Monthly Archives: March 2008

Gardening time is here again

Posted on March 30, 2008 | Comments Off on Gardening time is here again

brocolli.jpgSpring is here so It’s time to prepare my vegetable garden again. With all the tasks at work (4 Projects Due at the same time *AND* late night calls 4 to 6 days a week…) I’m really looking forward to doing work that my wife and I can enjoy.

Also, for our garden, we’ve planted new mixed color peonies. That was a little amusing as my wife got the little shovel, put on gloves, dressed in old jeans in case it got dirty and then I did all the work.

She’s ready for a career in management…
šŸ˜‰

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Beautiful Seed” by Corrinne May from her “Beautiful Seed” Album. You can see the video of her playing it live here.

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Ugh. Sen. Hillary Clinton is really close to losing my vote…

Posted on March 26, 2008 | Comments Off on Ugh. Sen. Hillary Clinton is really close to losing my vote…

Democratic PartyApparently, Sen. Hillary Clinton is jumping on the same band wagon the Radical Right wing is on.

I wonder: Has Sen. Clinton gone after Sen. McCain for his seeking of the endorsement John Hagee?

As Keith Olbermann pointed out, Sen. Clinton is NOT doing the Democratic Party any favors with her attacks and missteps.

Me, I’m not interested in her attack politics but rather what the NEXT president can do to solve the problems presented to us now. Her comments about Rev Jeremiah Wright comes at a time when her own credibility is under attack and, IMO, has the feel of desperation.

Slight Update: While out to lunch and discussing Sen. Obama’s appearance at work (And I Missed it!!!), my friend and I ran into a Sen. Clinton supporter. We were just discussing whether or not a lot of “experience” is needed and our Sen. Clinton supporter pointed out his opinion that Pennsylvania will sooner support Sen. McCain NOT support Sen. Obama. Mind you, this is his opinion and I hope he’s mistaken. IMHO, Sen. McCain is running as it he’d be a 3rd GW Bush term and I’d rather avoid that.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Stop And Stare” by One Republic from the “Dreaming Out Loud” Album. You can see the video here.

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Posted in Current Issues, Different, News, Rants

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I like “CSI: Miami” but…

Posted on March 24, 2008 | Comments Off on I like “CSI: Miami” but…

I like “CSI: Miami” but the writing has just got to get better. Just finished seeing the 1st episode after the writer’s strike and It’s pure fantasy.Ā  I won’t spoil it, but WOW. The culprit, motivationĀ  and the plan was just waaayyyy over the top…

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Posted in Asides

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Overheard in the supermarket…

Posted on March 24, 2008 | Comments Off on Overheard in the supermarket…

amd_obamabarack.jpgSunday I was in the supermarket and overheard this from a worker there:

“If Obama is the President, OSAMA will be the Vice President!“

This is one of the things I’m afraid of: people believing the misinformation that exists about Sen. Obama. Even some my co-workers, people who read the news paper, thought Sen. Obama is Islamic (he’s actually a Christian) and would not vote for him on that basis alone.

After 8 years of stunning incompetence, a disregard for the law, and various other things, Sen. John McCain may win due to misinformation put out by the GOP and their allies.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Won’t Go Home Without You” by Maroon 5 from the “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” Album. You can see the video here.

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Posted in Current Issues

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Glen Greenwald nails it again

Posted on March 22, 2008 | Comments Off on Glen Greenwald nails it again

Don’t know how I missed it when he wrote it but Glenn Greenwald once again wriote a great post about the state of affairs in politics. This time, his post “Some hateful, radical ministers — white evangelicals — are acceptable” approaches the odd dichotomy of Sen. Obama’s minister friend being bad while Sen. McCain’s minister friend is apparently acceptable. Good reading.

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Dept. of Homeland Security Outsourcing Law Enforcement??

Posted on March 19, 2008 | Comments Off on Dept. of Homeland Security Outsourcing Law Enforcement??

Dept. of Homeland Security LogoIMO, This is more evidence that the GW Bush Administration does not really care about Security.

From USA Today (emphasis is mine):

WASHINGTON – Airlines are protesting a government plan that would require them to take fingerprints of foreign travelers as they fly out of the USA, saying it could create massive lines at airport check-in counters.
(snip)
The Homeland Security Department, which currently fingerprints foreigners coming into U.S. airports, wants airlines to be responsible for taking fingerprints as these travelers leave.

Follow that logic: The Department of Homeland Security is so concerned about Security, that they want the Airlines to do part of their job.

Ignoring the privacy issues here (Anyone happy with a Corporation storing travelers Finger Prints?!?): How serious are they if they seek to outsource it? Wasn’t this kind of thinking one of the problems that lead to 9/11??

I’m not sure fingerprinting will solve any problems, but if it does why would DHS want to outsourced?

Music Iā€™m listening to right Now:
“Rescue” by Eve 6 from the Horrorscope Album.

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Modifying PageView Plugin for my needs

Posted on March 15, 2008 | 13 comments

Recently, I needed to insert an IFRAME into a post. I could just insert the IFRAME code into the post, but the Tiny MCE editor chewed it up and occasionally would blow up. Looking for a WP Plugin that handles IFRAME’s, I came across John Godley’s PageView plugin. I like how it’s written and presented, but I wanted it take all the IFRAME parameters and not always have a header. So I modified the following files:
pageview/pageview.php
pageview/pageview.css
pageview/view/pageview/pageview.php

[pageview src=”//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23601329#23601329″ frameborder=”0″ height=”339″ scrolling=”no” width=”100%”]

Done via my modifications:
[ pageview src="//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23601329#23601329" frameborder="0" height="339" scrolling="no" width="100%" ]
If “src=” is in the plugin string, my modification will make an assumption that the entire string is the IFRAME parameters. As I don’t do any error checking, this could be potentially dangerous but it suits my needs.

[pageview http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23601329#23601329 “Keith Oberman” Special Comment]

Done via original 3 parameters:
[ pageview http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23601329#23601329 "Keith Oberman" Special Comment ]
This will use any defaults in the CSS file and in the case of the MSNBC IFRAME doesn’t work too good. This isn’t a deficiency of the plugin, it’s a good plugin doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. On top of that, the Code is well written and easy to read which made it easy for me to find the exact spot to modify for my needs.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Big Bang Baby” by Stone Temple Pilots from the “Tiny Music…Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop” Album.

13 Comments

Posted in Cool Stuff, Different, In Development

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Keith Olbermann Special Comment

Posted on March 15, 2008 | 1 comment

[pageview src=”//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23601329#23601329″ frameborder=”0″ height=”339″ scrolling=”no” width=”100%”]

Many people assume that since GW Bush is a frequent target of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment that he’ll ignore anything other people say. Quite frankly, this is not the case as he demonstrated on his March 12th show. I read about it at the Huffington Post (transcript) and have to say: He nails the issues perfectly.

I know Sen. Clinton wants to be the next president, but the actions Mr. Olbermann calls her out on make me wonder if she should be the next president. After 8 years of incompetence in the GW Bush adminstration, A democrat getting elected should be a no brainer, but the way this is playing out makes me wonder.

If the Democratic Party blows it, Sen. John McCain seems to be running a campaign where he’ll act as the Third Term of GW Bush. Frankly, that would be a disaster for the United States as we’re in horrible shape now and can’t continue in the direction we’ve been going in. The Right Wing policies of the GOP just aren’t working (Unless your Bear Stearns of course…) and The Democratic Party, while holding a majority in the House and Senate, can’t seem to develop the backbone needed to change the path we’re on.

BTW: The IFRAME above was done via a slightly modified PageView plugin. I liked the plugin so I modified it for my own nefarious purpose.

Music Iā€™m listening to right Now:
“The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson from the “Girls and Boys” album. You can see the video here on VH1.com’s site.

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Posted in Current Issues, Different, News, Video

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Hey! House Democratic leaders may be developing a Backbone!

Posted on March 13, 2008 | Comments Off on Hey! House Democratic leaders may be developing a Backbone!

Glenn Greenwald writes that: Chairman Conyers and 19 Members of the House Judiciary Committee have now issued a comprehensive report concluding that “the Administration has not established a valid and credible case justifying the extraordinary action of Congress enacting blanket retroactive immunity as set forth in the Senate bill.” Good to hear.

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Talk of a “Dream Ticket”, Geraldine Ferraro and Spitzer Watch

Posted on March 12, 2008 | Comments Off on Talk of a “Dream Ticket”, Geraldine Ferraro and Spitzer Watch

Democratic PartyThese past few days has been odd for the Democratic Party.
Let’s See:

  1. Sen. Hillary Clinton is sending interesting messages. She has mentioned a “Dream Ticket” with apparently her as president and Sen. Barack Obama as Vice President. Which would be ok *IF* Sen. Barack Obama didn’t have more delegates. To put it mildly, it’s a bit premature for her to suggest that. To make matters worse, this talk may eliminate any chance of a “Dream Ticket” with either one of them.
  2. Former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro threw a Verbal Hand Grenade into the mix with This quote:

    ā€œIf Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.ā€

    It’s her opinion and she’s welcome to it, but this put Sen. Hillary Clinton on the spot forcing her to publicly disagree with Ferraro.

  3. Saving the BEST for Last: My personal favorite: Gov. Elliot Spitzer.
    Like many New Yorkers, I’m incredibly disappointed in the man. As more details come out, he’s looking really bad and frankly, just stupid. If he really has been using prostitutes for years, I’m amazed this did not come out sooner.The real victims are his family not the public.

UPDATE: Gov. Elliot Spitzer has resigned, effective Monday. See good coverage on Gothamist.
Music Iā€™m listening to right Now:
ā€œCrazyā€ by Seal from the ā€œSeal (1991)ā€ Album.

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