Daffodil Lane

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September 30, 2005

Bin Laden's Little Helper

I saw this link on Huffington and I figured that it would be your standard MSM fluff piece on the Neo-con hate list member who is undermining America globally. You know people exercising their rights as Americans and questioning the hate mongers in the Republican party about some irresponsible decision that they are making today. But instead it was an actual story about the Bush Administration's irresponsible behaviors improving Bin Laden's recruiting efforts by being themselves. The article focuses on Karen Hughes efforts to push the radical Republican ideology over in the Middle East. It's amazing to me that Republicans are so clueless and how they are pretty much digging the United States a hole that we will be trying to fill when Alexis' children are having their kids. Their radical religious ideology is all they know and they demand that everyone bow before it. No one wins a war about my God is better than your God folks. No matter how many of you brain-dead Neo-Christians think it can be won. I think by the time that Karen finishes, or more likely is finished off, that we will be in even worse shape in the Middle East. Not that Bush left us much farther to fall on that front. Of course one is always left to wonder are Republicans really this dumb or are they setting up a justification for them to stay in office?? The mind has to wonder, nothing is too evil for a Republican to consider doing to get reelected.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

To Any New Posters Out There

You are entitled to have an opinion and that opinion might differ from ours. That's your prerogative, but as I've said before and I'll say again, you will not abuse us or call us names on a WEBSITE WE PAY FOR!! If you can debate in a adult manner that is one thing, but apparently you lack that ability, so hit the road! You've been banned. Bye bye!

Posted by Daffodil at 3:35 PM

Heading Towards Despotism...

I was over on BringItOn and they had this video from the old days when we were worried about the rise of fascism in this country. Back in the olden days they were big on giving people the tools they needed to figure this stuff out for their own. I know if you've grown up in the last 20 years in this country you have never heard of anything like that. You're probably used to being told what you need to know. But that's not what America used to be like, trust me on that. Anyway, it's a great little video of how to see the fascist take over in your community. And how important it is to stop it before it spreads across the entire United States. It's utterly chilling to watch because on every front they warn against, we see the Neo-conservative Republican party attacking our nation. Words don't transmit it well enough, you need to watch it to feel the true horror that the Republican party really represents to this country.





Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 3:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Binary Clock

Ok, I'm smart. It's annoying, I know it as well as everyone else. So I'm at work the other day and I see one of these things on a desk as I'm walking by. Nothing that catches my attention is ever gone, it just put on the queue for processing later. My brain was working on it, the right hand side lights seem to travel up the to the top and then the next most right column increases. Some sort of calculator or something. Anyway the guy is at his desk, so I stop and ask him what it does. And he says it's a binary clock. I had a good laugh, because I know what it was, I knew what time it was. Then I stopped to think about how many people are left in this country that can actually still read binary? There are days I scare myself with how many hexadecimal I remember from my wasted youth in computers.





So how many cool points would I lose if I snapped up one of these bad boys??

Posted by ManDrake at 1:56 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

William Bennett

I read this yesterday and I got so angry I couldn't even form a verbal response let alone write a blog entry. I gave the quote to Dianne and she was left in the same place I was. This is the very kind of racism that is so common to the Republican ideology that makes it impossible for me to take them seriously on any level. For those of you that haven't heard exactly what he said I'll quote it, but if you've ever talked with a Republican you've heard the sentiment a hundred times before.

"If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down."

Now this comment is immediately followed with the standard Republican cover comments when they are pumping their true agenda for America. I'm sorry folks, but there are some things that are so reprehensible that they aren't even thought let alone said to an radio audience. Even if you listen to the comments in the context of the discussion that he was having, this idea is completely created by him alone to support the radical right wing agenda that the Republican party supports. Republicans have slowly been testing the waters with more and more radical ideological suggestions checking to see if America is ready to embrace their total hate ideology. My hope and prayer is that Americans are ready to mute the radical right wing hate machine.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 1:52 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Remember good old President Mondale?

On a regular basis we get suggestions for blog entries we should be taking a look at. Usually we are already writing up the ones from the left and the ones from the right are so out of touch with reality that they get circular filed immediately. I just got one that I've been trying to write over and over again on my blog, but lack the talent or inspiration to write. Basically this is a well organized indictment of the radical right wing agenda to destroy the US government. I've made all the points at one time or another, but never taken the time to write it up properly. The summation is an outstanding analogy.

"If the Government is a car setting out to give every one a ride to work, then for 40 years the Republicans have been puncturing the tires, pouring sand in the gas tank, stealing the distributor cap, and, whenever they can get their hands on the wheel, driving it straight into the nearest ditch and then, pointing to the wreckage as the tow truck backs up to it, saying, See, this proves that people were meant to walk. And they do this so that they don't have to chip in on gas."

So absolutely true!! Greedy, selfish, short sighted and ignorant. It describes your average Republican to a T.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 1:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Finally!!

Posted by Daffodil at 1:20 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Army Faces Worst Recruiting Slump in Years

Nothing makes me madder than when they go to radical right wing think tanks to get the reasons for anything happening in America. The Army's recruiting problems are a direct reflection of the party in power in America right now. There hasn't been a sudden drop in patriotism in this country, the economy is no where close to being as good as the moronic Republican party believes and it's not the daily bad news coming out of the Middle East. It's the fact that everyone knows that the Republican party will happily throw your life away on a whim for a major campaign Contributor. Does anyone in America really give a damn about the profit margins of the big oil? Absolutely not! Well no one except for the Republican party. So it's hard to get fired up about dying to defend Democracy when you really know what you're doing is protecting and expanding the profit margins for CEO's that hate you anyway. If you want to increase participation in the Armed Forces you've got to use them properly. We've got to stop having these open ended conflicts all over the world that have little chance of success. We've got to completely abandon unilateral action as an ideology. If something is so important and compelling that it requires unilateral action, then you can get a declaration of war from Congress. Presidents, both Democratic and Republican, have got to start following the rules set down in the Constitution for waging war with our military. Then and only then will you get your recruitment numbers back up to reasonable levels. Actually if you implement that you will easily be able to grow and expand the military to any level you want.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:25 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 29, 2005

Banned Books Week

Who knew? According to the American Library Association it's Banned Books Week!

