Trigger Finger

My initial feeling about the new V series is that I am disappointed in how they handled the story: the pilot glosses over so much story in quick, sound-bite storytelling that it ends with no real mystery or interesting characters, which were the driving forces for other fascinating series, like Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

From Facism to Terrorism

The biggest change in the plot of the story shown in the pilot episode is that the tactics for invasion have shifted from facist domination to terrorism. I find that both interesting and strange. It is clear from the dialogue that the "visitors" are rumored to have already infiltrated key social systems (e.g. government) in such a way that I find it suspect that they would resort to terrorism. Terrorism is often adopted by people who have little to no access to more powerful channels of persuasion or force, which is not the case with the "visitors". Thus, this plot line, while more relevant to today, already has me wondering if this is a mistake.

Not Like the Book (or Mini-series)

The very quick pace of the pilot left me with a feeling I think people feel when they read a book and are disappointed with the movie, as very rich parts of a story are cut out. Funny that I feel this moving from one version of a filmed narrative to a different version. What was so great about the story from the original mini-series was that we got into a lot of different lives who were impacted in very complex social ways by the tactics used from the antagonists. In the recent series pilot episode, everything is so compact, I really don't give a rat's ass how any of the character's lives are going right now.

Dynamic but Without Mystery

I certainly agree that this story moved through some of the same elements of the original story with a "let's not waste time with the obvious" attitude. However, a good storyteller knows how to reshape a story, to preserve the driving forces that are common to all good stories while still preventing boring rehashes of old plot points. The characters were used in the pilot to reveal the dynamics of the circumstances, leaving them poorly defined in and of themselves and without personality. There's no mystery to me nor even a character that I can say I want to get to know better.

Lowering Expectations but Persistent Hopes

There are three more episodes to help build up the story, and I certainly hope they rescue this story that is crashing like a jet knocked down by an overpowering alien ship. I remember feeling a similar weirdness with the first episode of Battlestar Galactica, which was ultimately a very impressive story to me. As such, I am crossing my fingers. However, they better learn how to make the characters worth watching and the mysteries worth Twittering about, or the show will most likely die shortly after the fourth episode finished airing.

Lately, I was listening to trance music when I realized that the newer science-fiction series, Fringe, would be a prime pool for drawing samples for new trance music. So far, I haven't heard any music that has done this, but I know that there is at least one trance song about Fringe.

To help kick off what could be a fairly entertaining round of music making, I wanted to help pull out ten quotes that seem ripe for becoming trance sound bites.

1. So much happened here, and so much is about to
2. Excellent. Let's make some LSD
3. This...will rip open your consciousness
4. Sometimes, I forget myself, but then you already knew that
5. In fact, if the answer is no, I may encourage drug use
6. I think it's time for some intracranial penetration
7. Open your mind, son, or someone may open it for you
8. Heavenly...and earthly at the same time
9. I know you have questions. Soon you will have answers
10. I share your frustration, of not having these answers

Do you have any favorite quotes that you want to share?

Listen to the Fringe trance song on YouTube

Read more about Fringe the series on FOX.com

I went to meditation class tonight, and after all of it, I pulled out several gems for my own journey toward enlightenment, which I hope may help you, too.

Getting Rid of the Guilty Baggage of Self-Importance

I need to revisit choices in my past that I still feel guilty about, since that guilt could be a sign of self-importance rather than healthy self-esteem. One of the things that the teacher brought up was that we are all under the illusion that we are separate individuals, when we are, in fac,t all interdependent. Nothing of ourselves (not even our bodies) came about without someone else involved. I know this intellectually, but it made me think about how my guilt about past choices is a remnant of excessive self-importance.

First, I can't change anything about my past choices, so feeling guilty about my past won't change what I did. Things that happened in the past don't necessarily stay in the past, but obviously, as science-fiction stories about time travel illustrate, no one can go back and change those events. I also don't want to simply dismiss those past events, since they have shaped my experience today. Certainly, I feel guilty about some of the things I did for a reason.

Second, I suspect that lingering guilt from these experiences isn't just about what happened then; it is about who I am today and what would happen if people knew I did those things. Even if those moments are over, and I can claim that I have grown past them, the fact that I made poor choices at times makes me feel guilty, like I should have known better. Perhaps, this is me not accepting that I had limitations to my understanding back then, and trying to see myself as separate from others who also make foolish choices at times. I am trying to be better by denying my limitations and present only the best of me to others. Ultimately, I think this only sustains the illusion that I have such an importance that I cannot allow it to be tarnished by my past foolish choices.

