Thursday, July 31, 2008

A Place To Highlight McCain's Smears.

Check out the Low Road Express.

Why McCain Is Upset About Obama's Trip To Europe.

Golden Adopts Tiger Cubs.

Here's a photo and story for all dog lovers and for my Golden Retriever, Tristan.
A dog at a southeast Kansas zoo has adopted three tiger cubs abandoned by their mother. Safari Zoological Park owner Tom Harvey said the tiger cubs were born Sunday, but the mother had problems with them.

A day later, the mother stopped caring for them. Harvey said the cubs were wandering around, trying to find their birth mother, who wouldn't pay attention to them. That's when the cubs were put in the care of a golden retriever, Harvey said.

End The Injustice Of The Death Penalty, Not More Lives.

At 11 JoJo White wrote this poem.At 23 JoJo was murdered and his last words were, "Peace, brother, One Love." Read his parents take on who is responsible.
The real criminals are the antisocial monsters who are responsible for a system that is making war on the poor and in the process creating confused and enraged people like the man who killed our son. That man is as much a product of this system as the handgun he used. He obviously had no village that might have given him the love and respect that would have made his horrendous crime impossible. Some people will argue that he had a choice between right and wrong. But if this society denies good choices to children how do they learn to make good choices as adults? If we don't give a child a decent life, how can that child grow up to respect life?

The Elitist Celebrity Quiz.

Desperation has set in to the McCain campaign early.  Their ads against Obama are false and misleading and they are not able to present a positive message as to why people should vote for McCain so they swing wildly at Obama.  The latest effort to show his popularity as a negative is appalling.

Jake Taper from ABC has a quiz for you on candidate celebrity.
Which presidential candidate hosted Saturday Night Live (hint -- the musical guests were The White Stripes)?

Which one had cameos on "24" and "Wedding Crashers"?

Whose wife secretly got her pilot's license and owns a jet?

Who is pals with Warren Beatty?

Whose daughter is friends with Heidi from MTV's The Hills?

Whose wife once told Vogue, explaining the purchase of a 7th or 8th house, this one a beach house, "When I bought the first one, my husband, who is not a beach person, said, 'Oh this is such a waste of money; the kids will never go. Then it got to the point where they used it so much I couldn't get in the place. So I bought another one.”

Whose family credit cards have been known to ring up more than $500,000 in charges in one month?
Hint: Answer is the same to each question.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Impact Of The Rhetoric Of Hate.

In the context of the resent shooting at the church in Knoxville, a former co-worker of Sean Hannity of Fox News has written an open letter to him reflecting the impact of rhetoric in leading to the shooting.
“If the Left succeeds in gaining and retaining more power, the well-being of future generations will be at greater peril. I fear (our children) will inherit a nation that is less free and less secure than the nation we inherited from the last generation. It is therefore our job to stop them. Not just debate them, but defeat them.”                — Sean Hannity
Dear Sean:
I found these words on page 11 of your book Let Freedom Ring. This book, and similar ones from your conservative colleagues Bill O’Reilly and Michael Savage, was found in the home of a man who read those words, internalized those words, and then loaded his shotgun. He took 76 rounds of ammunition with him to a place of worship—a place where he knew he could do his job to stop and defeat some liberals. At the Unitarian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, Jim Adkisson, a fan of yours, killed two people, wounded five others, and left an entire congregation and country shaken by his actions. Actions prompted, as he testified in his own written notes, by the ideas contained in your words.
I don’t know if you remember me, Sean, but I worked with you in Atlanta in the early 1990s, right as you got your big break with FOX News. I was an anchor and reporter (under the air name Candace Petersen) at WGST, your last low level stop before hitting the big time. I remember your last night on the air before you left for the big leagues. I approached you in your office, a cramped back room that I’m sure resembles a hovel compared to your FOX digs. I asked if you, during your last show, would tone down your rhetoric against gays and lesbians—stop demonizing our community for just one night. You refused. You explained to me, as if I were a child, that to do so would be to let your audience down. They expected you to go on the air and rant about how liberals, minorities, women and especially gays and lesbians were ruining our country. You simply had to oblige.
Even though you explained it simply, I still didn’t understand. Your Girl Friday—your most trusted assistant on your show was a young lesbian. She admired you, for some strange reason, and you two were close friends, lunching together, spending time together outside of work. You didn’t seem to have a problem with this particular lesbian. She wasn’t the one you kept blaming on the air for the downfall of democracy. No, you had two different lives then—one on the air, where you performed your outraged conservative act and one in real life, where you enjoyed your lesbian friend and seemed like a decent, sane fellow.
I don’t know if you’ve bought into your own shtick or not these days. If you truly believe half of what I could manage to read in your book (thank God the quote I found was in the early pages), I feel sorry for you. I don’t know how a person who obviously has no problem with homosexuality in their friends (or used to have no problem, anyway), can rant about how disgusting homosexuality is on pages 156 to 157. (Many thanks to your editors for the index.) I would call you a hypocrite, but if you’ve become a true believer, I guess the label no longer applies.

