Osama's Back

Don't look now but Osama just resurfaced after a 2 year absence. Seen on video tape, he looks to be in decent enough health. Interesting timing of the release of this videotape. I would suggest the idea would be to scare the pants off US Citizens, so that they would vote for Kerry. Hope that works. Amazing that this tall man has still been able to hide himself out after all this time. "He said the attacks on the US would have been less severe if President Bush had been more alert.
But he added that the security of the American people depended neither on Mr Bush nor on his challenger, John Kerry, but on US policy.
"The reasons to repeat what happened remain," he said."

Now that we did such a bang up job taking care of those 370+ tons of explosives in Iraq, maybe we should be looking over our shoulder?

Warming Trends in Alaska linked to Emissions
The latest report on what we're doing to the world we live in.

The Mess in Iraq
"This has been a war run by amateurs and incompetents. Whatever anyone has felt about the merits of the war, there is no excuse for preparing so poorly and for failing to see, at a minimum, that the troops were properly trained and equipped.

The United States has the most powerful military in history, yet it is bogged down in a humiliating quagmire in a country that was barely functional to begin with. We've dealt ourselves the cruelest of hands in Iraq. We can't win this war and, tragically, we don't know how to end it. "

For the entire article, read Bob Herbert , reporting in the Times .
--------------

Geez GW, do you have any more success stories for us?

Eminem
Eminem – the man who George Bush once called "the most dangerous threat to American children since polio" – could be the true October surprise. "In the video, Eminem leads a mob fired up and politicized by four years of outrage and anger at the Bush administration. Clad in black hoodies, fists raised, the angry young men and women descend on a state building ... to vote" Think this video will reach a few young ones? Suspect so. And it needs to - "Indeed, in a nation where undecided-voter frenzy has reached a fever pitch, the hip hop generation has been a favorite target. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 26.7 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 24, and only 8.6 million of them – about 32 percent – voted in the 2000 presidential elections, meaning two of every three did not vote."

Eminem goes on to say in his unique style - "According to the article, Eminem won't endorse a candidate: "'Whatever my decision is, I would like to see Bush out of office,' Eminem says. 'I don't wanna see my little brother get drafted – he just turned eighteen. People think their votes don't count, but people need to get out and vote. Every motherfuckin' vote counts.'" Geez, think he's got that right. What do you think Mr. Gore?

Quote of the Day
"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim."
George Santayana

Stock Indexes YTD

DOW - 4.30%
Nasdaq - 1.38%
S&P 500 +2.68%
Leading Index of the Year - Mid Cap Value + 12.65%
Hot Stocks - ADBL, GOOG

A Hole in the Heart

From Thomas Friedman of the Times today: I have been struck by how many foreign dignitaries have begged me lately for news that Bush will lose. This Bush team has made itself so radioactive it glows in the dark. When the world liked Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, America had more power in the world. When much of the world detests George Bush, America has less power. People do not want to be seen standing next to us. It doesn't mean we should run our foreign policy as a popularity contest, but it does mean that leading is not just about making decisions - it's also the ability to communicate, follow through and persuade.

If the Bush team wins re-election, unless it undergoes a policy lobotomy and changes course and tone, the breach between America and the rest of the world will only get larger. But all Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney have told us during this campaign is that they have made no mistakes and see no reason to change.

Pollworkers - the average age of a pollworker is 72. Hmmm.... wonder how that works with electronic voting? Whereas, I realize there are a number of older people totally adept at computers, I suspect if one looked at the percentages, older people in general are not up to snuff on them all that much. Are there qualifications to be a poll worker?

Red Map
It sure is awful red , isn't it? Lord help us (hey, if it works for GW, maybe it'll work for us heathen Democrats?)

Computers
Roboform has been updated to version 6.1.1 Get the best Password Form Filler there is. Free if you keep your password list under 30 entries. (I wish!). Think mine exceeds 200 by now.

Financial
Dreamworks ( DWA ) went on the market today. Was priced at $28 and opened at $39. Will be interesting to see how this IPO turns out. Another Google? One could only wish .

Web Site of the Day
Listen Before you Vote.com - lot of free listens there.

Speaking of Reading - How would you like to get hardback books for $9.95 each and free shipping? Check out ZOOBA . Build up a list of books you want and each month they ship you the next one off of your list - always with free shipping. (Sales tax if you are in IN,PA, or NY - sorry!). If you like to read, sounds like a good deal to me. Note - this appears to be a division of Book of the Month Club, so some books may be altered in size to save you money but always contain the full text of the book. ** Note - You can read opinons about Zooba at the Epinions web site, an excellent source for reviews of items you may be considering purchasing.

Word of the Day
chimping n :
the act of constantly using the display on the back of a digital camera to review the photos one is taking. Named for the sounds made by its practitioners, for example, “Oh oh oh ooh ooh ooh look at this one!

American Indian Museum

Recently took a trip to DC for the Grand Opening of the American Indian Museum. Great stuff! Had the opportunity to watch tribes from all over the country, as well as our neighbors to the South march in a Grand Procession down the length of the Mall. The museum was great (albeit very crowded during opening week), but the procession really made it special. You can see some pictures I've posted here I was particularly impressed with the special exhibition of Allan Houser's work in the museum. If you take the time to view the full sized pics at the link above, then you'll find some links to more information about Allan Houser (as well as other artists,etc) in the captions below the pictures.

Iraq
Here's an interesting interview with a neurosurgeon serving at Landestuhl in Germany. In case you think war is fun (GW?), then this will sober you up rather quickly.

Duck Hunting with Kerry
An amusing look at the most recent photo "bite", by Maureen Dowd. "The vice president is right that Mr. Kerry can't compete in the arena of power hunting. When Mr. Kerry goes, only the birds are in danger. When Mr. Cheney and his pal Antonin Scalia go duck hunting together, the Constitution is in danger."

Wi-Fi
If you're looking for free wi-fi hotspots while you're out traveling, you might want to check out Panera Bread Stores - they have some 415+ stores around the country where you can log on for free. They also have good coffee,bread, desserts, sandwiches,soup,etc. Very nice coffeeshops. For a list of their locations, check out this link

Google Tip
Want the definition of a word? Just type define:word (substitute whatever word you are looking up for "word", in this example). If you want web searches as well for the word, then leave the colon out, as in - define word.

Quote of the Day
"You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others - something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it."
Albert Schweitzer

Mama T Speaks out on the Gay Issue

Theresa Heinz speaks thoughtfully on the topics of Gays and this year's elections. Nice to see a future first lady of such substance. Women should support this woman 100%.

Something our Soldiers could learn - A friend passed along this article from the BBC. Written from the British perspective, of course, but nonetheless, no doubt true, sadly enough.

Will Bush Spark a seismic Youthquake? There's hope yet! I can only hope the polls are missing these people and that they will come out in droves, unlike in past elections. If there was ever the time, this is it.

Quotes of the Day
Resentment is the most precious flower of poverty
spoken by Jake Blount in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

"I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves."
August Strindberg

Oddly Enough
AP - A man missed a mouse he was trying to shoot with a small-caliber handgun and wounded his girlfriend instead, state police said. Read the whole story .

Web Site of the Day
Transcripts of Bill Maher's Show

Stock Indexes YTD
Dow - 6.66%
Nasdaq - 4.40%
S&P 500 + 2.64%

Firefox much faster than IE

For those of you using IE as a browser, you might want to try out the new Firefox 1.0PR . It loads pages much, much faster than IE (very noticeable if you have a dialup connection). It also, via the aid of "extensions" (small plug-ins that you download and which are easily installed), gives you all the added bells and whistles of browsers like MYIE2 which are "skinned" versions of IE with extra features. Firefox (and Mozilla) also offer more security, in part, due to the fact that there is a much smaller user base for them, than IE. Some of the extensions I have found to be useful are:

• URL2NewTab 0.2


• easy Gestures 2.11


• Tabbrowser Preferences 0.6.13


• Super DragandGo 0.2.3


• Foxy Tunes 0.61


• Dictionary Search 0.6.3


• Reload Every 0.3.2


• Google Preview 0.7

There are more than 162 extensions. You can see them here
Computer Deal of the Day
San Disk 1 Gig USB 2.0 Thumb drive - only $50! (after rebate)

I'm Rich!