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

Banned Books Week (BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

Make sure and read a banned book and tick off the crazies that think books should be burned.

Read more here.

Posted by Daffodil at 9:46 PM | Comments (6)

Fall is FINALLY Here!

Crisp nights, cooler days, pumpkins and leaves. Fall is finally here! Yeah!! It's about time!

Posted by Daffodil at 9:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

3 Weeks and Counting

The Rednecks are still gone. 3 weeks and counting.

Posted by Daffodil at 9:23 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Solar Outdoor Christmas Lights

Now this is cool! They are a little pricey, but on the flip side you don't have to replace bulbs and such and they don't cost anything to run.

Beautiful Lights Last Nearly Forever, No Outlet Required

These solar string lights won’t add a penny to your energy bill, and can be hung anywhere year round. 104 bright LED bulbs will last indefinitely, and come on automatically each evening. The solar panel/battery pack can be wall or stake mounted. Run time on full charge averages 8 hours.

Check them out at the Gardener's Supply Company.

Posted by Daffodil at 4:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Roberts sworn in as chief justice

I'm confused about all the drama that was generated by this vote. Is Roberts anything more than a radical America hating Neo-conservative? Absolutely not!! He's cut from exactly the same godless cloth as Scalia and Thomas. He will get his judgments from GOP headquarters, who will get them from campaign contributors. So what does this mean for the future of the country. Absolutely nothing! Justices can be impeached just like any other government official. When he gets caught breaking the law and he's a Republican so they are always breaking the law, then he will get nuked. Nothing to be concerned about. Ultimately the bigger concern is O'Conner's replacement. A radical conservative for a normal conservative really doesn't change the face of the court at all from a liberal point of view. They both work to undermine the constitution in hopes of creating a radical religious church state without the rule of law. That's just the nature of conservatives. They are so filled with hate and fear that they seek to destroy America. Actually him being there is awesome for the Democrats in the long run. I mean when he and his buddies start rolling back fundamental constitutional rights to support their right wing hate agenda, what better campaign rallying cry? Well if we are allowed to vote. I imagine the Republicans would move pretty quick to cut that right except for those who shared their radical hate ideology.

Honestly for the Democrats the greatest concern should be the 2006 elections. Hell the 2005 elections are even more important than that. The races in New Jersey and Virgina for governor are critical. Because remember the first thing a Republican governor does when he gets in office is order up the Diebold machines for the state so that the next election will "reflect" the true values of the state. So the only way to make sure that we can get a fair shot at an election is to make sure the Republican aren't being allowed "fix" the results the way they like them. Maryland has had an amazing 5 to 10 percent shift in the political leanings of the state since our Republican governor "upgraded" our voting machines to the Diebold machines. They seem to be bumping up the numbers a few percentage points per election. I'm not even sure we can get rid of the worthless scumbag at this point. But I'm going to work night and day to try to save this state from his criminality and mismanagement.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 3:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Apparently You Shouldn't Yell at the Stomach Virus Gods

Yesterday morning when I woke up I felt so much better and Alexis had been bugging me all week, "Mommy's car. Starbucks?" Which translated means "Mommy get me in the car and let's go to Starbucks!" So I cut the kid a break and took her to Starbucks. We got in the car and made our way over to Arundel Mills to take a walk and grab some Starbucks. While we were walking Alexis asked me "Mommy, Daddy lunch!", which again translated means "Mommy if you would be so nice as to call Daddy and see if he's free to eat lunch with us." So I called Jamison and asked him if he was free for lunch. He was, so Alexis and I headed over to Columbia and picked Jamison up from his office. We made our way across the street to Bennigan's for lunch.

Once we arrived at the restaurant we were seated and Jamison and I started shooting the breeze while Alexis colored in her kids menu. Then it happened. About 5 seconds before it happened I realized what was going on that there was absolutely nothing I could do, short of finding some sort of magical powers I never knew I had, to get Alexis out of the restaurant in time and she proceeded to throw up all over the table. So we canceled our lunch order, cleaned up the table and got Alexis in the car. I hoped I could make it all the way home before she got sick again and prayed silently the whole way home, all while reassuring Alexis she would be ok. Jamison kindly decided to walk back across the street to work so Alexis and I set off for home.

When we got home Alexis wanted to watch Blue so I put on a TiVoed episode because I wanted to watch her for a little bit before I put her down for her nap to see if she was going to be sick again. We watched Blue's Clues, she sat on my lap, but no sickness so I put her down for her nap. She slept 2 1/2 hours and when she got up promptly threw up again.

So Alexis and I were in the guest bathroom getting cleaned up and Jamison comes in. He was feeling a little weird, but he thought it was just from seeing Alexis get sick at lunch. He doesn't handle things like that very well. So as the afternoon progressed and he was ok I thought maybe he was on to something. Alexis' appetite came back yesterday afternoon and she's been fine since then. That's the good part. Now on to the bad.

