The Real Family Values Candidate With His Family

Katrina

Last week Focus on the Family, the conservative "Christian" group asked people to pray for a "swamp the intersections rain" during Obama's speech at the DNC. Either they didn't pray hard enough or God was enjoying the speech as much as the 84,000 people at Invesco or the 38 million TV viewers at home because the weather was beautiful. It looks like a major hurricane will hit somewhere on the Gulf Coast sometime during the Republican Convention, however. At the very least, it should draw attention to the failures of the republican led administration during Katrina. On August 29th, 2003, Bush and McCain were eating cake while New Orleans drowned. Who can forget the pictures of the people in New Orleans waiting for help while Bush and his friends played. New Orleans is still waiting for help.

4 more months!

Biden's speech last night left no doubt in my mind that he is the right choice for VP. I am so looking forward to having 2 intelligent and truly good people in charge of our country. It doesn't hurt that they are both really nice to look at either. If I never see bush, dick, or the two skanky bush twins again it will be too soon.

A friend of mine sent me several pictures of bush at the Olympics looking drunk. I've thought for a while now that he must be drinking again. What else could explain his weird behavior and his incoherent speech. Even for him, it's been bad. I'm sure everyone around him knows and we will probably hear about it once he is out of office, like we heard about Reagan and his Alzheimer's after he left office. I also wonder if Laura will divorce him. I would love to read her tell-all book but I'm sure they will buy her off the way they bought off Neil's wife.

The "Good" War

The United Nations announced that a minimum of 90 civilians were killed in air strikes by the United States last Friday in the Herat Province in Afghanistan. The US first denied that any civilians were killed, then said that 25 militants and 5 civilians were killed, then after expressing regret blamed the Taliban for "placing civilian in harm's way." Afghan Minister Nematulla Shahrani challenged the US to provide proof of Taliban presence in the area of the attack.
It's very hard to find anything in the news about this war, or about this country. We should not have invaded Afghanistan anymore than we should have invaded Iraq
Millions of people have died or had their lives destroyed because of the policies and lies of the current administration. The majority of the democrats in office have done little to stop him and the media does little to hold anyone accountable.
I have no idea how long it will take us to get out of these wars and I don't think we will ever be able to repair the damage we have done to these countries even if we stay for 10 or more years. Our presence is doing more harm than good and it's time to tell our leaders to get out now.

Bark for Obama

I just ordered this cute shirt from www.zazzle.com

A while back I did a blog on the candidate's pets. Here is an update.

Joe Biden's family has a cat.

I'm really pleased with Obama's choice of Biden as his VP. While I think Hillary would have been a wonderful President or VP there would have been too much drama with BC's continuing bad behavior. Hillary supporters who are looking for someone to blame for her failure to obtain the nomination or to be offered the VP spot should look no further than her husband. He did more damage to her campaign than anyone else. BC was a wonderful president and the work he is doing with his foundation is also wonderful. I just wish he could have put his wife first for once in his life and helped her instead of hurting her during her campaign. The same goes for Edwards.

I have no idea whether anyone can undo the damage Bush has done to our country or to the rest of the world but if anyone can it's the democrats, not McCain.

Here is a fun and informative quiz from World of Good I scored an 8 out of 10. The web site is cool too with discussions and information about fair trade and ethical commerce.

http://www.smartcartquiz.com/index.php

This is from an AP article about McCain's VP contenders:

"His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent."
Thanks to Salon and Keith Olbermann for reporting this great typo.
KO also announced on his show tonight that Rachael Maddow will be getting her own show on MSNBC in September. She is a frequent guest and occasional host on Countdown and has her own show on Air America. Her show will follow Countdown so now I can look forward to 2 hours of real news and liberal political commentary. This makes me happy!