McCain Uses Britney and Paris In New Ad.

The latest McCain ad smacks of desperation to me. Oh my, we might have a president who is popular in the rest of the world. What do you think? 

The Hidden Talent of Tim Kaine.

Can any of McCain's VP prospects do this? Not a bad harmonica solo about one minute in. For a politician he seems at ease.  (Unlike the Singing Senators of years gone by.)

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Worth A Read.

This article from tomorrow's NY Times about Barack Obama's time as a law professor is worth reading. Take time to read it all.

They Love Me. They Love Me Not.

Straight Answers To Real Questions.

Here's the inside spread from a new mailer that labor unions are sending out to blue color voters in support of Obama. (Click on it for a larger view.) It seeks to counter the false rumors that are being spread and takes them on directly.  As opinions of Obama are still being formed, I think it's important to get the facts out there ASAP.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Terrorists Ready To Attack.

Ten days ago, I predicted it was time for this.

W.



The trailer for the new Oliver Stone movie due this fall.

Bumper Sticker Of The Day.

From TNR's The Stump. "Embarrassed to Be on a Bumper."

Website Of The Day.

Funny and true.  McCainisreallyold.com

The Death Penalty And Race.

Since capital punishment was reinstated in California in 1977, death sentences against black defendants, but not Latinos, have been disproportionately enormous by almost every measure: population, homicide rates, victim data and the sentencing patterns of other states.

California's 5-to-1 ratio of blacks on death row to blacks in the state population, measured in percentages, is much higher than the ratios in Texas, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. The national average is 3 to 1.
The California Commission on the Fair Administration of justice wants why the death penalty is sought in some cases but not in others and what impact race has in that decision.  The Fresno Bee explains.

Swapping Partying For Meditation.

If you have an interest in meditation, here's an article from the Times of London, about how a six week stay in a Buddhist Monastery in Bangkok changed her life.
My problems were different; they couldn't be fixed by simply sitting still every day. I needed intervention! A personal trainer! Oprah Winfrey! A hypnotherapist! But in the monastery, with no other option but to sit and at least try to meditate, I slowly found that I could sit for longer and longer, sometimes more than an hour. And I began to feel clean and refreshed afterwards, as if I had bathed in a cool sea.

My memory became sharp, and I could remember my chants, which impressed my old monk no end. I gradually stopped being angry with myself and starting feeling proud of myself. I saw strengths that I had never noticed before, and I stopped punishing myself with food and lost the extra weight naturally. I've never really been religious, and I was not attracted to Buddhism as a faith, but I felt that meditation allowed me to understand myself better and to find the right thing to do. Essentially, it taught me to listen to myself.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Nice Surprise.

After church this morning, I was surprised by a gift of a great looking prayer shawl, knitted by the All Saints Beverly Hills Knitting Guild. They provide knitted items to parishioners who have been ill. As I am recovering from pneumonia (having spent 7 days in the hospital in early July), this was my knitted gift.  It's just another way the community of Christians at my church have been an amazing source of strength for me. 

I'm sure I can and will make good use of it but as I wrapped it around myself today I felt like a really old fart.

A New Era For Christianity.

Brian Mclaren, one of the leading figures of the emerging church, spoke this past week to Anglican Bishops at Lambeth.  Here's an interview with him in Christianity Today that I found interesting. 