As I was sitting there in the bathroom floor cleaning up the mess and holding Alexis all at once (who knew I was that multitalented!) I told him, "Jamison (Insert Last Name Here) I flat out forbid you to get sick! Do you hear me?!?!" and he just laughed at me. Around 7, which is much later than I usually start such things, I gave Alexis a bath and put her down for the night. I wanted to watch her for a while and I figured if she had made it that long without being sick and she had actually eaten a little dinner so I figured we would probably be ok and she made it through the night just fine.

Not long after Alexis went to bed it became glaringly apparent that Jamison's issue wasn't just seeing Alexis throw up when he hurled as well. Now I've know Jamison for almost 10 years now and in all the time I've know him he's never thrown up. In the past when he's gotten a stomach virus that I've had or Alexis has had, he's gotten the intestinal symptoms (which are just as bad or worse in some cases) and that's about it. I've seen him nauseous before, so nauseous in fact he'd be green in the face, but I've never known him to actually throw up. Luckily I wasn't in the room when it happened, but I did have the unfortunate honor of hearing it all in stereo as I was making up the bed.

The other thing about Jamison is that he's a terrible sick person. There is no babying him when he's sick. He flat out refuses to admit he's sick and he'll tell you it's all psychosomatic. Somehow in his mind being sick is a sign of weakness. He's so cute when he's delusional. Luckily that was his only main episode, but he's drained and moping today, but I can tell he's feeling better than yesterday. I think he'll be back to his old self by tomorrow.

So now I'm in pandemic clean up mode. I'm determined to get this bug out of our house for good, even though I don't think the bug itself is coming from our house. We have a freaking hepafilter built in to our new air system after all. I think it has invaded the building Jamison works in, but none the less you can never be to careful.

On the other hand, I'm now sure we've paid our dues. If I never wash another dirty towel or piece of clothing from sickness it will be too soon!

Posted by Daffodil at 3:18 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

Danish Air Force Gives Rudolph a Heat Attack?

Danish Air Force Compensates Santa

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The Danish Air Force said Thursday it paid 31,175 kroner ($5,032) in compensation to a part-time Santa Claus whose reindeer died of heart failure when two fighter jets roared over his farm.

The animal, named Rudolf, was grazing peacefully at the central Denmark farm of Olavi Nikkanoff, when the screaming F-16 jets passed overhead at low altitude in February.

The reindeer collapsed and died, leaving Nikkanoff with the prospect of only one animal pulling his sleigh next Christmas.

He complained to the air force, which agreed to compensate him for the cost of the reindeer and veterinary expenses.

"We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously," said air force spokesman, Capt. Morten Jensen.

The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes likely caused the animal's death.

"We're more than happy to pay if it means that children around the world will get their presents," Jensen said.

Nikkanoff said he was satisfied with the compensation and would use it to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.

The Danish Air force should be more careful. How ever will Santa guide his sleigh without Rudolph? Poor Rudolph...just trying to his eat dinner and scared to death by a low flying F-16! What's this world coming to? Too bad that glowing red nose of his didn't fire lasers or something! ;o)

Found via Yahoo!

Posted by Daffodil at 3:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Chip Helps Electric Outlet Go Broadband

This is really a great idea. I love the notion of your plug-in giving you network access. My concern of course is less reputable companies like Micro$oft with their X-Box trying to steal your personal information for whatever there personal agenda is today. Which is the danger of this kind of technology. A means needs to be developed to protect the product owner from dishonest business types that view customers as slaves and use their products against them. But beyond the security concerns it would be amazing if you could plug a device in and it immediately be available to all the rest of your network. So plug in a printer and then it appears on the printer list. Or plug in your TV and you should then be able to run your home movies on it from your computer. Or display caller ID information from your plugged in phone on your television screen when the phone rings. I'd really like to be able to gather data from all my different devices, especially things like power consumption and activity.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 2:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

House GOP Shaken Up After Delay Indictment

It sounds to me they are more shaken by the fact that they think this might limit their chances to bring more harm to the United States before the public catches on. I think Pelosi is onto something with her "culture of corruption" comments about the Republican party. Dishonesty and corruption are core party platform tenants. I find it amusing how many Republicans were taking money from DeLay's dishonest PAC. I doubt any of them will have to answer for it. What I really found even more amusing is the fact that DA Earle pointed out an uncomfortable fact for the godless Republican party "Rebutting charges of partisanship, he said he has investigated four times as many Democrats as Republicans." Sure seems like an honest guy just doing his job, but the Republicans hate honest people. How many times have they been caught tampering with investigations since they took over the government? Republicans are pure unadulterated evil folks, it's only going to get worse for them because they've been covering up corruption for years.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 9:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Peru Votes to Allow Open-Source Software

This is a great news if the President of Peru will sign it into law. For those of you that don't know there is a war going on in the software world between the forces of good (Open Source) and the forces of evil (Micro$oft and the proprietary software developers). Basically Micro$oft is try to implement a global monopoly on software forcing people to put up with their inferior quality and utter lack of support. Now if a person decides to put up with that, more power to them. But when my tax dollars are going to pay for their monopoly and lack of choice, then I'm all up in arms. Which is what is happening in Governments all over the world. Instead of using public standards supported by everyone, they are being forced to pay massive sums of my money to have standards that aren't supported by anyone except the monopoly. My tax dollars going to make the world a worse place to live isn't something I can stomach. Of course given that the Republicans love monopolies and hate anything that makes America a better place we know that there is no way that we will see them supporting any effort to help this country.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 8:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Minnesota becomes first US state to require biodiesel

