This week, longtime oilman and billionaire, T Boone Pickings introduced his new alternative energy plan nation wide. Wind Power. He has been building a huge windmill farm on some acreage he owns in the panhandle of Texas. Almost daily I see tractor-trailer rigs heading out to west Texas with 2 propellers on the trailer. Theses are giant things that twirl in the wind. I believe T Boone said that his plan could reduce the traditional methods of making electricity by 20%. If we were to go to natural gas vehicles (ngv), we would save 23% over gasoline and 30% of our diesel use.
Natural gas is our country’s second largest energy resource and a vital component of our energy supply. 98% of the natural gas used in the United States is from North America. But 70% of our oil is purchased from foreign nations. The cost for the 70% of our oil costs this country $700 billion a year. Natural gas for vehicles in my hometown right now costs between $2.19 to $2.69. That is quite a difference from what I have to pay to fill my truck up with petroleum at $3.89 per gallon. That could be another post for another time.
“To witness the economic promise of wind energy, look no further than Sweetwater, Texas. Sweetwater was typical of many small towns in Middle America. With a shortage of good jobs, the youth of Sweetwater were leaving in search of greater opportunities. And the town’s population dropped from 12,000 to under 10,000.
When a large wind power facility was built outside of town, Sweetwater experienced a revival. New economic opportunity brought the town back to life and the population has grown back up to 12,000.” (http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/)
T Boone has built his wind farm north of Sweetwater and the town has already added 2000 people to the population of Sweetwater because of the new jobs. This plan could rebuild the populations of Middle America. Granted it will cost about a Trillion dollars but this is a one-time cost and will help us reduce our dependence to foreign oil.
T Boone’s wind farm has the largest output of wind power in North America. At 4,000 megawatts, this is the equivalent combined output of four large coal-fire plants and the production of the completed Pampa, Texas, facility then will double the wind energy output of the United States.
A 2005 Stanford University study found that there is enough wind power worldwide to satisfy global demand 7 times over — even if only 20% of wind power could be captured. This just seems like a no brainer to me. I don’t understand how we could not start RIGHT NOW to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. I know, I know lots of money, but…can we afford to wait? That is the question I have.
The BackChannel Blog 
The answer to your question is doots is, no, we can’t afford to wait, great piece.
Did Spinal Tap write the headline? Love it!
Give wind power a chance. Think I heard the earliest investors didn’t do that well, but maybe they were ahead of their time.
When I started to write this post I had something totally different in mind and some how it morphed in to what you see here.
Dog, lol no I wrote the headline. just came to me after a bowl of beans.
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
is that a bowl or a bowel of beans?
bowl of beans the musical fruit
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
Great piece Doots. Kinda makes you wonder, when you factor in economies of scale how building wind farms costs compete with building and fueling new coal plants.
They’re building a big wind farm in northern Colorado near the Wyoming border. There’s a saying in Wyoming that one day the wind stopped and all the cows fell over.
Gore’s giving a speech on energy today:
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/gore_to_give_major_speech_on_e.php
Does anyone know if it’ll be webcast?
No idea dnd, I have to go jersey I won’t be around anyway.
Hey Tony, this one is for you:
Top McCain VP Pick Killed “South Carolina Is So Gay” Ad
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/17/top-mccain-vp-pick-killed_n_113256.html
Clinton Distances Herself From Anti-Obama Hillraiser
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/16/clinton-distances-herself_n_113094.html
Horsedooty,
You gave me a good laugh this morning with that title. Great piece.
“Kinda makes you wonder, when you factor in economies of scale how building wind farms costs compete with building and fueling new coal plants.”
I can tell you what I think. I believe building wind farms would do much less harm to the environment, but then I don’t know everything involved with building them. If you factor in what happened with my home town when it was bought out by a big utility company, wind farms would seem to be much more environment-friendly. BTW, the mayor of this town is my first cousin. His life was hell throughout this buyout. Every day while this buyout was happening and he was working with Washington attorneys, he said he would have journalists from all over the world waiting for him on his front porch. The town doesn’t exist anymore and there is much animosity because some supported the buyout and others didn’t. When the utility company did not want to fight over EPA standards anymore, they just bought out the town. But, most of my family still lives within a few miles of the plant. I got 19,300 hits when I Googled Cheshire Ohio buyout.