Gun Toting Teachers

Teachers and staff in the Harrold Independent School District, a small school district 150 miles northeast of Ft. Worth near the OK border, will now be allowed to carry concealed handguns on campus. This is supposed to deter and protect against school shootings. Rick Perry (Gov. Goodhair) thinks this is a good thing and could save lives.
This is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard, even for Texas. Where are the teachers going to keep these weapons, in their desks where kids can get to them when they forget to lock them up? What if they wear the gun and some kid takes it from them? Teachers are not trained in law enforcement. Hire security guards if it's that bad.
Goodhair is as big an idiot as his predecessor for supporting this.

Picture from The Daily Kos

A new survey of 1,000 drivers by FindLaw.com found that 48% of 18 to 24 year olds text while driving. Four states already ban texting and driving and 33 are trying to pass laws to ban this. Even if it's not banned in your state, if you get in an accident while texting you can be charged with negligent or reckless conduct and have your license suspended. I wish they would do the same thing with cell phones. West University recently passed and ordinance banning cell phone use in school zones.

In other news, the authors of the Left Behind series, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have said that Obama is not the antichrist. LaHaye said: "I can see by the language he uses why people think he could be the antichrist, but from my reading of scripture, he doesn't meet the criteria. There is no indication in the Bible that the antichrist will be an American." Well that is sure a relief. If anyone is the "antichrist" or if I believed in the "antichrist" imho it would probably be bush or dick.



If you don't live in Houston you may not have read about the Osteen trial. It's the most exciting thing since the cheerleader hit mom trial or the kill your cheating spouse by running him over several times with your Mercedes trial. In 2005, Victoria Osteen got into a little fight with a flight attendant when the flight attendant couldn't or wouldn't clean up a spill VO found on her first class seat. The flight was delayed 2 hours and the Osteen's were eventually removed from or left the plane willingly, depending on who you believe. VO also paid a $3,000 fine to the FAA. The flight attendant sued VO because the incident had given her hemorrhoids (?) and had caused her to lose her faith (this a bad thing?)
Yesterday, the jury found for VO, and Joel Osteen praised and thanked God (because we all know this is the kind of thing that God takes an interest in). A friend of mine is grateful it's over so she won't have to see VO's eyebrows on TV anymore.

I know Hawaii is a state, but...

I have always liked Cokie Roberts because she comes from an old democratic family in Louisiana. Her dad, Hale Boggs was House Majority Leader until he died in 1972 and then her mom Lindy Boggs served as a representative until 1991.
That being said, yesterday, she criticized Obama for taking his family on a vacation to Hawaii which in her words "does not make any sense whatsoever." She then went on to say "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time."
How does it not make sense for Obama to visit his grandmother and sister in the state where he was born? Why would anyone be so stupid to criticise him for taking his family to Hawaii on a vacation? Why would Myrtle Beach have been a more appropriate spot? Is South Carolina more American than Hawaii? This is the kind of bs I expect to hear from the McCain campaign because they can't come up with anything better but not from Cokie Roberts.

Here's a link to another article on Obama's elitist vacation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/oliver-willis/barack-obama-joins-25-mil_b_118078.html


And here is another link complete with pictures of some indigenous people Obama encountered on his exotic vacation: http://www.bloglines.com/preview?siteid=2312710&itemid=15946

Yawn

Biology Letters published a study this week that found that when a human yawns, their dog will probably yawn too, a sign of empathy. What puzzles the people who did this study is that dogs lack a sense of self, something deemed necessary in understanding the feelings of others, which would cause contagious yawning. One of the authors of the study said "dogs are not only reading and responding but may be sharing feelings with humans."
I tried this with my dogs and Sparky and Gracie both yawned after I did. I had to yawn twice before they did though. Ginger and Rosie never yawned no matter how many times I tried.

Here is the abstract from the study:

"This study is the first to demonstrate that human yawns are possibly contagious to domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Twenty-nine dogs observed a human yawning or making control mouth movements. Twenty-one dogs yawned when they observed a human yawning, but control mouth movements did not elicit yawning from any of them. The presence of contagious yawning in dogs suggests that this phenomenon is not specific to primate species and may indicate that dogs possess the capacity for a rudimentary form of empathy. Since yawning is known to modulate the levels of arousal, yawn contagion may help coordinate dog–human interaction and communication. Understanding the mechanism as well as the function of contagious yawning between humans and dogs requires more detailed investigation."