I ignored this event initially because the first versions of the story focused on Bush and the radical right wing governor of Minnesota instead of on the technology and the future. Too much propaganda and not enough America for my taste. But this article moved those to minor side items and instead focused on the important stuff...the fact that no big corporation did this, but a cooperative of farmers built more biodiesel production than existed in the entire country before their collaboration. Unfortunately until the Republicans are removed from office this is how Americans are going to have to work to save their country. On the other article, I also had to bring in the smackdown on a braindead Neo-con disinformation lackey that was trying to start the rumor that production of biodiesel harms the US because it's SO inefficient. I literally saw red. The Republicans have been using the data from 1970's for years to justify the fact that alternative fuels aren't worth the time and money we invest in them. Yet if you read the research in the 30 years since, you see a very different picture emerging. Ethanol is now 1.34 to 1 ratio of energy in to energy out. Biodiesel is now at 3.2 to 1 ratio of energy in to energy out. And that's still assuming that they are using regular fuels to collect and transport the stuff to market. Of course the reality is that they would probably start using their own biofuels in their vehicles which would easily offset the pollution. Oh and for those of you that don't know the ratio for Oil is .805 to 1. Yes, that's a net energy loss, it's of course slightly better for diesel .845 to 1. The point is the only thing that has been keeping us from upgrading has been the Republican efforts to sabotage the infrastructure for moving us to American made, American grown and American used fuel technology. Why? Because it moves the wealth from the Republican campaign contributors to the hands of the American farmer. And more importantly than that they lose the ever looming threat of a crisis in the Middle East. I mean where would they be as a party if the oil funded terrorist organizations weren't being funded by the American people to work against us? It's time for Americans to start standing up for America and getting rid of all the vestiges of the radical right wing agenda.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:50 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 28, 2005

What Next?

Ok, so now little Boo has the stomach virus...AGAIN!! Really I'm over this folks. We've paid our freaking dues!! Do you hear me stomach virus gods? NO MORE SICKNESS!!

Posted by Daffodil at 5:01 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

DeLay spin!

Wow the Republican spin on this one is on the ground already!! The Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle is leading a personal political campaign against poor DeLay and his radical anti-America allies in Texas. Now I know you stupid Neo-cons will immediately take this as the God's honest truth, because breaking the law is only a crime when a Democrat does it, but District Attorneys don't hand down indictments. It's a sad but true fact folks. DA's can call grand juries to review the facts of the case and decide if an indictment is warranted. A group of Texas citizens decided that the evidence against DeLay was so compelling that they felt that he needed to be brought up on charges for his blatant law breaking. Come on folks, he broke the law in broad daylight!! Even an ignorant Neo-con would have to look at that and go, that's just a wee bit too far. I imagine that you brain-dead neo-cons will get your talking points in the next couple of hours so it will be exciting to see how you try to spin it.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 1:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

DeLay indicted in campaign finance probe

Of course the comment on the DCCC site is priceless "The Republican Revolution is over!" I wouldn't go that far until he's in the electric chair and I've got my hand pulling the switch. DeLay is just one of the conspirators of the Republican party's effort to destroy this country with their radical anti-America ideology. Now it's time to move forward by removing every Republican possible from office. We need a serious investigation in to everything done by the party of crooks and thieves.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 1:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tennessee Representative Compares Black Caucus to the KKK, Demands Membership

Ok, Darlene is always getting onto me for being tough on Tennessee, but this is just so funny and so defines the red portions of the state that I have to say something about it. We were laughing about it on the Hamilton County Democrats site over the weekend, but then it made it to the mainstream media, so now I just can't ignore it anymore. Campfield is pretty much your standard Republican...incoherent, ignorant and racist. How can a member of the party whose focus on Blacks has been the glorious "Southern" strategy, which increases racial tensions and marginalizes blacks, think that he would even be considered for membership in the Black Caucus. And more importantly, how does he know that the restrictions for membership in the KKK are less restrictive than the Black Caucus? Just another average day for the racist Republican party.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 1:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Giant Squid Photographed for First Time

TOKYO

The giant squid can be found in books and in myths, but for the first time, a team of Japanese scientists has captured on film one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep sea in its natural habitat.

The team led by Tsunemi Kubodera, from the National Science Museum in Tokyo, tracked the 26-foot long Architeuthis as it attacked prey nearly 3,000 feet deep off the coast of Japan's Bonin islands.

"We believe this is the first time a grown giant squid has been captured on camera in its natural habitat," said Kyoichi Mori, a marine researcher who co-authored a piece in Wednesday's issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

The camera was operated by remote control during research at the end of October 2004, Mori told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Mori said the giant squid, purplish red like its smaller brethren, attacked its quarry aggressively, calling into question the image of the animal as lethargic and slow moving.

"Contrary to belief that the giant squid is relatively inactive, the squid we captured on film actively used its enormous tentacles to go after prey," Mori said.

"It went after some bait that we had on the end of the camera and became stuck, and left behind a tentacle" about six yards long, Mori said.

Kubodera, also reached by the AP, said researchers ran DNA tests on the tentacle and found it matched those of other giant squids found around Japan.

"But other sightings were of smaller, or very injured squids washed toward the shore — or of parts of a giant squid," Kubodera said. "This is the first time a full-grown, healthy squid has been sighted in its natural environment in deep water."

Kubodera said the giant squid's tentacle would not grow back, but the squid's life was not in danger.

Jim Barry, a marine biologist at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, has searched for giant squid on his own expeditions without luck.

"It's the holy grail of deep sea animals," he said. "It's one that we have never seen alive, and now someone has video of one."

