she said.

"I told his friends that he was doing the two things he loved the best this weekend, and that was biking and eating," she said. "He died happy."

Bertang said the incident is still under investigation. He said Potter was traveling on Grissom Parkway when he turned in front of a car to go east onto 21st Avenue North, causing the collision.

"We're just trying to look at all factors and talk with any potential witnesses before we jump to any conclusions," he said.

There were two bike-related fatalities during last year's fall rally and three deaths during the larger spring rally in May.

"He was just a loving father, friend and just an all around good guy," Cynthia Potter said of her husband, who leaves behind two children and two grandchildren. "He will be sorely missed."

Judge issues order against Citigroup for attempting to steal Wachovia

A Mecklenburg County Superior Court Judge on Sunday granted a temporary restraining order barring Citigroup from enforcing an exclusivity agreement that barred Wachovia from entering a merger agreement with another suitor.

Two Wachovia shareholders - Mary Louise Guttmann and former Wachovia chief executive Bud Baker - requested the temporary restraining order from Judge Robert Johnston. The order is the latest twist in a battle for Wachovia after Wells Fargo upended a Wachovia-Citi merger with a competing offer.

In their motion, Guttmann and Baker say Citi is taking steps "apparently designed" to cause the Wachovia-Wells merger to fail and the collapse of Wachovia's market value by saying Wells interfered with Citi's exclusivity agreement. Under the order, Citigroup is to appear at a hearing at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse on Thursday.

"We are delighted that Judge Robert Johnston has agreed that Citigroup should be prohibited from attempting to enforce what it has incorrectly claimed were lawful exclusivity provisions in the letter agreement between Wachovia and Citigroup," Guttmann and Baker said in a statement. "We are especially pleased that Judge Johnston directed Citigroup to take no action attempting to utilize those provisions, or to make any public statement that casts doubt on the validity of the Wachovia/Wells Fargo merger agreement."

The pair added that they look forward to the opportunity of voting on the Wachovia/Wells Fargo merger.

Faux News Cannot Deal With Reality

Faux News 'reporter' asks a room full of diners who was voting for McPain to raise their hand and no one does. He asks them if they are voting for Obama to raise their hands and everyone did.
He then turns to the camera and says 'it looks like a split' and the room laughs at him.

Not dealing well with reality is he?!

McPain Supports Terrorists Rights To Buy Guns In US

McPain supports the rights of terrorists to buy guns. He supported the 'Mayors Against Illegal Gun Violence', and in 2000 appeared in commercials calling for the 'gun show loophole' to be closed.

He is now silent on this issue. (to bad for him we're not)

Quote:

A manual titled, "How Can I Train Myself for Jihad" was found among the rubble at a training facility for a radical Pakistan-based Islamic terrorist organization. The manual contains a chapter on "Firearms Training" and singles out the US for its easy availability of firearms and states that al-Qaeda members in the US can "obtain an assault weapon legally, preferably AK-47 or variations". In Texas, Muhammad Asrar was arrested in an investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks. He pleaded guilty to immigration violations and illegal possession of ammunition. The Pakistani store owner said he had bought handguns, rifles and a submachine gun at gun shows since 1994. On September 10, 2001, just one day before the devastating attacks against the United States, Ali Boumelhem was convicted on a variety of weapons violations plus conspiracy to ship weapons to the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. He and his brother Mohamed had purchased an arsenal of shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, flash suppressors and assault weapons parts from Michigan gun shows without undergoing background checks.

Those who are so infantile to call for no regulations on guns are just supporting terrorists. They need to grow up and admit that gun control is necessary and realize that gun control is not the same thing as banning guns!

Daily Horoscope

My Daily Horoscope for the day October 6, 2008 says:

You're confident, and well you should be.

That's cool, but how did they know?!

Brake Lines Cut on Liberal Campaign Managers car

I am sorry to report that the wing-nut sickness is unfortunately not only an American disease ...

In Alberta, Canada an incident occurred that could have seriously injured or killed somebody.

The brake lines were cut on Liberal workers car.

