THE MATH IS THE MATH…

“As Governor Palin alluded to last night with Justice Jeanine Pirro, she wants all candidates to go forward and doesn’t want the primary process to be over with.

Before being cut off last night, she began to make the point of “the math is the math.”  In doing so, combined with her plea to “Rage against the Machine, Vote Newt,” Sarah Palin’s message was clear.

In order to give all the non-Romney candidates the push to go forward, “the math” has to be accepted as we are two days away from the Florida primary.

What some seem to be missing is that this was no call for the rest of us to pit the Non-Romney candidates against one another.  “The math is the math” and right now, Newt Gingrich is the closest candidate who can carve out a modest win in Florida if the entire tea party and grassroots would coalesce behind him.  It’s a strategy and not a campaign for one person for the remainder of the primary season.

So yes, as Palin supporters, out of respect of Governor Palin, our mission and immediate call to action has been sounded.  This means that leading up to Florida’s primary, our collective support should be to do whatever we can to get Newt Gingrich as many votes as we can before Tuesday’s primary.

“The math is the math.”  It doesn’t matter if we personally prefer Ron Paul.

It doesn’t matter if we personally prefer Rick Santorum.”

Full article here

In a nutty nutshell, the author believes not only does Palin send her supporters secret messages in her speeches, but she is now telling them who to vote for, regardless of who they may want to vote for…

“As Palin supporters, I implore all to set their personal preferences aside and to do what we can to follow her strategic lead… Governor Palin’s political instincts are top notch…  this website is focused on… being behind her 100% regardless of our personal feelings.” – Steve Flesher

Yeah, don’t bother casting your ballot for the guy you trust, vote for Newt because Sarah sent us a message instructing us how to vote! Go America!

I swear I can smell the faintest whiff of election tampering.

But for now, the young men not allowed to cuss are reveling in Brontee’s mispronunciation of the word smack.

I love this. First because parents today can forever capture these precious moments  with the flip of a mobile phone and second because it took me back to the days when my own kids were young and tripped over the F Bomb for the first time. Like the littlie in this clip my oldest nephew couldn’t say fire truck without turning it into fiyahfuck – which he said loudly and with great enthusiasm – which was unfortunate as my prudish brother was a fireman and loved taking his son to his station house.

My youngest daughter confused fuck with frog which made her siblings giggle with glee and so struck the funnybone of a family friend that he once absconded with the gold ceramic frog that lived in my bathroom and showed up with it at Pizza & Pipes for a Saturday night family outing. Sitting at the opposite end of a long table from my daughter he boldly reached into his jacket, retrieved the shiny, borrowed figurine, held it up in the air and hollered to the other end of the table Hey missy! Look what I have!

My 2 year old stood straight up in her high chair, wildly waved an accusing finger and bellowed in her oh-so-deep nobody-knows-where-she-got-it baritone voice…

THAT’S MY FUCK!!!

It was enough to make the organist stop playing.

*          *          *

Healing is going well but pain level is still too much for me. I just keep reminding myself that it’s temporary – and we can do anything short-term.  I’ll have a progress report next week. Thank you for all the great advice, words of encouragement, nurturing energy and prayers – Oz

Talk about putting the issue of unemployment into perspective…

side note – hanging in there – lots of pain – hard to sleep – but so much loving support – thank you everyone – oz

I do know that people who don’t have a lot of money to begin with have to make personal sacrifices in order to pay $100 for a DVD or coffee mug because money for donations has to come from somewhere. Are these Palin supporters doing without extras and necessities in order to play the SarahPAC donation game?

I once lived in San Francisco next door to a family from Hot Springs Arkansas. The houses on our block were all three story Victorian homes.  Some were single family dwellings while others were divided into flats which then accommodated multiple families. This particular family lived in a flat – two parents and two children. One Christmas the mother announced she was taking a retail job and they would not be exchanging presents or chipping into pot luck festivities because they had decided to save for a home. Everyone on the block was supportive. My mom and dad gave the kids presents anyway and included them in our holiday plans regardless.

But I put this out there because I remember so clearly from that Christmas forward my friend (their daughter) not having any sweets in her school lunchbox, never being able to buy an ice cream with the rest of us after school, skipping class field trips and my dad paying for her to accompany me on occasional weekend activities like Saturday afternoon matinees or swimming parties.

Her ice skating lessons came to a halt and for several semesters she wore hand-me-down clothing her mom found at church rummage sales. I can still hear her mother making the worn-out comment “no, you can’t have that, we’re saving for a house remember?”

To further save money an out-of-work uncle was called upon to watch my friend and her much younger brother on evenings when both parents worked overtime hours. The uncle babysitting lasted until my friend told her mother that the uncle was forcing himself on her sexually (we were about aged 10-12 at the time). I remember how horrified my parents were and that while the uncle was sent far, far away, my friend got the belt for not outing him sooner – and my dad was so outraged at her punishment he never spoke to my friend’s dad again.

The thing is, money has to come from somewhere. In many ways the commitment made by this family to save enough money to buy a first home is commendable. But on another level, the severity of sacrifice made by the two small kids was beyond harsh. For more than one or two holiday seasons there was no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny and little fuss made over birthdays while all around them their friends had presents to open, candles to blow out and parties to plan. (And of course the obvious observation needs to be made – if the parents hadn’t been so keen on getting a free babysitter would they have left their daughter in the care of the uncle?)

The parents desire to become home-owners was so strong it excluded their children from much of the socialization that happens in grade school. No trips or money to buy treats at bake sales or joining in with others for parties or after school activities. And I can’t even begin to describe the humiliation my friend surely must have felt by having to purchase her first bra at a church charity sale surrounded by a group of women who all knew her uncle had molested her.

And when I think of all the not-so-well-off people who have made similar familial sacrifices in order to afford sending donations to SarahPAC the irony makes my blood boil.

