How costly is this bailout? Some perspective

I found this info via BoingBoing.net who point out that "the bailout costs more than Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, moonshot, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq war, Vietnam war, and NASA's lifetime budget -- combined!"

And, yeah, that's adjusted for inflation.

The source is Barry Ritholtz who is writing a book on the bailouts. Bianco Research crunched the numbers.

I guess Ritholtz can add some more items to the combined list now that we're apparently bailing out the domestic auto industry.

Awesome. Anything else we can bailout?

Link to Ritholtz's post.

New poll: Spending less for the holidays?

New poll: Are you spending less for the holidays?

Whether you are or aren't check out Gary's handy list of Black Friday deals.

Black Friday deals galore

Just for the heck of it, I thought I would post the following websites to lend a hand on Black Friday, and throughout the upcoming shopping season. If they help, I'm a hero, if not then nothing is lost. Here you are:

Get a jump on Black Friday sites which can help you get your best shopping deals this year are:

• Black Friday 2008
• The Black Friday
• Black Friday 2008
• Black Friday Ads.com
• Black Friday Info
• Black Friday Net
• Deal Taker
• GottaDeal.com
• TGI Black Friday

Obama, Clinton and deregulation

John Berlau argues pretty persuasively on Reason Online that President-elect Obama has a "Clinton Problem":

... [T]he Obama campaign's twin messages of bashing deregulation and embracing the Clinton years were inherently contradictory. Bill Clinton signed nearly every deregulatory measure that John McCain backed — the same measures that are now being blamed (wrongly) for helping cause the current crisis.

What's more, Clinton administration officials have credited these policies for contributing to the ‘90s economic boom—the very "shared prosperity" that Obama says he wants to go back to.

Persuasive, yes, but meaningful? Maybe not. See, Berlau believes this to be a paradox that needs to be resolved. I believe this is how our system operates. Say this, do that, and never the twain shall meet.

Link to Obama's Clinton Problem on Reason Online

This pardon (turkey bailout) is too good!

Take a civics test

This is the American Civics Literacy Test that was on the news last night. 2508 people took it and we averaged 49% on the score. Elected officials averaged 44%. Any surprise there?

56% of the people polled knew Paula Abdul was a judge on American Idol. Nice!

Anyway, here's the site:

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

Have fun! The last 6 questions are doozies. See if you agree with the answers. Feel free to argue them here.

Should the government stop dumping money into a giant hole?

Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

Feeling the pinch?

Feeling the financial pinch? What are you doing to save money these days? And please, please don't say "We don't eat out as often." If you don't eat out every single day at my restaurant, the terrorists have won.

What about me? Well, I asked you first. But since you asked, I don't spend much money to begin with. Still, when I have some (meager) free time, I'm rediscovering my DVD's and books I already have instead of buying more. I'm not going out much, but then, I don't go out to begin with.

And that picture above is the best Google comes up with for "pinch" in an image search. I hoped for a better picture, but we have to use what we have.

Congratulations to the President-Elect!

Congratulations to President-Elect Obama who will become the 44th President of the United States. He has run one of the most well-organized (maybe the most well-organized) campaigns in history. As Americans in difficult times, it is incumbent for all of us as citizens and leaders to forget agendas and get to policymaking. Our country and its people deserve no less. Democrats are the party in power and now have the opportunity to lead, and no longer obstruct. republicans have lost their position of power, and must now find ways to help lead, and not simply replace the Democrats as obstructionists. President-Elect Obama is my president and your's, but he is a representative of our views on how best this country must proceed. We need to hold him to account when he is wrong, and praise him when he is right. We need to see that he is now a leader who will be a puppet of no special interest or party. In doing so, I hope that we can make it policy-driven; not disgraceful and personal as has been done too often with President Bush. That is my wish this morning.

7:04PM: Graphic content warning

Okay, so I have CNN, Fox News and MSNBC on the various widescreens. It's the first time I've seen these news channels in years and Jiminy Christmas what's up with the graphics?

I mean, I watch YouTube videos. I play videogames. At any given time I've got multiple tabs open in Firefox. So, okay, information overload isn't a problem for me.

Having said all that, who is designing these graphics and who is the audience? I feel like getting a Ritalin prescription just for watching more than two minutes.

See you tonight!

Well, here's my advice:







See you tonight! Remember, it's 6 pm to 9 pm-ish at my place, WOW Cafe & Wingery. I expect Gary around 6.

VOTE! What's your final thought and the "Hoe-Down!"

PLEASE vote tomorrow for your candidate. You are the final poll, and whether it's Obama, McCain, or other, you need to exercise your guaranteed right. Here's a question, though. What will your final thought be before you make your choice?

Oh yeah! I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow night at WOW Cafe and Wingery with my bud, Jay! Come out and blog, and eat, and talk and eat, and joke, and eat! We'll be there from 6-9p.m. Come on out and have fun!

Hoe-down: Tuesday night

Don't forget, on Tuesday night Gary and I will be chillin' at my restaurant between 6 pm and 9 pm (ish).

We can eat, chat, and, um ... well, to be honest, eating and chatting were what I had in mind. If you like Scrabble that much you can bring your travel board and see if anyone will play.

I'm told that there is some kind of political thing going on, so I guess you can talk about that. Me, I'll have my head between my knees. You can talk to me about almost anything else, though. You will find, of course, that I'm very charming.

Halloween is over-commericalized?

In The Know: Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?

Synchronized presidental debating

Did you watch all the debates? Got the feeling you're hearing the same thing over and over again? Check this out:

http://www.236.com/video/2008/watch_synchronized_presidentia_9857.php

I don't know what it means and you can see that the author had to do some editing, but wow.

Sorry, I'm having trouble embedding the video here, so I just posted a link to the original. Trust me, you want to see this.

A letter from Ken and my response

This was a letter I received from Ken on Wednesday. I appreciate the time he took to write it, and I thought it deserved equal time considering it, and answering. Below is his letter and my response:

Gary,
We live in a democracy, we're part of a community, we make common decisions. It's sad but you guys seem to think that individual material gain is what matters. You may not realize this but you're mocking democracy. Where's your sense of solidarity and community. An atomized society flys in the face of democracy, it's shameful.

Kenneth, I also share my wealth by buying Thanksgiving dinner for people (7) of them this year, donating to charities, paying for lunches, dinners and tickets for people who can't do it themselves, and sponsoring people to baseball games who otherwise couldn't go. I also sponsor two scholarships for $4,000 and gave $3300 to a school to honor my mom and dad; money that would help for better education of students.

None of that money comes from the government; it comes from me despite the government's efforts to take more and more from me as a producer. Without people like me, the democracy, and particularly the representative democracy which puts them in power doesn't exist. Without my money and other producers like me who have bought into them representing me and you, they are nothing. They produce nothing unless I provide them with the means. My compact with them includes respecting my choices, and making decisions that respect the way I do business as a taxpayer, but more importantly a producer in this country.

