A 798 Art Zone sculpture in Beijing

A sculpture is on display at the 798 Art Zone in Beijing, September 21, 2010.

The Art Zone is in the Chaoyang District of Beijing that houses an artist community.

List of humble and arrogant US Presidents

The 7 most humble presidents:

Gerald Ford
John Adams
George W Bush
Ronald Reagan
Abraham Lincoln
Dwight Eisenhower
Millard Fillmore

The 7 most arrogant presidents:

Barack Obama
Andrew Johnson
Richard Nixon
Lyndon Johnson
Franklin Roosevelt
James Madison
Andrew Jackson

New diet for potato official: all spuds all the time

Chris "Spuds" Voigt (pictured below), executive director of the Washington state Potato Commission, says he’s sick of people linking the potato to junk food.

Voigt is going on an all spuds diet for 60 days. During that time he estimates he will eat about 20 spuds a day.

The potato has vitamins and minerals and not a lot of calories, if eat it without the sour cream, bacon bits and melted-cheese sauce.

He won't be taking vitamins, though he's checking with nutrition experts to see whether colored-flesh potatoes have Vitamin A. He will try to stick to Washington spuds – easy enough since the state is the second-leading grower.

But he travels a good bit, so he may have to eat a tuber from Maine or Wisconsin or – perish the thought – Idaho.

The diet will take him to Nov. 29. That is after Thanksgiving. And Voigt admits the holiday will be a temptation minefield.

More here.

Anticipating the Nov election results…

John Boehner shops for a gavel as Nancy Pelosi gets ready to take hers home.

New Gallup poll delivers stunning results

From a Wall street Journal report at the link below:

Yesterday, Gallup delivered its first 2010 "likely voter" poll and the results floored the political community.

In the generic ballot question, which asks which party a voter would favor in a generic House contest, Gallup gave the GOP a 46% to 42% edge.

But then Gallup applied two versions of its "likely voter" turnout model. In its "high turnout model," Republicans led Democrats by 53% to 40%.

The real stunner comes in the Gallup "low turnout model" in which the GOP edge was a stunning 56% to 38%.

That kind of margin in favor of Republicans has never been seen in Gallup surveys.

Michael Barone, co-author of the Almanac of American Politics, says either of the Gallup turnout models would produce "a Republican House majority the likes of which we have not seen since the election cycles of 1946 or even 1928."

Mr. Barone says the historical parallel might no longer be 1994, when the GOP gained 54 House seats, but instead 1894, when Republicans gained more than 100 House seats in the middle of the economic downturn that engulfed Democratic President Grover Cleveland.

Link

Nutritionist loses weight eating steak and Twinkies

From an ABC report at the link below:

It's either a kid's dream or a dietician's nightmare: nutritionist Mark Haub ate Twinkies and Nutter Butters, steak, milk, and a multivitamin for a month and lost 15 pounds.

Mr. Haub is an associate professor of nutrition at Kansas State University.

He wasn't indulging in this snack cake binge for kicks. He said he wanted to open up a debate for his students: as long as basic nutritional needs are met, is it what you eat, or just how much, that counts?

"I knew I could lose weight doing this, but I had no idea what was going to happen to cholesterol.

That's why I made it only four weeks because I had no idea how it would affect my health," he says.

The thing is, he began to feel healthier. He had more energy, stopped snoring, and not only did he lose enough weight to drive down his overall cholesterol and body mass index (BMI), his good HDL cholesterol crept up two points and his blood glucose -- despite all that cream filling -- dropped 17 percent.

Shouldn't there have been a "don't try this at home warning?

Click here for the steak and Twinkies story.

Biden says he will strangle Republicans…

Vice President Joe Biden (pictured) told Democrats at a Minnesota fundraiser that he'll "strangle" members of the GOP who complain about the federal budget.

According to a pool report from Tuesday's event in Dayton, Biden was telling the crowd that Democrats know how to balance the budget. He said, "If I hear one more Republican tell me about balancing the budget, I am going to strangle them."

He quickly added: "To the press, that's a figure of speech."

Earlier in the day, Biden spoke at a rally at Macalester College in St. Paul and focused on the Obama administration's efforts to turn the economy around.

