I love her anyway [Art]

I love her anyway

I love her anyway

Five Body Parts Humans No Longer Need [Health]

Five Body Parts Humans No Longer Need

Five Body Parts Humans No Longer Need

Vestigial organs are parts of the body that once had a function but are now more-or-less useless. The most famous example may be the appendix, though it is now an open question whether the appendix is really vestigial. Here are five organs and functions most likely to be truly vestigial: Vomeronasal Organ Rodents and other mammals detect pheromones with a specialized sensory system called the vomeronasal organ (VNO). It consists of a pair of structures that nestle in the nasal lining or the roof of the mouth. Most adult humans have something resembling a VNO in their nose, but there are no nerve fibers connecting it to the brain. Humans probably detect pheromones with their main olfactory system instead. Goose Bumps Goose bumps aren't a body part, but the reflex is widely considered to be vestigial in humans. They occur when tiny muscle at the base of a hair follicle contracts, pulling the hair upright. For creatures with feathers, fur or spines, this creates a layer of insulating warm air in a cold snap. But human hair is incapable of this functions. Darwin's Point Around the sixth week of gestation, six swellings of tissue called the hillocks of Hiss arise around the area that will form the ear canal. Darwin's point is a minor malformation of the junction of the fourth and fifth hillocks of Hiss. It is found in a substantial minority of people in the form of a bump on the rim of the outer ear. It is thought to be the vestige of a joint that used to allow the top part of the ear to swivel or flop down over the opening to the ear. Tail Bone The human coccyx is a vestige of the mammalian tail which has taken on a modified function as an anchor point for the muscles that hold the anus in place. There are, however, more than 100 medical reports of babies born with tails, which occurs if the signal that normally stops the process of vertebrate elongation during embryonic development fails to activate on time. Wisdom Teeth Most primates have wisdom teeth (the third molars), but a few species have none. It is likely that when the body size of mammals reduces rapidly, their jaws become too small to house all their teeth, and overcrowding eventually results in selection for fewer or smaller teeth. As many as 35 percent of people have no wisdom teeth at all, suggesting that we may be on an evolutionary trajectory to losing them altogether. Sources: ABC News May 22, 2008

Man critically hurt in fireworks accident [Weird][Harrisburg]

Ok, so this is an interesting case in which someone was injured using fireworks.
Never  mind that he was 51 years of age.
Never mind that he was playing with fireworks.
He was charged with making weapons of mass destruction(!) You remember those right? The ones we are still looking for in Iraq, apparently WE have them.
 

Man critically hurt in fireworks accident - Midstate PA Local News, Weather, Sports & Entertainment - PennLive.com

Man critically hurt in fireworks accident

by BARBARA MILLER, Of Our Lebanon County Bureau

Tuesday May 27, 2008, 11:36 AM

A South Lebanon Twp. man is in critical condition in Hershey Medical Center with injuries suffered after being struck in the head by an explosive device made by a guest attending a family gathering Monday, police said.

Francisco Rodriguez, 51, of the 2000 block of East Pennsylvania Avenue, was conscious but suffering from severe injuries when emergency responders were called at 4:17 p.m. for a report of a man struck in the head by fireworks, police said.

Police said a guest at Rodriguez's home, Scott Garloff, 44, of the 1900 block of Leslie Avenue, had made three explosive devices, one of which detonated and injured Rodriguez.

Garloff was charged with risking a catastrophe and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. Additional charges are pending regarding Rodriguez' injuries, police said.

Garloff was arraigned before District Judge Christine Heck and released on $10,000 bail.

you are my favorite [Art]

you are my favorite

you are my favorite

California Court Affirms Right to Gay Marriage - New York Times [Politics][Civil Rights]

California Court Affirms Right to Gay Marriage - New York Times

---

May 16, 2008

California Court Affirms Right to Gay Marriage

By ADAM LIPTAK

Same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The court's 4-to-3 decision striking down state laws that had limited marriages to unions between a man and a woman makes California only the second state, after Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriages. The decision, which becomes effective in 30 days, is certain to play a role in the presidential campaign.

"In view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship," Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote of marriage for the majority, "the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

California already has a strong domestic partnership law that gives gay and lesbian couples nearly all of the benefits and burdens of heterosexual marriage. The majority said that is not enough.

Given the historic, cultural, symbolic and constitutional significance of the concept of marriage, Chief Justice George wrote, the state cannot limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. The court left open the possibility that another terms could denote state-sanctioned unions so long as that term was used across the board.