When I and people like me stop producing, those who live off the fruits of those labors that are given money by our representatives will receive no more. Do not lecture me about democracy, which by the way means "people power" from the old Greek term. Do you think that meant we should have the power, or just the few representatives whose track record is far worse than most American households where we produce each day?

As far as my sense of community, each member of the community should be doing their best to contribute in some way to, and should not be whining about what the government can do to give them more or perpetuate dependence; rather should be fostering their own independence. That will certainly help the solidarity, togetherness and bond within any community.

Best regards,
Gary Sutton

Redistribution of wealth--Progressive or Regressive

The following is a reprint of a response I had in an earlier post. It is not an attenpt to be a revisionist historian to Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" which I have read. Rather, it is to discuss the benefits and merits of a concept. Debate it rather than just offer up names. Here it is:

The idea that government should choose who the winners will be and who the losers will be is anathema to the whole principle of free choice, isn't it? Progressive taxes? Repudiation of the Bush-Cheyney policies? Come on.

The ultimate job of government is to get out of the way so that individual initiative can have a chance to realize goals if pursued by the individual. It is, or was, based on a society that believed in independence and work. The only "fairness" that we worried about was to try as much as possible to have a level playing field for all in this country.

I do believe that there must be stricter regulation and oversight for situations that we have seen in this financial crises. When power and wealth are abused, especially in a way that takes all of us with them, there must be safeguards in our system of freedoms. People make bad choices, and illegal choices. They must be held accountable.

Having said that, what is progressive about any tax? Government produces no money, but takes it from those that do, then make them pay progressively more than those who don't???? What is progressive about that? How does that provide greater incentive for people to create wealth in this country? How does a 35% corporate tax keep business in this country when every other industrialized country offers less of a strain on earnings? Senator Obama is right in the sense that wealth is built "from the ground up." When you start at ground level, don't you want to achieve higher status financially. What a goal to look forward to when you know that your efforts will lead to a "progressive tax." How is that progressive for success?

Lessen the tax confiscation, tighten the spending, and find an equitable way to provide tax cuts for 100% of citizens in this country; not just 95%. If you nwant to create a nanny state of dependency where we whine for fairness defined as what I can get, I believe we go opposite the very tenets on which we were founded.

An Obama Radio Interview from 2001--Redistribution of wealth.

This has become the great dividing point in the Election of 2008. Where do you come down?

The Election Night Hoe-Down at WOW!

I want to encourage everyone to come out to WOW on Election Night, eat some great food, and take part in some great conversation. We'll also be blogging throughout the evening. I will be there from 6-9 or so. Please plan on stopping by and taking part.
Most importantly, you'll get a chance to hang out with Jay. What could be more awesome? GS

Governor Richardson and Friday's Show

Governor Bill Richardson was supposed to be my guest on yesterday's show, but he stood me up. After waiting 1-1/2 hours to tape the interview, and with much help from an Obama aide, Ebony Meeks, we finally threw in the towel. Sorry. I like the Governor, and was looking forward to his insights. (Sorry especially to RB.)

Friday, we have Chris Markowski, "The Watchdog of Wall Street" from 6:10 to 6:25. This guy is sharp, and he'll be getting into analysis on gas prices, candidates' gas plans, and abolishing 401k tax breaks. Check out his website at http://watchdogonwallstreet.com/tv.html

We also have Dr. Terry Madonna from Franklin and Marshall College who will be talking about the new Franklin and Marshall/Hearst-Argyle Presidential Poll. Find out more at http://www.fandm.edu/x2217.xml

Our 8-9 Call-In Hour will focus on "What changes you would like to see to future presidential campaigns and elections" plus "When it comes down to it in the simplest terms, what is this election really all about?"

Join us 6-9am on York's Morning News.

Wednesday's Show

Guests on 10/22 show:

Barbara Comstock on "The Fairness Doctrine." You can find her article on the Fairness Doctrine at http://article.nationalreview.com (Archives) 10/20/08 date written.

Harold Holzer on Lincoln as a leader and what he would tell our candidates today as one gets ready for the presidency. Has written new book, "Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-61 (Simon and Schuster, October 21, 2008, $30 .

Attorney Norman Shabel on corporate greed and what to do about it. Has written book, "The Corporation" which deals with greed.

TOMORROW:

GovernorBill Richardson will be on the show @ Obama and his take on the election.

Brian Aderson on the fairness doctrine and his new book, "A Manifesto for Media Freedom."

Monday's York's Morning News

Our guests today on York's Morning News are :

Gary Gagliardi of The Science of Strategy Institute on the topic of ACORN (The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.) If you care to follow up on his work, go to www.scienceofstrategy.com . 6:00 hour.

Joe Mahoney is an investment advisor with Edward Jones Investments in York, PA . He is discussing the financial bailoout and the progress on it in the 8:00 hour.

Thanks for listening--Comments are welcomed here! GS

Just taking a stroll down Main Street

Hey, my tiny amount of free time has shriveled up like a salted slug. That's why you haven't seen much in the way of tech tips and my I-hate-everyone, curmudgeonly political posts and comments.

Once things settle down here (hah!), I plan to work with Gary to make changes to the site to make it a better home for Main Street. I'm looking at a forum format and Gary is interested in making himself available for live chats and even gatherings here at my restaurant.

Speaking of which, is there any interest in an Election Night gathering here? We can put election coverage on the big TV's here.

New poll: Election night hoe-down at WOW?

New poll: Wanna do an election night hoe-down at WOW?

See above post -- Gary and I are thinking of having an election night gathering at WOW. Any interest?

And no, I'm not sure what a "hoe-down" entails. I'm not up on the lingo kids use today, because I'm old. So very old.

Poll results: Who won the VP debate?

Poll results: Who won the VP debate?

Sen. Biden - 23%
Gov. Palin - 53%
Neither - 11%
There was a debate? - 11%

Did anyone win in Debate 3?

Joe the Plumber was probably the biggest winner with some great publicity for business. I thought the introduction of this guy put the conversation on a "Main Street" level that people could understand in concrete terms. Using this point, McCain finally stumbled into differentiating between "spreading out the wealth" by the government, and the individual keeping his own money and making choices as to where it will go himself. This is the ultimate difference between the two.

What did you hear in the last debate?

NEW Candidate??

A staggering development.


CLICK HERE!!

Bailout or Rescue???

Now that the bill has become a law, has your anger faded? Maybe it was never there if you think it is ok for the same entity that lackedd oversight, and took part in this mess is the same one we choose each time to bail us out. Is this not the insanity that Einstein spoke of at an earlier time? Why do we distrust our institutions and individual ingenuity so much?

Maybe this vote was right for the moment, but what about the long-term; what about the future of our free enterprise system? Have we safeguarded our individual liberty, or have we altered the state of our economic system? Our problem is that we all think we need something new, but we are not willing to suffer through hard change to do it. We weren't willing to say "No" to our president and our Congress and face the prospect that change could come about with the result of market correction, not government direction. We are afraid of returning to our principles, which is why we seek the cocoon and comfort zone of letting government ride to a faux rescue using our real money.