Biden didn't mention that the Obama administration has not come close to balancing the budget: a near impossible task after trillions of dollars in stimulus and bailouts since Mr. Obama entered the White House.

Link

Fiery UFO over Chinese city prompts airport closure

A Chinese airport was closed after a mysterious fiery object was spotted in the sky over the city.

Arcing over Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou, the UFO appeared to glow with an eerie white light and left a bright trail in its wake.

Xiaoshan Airport was closed after the UFO was detected and dozens of flights had to be diverted.

Stunned witnesses reported seeing a comet-like fireball in the sky and a number of local residents took photos of the strange ball of light.

One man said the thing suddenly ran westwards fast, like it was escaping from something.

Later Chinese officials said they knew what the object was but didn't want to make it public because there was a 'military connection.'

Was there truly a military connection or was the statement made to help calm the witnesses?

More here including photos.

Billboard ad trucks challenge liberal media to tell the truth

Is there anyone in America who is not aware of the definite liberal bias in 80% of the media?

From a report at the link below:

Four billboard trucks bearing the message “Stop the Liberal Bias, Tell the Truth!” began circling the Manhattan headquarters of ABC, CBS, NBC, and the New York Times on Friday.



The trucks will do so for eight hours every weekday for the next four weeks as part of a campaign run by the Media Research Center, a watchdog group that analyzes the media for liberal bias.

Similar trucks also are operating in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, passing the offices of the broadcast networks, the Washington Post, CNN, the Newseum, the National Press Club and Politico, and ads about the campaign are running on numerous Web sites and on conservative talk radio programs.

Link

NJ Governor Christie pointing to a 2012 presidential run?

New Jersey governor Chris Christie (pictured) is acting like a 2012 presidential candidate as he rallied conservatives in Iowa Monday.

Fanning speculation that he's considering a 2012 presidential bid, the Republican spoke to about 700 people at a fundraiser for former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who is challenging the Democrat incumbent for his old job back.

Voters are willing to accept the political pain of deep cuts in government spending as long as they know the pain is being spread equally, Christie argued. It makes sense to shrink government in tough economic times, and politicians seem to be the last to get that message, he said.

Christie insisted he wasn't planning to run for president. However, since Iowa is home to the nation's first presidential caucus, his appearance is fueling speculation of a Christie presidential run.

Since he defeated former heavily entrenched Democrat New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, Christie has been traveling across the U.S. with a single message: If he can sell his anti-tax, anti-government message in New Jersey, it can resonate everywhere.

If Christie decides to run for president in 2012, he will be a formidable candidate.

Link

Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run competitor

A costumed competitor approaches the finish line during the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run at Orchard Beach in New York.

Thousands of competitors took part in the race, which included military obstacles, running, wading in the water, crawling through mud and scaling a wall covered with soap.

Karl Rove to be major player in 2010 elections?

Secret donors may again have an impact on elections.

In 2008 secret donors helped elect Barack Obama. This year secret donors may deprive Barack Obama of a Democrat majority in Congress.

A massive $4.2 million ad buy announced Tuesday by American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS erases any doubts that the groups, conceived by veteran GOP operatives Karl Rove (pictured) and Ed Gillespie, have the cash to be major players in next month's election.

In 2008, secret donors flooded Democrat election coffers -- much of it from overseas.

This year the shoe is on the other foot and the Democrats are strggling to match the spending by GOP-allied outside groups.

Democrats had no problem when secret donors help elect Barack Obama.

Now, however, they are up in arms and have even asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS, for short) is abusing its tax-exempt status to influence elections while allowing its donors to evade the public disclosure requirements.

The letter to the IRS is part of a growing concern by Democrats for stricter campaign finance rules.

In 2008, they were happy with the campaign finance rules because they were able to bring in vast secret overseas donations under the radar.

Link

Verizon Wireless to pay millions in customer refunds

From a report at the link below:

Verizon Wireless could pay out up to $90 million in refunds to cell phone customers who were improperly charged for inadvertent Web access or data usage over the past several years.

The Federal Communications Commission had asked Verizon Wireless last year about $1.99-a-megabyte data access fees that appeared on the bills of customers who didn't have data plans but who accidentally initiated data or Web access by pressing a button on their phones.

