It's the infamous Palin interview in which she's asked about Roe v Wade, and this clip shows Biden's and Palin's responses to the exact same questions.
If that doesn't make you go, "Huh?", this one will. You'll have to sift through some of her crap (that she had time to prepare for and do a wikipedia search), but it's worth it for the reporter's ending comment. Her reason for not answering the questions is that she was "annoyed." Harrumph.
Oh! Sean and I had an idea for halloween costumes last night. He thinks I look a little like Tina Fey. So, I could dress as Palin, with hunting gear and a tiara. He could dress as a bulldog with lipstick. :-) Or he could dress to represent America, and I could have a bloody heart that's been ripped from his chest (well costume and all). He'd be zombie America.
Sean and I watched the vice presidential debate last night, and it was...surprisingly entertaining. I fully expected to get irritated with Palin and opt to do anything rather than watch, but that didn't happen.
There were some irritating points that Palin kept making over and over, but Biden was there to riposte and parry while she tried to dodge (Can we go back to the energy issue?).
My irritations...one: her claim to being middle class. Really? She's middle class?? The moose hunting, beauty queen, governor of Alaska is middle class? Harrumph. Let's examine this, shall we? When looking up middle class, this is what I found:
"The middle class, in colloquial usage, consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social influence or power. The term often encompasses merchants and professionals, academics, bureaucrats, and some farmers and skilled workers."
She might fit the bureaucratic category, but does she really? A bureaucrat is a civil servant or public worker, a government desk jockey basically. The governor of Alaska...bureaucrat?? No. The governor is the executive of the state! And how about not having a great deal of social influence or power? Well, I should think that being able to veto a state legislation precludes her from that. She is most definitely NOT middle class, and she's even gone as far as describing herself as "an everyday, working-class American." I call bull shit!
Two: her harping about how she's a hockey mom and is raising 4 children. That makes her qualified? To do what exactly?? If the country needs to be burped, maybe she can help, but I honestly doubt she would even know how to do that since she's probably had the help of a nanny in raising her children. She has declined to submit her tax return documents, but it's estimated that her income has been 6 figures. Add in her husband's income and their assets, and it's estimated at well over $1mil. With that much money and a demanding political career, it's hard to imagine that she wouldn't have a nanny.
When she hit the "I'm a mom so you should vote for me" note in the debate though, Biden retorted by telling everyone he didn't appreciate the assumption that he couldn't understand raising a family because he's a man. Biden then brought up the fact that he was a single parent after he lost his first wife, and Palin...didn't even comment. No "I'm sorry." Nothing. Not even when she'd previously made the cold and ignorant statement of his wife and "her reward is in heaven." Biden was emotional when recalling the loss of his wife and daughter, and he nearly broke down. It was a strong moment for him, and he definitely came off as more human than his opponent.
Next, Palin and McCain are mavericks??? Biden called her out on the "maverick" claim, too. I should have counted the number of times she used the word because it was a constant theme, as if she was trying to convince herself maybe. Are they really mavericks? Come on. Let's be real about this. McCain has voted along with Bush's policies 95% of the time, and while Biden didn't use that specific statistic, the "4 out of 5" ratio he did use is decent enough to illustrate the point that McCain is no maverick. Unless of course we're in bizzaro world and maverick means somebody's bitch. That's most of the irritations. There's also her inability to say anything intelligent about foreign policy and that she answered few questions. Most of her responses were lots of rhetoric or a "blizzard of words," all sound and fury signifying nothing as good ol' Will would say.
Overall, Palin didn't fold under pressure like she did earlier with the Couric interviews, and that was an accomplishment for her, but again, she answered few questions. The moderator wasn't very good and didn't keep the candidates on task, but I do think Biden came out ahead in the end. Landslide.
Lastly, did anyone else catch her slip?
"Look at Lieberman, and Giuliani, and Romney, and Lingle, and all of us who come from such a diverse background of -- of policy and of partisanship, all coming together at this time, recognizing he is the man that we need to leave -- lead in these next four years..."
Buwhahahahaaaaa!!! Oh, yeah, and she can't pronounce nuclear.
7th-Grader Designs Three Dimensional Solar Cell
Category: News and Politics
yesterday on SlashDot... "12-year-old William Yuan's invention of a highly-efficient, three-dimensional nanotube solar cell for visible and ultraviolet light has won him an award and a $25,000 scholarship from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. 'Current solar cells are flat and can only absorb visible light'" Yuan said. 'I came up with an innovative solar cell that absorbs both visible and UV light. My project focused on finding the optimum solar cell to further increase the light absorption and efficiency and design a nanotube for light-electricity conversion efficiency.' Solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than cutting-edge 3D solar cells. 'My next step is to talk to manufacturers to see if they will build a working prototype,' Yuan said. "If the design works in a real test stage, I want to find a company to manufacture and market it.""
How very, very amazing! This could change lots if they get a working prototype. It would make the solar powered home or office an even more practical alternative. Overcast days would no longer be a worry for solar power.
