Enjoyable Onion links. Thanks for the Saturday laughs

If you're a map geek, you can view Arctic and Antarctic Ice images going back for many years here. You can, for example, compare images of the arctic ice on any day - here is a comparison for Sept. 5th (these take 15-20 seconds to load with a cable connection):

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Damn. The path must have changed for the server for years after 2003. Here are the links:

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

OK, Palin, who we all just met last week, is now going into hiding from the press for two weeks. With less than two months 'til the election. McCain's spokespersons themselves are admitting she needs time to "learn" McCain's views. Read: Not only does she not know shit about national and international policy; she doesn't even know her own running mate's views and needs a couple weeks prep time to familiarize herself with the scripts. This is completely ridiculous. What more direct admission could there be that she is completely unprepared and unqualified for this office? Sullivan:

This is absolutely Third World.

Sullivan asks just the right questions too: Can you imagine HRC going into hiding for two weeks to get her views sorted out? Or Margaret Thatcher? or Elizabeth Dole? I mean, I knew this woman was an ignoramus, but this is reaching frightening proportions.

And leaving the gender card aside: Can you imagine the absolute shitstorm that would break loose if Barack said: Oh, sorry, I Just Don't Know what my own policies are, and need a couple weeks away from the press so my people to tell me what to say. Shit.

While looking over your link, I saw there is a post right above it about her budget issues. In these sucky economic times, I really think her poor handling of budgets needs to be hammered home (I know there has been information about it in posts before including the woman from Wasilla.) Her spend and borrow attitude is really not what we need --- AGAIN --- and I think people will get that.

It's so strange to think how hard everyone is going to have to work to stop this really marginal candidate for VP...

Completely off topic, but perhaps entertaining for weekend amusement:

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?p=r&user=excessaccess&page=3

This guy has the entire Beatles anthology online. (Just in case I'm not the only one too tired to go out tonight).

New Palin ad

Heh if you all are interested, the republican party platform for 2008

http://www.gopplatform2008.com/2008Platform.pdf

good news they mention medical and mental health parity... or something like that.

Huge sections on American values, preservation of traditional marriage by changing constitution, changing constitution re abortion. Still anti stem cell. Suggests over and over that social programs be delivered by well proven faith based initiatives. NO Mention of secular organizations. Also these faith based social programs can hire staff based on staff's religion. NO mention that these programs should not be promoting religion.

One good thing was elimination of earmarks, another worrisome thing is constitutional amendment or something to increase presidential line item veto power.

oh interesting one of the platform items is they oppose washington dc getting votes? why would that make a national platform and why would republicans oppose citizens getting a vote nationally?

actually i may be wrong about that platform item, i read it again and it does not actually say clearly they oppose DC getting representation in congress, but stuff about charter schools.

I took a quick look at the item about D.C. and I think the interesting part is about Heller.

The District is weird - I don't quite understand what is going on there (the first I heard the District didn't have voting representation in the House or any representation in the Senate was on Colbert's Better Know a District.)

From what I understand, it is a very Democratic district (as Tim implied) that is substantially large and has a lot of troops in Iraq. But no real representation in Congress AND Congress can change whatever laws the District puts in.

The platform says how they are helping the schools, then switches to protecting our landmarks and then puts in something about the Heller bill or whatever it's called and that's the hot button. I don't know about this - just looked it up so anyone feel free to correct me on the facts but this has to do with gun control. I looks like the District voted in some pretty strict gun control law because of their crime rate and the gun lobbyists and the NRA DOES NOT LIKE THAT. The Cato Institute put together platiffs to test the case in court. I have no idea the right or wrong of the case - I just don't trust anything to do with the Cato Institute, of course - I do know it was decided in favor of the plantiffs pretty clearly on liberal/conservative lines with Kennedy voting with the conservatives. This might just be my bias but I trust the liberal Justices to not be partisan in the same way Alito, Scalia and Thomas are.

I was surprised at how well the interview with O'Reilly went. I though Obama handled himself well, and O'Reilly wasn't being a complete jerk.

Obama had previously said that he would never do an interview with any Faux news person... yet another promise broken..

No surprise though. Hillary Clinton never lived up to her priciples either. No politian does..

It must be difficult to be a politician and want to please a majority of country with as many people as the U.S. has.

I suppose. Though it seems to me that it's ill advised to completely ignore a huge swath of the public (i.e. Fox news viewers), even if they are mostly cretins. As it happens, to win a tight race like this, you've probably got to get some cretins to vote for you. [OGM readers will like this wesbite's [unsubstantiated] derivation for the word 'cretin']