and here's what many of the loyal stalwarts have to say about Sarah Palin...

 This is from Alex Castellanos, the GOP strategist who worked with Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and who represented Bush-Cheney in 2004. So, I dare anyone to question any bias.

He says, after Obama's speech, "Whoever Mccain DIDN'T pick for VP got lucky."

I can quote ONLY right-wing commentators and reporters here so no one will question a bias on Palin:

"She Just Is Not Ready to Be Commander-in-Chief": Pat Buchanan on MSNBC

"As much as I loathe Obama-Biden, I can't in good conscience vote for a McCain-Palin ticket. Palin has absolutely no experience in foreign affairs. Considering both McCain's advanced age and the state of the world today, it is essential that the veep be exceedingly qualified to assume the office of president. I simply don't have any confidence in Palin's ability to deal effectively with Iran, Russia, China, etc. I certainly will not cast a vote for Obama-Biden, but nor will I vote for McCain-Palin. Looks like I'll either sit this one out or vote for Bob Barr. Why, o, why, didn't McCain listen to Rove and just pick Romney?"

Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review (try to claim liberal media there)

"Inexperience. Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain's age raised the stakes on this issue."

Ramesh Ponnuru the guy who wrote "The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life"


"Downside: She may not be ready for primetime. The heartbeat-from-the-presidency issue is a real one. "

Jonah Goldberg the guy who coined the term "cheese eating surrender monkeys" for the French (I love that quote regardless of source) a syndicated conservative columnist.


"If Obama is an empty suit, as McCain has suggested, is Palin suited for the Oval Office herself?"

Ron Fournier the AP chief who has been sniffing McCain's throne for last few months.

Not ready for another long and lonely weekend?

Does Craigslist have the answer for you.

Best of all- only used once!

"She has a wealth of experience in the area of energy policy..." - some GOP wonk on CNN

Wealth? She's been governor for 2 years and her husband works in an oil field. We're not talking the head of Exxon here.

Oh, and even better. The GOP party line is that she's ready to be Commander In Chief because she's the head of Alaska's National Guard.

Right. So by that logic, a single-A level baseball manager is qualified to jump in and manage the Yankees.

I'm still kinda incredulous about the choice. All we've been hearing from McCain and the mouthpieces of the Right is "experience experience experience experience. Oh, have we mentioned that EXPERIENCE is the most important issue?"

So now this.

Yeah, I guess this is, as rpkrajewski put it, "mavericky"- a word I love, btw. How mavericky? McCain tossed himself under the bus.

Now THAT, I have to admit, is totally rad and mavericky. He won't even listen to himself.

Or he forgot. Hey, shit happens, right?

Whatever. And here I thought the GOP campaign was going to be a boring same-old same-old. Now, hell, I can't wait to see where that wacky old bastard is going to take us.

From the Anchorage Daily News:

Announcement stuns, splits Alaska political world

By SEAN COCKERHAM and WESLEY LOY

Published: August 29th, 2008 12:50 PM
Last Modified: August 29th, 2008 12:50 PM

John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate stunned and divided Alaska political leaders today. Supporters said she was a shrewd choice, but others argued Palin has no business being a heartbeat away from the presidency.

"I think it's very easy to underestimate Sarah Palin," said John Binkley, a former state legislator who lost to her in the 2006 Republican primary for governor.

Binkley said Palin has guts and an innate ability to connect with voters. He said the choice of Palin lets the McCain campaign refocus on its theme of change, which he said it's been drifting away from.

Binkley dismissed doubts she isn't ready.

"Many people said that about her in terms of being governor, and I think she's done an excellent job," Binkley said.

The reaction wasn't so rosy elsewhere. State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to tell her the news.

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

More here: http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/510249.html

http://community.livejournal.com/obama_2008/1529830.html

- The VP Choice that Lost the Presidency for McCain (HuffPo).
- About Palin: You're no Hillary Clinton (HuffPo).
- Are American Women as Stupid as John McCain Thinks? (HuffPo).