My siblings and I “sold the family farm” where we grew up to this same utility company. We had three oil wells on the property that were not operating to full capacity, but we made this deal in ’04 when oil was not selling so high. Also, it takes lots of money to sink in a hole in the ground to get anything out of it, if you know what I mean. My brother asked the utility company rep what they were going to do with the wells on the property. He said “cap them”. They had bought out many surrounding properties for disposing of ash.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/10/Worldandnation/Lights_out_in_Cheshir.shtml
http://www.cheshiretransaction.com/index.html
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Cheshire/cheshire.html
McCain Adviser: Obama Would Rather Lose War Than Election
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/17/mccain-adviser-obama-woul_n_113273.html
McCain really should wait till after the conventions to let his desperation show!
Clever ad, watch the video:
http://www.peta.org/
wind and sun, it is out there for the taking…..Nice piece
Glad to see someone with money, making the effort to educate the population about wind power potential. Many people have suggested this, but a full court press will help to make it happen on a much larger scale.
Like the positive outlook….again “hope” is over-powering doom and gloom.
Gore’s speech on CNN now.
Great ad, I saw this morning they were featuring on some TV show…
here is a link to where McCain admits to being dumber than Bush! YIKES!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/16/flashback-mccain-admits-hes-dumber-than-bush/
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
I love that line, “If it has a pulse you should be wrapped around it” brought back fond childhood memories, LOL!
gosh I never met any of those girls that had parents like that. Damnitall
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
It’s not too late doots, and we won’t tell mrs. doots, promise!
boy me and Gore are on the same page YIPPEE!
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
For the “well, duh” files:
Prevention Less Costly Than Treatment, Study Finds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071700990.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Cost-effective to beef up community, state and local health programs. For every dollar spent on prevention, Maryland would save $6 in eventual care costs, Virginia $5.50 and the District of Columbia almost $10.00.
“… The report, called “Prevention for a Healthier America,” emphasizes a major role of nonprofit community health programs, such as the YMCA, in preventative efforts, as well as state and local governments’ responsibility to help create healthier communities. Researchers endorsed such initiatives as increased tobacco taxes, smoke-free laws, nutrition labeling on restaurant menus and maintaining sidewalks as low-cost ways to encourage healthy living.
“What’s been interesting is that if you make it easier for people to make better choices, they actually do,” said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health.
Researchers commended several innovative community health program: a children’s health program in Dallas that has led to healthier eating and increased physical activity among several thousand children; a bike network in Davis, Calif., that resulted in 25 percent of all travel within the city being on bikes; and the District’s Child Health Action Plan, which was announced earlier this year….’
Here’s link to report issued by the Trust of America’s Health.
http://healthyamericans.org/reports/prevention08/
It would seem that fully funding effective prevention efforts would be an excellent first step while working out the details of universal health insurance and coverage.
Stop digging the hole.
Doots.
I’m impressed. You are pretty smart for a texan….kidding…… ;0)
http://dwb.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5635089p-5058861c.html
Here is a good piece on Washington States contribution to Wind Farming and it mentions the nations largest Farm.
Lisa got to see it coming into the state from Idaho.
the piece calls Texas and the upper great plains to be the biggest potential for Wind energy gathering. Thats cool!!
Washington is seventh in the US for Wind Energy, I wonder who is first and on and on?
Well I’m off to Jersey for a few hours, later peeps
Something interesting from Colorado State U. Looks like everyone has broken through and now Pickens is going to do us a favor and himself too. Make a profit and give us a lift off for major Wind use.
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY A PIONEER IN WIND ENERGY, PARTNER WITH WORLD-LEADING DENMARK
http://www.newsinfo.colostate.edu/index.asp?url=news_item_display&news_item_id=749413360
hmm…problems?