David Broder writes in the Post regarding the admin's tax policies - " Tax cuts they can do. With bipartisan majorities, they passed a $143 billion bonanza for corporations of every sort, shortly after extending what the lawmakers were pleased to call a "middle-class" tax cut of $146 billion. You might be surprised to learn, as I was, where that "middle class" tax relief actually goes.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, households in the middle 20 percent of the income scale -- the "middle class" -- receive only 9 percent of the benefits. Their average saving will be $162. Those in households with incomes from $200,000 to $500,00 will be $2,390 better off. "

Geez George, my problems are completely solved now that I have $162! That will pay 20% of my health insurance premium for 1 month!

Broder goes to to quote: "The Concord Coalition, whose leadership includes prominent Republicans, says that with realistic assumptions but no change in policy, the federal debt will swell by a staggering $5 trillion in the next 10 years. The liberal Economic Policy Institute says that a "budget train wreck" lies ahead. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warns that it looks as if "substantial reductions in the projected growth of spending or a sizable increase in taxes -- or both -- will probably be necessary" to avoid fiscal disaster."

You can read the entire article here

Faith Based "Certainty" in Uncertain Times

You may find this lead article in Sunday's NY Times Magazine section to be interesting, whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. I suspect this will get the pundits murmuring away come Sunday and in the days to come. It should cause some reflection on your part before you cast your vote, although for the "faithful" there will be no need for reflection. You can see the author of this article (Ron Suskind) on This Week with George Stephanopolus (ABC - 9 a.m Eastern - Sunday morning).

Vote and Be Damned - from Maureen Dowd's article today - " America is awash in selective piety, situational moralists and cherry-picking absolutists."

Kerry for President The Editorial Page of the NY Times throws its support to Kerry. "Voting for president is a leap of faith. A candidate can explain his positions in minute detail and wind up governing with a hostile Congress that refuses to let him deliver. A disaster can upend the best-laid plans. All citizens can do is mix guesswork and hope, examining what the candidates have done in the past, their apparent priorities and their general character. It's on those three grounds that we enthusiastically endorse John Kerry for president"

Polling

Some interesting polling from CBC here - They surveyed 9 countries on opinions of the US and John Kerry vs. George Bush -

People in all 10 countries were asked who they hope to see win the White House on Nov. 2 and the result will make Kerry wish they had a vote.

The Democrat was favoured by healthy to enormous majorities in eight of the countries - 72 per cent supported him compared with 16 per cent for Bush in France.

In South Korea, it was 68 per cent for Kerry and 18 per cent for Bush; in Canada, 60 per cent to 20 per cent; in Spain, 58 per cent to 13 per cent; 54 per cent to 28 per cent in Australia and 50 per cent to 22 per cent in Britain.

Bush came out on top in Israel by a margin of 50 per cent to 24 per cent and in Russia, 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

On average, 57 per cent of those questioned said their opinions of the United States had worsened over the last two to three years, compared with 20 per cent who said their view had improved. That question was asked in nine of the countries but not in Russia.

For more, go to the actual article (see link above).

Computers
Google has come out with a new tool that has great promise. Go to Desktop Google and check out their new search/indexing tool. It will index every file on your hard drive (no info gets sent to Google) and will read inside those files, so that if you happen to think about something you knew you had written about at some time, just type in the word and it will show you any email containing that word, any AOL IM chat where you might have mentioned it, any web page you might have viewed at one time, etc. Works with Outlook Express, Outlook, .doc, .xls,.txt,.html files and more. I will say one thing - it smokes! Once it has finished indexing your hard drive, it will find anything and very, very fast. Check it out - if you don't like it, you can uninstall it. At this time, it only installs to C: drive, so if you have multiple partitions and store your programs on other drives, you will have to accept the fact that at this point, it only installs to C: It takes up about 500MB, so you will need some space free on C: to install. Hopefully in the future, they will allow installing to other drives. It also does not yet index web pages you've viewed with Mozilla/Firefox browsers, but that will surely come as many are migrating towards those browsers, especially Firefox. Google indicates they are aware of this desired function. The program is in beta form, so it will be constantly improved as time goes along. It installs easily - anybody can do it. This is a very, very handy tool for most people. I would think it would be extremely helpful to students and anyone in business.

Firefox - Liking Firefox more and more now that I have discovered Extensions. These are tiny little programs that give added functionality to the browser. One of the ones I really liked from MyIE2 (my other IE type browser) was the ability to click on a link and just drag it somewhere on the page and drop it and it would open a new tab in the background. This is, in practice, very fast to do. You can even highlight text and drag and drop it on an open place in your browser window and it will open a new tab and do a google search on what you just highlighted. Firefox has this extension. Other good ones are the ability to click on a link in your email program and have it open in a new tab in your current browser window and not open a brand new window. That is very nice. Mouse gestures is also an extension - that was another nice feature of MYIE2 and I'm glad to see it done in Firefox, in fact, it is done even better. Drag your mouse in different directions while you hold down the middle mouse button (scroll wheel) and you can close tabs, jump to the next one, go back a page, forward, etc. All of these little tools speed up web browsing significantly. And they have stock tickers, weather tickers and many other extensions. Most are very small in size.

Stocks
Google is up to $144/sh after debuting at $95/share just a month or so ago. Should have jumped on that one, I guess. Audible stock (one I did buy into) is red hot lately, especially following the very strong sales numbers for Apple's IPOD, announced in the past few days. As most of you know, Audible software comes bundled with IPODs. I'm up almost 70% in 2 months - stock symbol - ADBL . Google's symbol is GOOG .

Quote of the Day
"I looked always outside of myself to see what I could make the world give me instead of looking within myself to see what was there."
Belle Livingstone

The Debates

Some interesting comments from Josh Marshall's Talking Points Blog on Kerry's comment about Dick Cheney's daughter being a lesbian.

So what did you think about the Debates? Obviously, I thought Kerry won, but I did think GW did better than he had done in the first 2, which isn't saying much. It's funny that Bush runs as a "compassionate, conservative", when I think Kerry's compassion comes through with much more conviction than Bush could ever muster. Despite all the blah,blah in the media over this election and all the candidates promises, I'm afraid we'll continue to see more stalemating in the Congress in years to come and it will be interesting to see how Kerry deals with this frustation, if he is elected. It does amuse me to see Bush promising all these things he is going to do - my question is - what the hell have you been doing for the past 4 years? You promised a bunch of stuff before you were elected and none of that came to fruition, so why would anyone believe you were going to do anything for the next 4 years? Except perhaps to concentrate solely on terrorism to the point that eventually the whole world will just carpet bomb us, cause you have gotten them so pissed off.

An Appeal to our Lizard Brains? - From Arianna Huffington comes this good article and these good comments - "Over the remaining three weeks of the campaign, as the anxiety level reaches a fevered pitch – and you can be certain the Bush campaign will do everything in its power to make sure that happens – the test facing voters is no longer "Which candidate would you rather have a beer with?" It's "Which candidate would you rather give you your blankie and a bottle and keep the boogeyman away?"

I know it sounds ludicrous that the most important election of our lifetime is coming down to who can best pacify the electorate's inner baby, but I can think of no better explanation as to why Bush is not currently hovering at around five percent in the polls – a voting bloc made up of those hardcore fanatics who are as utterly blind to reality as he is.

As long as we're operating from our lizard brains – and reason takes a back seat to more primal needs – George Bush will continue to survive the logic-based attacks on his ever-escalating failures.

The only question that remains is: can Bush, Cheney and Rove keep us shrouded in the fog of fear long enough to brain John Kerry and win in November?

Quote of the Day
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." (gee, wonder who this reminds us of?)
Winston Churchill

A bit of Coaching?

Lot of talk on the Net recently about the last debate and whether GW was getting a bit of coaching via a transmitter hidden in his suit. As you can see, he had a similar item in his shirt while out driving on the ranch. I'd guess he was - as some of you may recall at the D-Day celebration in France, viewers on TV were startled to hear someone speaking lines to Bush and then he repeated them verbatim. Obviously, some wires got crossed and TV picked up on the transmission. Bush folks had no answer for that, of course. They also suggested that during the debate, his suit was just rumpled, but nobody had an explanation of how it could be such a perfect rectangular shape.