Opinions: Mutually Beneficial or Self-Serving

I am also thinking about how to maintain the view of interdependence while letting go of other people's opinions. Certainly, letting go of any concept of self-importance that pits my opinions against other competing opinions would help. However, I also thought recently that people express opinions differently, and I think the very manner of expression might help me reconcile conflicting opinions.

I think there is a distinct difference between opinions that are expressed for mutual benefit and opinions that are self-important. Opinions that are mutually beneficial are expressed to communicate something beyond the mere experience of the self and provide more detail. If I give an opinion of a movie, for example, it is more beneficial to point to specific scenes, acting techniques or some other specific dimension that makes my opinion more concrete and relevant to other points of view. It is more self-important to reduce opinions to "that sucked" or "that was great" without going into any further detail or articulating anything beyond personal value judgment. As such, maybe I can dismiss those who speak in such a way by recognizing their point of view as very self-oriented and not really meant for me at all.

I was just seeing pictures of a recent health care reform rally in Seattle, WA, and I noticed that many of the messages miss the target audience. The rally used human rights as rallying term on many of the signs, but from what I understand, those who oppose the reform are fixating on the fear of government; "Big Brother" syndrome as it were.

Jesus Has Something to Say

On the flip side, there were some messages that made key points using Jesus as a focus. They were things like "Healing the community without profit for 2,000 years" and "Jesus didn't need money to heal" or things along those lines. These kinds of messages seemed better to me, but there is still more that can be said about health care reform in ways that will pull out the stronger messages.

Talk About the "Big Brother" of Commerce

Where the opposition is winning is in getting people to hear them and ignore the details by playing on fears; as such, those who support health care reform need to use equally stunning messages that provoke a desire to investigate. Messages like, "My Body isn't for Profit" or "Trading Family Health is Sickening" or "A Child's Body isn't for Sale", are the messages that the opposition will listen to. After that, if we are ready, we can frame the debate around the agony of getting market based health care (which also means paying for someone else's care by they way) pointing out that we should all be able to rely on a steady source of care because we deserve it.

I just got back from a new meditation class that my brother and his girlfriend have been attending for a while. It was very helpful, and even though my mind did wander during the meditation (I am out of practice), I had a few insights some of which I want to quickly jot down here.

Setting Boundaries for My Happiness

One of my struggles is that I get caught up with other people and how they feel. While I certainly think I can be empathetic and compassionate towards others, I feel like I need to set stronger emotional boundaries between me and other people. Tonight, a quick mantra popped into my head. My happiness is not your happiness.

What I need to do is to recognize when I am getting caught into other people's emotional currents and remind myself that my happiness is distinct from what they are going through. I think If I can do this, I will be in more control of my feelings in general, and I think that I will begin to express a more honest self with others, since I won't be letting their feelings influence me so strongly. This is what I need to practice anyway.

Desire Is Okay When It Is Used Rightly

The teacher in the class today said that Bhudda did not say desire was bad but that desirous attachment was bad. This is very interesting to me, as I have been looking at detachment and feeling like detachment has been ill defined as well. The definition of "bad desire" and detachment have such a strong relationship to each other it's important to really understand them. I don't think we should retreat from the world and try to "control" our feelings in the sense that we need to squash them out or cut them off in any way. I think what we need to do is learn to be more open to what is positive about our experiences even if they fall short of what we desire to achieve.

Detachment and desire need to be held in a special balance where one is still motivated by the beauty of everything in life such that life can be fulfilling in many ways and not just a few "if only this would happen" kind of ways. I think too many of us think that there are only a handful of things in life that will make us happy, but we really are the only ones that can make us happy. We choose to see the negative in many things, although obviously things like violence or anger aren't meant to bring happiness. However, the circumstances of our lives play only a small part in our ability to be happy and LOVE. When we see how much our own attitude, beliefs and feelings create barriers to our own happiness, we begin can then open up to more happiness and LOVE.

The Purpose of Death is Obvious

When people ask themselves why someone in particular had to die, the answer is actually obvious and straightforward. We all have to die. That's what happens when we live a physical life. Death is just going to happen. Why someone had to die on a particular day or in a particular way may lead to other equally apparent circumstances. However, these are not the questions people really want to ask. They only ask them, because they aren't facing the truth of of their own hearts.

When people really ask about death, what they need to ask themselves is "why can't I let go of this person" or "why do I hurt so much now that they are gone?" Truthfully, any self aware person will be able to answer these questions readily, and they will be able to truly heal from the greiving process. They will be able to put the deceased in a new emotional space and carry on with their lives, because the truth of their heart is known to them.

