posting from darien lake

Has anyone else posted about this? sorry if they did.


Edwards, Rove to face off in UB debate
By Robert J. McCarthy
Updated: 07/04/08 7:51 AM



Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain might not burn up the campaign trail around Western New York this election year, but the University at Buffalo may have scheduled the next best thing.

GOP strategist Karl Rove and former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will debate the issues of the presidential campaign Sept. 26 as part of the university's Distinguished Speakers Series, The Buffalo News has learned.

As surrogates for the parties' standard bearers, the two also could square off more than once at other locations around the nation.

"We're working on something like that for our Distinguished Speakers Series," said Bill Regan, UB's director of special events. "We're not really sure of the format yet. But we do think they are scheduled to do it at least once together before they come to UB."

Though McCain, a Republican, is scheduled to visit Buffalo briefly for a major fundraiser July 21 in the Albright- Knox Art Gallery, most analysts already are ceding New York to the Democrats. Still, Joshua Dyck, assistant professor of political science at UB, calls such an event genuine "political theater" that could have an effect.

"It's actually good for the Democratic process," he said. "People vote because politics is a lot like sports. Rooting for your team probably doesn't affect the outcome much, but people can say 'I was there.' "

Dyck said such events heighten emotions and can encourage voters to become involved even if the race at the top of the ballot appears lopsided. The spin-off effect, he said, could spur interest in competitive races, such as selecting a successor to retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence.

Matching up such well-known political figures as Edwards and Rove will make the event all the more interesting, he added. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, is a household name because of his bids for the presidency in 2004 and this year's contest, as well as his role as Sen. John F. Kerry's vice presidential running mate in 2004.

Rove, often dubbed "Bush's brain" from his days as President Bush's chief political adviser, has become even more visible since leaving the White House as an analyst for Fox News and a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Neither Rove nor Edwards was available Thursday for comment.

The 8 p. m. debate would lead off the lecture series, which has featured such major figures as former Vice President Al Gore and the late Tim Russert of NBC News.

Regan said the full schedule for the series will be announced later this month, when series subscriptions will become available. Tickets for individual programs, including the Edwards- Rove event, are expected to go on sale a short time later.

www.buffalonews.com

has anyone else heard about this?

a mother from the czech republic who belonged to some cult kept her son who was like 8 chained in the basement and was skinning him and eating him alive and feeding him to her sister and other cult members. he was rescued when a neighbor who bought a baby video monitor picked up images of the kid next door. (apparently the mother got off on seeing her kid being tortured and kept a monitor on him as well)

this one really tops the cake. i don't think it can get any worse.

has anyone else seen this video of alanis morissette doing an acoustic version of black eye peas, "my humps"? it's fucking hilarious! it's amazing how good that song sounds when she sings it.

second post of the day, check out the other one below.


i'm taking a road trip to madison, WI the week after 4th of July. i have off 4-13, and want to take my mom and daughter to see the city. i went there last year and loved it, and since my flight privileges are now gone (10 beautiful years of free flying; i'll remember them fondly) i can now only afford to drive. i could maybe afford to buy plane tickets to europe at summer prices for myself, but buying tickets for two people is a little more than i'm able to shell out at the moment. for now, european vacations are limited to the off season, when prices are a fraction of what they cost now.

i'm taking a vacation at the beginning of the summer, and one at the end. so, for the first one, i figured madison would make for a good road trip. i'd also like to stop by chicago for a couple of days. for the second trip, later in the summer, i'm going to montreal and/or quebec (since they speak french so it's almost as if you were in france, minus the architecture and food).

we can rent a minivan or large SUV, and split the cost of the rental and gas. that way we could fit at least 6 or 7 people. we'd get there in no time, since we all could take turns driving, and wouldn't need to stop to sleep at all. (i probably could do it straight through alone, but i'm a terrible night driver, because my bedtime is like, 9pm, and i tend to fall asleep at the wheel ;)

the nice thing about doing a group trip, is that you don't necessarily need to spend the entire vacation together. as long as we arrive and depart together, we're free to part and do whatever we like at times. so if you go with someone else, and i want to be in bed by 11pm, you can go out with them, and then just do the sight seeing stuff as a group the next day.


so what do you think people ((e:paul)?????). this would be an awesome adventure.....(ok, fine, maybe not awesome, but certainly uber cool)

ps.... check out my post below for a free cd.