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AND SO TODAY, SCHOOLS ACROSS MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN BEGIN THE 2008-2009 SCHOOLS TERM in what could be seeing Interesting Times ahead, and then some.

As if that weren't enough, TGMnGT 2008 ended yesterday with a final head count of 1,693,263 visitors passing through the gates during its 12-day run, a gain of 11,585 visitors on last year but 69,713 shy of the all-time record of 1,762,976 back in 2001.

Those 1,693,263 visitors breaks down to an average of 141,105 visitors/day, further breaking down to 8,819/hour (allowing for the outside gates being open 16 hours/day) ... 147/minute ... or 2.45/second. And with 15 gates into the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, crowd control managed to proceed smoothly and efficently to achieve such numbers as discussed without serious problems. (For the record, the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend is usually the busiest, seeing 209,399 visitors this year; in contrast, the Tuesday and/or Wednesday thereof is slowest, with the latter being this year's slowest in the attendance department--88,288 through the gates.) 

As for next year's edition of TGMnGT, mark your calendars for 27 August to 7 September (Labour Day), inclusive.

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MEANWHILE, YOUR CORRESPONDENT CONTINUES A TRADITION ESTABLISHED @ HIS PREVIOUS BLOG FOLLOWING THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR, as in featuring The Compleat Scoop Day-by-Day from the Minnesota State Fair Daily News, a two-page house organ on legal-size paper for State Fair workers, concessionaires and gadabouts.

Basically, "The Scoop" is a back-page compendium of chatty items submitted by the readership, or reasonable facsimile thereof.

And "The Scoop" from Opening Day (Thursday, 21 August) went thus:

Kermit Bischoff is back on machinery hill. He couldn't get his cell phone to work all morning and hehad everyone trying to figure out what was wrong. We found out finally that the man forgot to put a battery in it. It figures, he turns 80 on Aug. 24 so you'd better come in soon to say hello while he still knows your name.

For all your first aid needs be sure to check out Snyders on the fairgrounds.

Happy 53rd Wedding Anniversary to Joe and Ann Fox!

Happy Day 1 to Florian at Home Improvement from three generations of Daily News reporters who think you're the greatest!

I heard Fairborne and Fairchild were in fine form at the Taste of the Fair ... but what is it with the really small hands?

Good old woodcarver Bob is back on Machinery Hill. He apologized for looking so scruffy, dirty, unkept and unshaven (a general mess) while he was setting up. Heck, we thought he looked better than usual. You gotta hand it to him, though, he's going to keep coming back until he gets that woodcarving thing mastered. He will be cleanly shaved opening day and done correctly.

Be sure to watch out for flying squirrels RG!

How was AV TJ??

(More in this department tomorrow.)

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ALTHOUGH HURRICANE GUSTAV SAW MUCH LESS IN THE DEVASTATION DEPARTMENT THAN KATRINA DID UPON NEW ORLEANS THREE YEARS PREVIOUS, The Big Easy's Mayor Ray Nagin is urging the evacuated not to return until @ least Thursday; the better so city crews can clean up debris and check for damage and utility crews can restore service.

But then, on the other hand, the same areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast as are recovering from Katrina (or trying to) saw their share of damage from Gustav's rain and winds, meaning that Biloxi/Gulfport may have all the harder times trying to rebuild in a cost-efficent manner consistent with free-market principles and characteristics.

As for how much relief will be needed for the afflicted of Louisana, Mississippi and Texas--notwithstanding the appeals of the GOP's Inner Circle for donations to the Red Cross as forced the first day of their confab in the Twin Cities to be limited to essentials, you have to wonder if relief agencies will deliberately withhold relief supplies from those who made good faith efforts to request help, and without good cause or justification. (Motherdear has this particular opine when it comes to the Red Cross, in contrast to the Salvation Army's relief efforts.)

Which just goes to show you what kind of mindset the Greater Conservative Agenda's Zealots and True Believers (Good Christians All, remember?) have when it comes to social welfare: Videlicet, deemphasising cash benefits as "wasteful, inefficent and counterproductive" in favour of an "in-kind" approach emphasising "industry, self-reliance, personal responsibility, thrift based on cash economy and a wholesome and simple home life" where ignorance and stupidity are seen as virtuous.

