Halloween Pranks Gone Wild

And lastly, here a bunch of Halloween pranks.

Be careful this evening!

Please don’t punch anyone!

Gotcha!

Trick or Treat!

This news team loses it!

Bunny Theater: Halloween Special

In honor of Halloween, check out these 30 second movies from Angry Aliens’ Bunny Theater. Be sure to click on each movie title to see the short! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here’s the classic, Night of the Living Dead.

He’s baaacckkkk… The Shining. Redrum! Redrum!

The gore fest, Saw.

One of my favorites, Scream.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Leatherface is hilarious.

Bunny possession in the Exorcist

Freddy v. Jason. I’m pulling for Freddy!

Just as scary as the original! The Ring. 7 days…

And lastly, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The Pumpkin Horror Movie

I’ll be thinking of this poor pumpkin this afternoon as I’m cutting into ours! Ahhhhh the pain!

The Zombeatles: A Hard Day’s Night of the Living Dead

Brains!

Just in Time for Halloween: Ghost Car

Hey Folks, This one is really wild, but make sure you read the info below before you view the video and turn up the volume if you can. …

This is a car advertisement from Great Britain. When they finished filming the ad, the film editor noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist. They found out that a person had been killed a year earlier in that exact same spot. The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon.

Watch the front end of the car closely as it clears the trees in the middle of the screen and you’ll see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road….Spooky!

Is it a ghost, or is it simply mist? You decide. If you listen to the ad, you’ll even hear the cameraman whispering in the background about it near the end of the commercial. A little creepy but it seems to be authentic!

Happy Halloween

AND FOR EVEN MORE FUN, TRY THIS MAZE! YOU WILL GET A SPOOKY REWARD AFTER LEVEL 4!!!

MTV and MySpace Team Up Today To Question Barack Obama

Alright kids! Here’s your chance to get to know Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. MTV and MySpace are teaming up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa today for a one-on-one with Obama.

MTV says that Barack needs to be prepared to face some “tough questions” from the younger generation. People will be able to chat with Obama through a live stream online at 1:30 p.m. ET today, Monday, October 29th. The whole shabang will air on MTV at 7 p.m. ET later on this evening.

Iowa college students have questions ready for the presidential hopeful.

MTV and MySpace brought former Sen. John Edwards to the University of New Hampshire last month. After Obama, eleven other candidates are set to follow.

To watch Obama on the Web during the live broadcast, go to:
www.myspace.com/election2008
OR
www.chooseorlose.com

Bill Maher: The Land of the Free and Afraid

Bashing on Republicans here. Amen Bill. Guests that night were: Gen. Wesley Clark, Sir David Frost, Martina Navratilova, Andrew Sullivan, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX).

This is from October 26th’s episode on HBO:

Then check out the questions for Republicans here (from the same night):

Where in the World Has Carmen Sandiego Been?

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Well, luckily she has been found!!!

Colbert’s Facebook Following is Growing

I have several “Friends” in Facebook that have subscribed to one Stephen Colbert group or another. I read this article today and realized that I’m not the only one that is noticing this push to support Colbert. The Presidential Joke isn’t over yet…

From the NY Times:

October 25, 2007, 2:35 pm

Colbert’s Facebook Flock

By Brian Stelter

The photo on the “1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert” Facebook page.

 

Stephen Colbert’s presidential candidacy may be phony, but his supporters are very, very real.

On the popular social networking site Facebook, dozens of groups had already called for a “Stewart/Colbert” ticket in 2008, a reference to Mr. Colbert and his Comedy Central colleague Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show.”

Late on Oct. 16, immediately after the comedian declared his intentions on his satirical news show “The Colbert Report,” new groups began to form. One of them — a group created by Raj Vachhani and titled “1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert” — has grown to include more than 880,000 members in just over a week, making it the most popular political group on Facebook by far.

