At a recent gathering in South Carolina, the site of a crucial early presidential primary next year, party activists said the former Alaska governor didn't have the experience, the knowledge of issues or the ability to get beyond folksy slang and bumper-sticker generalities that they think is needed to win and govern.

but then

Many are shopping for someone else. They're looking at Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., for example, and seeing what they call a smarter, more experienced candidate who's equally as conservative.
"Sarah Palin with a brain," said Gail Moore, a Republican from Columbia.

House Republicans and conservative groups are working together behind the scenes to fill the legal void created Wednesday when the Obama administration announced that it would no longer defend the federal law banning gay marriage.

The House leadership likely will introduce a resolution early next week to intervene in the four lawsuits pending against the Defense of Marriage Act, better known as DOMA, the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, conservative leaders say.

"I know there have been discussions. I've been part of the discussions," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. "The question is how to handle this hot potato. The president is trying to throw a monkey wrench into what's been a very unified majority."

"Conservatives also said they would now expect the eventual 2012 GOP presidential nominee to highlight the marriage debate as part of a challenge to Obama, putting the issue on equal footing with the economy."

Link

Seriously, PLEASE do this.  Getting the next generation to vote for Democrats, one Republican bigot at a time.

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The politician who once best exemplified the idea of a "maverick" independent has shifted so far to the right that he is now tied for the title of the Senate's most conservative member, according to National Journal's 2010 vote ratings.

he is now the "Prince" of politics.

Following a stormy month that culminated with wayward star Charlie Sheen attacking his employers in vitriolic public rants Thursday, CBS and Warner Bros. announced that they would cancel the rest of the season of the hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men," casting a pall over the fate of TV's most-watched comedy.

Interviewed on the radio program "The Alex Jones Show," Sheen, who is said to be vacationing in the Bahamas, called his boss, Executive Producer Chuck Lorre, "a clown," and referred to him as "Chaim Levine" (Lorre's birth name is Charles Michael Levine). In a later interview with the website TMZ.com, Sheen said, "I violently hate Chaim Levine," and accused Lorre of taking money from him.

Within hours, the studio and network issued a joint statement: "Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen's statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of 'Two and a Half Men' for the remainder of the season."

In humans in the US, it's called 'scabies.'

In England, they call it 'the red itch.'

I need to go to the vets for a dip. Sigh. But instead I'll have to go to the MD for what will probably be a less-effective and longer-term cure.

The things we put up with for our pets. Saturday is now  "Wash every article of clothing in scalding hot water and set off bug bombs in the house day."

But... Jack and Cookie are fine-- I took Jack for a dip after I brought him home, no evidence of mange, but obviously he was carrying it.

The relentless sun that beats down on the southern San Joaquin Valley may soon help squeeze more oil from its hills.

At an aging oil field in Kern County, startup GlassPoint Solar has built a solar power array that will generate steam to be pumped into the rocks below. The steam's heat and pressure will coax more petroleum out of the rocks.

The oil field's operators, Berry Petroleum Co., already use steam. Many California oil fields, first drilled a century ago, need this kind of "enhanced oil recovery" to keep the crude flowing.

But boiling water into steam burns a lot of natural gas. GlassPoint, based in Fremont, claims its solar arrays can generate steam for less than the cost of using natural gas. That's true even though natural gas prices have tumbled, said GlassPoint Vice President John O'Donnell.

"These are fields that have produced for over 100 years, and they're all, as it happens, in locations that have really good sun," O'Donnell said. "There aren't just resources under your feet, there are resources over your head."

The Obama administration's decision to no longer back the Defense of Marriage Act won't immediately enable married gay couples to receive federal benefits, but is already shaping battles in the courts and in Congress that could affect a range of government policies.

---

Meanwhile, actions involving gay couples continued in individual states, which hold the power to grant marriages and have their own laws on the issue. Maryland's Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, signed a bill legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples beginning next year.

Linda McClain, a family-law professor at Boston University who has followed the gay marriage issue, said Mr. Holder's legal language, citing discrimination against gays and lesbians, signals a major change in federal policy even if the practical effects await court rulings.

"This type of development is moving toward a national policy against sexual orientation discrimination," she said, noting that until recent years the courts had generally accepted a certain amount of discrimination against gays that wasn't allowed against other groups.

While permitting same-sex couples to marry is an issue for the states, gay-rights advocates contend that DOMA prevents couples from receiving certain federal services and rights, including Social Security, tax benefits and the ability to sponsor a foreign spouse for a visa or citizenship. DOMA is "the most glaring example of state-sponsored discrimination against its people," said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry.

These Union Bosses have sent thousands of out-of-state union jack booted thugs into Wisconsin and Indiana to try and intimidate lawmakers and thwart the will of the people.

Oh yes.