We need change, but not the kind offered by Obama that wreaks of socialism, or McCain's which has only the policy du jour that will make him popular for the moment.
The change will only come from us in an ideological revolution. I know that this is totally idealistic which is why it doesn't work because we have lost our idealism, except in shallow speeches only geared to being elected. We are lost in our innocence of daily life, manipulated by those who have the power; that's government.

Forgive my negativity, but it is what I see, and the outcome is not one that is postive, at least from these eyes. Your thoughts....

New poll: Who won the VP debate?

New poll: Who won the VP debate?

Poll results: Who lost the 1st debate?

Poll results: Who lost the 1st debate?

Sen. McCain - 25%
Sen. Obama - 35%
Neither - 12%
America - 25%

Is America ready to elect someone from Main Street?

Realizing that the VP debate is a sideshow to electing the presidential candidates, I was struck by a thought ; Is America ready to put someone from Main Street close to the presidency? It seems to me that it was not so much a debate last night as a statement of principles. Fairness for Biden and Individual liberty for Palen. More importantly, Palen was the object of perception it seemed to me, while Biden was much more concise as the Washington insider. Main Street language like "Doggone it," "Darn Right," and "God Bless him" were there to connect depending on who said it. So what did the debate do for you, if anything.

VP Debate Drinking Game

MIT's paper The Tech presents: The VP debate drinking game! A sample of some rules:

When Biden begins the “I take the train home everyday story” being drinking. Don’t stop ’till he finishes.

When Palin insists that governing a small town in Alaska is in fact experience: Give your friend a shot glass of beer when he/she asks for a pint and insist it’s the same thing.

Have fun and remember you have to work tomorrow!

Link to VP Debate Drinking Game (from MIT's The Tech)

Just a little bit of history and timeline on the financial mess

Just thought I would post some points since the "Elite media" seems to want to forget whose negligence, and involvement helped get us into this mess.

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Listening to podcasts

Betcha you've heard of podcasts. But do you listen to them? Do you know how fun, informative and convenient they can be? No? Then pay attention, grasshopper.

1. The Basics

Okay, a podcast is basically an audio program like a radio show formatted for an MP3 player like an iPod. Podcasts run the gamut. You can find podcasts about all kinds of things, like history, science, the Philadelphia Eagles, and even your favorite television program.

One neat thing about podcasts is that they're generally free -- including many very high-quality podcasts.

Another neat thing about podcasts is that once you find one you like, you subscribe to it in iTunes (or whatever you use) and it will keep your MP3 player updated with shows as they become available.

2. Getting podcasts

If you have an iPod, then you want to go to iTunes, click on Podcasts and then click on the podcast directory. Subscribing is as easy as clicking the "subscribe" button. Just make sure you don't subscribe to anything that doesn't say "free" after it.

If you use other means, like Microsoft's Zune desktop software coupled with a Microsoft Zune, check your software's help feature or visit its website for more information.

3. Some cool podcasts

Well, I think they're cool. Behold:

• In Our Time, from BBC Radio 4. "The big ideas which form the intellectual agenda of our age are illuminated by some of the best minds. Melvyn Bragg and three guests investigate the history of ideas and debate their application in modern life."
• This Week in Tech. "Your first podcast of the week is the last word in tech. Join Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, John C. Dvorak, and other tech luminaries in a roundtable discussion of the latest trends in high tech. Released every Sunday at midnight Pacific."
• The Onion Radio News. Parody news done by the masters.
• Slate Explainer. I love this show. Each is only a couple minutes long and address some question surrounding the news of the day. Recent topics included Is the Fed Private or Public?, Can You Really See Russia From Alaska?, and Why Are Georgia and Georgia Both Named Georgia?.

BTW, you can listen to these (and other) programs on your computer. Click the links to the shows on The Podcast Directory and you'll see a link to listen to the show through your web browser.

4. Parting thought

The nice thing about podcasts (at least the ones you like) is having favorite shows, piled up on your MP3 player, just waiting for you. Suddenly your gym visit or drive to Ohio just flies by.

Now, these are just some of the podcasts I like. I keep these and a bunch more on my iPod. I like to believe that they live on my iPod, quietly talking amongst themselves, readying themselves for the day that I need them.

Has this economic disaster dragged politicians to work as policymakers?

It's probably way to early to tell, but this whole bailout thing might just be the one issue that drags everyone into policy making. Oh, I know, the same rhetoric is going on, but make no mistake about it; people are furious when these do-nothings continue to always use citizen pocketbooks as the bailout. (They call it a buy-in.) Why should they in the wake of Bear-Stearns, Lehman, Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac, and AIG? Has that helped the economy with our infusion of bucks? No! Yet, we do have to find a solution to separate Wall Street and Main Street so this doesn't continue to happen. With the bill being devoted yesterday, the question is what's next? What do you see as the next step, and do you think they can do it for the REAL benefit of the country?

Who won the Debate on Friday?

I thought that McCain had to throw a haymaker and he missed. I thought that Obama had to simply not make any major gaffes and he managed to tread water. Problem was that neither showed themselves to be very good leaders, or be specific in their proposals in a way that we could understand. (Why do I hear Forest Gump talking about Mama explaining things to him in a way he could understand here.) I think that unless some major event comes along, Obama is on his way to at least a decisive victory, and possibly a landslide. What say you?

New poll: Who lost the first debate?

New poll: Who lost the first debate?

You can cast your vote in the poll in the upper-right of this page. Feel free to discuss it here, too.

Poll results: Who will you vote for?

Who will you vote for?

A listed candidate - 80%
A write-in candidate - 8%
None of the above - 12%

Political Gotcha or True Bi-Partisanship?????

So Senator John McCain is suspending his campaign to go help settle the economic crisis in Washington, and wants to postpone the debate scheduled with Senator Obama on Friday night. Is he right or wrong? Senator Obama has said that presidents should be able to do more than one thing, and he has no intention of canceling his campaign activities including the debate on Friday evening. Is he right or wrong?

Both are attending the meeting with the president and heads of Congress today at the request of President Bush. Is this situation so big that it's dragging every party and ideology into a decision? Could Bush actually be changing the tone of Washington finally?? Probably not, but what do you think?????

The Final Show , then Tomorrow!

Today, Wednesday, September 24th, is the final Gary Sutton Show from 9 to Noon on WSBA Radio. The show started on April 10, 2000, and has been going strong ever since. Feel free to put your thoughts on the show, negative or positive, or both right here.

Tomorrow, Gary will take over his new position as co-host on York's Morning News which airs from 6-9am . This morning show will be very different from its present format as the news is still presented, but will be followed by a free-wheeling discussion with contributing guests and points of view from Gary, Jim Horn, Mark McKenzie and Jeff Schiffman. From 8-9am, callers will be able to call into the show, and express their points of view much like they could on the old Gary Sutton Show. It will be fun and exciting, and we are looking forward to producing the best morning show on any dial. See you then! I'm Gary Sutton.

Some final thoughts on The Gary Sutton Show

I have a final thought today on who the people are that live on Main Street of America -- the very people who we have talked to on our show each and every day -- and what makes them so wonderful and different from the part of our country we seem to complain about incessantly.

