It sure has been a sweltering summer thus far. It seems like every day in July the high temperature has been well into the 90s with heat indexes past the century mark. Maybe it’s the hot sun just baking all that oil bubbling under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe it’s all the hot air blowing down from Washington D.C. Or anger from those who think we can deport every illegal in Arizona. Or maybe Al Gore finally found a way to make global warming real by doing dirty things with massage therapists. Fuck if I know.

I do know that yesterday I began plotting what I ate in a food diary. If it sounds a little gay, it probably is. But essentially you figure out all what you ate and how good or bad you ended up on main items like calories, fat, sodium, and stuff like that. Considering I’m nearing 32 years old and don’t have any health care, I probably need to be doing some watching of what I’m eating. I’m adding a bit of exercise to the whole thing too. But don’t call it a diet program. (And don’t call it a mid-life crisis either.)

In other news: Courtney (Elf) still looks fucking hot, DJ Rick Walsh is retiring from his duties behind the turntables at Heretic on Friday, and I’m really getting back into this Magic: The Gathering hobby again. I also still RP with Stephanie, play a few video games, and am looking forward to a jam packed fall season that includes DragonCon, Alchemy, my birthday, Atlanta Gay Pride Weekend, Halloween, and writing a new novel.

I still could find time for a boyfriend though. Any takers?

1. World Cup.  Alright, everyone’s got their vuvuzula stuff out of their system by now right?  I mean, this thing has been underway for a while and the competition is heating up.  There are bad ref calls and whatever.  What I just learned is that the United States wants to host the Cup in the future.  Why?  While the US Team is doing fine and dandy, people don’t really care.  They may pretend to care just like they pretend to like classic films like Casablanca when they haven’t ever really seen it.  I’m more than okay letting the world enjoy their World Cup without America feeling like she has to get all into it.

2. Oil Spill. OMFG, is that shit still going on? You know, when I made my first Facebook post about that, it was already two weeks old. Now it’s more than two MONTHS old. Beaches are getting trashed, lives are being devastated, and it’s become quite the nightmare environmental scenario. Worse, the relief wells are still not due to be complete for over another month and you know, I am not all that confident that’ll fix things either. This situation cannot be minimized. It really is THE most important thing in America right now. It practically screams what’s wrong with our government, our industry, and our energy policy what with all the corruption and inaction across the board.

3. Afghan War. A big time general got kicked out because he said lots of negative things about those in charge in an article published in Rolling Stone. First, Rolling Stone still exists? Secondly, I want to know why we’re still in Afghanistan. It ain’t to fight Al Qeada like was originally planned. They’ve moved on to Pakistan. Is it to fight the Taliban? Is it to fight people that only fight us because we’re there fighting them fighting us? I thought I elected Obama to get us out of these wars. Wait, that brings me to…

4. President Obama. He hasn’t closed down Gitmo. He hasn’t brought home our troops. He hasn’t really done a very good job at bringing our economy back. He kept many of the Bush era policies of warrant-less wiretapping and secret prisons. He’s half-assed the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. He’s half-assed nominated liberalish people to the Supreme Court. I’m going to say what many of my liberal friends won’t… he’s not been an effective leader. Yes, I know it’s only been such and such many months. Yes, I know he inherited many problems. But he’s had plenty of time to suck on his own. He completely has bungled the Oil Spill. He continues to not be a good leader in economic policies that reform the way things are done. Handing out cash isn’t a solution. His one big win of Health Care isn’t even really that impressive considering it lacks a Public Option and the implementation of the effects are all way diluted with time. He has squandered a majority in the house and senate and now with mid-term elections looming, under his leadership or lack thereof, there are overwhelming predictions that Republicans (and even more terrifying Tea Party members) are going to be roaring back. Son, I am disappoint.

5. “Later, Skater: On Tour!” Buy your copy for summer reading today. Sales haven’t been great, which is confusing me. I mean, I sold and gave away lots and lots of copies of the original “Later, Skater” The sequel is bigger and better and downloadable for instant gratification for only 5 dollars. FIVE DOLLARS! Get it today to help keep me encouraged about my writing.

Not only do we have the kissy-kissy picture I posted yesterday causing the stir, you can add to that the following.

Prom in Mississippi school called off when it was found out a lesbian was going to bring her girlfriend.

Virginia politicians first undo then kind of half-assedly redo protections against gay discrimination.

Florida legislators are pondering using tax breaks as a way to mold family-values, making sure to try and exclude gay stuff.

And of course, homophobia abounds in the fall out over the Eric Massa shit.

That’s just a couple days worth of news that I uncovered during my regular looking over things on the interbutts. I didn’t even include things that are happening in other parts of the world.

So what’s the deal? Is it because we got pussy-acting Democrats in control over both houses of Congress and the Presidency that now the other side is all revved up and ready to trample over basic human rights? Because, let me tell you something, if the Bush Years made everyone so goth damned depressed… I have to suggest that maybe we homos should feel even more goth damned depressed now.

Is it just me or has this winter been especially brutal? I’m talking, of course, about North America, but you know, feel free to tell me I’m right about your neck of the woods too. A lot of the blame, at least in the media I’m seeing, is that the infamous El Nino has reared his ugly head again in the Pacific. Essentially this just disrupts natural jet stream patterns and sends weather systems all over the place where they ordinarily aren’t typically found. This lets places like Vancouver get no snow, but Pensacola enjoys the white stuff.

But you know, I don’t think it’s just the weather that is giving this winter a particularly nasty bite.

Politics are always vicious, but it seems especially contentious here in the United States with Democrats and Republicans infamously slugging it out, while meanwhile a seemingly pretty large portion of the population wants to throw them both out on a rail. Sometimes, I don’t disagree. But if that puts me in the same category as the Tea Party assclowns or big mouth Glenn Beck, I’d rather not.

And then there is the never ending cycle of the Twenty-Four Hour News Media.

They’re there to always constantly remind us that just when you thought there may be a glimmer of light at the end of this dark, dark winter, you’re wrong. Quick to rattle off facts about unemployment, terrorism, or domestic crimes, there isn’t a shred of good news to be found. And yet they are playfully ribbing on each other and the subjects at hand right before a few messages from their sponsor.

Before Conan o’ Brian was unceremoniously kicked off his quick stint on The Tonight Show, he called us kids and told us to not be cynical. He said that it doesn’t help anything. It was easy for him to say considering while he did just lose his life long dream in the hosting gig, he did get paid a shit ton of money to go away. But that’s just me being cynical.

