Saintless

Sometimes, all you need is a chart:

more charts

Anyone know what the molecules thing had to do with the rest of the sentence? Or well, what any of it meant? I think all of America may feel like they’re drunk (even if they’re not) when listening to her this Thursday!

Speaking of Thursday’s debate, I’ll be hanging out at Saints and Sinners with Drinking Liberally for the Vice Presidential Debate Watch Party. Event information here. (3040 South State St, SLC at 6:30 PM, Private Club for Members, 21+)

P.S. If you want your own chance to Interview Sarah Palin, check out InterviewPalin.com.

“Cage free”, “Free Range”, “All Natural”, “No Antibiotics or Hormones Administered”, “Omega-3 of 225mg in Each Egg”, “Vegetarian Fed”, “Organic Vegetarian Feed”, “75 mcg of Folic Acid”

What do all of those mean, what are the differences from one label to the next, and why should you care? Well, to sum it up, here are things to look for on your egg cartons:

• Free Range
• Omega-3
• Organic Vegetarian Feed

Eat Well Guide goes into the specifics about which egg labels are BS, and which are the ones to look for.

Although these types of labels seem to be gaining ground due to consumers’ increasing demand for natural, safe and healthy food products, the labeling frenzy may at times confound rather than help the customer in making purchasing decisions.

And if you’re wondering why you should care, check out Sustainable Table, or watch The Meatrix:

The above post is Ezra Klein’s fault, if anyone cares. He’s got a good blog up today about why more people will be caring in the near future.

One last thing….later this week, a new restaurant is opening in Sugar House, called Au Naturel. If you’re anywhere near, you’ll want to check it out. Hopefully, I’ll be interviewing the owner soon, and can bring you all the delicious facts!

This last week has been an absolute whirlwind in politics, and it’s not showing any signs of slowdown.

First up, you better get your butt over and register to vote, or verify your registration, because in some places, it’s the last day to get registered, and the rest of us have the deadline coming up!

This whole economy thing has the entire country on edge. The Dow is down by a record number of points today. McCain pulled a faux-suspension of his campaign last week to rush to DC to help with the bailout bill, where he was pretty much told to butt out by Harry Reid. He said “bullshit” on national tv while Obama brought up his refusal to meet with Spain, during the debate McCain tried to cancel. The Congressional leaders announced over the weekend that they had finally gotten “the bill” together, but failed to pass it today. Apparently, anyone up for re-election knew they didn’t dare vote for it, and while the Dems pulled together about 140 members to vote for it, the GOP failed their own goals, leaving it to die on the floor. McCain somewhere along the line was claiming credit for getting the GOP to go for it, though I’m not expecting him to claim credit for the failure. The American public feels like they’re getting screwed, which is exactly how they should feel giving up what I read earlier was the greatest single dollar amount for any transaction, ever. Banks are failing left and right, though the only people truly getting screwed for the most part with that, are the shareholders in said banks, thanks to this think called regulation. The conservatives are telling us that the solution to the economic failure due to lack of regulation is to…drumroll, please…..have less regulation. Pretty much everyone agrees something has to be done, but the problem is what to do, and how to get everyone on the same page.

It’s almost enough to make me vote for McCain, because God only knows how anyone is going to clean up this mess and come through it with the American people supporting them. That, of course, is just a passing thought, because Obama is the only candidate that I think really stands a chance at actually fixing this mess in a responsible manner, and not leaving astounding debt for my grandchildren to inherit.

Responsibility. What’s your policy?

Really, how else would you explain this coincidence?

Yesterday, the Chinese were able to not only predict the outcome of their shuttle launch (success!) but were able to quote the astronauts before it even happened!

BEIJING (AP) – A news story describing a successful launch of China‘s long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground.

And just one day later, John McCain is able to announce that he’s won tonight’s debate, which won’t occur for another 6 hours, as of this writing.

Although I try not to allow myself to become wrapped up in conspiracy theories, I really believe that what just happened is that the Chinese have invented a time travel machine, and somehow McCain convinced them to share it with him! Anyone have a better explanation?