It seems to me that the people of Main Street America are decent people who possess wisdom beyond any college or university degree. Their smarts have come from real-life experiences of work which have demanded that they solve problems, produce, live within their means, and try to do better in grabbing the American Dream. They speak civilly to one another, and know the goodness of real community in this country. These people generally obey the rules, play well with others, and are positive about life.

You are these people.

Your independence, patriotism, sacrifice and hard work have made this country one of which we all should be proud. I want you to know that as a talk show host, no one could be luckier than I have been to be allowed into the home of this esteemed group every day. You have honored me by listening to our show, your show.

More importantly, you have honored yourselves by getting involved by listening, and taking part to make your world a better place. May you continue that effort always, because you are the daily activists who must care and make this country the best it can be. Thank you. I’m Gary Sutton.

Revolutioooon!

WOW! What a season thus far. The Revs have now made the playoffs, and we would like your opinion on just how far you may think they'll go. This is break from the norm, but we just can't help but get caught up in the passion, fever, and excitement that YORK, and all of the citizens of this area have something to really cheer about!!

Just Random Thoughts about the Election!

What if Obama loses?
A. Will the Democrats take the blame?
B. Could words over actions be the reason?
C. Republicans have been beating themselves up while the leadership of the Democratic Party take no blame, blame Bush, and offer no reasonable solutions.
D. You can’t just talk the talk; you must walk the walk.
E. They’ll blame the Republican Attack Machine, McCain for selling out by going out and getting Palin, the fact that Americans don’t get it, and that we are basically stupid, the normal theological culprits on the right, and on and on.
F. Could it be that Democrats have lost touch with their true roots, and only give lip service to unions, blue color workers, and urban folk.
G. Could it be that paying off people making them more dependent on government in return for votes has only yielded more dependency and less progress in America?
1. Look at the list of the poorest cities in the country.
H. Does that mean that Republicans or let’s say Conservatives are doing a great job? No! They have compromised themselves time and time again.
I. However, it is interesting to note that the way President Clinton worked with them was to corral and triangulate their best ideas into policies that seemed popular in the country.
J. The way Rahm Emmanuel engineered the last election win in 2006 was to get conservatives who were also Democrats. They shared the same values.
K. Problem is that the far left group that supports the Democratic Party’s leadership and ranking members is far astray from many of these regular-people type Democrats.
L. They seem to be more the party of Anti instead of the party of Pro;
M. They seem to be the party that critiques but offers little in terms of improvement.
N. They talk of transparent, but when called to do so, are no different from those that weren’t , and we’re supposed to buy into that argument that it’s ok because they did it.
O. Where is the true call to change things that the Democrats had a chance to attack in 2006. Why didn’t it sell?
P. Leadership says the same old things with the same shrillness.
Q. Bad news for our country seems to simply be more fodder on the fire of criticism, but no revolutionary new ideas come out of the smoke.
R. They don’t allow their candidate to break away from their apron strings, and truly run on change.
S. Their intransigence on issues illustrates more of an interest in winning a political victory than arriving at solutions to help the country.
T. Thus, they end up many times trying to talk to Mainstream Americans, with Mainstream language, while secretly trying to sell them a product that when the glittering generalities fade away, they don’t want to buy.
U. Finally, their lack of respect for the intellect of the everyday common citizen does not allow them to trust the very thing they say they want to foster; independence. They do not carry this burden alone as the other party is also oblivious on many occasions to the wishes of their constituents.
V. In conclusion, the Republicans are not exactly running the best ticket ever. In fact, until the Palin phenomenon was introduced, the race was a bore, and Obama looked to be a shoo-in. Maybe he will still be if this honeymoon with Sarah ends earlier than the election. Still, the problem for the Democrats is that they cannot sell that which ultimately is not buyable, and which will ultimately change the very structures that form the basis

Sarah Palin interviewed by Charlie Gibson

Discuss!

What does 9/11 mean to you today?

On this 7th anniversary of the attack on America, it's good for all of us to pause and ask ourselves, What does 9/11 mean today?" Even more, what have we learned from 9/11? Please feel free to answer here.

The Pepsi Challenge and Election 2008

Remember the Pepsi Challenge?

People would try two cups of cola, one Pepsi, the other Coca-Cola. After they tried both, they would say which one they liked better and then the Pepsi rep would reveal which product they actually prefer.

Supposedly, a lot of people were surprised to learn that while they thought they preferred Coca-Cola, they actually prefer Pepsi.

Vito asked, what if we applied that to the issues and the candidates? I know, I know -- there are other factors like character, charisma, and great hair that might impact our choice. But just based on matching issues, where do we match up with the candidates?

I found two online quizzes that purport to do just that. The first one, glassbooth.org, matched me up with John McCain (63% similarity). The second one, VAJoe's Candidate Calculator, matched me with Ralph Nader (whom I dislike quite a bit) -- also with a 63% similarity. That isn't the only oddity, either. The Candidate Calculator also said John McCain is my lowest match.

I don't know the methodologies of either. One might be correct or both might be wrong. It's still a pretty neat experiment. Check out the links below to take your own challenge and see which soft drink, er, candidate you prefer.

Link to glassbooth.org
Link to VAJoe's Candidate Calculator

New poll: Is "None of the Above" a good voting option?

Here's a choice for you in this presidential election: Which would you choose, "None of the Above" or either of the two major choices?

You can also vote in the same poll in the upper-right of this page.

We'll be discussing this topic on the Gary Sutton Show today, so let me know what you think!

Poll results: Sarah Palin, yea or nay?

Poll results: Sarah Palin, yea or nay?

Yea - 87%
Nay - 12%
Who? - 0%

Join me in D.C. on Wednesday

Plan on being in Washington, D.C. for the “Hold Their Feet to the Fire Rally” on Wednesday, September 10th, and Thursday, September 11th.

Go to Congress and talk to your representatives, let them know how you feel about illegal aliens and the issues associated with their invasion of this country. Go to Senator McCain and Senator Obama’s offices to let them know. Watch talk show hosts from all over the country including me, Lou Dobbs, and Roger Hedgecock.

ADDRESS:
Phoenix Park Hotel
520 North Capitol Street NW
Washington, D.C. (Federal City Room-2nd Floor)

Link: OnTheIssues.org

OnTheIssues.org is a great place to find out just where the candidates stand on the issues of the 2008 General Election. You can also find tons of other candidates state by state, too! We have a link to them in the links section, on the-left-hand column of the site.

McCain's speech -- What did you think?

Gary would like your thoughts on Sen. John McCain's Presidential acceptance speech last night.

Governor Palin speaks -- What did you think?

I just simply want to ask your thoughts on Governor Palins Vice Presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday night. Let 'er rip!

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Freshen up Windows XP's look

As promised, today is about freshening up Windows XP's look (for free). Here's my XP desktop (click it to enlarge):



REMEMBER: This tip is for Windows XP users! Not Windows Vista, Windows 2000, or, God help us, Windows 95.

