Stu lookin out...

A midafternoon drink? Best if I keep walking...

A beer on the roof, some good music and plenty of words to read and write: a good day off.

From my roof, I can make out the handle of the big dipper. And if I look hard enough through the light pollution of this city I can make the whole thing out. The sky is changing; the traffic streets over is calm, fall is here. There is something captivating alone on a roof, floors up from the movement on the pavement below. The traffic almost sounds like waves. Planes and motorcyles compound the patterns in such a complex way that the sounds merge. The calmness within the chaos is soothing. Needed. Embraced.

Tina Fey - amazing

Back in Brooklyn for a roof top sunset. Got home earlier than I had in what seems like months. Lots to do...








The view from here just makes you...stop.

Test

Blogging from the rocket launcher - start.

After a train and ferry ride, this is what greeted me on Fire Island. Who could ask for anything more? The getaway to the island was much needed following a brunch in which I learned some news that was, to say the least, hard to swallow. I left brunch, and headed to the liquor store for some bourbon. My plan was to retreat to my roof and think...this plan was interupted by a text telling me to get my ass on a boat, how could I resist...so I packed a towel, a swimsuit, a change of clothes, the bourbon and headed to the train. No looking back.

Following the welcoming view, I was greeted by friends...we took a quick tour of Cherry Grove and then headed to the deck for bloody marias. Dinner at Cherry's, then back to the roof. After more drinking and relaxation, it was time for a nap before the evening's Halloween Party. Halloween drinking and dancing and partying at the coustume party, without, yup you guessed it, costumes. Party was followed by taking a long walk back to the house, my need of being close to the water...sleep.

Good Morning! Sunday morning: bloody marys, extra olives, please. A breakfast sandwich on the beach; preparing to swim, and being reminded who is in control - mother nature. Hard breaking waves, inconsistent rhythms, rip currents. As the day went on, the skies cleared, and more and more people came out of hiding and made their way down to the water.


Working with nature, studying her ebb and flow, stopping to feel. Working in tandem with her power, tapping into a cajoling power to find the partnership to dive through waves and enter the chaotic force. Worked up quite an appetite - pizza and beer on the beach - a perfect solution. Decision made to stay another night and have the best commute to work in ages...





The journey begins back to the chaos of NYC, a government bailout in Washington, and more than enough work to keep me in the office after we close at 2.







Good-bye to an amzing weekend. And much needed getaway. Hello to an amzing commute to work. (I'm saving for a boat - not exactly new news)

saturday...post brunch bloody marys

"tumble out of bed, and i stumble to the kitchen. pour myself a cup of ambition, and yawn and stretch and try to come to life. jump in the shower, and the blood starts pumpin, out on the streets the traffic starts jumpin with folks like me on the job from 9 - 5. workin 9 - 5, what a way to make a livin, barely gettin by, its all takin and no givin, they just use your mind and never give you no credit. its enough to make you crazy if you let it." dolly p.

am i really going to say fuck it and go to fire island or will i stay in brooklyn and get shit done. decision making post brunch is not a good idea. had brunch with big j - total craziness. i miss her. jadirus the virus. she told me she always looked up to me. wow.

"When I was eight I was sure I was growing nerves, like steel in my palms. Make a map of what you see, direct pain effectively, I was eight I was sure I was growing pains, like lead in my feet." tegan & sara

word of my day...

soliloquy

Main Entry: so·lil·o·quy
Pronunciation: \sə-ˈli-lə-kwē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural so·lil·o·quies
Etymology: Late Latin soliloquium, from Latin solus alone + loqui to speak
Date: circa 1613
1 : the act of talking to oneself
2 : a dramatic monologue that represents a series of unspoken reflections

Americans Scramble To Offer Bundles Of 'Shit' For Sale To Government

Read

I'm not the only one who feels a little, I dunno, bad about the fact the government is about to drop $700 Billion on a bailout plan. I've got debt too, and yes, some of it is becuase of poor choices - - - sounds a little like the folks on Wall Street. Hmmm. Like I've said before, I think my $2300 contibution to the bailout would be better spent if I had it in my wallet...

i missed her...

From Gawker Stalker
Mary-Louise Parker
2nd Ave

Sep 24th, 2008 @ 9am

(9:30 am) Just saw Mary-Louise Parker standing on the corner of 1st St. and 2nd Ave looking very lost and making funny faces into the sun. Funny faces aside, she looked beautiful especially considering it was a wednesday morning!

