hithchens vs d'souza 3

hitchens vs d'souza 2

hitchens vs d'souza

center right nation my ass.. pro dream act, pro same sex marriage, pro choice...Obama eats the dude with magic underpant's lunch

A Thrashing.....

This was a thrashing. I don’t yet know the full electoral college total, but it’s looking like at least a 100-vote margin. That’s a thrashing. Over at 11:13? And the truth is, it wasn’t even that dramatic. It was over around 9:00. The next two hours were just waiting around for it to be official.

You can believe, if you want, that Ohio is still up for grabs. That Karl Rove business on Fox was priceless. It’s an astonishing thing, that the numbers specialists at Fox called Ohio for Obama, and the on-air talent questioned it. And not just an anchor—an on-air commentator who has also raised and spent many millions of dollars on behalf of Romney. It’s as banana republic as anything that happens in a real banana republican.

But as I write, Florida is leaning Obama, and maybe even Virginia. This thing is over. Without Ohio, it’s likely still 300-plus electoral votes. And after they count the votes in California, Obama is projected to win the popular vote too.

Mitt Romney's 2012 concession speech.

Was it the ground game? Was it the 47 percent? Was it Sandy? Was it Chris Christie? It was a little bit of all those things. But mostly it was two big things, and this election was about big things.

The first big thing is that a very clear majority of Americans saw the truth about the past four years. Exit polls showed that voters still blamed the economic problems on George Bush’s administration. They thought Obama tried hard and did a pretty good job (no, he hasn’t done a great job yet), and they notice the change and improvement recently. I didn’t write all these things down, but in state after state exit poll as they went through them on CNN, more people thought—finally!—that the economy was headed in the right direction.

The people know who created the problem, and they know who’s fixing it. That’s number one.

And number two? The second big thing here is that the Republican Party is just too far to the right. Not just to win a national election. It’s too far to the right even to compete really seriously in one. The thing some Republicans are saying now is absolutely true: They should have been able to win this year. No incumbent president has ever been reelected with this kind of unemployment rate, and there’s no good reason it should have happened now. They could have won.

But it’s a fringe party that has become too extreme to win the White House. I’d imagine they’re going to blame Romney. I don’t like Mitt Romney. I’m indescribably relieved that after tonight, I never have to hear that man’s wretched voice again. He ran the lyingest campaign in modern history—just outright and blatant lies. But in some ways he did run a pretty effective campaign. He and his team did some smart things in the past month. They ran a pretty good race in the end in some ways.

But it was too late and too clever by half. His attempts to distance himself from the right wing came too late. I saw another exit poll number that 80 percent of people made up their minds in September. Before the first debate even happened. That large majority saw a spineless Romney sucking up to an extremist party on issue after issue. And even while Romney was pirouetting, they saw a parade of Neanderthal congressional candidates telling women to expel their fetuses.

I’ll have much more to say about this over the course of the week. But tonight, America told the guy who’s been trying that they appreciate it. And they told the crazy party: you’re crazy

Brandon Whipple Attacked For Not Having Childre

, Politics News

Kansas legislative candidate Brandon Whipple

A Tea Party group in Kansas is saying that a Democratic candidate for the state House of Representatives should not be elected because he does not have children.
Literature dropped off at homes in Wichita Saturday by Kansans for Liberty, a Tea Party group, says that Democrat Brandon Whipple should not be elected to the state House because he has no children. It is one of a list of reasons why Whipple, 30, should not be elected over Republican Rick Lindsey in the newly drawn district, according to the literature.
"Can someone with no children really understand your family's needs?" it reads, with "no children" written in red.
Literature can be found here.
Whipple denounced the literature as "extreme" and said his wife, Chelsea, takes an active role in the race. Kansans for Liberty does not fully understand his situation, he said. "It is a personal attack," Whipple told The Huffington Post. "It offends me because my wife and I are trying to have kids."
Craig Gabel, the head of Kansans for Liberty, stands by the literature, saying that the perspective of a person changes when they have children and that is why the line was included. "If you have no experience in an area, it is hard for you to make informed decision in an area," Gabel said.
Gabel said this includes parents wanting neighborhood schools and the ability to spank their children without fear of state officials. "Someone who does not have kids and does not sweat blood thinking they can't spank them -- if you don't have kids you don't understand that."

