Amazing Sand Sculptures!

Sand sculptures of a lion and a 'Sand Rover' car, are seen at a sand sculpture festival in Western-super-Mare, Somerset, England, Wednesday July 9, 2008. Dedicated sand-artists are at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset this week recreating the world's best known-landmarks and faces on the famous beach. (AP Photo/Barry Batchelor, PA)

yahoo news ... see more

Angry Man Shoots Lawn Mower for Not Starting

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man was accused of shooting his lawn mower because it wouldn't start. Keith Walendowski, 56, was charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.

According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski said he was angry because his Lawn Boy wouldn't start Wednesday morning. He told police quote, "I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want."
A woman who lives at Walendowski's house reported the incident. She said he was intoxicated.
Walendowski could face up to an $11,000 fine and six years and three months in prison if convicted.
A call to Walendowski's home went unanswered Friday morning.

Al Gore Lays Down Green Challenge to America

"There He Goes Again"
with "That Vision Thing".

Leadership America Craves ... Right Now!

Former Vice President Al Gore, seeking to shake up an energy debate that is focused mostly on drilling, challenged the United States to shift its entire electricity sector to carbon-free wind, solar and geothermal power within 10 years, and use that power to fuel a new fleet of electric vehicles.

The goal is the most ambitious energy plan by a major U.S. political figure - and one many energy experts say is unrealistic. Gore insists the only real obstacle is the reluctance of America's leaders to seek bold solutions to high energy prices and global warming. He likened his challenge to President John F. Kennedy's 1961 call to put a man on the moon.

"This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative," Gore told more than 1,000 cheering supporters at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington. "It represents a challenge to all Americans in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers and to every citizen."

"It's a strategy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced, and one that will leave our children a world that is cleaner and safer," Obama said.

McCain said that while he and Gore might disagree on some aspects of climate change, he supports the goals Gore outlined for developing wind and solar. "If the vice president says it's doable, I believe it's doable," McCain said.

sfgate ... read on

Another Art-Less, Bold Faced Lie by Sean Hannity Claiming That There's No Oil in the Areas Already Available to the Oil Companies for Drilling

His hero also disliked those pesky facts.

"Facts are stupid things."

Ronald Reagan

Sean Hannity falsely suggested that federal areas legally available for leasing by oil companies contain no oil. In fact, federal agencies have estimated that more oil exists on the tens of millions of acres of federal areas currently legally available for drilling than there is in the areas currently off limits to drilling.

As The Boston Globe noted in a June 20 article, "About 86 billion barrels of additional oil may lie offshore, according to the US government's Energy Information Administration," and then continued: "Of that amount, about 18 billion barrels are subject to the moratorium."

Furthermore, Hannity's assertion that if the moratorium were lifted, "we'd have that oil within two years," is contradicted by the Energy Information Administration, which considered the likely effects of allowing the congressional and executive moratoriums on certain offshore drilling to expire in 2012 and stated: "The projections in the OCS [outer continental shelf] access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017."

mediamatters ... read on

What's This I Hear About Superdelagates Moving Towards Hillary's Camp?

*Breaking* Obama SuperDs Switching to Hillary! : NO QUARTER

Tempest Storm is fuming. Her fingers tremble with frustration. They are aged, knotted by arthritis and speckled with purple spots under paper skin.

But the manicure of orange polish is flawless and new, and matches her signature tousled mane.

She brushes orange curls out of her face as she explains how she's been slighted.

She is the headliner, you know. She is a star. She is classy.

"I don't just get up there and rip my clothes off," she says.

Indeed, the 80-year-old burlesque queen takes her clothes off very slowly.

More than 50 years ago she was dubbed the "Girl with the Fabulous Front" and told by famous men she had the "Best Two Props in Hollywood."

Since then, Storm saw the art that made her famous on the brink of extinction. Her contemporaries -- Blaze Starr, Bettie Page, Lili St. Cyr -- have died or hung up the pasties.

But not Storm. She kept performing. Las Vegas, Reno, Palm Springs, Miami, Carnegie Hall.

Read the Rest of it Here: Stripper-CNN.com

Concertgoers Blinded by Light Show

A laser show at a music festival injured more than 30 people, Russian news reports said.

Some concertgoers lost up to 80 percent of their vision after attending the Aquamarine Music Festival on July 5, the newspaper Kommersant reported.

Twenty people are undergoing treatment in Moscow hospitals, said Elena Grishina, the head doctor at the Moscow Ophthalmological Hospital, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported Monday.

"It is just a deterioration in the sharpness of the eyesight, not a burn," she was quoted as saying, and said she could not confirm the injuries came from lasers.