If he really is getting coached - and I wouldn't be at all surprised - that's about as pathetic as it gets. I don't care if he gets advice from other smarter people - he still has to make the decision and if he can't think well enough to speak even, then how is he going to make a decision based on others advice? Probably Rove and Cheney make the decisions for him and he just delivers them (via his radio transmitter). Yep, America - this is the kind of President we need.

The Choice

You might want to tune in to Frontline on PBS tonight to see the Choice, which is a 2 hour show devoted to examining Bush and Kerry and their differences. Frontline has some good stuff, so might be worth watching. Supposed to come on around 9 p.m ET. Check your listings.

Sinclair TV - Now this is outrageous. This is worth writing to your congressmen about. It's one thing to be willing to pay to see Michael Moore's film, but to have this shoved down your throat with no choice, is beyond the pale. Republicans - this sort of thing doesn't scare you? We feel sorry for other countries where the people only get to hear one side of the news - well, now we have Sinclair doing it to us right here.

Computers

Firefox 1.0PR is out and is now my browser of choice. Much better effort than the previous releases. Lightning fast at displaying web pages as compared to IE and with its add on extensions gives one all the capibility of the skinned versions of IE, such as MYIE2. It seems to be the browser most recommended by the computer "gurus" these days, if you don't trust me. Didn't think I'd quit MYIE2, but the definite speed increase in loading pages, plus the fewer security concerns with a non-MS browser, made me switch.

Subscriptions - You know how you're constantly asked to sign up at various news sites in order to read their online papers. Well, give Bug Me Not a try - very simple to use - you just enter the URL of the site you want to access and it will provide you with a Username and Password that will work and you won't have to go through all that registration nonsense. Let me know how it works for you.

Quote of the Day
"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."
Michael Pritchard

Market Indexes YTD

Dow Jones -3.56
Nasdaq -3.72
S&P500 + 2.40
Mid Value Funds +11.24
Small Value Funds +9.45

Bill Maher and George Carlin

Got a chuckle out of Bill Maher's show again, as usual. If you don't have satellite or cable, Maher is reason alone to get it - he's a hoot (assuming you have liberal leanings). I think it was Carlin who commented last night that we don't want "Joe Average" to be our President, as Bush is often made out to be - we want our President to be "Exceptional". I couldn't agree more. For those folks who seem to find Bush likeable because he is an your everday "average joe", well that only speaks to the intelligence of those average dimwits in this country who like their messages very plain and simple with a good thump on the Bible for effect. (I want even go into Carlin's thoughts on organized religion in this country - that might get me death threats from the religious right!)

I stil find the thought of flip-flopping amusing. The problem with GW is that he only flops and never has learned to flip. I was reminded of how many times Thomas Edison "flopped" before he invented the light bulb. The difference with Thomas was that when he "flopped", he flipped till he got it right and finally "flipped" on the light bulb. Anyone who can't gather new insights from their mistakes, is not someone I want as our President. GW has amply demonstrated that once he heads down a path, he can't be diverted. That's a dangerous person.

Computers and GPS and City Guides
Just wanted to comment that Microsoft's Streets and Trips 2005 with their GPS unit worked like a champ on our vacation. It updates your location every second on the map, so it is virtually "real-time". Made it a cinch to navigate in big cities that you are unfamiliar with and takes away the tension of trying to read maps in the darkness of your car. Of course, it helps if you have a navigator in the passenger seat who can follow the process on the laptop (thank you Janet!). It has a neat feature that will reorient the map to always point like you are looking out the front window of the car. This makes it exceedingly easy to know whether to turn right or left (for those who are challenged when driving southbound and having to think about which way to turn). The GPS unit is about an inch square and has a little suction cup on the cord, so that you can attach it to your windshield and then the cord plugs into your laptop via USB. It will even tell you your speed ( a good way to check the accuracy of your car's speedometer), as well as current altitude (helpful I guess, if you suddenly make a wrong turn and find yourself driving up the side of Mt.Everest). You can plot out your route, even electing to avoid toll roads, if you so choose and it will then draw the route out on your map and as you start driving, you can see the little car traveling along your route. If you go off the route, you will see it in a flash - and it's easy (assuming you didn't just drive into the ocean), to get yourself back on to the route. Additonal nice features are all the restaurants and services that it will locate for you on the map - makes it nice when traveling down the interstate and wishing to find something other than the normal Dairy Queen, McDonald's, etc.

Also enjoyed using Vindigo on my Palm Pilot. Extremely helpful little device. Includes most major cities in the US. When you're on foot and looking for a place to eat, you just type in your current location, click on restaurants within a 1/2 mile, 1 mile, or 2 miles (or any distance), and it will show you al the restaurants in that area, many of which have reviews. Once you select one, you click on GO and it will figure out how to get you from where you currently are to the restaurant. Dead-on accurate and we used it constantly. Wish that all the restaurants had reviews, but you can't have it all. :) It does rate them by cost, by cuisine,etc. I also downloaded a copy of Zagat for the Palm. Zagat is a famous restaurant review tool and when Vindigo didn't have a review of a restaurant we thought about visiting, then I would look for it on Zagat and they had almost every restaurant reviewed. So between the two, you have it covered. Only suggestion I would have - include the business hours of the locations and what days of the week they are open. Avoids you hoofing a 1/2 mile to find the place closed. It does list phone numbers, so you could aways call before you started your trek.

On vacation at the moment in DC and the Big Apple. Will try to post a pic or two if I get some time, but don't count on it. Was glad we made it to the opening day of the American Indian Museum, as the procession of nations was well worth it. Good entertainment, beautiful weather, and a wonderful new museum. Good stuff

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Did you catch the Tom Brokaw special on Dateline last night with Aron Ralston? Great story - truly unbelievable. Odd that it appeared on TV, just when I happened to be looking at Aron's book in Sam's Club. It was a good thing for Aron that he was as experienced as he was. And to watch all that he's done since then - I'm telling you, this boy must have done the Big Boy upstairs some pretty nice favors! Check out his book here .

Politics
Looks like the heat is being turned up a bit on Bush's AWOL period. Obviously a non-guilty person would have come out and been fighting mad that people were slandering him. Odd isn't it, that Bush hasn't made a single statement about it, isn't it? Heck, even when they offer awards for people who served with him to come forward to confirm his stance, they can't find anyone. Don't think Dan Rather would stick his neck out like he has done on this one, without proof. Stay tuned!

I still remain bewildered as to why so many Americans get the impression we're safer with Bush - the situation is exactly the opposite, folks! If you piss someone off enough, they're gonna pop you one right in the ol' kisser. I'm afraid the American public is a hopeless case - they deserve what they get, if they get Bush. How can you possibly believe that he has accomplished something over the past 4 years? Kerry may come from a "rich man's" world, but just about anybody in politics today does come from that world, so let's at least elect somebody with half a brain, for crying out loud. As far as his designation of being a "flip-flopper" - thank God! Give me a flip-flopper anyday - it shows someone who is constantly evaluating the facts and forming new opinions based on those facts, not someone who is rigid and stuck in a cave for the last 20 years. That's the problem with too many people today - they become rigid in their thinking and refuse to consider new approaches. (Take a look at the Neocons who wanted to go to war in Iraq for the past 10 years - or more)

Bill Moyers on our Govt and how "people" failed us
Then on page 265 the final report of the Commission concludes that the terrorists "exploited deep institutional failings within our government."

That is not the whole truth. What are institutions if not the lengthened influence of individuals? "The system failed" is the catchphrase now in vogue in Washington. Critics and fans alike of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush still rely on this hollow analysis. But "the system" is no mindless mechanism operating independently of the men and women individuals with names, power, and obligations – who are charged with making it work. Before "the system" can fail, they must fail.

The Commissioners avoided blaming any government officials, past or present, for the failure to prevent the attacks. They maintain that their job was not to assign individual blame, but provide the most complete and frank account of the decisive events surrounding the attack. To that end, they succeeded.