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STICKING WITH THE GOP'S CONFAB FOR THE MOMENT, IT'S EMERGED THAT THE UNMARRIED, 17-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER OF VICE-PRESIDENTIAL WANNABE SARAH PALIN has a nine months' dropsy and is expected to carry the child to term and marry the one who impregnated her.

On the other hand, Ms. Palin is a major supporter of the Junior Anti-Sex League having chapters in public schools to preach the doctrine that sex wastes physical energies necessary for Christian Witness work.

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NEXT THURSDAY WILL BE THE SEVEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNFORTUNATE EVENTS OF 9/11 ... no doubt guaranteed to be a major week of celebration among the forces of "healthy, patriotic" hate as a show of Christian Love.

Hate Week, in other words.

Not to mention the potential for using the Columbus Day observance as a Global Day of Solidarity for the Persecuted White Christian Peoples of European-American Heritage, as well as raising funds for front groups as are really diverting donations thus raised to their white-supremacist masters through innocent-looking street collections.

One likely cause: The "complete and final" evacution and resettlement of the Afrikaner Peoples of South Africa from Clear and Present Risk of Persecution by a Communist-Influenced Black Regime, to be further reinforced by appeals close to the traditional Day of the Vow observance on 16 December, a Holy of Holies among Unreconstructed Afrikanerdom and their Fellow Travellers among racists, bigots and the Archie Bunker/Alf Garnett crowd generally.

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WANNA BUY YOUR VERY OWN WEB DOMAIN?

Your Correspondent has decided to put up for sale, by way of this blog entry, the Internet domain thedailyphosdex.ws to a good party. The main reason behind this sale is to get rid of some debts on my part absent the likelihood of my coming into money within measurable distance, if the price is right.

Generously reasonable offers for the domain will be considered by e-mail, especially considering where the top-level domain of .ws is one of those you don't see much of in widespread use. Please let me know if you're interested in buying, and name your price--especially so one in @ least four figures. 

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HAT TIP TO "SANDY" OFF THE MESSAGE BOARDS @ HATEWATCH, THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTRE'S BLOG, for calling attention to these videos off YouTube as reveal a dark and dangerous side to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Vice-Presidential choice of John McCain.

As in associations with the Alaska Independence Party, an Xtreme Right organisation with weird and unwholesome associations as include connexions to "militia" and "patriot" elements--and @ whose meetings these videos were made, revealing just how low Sarah Palin may be among the Dregs of Society as could be our nation's undoing @ the expense of the so-called "New World Order:"

Such videos need to be seen to be believed--and shared, come to think of it--vis-a-vis the clear and present danger of political depravity Sarah Palin may impose upon Our Beloved Nation in case she winds up assuming the Presidential role, and the powers and duties it carries.

Especially so considering John McCain's having hints of dementia which could pose their own antient and pecuilar dangers to Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Nation, never mind the most paranoid in this respect suggesting that it's really the liberals who are prepared to sell Our Birthright to the "Evil Empire" of the "New World Order" just as Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for bread and soup ... or Judas sold the Christus to the Roman authorities for 30 pieces of silver, which he laundered in the collections of the Temple to avoid arousing suspicions (and would eventually go towards buying the Potter's Field for burial of strangers).

Or what exactly stands in the way of sharing political dynamite of the highest order such as this? Fear of Persecution and Betrayal?

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WITH THE HIGHEST OF SACHEMS AND POOBAHS OF THE GOP SITTING OUT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION in the Twin Cities this week in response to the possible serious devastation of Hurricane Gustav across much the same areas of Louisana as were devastated three years back by Katrina and Rita (and still show the scars, by and large), it makes you wonder (as much as Your Correspondent) if the GOP Convention's truncated schedule is going to make this nothing more than a glamourised appeal for assistance to the victims (if any) of Hurricane Gustav.

As in the Belated Hurricane Katrina Appeal Telethon, pleading to the honour of G-d and Country for donations to the Red Cross and/or the Salvation Army (the latter preferred by the family out of motives dating back to my late father's service in World War II--as in the Salvos' frontline canteens offering coffee and donuts to Our Troops free gratis for nothing whereas the Red Cross charged 15’ for coffee and donuts @ their canteens), expecting them to provide the sole Government-Protected Monopoly on disaster relief, as if expecting such to be a show of how the McCain/Palin ticket hopes to provide disaster or emergency relief.

