usonia

I dislike them both to be honest. I wish for once, I could be enthused about the choices I have, but I'm not. In looking back, I think the choice of Palin will be seen as a big mistake but I think mainly McCain did himself in with the type of campaign he chose to run. I'm including this link to an article about McCain that was in the October issue of Rolling Stone magazine. I take most everything I read about people with a grain of salt because I never know how much is true without embellishment by the writer but this all seems pretty legit to me and it's not a pretty picture. f you haven't read it, it's worth your time. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstor...eal_john_mccain

Wow, that's terrible. I hope he comes through it all OK.

Not saying it is, but maybe they're hobo signs. I heard about them as a kid but have never actually seen one before. When I saw the picture it triggered a memory. Gotta love the internet!! http://www.angelfire.com/folk/famoustramp/signs.html I think we must have had one related to 'food' near us when I was a kid. It wasn't unusual that every month or so, we'd have someone down on his luck stop by looking for something to eat. I always remember my mom would never refuse to make them something. She'd also never let us say anything negative about them and reminded us that while we might not have had much ourselves, we were luckier than them. That's actually one of my fondest memories of my mother.

On a drive back from Buffalo last night, I was passed by a new, bright white Chevy Traverse. This is the first one I've seen in person. From the pictures, I didn't think I'd like them but it was actually pretty sharp.

I doubt this has anything to do with your problem but you never know. I wouldn't have believed this if I hadn't seen it myself. I have a friend who has a new flat screen tv. When he plays the second dvd of the 'Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring' movie, there is a specific scene where it shuts the tv off. It is consistent and repeatable and so far, no other dvd has caused the problem. It's the weirdest thing related to electronics I've ever seen. If you play a different game, do you have the same problem?

I don't know, this all sounds like a media created story to me. I've thought about this from multiple angles and I can't come up with any sort of logic as to how it makes sense for either company.

Yes, she is. At one time that was true, but they gave that up with the near doubling of the national debt is less than eight years. Today's politicians love to invoke the founding fathers for their brilliance in setting up our system of government while they routinely ignore their warings. "I place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt." Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

Related, but slightly off topic, I saw Bill Maher's documentary 'Religilous' this weekend. He sort of tries to get to why people believe what they believe even when there is so much absurdity in the various religions. It was very funny, but he really didn't do a very good job with the people he interviewed. It could have been much better, but I recommend it if you aren't the type to be offended easily.

I hate to report that I saw a brand new Lincoln MKS...with a freakin' fake convertible roof! I don't know why this irritates me so much. It isn't my car and the owner can do whatever they want, but still, what are these people thinking? Do they really think it looks like an actual convertible?!?!?! I don't even like the MKS that much and I still just want to slap them upside the head. OY!

Since the conservative talking heads (including McCain himself) have proclaimed that she walked away with the debate, I guess she'll be holding a press conference any time now. She has said that she doesn't want to be 'filtered' by the mainstream meadia so what better way to do that than with a press conference. Oh wait, they get to ask followup questions in a press conference where she'd actually have to show some depth of knowledge so I guess that won't be happening.

Oy, I'm even more convinced that she is not at all prepared to assume high office and that McCain did not, as he so often claims to do, put country before politics in choosing her.

Couldn't agree more!

AT&T with a Blackberry Curve. The Curve had been a good phone but now it occasionally reboots itself in the middle of a phone call for no apparent reason which is making me crazy. I'm still working on getting that resolved. I had to get internet access for three months to get the cheap price on the phone but I dropped it after I got my rebate back so now I pay approx $50 a month for my basic plan with 200 text messages. I had Sprint before and never had problems with them. I liked that their evening mintues started at 7pm. The problem was that I had terrible reception from my house and I wanted to get rid of my land line. I have good reception at home with AT&T. Their evening minutes don't start until 9pm but they also have the rollover minutes plan. Now I have a ton of extra minutes built up so I don't worry about making calls before 9pm.

In and of itself, it means nothing. It's just another case of 'those who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones'. Over the last 20 years, the republican party has turned itself in the 'morals of america' party and being a lifelong republican, that really annoys me. I'll be the first to admit that I get a certain satisfaction when any republican politician who makes a point of talking about their religion and morality, ends up getting caught in a compromising situation. On the whole, the democrats don't make morality much of a political issue so when one of them gets caught, it doesn't cause nearly the same uproar.

Thank you!!

You might want to change this to: "I can think of about $10,000,000,000/month that we can quit borrowing and then spending." Sad thing is, even that wouldn't get us back to a balanced budget since we'd still be spending significantly more than we take in each month. If there was some way to do it, I'd like to see the president and the entire congress put on trial for treason for putting the country in such a perilious financial situation. I know this all goes back beyond the current Bush administration and the members of congress who were in office over the past 8 years, but it would certainly make me feel better as a start!!

The level of political polarization has been increasing tremendously over the past 20 years. I'm amazed that we don't yet have a significant 3rd party to address the vast middle of America that is more fiscally conservative but also more socially liberal. Part of the problem is that the candidates the other parties end up with tend to be borderline wacko. That's not always true, but I think it is more often than not. The political system has also been rigged to favor both the republican and democtratic parties and that makes it very difficult for a 3rd party to grow. That and the fact the the vast majority of people don't seem to realize that they are allowed to abandon the established parites and actually vote for a different party. I used to be pretty involved in politics, but the more I saw the more I realized that I wasn't cut out for it. I truly think that both major parties are more concerned with winning than with what is good for the country and until the majority of voters also realize this, nothing is going to change.