The Republicans behind Sarah Palin running for president all believe that government handouts are wrong – that people out of work should just suck it up and find jobs – that free medical treatment or food stamps go against the grain of people standing up on their own two feet – that the elderly and infirm should just figure it out…

…and yet all their heroes (not just Sarah Palin) run political campaigns forged on the collection of public donations. You know – that darned ol’ *gasp* free money thing they so adamantly scream at Pres. Obama about.

At least at the end of the day my friend and her family were able to move into a lovely house in the avenues. What are the Palin supporters getting for their sacrifices? I mean besides a packet of lies and a boxful of empty promises.

*          *          *

O/T – my follow-up posts on the SLRC race and the Childrens Hour are still forthcoming – it’s just that I’ve stepped into this weird dimension I like to call the hurrier I go the behinder I get… so your patience is much appreciated

Gorgeous – Happy New Year everyone

Have a happy, safe holiday everyone

As actresses, Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine took a lot of flack for their portrayal of two single teachers wrongly accused of being lesbians by one of their students. The fact of their characters’ innocence made no difference to those offended by the topic. The movie itself was actually falsely labelled perverse before movie-goers had a chance to see for themselves it was neither sexually explicit nor about lesbians – ironically reinforcing the entire moral of the story.

Regardless of a person’s defense of or offense taken, the movie made a strong statement about the manipulation of public opinion:  Once an accusing finger has been pointed there will be those who forever believe the accusation in spite of any evidence ultimately pointing to the contrary. It is the epitomy of the old adage – Once a bell is rung it can never be un-rung.

The Story:
Karen and Martha are longtime friends who open a school for girls. They are hard-working, good teachers and the school attracts many affluent families. Karen has a boyfriend, Martha does not but Karen and her boyfriend include Martha in everything they do. The women’s strong bond and warm personalities contribute to their success as teachers.

Enter the mean girl, Mary, who’s punished for telling a lie and gets even with her teacher by beginning a rumour that the two schoolteachers are lovers. Before the rumour can be disproved, parents pull their daughters from the school and the two women are shunned by the town.

The disgrace and violence the women endure as a result of the false accusation is sadly no different from what happens today. As a society we are every bit too quick to pass judgement now as we were 60-70-80 years ago. Especially when we feel our children may be at risk.

If this is a movie you’ve never seen, I strongly recommend it. The acting is superb and the story is gripping.

This is my head’s up to you because over the next few days I’d like to open a discussion about last month’s events at Penn State. It’s not a happy story – not for anyone – but certain contradictory facts are beginning to bubble to the surface and I’d seriously like to be able to talk about them with you.

Here’s a bit from tomorrow’s post:

For the past couple of years returning soldiers have planned surprise visits to loved ones and captured it all on film. With all the negative crap that goes on everyday in the news it’s a shame these clips don’t get more play. These little glimpses into ‘real-life’ experiences help put other things into perspective and are lovely  to share… well done guys!

Welcome Home Blog has stacks of these. This was the one on youtube that caught spouse’s eye:

As a matter of fact I think I’ll add this to my blog roll

Yup I’m pretty sure while he saw the jab coming from the debate stage, he aimed this straight at your stupid Fox interview, FB rant, not just the idiot crowd you’re endorsing. And I’m not super sure, but pretty sure The Donald may have had his topknot ruffled as well.

Two morons, one idiot and a whiner all backhanded in one fine stroke. Not bad.

Oh and I especially like the countdown clocks behind him letting the country know whose responsibility it is if the middle class has their taxes raised.

Get paired up at work with a Palinbot for the office Silent-Santa gift exchange and don’t know what to get?

Well even if all you want to do is give a liberal a laff, I found THE PERFECT gift for Palin fans at this website.

Welcome to Holiday Hell…

ITEM DETAILS

Tacky Sarah Palin Christmas sweater! On this sweater, Sarah Palin is wearing her own tacky sweater, complete with decorations. She’s got happy jazz hands, wearing her winter gloves. Bust = 42″ Length = 25″. Sleeves are 12″ half-length.

You might even want this one for yourself! You know – to prove to the world that while you might be a liberal, you’re also too fair and balanced!

ITEM DETAILS

T-neck red Tacky Sarah Palin Christmas Sweater! Sweater has a rear zipper at the neck for easy on-off. This sweater is 2-sided! The front has Sarah wearing a pair of festive antlers. On the back of the sweater, Sarah Palin is wearing her own tacky sweater, mittens, and a santa hat! Decorative accents include beads, pom poms, bows, and trim. This festive sweater is a winner! Bust=34″. Length= 22″.

AND THAT’S NOT ALL! Each of these lovely creations is not only a steal at $64.95, they are also too pre-owned which means you’d be helping other lucky gift recipients to recycle!

WOW!

I don’t know about you guys but I sure know where I’m going shopping for my stocking stuffers this year!!!

Ugly Christmas Sweaters Dot Com – where have you been all my life!!! (omg I am so into the sweaters with twinkle lights!)

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE and GRAHAM BOWLEY

Published: December 6, 2011

They call it the Robin Hood tax — a tiny levy on trades in the financial markets that would take money from the banks and give it to the world’s poor.

And like the mythical hero of Sherwood Forest, it is beginning to capture the public’s imagination.

Driven by populist anger at bankers as well as government needs for more revenue, the idea of a tax on trades of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments has attracted an array of influential champions, including the leaders of France and Germany, the billionaire philanthropists Bill Gates and George Soros, former Vice President Al Gore, the consumer activist Ralph Nader, Pope Benedict XVI and the archbishop of Canterbury.

“We all agree that a financial transaction tax would be the right signal to show that we have understood that financial markets have to contribute their share to the recovery of economies,” the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, told her Parliament recently.

READ FULL STORY HERE

For me, the story of Christmas began to unravel when I was around age ten. I loved the hymns and carols and candles and lights and Sunday mass in a church full of beautiful flowers and good friends. It was comforting and despite my personal epiphany, I’m glad my parents took me to church every Sunday when I was young.

