Robert Kearns flawed "Genius"

Battling perceived wrongs and deception against powerful institutions can exact a high cost. In Kearns case, the theft of his invention he deemed worth it

clipped from www.latimes.com The inventor in 'Flash of Genius' was much more tragic and difficult than portrayed by Greg Kinnear. That thought went through my mind last week while watching Kinnear's performance in "Flash of Genius," a new drama based on the story of the cantankerous Detroit engineer who successfully sued Ford and Chrysler for a combined $30 million for infringing on his patent designs for the intermittent windshield wiper. The lesson to be drawn from Kearns' remarkable struggle is that it takes a tremendous amount of guts, smarts and perhaps a touch of craziness to stand up to powerful interests in one's society. Those who do it must be prepared to sacrifice time, health, love, peace of mind or, in Kearns' case, all of the above.

Vatican: U.S. democrats "party of death."

bull chips

clipped from blogs.reuters.com Vatican officials seldom single out political leaders who differ with the Church on issues like abortion rights or embryonic stem cell research. But now that the Vatican’s highest court is led by an American, the former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, we can expect things to get more explicit in Vatican City — at least when when it comes to U.S. politics. Pelosi drew U.S. bishops’ scorn for saying in a television interview last month that the Church itself had long debated when human life begins. Biden is a practicing Catholic who also supports abortion rights and analysts have said he could help woo wavering Catholics into Obama’s fold. Both argue that they cannot impose their religious views on others. Pope Benedict has been encouraging Catholic bishops to speak out more openly on public policy issues to make the Church’s voice heard. Any bets on when we’ll hear from Burke next?

Epicurus Quote on God

excellent quote. damn those ancient greeks really DID know it all

clipped from users.livejournal.com Wiki: Epicurus (Greek Έπίκουρος) (341 BCE, Samos – 270 BCE, Athens) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. Epicurus is famous for his simple four line philosophical argument against the existence of God or gods, The Problem of Evil: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

The VP Debate: The Strangest I've Ever Seen

That's exactly what I thought. I mean, are we so dumb in this country to take Palin seriously for this job?

clipped from voices.washingtonpost.com Exactly an hour into the debate, Joe Biden began an answer by saying, "Facts matter, Gwen." To him, maybe. To Sarah Palin, maybe not. The pattern, so far, has been one of Biden presenting facts and Palin countering with… saying stuff. Sometimes she throws in a fact, but mostly she seems to be offering a string of approximate policy positions, encomiums to the American spirit, disputed interpretations of Barack Obama's record and anecdotes from Alaska. She has a certain charm, but I wonder how viewers are reacting to the way she just declines to answer the question at hand and pivots to more solid ground. I had forgotten how effective Biden can be in these debates. So far, he hasn't been patronizing or insulting. In terms of working-class street cred, Palin is in a league – or a universe – of her own. (Don't ya think?) But Biden holds his own.

McCain just a Good Ole Boy

clipped from www.truthdig.com “This is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator McCain, a theory that basically says that we can shred regulations and consumer protections and give more and more to (those who have) the most and somehow prosperity will trickle down,” the Democratic presidential candidate said. A recession—and a deep one, many economists now say—is all but certain to grip the U.S. economy and reverberate worldwide. It is to begin (if it hasn’t already) after a period in which household incomes among middle-class Americans never struggled back to the level they’d reached in 2000, before the last recession. With inflation factored in, median household income among working-age families (those headed by someone under 65) fell by $324 between 2000 and 2007, according to Census Bureau data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute.

Homer Simpson votes for Obama, McCain

Homer Simpson voting in Ohio...again.

clipped from www.truthdig.com In this apparently leaked clip from the slated Nov. 2 episode of “The Simpsons,” the original “Joe Sixpack,” Homer Simpson, tangles with a voting machine as he attempts to cast his vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Who will prevail? clipped from www.truthdig.com Tag: homer simpson A/V Booth: Homer Simpson Backs Obama View the most popular tags overall?

Lou Dobbs on Ohio voting debacle

Here we go again. You got to laugh at this nation's democracy building overseas while our own election system has plenty of flaws. See the movie "Recount" on HBO, The story of the nightmare in Florida in 2004. There may also be a reference to Ohio, which has had problems before!

clipped from newsbusters.org LOU DOBBS: A presidential election now 35 days away. Election fraud still posing a dangerous threat to this democracy. Perhaps even worsening. Early voting began today in Ohio. After the State Supreme Court there ruled that absentee voters could register and cast their ballots on the same day. As Kitty Pilgrim now reports, that new law could lead to massive election fraud in that critical swing state. PILGRIM: No photo ID is required. New Ohio voters have only to write down the last four digits of their Social Security number or write down their driver's license number. DOBBS: Has everybody lost their minds? There's no way for these volunteers to check that. I mean it's an absurdity. PILGRIM: Yeah, the officials we spoke to today say the county boards are just overwhelmed with the volume that they have to do at this point. It's such a big election. DOBBS: Well, it is a big election, important election, but apparently no one cares about that. Kitty, thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim.