It’s a little early in his administration to draw any broad conclusions, but the evidence is clear: As a younger man, Barack Obama was kidnapped and brainwashed by evil Republican operatives, then sent deep undercover to destroy the Democratic Party and perhaps even the entire liberal worldview.

How else do you explain…

Buzz

well, now you mention it....

But, OTOH…

This is Gooze. 

Gooze is a Tennessee Walker with fine bloodlines and without the great long neck prized by TW show enthusiasts.  Hence his trip to CA.  I got real lucky as the gal who bought him as a 2 y.o., and backed him and trained him to be a real angel recently decided to start her family and couldn’t ride while doing that. 

Gooze will be 4 on October 1 and though he’s a young boy, he’s pretty calm and a very good boy.  He snorts a bit at new things—and moving here, everything will be new for a while—but he takes his confidence from his person and proceeds when asked just like it wasn’t big and new and scary at all.

Jackson, whom you’ve met, Pancho, and behind, Gooze

Jackson’s feet are growing out well and he’s sound in his paddock and on good footing.  A little more growing and some EasyBoots and he’ll be trail riding in no time.

Pancho was a great find.  He’s been very, very well trained and well handled most of his life, and is the most willing boy I’ve known.  I will be a long time finding out what-all he knows.  He came from a year with some wretched little girl who neglected him [emotionally - not physically], and who bought him from some a-hole “horse trader” who should oughta be hung.  He’s darned near over the head shyness but still worries if he’s gonna be spurred, but he’s such a sensitive and responsive guy he calms down quickly when he realizes he’s not gonna be misused.  He likes just wandering around looking at stuff, but he’ll balance and collect when hands and seat are right.  Which means I got a whole lotta work to do—on me.

Pancho, Pushkin and Gooze

Pushkin has been with us for about 10 years, now.  He’s glad to have some new pasture mates—though disappointed not to be the boss.  [Pancho is The Boss, and Jackson is his Lt.] But Pushkin does get to push around the youngster, Gooze, so it’s not all bad…

Horse politics—much more interesting and enJOYable.  Smells better....  And the noses are soft and petable.

Close the book.

1-800-828-0498

A 1-800 number owned by a liberal group that connects callers to the Capitol switchboard is being hijacked by conservatives.

Families USA, a left-leaning consumer group that supports Democratic efforts on healthcare reform, has launched a campaign urging people to call Congress to pass a bill.

Because Congress does not have an 800 number and outside-the-Beltway Americans would have to pay for the long-distance call, Families USA has given out its number, which directs callers to the Capitol switchboard. (Families USA has asked ITK not to print the number.)
[ 1-800-828-0498 ]

Families USA spokesman David Lemmon says the number has been used by a variety of conservative groups, bloggers and non-healthcare-related groups. Indeed.

1-800-828-0498

AFP is reporting that a grand assembly of filmmakers, actors and producers from around the world have signed a petition urging the release of director Roman Polanski, who was arrested Sunday in Switzerland on a warrant for a 1977 underage sex case in the United States…

Polanski petition signatories, as of September 29th:

Just two days after HarperCollins announced that Palin’s “Going Rogue” had been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, preorders Wednesday night for the former Alaska governor’s memoir made it No. 1 on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Among the books “Going Rogue” is outselling: Sen. Ted Kennedy’s “True Compass,” Mitch Albom’s “Have a Little Faith” and Brown’s “The Lost Symbol,” his first novel since “The Da Vinci Code” and, perhaps until now, the year’s most anticipated release.

SUCK IT LYMPIANS! 

*gah* Next!

N.O’Really

Masked Palestinian Hamas militants speak to the press during a press conference in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. Israel and Hamas militants announced a deal Wednesday that will see Israel release 20 Palestinian women from prison this week in exchange for a videotape proving that a captive Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip is still alive. The decision was the first tangible sign of movement in more than three years of talks over the release of the soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who has not been seen since he was captured by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

First Lady Michelle Obama is shown in this undated publicity photograph as she plants a garden on “Sesame Street” with characters Big Bird and Elmo.

It’s not a scientific poll on the popularity of President Barack Obama, but souvenir shops in Washington and elsewhere say sales of all things Obama are softening.

Back in January, it was nearly impossible to escape the Obama commercial boom. His image and words were on millions of T-shirts, posters and commemorative plates. Even Corporate America got in on the Obama blitz with PepsiCo and Swedish furniture store Ikea joining the chorus.

At the Political Americana store across the street from the White House, the red, white and blue Obama “Hope” image that appeared on many campaign posters is still the most popular T-shirt.

The slowdown follows a slide in the polls and intense debate on issues including the bailouts and health care reform.

There’s always HOPE

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday easily rejected the inclusion of a government-run “public” insurance option, backed by President Barack Obama, in its sweeping healthcare reform bill.

This is where Ratti’s Trash Track project comes in. His team have developed tags consisting of a battery-powered Sim card and motion sensor, encased in resin, which updates them about the location of a piece of rubbish every 15 minutes for up to eight weeks.

Lewis Girod, who designed the tags, says they can use the mobile phone network to pinpoint an object to within 100 metres or so in the city, and around half a mile in the country.

Ratti likens the use of these tags to injecting a radioactive substance into a patient in order to find blockages that might be causing health problems.

In this case, the blockages are problems with a city’s waste-disposal system: by tracking the final resting place of pieces of waste, from coffee cups to fluorescent bulbs, they can discover whether stuff that can be recycled ends up in a landfill. That applies not just to glass and plastics, but valuable (or toxic) substances such as gold, aluminium, nickel, copper, zinc, lead, cadmium and mercury, too.

As soon as he had spelt out the potential, I asked Carlo if I could get hold of some tags for a pilot project. A few months later, I was able to sit in London and watch a similar screen, tracking 60 pieces of rubbish in Seattle. Each one had a story to tell…