Let alone social welfare services in general, as in requiring such in need to show where they have exhausted all private-sector relief agencies for assistance before turning to the State for help--in other words, reducing the State to a "provider-of-last-resort" role under the banner of "building character" and "promoting personal responsibility."

And with His Fraudulency bivouacing @ his Crawford ranch, there's also the likelihood of a "Nero fiddled while Rome burned" scenario, using Gustav's devastation played out in endless worldcasts as an excuse to return to Al Cohol's worthy embrace and confort. And, in his maudlin stupor, appealing to the American People to "give until it hurts" as above suggested.

Let alone Neal Boortz once again suggesting to certain vulnerable specimens of Gustav refugees on welfare to consider Mrs. Warren's Profession as their best and only ticket out towards self-reliance. (Which actually happened after Katrina, in case you forgot History Recent by deliberate design or otherwise.)

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PERHAPS IT WAS TIME TO EXPLAIN TO YOU ALL THE LINK I HAVE TO SWISSINFO.CH FOLLOWING THESE POSTINGS, in case you were wondering:

Such goes back to my noting Stan Freberg's referring to foreigners, regardless of nationality, as "Swiss--that way, we don't offend anybody" on his summer-replacement radio comedy series in 1957, and its possibilities in this (presumably) "enlightened" age for deflating overzealous excesses of anti-immigrant sentiment crossing over into "patriotic" racism and White Low Church Christian Supremacy from time to time.

In effect, making immigrants otherwise @ risk of persecution Honorary Residents of The Fifth Switzerland (otherwise known as Swiss Abroad) by way of Mr. Freberg's avant-garde, if satirical, suggestion. (As reminder, "the Fifth Switzerland" is a popular term used to refer to Swiss expatriates, students, immigrants and travellers abroad, jokingly extending the traditional ethno-linguistic divisions of Switzerland vis-a-vis their four official languages of French, German, Italian and Romansh.)

In fact, Article 70 of the Swiss Constitution elaborates on the linguistic situation and rights related to the same, something for the Zealots and True Believers in the ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuerher vein seeing English as The One True and Approriate Language for All Americans:

(1) The official languages are German, French, and Italian. Romansh is an official language for communicating with persons of Romansh language.

(2) The cantons designate their official languages. To preserve harmony between linguistic communities, they respect the traditional territorial distribution of languages, and take into account the indigenous linguistic minorities.

(3) The confederation and the cantons encourage understanding and exchange between the linguistic communities.

(4) The confederation supports the plurilingual cantons in the fulfilment of their particular tasks.

(5) The confederation supports the measures taken by the cantons of Graubόnden and Ticino to maintain and to promote Romansh and Italian.

Now you know.

FIRST OFF, A REMINDER THAT THE VOTING IN THE BLOGGER'S CHOICE AWARDS WILL CLOSE FOR THE YEAR on 1 October, meaning you still have the entire of September to vote for me in the several categories wherein I have nominated this blog:

• Best Blog of All Time
• Worst Blog of All Time
• Freakiest Blogger
• Most Obnoxious Blogger

Your vote would be greatly appreciated in this the homestretch for the 2008 competition--and would be quite an achievement for this blog to win @ least one of the four categories as above. (You will need to register to vote, however; if not already, visit the Blogger's Choice Awards website, q.v.)

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TO THE MUSLIM READERS OF THIS WEBLOG, The Exaggerator extends best wishes for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as begins tomorrow evening @ sundown.

Your Correspondent hopes that, in the name of Allah, the magnificent, the compassionate, and the merciful, your daytime fast will be an easy one throughout.

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IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED THE ONLINE SHOPPING AREA OFF TO THE SIDE OF THE PAGE, Your Correspondent wishes to call your attention to a number of newly-added e-tailer affiliates as are worthy of your time and interest in your online shopping adventures.

One as may be of particular interest to the likes of the Jot-'Em-Down Store crowd (as in smaller country and small-town retailers struggling to stay afloat in a Wally World socioeconomic mindset, as in being able to get merchandise on competitive terms of wholesale pricing using the Information Stuporbahn):

Meanwhile, for those wanting to get into the cell phone game, might I suggest shopping around for the best equipment and the best plans as meet your requirements and budget. And the best places to start:

For our friends between Land's End and John O'Groats looking for another worthwhile online shopping experience, The Exaggerator is pleased to welcome:

And some other e-tailers worthy of your time and interest have made a return to this hallowed space; among them:

Remember that in any event, you're supporting this weblog and Your Correspondent by your online shopping adventures. Hopefully, you can make such something of a regular habit when you visit this weblog, the reasons of which are obvious(?!).