This Q & A about the future of Christianity, I found particular good.
CT: You suggested a new era for Christianity. What else do you think we can expect?

BM: I am just one small person with a very limited perspective in the face of such a huge question. But let me offer four small thoughts.

First, I think our future is more about the Christian way of life than it is about a rigid and polemicized systems of belief. Second, I think our future is mission-oriented - meaning that we focus on forming disciples who advance God's mission in their daily lives.

Third, I believe our future is ecumenical - with Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Eastern Orthodox, and Evangelical Christians taking a humble posture as fellow learners and collaborators for the common good rather than as competitors or us-versus-them enemies.

And fourth, I think our future will also require us to join humbly and charitably with people of other faiths - Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, secularists, and others - in pursuit of peace, environmental stewardship, and justice for all people, things that matter greatly to the heart of God.

Bumper Sticker Of The Day.

Hat tip: Ellie at Child of Illusion.

Great Big Love.

In the middle of my troubles
In the midst of all my fears
In the dark night of my worries
In the bitter salt of all my tears:

God is watching over me
God is watching over me
God is watching over me
with great big love.

In my times of sorrow
In the midst of my despair
In the darkest, darkest midnight hour
I know God is always there:

God is watching over me
God is watching over me
God is watching over me
with great big love.

Photo Of The Day.

Senator Barack Obama steps off his campaign plane after arriving in London for the final leg of his world tour.

A World Without Prisons.

With over 2.3 million men and women in prison in the US, here's an interesting perspective from Julia Sudbury in the Guardian
We do not create safer communities by locking people in cages; that prisons do not solve the problems that lead to crime, like drug use, poverty, violence or mental illness.

We also draw attention to the massive cost of perpetual prison expansion, which siphons public resources away from services that could be used to build safer and more egalitarian communities. We take seriously the ways in which people harm others, and seek to transform the social and economic conditions that promote violence, as well as creating community-based strategies to address harm and create accountability.

We believe that the violence of crime cannot be solved through the additional violence of policing, surveillance and separation from loved ones. Instead, we advocate focusing attention and resources on building empowered communities, with decent housing, secure jobs, food security, healthy environments and high-quality education, as the ultimate alternative to incarceration.

Good.

“We don’t buy our own hype,” Mr. Obama said. “We’re always looking around the corner."
From Sunday's NY Times article by Jeff Zeleney.  

Overconfidence and cockiness could just kill him.  So, I hope the Obama people are serious about staying focused regardless of what the polls and pundits have to stay.  

Saturday, July 26, 2008

$217 Million Per Hour.


This is astonishing but not altogether surprising and is why we need to elect Obama and increase Democrat majorities in the Congress.
$217 million per hour.

That's how much Americans spend on health care according to testimony in front of Congress' Joint Economic Committee by experts from the American Human Development Project.

24 hours a day. 365 days a year. For a total of almost $2 trillion spent every year, 16% of our GDP - more than any other nation on earth. And for what?
Not to mention that we rank 37th in the world relative to the best health care systems, behind countries like Columbia, Saudi Arabia, and Chile.

Photo Of The Day.

Raindrops on a car window.

Jesus In A Spoon.



And then there is this reaction to the Jesus spoon. 

Obamanagement Style.

An interesting insight into how Obama might manage his potential administration, from ABC News.
Obama said. "And the truth is that we've got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know ten times more than we do about the specifics of the topics. And so if what you're trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you.

A Saturday Laugh.

A store that sells new husbands has opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the value of the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights. The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband.
On the first floor the sign on the door reads: Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs.
She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.
'That's nice,' she thinks, 'but I want more.' So she continues upward.

The third floor sign reads: Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are
Extremely Good Looking. 'Wow,' she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads: Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are
Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework. 'Oh, mercy me!' she exclaims, 'I can hardly stand it!'

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads: Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak. She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth ; floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for
shopping at the Husband Store.

PLEASE NOTE:
To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opened a New Wives Store just across the street.

The first floor has wives that love sex.
The second floor has wives that love sex and have money and like beer.
The third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors have never been visited.

Fox News Uses 8 Year Old McCain Video.

More about old fart, McCain (not that there is anything wrong with being an old fart, it's just that he's too old to be president).  Here's a video showing how Fox news is trying to make McCain seem younger by using footage of McCain from his 2000 campaign.