The theme. First, let's replace your blue default theme (the one that makes your start bar and windows look like they were made by Fisher Price). You'll need to download and install Microsoft's "Zune" theme. You can download it free from Microsoft here.

Save it to your desktop and run it to install it (you can erase the file when it's done installing). Okay, right-click on an empty spot on your desktop and select "Properties" on the menu that pops up. Your Appearance panel opens up to your themes tab. Select "Zune" from the drop down list for theme. Click apply, OK, etc. until the window closes. That's done.

The cursors. Second, let's pretty up your cursors with an anti-aliased Vista look. Download the Vista cursors from Alan Le's page. Unzip them, right-click on -- oh, just follow the directions posted here.

The wallpaper. My wallpaper is slightly modified version of Flora Nine by Delta 909. You can download the appropriate size for your monitor here.

Widgets. How about Vista-style widgets? You know, like a current weather widget, a stock ticker widget or even a today-at-a-glance widget that can pull info from Outlook? You can try the (free) Yahoo Widgets. Download Yahoo Widgets here. It will install a sampling of widgets. There are many ways to customize how widgets work and behave, so play around with it. Please note that this sits in your memory, so uninstall it if you feel your PC's speed took a hit.

That's it. And that's it. I like this freshening up because it's pretty innocuous -- no weird system hacks or anything (heck, the Zune theme is from Microsoft itself). I don't use Yahoo Widgets anymore (Yahoo Widgets is a pretty program, but I didn't need it), but the other stuff is straight-forward.

As always, let me hear your feedback as to whether this was helpful or you liked the tip.

New poll: Sarah Palin, yea or nay?

A new poll is up -- Sarah Palin, yea or nay?

Poll results: Who will be Obama's VP?

Evan Bayh - 7%
Joe Biden - 50%
Tim Kaine - 0%
Hillary Clinton - 19%
Other - 23%

Are the readers here prescient? Not so much. The poll didn't close until after the announcement and some readers had fun voting for Biden after the fact. Prescient, no, but funny, yes.

Tuesday's Tech Tip: (not really)

Life's intruded; I'll have a new tech tip up as soon as I can. It'll be on freshening up Windows XP's look.

Reactions to choosing Sarah Palin

These are nationwide samplings.
Chicago

D.C.

Alaska


And from Barack Obama......

Interesting mixture of thoughts, huh?

Gov. Palin accepts

Part 1

Part 2

Sarah Who?

So John McCain, who was around when Washington , D.C. was built, picks a a great-looking woman of 44 named Sarah Palin who's an athlete, a mother of five, a former basketball point guard for a state championship team, a lifetime member of the NRA, an environmentalist, a whistleblower, a second place finisher in the Miss Alaska contest, a journalist major, a mayor, a governor, and now a vice presidential running mate of Prez Candidate McCain. But can she cook?

The BIGGEST question is what to make of all of this? Brilliant move in rejuvenating the Republicans for the long run, or did McCain turn over the election to the Democrats? Take your best shot. It's early, but it's fun.

Has Obama sealed the deal with you?

With Senator Barack Obama now the official Democratic Presidential nominee, the question begs to be asked, "Do you need to hear more from Obama or has he already given you enough info to seal the deal?" Check in with your comments here!

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Save back-to-school money

Do you have a ".edu" email address? Enrolled in any classes? How about your kids?

If the answers are yes to those questions (or you know someone who is eligible), you can buy Microsoft Office 2007 (and it's the Ultimate version!) for only $59. The Ultimate version comes with full versions of, well, everything. It's a download.

Visit Microsoft's Office discount site for more info. If you can't get your hands on Office at that price, don't forget OpenOffice, the open-source alternative.

Link to MS Office discount site.

And here's a bonus: Save on textbooks, too. They're already hideously expensive. Here are three sites that might help:

www.half.ebay.com (online store)
www.bigwords.com (searches deals)
www.chegg.com (rental system)

Pay attention to revision dates. From year to year, some revisions are incredibly minor (designed to justify an expensive new edition?), while others are actually important to your curriculum. Do your homework before buying. Heh. Pun intended.

NEXT WEEK: Freshen up your Windows XP interface.

So what do YOU think of Obama's choice of Biden?

Now that Senator Obama has chosen Senator Biden as his running mate onb the Democratic ticket, what do you think? Was it the safe pick? Did it represent change? How about the question of whether or not it gives Obama greater standing in terms of foreign policy? What do you think????

Who do you trust when it comes to guns?

With the shooting events at Columbine School and Virginia Tech on their minds, the small school district of Harrold in North Texas has passed a new rule, and it’s causing debate around Texas and the country. Starting this term, teachers in the district can carry concealed firearms as long as they are licensed and trained in use of guns. In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Governor Rick Perry of Texas has backed the policy, and suggested that he would fully support other districts doing the same thing with similar safeguards. So the argument starts. Are schools better off gun-free with no one having the ability to fight back, or responsible teachers being armed and trained to defend against those who would attack without regard for life.

Sounds easy to me. The school has authority called In Loco Parentis which gives them authority over the child in place of the parents during the time they are in school. If I am a parent, I will trust the responsible teacher packing before leaving the school open to savage attacks by the irresponsible who know they are attacking the vulnerable and defenseless.

Society is tired of being victimized, and this is yet another example that they’re not taking it anymore. I’m Gary Sutton.

Tuesday's Tech Tip: DIY cranial protectection

Ahhh. Finally, a practical Tuesday's Tech Tip. Part Two in a series.

New poll: Who will be Obama's VP?

Well, "running mate" really, but I needed to abbreviate to fit it in the poll title.

Anyway, who will it be? Who should it be?

I'm voting for "other." I like Sen. Jim Webb and would like to see him as the running mate for either party. Maybe he's too principled to survive the process.

John Conyers and ICE enforcement

I am absolutely puzzled! I recently read that immigration reform advocates, including Democrats like Chairman John Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee are calling for an end to Immigration and Customs raids at businesses that knowingly hire large numbers of illegal aliens. See why I’m puzzled? It doesn’t make any sense, does it?

What if law enforcement was watching a business which ended up illegally making drugs that were hurting people in our country? Would we claim that law enforcement should not raid that kind of place?

So now that I’ve posed some questions, try some of these facts that are actually happening. There was a report out of the Center for Immigration Studies last week showing that raids along with other enforcement methods are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing; reducing the number of foreigners illegally working and residing in the United States.

The illegal population has decreased by over one million persons in the past year. In fact, with the deportations, and self-deportations going on, the report states clearly that if this decline is sustained, it will reduce the illegal population by half in the next five years.

So why, then do people like Congressman John Conyers call these raids part of a “brutal, payback, gotcha” agenda being pursued by the United States government? No, Congressman. It would only be that if this were being done to law-abiding citizens who were living law-abiding lives. To equate them with those who are not is a lie. There is no brutality here, or payback, but there is gotcha.

