Vetting is not just driving your sports car

If you did not see the ABC Nightline interview of Sarah Palin by Charlie Gibson, you MUST take the time to watch the whole thing.




There really is no excuse.

I am in the middle of an enormous production job right now, involving Carnets, international crew members and other major distractions.

However, I would have moved Heaven and Earth to see this interview.

If The McCain/Palin ticket is sucessful, this woman statistically has a 30% chance of becoming president. For this very reason, EVERYONE in this country has a duty to check her out before they vote.

There are so many portions of the interview that you should see, but this one is perhaps the most telling.




Beyond this clip ...

*She compares some of her past statements on the role of God to those made by Abraham Lincoln.

*She vacillates on her past and present opinions regarding the human contribution to global warming and climate change.

*She often seems confused by the questions Charlie Gibson poses to her regarding international affairs.

The list goes on.

I am constantly amazed by the stupidity of middle Americans to buy into this crap, hook line and sinker.



For those of you located in one of the red states (pictured above), not interested in watching boring and difficult to understand politcal programing, I have provided an alternative viewing option.

Pandering with Palin

It is translucently clear why Sarah Palin has been picked to run on the ticket with John McCain.

Republicans are obviously targeting women.

Primarily, the disenchanted Hillary Clinton supporters who are still reeling from her loss to Barack Obama.




Do they really think women are stupid enough to buy into this?

This faux woman has about as many things in common with Hillary Clinton as Bob Guccione has with Mother Theresa.

In fact, Palin has openly accused Clinton of being a "whiner"

*Sarah is fanactically pro-life and pro NRA.

*Palin is also the subject of a legislative probe into claims that she abused her office by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper.

*In this clip from Kudlow and Co., she addresses this investigation and actually asks the question "What is it exactly that the Vice President does?




*She firmly believes that global warming is not a man-made phenomenom.

*She strongly supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

*She has supported the aerial shooting of wolves and bears in Alaska.




*She politically supports Pebble Mine, an open-pit gold mine which will destroy some of the best trout and salmon fishing grounds in the world.

Are you kidding me?

I can only take a wild guess at the right-wing moron that must have headed up this selection committee?




This choice is so surprisingly bad, that it makes me laugh and simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief.

Sarah Palin stands about as much chance of being Vice President as I stand of being the President.

Nothing says "I love you" like ...

President Bush declared today that "the successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable" as he gave a rousing defense of the war on its fifth anniversary before a receptive but not overwhelmingly enthusiastic Pentagon audience.




Has it been 5 years already?

Wow ... Time really flies when you are killing people.

It is traditional to give a thoughful gift on these major relationship milestones.

"Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home" by Emily Post, published in 1922, contains some suitable suggestions for anniversary gifts for 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 and 75 year marks.

In England and America, 5 Years = Wood

I think this would make a suitable gift for George.

Keep it in your pants

Tonight I was shopping in the Manhattan Mall location of KB Toys with Rebecca Webber looking for a an Elmo or Cookie Monster doll to send off to a little one year-old girl named Evelyn Guachun.

Her single mom wrote a letter to Santa this year asking for some warm clothes and a toy for her daughter. We came across the letter through an organization called Operation Santa.

The store was a absolute pre-Christmas mad house. Crazed kids were everywhere ... screaming ... pushing ... knocking over toy displays.





Now ... I like kids ... and I know that this post will not be a very popular one with some of you you there, but I think people need to cool it when it comes to having multiple children.

I must start this post off with an admission.

I am an only child. I love that I am an only child but this has nothing to do with my beliefs on this subject. I have a half brother and sister, and I think they are great together.

HOWEVER ... WTF is up with people reproducing like frisky rabbits?

In September 2007, the world's population is believed to have reached over 6.6 billion. In line with population projections, this figure continues to grow at rates that were unprecedented before the 20th century. The world's population is expected to reach over 9 billion by the year 2050

My feeling is this:

I really think that a couple should aim to replace themselves ... and only themselves. That means two people ... have a maximum of two kids. That way we could do our part to keep the rate of overpopulation in check.

God forbid that some couples have JUST ONE child. The world's population might ... "egads" ... shrink.

The global warming effect is a fact that is now hard to dispute. This deadly global time bomb is, in part, caused by more people consuming the world's resources. Yes ... hair spray ... but mainly oil.

Oil powers machines ... our cars ... trucks to deliver goods ... and ships that import all the garbage we buy from China, because nothing can be produced cheaply enough in this country to make a profit anymore.




I don't mean to offend anyone, but I really question people who have these massive families.

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar (Pictured below)--fundamentalists Christians who live in Arkansas started having babies when Michelle was 21. Just this year, they added child number 17 (Jennifer, whose name, like all the other Duggar children, starts with a "J" for "Jesus") to their family, and say they have no plans of stopping. Michelle has now been pregnant approximately 11 of her 40 years. As for why she wants to have still more babies --specifically, girl babies-- Michelle told the Associated Press: "we love the ruffles and lace."




Does the world really need an abundance of genetic material from a guy named Jim Bob? I mean ... what kind of ego do you have to posses to feel that there is real need for that many of your offspring?

Anyway ... enough of what I think.

What about you?

Any thoughts?

Anecdotes?

Death Threats?

Three From David Horsey

HBT

Is bullshit an alternate fuel source?

This week the Union of Concerned Scientists published a new report stating that between 1998 and 2005 Exxon-Mobil gave nearly $16 million to organizations working to create confusion over global warming science. The report is only the latest in an increasing number of statements condemning the oil giant for funding disinformation campaigns, but this one may have been the straw that broke the camels back.

Exxon Vice President for Public Affairs Kenneth Cohen has announced that the the company now accepts the reliability of global warming science and has announced the end of their funding to organizations that deny climate change science, such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) who were made laughably famous for their near parody "CO2 - They call it pollution, We call it life" television ads.

These television ads almost belong on Saturday Night Live.





Exxon now says they ready to work with policy makers on regulations, which they anticipate will be coming soon.

Surf's Up!

I have blogged about the issue of global warming in the past, but some recent articles ... and today's 60-degree December day in NYC ... inspired me to revisit the issue.

In the Journal Science, Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has recently announced that the world's oceans may rise a lot more abruptly than we had earlier feared.

His study, based on air temperatures and past sea level changes rather than computer models, suggested seas could rise by 50-140 cms by 2100, well above the 9-88 cms projected by the scientific panel that advises the United Nations.

A rise of one meter might swamp low-lying Pacific islands such as Tuvalu, flood large areas of Bangladesh or Florida and threaten cities from New York to Buenos Aires. This series of pictures does a good job of illustrating the problem here at home.

Almost all climate scientists believe that the world is warming because of the emissions of greenhouse gases from human use of fossil fuels in factories, power plants and cars. Because of this, they see the only solution involving a massive reduction in the use of these fossil fuels. This drastic change should also be coupled with a move towards several environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.




I think I might have a good plan to bring about some major changes in this country. My plan is based on a simple reposition of real estate. Essentially, only two things need to be done.

1) The White House gets relocated from its current location, in Washington DC, and gets moved to Grassy Key in Southern Florida.

2) The blueprint design of this new White House is to be based on the bungalow pictured below.