But this particular year would be my last as an honest believer in Orthodox Christianity.

I remember sitting in the choir loft with my mom and looking down at the tops of all the ladies hats. I was playing my weekly game of guessing which hat belonged to which lady when the priest took to the pulpit and began his Christmas Day sermon about the birth of Baby Jesus.  I knew the story by heart and although it was nice to hear again I was ten after all and not really listening. My good behaviour in church was inspired more by not wanting the wrath of my mother’s silent glare than interest in the good priest’s words. (My mother had a way of levelling whole buildings with a single raised eyebrow and I hardly wanted to find myself in trouble on a day like today.)

So listening to Father Harris that Christmas morning was more like skimming through a book you’d already read. My ears only picked out certain key words that let me know how the story was progressing so I could follow along and work out how much longer I had to sit quietly.  Presents, opened and then abandoned to get dressed for church had my real attention.

Blizzard… Mary… no room… Joseph… barn… bright star… wise men… myrrh… the heavy scent of incense wafted up into the loft. It was not a pleasant aroma for me and I curled my nose into the folds of my mother’s choir robe and breathed in the softer smell of her white rose corsage.  When younger, the combined chemicals of incense, multiple ladies’ perfumes, fresh-cut flowers and men’s cologne made me (literally) faint and I learned to sidestep that embarrassing event with a breathing-slash-counting game taught to me by my paediatrician. With face full of purple cotton I pretended to count the miles it took to get from our house in the city to my grandfather’s farm two hours south.

Shepherds…  bright star again… so if the bright Christmas star appeared in the sky the moment baby Jesus was born and was used by the shepherds and wise men to guide them to the scene of the birth – how in the world did this all happen in one night? It took forever just to get to my grandfather’s farm and these shepherds were coming down whole mountains and wise men were riding camels into Jerusalem from deserts of far off lands – none of which could have been even remotely close to the manger in which Christ was born.

And wasn’t there a blizzard? How did anyone see the stars through a sky filled with rain and snow clouds? And if it took several weeks or months for these visitors to actually reach Mary and Joseph why were they still in the barn? One by one and thread by thread the warm, protective layers of blind faith began succumbing to the cold light of reason.

My mom was great. She told me some stories were told to make us feel better – to give us hope in troubled times. Stories taught us lessons in humility and generosity and helped us overcome greed and show compassion toward each other. It didn’t matter if the events surrounding the birth of baby Jesus happened all in one night or over an entire year – the lesson was about how no matter our differences, all living things can share the joy offered by the miracle of birth.

And as I watched my baby sister growing up I realised how some stories were told to keep children who couldn’t understand more sophisticated reasoning safe from the grown up things that could hurt them. Like shouting No! Hot! if you saw her walking toward the stove while mom was putting dinner on the table. At three a toddler can’t quite grasp the whole ‘mom’s cooking so you need to stay out of the kitchen for a while’ thing. But HOT can be grasped in an instant.

And although I can’t be one hundred percent certain, I’m reasonably sure that this is the premise upon which entire religions are based:  Creating easy-to-understand rules that makes a cohesive society out of an otherwise nomadic, chaotic existence.

Humans need rules. I get that. I just believe we’ve sufficiently evolved past the need for the fairytale explanations our priests and politicians think we need in order to swallow the truth.

And sometimes I think I was smarter at age ten than I am today…

Can’t get the song out of your head now can you…

Having grown up in both a protestant and orthodox house I have always considered myself a good Christian. And even though I put my whole heart and soul into traditional Christianity as a kid, there simply came a time I outgrew believing in all the abracadabra and smoke and mirrors of religion.

I believe in being a good friend and neighbour – in not destroying the environment where I can help it, in sharing what I have with those who have less, never causing harm to another living being and always striving to be someone others can trust.

I don’t see why it’s necessary to have faith in a supreme being in order to have a conscience but if you do, that’s ok too

Oh and it shows this pretty chart too!

So come on republicans… tell us… nOw whatcha gunna bitch about?

[click to enlarge]

Link to more information. (Includes a Vimeo video I can’t embed.)

Link to contacting your senator. (Requires zip code.)

I’m all for copyright owners collecting their well-deserved royalties. But I also hate censorship and am really, really tired of big corporations getting congressional votes on anything.

===================

NOTE:  Have found and enabled the nested thread feature – hopefully this will allow us to respond directly to a comment without having to copy/paste posters names, etc. Wish I could get wordpress to allow .jpg’s to appear in comments – that would save a stack of time and grief…

So with all the other things I have to be thankful for this year I’m including giving thanks for all the really great gadgets and techy toys some pretty amazing geeks have invented that made my visit with mom this morning possible!

Eat lots and lots of turkey and cranberry sauce and baked sweet potatoes covered with mini marshmallows and stuffing with gravy and corn on the cob and pumkpkin pie with gobs of whipped cream on top! And then have a second helping for me because there’s no Thanksgiving downunder *sniff* and spouse and I decided to skip our unorthodox celebration this year. (We sometimes invite a few friends the first week in December to share what we’ve dubbed our American Thanksgiving A Week Late & In The Wrong Country celebration.)

Anyway I’m off to call all my kids – can’t wait to hear their voices – I hope you are all enjoying family and special friends – and those who are able – take a plate or two to a homeles shelter and share the joy

Courtesy of earthcam.com here are some screenies (click to enlarge) of the parade:

Did you know this little guy has been around since the 1870′s? The Morton Salt girl too evidently!

An actual Kool dude

Hi Mickey!!!

Have a lovely day everyone

When cliveden posted a link and a question in another comments section, I casually strolled across the web to have a sticky beak (that means take a look for you mainlanders). I found the photo, captured it and reposted it here to get all your opinions. The next day I went back to the site and began perusing the other entries. By the third one I was sitting straight up in my seat, alarmed and uncomfortable.

I immediately removed the link from my comments and sent cliveden an email explaining my reasons. I asked her to please not post it anywhere else until I’d had a chance to show it to a professional, get his opinion, and capture certain information that might otherwise disappear (like some myspace accounts) should the quiet blog suddenly be the recipient of heavy traffic.

To be perfectly honest, my initial impression of the photo was that it had been photo-shopped by the blog author. The post read like a quiet occasion shared by two close friends. But in reading further it began to feel more like the long, melancholy letter one would write to a lover at sea, referring to one of the Palin women as ‘my sweetness’ and reading the posts felt like such an intrusion of privacy I had to stop. On the advice of a friend and professional, I’ve sent the link to Alaska authorities. On the advice of a friend and a blogger, I’m not going to release the link here and sincerely hope that any of you who might be privy to the web address will not make it public, either.

We have a responsibility – all of us – on all sides of the political aisle – to ensure we have a place to conduct deeply passionate, heated discussions about our policies, our elected officials, our elected-wannabes and in these rooms we share some pretty adamant, unyielding and differing opinions of people. But one thing we need to always agree on and that is we mean no one actual physical harm. I am genuinely concerned that the author of the blog I read is troubled, pathologically focused on the Palin family and neither I nor any of my readers need to be the catalyst for putting this poor soul over the edge.

And then I had an email exchange with Gryphen from tIM in which he not only confirmed my reactions but had this profound statement to add as well:

As things with the Palins start to die down there are a few VERY unhinged people, on both sides of the spectrum, who seem to be having an especially hard time letting things go.  Just recently  Shawn Christy decided to plead guilty (http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/sarah-palins-stalker-plead-guilty) which is good because he was another one who was becoming increasingly scary.

Sarah and Todd Palin may very well be genuine phonies who grifted their way to fame and fortune, cheating the general public out of millions of dollars – but as disingenuous as they might be, stalkers are very real. And unfortunately we can’t always know who they are because – well, for one thing, they don’t wear name tags. So for now, at least, I’m taking the high road and not releasing the blog link.

But that said… a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Commenter Carolyn stepped forward to identify the photo in question and if nothing else, her knowledge of the event convinced me that the melancholy blogger is not responsible for any alterations which may have befallen our wedding mystery photo of Sarah & Todd – so that event and this photo are – in my humble opinion – up for grabs, topic wise. The link is off limits, but the photo is still in play.

A short tutorial in photo-shopping:

Behold the following photo of Todd Palin taken by a professional photographer with a high quality resolution of 300 pixels (dots) per inch (.dpi). When you lighten or enlarge this photo, the image (in particular the shadow on his cheek) doesn’t lose integrity. That’s because at 300 dpi there are enough pixels (dots) in each square inch to maintain the original image as it stretches. The image is left with clean, undistorted lines.

(Click image to enlarge)

Now we have a photo of Todd taken with a lesser quality camera and uploaded to youtube. The end result is an image resolution of 72 dpi – which is normally suitable for most images but the conversion to a youtube format added another process called compression. I found this answer on a forum to be the most comprehensive:

Image compression, like what is used for JPEG files, does just what it sounds like it does: it takes all of the data recorded by the sensor … and eliminates redundancies to create a smaller file size. In practice, this process takes the form of reducing the number of recorded colors to those specifically found in the image, and combining data from closely-colored pixels sitting near each other. The more heavily you apply this process the smaller the file will be, but the more details will be lost.

(Click to enlarge)

Simple shadows taken at a low resolution and then compressed lend a gritty look to normal shadows. In the case  of the August 17 youtube clip, the normal shadow on Tod’s cheeks appear darker than in the original image. When that same image is subsequently sharpened to pull it back into focus, a shadow can appear so gritty it gives the appearance of being a creeping beard.

The image of Todd in the wedding photo – to me – looks like a compressed photo that’s been shopped into a bigger picture. The image has been changed probably in size and then had a sharpening tool applied to compensate for the small distortions left behind. Interestingly enough, someone commented earlier on Todd missing his right ear. As you can see in the above image, compression and/or alteration can leave rough-looking, jagged edges which then need to be erased to hide or painted over to blend into the parent image. In either case, Todd is looking ‘almost’ straight on into the camera and – imho – at least a portion of his right ear should have been visible.

I can’t imagine this is a genuine photo of Sarah & Todd, even though I told Carolyn I would bow to her knowledge of this event – so I will bow out of this now with just one final observation…

What on earth did Todd do to ‘chubby up’ so dramatically in only 8 days?

============   UPDATE   ============

I am truly sorry the original conversation of the last two posts got derailed but will attempt to respond to a couple of things here. I am remiss in not having been more clear to begin with so allow me to backtrack:

A commenter sent me a photo and asked if I thought it was shopped or not. I had no stake in an outcome either way. My initial reaction was that yes, I thought it had been, although for what purpose I had no clue. Then I revisited the site of origin and became alarmed at the intimacy of the writing. It felt as if I’d opened a door to a room where I had no business being. Like a kid who accidentally walks in on his parents having sex – even though there were no parents here and no sex – just a style of writing that went well past a sense of correctness in blogging from a simple ‘fan’ in my opinion. So I pulled back and sought professional advice.

In the meantime Carolyn came on board and offered to share the original of this photo, knew the event it represented, some of the people involved and her knowledge answered a few of our questions. I have no evidence to support the suspicion that she lied when telling us the photo was genuine – but I also have no evidence which might support her claim of its authenticity, either. A couple of people dug around and located flickr accounts of this wedding event but not a single photo of Sarah & Todd appear in either of the flickr slideshows of the ceremony and reception, or in the newspaper account of the event which got a decent sized write-up in a local paper. Carolyn did provide a photo of Willow and Trig that I was delighted to receive because many of us have been disappointed by the lack of public photos of Trig growing up. But supporting photos of Sarah and Todd at this event? Not one.

