Rachel Maddow Draws Fire From GOP Rep. For Reporting On 'The Family' (VIDEO)

Zach Wamp???



My relatives in TN can't explain a name like that either.

Ah, the good ol days of Billie Bobs, Bobbie Joes, and Sonny Jims.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

My Friend Camille Cusumano Makes the Times.. New York that is!

Look back at my archived post on her new book and the video we did. This Sunday she made the big time: the NY Times.
Here's the link:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/travel/12journeys.html

Thunderstorms Delay Endeavour Launch Again

Hate to say I told you so, but years ago, the choice had to be made between the Cape and Edwards AFB here in CA. Politics influenced the decision and the wrong choice was made.

Anyone care to check the weather in the mojave around Edwards today... hint: sunny and very warm!!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Clearing Up the Confusion

The photo attached to the story below belongs to another one altogether: the story about the guy who wrote a song about his bad experience with United Airlines which damaged a very expensive guitar and then delayed more than 9 months to offer any compensation. So the guy, Dave Carroll wrote a song, put it on Youtube and history is now being made.

Here's the link to his site: http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars/

So much better than customer service phone trees or faxing the CEO... I'm trying to write a song about Clover Ice Cream's (Sonoma county) decision to reduce their half-gallon containers to 1.5 qts, which is the new industry ripoff standard, then on top of that, raising the price nearly a dollar! I'm having trouble rhyming moo-cow tho'.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Man Dies After Fallng Into Vat Of Chocolate (VIDEO)

"Death by Chocolate" is one of those great, yummy ideas... until it really happens. Condolences to his family.



I also agree with other posters here, no way was that chocolate boiling... to temper chocolate you raise the temp to 115 for milk chocolate, and not a degree over or you ruin it. And I know from experience. If it were a tempering vat that he fell into, temp would have fluctuated down to 82 then back up to 88 for dipping or molding.

Terrible waste of life and terrible waste of chocolate.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Wine Country Life Style

Some recent activities:
Watching Serena Ryder at Lattitudes Bar and Grill, Rohnert Park, part of KRSH radio's outdoor concerts series. She was great, even without her backup band.
Pic shows a snack, very tasty coconut shrimp and Lagunitas IPA and Serena playing against a lakeside backdrop, on a very typical Sonoma county summer.



Bike riding in the Dry Creek Valley and Healdsburg on July 3rd, before all the crowds. New Trek bicycles are really comfortable and fun to ride. Makes wine tasting cheap since there's no room for bottles, altho we did go back to the Mazzocco winery in the Dodge truck to pick up couple bottles of Petite Verdot, which is an excellent wine. Photos were taken very near Alderbrook winery, tho we didn't visit it this time. They make delicious whites, very typical of the Dry Creek appellation.



Nite life was not neglected either. We stopped by the French Garden Restaurant here in Sebastopol on a Friday night for some good beer, tasty small plate appetizers and good music. This night it was Phil Lawrence and his band mates, plus guest fiddler/violinist David LaFlamme (of It's A Beautiful Day fame) sitting in. If you love Django Rinehart music, and that style of jazz, you will really enjoy these guys. Pic shows a rare moment, Phil, a mandolin player extraordinaire, playing a tenor banjo. He doesn't do that often so it was a rare treat.


Photo taken with my iPhone, not the best quality.

More On Gas Prices:
(From the WaPo)

"Concern over such deal-making reached a fever pitch last summer, when oil prices were sky high and people were feeling pain at the gas pump. CFTC data showed last year that a significant amount of trading in oil was concentrated in the hands of just a few speculators. These worries have waned since then, as gas prices have moderated from last year's highs, though a recent run-up in fuel prices may prompt new questions"

Read the full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070603584.html?hpid=topnews

Video from The Onion That I Found Very Amusing:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/06/mexico-builds-border-wall_n_226669.html

Look For Gas Prices To Fall - Not!

If basing gasoline prices on the free market weren't a fiction, this news story would cause prices to start plummeting.
I won't be holding my breath:

HOUSTON — ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, said Tuesday second-quarter production rose by more than 100,000 barrels from a year ago, but lower crude and natural-gas prices and refining margins are expected to hurt results.

The company's shares fell more than 2 percent in early trading, along with all major oil companies in a week that has seen the price of crude drop by more than $10 per barrel.

