I'm Switching to .....McCain/Palin.

As anyone who has followed this blog knows, John McCain isn't my favorite Republican. I didn't vote for McCain in the primary.....I had opted for Romney.
As soon as it was clear that McCain would be the candidate, I immediately decided that, should the Libertarians pick someone I could support, I'd go Libertarian all the way.
The Libertarians did just that when they picked Bob Barr as their Presidential candidate.Barr had been my representative in Congress many years ago and I was happy to see him in the race.
I had placed a few banner links on this blog for Barr, the Libertarian Party and The Libertarians for Life. As you can see, those banner links are no longer there.
I was willing to vote Barr, even if it meant that the Electoral College votes would favor the Democrats.

I wasn't 100% happy with that decision; the more I learned about Obama's views on abortion and the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, the more I realized that having Obama as President would be a disaster.
Still, it was difficult for me to support McCain....that is until he picked Sarah Palin as his VP running mate.
This is an excellent choice. A paragraph from a Washington Post article says it best,
"Picking Palin also helps McCain consolidate his party's conservative base, which has been at best lukewarm toward his candidacy. The governor's conservative credentials are not in doubt, whether on abortion or gun rights or gay rights. The announcement of her elevation to the Republican ticket brought an outpouring of enthusiasm from the right flank of the GOP and will assure a more energized convention next week in St. Paul, Minn."
With this move, McCain has taken my vote from Bob Barr.
In a perfect world, I would still prefer Barr, but I have to be pragmatic. We cannot have Obama as President......Barr has no chance of winning and Palin makes McCain look good.

Pen Pal Websites.

In my (seemingly) never-ending quest to make enough money on the Internet to allow me to quit my job,I've picked up more affiliates for my website -dumaguetecity.net.
These affiliates are an assortment of pen pal, dating and personals websites. I know that my regular reader readers are all happily married or otherwise in a working relationship but I'm sure all of you know someone who might appreciate these sites.
To view the ads for the new affiliates, go to dumaguetecity.net/penpalaffiliates.

Has Nancy Pelosi lost her @#$@^%& mind ?

Has House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi lost her @#$@^%& mind ?
As anyone with Internet access is aware, in a recent interview on NBC's Meet The Press, Pelosi said the Catholic Church's teaching was unclear as to when life begins. Pelosi had said, "The Doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition [of when life begins]," and called it "an issue of controversy" throughout the history of the Church. "St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know," said Pelosi.
No sooner had she made this absurd statement, then several Catholic Bishops weighed in with their own statements setting the facts straight......the Church teaches life begins at conception and always has taught that.
Now, it a bizarre about-face, a spokesperson for Pelosi defended the speaker's position as a "pro-abortion Catholic", not because the Church is unclear on when life begins, but because, since not all Catholics believe it, it's OK not to believe it. Huh?
Some folks disagree, so it's OK to disagree?
So, like many other "Catholic" Democrats, Pelosi thinks you can believe anything you wish and still be a good Catholic.....even if those beliefs contradict the clear teachings of the Church.
People like Pelosi and Biden and Kerry amaze me.Why would anyone affiliate themselves with group "xyz" if they don't believe group "xyz" 's teachings.
I do not believe the Qur'an, so I am perfectly comfortable saying I am not a Muslim. I don't believe the Book of Mormon so I have not problem saying I am not a Mormon.Same with Buddhism or Hinduism or the Baptist church.
These politicians should just 'fess up, admit that they are not Catholics and affiliate themselves with whatever church they do believe in.
How complicated is that?

Sources:
Pelosi Spokeswoman About-face: Catholic Church "Clear" on Life Teaching After All - But Catholics Need Not Listen

Pelosi gets unwanted lesson in Catholic theology

Adam and Eve of Destruction.

