Saw a short video (1 min) of Rep. Marcy Kaptur's speech to the house before the bailout vote. I don't know much about her, but if she has the guts and common sense that she shows here, it's a shame Obama didn't pick her for VP.

Both Obama and McCain were a big disappointment on the bailout. Pelosi, Reid and a fair amount of Dems were an even bigger disappointment. Once again, their biggest talent is to roll over and play dead.

Link to Marcy Kaptur’s speech:
Marcy Kaptur

The below is supposedly a collection of English from students. Regardless of whether it’s true, there’s some funny stuff here.

Why English teachers die young

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays.
These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers.
Here are last year's winners.....

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.)

Congress is making noises about having a backbone and maybe not rolling over and playing dead on the bailout proposal. However, I’m not holding my breath, given their poor performance so far. What we end up with is probably going to be a huge government bailout, with the financial institutions and executives making out like bandits. The average taxpayer and homeowner will get window dressing, then get screwed big time. Neither Obama, McCain, or Congress will have the backbone to stand up and say, “Hey, this is wrong”.

Someone pointed out in the paper yesterday that most of the guys making the decisions in Bushie land are ex bankers, who are taking care of their own. Paulson was two years ago giving himself a multimillion dollar bonus. Guess where all the money for the bonus came from? Gee, must be those same worthless paper certificates that he now wants the taxpayers to buy.

Link to Huffington Post blog on the bailout:
Huffington

Link to Robert Kuttner article on bailout:
Robert Kuttner

Also this was covered on Pat Buchanan’s blog:
Patrick Buchanan

One comment on the Pat Buchanan page had an interesting quote:
We were warned. Here's the quote from Thomas Jefferson.
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

A friend sent me a link to a rap song done by employees of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). This is a site in Europe, sort of similar in idea to the Stanford Linear Accelerator. Anyway, science and music finally interact. It's pretty good.

Link is:
LHC Rap

In 1991, off the western coast of Australia, an oil tanker had its bow break off the ship. There is a you tube video circulating, done by some Australian comedians, that simulates an interview with a politician about the incident. The internet version says the interview is real, but it isn’t. In any case, it is funny so I think worth a look.

Link to comedy video:
Tanker Interview

Link to actual oil tanker incident report:
Kirki Tanker