In an overview of market conditions for the April-June period, the Houston-based company said global output was about 1.86 million barrels of oil equivalent. That's up from 1.75 million barrels in the second quarter of 2008.

Photography Update
Time to put up some more original images and to remind everyone that I have been a professional photographer for 30 years- almost as long as I have been a film/video cameraman. Tho my web video work gets more attention lately, I continue to do commercial photo work for clients, including AAA of Northern CA, and the occasional portrait.
So, gather round, boys and girls, and let me present the following:

















































Seville, Spain





















Granada, Spain
















Anderson Valley, CA


















Savannah, GA


Botannical Gardens,
Medocino, CA


Cordoba, Spain





Stay tuned, another batch might show up at any time.

Media Over Kill on Jackson Story

Many claims and false stories have begun to appear as expected. Many are total fabrications.
Read this article for some factual info, instead of the whoring MSM we have these days.
http://www.intent.com/mallikachopra/blog/bloodsuckers-and-world-michael-jackson

New Jobless Claims Rise Unexpectedly To 627K, 6.7M Still Unemployed

Two unexpected stories so far this week.



Actually, two today, the unemployment numbers unexpectedly went up....



Love me some analysts.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Fox News Shows Its True Colors Again

Once again, a Republican politcian who finds himself in a world of hurt is described on screen by Fox as a (D) Democrat. This is done deliberately folks, so there in no question that "fair and balanced" is a fantasy.
Photos have a habit of not lying, so witness this screengrab:

Durable Goods Orders Rise Unexpectedly In May

Another wonderful example of "unexpected" news... analysts caught wrong again. As I posted last week, each week, without fail, another "less than expected or more than expected" story surfaces.

The question then remains: Why do people pay any attention to analysts at all?? Especially if investing money is involved.
About The Recession
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Saxby Leads the Stupid Charge in GA

When you want stupid, here's the go to guy:

CHAMBLISS: Well, that election was, what, almost 60 years ago now. The world has changed dramatically since then. And I dare say that you go up to any of those people in Teheran who are protesting in the streets and say, Hey, what about the United States meddling in your election in the `50s, they would shake their heads, like, What in the world are you talking about?


Comment later from Reza Aslan (on Hardball):
ASLAN: You know, he mentioned the CIA coup of 1953, which most Americans don`t know anything about, but which, I got to tell you, is like the core event, the ur-event of the 20th century as far as Iranians are concerned. It`s their revolutionary war, civil war all wrapped up into a single thing. And to hear a president even mention it, let alone acknowledge it in that way, had a huge effect in the cafes in Iran.
(My emphasis)


Meddling hardly describes the overthrow of the elected officials and replacement by the Shah who pleased the American neo-cons of the day. Chambliss is the poster boy for getting the GOP out of the south and attempting to undo the damage.

Fox Ignores Facts, Yet Wants to be Taken Seriously

"And there was yet another project [the Lake Optima guard rail project] -- somebody dubbed it 'the guard rail to nowhere.' It's for a guard rail along a lonesome, desolate patch of highway by a waterless lake outside a town of 266 people -- $1.1 million. ... There is a lot of waste there."
-- Fox News's Bill Sammon, 6/16/09, criticizing the economic recovery plan

VERSUS

"Work on the Lake Optima guardrail project is not going forward as we explore other approaches to protecting public safety."
-- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 6/15/09

See more at this site:
http://thinkprogress.org/

Arizona Killer Has Major GOP Ties (From FireDogLake) Minuteman Killer Co-Hosted Anti-Immigration Event in 2007 Featuring Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson By: Blue Texan Wednesday June 17, 2009 10:30 am

15 diggs digg it

It's important to point out that Shawna Forde wasn't a "lone wolf" or "just a nut." She was a prominent leader of the Minutemen Movement who shared the stage with Jim Gilchrist, the group's founder -- along with three GOP presidential candidates -- at a 2007 "Conservative event" in Washington state.

On June 30, Jim Gilchrist, one of America’s top opponents of Illegal Alien Amnesty will highlight the 2007 Washington State Illegal Immigration Summit in Everett.The Summit should be the pinnacle Conservative event of 2007.

...

Wait ‘til you hear what he has to say. We can unite and win.

In addition the event is co-hosted by Minutemen American Defense, a Washington state-wide American citizen defense coalition headed by Shawna Forde, a re-born Rock promoter from the days of the music world-shaking Seattle Rock explosion. Shawna will speak.