In the end, lawful citizens are not puzzled so much as they are getting just outraged by your kind of pick and choose attitude on what to enforce in this land. The only “gotcha” that is involved is the fact that people are starting to see what hypocritical charlatans people like you actually are. I’m Gary Sutton.

Poll results: Anheuser-Busch sale to foreign company

Results: Meh. Four people cared. Everyone else drinks beer and couldn't care less.

Thomas Paine's Common Sense (and a second American Revolution)

A listener sent me this YouTube video today, and I found it to be provocative spurring lots of thought. I think it will jolt you as well, so I offer it below. I look forward to your reactions.

Guest: Theresa Burke of Rachel's Vineyard

Yesterday, we had a wonderful discussion about the American Psychological Association's recent assertion that

"having an abortion in the first trimester and bringing a baby to full term has the same psychological effect on the woman."

We had a number of women who have had abortions and children calling in with stories about the misery they have endured because of abortions, and the stories they are telling would-be abortion victims today.

In the course of the discussion, Theresa Burke's Rachel's Vineyard came up. She and this group are helping post abortion women with coping, and she will be on our show today at 10:10 to tell her story and take questions.

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Stop surfing stupid

Stop surfing stupid. That's today's tech tip.

If something looks sketchy it probably is. Wealthy Nigerian government officials do not need your help moving large sums of money. No website is really selling an Xbox 360 for $35.

Stop opening every random email attachment sent to you.

And for goodness sake, stop clicking on every ad banner that catches your eye. How stupid are people? An IT consultant posted an ad that offered a free virus infection from a site called drivebydownload.info -- and hundreds of people clicked on the ad! eWeek wrote:

Stevens [the IT consultant] says that he designed his ad to make it look fishy, but he had no problem getting Google to accept it and has had no complaints to date. And, although a healthy amount of people clicked on it, he said theres "no way to know what motivated them to click on my ad. I did not submit them to an IQ-test."

Job opening: Henchmen needed

Readers from London, England (or willing to move) may want to consider the help wanted ad recently placed on Craigslist:

20-30 henchmen needed for moderately-sized supervillain organisation with large expansion potential (fortresses built into geological structures, corruption of government officials, possible genesis of 'nemesis' vigilante). Electrical theme.

Applicants must be willing to learn new skills, including but not limited to operation of specialised 'lightning guns'. Applicants will also be required to wear specialised uniform when at work (functional rubber suits with my logo on front), except in cases where deception is required (posing as hostages in order to ambush vigilantes, etc)...

Great promotion opportunities - right-hand-man position constantly being unexpectedly opened. Would look good on any future supervillain resume/CV.

Serious inquiries only.

What do you now use all the time and can't live without?

What item do you now use all the time and wonder how you ever lived without it?

I'll start us off with two items:

Kitchen tongs. I remember when I finally started using kitchen tongs several years ago. Holy smokes! How did I ever live without 'em?

My cheap TomTom One GPS device. I don't need this often because I never go anywhere. On those few occasions that I do, however, this little device is fantastic piece of mind.

What's on your list?

Anti-science in our classrooms

We've been talking about education lately. Peter Wood recently wrote a commentary called How Our Culture Keeps Students Out of Science for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

His premise is that science is hard work and that our society is not culturally-geared to the concept that hard work is necessary to attaining intellectual heights. This reminds me of a US Navy presentation that called the MySpace generation "coddled," "narcissistic praise junkies."

He writes

The intellectual lassitude we breed in students, their unearned and inflated self-confidence, undercuts both the self-discipline and the intellectual modesty that is needed for the apprentice years in the sciences.

I might add that efforts to teach religion thinly- and poorly-disguised as science in the science classroom also doesn't help.

Link to How Our Culture Keeps Students Out of Science

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Open-source office tools

Everyone needs office software. The basics are a spreadsheet, a word processor and a personal information manager (PIM) like Outlook. Some people also need presentation software, basic drawing software and database tools.

What to do? Most people have two choices: Microsoft Office and Microsoft Works (Works is like a stripped-down, icky version of Office). MS Works can be had for about $40 and while MS Office varies in price, expect an entry-level version to cost about $100 if you get a deal.

A lot of people use whatever their system came with. What about people who want something better than Works, but don't want to shell out for Office? Open-source software to the rescue (again).

OpenOffice 2.0 is a free and open-source productivity suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software (like PowerPoint), drawing software and a database program. Here's the cool part: It's compatible with MS Office.

I use it on one of my work PC's and I don't have any problems with interoperability between OpenOffice and MS Office. If I'm making a file explicitly for use on an MS Office machine, I go to "Save as..." and choose the MS Office program format.

One caveat: You won't have trouble opening documents saved in previous MS Office formats. You'll have to wait a couple weeks for OpenOffice 3.0 to open documents specifically saved in MS Office's latest file formats. It's scheduled for release on September 16th.

Now, how about a PIM? Our friends from Mozilla (the makers of Firefox) to the rescue with Thunderbird 2.0. That handles your email and contacts. You still need calendaring, which you'll get with the Lightning calendar extension for Thunderbird. If you want to wait until the end of this year, Thunderbird will have calendaring fully integrated as opposed to the extension.

Why doesn't OpenOffice have a PIM as part of the suite like the Microsoft products? It's a design philosphy thing. MS Outlook is closely integrated with the rest of the MS Office suite and the OpenOffice people believe that that approach invites nasty exploits from the bad guys.

Second caveat: Although I use OpenOffice, I don't use Thunderbird/Lightning yet. I plan to switch soon on some of my PC's.

Link to OpenOffice 2.0

Link to Thunderbird

FINALLY, a solution loooong overdue!

Pentagon's Unmanned Spokesdrone Completes First Press Conference Mission

Cinemagic, or Is it?

Just something lighter for a moment. Is it me, or do we keep seeing this same list every year? Do you have a case to make for a movie that ought to be on this list and isn't? Have at it.

According to a Harris Poll which asked adults to name their favorite movie of all time, the resounding number one response was "Gone With the Wind." Coming in right behind it were "Star Wars" and "Casablanca." The top 10 favorite movies of all time:

1. "Gone With the Wind"
2. "Star Wars"
3. "Casablanca"
4. "The Lord of the Rings"
5. "The Sound of Music"
6. "Wizard of Oz"
7. "The Notebook"
8. "Forrest Gump"
9. "The Princess Bride"
10. "The Godfather"



Want more?

1. Among men, "Star Wars" and "Gone With the Wind" are the top two favorite movies.
2. For women, "Gone With the Wind" and "The Sound of Music" are the top two favorites.
3. Men and women ages 18 to 31 and those ages 32 to 43 have the same favorite movie: "Star Wars." However, they differ on their second favorite movie. The young adults prefer "The Notebook," while the middle-age crowd cites "Lord of the Rings."
4. Baby boomers, ages 44 to 62, as well as seniors 63 and up, agree that "Gone With the Wind" is their favorite movie. When it comes to their second favorite flick, the boomers choose "Casablanca," while the seniors select "The Sound of Music."
5. Race and ethnicity also show some differences. For whites, "Gone With the Wind" is their favorite movie, while blacks cite "Casablanca" and Hispanics say their favorite is "The Notebook."