But to stop there is to stop short. Read the final report of the Commission carefully – connect the dots – and a fuller pattern emerges: Key government officials failed the system, and they failed the American people. Read more here

Gun Bill Expires
Thanks a million GW ! You and the Congress need your brains examined. " As regressive milestones go, few are as frightful in this new era of homeland security as the decision by Congress and the Bush administration to allow the expiration of the 10-year-old law protecting the public from assault rifles and other rapid-fire battlefield weapons. The law - a far from perfect but demonstrably effective restraint on high-tech gunslingers - expires on Monday with not a whimper from the White House. ".... "Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford pleaded with President Bush to do more than give passive lip support to the ban, just as most major law enforcement agencies told him the law was a vital check on gun mayhem across the nation. But rather than protecting the law, the administration invested its single-party control of government on behalf of the National Rifle Association, not the public. Instead of trying to control assault weapons, Republican Congressional leaders tried to outlaw legitimate damage suits by gun victims against irresponsible manufacturers and dealers. "

Books
For a good read, check out New York Time's columnist Maureen Dowd's book "Bushworld - Enter at your Own Risk" . And get ready for "The Family" by Kitty Kelley. It will have the Bushies choking.

Quote of the Day
"The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments."
William H. Borah

Unusual Event of the Day
Having sex with corpses is now officially illegal in California after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill barring necrophilia, a spokeswoman says - The trials and tribulations of the Terminator. Bet he hadn't considered that one before entering office!

Markets YTD
DOW -1.35
Nasdaq -5.44
S&P500 +2.21
Morningstar Mid Value +9.96
Morningstar Small Value +8.85

Heads in the Sand

Hope you all had the chance to view the ludicrous display of false hope on display at the Republican Convention. Too bad they didn't have some of the honesty of John McCain, who "When asked this week on CNN how long the U.S. military is likely to remain in Iraq, Senator John McCain replied "probably" 10 or 20 years. "That's not so bad," he said, adding, "We've been in Korea for 50 years. We've been in West Germany for 50 years." As Frank Hebert in the Times reports, "Despite all the macho posturing and self-congratulating at the Republican convention, the wave of terror that's been unleashed on the world is only growing. The American-led war in Iraq is feeding that wave, causing it to swell rather than ebb."

Paul Krugman remarks on the attacks on George Soros in his column today - "The suggestion that Mr. Soros, who has spent billions promoting democracy around the world, is in the pay of drug cartels came from Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, whom the Constitution puts two heartbeats from the presidency. After standing by his remarks for several days, Mr. Hastert finally claimed that he was talking about how Mr. Soros spends his money, not where he gets it.

The claim that Mr. Soros's political spending is driven by his desire to legalize heroin came from Newt Gingrich. And the bit about the Holocaust came from Tony Blankley, editorial page editor of The Washington Times, which has become the administration's de facto house organ."

Now I understand why Bill Clinton always thought the Republicans were out to get him.

I still find it unfathomable how Americans can thing George Bush offers a "safer" America. Have Americans had mass lobotomies lately? How does attacking a country that was not a current danger to us and enciting half the terroists in the world, produce a "safer" America? Hell, half the world hates our guts now - that's making us safer? Sorry, but if you vote for George Bush, you deserve to be the first person on board for the next deployment to God knows where and you can count on there being another deployment. Remember - God is calling on George to bring "American" freedom to all the heathens of the world, which in George's world, is everybody other than the USA.

And as for Zell Miller - they should do to him what they did during the French Revolution - put his head on a spike. Crazy ol' geezer.

I also liked how George Bush slammed Hollywood last night. All in the spirit of "inclusion"! Glad to know he is the leader of "all of us" - ha!

Breaking News
NY Times reporting that Bill Clinton has had a heart attack and is in NY Hospital undergoing tests. Probably listening to the Republican Convention did it.

Update - An angiogram given to Clinton revealed "significant blockage," said a Democratic official, who had discussed the condition with the former president's staff. It did not appear that Clinton suffered a heart attack, he said. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

A condom for your CD?

How's that for a catchy title? Thought that might grab your attention. Actually, this is a very cool idea developed by a company called - d-skin. These are protective "skins" that slip on to your CD/DVD collection that keep them from ever getting scratched and any CD/DVD player, whether it be home, car or PC can read them while the skin is on. So if you want to maintain a pristine disc collection, you might want to slip a few of these on. They can be bought at Walmart, BestBuy (also online), Gamestop, and Media Play. BestBuy has a sale on them online at the moment, although I didn't check shipping costs. Might be cheaper to just walk into a BestBuy store. To learn more about these, visit the d-skin home page .

Health

Vioxx Concerns Yikes! (The following from Dr. Mercola's blog) - A large study funded by the FDA did what some people--me included--believed almost impossible: Showed the risk of taking drug giant Merck's popular COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx increased one's chances of a heart attack by 50 percent!

Even more distressing: Patients taking the highest recommended daily dosage of Vioxx had three times the risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death as those not taking standard painkillers. Sudden cardiac death, a sudden electrical disturbance of the heart that is not considered a heart attack, is the nation's biggest cause of death.

Researchers came up with the potentially damaging findings on Vioxx, a $2.5-billion-a-year blockbuster medicine, after analyzing the medical records of 1.4 million people.

In fact, patients taking the typical starting dose of Vioxx had a 50 percent greater chance of heart attack and sudden cardiac death than patients taking any dose of Celebrex.

If you've forgotten, the market for pain relievers is about $10 BILLION per year. Anytime you deal with numbers that large there will inevitably be corruption, greed and negative influences.

Besides, you can create your own anti-inflammatory just by changing the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in your diet.

Computers

Use Instant Messaging a lot? Then you should check out this review of Trillian Pro 2.013 . It enables you to talk to your friends and buddies on all the services (MSN,AOL,Yahoo, ICQ) and will show them all to you in 1 window. How cool is that? You don't even need to download those other services, although you do need to have signed up with them so that you have a username, so that others can see you're online. I've used it for years - works like a champ. Authors keep it updated and are quick to fix any attempts by AOL or Yahoo to block messages (this doesn't happen very often any more, as those services seem to have accepted Trillian). There's a free version but the $25 pro version has some nice perks and is worth the price, imho. The actual web site for Trillian is at CeruleanStudios.com


Word of the Day
excoriate 1.To tear or wear off the skin of; abrade. 2. To censure strongly; denounce. Usage - "an editorial that excoriated the administration for its inaction", " there has been mostly silence from those leaders, even from those who privately excoriate the cleric as a rabble-rousing upstart"

Quote of the Day
"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed."
Hermann Melville

Web Site of the Day
Alternet.org - AlterNet's journalistic achievements include being named one of NPR's five "winners on the Internet," winning a Webby in the Print and Zines category and a nomination in the "activism" category, and winning Utne's Independent Press Award for Online Political Coverage.

YTD Indexes
Dow -2.60
Nasdaq -7.12
S&P 500 +.31

Back Again

I've returned once again from hibernation. Health issues (too boring to relate) and the Olympics, which have sucked me in and kept me there permanently, I believe. It's been worth it though. Nice to have satellite TV, where you can watch it all day on MSNBC,Bravo, USA,CNBC, and NBC. By midnight though, I am definitely seeing double. Some highlights so far - Paul Hamm's incredible comeback in the Men's all-around Gymnastics final. The Men's Swimming Relay team that finally beat Australia in a great finish. Deena Kastor's ( a lady with "class") incredible come from behind surge to snare a bronze in the Women's marathon(she was profiled earlier in this blog), the first medal for America since 1984 in the marathon, and a great marathon it was, with some incredible hill climbs, something none of these women had ever had to battle in a marathon. It was the same route Pheidippides ran 2,500 years ago to deliver the news that the Athenians had overcome the Persians (of course he dropped dead at the end of that run, something the favorite in this race - Paula Radcliffe of England probably felt like doing when she suddenly quit around the 22 mile mark while in 3rd place). The USA finishing 1-2-3 in the 400 meters in Track and Field. The women's softball team going undefeated and having only 1 run scored against it during the entire Games. And let's not forget Iraq's soccer team, who is down 2-0 to Paraquay in a semi-final at this very moment, with the winner playing for the Gold Medal (even if they lose, they can still play Italy for the bronze). That would be really something if Iraq could come from behind, play Argentina for the Gold and beat them.

Politics
The media is wasting a lot of our time with the continued emphasis on the Swift Boat issue. Give us all a break - go find something worthwhile to write about - like the economy, the environment, Iraq, etc. To try and pin lies on someone who volunteered for VietNam and who came back and fought for Veterans Against the War is ridiculous. I understand we're talking about someone's credibility here, but there are too many people who back up Kerry, so the whole thing does indeed look like a "smear" campaign. But politics thrive on this crap - no wonder the American people are disinterested when it comes to voting - let's get back to the important thing folks - like how come my health insurance premiums escalate 15-20% per year? And when I can't pay it, who's gonna pay for my indigent visits to the ER?