"The treatment is not very pleasant. It involves a lot of needles," Grishina said. "But all the patients are in optimistic spirits, and we are hoping for a good result."

According to the reports, concertgoers said the festival's dance floor was covered by a canopy because it was raining. The lasers were pointed horizontally under the tent instead of into the sky, which led to the injuries, the reports said.

"After five or ten minutes on the dance field, I couldn't see anything," a young man in sunglasses identified as a concertgoer said on NTV television. "I could see out of my left eye, but my right eye is all fog."

The broadcast showed video from the festival recorded by cellular phones, one of which appeared to burn out when a laser shone on it.

The festival was held in the Vladimir region east of Moscow. During the summer, techno music enthusiasts often organize open-air raves on empty fields outside Moscow.

The injured concertgoers plan to take legal action against the festival's organizers, NTV reported.

A representative of the Vladimir regional government said the festival was organized illegally without proper permits. Police in the town of Kirzhach, where the festival was held, refused to comment.

Most of the injured concertgoers sought treatment at two Moscow hospitals, Kommersant reported. No one answered the telephone at either hospital Monday.

Grishina was quoted as saying there were no immediate plans to release the patients.

Read the Rest Here: Laser-CNN.com

Bush Economy - Key US Mortgage Lender Goes Bust

One of the largest US mortgage lenders, the California-based IndyMac Bank, has collapsed amid a growing credit crisis.

Federal regulators seized the bank's assets, fearing it might not be able to meet withdrawals by depositors.

It is the second-largest financial institution to fail in US history, regulators say.

The failure came on a day when shares in the two biggest US home loan institutions - Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - fell at one stage by almost 50%.

bbc news ... more

Russian Ice Camp in Rapid Shrink

Twenty Russian scientists are to be evacuated from their camp on a drifting ice-floe in the Arctic after it started disintegrating sooner than expected.

The Russians had set up research station "North Pole 35" on the floe last September when it measured a safe five kilometres long and three kilometres wide, and their original plan was to stay on it until this September.

But after enduring the permanent night of the Arctic winter and surviving the threat of polar bears, the scientists now find that their temporary home has shrunk to just 600m by 300m and faces complete break-up as it drifts towards a current known to contain relatively warm waters.

This evacuation comes as Canadian researchers report that the melting of the Arctic ice this year started at least four weeks ahead of the long-term average.

Separate teams of scientists in Canada and the US have forecast that this year's seasonal melt of Arctic sea-ice may well reach or exceed last year's record thaw in which the ice retreated to an extent not predicted for several decade.

bbc news ... read more

Eat Watermelon...Get up and Go

Not only does watermelon act as a diuretic but also has Viagra like effects!

A slice of cool, fresh watermelon is a juicy way to top off a Fourth of July cookout and one that researchers say has effects similar to Viagra -- but don't necessarily expect it to keep the fireworks all night long.

Watermelons contain an ingredient called citrulline that can trigger production of a compound that helps relax the body's blood vessels, similar to what happens when a man takes Viagra, said scientists in Texas, one of the nation's top producers of the seedless variety.

Found in the flesh and rind of watermelons, citrulline reacts with the body's enzymes when consumed in large quantities and is changed into arginine, an amino acid that benefits the heart and the circulatory and immune systems.

"Arginine boosts nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it," said Bhimu Patil, a researcher and director of Texas A&M's Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center. "Watermelon may not be as organ-specific as Viagra, but it's a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side effects."

Read the rest of it here:
Watermelon Works Like Viagra : Discovery News

John McCain Doesn't Know How to Use a Computer

This video appears to be from at least six weeks ago, but no one has really commented on it. Do we want a commander-in-chief who can't use a computer without assistance?

Washington is full of these guys, and it's so depressing. Larry Craig once said "I've never used the internet" (though we know he was lying). Ted Stevens thinks the internet is a series of tubes. Bush uses "the Google." I can't wait until we have a computer-literate generation of leaders in our Capitol.

John McCain and "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth"

Let's get this straight.

Here is an example of showing gross disrespect for someone's military service.

Look at this goof ball. click for her story here

Remember at the 2004 Republican National Convention hundreds of people sported purpled band-aids mocking John Kerry's war wounds that earned him three Purple Hearts. The corporate media thought it was funny.

Here is an example of showing respect for someone's military service but questioning what it qualifies him to do.

Retired General Wes Clark, who left Vietnam on a stretcher after being shot four times in a battle with the Viet Cong while he was a company commander, made these comments about John McCain's military service:

"I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war," Clark said. "He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war."
but ... "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president".