If you are a Verizon customer, don't get your hopes up too high.

You probably will be lucky to buy more than a Happy Meal or two with your refund.

In a statement on its website Sunday, Verizon Wireless said most of the 15 million customers affected will receive credits of $2 to $6 on their October or November bills. Some will receive larger sums. Customers no longer with the New York-based carrier will get refund checks.

Link

Have blades - Will Travel

The running blades of South African double amputee athlete Oscar ‘Blade Runner’ Pistorius is shown above during an event in Stadskanaal, the Netherlands.

Pistorius, the fastest man on no legs, is shown below running with five-year-old Ellie Challis who is a quadruple amputee running on her own blades. Photo was taken in 2009.

Donald Trump is sounding a lot like a presidential candidate

Time Magazine reported that New Hampshire residents were polled in September regarding their thoughts and perceptions about the Donald Trump (pictured on a bad hair day) in relation to a possible presidential bid. Trump said he had nothing to do with the survey.

"It's not something I talked about or consider, but somebody has to do something or this country is not going to be a very great country for long," Trump said.

The poll, which ran at about 30 questions, tested Trump against potential Republican candidates for 2012 and asked voters if they thought his widespread presence in the media - including on his show, NBC's "The Apprentice" - would help or hurt him in the election.

Time was not able to determine who paid for the survey, and its results have not been made public.

More here.

Championship beards

The photos below were taken at the European Beard and Moustache Championship in Leogang, Austria.

Franz Mitterhauser from Austria, left, and Herve Diebholt from France

Klaus Leible from Germany

Germany's Stefan Bartl takes a blow dryer to his beard

Elena Kagan begins as part time SC justice

Elena Kagan, the newest member of the Supreme Court, begins hearing cases as the court's 112th justice Monday morning. But anyone who wants to see her in action needs to be sharp because she won't be there much.

On Monday Kagan (pictured) will hear the first case argued before the court, and then slip quietly through the burgundy velvet curtains behind the bench. She'll be out of the action in all three cases.

On Tuesday her chair will be empty.

On Wednesday she'll put in a half-day.

Kagan, 50, has recused herself from 25 of the 51 cases the court has accepted so far this term, all as a result of her 14-month tenure as solicitor general, the government's chief legal representative in the Supreme Court and the nation's lower appellate courts.

More here.

If they call it swine flu again this year…

This guy will be really ticked if they call it swine flu this year…

Bill Clinton goes on near vegan diet

Bill Clinton (pictured) has switched to a near vegan diet according to a report at the link below.

Instead of burgers and barbeque the former president has switched to a diet of beans, vegetables and fruit in an effort to combat heart disease.

He opted for a plant-based low-fat diet, free of dairy or meat, because of bold claims that it naturally reverses coronary disease. He underwent bypass surgery in 2004 and then earlier this year had stents inserted to hold open his clogged coronary arteries.

Forsaking hamburgers and pizzas for good, Mr. Clinton now follows a diet of beans, legumes, vegetables and fruit.

Do you suppose he is practicing to do Gas-X commercials?

Link

Poll: rocky road seen ahead for Obama

From a report at the link below:

A significant majority of voters are considering voting against President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, expressing sour views of his new health care law and deep skepticism about his ability to create jobs and grow the sluggish economy, according to the latest Politico George Washington University battleground poll.

Only 38 percent of respondents said Obama deserves to be reelected, even though a majority of voters hold a favorable view of him on a personal level.

Forty-four percent said they will vote to oust him, and 13 percent said they will consider voting for someone else.

More here.

Weather Channel founder on Al Gore and the global warming scam

Conan O'Brien on WH spying while people are online

Conan O'Brien's Twitter posting about the Obama Administration's proposal to give government more access to people's information online as a way to combat terrorism:

O'Brien says the plan is called, "Sign them up for Facebook."

That's pretty simple and should do the trick.

Can dead mice rid Guam of the brown tree snake?

Military news outlet publication Stars and Stripes reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is bombing Guam with dead mice in an effort to rid the island of the pesky brown tree snake.