And just like this winter, I think we’re sooo tired of being cynical. We need to find ways to free ourselves from the constant drumbeat of desolation pounded out not just by politics and the media, but by the actual environment around us. Yes, it’s really hard when it’s 23 degrees and you can’t feel your left testicle, but you know, even when here locally I had about two days of near 60 degree weather, I missed my opportunity to briefly change things up a bit.

Maybe you did too.

Spring will come, so at least the weather will change. But don’t count on the rest of the stuff doing it, unless you demand it. Not only from THEM but from yourself. I haven’t really been hibernating, but I certainly haven’t been out in the world behaving like the person I really am. Merely a dark winter’s shadow. Let’s see if that can’t be altered.

I’ve come down with something very strongly and quickly as of yesterday evening around five. I don’t know what it is, but it feels different than what ailed me post-con. Fever. Sinus issues. The aches could be from doing the truck on Tuesday as usual or it could be a symptom.

Too bad Dr. House isn’t practicing medicine anymore. Sorry for that slight spoiler alert, but we’re two episodes into the new season and sometimes you need to be shocked into remembering to watch again, right?

I hate feeling sick.
Worse, I hate that I don’t have Health Care.
I mean, it’s been this huge ass national debate — read: Yelling tennis match — for the last eleventy months it seems. I’m one of the uninsured!

It all happened when my Pizza Hut got bought out by a franchise and dumped every.single.last.one.of.my.benefits. No 401k. No vacation. No health care. No accident free rewards program. Jack shit.

Get another job, you may say?
Um, I should fucking lucky I HAVE a job right now.
But how long can I continue saying that if I have to occasionally call in sick? And by occasionally, I mean two full days and two half days in September.

I’m actually pretty confident my job is secure since when I am there I’m the best there is. I’ve only moderately complained that the work load has increased by about 100% due to the cutting of the second daytime driver AND cook.

Yeah, we run a restaurant with just a manager and a driver. Isn’t that fucking insane?

And that kind of leads me to wondering, maybe that’s what has got me sick. Sure, DragonCon and the 40,000+ weirdos that attend probably had something to do with it. And my sister and her Kid Rock Look Alike Boyfriend have three dogs and I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to at least the big brown one.

But I quit smoking over 6 months ago. I eat more healthy than ever before with lots of veggies and water and all that.

So maybe it’s the stress.
Oh and the fact that I don’t have health care.

Why not buy some on my own, you say?
Have you seen the terrible economy? I couldn’t really afford health care on my own over a year ago when things were half-assedly decent. An extra 120 dollars a month now is really hard to find. Especially reliably every single month.

But you know what?
I’m not going to let this get me down?
No sir!
Not even when the Republicans are bickering about how we can’t afford any heathcare bills like the ones perposed.
Not even when the Democrats want to fine people for not having healthcare. (Um, gee, if I had the money, wouldn’t I buy it?)

I will feel better.
I will go to Alchemy this weekend with DJ Kaze and conspire to write my 4th Novel.
And maybe just maybe things will start to improve all around me due to some of my positive energy at work and in my own personal economy.

Oh, yeah, and I turn 31 years old next Friday. Holy shit.

Time Magazine did a really good article on the man who is going to get someone killed, if he hasn’t already. That’s right, I’m talking about crazy crackpot Glenn Beck, the one time funny, now completely fucking serious talk-radio and television host.

Freedom of speech, hell yeah.
Freedom of responsible speech, maybe something that needs to be looked into.

WASHINGTON – In an extraordinary breach of congressional decorum, a Republican lawmaker shouted “You lie” at President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress Wednesday.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., tried to call Obama to apologize in person, but ended up speaking to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

The contrite congressman, “expressed his apologies” to Emanuel, not the president at whom he had shouted a few hours earlier, Wilson’s office said.

By that time, Wilson’s House Web site had crashed and he had taken a brutal beating on his Twitter page for breaching protocol and good manners during a presidential speech to a joint session of Congress.

“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me,” Wilson said in a statement. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

Wilson’s outburst came after Obama said that extending health care to all Americans who seek it would not mean insuring illegal immigrants.

“You lie!” Wilson shouted from his seat on the Republican side of the chamber.

Republicans froze, with several looking in Wilson’s direction.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi directed a fierce frown at him; first lady Michelle Obama pursed her lips and shook her head from side to side. Vice President Joe Biden looked down and shook his head, too.

Obama, meanwhile, looked toward the outburst and replied, “That’s not true,” and went on with his speech.

Right away, Wilson seemed to sense that he had fouled up. Wilson appeared to consult his Blackberry for much of the rest of Obama’s speech. He shook his head defiantly after several of the president’s statements. When Obama finished, Wilson bolted from the chamber.

Wilson’s wasn’t the only interruption during Obama’s speech, but it was the most notable.

Obama’s Republican rival from last year’s presidential race for the White House defended the president.

Wilson’s behavior was “totally disrespectful,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on CNN. “There is no place for it in that setting, or any other, and he should apologize for it immediately.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said “I have never in my 29 years heard an outburst of that nature with reference to a president of the United States speaking as a guest of the House and Senate.”

“It was a shameful act,” he told WTOP radio.

Hoyer said he’ll work with GOP lawmakers to decide whether to punish Wilson.

Joe the Plumber is being pursued for a major record deal and could come out with a country album as early as Inauguration Day.

“Joe” — aka Samuel Wurzelbacher, a Holland, Ohio, pipe-and-toilet man — just signed with a Nashville public relations and management firm to handle interview requests and media appearances, as well as create new career opportunities, including a shift out of the plumbing trade into stage and studio performances.

On Tuesday, Wurzelbacher joined country music artist and producer Aaron Tippin to form a new partnership that includes booking-management firm Bobby Roberts and publicity-management concern The Press Office to field the multiple media offers he’s received over the past few weeks.

Among the requests: a possible record deal with a major label, personal appearances and corporate sponsorships. A longtime country music fan, Wurzelbacher can sing and “knocks around on guitar” but is not an accomplished musician or songwriter, according to The Press Office’s Jim Della Croce.

“He’s a complicated guy with a very dynamic personality,” Della Croce told Politico. “He can sing and obviously has a strong political point of view.”

The Press Office, a PR firm based in Nashville, Tenn., represents an eclectic array of other clients including country stars John Anderson and the Gatlin Brothers, quirky folk singer Leon Redbone, NASCAR driver Chase Mattioli and animal repellent firm Liquid Fence. The Bobby Roberts Company reps several of the same acts, in addition to Juice Newton, Merle Haggard and Jon Secada.

Wurzelbacher made his auspicious debut earlier this month when Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama appeared in “Joe’s” neighborhood and was buttonholed on his tax plan. The media blitz went into high gear after John McCain talked about Wurzelbacher during the last televised presidential debate.