If Mr. Colbert manages to get on the South Carolina primary ballot, Raj said he would definitely cast a vote for the comedian — if he could. But he is only 16 years old.
Raj, a high school student in Montgomery, Ala., created the group after watching Mr. Colbert’s televised announcement. He said he wanted to approximate the population of Mr. Colbert’s online supporters and find out what other fans thought of the satirist’s candidacy.

He didn’t expect the excitement about Mr. Colbert’s candidacy to place a strain on Facebook’s server capacity. But the sheer volume of group participants — 78 new members per minute for the past eight days — forced the Web site to take the group offline temporarily.

“The group was growing very quickly and began overloading one of our servers, but we have since resolved that problem,” a Facebook spokeswoman confirmed.

In an e-mail interview, Raj expressed disbelief at the group’s explosive growth.

“What amazed me the most was how Obama’s 1 Million Strong Group took more than 8 months to get about 380,000 members; but Colbert’s 1 Million Strong Group took less than a week to get 750,000 members,” he wrote.

Indeed, Raj’s creation appears to be the largest, and fastest-growing, political group on Facebook. “I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who dislike George Bush!” has 549,000 members after five weeks of existence and “Stop Hillary Clinton: (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary)” counts 500,000 members after eight months online.

Stephen DeMaura, the founder of the Stop Hillary group and the executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, commended the founder of the Mr. Colbert group.

“Its explosive success serves to bolster our very point: there is incredible dissatisfaction with the idea of Hillary Clinton as our next President, so much so that young Americans are willing to support a comedian,” Mr. DeMaura wrote in an e-mail.

It stretches the boundaries of imagination to believe that every member of Raj’s group actually backs Mr. Colbert as a political candidate. The group seems to be self-perpetuating, as Facebook users encourage all their friends to join it in the hopes of reaching the one million-member goal. The group’s discussion boards are riddled with thousands of posts about atheism, abortion, Canadians, and “Pink Floyd or Zeppelin.”

But amid the largely adolescent arguing, strands of pure political discourse thrive. Members are debating the merits of Mr. Colbert’s candidacy and questioning whether they should write in his name in on their primary ballots. (Mr. Colbert has said he will only run in the South Carolina primaries, as both a Democrat and a Republican.)

“Youths in the group also seem to be more passionate of political discussion whenever they are approached by it,” Raj wrote.

1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert” isn’t the biggest Facebook group, at least not yet. Several other groups have a million members — like “The Largest Facebook Group Ever” — but they don’t rally around any particular person or topic.

Mr. Colbert isn’t a candidate in South Carolina yet. But a sparse Web site, Colbert08.org, asks visitors to download a presidential primary petition and obtain the signatures of 20 registered voters in South Carolina to add Mr. Colbert to the ballot. Yesterday ABC News suggested that Comedy Central “could be violating federal laws that bar corporations from backing political campaigns.” But a Comedy Central spokesman told CNN.com that the network believes it is “operating well within federal campaign election laws.”

Whether he runs or not, Mr. Colbert has the kind of grassroots support that the established candidates can only dream of, thanks to Raj and a constantly increasing number of group members. At this rate, the group will reach its one million-member goal by Friday night.

Be sure to read the comments at the end of the article. I can’t believe how many people think he’s really running for office. Get a grip people. It’s just a gag!

College Majors in the U.S.

What do you get when you cross a Psychology major with an Engineer major? Check it out… (double click on the image to get a clearer picture).

Cobert Meets the Press

Stephen Colbert was on Meet the Press the am. By the way, Colbert’s book sales are way up. Hmmm…wonder why?

Here is Michael Falcone’s post from the NY Times to get you caught up:

October 21, 2007, 4:14 pm

Colbert: I Am a Candidate (And So Can You!)

By Michael Falcone

Watch the Video (msnbc.com)

Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert said he’s in it (the presidential primary in South Carolina, that is), and he’s in it to win … one delegate.

Or so he told NBC’s Tim Russert who grilled the comedian today on “Meet the Press” in what was one of the more humorous – and, at times, bizarre – editions of the normally all-business Sunday morning show.