I am not obsessed with this photo – I’ve just tried to be thorough. And the reason to even go down this avenue at all is because of the preponderance of evidence that has surfaced over the past three years showing how Sarahs initial quest for political power was riddled with false scenarios deliberately set up to make her appear more than she is. The release of emails alone showed Sarah to be rather deceptive and conniving inasmuch as she actually stooped to writing her own letters of praise and then had staff sign and submit them to local newspapers as if they represented the voice of the average Alaskan citizen . It was also discovered through these emails that Sarah had to locate and borrow a jogging stroller so she could be photographed with it in a national magazine ‘as if’ running with Trig in tow was a part of her normal routine. So in that vein, if this wedding photo is yet another phoney ploy concocted by the Palins for whatever reason, then we have every right to persue those facts.

Turning to my blog – it’s time I think to make a public commitment to all you reading my blog, whether you feel I’m one of the unhinged or not… everyone is welcome at Oz Mudflats. I have never and will never chastize a commenter or delete a comment because it is critical of my writing, my opinion or the subject of the post. A very wise professor once told my class - If we were each the same – one of us would be unnecessary. We need to praise and correct each other and be willing to take both as well. We need debate and differing opinions and opposing viewpoints to create and maintain a healthy balance in society and I do not preach what I do not practice. You may not get me to bend to your point of view but you’re welcome to try and I may do handstands to get you to see my side of an issue. I may clean up some of the more colourful language from time to time in the comments if I feel the cussing is overdone and could offend one of our more gentle readers but I will not ever delete the contribution itself or in any way attempt to humiliate the person behind it. In three years I’ve shown only one person the door and not for the thought behind the comment but because of the harsh language used to deliver it – but even that comment was left up after editing out a few of the fucks and suggesting he didn’t know me well enough to call me a slut.

This of course doesn’t mean I won’t challenge anyone who waves a red flag under my nose. I am half Irish after all. And I proudly voted for President Obama. It just means everyone is welcome here. No one of you will ever get a post, comment or email from me, belittling you, calling you rude or telling you to go away.

-Oz

However – while my focus on the running post is resetting (so the piece can be as succinct and perfect as possible), let me share a photo just submitted by our friend cliveden. This came with a link that I’m choosing to withhold until other items on the site can be verified. The photo questioned, however, is priceless.

So without benefit of seeing what the author has written, tell me your first impressions – both about the photo itself and the author behind it:

For me, the torso on the male figure is just – wrong. I don’t even know where to begin. The shirt is pulling at an odd angle across his belly – the collar looks to be for a dress shirt (notice the under-the-collar button indicating it’s meant to be worn with a tie and yet there’s no shirt edge or buttons down the front)  and the waistline is out of proportion to the neck and shoulders.

To my eye, Sarah looks like she’s leaning against something that isn’t there and Todds head is way too small. Todd’s neck? He’s an Alaskan – not a giraffe. And I can’t for the life of me work out why anyone would have photo-shopped Todd’s face over another person’s body and seated next to Sarah (if she’s even there at all). It’s all rather bizarre.

Compare this photo to other headshots of the pair:

And this should offer more realistic proportions of Todd’s actual head and neck:

Let me see your first impressions and then I’ll post a sample of the writing. Oh and many thanks again cliveden!

PLEASE NOTE: In case you happen to know the site this photo represents, please do not post the link here. All will be revealed in due time – Thanks – Oz

============  UPDATE  ============

Appreciate all the input and I have to say I agree with almost everyone who says this is just the most unnatural photo… That said, our friend Carolyn has claimed it to be a genuine photo, identified the event as a cousin’s wedding held 09 August 2010 and submitted the full photo from which our selection had been cropped. Carolyn has blocked the faces of the relatives who do not normally appear in the Palin spotlight and I support her decision.

Carolyn also sent me two other pictures taken at this event, one I’ve inserted into the larger one showing Sarah feeding Trig at the table. The other was taken outdoors and I’m really only posting it because – well because in the middle of all the skepticism and doubts we endure from the adult Palin deceptions – we don’t often get to share the sweet side of these bubs and it just struck me as the most adorable photo of Trig I’ve ever seen.

From Carolyn (click to enlarge):
I am still bothered by the 5 o’clock shadow that goes all the way up one side of Todd’s face – it’s not a shadow cast by Sarah’s head but is indicative of how a shadow would appear had it been reduced in size from another photo (one of poor quality). The neck and torso continue to strike me as completely out of proportion – and Sarah really does look like she’s falling off his lap. If this photo sent to me by cliveden was altered, it’s possible this is the version of the photo that had the alteration done. If it’s genuine, as Carolyn claims, than it’s a truly bad photo of Sarah and Todd in a group where everyone else appears rather normal.

So even though I’m still troubled by certain details, I will bow to Carolyn’s knowledge of this event, her access to these Wasillans and chalk this poor photo up to one of life’s little mysteries.

And here’s the icing on the cake – how cute is this little guy, eh? And how happy!
Trig one year ago – age 2 and 1/2

Carolyn – you may find us still poking at the group photo – but I am grateful to you for taking the time to send these photos and for adding your input in the comments – OzMud

The best on air blooper though happened last June with the visit from the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has probably never, ever stood in a pizza shop trying to decide which toppings to have on his pizza  (if he even knows what a pizza is) so Karl’s joke falls completely flat – and the poor man has been poked and jabbed on national TV for it ever since. He’s got a great laugh though – so there’s that.

If you never get to see these guys in America – I give you 16 minutes of pure, unedited, off the cuff humour from our most popular morning show:

Karl & The Dalai Lama

The Stabby Thing (the boys just walk into it – the girls never get it – which makes it all even funnier)

Best Miley Cyrus impersonation evah

The Today Brady Bunch

Today in New York & a Bunch of Muppets

G’day!

Sign this petition and spread the word: Pizza isn’t a vegetable.

