The stench of last minute attacks on political candidates reaches from Humboldt to South Carolina

Have you ever noticed how political campaigners wait until just before an election to release their “secret weapon/aka Smoking Gun” against opponents? It’s a time-honored practice in American politics, which has always been a messy process to say the least.

For example: The election of 1828 was significant as it heralded a profound change with the election of a man widely viewed as a champion of the common people. But that year's campaigning was also noteworthy for the intense personal attacks widely employed by the supporters of both candidates.

The most recent example of last minute attacks here in Humboldt is directed against 5th district supervisor candidate Ryan Sundberg’s DUI.

Decorum goes South in S.C. governor race

Nikki Haley is challenging the corrupt “Good Old Boy System” in the South and her opponents are trying their best to smear her bad enough to affect the election tomorrow. So far, it looks like their dirty tactics aren’t paying off.

PHOTO ABOVE: State Rep. Nikki Haley, 38, has been a state representative since 2004 — long enough, she says, to know the problems but not to be "part of the fraternity party."

Dirty tricks, local politics, and Elvis Costello

Writer Dan Ryan looks at five dirty campaign tactics at play in KC

Last-Minute Onslaught of Mud

With the June primary election just days away — next Tuesday — voters can expect a blitzkrieg of campaign mud smearing their TV screens and in their mailboxes over the weekend and early next week. The Democrat primary for the 35th Assembly District has generated the most contentious and over-the-top aspersions thus far, prompting the head of the Santa Barbara Democratic Central Committee to take both candidates — Santa Barbara City Councilmember Das Williams and coastal advocate Susan Jordan — to task for engaging in “cheap shots and character bashing.”

Haley Barbour: Oil? What Oil? Press Should Stop Scaring Tourists

This month we have a new “Spotlight on Idiots” featuring Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.

It really cracks me up how these Republicans say they don’t want any part of Big Government, but the moment something like this massive oil spill happens they’re crying for help from the same reviled government.

Most revealing however, is the fact that here’s another Republican so friggin corrupt that he’s trying to downplay the worst ecological disaster in United States history because he’s worried the press is over blowing things and discouraging tourists! Unbelievable. But that’s a typical Republican stance. Big business first, the people last:

“The biggest problem facing Mississippi in the wake of a massive oil spill in the Gulf isn't tarred beaches or ecological waste, the state's governor Haley Barbour said on Sunday. It's the national press corps, which, he asserted, is inflating the disaster's current impact and, as a result, decimating the state's tourism industry.

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, the Mississippi Republican veered as close as any elected politician could to insisting that the biggest oil spill in the history of this country had been overblown -- at least when it comes to his state.”                    Photo source

As It Stands: Researchers claim to have solved the mystery of life -- now what?

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 06/06/2010 01:47:59 AM PDT

”Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive ... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!” Henry Frankenstein (played by Colin Clive) announced to the world when his creation moved, in the 1931 movie “Frankenstein” starring Boris Karloff.

Now reality has met fiction, and the latter is not as scary as the first. No terrible storm with jagged shards of lightning shattered the sky when the research team led by J. Craig Venter, Hamilton Smith, Clyde Hutchinson, and Daniel Gibson at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockeville, Md., recently announced the creation of life from non-living parts.

Unlike the movie, they didn't piece together parts from dead bodies to craft what they call a “synthetic cell” from a set of genes they decoded, artificially combined and then stuck into the cored-out shell of another bacterial cell, according to an MSNBC.com article by Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.

Since the book “Frankenstein” by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley came out 200 years ago, philosophers, scientists, and theologians have debated the merits of mankind creating life. Some saw the book's message as a warning of what would happen to men if they messed with the secret of life.

READ THE REST HERE                          Photo source

Travel survey cites America’s dirtiest cities

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From L.A. to Miami, find out which U.S. 30 cities need spring cleaning

Los Angeles is No. 3 on Travel + Leisure's list of America's dirtiest cities.

View related photos

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As It Stands Preview: Frankenstein’s Monster has competition!

“Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!” Henry Frankenstein (played by Colin Clive) announced to the world when his creation moved, in the 1931 movie “Frankenstein“ starring Boris Karloff.

Now reality has met fiction, and the latter is not as scary as the first.

See this Sunday’s As It Stands in The Times-Standard.

image source

Report finds ‘Earmarks’ set aside for campaign donors

Is anyone surprised? Do people take notice of information like this anymore?

All Obama’s talk about getting rid of earmarks hasn’t done a thing. It’s just talk. The following link shows the money trail.

What say we actually go after these fat cats and either vote them out or at least change the way they do business? 

House and Senate lawmakers have received nearly $2 million in campaign contributions this election cycle from organizations for which they had sponsored earmarks, according to a new report by two nonpartisan watchdogs.

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Montana Cannabis caravans fuel medical pot boom

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Chuck Campbell with Montana Buds talks with a new cardholder about the services he offers.

In Montana, roving cannabis caravans are makeshift clinics where patients can see a doctor, pay a fee, and leave with permission to use medical marijuana.

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June’s Random Viewer Pick is from Tirana

Tirana is the capital and the largest city in Albania.

Tirana has a typical Mediterranean climate, characterized by hot and dry summers and cool, wet winters.

The main cultural and artistic institutions of Tirana are the National Theater, the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania, the National Gallery of Figurative Arts of Albania (Galeria Kombëtare e Arteve), and the Ensemble of Folk Music and Dances. Another cultural event includes performances of renown world composers performed by the Symphonic Orchestra of the Albanian Radio and Television. The city has been a venue for the Tirana Biennale and Tirana Jazz Festival.

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

Information and photo source

Study suggests chocolate health claims are ‘unproven’

Wouldn’t you know it? For the last couple of years studies have been touting the benefits of eating chocolate, much to the delight of my chocolate-loving wife. This news story is going to come as a blow to her, as she has been guilt-free while indulging in everything chocolate.

Studies have shown benefits from compounds in cocoa, but they remain unproved, and many of the studies have ties to chocolate makers.

It's every sweet tooth's dream. A steady stream of studies has linked chocolate to a variety of health benefits, including decreased blood pressure, lower cholesterol, reduced risk of heart disease, even effects on mood.

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Power Play: Blagojevich corruption trial starts today

Finally..after nearly two years, Blago is going to court. This ought to be real interesting. I understand the government has a lot of evidence against him. Actually, he’s probably no worse than most career politicians but he got caught unlike the others.

Let’s see what the squeekie wheels of Justice does. Did Blago hire a Big Enough Attorney to escape justice? Stay tuned: 

He's pleaded not guilty to 24 counts including racketeering, wire fraud

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s trial starts today. It’s the end of an 18-month ordeal that began with his humiliating arrest on charges of scheming to profit from his power to fill President Barack Obama's former Senate seat.