Whipple's opponent, Lindsey, also does not have children, but the Tea Party has not campaigned against him because Lindsey is more in line with the party's principles, said Gabel.
The piece also criticizes Whipple's experience as a public school teacher, calling him a career government employee, and attacks him for not having his name on the deed to his house. It calls the candidate's beliefs into question, saying Whipple told a neighborhood group that while he is a Democrat, he married into a Republican family and "learned to compromise."
Whipple countered that while he has taught in the public schools, he has been teaching in private colleges since his unsuccessful 2010 state House race and that he placed his name on the house deed earlier this year. "It is filled with lies," Whipple said of the literature. "It is flat out lies."
The no-children argument has been used several other times in political races. In Kansas in 2008, state Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-Topeka) was noted in literature for not having children at the time. In Westfield, N.J., in 2009, Democratic town Councilman Tom Bigosinski used the no-children issue against his Republican opponent Keith Loughlin during the pair's only debate. Bigosinski, who lost the race to Loughlin, later explained he wasn't trying to be derogatory, only pointing out an "important distinction."
"There are profound differences between the two of us," Bigosinski, then 41, said in the debate against Loughlin, who was 31 at the time. "Unlike Keith, I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm a homeowner and I'm a taxpayer and I have been for many years."
The Whipple attack comes the same week that Kansas Republicans sent out a mailer in a Wichita state Senate district questioning why Democrat Keith Humphrey changed his last name from DeSoto when he was 11. Humphrey, a candidate for state Senate, changed his name after he was adopted by his stepfather. Whipple's district overlaps Humphrey's.
Whipple said he believes Gabel and his group have moved the debate to a new level. "If you want to attack me for my personal stances on property taxes that's one thing," he said. "But an attack on not having kids takes it to a different leve

nice..........

Paul Ryan To Social Conservatives: 'Religious Freedom' At Risk If Obama Is Reelected

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) used some of the precious remaining hours of the 2012 campaign to reach out to social conservative voters in a town hall-style call on Sunday night, warning that "Judeo-Christian" values were at risk if President Barack Obama is reelected.
"This is a huge election," said Ryan. "Please know that Mitt Romney and I understand the stakes. We understand the stakes of where this country is headed. We understand the stakes of our fundamental freedoms being on the line, like religious freedom -- such as how they're being compromised in Obamacare."
The call was organized by Ralph Reed's socially conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition. The call was originally scheduled for Oct. 25, but was then rescheduled for Sunday night.
Ryan added that Obama's vision was "a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty and compromises those values -- those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us a great and exceptional nation in the first place."
Ryan's rhetoric on the call was much stronger than what he and Romney have generally used on the campaign trail when speaking to a broader audience.
The campaign did, however, go after Obama during the controversy over whether religiously affiliated groups should be required to cover the cost of contraception in their health care plans at no charge to the employee.
"President Obama used his health care plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith," said the narrator in a Romney campaign ad in August. "Mitt Romney believes that's wrong."

On the call on Sunday, Ryan said that he believed the contraception clause was the worst part of Obamacare.
The Romney campaign also currently has a robocall that warns Christians that Obama is a "threat to our religious freedom."
Ryan is considered more conservative on social issues than Romney. For example, while Romney believes abortion access should be legal in cases of rape and incest, Ryan does not

right on...........

Orange County Early Voting Hours Extended Sunday Following Judge's Ruling

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A judge extended early voting hours in one Florida county on Sunday after the state Democratic Party sued in an effort to give people more time at the polls.
Some voters had faced waits several hours long on Saturday, the last scheduled day of early voting. The judge ruled on a lawsuit filed late Saturday in Orange County after an early voting site was shut down for several hours. The Winter Park library was evacuated when a suspicious package – a cooler – was found outside. It was later detonated by a local bomb squad.
Bill Cowles, the Orange County elections supervisor, said that voters who show up on Sunday will be asked to use a provisional ballot because the Republican Party of Florida had appealed the decision. The extra hours will be offered at just the Winter Park library.
The state party also filed a federal lawsuit Sunday morning seeking more voting time in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Voting in Miami-Dade County didn't wrap up until around 1 a.m. Sunday because voters standing in line when the polls closed were allowed to vote.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson as well as other Democrats asked Gov. Rick Scott this past week to use his emergency powers to extend early voting. The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature last year cut the number of days available for early voting from a maximum of 14 days to eight days.
Scott and state election officials, however, turned down the extension requests. Secretary of State Ken Detzner maintained that there was not a true emergency that justified the extension.
The federal lawsuit says counties should offer absentee ballot voting at local election offices if early voting cannot be extended.
Christina White, deputy supervisor with Miami-Dade County, said the county had already planned to accept absentee ballots for four hours at its main office.

"That's a service we already provided," White said. "We are hoping that (the Democratic Party) is happy with that."
Absentee ballot voting differs from early voting in that voters must fill out their ballot, place it an envelope and then sign it. The ballot envelopes are opened later and then fed into voting machines.
During early voting, voters place their ballots directly into the voting machines.
The Orange County lawsuit asked that early voting be extended at Winter Park and that the court ask local television and radio stations to let voters know about it.
The lawsuit included sworn statements from several voters who said they waited in line for hours and were turned away because voting was suspended at the site. A volunteer with the campaign of President Barack Obama said that the crowd of voters dwindled from 300 to just 40 after voting was halt

yikes..........

Beck Acts as a Bridge Between Romney and Evangelical Christians

On radio and on his Internet network, the influential conservative pundit Glenn Beck frequently invokes God, religious freedom and the founding fathers, but he does not regularly discuss his own Mormon faith.

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Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel, via Associated Press

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But in early September, he broke with practice and hosted a special one-hour show, asking his audience, “Does Mitt Romney’s Mormonism make him too scary or weird to be elected to president of the United States?”

Mr. Beck has not always supported Mr. Romney. (“I think he’s an honorable man, but I don’t trust him,” he said last year.) But as perhaps the best-known Mormon after the Republican presidential candidate and a major influence on evangelical Christians, Mr. Beck has emerged as an unlikely theological bridge between the first Mormon presidential nominee and a critical electorate.

At the same time, Mr. Beck’s defense of his and Mr. Romney’s shared faith speaks to the long-frayed relationship between evangelical Christians and Mormons and raises the question of whether evangelicals will ultimately put aside religious differences and vote on common conservative issues.

During his special program, Mr. Beck took questions from mostly evangelical Christian listeners, colorfully debunking misperceptions about Mormonism. The “magic underwear” was compared to a skullcap, and Mr. Beck insisted that polygamy was seen as a “perversion” in the modern church.

“It’s not weird to be a Mormon,” he assured his listeners at the end of the program, “and it’s not weird to be president if you’re Mormon.”  

 Although Mr. Beck’s national media profile has waned since he left Fox News last year, his support among his core audience remains strong. “The Glenn Beck Program” is typically the third-most-popular talk-news radio show, after “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and “The Sean Hannity Show.” In September, an agreement was reached with Dish Network to bring Mr. Beck’s online network, The Blaze, to traditional television.

Mr. Beck’s unique position as both a Mormon and a prominent voice among evangelicals has been too tempting for Mr. Romney’s campaign to pass up. Campaign officials have quietly courted Mr. Beck, according to a person briefed on his meetings with campaign surrogates who could not discuss private conversations publicly. Mr. Beck declined to comment for this article.

Last month, Mr. Beck, along with former Vice President Dick Cheney and Mr. Romney’s son Josh, headlined a Dallas fund-raiser that brought in more than $250,000 for the Romney Victory committee, and on Friday Mr. Beck held a rally in Columbus, Ohio, intended to influence voters in that swing state. On Saturday, he attended Mr. Romney’s rally in Dubuque, Iowa.