Miscellaneuous.

Looks like today is Old Farts Day.  Started with Mick and next John McCain. Have to find a story about someone in their 80's next.

Getting To Know The Real John McCain.

From Bob Herbert's excellent Op-Ed in the NY Times:
How much do voters really know about John McCain?

Senator McCain crossed a line that he shouldn’t have this week when he said that Mr. Obama “would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.” It was a lousy comment, tantamount to calling Mr. Obama a traitor, and Senator McCain should apologize for it.

But what we’ve learned over the years is that Mr. McCain is one of those guys who never has to pay much of a price for his missteps and foul-ups and bad behavior. Can you imagine the firestorm of outrage and criticism that would have descended on Senator Obama if he had made the kind of factual mistakes that John McCain has repeatedly made in this campaign?

(Or if Senator Obama had had the temerity to even remotely suggest that John McCain would consider being disloyal to his country for political reasons?)

We have a monumental double standard here. Mr. McCain has had trouble in his public comments distinguishing Sunnis from Shiites and had to be corrected in one stunningly embarrassing moment by his good friend Joe Lieberman. He has referred to a Iraq-Pakistan border when the two countries do not share a border.

He declared on CBS that Iraq was the first major conflict after 9/11, apparently forgetting — at least for the moment — about the war in Afghanistan. In that same interview, he credited the so-called surge of U.S. forces in Iraq with bringing about the Anbar Awakening, a movement in which thousands of Sunnis turned on insurgents. He was wrong. The awakening preceded the surge.

More important than these endless gaffes are matters that give us glimpses of the fundamental makeup of the man. A celebrated warrior as a young man, he has always believed that the war in Iraq can (and must) be won. As the author Elizabeth Drew has written: “He didn’t seem to seriously consider the huge costs of the war: financial, personal, diplomatic and to the reputation of the United States around the world.”

He also felt we could have, and should have, won the war in Vietnam. “We lost in Vietnam,” said Mr. McCain in 2003, “because we lost the will to fight, because we did not understand the nature of the war we were fighting and because we limited the tools at our disposal.”

The spirit of the warrior was on display in the famous incident in which Mr. McCain, with the insouciance of a veteran bomber pilot, sang “Bomb-bomb Iran” to the tune of “Barbara Ann” by the Beach Boys.

No big deal. Just John being John.

Happy 65th Sir Mick.




Hard to believe but Mick Jagger turns 65 today. So, happy birthday Mick.  

(That must mean I'm getting close to 40.)

Friday, July 25, 2008

Lambeth Makes Big Time Comedy TV.

From the Colbert Report.  Colbert asks, "why can't Anglicans just ordain gay priests and then not talk about it, like Catholics."


Misinterpreting Headlines.

Merging thoughts from my two posts below this, this headline, from the Clarion Ledger news article below, is today's headline of the day.
Bishop put to death

Last Wishes Of An Executed Inmate.

Before he died Wednesday evening, death row inmate Dale Leo Bishop apologized to his victim's family, thanked America and urged people to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"For those who oppose the death penalty and want to see it end, our best bet is to vote for Barack Obama because his supporters have been working behind the scenes to end this practice," Bishop said.
Full story from the Clarion-Ledger here.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Anglican Bishops Attend Gay Pride Event.





My blogging friend, MadPriest, has done his thing with PhotoShop and taken a photo from today's march in London (anti-poverty rally) and placed the Bishops in a different context. Appropriate given the ongoing debate with the Anglican Communion.


Photo Of The Day.

Here's a great photo I found on Curbed LA and had to share.  It's the new arts high school, under construction in downtown LA, across the freeway from the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
As Curbed LA describes it. "The angels and the mechanical monster talk quietly, plotting their attack on the evil Nokia aliens."

In case you're curious, here's what the school, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au,will look like.  

Effort To End CA Death Penalty By Two Polar Opposites.

In an interesting development, Mike Farrell, of Death Penalty Focus (a group that I have been involved with in the past), and "the hanging judge of Orange County, Don McCartin, have joined forces to try to end the Death Penalty.  See the story in the LA Daily News.  