(note to self - get up earlier)

Hysterical

this is hysterical, hysterical laughter at my desk on a Wed., who could ask for more...

No on Proposition 8

Forgot to post this NYTimes article yesterday.

Read up...on why your stance should be No on Proposition 8.

How non-Californians can help on Proposition 8.

September 21, 2008
Political Memo
Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Tied to Obama Factor
By JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO — Could Senator Barack Obama’s popularity among black voters hurt gay couples in California who want to marry?

That is the concern of opponents of Proposition 8, a measure on the November ballot that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, which was legalized in May by the State Supreme Court.

Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, is against the measure. But opponents of the proposed ban worry that many black voters, enthused by Mr. Obama’s candidacy but traditionally conservative on issues involving homosexuality, could pour into voting stations in record numbers to punch the Obama ticket — and then cast a vote for Proposition 8.

“It’s a Catch-22,” said Andrea Shorter, the campaign director of And Marriage for All, a coalition of gay and civil rights groups that recently started what it calls an education campaign around the state, focusing on blacks and framing the issue of same-sex marriage as one of civil rights.

The Obama/Proposition 8 situation appeals to those opposed to same-sex marriage, who are banking on a high turnout by blacks and conservative Latinos. “There’s no question African-American and Latino voters are among our strongest supporters,” said Frank Schubert, the co-campaign manager for Yes on 8, the leading group behind the measure. “And to the extent that they are motivated to get to the polls, whether by this issue or by Barack Obama, it helps us.”

To blunt that possibility, gay leaders and Proposition 8 opponents have been sponsoring casual events at restaurants in traditionally black neighborhoods in Los Angeles, meeting with black clergy members and recruiting gay black couples to serve as spokespeople on panels and at house parties and church events.

“This is black people talking to black people,” said Ron Buckmire, the board president of the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, a gay rights group in Los Angeles. “We’re saying, ‘Gay people are black and black people are gay. And if you are voting conservative on an antigay ballot measure, you are hurting the black community.’ ”

Black voters account for 6 percent of likely voters in most statewide elections, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, while Hispanic voters make up about 15 percent. But taken together, those two groups could easily decide the election, people on both sides of the issue said.

“If the white Christian evangelic movement believes they can do it alone, I’ve got news for you,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in Sacramento, which supports the measure. “They don’t have the sheer numbers to do it without the minority effort.”

The Obama factor is just one potential element in the battle over Proposition 8.

Both sides said they expected to spend $20 million or more to help blanket airwaves. One advertisement by opponents shows a heterosexual bride on her way to the altar thwarted by various obstacles — a broken door, a clingy child — before the tagline: “What if you couldn’t marry the person you loved?”

Polls have shown Proposition 8 is trailing. A Field Poll of likely voters conducted last week found the measure was favored by 38 percent of voters and opposed by 55 percent. Mr. Obama, who has said he does not favor same-sex marriage, has stated his opposition to Proposition 8, calling the measure “divisive and discriminatory” in a letter to a gay Democratic club in San Francisco.

But opponents are not declaring victory.

“We think there’s 15 to 20 percent that are still undecided on this issue,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, which supports gay rights. “We do believe that if we can get our message out at least equal to the other side, we will win, but that’s a fund-raising issue.”

Mr. Kors said opponents of Proposition 8 had raised about $12 million so far.

Supporters of the proposition, which qualified for the ballot shortly after the Supreme Court decision, said they had raised about $15 million.

Those donations include money from religious and conservative groups, including $1 million from the Knights of Columbus and $500,000 from the American Family Association, run by the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon. That group’s Web site includes a fund-raising video for Proposition 8 featuring a clip of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. while a speaker comments on the duty of black pastors to speak out in favor of Proposition 8.

Some supporters of the measure also say they sense a newfound enthusiasm in their ranks since Gov. Sarah Palin became the running mate of the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain.

“I think Governor Palin has obviously energized social conservatives and religious conservatives and all types of conservatives,” said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst with Focus on the Family Action, the lobbying arm of Focus on the Family, a conservative group that has spent nearly $450,000 on supporting Proposition 8. “And if that motivates more of them to get out to the ballot box than would have for John McCain by himself that has to benefit socially conservative issues like Prop. 8.”