“This is not a dream, you’re not going to wake up from this. I’m far real-er than Sam Brownback, let me put it that way,” Mr. Colbert, the host of the popular faux news program, “The Colbert Report,” said of his candidacy.

Among other revelations, Mr. Colbert said that he actually doesn’t want to be president, he just wants to run (“There’s a difference”). He’s considering asking Senator Larry Craig to join the ticket. And, Mr. Colbert, who reportedly keeps a poster of Richard Nixon hanging in his office, suggested his approach to governing would be “Nixonish or Nixonoid.”

And why is he only running in South Carolina (his home state)?
“I want to put the focus back on South Carolina; I want it to be a permanent thing,” Mr. Colbert said. “I don’t want Iowa and New Hampshire to be the only people in the United States who get to control who is a bellwether state.’’

He and Mr. Russert went round and round about his name, too, in one of the wilder moments when Mr. Russert held up a Sesame Street character and asked Mr. Colbert (who now pronounces his name Col-bair rather than his family’s pronunciation of Col-burt) to identify the other half of (fill-in-the blank) and Ernie. And Mr. Russert kept it up, asking why then he shouldn’t pronounce his own name as Russ-air.

The exchange continued:

Mr. Colbert: Are you saying that I don’t have the right to drop the T in my name? Are you saying that? Last time I checked, this was America. Or does that mean not a thing to you anymore?

Mr. Russert (holding up Bert) : Then why not call him “Ber”?

Mr. Colbert: Because that’s his choice. You’ll have to ask him. I dare you.

Mr. Russert: Are you…

Mr. Colbert: Ask him. Right now.

Mr. Russert: But why did you change your name?

Mr. Colbert: I changed my name because I knew that there were people out there who, who needed T’s.

Mr. Russert: Not comfortable in your own skin?

Mr. Colbert: Oh, I’m extremely comfortable in my own skin. I’m comfortable in other people’s skin.

And so it went, replete with Mr. Russert’s familiar routine of holding up old quotes of a candidate — many in this case from Mr. Colbert’s new book, “I Am America (and So Can You!),” and challenging Mr. Colbert’s words.

Mr. Colbert first hinted at a possible White House bid when he made a guest appearance on The Times’s Op-Ed page last week in Maureen Dowd’s column. He made an official announcement on his show a few days later, saying that he intended to run as both a Democrat and Republican in the South Carolina primary.

“If, at the Democratic National Convention, somebody has to stand up and say, ‘the proud state of South Carolina, the palmetto state, the home of the greatest peaches and shrimp in the world, casts one vote for native son, Stephen Colbert,’ I’d say I won,” Mr. Colbert declared. (Though he said he’s gunning for a brokered convention, he just might settle for one of the coveted speaking spots instead.)

The mood was a little more serious elsewhere on the Sunday talk show circuit. In advance of tonight’s Republican presidential debate, G.O.P. contenders John McCain and Mike Huckabee appeared on “Fox News Sunday.”

Mr. McCain once again asserted his conservative credentials and skewered his opponent Mitt Romney for taking what he said were liberal positions on the issues in order to get elected governor of Massachusetts. The Arizona senator insisted that his presidential bid was now back on track after a series of “budgetary mistakes” that left his campaign in the red at the end of the last quarter. Mr. McCain declined to say whether he would accept federal matching funds or take out a loan to keep his campaign afloat.

“Right now I’m saying that we examine all the options all the time,” Mr. McCain said. “I don’t rule out any option, but I certainly think that borrowing money is not something that I would prefer to do, but I won’t rule out any option.”

Mr. Huckabee, who finished just behind Mr. Romney in a straw poll of religious conservatives who gathered in Washington and voted online, cast himself as the favorite candidate of social conservatives. He also noted that despite raising only about $1 million in the third quarter, he’s been seeing a uptick in some polls and said that he has a “real shot” to win in Iowa.

“If you look at some of the numbers, many of the candidates have plateaued,” Mr. Huckabee said. We’ve never had to retreat, we’ve never had higher numbers and then lower numbers. Every month we get better.”

