Happy Leap Day!

HAPPY LEAP DAY!!!

Doesn't it feel like you've won the lottery or something. An extra day! I'm wondering though, if they're going to give us an extra day every four years why don't they give us a nice spring day in May? Who needs another dreary February day?

News from the (Billboard Liberation) Front

PRESS RELEASE

Watch the video
courtesy of Iov de Beholther

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 27, 2008
San Francisco, CA

The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants.

“This campaign is an extraordinary rendition of a public-private partnership,” observed BLF spokesperson Blank DeCoverly. “These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship, dating back to the age of the telegraph. In these dark days of Terrorism, that should be a comfort to every law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide.” (More)

FCC Head Says Action Possible on Web Limits

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission yesterday sharply questioned Internet service providers who control consumers' Web access over their networks, and suggested the agency could intervene against the practice.

read more | digg story

The FCC might actually do something good for a change? I'm not holding my breath.

Bush Cool to States’ Call for Public Works Projects

President Bush rebuffed appeals from the nation’s governors on Monday to increase spending on roads, bridges and other public works as a way to revive the economy. Governors said Mr. Bush had told them at a White House meeting that he wanted to see the effects of his economic stimulus package before supporting new measures.

read more | digg story

What's that old saying...something about if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail...or something like that. Oh God, will January 20, 2009 never get here?

Election Madness

By Howard Zinn...Our objective should be to build, painstakingly, patiently but energetically, a movement that, when it reaches a certain critical mass, would shake whoever is in the White House, in Congress, into changing national policy on matters of war and social justice.

read more | digg story

This all sounds great, but sounds like the kind of stuff we should have been doing for the past 7+ years.

Will U.S. elect a 'grouchy old white guy'?

Political observers have questioned whether Americans are "ready" to elect a woman or an African-American to the presidency. A more pertinent question, actually, is whether Americans are ready to elect a grouchy old white guy. According to a Gallup poll, 5 percent of Americans would never vote for an African-American, while 11 percent claim they would never vote for a woman. Republican candidate John McCain is hamstrung by a more worrisome factor. He will be 72 by the time the November election rolls around. In the same Gallup poll, 42 percent claim they would not vote for a 72-year-old. Another survey found that 56 percent of Americans believe the nation would not accept an "elderly" president. The only groups consistently polling beneath old folks are gay Americans and atheists.

read more | digg story

Dugg News

Instead of compiling many posts into one to make the "Dugg News," I'm just going to leave them as is (with my own extraneous comments) and try to limit myself to just three or four per day. See posts below for today's Diggs.

Bipartisan Legislation Would Give Voting Rights to Ex-Cons

Thirty-five states deny the vote to felons who have served their time. Now a Democrat and a Republican are trying to change that.

read more | digg story

I'm totally behind this. I know a couple of ex-felons who are working hard to turn their lives around and restoration of their voting rights would be a great step. If you've done the time, you've paid the debt society has deemed appropriate.

Media Matters

In the wake of this week's controversy surrounding John McCain's dealings with lobbyists, it is impossible to avoid thinking about how differently the media would have handled the news had it been about Bill Clinton or Al Gore rather than John McCain. Three consistent rules of media coverage of purported scandals involving progressives come to mind...

read more | digg story

Annals of American History: The century old torture debate

It's like Déjà vu — all over again! Only last time it was the the "water cure" and the counterinsurgency in the Philippines.

read more | digg story

From the end of the New Yorker article:

"But where is that vast national outburst of astounded horror which an old-fashioned America would have predicted at the reading of such news?" the World asked. "Is it lost somewhere in the 8,000 miles that divide us from the scenes of these abominations? Is it led astray by the darker skins of the alien race among which these abominations are perpetrated? Or is it rotted away by that inevitable demoralization which the wrong-doing of a great nation must inflict on the consciences of the least of its citizens?"

Responding to the verdict in the Glenn court-martial, Judge Advocate General Davis had suggested that the question it implicitly posed—how much was global power worth in other people’s pain?—was one no moral nation could legitimately ask. As the investigation of the water cure ended and the memory of faraway torture faded, Americans answered it with their silence.