Children's Literature

Syracuse University has an exhibit at the E.S. Bird Library called Raising Rebels: An Exhibition of Radical Children's Literature. The exhibit includes biographies of radical activists as well as books with feminist, pacifist and radical themes. I was a little surprised to see 2 books by Leo Lionni in the exhibit, Frederick, and Swimmy. I used to read these books to my daughter when she was young. They are under the section: Imagination in the Service of Cooperation, Equality, and Peace.

You can read about this really interesting exhibit at their web site and look at digitized images of the book covers.

http://library.syr.edu/digital/exhibits/r/RadicalChildLit/

Markos Moulitsas

Markos Moulitsas, founder and editor of Daily Kos, which is the most widely read political blog in the world, will be speaking at an event sponsored by The Progressive Forum on Monday, September 22 at the Wortham Center. Tickets start at only $11.00 and can be purchased here:
http://www.progressiveforumhouston.org/

Public Libraries

Here is a link to an entry on The Daily Kos entitled Public Libraries: there when you need them-- and you might
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/4/222420/9176

Elephants on Parade

13 lifesize topiary elephants are touring the UK to bring attention to the plight of the Asian Elephant. The elephants are wearing blankets designed by many top fashing designers including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Diane von Furstenberg.

More pictures can be found here:http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2008/aug/06/fashion.ethicalfashion?lightbox=1

The campaign was organized by Elephant Family.

Paris Responds to McCain Ad

I just saw a Paris Hilton video on Countdown where she responds to McCain's ad. She actually comes across a lot smarter than McCain and the ad is certainly better than anything his campaign has put out. She has a better energy plan too.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d

Fred Phelps

Fred Phelps' church, Westboro Baptist, in Topeka Kansas had a fire that caused $10,000 worth of damage. They think it was intentionally set.
This is the church whose members picket military funerals blaming the deaths of the soldiers on our tolerance of homosexuality. Some of the signs they carry say things like: Thank God for IED's, Fag sin=9-11, Thank God for dead soldiers, and Fags die, God laughs.
So is God now punishing Fred Phelps and his "church" for his beliefs and actions? Did God intentionally set the fire?
Jerry Falwell blamed Katrina on pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, and lesbians. Apparently God is pissed because these people are turning America into a secular country.
John Hagee said basically the same thing.
I know I don't like it when people try to speak for me or tell people how I feel or what I think. I wonder if God feels the same way.

Barack Obama’s Birthday

Today is Barack Obama's 47th birthday. Follow this link and find out what you might win if you donate something by midnight tonight: Barack Obama’s Birthday

Posted using ShareThis

I made the cake with The Generator Blog http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/

Facebook

After hearing Stephen Abram (Stephen's Lighthouse)http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/ speak at the Library 2.0 workshop I attended a week ago, I was convinced that I should sign up for one of the social networking sites although I can't remember why. Yesterday Facebook showed up as number 106 on the blog Stuff White People Like http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/ That was all the convincing I needed and last night I signed up for my own account. I haven't added much to it in the way of personal information but I'm there. I searched my niece Erin and asked her to be my friend but haven't heard back. She may still be in Madagascar or she may have too many friends already.

The Daily Kos has some maps on the state of the presidential race based on the latest poll numbers: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/1/12401/40833

Calle Vienna has an interesting post on the McCain ad that compares Obama to Paris and Britney: http://michilines.wordpress.com/
It seems that the Hiltons are not very happy about Paris appearing in the ad as they are big McCain supporters. Poor McCain can't seem to get anything right.

Obama is proposing a $1,000 emergency rebate check funded by a windfalls profit tax on big oil. I wonder how long it will take McCain to steal this idea.

Houston Hide From the Wind

The city has a pretty neat tool on their website for predicting wind during a hurricane based on zip codes. When I looked at my zip it told me that the maximum sustained wind would be under 50 mph and that I am not in an evacuation zone. It also give the maximum sustained wind for 6 hurricanes going back to 1900.
http://www.houstonhidefromthewind.org/

There is a wonderful interview with Barack and Michelle Obama in People magazine. Here is the link: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20214569_1,00.html

I am so looking forward to having this wonderful family in the White House.