Photograph
The Canon 20D has arrived and looks to be quite a camera for a decent price. I may finally make the plunge into the Digital SLR world. Should be on sale sometime in mid-September. As soon as I buy it, a competitor will of course come out with something better, but this camera pretty much addresses most any concerns I might have had with previous models.

Computers
Firefox browser is now updated to version .93
RoboForm is now at Version 6.04

Have you downloaded and installed SP2 yet? If so, leave a comment below and let me know how it went.

YTD Indexes
Dow (-3.64)
Nasdaq (-8.22)
S&P 500 (-.53)

Word of the Day
inexorable [adj] not capable of being swayed or diverted from a course; unsusceptible to persuasion. ""Cynthia was inexorable; she would have none of him" 2. [adj] not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty; ""Russia's final hour, it seemed, approached with inexorable certainty"" 3. relentless, unrelenting - "The hill climb is inexorable" (heard during the women's Marathon at the Olympics); "oil continues its inexorable upward spiral."

911 Commission Report - Free!

If you have an Ebook Reader - either on your desktop or on a Palm Pilot, PocketPC,etc, then you can download a free copy of the full 911 Commission Report at Fictionwise . Looks to be fairly easy reading. Check it out. You can also download an audio version from Audible.com for $4.95.

Is this what you want America?
According to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to be published Friday, households with incomes in the top 1 percent were receiving an average tax cut of $78,460 this year, while households in the middle 20 percent of earnings - averaging about $57,000 a year - were getting an average cut of only $1,090. Fully one-third of President Bush's tax cuts in the last three years have gone to people with the top 1 percent of income, who have earned an average of $1.2 million annually...... Mr. Kerry would seek to roll back the tax cuts for households with incomes above $200,000 a year, a move his campaign estimates would save $860 billion over 10 years, and use that money in large part to pay for a vast new national health care plan ( Middle and Lower Income America - Time to go Vote! (Source - NY Times )

Olympics
Just a reminder - NBC tonight from 8-11 p.m. (Eastern) - Opening Ceremonies !

Birding
A red footed Falcon makes its way to the Western Hemisphere for the first time! Sighted on Martha's Vineyard, one of the observers was David Sibley, creator of an encyclopedic series of books on birds, who also heard about the bird on Tuesday. "I found out what the earliest ferry was and came right over," said Mr. Sibley, who lives in Concord, Mass. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

Mr. Sibley said the bird was male, just over a year old. "It still has the feathers that have the pattern of juvenile feathers," he said.

Red-footed falcons winter in southern and western Africa and breed in Eastern Europe, principally in Russia, Mr. Laux said. No one can say how the bird got here, but this species is adapted for long-distance flying. It may have come from Africa on trade winds or storm winds, and made its way north from South America. Or it could have come across the North Atlantic from England, Ireland or Iceland, where red-footed falcons have been spotted sporadically in recent years. To hear it's voice, go to this page . A high-pitched Ki-ki-ki, not unlike the kestrel, but more drawn-out and mournful.

Word of the Day
putative - Thought, assumed, or alleged to be such or to exist (the child's putative father) (ignorantly entered into a putative marriage before the divorce from a previous spouse was final)

Quote of the Day
Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.
Robertson Davies

Market Indexes Year to Date
DOW -4.93
NASDAQ -11.03
S&P 500 -2.04
(Vote Kerry/Edwards!)

Markets Shaky

Stock Market continues to stagger - will be an interesting week coming up, especially to hear what the Fed has to say on Tues. DJIA is down 6% for the year and the Nasdaq down 11% - not a pretty picture. New job creation in July was absymal - only 32,000 new jobs created - a bit short of the some 215,000 predicted by the Govt - hey - thought those tax cuts were supposed to fix up the economy? Too bad the fat cats get the cuts and they just bank it rather than spend it. If you want the economy to move - give the little guy some money - he'll spend it.

From News for Real : A free market economy operates just like a natural world eco-chain - trouble anywhere along the chain quickly cascades throughout the entire system. Consumers under stress stop spending, orders for goods slow causing wholesalers to cut future orders from manufacturers, who lay off workers. Those workers then come under stress and stop spending, which then triggers the next downward cycle

Book Worth Reading
Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy by Robert F Kennedy, Jr. From an article by Kennedy - But George W. Bush's policy advisers somehow don't see the benefits we've received from our investments in America's environmental infrastructure. All they see is the cost of compliance to their campaign contributors – a group that is led by the nation's most egregious polluters. This myopic vision has led the White House to abandon its responsibility to protect the public trust......James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first Interior secretary, once promised, "We will mine more, drill more, cut more timber." In April 2001, a retired James Watt told the Denver Post, "Everything Cheney's saying, everything the president's saying, they're saying exactly what we were saying 20 years ago, precisely. Twenty years later, it sounds like they've just dusted off the old work."

Olympics
Tune in to NBC from 7-11 p.m. Eastern this coming Friday (August 13th) for the Opening Ceremonies. Prior to that, you can watch the Women's Soccer team take on Greece (live) on MSNBC from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday, August 11th. Another interesting match before the Opening ceremonies begin is Irag against Portugual on MSNBC on Thursday, Aug 12th from 12-3:30 p.m. Action starts in earnest on Saturday, the 14th with coverage from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and from 7-11p.m. on NBC. If you want to catch the Women's softball team and maybe catch fireballer Jennie Finch in action, tune in to CNBC from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday.

It will be interesting to see how Greece is able to pull off the Olympics - cross your fingers that the terroists stay home. The other day I had the chance to watch an interesting flyover of all the Greek Isles - think that was probably on PBS - beautiful and interesting - never really gave that much thought to how many islands were actually there - would be fun to jump from one to one - think I'll wait till after the Olympics are over, however . :)

All the Pretty Words

The facts facing the United States are too grim for the voters to hear. I'm afraid Hebert is correct, sadly enough.

Politics
Meanwhile, Ralph Nader is determined to stay the course. Mr. Nader's determination to stay in the contest was evident on Friday night in Los Angeles, when Michael Moore, the filmmaker, who backed Mr. Nader in 2000, appeared with him on the HBO program "Real Time with Bill Maher." Mr. Moore and Mr. Maher dropped to their knees to beg Mr. Nader to drop out, with the audience cheering them on. Furthermore, In the interview, Mr. Nader was asked why he persisted at such risk to his legacy.

"Who cares about the legacy?" he responded. "Are they going to tear out seat belts from cars? We're looking to the future."

He said that Democrats "should be happy that someone is going all over the country taking apart their opponent, but instead, they are employing dirty tricks to keep us off the ballot."

Journalists Pick Kerry
When asked who would be a better president, the journalists from outside the Beltway picked Mr. Kerry 3 to 1, and the ones from Washington favored him 12 to 1. But who would they rather cover - the Dems or the Republicans? The overall result was 77 for Bush, 67 for Mr. Kerry.

Why stick with the Bush administration? "You can't ask for a richer cast of characters to cover," one Washington correspondent said. "Kerry will be a bore after these guys." and how about likeability? Who would they rather be stranded on an island with? Mr. Kerry was the choice of both groups: 31 to 17 among the Washington journalists, and 51 to 39 among the others.

"Bush's religious streak,'' one Florida correspondent said, "would drive me nuts on a desert island."

Computers
If you read the NY Times a lot, but want to read it in an easier fashion, then check out the RSS feeds available. I've often touted the use of an RSS reader here and if you're not using one, you're way behind the times. A much more efficient way to browse and read the news then using a regular browser. I use Feed Demon , but there are scores of other readers available as well, a number of which are free. Feed Demon just happens to be the best. You can get the Washington Post Feeds as well.

Jobs pulls another rabbit out of the hat
Steve Jobs of Apple Computers survived a spooky scare with cancer or so it seems. He underwent emergency cancer surgery on Saturday to remove an unusual pancreatic tumor. "I had a very rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which represents about 1 percent of the total cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed each year," he wrote in the message, which Apple made public on Sunday evening, "and can be cured by surgical removal if diagnosed in time (mine was)."

Where's Primetime?