Thanks again for your support.

19 hours old

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YOUR CORRESPONDENT HAS JUST RETURNED HOME FROM THE REEDUNION 2008--AS IN THE FAMILY REUNION held on Friday and Saturday nights @ Camp Winnebago outside Caledonia, Minnesota, where brother Dennis serves as Head of Maintenance (and who made the choice of venue all the more possible).

The whole experience started Friday afterlunch when Dennis picked me up @ my flat for the Reedunion's venue, where, upon arrival, Motherdear agreed that it was alright if I stayed there throughout. Even if it was in a bunk bed in a cabin Dennis had set aside for the unmarried as had two foam mattresses stacked on top of each other to ensure some comfort and a couple of quilts sufficed as sheets, not to mention the window being open to get in some fresh air.

And was it quite the gathering: Not just the majority of my brothers and sisters, but also a few relatives from down Iowa way (Decatur County, in and around Pleasanton, to be exact) I probably hadn't seen since Dad's funeral in 1993; one such had a flowing beard for some reason or another, which I accepted for granted.

(As for those who couldn't come, brother Doug was preparing to evacuate himself from near Mobile in the wake of Hurricane Gustav's likely hitting the region, and Linda Rae was @ the alpaca interests booth @ TGMnGT. Now you know.)

Sheldon was seen with a thin gray moustache and a somewhat lanky build, and Shinko (Darrell's Okinawan wife) was starting to show her age with "salt-and-pepper" hair, a few wrinkles around her face ... but nonetheless, was as spry as ever. Motherdear, for her part, still needed a walker to get around, still managing to take her part on the ur-stage.

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FRIDAY EVENING DINNER WAS BASICALLY A COLD BUFFET to start with, just some sliced ham, roast beef and turkey breast, and some bratwurst Donna had grilled up; chips, salads, raw vegetables and bars rounded out the whole. Which I managed to follow with some cups of herbal (and basic) tea well until the bonfire started for the evening around twilight--and what a bullfest of nostalgia and memories flowed throughout!

Saturday morning started out rather foggy in the valley where Camp Winnebago is situated, and turned out rather bracing heading into breakfast--sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, juice (I had cranberry and orange such) and tea. (Much the same brekkie was had this morning, only whole-wheat pancakes with butter and syrup took the place of toast.) Followed by tea and conversation, which, for the most part, was by gender, discussing old family memories and plenty of doings; Your Correspondent served to correct some errors and offer some insight as required.

Midday: My Iowa kin with a Toyota Prius (that's a gas/battery hybrid auto) had me along for the ride as took much of the afterlunch, including a stop @ a cafe in downtown Caledonia where the ladies retired to for luncheon--and this just as the cafe was getting ready to close for the day, but was still willing to serve. And were the girls surprised @ our sight! (As for lunch, I had a special they had on the day: Grilled chicken breast sandwich and cup of chicken-noodle soup, with iced tea to drink. My hosts had the other special--BBQ beef and French fries.) Following, a browse of a boutiqueish store in Caledonia called Pine Cone Place was called for before the journey went underway.

After fueling up, this joyride followed County Rd. 249 east from Caledonia through Freeburg and Reno, down Minnesota/Iowa 26 to New Albin and Lansing, Iowa, then doubled back on 26, continuing to Brownsville to survey (or try to) what Dennis noted about flood damage when a number of bluffside and blufftop homes collapsed in June's heavy rains, tried looking for further such on County Rd. 7 towards Hokah, and paid respects @ Dad's final place of rest in Union Ridge Cemetery between Hokah and Caledonia, spotting the former farm as a windmill in an opening between two groves of trees as viewed from the cemetery.

Throughout, the fuel economy, helped largely by use of the front wheels as a flywheel of sorts to recharge the batteries, ranged around 65-75 mpg, with a short spurt of over 90 mpg between New Albin and Lansing, Iowa. (The two noted where they had taken the same earlier up on the Alaska Highway, getting quite the workout in fuel efficency throughout.)