The state's ban on same-sex marriage was based on a law enacted by the Legislature in 1977 and a statewide initiative approved by the voters in 2000, both defining marriage as limited to unions between a man and a woman. The question before the court was whether those laws violate provisions of the state Constitution protecting equality and fundamental rights.

Conservative groups have proposed a new initiative, this one to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. If it is allowed onto the ballot in November and approved by the voters, Thursday's decision would be overridden. The groups have gathered more than a million signatures on initiative petitions and submitted them to the state.

Justice Marvin R. Baxter, dissenting, said the majority had should have deferred to the state Legislature, which has in recent years increased legal protections for same-sex couples.

"But a bare majority of this court," Justice Baxter wrote, "not satisfied with the pace of democratic change, now abruptly forestalls that process and substitutes, by judicial fiat, its own social policy views for those expressed by the people themselves."

The California Legislature has twice passed bills allowing same-sex marriages, but they were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said they would overturn the 2000 referendum.

Mr. Schwarzenegger opposes the current ballot initiative seeking a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He said Thursday that he respected the court's decision and would not support overturning it, according to The Associated Press.

In 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco directed the county clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Before the California Supreme Court halted the practice, more than 4,000 same-sex couples received marriage licenses in San Francisco.

CommonDreams.org » The Sacrificer: Bush Quit Golf Over Iraq War [Politics][Are you kidding me!]

CommonDreams.org » The Sacrificer: Bush Quit Golf Over Iraq War

Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 by Agence France Presse

The Sacrificer: Bush Quit Golf Over Iraq War

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush said in an interview out Tuesday that he quit playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of US soldiers killed in the conflict in Iraq, now in its sixth year.

"I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal," he said in an interview for Yahoo! News and Politico magazine.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them."

The US president traced his decision to the August 19, 2003 bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed the world body's top official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

"I remember when de Mello, who was at the UN, got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life. And I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, it's just not worth it anymore to do," said Bush.

Bush's last round of golf as president dates back to October 13, 2003, according to meticulous records kept by CBS news.

On the day of the bombing two months earlier, he had cut short his golf game at the 12th hole and returned to his ranch in tiny Crawford, Texas.

© 2008 Agence France Presse

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love songs make me cry [Art]

love songs make me cry

love songs make me cry

Walken by Kevin Pollack [Funny]

Hillary Agonistes [Politics]

Hillary Agonistes

Hillary Agonistes

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008; 8:49 AM

When the media, in their infinite wisdom, decide that a race is over, the usual course is to ignore the losing candidate until the person fades from public view.

Heard a lot about Fred Thompson lately? Mike Huckabee? Rudy Giuliani? Bill Richardson? Joe Biden? Chris Dodd?

But while journalists are now treating Barack Obama as the nominee-in-waiting--to the point that no one seems to care that he's likely to get creamed in today's West Virginia primary--the Hillary Clinton story is still very much with us.

The media, it seems, just can't let go.

There's the short-term tactical story: Why hasn't she dropped out yet? Doesn't she watch television or read the papers? The news business has decided she's lost. Why prolong the agony?

But more important, I believe, is the psychodrama story: Is Hillary a sore loser? Detached from reality? Determined to weaken Obama so he'll lose and she can run in 2012? The stories get increasingly sharp-edged, increasingly speculative, as we put the senator from New York on the couch.

And, of course, there are the legacy pieces: How did the Clintons lose control of the Democratic Party? How did she fumble away the nomination? How badly did Bill Clinton hurt her? Has their time passed?

Journalists have been in a co-dependent relationship for nearly two decades with the Clintons, who provided endlessly juicy copy, from their capture of the White House to nearly losing it, from Whitewater to Gennifer to Paula to Monica, from the last-minute pardons to Hillary's Senate bid, to the impenetrable mystery of their marriage.

So while there's plenty of media carping about Hillary's refusal to exit the stage, there are plenty of journalists who want to keep her there.

Here's a new theory on the couple's tenacity, courtesy of the New Republic's Michael Crowley:

"The Clintons find themselves victimized and under siege. The presidency is being stolen from them. The press is out to get them. They deride elites and champion the masses. They live in a constant state of emergency. But they will endure any humiliation, ride out any crisis, fight on even when fighting seems hopeless.

"That might sound like a fair summary of how Bill and Hillary Clinton have viewed the past five months. But it also happens to describe what, until now, was the greatest ordeal of the Clintons' almost comically turbulent political careers: impeachment. That baroque saga hardened the Clintonian worldview about politics and helps to explain their approach to this brutal campaign season. The Clintons have been here before, you see. They're being impeached all over again . . .