The picture is from People magazine.

"Mr. President, we will be forever in your debt"

When bush took office in 2001 he inherited a budget surplus of 128 billion. When he leaves office he will leave a 428 billion dollar deficit. Representative Rahm Emanuel took a jab at bush when he said "Mr President, we will be forever in your debt."
When are people going to wake up and stop electing these idiot republicans? Every time one of them gets in they screw up the economy and the country and then a democrat has to come in and fix it. Bush has screwed the country so bad this time even Obama may not be able to fix it. But of course he will be blamed. Obama is already being blamed by the McCain camp for high gasoline prices.

HGTV's Design Star

Last night was the finale of HGTV's Design Star. The two finalists Jennifer and Matt were sent to New Orleans to design rooms for 2 families whose homes were destroyed by Katrina. Viewers get to vote on the winning design. I liked them both but am leaning towards Matt.

The best part of the show came at the end when the St. Augustine marching band, The Purple Knights, marched up the street playing When the Saints Go Marching In. The St. Augustine band is the best High School marching band in New Orleans and probably the best in the United States. Seeing them march was always the best part of any Mardi Gras Parade and I'm glad they're still around.

Kitirik

When I was growing up in Houston in the 1950's one of my favorite shows on TV was Kitirik's Carousel. The show was on Channel 13, KTRK. They came up with the name by putting the letter i in between the station's letters (KiTiRiK). Kitirik's real name was Bunny Orsak and she was 23 when she got the job in 1954. Her mother made her cat costume. The show had a studio audience but if it was your birthday you got to go on stage and meet her. I absolutely loved her and when I was 5 I got to be on the show. Here is a picture from that day, one that I will never forget. I also found some other pictures of her that I've included.

Here is a link to an article about the show: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=resources/inside_station/station_info&id=3300775

If you haven't seen Obama's speech in Germany here is a link: http://my.barackobama.com/berlinvideo
I had seen little snippets on the news but this morning on C-SPAN I was able to see almost the entire speech. He spoke in front of a crowd of over 200,000 people, many waving American flags, none of them burning. I didn't think the US would ever recover from bush, at least in my lifetime, but after seeing the response to Obama in Europe I feel very optimistic.

Chicken Fat in Lay's Potato Crisps

I had to stop at Randalls on my way home yesterday afternoon and because I was hungry decided to get a bag of chips. Because of my diet I decided to get the Baked Lay's BBQ crisps. I didn't look at the label. When I got home I did look at the label and discovered chicken fat as one of the ingredients. Why on earth do potato chips/crisps have chicken fat? Fortunately I hadn't opened the bag so I can return them. That's why I shop at Whole Foods. I never buy something there and later discover some animal product hidden in the list of ingredients.

