Lunch

Today's lunch came from a box. Not the most exciting (though I do love eggplant parm). However, it was great to see that it was manufactured in Buffalo...right on French Rd! I have driven by this Rosina factory too many times to count.

Top Ten

From the Tonight Show's Top Ten Surprising Facts About Sarah Palin presented by residents of Wasilla, Alaska:

#2: To improve her foreign policy experience, she recently went to the International House of Pancakes
Deputy Mayor and Chiropractor, Kris Larson

[Sadly, I think this *did* double her knowledge about foreign policy. I wonder if she could see Russia from IHOP?!]

Clean Power...Clean America

Don't forget easy steps you can take to reduce your energy consumption:
- Combine your errands
- Turn the lights off when leaving a room
- Wash your clothes in cold or warm water
- Let your dishwasher air dry instead of electric heat
- Add a vegetarian meal to your week
- Reduce the amount of shopping you do!

Every bit helps!

On the Bay

Our friends Chuck and Carlos took us sailing on the Chesapeake Bay for Labor Day weekend. We had a great time! As you can see, there isn't much to do on a boat but relax and enjoy the water and wind. The boat's name was Windhover and was a new 39' sailboat rental out of Annapolis, MD. This was the first time I've been sailing...it was fun to steer and do all the rigging when we changed directions.

Inside

Sailing was kind of like camping...sit around and relax, enjoy the outdoors, get a little bored, go to bed early, get up early. Except unlike camping, you have the convenience of a kitchen and refrigerator. And these digs were niiiice.... We slept down below, but otherwise we were always on deck.

Wye Island

Our first night we dropped anchor on a river along Wye Island. It's a nature preserve and was a quiet place to drop anchor for the night. We had dinner on deck and watched the sun set over the water! The second night we spent at Dunn Cove. (The sunset pics from here are not to be missed.)

Download for free 9/23

Love him or hate him, Michael Moore tackles the toughest questions and problems. His newest film will be free to download on 9/23. I hope it inspires you to vote [Democrat/Change/Our Future]!

Kudos to Code Pink

Thank you to Code Pink peace demonstrators who were able to get in to the Republican National Convention during McCain's and Palin's speeches. Appropriate since McCain has said we can be in Iraq for the next 100 years. Why did the media barely cover this? I was watching PBS and they briefly flashed to it but did not comment on it. Republicans haven't banned free speech yet, have they?

Check out this video.

Today's toy

I am liking the clean look of the Google Chrome browser, but so far it is not revolutionary. If there is a speed increase, I haven't really noticed. Supposedly you no longer need plugins (such as flash updates). I haven't seen a way to use add-ins, which is the best thing about Firefox (can you say Flash blocking?).

The Palin timebomb

Just when you think you've seen it all, politicians turn around and
make things even more freaky. Here's my top ten list for why Palin
is a bad choice for VP and Presidential backup. In no particular
order:

1. She's a fine example for the failed policies of abstinence-only
programs and no sex-ed for young people.

2. "Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that
the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task
that is from God."" (AP) Sounds like the medieval crusades? War is
not glorious or righteous.

3. "Palin has never ordered Alaska National Guard to do anything."
(McClatchy Newspapers). She has no foreign policy experience since
National Guards fall under the control of the Feds when they are
mobilized outside the state and even sometimes within the state.

4. She thinks creationism should be taught in schools. The Bush
administration has done enough to undermine the public's trust in
science. Let's rebuild the importance of science and facts as cited
by experts and teach students only what can be scientifically explored and contested.

5. She is willing to restrict a woman's right to choose, even in
times of rape or medical necessity. No one thinks abortion is a
good thing, but for those who are against it, they should first
create systems to educate people about safe sex, provide
contraception, and create systems to support mothers who do not
want to keep the child.

6. Her hand is in the back pocket of the oil industry. Why keep
ourselves chained to old, polluting technology? New wells won't
produce oil for years and will forever change pristine land.
Conservation will take effect immediately and will save far more
energy in the long run.

7. She's no reformer. Out of all the states, Alaska lavishes in
pork-barrel spending and each resident gets hansome payouts from
the oil industry. She has supported both of these.

8. She's got little experience. She participated in local
government of a town of < 10,000 residents. And she's been governor
for less than two years of Alaska--the 3rd smallest state. Its
population of < 700,000 is smaller than most mid-sized cities. Add zero foreign policy experience, she's not qualified to be president if the old man turns for the worse. (Going by the Social Security Admin's statistics, a man of 72 has a 1 in 3 chance of not seeing his 80th birthday).

9. Cronyism. She is under investigation for trying to have people fired because of family turmoil. Since word of her nomination, more money has been pumped in to bolster her defense.

10. Lightning rod. There are so many things wrong with this pick, and the zealots are so feverishly rallying behind the single issue of abortion (wait, didn't they used to be against premarital sex? why are they celebrating it now?), no one is talking about McCain or the larger issues that are out there.

Let me work on others...with this time bomb it's only a matter of time before more turns up!

Sunset @ Dunn Cove...

...and sunrise

White on white

Flipping through channels and caught a bit of the Republican National Convention. Hello, sea of older white men! There are women in the mix, too, but they are also very, very white. It is shocking when compared to the DNC last week--that audience was made up of men and women in all shapes, colors, sizes, gay & straight.

So the non-verbal message from the RNC: If you don't look like US, you don't belong.