"Congressional Democrats were the superdelegates of 1998--worried that the Clintons' campaign to save themselves would extend into the fall, threatening their own political existences. Some in the Senate were on the brink of traveling to the White House to advise the president to resign. But congressional Democrats ultimately rallied, and Hillary played a decisive role in that effort . . . So, if Hillary has believed that she can sway superdelegates in the face of conventional wisdom, it's because she has some experience to justify her self-confidence.

"Surviving impeachment didn't just require savvy tactics; it required defiance. The press predicted that MonicaGate would drive the Clintons from the White House. And, just as some liberal commentators argue that Hillary should end her candidacy for the good of the party and her own reputation, in 1998 many media outlets made similar arguments about her husband. The Philadelphia Inquirer, which had twice endorsed Bill, editorialized that resigning would be 'the honorable thing.' And it wasn't just ink-stained wretches. For a time, it seemed the entire Washington elite wanted the Clintons banished. A day before the 1998 election, Georgetown über-hostess Sally Quinn wrote in The Washington Post that 'the Washington establishment is outraged by the president's behavior' and suggested that he resign to spare her town further humiliation. Never mind that poll after poll showed Americans were quite content with Clinton."

But isn't there a difference between a sex scandal and falling behind in pledged delegates? There's no vast right-wing conspiracy in this case. But maybe Hillary has the same feeling of being kicked around by the press. Bill has certainly made his displeasure with the coverage quite clear.

At HuffPost, Barbara Ehrenreich says Hillary made history--and not in a good way:

"In Friday's New York Times, Susan Faludi rejoiced over Hillary Clinton's destruction of the myth of female prissiness and innate moral superiority, hailing Clinton's 'no-holds-barred pugnacity' and her media reputation as 'nasty' and 'ruthless.' Future female presidential candidates will owe a lot to the race of 2008, Faludi wrote, 'when Hillary Clinton broke through the glass floor and got down with the boys.'

"I share Faludi's glee -- up to a point. Surely no one will ever dare argue that women lack the temperament for political combat. But by running a racially-tinged campaign, lying about her foreign policy experience, and repeatedly seeming to favor [John] McCain over her Democratic opponent, Clinton didn't just break through the 'glass floor,' she set a new low for floors in general, and would, if she could have got within arm's reach, have rubbed the broken glass into Obama's face . . .

"Hillary Clinton smashed the myth of innate female moral superiority in the worst possible way -- by demonstrating female moral inferiority. We didn't really need her racial innuendos and free-floating bellicosity to establish that women aren't wimps."

At Salon, Walter Shapiro examines the politics of euthanasia:

"The New York senator has obviously reached the death-with-dignity phase of her 2008 ambitions. Normally in presidential politics three types of shortages drive a candidate out of a hopeless race -- a lack of press coverage, money and prominent supporters willing to keep on spinning and sowing. But, as Barack Obama is learning with each passing day, none of the usual rules apply while waiting for Hillary to hoist the white flag.

"The Clintons on the downslide remain a riveting psychodrama, so the press pack is unlikely to abandon them to speculate about President Obama's would-be secretary of agriculture. Having already invested (or squandered) $11 million on the campaign, Hillary and her n'er-do-well husband have another $98 million to go before they tap out . . .

"So what will it take for Obama to finally be allowed to celebrate the triumph of hope over experience?"

Some liberal bloggers, such as John Aravosis, are seething:

"Hillary and her husband are now out to destroy our nominee. Your could argue that it kind of made sense when Hillary still had a chance (her kitchen-sink tactics were nasty, to be sure, they appeared to have crossed a line, but at least there was a logic to it when Hillary had a chance). Now that the race is over and Hillary has lost, her ongoing attempts to hurt Obama, to smear him, to make rural voters hate him, to convince America that a black man can't and shouldn't be president, make her little better than the Republicans she hated during the 1990s - people who were out to hurt her simply for the joy of inflicting pain."

What NYT reporter Kate Zernike told me was "ding dong the witch is dead" coverage is generating some anger, as Politico confirms:

"There's a motivational shift afoot in Hillary nation. The legions of Hillary Rodham Clinton backers still investing their cash, energy and emotion into her faltering bid for the Democratic presidential nomination seem driven not by the reasonable expectation that she can beat Barack Obama, but by the emotional desire to see her through to the end of voting and stick it to those who have already written her off. Clinton's campaign is fanning the flames of that backlash -- against the media, against superdelegates who recently backed Obama and against Obama himself. Aides hope to convert the sentiments into protest votes that could deliver landslide victories in West Virginia and Kentucky, Clinton strongholds that are among the next three states to cast ballots."