Awesome! Marine biologists have been hoping to see a giant squid in it's habitat alive for many years. Up to this point all they've found were ones that were either dead or on death's doorstep. Very interesting indeed.

Read more here.

Posted by Daffodil at 8:54 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 27, 2005

Lasik Rescheduled

It's official. My Lasik enhancement is scheduled for November 10th. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year (in January) since I had the first procedure. I'll be glad when it's done! :o)

Posted by Daffodil at 2:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hangaroo 2

Want to play an addicting game? Check out Hangaroo 2! I could play it for hours!

Posted by Daffodil at 1:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Estimated Tax Credit for next year's Hybrids

I said earlier that the money for a Hybrid from the government was changing from a tax deduction to a tax credit next year, so here are the estimated numbers based on model.

Current Models
Make	Model	Estimated Tax Credit
Ford	Escape Hybrid (2wd)	$2,600
Ford	Escape Hybrid (4wd)	$1,950
Honda	Accord Hybrid	$650
Honda	Civic Hybrid (auto)	$2,100
Honda	Civic Hybrid (manual)	$1.700
Honda	Insight (auto)	$2,600
Lexus	RX400h	$2,200
Mercury	Mariner Hybrid	$1,950
Toyota	Highlander Hybrid (2wd)	$2,600
Toyota	Highlander Hybrid (4wd)	$2,200
Toyota	Prius	$3,150
Upcoming Models (based on estimated specs)
Chevrolet/GMC	Silverado/Sierra	$250
Chevrolet/GMC	Silverado/Sierra	$250
Lexus	GS450h	$1,300
Nissan	Altima	$1,300
Toyota	Camry	$1,300

HybridCars.com provided this chart which is a translation of the chart from ACEEE best guesses. Of course remember that these are very limited to the first 60,000 cars sold and after that it starts going down quickly. So don't wait too long or you'll miss the big bucks.
Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 1:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Man I'm in a bad mood!!

I was reading over my posts and I just realized that I'm in a terrible mood. Alexis decided to get up at 11:30 pm last night and stayed awake for the next three hours. We have absolutely no idea what is causing her to do this, but nothing kills a sleep cycle like a kid that is whining off and on for hours. You start falling asleep, she whines, you wake up, she goes back to sleep and the cycle begins again. If I don't try to go to sleep, I can stay awake a couple of days without a significant problem. But if I try to go to sleep and it get interrupted, it's unbelievably disruptive and I get tried and grumpy very quickly. So if I seem a tad more snippy than usually that's what's going on.

Posted by ManDrake at 12:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

U.S. Consumer Confidence Drops By Most in 15 Years

Oh, now I get it. The Republicans get the warning that the American public is shutting down because of their gross mismanagement, so to save face they tell the public to shut down to cover themselves. So then it looks like the President has command of the public and can make us jump whenever he feels like it. Sneaky and dishonest, just what I would expect from a Republican in trouble. At least it proves what I already knew, that the Republicans have no interest in America and conservation. They could care less about the future. They are going to continue on with their radical agenda to destroy this country. And it appears all of America has rapidly become aware of how incompetent they are.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

President Calls for Americans to Conserve Gas

I heard it on TV and I was so stunned I had to rewind it on TiVo and watch it again to make sure that I wasn't going crazy and starting to imagine things. Did that oil company hack just say Americans need to conserve???? Did a godless Neo-conservative Republican animal actually say something rational??? It borders so far from believable that I'm still not sure if I really heard it at all. For 5 years now the Republican party has done nothing to protect us from the problems that face this nation and then suddenly they think the arrogance of their hate ideology has breed is going to accept the notion of doing the right thing. Hey Mr. President...I have two hybrids in my driveway. I was conserving while you were conspiring against the United States with your buddies in Enron to undermine this country's economic future! It's so moronic it's offensive. Republicans have worked continuously to make sure we are more vulnerable to this kind of situations with their head in the sands attitude towards all the problems facing this country while throwing away our future at every turn. And now that what we sane people have been predicting for years has finally come to pass and we are suppose to step up and do our part to cover the Republican's incompetence??? Not just no...but hell no!! The Republicans got us into this mess, why should I help them? They hate this country, why should I help them? They hate me, why should I help them?

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 11:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

There Are Crazies on Both Sides of the Fence

Listen, I'm all for a good conspiracy theory when you can back it up with some compelling evidence, but I've noticed as of late there are weirdoes on both sides of the fence. To be honest I don't know which side of the fence this guy is on politically, but he's out there! I myself am convinced that these horrible hurricanes we are having are stemmed from global warming, but this guy takes his "theory" to a new level...The hurricanes are actually spawned by a huge weapon designed by Russia to create monster storms, that is being used by the Japanese mafia to get back at us for dropping the atomic bombs on them. I'll grant that they probably are upset with us, who wouldn't be, but that's a bit far fetched for even the most committed conspiracy theorist. Kind of ranks up there with other theories I've heard as of late about all Republicans being pedophiles on the left side of the fence and AIDS being a "gay plague" from the right side of the fence. Anyway, check out this guys site. He quit his job as a meteorologist so he could dedicate all of his time to his "theories". You'll definitely get a good laugh...I did!

Read more here.