Stalwart conservatives who support the Romney-Ryan ticket, like Representative Louie Gohmert, Republican of Texas; Rick Santorum, a former senator and Republican presidential candidate; and retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin, have appeared on Mr. Beck’s program not so much to tout Mr. Romney directly as to discuss hot-button political issues like the handling of the attack on the United States mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Mostly Mr. Beck has helped Mr. Romney by directly addressing his devout Mormon faith, something the candidate himself rarely does. “I believe Mr. Romney prays on his knees every day,” Mr. Beck said recently on his radio program. “I believe he is being guided.” He has also said that a Romney victory would be “a sign from God.”

Mr. Romney already enjoys a commanding lead among white evangelical Protestant voters — 76 percent to 17 percent for President Obama, according to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey released on Monday, and 54 percent to Mr. Obama’s 39 percent among Protestant voters. Influential Christian leaders including the Rev. Billy Graham and Ralph Reed have endorsed Mr. Romney.

But deep-rooted tensions between Mormons and evangelical Christians persist, and could affect the turnout on Tuesday, several evangelical leaders said.

“Romney has staked out issues that are aligned with evangelicals,” said Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for the conservative nonprofit American Family Association. But, he added, Mr. Romney’s faith may ultimately present a problem in the voting booth. “It’s still an issue for some evangelicals and may influence their voting decision on Nov. 6,” he said. “There are a number of evangelicals who will not vote for someone who doesn’t adhere to orthodox Christiani

Presidential Polls 2012: Obama's Battleground Advantage Holds

WASHINGTON -- The veritable fire hose of data turned on in the final days of the 2012 campaign leaves little doubt that while the national popular vote remains too close to call, President Barack Obama holds slim but meaningful leads over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the battleground states that will likely decide the presidential election.
With just three days remaining before votes are counted, most of the national tracking polls continue to show a basically deadlocked race, with six new surveys released in the last 24 hours showing roughly the same findings as those from earlier in the week.

In nominal terms, most polls now show either a tie or a slim Obama edge, but the differences between Obama and Romney in any one poll are too small to be considered statistically significant.
The HuffPost Pollster tracking model, which uses data at the national and state levels to produce estimates of the combined polling snapshots, continues to show a national deadlock. However, for the first time in two weeks, Obama's percentage of the national popular vote was just slightly higher than Romney's, according to the tracking model (47.4 to 47.2 percent, as of this writing).
But even when all of the national polling data is combined, neither Friday's uptick for Obama nor the razor-thin margin separating the candidates nationwide is statistically significant. In plain English -- as of this writing, the polls collectively tell us that the national popular vote is just too close to call.
The snapshot is different, however, within the battleground states that will likely decide the outcome of the election

Jack Welch Invents '2009 Recession' And New Economic Metric To Criticize Barack Obama

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WASHINGTON -- Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch rewrote economic history during a Saturday appearance on Fox News, criticizing President Barack Obama for "the 2009 recession," while offering a new metric by which unemployment would be 11 percent.
"The real unemployment rate, if you take the last 10 years prior to the 2009 recession, a 10-year average of what's called the participation rate -- how many people are working temporarily, full-time, and wanting to work -- if you take that number, and you take the 10-year average, and you run it now with this workforce, you would have an unemployment rate close to 11 percent," Welch said.
There is, in fact, no specific "2009 recession." According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official committee that measures and studies economic cycles, the U.S. economy entered a recession in December 2007, which ended in June 2009. Recessions are categorized as periods in which gross domestic product -- a measure of economic output -- declines. The effects of this decline can reverberate in the labor market for years after growth resumes. By referring to "the 2009 recession," however, Welch creates a timeline in which Obama is the only president presiding over economic hardship.
Welch's reference to a "10-year average" is also curious. Ten years ago, it was 2002. George W. Bush was in his second year as president of the United States.
The official unemployment rate is currently 7.9 percen

Chris Christie Praise For Obama Frustrated Romney Campaign: Report

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After a year of campaigning for GOP presidential nominee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie rankled the campaign this week by praising President Barack Obama, Politico reported Saturday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Romney insiders told Politico this week that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was Mitt Romney's first choice for the vice president, until he decided Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would be a safer choice due to some problems with Christie.
The information comes just days before the 2012 election and was released in a story on Saturday, adding another narrative to the campaign as Romney and Ryan make their final pitch to voters. But it also comes during a week in which Christie has repeatedly praised President Barack Obama for his help during superstorm Sandy -- a move that, according to Politico, rankled the Romney campaign and could lead to tension should he become president

Halo 4, November 6th. I'm taking the day off.