He has since made an appearance on Fox’s weekend variety show starring former presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee, and this week was showcased by McCain in a series of “Joe the Plumber” events.

The new partnership originated on the set of the “Huckabee” show, where Tippin appeared with his band during the same program.

On the campaign trail, the closest that Sarah Palin came to a public appearance in San Francisco was a rally in Burlingame. But the streets of the city will be awash with Palins during this weekend’s Halloween festivities. Expect some pregnant Palins, drag queen Palins and even a few Palin-inspired zombies.

Every five years or so, a Halloween costume idea comes along that’s so perfect that half the population seems to simultaneously dress up as the same thing. If you were a woman and participated in Halloween 10 years ago, chances are 50-50 that you went as Monica Lewinsky. Other trendy Halloween costumes from the past include Luke Skywalker (1978), Tammy Faye Bakker (1987) and Austin Powers (1997).

Based on several nonscientific indicators, the widespread presence of Palins this Friday night may eclipse them all. There are three things needed to make the perfect trendy costume, and she has them all:

1. Her position in the zeitgeist happens to be peaking right at Halloween.

2. She’s a controversial figure, with a hint of sexy.

3. The costume is easy to throw together at the last minute.

The last factor may be the most important one. The vast majority of Halloween costumes are figured out at around 6:15 p.m., with just enough time to execute for an 8 p.m. party. At one point in the late 1990s, I drove home from work on Halloween, picked up a Detroit Tigers cap, then rummaged through my closet for a Hawaiian shirt and shaved my goatee down to a mustache. Less than an hour of preparation, and I arrived at a party as Magnum P.I. (In a 1986 Honda Accord, not a red Ferrari.)

Palin also has the benefit of being relatively easy for nonprofessionals to imitate, with her “I’ll have to get back to yas” and “Doggone its” and words with the “g” dropped off the end. Imagine how many times this conversation is going to happen on Friday night:

“Hey, great Sarah Palin costume. Do you need a drink?”

“You betcha!”

The hardest part about dressing up as Palin will be the shock of arriving at the party or city-sanctioned street fair and realizing that 2,370 other people had the exact same idea. This was a huge problem in 1983, when an estimated 77 percent of all elementary school students came to homeroom dressed as a Rubik’s Cube. (Based on my own observation – not any national survey.) So the key is to have the best Palin possible. Step up your game. Just buying a pair of reading glasses from Walgreens and carrying your brother’s old hockey stick isn’t going to do it.

Read our tips for pimping your Palin. Or just go as Lewinsky on Friday night. You’ll be 10 years too late, but you’ll probably be the only one.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – A McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter “B” scratched on her face in a politically inspired attack, police said Friday.
Ashley Todd, 20-year-old college student from College Station, Texas, admitted Friday that the story was false and was being charged with making a false report to police, said Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the police department’s investigations division. Police doubted her story from the start, Bryant said.

Todd, who is white, told police she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night.

She now can’t explain why she invented the story, Bryant said. Todd also told police she believes she cut the backward “B” onto her own cheek, but did not provide an explanation of how or why, Bryant said.

Todd initially told investigators she was attempting to use a bank branch ATM when the man approached her from behind, put a knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.

Todd told investigators that she suspected the man then noticed a John McCain sticker on her car, became angry and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and telling her “you are going to be a Barack supporter,” police said.

She said he continued to punch and kick her while threatening “to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter,” police said. She said he then sat on her chest, pinned her hands down with his knees and scratched a backward letter “B” into her face with a dull knife.

Todd told police she didn’t seek medical attention, but instead went to a friend’s apartment nearby and called police about 45 minutes later.

The Associated Press could not immediately locate Todd’s family.

Bryant said somebody charged with making a false report would typically be cited and sent a summons. But because police have concerns about Todd’s mental health, they are consulting with the Allegheny County District Attorney. She remained in custody and was awaiting arraignment.

Todd worked in New York for the College Republican National Committee before moving two weeks ago to Pennsylvania, where her duties included recruiting college students, the committee’s executive director, Ethan Eilon, has said.

Eilon declined to comment on the investigation Friday or to help The Associated Press contact Todd.

Earlier Friday, police said they had found inconsistencies in Todd’s story. They gave her a lie-detector test, but wouldn’t release the polygraph results. Investigators also said bank surveillance photos did not back up the woman’s initial story of being attacked at an ATM.

Police interviewed Todd after she contacted police Wednesday night and again on Thursday, Bryant said. They asked her to come back Friday, ostensibly to help police put together a sketch of the man. Instead, detectives began interviewing her.

“They just started talking to her and she just opened up and said she wanted to tell the truth,” Bryant said.

Bryant said it doesn’t appear that anyone else put the woman up to the false report.

Police suspected all along that Todd might not be telling the truth, starting with the fact that the “B” was backward, Bryant said.

“We have robbers here in Pittsburgh, but they don’t generally mutilate someone’s face like that,” Bryant said. “They just take the money and run.”

CINCINNATI, Oct 16 (Reuters) – After Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama made him into the most famous plumber in America, it turns out Joe Wurzelbacher isn’t a licensed plumber after all. Oh, and his real name is Sam.

The morning after he emerged as the unexpected star of Wednesday evening’s U.S. presidential debate, Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio, found himself at the center of a media frenzy, with reporters camped out on his front lawn and his phone ringing off the hook.

But it wasn’t long before the Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics revealed that Wurzelbacher was not a licensed member of their trade.

“That means that he has not completed the training program necessary for him to sit for a license test,” said Tony Herrera, market recovery specialist for Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 50 in Toledo, Ohio.

“It’s a shame that this guy has ended up in this situation because it seems like he’s misrepresented himself — and for that matter the plumbing and pipefitting industry.”

Without a license, Wurzelbacher cannot practice in the city of Toledo but can work for someone with a master’s license or in outlying areas that do not require a license, Herrera said.

Wurzelbacher, 34, listed in the phone directory as Samuel, did not answer his phone and his voicemail box appeared to be full. Reporters at his home said he had driven away.

Wurzelbacher has become a darling of conservatives for attacking Obama’s tax policies but he has declined to say who he will vote for in the Nov. 4 election.

“It’s a personal decision, and myself and the button I push will know the answer,” the single father said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program.

Later, outside his home, he told reporters: “I want the American people to vote for who they want to vote for” in an informed way.

In the midst of an economic crisis, “Joe the Plumber” came to prominence last week as the working class everyman when he asked Obama about his tax plan during a campaign stop. That led to an appearance on Fox News and an invitation to a McCain rally.

