I was looking at the blog to see if my last article published correctly and I heard a really bad  sounding version "Jingle Bells" with a buzzing sound after every musical phrase.  I thought it must have been a pop up window from some other page, but no.  The offensive sound was coming from my blog.

It was the "Jeep" Google Adsense ad in the right column of my blog.  I am really annoyed with Google for having ads with sound and not giving you the option of turning the volume off.  There doesn't seem to be a way these ads without turning off all image ads.

I can see this annoying people to the extent that they stop visiting my blog.  And we can't be having that happen!

From The Canadian Press: Sarah Palin: disaster or superstar? Some Republicans want her to run in 2012

A Washington Post tracking poll released earlier this week indicated that Republicans and conservatives, for the most part, believe Palin's selection demonstrated the strength of McCain's ability to make sound decisions.

More than seven in 10 Republicans, and just under that number of self-identified "conservatives," said McCain's choice of Palin made them more confident in the kind of decisions he'd make as commander in chief.

Hopefully the majority will disagree with them on Nov. 4th.

From AP.com: McCain has terse response on Palin shopping spree

Presidential candidate John McCain isn't happy about having to explain why the Republican Party has had to buy running mate Sarah Palin $150,000 in clothes, hair styling and accessories.

McCain was asked several questions on Thursday about the shopping spree -- and he answered each one more or less the same way: Palin needed clothes and they'll be donated to charity.

So if McCain is elected President, Palin's going to walk around the White House naked?  As Vice President, Palin doesn't need to have her designer clothes when she's getting hugged by the President of Pakistan?

I think the RNC is just mentioning charity to mitigate some of the embarrassment.  Exactly which charities are they planning to donate them to?

From NYTimes.com: Look Is the Same; the Labels Have Changed

The Republicans spent about $150,000 on a clothing makeover for Ms. Palin and her family, according to financial disclosure forms. But looking at the before-and-after photos, it was not readily apparent what Ms. Palin got, exactly, from her shopping spree at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.
....

"My first reaction when I heard about this was, 'Honey, I could have dressed you for a lot less than that,' " said Cindi Leive, the editor in chief of Glamour magazine, which asked readers on Wednesday to vote in an online poll whether the expenses were too high; 72 percent said they were. "In general, she looks terrific," Ms. Leive said, "but if you asked me to figure out where the $150,000 went, I'm not sure I could tell you."

From AP.com: McCain vows to whip Obama's 'you know what'

Republican John McCain vowed Sunday to "whip" Democratic rival Barack Obama's "you-know-what" when the two presidential candidates meet Wednesday in their final televised debate.

You mean "whip" him like slave?  Way to bring up that slave imagery, John McCain.

From AP.com: Palin supports $600 million 'other' bridge project

Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said "no thanks" to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere.

But a bridge to her hometown of Wasilla, that's a different story.

A $600 million bridge and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000 residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales.
...
At the time, Palin's running mate for the Republican ticket, Arizona Sen. John McCain, derided both projects as wasteful. He called Young's highway bill a "monstrosity" that was "terrifying in its fiscal consequences."

$600 million dollar bridge for the 7000 people of Wasilla? 

Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere and then kept the money when it was canceled.  And now she's for the Bridge to Wasilla, her hometown.

How McCain can continue to tout her as a reformer is beyond me.  She's just a product of Alaskan politics, power and cronyism at its worst.

Thanks to Chris for sending the link.




From AP News: Analysis: McCain's claims skirt facts, test voters

John McCain's campaign keeps telling voters that Sarah Palin opposed a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere that, in fact, she originally supported. It accuses Democrat Barack Obama of calling Palin a pig, which did not happen.
...
McCain's persistence in pushing dubious claims is all the more notable because many political insiders consider him one of the greatest living victims of underhanded campaigning. Locked in a tight race with George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, McCain was rocked in South Carolina by a whisper campaign claiming he had fathered an illegitimate black child and was mentally unstable.

From NYTimes.com: McCain Barbs Stirring Outcry as Distortions

Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama's record and positions.
...
Indeed, in recent days, Mr. McCain has been increasingly called out by news organizations, editorial boards and independent analysts like FactCheck.org. The group, which does not judge whether one candidate is more misleading than another, has cried foul on Mr. McCain more than twice as often since the start of the political conventions as it has on Mr. Obama.

This list of talking points was posted to my comments section today.  I think it's supposed to be a witty and satirical list of why a person should vote Democrat.  Evidently, this person has this list ready for cutting and pasting into people's blogs.  Here are my responses.

Top ten reasons I'm Voting Democrat...
10. I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

Actually, I do think the government does a better job of spending money than I would.  Let's see... what do I spend my money on?  I go out to dinner, get DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket, and take dance lessons, amongst many other things.  The government fixes roads, educates children, and provides a military that protects our country.  Since I don't have kids, I'd probably not volunteer to pony up a lot of money to educate kids without the government asking me to. 

But, the real discussion should be what programs do we really need, how much do we need to spend on them, and how effective that spending is.  The Republicans want to spend your money too.  Just on different things.

