Samantha Pierce

So John McCain called Tea Party folk hobbits like it was supposed to be an insult which led me to wonder if he, and others who picked up the "insult," had actually read the Lord of the Rings books. In the books the hobbits are the good guys. Small and unassuming no one thinks much of them as warriors but they are nonetheless the ones who manage to do what the great warriors and magicians before them were unable to do. They resisted the lure of the Dark Lord's magic, resisted the seduction of the power of the One Ring, and destroyed the Dark Lord. So if the Tea Party folk and the people they support are the hobbits who are Gollum , Denethor , Saruman , and Sauron to name a few? Why don't we have some fun with this and assign LOTR roles to the cast of characters in Washington DC? For the purists specify movie LOTR or book LOTR and make your case for your choice in the comments.

To quote Ron Weasley, how thick can you get? Democrats criticize Haley's checking of 'white' on voter registration application What box should Gov. Nikki Haley check when it comes to her race? The South Carolina Democratic Party tried Thursday to make Haley out as a liar for checking "white" as her race on her 2001 Lexington County voter registration application. Trying to create controversy with a ten year old voter registration card ? Really? That is some weak sauce right there. But the application had no specific option for "Indian." Her options were "white, black/African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American or other." The governor stayed silent on the matter, although her allies accused the Democrats of the lowest-grade politics: race-baiting. Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, has never emphasized herself as South Carolina's first female and minority governor and the country's second Indian-American governor, ...

So the title of this article is a little sensationalist and, well, alarmist, but it does point to some very interesting research. Bottom line is that reality does not conform to the climate change computer models. We might want to consider attempts to radically alter how we live bases on the assumption that human sources of CO2 are harmful to the global climate. New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed. Study co-author Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the Univer...

Today I am thankful for/that: Peace that passes all understanding. The freedom to speak my mind. Summer breezes. A walk in the park. What are you thankful for?

It's free! Check it out. On August 5, 2011, Syracuse University will be hosting a regional symposium on neurodiversity and autistic self-advocacy. Neurodiversity is a concept and social movement that advocates for viewing autism as a variation of human wiring, rather than a disease. As such, neurodiversity activists reject the idea that autism should be cured, advocating instead for celebrating autistic forms of communication and self-expression, and for promoting support systems that allow autistic people to live as autistic people. The purpose of this event is to raise public awareness of the concepts of neurodiversity and the different facets of the neurodiversity movement, and to increase understanding and dispel myths about what it means to be against curing autism. The symposium will also address the ways in which the concept of neurodiversity can be expanded beyond just autism to include other atypical forms of neurological wiring, such as ADHD, hydrocephalus, and dyslex...

She tried to fill the God shaped whole in her life drugs and alcohol. That never goes well for anyone. Sad to see such talent snuffed out.

Words fail me when it comes to discussing Anders Behring Breivik. God have mercy on us. Norway massacre: Anders Breivik and his 1500-page manifesto of hate Mass rallies for Norway victims

So is this how we ended up with a bill 2000 pages long that: no one actually took credit for writing; legislators voted on and passed into law without having read it; while insisting that the bill needs to be made law first for the public to find out what's in it; and is having a boatload of "unintended" consequences for most of America? Somebody somewhere cooked us up a healthcare reform model bill to foist on the American people? Hey it's outsourcing! Who's Really Writing States' Legislation? Legislators in ALEC pay a minimal fee to join the group, while corporations pay much more — up to $25,000, Nichols says. "But once they're in, they sit at the same table," he says. "On the board of ALEC, you have an equal number of legislators and corporate members. ... They then set up task forces to deal with topics like health care, education, election law, and you have an equal number of legislators and corporate and/or interest groups [and] ...

As opposed to the "too big to fail" that will indeed fail and therefore needs a bail out to prevent impending disaster. Classic Petra they call themselves. The song is called "Too Big To Fail." God doesn't need a bail out.

Today I am thankful for/that: I've finally let go of my philosophical, financial, and sensory prejudices against air conditioners and installed a few around the house. Just in time for record breaking heat. Modern, and not so modern, food storage techniques and technology. They got me out of having to turn the stove on to make dinner tonight. Modern medicine. Even though I feel like I live at the doctor's offices I have so far gotten better/stayed healthy. What are you thankful for?

Now: White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president would accept a short-term measure to raise the debt limit as part of a broader deficit reduction plan, conceding that extra time may be necessary for a sweeping bill to work its way through the legislative process. Then: Yesterday, Mr Carney said: "The President does not support a short-term extension of the debt limit, period. "The only exception to that is in the event that both sides reach a deal on a long-term extension of the debt limit plus significant deficit reduction, and we needed a very short-term extension to allow a bit of extra time for a bill to work its way through the legislative progress." With time running out, a temporary increase in the borrowing limit is looking more likely. Until now, Mr Obama has firmly opposed any short-term measure on the debt limit, saying he wants an extension that takes the US government past the presidential election in November next year and into 2013. Mr Ob...

I heard just a snippet about this young man on the news and I knew I had to find out more. Meyer, who left active-duty service in June 2010 as a corporal, will be honored for his actions Sept. 8, 2009. He charged into a kill zone on foot and alone to find three missing Marines and a Navy corpsman, who had been pinned down under intense enemy fire in Ganjgal, a remote village near the Pakistan border in violent Kunar province. Already wounded by shrapnel, Meyer found them dead and stripped of their gear and weapons, and helped carry them from the kill zone, according to military documents obtained by Marine Corps Times. Meyer — who now lives in Austin, Texas — could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night. In interviews with Marine Corps Times in November, he said he felt "like the furthest thing from a hero" because he did not find his fellow Marines alive. You really ought to read the whole thing. Stories like this always bring to mind that we are unworthy ...

I'm not exactly a dog person, although all of my friends' dogs are working hard to convert me. So long as their owners clean up after their pooches and make them behave when out in public I'm happy to live and let live. The lengths to which Iranians have to go to own dogs are just bizarre. This summer, so-called morality police are cruising the streets looking to enforce the anti-dog law. The punishment varies from a fine of up to $500 if the dog is seen in a public space to temporarily confiscating cars and suspending drivers' licenses if the dog isn't contained in a carrier inside the car. To evade detection, pooch owners are resorting to middle-of-the-night walks and driving hours to the countryside just so their pets can roam. Vendors charge the equivalent of up to $10,000 for top dogs and operate so covertly that some blindfold potential buyers en route to the kennel. "It was crazy," says Ali Shekouri, a 32-year-old businessman who pursued three...

Today I am thankful for/that: Sunshine. Laughter. Fresh picked raspberries from the backyard. Hubby's dissertation is hours from completion. Possibilities. What are you thankful for?