Archive for October 21st, 2008
From the Colin Powell Meet the Press transcript for Oct. 19, 2008
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I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.
October 21st, 2008
Survivor’s Jeff Probst has created — and will host — a new reality pilot for CBS, EW.com has learned exclusively. The show, Live Like You’re Dying, will feature a person who has been given a terminal diagnosis with a finite amount of time to live and “take them on the last adventure of their life,†according to Probst. That adventure will include reunions with lost friends or formerly feuding family members, a “legacy moment†that will ensure their name carries on forever, and living out a personal dream. “It could be playing guitar with Eric Clapton or jumping out of a plane into a volcano,†Probst explained to EW.com. “Whatever it is that you’re still desiring to do in your life — we want to make it happen.â€
Full Article
October 21st, 2008
Retired Glenwood Springs car dealer John Haines’ hope of donating a giant chunk of snow -white marble to the federal government to replace the cracked Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is stalled again.
Haines’ hoped-for donation, which has sat outside the Yule Quarry near Marble since it was cut for the tomb in 2003, didn’t even rate a mention in a 34-page Department of the Army report to Congress this week on replacement and repair options for the deteriorating tomb.
Haines’ donation creates problems for the federal government because it is free and has not gone through a pricey bidding and specification process. A quarry in Vermont has expressed interest in submitting a bid.
This week’s report — the latest in a string of tomb reports done since Arlington officials decided the marble needed replacing 18 years ago — estimates the cost of replacing the tomb’s marble at $2.2 million — $80,000 of that for seeking bids, $90,000 for buying and transporting the marble and the remainder for sculpting.
Haines made the final payment for his $31,000 piece of marble last week. He also has lined up donated transport for the rock on a flag-decorated flatbed truck. He did all that after receiving a letter from an Army major general five years ago thanking him for his “most kind and generous donation.”
“It’s not doable. A citizen can’t just give us any piece of marble and say, ‘This is what we’ll use to replace the tomb,’ ” said Thurman Higginbotham, deputy superintendent of Arlington.
But Haines’ marble isn’t just any marble. It was cut from the same Yule Quarry where the original gold-veined marble for the Tomb of the Unknowns was mined nearly 80 years ago. The marble on the outside of the Lincoln Memorial also came from that quarry. The tomb replacement piece was cut after a nearly five-year search for an unflawed piece that would look like the original.
Full Article
October 21st, 2008
Daily Mail Article
October 21st, 2008
Technology can do many wonderful things, but sadly it can’t stop the Grim Reaper – so what happens to your web posts when you die? Will your photos, blogs and websites still be around for your grandchildren to read, or will your online presence disappear when you do?
The law is clear enough, as Struan Robertson, Legal Director with Pinsent Masons and Editor of OUT-LAW.com explains. “You can bequeath your copyright to others,” he says. “So I can say in my will that I’m leaving all my rights in my photographs or website to a friend. If I don’t do that, the copyright will belong to my estate – and in most cases it will survive for 70 years after my death.”
Your estate may own the copyright, but that doesn’t mean your stuff will stay online. “In most cases contracts will terminate with your death,” Robertson says, “although it can depend on the terms of the contract.”
Read the full article here and find out about Facebook and Flickr after death.
October 21st, 2008
At first I thought this was some type of joke or satire, but it appears to be legit.
We are women with excessive sexual desire for our husbands! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, God wants us to be madly in love with our husbands. He wants us to keep that fire burning in our marriage beds! We have the Song of Solomon as a perfect example of a Christ honored union where the two people are obviously intoxicated with each other.
As far as the second definition goes, we each do have some good friends who have called us abnormal because of how happy we are in our marriage beds.
Link
October 21st, 2008
Locust Grove dentist Linda King will buy pencils and pretzels to fill trick-or-treaters’ bags on Halloween night. But when candy corn-red licorice-peanut butter cup bliss strikes back with tantrums and stomach aches a few days later, she’ll pay up to take those sorts of sweets off kids’ (and their parents’) hands.
For the second year, King will buy back Halloween loot or the leftovers that never made it out of the house. She pays $1 for each pound of wrapped sweets, then sends the goodies to military members stationed overseas through Operation Gratitude, a care-package organization online at www.opgratitude.com. She’s buying back candy from 3-5 p.m. Nov. 3, but says she’ll accept it any time that day.
Full Article
October 21st, 2008
- I read this intriguing article about searching for caskets that unearthed after the hurricans and floated abroad – some of them floated 30 miles away from their cemetaries into different states, and some of them have floated away a second time from previous hurricanes. Some parts of the article have stuck with me, such as drilling a hole in them to drain them to make them lighter to transport and the number that were reported missing but never found.
- Cremate me and do something with my ashes. Just wait until I’m dead. I’m so-so on the idea of having a viewing.
- Should Palin not become VP and when she is no longer governor, I predict she’ll be one heck of a Fox News analyst.
- I love my Tivo, but I sure wish there was a Tivo for car radio. There might be one out there already, but I couldn’t find one doing a simple search on The Google. I can’t tell you the times on my commute home I space out and miss the traffic report and wish I could do a quick rewind.
- Everytime I don’t wear my Staubach shirt on Friday the Cowboys lose.
- I think it was about a month ago I heard that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi bring up of the idea of another stimulus package, which I interpret to be send tax payers a check. At the time, I thought it was a stupid idea because it means we are only adding to our national debt. Now I hear that Federal Reserve Chairman is stating that one may be needed. I’m not one to turn away free money, but it’s something I feel uncomfortable about.
- Out of curiosity I tried to track down how many times such a stimulus has occurred. The closest I could come to an answer was this USA Today article from January. I think we’ve had two under the current administration, perhaps in the form of a tax rebate? It just doesn’t seem like a common occurrence.
- If economy talk beats you down, this might bring you some solice.
- Looking for a hipster baby name? Link
- Rick Astley inspired cake. Link
- One great part of living in the south is the ability to grow St Augustine grass.
- Find a new thing to do with Google today. Link
- For fans of old westerns, you might like this. [Thanks, Judi!]
October 21st, 2008