Race, apologies, and reparations

Remember Fred from Fred on Everything? He's the one who wrote the What's Wrong With Our System article we discussed recently. He trends to sling arrows in a lot of directions and one hit the topic of reparations for slavery:

On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks. It's because of slavery, see. He is joined in this endeavor by a gaggle of other professional blacks. I guess he'll send me a bill, huh?

I feel like saying, 'Let me get this straight, Hank. I'm slow. Be patient. You want free money because of slavery, right? I don't blame you.' I'd like free money too.

Tell you what. I believe in justice. I'll give you a million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every year you were a slave. Fair enough? But tell me, how many slaves do you suppose I have? In round numbers, I mean...Say to the nearest dozen.

And how long were you a slave?

Oh.

Fred has a lot of interesting articles on his site. Keep in mind that you may find some material offensive to you and Fred describes himself as "looney as tune."

Link to Fred on Everything

More of the same

These clips should tell you a LOT about why we need to get rid of the dead weight in Washington, D.C. this November!

Questions for Sen. Obama

Radley Balko, who had a few questions for Sen. McCain, has a few questions for Sen. Obama. Some of his great questions:

In February, you said you might support vouchers and charter schools if empirical data showed that they improve education (some studies show that they do). Admirably, your position was, "I will not allow my predispositions to stand in the way of making sure that our kids can learn." After pressure from the teachers unions, you quickly backed off from that position, stating that your campaign doesn't support vouchers "in any shape or form." What prompted that change? And if it's important that we not "throw up our hands" and "walk away from the public schools," why do you send your own kids to private schools?

You not only supported the latest federal farm bill, you commended it, stating that it "will provide America's hard-working farmers and ranchers with more support and more predictability." Critics have called that $307 billion monstrosity an orgy of earmarks, corporate welfare, and protectionism. It actually increases subsidies to huge agribusinesses in an era of record grain prices — subsidies that are already crushing farmers in the developing world. The New York Times called it "disgraceful." The Wall Street Journal called it a "scam." How does the "change" candidate justify supporting a bill larded with sweetheart deals for big agribusiness when just about everyone not getting a check from the bill opposed it?

You continue to support ethanol subsidies despite the fact that corn-based ethanol is inefficient, environmentally unfriendly, and part of the cause of rising food prices. Even liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls ethanol "[b]ad for the economy, bad for consumers, bad for the planet." Perhaps your support stems from you representing a corn producing state. But is supporting a wasteful policy to win votes "change we can believe in," or is it a good sign that you're just another politician?

Link to A Few Questions for Sen. Obama (via FoxNews.com)

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Replace Adobe Acrobat with Foxit Reader

Do you enjoy the running bloated software that takes forever to load a PDF file? If so, skip this week's Tech Tip. Catch up on older tips instead.

For everyone else, start using the free Foxit Reader instead of Adobe Acrobat. Foxit Reader is a light-weight and fast substitute for Adobe Acrobat.

I like to install Adobe Acrobat and then Foxit Reader, so Foxit Reader is my default PDF viewer. This means I have Acrobat on my system for the (unlikely) event that I have to use it for something, but everything defaults to Foxit Reader.

Did I mention the word free?

Link to Foxit Reader

Who is an American?

NPR's Weekend Edition asked people "Who is an American?" in Philadelphia. It's a great story idea and thought-provoking which dovetails nicely with us here. From the story that accompanies the audio:

Independence Park Ranger Tom Degnen concedes that the United States doesn't always live up to its own ideals. But he says an American is someone who keeps trying anyway.

"It's someone who takes to heart the language in our founding documents," Degnen says. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The nation is founded on those principles. We had a hard time living up to them fully. But there has been that effort, and I think an American in the best sense is conscious of that."

So what do you think? Who is an American?

Link to Who is an American? (via NPR.org, audio link on page)

The Second Coming? Obama 's Trip!

I just found a funny piece of satire from Gerard Baker, the United States editor of the London Times, to be an "enlightening" look at the Obama campaign trip abroad. Here's how it starts out:

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

Link to read the whole thing (via the Times Online)

My first Revolution game

I saw my first York Revolution game last night and it was fantastic. I had a great seat, but honestly, I don't think there's a bad seat in the stadium.

Now would be a good time to remind readers of Jeff Johnson's great Revolution Rumblings blog. It's packed with Revolution news, game run-downs and pictures. Revolution fans should have his blog bookmarked.

Regular listeners of Gary's show might've recognized last night's announcer -- Gary's producer, Stu. They kept calling him "Stupendous," which I dislike. I prefer Stutastic, as in "It's Stutastic!"

Link to Revolution Rumblings

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Prepare for your PC's melt-down

What happens when you PC throws a rod, melts down or won't start up? Let's prepare for that.

First, of all let's figure out what's doin'. Does your PC have power? Do you see the BIOS screen or manufacturer logo and then it grinds away without starting?

If the answer is "no," then we probably have a power problem. Replacing your power supply is pretty easy, but we aren't going to mess with that right now.

If the answer is "yes," we've got some other problem. It could be overheated, bad RAM, crashed hard drive or corrupted Windows kernel. Or some other horrible problem. Let's prepare for that day.

1. Back up your stuff.

Back up your important stuff. You do this already, right? Right? Okay, start backing up your important stuff. An easy way to do this is to purchase an external hard drive and use something like Microsoft's free SyncToy to periodically back up important stuff. I can provide more information and advice on this if you need it.

2. Make lists.

Make a list of all the software you use. If your PC blows up you can use this list as a checklist to set up your new PC.

Also, make a list of all your logins and passwords. Web mail, your instant messenger, various websites, everything.

Put both of these lists in a safe place.

3. Download and burn the Ultimate Boot CD. Download and burn Ubuntu Desktop Edition.

Remember to burn each CD image properly. Your burning software will help you with this. Test them both out: Put the Ultimate Boot CD in your CD drive, turn off your PC and start it again. It should boot to the Ultimate Boot CD. Check the Ubuntu disc the same way.

Now, if your PC has power but won't boot, you pop in your Ultimate Boot CD, go to Memtest86+ and run it. It will tell you whether you have a RAM problem.

Do you suspect a virus problem? Run F-Prot Antivirus for DOS off of your Ultimate Boot CD.

There are tons of programs that can help identify and even fix the various problems that might've caused you PC's meltdown.

Now, suppose everything seems fine. It's just Windows that won't work. You can restore Windows, but you haven't backed up your stuff (naughty!). You have work to do and can't deal with this problem for a couple days.

What to do? Pop in your Ubuntu LiveCD. It will boot up, self-configure, mount your hard drive and wait for your imperious command. Need to open a Word document and work on it? Go for it. Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice, an open-source mimic of Microsoft Office. Just remember to save your document as a Word file when you're done. Because of Ubuntu's design, it will be easiest to save that file to a thumbdrive (that's because Ubuntu is set up not to mess with anything permanent unless you install it to your hard drive).