Wurzelbacher said the sudden attention had not yet translated into increased business.

“I hope I have a lot of jobs today. Yesterday I worked on a water main break for a gas station and that’s why I didn’t give any interviews. I was muddy and soaking wet,” he said.

Obama and McCain repeatedly invoked Wurzelbacher in their third and final debate on Wednesday as they sought to appeal to average Americans.

McCain said Obama’s plan to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year would hurt small-business owners like Wurzelbacher. Obama said he would make it easier for Wurzelbacher to provide health insurance for his employees.

Wurzelbacher told ABC he was “not even close” to earning $250,000 but worried that Obama would raise taxes for those making less.

Wurzelbacher said he was pleased with the Republican candidate’s performance in the debate.

“McCain came across with some solid points and I was real happy about that,” he said.

For their part, the plumbers at the Local 50 union hall said they would love to find a job that would give them the kind of income Wurzelbacher is worried about being taxed by Obama.

“If there’s a plumber or pipefitter making more than $250,000, we want to know where he’s working,” Herrera said with a laugh. “We don’t make that kind of money.”

The plumber’s union, like almost all labor groups in America, backs the Democratic Party.

Click wherever and pay attention.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican presidential candidate John McCain is proposing a $300 billion program for the federal government to buy up bad home mortgages and allow homeowners to keep their houses.

McCain said: “Until we stabilize home values in America, we’re never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy and we’ve got to get some trust and confidence back to America.”

In an unusual step, McCain announced the plan during Tuesday’s debate. He said that as president he would direct the federal government to purchase mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage providers. The loans would be replaced with fixed-rate mortgages, ostensibly at a loss to the government.

“Is it expensive? Yes,” McCain said.

You cannot elect McCain with her as his running mate. You simply can’t.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said Wednesday that there were shortages of gasoline in parts of metro Atlanta, and he called some of the panic “self-induced.”

“There is ample fuel in the city,” he said. “It’s not everywhere it needs to be, but we do not have a crisis in the sense that we don’t have fuel coming in.”

The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to lift the anti-pollution additives required for gasoline sold in metro Atlanta should help because those special blends led to many of the distribution problems, Perdue said.

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) saw the situation differently.

So, too, did some motorists.

“It’s amazing,” said Ted Poolos, who stopped to fuel up at a Shell station on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Gwinnett County. Even when the pumps weren’t dry, the long lines make it feel as if they are, Poolos said.

Around metro Atlanta, prices for regular gas early Thursday ranged from $3.67 a gallon at a Chevron in Cumming to $4.59 at a BP station at Barrett Parkway and I-75 in Cobb County, according to GasBuddy.com, which compiles driver reports online.

The average price in Atlanta — $4.08 a gallon — is still about 42 cents above the national average, according to GasBuddy.

That’s a steep increase from one month ago, when gasoline here averaged $3.54 a gallon.

As for Perdue, Porter said it took the governor too long to react to the gas shortages and that Perdue waited until prices skyrocketed before enforcing the state’s gouging law.

Bert Brantley, spokesman for Perdue, disputed the notion that the governor has been behind the curve on the gas problems.

Administration officials have been on the phone with suppliers, convenience store industry officials and others every day for the past few weeks trying to stay on top of the issue, Brantley said.

“At every point, when a decision needed to be made, we made it,” he said. “Every day the question is asked, ‘What can we do?’ “

Returning to normal could take at least a week or more. As the week wears on, there have been continued improvements in the Gulf of Mexico’s infrastructure to produce and refine the metro area’s supply.

And some retailers have sent tanker trucks to make pickups.

Supplies will not surge overnight, but each day should add to the area’s stock — so long as there is no corresponding spike of demand from drivers.

“Atlanta is getting gas, but the sheer volume of stores that are out of product means that supplies are getting tighter and tighter,” said Tex Pitfield, president of Saraguay Petroleum Corp., a gasoline distributor. “I think things are getting worse.”

As it turns out, state and federal regulators picked a good time to allow suppliers to bring in dirtier-burning fuel in an attempt to boost supplies. That’s because smog needs hot temperatures to brew the toxic mixture of man-made pollution, and Atlanta is unlikely to see another 90-degree day this year.

William Cook, who oversees fuel regulations for the state, said the impact on the region’s air quality from higher-sulfur gasoline “will be fairly trivial.”

It’s also uncertain just how “dirty” the gas will be between now and Oct. 12, the waiver window granted by regulators.

Most gas sold across the country already must meet federal low-sulfur regulations. So the Georgia gas — required in a 45-county area in and around metro Atlanta — is not that different.

But, as metro Atlanta drivers are learning, it’s different enough to leave suppliers with little flexibility when supplies tighten.

>>> John McCain suspended his Presidential campaign today because he feels he needs to go back to Washington and help work on The Big Bailout™ that doesn’t seem to be what anyone wants.

>>> Except Bush. And Paulson, the guy who’s running the Treasury. Especially since the initial plan was to have no oversight.

>>> Obama still wants to debate on Friday, but is going to visit with Bush and McCain at the White House tomorrow.

>>> Did I mention that neither many Republicans nor Democrats are liking The Big Bailout™ plan that may not even really work and doesn’t address the core issues that created the financial mess?

Never get old.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke bluntly warned reluctant lawmakers Tuesday they risk a recession with higher unemployment and increased home foreclosures unless they act on the Bush administration’s $700 billion plan to bail out the financial industry.

Despite the warning, influential lawmakers in both parties demanded changes in the White House-backed proposal, and conservative Republicans recoiled at the prospect of federal intervention into private capital markets.
Six weeks before the elections, both major party presidential contenders also insisted on alterations in the administration’s prescription for the worst financial crisis in decades.

Bernanke’s remarks about the risk of recession came in response to a question from Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who seemed eager to hear a strong rationale for lawmakers to act swiftly on the administration’s unprecedented request.

“The financial markets are in quite fragile condition and I think absent a plan they will get worse,” Bernanke said.

Ominously, he added, “I believe if the credit markets are not functioning, that jobs will be lost, that our credit rate will rise, more houses will be foreclosed upon, GDP will contract, that the economy will just not be able to recover in a normal, healthy way.”

GDP is a measure of growth, and a decline correlates with a recession.
Dodd later spoke disparagingly of the administration’s proposal. “What they have sent us is not acceptable,” he told reporters after presiding over a lengthy Senate Banking Committee hearing at which Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged swift action by Congress.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the panel’s senior Republican, added, “We have got to look at some alternatives” to the administration’s plan.

The legislation that the administration is seeking would allow the government to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets held by endangered banks and financial institutions.