Friend –

House Republicans are ramming through legislation this week to classify pizza as a “vegetable” for the purpose of school lunches.Why? Because a massive lobbying effort of Republican lawmakers by the frozen pizza industry, among other corporate interests, is underway to get around Obama Administration guidelines to make school lunches contain healthier options.

In this Republican Congress, almost anything is up for sale to the highest bidder and most powerful lobbyists — including the literal definition of the word “vegetable” — and this time, it’s coming at the expense of our kids’ health.

This is business as usual for some in Washington, but shining a spotlight on it can stop it.

Look, we could have a lot of fun with this one. But the fact is that there is a very real bottom line: Childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades. And for some kids, school lunches are some of the best nutrition options they have during the day.

School lunches are hard to change — and it doesn’t take a doozy like “pizza is a vegetable” to know that the corporate interests have more money and more Washington lobbyists than kids do. That’s why pizza was classified as a vegetable during the Bush years. The Obama administration made that common-sense change, but the Republican Congress wants to take us back to the money-for-influence status quo.

If you think this is as ridiculous as we do, tell the GOP that it’s time they started picking real people over corporations (and real vegetables over slices of pizza, for that matter):

Thanks,

Brad
Brad Woodhouse, Communications Director, Democratic National Committee

============

Right or wrong, I smell a Godfather rat…

Air force One landed in Australia barely 30 minutes ago – the schoolies have already lined up to shake his hand.

From Channel 7 News:

President welcomed to Parliament House
(Video and full story here)

US President Barack Obama has arrived at Parliament House to be officially welcomed at a ceremony on the forecourt.

Mr Obama’s motorcade arrived about 4:30pm (AEDT) with the president in his personal, bomb-proof transport vehicle, known as ‘The Beast’ after a brief stop at his hotel to freshen up.

He was greeted again by the Governor-General Quentin Bryce and Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

There was a 21 gun salute as helicopters hovered overhead.

Gun smoke fanned the forecourt.

The US and Australian national anthems were played as the president stood on the dais in front of the army, navy and air force servicemen and women from the Federation Guard.

He was then invited to inspect the guard and the military band.

US President Barack Obama has arrived in Australia.

Air Force One touched down in the national capital Canberra about 3.10pm (AEDT) – 15 minutes ahead of schedule for his first official visit.

The president smiled and waved as he descended the steps from the specially fitted out Boeing 747 jumbo at the Fairbairn defence establishment.

He was greeted by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australia’s ambassador to the US Kim Beazley and the US ambassador Jeffrey Bleich.

The visit comes as security tightens in the national capital, with key roads closed and US Secret Service agents supplementing a bolstered federal police presence.

Mr Obama, America’s first black president, will meet Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female prime minister, at Parliament House before holding a joint media conference and attending an official dinner.

The president will use a speech to a joint sitting of parliament on Thursday to thank Australia for 60 years of friendship through the ANZUS alliance, and spell out America’s renewed focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

Ms Gillard and Mr Obama also are expected to spell out the broad details of a new agreement for US Marines to conduct training and exercises with Australian forces based in Darwin.

Today everything happens fast. Important phone calls come one after another. Documents needing signatures or assessment fly off fax machines or through emails. There’s no such thing as down time in the oval office.

Today’s president needs to be on top of his (or her) game both mentally and physically 24/7, prepared to jet to New York at 5am, California at noon and then be back in DC before before midnight. During the few hours of travel on Air Force One the president needs to conduct normal business, catch up on reading proposed legislation, take part in video conferences, meet with his staff and answer to the press. There’s no such thing as weekends off, early bedtimes, afternoon naps or long vacations.

For anyone aspiring to the office of the United States in the year 2012 to think he or she can do the job at less than perfect health and without one helluva work ethic is delusional. It may be our inherited right as natural citizens to run for the office – but to be able to fulfill the duties once elected is a horse of a different colour.

Herman Cain, a 65 year old cancer survivor who apparently can’t give a cohesive television interview on 4 hours of sleep and whose wife wears a pacemaker and prefers ‘quiet’, had no business wasting anyone’s time, energy or money running for president.The job is relentless. Demanding. And you can’t cancel an engagement just because you’re fatigued.

When John McCain ran his campaign in 2008 I watched as he went from standing up straight at each venue in August to slumping over, barely shuffling his steps at town hall meetings in October. And that was only one campaign over a course of three months. How on earth did he think he was going to physically cope with actually ‘being’ president?

Malia Litman reports here on the number of days Rick Perry actually worked at his job of Texas governor:

1. Of the last 355 days Governor Perry only reportedly worked a total of 164 days for “State Scheduled Business”. Thus, for 191 days out of the last 355 days, Governor Perry had no “State Scheduled Business.” That means he worked less than 50% of the days in the last 12 months, or just 46% of the days.

2. Perry did not declare his candidacy until August 13th, 2011, and even before that he failed to work 144 days out of approximately 9 ½ months, or 285 days. That means that he worked less than half time as Governor of Texas, even before he declared himself a candidate for President.

 3. Of the days that he did perform some type of state business, he failed to work a significant number of hours during a normal work day. Examples include:

 a. Thurs. April 7th Total hours worked- two 10:15-12:15 when he attended a funeral.

 b. Mon. April 11th 7:00-8:30 attended a dinner

 c. Tues. April 12 one hour

 d. Thurs. May 12th, Only work was a “bill signing”

At best it’s a pathetic showing and outs him as being a career politician with a poor work ethic and no desire to fulfill he gubernatorial obligations to those who elected him into office.

In the year 2012, we will not be able to afford a president whose attention is blurred by failing health, mental stamina or by a lack of ambition to do the actual job.

POTUS is not a video game. It is not run from a comfy chair via command console. You can’t put the world on pause while you run to the kitchen and grab a sandwich. You can’t log off when you’re tired. You have to be there. Alert. Attentive. Every day. Every. Day.

There are no do-overs at the White House. There are no extra lives. You get one shot – and then it’s game over.