Representatives (or the actual candidates) will appear from Presidential campaigns for TOM TANCREDO, DUNCAN HUNTER and FRED THOMPSON.

Maybe someone should ask Tancredo, Hunter and Thompson what they think of the Minutemen now. Remember, Mike Huckabee proudly accepted Jim Gilchrist's endorsement. And Forde was Gilchrist's protege.

You'd think this would be the end of the mainstream GOP's flirting with these dangerous vigilantes, but don't expect right-wing bloggers like the Anchor Baby to stop writing love letters to the Minutemen any time soon.

This came from the http://firedoglake.com/ website/blog.

Unexpected Result of the Week, So Far

Every week, without fail, some economic result/stat is released accompanied with the qualifier that the result was less/more than analysts' expectations. In other words, every week analysts are wrong in their predictions, yet the corportate media still turns to them for info. Here's the first example so far this week:

"WASHINGTON – Wholesale prices rose less than expected in May as a drop in food costs helped keep overall prices down.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that the Producer Price Index increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent from April. That's below analysts' expectations of a 0.6 percent rise."

No wonder our financial system is such a mess. We keep listening to analysts who, truth be known, have no clue as to what is going to happen.

Stay tuned for the next example. Could happen any time. And watch for it yourself. Once you notice this and it registers, you will begin to see just how often it happens.

AT&T Plays Dumb as iPhone Romance Hits Rocks

As an iPhone user and an ATT subscriber for dsl, et al, I am very disappointed that ATT has not lived up to its side of the equation.

That's what happens when the newest technology partners with the oldest legacy systems. Whitacre must not have known anything about Apple (just like he now knows nothing about cars while chairing the GM board) and thought the power of the ATT brand would see them thru. One word:

FAIL!
About iPhone
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I like this story. "Flippin' burgers" is now gonna be a cool job!!



That's the power a President has if he gets out in the real world. Real people, real food. (Sounds like a slogan I should trademark).
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Reminder to East Bay/SF Residents

Kevin Berne will have the second weekend of his Open Studio this coming weekend. I recommend you stop by and see his photography and maybe even pick up a print to decorate that boring wall you have somewhere in your house.

See his photos here:
http://www.kevinberne.com/

Today's Violence at Holocaust Museum

There is a lot being written about the threat of right wing extremist terrorism in this country and recent killings attest to that. A new book that covers that subject very well, and the author was just quoted this week saying that more violence by wingnuts was probable. Today's crime bore his warning out.

Oakland's Fenton Ice Cream Shop Has Role in Movie "UP."

Anyone who has seen "UP" may have missed the reference to Fentons in Oakland (I won't give anything away) so in an effort to be of assistance to people curious, I visited Fentons last week and took the following photos. The sundae was delicious. They make their own ice cream in the rear of the kitchen, complete with glass walls so you can view the process. My BLT lunch was excellent as well.



Pix taken with my iPhone

Got Roses?

We do. Hundreds of them so it seems, and they are spectacular this year. Here are a couple photos, Kay had just picked a fresh bouquet for the dinner table.. and one single rose that has my favorite colors in it, called Chicago Peace.

Solid Air Remains A Favorite Musical Group

Saw them again last night at French Garden Restaurant, Sebastopol, and enjoyed them as much as ever. Found out that you can audition their songs at CDBaby.com and buy their music there as well. They have been performing here in Sonoma county for several years now, typically at outdoor festivals (like the Forestville Youth Barbcue this weekend) and are always a crowd pleaser. I recommend that you catch them when they play in your area.

Sample CD:

Mary McCarty, Chair of George W. Bush Campaign, Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison For Corruption

Another corrupt Bush associate goes to jail. Stop the Presses!
About George Bush
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gas Price Gouging Returns

The price of gas has gone up here in Sebastopol and environs 2-3 cents per gallon everyday of this week. We are now averaging $2.87 per gallon, while at the beginning of the week it was $2.71.
There have been no major news events that justify the traders and speculators raising the price of oil, in fact as far as I can see, the price of oil is the same today as it was Monday.

And of course the corporate media has too many shiny objects to dwell on at the moment to concentrate on the "why" of the price increases, so profiteering continues unabated.

Glad I have a new bicycle, a Trek Navigator, to use and which allows me to thumb my nose at the gas stations as I pass them by.