Today feels like a day where I need reminding of these words.

Do you derive joy when someone else succeeds?
Do you not play dirty when engaged in competition?
Do you have a big intellectual capacity but know
That it alone does not equate wisdom?
Do you see everything as an illusion?
But enjoy it even though you are not of it?
Are you both masculine and feminine? politically aware?
And don’t believe in capital punishment?

These are 21 things that I want in a lover
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer

Do you derive joy from diving in and seeing that
Loving someone can actually feel like freedom? are you funny?
la self-deprecating? like adventure? and have many formed opinions?

These are 21 things that I want in a lover
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer
I figure I can describe it since I have a choice in the matter
These are 21 things I choose to choose in a lover

I’m in no hurry I could wait forever
I’m in no rush cuz I like being solo
There are no worries and certainly no pressure in the meantime
I’ll live like there’s no tomorrow

Are you uninhibited in bed? more than three times a week?
Up for being experimental? are you athletic?
Are you thriving in a job that helps your brother? are you not addicted?
…curious and communicative…

Ok, if you can see this, one or maybe two things have happened. First, it means that my transition to a new host was successful. Yay, me! Second, it probably means this site is really ugly, because I’ve done nothing with it. Ewwww! At least I can still blog, though! :)

Utah’s lone Democratic Congressman, Jim Matheson, sent me an email tonight, asking for my opinion (via  radio-button survey) on the Financial Crisis. In case you aren’t on his “advisor list”, here are the questions he asked, along with my responses. My answers are the ones shown as bold.

Dear Misty,

Most economists accept that the nation’s financial crisis demands intervention by the government.  But I have concerns about the proposal to put $700 billion to $1 trillion in taxpayer money on the line.

Are we acting too quickly, without gathering enough information? Will the proposal work? What benefit will taxpayers receive, if the financial system is stabilized?  Are we giving too much power to one government agency?

I would like to hear from you.  Please take a moment to respond to the following brief survey.

Sincerely,

U.S. Representative
2nd District of Utah

Do you support the use of taxpayer money to buy up the bad debt on the books of troubled investment banks?

yes
no
don’t know enough about it

How concerned are you about financial executives receiving excessive compensation even as their companies go bankrupt?

Not too concerned
Quite concerned
Strongly opposed to it

Should homeowners facing foreclosure be allowed to restructure their mortgages to afford the payments and stay in their homes?

Yes
No
Don’t know

If the bailout plan is approved, should an independent oversight board be appointed to keep tabs on the program?

yes
no

Who do you blame most for the current crisis?

Banks
Wall Street executives
Homebuyers
Mortgage lenders
Homebuilders
Realtors
A combination of the above
the government

How worried are you about the safety of your savings accounts and mutual funds?

Not worried
somewhat worried
very worried

I found the phrasing of the questions quite interesting, and much of it quite leading. Especially the question about who I blame most. Why wasn’t this question a checkbox? I can’t blame the government as much as Wall Street, and if I want to blame both Wall Street execs and Banks, I have to blame the home builders, too? That doesn’t make much sense.

If you want to give Matheson your thoughts, you’ll have to use his web site. Unfortunately, I don’t think the survey is “open”, but you can use a feedback form to pass your answers on. Or give them a call at (202) 225-3011.

Feel free to leave a comment telling if you’d answer differently than me, and why.

I have had a ton of people asking me if we have lawn signs. So, for all of you who still need a lawn sign….

(more…)

I just got this email, and I think it’s a wonderful idea!

This idea came from Letty Cotton Pogrebin.

Make a donation to Planned Parenthood. In Sarah Palin’s name. A Planned Parenthood donation is tax deductible, where a political donation isn’t.And here’s the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here’s the link to the Planned Parenthood website:
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ go to donate, then to honorary gifts.

You’ll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the “in Sarah Palin’s honor” card.

Governor Sarah Palin
Alaska State Capital Building, 3rd floor
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau AK 99811-0001.

The fax # is 907 465.3532.