Eighteen sixty-four was a presidential election year, only the second time Americans would choose their leader in wartime -- the first had been during the War of 1812 -- and the outcome was universally seen as crucial. If Lincoln lost, he would be succeeded by a Democrat, certainly a candidate opposed to emancipation and possibly opposed to continuing the war at all. And Lincoln's defeat was quite conceivable. He was under fire on a variety of charges. The war had dragged on too long because of his mismanagement. His emancipation policy had converted a war for the Union into an unconventional and hellish plot to free the slaves. His administration had abused its authority through political arrests, the suspension of habeas corpus, and military conscription. He had intransigently refused all negotiations with the South and thus had scuttled any chance to reach a political accommodation. Under such circumstances, Lincoln needed all the reelection support he could get.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

What idiot would pay to participate in a beta program -- especially one run by Microsoft?

Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," the President said to the country's legislative body, "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is –- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 6Oth anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel. Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power -- including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy - to pressure countries like Iran and Syria. George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the President's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.

It is not. I understand that when you are running for office sometimes you think the world revolves around you. That is not always true and it is not true in this case.

“Why should it?” Mr. Crockett said. “No one should be tainted because of Reverend Wright.” “I think Reverend Wright will give a lot of people an excuse not to vote for Obama,” Mr. Crockett said. “They’re looking for an excuse, and this will be it.”

“People that are supporting Obama are continuing to support Obama,” said Mr. O’Connor, who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton though the county party has made no official pick. “I think they are looking at this with raised eyebrows about the attention it’s getting, but not from the perspective of changing their view of who to support.”

"This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I've been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a cunt?"

The room fell silent for several seconds while McCain adjusted his mike and started to answer: "Now, now. You don't want to ...Um, you know, that's the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don't .... There's people here who don't respect that kind of language. So I'll move on to the next questioner in the back."

Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.

'Lyndon was running about 10 points behind, with only nine days to go... He was sunk in despair. He was desperate... he called his equally depressed campaign manager and instructed him to call a press conference at two or two-thirty ( just after lunch on a slow news day) and accuse his high-riding opponent (the pig farmer) of having routine carnal knowledge of his barnyard sows, despite the pleas of his wife and children... His campaign manager was shocked. 'We can't say that, Lyndon,' he said. 'It's not true.' 'Of course it's not,' Johnson barked at him, 'but let's make the bastard deny it.'

Recommendations
Effective January 1, 2010 (assuming this rule is completed in 2008), portable lighting fixtures (specifically defined) shall either be certified to meet the current Energy Star fixture specification or shall not consume more than 35 Watts of power and shall be incapable of operating with lamps that total more than 35 Watts

Portable lighting fixtures typically contain screw-in sockets for 1-3 lamps. Efficient alternatives include: (1) fixtures with LEDs or plug in CFLs (e.g.“PL-type” lamps) in lieu of screw-in sockets, and (2) use of screw-in CFLs in conventional fixtures. For the latter option, there are a range of options including (a) requiring that manufacturers include efficient lamps when fixtures are purchased and (b) including a circuit breaker or some other switch that prevents the fixture from operating if lamp wattage exceeds a preset value. Option 1 is the most expensive but ensures that efficient lamps are used throughout the life of the fixture. This also requires most fixtures now on the market to be redesigned. Option 2a is inexpensive, but will save significantly less energy because some consumers won’t use the CFLs in the box, and other consumers will only use the CFL until it burns out, and then will replace it with an incandescent lamp. Option 2b is intermediate between the other two options, with a cost only a little higher than option 2a and savings approaching those of option 1 since, with the right wattage cap, most incandescent lamps cannot be used. This option will require addition of a circuit breaker to most current fixtures, something that torchiere manufacturers have recently done.

Proposed standards will require moving toward CFL, LED or other high-efficiency technologies. While most consumers accept these light sources, some consumers prefer incandescent lights. If the Watt cap compliance pathway is used by a manufacturer for a product (e.g., a 35 Watt circuit breaker is used in conjunction with a medium screw base), some consumers may be confused when the fixture does not operate if they use a high-wattage conventional bulb. To address this, manufacturers, utilities and others should provide educational information. This educational effort should also address proper disposal of CFLs.

"At first I thought it wasn't true, then someone said 'Look up, there's a giant pig flying over Indio.' Then it vanished into the moonlight."

To say “I am a Christian” is not enough. Why? Because the Christianity of the slaveholder is not the Christianity of the slave. The God to whom the slaveholders pray as they ride on the decks of the slave ship is not the God to whom the enslaved are praying as they ride beneath the decks on that slave ship.

As I said on the Bill Moyers’ show, one of our news channels keeps playing a news clip from 20 years ago when Louis said 20 years ago that Zionism, not Judaism, was a gutter religion.

And he was talking about the same thing United Nations resolutions say, the same thing now that President Carter is being vilified for, and Bishop Tutu is being vilified for. And everybody wants to paint me as if I’m anti-Semitic because of what Louis Farrakhan said 20 years ago.

And if you saw the Bill Moyers show, I was talking about — although it got edited out — you know, that’s biblical. God doesn’t bless everything. God condemns something — and d-e-m-n, “demn,” is where we get the word “damn.” God damns some practices.

Britain has apologized to Africans, but this country’s leaders have refused to apologize. So until that apology comes, I’m not going to keep stepping on your foot and asking you, “Does this hurt? Do you forgive me for stepping on your foot?” if I’m still stepping on your foot.

Father Flagger (sic), by the way, he might be one of the one –

Don’t make me come across this room. I had to come across the room, because they start — understand, when you’re talking about my mama, once again, and talking about my faith tradition, once again, how long do you let somebody talk about your faith tradition before you speak up and say something in defense of — this is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright.

Once again, let me say it again. This is an attack on the black church. And I cannot as a minister of the gospel allow the significant part of our history — most African-Americans and most European-Americans, most Hispanic-Americans, half the names I called in my presentation they’ve never heard of, because they don’t know anything at all about our tradition.

He didn’t distance himself. He had to distance himself, because he’s a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American. He said I didn’t offer any words of hope. How would he know? He never heard the rest of the sermon. You never heard it.

I offered words of hope. I offered reconciliation. I offered restoration in that sermon, but nobody heard the sermon. They just heard this little sound bite of a sermon.

I, for one, have no interest in being united with Wright or anyone who insists that America is an evil, racist, damnable nation bent on murdering black people -- and I suspect neither will many general election voters.