Using the information provided by one of my blog directories, I learned that a blogger named "David" had visited my blog. Naturally, I was curious to see what he wrote about in his blog.
He had I are the same age.....we grew up in the same era and had similar cultural influences. However, those influences had turned him into a Liberal.
He had a post dealing with T.Boone Pickens' windmill scheme. Being a Liberal and a believer in Global Warming, he is more enthusiastic about the "Plan" than I am.
I left a comment on his post telling him that, while we disagreed on the T.Boone Pickens Plan, he might find some of my other posts humorous. I included, in the comment, links to my T.Boone Quixote post and my parodies of the reincarnation of the Dead Beatles.
Sadly, he moderates his comments and chose not to allow mine.
Typical Liberal response......if you disagree with an argument censor the argument rather than address it logically.

After posting my piece on T.Boone Pickens, I've learned more about the potentially dangerous affects of wind turbines.
One article writes of Industrial wind turbines, infrasound and vibro-acoustic disease.
Another article mentions Wind Turbine Syndrome.
Now, we have a BBC article that tells of the danger wind turbines pose toward bats by causing a sudden drop in air pressure.
I suppose the Greens haven't figured it out yet.....we humans are so horrible that even our solutions cause problems for the rest of the universe. (Before I get hateful comments, let me say, I'm being sarcastic).
Anyone who doubts that the Left sees us as monsters need only check out this link to Barbara Minas Paintings & Drawings.

Joe Biden doesn't handle criticism well.

Hoping to counter his problem with Catholics, Barack "I've never seen an abortion I didn't like" Obama picks Joe Biden as his running mate.
Some may wonder how a pro-choice Catholic can help Obama pick up pro life voters....but don't say it out loud if Biden is within earshot.In 2005, while in Kentucky, Biden said,
"If I'm the nominee, Republicans will be sorry," he said. "The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat."
I haven't found anything in the Catechism to support that sort of action......but it looks like with Biden's brand of Catholicism,you can do pretty much as you please.

Who will McCain pick?

Now that Obama has picked Biden as his running mate, we see the agent of "change" is just the agent "politics as usual".
The question, now is.....who will McCain choose?
A wikipedia article on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has this to say:
"Palin has been rumored as a unique and viable candidate for the vice-presidency with Republican presumptive nominee Senator John McCain in the 2008 election.
Due to her female status, youthful image, background in government reform, pro-life stance, fiscal and social conservatism, and an approval rating in Alaska generally in the range of 80 to 90 percent, Palin could become the ticket to solidify the GOP's conservative base and garner independent support, as well as win over some of the disenchanted Hillary Clinton supporters. Furthermore, Palin has a strong and growing community of online supporters lobbying for her."
The "strong and growing community of online supporters lobbying for her" have an online petition asking that Palin be chosen as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. Anyone interested in signing the petition can go here-Draft Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President.
McCain can do a lot worse.

Meet George Obama...the Video.

In the Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events.

Meet George Hussein Onyango Obama.

The Italian edition of Vanity Fair said that it had found Barack Obama's half-brother George Hussein Onyango Obama living in a hut in a ramshackle town of Huruma on the outskirts of Nairobi.The report can be found on Telegraph.co.uk Barack Obama's 'lost' brother found in Kenya .
I'll use a youtube video to voice my comment.
Lyrics are provided for those who wish to sing along.



They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job

They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell
Full of that Yankee-Doodly-dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through Hell
And I was the kid with the drum

Say, don't you remember, they called me "Al"
It was "Al" all the time
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal
Say buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, ah gee we looked swell
Full of that Yankee-Doodly-dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through Hell
And I was the kid with the drum

Oh, say, don't you remember, they called me "Al"
It was "Al" all the time
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Home Video.

This video is for friends we haven't seen in awhile and don't realize how much JP has grown.

There is no Free Lunch.

