Vaughn

If you recognize either the singer or the song, I'd really like to know what it is. Thanks!

This is a serious questions. Please answer seriously.

Here's a video of Republican supporters waiting to get into a Palin rally in Pennsylvania. I don't provide it as a "gotcha," because I know it is by no means representative of the average Republican. But neither is this a case of one or two hate-filled people. This is clearly a crowd of them and, to judge by reports, not the only crowd.

My questions: Is there anyone among us who does NOT find this disturbing? And how do the good people who support McCain/Palin reconcile themselves to the fact that they are standing with people like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHrExRHZnm0&feature...

Thank you.

Yesterday, John McCain made a big deal of suspending his campaign. But he still met with Lady de Rothschilde, former Clinton fundraiser. He still did interviews on all three networks. He still sent surrogates out on all the talk shows to diss Obama.

How are we supposed to tell the difference between this and campaigning?

I remember last week, plenty of people were asking how we felt about "the fact" that Obama tried to get Iraq to delay the withdrawal of the troops until after the election. ABC news has just disproven that story (referencing several other major figures who were at the meeting and support Obama's version). I'd like to know who is willing to say, "Man, I guess I jumped the gun on that one" versus and who will insist that everyone except the author of the initial, disproved article is lying. What's YOUR take on this?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/un...

... that the Democrats just passed in the House today? The Democrats have agreed to allow some offshore drilling during this time of fuel crisis. BUT they made sure:

* New drilling is only allowed between 50 and 100 miles offshore

* The bill repeals tax cuts for the oil industry

* It requires states to give their permission for drilling on their land

* It "offer[s] incentives for renewable energy, require[s] the government to release oil from its emergency reserve, and force[s] oil companies to drill on federal lands they already lease from the government."

15 Republican representatives voted for it, but more opposed it. They didn't like the provisions listed above (for example, they wanted drilling to start 3 miles offshore). But why not?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/16/offshore.oi...

After 3 months of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild of America has gone on strike. I’ve provided links for anyone who wants to know more about what forced this action. Some of our favorite shows are already off the air. Others only have a handful of new episodes left. If the AMPTP takes a hard line, they will replace scripted shows with 2nd-rate reality or game shows.

Here is my suggestion. Mail unsharpened PENCILS to the AMPTP and your favorite studios. It costs 58 cents on a business-sized envelope.

Lets show them just how much support the WGA and the shows they write have, AND give the AMPTP a graceful way to back down. We are their customers. Our opinion should count.

AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers)

15503 Ventura Boulevard

Encino CA 91436

Thanks!

http://www.wga.org/

http://www.amptp.org/

After 3 months of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild of America has gone on strike. I’ve provided links for anyone who wants to know more about what forced this action. Some of our favorite shows are already off the air. Others only have a handful of new episodes left. If the AMPTP takes a hard line, they will replace scripted shows with 2nd-rate reality or game shows.

Here is my suggestion. Mail unsharpened PENCILS to the AMPTP and your favorite studios. It costs 58 cents on a business-sized envelope.

Lets show them just how much support the WGA and the shows they write have, AND give the AMPTP a graceful way to back down. We are their customers. Our opinion should count.

AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers)

15503 Ventura Boulevard

Encino CA 91436

Thanks!

http://www.wga.org/

http://www.amptp.org/

This is an op-ed piece which, while published in the New York Times, was written by seven American soldiers who have almost finished serving their 15 months in Iraq. They call the political infighting back in the US, about Iraq, "surreal," and seem to believe that it's time we left Iraq to create stability however they can/must, instead of trying to enforce our own benchmarks or guidelines on them. If you've read the article, what did you think? I'd really like to know.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayama...

Turbo Tax has me frustrated as heck. There's a place in my deductions where it asked me to provide how many miles I've driven this year (not a problem), and then it has a box asking for how many miles I drove for the job, and my total commuting miles. And yet when I click on the "More Info" box, it says I CAN'T deduct the mileage I drive to and from work.

SO WHY IS IT ASKING FOR THAT MILEAGE? If I fill it in with the applicable number, I get a bigger refund, but is that a mistake?

Yes, I know--I'm cutting things pretty close. Sorry. I do appreciate any help.

I'm referring to the Latin word "Comitatus," for a group of men working together--it's often used to describe the Viking code of "chivalry" in BEOWULF. My question is, if the Comitatus is the whole group, what do you call one member of it... a Comitatum? What about two members or more--are they Comitati? And how do you make it possessive... things belonging to the Comitatus would be the Comitatus' things?