Jason Weisberger at 1:12 pm • ‌ •

How do you have a hero's journey when he is already a hero? What are the sacrifices that you need to make in order to preserve something as precious as humanity

Beautifully made tiny miniature 18th century toolchest with tiny, working tools

On The Toolchest Site, an astounding miniature replica of the 18th century Hewitt chest at Colonial Williamsburg, created by miniaturist William Robertson. Robertson's work is mind-boggling in its detail and virtuosity. The article notes that this was a 1,000-hour project

Muertitas, Masks of the Four Seasons by Krisztianna

Spring Muertita

Artist Krisztianna created this series of four masks (or “Muertitas”) representing each of the four seasons. She builds each sculpture around a foam core supported by a wire frame. Paper maché and clay form the neck and face. The elaborate synthetic flower headdress is the last element to be added. The distinctive look of the sculptures is inspired by the sugar skull art associated with Day of the Dead celebrations.

These mixed media wall pieces explore my artistic influences and the cycles of nature. Birth, death, and rebirth are all fascinating concepts to me, and the the art of the sugar skull is a perfect visual to help me express the joy of life and my respect of finality.

Summer Muertita

Autumn Muertita

Winter

Grounded, Sci-Fi Short About A Stranded Astronaut

“Grounded” is a visually stunning sci-fi short about an astronaut who finds himself stranded on a mysterious planet. The film is mainly the work of one person, visual effects artist Kevin Margo, who worked on the film for two years along with co-director Barrett Meeker and a small team of collaborators. The film was shot on DSLRs but many of the visuals were added digitally in post-production. Margo has released a fascinating behind-the-scenes video that reveals how much of the film was computer generated.

Physics Students Make Zombie Movie Decay Deep Within the Bowels of CERN

A Custom Made Puking Kitty Gravy Boat by GingerELA

Fine glass artist GingerELA was inspired by our post, Barfing Squirrel Gravy Boat, to make an awesome one for herself. Instead of a squirrel though, she made a black cat (we assume it’s fashioned after her own kitty, Mr. B). She calls her piece the “Puking Kitty Gravy Boat” and it’s marvelous. See it ‘puke’ over her waffles in this fun video!

It’s a cat. It’s a gravy boat. It’s puking. It’s the first thing I’ve made for myself and I LOVE IT. Inspired by the barfing squirrel gravy boat posted on Laughing Squid, I just had to make my own.

photos

Phineaus Grock, A Steampunk Robot Toy by Doktor A

By Justin Page on November 1, 2012

UK artist and custom toy designer Bruce Whistlecraft (aka “Doktor A“) created Phineaus Grock, a robotic steampunk creation, for his A Postcard from New Yorkshire solo art show. It is currently on display until Sunday, November 11, 2012 at the Myplasticheart art gallery in New York.

One of the cleverest denizens of Retropolis. He and Mr. Head run the royal academy of science among other things. They work closely together to forward the knowledge and learning of all Mechtorians. Winding and stocking each other in a show of unity between the two different life forces within the realm. This display is looked upon disapprovingly by the religious leaders who take it as a direct snub by the scientific and philosophical members of society against their doctrines of segregation.

photos via Bruce Whistlecraft

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Hand Fixing Hand, A Sci-Fi Homage to M. C. Escher’s Drawing Hands

By EDW Lynch on November 1, 2012

image by Shane Willis

“Hand Fixing Hand” is sci-fi homage to M. C. Escher’s famous lithograph, “Drawing Hands” (see below). The digitally manipulated photo was created by artist Shane Willis.

image via Wikipedia

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1990: Vanilla Ice on "Ice Ice Baby" vs. Queen/Bowie's "Under Pressure"

"We sampled it from them but it's not the same bassline. It goes 'ding ding ding di di ding ding… ding ding ding di di ding ding.' That's the way theirs goes. Ours goes 'ding ding ding di di ding ding… DING… ding ding ding di di ding ding.' That little bitty change -- it's not the same