9. I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

Is pornography freedom of speech?  Is burning the flag freedom of speech?  Not sure that this is a solely a Democratic issue.  Freedom of Speech is a powerful thing, and you don't realize what you miss when you don't have it like in China.  But, with any freedom, there questions whether or not there are or should be limits.

8. I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Iraq I trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they now think we're good people.

This is interesting.  Who are the "bad guys" involved in 9/11?  Were they in Iraq?  I don't think so.  Instead of actually capturing the mastermind of 9/11 Osama Bin Laden, we've gotten ourselves involved in a war in Iraq. 

7. I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

Are there people besides Palin who doesn't think that humans are affecting the environment? EDIT: Evidently, Palin has backtracked on this now.  I think both Democrats and Republicans can see the use for energy conservation and more efficient use of energy resources.  I think most scientists agree that the northern ice cap is at its thinnest in years and may melt BEFORE 10 years are up.

6. I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

The pro-choice/pro-life debate is a serious one and tying it in with the Death penalty trivializes the issue since each issue is complex and has their own arguments.

There is definitely one thing that we all should agree upon is that more needs to be done to reduce unwanted pregnancies.  Even if abortion is legal, it should be by far the last possible choice. Does it make sense to ban abortions but preach abstinence as the way to prevent pregnancies.  Didn't really work for Sarah Palin's daughter.

5. I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as THEY see fit.

I think both Democrats and Republicans believe that businesses should make a profit.  The question remains whether or not there too many loopholes in the system where some businesses are not paying their fair share.

Taxation of businesses plays a large part in determining where money is invested and can be used to promote or hinder certain activities.  Giving tax breaks or raising taxes on certain things can guide businesses to act in a certain way.

4. I'm voting Democrat because I believe three or four liberals need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some people who would NEVER get their agendas past the voters.

Hmmm, the last time the Constitution was "rewritten" was in 1992 when the 27th Amendment was added- "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."

Pretty exciting stuff there.  I'm not sure what agenda in the "talking points" are being referred to specifically.  I do know that everyone is trying to push things that are difficult to get past voters.  That's why we have things called Executive orders. And this is not exclusive to Democrats or Republicans.

3. I'm voting Democrat because I believe that when the terrorists don't have to hide from us over there, when they come over here I don't want to have any guns in the house to fight them off with.

Guns were real handy in fending off 9/11.  Or is this person seriously advocating that every person boarding a plane should be allowed to carry a gun.  Plus, terrorists are known as such because they attack you in a way that causes terror, when you least expect it.  That's why people won't be ready, even if they have a gun. 

2. I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse.

If marriage is so sacred, make divorce illegal.  This issue really, isn't that big a deal to me.  I don't have a horse.

1. I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are insane, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

Let's all defend the oil companies and their billion dollar profits!  Exxon Mobil made 40.6 billion dollars in 2007, Chevron, 18.7 billion.  I'm not sure Republicans would really want to go to battle with this one.  The gasoline tax goes towards paying for infrastructure- roads, bridges, and highways.   Removing the gas tax would have reduced gas prices by 18.4 cents.  In April in Cincinnati, that would have brought our gas down from $3.20 to $3.00.  Less than a month later gas was at $3.60/gallon.  So, we'd have no savings and no money for roads.

The thing about this election is that there are serious issues that our country needs to deal with.  This rhetoric is getting us closer to "nowhere".  People need to understand the issues and realize that it's not going to be an all or nothing solution.  Compromises will have to be made, but if people are willing to discuss things in an intelligent matter, perhaps solutions can be found.

From the Wall Street Journal: Record Contradicts Palin's "Bridge" Claims

Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the McCain campaign continues to assert that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the federal government "thanks but no thanks" to the now-famous bridge to an island in her home state.

From LATimes.com: New election low: distorting the fact-checking

News outlets and independent truth squads seem to agree that the McCain camp's distortions on Barack Obama have gone too far.

I think we're all used to some bending of the truth in politics, but I think the blatant lies told by McCain and Palin have gone too far.  And it's not just me saying it.  Hopefully, the public will see through it, but once we again, we did vote Bush/Cheney for a second term after it was known that they had mislead the public about the Iraq war.

For those of you in Indianapolis looking to go the Bodies the Exhibition, here's some information that you might like to know.

Bodies are used without the consent of the deceased and may include bodies of executed Chinese political prisoners.

20/20 showed in their story on Bodies the Exhibition that the bodies may have been purchased on the black market.  The processing factory is a dilapidated building on the outside of Dalian, China, not a medical university as Premier Exhibition claims.

20/20 Video from YouTube
Part 1

Part 2

For much more information visit
Boycott Bodies the Exhibition Cincinnati
NoBodies4Profit
Stop Body Worlds and other exhibits of plasticized bodies
The Anti-BODIES Virtual Protest Site

My original article when I heard about Bodies the Exhibition was coming to Cincinnati.

I saw a car towing this motorcycle like contraption this morning on Liberty St. in Over the Rhine.  I couldn't get a picture of the car because the light had turned green, but it had environmental slogans on it.  Evidently, this is some kind of "green vehicle".
I Googled it but didn't find anything in my quick search, so I have no idea what the function of it is.

Like usual when searching Google, I found something else related that's pretty cool.

From GreenUPGRADER.com: The Uno Electric Motorcycle, or MotorUnicycle