Candidates' respond to "rogue primary states"

This was good go hear...

Barack Obama and John Edwards on Saturday joined three other Democrats planning to skip states that break party rules by holding early primaries. Their pledge leaves front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton alone in planning to compete in Florida and Michigan.

Obama's and Edwards' pledge came a day after Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden said they wouldn't campaign in such states.

"As I have campaigned across America over the last six months, it's become clear that Governor Dean and the Democratic National Committee have put together a presidential nomination process that's in the best interests of our party and our nation," Obama said in a written statement.

Read more here.

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Open Thread

Looking at Cap'n Wacky's Unfortunate Halloween Cards, and thought Subway might appreciate the comment that accompanied this one...



Oh, it started innocently enough: using "merry" in front of Halloween, a lot of red and green. This is the kind of crap that led to Christmas displays in the department stores in August.

Beware the slippery slope, people.

Happy weekend, everyone.

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NOLA Two years later

The three minute YouTube video reveals the devastating reality of hurricane survivors still struggling to rebuild their lives and the amazing hope they maintain about the future.

When The Saints Go Marching In launched today and can be seen at WhenTheSaints.org. The video is spreading rapidly across the internet with the help of partner groups like Plenty, ColorOfChange.org, and Think New Orleans. When The Saints Go Marching In includes footage of NOLA residents working to make the city home again, and ends with a call to action for viewers to urge the Senate to pass Senator Chris Dodd's (D-CT) Gulf Coast Recovery Bill (S. 1668).

More here.

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Happy blogiversary, HEP

Today marks two years since this blog began. Happy blogiversary, everyone!

Yeah, it's the same birthday cake I usually use, but you all know it's been a busy week at Chez in Ohio.

Also, a happy 15th "hatchday" to our Zoe bird. :)

Finally, I've added a few links to the shared items, and will add some more later today.

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Open Thread

You know the drill...

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Gonzales resigns

Via Firedoglake, Bush is holding a press conference at 11:50.

Update: Click here for the text of Bush's speech. It is as delusional and bass-ackwards as we have come to expect.

After months of unfair treatment, that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position and I accept his decision.

It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeding from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.

The one positive note is that Bush seems to indicate that he will not try to make a recess appointment.

I've asked Solicitor General Paul Clement to serve as acting attorney general upon Alberto Gonzales' departure and until a nominee has been confirmed by the Senate.

He's agreed to do so.

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I *hate* it when this happens...

I haven't played The Sims for a while, but decided I could use the diversion last night. So I've got this Sim named Vicki--she's the one with the yellowish diamond, called a "plumbob" over her head. It is a way of indicating which is the "active" Sim, or which one you are currently controlling.

Having just moved into the neighborhood, she's chatting up someone she's just met, trying to make friends. Steps away to order a pizza--because it's not good to let your guests to hungry--only to discover that her visitor has disappeared. At first, I thought maybe she had gone home when I wasn't paying attention. But then I realize that Vicki has a hot tub in her back yard, and that's probably where her guest is right now.

I check the back yard, only to discover that her neighbor has burst into flames

That's a new "feature" with Sims 2 Seasons expansion pack. Sims can get too hot or too cold. And when they say "get too hot", they're not kidding--they actually burst into flames.

Don't you hate it when your visitors spontaneously combust?

If I hadn't been so caught off guard by the whole thing, apparently I could have had Vicki extinguish the fire. But, since I just sat there going "WTF?!", we ended up with a visit from the Grim Reaper. So I went to exit the game, and was prompted, "Do you want to save before quitting?"

Hell, no!

Okay, now *that* part would be nice in real life--if, when you screw up, you could choose not to save this version, and start over again at a pre-screwup point in time.

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The Global Heartlink Project

As I've said before in previous threads, Gizmo allows to hearts to "Phase Lock" when their respective butterflies are touching on the screen. What this means is that when you see the butterflies touch, an electrical field is opened up between the two people, and their hearts 'beat as one.'

Gizmo's most important feature is called the "Harmonic Module." (pictured above) It allows people in remote locations worldwide to link hearts in a 'chat room' type of environment. This is huge because it quantifies the idea of global meditation.

In my limited experience with Gizmo, I've been able to link hearts with others in a way that I can feel even when the other people I've linked with are far away. This is because when our butterflies touched we seemed to identify each other's 'stillpoints' in much the same way that I can tell one chord from another as I position my fingers on the frets of my guitar.

The fact that this can be applied to an unlimited number of hearts on a global scale in real time, to me, is amazing because folks can now quantify an empathic heart connection as if it were a telephone call.

I've always felt that the only reason we've been unable to establish Heaven on Earth, meaning our physical evolution to what Jesus called "Son of Man" (homo infinitis) is that we had to find a way where we could all go together, in spite of individual belief systems that tend to divide one from another. A Christian in California can link hearts with a dozen Hindus in Delhi and the theological differences between them evaporate in the waves of Compassion they share through the link.

Prayer, after all is a focusing of the heart so that one can draw upon Universal Love. So I'm working toward the day when millions of people worldwide from every walk of life, can link hearts in Compassion just by playing a simple video game together.

Weapons of mass Compassion.

Namaste

Subway

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