Dinner that evening: Shredded turkey breast, au gratin potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese, bread, salads, vegetables and bars. And some more herbal tea. (Speaking of tea, one of the Iowa kin brought along an herbal blend known as Jason Winters Tea; I had a cup of it, and it wasn't half bad. Especially with sugar.) Following was an informal meeting, whence it was decided to hold the next such in two years' time near Leighton's new home patch of Necedah, Wisconsin, where Your Correspondent was appointed to maintain some correspondence and find out about some worthwhile lodgings for all.

And that evening, another bonfire as ran until late, with plenty of nostalgia exchanged among the men. (The ladies played dominoes back in the lodge uphill.)

And I swear that on both nights, the skies were so clear, you could see the stars in the skies above, even allowing for the pecuilarities of the valley translating into fog developing late of nights and continuing until sunrise on a regular basis. But then again, the shower took quite awhile to warm up in the cabins where I stayed.

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THIS MORNING, THE 2008 REEDUNION ADJOURNED, FOR THE MOST PART, after breakfast as the Iowa line of the family was packing up to return back to "the home patch." Adjourned to keep dates for later in the day down along the Iowa-Missouri line as is home to them.

Adjourned until the fourth weekend in July, 2010, near Necedah, Wisconsin, in the Castle Rock/Petenwell Lakes district of the Wisconsin Valley (Necedah closer to the latter).

"...and a good time was had by all in attendance," to translate the Afrikaans title of this item. Even if it meant that the older members felt rather tired out from the whole.

15 hours old

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ON THE CONTRARY, IN MY OWN CASE, PLENTY. ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING WHERE THIS IS LIKELY TO BE THE LAST SUCH POSTING FOR AWHILE, what with my annual visit to the Minnesota State Fair, followed by a family reunion on the Labour Day long weekend, preoccupying my time over the next fortnight or so.

In any event, don't worry much about me; on the other hand, I'd appreciate a donation to the Virtual Tip Jar and/or some purchases from the online-shopping area off to the left-hand side of the page. After all, disability benefit only goes so far every month, and besides, I'm deemed too mentally unstable to find traditional income.

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AND YOU THOUGHT JOHN McCAIN WAS THE MASTER OF FLIP-FLOPPING EXTRAORDINAIRE: It turns out that the Russian military has been caught doing some flip-flopping of its own in calculating the number of Georgian civilians killed in the recent South Ossetian campaign.

Initially estimating where some 1,600 had been killed by Russian crack troops, they have since revised the figure downward to an "official" estimate of 133, mostly in and around Josef Stalin's old hometown of Gori (remember, Stalin was an ethnic Georgian).

Human-rights groups, for their part, contend that the actual number of Georgian casualties in South Ossetia numbers still lower; though not specific, the BBC notes where they will only say that "dozens" were thus slaughtered.

Still, though, official Russian propaganda claims the casualties, regardless of the body count you believe and trust, were "byproducts of Georgian genocide;" however, isn't this nothing less than Russian projection for the likelihood of their having set up the Georgians, with the Tbilisi regime having received aid and comfort from the aforementioned McCain?

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THIS MAY OR MAY NOT EXACTLY BE APROPOS THE PRECEDING; however, an editorial in this week's number of the Jewish weekly gazetta Forward, entitled "Terrorism and the Lone Gunman," is worth sharing for reasons as will become evident as you read it:

Hossam Dwayyat, 31, a Palestinian construction worker from East Jerusalem, went on a rampage July 2 and drove his bulldozer into a bus and several cars, killing three Israeli women and wounding dozens more before he was shot dead. Police quickly determined that he had acted alone and had no links to terrorist organizations. Rather, he had a criminal record for drug abuse, and friends said he was despondent over a failed romance. Still, the incident was ruled terrorism, though foreign critics questioned the term. A weeks-long debate ensued over whether to demolish the home of the terrorist's family as a deterrent. One expert, former Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy, confidently stated that the incident was "sporadic" and would "not inspire copycat attacks."

Three weeks later, on July 22, there was a copycat attack. East Jerusalem construction worker Ghassan Abu Tir, 22, drove his bulldozer into several vehicles, injuring some two dozen Israelis before he was shot dead. Like Dwayyat, he had no known links to terrorist organizations. His father blamed the act on confused identity as an East Jerusalem Arab with no clear nationality, Palestinian or Israeli. A search of his home turned up Islamic extremist literature, confirming authorities' belief that he acted from terrorist motives.