What about the tiresome dream-ticket chatter? American Prospect's Ezra Klein peers into the future of the Clintonites in an Obama administration:

"Will they be able to keep their sprawling universe of well-connected confidantes from leaking tales of their displeasure to the press? Will they want to? What happens when the first Time magazine cover comes out with Obama staring down the Clintons, and the tagline is, 'Who's Really Running the Country?' It's such an obvious story that it can be predicted, with almost perfect certainty, right now."

I'd say the probability is high.

Still, "in a USA TODAY Gallup Poll, 55% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents also would like Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to choose Clinton as his running mate, although there's notable resistance among his backers."

Obama, for his part, continues to be dogged by bogus rumors, as Andrew Sullivan details:

" 'I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife's an atheist,' -- Leonard Simpson, a West Virginia Democrat. Then this:

"Josh Fry, a 24-year-old ambulance driver from Williamson, insisted he was not racist but said he would feel more comfortable with Mr McCain, the 71-year-old Vietnam war hero, in the White House. 'I want someone who is a full-blooded American as president,' he said.

"Meanwhile, I get an email like this:

" 'This guy is a muslim trying to take over religion, rights, gunns, and lastly our country. Does anyone remember 911. He's cunning and a racists. He is connected with dirty money and bad connections in the rest of the world.'

"Obama's got his work cut out with these people when he gets the nomination. A summer of engaging and listening with rural non-college educated white folk would help."

This is McCain's environmental week, and the New York Times reports on the kickoff:

"Senator John McCain sought to distance himself from President Bush on Monday as he called for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to combat climate change.

"Mr. McCain, in a speech at a wind power company, also pledged to work with the European Union to diplomatically engage China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters, if they refuse to participate in an international agreement to slow global warming.

"In the prepared text of his speech, e-mailed to reporters on Sunday night and Monday morning, Mr. McCain went so far as to call for punitive tariffs against China and India if they evaded international standards on emissions, but he omitted the threat in his delivered remarks. Aides said he had decided to soften his language because he thought he could be misinterpreted as being opposed to free trade, a central tenet of his campaign and Republican orthodoxy."

Probably better to decide that before you give reporters the text.

Maybe McCain was trying to avoid ticking off the likes of Bull Dog Pundit, who sees him pandering to Republicans In Name Only:

"There are many RINO's (especially in places like Montgomery County, PA) to whom global warming are huge issues, and if McCain said or did nothing to parrot their beliefs, they would vote for Obama, even though many may have reservations about him.

"So I can't slam McCain too much for doing this, although I wish it was a political move, but I actually think he believes this stuff about man-made global warming, which greatly concerns me. And like it or not, it will be an example to independents and RINO's that McCain is not walking in lock-step with us 'crazies'.

"What's comical however, is the belief that McCain singing from the same hymnal as the Democrats on this issue is somehow going to win him some younger voters.

"You've got to be kidding me. Younger voters are so enthralled with Obama and his empty but effective bromides about 'change' and 'hope' that John McCain could almost offer them free beer and pizza and it wouldn't matter."

Cindy McCain's got her work cut out for her. A Washington Times survey "asked Americans which mother has 'had the most positive influence on America,' and Mrs. McCain trailed the pack, with just 4 percent -- well below Mrs. Obama, Mrs. Clinton and top-choice first lady Laura Bush. She even trailed the fictional matriarch from 'The Simpsons,' who garnered 9 percent."

The fall matchup polls miss the point that, as Al Gore well remembers, presidential elections are decided by electoral votes. Atlantic's Marc Ambinder divvies up the pie, including states "leaning" to one candidate or another, and gives McCain a lead of 245 to 221, with Florida in the Republican's column. (The magic number of course is 270.)

Ambinder's tossup states: Pennsylvania (21), Wisconsin (10), Iowa (7), Ohio (20), New Mexico (5) and Colorado (9) -- 72 electoral votes.

How does the GOP's political health look at the Weekly Standard? Pretty bad, says Fred Barnes, but could be worse:

"Prospects for Republicans in the 2008 election here at home look grim. The political environment isn't as bad as it was in 2006 when Republicans lost both houses of Congress and a lot more. But it's close.