Book recommendation: "Incendiary" by Chris Cleave. Mother who lost husband and son in a terrorist attack in London writes a letter to Osama bin Laden detailing the affect on her life.
It's very humorous, as unlikely as that sounds, and well told original story.

And just because I haven't posted one in a while, here's another of those exciting "goats on a roof" photo:



These goats are found in Door County, Wisconsin.

Meditation Timer CD Still Available!

Yep, Kay still has copies of this one-of-a-kind product for sale, $20 includes postage, for those needing some timed meditation silence. Perfect for Yoga exercise sessions too.
Contact Kay at kbingner@pacbell.net to order.

Friday Wrap Up

New bicycles are fun to ride. Trek Navigator 3, Comfort line lives up to its claim: very comfortable to ride and gear shifts work splendidly. We rode to breakfast at the Parkside Cafe in Santa Rosa on Memorial Day, a round trip distance of about 20 miles.
Photo taken with my trusty old Coolpix 5700.





Visited Photographer buddy Kevin Berne's new studio in Oakland this week. He's gearing up for an open studio event the first two weekends in June, but took the time to give me a tour. We hope to do some lighting seminars there for wanna be video pros, or for folks who put a lot of video up on social sites and would like them to look more professional.
His site is kevinberne.com and has some great images on it. You can also get the dates for the Open Studio days.
Couple views of the studio, courtesy Kevin:

Something to think about this Memorial Day

AP released this fact today:

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US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,299

That figure does not include the suicide deaths that take place once a GI is home.

Read that figure then ask me how much I detest Cheney.

Fox Exec Takes On Nielsen

Something I have been waiting for: Murdoch taking on the only entity beyond his control and to which his empire's destiny is joined.

I wrote about this just this morning on my blog:



Mediamarv.blogspot. com



This will be a story to follow.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Don't Trust Neilsen Ratings - Never Have, Never Will.

This has long been a mantra of mine that the ratings games is totally a guessing business, estimates that are taken as gospel, mostly by advertisers who buy into the system.

And I have long thought that Rupert Murdoch's empire was too big to kowtow to someone's elses' rules (ratings) and eventually I expect him to buy Nielsen.
Here's the first step in that process:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003924.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Pelosi Uproard in a Nutshell:

From Hannity's show yesterday, a former federal prosecutor summed up neatly why the Repubs are so desperately using Pelosi as a diversion:

"...Later, Sonny Hostin raises the really relevant point:

The issue here is that everybody knows that waterboarding is torture. And that was an approved policy. It is torture! Everyone knows that. And that was the policy of the Bush administration. Why don't we talk about that?

Yes, why aren't Repubs talking about that?

Thanks to Fire Dog Lake for the following chart
showing Democrats voted against credit card interest rate caps and the amount of money they received from the financial world:

Senator	Credit Card Interest Rate Caps	TARP I Bank Bailout Oct 2008	TARP II Bank Bailout Jan 2009	Lifetime FIRE Donations
Akaka (D-HI)	No	Yes	Yes	$551,095
Baucus (D-MT)	No	Yes	Yes	$4,633,243
Bayh (D-IN)	No	Yes	No	$3,988,480
Bingaman (D-NM)	No	Yes	Yes	$492,042
Byrd (D-WV)	No	Yes	Yes	$421,000
Cantwell (D-WA)	No	No	No	$1,828,540
Carper (D-DE)	No	Yes	Yes	$2,160,628
Hagan (D-NC)	No	N/A	Yes	$545,000
Johnson (D-SD)	No	No	Yes	$3,025,166
Kaufman (D-DE)	No	Yes	Yes	$0*
Landrieu (D-LA)	No	No	Yes	$2,388,634
Lieberman (ID-CT)	No	Yes	Yes	$9,981,924
Lincoln (D-AR)	No	Yes	No	$1,672,292
Murray (D-WA)	No	Yes	Yes	$1,394,807
Nelson (D-FL)	No	No	Yes	$2,667,406
Nelson (D-NE)	No	Yes	No	$3,058,968
Pryor (D-AR)	No	Yes	Yes	$1,322,948
Shaheen (D-NH)	No	Yes	No	$659,000
Specter (D-PA)	No	Yes	Yes	$5,757,910
Stabenow (D-MI)	No	No	Yes	$1,736,406
Tester (D-MT)	No	No	"Present" (Yes)	$473,226
Warner (D-VA)	No	Yes	Yes	$1,950,479

More Proof Gas Prices Are A Farce:

From a post on Huffington Post by Mark Williams:

(snip)

Regardless, oil prices continue to rise even though demand has hit its lowest level since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Crude inventories are at their highest levels since 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

"In my mind, this is a market that is looking for an excuse to go higher," said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading Corp."