In July of 2007, I did a series of satirical blog post using "phony" websites I had created and put online via the personal web pages (PWP) provided by my ISP. I made "news" sites, Canadian govt website and a Canadian Communist Party website.
Then, my ISP (Comcast) changed the format of the PWPs. You can still see the old pages, but I could not make new ones with the same creative freedom as before. I had to find a new website that gave free hosting....I thought I had found one called 12gbfree.com.
I created a few pages....news pages of Britney Spears marrying Bud Tugley and Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison reincarnating.
I guess 12gbfree went out of business because my pages cannot be accessed and the 12gbfree home page isn't available.
I have plenty of storage on my dumaguetecity.net website....I've decided to recreate the lost pages and store them there.
Here are some examples:
AL man wins GA lotto.
Dead Beatles Reincarnate.
Yoko to Taykastan.

Original blog posts:
http://sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.blogspot.com/2008/04/dead-beatles-reincarnate.html
http://sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.blogspot.com/2008/04/yoko-ono-travels-to-taykustan.html

My Philippine Adventures.

If there's one thing I can say about this blog, it's that the subject matter varies - sometimes week to week, sometimes day to day.
This has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because it I can flex my writing muscles on anything that suits me. It's a great learning experience.
One of the disadvantages is that, because I don't have a consistent theme, I don't have a regular sustained readership.The folks who like what I have to say on one subject may not give a hoot about another.
I have, on occasion, written about my trips to Philippines.It seems to me that these stories and essays are not easily accessible in this blogger format; so, I've taken some of these essays and moved them to my website- dumaguetecity.net. As of this writing, I've re-worked and put up eight of these....I plan on adding more as time allows.
These can be located in one of three ways.....
1)by going to dumaguetecity.net then clicking on the blogs link and then the philippine adventures link.
2)by using this link to go to the dumaguete blogosphere page.
3) or directly to Philippine adventures.

United Liberty does Obama Hood.

From United Liberty :
"Here at United Liberty, we really like to lay into poor old crazy John McCain. Today we felt a little bad (hah) and did something about it. After an inspiring CNN video where Bob Barr equated Barack Obama’s tax and spending policy with Robin Hood - robbing the loosely defined “rich” to give to the poor. Well, we decided to dust off Adobe Photoshop and come up with this:"

Update on Earlier Post.

Not long ago, I put up a post entitled The End of the World as We Know it. This post dealt with the unbearable tragedy of gmail being down for "several people" for an hour or an hour and a half.

Surfing around today, I came across Google's response.The link to it is here.

Thoughts on the Legalization of Marijuana.

It was 1970.…a time before the planet cooled-dinosaurs walked the Earth and the Beatles were still together. I was but a mere lad of 18 and like all 18 year olds, I was a complete dunderhead.
Full of myself, I believed I was more brilliant than I actually was. To paraphrase an old saying….if you could have bought me for what I was worth and sold me for what I thought I was worth, you would have made a fancy profit.
An example of one of my dunderheaded notions was my thoughts on why marijuana was illegal in the United States. Mind you, I had not come up with this notion on my own. I had heard it from someone whose dunderheadedness surpassed even my own. We were certain that the only reason for the United States’ ban on reefer was because….are you ready?…..we believed it was illegal because the government had not figured out a way of taxing it.
It’s hard for me to believe I was that naïve. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that, while the government may not know how to do many things, it does know how to levy taxes.
Common sense, if I had had any at the time, should have told me that. True, I wasn’t working, so I had little first hand knowledge of income tax, but I was perfectly aware of the taxes on beer and cigarettes. It should have been obvious, even to me, that the government would not have had a difficult time taxing marijuana if it had been legal.
Fast forward to the present.
Today, I can’t explain why marijuana isn’t legal in the U.S.. I don’t have a dog in this fight, as they say; I would not smoke it even if the current laws were changed. I don’t drink hard liquor either. You won’t see me buying vodka or rum or anything of that sort. Still, I see no need to outlaw the use of those drugs by adults.
The reasons behind the ban can’t be based on the risks involved. Alcohol and tobacco are hardly health foods.
If I were prone to conspiracies, I’d say the prohibition is work of the various alcohol lobbies “funding” congressmen’s pet projects……nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
I suspect, though, that it’s simply the lack of interest on the part of the general public to have the current laws changed. I’m sure that if enough people wanted it to happen, it would happen.

