Archive for September, 2008

Sarah Palin

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Sarah PalinI seem to be posting about political related things recently…. which is rather unlike me. However I just had to post about Sarah Palin. If you didnt know she is running mate of Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain. There has been all sorts of “controversy” about her appointment as running mate. There hasnt been loads about it in the UK media but it seems that in the US its all over the place!! Its even getting celebrities talking about it such as Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey and recently Matt Damon.

There are various things about Sarah Palin which I am concerned about. Remember this woman has a good chance of being the president of the USA. If the Republican party win the election in November, she will be vice president. John McCain isnt particularly young (hes 72) so if anything was to happen to him she would then be the person with the nuclear codes!!

Here are some of the things which are concerning me:

  • She believes in creationism and wants it taught alongside evolution. A couple of the main points of creationism are: The organisms created by God can’t produce new forms of organism – only God can do this & All the forms of life existing today were created by the actions of God. Read more here.
  • Her lack of experience. She has been mayor of a really small town in Alaksa and has been Governor of Alaska for less than two years.
  • Her view on the Iraq war. She things is “God’s plan”. There is a video on Youtube showing her talking in her church and saying “Leaders sending troops out on a task from God
  • Years ago when she was mayor of Wasilla she apparently tried to ban certain books. To be precise it seems like she asked a rhetorical question along the lines of “How would I go about banning a book”.
  • The church she attends and sometimes speak in and their views.
  • Her views on guns and the right to bear arms etc.

(Heres a good site which reviews all the things Sarah Palin (and all the other “candidates) and their “issues”.

I mentioned earlier about celebrities now talking about Sarah Palin. There is a video online showing Matt Damon and he talks about how its scary that she could well be the most powerful person in the world. He says its almost like a “bad Disney movie“. (See below).

I also heard on the radio last night that many American woman say they are no longer going to vote for Obama (Democrates) and will be voting for McCain because his running mate is a woman. WHAT!! You change the party you support and all its policies you believe in etc just because the other party has a woman as VP candidate?!!?

I mentioned earlier about Tina Fey talking about Palin etc. Here is a video of her on Saturday Night Live:

If any US residents are ready this I really hope you vote for Barack Obama!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • RSS
  • MySpace
  • FriendFeed
  • Posterous
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr

Labour Party conference in Manchester … police everywhere!!

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

The Labour Party conference starts next weekend for about a week. The conference will be in Manchester Central (used to be called G-Mex). This building is more or less next down to where I live in the Great Northern Tower.

Since the last weekend (and a few days before actually) there have been lots of police about and various barriers and road closures. Right outside the main entrance into my building are some big barrier things to stop cars going past and nearby in the Great Northern Square there are a couple yellow archways – I am thinking people will have to be searched before going into the “zone”.???

I asked one of the policemen this afternoon and he said they actually all arrive late Friday and it goes on till about next Thursday (I think thats what he said). Wonder if there will be any chaos about. Gordon Brown isnt exactly the most popular person in the UK at the moment.

The police are about 24 hours a day and if I look out the window now there is always at least 1 policeman or woman just standing about, patrolling.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • RSS
  • MySpace
  • FriendFeed
  • Posterous
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr

Footballs back!!

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Keane and BabelFinally after all the international games the Premier League is back and one of the biggest games of the season – Liverpool v United. The game finished 2-1 to Liverpool and to be honest they deserved it. United played very poor particularly in the 2nd half. United scored early on after good work from Berbatov and a good finish by Tevez. Liverpool’s equaliser was after Van Der Sar pushed the ball clear right into Brown. Liverpool’s winner was after a good run by Mascherano (when Giggs should have kicked the ball out) and Babel finished.

There were 2 debutants in the game. Berbatov for United who started Ok but then was very quiet. Reira for Liverpool gave them something they have not for a while – someone who can run down the wings with pace. He did really well with some excellent touches. Looks like a good buy.

As well as the result, Carrick was injured. An ankle injury and after going off he was seen on bench with crunches – not a good sign!! Also Vidic was sent off near the end after 2 yellow cards. To be honest should have been off after first when he tackled Keane and was properly just about the last defender. However the 2nd yellow card was for a high “almost” elbowed challenge on Alonso.

United are worryingly poor without Ronaldo. We need him back soon – he just gives United that extra something. Hopefully when Berbatov plays more with United he can get fully match fit. The midfield today without him was rubbish – Scholes may was showing his age and Anderson maybe still tired from the Olympics.

in the other games Arsenal beat Blackburn 4-0. A hat-trick by Adebayor and some good play by Walcott. Newcastles problems continue after losing 2-1 to Hull. Its just a mess at St James Park!! To make it worse they had a man sent off after Guthrie took a wide hack at a player.

In the other big game City played Chelsea. Robinho made his debut. The game ended 3-1 to Chelsea and they played well. Robinho scored City’s goal – it was just written on the script for him to score!!! Terry was sent off with a straight yellow card. As much as I dislike Terry I think it was abit harsh. It was a foul and yellow card but the City player was far from the goal still when he was tackled (almost rugby challenged!!) and at least one Chelsea player was covering. Chelsea will properly appeal.

Hopefully Ronaldo comes back soon because United need to start getting there act together and he may be the catalyst for it. Arsenal and Chelsea are playing very well so far this season and maybe now Liverpool will go on a good run after a good performance against United.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • RSS
  • MySpace
  • FriendFeed
  • Posterous
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr

New sites developed!!

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Citrus Cube CarsI have been working on a couple web sites in my spare time. The idea is to show people how various types of web sites can work and how it would look.

The first site is Citrus Cube Cars. This is a demo car dealer web site I set up with a stocklist of cars and a built-in search. There is a simple admin section which allows anyone with permission to add, update and delete cars and enter the features of each cars along with images.

Citrus JobsearchThe second site I have been working on is an out-sourcing marketplace web site called Citrus Jobsearch. The idea is for tradespeople e.g. electricians, builders to find work (projects) which have been posted on the site by “buyers”. When projects are posted on the site by buyers, tradespeople (professionals) can register and login to the web site and then place bids. The buyer can then view all the bids (the proposal) and then decide who “wins” the job.

Please note that these are just demo sites and are still not 100% “complete”.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • RSS
  • MySpace
  • FriendFeed
  • Posterous
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr

John McCain gets “owned” by TV reporter

Friday, September 12th, 2008

John McCain had an interview with a local TV reporter and really stumbled his way through, repeating the same things over and over again and not really answering the question.

Check out the video. Its also worth looking at some of the comments on Digg.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • RSS
  • MySpace
  • FriendFeed
  • Posterous
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr