The UN has begun an emergency airlift to the West African country of Benin after record heavy rains have left two-thirds of the entire country under water affecting an estimated 680,000 people with a reported 800 cases of cholera. —JCL The BBC: The UN refugee agency is to start an emergency airlift of tents to the West African nation of Benin this week, amid the worst flooding there in decades. Some 3,000 tents will be flown in from Denmark to provide shelter for some of the estimated 680,000 people affected. Two-thirds of Benin has suffered from months of heavy rain, and about 800 cases of cholera have been reported. Read more Related Entries October 18, 2010 Glenn Beck Is No Match for William Shatner October 18, 2010 Super Typhoon Slams the Philippines
Continue reading …DNC Chair Tim Kaine: I’m Just as Delusional as Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden
October 24, 2010 No CommentI guess he has to say this stuff in order to keep this job: Despite widespread predictions to the contrary, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee predicted Wednesday that the party will retain its House of Representatives majority come Nov. 2. “I still think we’ll hold onto the House,” Tim Kaine said after a get-out-the-vote rally held at a Dinkytown diner. “We are going to lose some seats, but we’re going to pick up some seats.” Conceding that “it’s going to be a challenge, but the polls are generally moving in the right direction for Democrats these days,” Kaine added, “look, we can’t take anything for granted this cycle.” Actually, the only poll that shows any hope for Democrats is a Newsweak poll that’s so riddled with errors it’s laughable. Rasmussen, Pew, Gallup, Five Thirty Eight, and ever other credible poll shows the Dems continuing to lose ground and estimates for GOP pick-ups on the rise . A 39 SEAT PICKUP IS REQUIRED FOR THE REPUBLICANS TO WIN CONTROL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES We now have 106 Competitive Races – 99 Dem Seats and 7 Republican Seats 63 of the Dem Seats are rated Toss Up, Leans R or Likely R. That’s up from 61 last week and 52 two weeks ago. 83 Dem Seats are rated no better (for the Dems) than Leans D. That’s an increase from last weeks 78. Good trend. Just 11 of those Dem seats are rated as Likely D. Last week it was 15. There are ZERO Safe D seats on this list Only 2 Republican Seats are rated as low as Leans D. The other 5 are rated as Toss Up or better
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While President Nicolas Sarkozy stills tries to push through a reform plan to increase the retirement age in France, protests and strikes have wrecked havoc on the country as Sarkozy’s public opinion numbers have dropped to be among the lowest of any French executive in recent memory. Al-Jazeera English: The French president’s approval rating has plummeted in the wake of growing discontent over his retirement reform plan. According to an opinion poll published on Sunday by the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, only 29 per cent of those surveyed still approve of Nicolas Sarkozy. The poll also showed that a vast majority of the people supported the ongoing strikes over the reforms that Sarkozy has pushed through in both houses of the parliament. Read more Related Entries October 18, 2010 Glenn Beck Is No Match for William Shatner October 18, 2010 Super Typhoon Slams the Philippines
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A spreading cholera outbreak in rural Haiti threatened to outpace aid groups as they stepped up efforts hoping to keep the disease from reaching the squalid camps of earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince. (Oct. 24)
Continue reading …This may not count as cheating, but it’s certainly a screw-up of the first order and all brought to you by the Democrats who run New York : A vote for Republican Carl Paladino could actually be a vote for Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins – if you follow the directions printed on the November ballot. In what appears to be yet another “royal screwup,” the city Board of Elections printed a sample ballot that instructs voters to fill the “oval above” a candidate’s name. The correct oval is actually below each candidate’s name. “This is a problem that should have been caught ahead of time,” said Larry Norden at the Brennan Center for Justice, which sussed out the snafu. “It may be too late to fix the ballot before the Nov. 2 elections.” Without acknowledging the goof, the Board of Elections quickly issued a statement saying instructions specifying that voters “need to fill in the oval below the candidate name they wish to vote for” would be placed in the privacy booths on election day. Also, palm cards with instructions that include a photo of a correctly marked oval will be distributed at polling sites, Board spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez-Rivera noted. Neal Rosenstein, voting coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group, said the error won’t have a large impact on voters because most don’t even read the instructions. “Still, in a very close election that comes down to a handful of votes, that could affect the outcome,” Rosenstein said. The infamous “butterfly ballot”, created by a Florida Democrat, may have actually cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000 when some Dems accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan instead of Gore thanks to confusing ballot instructions. There’s no excuse on the part of election officials for getting this wrong…unless they did it intentionally.
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What exactly is a fancy, anyway? As we ponder that, and other far-fetched meanings of life, we’re forced to take a look a yet another mystery of our planet: EFO. Who are these guys? Where do they spend quality time? Did they ever consider that the iPazzPort would become a worldwide phenomenon? Merely months after rolling out a minuscule Bluetooth keyboard for controlling HTPCs and other doodads, the company is now outing a slightly larger version — one with a multitouch trackpad on top of the keys. Oddly enough, it also saw fit to throw a laser pointer into the mix, though this version will rely on those tried-and-true RF frequencies for wireless communication. Check out a downright exhilarating video of it in action past the break, and tap that source link if you’re eager to drop $55 (including shipping) on one. Continue reading EFO’s iPazzPort grows a touchpad and laser pointer, tickles our fancy EFO’s iPazzPort grows a touchpad and laser pointer, tickles our fancy originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Oct 2010 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Photo: Majora Carter Group under a Creative Commons License As the city that never sleeps becomes more and more of a cyclist’s city , 6,000 New Yorkers will climb on their two-wheelers today to participate in the 15th Annual Tour de Bronx . In the state’s largest free cycling event, riders can choose between 25 and 40 mile routes, both of which will pass by the Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …If you can’t win by getting them to vote for your candidate, win by splitting the vote of your opponent : Seeking any advantage in their effort to retain control of Congress, Democrats are working behind the scenes in a number of tight races to bolster long-shot third-party candidates who have platforms at odds with the Democratic agenda but hold the promise of siphoning Republican votes. The efforts are taking place across the country with varying degrees of stealth. And in many cases, they seem to hold as much risk as potential reward for Democrats, prompting accusations of hypocrisy and dirty tricks from Republicans and the third-party movements that are on the receiving end of the unlikely, and sometimes unwelcome, support. In California, Republicans have received recorded phone calls from a professed but unidentified “registered Republican” who says she is voting for the American Independent Party’s candidate for a House seat, Bill Lussenheide, not for the incumbent Republican, Mary Bono Mack. The caller says she is voting that way because “it’s time we show Washington what a true conservative looks like.” The recording was openly paid for by the Democratic candidate for the seat, Mayor Steve Pougnet of Palm Springs. In Pennsylvania, the Democratic candidate for a suburban Philadelphia House seat, Bryan Lentz, admitted this week that his volunteers helped Jim Schneller — a prominent skeptic of President Obama’s citizenship — collect petitions to run against Mr. Lentz and his Republican opponent, Pat Meehan. In Nevada, conservative radio listeners have heard an advertisement promoting the Senate campaign of a “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate, Scott Ashjian. The ads criticize Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee and favored candidate of the actual Tea Party movement in the race against Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader. Pathetic.
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Fans celebrated after the San Francisco Giants eliminated the Phillies last night with a 3-2 victory in Philadelphia. They’ll face the American League champion Texas Rangers in the Fall Classic. (Oct. 24)
Continue reading …What could possibly go wrong ? Juan Williams may be gone from National Public Radio’s line-up of commentators, but billionaire liberal icon George Soros has donated $1.8 million to hire 100 new reporters for 50 of its member stations. The money will go to launch a project called Impact of Government, which Soros’ Open Society Foundation says will “bring greater transparency and accountability to the workings of state capitals across the country.” The group, which describes its mission as building “tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens,” calls it a response to the decline in news coverage of state legislatures. NPR is now a wholly owned subsidiary of George Soros, and as far as I’m concerned there’s no longer any need for them to receive taxpayer funds.
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