Getting those debts off their books should bolster the institutions’ balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and easing one of the biggest choke points in the credit crisis. If the plan works, it could help lift a major weight off the sputtering national economy.

The White House and key lawmakers have been in negotiations since the weekend on terms of the legislation. It was not clear what impact the new congressional complaints would have on the discussions.

“Nobody is happy” about the bailout request, said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., although he spoke of possible passage of legislation by the weekend.

“Nobody wants to have to do this,” agreed Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader. He said he was hopeful of a quick agreement.

“I understand speed is important, but I’m far more interested in whether or not we get this right,” Dodd said at the hearing.

Later, he told reporters he hopes for legislation soon.

“But it is not going to be a blank check or a simple signing on to a bill that sends a blank check to this secretary or any other secretary.” He noted that either Obama or McCain would probably be appointing a new treasury secretary after he takes over in the White House.

Across the Capitol complex, Vice President Dick Cheney and Jim Nussle, the administration’s budget director, met privately with restive House Republicans, some of whom emerged from the session unpersuaded.

“Just because God created the world in seven days doesn’t mean we have to pass this bill in seven days,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.

Added Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., “I am emphatically against it.”
Still, prospects for legislation seemed strong, with lawmakers eager to adjourn this week or next for the elections.

Differences include a demand from many Democrats and some Republicans to strip executives at failing financial firms of lucrative “golden parachutes” on their way out the door.

The administration balked at another key Democratic demand: allowing judges to rewrite bankrupt homeowners’ mortgages so they could avoid foreclosure.

Paulson, seated next to Bernanke at the committee hearing, objected strongly when Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked if $150 billion might be enough to get the program started, with a promise of more to come.

Paulson said that would be a “grave mistake,” and would fail to give the markets the confidence they need to rebound.

Paulson repeatedly fielded questions from committee members asking why taxpayers should accept the burdens of a bailout.

“You worry about taxpayers being on the hook?” he replied at one point. “Guess what – they’re already on the hook.” Paulson suggested that the fallout from the credit crisis would hit everyone’s pocketbook unless forceful action was taken. Moreover, a flawed and outdated regulatory system, which didn’t catch abuses, needed to be overhauled, he said.

Despite the unresolved issues, President Bush predicted the Democratic-controlled Congress would soon pass a “a robust plan to deal with serious problems.” He spoke before the United Nations General Assembly.

In his testimony before the Banking Committee, Paulson told senators that quick passage of the administration’s plan is “the single most effective thing we can do to help homeowners, the American people and stimulate our economy.”

But even before Paulson could speak, lawmakers expressed unhappiness, criticism of the plan and – in the case of some conservative Republicans – outright opposition.
“This massive bailout is not a solution. It is financial socialism and it’s un-American,” said Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Details emerged Thursday behind the break-in of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s e-mail account, including a first-hand account suggesting it was vulnerable because a hacker was able to impersonate her online to obtain her password.
The hacker guessed that Alaska’s governor had met her husband in high school, and knew Palin’s date of birth and home Zip code. Using those details, the hacker tricked Yahoo Inc.’s service into assigning a new password, “popcorn,” for Palin’s e-mail account, according to a chronology of the crime published on the Web site where the hacking was first revealed.

The FBI and Secret Service launched a formal investigation Wednesday. Yahoo declined to comment Thursday on details of the investigation, citing Palin’s privacy and the sensitivity of such investigations.

The person who claimed responsibility for the break-in did not respond Thursday to an e-mail inquiry from The Associated Press.

“i am the lurker who did it, and i would like to tell the story,” the person wrote in the account, which circulated on the Internet. What started as a prank was cut short because of panic over the possibility the FBI might investigate, the hacker wrote.

Investigators were waiting to speak with Gabriel Ramuglia of Athens, Ga., who operates an Internet anonymity service used by the hacker. Ramuglia told the AP on Thursday he was reviewing his own logs and promised to turn over any helpful information to authorities because the hacker violated rules against using the anonymity service for illegal activities.

“If you’re doing something illegal and causing me issues by doing this, I’m willing to cooperate,” Ramuglia said. “Obviously this is the most high profile situation I’ve dealt with.”

The break-in of Palin’s private account is especially significant because Palin sometimes uses non-government e-mail to conduct state business. Previously disclosed e-mails indicate her administration embraced Yahoo accounts as an alternative to government e-mail, which could possibly be released to the public under Alaska’s Open Records Act.

At the time, critics of Palin’s administration were poring over official e-mails they had obtained from the governor’s office looking for evidence of improper political activity.

Details of this week’s break-in, if authentic, were consistent with speculation by computer security experts who said Yahoo’s “forgot-my-password” service almost certainly was exploited. The mechanism allows customers to retrieve or change their password if they can verify their identity by confirming personal information such as birthdate, zip code and the answer to a “secret question,” such as a childhood pet’s name or school mascot.

Palin’s hacker was challenged to guess where Alaska’s governor met her husband, Todd. Palin herself recounted in her speech at the Republican National Convention that the pair began dating two decades ago in high school in Wasilla, a town near Anchorage.

“I found out later though (sic) more research that they met at high school, so I did variations of that, high, high school, eventually hit on ‘Wasilla high’,” the person wrote.

The McCain campaign issued a statement describing the hacking as an invasion of Palin’s privacy.

In the latest of a series of invasions into Sarah Palin’s personal life, hackers have broken into the Republican vice presidential candidate’s private e-mail account, and a widely read Web site has published screen grabs from it.

An article Wednesday in Gawker.com posts family photos and snapshots of e-mail exchanges the Alaska governor had with colleagues. Gawker says the-email account has since been shut down, but it will leave the images up on its site for all to see.

“Here are the screenshots of the emails saved before the account went dark, along with the contact list. It’s newsworthy and we will not be taking it down!” the site declares.

Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain, released a statement calling the publication a “shocking invasion of the governor’s privacy and a violation of law.”

“The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them. We will have no further comment,” Davis said.

The article boasts about the lengths to which the reporter went to verify the account, saying he or she even called a phone number listed for Palin’s teenage daughter, Bristol, which apparently went to her voicemail. The site also listed dozens of contact e-mails from the account.

Both WIRED and Gawker reported that members claiming to be with a group known as Anonymous took credit for hacking into Palin’s account. Screen grabs were published on other Web sites and then deleted, Gawker reported.

They reportedly came from a Yahoo e-mail account Palin uses — one separate from another private account that was publicized in The Washington Post last week.

Gawker complained that Palin has since “deleted” the account, and suggested she was trying to “destroy evidence.”