McCain's Flip-Flops

1) Was against the Bush tax cuts; now is for making them permanent and even bigger.
2) Was against the GI Bill; now is for the GI Bill.
3) Was for immigration reform; now is against immigration reform - and repudiated his own prior position on immigration reform.
4) Opposed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill - which had his name on it.
5) Was for gay marriage, and then opposed gay marriage.
6) Was for Roe v. Wade, then was against Roe v. Wade; then for it, sort of; then against it, sort of.
7) Was for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain; then was against it.
8) In 2000 was for military action against rogue states; now is against it, EXCEPT for Iran….which he sings about bombing and says it's good to sell them cigarettes so we can kill them.
9) Negotiating with North Korea; was against it; then for it, especially when Bush did it.
10) Negotiating with Castro's Cuba - in 2000 was for it, now against it.
11) No negotiating with terrorists except when Colin Powell went to Syria in 2002 and when, in 2006, said we'd eventually have to deal with Hamas.
12) Unilateral military action against terrorists in Pakistan - against it when Obama said it was good; for it when Bush did it in the spring of 2008.
13) Warrantless wiretaps - against them 6 months ago; for them now.
14) Torturing detainees - always against it; since he was tortured he should know. Now, in favor of torturing detainees.
15) Perpetual detention of detainees - bad a few years ago, good now.
16) Iraq - the right course in 2004; stay the course in 2005 and now he was always against the flawed strategy - especially when Rumsfeld was there.
17) Estate tax - for it in 2006; against it now.
18) 2004 - for privatizing Social Security; 2008 against privatizing Social.
19) February 2008 promised a balanced budget in 4 years. April 2008 said it will take 8 years. June 2008…..back to 4 years. [And, since he is now for the Bush tax cuts, balancing the budget EVER will be impossible.]
20) In 2008 - first glad to look at oil windfall profits tax; then it's a bad idea - Jimmy Carter's bad idea.
21) In 2000 - no new offshore oil drilling; now, just very recently, it's a great idea.
22) In 2000 - attacked Bush fundraising leaders; in 2006 had some of the same people co-chair his own fundraisers.
23) In 2000 - Jerry Falwell was an "agent of intolerance"; in 2006 McCain delivered the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University and in 2008 McCain was big buddies with Rev. Hagee and Pastor Parsley.
24) Opposed and voted against the Martin Luther King holiday; now says he was for it.
25) 1986 - opposed South African divestment to attack apartheid; June 2008, praised it.
26) In 2000 - defended South Carolina's Confederate flag as a symbol of heritage; in 2002 said it should come down and it was an "act of political cowardice to not take it down."
27) 2000 - against teaching creationism in schools; 2005 - alternatives to evolution should be taught.

This is from the Ed Schultz website. Thanks to LibraryLioness8 for sending me the link. http://www.wegoted.com/news/detail.asp?newsID=268

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Former LA prosecutor and author Vincent Bugliosi has written a new book called The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. In it he makes the case for trying Bush for the deaths of 4,000+ American soldiers because he took the United States into a war with Iraq under false pretenses. HCPL has this book on order.
Vincent Bugliosi is probably best known for his successful prosecution of Charles Manson and his "family" for the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in 1969.
He later wrote a bestselling book, Helter Skelter, about the trial. He is also the author of the book Outrage about the O.J. Simpson trial and a book The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose our President, as well as several other books.

Walk Score

Walk Score http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/ehas rated San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington D.C., Long Beach California, Los Angeles and Portland Oregon as the top 10 most walkable cities in the U.S. There is also a place where you can look up how your neighborhood scores. Houston is number 26 on the list if you live in Montrose, River Oaks, or downtown. I live between River Oaks and Montrose and this wasn't a big surprise. If I didn't have to work I could easily live without a car. My area is becoming more and more urban everyday with lots of shops and restaurants in easy walking distance of my home.

Corrupting Young Minds (with books) in the Library

Here is a link to something I read on The Shifted Librarian . It says a lot of the same things Stephen Abram said at the Library 2.0 workshop last week.
http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2008/07/17/corrupting-young-minds-with-books-in-the-library.html

From The Daily Kos

The McCain campaign must be really desperate. In an attempt to distance McCain from Bush, they are not only attacking Bush but now saying that Obama is like Bush. From a foreign policy advisor for the McCain campaign: "I think the American people have had enough of inflexibility and stubbornness in national security policy...We cannot afford to replace one administration that refused for too long to acknowledge failure in Iraq with a candidate that refuses to acknowledge success in Iraq. "

And if that wasn't enough, on Friday at a fundraiser, McCain announced details of Obama's trip to Iraq "I believe that either today or tomorrow, and I'm not privy to his schedule, Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators."

Details like this are always kept secret for security reasons. DUH.

The Incredible Shrinking Technical Services Department

While other libraries across the country are experiencing budget and staff cuts, the technical services area at HCPL is experiencing another kind of loss. In the last 2 years we have lost about 150 lbs., or, the equivalent of one person in weight!

Tony Snow

This is by Richard and is from the American Leftist blog http://amleft.blogspot.com/ He says exactly what I wanted to say but didn't have the nerve to.