Supply and demand my arse. Profiteering is more like it.

Stevie Ray Vaughn Statue in Austin

Thought this was a nice tribute. South side of river. Near Threadgills.

Favorite Photoshop Photo of the Day:


El Rushbo never looked better:

See more examples of conservatives in clown face here:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/30835791@N07/sets/72157614241935013/

Back From Austin - full of beer and smelling like barbque.


After 5 days of Austin's best beer, music and food, we are booked solidy at the club for the next two weeks. But...

A very special find: One of the best biscuits I've ever had. At a wine bar!!! They do light breakfasts, have a natural food market and bakery in the back and an excellent wine selection. We stopped by this place several times. Would have been back once more but they were closed on Mondays, the day we left.



Biscuit sandwich of cheese, egg and bacon. Biscuit was flaky, full of flavor and was just dense enough to hold together as a sandwich.

Located on South Congress, half mile or so past the Ann Richardson bridge (aka Congress St. bridge)

Why are We Paying $50 a Barrel for $20 Barrel Oil??

That's a Question I Have Been Asking Myself For Two Years or More!
About Saudi Arabia
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Spring Has Sprung: Photo To Prove It Here:

Kay enjoys the wisteria while it lasts. Delicate, fragrant but short lived.
Photo taken downtown Sebastopol by my trusty Nikon D70s, set on raw resolution which automatically gives me a jpg work print and fill flash boosted by half a stop. I have not processed the image so the exposure is a little hot.

And Another One!!

Got Flu? Thank Susan Collins! By: Teddy Partridge Monday April 27, 2009 10:09 am

1 diggs digg it

Flu And You - Part V - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

"Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill? No, we should not." Susan Collins bragged about stripping pandemic flu preparation money from the stimulus bill in February. Doesn't seem so moderate now, does it?

Watch her brag about it right here.

Her website still posts a glowing Wall Street Journal article about her wonderful leadership on the stimulus entitled "GOP Wields More Influence on the Stimulus Bill" [that page as now been scrubbed, but we saved it as a PDF -ed.]

After meeting with Mr. Obama, Sen. Collins expressed concern about a number of spending provisions, including $780 million for pandemic-flu preparedness. "I have no doubt that the president is willing to negotiate in good faith, that he wants to have a bipartisan bill," Sen. Collins said

Hope we sure get more of that wonderful good-faith negotiation with the GOP soon!

Any Doubts That Republicans Are Intrinsically Evil Washed Away

At least the Rep leadership in DC is.
Great article from Susie Madrak in CrooksandLiars today:

As I often tell myself, there is rarely any situation in which the attentions of the Republican party can't make it even worse. Dave Johnson at Seeing the Forest points out one major problem:

We face a potential swine flu pandemic, and we do not have the people in place in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that we need. Why not? The Republicans are blocking confirmation of Obama’s nominee, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Why are they blocking this nomination? Because Gov. Sebelius won’t approve Kansas Republican bills to block abortion even if the abortion will save the mother’s life. They say she is “an enemy of the unborn,” because she thinks doctors should be able to save the mother’s life.

So as you worry about this possible flu pandemic, think about why your government is not yet fully up and running to do its part and protect us. As we saw when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, government-hating Republicans destroyed our ability to respond to emergencies, and instead set up a system where contracts were awarded to cronies who collected the cash but never delivered the services. And now they continue to block our government’s ability to protect us, because they think that a mother’s life is not as important as a fetus.

The Democrats should start a big public relations push to get the Republicans to drop their opposition for the sake of the country.

It might work, but who knows? After all, Republicans always put party above country. Because guess what the Republicans (including "moderate" Susan Collins, helped along by Karl Rove's attacks) stripped out of the stimulus bill? You guessed it: pandemic flu preparedness! (They insisted it had nothing to do with the economy.) From John Nichols in today's The Nation:

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year's emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.

Obey and other advocates for the spending argued, correctly, that a pandemic hitting in the midst of an economic downturn could turn a recession into something far worse -- with workers ordered to remain in their homes, workplaces shuttered to avoid the spread of disease, transportation systems grinding to a halt and demand for emergency services and public health interventions skyrocketing. Indeed, they suggested, pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.