60 minutes Censors a broadcast in Alabama

As 60 Minutes was putting its show together, the White House put pressure on CBS -- the parent company -- to kill the show. During the 60 Minutes broadcast and ONLY during the Don Siegelman portion -- the screen went black for Huntsville residents and Mobile residents.

read more | digg story

If you're unfamiliar with the Don Siegelman story, click the "read more" link. It'll take you to a Huffington Post entry with links to the 60 Minutes story that finally aired and many other links for further information. It's some pretty mind-blowing stuff.

I'm really skeptical of the claim that this was somehow a network technical problem that only affected Alabama markets.

Oops!

At least they were able to get this overturned vehicle back on all four wheels...


http://view.break.com/444776 - Watch more free videos

Dugg News

I had just started doing this news compilation post and was having a good time with it, but I've been sick for the past couple of weeks and just couldn't summon up much energy to do too much web surfing and blogging. It all started with a bout of a stomach virus, then moved on to a case of strep and a head cold. Yes, three...three...three ailments in one. For about a week, I couldn't do much more than lift my head off the pillow. Then I went back to work. For the last week, I've usually been coming straight home and heading to bed. I'm feeling better now, but my sinuses will probably be screwed up for about a month. Anyway, here's the latest stories I've "dugg" on Digg.com.

More reasons to be counting down to January 20, 2009, when a new president will be inaugurated...

We've all watched in amazement as the administration's incompetence has made a bad war much worse. And we've all seen the money being squandered. The Times of London has an analysis of the money drain in Iraq and that other war, the one in Afghanistan...

The three trillion dollar war

The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it was wrong about the costs of the war. The president and his advisers expected a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have a war that is costing more than anyone could have imagined.

read more | digg story


An article in the Chicago Tribune suggests where much of the money has gone...

Inside the world of war profiteers

From prostitutes to Super bowl tickets, a federal probe reveals how contractors in Iraq cheated the U.S.

read more | digg story


And more Bush misdeeds. Illegal wiretapping is back...if it ever went away...

White House says phone wiretaps back on "for now"

The Bush administration said on Saturday U.S. telecommunications companies have agreed to cooperate ''for the time being'' with spy agencies' wiretaps, despite an ongoing battle between the White House and Congress over new terrorism surveillance legislation.

read more | digg story


In the ongoing battle between John McCain and the New York Times, finally a unlikely source confirms the story...

McCain: No favors for anyone - except that one guy...

McCain's campaign was quick to criticize the NY Times for the article suggesting he might have done some favors for lobbyists: "No representative of Paxson or Alcalde & Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC," they said. But that flat claim seems to be contradicted by an impeccable source: McCain himself...

read more | digg story


Last year, we got some new ethics legislation, but Congress left a big loophole...

Senators Diverting Campaign Funds to Kin

Under long-standing congressional ethics rules, corporations, unions and other large organizations cannot directly pay senators stipends. But their contributions to senators' election campaigns can be paid without limit to the children, spouses, in-laws and other relatives of the lawmakers...

read more | digg story


I guess this story belongs in the "Bush misdeeds" file since he pledged to do something about it. Just another empty promise. This is the story of immigrants fighting for this country, then waging another battle for citizenship...

After War, New Battle to Become Citizens

Some immigrant members of the military have waited years for their citizenship applications to be processed.

read more | digg story


And I love this story. A group of students fight back against an attempt to disenfranchise them...

Early Voting Wave as Reaction to Systemic Disenfranchisement

Texas Republicans have worked overtime to make it harder for key Democratic voting groups to vote and be represented fairly. The redistricting games they’ve played are infamous. And for the Prairie View A&M University precincts, they put the early-polling place more than seven miles from the school. So what did the students in this video do? They shut down the highway as they marched seven miles to cast their votes on the first day of early voting.

read more | digg story

Modern Monday Music: "Beg" by Evans Blue

Some music from this century to get you through a Monday. Evans Blue is a modern rock quintet from Toronto. "Beg" is from their debut album, "The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume" (2006). An obnoxious deejay introduces the band in this video, which is supposedly a live performance but has the studio performance of the song as audio. The song begins at the :55 mark.