A world run by the John Boehners, Sarah Palins, Herman Cains or Ken Hams of today would never achieve anything even close to the remarkable future that lies just beyond – but not out of – our reach.

H/T my Oz boss:
Enjoy -

If there is a failing with this software it will be that it tests recordings of voices, not the actual voices themselves. The basic principles of lie detector studies rest on the physiology of the person being monitored by the machine and a live technician. I’m completely unfamiliar with the software package used to determine Cain’s innocence this morning – have never heard of  it until ten minutes ago and have no understanding of how it works or which police services, and where, have used it successfully thus far.

I doubt it’s used in a court of law and I doubt it replaces actual lie detector tests performed by trained technicians but I am happy to approach this with an open mind.

I can offer two bits of information from my own experience:

1) If a man believes he is ‘entitled’ to do whatever it was he is accused of doing, it can reflect his honesty as he believes it – as opposed to whether or not he actually committed the act.  (And I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a more self-righteous, ego-entitled person than Herman Cain.)

2) Software can be written by the programmer to garner whatever results are desired.

Will be interesting to see how all the ladies treat this and if they demand a traditional lie detector test be run. This should keep the press busy for a while though eh?

============  UPDATE  ============

It’s pretty interesting to note that after finding this article through a ‘news alert’ which scans the internet for breaking news and most popular political stories, and posting it more than 10 hours ago that I can’t even find a whisper of these (what should be critical) results anywhere. Not even on other blogs.

I can’t see it being a hoax as it is presented on an east coast (US) network – which begs the question for me – how reputable is the CBS Atlanta?

Wouldn’t Cain’s attorney have been all over this if it were genuine? Or does the silence mean they’re busy hatching up a big bombshell to drop?

I also think it would be legally unwise for Cain’s team to blatantly call  Sharon Bialek a liar on national television, based upon this test result – but I’m no legal eagle.

Comments have been spot on – the observation that the ‘technician’ reporting the findings claims Cain has integrity displays bias a polygraph tech would never let show.

Following Alice down the rabbit hole is – at the very least – not boring

============  UPDATE  2 ============

Just over 21k  views on this youtube video at present. Only a handful of bloggers have commented so far.

I fail to understand how computer software can factor in what the  person is thinking – especially when the person is not even in the room.

PLUS – if Cain was being truthful when he said he didn’t recognise (know) these women and it’s proven he is guilty, that would speak volumes to his ego, incompetence and lack of social conscience altogether, no?

============  UPDATE  3 ============

From the Hinterland Gazette:

Herman Cain Defamation Lawyer Lin Wood & PI TJ Ward Too Close for Comfort, Worked Together on Natalee Holloway Case

November 11, 2011
Janet Shan 

… Herman Cain’s defamation lawyer Lin Wood & PI TJ Ward have worked together in the past, most notably on the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, on her mother, Beth Holloway Twitty’s behalf. So, it is a little suspect that T. J. Ward suddenly appears on the scene with a lie detector software, or Layered Voice Analysis, that says Herman Cain was telling the truth during his press conference to respond to Sharon Bialek’s allegations of sexual harassment…

… As for Sharon Bialek’s statements coming across as a lie, there is a big difference when one is reading from a written document and improvising, as Ms. Bialek seems to have done. Herman Cain was coached. It’s clear that Sharon Bialek didn’t have enough time to have been coached, so the delivery is going to be far different, with stress.

… I wouldn’t put too much stock in TJ Ward’s voice analysis software test results for both the accused and the accuser. I am sure the results aren’t as fool-proof as TJ Ward would have the general public believe… As for his success rate… It isn’t a coincidence that T. J. Ward suddenly popped up with his voice analysis software to come to Herman Cain’s rescue. This was an orchestrated move on the part of either Herman Cain & Lin Wood or Lin Wood and T. J. Ward or all three. This isn’t a coincidence. The timing is very, very suspect.

A few comments from the discussions I thought you might find interesting:

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE SOFTWARE  The prospect of Truster or similar programs installed on thousands of home and business PCs, however, worries traditional polygraph specialists. They argue that even if the technology is sound – which many of them question – untrained individuals convinced they can divine another’s honesty is a recipe for disaster. “If it were being marketed as a novelty, that would be one thing,” said Frank Horvath, a criminology professor at Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice. “But people will use this for making real-life serious decisions, believing it really works.” … Clinton’s statements on the Monica Lewinsky affair found the president to be highly excited but truthful when he denied sexual relations with the intern….” ..

I have a close friend who was involved with the Restaurant Association along with Cain, and he told me way before this all came out in the media that Herman Cain was a womanizer and had gotten himself into trouble with women. I happen to believe my friend who is a Republican by the way.

@sleeplite, it appears that CBS Atlanta reached out to Mr. Ward, not the other way around. How they came to know about Mr. Ward (did someone suggest him?) is anyone’s guess, but if it was due to the notoriety of the Natalee Holloway case, why did CBS Atlanta not also note that attorney Lin Wood, who preceded Cain at the press conference, was the Holloway family attorney as well? If they knew it, why didn’t they disclose it? You can flag me till my posts drop off, it doesn’t change the fact that this test proves nothing about Cain’s guilt or innocence. The accuracy of voice stress analysis was found to me no better than 50% based on the US Military’s use in Guantanamo Bay interrogations.

This software does not prove she is lying any more than it proves Cain is innocent. It is possible to deceive polygraph tests and I’m sure it is possible to deceive this test if you conveniently knew your statement was going to be analyzed. If Mr. Cain were coached, or rehearsed his statement repeatedly, the results could be skewed. The legitimate question I have raised is why was it not disclosed that the investigator, TJ Ward and Cain’s attorney, Lin Wood worked together.

Herman Cain defamation lawyer Lin Wood & PI TJ Ward worked together on Natalee Holloway disappearance case… Cain (and CBS Atlanta) may soon be quoting Rick Perry, “oops”

Interesting, but these shorties are my favourites:

I seriously doubt that Cain would be interested in white women if he married a black woman. (Your jaw just dropped, dinnit!)