The black community has long had a conflicted relationship with gay men and lesbians, Mr. Buckmire said, equal parts homophobia and denial.

“For too long, black people seemed to think there were no gay people around, especially black ministers,” Mr. Buckmire said. “They’d say the most insanely anti-gay things, and then the choir would come up and the choir is 50 percent gay.”

Still, the tendency of black voters to oppose gay marriage extends beyond religion. Patrick J. Egan, an assistant professor of politics at New York University who has studied black voting patterns on same-sex marriage, said black voters consistently polled much lower than white voters on approval for same-sex marriage, about 16 percentage points, even when religion was not a factor.

A Measure of Hope

Its long over due that the Millenium Development Goals are re-evaluated. Collier breaks down some of the ways in which the implementation of these goals has not been easy. This week, World leaders will come together in New York for a high-level event convened by the UN Secretary-General and the President of the UN General Assembly to renew commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and to set out concrete plans and practical steps for action. We have alot of work ahead of us...


September 22, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
A Measure of Hope
By PAUL COLLIER
Lusaka, Zambia

THANKS to the copper boom, Zambia’s economy at last is growing. Last year, per capita gross domestic product rose by around 4 percent. The capital is busy with new construction, and traffic between here and the copper belt is so heavy, travel time has doubled to eight hours.

Still, Zambia is diverging from the rest of mankind. Its tax system has until last month been so lenient that most of the new copper profits have gone to the foreign companies that now own the mines. And the political and economic collapse of neighboring Zimbabwe has meant a loss of trade.

Zambians remain in the “bottom billion” of the earth’s poorest people — those whom Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, declared would be the focus of development efforts for 2008. If the U.N., whose General Assembly convenes today, really rises to this challenge, how can it help the countries in the bottom billion? Presumably by more vigorous pursuit of its Millennium Development Goals, whose shaky progress toward ending poverty by 2015 is now subject to mid-term review.

The Millennium Development Goals have been a major improvement on the unfocused agenda for poverty that preceded them, but the world has changed radically since they were announced in 2000. And the assumptions on which they are based need to be rethought.

The World Bank has just raised the bean count of global poverty to 1.4 billion people, from just under a billion. It had previously overestimated the level of Chinese and Indian per capita incomes, so the count now shows that the number of poor Chinese and Indians far exceeds the number of poor Africans. But this is misleading because Chinese and Indian incomes are rising far faster and more surely than African incomes. The big difference between a poor Asian household and an equally poor African one is hope, not necessarily for the present generation of adults but for their children.

Hope makes a difference in people’s ability to tolerate poverty; parents are willing to sacrifice as long as their children have a future. Our top priority should be to provide credible hope where it has been lacking. The African countries in the bottom billion have missed out on the prolonged period of global growth that the rest of the world has experienced. The United Nations’ goal should not be to help the poor in fast-growing and middle-income countries; it should do its utmost to help the bottom billion to catch up. Anti-poverty efforts should be focused on the 60 or so countries — most of them in Africa — that are both poor and persistently slow-growing.

A further weakness with the Millennium Development Goals is that they are devoid of strategy; their only remedy is more aid. I am not hostile to aid. I think we should increase it, though given the looming recession in Europe and North America, I doubt we will. But other policies on governance, agriculture, security and trade could be used to potent effect.

What do I mean?

Well, take, for instance, the American biofuel scam (the ethanol subsidies that have diverted 30 percent of American corn away from the food supply) and the European ban on genetically modified seeds, imitated by Africa, have both contributed to Africa’s worsening food shortage. Where is the United Nations pressure for an end to these follies?

Why, also, did the United Nations not intervene militarily when the democratic government of Mauritania, another country in the bottom billion, was overthrown by a coup last month? Where is an alternative initiative to open international trade to poor countries now that the Doha round talks have collapsed? Above all, with a five-year-old commodities boom transferring wealth to some of the countries of the bottom billion, where are the international guidelines on taxation and investment that might help these countries convert earnings from exports of depleting minerals into productive assets like roads and schools?

I applaud Ban Ki-moon. Like Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president, Mr. Ban is offering more thoughtful leadership on development strategy than has been provided for decades. But he has been stymied by the powerful countries’ failure to rally to his call to focus on the poorest countries. No nation, not even the United States, is now sufficiently dominant for its actions to be decisive. International coordination is needed more than ever. For all its manifest limitations, the United Nations must work.