Palin has faced scrutiny for using her private account to do government business. The Washington Post reported last week that a local Republican activist is trying to get Palin to release more than 1,100 e-mails she withheld from a public records request. The appeal reportedly questions why Palin and her aides shift between public and private e-mail accounts.

A spokeswoman in the governor’s office in Alaska declined to comment Wednesday, referring questions from FOXNews.com to the McCain-Palin campaign.

“Primarily we’re referring people to the campaign because honestly people wouldn’t be asking these questions if she wasn’t a candidate for [vice president],” spokeswoman Kate Morgan said.

The Palin family was subjected to intense scrutiny after she was selected as John McCain’s running mate on Aug. 29. Reporters descended on her home town of Wasilla, Alaska, as the media focused on her unwed teenage daughter’s pregnancy.

What would your name be if Sarah Palin was your mother? Now there is a random name generator that’ll help you find out!

LANCASTER, PA — Responding to Obama’s education policy rollout Tuesday, Sen. John McCain released a new ad leveling stinging though slightly misleading criticism at his Democratic rival.

Ridiculing what it says is his lack of a record when it comes education policy, the campaign’s new spot pointed to his “one accomplishment.”

“Legislation to teach ‘comprehensive sex education’ to kindergartners. Learning about sex before learning to read?” the ad asks rhetorically, referring to a 2003 committee vote Obama cast in the Illinois State Senate.

While the new TV spot leads most voters to believe that Obama supports teaching five year olds about the birds and the bees the legislation, which never passed by the full state senate, called for an “age appropriate” curriculum intended to teach young children how to avoid predators and pedophiles. The bill was supported by a number of prominent state health advocates and also allowed communities and families to opt out if they were not comfortable with the curriculum.

The Obama campaign did not leave anything in its arsenal when firing back at the GOPer.

“It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls – a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn’t define what honor was. Now we know why,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

The K-12 sex-ed attack point was previously used against Obama by Romney last June who saw it crumble when it turned out supported similar legislation in Massachusetts.

A number of states also have similar education laws, including California, Iowa and Michigan.

>> John McCain picked a chick as his VP nomination. Now it’s being revealed that that woman has a preggers 17 year old. Oh, and the VP choice Mrs Palin is totally against anything other than abstinence as a baby preventing method. Oopsie.

>> With Hurricane Gustav winding down, Tropical Storm Hanna runs along the islands in the Caribbean. Landfall could occur in South Carolina by midnight Friday. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Ike is in the mid-Atlantic hanging out. He was quoted as saying, “Babhabha baa cookie monster.”

>> Time Warner will join Comcast in capping the internet usage of “high end” users. America’s series of tubes will soon get a lot less free flowing.

>> Google is putting out a web browser. It’s called Chrome and it’s supposed to be designed for how the internet works in more modern times. But are they tracking your surfing information? Oooooooh.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday called for a summer-long suspension of the federal gasoline tax and several tax cuts as the likely presidential nominee sought to stem the public’s pain from a troubled economy.

Timed for the day millions of Americans filed their tax returns, McCain offered some immediate steps as well as long-term proposals in a broad economic speech. The nation’s financial woes have replaced the Iraq war as the top concern for voters, and McCain, who has said economics is not his strongest suit, felt compelled to address the problems as he looks ahead to the November general election.

“In so many ways, we need to make a clean break from the worst excesses of both political parties,” McCain told an audience at Carnegie Mellon University. “Somewhere along the way, too many Republicans in Congress became indistinguishable from the big-spending Democrats they used to oppose.”

To help people weather the downturn immediately, McCain urged Congress to institute a “gas-tax holiday” by suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. By some estimates, the government would lose about $10 billion in revenue. He also renewed his call for the United States to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and thus lessen to some extent the worldwide demand for oil.

Combined, he said, the two proposals would reduce gas prices, which would have a trickle-down effect, and “help to spread relief across the American economy.”

Aides said McCain’s Senate staff was drafting a bill on the proposal. It’s likely to face strong opposition not only from Congress but the states. The federal gasoline tax helps pay for highway projects in nearly every town through a dedicated trust fund. In the past, such proposals for gas tax holidays have not fared well as lawmakers and state and local officials prefer not to see changes in their revenue source.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Five years after launching the invasion of Iraq, President Bush strongly signaled Wednesday that he won’t order troop withdrawals beyond those already planned because he refuses to “jeopardize the hard-fought gains” of the past year.

As anti-war activists demonstrated around downtown Washington, the president spoke at the Pentagon to mark the anniversary of a war that has cost nearly 4,000 U.S. lives and roughly $500 billion. The president’s address was part of a series of events the White House planned around the anniversary and next month’s report from the top U.S. figures in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. That report will be the basis for Bush’s first troop-level decision in seven months.

“The battle in Iraq has been longer and harder and more costly than we anticipated,” Bush said.

But, he added, before an audience of Pentagon brass, soldiers and diplomats: “The battle in Iraq is noble, it is necessary, and it is just. And with your courage, the battle in Iraq will end in victory.”

Democrats took issue with Bush’s stay-the-course suggestion.

“With the war in Iraq entering its sixth year, Americans are rightly concerned about how much longer our nation must continue to sacrifice our security for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “Democrats will continue to push for an end to the war in Iraq and increased oversight of that war.”

Bush repeatedly and directly linked the Iraq fight to the global battle against the al Qaida terror network. And he made some of his most expansive claims of success. He said the increase of 30,000 troops that he ordered to Iraq last year has turned “the situation in Iraq around.” He also said that “Iraq has become the place where Arabs joined with Americans to drive al Qaida out.”

“The surge … has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror,” the president said. “We are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden, his grim ideology, and his terror network. And the significance of this development cannot be overstated.”

Bush appeared to be referring to recent cooperation by local Iraqis with the U.S. military against the group known as al-Qaida in Iraq, a mostly homegrown, though foreign-led, Sunni-based insurgency. Experts question how closely—or even whether—the group is connected to the international al-Qaida network. As for bin Laden, he is rarely heard from and is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

The U.S. has about 158,000 troops in Iraq. That number is expected to drop to 140,000 by summer in drawdowns meant to erase all but about 8,000 troops from last year’s increase.

Bush, who has successfully defied efforts by the Democratic-led Congress to force larger and faster withdrawals, said they could unravel recent progress. “Having come so far and achieved so much, we are not going to let this happen,” he said.

He criticized those who “still call for retreat” in the face of what he called undeniable successes.

“The challenge in the period ahead is to consolidate the gains we have made and seal the extremists’ defeat,” he said. “We have learned through hard experience what happens when we pull our forces back too fast—the terrorists and extremists step in, fill the vacuum, establish safe havens and use them to spread chaos and carnage.”

