McCain Lies, Joe the Plumber tells the Truth

Jed L over at the Daily Kos is riled up. He wants to put and end to McCains lies about the Obama tax cuts.

In this interesting video, Joe the Plumber admits he is not getting a tax increase and would in fact be getting a tax cut.

Jed L wants everyone to send this video around to friends.

If you haven't visited the Dail Kos hit the link and take a look.

clipped from www.dailykos.com

Ill Wind: FPL Cites Bad Third-Quarter Breezes

How long before there is futures contract on wind? This news might make Boone Pickens a bit nervous.

Follow the links and read more.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com FPL Energy, the biggest U.S. renewable-energy operator, said wind conditions in the third quarter were the worst it has seen since starting a wind-power database in the early 1970s. Electricity generated by FPL’s wind farms—esecially in prime wind-power country like Texas and the Great Plains—came in well below the expected output. FPL’s Texas wind generation, for example, was just 72% of expected output in the quarter—and just 53% in September. Granted, variable wind is just that. FPL enjoyed a better-than-average second quarter of wind, and for the year the company’s wind-power operations have generated 98% of the juice they expected.

Oops: Mich. Democrats put number for sex line on campaign mailer

I suppose business is going to boom after this snafu.

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Some voters got a surprise when they called the toll-free number on a mailer from the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee. Instead of hearing Barack Obama's voice, WJBK-TV says callers were greeted by a recording in which a woman makes some racy comments before inviting them to type in their credit card number. Party officials blamed the mixup on a typographical error, according to the Associated Press. Here are some of our earlier postings about such incidents: •  Oops: Phone company mixes up numbers for governor, sex line •  Oops: Some E-ZPass customers misdial, get phone-sex line •  Oops: Verizon directs customer service calls to sex line

Circuit Breaker Halt Trading on the Dow Jones

The Dow Jones industrial average would have to fall 1,100 points on the day to trigger the first trading halt.

If that decline is reached before 2 p.m., the market will shut down for an hour. If the threshold is breached between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., the halt will last 30 minutes. No trading stops would take place if the plunge occurs after 2:30 p.m.

If the index were to fall 2,200 points before 1 p.m., the market would close for two hours. If such a decline took place between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., there would be a one-hour pause. The market would close for the day if stocks sank to that level after 2 p.m.

In the event of a 3,350-point decline, the market would close for the day, regardless of the time.

Twitter Management Shakeup

Twwet.

clipped from bits.blogs.nytimes.com Jack Dorsey is out as chief executive at Twitter, the micro-blogging start-up that has become famous in the tech world for a lot of buzz and little revenue. Evan Williams, Twitter’s chairman, co-founder and chief product officer, will take over as chief executive and run day-to-day operations at the service, which allows people to broadcast messages of 140 characters or less. Mr. Dorsey is becoming chairman. the company has no real source of revenue Twitter is backed by Union Square Ventures, Digital Garage, Spark Capital and Bezos Expeditions, a venture capital company led by Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon. The decision is somewhat surprising since Twitter has actually become more stable recently, holding up particularly well during the heavy barrage of messages exchanged by users during the recent presidential debates.

'Joe the Plumber' a Fraud

Before I became a caregiver I was a businessman. So as I sat there last night listening to McCain and Obama talk about "Joe the Plumber" I was thinking to myself, how lucky is this guy? I was figuring each time they mentioned him he was getting a couple of million dollars of free advertising. By the end I figured Joe had received somewhere between $5-$10 million of free advertising. I thought to myself, this guy is going to have more business than he will ever be able to handle. Turns out Joe is Sam, he is not a plumber, and he hasn't paid his taxes. He isn't even from Ohio.

Call him Samuel the unlicensed plumber, tax cheat

A couple of things about Joe the Plumber, the icon of the authentic working-class voter who was declared the ''winner" of the final presidential debate.

His first name isn't really Joe. It's Samuel.

He's not really a plumber - at least, not a licensed one.

He's concerned about increased taxes - but hasn't paid his own income taxes.

And, he's not exactly just a guy from Ohio.

He's lived in Arizona ... and Alaska.

And as for that "unscripted" moment that ended up on Fox News, the one at a rally where he questioned Sen. Barack Obama about the American Dream - and whether he'd have to pay higher taxes under Obama's plan?

Seems Joe told the conservative Web site familysecuritymatters.org that catching the Democratic presidential candidate off guard "was actually my intent."

"Looks like there's a crack in Joe the Plumber's story," cracked Bob Mulholland, the Democratic party activist and adviser, after some of the details of the life of 34-year-old Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. Joe the Plumber, emerged today.

In an election that has starred all sorts of celebrities - remember Paris Hilton? Britney Spears? - Wurzelbacher got his 15 minutes of fame after being referenced 26 times during Wednesday's presidential debate, 21 times by Sen. John McCain.

Today, McCain even happily declared "Joe the Plumber" to be "the winner" of the debate.