Politics

I still find it rather astounding that the primetime channels (ABC, NBC,FOX,CBS) didn't carry the convention live each night. You had to turn to cable or satellite to listen. No wonder people never vote in this country - they're being sent the message that the Simpsons are more important than an election. The only channels worth watching were CSPAN and PBS. Too many of the others had too many commentators butting in, offering their opinions. Most disagreeable was Chris Matthews going bonkers (he's always bonkers, but now more so.) and playing Mr. Republican, when in reality, he isn't. He was downright rude to Al Sharpton and fortunately Al didn't back down a bit and gave it right back.

I thought the speakers for the Dems were outstanding. 5 stars to Barak Obama (we will have really come far in this country when we elect a guy with a name like that to be president - and that might not be that far off). Thought the Kerry kids did great, as did Theresa Heinz Kerry and in particular John Kerry, who gave the best speech I've heard him give. Will it make a diff? Maybe. How many undecided voters watched? And how many, who never vote, watched? Probably not a whole lot.

Health Care

Compare the Kerry-Edwards Health Care Plan to the Bush-Cheney Plan

Krugman's Views

Krugman makes some good points in his opinion piece today . Worth Reading. Thought this final comment was interesting, "Three weeks ago, The New Republic reported that the Bush administration was pressuring Pakistan to announce a major terrorist capture during the Democratic convention. Hours before Mr. Kerry's acceptance speech, Pakistan announced, several days after the fact, that it had apprehended an important Al Qaeda operative."

Computers

Recent Updates

Zone Alarm 5.1.011

Mailwasher Pro 4.1.75

Windows Critical Updates

Word of the Day

incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\, adjective:
1. Having a fleshy pink color.
2. Red; blood-red.

transitive verb:
To make red or crimson.

Usage: The more he scrubbed it, the more it bled.
It made the seas incarnadine, he said.
and....
In a night of rain, the ruddy reflections of their lights incarnadine the clouds till the entire city appears to be the prey of a monster conflagration.

(from Italian incarnatino, which came from the Latin incarnato, something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites.")

Quote of the Day

"Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done."
Aaron Burr

How can this be?

"In recent polls, Americans said they had more confidence in Mr. Bush to make the right decisions to protect the country compared with Mr. Kerry." Hello? Are more Americans having a brain aneurism or what???? George Bush - who led us into an unjustified war? George Bush - who was dodging out on his National Guard duty? This makes him better qualified to protect our country? Give me a BREAK! I am amazed at how people can even compare the two - here's a guy who's trying to dodge out on his military duty and then here's Kerry, jumping out of a swift boat and chasing guys through the jungle and he's even volunteering for this duty! And then there's the other fact - what makes George Bush so special just because he got pissed off that terrorists attacked our country on 9/11? Because he acted like a tough guy? Hell, who amongst you, if you were leading the country, wouldn't have acted pissed off? That has to be one of the dumbest arguments I"ve heard in a long time. Don't Americans realize that our stature abroad has sunk to an all-time low and that the reason is the world considers our President dangerous and incapable and just plain ignorant about the issues? Why else do you think they hate us? Sure, we have sex, TV, too much food and the inclination to think that we are some sort of missionaries out to save the world, but it takes a George Bush to push these countries over the edge into actually hating us, versus just being jealous. Do us all a favor America - drive these Neo-cons out of office and in so doing, you will really be protecting the country.

Still Time!
You still have time to contribute at www.johnkerry.com After tomorrow, no more contributions, while George Bush has another month to keep sucking up money. Don't let the Dems fall victim!

Mountain Blogger has returned!

Had to take a week off for a family reunion on the mountain. Think it was actually successful, so perhaps we might even try this again. No family members killed each other, so should be considered booming success! LOL

Sports

Ready for the Olympics and the World's best women's softball pitcher? The men will be tuning in to watch Jenny Finch pitch, that's for sure. :) Pitching some 70 mph from a shorter distance than the regular 60' of baseball, her fastball is equivalent to a 92 mph fastball in baseball. She has already struck out 4 major leaguers. During her college career she won 60 consecutive games. To read more about this amazing young woman, check out her bio here . You can watch her and Team USA today at 1 p.m Eastern on ESPN or August 1st at 1 p.m on ESPN. I'm getting psyched for the Olympics!


Lance Armstrong

Watched Lance crush the competition on the next to last day in the Tour de France during a blistering time trial. He smoked the 2nd place guy by a full minute - the guy is damn near inhuman!



Politics

Heading for a house party on the night of the Democrat's convention to hear John Kerry give his speech (better be a good one! - the speech that is.... Of course, would be nice if there were some good munchies as well. ). Should be interesting to meet some like-minded folks. The Dems are enthusiastic, but will that be enough?... If you want to bone up on some of the issues and Kerry's take on them, go to his web site and read Kerry-Edwards Policy Documents . You may not agree with every single one of them, but remember, you are not the only fish in the pond and sometimes things have to be done that may be for the greater good of all, even if in that particular instance, that doesn't mean you.

There are a lot of volunteer opportunities at the Kerry site, some easy to do and right from your computer. So take a few minutes and make sure all your email friends will be reminded to get to the polls on 11/2 and vote. Check the Kerry site to sign up as a volunteer- takes only seconds.

Theresa Heinz Kerry
From Arianna's column , "when it comes to spicing up the political dessert tray, Teresa Heinz Kerry is one of the most flavorful and compelling public figures to hit the national stage in decades." On the media and their attacks on Theresa, "You gotta love this about our media mavens: They are constantly bemoaning the lack of forthrightness in our public figures — the vast majority of whom wouldn’t know a straight answer if it bit them in the butt. But when they are finally presented with someone who doesn’t (pardon the expression) beat around the bush, they start sharpening the long knives.

They’re like a bunch of little kids who have gotten so used to being fed nothing but vanilla ice cream for dessert that a serving of Rocky Road with some sprinkles on top leaves them sputtering and crying, “Yuck!”"

And the real problem? "Thirty-eight million women didn’t vote in 2000, many of them because they were so disgusted with our inauthentic politics-as-usual. If even a small percentage of them turn out this November, they could very well end up deciding the election and the direction of the country.

So I propose that we turn on its ear the traditional good-old-boy political litmus test — which candidate would you rather have a beer with? Instead, let’s ask the women of America: which candidate’s wife would you rather have a cup of coffee with?"

Interactive Election Guide
For a constantly updated election Guide and some neat graphics, head to this page .

Quote of the Day
"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind."
Aristotle

Word of the Day
jeremiad \jair-uh-MY-uhd\, noun:
A tale of sorrow, disappointment, or complaint; a doleful story; also, a dolorous or angry tirade. Johnson's jeremiad against what he sees as American imperialism and militarism exhaustively catalogs decades of U.S. military misdeeds ....... Economics ministers in general were taken aback when a recent World Bank report -- after a year of jeremiads -- suggested the crisis was being exaggerated

The "Left Behind" Series

Someone should leave these authors behind! What is so amazing is that so many people actually believe this gibberish. Obviously, I am not one of that persuasion. NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof discusses their latest novel - If the latest in the "Left Behind" series of evangelical thrillers is to be believed, Jesus will return to Earth, gather non-Christians to his left and toss them into everlasting fire: "Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself again." These books have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. The latest is "Glorious Appearing," which has Jesus returning to Earth to wipe all non-Christians from the planet. It's disconcerting to find ethnic cleansing celebrated as the height of piety.

Furthermore - In "Glorious Appearing," Jesus merely speaks and the bodies of the enemy are ripped open. Christians have to drive carefully to avoid "hitting splayed and filleted bodies of men and women and horses."

"The riders not thrown," the novel continues, "leaped from their horses and tried to control them with the reins, but even as they struggled, their own flesh dissolved, their eyes melted and their tongues disintegrated. . . . Seconds later the same plague afflicted the horses, their flesh and eyes and tongues melting away, leaving grotesque skeletons standing, before they, too, rattled to the pavement."

One might have thought that Jesus would be more of an animal lover.

These scenes also raise an eschatological problem: Could devout fundamentalists really enjoy paradise as their friends, relatives and neighbors were heaved into hell?

If you find this far fetched, well many of your fellow Americans feel this way. Makes one pause, doesn't it?