From the Jed Report, one of my favorite political blogs:

Sarah Palin: 'What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' (Jed Report)


Anti-choice, anti-science, and corrupt (Jed Report)

Well, Sarah Palin is an outstanding pick for conservatives: she's anti-choice (even in the case of rape), anti-science (supports creationism and denies global warming), anti-polar bear, and has a Watergate-style corruption scandal brewing back home. Brilliant!

I like what GOP strategist Alex Castellanos said yesterday after Barack's acceptance speech:

Whoever didn't get picked for Republican VP today may be a lucky Republican.

( Read more... )

I promised I would post the results of the 100m at today's Golden League meet, so here they are. I guess Bolt is human, after all.... no lowering of his crazy-fast WR, but a fantastic time nonetheless.

1 Usain Bolt JAM 9.83
2 Walter Dix USA 9.99
3 Richard Thompson TRI 10.09
4 Travis Padgett USA 10.11
5 Churandy Martina AHO 10.13
6 Michael Frater JAM 10.15
7 Emmanuel Callander TRI 10.17
7 Marc Burns TRI 10.17

In the other distances, Wariner won the 400m with a good time of 43.82, beating LaShawn Merritt (44.43) as payback for his Beijing loss. Kenenisa Bekele won the 5000m (what else is new) in a time of 12:50.18, with the rest of the field almost 10 full seconds behind him. Allyson Felix won the 200m (22.37), and Pamela Jelimo continued her absolute dominance of the 800m with a time of 1:54.01.

- The VP Choice that Lost the Presidency for McCain (HuffPo).
- About Palin: You're no Hillary Clinton (HuffPo).
- Are American Women as Stupid as John McCain Thinks? (HuffPo).

From the Jed Report, one of my favorite political blogs:

Sarah Palin: 'What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' (Jed Report)


Anti-choice, anti-science, and corrupt (Jed Report)

Well, Sarah Palin is an outstanding pick for conservatives: she's anti-choice (even in the case of rape), anti-science (supports creationism and denies global warming), anti-polar bear, and has a Watergate-style corruption scandal brewing back home. Brilliant!

I like what GOP strategist Alex Castellanos said yesterday after Barack's acceptance speech:

Whoever didn't get picked for Republican VP today may be a lucky Republican.

( Read more... )

The Pine Barrens bogs can differ in amount of water, light and vegetation. Here are shots of a more sunny bog savannah, found along the Mullica River. Lots more birds, flowering plants and sundews in this lower elevation environment (in the micro-environments of the Pine Barrens, a few inches can change everything). The types of orchids and carnivorous plants you find are different from shadier, drier cedar bogs, too: grass pinks, rose pogonias, and bladderworts.( Read more... )

Argh, my running buddy is ditching me for three whole months to go do some stupid away rotation in DC! As he pointed out, this is the longest amount of time we've been separated for.
So now I need to find a new one for my weekend long runs and it's just so hard to find one that's right. I mean, the one I have now wakes up to do 7:30AM Sunday long runs with me, he goes at my pace, we talk the whole time...i don't think i'm going to be able to find a replacement. The other guy I used to run with has knee problems now, the other one strained both calves, and the girl I used to run with no longer gets up early in the morning to run. (I need to do it at the beginning of the day, I'm asthmatic so I have to get the run in before it gets humid)

Mmmph. A good running buddy is hard to find.

After getting no over-the-phone information from the vet's office where Dominic had been taken, I went down there, pleaded my case, and sat in the lobby while they looked up his info.

He's been fostered out. This makes me happy because I know he's alive and being cared for, but sad because I have no way of finding him. I shall choose to believe that he lives a long and happy life. (Which is not to say I will completely fight the urge to check 'Petfinder' and local kitty adoption fairs ...) Vet's office and person who took him in, you are ANGELS!

And now, how about some photos of the other four kittens? Their eyes are open!


"The world looks blue .... and fuzzy ..."

( Who wants a kitty pile? )

They've all been moved with their mom to an empty office, which has been converted into Kitty Central. It's nice to get to take a Kitten Break without worrying about interrupting my boss.