Something interesting from Colorado State U. Looks like everyone has broken through and now Pickens is going to do us a favor and himself too. Make a profit and give us a lift off for major Wind use.
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY A PIONEER IN WIND ENERGY, PARTNER WITH WORLD-LEADING DENMARK
http://www.newsinfo.colostate.edu/index.asp?url=news_item_display&news_item_id=749413360
So lets try this again. if I have duplicated this so sorry, but Its not reading after 5 minutes of trying and it keeps telling me that I have already sent it.
What a weird glitch Brian…..but oK.
Posted this to Trail Mix first, but it was interesting.
Larry Hunter op ed in the NY Daily News:
“I’m a lifelong conservative activist and I’m backing Barack Obama”
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/07/16/2008-07-16_im_a_lifelong_conservative_activist_and_.html
… “In 1994, I helped write the Republican Contract with America. I served on Bob Dole’s presidential campaign team and was chief economist for Jack Kemp’s Empower America.
This November, I’m voting for Barack Obama.
[Why?] The answer is simple: Unjustified war and unconstitutional abridgment of individual rights vs. ill-conceived tax and economic policies – this is the difference between venial and mortal sins.
Taxes, economic policy and health care reform matter, of course. But how we extract ourselves from the bloody boondoggle in Iraq, how we avoid getting into a war with Iran and how we preserve our individual rights while dealing with real foreign threats – these are of greater importance.
…. But overall, based on his embrace of centrist advisers and policies, it seems likely that Obama will turn out to be in the mold of John Kennedy – who was fond of noting that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Over the last few decades (NOTE TIMEFRAME), economic growth has made Americans at every income level better off. For all his borderline pessimistic rhetoric, Obama knows this.
…. Or maybe not. But here’s the thing: Even if my hopes on domestic policy are dashed and Obama reveals himself as an unreconstructed, dyed-in-the-wool, big-government liberal, I’m still voting for him.
…. If economic damage from well-intentioned but misbegotten Obama economic schemes is the ransom we must pay him to clean up this foreign policy mess, then so be it.
It’s not nearly as costly as enduring four more years of what we suffered the last eight years.”
NOTE: Found this link via Andrew Sullivan’s blog.
Down the road from CSU (which is in Ft. Collins) is NREL, the National Renewable Energy Lab.
http://www.nrel.gov/
They suffered budget cuts under Bush. Hope Obama chooses to reverse that.
Very interesting dnd and I am duly impressed. Despite Bush’s BS cuts, everyone is ready to impliment.
Doots thanks for bringing this up. I am learning quite a bit and its a great break from Obama. Love the man, but this is more interesting for now.
Hey, dnd, I still haven’t got the line on who is ahead in this seems like race. I think Texas is first now. Wahington state was 7th in 2005….
Sheila: here’s wikipedia on US wind farms; Texas has the greatest capacity, followed by California.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_States
Quiz on article’s contents and statistics at 4 today.
dang this blog. It just delayed a link I put up from Wikipedia on wind farms in the US. Will email it to you.
FYI, Texas had greatest capacity as of March 2008; California is second.
Trying again with another link: I have actually seen the Altamount Pass windfarm in Livermore, CA.
It was a spectacular surprise: was driving 5 through the San Joaquin valley from LA area to San Francisco maybe 2 years ago — miles and hours of dry brown but starkly beautiful landscape with orchards and agriculture and concrete road and dust all around.
Then, suddenly, over an incline and the wind farm looming up like alien forms, on the right, amidst the dry climate.
Then, microclimate again, and within a few short minutes descending into Livermore area with green and gardens visible.
First time I’d seen a windfarm; spotted a smaller one with maybe 3-4 turbines along the PA Turnpike the following year.
Link to follow.
Here are photos of Altamount Pass windfarm.
tp://xahlee.org/Whirlwheel_dir/livermore.html
========
Asked my SFO host about it. He mentioned wind power had proved a good investment to its early financial supporters, but assume the economy has changed enough now.