Olympic Trials

Deena Drossin smoked the other ladies in the 10,000 meter finals, almost lapping the 2nd place finisher. She won't run the event in Athens though, choosing instead to run the Marathon (She set the American Record in the Marathon - 2:21.16 in London in 2003). Tune in August 23rd to see her compete. She's a class act - after almost lapping every person in the field, she waited at the finish line and congratulated every finisher. Nice to see that - in her interview later, she proved herself to be articulate and a credit to Track and Field. She's a English/Creative Writing/Journalism major from the Univ. of Arkansas, where she won 7 Southeastern Conference titles.

To keep up with other fast ladies, check out this web site .



Tune in on Sunday to the Trials to watch Alan Webb try to win the 1500m - should be a great race. He's the kid who broke Jim Ryun's High School Mile Mark. Could this be the year America brings home a Gold in the 1500? Now that would be big! For a good interview, turn to this page .

What happened to chasing Terroists?

Now we're chasing poor ol' bad boy Bobby Fischer ? Wouldn't you think a few terroists would somehow be a bit higher on the priority scale, than trying to track down Bobby Fischer? He was scheduled for a match with Boris Spassky in 1992. Just before the match, however, the United Nations imposed sanctions against Yugoslavia for supporting Serbian aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United States banned its citizens from doing business there. Mr. Fischer ignored a formal warning from the government against playing the match, and at a news conference spat on the letter. He won the match, collecting $3.3 million, and has been in exile from the United States ever since.. If you are unfamiiar with chess, Bobby was and probably is the greatest chess champion of all time.

Bobby is a bit nuts, professing to be a Jew hater, amongst other things (he is a Jew himself) and thought 9/11 was a fine thing, so you can see why there is not a lot of love lost for him, but somehow I doubt this guy is a huge danger.

Fahrenheit 911

Took in Michael Moore's movie yesterday. Not bad, but being aware of his stance and most of the issues, didn't come as a huge shocker. I suspect it might to folks who rarely read the news. It started off a bit overblown, I thought, but got better as it went along, in particular the scenes with Lisa Lipscomb, who lost her son in Iraq. It closed powerfully, bringing the message home that it is our poor youth and the kids from the projects who are really sacrificing their lives for the rest of us. Hopefully, it will sway some voters to vote Democratic - although Kerry/Edwards lead overall in the polls, Edwards isn't bringing the pop to the southern vote , that many probably hoped he would. He is more likely to appeal to those in Michigan and Ohio, who are out of work. Bill Moyer's piece I alluded to yesterday, pointed out why the poor still vote Republican, despite the economic damage that does them. It is discouraging to see how illiterate so many Americans are when it comes to having even an inkling of the issues - it's as if so many are in tune with Britney Spears, who has said that she just trusts our president and you have to believe in him. Just having Britney extoll those words of wisdom should be all that would be necessary to elect Kerry/Edwards, but....

Health
I got a chuckle out of an ad I heard on the radio yesterday while eating one of those low-carb wrap sandwiches at Subway (not really that good in my opinion). The ad was extolling the virtues of Slim Jims as a low-carb , healthy snack. Slim Jims are now healthy? Lord help us all. They really prey on gullible folks, don't they?

Experts Set a Lower Low for Cholesterol Levels
New lower levels for LDL cholesterol are touted, especially for those at risk. Of course, they encourage heavy use of statins. Doc Mercola thinks that is all wrong, "This give the drug companies another tool to forcefully advocate use of their drugs to lower cholesterol into very dangerous low levels. These "experts" are absolutely clueless as the foundational causes of heart disease. Cholesterol is only an innocent bystander and using drugs to control a symptom is a sure fire solution to worsen the problem. The most obvious is the reduction of coenzyme Q10 that occurs to everyone consuming statin drugs. The less obvious ones are the side effects and complications that result when using a drug Band-Aid solution rather than treating the cause of the problem. The recent Baycol recall is a classic example.

The way to lower heart disease risk is to address foundational causes of

* Optimal exercise
* Ideal diet for one's metabolic type
* Addressing emotional stresses
* Good sleep
* Exposure to adequate levels of sunshine

Think Doc is right or not? Good question. Offer your opinion in the comments section.

Your ol' used Computer
Office Depot is taking in your old worn out computer this summer for FREE. HP and others have done this in the past, but have charged for it (usually about $35), so this is a great opportunity to dump some of those big paperweights (I have quite a few myself).

Firefox/Mozilla/Thunderbird patch
If you're using one of these browsers instead of IE, there's a new security patch out for it. Go to this page to install the patch.

Quote of the Day
"The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory."
Paul Fix

Ouch of the Day Story!
SHEFFIELD, England - A man who shot himself in the groin after drinking 15 pints of beer and stuffing a sawed-off shotgun down his trousers was jailed for five years Tuesday for illegal possession of a firearm. Read the whole story here . Geez, get it together there you crazy bloke!

Mo Greene blazes to narrow Win in Olympic Trials finals

A great race - 1 1/00th of a second separating the top 3 finishers, 9.91,9.92,9.93 - that is some smokin' running! First time since 1972 that 2 guys have broken 10 flat in the Trials and this time actually 4 did (a 9.99 also in there for a 4th place, but no trip to Athens - only first 3 go - bummer for Coby Miller). It was lucky that Mo Greene had such a fast start cause I think if Shawn Crawford had had a good start, he would have run him down. Always exciting to watch! Better, of course, by far, if you're there in person, but ...

Marion Jones
Gary Hall, the Olympic swimmer, took a poke at Marion Jones the other day. `I hate that her defense is, `I never tested positive,' '' he said, pointing out that the drug in question, THG, has only recently been detectable. ``In an Olympic year, there's only a handful of athletes who get the attention that they deserve financially, and it's what keeps us going for another four years. If she has cheated, or if anybody has cheated, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'' Marion finished a disappointing 5th in the finals of the 100 and won't be around to defend her Olympic Gold of 2000. It will be interesting to see how she does in the 200 later in the week and in the long jump. She had a baby just a year ago and probably isn't in top form, but many will wonder if she has lost here spark because perhaps it was steroids , all along? That would be a shame, because she was very good for Track and Field. Trials continue tonight from 10 p.m.- 1 a.m. Eastern on the USA channel and Thursday night from 10 p.m. -12 a.m. (USA), and Friday night from 11 p.m - 1 a.m. (USA). Saturday, they return to NBC from 5-6 p.m. Looks like I will be burning some long nighttime hours - may have to set up the VCR.

Politics
What's the Matter with Kansas? Watched an interesting program with Bill Moyers yesterday. He had author Thomas Frank on, who was talking about his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas"? As Democrats and Republicans battle for the hearts and minds of voters in key swing states, author Thomas Frank turns his attention to the traditionally red-voting state of Kansas which, he says, is a microcosm of a sea change in the voting patterns of working class Americas. Blue collar workers, says Frank, are embracing a conservative moral agenda centering on opposition to abortion and gay marriage and support for school prayer. The American working class, he argues, is voting against is own economic interests. What can the Sunflower state tell us about why Americans struggling to provide for their families would vote conservative and against their own economic futures? Bill Moyers talks with Frank, who argues that a culture war has led to a political deck stacked against America’s working poor.

Sounds like it would be an interesting read.

Quote of the Day
"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."
Kurt Vonnegut

In America (and Africa)

Movies
Just finished watching a marvelous movie, In America . The story of an Irish family coming to NYC in the 1980's and trying to cope. Wonderfully acted, with 2 marvelous little girls (who happen to be sisters in real life). 5 Stars. Bring your kleenex box. One of the best movies I've seen this year , made so in particular by these wonderful kids.