Fair enough, his opinion ..... the corporate media was outraged.

Now McCain joins forces with the purple band aid creators to try to give us 4 more years of bush league rule ...

More than any other act of rank hypocrisy that we have grown accustomed to expect from John McCain his recent embrace of the Swiftboaters to help his presidential campaign is beyond astonishing, especially for someone who is running in large part on his Vietnam record. McCain's new love affair with the Swiftboaters should expose to the mainstream press once and for all that their man -- their father figure and "hero" -- their "maverick" -- is nothing more than a Karl Rove-George Bush clone, a human-political/animal hybrid who jettisoned his ethics and integrity the minute he realized he was poised to become the heir to the glorious Bush legacy.

huffingtonpost ... read more ... and more

Dollar Has Dropped 41% Under Bush

When Bush Took Office US Dollar Was on Record-Setting Streak

Now Has Dropped 41% Against the Euro

Bush's Dollar Drop Maps Loss of U.S. Clout at Final G-8 Summit

Bush represents the worst-performing economy in the G-8 after Italy, with growth of 0.5 percent this year set to lag behind 1.6 percent in the U.K., 1.4 percent in the euro area, 1.4 percent in Japan and 1.3 percent in Canada, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts.

bloomberg.com ... click here to read article

Look Who's Sponsoring the Marriage Protection Amendment

That Men's Room Foot-Tapping Republican Hypocrite Wacko Larry Craig.

and "Mr. Diapers" himself, David 'Family Values' Vitter

Republican Senator

McBush

Beware of Sunscreens!

by Amy Burkholder-CNN

Slathering on sunscreen has become as much a part of the summer ritual as the vacation itself, but a consumer advocacy group has a warning for parents who think they're protecting their family with sunscreen -- you may be getting burned.
The Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based nonprofit, has released an investigation of nearly 1,000 brand-name sunscreens that says four out of five don't adequately protect consumers and may contain harmful chemicals.
The group says some of the products of the nation's leading brands -- including Coppertone, Neutrogena and Banana Boat -- are the poorest performers.
Coppertone was named by the Environmental Working Group as having 41 products that failed to meet the group's criteria for issues ranging from failing to protect adequately to containing potentially harmful ingredients to making unsubstantiated claims.
The makers of Banana Boat, which also failed to meet the Environmental Working Group's standards for various reasons, did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.
Neutrogena says its sunscreen products have been "embraced by dermatologists and consumers for their efficacy," and says its new Helioplex technology provides broad-spectrum UV defense against sun damage.
The science of sunscreens is simple: Active ingredients are compounds that absorb, reflect or block ultraviolet light. Sunscreens are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration not as cosmetics, but over-the-counter drugs. Sunscreens are rated based on their SPF, or "Sun Protection Factor." The higher the SPF, the better the protection against sunburn.
Sunlight is composed of two types of ultraviolet light -- UVB rays, which cause sunburns, and UVA rays, which tan. While both may increase the risk of skin cancer, sun damage and wrinkles, the FDA doesn't require sunscreens to protect against both, just UVB.
The FDA acknowledges new rules mandating UVA testing and labeling requirements are being evaluated, but the Environmental Working Group wants tougher standards now.
"The fact most sunscreens still don't don't offer UVA protection and the fact the FDA has been working for years to finalize its rules is really what provoked us to look at this issue," Lunder says.
Another issue -- is a key sunscreen ingredient safe?

Oxybenzone is a a popular UV filter in many sunscreens, one evaluated by the FDA as safe. The Environmental Working Group says its analysis of hundreds of studies of more than a dozen sunscreen chemicals finds oxybenzone can penetrate the skin and pose health concerns -- anything from hormone disruption to cancer.
The industry group representing sunscreen makers denies oxybenzone causes harm -- and deems such claims irresponsible.
"Questions about the safety of oxybenzone unnecessarily alarm consumers," says John Bailey, the chief scientist for the Personal Care Products Council, which offers its scientific information about the safety of sunscreen ingredients.

"Safe sun" has always been a priority for the American Academy of Dermatology, which sees sun overexposure as the single most preventable risk factor in the more than 1 million new cases of skin cancer expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year.
While dermatologists agree broad spectrum sun protection is important, some experts see an even bigger sun danger if people perceive their sunscreen isn't safe.

Common sense can also protect from the sun. Experts agree babies under 6 months old should be kept out of direct sun. Children need sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher.

If you are sensitive to sunscreen, never go without. Instead, try sunscreens that provide a physical barrier, such as zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. New micronizing technology makes both appear more transparent on the skin, so you don't have to look like a lifeguard with a white nose.