Chef Sheila,
“You are pretty smart for a texan….kidding…… ;0)”
are you kidding that I am pretty smart for a Texas or just kidding that I am smart? Big Difference
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
OK, trying the Wikipedia link again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_States
http://xahlee.org/Whirlwheel_dir/livermore.html
this is the correct link that dog tried to post. she left off the ht from the http://
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
typo alert for 2:22 post: wind farm had NOT done well (as financial investment), per my friend.
thanks Doots. It was a beautiful site; the windmills were stark and austere.
Sheila and I saw some very ugly factories and plants while driving through Salt Lake City.
Preferred the windmills.
dog,
your friend may be too close the the bleeding edge of technology. It takes time with new stuff.
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
dog,
I’ve seen the Altamount wind farm too. Driving from SF to Livermore so visit some wineries. Pretty impressive.
Shelia,
The big wind farm up north is still under construction, though there are some smaller throughout the Front Range.
NREL has a wind facility about 10 miles north of Golden. I drive by there pretty regularly. One of the things that amazes me is that the blades will spin in almost calm conditions.
http://www.nrel.gov/wind/nwtc.html
When McCain was speaking this morning in Kansas City, MO, he was saying about all the nuke power plants he wanted on line. What he didn’t say was how expensive these plants are to construct and operate, their danger, and the issue of waste.
The cost and hazard of transporting the waste is huge. And maintaining waste facilities is really expensive. Though they won’t tell you that 😉
http://www.wipp.energy.gov/
Nice AP article: Bill Clinton says he’s ready to campaign for Obama.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/clinton_says_hes_ready_to_camp.php
(hit “submit” too soon)
So if a successful businessman like Pickins says, from a dollars and cents perspective, the future is wind and not nukes I gotta give that some thought.
There still has never been a resolution on the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste disposal site in Nevada, has there?
Missed most of it, but National Governors Assn meeting had an MIT scientist on to discuss alternative energy and fuel technology; dealing with waste is still the major drawback to nuclear.
========
PS: speaking of Nevada: Steve Fossett’s friends are mounting another search for the wreckage of his plane. They are fanning out through rugged terrain for a crash site that might not have been visible by air.
Have you guys ever noted the similarity in difficulty of that quest and hunting down Osama Bin Laden? And Fossett is presumably not a moving target, nor ever was.
Not sticking up for Bush admin, but the mountainous region of Pakistan has got to be near impossible to search.
Afternoon peeps, word press is buggy today!
http://www.zogby.com/50state/index.cfm
My favorite curmudgeon, Ed Quillen, comments on Fred Barnes “Colorado Model”:
http://www.denverpost.com/quillen/ci_9890717
200 pressers requested to be on the Obama trip. Campaign said they could only accommodate 40. Obama better not fart on that trip, because every move, every nuance is going to be seen and analyzed to death by the media.
Only breaking wind allowed is over Texas!
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas officials gave the go-ahead Thursday to the nation’s largest wind-power project, a plan to build billions of dollars worth of new transmission lines to bring pollution-free energy from gusty West Texas to urban areas.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25723033
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/how-walkable-is-your-neighborhood-379/
This was fun. No surprise I live in a car-dependent area; what’s your score? Know that Brian lives in a walker’s paradise (mugger’s too, but they leave that out).
My dogs’ kennel in the country scored zero; no surprise there. They’re miles from anything, but the beagles aren’t shopaholics.
Link found, of course, on Andrew Sullivan’s blog.
“plan to build billions of dollars worth of new transmission lines”
FYI, linemen and roughnecks in a bar on payday don’t mix 😉
Al Gore on Larry King Live tonight.
“Ft. Worth, hello. Go ahead.”
d nd,
lol who was/is the late night wacko on the radio that would never identify where he was or where the caller was located? He would always say, “here is a call West of the Rockies” or “here is a call East of the Rockies”. anyone know his name?
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
My city was rated at 66. I walk or bike to work now, mostly to get in shape. We moved our office to the burbs, 3 years ago because of the commute time (20 minutes was too much lol)….little did we know, what a great decision we made. We have never looked back.