International coordination has been, indeed, the great achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; all the major donor countries have bought into them. But they should now be revised so as to focus on the challenge of helping the bottom billion to converge with the rest of mankind — and on a more realistic timescale. We need not just a “Year of the Bottom Billion,” but several decades. This session of the United Nations is an appropriate moment to get started.

Paul Collier, a professor at Oxford, is the author of “The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It.”

Good-bye to the house that Ruth built

Coverage from the last game at Yankee Stadium.

NYTimes Editorial: The Candidates and the Court

Here is an editorial on an issue I've been talking about for months now. Something that terrifies me about this election, the fact that the courts are at stake and that long outlasts the influence of a Presidential term. The article walks you through the concern, ladies and gents - its time to face up and sing...let's make sure that we continue to work to change this country for the better.

NYTimes article, text below...

September 21, 2008
EDITORIAL
The Candidates and the Court

Among the many issues voters need to consider in this campaign is this vital fact: The next president is likely to appoint several Supreme Court justices. Those choices will determine the future of the law, and of some of Americans’ most cherished rights.

John McCain and Barack Obama have made it clear that they would pick very different kinds of justices. The results could be particularly dramatic under Mr. McCain, who is likely to complete President Bush’s campaign to make the court an aggressive right-wing force.

Mr. Obama seems likely to pick moderate justices, who would probably not take the court back onto a distinctly liberal path, but also would be unlikely to create an unbreakable conservative bloc.

Mr. McCain has promised the right wing of the Republican Party that he would put only archconservatives on the Supreme Court. Even moderate conservatives like Anthony Kennedy, the court’s current swing justice, would not have a chance.

Mr. McCain, whose Web site proclaims his dedication to overturning Roe v. Wade, would appoint justices who could be expected to lead the charge to eliminate the right to abortion. The kinds of justices for whom Mr. McCain has expressed a strong preference would also be likely to undermine the right of habeas corpus, allowing the government to detain people indefinitely without access to lawyers or family members.

Mr. McCain’s justices are likely to join the conservative crusade against the power of Congress. They could be expected to strike down, or sharply limit, federal power to protect clean air and water; ensure food and drug safety; safeguard workers; and prohibit discrimination against women and minorities. They would also likely further erode the separation between church and state.

Mr. McCain has voted to confirm federal judges chosen by Mr. Bush who are radicals, not conservatives. One, Janice Rogers Brown, now on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has attacked Supreme Court decisions upholding New Deal laws as “the triumph of our own socialist revolution.”

Mr. Obama, a former professor of constitutional law, has clashed with Mr. McCain in the Senate over legal issues. Mr. McCain backed the odious Military Commissions Act of 2006, which the Supreme Court held to violate the right of habeas corpus; Mr. Obama opposed it. Mr. McCain was a rubber stamp for Mr. Bush’s judicial nominees; Mr. Obama voted against the worst.

Mr. Obama has said he wants justices who have “the empathy to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom” — as well as to be gay, poor or black. He has promised to make “preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president.”

At the same time, Mr. Obama has put distance between himself and legal liberals on issues like the death penalty for child rapists and the constitutionality of gun control. As president, Mr. Obama would probably be more inclined to appoint centrist liberals, like Justice Stephen Breyer, than all-out liberals, like William Brennan or Thurgood Marshall.

Predicting vacancies on the court is difficult. But odds are that members of the liberal bloc, like 88-year-old John Paul Stevens, will leave first. That means that if Mr. Obama is elected, he might merely keep the court on its current moderately conservative course. Under Mr. McCain, if a liberal justice or two or three steps down, we may see a very different America.

a weekend well spent

the best place to go to get away - the most permanent place in my life. it's one of my favorite times of the year to be there; the air is crisp, the water slowly preparing for the winter, the leaves begin to blush with the beauty of fall. on a clear night you can see the stars, and reach out as though you could grab them. sweatshirts. beanies. campfires. laughing till it hurts. i'm glad i was able to get away this weekend, to regroup and to come back to nyc ready for the next 47 days. bring it.

Virginia and the election

I've been talking about this for awhile now - the NYTimes did a good piece on it this am. read and talk to your friends in VA to get out the vote...

Stiglitz: The Fall of Wall Street Is to Market Fundamentalism What the Fall of the Berlin Wall Was to Communism

read this article from yesterday in the Huffington Post...