"The empirical evidence is well known. More than 80 percent of Americans believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction. Democrats have steadily maintained the 10 percentage point lead in voter preference they gained two years ago. And President Bush's job performance rating is stuck in the low 30s, a level of unpopularity that weakens the Republican case for holding the White House in 2008.

"There's another piece of polling data that is both intriguing and indicative. In a Wall Street Journal/NBC survey last month, John McCain fared better with Republican voters (84 percent to 8 percent) than Barack Obama did with Democrats (78 percent to 12 percent). McCain was also stronger than Obama among independent voters (46 percent to 35 percent)."

So why is McCain still trailing? "The explanation for this seeming paradox is quite simple: The Republican base has shrunk. In 2008, there are fewer Republicans . . . The surge of American troops in Iraq hasn't turned the war into a Republican asset, but it's at least blunted it as an effective Democratic talking point."

I always figured working for a Webby operation meant lots of freedom. But Politico wants to establish a sort-of dress code! Fishbowl DC has a memo from Jim VandeHei:

"That's right, guys: no more unbuttoned shirts to sport your beastly chests, no more flipflops to sport your gangly toenails and no more wrinkled shirts yanked from beneath your bed.

"I thought it was only me bothered by it but when I announced this to a huge sampling of Politicos they erupted in wild applause (I believe Lisa Lerer even hooted standing atop her chair).

"I am not asking you to wear a monogrammed shirt and tie every day. But we are professionals, so let's all use some common sense and dress like it. Socks would be nice, too."

I'd fit right in there: I'm a big believer in wearing socks!

Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause [Politics]

Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause

Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause

By Kevin Merida
Washington Post Staff Writer

The Farmers for Obama headquarters in Vincennes, Ind., was vandalized on the eve of that state's May 6 primary. (By Ray Mccormick)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008; A01

Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.

Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.

"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."

For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.

Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."

Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive.

The campaign released this statement in response to questions about encounters with racism: "After campaigning for 15 months in nearly all 50 states, Barack Obama and our entire campaign have been nothing but impressed and encouraged by the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life. The last year has only reinforced Senator Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest."

Campaign field work can be an exercise in confronting the fears, anxieties and prejudices of voters. Veterans of the civil rights movement know what this feels like, as do those who have been involved in battles over busing, immigration or abortion. But through the Obama campaign, some young people are having their first experience joining a cause and meeting cruel reaction.

On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.

Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised. During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face. But taunting teenagers on a busy commercial strip in broad daylight? "I was very shocked at first," Murrell said. "Then again, I wasn't, because we have a lot of racism here."

The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright."

Ray McCormick was notified of the incident at about 2:45 a.m. A farmer and conservationist, McCormick had erected a giant billboard on a major highway on behalf of Farmers for Obama. He also was housing the Obama campaign worker manning the office. When McCormick arrived at the office, about two hours before he was due out of bed to plant corn, he grabbed his camera and wanted to alert the media. "I thought, this is a big deal." But he was told Obama campaign officials didn't want to make a big deal of the incident. McCormick took photos anyway and distributed some.

"The pictures represent what we are breaking through and overcoming," he said. As McCormick, who is white, sees it, Obama is succeeding despite these incidents. Later, there would be bomb threats to three Obama campaign offices in Indiana, including the one in Vincennes, according to campaign sources.

Obama has not spoken much about racism during this campaign. He has sought to emphasize connections among Americans rather than divisions. He shrugged off safety concerns that led to early Secret Service protection and has told black senior citizens who worry that racists will do him harm: Don't fret. Earlier in the campaign, a 68-year-old woman in Carson City, Nev., voiced concern that the country was not ready to elect an African American president.

"Will there be some folks who probably won't vote for me because I am black? Of course," Obama said, "just like there may be somebody who won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman or wouldn't vote for John Edwards because they don't like his accent. But the question is, 'Can we get a majority of the American people to give us a fair hearing?' "

Obama has won 30 of 50 Democratic contests so far, the kind of nationwide electoral triumph no black candidate has ever realized. That he is on the brink of capturing the Democratic nomination, some say, is a testament to how far the country has progressed in overcoming racism and evidence of Obama's skill at bridging divides.

Obama has won five of 12 primaries in which black voters made up less than 10 percent of the electorate, and caucuses in states such as Idaho and Wyoming that are overwhelmingly white. But exit polls show he has struggled to attract white voters who didn't attend college and earn less than $50,000 a year. Today, he and Hillary Clinton square off in West Virginia, a state where she is favored and where the votes of working-class whites will again be closely watched.