This sort of cautionary rhetoric is consistent with all the president’s recent statements about Iraq.

It has been widely believed for weeks that Bush will endorse an expected recommendation from Petraeus next month for no additional troop reductions, beyond those already scheduled, until at least September. This so-called pause in drawdowns would be designed to assess the impact of this round before allowing more.

The surge was meant to tamp down sectarian violence in Iraq so that the country’s leaders would have time to advance legislation considered key to reconciliation between rival Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities. But the gains on the battlefield have not been matched by dramatic political progress, and violence again may be increasing.

With just 10 months before he hands off the war to a new president, Bush is concerned about his legacy on Iraq.

Both Democratic candidates have said they would begin withdrawing forces quickly if elected. Only expected GOP nominee John McCain has indicated he planned to continue Bush’s strategy of bringing troops home only as conditions warrant.

Vice President Dick Cheney, who just completed a two-day visit to Iraq, said the administration won’t “be blown off course” by continued strong opposition to the war in the United States.

Cheney compared the administration’s task now to Abraham Lincoln’s during the Civil War. “He never would have succeeded if he hadn’t had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in order to get there,” Cheney said of Lincoln in an interview broadcast Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

As of Tuesday, at least 3,990 members of the U.S. military have died in the war, which has cost the U.S. roughly $500 billion. Nobel Prize- winning economist Joseph E. Stiglizt and Harvard University public finance expert Linda Bilmes have estimated the eventual cost at $3 trillion when all the expenses, including long-term care for veterans, are calculated.

Without specifics, Bush decried those who have “exaggerated estimates of the costs of this war.”

“War critics can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much,” he said.

Don’t forget to vote if you’re in one of the many many states voting in the US tomorrow. You can’t say nuthin’ for the next few years about how crappy things are unless you get out there and have your say. Sure your guy or gal may not win, but the important thing is voice your say.

* John McCain won the Florida primary in a tight battle against Romney.
* Rudy 9/11 Gulliani 9/11 is expected 9/11 to quit 9/11 tomorrow.
* Hillary won in Florida for the Dems, but wins no delegates.

* Meet the Spartians STILL hurts days after I saw it.
* There are rumors of Hannah Montana naughty pics on her MySpace. Oh lawd.
* If you ever wanted to see me in a compromising situation…

* You are running out of time for January’s Secret Stash.
* Next month’s stash is all about love due to the Valentine’s Day holiday.
* Yaoi posts may resume tomorrow if I’m feeling like it.

Even the liberals are conservative.

When I took the political compass quiz, my results put me close to Dennis Kucinich whom I did vote for in the 2004 Georgia Primary.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Republican presidential hopeful and former Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee linked gay sex to bestiality and abortion to slavery in an interview Thursday, explaining why, if elected, he would try to amend the constitution.

“Marriage has … as long as there’s been human history, meant a man and a woman in a relationship for life. Once we change that definition, then where does it go from there?” he asked in an interview with online “Beliefnet” magazine.

“Well, I don’t think that’s a radical view, to say we’re going to affirm marriage. I think the radical view is to say that we’re going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal,” he added.

“The Bible was not written to be amended. The Constitution was,” he said, announcing his intention to amend the document if he were to be elected president in November to ban abortion and establish that life begins at the moment of conception.

Leaving it up to individual states to outlaw abortion within their own borders is not enough, he said.

“That’s again the logic of the Civil War — that slavery could be okay in Georgia but not okay in Massachusetts. Obviously we’d today say, ‘Well, that’s nonsense. Slavery is wrong, period. It can’t be right somewhere and wrong somewhere else.’ Same with abortion,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee won the Iowa Republican caucuses earlier this month, the first contest in the race for each party’s nomination to run for the White House. He is in second place behind Arizona Senator John McCain in opinion polls for Saturday’s primaries in South Carolina.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton powered to victory in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary Tuesday night in a startling upset, defeating Sen. Barack Obama and resurrecting her bid for the White House. Sen. John McCain defeated his Republican rivals to move back into contention for the GOP nomination.

“I felt like we all spoke from our hearts and I am so gratified that you responded,” Clinton said in victory remarks before cheering supporters. “Now together, let’s give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me.”

Her victory, after Obama won last week’s Iowa caucuses, raised the possibility of a prolonged battle for the party nomination between the most viable black candidate in history and the former first lady, seeking to become the first woman to occupy the Oval Office.

“I am still fired up and ready to go,” a defeated Obama told his own backers, repeating the line that forms a part of virtually every campaign appearance he makes.

McCain’s triumph scrambled the Republican race as well.

“We showed this country what a real comeback looks like,” the Arizona senator told The Associated Press in an interview as he savored his triumph. “We’re going to move on to Michigan and South Carolina and win the nomination.”

Later, he told cheering supporters that together, “we have taken a step, but only a first step toward repairing the broken politics of the past and restoring the trust of the American people in their government.”

McCain rode a wave of support from independent voters to defeat former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a showing that reprised the senator’s victory in the traditional first-in-the-nation primary in 2000.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. Barack Obama swept to victory in the Iowa caucuses Thursday night, pushing Hillary Rodham Clinton to third place and taking a major stride in a historic bid to become the nation’s first black president. Mike Huckabee rode a wave of support from evangelical Christians to win the opening round among Republicans in the 2008 campaign for the White House.

Obama, 46 and a first-term senator from Illinois, told a raucous victory rally his triumph showed that in “big cities and small towns, you came together to say, ‘We are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come.’”

Final Democratic returns showed the first-term lawmaker gaining 37 percent support. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina gained second, barely edging out Clinton, the former first lady.

Huckabee celebrated his own victory over Mitt Romney and a crowded Republican field. “A new day is needed in American politics, just like a new day is needed in American government,” the former Arkansas governor told cheering supporters. “It starts here, but it doesn’t end here. It goes all the way through the other states and ends at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Huckabee, a preacher turned politician, handily defeated Romney despite being outspent by millions of dollars and deciding in the campaign’s final days to scrap television commercials that would have assailed the former Massachusetts governor. He stressed his religion to the extent of airing a commercial that described himself as a “Christian leader” in his race against a man seeking to become the first Mormon president.

Nearly complete returns showed Huckabee with 34 percent support, compared with 25 percent for Romney. Former Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain battled for third place, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul wound up fifth and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sixth.

Hillary Clinton is still outraged that Rockstar Games left a sexually-themed mini game nestled in its best-selling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2005.

You’ll recall the kerfuffle when the deactivated love scene was found buried in the code for the otherwise wholesome car jacking, cop-killing shooter. The unfinished mini-game featured clothed characters simulating sex acts. To access the scene, randy teens had to download and install a special patch developed by a Dutch coder, expending more effort than it takes to find real, human adult content on the web.