Our office is 2 miles away from home the high school is between our home and work.
Our town is not bike or pedestrian friendly, it could be has everything you need – but the mind set is too old- fashioned.
Our Women to Women Weekend features more than 50 events across the state, where we will highlight Barack Obama’s support among Ohioans and reach out to voters to grow our movement in the Buckeye State.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/7a24b1bb5304f4fd/hlFMRq/VEsE/
I may go to an event, I’ll report back if I do… 🙂
Sra Burrito,
My town is very bike and pedestrian friendly and got a rating of 66 too!
Burrito: good to hear about your biking and short commute. Commendable.
I miss Richmond, VA. You could bike all over the center city, and there were some pretty good hills.
Springfield’s out for bike commuting — too many narrow roads with no shoulders and heavy traffic. You can’t even walk them. A motorcycle would work — do you think some ppl might switch to them?
I mean Doots, Your pretty damned smart and this has been a great learning thread.
Thank you!
Sorry if you took offense to my being uppity. wan’t meant to cause you any discomfort.
Motorcycle ***perk****
Just passed my temp test about two days ago….my daughter and I are taking classes and getting one for sure!
She wants a black ninja…she think scooters are for children….scooters are gaining popularity here…..90 miles to the gallon…and a dealer within walking distance…
lol pretty smart…lol
Doots how long have you lived in TX?
Vespa Mama!
that’s a signature GAP Vespa….my mo-hawk daughter would die first before being seen on that….lol
( I used to work GAP for seasons to get the discount…then my kids informed they didn’t like GAP clothes….) Soon soon very soon, they will be paying their own bills. : )
Sra Burrito,
Your daughter is right. Scooters are unsafe. Get a motorcycle.
And I hope they taught you in your class that you should ride assuming you’re invisible, because you are. Cars don’t see you.
If you get a vespa is should be in one of the 50s ice cream palor colors, minty green, sky blue, mcDonalds strawberry shake pink.
Haven’t taken the class yet, but I know I would be invisible
neighbor has mint green
yeah, I can see my boys begging to drive one of those…lol
we’re going for the black ninja, i think the smallest engine is a 250.
when I was young, my mother told me ( re: motorcycles, mind you my brothers had them and my father), ” you want to live your life with only one leg, then go ahead…..” she scared me out of it….not this time….
😀
You gotta get a leather halter top to go with the ninja!
UB,
I have lived in Texas for most of my natural life. I was in the service in Labrador and Germany and lived in Boston and went to school in Boston also. I lived in Seattle for about 2 years and then in LA for about 9 months. But mostly I have lived here in Fort Worth.
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
Sheila,
I wasn’t upset I was just fooling around and I guess I forgot the flaming ~~~~~~ of sarcasm.
¡yo soy Horsedooty!
Sra Burrito,
Motorcycles have much better handling and torque, which can get you out of a jam where you’d be toast on a scooter.
I’m not a big fan of Ninjas, because they’re not all that comfortable to ride (nor are any of the crotch rockets), especially for long periods of time. But whatever you guys like is what you should get. 250cc to 550cc sounds about right. But get a full coverage helmet from a reputable manufacture (I like Bell) and wear suitable clothing.
I see people on scooters with tee shirts, shorts, flip-flops and no helmet and I think Darwin was right.
dnd: do you have a motorcycle?
Was cruising Craigslist for motorcycles; saw some cool gear too. But will look ridiculous with a sidecar for each beagle.
South Carolina has a no helmet law, and very few motorcyclists wear them. How South Carolina has not become a leading center in head trauma research is beyond me. Bike Week there always produces a fatality or two or three.
Darwinism at work.
When you cross the NC border, there are large signs telling you to put on a helmet. Now. (Well, in governmentese, but they’re strictly worded.)
Doots
My children when they were young loved the train with the Turn Style (?)….in Forth Worth…we took a ride on that train, near the stock yards, thats when they saw their first rusty car behind some cottage to the side of the tracks.