Go ahead and surf the web, play games, etc. All that stuff you see in the menus are compressed and live on the LiveCD. Everything is happening in RAM, which means that it will leave no fingerprints on your Windows hard drive when you turn it off.

Neat, eh? Especially because if Windows is somehow corrupted, you can fire up Ubuntu, access your files and copy them to an external hard drive to save them.

When you see how awesome -- and awesomely customizable -- Ubuntu is, you may wonder whether it's time to switch your computer's OS to Ubuntu. I already did it to two of my computers (one desktop and one laptop) and am seriously considering it for my main home desktop.

And remember: Electronics run on smoke. If you let the smoke out they won't work anymore.

Not running to Harrisburg -- staying on Main Street

I didn't mean to be cryptic or evasive lately and no, Trenton, I have only played a little golf, but I wanted to give a quick update on why I have not posted anything for some time.

When Bev Mackereth decided to step down from the 196th legislative seat effective December 10th, I decided in a very small window of time to make an effort to run for the seat. My only desire was to try and serve as a voice for people in a system that I think is very broken; nothing more.

During the past two weeks, I visited homes of those who would elect the candidate and learned a great deal. One of the things I learned is that there are a lot of people who listen to this show. I also learned that a lot of people count on the show as a an opportunity to voice their thoughts. That's gratifying and shows the importance of people having a voice.

Also during the last couple weeks, I was presented with a difficult choice. With any candidate after the nomination process (at the moment there is one), I would have to get a waiver signed by them to be allowed to remain on the air.

This is because of the public trust and nature of my job. If write-in candidates or candidates signed such a form, I could remain on the air. Even so, I still would not be permitted to discuss any issues on the state level that I might face as an elected official. Not only is that quite limiting, it changes the nature of the show by removing the the freedom to take on all subjects.

If an opponent or opponents decided not to sign the waiver, I would be off the air until at least November -- and probably as late as January. In other words, while everyone else could work at their jobs and run for office, I could not. I would have to find other ways to make money and pay for those pesky little things like health insurance and gas. This choice helped put everything in perspective for me.

These considerations are pretty serious on their own, but I also realized how much I love the privilege of contributing to our community on the air. I believe our conversation on air is stimulating and useful.

So with that in mind, I'm returning to my opportunity and privilege -- never a job -- rejuvenated and bristling with new ideas. I always thought that the biggest part of a person's vocation is to truly enjoy and prize it every day. I can honestly say that after having gone through the process of the past two weeks, I know where I belong, and it is right here. Thank you for your patience and for being a part of this community I love. GS

Questions for Sen. McCain

Radley Balko has a few questions for John McCain. Here's one:

In your January primary debate, you referred to "greedy" Wall Street stockbrokers, and in contrasting your career to the business career of Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, you said, "I led the largest squadron in the United States Navy. And I did it out of patriotism, not for profit."

Do you think a career in public service is inherently more noble and virtuous than a career in the private sector? Are people who spend their lives on the taxpayer dole as politicians and government employees simply better people than those who create wealth and jobs through private enterprise?

Here's another:

In 1989, your wife Cindy became addicted to the prescription drugs Percocet and Vicodin. Eventually, she began stealing medication from the non-profit medical charity she ran to assist the victims of war and disaster areas. You and your wife were able to negotiate a settlement with the Justice Department that let her off with restitution and admission to a rehabilitation center, but no fines, jail time or even public disclosure.

Certainly no one could fault you for trying to save your spouse from criminal sanction. But you're consistently one of the most strident drug warriors in Congress. You've voted to strengthen penalties against those who use and traffic in both illicit drugs and who divert prescription drugs. You've supported mandatory minimums and harsher penalties for first-time offenders. Why shouldn't average people without powerful connections who make the same mistakes your wife made be shown the same leniency and mercy the criminal justice system showed her?

His next column will pose questions to presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

Straight Talk: A few questions for John McCain (via Reason Magazine)

You cool with tech tips?

EDIT: Could you folks do me a favor? When you see a tech tip you like or helps you in some way, post a comment to that tip so I know what you like.

Every Tuesday I post a tech tip (you can see all of them by clicking on the "tips" label below). Okay, most Tuesday's I post a tech tip.

Anyway, my question is: Are you cool with them? Handy? Not handy? What kinds of tech material would you like to see covered?

Tuesday's Tech Tip: Fooling around with Google

Lifehacker.com highlighted some pretty neat Google tricks. Oh, like what you say? Check dis out:

1. Type what time is it in Norway into your Google search bar. Bam! Instant local time and an easy way to see if it's night-time in Norway. Or wherever. Me, I want to know what's doing in Norway. Who knows what Olav is up to.

2. Convert currency (type "what's 7 US dollars in euros" as an example). Heck, convert any units. Try what's 3 cups in quarts as another example.

I'll stop here. Fact is, lifehacker already did a nice job, so just go over there and check out their article.

Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks (via Lifehacker.com)

BONUS TECH TIP

Firefox 3 users -- stop squinting at your screen for those hard-to-read sites. Font too small? Hit CTRL + and CTRL - to increase and decrease magnification on the fly.

The value of classical learning

I got a chunk of "old-school" curriculum in my high school. Greeks, Romans, Shakespeare, European history and the like. We were required to learn a language and demonstrate competency in it in order to graduate. I firmly believe that such an education is timeless in the way it prepares young minds for adulthood.

That changed when I got to college. Euro-centric anything was out (dead white males, you know?). The language requirement was a breeze. Now, I know that the traditional curriculum at my high school was unusual. So it's a shame that colleges and universities moved away from that kind of curriculum, denying most students that kind of education.

Writer Victor Davis Hanson laments this decline in the article The New Learning That Failed. He writes:

The triumph of the therapeutic and the eclipse of the tragic ensured that students’ expectations soared even as their intellectual and mental abilities to handle inevitable setbacks eroded.

The result was a weird marriage in both today’s student and professor of arrogance and ignorance — assurance that bad things either won’t happen or can be easily addressed by identifying the right -ism or -ology, but utter confusion when that never seems quite to be the case.

The article is a bit esoteric and the tone seems a little, well, defeated. After twenty years of this silliness, I get the impression that Hanson isn't certain whether a classical or more traditional approach to learning can rise from the ashes of the "new" learning.

What's wrong with our system?

Fred On Everything gives us his nine-point breakdown of what's wrong with our system in an essay that originally appeared in The American Conservative. Fred calls himself America's leading expatriate curmudgeon. A choice bit from his essay:

First, we have two identical parties which, when elected, do very much the same things. Thus the election determines not policy but only the division of spoils. Nothing really changes. The Democrats will never seriously reduce military spending, nor the Republicans, entitlements.

Not a lot of feel-good stuff here:

Just as trial lawyers don’t want intelligent jurors, as they are harder to manipulate, so political parties don’t want educated voters. The existence of a puzzled mass gawping at Oprah reduces elections to popularity contests modulated by the state of the economy. [emphasis mine]

Maybe I'm feeling grumpy today, but I'm having a tough time disagreeing substantively with most of his points.

Link to the article