That all led some cynics to suspect Clinton of grandstanding when she called a press conference to denounce Rockstar and demand a Federal Trade Commission investigation into San Andreas. The ESRB re-rated the game to AO for “adults only,” raising the minimum age of purchase from 17 to 18 years old — a crucial year in which a teen develops the necessary psychological defenses to resist the Siren song of polygon porn.

But in a response to a questionnaire from the watchdog group Common Sense Media, Clinton reveals today that she still sees the affair as a victory for child safety. She describe her introduction of the doomed Family Entertainment Protection Act as a response to the “illicit” sexual content in San Andreas, and says, as president, she’d support regulation of the gaming industry.

“When I am President, I will work to protect children from inappropriate video game content,” she told CSM.

That puts her on the same page as Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who told CSM that the U.S. needs to “get serious against those retailers that sell adult video games that are filled with violence and that we go after those retailers.” Clinton’s fellow Democrats John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson said they’d rather give the industry a chance to self-regulate, at least initially.

Clinton’s Family Entertainment Protection Act would have made it a federal offense to sell adult-rated video games to minors. It never passed, but similar state laws have been struck down as unconstitutional. Clinton’s co-sponsor on the bill, Joseph Lieberman, had his own video game nemesis: Stubbs the Zombie, who, like too many politicians, needs braaiiiins.

Huckabee leads and Thompson’s support is virtually cut in half in the Feb. 5 state of Georgia, a new Strategic Vision poll to be released tomorrow will show.

Huckabee grabs the top spot with 23%, up from just 5% from the same poll conducted in October. Thompson polls at 20%, down from 39%. Giuliani receives 17%, down from 20%. Like Huckabee, both McCain and Romney have risen in the polls, but not nearly as much as the former Arkansas governor. McCain is now polling at 11%, up slightly from 9%, and Romney receives 10%, up from 6%.

This poll was conducted December 7-9; 515 Republican voters were interviewed, and the margin of error for this poll is 5%.

On the Democratic side, Clinton has lost six points but still leads, with 34%. Obama’s polling remains unchanged at 27%. Edwards received 12%. 468 Democratic voters were interviewed and also has a margin of error of 5.5%.

(Ed note: Huckabee’s statements about isolating AIDS victims and saying “I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk” back in 1994 are eyebrow raising to be sure. The fact that Evangelicals are starting to back him worries me to no end. Suffice to say, it’s almost about time for the political news to start hitting pixiesticks.org more often.

Also, cocks.

WASHINGTON – Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It’s expanding by about $1.4 billion a day — or nearly $1 million a minute.

What’s that mean to you?

It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

Even if you’ve escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That’s because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.

And like homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages, the government faces the prospect of seeing this debt — now at relatively low interest rates — rolling over to higher rates, multiplying the financial pain.

So long as somebody is willing to keep loaning the U.S. government money, the debt is largely out of sight, out of mind.

But the interest payments keep compounding, and could in time squeeze out most other government spending — leading to sharply higher taxes or a cut in basic services like Social Security and other government benefit programs. Or all of the above.

A major economic slowdown, as some economists suggest may be looming, could hasten the day of reckoning.

The national debt — the total accumulation of annual budget deficits — is up from $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office in January 2001 and it will top $10 trillion sometime right before or right after he leaves in January 2009.

That’s $10,000,000,000,000.00, or one digit more than an odometer-style “national debt clock” near New York’s Times Square can handle. When the privately owned automated clock was activated in 1989, the national debt was $2.7 trillion.

It only gets worse.

NEW YORK — Stephen Colbert announced his candidacy for president on “The Colbert Report” on Tuesday night, tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race.

“I shall seek the office of the President of the United States,” announced Colbert on his Comedy Central show, as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country’s highest office — a refusal that often came without any prompting.

Shortly before making the announcement, Colbert appeared on “The Daily Show” (the show which spawned Colbert’s spin-off) and played cagy, claiming he was only ready to consider a White House bid. He entered the studio set pulled by a bicycle pedaled by Uncle Sam and quickly pulled out a bale of hay and a bottle of beer to show that he was “an Average Joe.”

Colbert said his final decision would be announced on a “more prestigeous show,” which turned out to be his own.

“After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call,” said Colbert.

His recent best-seller, “I Am American (And So Can You!)” afforded him the opportunity to mock the now-standard approach to a White House run, complete with a high-profile book tour.

Colbert said he planned to run in South Carolina, “and South Carolina alone.” The state, one of the key early primaries, is also Colbert’s native state. Late last week, South Carolina public television station ETV invited Colbert to announce his candidacy on its air.

Exactly how far the mock conservative pundit planned to stretch his impression of a presidential candidate wasn’t clear. Colbert rarely breaks character on camera, including at his memorable speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last year.

The Comedy Central host has often mobilized his fans (“Colbert Nation”), encouraging them to vote to have a Hungarian bridge named after him, for example, or to vandalize Wikipedia.com with his version of “truthiness” and “wikiality.”

The comedian said he would run as both a Democrat and Republican. He earlier explained the strategy: “I can lose twice.” He claimed three running mate possibilities: Colbert-Huckabee, Colbert-Putin or Colbert-Colbert.

Minutes after announcing his presidential pursuit, Colbert welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to ask how he had changed the race.

“This is going to be one for the books,” said Greenfield.

A spokesman for Colbert said he would be unavailable for further comment Tuesday evening.

In a guest column for Maureen Dowd in Sunday’s New York Times, Colbert wrote: “I am not ready to announce yet — even though it’s clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative.”

WASHINGTON (AP) – Idaho Sen. Larry Craig defiantly vowed to serve out his term in office on Thursday despite losing a court attempt to rescind his guilty plea in a men’s room sex sting.

“I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively,” Craig said in a written statement certain to disappoint fellow Republicans who have long urged him to step down.

Craig had earlier announced he would resign his seat by Sept. 30, but had wavered when he went to court in hopes of withdrawing his plea.

The third-term lawmaker issued his statement not long after Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter relayed word he has selected a replacement for Craig in the event of a resignation.

“He is ready to act should we receive a letter of resignation,” said Jon Hanian, Otter’s spokesman in Boise, in what seemed like a calculated signal that home-state Republicans want Craig to surrender the seat he has held for 17 years.

In his statement, Craig said he will not run for a new term next year.

But in the meantime, he said: “I will continue my effort to clewar my name in the Senate Ethics Committee—something that is not possible if I am not serving in the Senate.”