Conspicuous by Their Absence.

Conspicuously absent from the so called, Saddleback Civic Forum were presidential candidates from "third parties" particularly,

Libertarian Bob Barr
Green Party's Cynthia McKinney
Constitution Party Chuck Baldwin
and Ted Weill of Reform Party USA.

Bob Barr had filed suit in Federal court to be included in the forum, but was denied by U.S. District Court Judge David Carter who wrote,
"Plaintiffs will lose out on a fair amount of exposure and the opportunity to express their views in a popular forum. On the other hand, halting this event would deny the other candidates the opportunity to be heard and would deprive the public of an opportunity to see the candidates and hear their views.
"Forcing Saddleback to include another candidate at the last moment could cause serious logistical problems and take away from the presentations of other candidate. This might well disrupt the planned presentation."

Is there any wonder why there never seems to be any political change in this country?

Matthew 25,Obama and Abortion.

I've written about the Matthew 25 Network before. [Obama and the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. ] For those of you are unfamiliar with the group, they are 527 PAC whose goal is to give Barack Obama a Christian face by concentrating on other "Christian" values while sugar-coating Obama's pro abortion stance.
The group claims to be made up of Christians of all denominations who support political candidates who heed Christ's words from the 25th chapter of the book of Matthew,
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me."
I've just finished reading the 25th chapter of Matthew and by following the link you can read it as well. I could not find anything in it that could even remotely justify abortion....much less the infanticide Obama supported by his voting against the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA).

According to this reuters article,
"U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama side-stepped a pointed query about abortion on Saturday by 'mega-pastor' Rick Warren during a televised forum.Asked at what point a baby gets “human rights,” Obama, who strongly supports abortion rights, said: '… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity … is above my pay grade' ”.
He must have a very low pay grade.....he cannot see that a human life begins at conception. He won't even recognize that human life begins at birth if that recognition, somehow, endangers Roe vs Wade.
Obama cannot hide from his voting record in the Illinois state Senate. Trying to justify his inhuman record in regards to the BAIPA , Obama claims that his lack of support for the Illinois version was due to it not containing a "neutrality clause" to insure that it would not be in opposition to Roe vs Wade. This new claim is an outright lie as records show the state Senate bill did, indeed, carry the, so called, "neutrality clause".
Anyone who believes that I'm spreading lies against the 'anointed one' need only follow the evidence.

catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=13545
nrlc.org/ObamaBAIPA
catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=13526
catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=13543
reuters.com/trail08/2008/08/16
www.matthew25.org

Obama/Kerry?

wbztv.com reporter, Jon Keller puts forward the idea that Obama may very well pick John Kerry as his Vice Presidential running mate.In a recent blog entry [Kerry For Vice President?], Keller writes,
"John Kerry for vice president? Don't dismiss the notion just yet. Some political insiders are telling WBZ it could happen."
Keller goes on to say,
"......Kerry would eagerly assume the role of attack dog... Allowing a nominee who prefers to float above the fray to minimize the amount of political hardball he has to play" all because of Kerry's new "anti smear" website Truth Fights Back.
Kerry goes into "attack mode" against Jerome Corsi, author of "The Obama Nation" saying "Corsi's book is littered with lies and distortions." but rather than tell us what these lies are, the site redirects us to Media Matters. There is quite a long list on Media Matters and it would seem to me that if those allegations are true, Obama would have a libel case against Corsi. I haven't heard of any case so far.
Kerry's site also claims,
"The Obama campaign has found so many inaccuracies in the book, they've put together a 41 page PDF document detailing all of them. Download it here.".
(I've included the link but, as of this writing....it goes nowhere.)