On my to read list, Making Globalization Work, by Joseph Stiglitz.

Forgot to post: Obama vs. McCain: Taxing and Spending

Read this article from BusinessWeek, June 12, 2008. While the article is a bit old the information contained is still relevant and important for folks to read. Given all of the chaos in the financial markets its high time the citizenry gets a clearer understanding on just what the heck all of this means. While this particular article does not go into the current state of affairs on wall street, it does provide, what i thought, was a clear description of two very different economic plans.

oh, and ps, in case you missed this

this is absolutely amazing. and i am so sorry that i had to catch it online as opposed to watch the real thing, but sometimes the bar calls ;)

Tina Fey deserves some sort of Emmy or something. and btw, way more qualified than Sarah P.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

or McCain...

read me

its time to take the bull by the horns...right?!?!

where we stand

electoral vote

fivethirtyeight

realclearpolitics

If you're not worried; you're NOT paying attention. Voter registration deadlines for the Nov. election are quickly approaching. If you have no idea if you yourself are registered, go here to find out. If you take the time to register and vote -- and make sure everyone you know is registered as well -- we'll be able to turn the tide of the past eight years (so says Barack).

Please make an effort to talk to every disaffected young person you know and try to reiterate not only the importance of this election, but the importance of their vote. Just one may seem like nothing, but a whole mass movement of voters means alot.

There is too much to lose and so much to gain. Be a part of history. Get involved and fear the collective apathetic.

Marching for Marriage Equality and "hObama-ing"

today was the marriage march across the brooklyn bridge - it was mutha f*ckin hot, where did that nice fallish type weather go? anyway, marriage equality - as good a cause as any. one day i'd like to get married and i think it particularly awful that because i chose to love women as a woman that the law currently does not grant me the same rights as my hetreosexual counterparts. so we march.

while marching i sold some obama shirts, registered voters and signed people up to volunteer with us to go to PA. all of these things are great and caused my friend james to tell me that i've been hObama-ing it - which totally made me lose it, and i decided i am in fact a HOBAMA! so holla at your girl - get registered and don't sleep till the change has come!!!

late night musings

while smoking a cigarette i decided to pull out old papers; yellow with time, folded through distances. he always used to ask what it was that i was writing; i lied and told him someday he'd know. i'd scribble down passages, wondering if any of it made sense to eyes besides mine. eventually i stopped caring and just stockpiled words and phrases. i've always enjoyed the silence, the place that the ebb and flow of waves took me; knowing that water would always take me home. i'd sit, playing with my spirograph, it seemed that time passed easier this way. i am restless. always have been. but in that silence and in those patterns i was finding my way.

did you know that the greeks thought that amber was solidified sunshine from when the sun set into the sea?

fear the collective apathetic

thank you dreadnots.

i swear i'll post my own thoughts about this soon...

holiday in pittsburgh

simply amazing and needs to be shared. gosh do i miss these cats.

whistles go whoop

years ago this shit would make me laugh endlessly - bubb rubb is the man, its that whoop whoop.



"it's just for decoration man, that's it and that's all."

"i wish i was a lesbian"

i can't even begin to tell you how i found this, but it made me laugh on a rainy friday night.

Monday continues

I just got home and I think that I might be safe from further frustrations of the day...picking up where my last entry left off let me just state unequivocally that today was not the way I would have chosen to start the work week.

To further the frustrations of my day I spent a good majority of the day completing a presentation for a congressional committee concerning 9/11 health, followed by completing mail merges. To top it off I got a call towards the end of the day from one of my favorite organizations who is concerned of funding cuts to one of their programs. NOT OKAY. This organization does excellent work within the LGBT community and their funding should not be compromised. Its on, is all I've got to say...

At this point I realize that I am late to a meeting, ugh. So, I hop on the bike and motor downtown, only to realize that the entry procedure to the building my meeting was in has changed and meant that there was a ridiculous line to get through security - give me a break, if I'm going to wait in that kind of line I better be going somewhere good...

Anyway, my day started looking up on my ride home - what a beautiful night. Time to go drink a beer on the roof and figure out dinner - i promised myself no veggie dog tonight, sprouted roll or not.

Cheers from the roof - I'd continue up there but as my luck would have it, my battery no longer holds a charge. grrrr.

I'll post a pic in a bit because I believe in sharing.