He went to stop at a stop sign and the brake pedal went all the way to the floor.
Someone had cut his brake lines,according to the mechanic who looked at the car after the incident.

RCMP are advising that anybody working for the Liberals to check for a puddle of brake fluid before driving their vehicle.

Luckily,he steered the car up onto the curb to stop. He almost hit a transit bus but his quick thinking saved his life and the lives of others.

*****

Granted the term 'Liberal' is applied differently when used in terms of Canadian politics but the term 'wing-nut' is not and this as well as the Gassing in Ohio and the Bomb Threat in Texas are festering sores that need to be cured.

Seven in Pale-lyn's administration agree to give statements in probe

Damn, don't you just hate it when that happens ...

Seven employees of Alaska governor Sarah Pale-lyn's administration have agreed to give statements in the state Legislature's investigation into her firing of the state's public safety commissioner, the attorney general and lawmakers involved in the probe said Sunday.

The seven, including Pale-lyn's chief of staff, had tried to fight subpoenas issued by the state Senate Judiciary Committee. But an Anchorage judge upheld the subpoenas Thursday, and Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg, whose department challenged the authority of the subpoenas, notified the committee Sunday that the seven would give statements after all.

"Despite my initial concerns about the subpoenas, we respect the court's decision to defer to the legislature," Colberg said in a statement.

Colberg said his department was working with Judiciary Committee Chairman Hollis French to arrange the testimony.

"We're still working out the details," said French.

French said he believes statements could be taken without pushing back the scheduled Friday release of a report by Stephen Branchflower, the former Anchorage prosecutor conducting the investigation into Pale-lyn's July firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

Pale-lyn's husband, Todd, has also been resisting a subpoena, and there has been no word on whether he would challenge Thursday's ruling.

Pale-lyn has insisted that the state Personnel Board conduct the investigation.

Pale-lyn attorney Thomas Van Flein said that "all options are possible" for Todd Pale-lyn to participate in the Legislative Council's investigation, including a joint interview with Branchflower and Tim Petumenos, the investigator for the Personnel Board's inquiry.

Todd Palin will likely speak with Petumenos later in the month, Van Flein said, adding, "Ultimately, I think he will" participate in the legislative investigation.

Regarding the governor's advisers, Van Flein said, "It's appropriate for all the state employees to give their testimony. ... Everyone has wanted that for a long time."

Another member of the committee, state Sen. Bill Wielechowski, said some of the witnesses have already given statements to Colberg, a Pale-lyn appointee.

"I don't think there's a whole lot of new information that's going to come out of them," Wielechowski said.

Both French and Wielechowski are Democrats. French in particular has been accused of leading a biased investigation by Pale-lyn's allies, some of whom are now asking the state Supreme Court to halt the Legislature's probe.

Pale-lyn, now the Repugican vice presidential nominee, says she sacked Monegan over budget disagreements. But Monegan has said he believes he was fired because he resisted pressure to fire Pale-lyn's ex-brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Pale-lyn has denied any wrongdoing, calling Wooten a "rogue trooper" who had threatened her family during his divorce from the governor's sister. Though she initially agreed to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, her campaign has called it "tainted" by partisan politics since she became Senator John McPain's running mate and insisted that the state Personnel Board handle any inquiry.

On Friday, lawmakers backing Pale-lyn appealed Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski's refusal to block the state Legislature's investigation.

"If this unconstitutional and unlawful investigation is allowed to continue, is completed, and if the resulting report is released as planned, Plaintiffs and Alaskans in general will suffer irreparable harm," lawyers for the Liberty Legal Foundation told the Alaska Supreme Court. The Texas-based conservative group is representing Repugican legislators who support Pale-lyn and are asking the court in Alaska to shut down the probe, which they call "biased."

Michalski in his ruling rejected arguments that the investigation violated the state constitution's guarantee of due process and fair treatment and said it was up to the Legislature to manage its own investigation.

*****

All them chickens is a-coming home to roost!

And the repugicans don't like it!

Also, what is a Texas group doing interfering with an Alaskan investigation of corruption among its officials, anyway?