Five days later, on July 27, unemployed Tennessee truck driver Jim D. Adkisson, 58, allegedly entered a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville and opened fire with a shotgun, killing two persons and wounding six. A note found in his truck reportedly said he hated "the liberal movement" and its social teachings. He also complained about his inability to find a job and his loss of food stamps. News reports said a search of his home turned up books by Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity, conservative talk show hosts known for their slashing verbal attacks on liberals. Following his arrest, according to a police affidavit, Adkisson told officers that "because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement … he would then target those that had voted them into office."

On August 13, an Arkansas man successfully tracked down a liberal movement leader, and killed him. The alleged shooter, Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, lost his job in a Target store and promptly drove 50 miles to the Little Rock headquarters of the Arkansas state Democratic Party, where he asked for the state chairman, Bill Gwatney. He then barged into Gwatney's office and shot him dead. Johnson was later killed in a shootout with police. News reports consistently describe both Adkisson and Johnson as "lone gunmen."

Do two isolated cases, three weeks apart, constitute a criminal pattern? If the attackers appeared intent on killing a particular class of victim, but have no links to an organized group, is it terrorism? If the attacker had literature at home, demonizing the victim group and urging action, did the authors incite the attacks?

Israeli authorities are clear on the answers. American authorities don't seem to have figured out the questions yet.

Points no doubt worth pondering. And making you wonder what sort of interesting times we are living in.

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WITH NEW POLLS IN SOME INSTANCES SUGGESTING A SLIGHT TREND FOR McCAIN OVER OBAMA IN THE PRESIDENTIAL INDECISION heading into the conventions, perhaps it was all the more important @ this time to give John McCain a taste of his own medicine--as in "swift-boating" him for once.

Especially so by repeating charges made by Jerome "Swift Boat" Corsi earlier in the year about McCain having the endorsement of al-Qaeda and his fortune having connexions to Known and Notorious Criminal Syndicates, among other juicy claims as deserve timely notice. Yes, the same Jerome Corsi who's behind the now-discredited smears against Obama, in case you didn't know.

And taking him to task for having so many houses while so many of the working-class Americans seeing McCain as their Shining Knight and Saviour (or so Fox Prolefeed expects them to accept without question or reservation) are facing serious problems with their mortgages, in some cases owing more on their mortgage than the true value of their homes.

So what stands in the way?

"Money is the root of all evil."
Why not invest yours in United States Savings Bonds?

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BRITISH GLAM-ROCK ICON GARY GLITTER, HAVING JUST BEEN RELEASED FROM A VIETNAMESE PRISON WHERE HE WAS SERVING TIME for Indecent Sexual Liberties with a Minor, was spotted @ Bangkok's Don Muang Airport after arriving there on a flight from Hanoi--and missing a connecting flight that was to return him to London.

Seems Mr. Glitter's excuse is that he "complained of a heart attack" to the extent that he missed the connexion.

How do we know he isn't faking it to avoid further action back in his native Great Britain?

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SOMETHING WORTH THINKING ABOUT IN THE DEBATE ON HOW BEST TO SAVE MEDICARE AND MEDICAID: Conducting careful and @ once cautious analyses on what would be the most cost-efficent (as opposed to merely the cheapest per se) option to the Good Taxpayers on how best to handle Medicare and Medicaid, in line with the prevailing view that low taxes=jobs=social stability, from these such:

1. Maintaining the status quo.
2. Transferring Medicare and Medicaid to the several states, aided and abetted by generous "block grants" to (in theory) allow them to develop such programmes for providing health-care services to the poor and vulnerable based on local customs and experience.
3. Essentially converting Medicare and Medicaid into vendor-pay plans to allow the Lower Classes "healthy and empowering access to the free market" when it comes to health-care coverage from private-sector insurers and Medical Savings Plan providers (howbeit subject to checks and balances to avoid undue and unreasonable exploitation of those so expected to be"empowered" by "freedom of choice").

All the while consciously aware of the need to "generate taxpayer value"--as in "Which among these options will actually return the most to taxpayers for the least amount of money?" (Which conservatives want to base on what will translate into a net dividend on "share capital," as in taxes--preferably on a "guaranteed" basis, to be loaded onto special-issue Wally World debit cards ISSUED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, or so labelled--all the while expecting the Good Taxpayers to have reckless and utter disregard for practicality or utility while expected to "do their part for their economy" via reckless and wasteful shopping sprees @ Wally World, to be declared an Essential and Protected Company in the National Interest @ the expense of small business in articular.)