Oy, where to begin? I’m not an Obama supporter. I’m a very disillusioned republican. I believe McCain’s choice of Sara Palin as his running mate was an act of political expediency without regard for her knowledge or ability to assume the presidency. I believe it was a last minute choice and there was no significant investigation into her background before the decision was made. She read a speech at the republican convention. Since then, all she does is repeat sections of that speech and repeat claims about her record where the evidence indicates that she is being less than honest. All the while, the McCain campaign severely limits her access to the press. They have decreed that any interaction between Palin and the press is off the record so she doesn’t have to defend her record. I think she is a religious extremist and would be willing to bend the law or outright ignore it to get what she wants or what she thinks god wants. I would not want her or anyone like her to be in the position to make the decisions the president has to deal with. I was talking with a friend of mine about this the other day and he proposed an interesting hypothetical situation. Assume that McCain had picked someone else as a running mate who was totally non-controversial and they went on to win the election. Now assume that within days after taking the oath of office, his vice president died. In this situation without the pressure and hoopla of a campaign, do you think McCain would choose Palin and do you think she would actually make it through the confirmation hearings? I don’t.

I've not actually tried this myself yet but I saw it on tv. It looked good. 3 pounds russet potatoes (about 4 large potatoes), peeled, ends and sides squared off, and cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch by 1/2-inch fries 3 quarts peanut oil (or canola oil), plus 1/4 additional cup 1. Place cut fries in large microwaveable bowl, toss with 1/4 cup oil, and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high power until potatoes are partially translucent and pliable but still offer some resistance when pierced with tip of paring knife, 6 to 8 minutes, tossing them with rubber spatula halfway through cooking time. Carefully pull back plastic wrap from side farthest from you and drain potatoes into large mesh strainer set over sink. Rinse well under cold running water. Spread potatoes onto kitchen towels and pat dry. Let rest until room temperature, at least 10 minutes and up to 1 hour. 2. In heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, heat oil to 375 degrees. 3. Add all fries to oil and fry until golden brown and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to fresh paper bag or paper towels to drain. Season fries with salt to taste and serve immediately.

Since there are only two choices, I'll pick conservative if it is of the Goldwater mindset and not Regan mindset of the current crop of conservatives.

Yep, I totally understand where you're coming from. I was very, very hesitant to start taking this stuff too. I'm also taking a very mild diuretic to flush excess water from my system as a blood pressure aid. It is my hope that I can get both cholesterol and blood pressure down to the point where I can ease off both of these completely. I'm a little pudgy but I'm not really overweight for my height. I've been trying to stay on a regular fitness routine and I do watch what I eat, but I'll also admit that I haven't been as good about either of these as I should for a while. Work over the past year has been a major issue for me. I've been so busy but I know that's really not a good excuse. My health has to come first and I'm hoping that as I head into fall, I can get myself back on track. Are you following a specific dietary plan? What you describe sort of sounds like the Mediterranean diet.

Yeah, I did an internet search but didn't find anything quite like what I'm running into. I don't mean to be mysterious about this so I'll just go ahead and give a short explanation. It isn't really a bad thing I guess, just very odd for me. I've never been an emotional person about anything. So much so that friends have kidded me about being a Vulcan. In the time that I've been taking Lipitor, that has changed big time. Now, I get emotional about all kinds of stuff that I would have never thought twice about before. For the most part, this isn't something that anybody would necessarily notice because I can hide it pretty well when I'm not by myself. But, it can come over me so quickly and so intensely sometimes, it's freaky. There's never anything negative about it I guess. I mean, you hear about people taking certain mood-altering drugs and they get feelings of suicide and stuff but this isn't anything like that. For example, I had a little episode this morning when I was reading the paper at Starbucks. I never noticed it before so it may be something they've just recently started doing, but printed at the top of the page was the first amendment to the constitution about freedom of the press. When I read it, this intense emotional feeling came over me. My eyes suddenly welled up, my throat started to hurt, my breathing changed and I felt like I was going to cry right then and there. Then it passed as quickly as it happened. The first amendment???? I like to think I'm as patriotic as anybody, but come on, it shouldn't have that effect on me and it's not like I've never read it before. Then, in the comics section, today was the last original panel for the comic strip 'For Better or Worse'. The same thing happened when I read that. Even sitting here typing this and remembering it from this morning, I'm feeling weird...about a comic strip??? This is all just so stupid and makes no sense to me.

This is kind of an odd question and I'm going to be a bit vague initially because I don't want to lead to a specific answer. About two years ago, my cholesterol level had gotten to the low end of what is considered borderline high, so my doctor recommended that I start taking a minimal dose of lipitor daily. I was very hesitant at first because I didn't like the idea of taking anything long term. After a long discussion with my doctor of the pros and cons I decided to go ahead and start taking it while I continued on my fitness program and watched my diet. It has worked out well so far. I take 10mg daily which is half of the smallest pill made. My cholesterol level is down and while there are are some potential side effects, I didn't have any of them, except for one odd thing. Now this may be completely coincidental and could have nothing at all to do with the medication but I can trace this change in me back to basically the same time period I started taking it. I asked my doctor about it and he said he had never heard of such a thing with this type of medication. So, does anyone take Lipitor and if so, have you noticed any mental/personality type changes in yourself since you started taking it.

I was really curious about this movie too and I don't typically pay attention the critics but it was almost universally panned on rottentomatoes.com. So, I went to see Hamlet 2 instead. It wasn't great, but there were some good laughs and it redeemed itself with a good ending.

>>Driving home from the movies this evening... What'd you see, anything good?