In an interview with Bob Schieffer, host of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Mr. Romney answered questions about religion and politics, emphasizing what he, as a Mormon, has in common with the Christian conservatives he spoke to last week.

Mr. Romney also said that he was pleased to accept the endorsement of Bob Jones, the head of the South Carolina evangelical university that bears his name, even though Mr. Jones said he was opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism.

“I’m not expecting him to endorse my faith,” Mr. Romney said. “And I’m pleased that you have an evangelical Christian leader who says, look, Mitt Romney is a guy who is a social conservative, an economic conservative, a foreign policy conservative. Those three branches, if you will, of conservatism have to be united if we’re going to win the White House.”

Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was the lone Democratic presidential candidate to appear on a Sunday morning show, and he used an interview on ABC’s “This Week” to question G.O.P. candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani’s foreign policy experience, and said that he would have a much better chance of thwarting Iran’s nuclear ambitions that the former New York mayor.

“Well, I love these guys on the Republican side they know virtually — except for John McCain — virtually nothing about foreign policy,” Mr. Biden said.

He continued, taking direct aim at Mr. Giuliani: “He’s been the mayor of a city, a great city. How does that qualify him to be — what has he demonstrated he knows about … national security?”

We’re sure Mr. Giuliani would beg to differ, and we’ll be watching for his rebuttal at the Fox News Republican debate in Florida tonight.

 

Is Stephen Colbert Breaking the Law?

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Stephen Colbert. I have had him on my blogroll since I began this site and I watch his show frequently. However, we he announced his plans to run for president in South Carolina earlier this week, all I could think of was, “What the hell?” I have also joked that I would support the [Jon] Stewart/Colbert ticket but like many, I would support them in the same faux-style as they run their Comedy Central shows. How far is he taking this? Is he still joking? Is this just a way to promote his new book? Is he breaking and election and campaign finance election laws?

Kenneth Vogel of The Politico has his take:

If he continues moving toward a presidential campaign, particularly if he, or Comedy Central, keeps spending money exploring and promoting by hyping it on his nightly half-hour news parody show, he could get himself and his network in trouble for violating election laws, including those barring corporate campaign contributions.

“You don’t get a different set of rules because you’re running as a joke,” said Marc Elias, a leading Washington election lawyer who represents Democratic candidates.

“You may get a different set of rules because it’s a joke and you’re not really running,” said Elias, who stressed he was not speaking for any client. “But if it isn’t a joke, then there may be any number of issues.”

How far is too far? Aside from possibly breaking the law (if indeed this is not a comedy stunt), can he screw things up in the South Carolina primary? What do you think?

For the full story from the Politico, read here.

Deborah Harry: Still Punk After All These Years

Deborah Harry then and now…even Andy Warhol photographed her during her early career.

Wow, talk about pulling out the time capsule this morning. The New York Times has a story about one of my favorite bands from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Deborah Harry, front woman for the punk-pop band Blondie is still edgy and making music 30 years later.

Harry, who is 62 now, has released her first solo album in 14 years entitled “Necessary Evil.” Still looking good, Harry says that her album doesn’t reflect her single status (she was romantically involved with fellow bandmate Chris Stein for many years). Her album is “Like most pop songs it’s about relationships, it’s about sex,” she said. “I’m in love with love — sometimes.”

Read the story from the NY Times here.

Now, reaching back into the video vault, here are a couple songs you will surely know. And for you younger kids, “Rapture” was the first rap song not just by a woman, but by anyone to make it to #1… It’s ok if her lyrics don’t make any sense. She was great to watch!

“Heart of Glass” 1978

“Rapture” 1980

Giuliani v. Space Invaders

Cute. This past Sunday Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani answered questions from people at a town hall meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire. A young boy stood up and asked Giuliani “If (there’s) something living on another planet and it’s bad and it comes over here, what would you do?” Giuliani smiled. He was great answering and said that this was a first for this type of question. The rest of the audience seemed to eat the whole thing up. Makes me wonder if this kid was planted in the audience and told to ask the space invaders questions. In any case, you can rest easy knowing that Guiliani answered, “Of all the things that can happen in this world, we’ll be prepared for that, yes we will. We’ll be prepared for anything that happens.” I’ll sleep better tonight.