For the most part, Obama campaign workers say, the 2008 election cycle has been exhilarating. On the ground, the Obama campaign is being driven by youngsters, many of whom are imbued with an optimism undeterred by racial intolerance. "We've grown up in a different world," says Danielle Ross. Field offices are staffed by 20-somethings who hold positions -- state director, regional field director, field organizer -- that are typically off limits to newcomers to presidential politics.

Gillian Bergeron, 23, was in charge of a five-county regional operation in northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest member of her team was 27. At Scranton's annual Saint Patrick's Day parade, some of the green Obama signs distributed by staffers were burned along the parade route. That was the first signal that this wasn't exactly Obama country. There would be others.

In a letter to the editor published in a local paper, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball explained his support of Hillary Clinton this way: "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him.

"No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office."

Obama's campaign workers have grown wearily accustomed to the lies about the candidate's supposed radical Muslim ties and lack of patriotism. But they are sometimes astonished when public officials such as Ball or others representing the campaign of their opponent traffic in these falsehoods.

Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama. "I trust him," Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama's face on Seifert's T-shirt and said: "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?"

* * *

Pollsters have found it difficult to accurately measure racial attitudes, as some voters are unwilling to acknowledge the role that race plays in their thinking. But some are not. Susan Dzimian, a Clinton supporter who owns residential properties, said outside a polling location in Kokomo that race was a factor in how she viewed Obama. "I think if it was somebody other than him, I'd accept it," she said of a black candidate. "If Colin Powell had run, I would be willing to accept him."

The previous evening, Dondra Ewing was driving the neighborhoods of Kokomo, looking to turn around voters like Dzimian. Ewing, 47, is a chain-smoking middle school guidance counselor, a black single mother of two and one of the most fiercely vigilant Obama volunteers in Kokomo, which was once a Ku Klux Klan stronghold. On July 4, 1923, Kokomo hosted the largest Klan gathering in history -- an estimated 200,000 followers flocked to a local park. But these are not the 1920s, and Ewing believes she can persuade anybody to back Obama. Her mother, after all, was the first African American elected at-large to the school board in a community that is 10 percent black.

Kokomo, population 46,000, is another hard-hit Midwestern industrial town stung by layoffs. Longtimers wistfully remember the glory years of Continental Steel and speak mournfully about the jobs shipped overseas. Kokomo Sanitary Pottery, which made bathroom sinks and toilets, shut down a couple of months ago and took with it 150 jobs.

Aaron Roe, 23, was mowing lawns at a local cemetery recently, lamenting his $8-an-hour job with no benefits. He had earned a community college degree as an industrial electrician, but learned there was no electrical work to be found for someone with his experience, which is to say none. Politics wasn't on his mind; frustration was. If he were to vote, it would not be for Obama, he said. "I just got a funny feeling about him," Roe said, a feeling he couldn't specify, except to say race wasn't a part of it. "Race ain't nothing," said Roe, who is white. "It's how they're going to help the country."

The Aaron Roes are exactly who Dondra Ewing was after: people with funny feelings.

At the Bradford Run Apartments, she found Robert Cox, a retiree who spent 30 years working for an electronics manufacturer making computer chips. He was in his suspenders, grilling shish kebab, which he had never eaten. "Something new," Cox said, recommended by his son who was visiting from Colorado.

Ewing was selling him hard on Obama. "There are more than two families that can run the United States of America," she said, "and their names aren't Bush and Clinton."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Cox said, remaining noncommittal.

He opened the grill and peeked at the kebabs. "It's not his race, because I got real good friends and all that," Cox continued. "If anything would keep him from getting elected, it would be his name. It might turn off some older people."

Like him?

"No, older than me," said Cox, 66.

Ewing kept talking, until finally Cox said, "Probably Obama," when asked directly how he would vote.

As she walked away, Ewing said: "I think we got him."

But truthfully, she wasn't feeling so sure.

Staff writer Peter Slevin and polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

you heard what the boy said [Art][Robots]

you heard what the boy said

you heard what the boy said

I hope you miss me too - [Art][Robots]

I hope you miss me too

I hope you miss me too

Vice President Clinton? [Politics]

Vice President Clinton?

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Vice President Clinton?

posted by Nicholas von Hoffman on 05/08/2008 @ 11:49am

May 8, 2008

Why would a smart woman like Hillary Clinton continue her campaign when the odds are against her? In her public appearances as a newly cast woman of the people she says she is doing it for us. If so, thanks but no thanks.