Seem silly but it was a lasting impression.
Thank for the bike info dnd……leather halter and an AK47…I am set…lol
I’d like to hear opinions on this comment I recieved
re: Barack Obama, when I corrected a friend regarding his race.
“But still half black. I am a realist, not an optimist. “
dog,
No motorcycle now. I gave it up a few years ago. Cars scare me. But may take it up again cause I enjoy it.
W.r.t. helmets, when I was a kid and watched road racing and motocross on TV, my wise old Dad pointed out to me that they all wore helmets as well as other safety clothing. That’s all it took for me to get that helmets are smart.
““But still half black. I am a realist, not an optimist. “
Not enough info UB, give us more context.
That was it…..She called Barack a black man and I responded saying he was 1/2 white….
She a closest racist…..without a closet, I am afraid….
Too many here in Ohio
I refer to him as a black man.
See I really don’t see him as black, but I see Michelle as black….
weird
I haven’t been watching him as much as most people….saw him in person……he look tiny…we were far from stage
So are we all excited by the big trip? Do we know what times he’s departing?
This might be interesting. It’s a test for hidden bias that Alicia put up on Trail Mix.
Think Burrito took it; so did Jamie.
http://www.tolerance.org/hidden_bias/index.html
“I refer to him as a black man.”
It seems typical in today’s society to refer to oneself by the minority parent. E.g. if you’re mom was a Japanese war bride, you’re a Japanese-American. If your dad was Italian, or his parents were, and mom a WASP, you’re an Italian-American.
The Steeler’s Franco Harris’ Black father married an Italian war bride, so people in Pittsburgh claim him to be both. And refer to the “Immaculate Reception.”
I already took it…
I was rated moderate to prefer Europeans –
which make sense to me since I have been raised in a bubble.
oops didn’t read the whole post….I got yelled at for that earlier……will I ever learn????
Isn’t the trip schedule secret?
I got really worried the other day, for Barack’s safety. I mean if you look at what Bush and his cohorts are capable of, it is down right terrifying.
Or who knows what Gordo has planned, he hasn’ been around much today!
maybe he is on vacation???
Is he allowed out unescorted?
be careful, you might have to ask his Mommy
Maybe he violated parole?
it’s possible
Yeah, I prefer a less publicized schedule for the Obama visit, and regret for his sake that is being so publicized — for actual fact-finding, it would seem low key would be better.
He may not have had that option, though, given media “stars” interest. He’s a commodity as much as a candidate now.
Meanwhile, Ron Paul could have delivered the Brangelina babies and no one would be the wiser.
It is so dang hot here and humid…how’s it NYC, you’ll get this weather tomorrow
Took the dogs to the lake today, and the little one rubbed her body all over something that was dead…most likely a fish, she smells horrible. I touched her, then had to use lemons and soap to get rid of the scent…..
Yep, Obama is the star …..imagine being on the staff of a network….you either get assigned McCain or Obama….who would you want to cover?
or maybe you are still assign to Ron Paul…lol
I thought there might have been a very slight bias to that test with how they moved the categories around. They had you associating good with European first; it’s a little trickier to switch after your second glass of wine.
Wonder how results would have been if African heritage and good had first been presented, as it’s how you “learn” the game.
Not a biggie. But thought the sequencing was odd.
This trip has nothing to do with fact finding, this trip is about getting a jump on McCain and Obama kicking off his general campaign
Does anyone know why Newt didn’t run for the republican nomination?
The reason I ask is that , the day he was going to announce, some people I know were working with his group and there was a shocking change in his announcement.
I suspect he’s smart enough to know a repug couldn’t get elected dog catcher this year!
Listening to Larry King and RFK Jr. and his strained voice.
Here’s a web article that explains his issue It’s “a condition called spasmodic dysphonia, a specific form of an involuntary movement disorder called dystonia that affects only the voice box.”