Not so fast.

"Joe the Plumber's story sprang a few leaks Thursday," crowed an Associated Press story.

That's after the AP, bloggers, investigators and librarians - and The Chronicle - turned up court documents and birth records.

For one, Joe's expressed concern about paying more taxes looked a bit tarnished with the revelation that he owes Ohio about $1,200 in personal income taxes that he hasn't paid, according to the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records. (And there's a 2007 civil filing shows a record for a $1,200 owed to a creditor, St. Charles Mercy Hospital.)

So Joe has an active lien on his property filed in January 2007, records from the Ohio Department of Taxation show.

The Toledo Blade, examining Lucas County Building Inspection records, reported that his employer, the A.W. Newell Corp., "does maintain a state plumbing license, and one with the City of Toledo, but would not be allowed to work in Lucas County outside of Toledo without a county license."

"Mr. Wurzelbacher said he works under Al Newell's license, but according to Ohio building regulations, he must maintain his own license to do plumbing work," the newspaper said. "He is also not registered to operate as a plumber in Ohio - which means he's not a plumber."

What else did Americans learn about average Joe this week?

Among the factoids gleaned from state and county records:

-- He is registered as a Republican, and voted in the state's GOP primary in March, county elections records show. But he was previously registered, dating back to 2007, in the Natural Law Party.

-- He has lived in McCain's home state - in both Mesa and Tucson, Ariz.

-- He lived in GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's home state - in North Pole, Alaska, from September 1992 to July 1993.

And as comic Bill Maher pointed out, in his 15 minutes of fame, Joe the Plumber has already done more interviews than Palin.

E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/16/MNQ013J6JV.DTL

MRSA Infections Come to the Doctor’s Office

Follow the links to read more about this nasty stuff.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a tough-to-treat infection that in recent years has migrated out of the hospital and into the community. The cases above come from the country practice of WSJ.com columnist Ben Brewer, who writes this week about his experience treating the infection. clipped from online.wsj.com We all harbor skin bacteria. Some bugs are worse than others. About 25% to 30% of people carry staph bacteria on the skin or in the nose and can pass it to others. Only about 1% of the population is walking around with MRSA. Even so, nearly 18,650 people died from MRSA infection and 94,000 others were seriously sickened in 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The basics of MRSA prevention are hand washing, wiping down surfaces and covering cuts. Keeping personal care items separated from others also helps. For more information on MRSA and how to prevent its spread, see this report from the Mayo Clinic.

Energy Seed LED Lamp Concept Could Give New Meaning to Battery Recycling

For a more long-term approach to the problem though, there's always the option of using rechargeable batteries.

clipped from www.goodcleantech.com So your alkaline batteries can't power any of your gadgets anymore. In fact, they're so drained they can't even be used for the remote control. With the Energy Seed concept designed by South Korean Sung Woo Park, these old batteries are given a whole new purpose. Instead of being sent for recycling (or more realistically, being thrown away), they could be used to power LED street lamps.

Jam session gets political

De ja vu

clipped from www.collegian.psu.edu Balloons that read "stoned again" with a marijuana leaf drifted to the floor and so did a few people who climbed from their seats above. The people were promptly escorted away. Obama appeared on a screen above the stage to specifically address the BJC crowd, yet his voice could barely be heard over the cheering. "No matter which candidate you favor, take part in this election," Obama said. He also thanked the Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead, who he called legendary musicians.

Fake Palin SAT Scores Fool Left-O-Sphere

clipped from stasiaandbob.blogspot.com OK fine so I really wanted Sarah's SAT's to be so low she couldn't even play NCAA hoops but hey, 'tis the time to get flamed. Some true, finer points-- she never traveled to a little unknown Alaskan island -- the only place you can see Russia from Alaska's backyard. And she REALLY became America's Hockey mom in my home town, Philadelphia, last night by dropping the first puck of the Flyers season. Some fans were concerned that they were perceived as Palin supporters. I think the Flyers were concerned that they lost the game. And her approval rating is dragging her Maverick man down. I wonder if she took the SATs anyway. Aren't they called something else on that coast?

Husband Seeks Votes for 'Alzheimer's Disease: Early Detection Matters' Project

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Husband Seeks Votes for 'Alzheimer's Disease: Early Detection Matters' Project

Please take the time to vote.

Alzheimer's Campaign Selected for Top Five in Members Project from American Express

The 'Alzheimer's Disease: Early Detection Matters' campaign has been selected as one of the top five campaigns in the Members Project from American Express, which will award $1.5 million to the program that receives the most votes through Monday, October 13. The submitter, Jay Smith, whose wife has early onset Alzheimer's disease, along with the Alzheimer's Association, are now asking that card members go to and vote for the Alzheimer's Disease: Early Detection Matters campaign.

The Alzheimer's Action Plan: The Experts' Guide to the Best Diagnosis and Treatment for Memory Problems