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Dying Moderation
Author: Raine    Date: 11/02/2009 13:56:26

Over the weekend, there was a strange bit of political news. The Watertown paper announced that the Republican candidate for the 23rd District in NYS was dropping out of the race less than a week before election day. Talking Points Memo wrote of the news and the Rupublican endorsement of a far right conservative candidate:
The Times itself didn't leave much room for doubt about its views. The strongest line: "It is frightening that Mr. Hoffman is so beholden to right-wing ideologues who dismiss Northern New Yorkers as parochial when people here simply want to know how Mr. Hoffman will protect their interests in Washington."

This is a reference to an incident we noted a few weeks ago when Hoffman showed up to a meeting with the paper's editorial board with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and then got defensive and abrupt when he wasn't able to answer questions about the district or the issues that faced it. Armey stepped in and chastised the editors for focusing on "parochial" issues.

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34 comments (Latest Comment: 11/03/2009 02:24:17 by Scoopster)

Good Eating!
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 11/01/2009 14:11:46

Well it's happening - just as many of us predicted. The Republicans really are eating themselves. This is what happens when you encourage the loonies of your party; the loonies grab the keys and take hold of the asylum.

It started small with making Rush Limbaugh the svengali "leader" of the party. An acknowledged drug addict and a man that can't keep a wife despite his high expectations of women became the republican party puppet leader. Though, I'm sure calling them "Feminazis" has nothing to do with his lack of arm candy.

Rush was soon followed by Joe the Plumber who was more of a cartoon character than even Rush. And around the same time the entire Palin klan popped its head up and gave us a reality show to end all shows.
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9 comments (Latest Comment: 11/02/2009 05:01:09 by velveeta jones)

The War on Halloween
Author: TriSec    Date: 10/31/2009 13:02:27

Good Morning!

It's Halloween; do you have your big bags of candy, fake spiders, and jack-o-lantern carved and ready to go?

This is big business these days. It's estimated that this is the second biggest consumer spending holiday after Christmas. Of course, for us in retail, this is the kickoff for the busy holiday season, and we'll be selling tons of stuff in a vast consumer orgy of credit overruns, but I digress.

Back to Halloween. We all know it's a pagan holiday, right? This is one of those weird days on the calendar called a "Cross-Quarter Day", halfway between the equinoxes. We celebrate 2 others in Groundhog Day and May Day, but it's Halloween that gets all the glory. (Bonus points: what's the fourth one?)

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13 comments (Latest Comment: 10/31/2009 22:44:14 by Mondobubba)

Inaction = Death
Author: BobR    Date: 10/30/2009 12:37:55

There has been a lot of dithering when it comes to health care reform. It's been 16 years since the first proposal was introduced by Hillary Clinton. Since then, it's been discussed, but never really addressed, until the current Congress decided (at the request of the President) to move forward again. It's been met with opposition by Republicans who seem to just wish to be contrary. Meanwhile, their fellow Americans (some of them children) are dying every day because they can't afford health care.
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26 comments (Latest Comment: 10/31/2009 04:02:00 by clintster)

Ball is in their court.
Author: Raine    Date: 10/29/2009 13:23:37

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46632000/gif/_46632314_us_rec_oct09_466.gif
Is this the Obama recovery? Is the Bush recession over? Is it to early to tell?

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30 comments (Latest Comment: 10/29/2009 21:40:40 by livingonli)

Variations on a Theme
Author: BobR    Date: 10/28/2009 12:33:39

In 1873, Johannes Brahms composed "Variations on a Theme by Haydn". Creating compositions based on melodies by other composers was (and still is) common in the "classical" music world. The melody's originator is always cited in the title. The original composition attributed to Haydn, however, may not have actually been written by him. In fact, the actual source composer is unknown. This is cause for a certain amount of controversy in the music world. When this sort of thing happens in other aspects of our modern world, however, it seems to be accepted with nary a shrug of the shoulders.
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24 comments (Latest Comment: 10/29/2009 01:55:47 by Mondobubba)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 10/27/2009 10:49:28

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,414th day in Iraq.

We'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from Iraq and Afghanistan, courtesy of antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4351
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4212
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3888
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3492
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 123

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 325
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 897
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 583
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,395
Journalists - Iraq: 335
Academics Killed - Iraq: 431


We awake this morning to a tragic day in Afghanistan. 14 soldiers have been killed in two separate helicopter crashes. One may be the result of enemy action; the other is a result of a midair collision.

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28 comments (Latest Comment: 10/28/2009 03:05:03 by livingonli)

Let the problem solve the problem!
Author: Raine    Date: 10/26/2009 12:47:56

Amid the chaos of our crappy economy it might be easy to forget that there are still thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of homes that are still empty due to the mortgage crisis. Reuters reported that Detroit tried to auction off "9,000 homes and lots in various states of abandonment and decay from the tidy owner-occupied to the burned-out shell claimed by squatters." Only 1/5 of them sold. The starting bid was $500.

Location, they say, is everything, and a town like Detroit, devastated by Auto industry layoffs, is no exception. Even one house left empty in a neighborhood drives down prices, but 9000 in a city? That would fill up Central Park. Detroit - like other cities - has chosen to look at these empty homes and lots as a potential source of revenue.
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39 comments (Latest Comment: 10/26/2009 22:01:39 by livingonli)

Play them off Keyboard Cat
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 10/25/2009 13:58:57

The republican party is showing signs of its decline. It seems many who once proudly called themselves republican now refer to themselves as "Independent". Its time to drive the nails into the coffin. And frankly, as far as I'm concerned the Dems can follow soon after.

Here is my reasoning:

1. People are getting lazy in politics. Sure, they watch their news and opinion polls, they read a few papers and magazines but they don't really research the candidates. Instead, they walk into the voting booth and pull the lever (they don't really have levers anymore) for the party that believes in the same values as they do. But more and more my party doesn't hold the same values as me! I voted for a Democrat - a blue dog - that is squarely against the public option, is very weak on support of unions, voted against the Obama stimulus act and I know that he is personally against Choice (though he tries to be quiet about that sending out little code words). Other than having a 'D' after his name to give the Dems the majority he is as useless as an extra pinky toe.
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10 comments (Latest Comment: 10/25/2009 21:35:30 by livingonli)

Create New Blog Entry
Author: TriSec    Date: 10/24/2009 13:04:06

I had high hopes this morning that when I clicked on that particular link, a fresh new blog would appear.

No such luck.

So I'm off to skim the 'net to see what things of interest I might find today...

Everybody likes music, right? We've got some actual musicians here among our members, so quite a few of us are inclined to be partial to the arrangement of certain harmonic frequencies in a pleasing manner.

But did you know that music is being used in another way, as a torture device? That's right....music from the likes of REM, Pearl Jam, NIN, and more have been played at Guantanamo for periods of up to 72 hours at volumes "just below eardrum-shattering". Of course, this was secret for a very long time. But now, news about it is coming out and the musicians aren't happy.

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8 comments (Latest Comment: 10/24/2009 23:13:26 by Mondobubba)

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