A few things I saw recently made me wonder what science-fiction is all about. Answer? Serving a better Science Fiction cake! What the hell does that mean? It means making sure that the storyline cooked into the movie meal isn't overpowered by an excessively frosted dessert.

Ellison: Science Fiction is Substance, Sci-Fi isn't

In a video posted on SciFiWire, Harlan Ellison (creative consultant for Babylon 5) makes a very caffeinated argument that Sci-Fi is the diminished version of Science Fiction. While none of the other people who discuss this issue truly contradicted him, the collective point was Science Fiction focuses on the social and personal effects of technology, whereas Sci-Fi is more about whiz-bang sensations.

District 9: For Character not Candy

After seeing reviews from people and seeing the movie District 9 myself, I think people who have come to rely on Sci-Fi as sensational brain candy are disappointed with the character driven plot of District 9. The movie uses special effects for the few battle scenes that are there, but District 9 is clearly built on the main character's struggle around the tensions between humans and aliens.

Avatar: Too Sweet for My Taste

I've only just seen the trailer for Avatar, scheduled to release 18 December this year, and while I can see some plot, I think this will suffer from excessively sweetened brain candy.

Honestly, Avatar brings to light what some Hollywood projects suffer from: adding more special effects sugar drowned cake to their poorly made move meal. Special effects make movies a little more enjoyable for their creative visual joy, but when they are used just to be used they rot the plot. When the story plot demands the use of special effects as a means to tell the story, they help us connect to the story. In movies where special effects are simply a toy, the ray guns, telekinesis or immortality really detract from the story and make our mental stomachs ache for real food movie plots.

So, when the hungry moviegoers come rioting on Hollywood's Versaillan palace, perhaps there will be a better response than, "Let them eat cake."

Watch the Science Fiction debate on YouTube
Visit the District 9 movie website
Read about the upcoming movie Avatar on the I09 blog

I identify as a liberal because of the policies and candidates that I support. However, I think there are some messages from the conservative side of things that I agree with, although these messages get distorted by the more extreme elements of conservativism. See the following comparison.

Conservative messages I hate

You're a sinner (and by extension, I am a saint).
Don't have sex (any sex, you sinful whore).
Don't criticize me. I'm doing everything right.
My life is all the example to prove what should work for everyone.
You're the reason the world is going to hell.
Stop whining and just take care of it.

Conservative messages I agree with

Live by values
Make responsible choices
Take responsibility for your actions
Look to examples (and be an example)
Develop discipline and individual effort

My Liberal Life and Finding Shared Peace

As a liberal, I still believe in values like honesty and integrity, strive to maintain personal responsibility, look at examples in life and reflect on them, and continue to develop discipline while always making an effort to do what I can. In these times, I am more concerned about the divide among us getting so large that we will have to suffer even worse times from the division and hostility that will weaken us even further.

I have two recipes that I keep nearby, both of which involve beer. Of course, I like them because they involve beer. Did I mention that I like to cook with BEER!

Drunken Sausages

2 lbs. of Italian Sausages
6 small garlic cloves
1 each Red, Yellow and Green Pepper
Salt
3 or 4 pinches of red hot pepper
3/4 cup beer (of your choice)

The quick and dirty: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cook sausages (poked with a fork) in oven safe pan with minced garlic. After 10 minutes, remove sausages and then cook peppers (they should be slice) for about 8 minutes. Then put everything back in the pan with salt, hot pepper and beer. Transfer it all the the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and enjoy (don't burn yourself).

Second version: skip all the frying and just put the ingredients in a baking dish with a bit more beer (such as a cup and a half). Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Enjoy.

This recipe can be found in the most awesome cookbook, Young & Hungry by Dave Lieberman. See the cookbook Young and Hungry on Amazon.com

Irish Stew

2 lb lamb (or beef) cut into 1/5 inch chunks
1/4 olive oil
2 cups onion, diced
2 T. garlic, minced
2 T. tomato paste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dark beer
2 cups beef broth
2 cups chicken broth
2 fresh thyme sprigs
2 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cubed
1 cup carrot, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup savoy cabbage, sliced
Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Stewing it up: fry the lamb in 2T of olive oil for 8 minutes, then set aside. With remaining 2T of oil, cook the onion for 5 minutes. Then add garlic and tomato paste until paste gets dark (2 mins). Add flour and coat contents. Cook for 1 minute. Add beer and cook for a few minutes (deglaze). Add lamb meet back in, and add both broths as well as the thyme. Simmer for 1 hour. Stir in potatoes and cook until they are tender (12 minutes). Add peas, cabbage, salt and pepper. Simmer 5 more minutes. Done. Enjoy. (Don't burn yourself).