Any help (or just directions to an easy to understand site about Latin suffices) would be appreciated, thanks!

What Is A Billion?

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did

a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion days ago no one walked on the earth on two feet.

A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate the US

government is spending it.

I mean, in our Liberal/Democrat/Conservative/Republican splits? I see people here every day accusing the other side of stupidity and evil to a hysterical level (and I mean that as in "hysteria," not "humor"). Couldn't we Americans get more done if we recognized that fellow Americans who disagree with us are not necessarily the enemy? Is it even possible for us to relearn this point of view?

PLEASE don't answer if it's just to be a smart-aleck, thanks!

I had a dream (and I've had similar ones before) in which my family was clearing out a lot of old clutter and, way in the back of a dusty shelf, I found several hamster cages that had been stored away--but oh no! There were still hamsters in them! These poor hamsters had been so forgotten, they must've gone YEARS w/o food or water, and some were lying near death, although others seemed to have somehow managed to do okay, and were just a little feral. I felt so guilty, to have forgotten there were hamsters in the cages when I stored them away, and began desperately trying to save the ones I could and figuring out the kindest way to euthanize the ones near death. In only one cage were the hamsters long, long dead.

I've got to think that if this dream has any subconscious message, it has something to do with having forgotten something, or something I've neglected still hanging on, but... hamsters???

I read this book 30 years ago, and can remember only bits of it--can anyone help me name it? A widowed mother and her children move to the country, to her relative's (uncle's?) dog kennel. They mostly raise cocker spaniels, and one of them, named Penny, is returned back after being abused. I hope someone recognizes this, because I remember really liking the book.

I have a cocker spaniel who seems to have eaten the rind of at least one slice of watermelon. I have no idea why. It's not poisonous to dogs, is it? He's acting okay (other than the "guilty" expression once I discovered what he'd done). Thanks!

A recent question about a "Christian Checklist" was answered by a thorough barrage of statistics about the horrors of homosexuality--everything from the lie that AIDS is primarily a homosexual disease to gays being carriers of flukes. Or was it tapeworms? It was chosen "best answer" with a "thanks for the references" comment.

But I teach English (and research papers) and the citations looked suspicious. One, for example, was from a "Medical Journal of Homosexuality," which just sounded... odd. So I checked. No such animal! The Library of Congress never heard of it. So... when you see a thorough "works cited" list of something, how often do YOU check to see if it's BS or not?

FYI, here's a full article showing the misrepresentations from the list in question:

http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2006/11/ex...

If people must witness, we might as well let them know what *hasn't* worked in the past. I was a pretty good Catholic until I went to college and my next-door neighbors were all members of the Baptist Student Union. Concerned for my soul, they gave me a comic book on the "TRUTH about Catholicism" -- as if 18 years as a practicing Catholic didn't make me more of an expert. It was full of lies and slander about monks forced into homosexuality and people in the Inquisition burned for refusing to accept Jesus as their savior (?!?). What that did for me is it gave me my first full-on experience with how religions can lie in attempts to convert you... so I started looking into EVERYTHING. I'm now a happy Unitarian Universalist Pagan. Does anyone else have a story?

Why is it so easy to assume that one obnoxious atheist represents all atheists, or one pushy Christian represents all Christians? We keep asking questions like "Why are the Christians here doing such and such," when it's not all the Christians (same with the Atheists, the Unbelievers, etc.) Wouldn't we be far more accurate and avoid some fights if we said "Why do *some* Christians...?" or "Why do *some* atheists...?" Or is it that too many people here *want* to fight?

Two days ago, my cocker spaniel ate most of a small aluminum bread pan--the disposable kind you can buy in the supermarket. The pieces I picked up when I discovered what he'd done were sharp, so I called the vet (right before closing), who recommended just keeping an eye on him for nausea, diarrhea, etc. The next morning I brought the dog and he showed no discomfort, but the vet put him on an antibiotic (esp. for gastric problems) just in case. It's been 48 hours, and the dog's still happy and eating and drinking, and when we go for a walk, his poo is fine (yep; I examine it!) ... if he's passed the aluminum, it must have been in the back yard when he was out on his own, and not on a walk.

However, I'm still very anxious. At what point can I draw a sigh of relief? Thank you!