My latest visit to the riverside bog I mentioned a week ago went more smoothly this time. Here are some images of the cedar bog that hugs the river. ( Read more... )

http://www.metafilter.com/74491/An-ode-to-developers-everywhere

[slyt] Hug a developer today.

I am a woman
I am an American woman
I am a woman with a brain
I am a woman with an uterus
I am a woman who will not throw away her right to her own body
I am a woman who will not throw away her 30+ years of fighting for equal pay for equal jobs along side men
I am a woman who is a daughter of a scientist/engineer who does not want creationism to become the only science approved of and taught in schools across this land.
I am a woman who believes in choice
I am a woman who will not be silenced or shamed for who and what I am
I am a woman who recognizes a greater common enemy than the DNC
I am a woman who believes that in my life time we WILL see a woman become president even if it is not Hillary Clinton
I am a woman who refuses to be a sore loser or an obnoxious winner
I am a woman who recognizes that compromise and hard work on finding COMMON ground is our best hope for a future.

I am a woman who stands for everything that PUMA says they stand for.

EXCEPT I am a woman who does not believe in throwing away her rights, so hard fought and won, through successive generations of women who have suffered before me out of spite.

I am a woman who does not believe John McCain will keep Roe vs. Wade intact
I am a woman who does not believe John McCain will get us out Iraq.
I am a woman who does not believe John McCain will keep us out of war with Iran, Russia or North Korea.

I am a woman who does not believe that this nation was founded as a solely Christian nation.

I am a woman who does not believe that my vote is so worthless as to be thrown away in disregard to those basic human RIGHTS I need as much as I need air to breathe and food to eat to prove a point.

I am a woman and I.am.appalled. by the short sighted, spiteful, immature and selfish stance of PUMA. I am woman that is appalled at the cost they will enact upon me and mine.

I stand up and say.

No. Not in my life time. Not with my life. Not with my breasts, not with my brains, not with my ovaries, not with my soul.

No.

Statement from Sen. Hillary Clinton on Sen. McCain's VP selection:

“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”

Palin is a 10.

Now it is "historic" on both sides. Waaaah!

But she's a minority! Waaaaaah!

Exper....uh....waaaaah!

:D

Taken while in the living room of her fathers house.

From National Geographic, Feb. 2007:


Here are other maps of the U.S., by personality, income, etc.

A singles map of the United States of America (Boston Globe):

...By far, the best places for single men are the large cities and metro areas of the East Coast and Midwest. The extreme is greater New York, where single women outnumber single men by more than 210,000. In the Philadelphia area and greater Washington, D.C., single women outnumber single men by 50,000. I met my wife outside Detroit, where the odds were greatly stacked in my favor - single women outnumber single men by some 20,000 there.

In fact, single women outnumber single men in many large cities around the world, even though men outearn women at all ages, according to Lena C. Edlund, a Columbia University economist. One reason young women in the prime marriage years - the 25-44 age range - flock to big cities is to compete for the most eligible men. And smart women who gravitate to vibrant cities are more likely to stay single - for longer, at least - because they rightly refuse to settle for someone who can't keep up with them intellectually or otherwise.

But women do have an advantage in the American West and Southwest. In greater Los Angeles, for example, there are 90,000 more single men than women. In Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area, single men outnumber single women by roughly 65,000. There are considerably more single men than women in San Diego, Dallas, and Seattle, too. Each of these regions has grown substantially over the past two or three decades, offering jobs in everything from high tech to construction and services. As numerous studies of migration show, men - especially those in regions with declining economies - are initially more likely to move long distances for economic opportunity, while women are more likely to stay closer to home and family.

Being in a place where the gender odds are stacked against you can be very frustrating. "When I was in Chicago, it was never long between dates" says one single male. "When I'm hanging out with friends [in the San Francisco Bay Area], often times in a large room with few if any women, we routinely turn to the topic of how the dating scene sucks."...
--------------------------------
Here in Silicon Valley, we have one of the highest ratios of single men to single women in the nation. Men have a huge amount of competition here for women. The mildly attractive ones here know that and make men jump through all these hoops for them. It's tiresome and a turnoff. Parties here usually are "sausage fests," which is why I don't go often to parties.

