Just 99 cents:
Michigan officials say now is the time to buy energy-efficient light bulbs because they are being sold at a reduced rate.
Starting Wednesday, about 500,000 compact fluorescent bulbs will be available for as little as 99 cents at Kroger, Meijer and Menards stores across the state. They also will be sold at Ace Hardware stores in the Lansing area and Upper Peninsula.
The bulbs are cheaper thanks in part to a state grant.
This being the last week before next Monday's voter-registration deadline, I want to encourage you to visit an excellent website from the Obama campaign - VoteForChange.com.
Joe Biden, in an email to Obama-Biden supporters:
Right now, this race is neck-and-neck.Biden took the opportunity to highlight the Neighbor-to-Neighbor tool, which is an online mechanism that allows you to get in touch with people in your neighborhood.
And it's all going to come down to what supporters like you do -- or don't do -- in these last 45 days.
...
Millions of Americans are counting on Barack and me to defeat John McCain and deliver the change this country needs -- but we can't do it alone.
Each of us needs to do our part. What's going to win this election for us is organizing on the ground, person-to-person, and growing this movement.
As of today, Lehman Brothers has filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch has been sold. But try telling that to John McCain.
Democrats are pouncing on John McCain's comments at a Florida campaign rally Monday morning that the economy is “strong,” even as a major Wall Street bank filed for bankruptcy protection and another was sold to Bank of America.Or does he really think that? Honestly, it's kind of hard to tell what he thinks.
"Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said. "Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis."Meanwhile, campaigning in Michigan for the first time since earning the nomination for Vice President, Joe Biden earns my nomination for Quote of the Day honors:
"Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn't run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well — unless I ran into John McCain," he also said.
From an email I just received:
Black teen pregnancies? A 'crisis' in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A 'blessed event.'
If you grow up in Hawaii you're 'exotic.'
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential 'American story.'
Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're 'unpatriotic.'
Name your kids Trig and Track, you're 'colorful.'
If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're 'reckless.'
A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a 'maverick.'
If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review,create a voter regstration drive that registers 150,000 new African Amerian voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.
If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.
If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an 'arrogant celebrity'.
If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are 'energizing the base'.
If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are 'presumptuous'.
If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a 'shoot from the hip' maverick.
If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are 'an elitist 'out of touch' with the real America.
If you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.
If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an 'empty suit'.
If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an 'experienced executive'.
If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are 'extremist'.
If you believe in creationism and don't believe gobal warming is man made, you are 'strongly principled'.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years with whom you are raising two beautiful daughters you're 'risky'.
If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child.
But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky.
If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you 'First dog.'
If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you 'beautiful' and 'courageous.'
If you kill an endangered species, you're an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion you're not a christian, you're a murderer (forget about if it happened while being date raped)
If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
Here are a couple of excerpts about Judge Hathaway:
Known for her hard work and integrity, Hathaway will restore fairness and impartiality to the Michigan Supreme Court. As a Circuit Court Judge, she has a record of being fair and impartial, putting the needs of ordinary citizens and families over those of big corporations and special interests. As a prosecutor, Hathaway took on drug dealers, put hardened criminals in jail, and kept Michigan's neighborhoods safe by going after drunk drivers, sexual predators and scam artists. A wife, mother of five and daughter of a police officer, she is endorsed by law enforcement and firefighters.Hathaway is trying to defeat current Chief Justice Cliff Taylor in the November election.
Taylor's decisions put the insurance companies and corporate special interests that fund his campaigns ahead of struggling middle-class families. He repeatedly sacrifices judicial ethics and ignores the severe human impact of his decisions while enjoying one of the highest salaries and packages of taxpayer-provided perks of any judge in the country. Taylor's decisions have made it easier for sexual predators, terrorists and drunk drivers to avoid responsibility for their crimes. He also has a pattern of discriminatory decisions that hurt women in the workplace, including ruling against victims in rape and sexual harassment cases, virtually eliminating the ability to legally enforce protection from sexual harassment.
Keep in mind that judicial offices are nonpartisan races, so merely voting straight Democratic will not mean a vote for Judge Hathaway. You will need to vote for her on the nonpartisan section of the ballot.