Here’s the clip:

What Cats Know About War

Picture above is of an American soldier and his feline friend.

My husband has told me the stories of the stray dogs and cats in Afghanistan and Iraq and the high cases of rabies. As an animal lover both professionally and personally, I found this story in today’s NY Times very touching and enlightening. John Burns’ Nine Lives: What Cats Know About War is about his view of the strays around the Times compound and it will open your eyes to another side of conflict that you may not be aware of.

China’s Congress Goes Into Session

Every five years the Chinese Communist Congress meets. A new session begins this week and no doubt the issues of corruption, income disparity, and environmental degradation will be discussed throughout. The scandals surrounding lead contamination and pet food contamination in the United States needs to be addressed if there is to be an economical partnership with America in the future.

From VOA News:

The party has stepped up discipline within its ranks. Chinese state media say more than 97,000 officials were disciplined last year for corruption. This year, the party fired several high-profile officials, including the Shanghai party boss, for alleged corruption. The former head of the country’s food and drug agency was executed for taking bribes.

Political scientist Joseph Cheng at the City University in Hong Kong says China’s leaders want to appear tough on the problems in order to head off popular discontent.

“There is a general perception that the bulk of the rich people earned their wealth by corrupt practices rather than by entrepreneurship. So corruption is seen as a very serious threat to the legitimacy of the party, to the legitimacy of the leadership, exactly because this is seen as the very important symptom of the inadequacies of the political system,” says Cheng.

Public opinion is even important in China but I still don’t see some of the major issues changing too soon. If they continue with executions for those individuals found guilty of corruption, then maybe we’ll see a change sooner than expected. Can you imagine if the U.S. allowed such a thing in the U.S.? Ken Lay wouldn’t have died from natural causes in that case…

Read the story about China’s Congress here.

Medal of Honor to be Awarded to Navy SEAL

Picture above is of Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael “Mikey” Murphy.

This will be the first Medal of Honor awarded to a serviceman from the Navy during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and only the third since these wars have began.

Read the story from the Air Force Times here.

Jimmy Carter Admires Condie Rice But Can’t Stand Cheney…oh yeah…and be nice to the prisoners…

It’s no secret that former President Jimmy Carter is not a fan of the Bush Administration. Recently Carter has been very outspoken about topics such as the war in Iraq and what is not being done by President Bush. Yesterday a Reuters article had this to say about Carter’s opinion of Condoleezza Rice and the “Disaster” Dick Cheney:

Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said.

“He’s a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world,” Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday.

“You know he’s been a disaster for our country,” Carter said. “I think he’s been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he’s prevailed.”

…

“I’m filled with admiration for Condoleezza Rice in standing up to (Cheney) which she did even when she was in the White House under President George W. Bush,” Carter said, referring to Rice’s former role as White House national security adviser.

The story doesn’t end there. The AP also reported yesterday that on CNN yesterday Carter had this to say about Iraqi prisoners:

The U.S. tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday, adding that President Bush makes up his own definition of torture.

“Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights,” Carter said on CNN. “We’ve said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we’ve said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime.”

Ok Jimmy, I love ya but I think you need to back off the Geritol a bit. You don’t agree with Obama and Hillary about their position on the war and you think human rights should come more into play with war prisoners. Are we supposed to hold hands, sing “Cumbya” and let them know that everything is going to be ok? This is war and in case you’ve forgotten what they have done to our American soldiers, google “American soldiers tortured.” Just what in the hell are we supposed to do now that our American soldiers have been in this mess for almost five years? I really think that you are trying to stir up more controversy again because your pushing your 24th book…

Senator Craig and the Village People

I’m so sorry but I just couldn’t resist…

Dick Cheney: Feels Like the First Time

New Heart Device Allows Cheney To Experience Love

Very cute story from the parody news magazine The Onion. Read here.