There's a lit cigarette...
In the hand of my new angel
She's blowing smoke like halos
And now everybody wants her
But I shouldn't even bother
'Cause you made me so complete, dear
But you left me so alone here
Hang a noose for my new sinner
Somewhere everyone can see it

Won't you beg me
And then tell me can I love you
Like anybody else would
I know you're risking failure (risking failure)
Go run for cover (for how long)
You better start to love her
So much you're moving on and on

Now there's a whole wide world...
That wants to know...
Have cheap hotels lost their turn-on?
She's bathing in the neon
And she's polluting all the airways
While I'm passed out in the hallway
And you left me so in love here
You left with so much hate, dear
Was I creating only chaos?
This world lives just fine without us

Won't you, beg me
And then tell me can I love you
Like anybody else would
I know you're risking failure (risking failure)
Go run for cover (for how long)
You better start to love her
So much you're moving on and on

Will it change your life,
If I change my mind?
When she's lit the whole wide world
I want to know...
If you will...

Beg me
And then tell me can I love you
Like anybody else would
I know you're risking failure (risking failure)
But I'd hope you set your levels (for how long)
So you can run for cover
You better start to love her
Now are we this pathetic?
You made me finally see it

(Will it change your life
When I change my mind?
Will it change your mind
When I change my life?)

Go run for cover
You better fucking love her
So much you're moving on
I'm so pathetic,
You made me finally see it
Got what you want?
I'm gone

For how long?
For how long?(For how long)
For how long (For how long)
Will it change your life?

NASCAR Tracks: Fontana

Image by i heart him via Flickr

Auto Club Speedway (a.k.a. California Speedway) at Fontana, California, is a relatively new stop on the NASCAR circuit. NASCAR wanted to add more races on the west coast, and, in July of 1994, before construction even began, announced plans to sanction races upon completion of the facility. Construction began in November of 1995. The inaugural California 500 was held in June of 1997 and Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag at the event.

As NASCAR moved to other markets, they took some of the old tracks off of the schedule. After Daytona opened the season, NASCAR used to race the next week at Rockingham. That track, along with North Wilkesboro and others, is gone from the NASCAR schedule and now they race in Fontana after Daytona.

In 2003, when a second California race was added to the schedule, they took it from Darlington. The Labor Day race at Darlington, the Southern 500, was moved to Fontana. NASCAR has finally rectified this situation somewhat by moving the holiday weekend race back to the South, to Atlanta, and moving the second California race to October.

Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile D-shaped oval. The turns have 14 degrees of banking, the 3100-foot front stretch has 11 degrees of banking, the 2500-foot back straightaway has just three degrees of banking. The track is very similar to its sister track, Michigan International Speedway.

The Automobile Club of Southern California became the title sponsor of the racetrack in February 2008. The naming rights will last for ten years. The track also has infield segments that can be reconfigured several different ways, allowing the track to host road races, motorcycle races, vehicle testing, and drag races.

Look for a lot of side-by-side racing as drivers run from the wall all the way down to the apron, but also look for the field to get strung out as the faster cars leave the slower ones in the dust. The engines will be in the high rpm range all day long, and usually a couple don't make it out alive. You'll hear a lot about clean air and dirty air during a race broadcast from Fontana -- the leader's car (out in the clean air) will handle a lot better than a car back in the pack (in the dirty air).

Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers with five wins at ACS.  Kyle Busch became the youngest driver ever to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup race when he won the Auto Club 500 in February 2005 at age 20, but that record has since been bested by Joey Logano at Loudon in 2008. Kyle Busch also holds the Sprint Cup qualifying record at ACS -- 188.245 mph, set that same weekend in February 2005.

Auto Club Speedway currently hosts a Sprint Cup race, the Auto Club 500, and a Nationwide race in February.  In October, Auto Club Speedway hosts a second Cup race and a second Nationwide race.  In an attempt to increase competitiveness, NASCAR decided in January 2010 to decrease the October Cup race by 100 miles.  The Pepsi Max 400 is the fourth race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Fontana is not currently on the Camping World Truck Series schedule.

In 2010 NASCAR revamped the schedules for all three national touring series.  The Sprint Cup series will add a second race at Kansas Speedway and added a new track to the lineup -- Kentucky Speedway.  To do that they took one of the two races away from Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway.  Starting in 2011, Auto Club Speedway's Cup race will be the fifth race on the season schedule.  It will be held in late February.  The Nationwide Series will race at ACS on the same weekend.