Speculation assigns her pertinacity to other motives. Some are guessing that she is continuing to campaign as a means of crowbarring herself into being chosen as the vice-presidential candidate. According to this line of thought, the longer she campaigns the more she binds white women of a certain age to her and can argue that unless she is on the ballot they will be so disaffected that they will stay home on election day.

Others whisper that she hopes by soldiering on to make a deal with the Obama campaign that, in return for a.) her withdrawal and b.) her promise to stump for him against McCain, her campaign debts will be taken care of and she will be repaid the money she loaned herself. She does have a reputation for grasping for a buck.

If the tens of thousands of Obama contributors were to learn that their money has been given to Hillary Clinton, there might be something of a backlash. Such a deal would have to be done secretly, a mode of doing business which Ms. Clinton has some familiarity with. In fact the Washington Times reports that her penchant for keeping things in the dark brought her to the edge of being indicted by a federal grand jury for lying during the first Clinton presidency. The paper says that she escaped because the prosecutors had doubts that a jury would convict a first lady.

Barack Obama will have to ponder whether he will lose more votes by keeping Clinton off the ticket than putting her on it. She does bring her legion of devoted women as well as an unspecified number of Caucasian males to the voting booth. But will her presence as running mate discourage Obama's most enthusiastic and idealistic supporters? For weeks now he has been saying that Clinton is the essence of the old politics, whose page he promises to turn.

If she does force her way onto the ticket it will not be the first time. In 1932 the price Franklin D. Roosevelt had to pay for the nomination was accepting as his running mate John Nance Garner, a Texas reactionary of the whiskey-drinking, tobacco-chewing variety. The two men despised each other and spent the next eight years staying out of each other's sight.

The modern vice presidency is a much bigger deal than it was in Garner's day. Then the VP supplied his own housing and did nothing but preside over the Senate. Roosevelt neither worked with nor confided in his vice presidents. When he died and Harry Truman assumed office, he had not even been told of the existence of the Manhattan Project.

Nowadays the vice president has a mansion and a retinue. Although a modern president could exclude his veep from the White House, the present-day custom is to give the vice president and staff a White House office.

If Obama has a sense of self preservation he should place one proviso on choosing Clinton as his running mate: extract a promise that Chelsea Clinton be installed in the White House as his official taster. You can imagine the intrigues for power and the placement of her liegemen in top jobs coming out Ms. Clinton's office. And where would Bill fit in? What happens when it is revealed that he made a deal with a Central Asian despot for an oil concession for one of his billionaire buds?

For some people Obama-Clinton is dream ticket. For others it's a dream swarming with poisonous spiders, snakes and elephant-sized rats. Instead, for the new politics of national unity of which Obama speaks he might think about putting a Republican on the ticket.

The Republican Abraham Lincoln put a Democrat on the ticket in 1864. In 2008 Democrat Obama could choose Republican Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel or independent Mike Bloomberg. Such a ticket might not be dreamy but it would be a turn of the page.

8 Absolutely Bizarre Keyboards - HacknMod.com [Technology]

8 Absolutely Bizarre Keyboards - HacknMod.com - Amazingly Cool Hacks, Mods, and Projects.

8 Absolutely Bizarre Keyboards

1. The Mouse-Keyboard Combination Pretty much everything on this list will make you think "WTF, that's ridiculous" but this one's definitely at the top of the list. First of all, you can't even reach the keys with your right hand fingers, and second, you'd pretty much have to relearn how to type. These are supposed to be produced later this year. 2. Pants with a Built in Keyboard If only every computer had build in bluetooth or wireless connectivity, this would actually be useful. Otherwise, you'd have to pop in the bluetooth adapter, connect to it... I suppose they'd be one hell of an awesome nerd fashion statement. 3. The Arm Band Keyboard Everyone who's anyone knows watches are soooo totally out of style. All the cool kids are wearing these puppies nowadays. 4. The Eco-Friendly Wooden Keyboard Us awesome solar powered, whale saving, electric car driving folks here at HacknMod love the environment. We've decided to order 10 of these to decrease our carbon emmissions. 5. The "Ergonomic" Keyboard of Death Somehow this one has horribly misnamed an "ergonomic keyboard." Seems to me like you'd be twisting your fingers and wrists in so many directions to type, you're bound to get carpal tunnel while writing your first email with the thing. 6. The Roll up/Fabric Keyboard We've seen these in movies such as Live Free or Die Hard, and we also know how to make them as well. You can actually buy them cheap now for about 20 bucks. Similarly Amazon sells a Fabric Keyboard for $80. 7. The Hardcore Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Keyboard Okay, this one definitely beats the mouse-keyboard combo in this "WTF, thats ridiculous" category. The creators of this device claim you can learn to type 30 words a minute in just one short weekend. In the final board meeting, they decided to change the name from Carpal Tunnel Nightmare to the Twiddler. 8. No Comment