"Over the weekend, I heard that Tony Snow, Bush's former press secretary and FOX News commentator, had died from cancer. Is it such a terrible thing to note that his major achievement was propagandizing for the killing of Iraqis, and then, after we started doing it, perpetually justifying it? He maligned those who questioned the conflict as traitors and defeatists. He was a stereotypical example of a sort of perverse professionalism whereby anything that promotes your career, no matter its consequences for others, is considered smart, hardnosed and admirable. One would like to believe that his death induced some reflection about what it means to lose a loved one amongst his friends and family, a flash of recognition that the Iraqis that he so cynically exploited experience death as painfully as them. Perhaps, they even felt discomfort at the attention his death received while Iraqis, for the most part, have died anonymously. But I doubt it."

One Way to Beat the Houston Heat

I've been trying really hard this summer to keep my electric bill low and it's paying off. Yesterday I got my bill and it was $90. Last month it was $85. I keep the thermostat at 79 and use fans and most of the time the house is comfortable. When I finish my last dog walk in the evening I usually take a cold shower to cool off and that helps. Last night Channel 11 did a report on electricity and said that Texans pays 2x what other states pay for electricity. I would really like to know why. It's supposeed to be in the high 90's all weekend with no rain so I'm sure even keeping the house 79 will require a lot of AC but as long as I can keep the bill under $150 I'll be happy.

On July 9, in an interview with The Washington Times, Phil Gramm, one of John McCain's top economic advisors had this to say about the economy "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," and "We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline."
The DNC is referring to him as "Out of Touch Much, Phil" and McCain is distancing himself from his comments. I don't think McCain is evil like the Bush family but I do think he is totally out of touch with working class Americans. If one of his top advisors doesn't see a problem with the economy I don't see how McCain and his advisors can be expected to fix the problem if elected. It's also very insensitive to have a member of your family run up a 750,000 AMEX bill as Cindy McCain did in a one month period earlier this year, at a time when so many people are suffering from soaring oil prices, the loss of their homes from the mortgage crisis and the loss of jobs. I know it's her money and she can spend it any way she chooses but it just seems pretty insensitive to me.
Another top advisor and possible running mate for McCain, "Victory Chairman" Carly Fiorini, is also causing trouble for McCain. At a press breakfast recently she questioned why insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth-control medications and said twice, for emphasis, that "those women would like a choice." According to NARAL, McCain has voted 22 times against family planning. Included in this is his vote against a proposal that would require insurance companies to cover the cost of contraception. He doesn't seem to remember anything about this however. Look at this YouTube video to see his reaction when questioned about this. It almost makes you feel sorry for him in the same way you might feel sorry for an aging parent or grandparent who is losing his or her memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkQDbfF4RqA

Pets and the Presidential Election

I did a blog a few months ago about all the presidential candidate's pets. At the time, Obama had none and McCain had the most (24). New polls show that pet owners prefer McCain over Obama 42 to 37 percent. Obama leads McCain in homes that don't have pets 48 to 34 percent. I usually prefer pet owners over non pet owners but have made an exception in Obama's case. What I would really prefer is a person who has lots of animals and doesn't eat any. Kucinich is the only politician I know who falls in that category.
The good news is that Obama has promised to get a dog after the election is over. Because one of his daughters has an allergy to dog dander, their choice of dogs is limited to a few. The AKC has recommended 5 different breeds and has a place on their web site where you can vote on which one you prefer for the Obama family. Here is a link:
http://www.akc.org/poll/special/presidential.cfm

Another reason to move to Canada

According to a study by the Climate Change Risk Report, Canada is the country that is best prepared to deal with the effects of climate change. The study looked at 168 countries and determined which countries were the best and worst in terms of dealing with changes brought on by climate change, rather than countries that will be the most affected by climate change.
Canada is number one followed by Ireland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The US is number 11 followed by the UK.
8 of the 10 most vulnerable countries are in Africa with the Comoros Islands number 1 followed by Somalia and Burundi. 5 non-African countries in the top 20 are Yemen, Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan, and Nepal.
Factors looked at in determining the ratings were: the economy; natural resources and ecosystems; poverty, development and health; agriculture; population, settlement and infrastructure; and, institutions, governance and social capital.
The Comoros and Chad also scored lowest on the report's index of CO2 emmissions which means that the countries most likely to suffer were also the countries the least likely to have caused the problems. How typical.