(diagram from NASCAR.com)

Fontana Cup race winners
NASCAR tracks index

Mirthful Monday Music: "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" by Split Enz

Here, apropos of nothing, is a jaunty sea chantey from Split Enz, an eclectic band from New Zealand. The band featured the Finn brothers, Tim and Neil, who went on to form the band Crowded House. Interestingly, the band had trouble getting the song played in England. For some strange reason, they thought it was a veiled criticism of the Falkland War, even though it was written and recorded months before the conflict actually started. Prescient, no?

When I was a young boy,
I wanted to sail 'round the world
That's the life for me,
Living on the sea
Spirit of a sailor
Circumnavigates the globe
The lust of a pioneer
Will acknowledge no frontier

I remember you by
Thunderclap in the sky
Lightning flash, tempers flare,
'round the horn if you dare
I just spent six months in a leaky boat
Lucky just to keep afloat

Aotearoa,
Rugged individual
Glisten like a pearl
At the bottom of the world
The tyrany of distance
Didn't stop the cavalier
So why should it stop me?
I'll conquer and stay free

Ah, come on all you lads,
Let's forget and forgive
There's a world to explore
Tales to tell back on shore
I just spent six months in a leaky boat
Six months in a leaky boat

Shipwrecked love can be cruel
Don't be fooled by her kind
There's a wind in my sails,
Will protect and prevail
I just spent six months in a leaky boat
Nothing to a leaky boat

Weekend Assignment: Road Trip

Karen at Outpost Mavarin has the Weekend Assignment...

Weekend Assignment #203: If you had the time, money, housesittter, etc. to pack up right now and drive somewhere out of town for a few days, where would you go, if anywhere? Note I said driving, so wherever you pick should be in driving distance.

If I'd had the time, money, etc., you can probably guess where I would have gone this weekend...and the whole week or so before. If you can't guess, take a peek at the next four or five posts below this one. Yes, that's right, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Speedweeks and the 500. Of course, without tickets and reservations made months and months in advance, I probably would have been reduced to begging scalpers for a deal and sleeping in my car or camping out in the infield for days. And it would have been heaven.

But, for the sake of argument, let's say we're not talking about this specific weekend. My answer would probably be the same or maybe a little further south in Florida. Someplace nice and warm. You might remember, I don't like winter.

Chattanooga is within a day's driving of most of the eastern half of the United States. One day in the not-too-distant future, I hope to take a little jaunt to see the Mississippi River, perhaps around the Vicksburg area. I'd also like to visit some of the Virginia Civil War battlefields and Washington, D.C. Savannah and the Georgia coastal islands also sound nice.

Extra Credit: last time you got out of town for non-business reasons, what was your mode of transportation?

Driving. With the way airline travel is since 9/11, I wouldn't even attempt to get on a plane unless it was absolutely, no-way-around-it necessary.

NASCAR Tracks: Daytona

Image by NickTheIndian via Flickr

"There have been other tracks that separated the men from the boys. This is the track that will separate the brave from the weak after the boys are gone." -- Jimmy Thompson


Daytona International Speedway, located in Daytona Beach, Florida, is a 2.5 mile tri-oval and one of only three superspeedways on the Sprint Cup circuit. The others are Talladega Superspeedway and Pocono Raceway. Pocono is an acute triangle, a weird blend of road course and speedway. Talladega and Daytona are first cousins -- both massive tri-ovals with high-banked turns. And they were fast, too fast. Both are now restrictor plate tracks.

Restrictor plates are metal plates with holes that fit over the engine intake, restricting air flow to the engine and cutting horsepower. They're purposely trying to slow these cars down. In 1986, Bill Elliott came to Daytona and ran a qualifying lap of 210.364 mph, then ran 212.809 at Talladega, track records that still stand. But Bobby Allison spun in that Talladega race and almost went into the crowd and NASCAR decided to mandate the plates, cutting the cars' horsepower from around 750 to 430.

In a restrictor plate race the cars are going flat out -- full throttle for much or all of a lap. The cars mostly all travel in a big pack with the leader and the last place driver separated by barely a second. It's all aerodynamics. Get out of the draft (get too far behind the pack) and you'll lose so much speed that you'll soon be lapped. Get too far ahead of the pack and you're just asking for two or three cars to hook up and blow by you. Multiple cars always travel faster than lone cars.

With all the cars traveling in a pack at high speeds on the bumpy track, most restrictor plate races usually have "The Big One," a huge, multi-car, chain reaction accident. There's an on-going debate as to whether the track should be repaved to smooth it out. Dale Jr. says repave it; Edwards likes the bumps.