This is change we can believe in?
Can you imagine a worse scenario for the country than a race between McCain/ Lieberman versus Obama/Kerry. Four losers.

Lord, help us if this is the best we can do.

Madonna, with Hats.

Tomorrow, August 16, 2008, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone turns the Big Five Oh.
Yes, Pop star and Kabbalah enthusiast, Madonna was born fifty years ago in Bay City Michigan.
In honor of her birthday, I present a collage of four of her photos which I call "Madonna with Hats".
I suppose I could have just as easily named it "Madonna without Make-up".
If you are brave enough, you can click of the photo for a larger version.....do so, however, at your own risk. I take no responsibility for any mental anguish.

Let's Hope Putin Doesn't Burn Atlanta.

Well, you know, I reckon somebody would have to be holed up in a deep, dark cave somewheres ( or otherwise in a really Podunk place like Cedar Bluff or Gaylesville ) not to have heard about the Russian invasion of Georgia.
Truth be known, I didn't rightly hear about it from the T.V. or the radio on account of Georgia Power disconnected my electricity a couple months back for not paying my bill, but, I did learn all about the invasion from what I overheard these two fellows talking while we was all standing at the express lane at Wal-mart.
You understand, I didn't get all the details on account of they was in front of me and by the time I had checked out at the cash register, those two fellows had done walked out of Wal-mart and was in their car and gone. I guess it might have been a different story if I had only had twenty items like it says your 'spose to up there on the sign at the register.
Anyway, I figured I heard enough where I can put 2 and 2 together and figure out what happened.
Looks to me like the Russians must have come into Georgia by way of Savannah on account of I didn't hear those two fellows says nothing about Tennessee or the Carolinas ner nothing like that. Besides which, it'd be easy enough for them to come up by boat from Cuba, where we all know a whole bunch of them Russians are staying.
The one thing that's got me a bit bumfuzzled in all this is I can't figure out why President W. would have let those Russians just invade us like that and all - specially since Gov. Sonny Perdue is a loyal Republican and faithful Baptist who prays for rain out in front of the Capital steps and all. I was talking about that very thing with my brother-in-law, Barney and Barney, he said that was the easiest part of all to figure out.
The way he explains it, President W. and the Republicans are bound to know that a whole bunch of us in Georgia have got our overalls in a bunch 'cause they done picked John McCain as their candidate. Further more, Barney says, they are bound to know that a whole bunch of us are gonna vote for that Libertarian fellow Bob Barr and that's likely to miscue the Electoral College vote like what that Nader fellow did to the Democrats a while back. So they had the Russians invade Georgia to keep us from voting.
I told Barney I figured he was right on account of I was planning to do the very same thing like what he said.
One of my neighbors, Mrs. Johnson, says we don't have to worry too much on account of that Mr. Obama fellow done told the Russians to ceasefire. I reckon that must have worked on account of there ain't been too much gunfire up in this neck of the woods lately....leastwise not no more than usual.
I still worry on account of I figure them ceasefires can break real easy and we're liable to be seeing tanks coming up Peachtree Street any day now.
I just hope that Mr. Putin decides not to burn Atlanta like what Sherman did.

More on 'The Jewel of Medina'.

On her blog [Author!Author!] Sherry Jones said that she has decided to stop her discussion of her controversial book, "The Jewel of Medina". She writes:
"Instead of debating the contents of 'The Jewel of Medina', the world seems to be arguing over everything but. People bicker over whether I should have been allowed to publish in the first place. They scream about my "disrespectful" treatment of religious icons. They shout over what they assume are my depictions of pedophilia. I've been called names you wouldn't imagine."
I've been to quite a few blogs where her book has been the topic.More often then not, the 'name calling' has been directed towards Denise Spellberg , the associate professor of history who is alleged to be "the instigator of the trouble." ( In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, Spellberg counters "I Didn't Kill 'The Jewel of Medina'" ).
I know how Jones feels about the name calling.....on one blog, I was the recipient of an atheist's rant on the Blessed Sacrament - an attack that I found so vitriolic that I haven't returned to that particular blog.