Books
#1 Ladies Detective Agency - A great series of books by African born author, Alexander McCall Smith, this being the first one in the series. A fat African woman opens a detective agency in Botswana - lots of bush tea and great stories. This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors..... This series, about delightful people in the beautiful country of Botswana, is simply one of the very best new literary series in decades .......The humour is gentle and the characters are beautifully portayed. Especially Mma Ramotswe herself who confidently eats fruit cake as she does not need to worry about such things being a woman of 'Traditional African Build'. If you like audio books, this is one to listen to, as it is superbly narrated by South African, Lisette Lecat, who also narrated on "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight". Check out the ad at the top of the page for audio books - they really combine the best of a book with the best of theater - 2 for the price of 1. :)

Electronics
Just when I mentioned the new Maha charger C204W as an excellent new charger with worldwide voltage regulator built in (so you can use it while you're in Botswana :) ) , my C204 bites the dust after 4 years of use - most likely from too many power surges on our lightning prone mountaintop - next time will have to plug it into a decent surge protector. Though the 204W is their newest, I went with the 401FS which has a lifetime warranty and charges each cell individually. I liked the thought of that lifetime warranty. :)

Tungsten T3
Still loading software onto my new T3 Palm Pilot - this really is a very handy device. Getting (2) 256mb SD cards for storage (only $60) was a good move, as I can put lots of audible books, mp3's, and additional programs on it, that won't fit in the 64MB of built-in memory. So now I have an audio book device, a tape recorder(very handy), ebook reader, a photo and movie viewer, a master organizer, ability to connect to a Bluetooth enabled cell phone and surf the Net anywhere, game player, and a mega load of additional applications should I wish to install them. Not bad for free - thank you Ameritrade! (Just downloaded and installed "Naked in Baghdad", Anne Garrols (an NPR journalist) acclaimed book on Baghdad and the run up to war. Very nice display on the T3, better than my little Otis player I normally use - will be interesting to see what kind of a drain on the battery occurs from listening to an audio book).

Olympic Track and Field Trials
Just a reminder to tune in tonite for the Track and Field Trials - 8 p.m NBC (Eastern Time)

Health

Why Fat Hips are better than Fat Stomachs

From Gabe Mirkin's newsletter - A new study from Queen's University in Canada confirms that storing fat primarily in your belly, rather than your hips, increases your chances of suffering heart attacks and diabetes (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2004). When you take in more calories than your body needs, your liver turns them into fat. People who store fat primarily in their bellies are called "apples," while those who store fat primarily in their hips are called "pears." Fat cells in your belly are different from those in your hips. The blood that flows from belly fat goes directly to your liver, whereas the blood that flows from your hips goes into your general circulation. The livers of those who store fat in their bellies are blocked from removing insulin by the extra fat and therefore do not remove insulin from the bloodstream as effectively as the livers of those who store fat in their hips and have less fat in their livers. So "apples" have higher blood insulin and sugar levels. You need insulin to drive sugar from your bloodstream into your cells, but insulin is also a harmful hormone because it lowers blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol that prevents heart attacks and raises blood levels of the bad triglycerides that cause heart attacks. Being shaped like an apple and having a beer belly increases your risk for a heart attack and diabetes. People who store fat primarily in their hips and are shaped like pears are less likely to have heart attacks.

Quote of the Day
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
Dale Carnegie

Word of the Day
refractory \rih-FRAK-tuh-ree\, adjective:
1. Stubbornly disobedient; unmanageable.
2. Resisting ordinary treatment or cure.
3. Difficult to melt or work; capable of enduring high temperature.

Usage: 1. And even those most refractory infections of all, those caused by viruses- 2. Bauxite is mined in only a few places. It is used to make aluminum, iron, copper and dozens of refractory products such as the bricks used to line blast furnaces. 3. It's a head shot of Lucien Bouchard peering out of the dark, openmouthed, teeth showing, eyes glittering and appearing not to have shaved in a week. In another age, the shot might have been held up to a refractory kid with the warning, "The boogeyman will get you if you don't watch out."

Palm Pilot and USDA Food Database

If you want to know the nutrient content of a zillion foods and want it handy, then you can download the entire USDA food database into your palm pilot. Incredible amount of info on each food - if you're dieting or counting carbs, this is extremely handy.

Digital Toys
If you need a good charger for your rechargeables, look no further than the Maha C204W I've used one of these for years with very good results - now they've improved it, especially for those of you who might be traveling overseas.

Happy 4th of July!

More on Joe
For an interesting web site with lots of good interviews on the main protagonist of the book and movie, "Touching the Void" (winner of the outstanding British film of the year), you should check out Joe's own web site . He pulls no punches. A rather amusing quote from one of his Interviews/excerpts - I also have fairly strong views about climbing and children but they are purely personal and I have no criticisms of those who combine family and mountains. It is their choice and their conscience.
It has never been a problem for me since I have no desire whatsoever to have children, nor do I understand them. They are a mystery I never wished to delve into as well as being desperately expensive, life consuming and ambition compromising. I’m quite happy to live a lonely old age after a lifetime of fun (if I get the chance) than breed on the off chance that any of the little buggers will be around when I need them. A little selfish perhaps, or maybe just honest. Apologies to all parents out there.

I would suggest, however, that you watch the film first, without reading his web site, then watch the extra footage on the DVD, then read the book if you have the time. I think watching the film with no idea what will happen is worth it.

Diet
If you are low carbing it, check out the low carb soups made by Walmart. About 7-9 grams of carbs per cup of soup. Suprisingly -very tasty - some of the best canned soup I've had. Some are also fairly low on sodium ((550mg). They say they contain no trans fats, but the contents labels indicate partially hydrogenated oils, so how they claim the 0 transfats is a question.

If you use Smart Balance as a 0 transfat butter substitute (and it is a very good one), then you might also want to check out Smart Balance cooking spray (like Pam) - no transfats - that's gotta be a good thing.

For an excellent web site on the glycemic index, carbs, and the consequences of a crappy diet and potential diabetes, check out David Mendosa's site . (He used to go by Rick, but changed his first name to David - don't ask me why). Loaded with excellent information - it doesn't get much better than this. I notice much of the info on his site leads to further info by him on the About.com sites, which have to be about the best general web site on the Net - if you want info on damn near anything, go to www.about.com

Looking for a low carb pasta that really tastes like pasta without all those soy fillers? Try Dreamfield Pasta. Check out what David Mendosa had to say about it by clicking here .

Quote of the Day
"If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?"
Harry Shearer

Cheap Books

My wife just delivered two hardback copies of recent books to me. Ted Koppel's "Off Camera" ($25.00 retail) and Sebastian Junger's "Fire" (author of the Perfect Storm) ($25 retail). Know how much she paid for them? $1 each! Where? Where else? Dollar Tree. So all you inveterate shoppers, keep an eye on the book selection at Dollar Tree - you sure can't beat the price. She's even picked up books off of Oprah's list there.

Disappearance
If you've wondered where this column has gone in the past week or so, well I got a new Tungsten T3 palm pilot and I've been buried in it for awhile. Am now resurfacing to deliver you a new stream of gripping entertainment! I assume this sentiment is shared? :)

Mattie Stepanek
Was sorry to hear of the demise of little Mattie. This was the most courageous and incredible kid I have ever seen. He was light years ahead of so many of us. I still remember the first time I saw him on Larry King and just sat there open-mouthed. If you never saw Mattie speak in person, then you truly missed a once in a lifetime event. You can read about the Hero Poet here If there were only more Matties, the world would be a lot more peaceful.

Tennis
Did you catch the women's final this morning at Wimbledon? A gorgeous and very likeable young 17 year old (Maria Sharapova ) smacked Serena Williams around the court, 6-1, 6-4 to win her first Grand Slam title. She's better looking than Anna Kournikova and with this win is destined to make millions. Coming with her father to this country at the age of 7, she enrolled in a tennis camp and just 10 years later is the Wimbledon champ. I'll say one thing - she had that determined spirit - highly impressive. First Russian woman to win Wimbledon.

You can catch a great Men's final tomorrow morning between Andy Roddick and Roger Federer, last year's champ. #1 and #2 duking it out - should be a great match. Tune in early. The last time 2 top seed met was Connors and McEnroe in 1982.

Movies
Watched "Touching the Void" last night. A fabulous mountainering movie. A guest from England had tipped me off to the book a few years ago and I read it back then, thinking it was even better than Krukauer's "Into Thin Air". Translated into over 60 languages and over a million copies sold, it is a classic and well worth the read. Rent the DVD and get a chance to meet these 2 climbers who went through such an incredible week. Beautiful photography. I won't clue you in on what it's all about, but let's just say when you lose a 1/3 of your body weight in 4 days, then you've obviously come up against quite a challenge.

Don't forget to watch the upcoming Olympic Track and Field Trials!
They start July 9th. First day's coverage is on USA from 11 p.m. - 1 a.m. Eastern (whew). July 10th at a more reasonable 8-9 p.m. on NBC - unusual for this to be a prime time event. The Swimming Trials are going on at the same time. Tune in to see which athlete can consume the most drugs and still not be caught!

Quote of the Day
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy."
Ernest Benn (although I could have sworn this was a quote from GW's personal diary)