A trouble spot to watch is where the cars enter the backstretch off Turn Two. As the cars get into a run and the tires start to go away, drivers have to roll out of the throttle or hit the wall. Coming out of Turn 4, it's four wide that narrows down to two wide at the start/finish line.

Daytona International Speedway has 31° turns. It's 18° at the start/finish line. The backstretch is almost flat at 3°. It's wide with room for two or three lines of racing. They'll even get four wide at times. The frontstretch is 3800 feet long, the backstretch 3000. Daytona has seating for 168,000.

Speed has always been synonymous with Daytona. In the early decades of the automobile, racers started at Ormand Beach and raced toward Daytona Beach on the hard sand, attempting land speed records. When the speeds got too high to slow down before reaching the Daytona Beach boardwalk, the racers moved to the Bonneville Salt Flats for their records. Daytona next hosted a beach/road race -- partly on Highway A-1-A, partly on the beach.

Ground was broken on DIS on November 25, 1957. Bill France, NASCAR's founder, had been planning his dream track since 1953. To create the footings for the high-banked turns, dirt was taken from the infield leaving a massive hole. When the hole filled with water due to the low water table, Lake Lloyd was born.

The first race was the 1959 Daytona 500. Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp finished the race side-by-side. Beauchamp was declared the winner and went to Victory Lane, but after three days of reviewing photographs and newreel footage the decision was reversed and Petty was declared the official winner.

Daytona International Speedway is now a 480-acre motorsports complex -- the "World Center of Racing." There are nine major weekends of racing activity, featuring everything from NASCAR to the Rolex Sports Car Series to the American Motorcyclist Association and the World Karting Association. The racing season starts at Daytona with the 24 Hours of Daytona. The track is also used for civic and social gatherings, car shows, athletic games, photo "shoots," production vehicle testing and police motorcycle training.

The Daytona 500 Experience opened on July 5, 1996. "The Official Attraction of NASCAR" is a multi-million dollar interactive attraction that includes an IMAX Theatre, three different motion simulators, the 16-Second Pit Stop and the Daytona 500-winning car.

Dale Earnhardt holds the record for most wins at Daytona (34), but managed just one Daytona 500 win and two summer Sprint Cup wins. Richard Petty holds the record for most Daytona 500 victories (7). Jeff Gordon leads active drivers with six DIS Sprint Cup wins, three in the Daytona 500.

In February, Daytona International Speedway hosts the Bud Shootout, an exhibition race that opens the NASCAR season. The Gatorade Duel races set the field for the Daytona 500. "The Great American Race" opens the 36-race Sprint Cup season. The Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series also begin their seasons in February at Daytona.

In August, there is another Nationwide race and a night-time Sprint Cup race, the Coke Zero 400.

Daytona Cup race winners

NASCAR tracks index

McCain: Like Hope But Different

Dugg News

Another exciting installment of dugg news...

Here are just a couple of more reasons I'll be glad to see George W. Bush and his gang of cronies leaving the White House for good. I'm just wondering why they hate the troops so much.

Veterans not entitled to mental health care, U.S. lawyers argue

Veterans have no legal right to specific types of medical care, the Bush administration argues in a lawsuit accusing the government of illegally denying mental health treatment to some troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

read more | digg story

From Bush, Foe of Earmarks, Similar Items

In his new budget, the president has requested money for thousands of items similar to the pet projects of Congress.

read more | digg story

And while we're on the subject of Bush, we might as well get to the news concerning who will replace him.

Bush Backs McCain, Issues Advice for General Election

President Bush waded directly into the presidential campaign in an interview broadcast Sunday, defending Sen. John McCain as a 'true conservative' but warning that his onetime rival needs to shore up relations with the Republican Party's base to take the fight into the general election this fall.

read more | digg story

Barack Obama Wins Maine Caucuses

Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in Maine presidential caucuses Sunday, grabbing a majority of delegates as the state's Democrats overlooked the snowy weather and turned out in heavy numbers for municipal gatherings.

read more | digg story

Here's an interesting look at the superdelegates that may end up deciding who the Democratic nominee is.

796 Insiders May Hold Democrats' Key

The calculation of whom to endorse can be complicated: Superdelegates must think not only about their personal views but also about how their votes will be viewed by constituents.

read more | digg story

Economic news -- The credit card companies are screwing us over. Wait. That's not really news, is it?