Commenting on my previous post,
"Anonymous said...
It should be no big deal. THEY have to get over it not us. Was the Roman Catholic Church happy with the publication of "Sex with the Virgin Mary", did they threaten to bomb Amazon.com. It is their problem not ours. We have free speech and we must protect it."
Someone felt this was a particularly strong argument.....a version of this same comment was posted in several places on the Internet by someone going under the name of 'brendan doherty'.
Prior to reading this comment, I had never heard of the book by Charles Webb and I'm not familiar with the reaction to it from the Catholic Church.
Contrary to what so many believe, there have not been acts of violence committed by anyone because of 'The Jewel of Medina'. On her blog, Jones herself, explains "And let's remember: There have been no terrorist threats over THE JEWEL OF MEDINA. Only warnings of possible threats."
My take on this has been that, certainly, Jones has the freedom to say or write whatever she likes just as Random House has the freedom to choose what the company will publish. That being said, the company should have realized from the beginning that Muslims would have found this book objectionable. Judging from the parts I've read, the book is trash and not worth reading. There is no honor in deliberately defaming or insulting anyone.
Jones has written,"So much discussion over a book no one has read!"
True enough........we haven't read the entire book, but a pdf of the book's prologue is available online. I had provided a link to another site that has the pdf, but I decided to put the pdf on my own website so I can be sure it remain available.
That link can be found here:
Prologue-JewelMedina.pdf

Relevant links:
The Tale of The Jewel of Medina

The End of the World as We Know it.

It seems that yesterday, while I was not at home (and away from my PC) Gmail went down.

I don't know for how long or how many people were actually affected, but an article in the NY Times Technology section [A Modern-Day Blackout: Gmail Goes Dark] says,
".....Gmail, the company’s popular Web e-mail service, has been down for a very large number of users for about an hour or so".

"very large number of users"? How many is that? A thousand? Several hundred thousand? Millions? A Brazillion?
This is a big deal?
NY Times?
I especially love the comments left by readers. I pasted some of my favorites here:

Been working for me all day. I love gmail!
— Posted by kb

What a bunch of morons. This is what they get for censoring what users can see on their site. First they censor Anti-Obama sites then Drudgreport.com gadgets on iGoogle. If Google died today I would not care. They suck!!
— Posted by xinunus

A website goes down for an hour and you feel you have to make a blog post about it? This is how far the Times has fallen?
— Posted by Thomas

Isn’t gmail free? What are you people complaining about? You get what you PAY for. Stuff happens, tech stuff goes bad, get over it and move on.
— Posted by Brian

What irritates me most about gmail is that the image thumbnails often (VERY often) DO NOT WORK. I am one of those poor unfortunates who still has dial-up and having reliable thumbnails is the main reason I use gmail at all.
— Posted by Richard

[ Note: poor Richard still has dial up. Rather than snicker, let us have a moment of silence.]

I don’t like gmail because it doesn’t say “YOU’VE GOT MAIL!!!” when I log in.
— Posted by Special Ed

Gee, it’s free. Who you gonna sue? Are you the last person to have just 1 email account?
— Posted by Bob Brancato


Gmail goes down for one hour and it’s a big deal? No. People in this modern age are so whiny and demanding that they expect everything to always work and never have any problems.
If you cannot survive for one hour without something, anything, then the problem is with you. People demand the latest of everything to be released even before anything has time to be tested out, then they complain it does not work.
My conclusion… this is the saddest generation yet, of entire families who would have nervous breakdowns if even their HD went out for ten minutes.
Pathetic…
— Posted by SK

90 Minutes… seriously folks. It probably took longer to conceive of and write this post. Whatever the scope of the outage - it was fixed in 90 minutes. How many corporate environments can claim that kind of turn around for an outage, much less a global service like Gmail?
I’m a pretty busy guy, but I can live without my web mail for 90 minutes.
— Posted by Tim

Waaaah! Waaaah! My email was down for an hour! The sky is falling! Waaaah!
— Posted by Visigothan

Updates:
update on an earlier post.
we feel your pain and we're sorry.