Could Facebook’s Life Be Short Term?

An interesting article from the techy online news magazine WIRED:

The Three Potential Causes of Facebook’s Death

By Terrence Russell October 02, 2007 | 6:59:14 PM

It’s a classic story: Search engine meets social networking site, social networking site snubs search engine, search engine claims that social networking site is a passing fad. The ridiculousness of our high school relationships is now hitting the business world as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tells the Times Online that Facebook’s days are probably numbered.

Ballmer is definitely blowing hot air by projecting the possible wane in interest for the site, but he also raises a good point. Despite multi-billion valuations, the relatively young company could befall a number of unfortunate fates if it fails to play its hand correctly in the near future. We don’t have quite the axe to grind as Ballmer, but from our assessment these are the top three potential causes of Facebook’s death:

1) User Base Exodus
As ridiculous as Ballmer can be at times, he’s also probably right. Facebook’s platform may be the greatest thing since sliced bread in terms of potential, but much like social news site Digg, it’s really the user base that makes the site popular. Without the 40+ million users that serve as Facebook’s lifeblood, it’s but a shell of a service.

2) Falling Prey to a Weak Business Model
Facebook totally hit the scene at the right time, and in that providence lies the possibility of a bright and prosperous future. But after those rainbows and puppy dogs fade, we still have to view the company’s business model for what it is — murky, at best. It’s one thing to have a clear game plan to rule the market, a solid revenue stream and an inflated sense of self-worth. Its entirely different to have a questionably sustainable revenue stream, a pricey rate card, and valuation aspirations that border on hubris. For Facebook, longevity lies in a sound foundation, not hype.

3) Stunting Growth While Waiting for Valuation
Timing is of the essence, but the current investment bubble is bound to burst. By no means would we ever imply that Zuckerberg and company should sell themselves short, but it seems realistic to assume that Facebook could be seeing some big-time growth in terms of infrastructure if it had the deep pockets of Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft (ad deal withstanding). In a market where the big guns are buying start-ups left and right, it might not be a bad time to sell for the sake of the site’s growth — especially with such a high profile list of buyers already chomping at the bit. Tweaks to the platform are great and all, but expansion on a large scale has got to be in the cards if the site wants to go the distance.

Bravo…I’m in total agreement here. I have a facebook account I can tell you that it does absolutely nothing for me. Maybe because I’m older and have better things to do (like blogging ) but the only reason I originally signed up was to get in touch with other classmates for study groups and information about things happening on campus. This totally shows because I’m such a loser in Facebook because I only have 12 friends! The only time I ever use Facebook now is if I get a message from my son or one of his friends while they are away at college. Guess I just don’t see the point when there is so much more out there in the web universe.

On another note…

Remember that once you put something on Facebook, whether you delete it or not, or make your profile “private,” it is always SOMEWHERE out there in the internet world. You never know who is scouting you out…potential employers, parents, the government, and even your schools and universities. Don’t believe me? As a professor…or USATODAY…or MSNBC.

For all the moms…The William Tell Total Momsense

Being a mom, I have total appreciation for Anita Renfroe and her rendition of a typical mom’s day to the tune of the William Tell Overture. She is hilarious!!! She’s a Christian writer and comedian. Check out her webiste.

No, it’s not politics but I hope it puts a smile on your face – especially if you’re a parent

Bush Stamps VETO on Children’s Health Insurance Bill

Well, he did it. For only the fourth time during his presidential career, Bush vetoed the much anticipated addition to a health care insurance plan for children. The bill was easily passed in Congress but quietly stamped by #43 on Wednesday. The focus is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

From NPR.org:

Both the Senate and House passed an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with strong bipartisan majorities. The legislation would add $35 billion over five years to allow an additional 4 million children into the program. It would be funded by raising the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 per pack.

Bush says that this is too expensive (is he smoking behind our backs?) and sees this bill as a way to federalize health care. SCHIP is a joint state-federal effort that subsidizes health coverage for 6.6 million people, mostly children, from families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford their own private coverage.