The women I meet here are often:

1. Married or have a boyfriend.
2. Divorced.
3. Single moms.
4. Too old or unattractive. Physically in poor shape.
5. Teenagers or fresh out of high school.
6. Materialistic and demanding. Snobby. Bossy.
7. Dull engineers. Introverts. People afraid of crossing the street or taking risks. Lacking social/flirting skills.
8. Cynical and not sweet.
9. Barely speak English. Heavy Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese populations. They only hang out with their own racial/ethnic groups, speaking only their languages.

Now I HAVE tried going out with women here who are:

- divorced
- single moms
- older than I
- fatter than I
- dull engineers
- materialistic and snobby
- FOBs (barely speak English)
- even married women! (that's a long story)

So I have given it a shot, believe me.

One thing I disagree with the map. I was in Chicago last year for school, and my class had a ratio of 10 women to each 1 man. I even tried going out with two women there. But I wasn't very interested in women from the Midwest. They were rather provincial and didn't have a broader outlook. The Californian women I met in Chicago tended to be more interesting (and taken).

We've got a 47yr old black man from the South Side of Chicago...the first African-American at the top of a major political party's ticket...generating such inspiration to people (especially young people) that lines going into Invesco Field were up to 6 miles long leading up to his huge speech.

We've gotta 72yr old man representing a 3rd Bush term trying to take office as the oldest non-incumbent President in US history and keep the Republican Party from complete collapse.

And now we've gotta 44yr old woman who's the first VP nominee in the history of the Republican Party and only the second in US history on any major party ticket who's job it will be to tell conservatives to not vote Obama or stay home but come to the polls and siphon off the female vote.

This election is insane. LOL. Can't say it isn't interesting I guess. Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin. LET'S GET IT ON!

....umm, so yeah, I was attacked by an owl while out running the other night... the full story can be read here...

http://keep-me-honest.blogspot.com/2008/08/wednesday-night-west-tiger-mountains-3.html

Link She sounds like a typical criminally/morally corrupt repugnican. The right wing nuts will love her.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FreakonomicsBlog/~3/378341954/

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/bring-your-movie-industry-questions/

Dan Glickman
When the Motion Picture Association of America was formed in the 1920's, its primary mission was to change the public's negative views toward the movie business.
Today its main target is copyright theft. The M.P.A.A.'s home page displays a running tally of the number of pirated DVD's confiscated, and its international counterpart, the Motion [...]

When I answered the phone last week I had a brief panic filled moment when I realized that the person calling was from the Raytheon travel department. My concern only heightened when I could sense a slight bit of panic in her voice as she told me I have some good or bad news for you depending upon your pserpective. This worried me quite a bit as I have been hearing, throughout the summer, all about the budget woes of the Antarctic program. My concern was that they were going to cancel my September depature and push it back to October.

Luckily she quickly told me that they had made a mistake when they booked my flight and they needed me to arrive in Denver a day early for additional training. Relieved, I replied that that wouldn't be a problem. In fact the whole thing delighted me as I am anxious to get started, to get going.

Yesterday I received my itinerary for my three days of orientation. I had been looking forward to getting this as I was really starting to get curious about what I should expect. The first thing I did was look over my first day, the added day, of training and was a bit surprised by what I found. I have training from 7:30am-10am (that early wakeup is going to be a killer--I am used to getting up around 10) and then that's it. The rest of the day is mine. From a financial standpoint it just seems so silly to me. They had to pay to change the date of my flight, they have to pay for an additional night at the hotel for me and they have to pay for an additional day of food expenses. All for 2hrs of training (that other half hour is checkin) that they probably could have either fit into another day or did in A. Granted I am not complaining as it will give me some additional time to explore around Denver.