McCain/Lieberman ?

In a recent article for Financial Times,[Lieberman ‘on McCain short-list’] journalist Stephanie Kirchgaessner tells us that Joe Lieberman is "being vetted as a potential running mate for" John McCain.
That particular bit of news does not surprise me. My opinion of Lieberman is pretty much the same as the one I have of McCain; both are "moderates" who are willing to do whatever it takes to advance their political careers - even to the point of selling out their own Party.
The choosing of a running mate has traditionally been a way for a Presidential candidate to pick up voters that he otherwise would not have gotten. With this in mind, Lieberman cannot help McCain in the least. Is there anyone, who would consider voting for Obama, that would reconsider and vote for McCain with Lieberman on the ticket? Not hardly.
The only new voters McCain can hope for are those who have switched to a Third party (like yours truly) or conservatives who have thrown up their hands and decided not to vote at all. Picking Lieberman isn't going to convince these folks to come back to the Republican Party. If anything, picking him will only further convince new Libertarians (like yours truly) that our abandoning the GOP was a good idea.
Libertarian, Bob Barr has my vote. However, I am willing to seriously consider voting for John McCain if he picks the right Vice Presidential running mate.
Lieberman's not the one.

It's Difficult Being President.

Photos from
All the world an Olympic venue for sportsman Bush

Shameless Self Promotion.

In an effort to raise my page rank and increase the number of hits to this blog, I've signed up with a few blog lists/catalogues. I haven't done very much with them, but now, with shameless self-promotion, I want to put links to the lists here. I'm hoping some of you will go to the sites and give my blog a boost. You can leave comments or write reviews.

technorati
blogged
blogcatalog

The Jewel of Medina.

My condolences to anyone who may have pre-ordered journalist Sherry Jones' novel, "The Jewel of Medina", from Amazon .com. As I'm sure those of you who did pre-order it are aware, Random House has canceled the publication of the book which writes of the Prophet Mohammad's child bride Aisha.
An article in reuters [Random House pulls novel on Islam, fears violence.] says,
"Random House deputy publisher Thomas Perry said in a statement the company received 'cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.' "
You reckon?
On her blog , Jones wrote,
"There have been no terrorist threats over THE JEWEL OF MEDINA. Only warnings of possible threats."
Was Random House being overly cautious (paranoid) in it's decision to cancel publication?
Would Muslims be insulted by what Jones wrote?
Who can say for certain?
I'm not the first to blog on this. One blog, which goes under the trashy title, smart bitches trashy books has the post TheJewelofMedina:ThePrologue which includes a link to the prologue of the novel in pdf format.
I'll be honest with you; I started to read the pdf but was unable to finish. The little I did read cannot be called pornography, by any stretch of the imagination, but I did find it in poor taste. Jones writes in the first person as Aisha and the assumption that she knows the thoughts of the girl comes across, to me, as disrespectful to Muslim sensibilities.
There are certainly enough places on the web where one can read more about Aisha and Muhammad ("Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad. She stayed in her parents' home until the age of nine, when the marriage was consummated.") and the speculation that she had committed adultery . We don't need Jones bodice ripper.
All in all, "The Jewel of Medina" just seems like a monumental waste of time for both reader and the author.

Links:
Random House pulls novel on Islam, fears violence
Controversy Surrounding The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones
Publisher Random House has pulled a novel about Islam over protest fears
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha
Criticism of Muhammad
sherryjones.blogspot.com

The Laffer Curve, Part One.

The Laffer Curve, Part Two.

The Laffer Curve, Part Three.

