A Trapdoor In The Sun

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/helms/story/1135443.html RALEIGH - L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, defying a directive sent to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley. When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff. The brouhaha began late Sunday night, when Eason e-mailed eight of his employees in the state standards lab, which calibrates measuring equipment used on things as widely varied as gasoline and hamburgers. "Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to ...

http://wonkette.com/401018/anti-gay-alabama-attorney-general-caught-being-gay Anti-Gay Alabama A.G. Caught Being Gay This may come as a shock, but a prominent anti-homosexual Republican attorney general has apparently been caught having homosexual sex intercourse with his homosexual gay male assistant. Bonus: The dude’s wife caught him, in their bed. This is the rumor that the AG’s office has officially denied, so now of course everybody is spilling the sordid details. AG in question is Troy King, who, of course, is only interested in outlawing homosexuality and sex toys. His gay lover is either a college “buddy,” or a very young youngster and “Homecoming King” from Troy University. What are the odds of a dude named Troy King getting caught in bed with a Homecoming King from Troy University? This seems like a wacky sitcom plot, on a gay porn channel. (Is this what that Will & Grace was about?)

Are we in the 70's again? Should I break out some platform shoes and start wearing wide ties? Today's crunch feels like '70s By Michael E. Kanell The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 07/13/08 High oil prices, a sluggish economy, persistent inflation , an unpopular president and the Eagles are out on tour. Sounds like a rerun of the 1970s. But it is also a snapshot from the summer of 2008 —- even if it does conjure images from the past. "The similarities are there," said economist Gerald Lynch of Purdue University. "That was a miserable time for the economy. And the clothes were ugly, too." Wide ties may not be making a comeback, but hints of the era's economics are in the air. One of the stars of that original '70s show was stagflation, a term invented to describe a mix of rapid inflation and near-stagnant growth. The word has re-entered the economic vocabulary of late. "As far as I can see, the wheels have fallen off ...

When we openly accept a system that allows faceless corporations to place the bottom line in front of human beings, I feel that we have sold out freedom, democracy and everything that being an American stands for. Yet, this story repeats itself over and over...whether it be Enron executives walking all over it's employees and investors of Chevron's direct involvement in the torture and murder of Bowoto protestors in Niger, it seems like the larger a corporation becomes, the less it's leadership feels it should be responsible. Employers use federal law to deny benefits Workers -- and some judges -- frustrated in legal fights over benefits with large employers WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer. "He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who...

Regulators Cries in the Dark How serious is America's energy crisis? These four voices want to make sure policymakers don't dismiss it -- again. By  NEIL KING JR. June 30, 2008; Page R15 The oil shock of 1973 came and went. So did the panic after the Iranian revolution six years later, when oil prices shot to record highs. Gone, too, is the brief flurry of fear that followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. After each, voices in Washington that cried out for big changes in U.S. energy policy were slowly drowned out. James Schlesinger, the first U.S. energy secretary, has said for decades that when it comes to energy policy, the U.S. toggles between complacency and panic. THE JOURNAL REPORT   •  See the complete  Energy  report. Will it be different this time around? With oil soaring above $130 a barrel and fears spreading of a long-term supply crunch, a new cadre of energy Cassandras in Washington argues that America faces deep and potentially wrenching challenges that n...

How many members of the Bush administration does it take to change a light bulb? 1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed. 2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed. 3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb. 4. One to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of light bulbs. 5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb. 6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: Light Bulb Change Accomplished. 7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark. 8. One to viciously smear #7. 9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along. 10. And finally one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Houston, We Have an Oil Problem Posted on: Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 03:00 CDT By Steve Huff huff.column@earthlink.net The other day at least three of my patients could not afford the gas to come to the doctor. On the way home I glumly pumped $44.85 into my Mini Cooper. That night I paid $600 for a plane ticket that used to cost $275. It was a flight to Houston where my sister lives. An oil town, new buildings had popped up across the skyline, old buildings enjoyed facelifts, luxury services flourished and Chevy Suburbans ruled the road. Houstonians haven't seen a boom like this since 1982. Clearly, $130 a barrel is not bad for everyone. With profits at record levels, Big Oil feels little incentive to do anything except find more oil. Beyond petroleum? Renewable energy projects have long since degenerated into forays to the Rocky Mountains to wring out shale. That, I believe, is where windfall oil profits become reprehensible. Sure, a profit margin of 10 percent is respectabl...

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/16/news/economy/oil_speculator/index.htm?postversion=2008051615 Oil prices: Wall Street's game Big fund money is flowing into oil markets sending prices to levels never seen before. Is it profiteering or an essential way to ensure supply? By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- There's no question about it: A new breed of speculator is pouring money into the oil market. What's less certain is whether this new money is responsible for driving up prices or essential to a healthy market. Many blame record prices on Wall Street investors new to the oil market, saying they're bidding up gas prices to artificially high levels - and soaking drivers. As oil nears $130 a barrel, some say $10 to $70 of that price is due to Wall Street speculation. But that's not the whole story. Nearly everyone agrees that speculators have always been essential to a functioning market and that oil prices could be much higher ...