Here is the perspective of a former judge who sentence 9 people to death.
Don McCartin, having sentenced nine men to death and then watched as the system examined, re-examined and finally overturned all of his convictions while executing none of them, now believes the death penalty is a hideously expensive fraud. It tortures the loved ones of murder victims by dragging them through the years of complex appeals required by the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to protect the innocent.
He's aware of the constitutional dilemma created by the tension between the need to protect the rights of the accused in a death case and the desire for some form of justice to be done. But he's outraged that the mother of Robin Samsoe, a 12-year-old girl raped and murdered in 1979, is now required to sit through yet a third trial of the alleged killer almost 30 years later. A sentence of life without parole would have allowed her to go on with her own life so long ago.
Well said.  And, as Mike Farrell said "our entire society is harmed by the dehumanization process inherent in state killing."

The Speech From Berlin.

In case you missed it.

Over The Top.


Even I think this bit from the German press is over the top.  Fun but a bit much.

1. Churchill; 2. Kennedy; 3. Reagan

Yesterday I linked to the first part of a top 25 list of political speeches.  Today 12 - 1.  And the winner is:
1 Winston Churchill, August 20, 1940

At the height of the Battle of Britain, Churchill gave his landmark speech in the House of Commons, paying tribute to the Royal Air Force pilots whose struggle was eventually to win the battle. Churchill’s measured but soaring rhetoric was a source of great inspiration and comfort for a nation under the greatest sustained bombing campaign to date and confronting the prospect of a German invasion.
"The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Waiting to see how today's Obama speech in Berlin stacks up.  (Maybe my expectations are way too high.)

UPDATE:  Good speech, well done, he can and will give better.  

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

My Favorite JohnMcCain.com Item.

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Done By His Disastrous Presidency.


From the Onion, via MadPriest.

Inmates Forced To Sleep In Toilets.


How inhuman is this?
The report into conditions at Doncaster Prison, South Yorkshire, found that two-person cells had been turned into three-person cells by placing a bed in the shared toilet.
Hat tip: Paul Martin

Who's Bitter Now.

Do you think McCain some resentment regarding the Obama coverage.  See this paragraph from the New York Times.
Late last night, the McCain campaign kept it up when aides handed out luggage tags to the traveling press that read “McCain Press Corps: JV Squad, ‘Left Behind to Report in America.’ ” The words were translated into French on the opposite side.

The One.

There's this tidbit in Maureen Dowd's column in today's NY Times.
A member of the king’s inner circle who attended the chicken-and-rice dinner with King Abdullah and Queen Rania said that Obama had gone a long way toward assuaging their fears that he would be so eager to run away from his paternal family’s Muslim roots and to woo skeptical American Jews that he would not be “the honest broker” they long for after W.’s crazed missionary work in the Middle East.

“The guy gets it,” the Jordanian official said after dinner with Obama. “Sharp, aware and a very good listener. He doesn’t seem stuck in preconceived positions. He said he would get straight to the Palestinian issue as soon as he becomes president.”
Can you imagine any foreign leader having this kind of reaction to our current president?

Hat tip for the cartoon: Ellie

Top 25 Political Speeches Of All Time.

As background for what is expected to be a major speech by Barack Obama, Thursday in Berlin, The Telegraph has put together a list of the top 25 political speeches of all time.  See 25 -13 here.  (The top of this list is due tomorrow.) There are links to the actual speech for those that exist.

I'm curious to see whose speech they rank as number one.  I have a few ideas and, since leaders are only on the list once, those on the 25 -13 portion won't be there.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Guess The Teeth.

Angelina Spotted In France.

A friend just spotted Anglina Jole looking in damn good shape, having just recently given birth to twins.  He snapped this photo when he realized she was wearing the Opinionated Old Fart on her chest.


What's Really Good For My Kids? Think Like Your Kids.

Watch a short clip of Chris Mathews last night on Leno. Great advise for us old farts and those a bit younger too.

Hat tip: Breaking Blue.

Equal Time.



Headline Of The Day.




The Dark Knight's Dark Night.



Batman star Christian Bale was to be questioned by police over allegations he assaulted his mother and sister the night before the European premiere of his film, "The Dark Knight," British media reported Tuesday.