John…well said! Cain is the “real deal” when it comes to reform. The rest are just shuffling the cards. A saying you’ve probably heard, SSDD.

Eric, Mr. Cain I believe will take a polygraph adminstered by a top polygrapher before the Iowa vote. He will pass with flying colors. The problem Axelrod has in trying to smear this candidate, is we have a man Herman Cain, who is the “real deal” not a creation of the crazed media elites.

heh – sound familiar? If anyone is missing a few Palinbots – I think we just found ‘em for ya

Herman Cain believed he could write his own ticket. That’s the meat and potatoes of motivational speaking. Believe it and it becomes the overriding truth.

But some truths can’t be wished away and today Herman Cain finally gets to pay the price for his arrogant hubris. And I hope the Republican party is paying attention because there’s a valuable lesson to be gleaned from what is happening to Herman Cain as we watch his campaign imploding:

Your rights end where my nose begins.

I applaud the women who are standing up to him and hope more like them come forward. Because – there are more. You just know there are. That’s the nature of the beast. At the peak of his career, believing he was invincible and entitled, Herman Cain would have had an insatiable hunger. There would have been a lot of women.

We so dodged a bullet here.

I become more enamoured with my president and his beautiful family every day.

*      *      *      *      *

Politico’s got a great post up about a Cain email rant regarding the anonymity of his accusers negating the validity of their accusations. but the following comments are where I found this pearl:

ROFL!

If any of you find more send links or screenies and I’ll add them…

============ UPDATE ============

OOOOOOH THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER!

Fifth woman steps out of the shadows – this time an employee who was asked by Cain to arrange a meeting with a ‘lovely young woman’  following one of his speeches. The employee declined to fill the CEO’s order. In response, Cain behaved rather badly, leaving her and their small dinner group an $800 tab for two bottles of wine he choose not to share.

Personally, I think the ladies got away cheap! And the Pimp Daddy Express just keeps on rollin’…

Full Story Here.

============ UPDATE ============

Herman Cain: The gift that just keeps on giving…

From The Washington Post:

And then there were two… yes, two now named females have come forward to publicly out the Republican hopeful with allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Maybe they will attract more – who knows – but one thing’s for certain. These women are not Democratic saboteurs, nor are they deranged flakes, nor are they after money and fame.

The ladies want a joint press conference to put forth a united front. Reminds me a bit like an old movie (or was it TV murder mystery?) where these women in a small town in Mexico who had been repeatedly raped and abused by law officials finally put a stop to it by killing them off one by one and leaving the bodies to rot in the sunshine.

Sharon Bialek and Karen Kraushaasr have retold credible stories and each has documentation, completely negating the claim they masy have ‘drummed this up’ to keep good ol’ Herm out of the White House.

And this emphasis strictly for the benefit of the teabaggers out there – both women are white.

I dunno about you guys but as I watched Cain lying through his teeth at the press conference earlier today, I swear I saw some vultures circling overhead…

Gryphen at the Immoral Minority has a good take on Herm’s presser here – along with the full video clip. Don’t miss it.

Dear xxxxxx

Mitt Romney has taken a position that every woman in this country should know about:

When asked on Fox News whether he would have supported a “personhood” constitutional amendment, Mitt said, “Absolutely.”

“Personhood” amendments are the notorious measures now being considered in states like Mississippi, Florida, and Ohio, that would elevate a fertilized human egg to the status of a legal person. They would ban IUDs, the morning-after pill, in-vitro fertilization, and all abortions — with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or in cases where the life of a woman is at stake.

In other words, a leading candidate for the GOP nomination for president is on the record in favor of a law that would classify literally all abortions — and even many forms of birth control — as murder.

To be clear: This is the most radical position any of the Republican candidates have taken on this issue, and may be the most radical position any of them have taken on any substantive issue in the race for the nomination so far.

Mitt has an uncanny ability to change course depending on the day, so we put together a video to show exactly where he stands on a woman’s right to choose — whether she’s choosing emergency contraception, or to save her own life.

Romney, who has held a variety of positions on abortion in his 17 years of running for public office, presumably understands the implications of criminalizing birth control and abortion.

If he wants to be in the national spotlight, if he thinks he deserves to be trusted with the highest political office on the planet, he has to be willing to take responsibility for his words and the consequences of the policies he claims to support.

This is so much bigger than his political calculations. It’s literally a life-or-death proposition, and it’s not limited to Mississippi, Ohio, or Florida. Personhood amendments like the one in Mississippi are a direct affront to the federal right to privacy afforded by Roe vs. Wade.

If Romney wants to take the position that abortion and birth control are equal to murder, that’s up to him. But we’ll hold him accountable for it, and not let anyone forget that he’s made the choice to go this far to the right on this issue:

I’ll report back soon,

–Patrick
Patrick Gaspard
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

About Barry Goldwater
From the Wikipedia:

As a passionate defender of personal liberty, he saw the religious right’s views as an encroachment on personal privacy and individual liberties. In his 1980 Senate reelection campaign, Goldwater won support from religious conservatives but in his final term voted consistently to uphold legalized abortion and, in 1981, gave a speech on how he was angry about the bullying of American politicians by religious organizations, and would “fight them every step of the way”. Goldwater also disagreed with the Reagan administration on certain aspects of foreign policy (for example, he opposed the decision to mine Nicaraguan harbors). Notwithstanding his prior differences with Dwight D. Eisenhower, Goldwater in a 1986 interview rated him the best of the seven Presidents with whom he had worked.

 On May 12, 1986, Goldwater was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.

 After his retirement in 1987, Goldwater described the Arizona Governor Evan Mecham as “hardheaded” and called on him to resign, and two years later stated that the Republican party had been taken over by a “bunch of kooks”.

In a 1994 interview with the Washington Post the retired senator said,

 ”When you say “radical right” today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.”