Using Naval Base Guam as a starting point, scientists drop mice packed with acetaminophen from helicopters into the jungle canopy.

The drug -- commonly found in Tylenol -- provided a regulatory advantage because it had already undergone extensive testing, Dan Vice, assistant state director of USDA Wildlife Services in Hawaii, Guam and the Pacific Islands.

The snakes were accidentally introduced on the island - which has no native snakes - by military cargo planes.

Although this snake is classed as venomous it is not considered dangerous to adult humans. The snakes are nocturnal and can become quite aggressive when confronted.

The brown tree snake can grow up to 10 feet long and is the leading cause of endangerment for many of Guam’s native birds and other wildlife.

Link here and here.

Clothing tells the weight gain story

World's smallest cow

The Guinness World Records photo above shows Swallow, an 11-year-old cow from Yorkshire, England posing next to Freddie the bull.

The lilliputian cow has been named the world's smallest by Guinness World Records.

Guinness says the sheep-sized cow is only 33 inches tall and has been named the world's smallest.

Fox News remains well above other Cable News Channels

Cable News race by number of viewers on Tuesday September 28, 2010*

Fox News continues to have many times more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined as shown below:

FOX News - Bill O’Reilly - 3,154,000
FOX News - Sean Hannity - 2,306,000
FOX News - Glenn Beck - 2,161,000
FOX News - Greta Van Susteren - 2,115,000
FOX News - Bret Baier - 2,049,000
FOX News - Shepard Smith - 1,744,000
MSNBC - Rachel Maddow - 1,018,000
MSNBC - Keith Olbermann - 999,000
MSNBC - Lawrence O'Donnell - 860,000
MSNBC - Ed Shultz - 711,000
MSNBC - Chris Matthews - 663,000
CNN-HN Nancy Grace - 561,000
CNN - Anderson Cooper - 560,000

*Matt Drudge

Report: Democrats find big donors cutting support

From a report at the link below:

Many wealthy Democratic patrons, who in the past have played major roles financing outside groups to help elect the party's candidates, are sitting out these crucial midterm elections.

Democratic donors like George Soros and fellow billionaire Peter Lewis, who each gave more than $20 million to Democratic-oriented groups in the 2004 election, appear to be holding back.

Without these mega donors, there is a huge disparity in spending between pro-Republican and pro-Democrat groups.

In the past week, Republican-leaning groups outspent their Democratic counterparts on TV by more than 7-1 on Senate races and nearly 4-1 on House races across the country, according to data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising.

The gap shows few signs of abating, even with the midterm election season in full swing.

Link

Will your face be on the Fiat 500 Thousandth edition?

The photos below show the Fiat 500 Thousandth edition that appeared at the Paris auto show.




The special edition "Fiat 500 Thousandth" is covered with photos of actual Fiat 500 owners and sold in limited quantities to celebrate the 500,000th car sold.

Each of the special cars will show the faces of 1,500 fans and customers, including celebrities.

Fiat has been working hard to out-MINI the MINI with several models and special editions, from the Fiat 500 Pink to the Fiat 500 by Diesel and from the Fiat 500C to the Fiat 500 Abarth. And then there is the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari.

Obama created voter apathy - now he calls it inexcusable

Barack Obama blasts Democrats saying it would be "inexcusable" and "irresponsible" for them to be unenthusiastic and sit out the midterm elections, warning that the consequences could be a squandered agenda for years.

"People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up," Obama told Rolling Stone in an interview to be published Friday. The president told Democrats that making change happen is hard and "if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."

The midterm elections are in five weeks and polling shows that Republicans, out of power at the White House and on Capitol Hill, have a much more excited base of supporters than Democrats. Obama, campaigning this week in four states, is in a sprint to restore the voter passion that helped him win office.

Chances are the woman in the video below won't bother to vote for Obama's Party after being let down following the 1008 election when she was sure Obama would pay her mortgage and buy her gas.



There will be millions more with voter apathy caused by an overzealous, damaging agenda that will cost future generations of Americans trillions of dollars.

Most voters have been hurt by the Obama economy. Yes, the Obama economy. Blaming it on Bush just isn't working.

The Democrat voter apathy report is here.