Sad that in the time of the country's greatest need, the GOP always says "screw america" and puts party ideology first.

Do You Know the Proper Way to Cough in Public?

This post has an informative (and somewhat humorous) video demonstrating the only approved way to cough or sneeze in public these days:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/26/724688/-Swine-Flu-Update:-Public-Health-Emergency-Declared

Roses Are Enjoying Spring Too!

Kay says our roses are more spectacular this year than in recent memory. Here's one sample:

The Tragedy of Alyssa Peterson.



In case you aren't familiar with her story, this post from FDL is very powerful and informative and I recommend a quiet reading of it.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/26/torture-and-the-united-states-of-alyssa-peterson/

Very Different Sort of Website.

Perhaps this site is another reason I'm glad that I have never lost my luggage.
http://www.isthisyourluggage.com/Site/Luggage_home.html

Great News From Camile Cusumano From Argentina

If you click on the image, it will open to a larger, much easier to read mode.
For more info, go to her website: CamilleCusumano.com

Bud Break Time In The Vineyards!


Bud break signals the beginning of the 2009 vintage. We won't see the grapes for another 2-3 months but at last the process has begun!

Mother's Day Family Photo

Had a photo session with Ann Marie Dale, her daughter Alexandria and husband Ryan Polite in Ragle Park yesterday for a traditional Mother's Day present: a current portrait.
I think outdoor portraits are best and the most fun to shoot. And my trademark, as it were, is to use the sun as my backlight.
I used my Nikon D70s, in the raw mode, which also produces a small reference jpg which is what this photo is. Fill flash was with my trusty old Vivatar 285 into a bounce card on a Bogen light stand. Nice thing about the raw format is that in Photoshop CS3 I can totally control the color temp, in this case warming up the photo and reducing highlights as needed.

Very Impressive and Moving Sand Art movie.

Not sure where this came from but it's delightful to watch and there is a link visible in the video. A very talented person did this.
Watch to the end to get the music credits, very nice sax playing.

Amazing English Singer!

If you've not yet seen this video (and you will) here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

Did I Mention That Spring Is Definitely Here in Sebastopol?

Well, here's a picture to prove it. Gravensteins in the making!

What's with these Georgia boys?

From DailyKos website:

Here’s a piece about the son of our local rep, right wing nut Paul Broun

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun’s son was arrested and charged with drug possession early Saturday morning at a party in Athens.

Paul Collins Broun III, 18, of Knob Creek Drive in Oconee County, was at a party at an apartment on West Cloverhurst Street at 2:30 a.m. when Athens-Clarke police responded to a complaint.

Broun smelled of alcohol and marijuana and had a pill bottle in his pocket containing marijuana, according to a police report. Police said they also found a small glass pipe containing ash and bits of marijuana in Broun’s SUV.

Broun is a senior at Athens Academy. His father was elected to Congress in 2007.

Conservatives are planning for fun times!

They got all these teabagging parties scheduled, so not only will there be lots of fun activities, I'm sure the video coverage will be priceless.
Not sure what they have planned? Here's a web page that describes their planned activities in detail.... maybe too much detail!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=teabagging

Fun, Music-filled Video.

Thanks to Redvale over at Twitter, I learned about this little film. Watch and enjoy:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

3 officers killed in Pittsburgh shooting

NRA 3, Cops 0.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Fun Golf video on Youtube.

I'm not a golfer but I found this video to be rather astounding... if you can afford it.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/03/golf-holersquos-tee-box-is-1400-feet-above-the-green/

Rot In Hell Drudge- Part 1

Proof that right wing fools like him are only in it for the money..

http://wonkette.com/407530/hey-this-is-not-appropriate-matt-drudge

Binghamton NY Tragedy - Take Action

If you are upset, divert your anger to a good cause:

http://www.bradycampaign.org/action/getconnected/

Love Those Those Romantic French!

My fave photo so far from Obama's foreign travels..
Sarkozy's hand on his wife's butt!!

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Harman Stabs Fellow Dems in Back!

Rep. Jane Harman [D, CA-36] voted with Repugs to gut the Grayson bill, allowing the Banks which received TARP money, to pay bonuses as they want. Someone should ask how much the banks had to contribute to her campaigns to get her vote.
I trust her actions will be scrutinized during her next election cycle.

For more on the story, Firedoglake has more detail.