President Bush argued that this new plan would be a move toward socialized medicine by expanding the program to higher-income families.

The Senate has enough votes to override Bush’s decision; however, the House is short about two dozen votes. Bush only wants a 5 million dollar increase instead of the proposed 35 million. I foresee both branches coming together to work something out.

What do you think? Do you think families will misuse this legislation to choose government health care over their own private plans? I think there needs to be some type of median here.

Does Giuliani Need A Lesson in Cell Phone Etiquette?

GOP Presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani took a call on his cell phone during his speech in front of members of the National Rifle Association in September. Who was on the other end of the line? His wife of course. Some members of the audience rolled their eyes while others thought of it nothing more as a silly display or even a stunt. Giuliani is known for his love of the cell phone but does he need a lesson in cell phone etiquette? Call me snooty but if this is supposed to be someone who we are considering to lead the country, his focus should be on his audience and not on his cell phone. At least have the courtesy to put it on vibrate.

So this little incident got me to thinking about cell phones and how rude people can be when on them. Therefore, I bring you THE TEN COMMANDMENT OF CELL PHONE ETIQUETTE by Dan Briody of InfoWorld:

1. Thou shalt not subject defenseless others to cell phone conversations. When people cannot escape the banality of your conversation, such as on the bus, in a cab, on a grounded airplane, or at the dinner table, you should spare them. People around you should have the option of not listening. If they don’t, you shouldn’t be babbling.

2. Thou shalt not set thy ringer to play La Cucaracha every time thy phone rings. Or Beethoven’s Fifth, or the Bee Gees, or any other annoying melody. Is it not enough that phones go off every other second? Now we have to listen to synthesized nonsense?

3. Thou shalt turn thy cell phone off during public performances. I’m not even sure this one needs to be said, but given the repeated violations of this heretofore unwritten law, I felt compelled to include it.

4. Thou shalt not wear more than two wireless devices on thy belt. This hasn’t become a big problem yet. But with plenty of techno-jockeys sporting pagers and phones, Batman-esque utility belts are sure to follow. Let’s nip this one in the bud.

5. Thou shalt not dial while driving. In all seriousness, this madness has to stop. There are enough people in the world who have problems mastering vehicles and phones individually. Put them together and we have a serious health hazard on our hands.

6. Thou shalt not wear thy earpiece when thou art not on thy phone. This is not unlike being on the phone and carrying on another conversation with someone who is physically in your presence. No one knows if you are here or there. Very disturbing.

7. Thou shalt not speak louder on thy cell phone than thou would on any other phone. These things have incredibly sensitive microphones, and it’s gotten to the point where I can tell if someone is calling me from a cell because of the way they are talking, not how it sounds. If your signal cuts out, speaking louder won’t help, unless the person is actually within earshot.

8. Thou shalt not grow too attached to thy cell phone. For obvious reasons, a dependency on constant communication is not healthy. At work, go nuts. At home, give it a rest.

9. Thou shalt not attempt to impress with thy cell phone. Not only is using a cell phone no longer impressive in any way (unless it’s one of those really cool new phones with the space age design), when it is used for that reason, said user can be immediately identified as a neophyte and a poseur.

10. Thou shalt not slam thy cell phone down on a restaurant table just in case it rings. This is not the Old West, and you are not a gunslinger sitting down to a game of poker in the saloon. Could you please be a little less conspicuous? If it rings, you’ll hear it just as well if it’s in your coat pocket or clipped on your belt.

Of course these were written before the annoying Bluetooth/Star Trek thingy that people just HAVE to wear everywhere (and why at the dinner table in a fancy restaurant?). Oh, and the texting. For Pete’s sake, lay off the texting while you’re driving! One last thing…Don’t talk on your phone when you’re in the bathroom. I really don’t care to hear your voice echoing in the stall while I’m trying to concentrate on doing my business. Last I checked, you are not Jack Bauer and the fate of the country does not lie on your “important” phone call.

If you can think of anymore, let me know!