(My friend, and All Saint's Beverly Hills Associated Rector, Barry Taylor's review of The Dark Night.  For an interesting take on popular culture and spirituality, check out his new book, "Entertainment Theology: New Age Spirituality in a Digital Democracy.")

Separated At Birth.


War crimes suspect, Radovan Karadzic and the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
Rowan Williams.

Today's Travel Recommendation.

Not where I'd choose to spend my vacation, but maybe you're up for it

Monday, July 21, 2008

New Secret Geography.

Map above as John McCain sees the region. His comment this morning regarding trouble on the Iraq-Pakistan border confirms its accuracy.  Map by: Matt Yglesias.

Joke For The Day.

Q.: What is the difference between Obama and Osama?
A.: The Republicans are trying to get Obama!
Q.: What do Obama and Osama have in common?
A.:The Republicans haven't laid a glove on either.

Hat tip: Padre Mickey who nicked it from a comment on Sadly, No!

The Name That Dare Not Be Spoken.

By Bush, of course.

Can You Picture President Obama?

These might help.






Faith Leaders Out Of Touch About Gays.

From Times Online comes this interesting bit of research.  
Religious people are more positive towards homosexual people than is claimed by conservative faith leaders, a report out today says.

According to academics at Leeds University, faith leaders are failing to reflect what the people in the pews really think about gays.

The report Love Thy Neighbour, commissioned by the gay rights lobby group Stonewall, says that Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Christian believers are “significantly more moderate” in their views on homosexuality than is often alleged on their behalf.

"Top Ten Ways To Have A More Spiritual Summer."

I'm stealing this from the church leaflet this past Sunday, it's by Amy Cunningham.
  1. Unplug the TV
  2. Swim in real water (ocean, lake, etc.)
  3. Gaze at the night sky (key here is gaze)
  4. Make flying friends (butterflies; birds)
  5. Take a meaningful workshop
  6. Walk barefoot
  7. Make or buy presents for loved ones
  8. Sit under a great tree
  9. Consider where you are burned out
  10. Read eternally beautiful things

Have You Seen My Civil Liberties Recently?

Here's something we all need to remind us each morning of what we have lost during the past eight years. It's the "Disappearing Civil Liberties Mug."
Drink your decaf in this dazzling mug - and watch your civil liberties disappear and reappear! Simply pour in your coffee or any hot beverage and watch the painstaking work of the founding fathers vanish before your eyes and then reappear after drinking up or cooling down. A great way to amaze and entertain a guest with satire. 
Pretty cool.

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words.

Provide your own words. Hat Tip: The Stump.

Many Seniors Depend On The Web.

But, not McCain. This AP story is fun.
If Sen. John McCain is really serious about becoming a Web-savvy citizen, perhaps Kathryn Robinson can help.

Robinson is now 106 — that's 35 years older than McCain — and she began using the Internet at 98, at the Barclay Friends home in West Chester, Pa., where she lives. "I started to learn because I wanted to e-mail my family," she says — in an e-mail message, naturally.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Something Of Beauty For A Sunday Evening.

Obama The Elitist. Not.

With all the Republican accusations of Obama being an "elitist" and "not one of us," take a look at the real story from the Chicago Sun Times. How many rich kids do you know who worked at Baskin-Robbins, construction, selling trinkets in a gift shop, a deli counter and as a telemarketer?
As a high school student, Obama's first job was at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store. He also has mentioned he worked construction. And we know about the famous summer job between his second and third years of law school at Sidley Austin in Chicago, where he met Michelle, who was already at the firm. The summer before, Obama worked at Hopkins & Sutter, a law firm in Chicago.

Here's what we know for the first time, with information passed on from the Obama campaign in response to my inquiries: As a college student at Occidental in Southern California, Obama returned home to Hawaii the summer after freshman year to sell island trinkets in a gift shop. Obama also had a summertime job at a deli counter in Hawaii -- making sandwiches.

Once in New York to attend Columbia, one summer Obama worked for a private company holding a contract to process health records of either police or firefighters; I'm not sure exactly what he did.

During one school year at Columbia, Obama was a telemarketer in midtown Manhattan selling New York Times subscriptions over the phone, wearing a headset. He did not like the job because "he worried that some of the people he called couldn't really afford the subscription."