Recipe was included in issue number 71 of Cuisine at Home magazine. Go to the Cuisine at Home website

The UK Telegraph reported recently that a more than century old club in Australia had to change its name, because it was sexist. The Broad Plain Boys' Club is now the Broad Plain Working With Young People Group thanks in part to its dependence on a more than 11,000 pound funding from the government. Those who object to the name change say there's too much history behind the original name, and changing the name hasn't changed the number of girls who come to the club.

Rule of the Inclusive

One clear issue here is that this is a club that depends on money from the government. As such, I see that this name change isn't just about any group's right to name themselves as they wish. This also includes using money from the public to help keep the doors open, and when groups should respect certain rules of inclusivity when they receive this kind of support. Apparently, the Australian government still funds other clubs that have only one gender represented in the name, so it is curious why they chose this particular group to make its point.

New Name, Same Girls

The point about there being no increase in attendance of girls in the club seems like a senseless reaction to the name change. Maybe they don't do enough to actually bring in girls to the club. Maybe there are so many young girls who already participate that it would be ludicrous to think that the name change was to help increase attendance but rather to represent the larger numbers who already participate. Maybe they do a lot less for girls who attend (or who could attend) partly because their former name truly reflected their focus. I don't know.

Naming Objection?

I wonder why they settled on the name that they now have, the Broad Plain Working With Young People Group. It would have been just as easy to call it the Broad Plain Youth Club. Is this some form of objection on their part, to ridicule the idea of trying to be inclusive? It seems with the comments coming back that this is a possibility. However, perhaps once they've gotten over their loss, they may take up the simpler name that is inclusive and allows all youth to participate while feeling like the club is for them.

Read about the Australian Youth Club Sexist Name

Here are a couple of websites that might help you seek out a different mood by playing around with their options and seeing what you get.

Flickr Multicolr Search Lab

Flickr has a Multicolr Search Lab that allows you to select up to 10 different (or same) colors that it uses to grab random photos to put into a 10 x 5 grid. This grid of photos creates an interesting combination of colorful imagery when you try putting different colors together or the same color repeatedly.

Play with the Flikr Multicolr Search Lab

Moodstream^TM by Getty Images

Interact with your moods by playing with settings, such as Calm/Lively or Nostalgic/Contemporary, to see what you get, both visually and audially. Moodstream, by Getty Images, is an interactive web-based application that allows you to tinker with settings to get a stream of visual and audio media to set just the right mood.

Play with the Moodstream audiovisual mood setting application

I delayed posting this weekend, and today, I am glad that I did. The inauguration of the 44th president of the United States of America has given me a much better focus for my post than the one I originally planned.

Audacity of Hope

I did not read the book "Audacity of Hope" written by the now President of the U.S., but I believe the title so accurately reflects his attitude that I heard what I needed to hear in today's speech after he took the oath of office.

We have something to work for. We have something to give, and it is we, who will make hopes come true. Every one of us is a gift to the world and every one of us can make a difference. Just because we may not achieve an idealized reality does not mean that our efforts are entirely fruitless. The "Wisdom of Crowds" shows us that it is only together, as a community that our real gifts come to light. Together we are better than any of us could be all alone. We are smarter. We are more accomplished. We are stronger, and we can make a greater difference.

Whenever you make an effort to change things now, remember this. It is not so important that you achieve the goals of your vision, but that you participate in the larger vision. It is not so important that you keep yourself on the path, but that you help everyone stay on the path. Whatever it is that you do to struggle for something better, remember it is when our gifts come together that we realize our hopes.

I am getting ready to attend a lecture to be given by Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore's Dilemma, so I thought I would go over how it has affected my eating habits.

Reducing the Process

What impressed me about the book was one basic principle: processed food is worse for you. What I got from this book was that food in its raw state is what is best fit to provide nutrients. The flip side is that some foods need a little processing, such as cooking, in order to be edible. Also, we have to process some food to preserve it when food is scarce, and we either have to 1) import food from other productive areas or 2) preserve what food we can at harvest times to be eaten later.