Hello from home

I have internet access at home now! I just hooked everything up and am doing this entry on my new super girly pink flamingo Dell laptop. It's supposed to be wireless but right now I'm still attached.
Update: I am wireless! I'm in my living room on my computer!

Rosie at the Pug Meetup

Rosie and I went to the pug meetup at the Danny Jackson Dog Park on Saturday morning. Miss Grimm was also there with "Big Bubba" and her pug Bubba. Rosie had a good time meeting all the other pugs and their people and swimming in the pool.

Roku Box and the incredible squirting toilet

I got this from Cool Tools blog:

"The Roku box from Netflix allows you to watch movies on your TV whenever you want to, for no extra charge, in DVD quality. It is a tiny thing that sets up in a few minutes. If you have wi-fi in your household it will link up to that so you can put the box near your TV. For achieving such a complex task it has a remarkably simple interface and no-fuss approach, very similar to an iPod. We were watching a movie within ten minutes of opening the shipping box." There is more information here: http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer/order-now/

Also from Cool Tools, the Toto Washlet Toilet. The seat, which will fit most toilets, has a sprayer that cleans you after you go. Some models even come with a dryer, thus eliminating the need for toilet paper. More advanced models will automatically raise their lids when you approach. You can read the Cool Tool blogger's experience with the toilet seat here:

http://www.bloglines.com/preview?siteid=28834&itemid=1396

Eggplant Parmesan

Since I only cook about once a year I thought I should document it. A friend of mine gave me a whole grocery bag of vegetable including several eggplants and some wonderful tomatoes so I decided to make Eggplant Parmesan. I bought some seasoned breadcrumbs from Whole Foods and used Parmesan and Romano cheese. First I breaded the eggplant slices in eggs, breadcrumbs and Parmesan and then I fried them in olive oil. After this was done I made a nice tomato sauce out of the fresh tomatoes, several cloves of garlic, basil and some other spices. Then I layered the eggplant in a Pyrex dish with cheese in between the layers. After that I poured the tomato sauce on top, and topped it off with some of the breadcrumbs and more cheese. I then baked it for 30 minutes. The dogs were very eager to help so I gave them the leftover eggs with a little cheese. It turned out really great and I made about 5 meals out of it.

Sleeping pug

Ignoring Bush video

I love this video. I first saw it on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
George Bush arrives in Raleigh, N.C. waves at spectators, they don't wave back. Waves again, still no wave back. At least they didn't give him the finger. Ignoring him is probably a better insult anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O42muyE2Wqc

The USPS has issued a commemorative sheet of stamps honoring Charles and Ray Eames, the husband and wife design team probably best know for their Eames lounge chair and ottoman. I would love to have one of these chairs but will have to settle for the stamps.

Encyclopedia Baracktannica

On Saturday, McCain met with former supporters of Hillary Clinton in an attempt to get their votes. One of the key organizers of the meeting was Paula Abeles. In 2003, Paula Abeles along with her husband Nat Abeles led an attempt to keep the descendants of Sally Hemmings from attending a gathering at the Monticello Association, an organization made up of descendants of Thomas Jefferson.
Here is the AP report about the incident from 2003:

The wife of a Thomas Jefferson family association official said Friday that she masqueraded as a 67-year-old black woman on an Internet chat room in a bid to keep descendants of a reputed Jefferson mistress out of this weekend's family reunion."It might have been somewhat unethical," said Paulie Abeles of Washington, D.C., who participated for eight months in the Yahoo! message board created for relatives of Jefferson slave Sally Hemings."It might have been childish, but I really think I was working in the best interest of the majority of the family members to make the reunion a calm and civilized gathering," she said.