By all accounts orientation is supposed to be a pretty boring affair but since it will be my first time hopefully I will learn some stuff. I am going in with an open mind. The main focus seems to be on safety and policies, topics which I am sure are quite dry if you have been going down to the ice for a few seasons already. The second day is a full day, running from 7:30 to 5pm and the last day is a half day as at 12pm we all head off, en masse, to the Denver airport to await our 6pm flight to LAX and beyond.

I figure I have to start packing pretty soon. I have pretty much everything that I need and have a good idea everything I am planning on bringing down with me so it's just a matter of getting it all together and trying to cram it into my luggage. The nice thing about having traveled extensively is that I know what I need and I know that I can do without a lot of stuff. And if for some reason I find that I really need something I can either have it shipped down to me or find someone at the station who can lend it to me. I am going to be bringing the backpack that I used in SA and a duffel bag for my main luggage. NExt year, when I leave the ice and start traveling the duffel will be mailed back home. I have a regular school bag type backpack that I will bring for carryon stuff and my laptop.

So after all these months waiting the moment is almost upon me. Just three more nights in my bed in NY and then I am off....

Questions, part the tree:

---

You're one of the bloodthirstier women writers I know. Can you talk some about the role of violence in your work, and also about whatever reactions you might've gotten to your being a *woman* writer who writes such violent material? (Yes, I'm assuming there've been some, but if not, then not.)

That's such an interesting question. I don't think of what I write as particularly bloodthirsty--I'm not writing splatterporn, after all, or anything that really revels in violence. When I use violence in my work, it generally is there because violence sometimes happens in the real world, and while I try not to flinch from it, I also generally don't make it the focal point of what I write. I'm not, you know, writing in the tradition of Chuck Palahniuk.

I do generally write what people would refer to as "noir" or "high-mud," fiction, I guess, which in this context I would mean that I try very hard not to glorify the violence or make it seem clean or pretty. (Which would be why I picked this particular icon for this post, actually, because you have a love a TV show that'll demonstrate a protagonist chocking on his own vomit and then crying while snot runs down his face. Well, I have to love it.)

As for being a woman writer who treats violence that way--well, I've heard my work called "castrated" (books have testicles?) and "squeamish," actually--both of which make me laugh. And I've been praised for the poetry of my violence, which--well, yeah, there ought to be a kind of poetry in it, in the sense that poetry is truth.

But I'm not sure anybody commenting on it has noticed that I'm a girl.

---

After ACtW, I now have a jones to see you (with or without truepenny) write a female ensemble cast. (Yeah, yeah, I know there's sorta one in parts of Carnival. Not the same.) What are my chances of seeing something of the sort?

Depends on if I have a book that warrants it. There's an awful lot of Blood & Iron that's woman-centric; the men, in general, are more in support roles (even the ones who have POV.) (Some readers have also commented on this, both in praise or dismay.)

I'd say, off the bat, that your chances are better with me than with truepenny.

---

Is there a book (or two or five?) by someone else that you wished YOU had written first?

I wish I'd written the ones I did write a little better. *g*

I generally like other people's books better than my own, actually. So if I had written any of my favorite books, well. Then they wouldn't be my favorite books.

---

How does the process of writing with a partner compare to writing alone?

Writing with a partner is just as much work, but more fun, because when you get stuck you get to send it to the other guy, and she writes the bit you were stuck on. And then elves come in the night and take out all your bad sentences. What's not to love?

Does the partnership generate the story, or does an existing story wave and say "write me with so-and-so?"

I'm not sure how the second of these would work. There is no existing story until it's written. Are you asking if one writer dictates the plot while the other does the work of actually putting the words on paper? Perhaps in some collaborations, but not the ones I've been involved in. The story--plot, characterization, worldbuilding, theme--arise from the creators jamming with each other, talking things over, and riffing on each other's ideas.

---

How do you pronounce "Mebd"?

"Maeve." Yes, it is the source from which both "Maeve" and "Mab" are derived, as far as I know.  She was the major instigator of the plot of the Táin Bó Cuailnge, and I always rather loved her and Emer and Scathac. I need to use Scathac in something one of these days.

---

You can ask a question here.

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