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ANYWAY, AS I SAID EARLIER, THE STATE FAIR AND FAMILY REUNION WILL PREOCCUPY MY TIME BY AND LARGE over the next fortnight, thus precluding any serious and regular blogging activity in the interim. Sooooo....

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IN A NUMBER OF STATES, AMONG THEM CALIFORNIA, OREGON, AND WISCONSIN, THE AGENCY OF INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM IS PERMITTED by which citizens may propose legislation through the agency of a ballot plebiscite, thereby bypassing the formalities of legislative ex-lax and gridlock.

And it's no wonder the Zealots and True Believers in the Greater Conservative Agenda find initiative and referendum a cheap and cheerful way by which to legislate their articles of faith, as in banning abortions, condemning homosexuals to outright pariah status, that sort of thing. Especially where the phrasing of the plebiscite's title is designed to be misleading or otherwise deceptive, the better to trap voters unaware--especially the undereducated sort.

In any case, a lesson from ConWebBlog on how not to pervert the whole idea of initiative and referendum to serve a closed-minded agenda, hoping the undereducated voters won't recognise what they were really voting for until the ballot papers are inserted into the ballot box--and how reportage thereof can be manipulated:

From an Aug. 16 WorldNetDaily article:

An appeals court ruling has trashed the right of Oregon residents to vote on issues in their state by affirming the state's refusal to count referendum signatures even when they were verified in person by the voter.

[...]

The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an Oregon judge's decision denying state citizens the right to vote on a referendum on a new state law critics contend violates the state's voter-approved definition limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

The appeals court cited the opinion of a handwriting analyst instead of the voters who signed the petition and called the state's "interests" more important than voters' rights.

[...]

The district court at that point simply ruled that Oregon voters have no legal right to have their signatures counted, and the appeals court has upheld the ruling.

The court, of course, denied nobody's rights; it merely affirmed that the method for checking signatures on a conservative-promoted Oregon petition to place on the ballot a reversal of the state's recognition of same-sex couples was valid.

WND quotes only right-wing groups criticizing the ruling, such as Alliance Defense Fund and Restore America, and offers its own creatively biased view of the case:

The state reviewed the tens of thousands of signatures submitted on the referendum issue by a sampling method, ultimately determining there were 55,083 valid signatures, 96 short of what was required. However, a change in just a half a dozen signatures in the sampled portion would have tipped the decision the other way.

At the time the state made that announcement, individual voters checked with their local county officials and found their valid signatures had been arbitrarily disallowed, and state officials had issued orders that county election offices not allow anyone to correct the mistakes.

[...]

The court opinion, instead of citing the voters who signed the petition on the issue of the validity of their signatures, cited a handwriting analysts' opinion on whether the signatures were valid or not.

The San Francisco Chronicle, meanwhile, offers a clearer, more truthful view of what actually happened:

Needing 55,179 valid signatures, sponsors of the referendum turned in 62,000 signatures on petitions to election officials, who followed standard procedures by examining a random sample. After invalidating signatures that didn't match those on registration cards, they concluded that only 55,083 valid signatures had been submitted.

The judge upheld the signature-counting process on Feb. 1 and was affirmed Thursday by a three-judge appeals court panel, which said Oregon took reasonable measures to validate petition signatures.

Sponsors of the referendum argued that election officials should have notified voters whose signatures were rejected and given them a chance to prove their identity. But the court said county registrars are trained in signature verification, allow sponsors of a ballot measure to attend the counting sessions and challenge their decisions, and refer all rejected signatures to a second elections official for added scrutiny.

The question was never about "rights" as WND repeatedly claims. The court did not eliminate or even question the right of voters to intiate ballot referendums--indeed, WND states "the campaign on the recognition of same-sex relationships now will be restarted with plans for voter decisions on the issues in November 2010." The issue at hand was whether Oregon state law on ballot signature verification was followed and was reasonable. The court ruled that it was.

Given that state law "allow[s] sponsors of a ballot measure to attend the counting sessions and challenge their decisions," WND does not explain why those sponsors did not challenge the disqualification of the signatures at the time.

It's just another example of WND's anti-gay agenda at work.