Posted by Daffodil at 10:49 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Massachusetts eyes incentives for hybrid, alternative fuel cars

This is a great idea and will help adoption out a lot. One of the great incentives I had when I bought my Civic was the fact that I didn't have to pay any state sales tax. I don't usually include that in my calculations on how cost effective Hybrid's are because that incentive is gone here in Maryland. I didn't have to pay sales tax on my Refrigerator either with the same program, because it was so energy efficient. Which is why even when the math doesn't work out as well as others would like, it actually works for me because I saved 2k in state taxes when I bought my car. So I can tell you for a fact that if Massachusetts starts offering programs like they are suggesting, they will be so much better off and they will have a massive amount of participation. The change of the taxes from a deduction to a credit at the Federal level in 2006 is going to help people out a lot as well. I'm amused how the business people at CNN are working so hard to say there is absolutely no reason to buy a hybrid and yet everyone else seems to know it's a good idea. Over at Tree Hugger they made an interesting point about the fact that people think nothing of adding 2 or 3k packages to their car for better radios, moon roofs and different seat covers, but you suggest that people spend 2 or 3k on a fuel economy package and suddenly it has to achieve a dollar for dollar cost benefit analysis review to be even considered. Last time I checked the 6 disk changer package we got for Dianne's hybrid did nothing to decrease the cost of ownership of the car. And I can't remember that even being a consideration when we picked it out.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 10:25 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

September 26, 2005

Portfolio Update

Bonds are up predictably, but they will be down again now that the hurricanes are over. When they get down to an unnatural low as people start rushing back into stocks I'll buy some more with savings. I've changed my contribution amounts which will have little direct effect on these percentages for a while, but I decreased my mid-cap exposures and increased my bond exposure. Stocks are just too volatile to make me feel comfortable right now. I've also started laying the ground work for a new loan sometime next year. With the Republican interest rate hike on student loans it's now cheaper to pay them off with 401k loan rates. I'm really amazed at how much progress I've actually made on all my loans, both car and student. Actually I'm very impressed with how quickly I've paid off my 401k loans as well. It felt like forever, but it has slowly but surely happened. It's hard to believe I made so many decisions and plans about all this stuff 3 to 7 years ago and now the positive results of my good decisions are coming to pass now. The next 3 to 5 years should completely revolutionize my life and future.

This Weeks Actual Percentage: +4.901%
Last Weeks Actual Percentage: +6.039%
Best weekly percentage: +7.437%

Personal Rate of Return according to Fidelity for This Week: 11.4%
Personal Rate of Return according to Fidelity Last Week: 12.6%

Current Asset Allocation:
52.48% Stock
47.00% Bond
00.52% Savings

Posted by ManDrake at 7:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Georgia school closure tests parents' patience

When I heard about this one I was pretty surprised. Snow days are a rare commodity in the South. It rarely snows, but when it does it's usually pretty devastating since they have no infrastructure to deal with it. The notion of a Republican being mentally cognizant of the fact that he's burning 125,000 gallons of diesel fuel everyday that the buses are running was stunning. Definitely way out of character for someone of the party of ignorance and stupidity. I'm sure his days are numbered with the Republican party. On the other hand, I completely sympathize with the parents about making arrangements for their kids. Amusingly enough we never really had this problem in my family, my mother was a teacher so if we didn't have to go to school she probably didn't either. And if she did, we could go with her. Makes life a lot easier for us. I just don't know what they can expect the Governor to do in this case. Given the oil company's price gouging he had to do something. What I really find funny is the fool that says that it won't have any effect. I'm sorry, but you take 11,000+ cars off the roads and it will have an effect. I think people are clueless to effects of schools have on traffic flows. But clueless people in Red States that's not news for sure. The Governor's people did make a comment that I didn't like.

"The politically safe thing to do would be to do nothing, and then blame the hurricane for any subsequent problems. But that's not leadership."

Well leadership isn't avoiding a problem, leadership is keeping problems from happening. If the Governor was going to show leadership he would move the bus fleet to biodiesel created with local crops and local labor. That would be leadership. The Governor just mysteriously clued into doing the right thing, that's just luck, not leadership.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:11 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

My Sweet Alexis

Our daughter is the sweetest thing EVER!!! Seriously she's been making me want to cry all afternoon by being so sweet. We seem to have a revolving stomach virus going on around this house and hopefully it stops here! First Alexis got it, then she gave it to Jamison and then I got it. Then Alexis got it again, then Jamison and now me again. This afternoon when Alexis got up from her nap we were hanging out in my room (closer to the bathroom) and watching Monster's Inc. She wanted me to pick her up and I told her I couldn't because I felt like I was going to throw up and she said, "OK mommy. Towels!" And she went to the hall closet and got a stack of towels out of the closet and spread them out in case I threw up. Then she crawled up on the bed with me to cuddle. See that's how it works in her world. If she is going to throw up we spread out the towels and then she gets cuddles, so she decided to help me out. She's an amazing little girl and I can't even begin to explain to you how much I love this child.

Posted by Daffodil at 5:45 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Frist Issue Adds to GOP's Ethics Troubles

I don't know how you can say it adds to their Ethics troubles. Don't you have to first have ethics to have troubles with them? The GOP has never demonstrated the notion of Ethics in almost three decades. They think they've successfully breeded it out of the party completely at this point. I was discussing if this would hurt his chances of becoming President and we almost unanimously noted that a major scandal has no effect on a Republican candidate's viability in the long run. The party is made up of the worst kinds of people, so someone with a criminal background is no major kind of concern for them. It's hard to imagine a serious crime that the Republican party members would worry about. They don't have any morality or ethics. Why would they expect it from the people they vote for? The only people they worry about having prefect records are Democratic candidates. It was amusing how dramatically this came to light when the Republican running against Hillary came on to the scene. Her husband is a convicted felon and the Republicans said it was a wash because Bill was an embarrassment. Bill has been convicted of NOTHING folks! In fact he's still quite popular. That isn't some Democratic spin, that's just the facts. There is no comparison that can be made between a Republican witch hunt that yielded nothing and someone convicted in the court of law for dishonest dealings.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 10:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New Analyses Bolster Central Tenets of Evolution Theory