I have heard the facts about healthier food before, but often it was a barrage of disjointed facts coming from different angles that never really persuaded me to change my diet. Somehow, getting this principle of food processing got through and nearly overnight, I changed my diet. I have greatly decreased my intake of fast food (down to one fast food meal every few weeks at most). I also cooked more at home (as an obvious alternative). Moving into a new condo with a fantastic kitchen helped, and it quickly taught me the value of a well designed kitchen.

Grocery Shopping Made Simpler

One more change to my habits was making shopping simpler by using Mozilla's Firefox addon Grocery List Generator. It is a basic program that links recipes with ingredients, which allows you to generate a shopping list based on the recipes you select. You can also add items for purchase individually alongside the things you need for your recipes

Check out Mozilla's Firefox addon Grocery List Generator
Look at the Omnivore's Dilemma on Amazon

News Flash! Abstinence only messages directed at teens don't change teen sexual behavior!

Oh wait. That's not news.

Amazingly, abstinence only rhetoric is still around today, as any of us who came out from under a rock over the last eight years knows well. However, a recent Seattle Times article spelled out why these programs don't work. One key problem is that:

"[V]irginity pledges" are one of the ways that the government measures whether abstinence-only education is "working." They count the pledges as proof that teens will abstain."

This one quote is exactly why ostrich head moralists fail, get frustrated and then blame everyone else for their inability to solve the real problems at hand. They make assumptions that certain behaviors, such as making a pledge to abstain, must surely result in actual abstention.

The same article from which I drew that quote also specified why abstinence only messages are useless. Namely, teens are smart enough to know it's not that simple.

But I am sure I am preaching to the choir here.

What I really want to note is that this kind of response is exactly what I don't like about ostrich head moralists. They have no problem spouting their moral rhetoric and getting red faced about how everyone else is ruining the world. But do they ever take responsibility for their proven failures? No. It is as if such people abstain from reading the facts as much as they want teens to abstain from having sex.

Again, to the choir.

I guess the bottom line here is why I don't like "religion", or more specifically the aforementioned ostrich head moralists. They'd rather stick to their morals (which must be buried in the sand with their heads) than actually try to make things better. Aaargh!

Read the Seattle Times article about the Failure of Abstinence Only Sex Messages

FailBlog posts introduced with soundbites. (Please note that none of these stories are accurate.)

Time to Sit Out
Sports arena managers have been finding it difficult to ensure that the space designated for people who use wheelchairs is not crowded by people who stand.
See the sign that helps remind people who stand that it's time to sit out

The No-Sale Sales
With the economy striking so hard, retailers have devised two new tactics to bring people in while keeping their prices from falling
See the sign that advertises an irregular sale
See the sign that marks prices up and down

Keeping Thieves From Making a Steal
Hard times are contributing to a striking upsurge in security. Car doors are no longer being locked by their usual means, and owners are finding new ways to keep potential thieves away.
See the lock that keeps thieves from making a steal

Attracting Tourists Through a New Image
Tourism is down in Amsterdam, so a new marketing tactic is being used. Amsterdam is using a "halo effect" campaign that includes such strategies as an invitation to Amsterdam that is paired with a key image from a neighboring European country.
See the postcard that lures tourists to Amsterdam using a different image

Scooter Takes a Beating
A new kids' scooter is flying off of the shelves this year, despite the overall lack of purchases. Marketers said that what kids want most in a scooter is to help them express their inner feelings, and parents seem to be happy to help.
See the kids' scooter that takes a beating

Rearranged Marketing; Same Stock
Anticipating that some shoppers may stick to necessities, some store owners reshuffled their stock into new arrangements to stimulate more sales. Shop owners said that the tactic is working, even if some customers are wondering how their diet has changed.
See how some stores try a reshuffled marketing strategy

Chinese Restaurant Needs New English
Owners of a Chinese restaurant are looking into taking legal action against a translator who put his personal opinion into words on the awning of the restaurant. A spokesperson for the restaurant said that they have hesitated to act until they get a recount of the opinions written on all the comment cards they have received to date.
See the restaurant with an opinionated message

The first day of snow marks a day of wonder and magic. At least, that is a superstition I carry with me. Of course, that superstition was put to the test this year, when the first day of snow meant a little bit of trouble for people and a slight anxiety of what might follow. I must admit that I made it a priority to stock up and prepare for the worst after the first snow came down and made life a little more difficult for people.

Slowing Down

Despite the seemingly negative effects, I have been enjoying the snow. One of the things that I really like about the snow is that it forces people to slow down or suffer the consequences of running around in such anxious haste. While the first day of snow actually stimulated haste and anxiety, the following days have created a slower pace. Cars are going quite bit more slowly down the white frozen streets. This is something I will miss when the streets are clear again, as drivers will go back to speeding along their not so merry way.