Considering a change of name for the blog.

I'm considering changing the name of this blog. My top choice for the new name would be "ZOLLh' gll fyG clGAGL ugwGZ gLG fgkGU."
I've already made up a new logo and put it below. You all can click on the photo to see an enlargement.
What do you all think?

Obama picks Cabinet Members.

In a unprecedented move for an American politician, Presidential candidate, B.H.Obama released the names of the members of his Cabinet months before the election takes place.
Speaking at press conference in front of the closed Goodyear tire plant in Rockmart, GA., Obama said,
"Although the road is long and difficult, we will never tire.Pressure from the Republicans will not deflate us.This how the future will gauge our success."
He was later photographed with the members of his proposed cabinet.

Link:
Obama pokes at McCain over tire-pressure issue.

Paris Hilton's response.

Paris Hilton's video response to a recent John McCain ad is funny....so funny, in fact, I'm way sure Paris didn't write any of it.
I wonder who the creative force behind it is.
At least we know she can laugh at her own image.
Or maybe, she isn't the complete airhead we all think she is.
.............nah, she is.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

When all else fails.......

The strategy of the Democrats seems to be,"when all else fails....blame Cheney".
Trying to take advantage of Cheney's unpopularity, Obama has tried to link McCain to the Vice President.
To Obama and the zombies that follow him.....
Cheney = Big Oil/Republican
Big Oil=Evil
Republican=Evil
McCain=Republican=Big Oil=Evil.

"We have to end the age of oil." Obama has said. "If we fail to act, there are severe indications for national security, our economy and our environment."
When the auto was invented, we didn't need Big Government money to promote the car. Capitalists,like Henry Ford produced a product people wanted and could afford. If people wanted hybrid cars or cars run on natural gas someone would fill that niche and make lots of money.
Obama needs and wants to connect to white working class Americans but he needs to utilize Capitalism....not Socialism.

Link:
Obama links energy troubles to unpopular Cheney

Now,this is Cuil.

As usual, when I returned home tonight, I checked the Google Analytics top see what sort of traffic I received on this blog.
I noticed that my blog had been referred to by a site called namedevelopment.com. There was a blog entry on the site which included a link to one of my posts from July [Un Cuil]
The writer was kind enough to leave a trackback to his post
[ When Does Brand Naming Become UnCuil?].
I wanted to leave a comment letting him know how much I appreciate the link, but it wasn't accepted because I'm not registered.
Thanks, anyway.

T.Boone Quixote.

T.Boone Pickens sees a problem:
"America is addicted to foreign oil."
T.Boone Pickens has a Plan.
His solution relies on two components; wind power and natural gas.
The use of wind power, obviously can't be used with cars.... he advocates we use windmills to generate electricity. That may be fine and dandy but, how does that help the oil crisis? Nearly 50% of our nation's electricity is generated by coal. Petroleum only accounts for less than 2%.
His solution for the high price of gasoline is to power cars with natural gas.
He notes that natural gas is currently about $1 per gallon; how long will the price remain low when the demand increases?
We've seen the price of food sky-rocket when ethanol production using corn increased; how will home heating costs be effected when natural gas is being used to power automobiles?

The One.

If Europeans choose the POTUS.

It's clear from the latest Gallup Polls that if the Brits, French and Germans had their druthers,Obama would be the next POTUS....the polls show that Europeans overwhelmingly support him over McCain.
The polls in the U.S. aren't so decisive. In that poll Obama holds a narrow lead of only 1%.
I'm sure Obama would love for the European "vote" to count in the November election but obviously, their opinion is just that.....their opinion.


LINKS:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/109018/Britons-French-Germans-Solidly-Back-Obama.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/109177/Gallup-Daily-Obama-45-McCain-44.aspx

What's the Foreign Exchange Rate?

From breitbart.com :
Democrat Barack Obama, the first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, says John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."
He doesn't look like Ben Franklin either and he was never POTUS.