Does anyone have a carfax subscription (or whatever it's called). I need to look up a VIN. I'll spend the $19.99 if I have to, but I hope I don't have to.

(As an aside, if you type a VIN into Google, it automatically brings up the fact that it is a VIN, and provides a friendly link to Carfax.)

Cool links from this past week:

Zillow find out the worth of your house, and your neighbor's house.
What is tapioca? I shared a bowl of tapioca pudding this weekend; wikipedia says exactly what this delicious food is made from.
Subpixel rendering if you love photoshop, you'll appreciate this info. Also check out DesignFruit for some unique photoshop brushes.
Do you know what Tyler Durden would do?
Create and publish with lulu . It's been on my list of things to do for awhile.
The Six Thousand interesting people, every day or three.
Suckerfish when they work correctly, these CSS (with a 12 line javascript addon) menus are awesome.

1. Did you support President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003?
If yes, and knowing what you know today, would you change your answer?
Absolutely not. There are no WMDs, Iraq had no connection to the attacks on 9/11 (though if you believe the ideas set forth in the Loose Change video, the attacks were staged events), and our soldiers are dying over there while companies like Halliburton are enriched by government contracts and oil profits.

2. Do you think this Administration deliberately overstated the threat
posed by Saddam in 2002 in making its claim to Congress? (ref. Gulf
of Tonkin resolution, 1964).
If "overstated" can also be interpreted as "lied," then yes.

3. Almost as many people were killed by Katrina as were killed in 9/11. Do
you think the reaction of this Administration has been even-handed to
these two events? If not, why not?
More people were killed in Katrina. More people were affected by Katrina. The economic and social impact of that hurricane will be felt for decades. The reaction to Katrina was abysmal and embarrassing.

4. Do you think the enmasse wiretapping of phonecalls of American citizens
by the Administration that has been revealed recently was illegal?
Yes. We have laws. This administration should use them.

5. Do you think gays should have the right to marry?
I think all people should have the ability to marry and have that union be recognized by state legal authority. If a church doesn't want to recognize a marriage, so be it - those are cultural traditions that the state does not have the right to mess with. 2 guys or 2 gals getting married won't affect my marriage, so leave them be.

6. Do you support a woman's right to unhindered access to abortion?
Of course. I think of it as the right to get medical treatment. See a definition of the pro-life movement at "[dict]hypocrisy[/dict]"

7. Do you support the idea of mandatory prayer in schools? If yes, would you
support a Muslim Imam leading the prayers in your child(ren)'s school?
No, unless it's a religious school.

8. Do you support the right of a person to grow a little bit of pot in
his/her home and consume it as s/he sees it fit? Assume the same
laws about DUI, DWI, etc. apply.
Eh - pot is less destructive than alcohol or hard drug abuse. I'd say it could be grown for personal medicinal use - once you start to sell it to others, go to jail or pay a fine.

9. Do you support the idea of a national healthcare system? Why, or why not?
Yes. Lack of health insurance is a leading cause of bankruptcy. I'd say to make the same health care plan that our illustrious congress critters have available to all Americans.

10.For self-identified Democrats/Republicans/Libertarians/Greens alike:
would your answers to any of the questions 1-4 above be different if
the President was (or was not, if you're Republican) from your party?
If yes, which ones and why?
I'm not registered in a political party. Corrupt politicians are endemic to all political parties, and the individuals in office do not affect my personal political opinions.

I just attended an Admissions/Alumni event for (one of my) alma maters, Le Moyne College . They treated me right there; the outstanding liberal arts education, supportive scholarships and caring faculty that I had there for 4 years are a big part of the reason I am where I am today. And now I sound like an admission marketing piece.
Anyway, it was great to connect with a few of the prospective students and their parents. I haven't yet forgotten what it was like to be so young, but in seeing these "kids" I realize I do have a different perspective now than I did when I was that age.
I also had the chance to see other alumni from the area, some of whom I already knew. It is such a small world.
Beyond being able to share what my experiences at Le Moyne were, I went for the food. Ever since my first admission event as a high school senior, Le Moyne's admissions events have had fantastic desserts. Go Dolphins.

I saw this on Yahoo news and DailyKos had the link to the video at Crooks and Liars .

The operative sentence in this story:
Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

Even Fox News is reporting on the "Katrina Eve" video. Draw your own conclusions.
. When veterans, NRA members, honest Christians and those traditionally in the republican base are standing up and saying WTF is going on, maybe this signals that something good can come from something so tragic. By "good" I mean a less-corrupt, more-fiscally and socially responsible mandate for positive change and growth. By "tragic" I mean our entire government right now.