"No second thoughts, no second-guessing. Obviously I think everybody in politics had a different set of assumptions at that time. But it's also true that if the rules aren't followed .... we'll have primaries and caucuses on Halloween next (cycle),'' responded Roosevelt, noting that he was taken aback recently to see Sen. Bill Nelson on TV talking about this issue and stressing that rules must be followed.

I used to be a big cable news watcher.  I still moderate an Anderson Cooper group on LJ, but I rarely watch CNN anymore.  I check out the blogs, especially this one, Taylor Marsh and No Quarter.  If there's something worth watching, it'll be on Youtube.  

My perception of the news has changed tremendously during this election season.  I have been sensitive to media bias for a long time, but I can't ever remember a time when conservatives (Lou Dobbs, Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity) were more "fair and balanced" than so-called liberals. I'm not saying that I buy into their shtick, but b/c they don't have a dog in this fight, they seem to be more balanced in their coverage.  

100 years of war in Iraq
100 years of war
You burn it down
Down to the ground
99 years of war in Iraq.

(to the tune of 99 bottles of beer).

I was born to a teenage mom and my father left when I was two. So my grandparents and my mother helped raise me and they didn't have a lot. They didn't have money...

But it turns out that in addition to his step father being a wealthy oil executive and his grandfather being a wealthy furniture store owner, that his grandmother was a wealthy banking executive:

Madelyn Dunham, Obama's grandmother, blazed a feminist trail in Hawaii banking circles in the late 1960s and early 1970s and rose to become one of the Bank of Hawaii's first female vice presidents.

We know this happens in every war, but the extent of the attack now on women and girls of the Congo is horrible.  All ages, and your heart will break to see the four-year-old's face, to hear the eighty-year-old's cries.  The strong women of the Congo and surrounding countries who are trying to help need help to get medical care to these women and their families, abandoned now.  

Friends and family are mostly Clinton supporters but one granddaughter is a rabid Obama supporter. We plan on having her deprogrammed after the elections and/or as soon as she calls the rest of us "racists" one more time.

I believe in free speech but a vitriol spewing virago of a granddaughter in my living room is beyond what I find acceptable.

And I was the one who said leave her alone when she dyed her hair purple, got multiple piercings, tried to find something nice to say about her latest tattoo and only stopped trying to give the girl some space when she dropped out of school.

Now that she has become an Obamatron who spews insults at the rest of us I find it impossible to take her part. Quite frankly it is all I can do to keep from whacking her over the head with the nearest blunt object. (I take lots of deep breaths and have now finally told her not to come back until she can behave like a civilized human being.)  

This time of year, I'm deeply into tax work, so this - and a big glass of Shiraz - smoothes out the edges of a long day.

The contrast is just stark - the shining promise of young singers against the anxiety of trying to succeed in the boot camp of Gordon Ramsey's kitchen.

http://insightanalytical.wordpress.com/

POWER PLAYS: THE WORLD ENERGY WATCH FOR APRIL 9, 2008

The World Energy Watch presents excerpts of analysis and recent news reports highlighting the activities of the players involved in the power struggle for the world's remaining energy resources and energy sustainability.

1//A sobering look at our future oil situation from Energy and Oil by Byron King tops the news in this week's edition. Looks like both domestic and imported oil supplies will be drying up by 2025. Then what?

The U.S. Oil Supply -- A Look At Our Future Oil Needs

New discoveries and new wells just cannot keep up with depletion of older oil fields. By 2025, U.S. daily oil output will be a fraction of its current level (probably down to about 2-3 million barrels per day), even with an aggressive program of drilling offshore and in Alaska -- which is not happening, in any case. ... . Also by 2025, U.S. imports will almost certainly decline. The oil will not be available to buy and import from world markets. Not everyone agrees with this. In one fanciful projection from 2005, the U.S. DOE forecast that "Total U.S. gross petroleum imports are projected to increase in the reference case from 12.3 million barrels per day in 2003 to 20.2 million in 2025." Maybe in somebody's dreams, but my view is that this is one projection that will never come true. ... . Really, by 2025, the rest of the oil-producing world will simply lack the product to export. This will be due to reasons of depletion on a global scale, and fast-growing internal demand in oil-producing nations. Gasoline consumption in places as diverse as Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia is just soaring, so there is less net oil available for export. ... . So what will happen in 2025? Will the U.S. pump its own oil? No, it's not there. Will the U.S. continue to import large volumes? No, it won't be available. The bottom line is that conventional oil sources for the U.S. -- domestic output and imports -- are simply drying up.

I'm bothered by it. I don't see how we can trumpet civil rights if I don't have the right to educate my child. I also don't know how we can promote privacy when we don't recognize parents' sovereignty over their kids.