Trekking on Icy Trails

My boyfriend and I had to trek around in the snow on two of the coldest days when the wind seemed to curse us and blow malicious frost. Yet, despite the somewhat difficult circumstances of trudging around in wet cold shoes and trying to squint, as well as cover the face to protect it from biting bits of ice, it was fun when we got to our final destinations and were able to unwind a bit. Of course, getting home was even better, as the arrival marked the completion of what felt like a productive day, even though very little ever got done. I suppose the effort was what impressed me.

Cold Scenes That Warm the Heart

Another thing I like about snow is that it inspires me to take pictures of the scenery and try to capture new views of my surroundings that I often take for granted. This season in particular inspired me to take no less than 56 pictures so far, and I plan on snapping a few more before the cold front has done its work and moved on its way. Ice on branches, snow drifts piling up and greenery blanketed in white all catch my shutterbug attention. Yes indeed, there is magic in the air, and it is called snow.

View images of 2008 winter scenes on Flickr

Soon after getting into my new condo, a friend of mine from work bought be a fantastic cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Family Style. From it, I tried a fantastic mashed squash recipe, which includes:

2 medium butternut squash (4 to 5 lbs. total)
6 T unsalted butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup half and half

After cutting down the squash, putting it on a tray, melting the butter, mixing in brown sugar, salt, and pepper then pouring the mixture over the pieces of squash, you put the tray into a 400 F oven for about 40 minutes. Then, take the softened pieces of flavored squash and put them into a food processor (or blender) and mix in the half and half. Mash it down and voila! You have the tastiest, most dessert like side dish to warm your stomach and satisfy your sweet craving taste buds. Mmmmm...

Take a look at the Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook on Amazon

It's about time. Now that we are in the middle of a great economic sh!t storm, the message is coming out that we need to diversify car fueling options. It wasn't a big epiphany for those who have been looking at alternative fuels for many years now, but it is certainly great to see some high profile people starting to push the message further.

How timely that the big 3, who have been begging for help from the government, are now trying to show their interest in making a change by using hybrid vehicles as transportation themselves. Of course, it really sucks that they didn't figure that out the first time they went to Washington, but nobody's perfect.

Watch a clip of Gov. Schwarzenegger discuss auto regulations and fuel alternatives
Read about hybrid cars on the Hybrid Car website

A friend of mine just told me that while he was working away in the Bill of Rights Defense Committee office in Northampton, MA, someone shot into the office about 20 feet away from where he was sitting. He didn't tell me if anyone actually got hit, but I imagine that there were no injuries. The office where he works is housed within an abortion clinic.

Less Government Spending on Violent Protest

Apart from the gall of shooting into an office, I was interested to hear that the FBI came on site to investigate. It immediately made me wonder how certain people cry out for less government spending, but then some people take up this form of violent protest, which requires more government spending. I am presuming, of course, that the shot was fired out of a politically motivated individual who believes in the demise of abortion or civil rights.

A Sign of Desperation?

The same informant told me that he knew of a lawyer who is flying out to a polling station about 2,000 miles away from their current residence, as there has been a call of have lawyers on site where polling interference has been suspected in prior elections. It makes me wonder how desperate certain people are. Do they really feel the power draining from their hands as the political climate seems to be changing in a particular direction?

Read an article on a "GOP Civil War"
Read an article on How Palin Isn't Following the Leader

Poll #1285114 Halloween Costumes 2008
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Do you like to participate in Halloween festivites at all?

What types of festivities do you like to engage in for Halloween?

If you go candy grabbing, where do you like to go?

If you like Halloween parties, what atmosphere do you prefer?

If you like to dress up in a costume, what type of theme do you choose typically?

If you search for evil spirits, which ones do you like to find?

If you like to visit graveyards, what do you do while you are there?

Do you think the results of this survey will affect your Halloween plans, this year or after?

As silent as I have been lately, it has not been for lack of things to talk about. I have been to numerous restaurants, whose reviews will have to wait. I have been moving to a new condo that I just purchased, and all of those details will have to wait. I have also been spending my time with etnmarchand , and the juicy details of our time together will also have to wait.

Right now, I wish to call on those who read my blog to consider making their voice heard on a poll regarding Sara Pahlin. PBS is holding an online poll to determine the public opinion regarding whether or not Pahlin is qualified to be Vice President.

Vote on whether or not Pahlin is qualified to be Vice President