What rate cuts? Use of plastic gets pricier

Borrowing money has become cheaper for banks after a series of aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. So why are many people's credit cards growing more expensive? Hundreds of thousands of Capital One and Bank of America cardholders have been notified in recent months that their interest rates are going up -- in some cases to as much as 28%

read more | digg story

Here's a terrible story from the UK that's hard to believe is still possible in the 21st century.

Police say 17,000 women are victims of "honor" every year

Up to 17,000 women in Britain are being subjected to "honour" related violence, including murder, every year, according to police chiefs. And official figures on forced marriages are the tip of the iceberg, says the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). It warns that the number of girls falling victim to forced marriages, kidnappings, sexual assaults, beatings and even murder by relatives intent on upholding the "honour" of their family is up to 35 times higher than official figures suggest.

read more | digg story

And sad news from Hollywoodland.

"Jaws" actor Roy Scheider dies at 75

Roy Scheider, the actor best known for his role as a police chief in the blockbuster movie "Jaws," has died. He was 75.

read more | digg story

Melodic Monday Music -- Nickel Creek

A lot of bloggers do a Friday music thingy. I'm doing mine on Mondays -- a boost to get you through the working week (or at least a dreary Monday.)

Two men and a woman walk into a music store. No, that's not the beginning of a joke. It's the beginning of this cool video for "Smoothie Song" from Nickel Creek. Robert Trujillo of Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies fame joins in on the stand-up bass...



No lyrics this time. The song doesn't have any. Instead, a bonus video. This is from a documentary called "Bluegrass Journey." "Old Cold Coffee on the Dashboard" starts around the 1:40 (or the -5:10) mark.



Okay, now Chris Thile is just showing off. The incredibly sexy Sara Watkins and her brother Shawn are giving it hell too.

If this doesn't get you through a crappy Monday, nothing will.

Dugg News

This is a new concept I've been toying with. I'm trying to figure out how it will work, how long it takes to do, and how often I'll be able to do it, but I'm going to try to do a sort of news roundup based on stories I've submitted to Digg.

I get email newsletters of today's headlines from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Nashville Tennessean, and other newspapers. I also get news from various outlets like the Progressive Review, AlterNet and Truthdig and a collection of blogs. As I read through these email newsletters and surf the web I digg stories (submit them to Digg) that catch my eye. The news stories I've "dugg" are usually a strange mix. Most are straight news of the political variety, but you'll also see the occasional editorial column or blog post. Here's today's greatest hits collection...

This is the news story that's infuriated me the most over the past few days. Here's a gang that can't shut up about supporting the troops and never misses an opportunity to screw them over.

Vets get Shaft: No Funds in Bush Budget For Troop-Benefits

President Bush drew great applause during his State of the Union address last month when he called on Congress to allow U.S. troops to transfer their unused education benefits to family members. 'Our military families serve our nation, they inspire our nation, and tonight our nation honors them.' However, Bush's proposed budget doesn't do enough.

read more | digg story

It's nice to know that the Pentagon is learning something about the wars they're fighting these days.

After Hard-Won Lessons, Army Doctrine Revised

The Army has drafted a new operations manual that elevates the mission of stabilizing war-torn nations, making it equal in importance to defeating adversaries on the battlefield.

read more | digg story

Congress finally passed an economic stimulus package and sent it to the president. It goes further than he would like, but probably doesn't go far enough to do much good.

Congress Sends Economic Aid Plan to Bush

The legislation would provide $600 payments for individuals -- $1,200 for couples -- plus $300 for each child younger than 17. It would begin to phase out eligibility at $75,000 in adjusted gross income for individuals and at $150,000 for couples. Workers who can show $3,000 in earned income last year -- too little on which to pay income taxes -- would be eligible for payments of $300. The payments would be sent out separately from tax refunds.

read more | digg story

Election News -- More victories for Obama

Obama Sweeps Four Primaries: Nebraska, Washington, Louisiana and Virgin Islands

read more | digg story

Here's an interesting local story. Due to a surveying error in 1818, the Georgia state line comes one mile short of reaching the Tennessee River. With droughts getting so bad in the South, Georgia lawmakers are trying to gain access to the water. Here's the latest story in the continuing saga: Tennessee lawmakers don't like the idea.