Krishnamurti [Quotes]

Quote Details: Krishnamurti: It is no measure... - The Quotations Page

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

Krishnamurti

judgment day [Art]

judgment day

judgment day

Zen Garden | Strange Deaths | Strange Days | Fortean Times UK [Weird]

Zen Garden | Strange Deaths | Strange Days | Fortean Times UK

Zen Garden

Monk dismembered by mower

Images: Terry Colon

April 2008

A Buddhist monk was killed instantly in August 2007 when he was run over by his own sit-on lawnmower as he trimmed the grass at his temple. Moments before the tragedy, Rev. Seiji Handa, 50, was seen running after the driverless machine as it pulled away from him. Witness Venita Slater told jurors at the inquest this February that the monk disappeared beneath the tractor-style motor as he struggled to get into the cab and regain control. His dismembered body was found on a grassy slope at the 12-acre peace centre he set up 30 years ago in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. Health and safety officials found that the diesel vehicle should not have been in service. The rachet on the handbrake wasn't working, the brakes were not able to hold the tractor steady, and the footbrake didn't work. Verdict: accidental death. Mr Handa was born in Japan and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 21. He was ordained at a peace pagoda in Sri Lanka. He arrived in Milton Keynes in 1978 and built a temple with the help of nuns and volunteers. He lost three of his fingers in another incident with a lawnmower 10 years ago.

Independent, Times, 25 Feb 2008

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | US army develops robotic suits [Robots][Technology]

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | US army develops robotic suits

US army develops robotic suits

By Rajesh Mirchandani BBC News, Utah

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Rex Jameson, software engineer

On the big screen, films like Robocop, Universal Soldier and forthcoming release Iron Man show man-machines with superhuman powers. But in Utah they are turning science fiction into reality.

We are at a research facility on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, ringed by beautiful snow-capped mountains. Once they held the Winter Olympics here; now they are testing endurance in other ways.

The aluminium limbs gleam in the brilliant sunshine, as the strange metal skeleton hangs from a safety harness at the outdoor testing site. It seems to be treading water; actually its programme is telling it to keep the hydraulic fluid in its joints moving.

Rex Jameson, a software engineer here at laboratories run by Sarcos, the robotics firm which designed the XOS exoskeleton, steps up and into the suit.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Stephen Jacobsen, Sarcos

The lightweight aluminium exoskeleton, called XOS, senses Rex's every move and instantly moves with him; it is almost like a shadow or a second skin. It is designed for agility that can match a human's, but with strength and endurance that far outweigh our abilities.

With the exoskeleton on and fully powered up, Rex can easily pull down weight of more than 90 kilos, more than he weighs.

For the army the XOS could mean quicker supply lines, or fewer injuries when soldiers need to lift heavy weights or move objects around repeatedly. Initial models would be used as workhorses, on the logistics side.

Later models, the army hopes, could go into combat, carrying heavier weapons, or even wounded colleagues.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The XOS in action

There are still problems to solve, not least how to create a mobile power supply that can last an effective length of time.

But the US military expects to take delivery of these early prototypes next year, and hopefully deploy some refined versions within eight years.

It is a long way off before we see robot soldiers that can fly or fire missiles - like in the movies - but the designers are already imagining future versions more reminiscent of Hollywood.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7351314.stm

Published: 2008/04/16 22:30:25 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

love is everywhere - [Art]

love is everywhere

love is everywhere

Three Mile Island Guard Suspended for Inattentiveness|abc27 News [Environment]

D'oh! Was his name Home J Simpson?
~P

Three Mile Island Guard Suspended for Inattentiveness|abc27 News

Three Mile Island Guard Suspended for Inattentiveness

   posted 5:08 pm Wed April 30, 2008 - Londonderry Township, Pa.

   reporter: Al Gnoza      posted by: Seth Chevalier

A Three Mile Island nuclear plant security guard has been suspended for being inattentive on the job.

Plant spokesman Ralph DeSantis won't elaborate on what led to the guard's suspension on Tuesday and won't identify the man.

DeSantis says a plant supervisor discovered the guard wasn't paying attention in the afternoon.

DeSantis says no security breach or safety problem occurred as a result of the incident. He says the suspension will remain in effect pending an investigation.

Federal rules require critical nuclear plant employees to be attentive at all times.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)