September 2008

From NYTimes.com: Toilet – paper researchers create 3 – ply tissue

Yes, there is such a thing as a toilet-paper researcher. And a team of them at Georgia Pacific’s Innovation Institute in Neenah has come up with a three-ply version of its Quilted Northern product.
…

The company touts the toilet tissue as ”ultra-soft” and says it plans to market the product to women 45 and older who view their bathroom as a ”sanctuary for quality time.”

I can understand a nice warm bathtub as being a “sanctuary for quality time”, but not the toilet and toilet paper.  But, I’m not and will not be a 45 and older woman, so I guess I’ll never know.

I’m Wood Corps Palin, what’s your name?

Sarah Palin baby name generator (via CityKin)

From TV Barn: Forget Tina Fey. Sarah Palin’s worst nightmare may be Jay Leno

Here’s something I mentioned last week. For some reason the Secret Service revealed this. Sarah Palin’s Secret Service code name is “danali.” Turns out danali is an old Eskimo word that means Dan Quayle.
…
Today the Secret Service revealed that Sarah Palin’s Secret Service code name is “denali.” Here’s my question, what’s the secret part? I mean if the Secret Service is going to give you a Secret Service code name, shouldn’t they keep it a secret? Why not just call her Sarah?

They also revealed that Sarah’s husband Todd, who works in the oil field…His Secret Service code name is “driller.” I guess they figured Bill Clinton wasn’t using it anymore.

Read the article for more Jay Leno monologues.

These pictures brought a tear to my eye.  The Galactica CIC set has been taken down.

Here it is in all its glory…
Here it is after they started taking it apart.

I wish I could have seen the Battlestar Galactica sets before they came down.  If they had an open house, I would have totally gone to check things out.

For more pictures visit Propworx
CIC: Before the Strike
CIC – During the Strike

On Sunday I visited the Art Institute of Chicago.  It was a rainy weekend day, but I wanted to get out and do something besides sit around and watch football.  The museum is quite large and there are som pretty famous and recognizable paintings.

I took quite a few pictures with my iPhone.  It seemed to be OK to do so since a lot of people were taking pictures.  That was until I got yelled at the African art exhibit.  I’m not sure if it was a special exhibit with different rules.  I guess they need to sell more postcards to pay for the exhibit.

You’ll notice in the photo album that there are pictures that look like rooms in houses.  These are actually miniatures- like doll houses, but less functional.  They’re lit so well that they actually look like photographs of full scale houses.

From Politico.com: Why McCain is going so negative

McCain seems to have made a choice that many politicians succumb to but that he had always promised to avoid — he appears ready to do whatever it takes to win, even it if soils his reputation.

“We recognize it’s not going to be 2000 again,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said, alluding to the media’s swooning coverage of McCain’s ill-fated crusade against then-Gov. George W. Bush and the GOP establishment. “But he lost then. We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

You can tell that they’ve made a conscious choice to do whatever it takes to be President, no matter the costs are to McCain’s reputation.  It’s sad.

I was in Chicago yesterday, so I missed the windy remnants of Hurricane Ike.  I did get a ton of rain on Saturday in Chicago (estimated between 6-8 inches) which ended up flooding part of I80/I94.  When I got home to Cincinnati I was saddened to see that my neighbor’s tree which provides shade for my deck had fallen down.  Not much damage to our houses, but the tree pretty much blocked my back door.  Spent most of the morning sawing and cutting it up.

Last I heard, over 70% of the people in Cincinnati still don’t have power.  I’m half lucky.  I have power at home, but don’t have power for my business. 

UPDATE:  Power’s back at the office.  It’ll be back to work tomorrow!

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.