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/feds-scrape-tog.html The Bush Administration has shown its support for plug-in hybrids by promising a measly $30 million to get them on the road within eight years, a figure and a timeline some automakers and plug-in advocates say is too little and too long. Getting these cars on the road quickly, they say, should be a national priority with the funding to match. The Department of Energy made a big deal of the hand-out, announcing it at a plug-in hybrid conference in Washington D.C., but c'mon -- $30 million? To be spread out among three companies over three years? What'd it do -- scrounge change from couch cushions in the Pentagon? Granted, the award brings to $71.3 million the amount DOE has invested in hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology in the past three years, and EV advocates were quick to thank Uncle Sam for the money. But they said it's going to take a whole lot more than that to wean us from oil -- which, by the way, will co...

With gas at $4.00 a gallon, what is your theory on what has caused the cost of fuel to rise so dramatically? 1. Oil companies (and OPEC) are understating their proven reserves volume to create an artificial bubble in the commodities market - thus greatly increasing their own profit margin. 2. Poor dollar performance along with increased demand from China and India are causing speculative traders to reinvest heavily in crude to greatly increase their profit potential. 3. World oil production has reached peak status and have began the decline period of the bell curve. Increased demand met with a diminishing world supply will bring forth the fall of modern society. 4. It's all the government's fault.

I watched a bio of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain a few nights ago called " About a Son - Kurt Cobain . The movie was a handful of tape-recorded interviews Kurt made, about a year before his suicide, married up with some beautiful cinematography of Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle. It was quite an interesting film, but it got me thinking: The year was 1994. The moment is etched into my memory still, to this very day. I was working for a department store in the mall. Gottschalks, I believe. I had gone on break that morning and sauntered up to the lunchroom on the administrative floor. I remember looking though the refrigerator for a pop when I heard a news anchor on the television announce what I saw to be the end of the last great music revolution. Kurt Cobain's body had been found in a greenhouse on his property. Police were calling the find a suicide. Something died in me that day. Now it wasn't that I was a Nirvana fan because I wasn't. In my opinion, they had some really g...

http://fridayfivegroup.multiply.com/journal/item/30/Friday_Five_Prompt_for_June_6_2008_Childhood_Entertainment First of all, I must say that my parents were not loaded with money so we kids created entertainment wherever we could, for the most part. There are a few things that stand out though. 1. Star Wars Figures - I remember after Return of the Jedi came out, having this intense love affair with everything Star Wars. My friend Chris and I would get together on weekends after school and set up scenes with our Star Wars figures. Chris had a few of the harder to find characters. One day we chose to recreate the Sarlac Pit scene from Return of the Jedi. We took a pie plate and cut kind of a star shape in the center..then buried it in the sand. We would set up the sail barge along with the figurines right next to it and stage the epic battle from the movie. It was a blast watching Boba Fett fly through the air and then land in the fake pit...to be fake devoured for 1000 years. Later i...

I know I said I was done with politics, but I heard this last night on Hannity and had to bring it up. I come off as liberal to a lot of people, and that's fine with me...but I do have strong roots in conservative idealism. My problem with Republicans currently, as I've oft stated, is that they have forgotten what they are supposed to believe in. Barry Goldwater must be rolling over in his grave right now. Republicans Are in Denial By TOM COBURN May 27, 2008; Page A21 As congressional Republicans contemplate the prospect of an electoral disaster this November, much is being written about the supposed soul-searching in the Republican Party. A more accurate description of our state is paralysis and denial. Many Republicans are waiting for a consultant or party elder to come down from the mountain and, in Moses-like fashion, deliver an agenda and talking points on stone tablets. But the burning bush, so to speak, is delivering a blindingly simple message: Behave like Republic...

1. American Beauty. I can't put into words how much this movie moves me every time I watch it. It's not a spectacle. It's not over the top. There are no real special effects. But the true meat and bone of American Beauty is the concept that no matter how hard we try in life, attaining perfection is a near impossibility. For Lester Burnham, perfection was going back to his teenage years, driving the cherry hot rod, dating the cheerleader. Now in his 40's, his life had become estranged from everything he wanted it to be. For his wife, Carolyn, perfection was success. For their daughter, it was simply love and attention. The last five minutes of this movie are spellbinding... 2. La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) I caught this gem on DVD a few years back. Roberto Benigni put on the performance of his life in this story of a Jewish Italian bookstore owner who finds the love of his life only to be forced into the Nazi prison camps with his son. I love this movie...