What did they find? Well, it's not all that clear right now, and the account has been deleted. You can go to this site though if you're curious.
What they did was obviously illegal, but at the same time, they have uncovered some interesting things.
One, she used a personal email address to conduct government business, and that's highly questionable. She claims to be qualified to be president, but she clearly isn't qualified to be the governor of Alaska. As as side, you should also know that the entire state of Alaska has a smaller population than Austin, TX.
Two. Palin has claimed repeatedly that she never tried to influence the disciplinary action against her former brother-in-law (state trooper Wooten), but her emails criticize the failure to fire Wooten. It seems to me that she's not as honest as she claims.
Long time, no blog. There hasn't been anything to write though. I can only write so much about how wonderful life is. :-)
However, I'm trying something new (in addition to the swing dance lessons and the cooking classes). Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals or other creatures. Fun, huh? You bet! The projects are small so they go quickly, and the possibilities are endless. These also make great baby toys because of the size, and baby yarn makes for a super soft and cuddly critter for snuggling. For example, I made these over the weekend...
We got the new wedding band, and it's lovely. It's Irish and makes me think of my honey. Plus, it doesn't cause my skin to break out into a rash! So, like I was trying to tell Sean...I'm not allergic to being married to him. :-) It was just the nickel. I also tried wearing the engagement ring again with luck this time around. Yay! I've just got to remember to not wear it when exercising because that does cause a rash, but who wears a diamond ring when working out anyway? Elizabeth Taylor maybe (if she did work out that is)?
- Nola is a good dog...mostly. I took some fun pictures of her in the yard, and more will be coming soon.
- Wade and Laura have a beautiful baby boy! His name is Brendan Lawrence. Yay! Wade asked Sean and me to be godparents, which we both said yes to happily.
- The Green Dharma Center is getting off the ground! I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to give back and help people who are less fortunate.
that's about all right now. Oh yeah! I almost forgot...swing dance lessons are fun, and cooking classes are delicious.
White Gold: The Modern Fool’s Gold?
Category: Blogging
I find it curious that in many European countries there is a ban on nickel being used in jewelry**. In fact after a little research, I found that items marked as Nickel-Free have to meet a strict requirement of containing less than 0.05% nickel (an even stricter requirement of less than 0.01% in the UK)*. However, in the United States there are no guidelines of any sort for the use of nickel . So, if you buy white gold jewelry in the United States, you'll likely be buying nickel white gold because nickel is cheap and because a desirable white is fairly easy to obtain with nickel. The problem though is that roughly 12% of the population is allergic to nickel, and most of these people are women. So, it follows that if 12% of the general population has a nickel allergy, and that most of those people are female, that the percentage of the female population with the allergy is higher than 12%. A correct conclusion. Several studies have found that the percentage is as high as 35-45%. *** Crazy! That means that between 1/3 and 1/2 of the female population is allergic to nickel! Think about this. Who do you think wears most of the white gold, men or women? If you answered women, you're right. There's earrings, bracelets, bangles, rings, watches, and necklaces...and then there's even toe rings and anklets for our feet! So, a significant portion of the leading consumer of a product is allergic, BUT there's no regulation on the use of nickel in gold in the US. There's also not a lot in the way of educating consumers, which makes sense considering that sales would go down...or people (like myself) would begin to buy their white gold from sources outside of the US. Why am I bringing this up?
As you may know or have guessed, I am allergic to nickel. This came to light when my ring finger, and the skin between it and its neighbors, broke out into a rash like poison ivy but much, much worse. The usual remedies didn't help, and after getting special ointment from a doctor, the rash went away over a week later. It turned out that the culprit was my wedding band, and after my finger completely healed from the first rash, I have tried wearing the engagement ring. It's also made of white gold, but I thought it might be better since we got the ring from a fairly pricey jeweler. It was fine...for about a week.
Then last night, my finger started getting the tale-tale itch, and today, the skin between my fingers is red and irritated. Fortunately, I have the ointment left over, and I got the one refill for just-in-case so I can kick this before it's gets bad like last time. It's all a little frustrating though.
Nickel is the most common metal allergen. It is also more common in women, and women wear more of it than men. It's also very common knowledge in the jewelry industry, but they don't do much about it. I called the jeweler today and told them what happened. Their response was, "Oh, yes! All white gold has nickel in it, and lots of women are allergic." ??!!??!! I'm thinking, "You knew about this when you sold the ring?! Thanks!" They did offer some options (all short of a full refund).
- They can send the ring off to be remade in platinum, with us paying for the difference of course. - They can reapply a rhodium coating. - We can buy a new ring.
So. We'll get something figured out so I can wear the ring, or the ring will just go into a box. It's my grandmother's diamond though, and I'd really like to be able to wear it. Again, this is frustrating. I can't wear my wedding set, and this could have been avoided if the jewelry industry in the US had adopted regulations on nickel, as seems to be the correct thing to do.
So, to answer the question in the subject heading, if you live in the US, yes. I guess that makes me a fool this time around, but it's alright. Live and learn.