Not that any amount of repeatable scientific studies could ever change the mind of a radical Republican Neo-Christian, but now they've got more evidence that the Evolution Theory is correct. I've found the entire debate entirely frustrating and annoying. Stupid people who don't have the mental capacity to get out of the rain without help are being allowed to dismiss hundreds of years of scientific research because they are too stupid to understand it has no bearing on their matters of faith. That is the summation of what is going on here...we have people of weak faith and morals who see anything that doesn't reassure their half hearted faith in their religious ideology as a danger to humanity. I understand and support the notion of the Evolutionary Theory and it has absolutely no effect on my faith. For those of you that it does pose a danger to your faith you should really spend a great deal of time reflecting on what you are calling faith. I've said it before and I'll said it again...science tells you how, religion tells you why. If you lack the mental ability to tell the difference, there is little hope for you on either front.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 10:18 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Spouse support cuts job stresses

Absolutely!! Without Dianne's support I would have long ago had a heart attack and died from the stress at work. When Dianne gets in a bad mood it gets reflected in my job as well. Of course we run with a level of marital cohesion which is stronger than any other couple I've ever known. Most days we are two halves of the same brain. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how other married couples get anything done since they don't work so closely together.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 10:01 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Hurricane Exposes Evacuation Problems

It was amazing to watch the mass of super gas guzzling Texas Republican sized SUV's evacuating from the coastal areas. Then the gas stations all started running out of gasoline along the evacuation routes. And it begs the question...perhaps some changes in how we do thing might help. Sure would! CAFE standards that were more realistic for the times we live in would definitely help. Can you imagine what an extra miles per gallon would have meant for the gas lines? Secondly we may have to look at the "just in time" delivery methods preferred by American businesses. It's great for maximizing profit margins, but during a disaster, just in time never happens. Maybe we need to look into requiring more or larger fuel storage facilities on site for these kinds of stations and require that they keep the stores topped off in advance of disaster like a hurricane. The dual lane stuff was just a reflection of the inexperience the people of Texas have with Hurricanes. This might be remedied by sending them to places that get hit more often to see what they do. We might also want to look into automated systems to block off ramps to make sure there isn't any improper traffic flow from remote command centers so that the process of going to one way all lanes traffic can be done more seamlessly. Finally education is key for this kind of stuff. They need to look into figuring out ways to get information to everyone about everything they need to know instantly. Americans can follow instructions if they are given and some reasonable amount of information on the whys come with it. Now some of them won't get the message until you're passing out the indelible ink markers and telling them to put their name, address and social security number on their arms so you can identify their rotting corpse because they are so stupid they won't evacuate. We need all the information available, passed out to the kids at school so they know what to do. Of course for godless Neo-con Republicans their kids writing on their arms so their bodies can be identified would not even register in their clueless brains.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Response to Rita illustrates how government failed after Katrina

WASHINGTON - The speed with which the federal government marshaled significant military and other resources to evacuate, rescue and care for victims of Hurricane Rita raises new questions about why Washington was so slow to respond to Hurricane Katrina less than four weeks earlier.

The Bush administration says it's researching whether the federal government needs to have greater authority to respond to disasters - and whether the military should be in charge.

The response to Rita, however, suggests that the government had plenty of authority to respond to Katrina and that what was lacking during Katrina was an understanding of when to use that authority.

I always find it amusing how quickly the Republicans use a disaster to try and strip away more of our fundamental rights as Americans. And yet time and again it ends up that it's not our rights that are the problem...it's the Republican's utter incompetence that is the problem. When the Republican cronyism machine was removed and people that knew what they were doing were in charge, suddenly the federal agencies responsible for dealing with disasters worked perfectly!! I think this is a lesson that all of us can take home with us...get rid of the Republicans and our country will start working like it's supposed to again. Sure makes sense and has been proven time and again to work.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

US Gulf Coast region could be facing record storm season

No really!!! Still about a month or two left in the season and we are almost to the record...do you think we could break the record? Very likely folks. I'm not sure what the point of the article was other than to state the obvious. Or is there a concern that people think it's over for some reason. That isn't a valid concern for us in the reality based community, but I guess they are writing for Republican and Neo-cons too who listen to Bush's speeches. I'm sure he claimed mission accomplished and ended the Hurricane season early. But it appears he's fallen off the wagon again, so it might be best if you fools actually pay attention to reality for a little bit.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Maker of Bulletproof Vest May Face Charges

I could honestly care less if they gave bad vests to the President. He's an evil godless monster, but the notion of knowingly giving bad vests to police officers is unforgivable!!! They are actually critical to the future of this country. The work they do keeps us all safe. The notion that greedy corporate executives would give away their lives for profit is sickening. But this is the country we've built with Republican ideals of greed and dishonesty. When everyone looks out for number one, no one is looking out for America at large. It's time for a fundamental paradigm shift in this country. It's time to go back to the Teddy Roosevelt days where the government walked softly and carried a big stick when dealing with corporate America. It's time to become an America focused nation again instead of a dollar focused nation.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Save Our Children

I was over at the Hamilton County Democrats site again this weekend and they had a great link to a commercial based off of the Republican appeal for why we should get rid of the estate tax. It's some extreme, dramatic and moving stuff. So get your tissues out and be prepared to have your heart strings pulled. I know it almost changed my mind!

Watch the video here.