I believe in sharing but the photo from the blackberry sucks and I was too lazy to get camera - until next time.

Monday - things can only get better

What a way to start the work week - riding to work, my netflix fall out of my basket on the way to the mailbox and almost cause me to get into an accident. Note to self - put something heavy on top of movie as to avoid future catastrophe.

10 am, at Ground Zero for a press conference regarding the HHS LHI contract for the National Responder program - chock full of problems - anyway, press conference went off with out a hitch, that is until I go to unlock my bike from the sign it was locked to bc there are no bike racks in this city. A Port Authority cop comes up to me and tells me that I cannot park my bike there and that next time she'll clip the lock and take it. I told her that DOT is supposed to provide a warning before taking a bike - she said that is not the case and that she can take the bike. She said to write to the DOT and tell them that I frequent the location and would like a bike rack. Ok, I’ll add that to my list of what I need from the government.

Then I finally sit down at my desk with my nectarine and new mix ready get down to business - but I’m interrupted by phones ringing off the hook - so i pick up. And I sure am blessed today - the woman on the phone was so rude and way too rude for a Monday morning no less. She bought a converter box for her TV so that she is set when cable goes digital - well its broken. I told her that the woman in our office who handles consumer issues was not at her desk and I’d be happy to put her through to her voice mail - her response - nooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I told her that I was sorry but as soon as my colleague was able she would return her call - she got all snippy and asked for my colleague’s name. I said and then spelled her name when the caller told me to slow down bc she is an old woman. She then proceeded to get annoyed bc my colleague has a Nigerian name and then called commented "oh great, someone who doesn’t speak English" - I promptly replied that my colleague has no problem with the English language and was born and raised here - - - the caller then told me to run for Vice President - does that mean she thought i was a bull dog with lipstick??? (the closest thing I have to lipstick is burts bees, hello lesbian ;)). Anyway, the caller then asked for my colleague’s number and I told her that all she needed to do was call the main line and she would be connected. Her final salutation "god damn government employees"


HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Sunday: Obama/Beach

Today was the Obama LGBT Press Conference - what a great turn out. Upon hearing my alarm clock go off and snoozing it for over an hour, the lovely Stu woke me (he knew he was long over due for breakfast). In a fury I pack my bag for the beach, toss on some shorts, a tank and a baseball cap and boogie. No way I'd get to City Hall on time via the G, so I opt for a cab. Of course I get the cabbie who has difficulty getting to City Hall. I was not in the typical M-F garb and I think I surprised a few folks with the casual look. There was no way that after spending some time in Inwood last night and getting home late that I was, even for a minute, going to throw on a suit.

Everyone's comments were great and reminded me why I got involved in this campaign in the first place. I am very excited to get on the bus for those day trips.

Good work people!!!

Then it was off to the beach, a bit later than expected but plenty of time to enjoy the sun and the sand. The waves were rough but still went in for a bit - I'll miss the water in a few weeks.

Now its time for book club reading and then bedtime - the plan is to try to get to sleep before 3 tonight - it will be the first time in a long time...

Plan: I need to stop eating like a 7 year old - Veggie dog dinner is unacceptable. However, the sprouted roll makes it a little closer to fine.

today the stars say...

Friday, September 5 2008


You are a winner because you never consider failing. When you do make a mistake, you tend to take it as an opportunity to grow and learn. In the work place you strive to see both sides of an issue and you may use your noon break to figure out resolutions to opposing views. It is important that you take some quiet time for yourself--this may mean a short drive or walk. Clearing your mind can actually bring new insights. There is a greater than usual interest in relationships, social connections and the arts--on a more intellectual level than in the past. Appearances and style may count more than substance. Finance and romance are a positive this evening. Romance, the arts and other of life's pleasures seem to take center stage this evening.

Speak TRUTH to POWER

When I hear her speak I have a viseral response of dislike...





FYI


ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.


Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."


THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
___
Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.

Milk

I can't wait until this opens in NYC!!!

lists

grocery - buy fresh fruits and vegetables
places to go - packing blankets
things to do - go to British consulate, drop off clothes donation, cover letter
things to sell - ipod, computer, guitar, books, speakers, blackberry
books to read - tao te ching
things to change - job
things i miss - too much
what i need - rain pants
what i want - new swimsuit, understanding
the overlap
planning a way out - two maps and some push pins, names and addresses, piggy bank
of numbers - too many