Certainly not all of it, but there are signs of conservative life in the liberal bastion of California (from Uncoverage ): David Harmer , the National Republican party’s banner logo candidate to flip a seat in the all-blue San Francisco Congressional delegation, has blanketed the airwaves with ads of late, and suddenly has a six point lead over his Democratic incumbent. SurveyUSA/KCBS 5 poll: David Harmer (R) 48% Jerry McNerney (D) 42 % Harmer’s district is CA-CD-11, which is gerrymandered from the East Bay over to Stockton. His bid is given the most chance for success because of the nearly 50-50 split of registered Republicans and Democrats. Focusing only on the Dave Harmer race in Northern California may be missing the bigger story. It could be that the traditionally “blue” San Francisco Bay area is going “purple” or even “red” in a few other districts. It is difficult to tell because of the lack of news media coverage by the major newspapers, or minimal coverage. Many of the GOP hopefuls are sadly-underfunded compared to their Democrat incumbents. Polls for them are scarce, but volunteer and grassroots support for them appears very high. Let me just revisit something I wrote about 10 days ago : I’ve made nearly 30 trips to Northern California since August of 2007 so I’ve become quite accustomed to the liberal left slant of the place. Two years ago you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Prius with an Obama/Biden sticker. This latest trip, however, was a bit of an eye-opener. I must have seen dozens of signs along the roadway that said something along the lines of “throw the bums out”. Some were small, some very large. There’s an active Tea Party movement up in the North Bay. There were also many bumperstickers with the same message – something that would have been unheard of two years ago. Cars bearing conservative messages were invitations for vandalism, but apparently those days are over. The conservatives are coming out of hiding and fearlessly proclaiming their message. If the liberal left has lost support in the Gay Bay, they must be in real trouble everywhere else. There may be some big surprises in these liberal districts on Nov. 2. The GOP probably won’t win many of them, but if they win ANY of them and put a scare into the Dems in the rest of them it could prompt a surge of support for conservatives in the area.
Continue reading …When it comes to selecting our favorite mainstream Windows laptops these days the HP Envy 14 is pretty much at the tippy top of the list. (Hey, we don’t just give anything away to our college-bound readers, you know?) But while the 14-inch version of the magnesium-alloy laptop may have impressed us with its new backlit keyboard and internal organs, we’ve still been aching to know how the bigger and badder Core i7-powered Envy 17 stands up. With a 1920 x 1080-resolution 17.3-inch display, 1GB of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 graphics, a USB 3.0 port and Blu-ray drive, can you really blame us? There’s no doubt that the Envy 17 is one epic desktop replacement, but for $1,599 (the starting price is $1,299) we’ve got to tell you you’re not purchasing perfection. Just what holds back the Envy 17 from being the be-all end-all multimedia monster? We’ll divulge all in our full review after the break. Gallery: HP Envy 17 review Continue reading HP Envy 17 review HP Envy 17 review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Just two days after announcing her separation from her musical executive husband Jordan Bratman, Christina Aguilera has filed for divorce. (Oct. 14)
Continue reading …photo: Elliot Brown / Creative Commons With a new study just released revealing that half of Americans would get a failing grade if test on climate change knowledge and The Guardian reporting that the BBC blew its budget covering the Chilean miners’ rescue and can only aff… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Photo: saebaryo , Flickr, CC Motor Trend’s Jonny Lieberman is Impressed Now things are getting really interesting for Volt watchers. More and more real-world data is coming in about the car’s actual performance and fuel efficiency (as opposed to the incredibly ambiguous official numbers, since regular EPA MPG doesn’t mean much for a plug-in hybrid). One of these real-world tests has been performed by Motor Trend, and after driving the Volt in all kinds of conditions (including up to 102 MPH with the air conditioning on), they came away i… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …This paragraph from an Associated Press report by Christopher Rugaber on today's economic news should at a minimum strike readers as odd: A third report noted that prices at the wholesale level remained tame outside a sharp rise in food and energy costs. Excluding those two volatile categories, core wholesale prices rose just 0.1 percent, the Labor Department said. So we're left hanging. Gee Chris, what was the overall change in the Producer Price Index? He never says, at least not in his 11:44 a.m. version of his report. read more
Continue reading …+ Sleek and modern, the upcoming Joya Rocker by Monte Design Group offers FSC-certified hardwood and PBDE-free soybean-based foam. + The multifunctional Koo transforms from a bassinet to a rocker and back again in no time flat. + Danish modern fans can rock the day and night away in the
Continue reading …Photo via Daily Gotham , Creative Commons The Koch brothers, a pair of billionaires who run the company that bears their name, have been extremely influential in cultivating the anti-regulatory and anti-climate science ideology now rampant in the United States. By directing millions of dollars worth of funding towards groups that help organize grassroots movements that advance their aims — a pro… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …After five years, bank robber turns himself into a Mississippi police department to clear his guilty conscience. (Oct. 14)
Continue reading …