Posted by ManDrake at 7:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 25, 2005

Bush Economist Sees 'Modest' Impact From Storms

Man, it must be a job requirement to hit the crackpipe regularly to work for the Bush Administration. It's amusing the same fool makes two contradictory statements. The Hurricanes will have very little impact on the economy. Then says high energy prices could do long term damage to the economy. Hey moron, the energy prices are high because of the Hurricanes! So the damage has already been done. Higher energy prices will be pushing up the price of just about every other good and service over the next couple of months. Not to mention that the oil is the problem today, but the loss of Natural Gas is going to be devastating in the North this year. If we have a bad winter things are going to get very ugly on that front. The clueless Republicans can make all the insane predictions they want, but they can't change the reality that they've dropped the ball so badly this time that there is little that can be done to fix it. If they were able to grasp that there was a problem and take a definitive leadership role and mobilize the nations resources effectively it could be kept from getting out of control. But the Republican party is the party of mismanagement and disorganization. They are raising money for campaigns in the next election right now, they could care less about the American people. If we could all just die they would be so much happier so they could focus on their true constituents, the wealthy.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 4:11 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Oil industry to assess Rita's damage

Well people are cautiously optimistic at this point. They are still going to take a bit to get everything turned back on and running, but some of the major facilities were spared the full wrath of the storm. What I find interesting is that even though the major pipelines are yet again shutdown, I've only seen a small spike in gas prices at the pump. It appears that the price gouging oil companies decided to avoid getting thrown in jail since everyone is watching them. I think they are hoping that they will get leniency from the states if they act right now. The old, I didn't know any better, but as soon as I did, I did the right thing excuse. Of course they knew better to start with, they just didn't anticipate how much Americans had grown to hate their puppets in political office. Now they are going to get religion about making sure everything is on the up and up.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 4:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Firefox Update Squashes Bug

I went ahead and did the update everywhere that I was using Firefox. It's nice to see a 1 week turnaround time for when a bug is reported and when a fix is installed on my PC. How many times have you heard of Micro$oft doing something like that? Never!! They pay off people not to post the bugs and leave us the customer exposed to any virus writer with a free moment. They haven't sent down an update for 1.5 yet, which would be a good test of new update facility that they've introduced. I expect to see a patch warning in the next day or so. So if you haven't updated your Firefox yet, you need to go ahead and get on it.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 3:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Why Are There No Volume Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturers in the US?

I saw the headline and I made an instant list of reasons why I thought it was happening. Top of my list of course is the fact that greedy Corporate America CEO's are seeking to undermine the country by bending to the whims of even more greedy shareholders only concerned about the next quarter's numbers instead of the future of the country they live in. So I read the article and sure enough that's the reason. There is no technical or economic reason why the technology could not have started mass production, they just didn't. Given that the future, especially in automotive technology, is going to be built around Lithium Ion batteries, it appears that short sighted America businessmen have sold our futures away for small profits today. It's tragic and heart breaking to say the least. I think one of the guys on the site summed it up, in the move to a service economy, American business refuses to do anything that doesn't guarantee massive profits so they can please their greedy short sighted shareholders. Turning us into a nation of burger flippers with no future. We need a significant change in how we do business in this country or we will be reduced to being a third world nation. Market forces seem to be only able to lead us to our doom.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 1:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Democrat: Hurricanes Will Unify Country

I have to agree with Senator Lincoln on this one. Only the most godless and cold blooded of the Republicans can help but to be touched by the Hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast. I think after 3 decades of effort to divide and destroy this country, that the Republicans have been undone in a matter of months. Mind you they still will incessantly spout their godless hate ideology, but Americans know right from wrong and their time listening to the worthless animals in the Republican party is over. The first act of unity will probably be the 2006 election when we run every Republican possible out of office and start turning this country around with the impeachment of W and his entire crew.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 24, 2005

Hybrid Car Comes In Handy to Escape Rita

I was over on Tree Hugger this evening and they have a great story about a Prius owner stuck in stop and go traffic for 30 hours running his AC the whole way and ending his evacuation with a quarter of a tank. Which is just plain outstanding!! For those of you that aren't aware how the new generation of Toyota's work, they run the air condition off the batteries when the motor is shut off. If they need to recharge the battery they kick on the gasoline motor to recharge the battery and then the entire process can begin again. Using this method you can keep yourself going for a very long time and when moving at less than 20 miles per hour the Toyota doesn't even bother to turn on the gasoline engine, it runs straight off the electric motor.

Of course the guy made a comment that I find hard to believe. First he claimed this would increase interest in Hybrids in Texas. Yeah right! If you've ever met a Texan, well let's put it this way, the vast majority of them are slightly more arrogant and disconnected from reality than the President. None of them have ever been wrong a day in their life and they don't have much stomach for someone to suggest or prove otherwise. The second comment he made was dead on, but the fact that he's suggesting that Texans will have some realization of that fact is not believable at all. He pointed out that a train system between the major cities of the Texas would have sped up evacuations and decreased traffic jams immensely. So very true, but there isn't a chance in hell that you could convince Texans or the residents of any red state that such investments would be a productive use of tax dollars. Republicans as a general rule oppose anything that involves sharing with others, they are ruthlessly selfish people. They hate the notion of the poor or even less affluent might have access to a resource that they are paying for in anyway. The Republicans would rather die than allow a single poor person in any way profit from a public project. Their hate is just that pure. So he's right...for a very few billion dollars we could have, and desperately need mass transit systems between major cities in this country, and in Texas they have a pressing need for them, but it will not happen because there is no way you could convince the people of Texas.

Read more here.

Posted by ManDrake at 5:54 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Beautiful

Posted by Daffodil at 2:55 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Playing

Posted by Daffodil at 2:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Smile