DNC sets up independent operation to help Obama
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_ADS?SITE=NEYOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
It turns out that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, has attended even fewer Afghanistan-related Senate hearings over the past two years than Obama’s one. Which is a nice way of saying, McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, has attended zero of his committee’s six hearings on Afghanistan over the last two years…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/17/mccain-attended-zero-afgh_n_113452.html
This will turn your stomach, you’ve been warned.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/Another_state_GOP_goes_after_Michelle.html
Doots! Ok Then, you asked for it, I’ll get snarky smart too. ;0)
Brian, that link for the king County GOP turned my stomach. I am embarrassed to know there are stupidos here in Utopia.
Elizabeth Edwards on Colbert right now, she looks good.
I’ll have to wait until 11pm my time. ;0) If I can stay awake. Been a long two days.
Cast of hundreds advises Obama on foreign policy
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/18/america/18advisers.php
If you have a few extra minutes, this is one of the best reads I have seen on the battle for Ohio
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2008/07/swing_state_review_ohio_1.html
and even if you dont, you can skim through the article and just look at the maps. I really suggest it.
Busy day today, doing some garage sale perusing, and running into town. Hope all are well, and will be lurking.
Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela.
Good morning. WordPress ate my link.
Happy 90th Birthday to Nelson Mandela.
Anybody going to see the new Batman movie this weekend?
Great to see this. Dana Rohrabacher’s drawn a tough challenger for OC congressional seat, although she faces very long odds.
Debbie Cook, mayor of Huntington Beach, has raised more $$ in recent months, although Rohrabacher remains favored and has $390,000 on hand, compared to her $97,000.
LATimes report The Cook Political Report downgraded Rohrabacher’s chances to from “solid GOP” to “likely GOP”, and an editor says race has a long way to go to “toss up” rating, which would mean truly competitive. The 46th Congressional District has 180,000 registered GOP, 124,000 Dems and 75,000 undeclared.
… “One factor increasing Democratic interest in the race is Rohrabacher’s amount of cash on hand, which is relatively low for a Congressional campaign.
Cook, the mayor of Huntington Beach, has been viewed as a hard-charging, if optimistic, underdog for the seat, which stretches from Costa Mesa to Rancho Palos Verdes. Roughly a third of the district’s residents live in Cook’s hometown, where she has been a popular environmental crusader and has served on the City Council since 2000.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-occongress18-2008jul18,0,7265382.story
Go Debbie! Hope DNC will give her some serious support.
My Daughter saw the Batman movie at midnight Thursday showing. She said it was good. She is a die-hard Batman fan, for the last several years. She read all the various comics and can tell you more then you ever needed to know about ‘Batman”
Funny thing, before she was eve interested, we names one of our dogs Batman….such is life 🙂
I’ve only seen about 3 Batman movies.
But would be interested in seeing Heath Ledger’s Joker, although it will make watching the film kind of sad.
Jumping up and down!!! The DNC is getting into it finally.
DNC sets up independent operation to help Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071702568.html
WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee plans to target Republican John McCain and help Democrat Barack Obama with an independent ad campaign run by veteran Democratic strategist Jonathan Prince, Democrats familiar with the decision said Thursday
Happy Friday Back Channel !
Wow! Looks like we may past the 10,000 mark today.
WOW Pretty good for two weeks!!
LOL Sorry Three weeks.
>>>>Where’s the Coffee>>>>
So those who have maxed out donations ( to Obama) can donate to this independent group? perfect.
💡
woohoo!
Wow….I am blown away by this number. No wonder the DNC opened up something in Chicago. I guess this means we’re in business to win. ;0)
A Cast of 300 Advises Obama on Foreign Policy
WASHINGTON — Every day around 8 a.m., foreign policy aides at Senator Barack Obama’s Chicago campaign headquarters send him two e-mails: a briefing on major world developments over the previous 24 hours and a set of questions, accompanied by suggested answers, that the candidate is likely to be asked about international relations during the day.
You bet. Everyone has been donating to Obama. This last month, the DNC got 22 mil. They are now getting the monies to function independently. Looks as thought people weren’t as mad at DNC as they were pooring all their donations into Obama.
NEW THREAD