Lawmakers opposed to Georgia tapping Tennessee River

Tennessee lawmakers say they sympathize with Georgia's water shortages but they will oppose an effort by their lawmakers to redraw the states' border. A proposal in the Georgia Legislature argues that a flawed survey in 1818 mistakenly marked Georgia's border one mile south of the Tennessee River.

read more | digg story

And some fantastic news from TV land. Yeah! The writers are coming back!!!

Producers Say Writers Could Return on Monday

See you on Monday? With a chance that the Hollywood writers' strike could be settled soon, television producers have already started to say just that. “Everybody is telling everybody to come in Monday,” said Jeff Ross, the executive producer of NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

read more | digg story

See my Digg page for more dugg stories.

Red State Update: Super Tuesday

Jackie Broyles and Dunlap offer their keen political observations about Super Tuesday...

Manic Monday Music: "Love Like Winter" by AFI

I'd always prided myself on staying current with music, but I'd lost touch. Too many rap artists, boy bands, and pop princesses had turned me off. My music collection was stagnant and too mellow. I needed an infusion of...something. About a year or so ago, I started listening to some of the newer artists that my son was into. I fell in love with AFI.

Hit the play button and crank it up!

Warn your warmth to turn away (away, turn away)
Here it’s December everyday
Press your lips to the sculptures
And surely you’ll stay (love like winter)
For of sugar and ice, I am made, I am made

It’s in the blood, it’s in the blood
I met my love before I was born
He wanted love. I taste of blood
He bit my lip, and drank my war
From years before, from years before

She exhales vanilla lace,
I barely dreamt her yesterday (yesterday)
Read the lines in the mirror through the lipstick trace:
"Por Siempre."
She said, “It seems you’re somewhere, far away"
To his face.

It’s in the blood, it’s in the flood
I met my love, before I was born
She wanted love, I taste of blood
She bit my lip, and drank my war
From years before, from years before

Love like winter Oh OO-Oh
Love like winter, winter, three, four

It’s in the blood, it’s in the blood
I met my love, before I was born
He wanted love, I taste of blood
He bit my lip, and drank my war
From years before, from years before

Weekend Assignment: The Food Rut

Karen has the latest Weekend Assignment at Outpost Mavarin...

Weekend Assignment #201: To promote a new cooking show, a TV station is going to pay you $500 to eat the same basic meal every day for a week, prepared with only minor variations by their on-screen host. What's on the menu?

I think I'd have to go with beef. From steaks to hamburgers, you'd have enough of a variety to keep from getting tired of it. And it's only a week.

Extra credit: Do you tend to eat the same thing all the time anyway?

Yeah. Sad to say. Breakfast is usually coffee, with an occasional bowl of cereal, Pop Tart, or egg. I usually have a piece of fruit or a fruit cup for a mid-afternoon snack. Lunch is usually eaten at work at most people's dinnertime and is usually a sandwich, chips and Little Debbie. I usually eat dinner late at night when I get home from work. This is usually whatever the wife has cooked or pizza or fast food burgers. It's usually different from day to day, but the same from week to week.

NASCAR Basics: The Tracks: Master List

As part of my NASCAR Basics series of posts, I'm writing a post about each of the tracks that hold Sprint Cup races. This will be an ongoing process throughout the 2008 season with a new post whenever NASCAR travels to a new track. Then I'll link to that post here, making a master list.

A note: These are loose categories of tracks. Some authoritative sources might have only four categories, combining tracks from one to two miles in length into one big "Intermediate" category. To me, it doesn't make much sense to compare longer, wider, higher speed tracks like Atlanta or Texas to tracks like Phoenix or Dover.

SUPERSPEEDWAYS (over two miles long)

Daytona International Speedway*
Pocono Raceway
Talladega Superspeedway*

* restrictor plate tracks

SPEEDWAYS (1.5 to two miles long)

Atlanta Motor Speedway
Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway)
Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway)
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Michigan International Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway

INTERMEDIATE TRACKS (one to 1.5 miles long)

Darlington Raceway
Kansas Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Phoenix International Raceway

SHORT TRACKS (less than a mile long)

Bristol Motor Speedway
Dover International Speedway
Martinsville Speedway
Richmond International Raceway

ROAD COURSES

Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point Raceway)