spidey sense

DJ Shadow is coming through Toronto soon, I am amped.

when Arnold leads the way?

When do car companies and our governments get serious about emissions?


Legal setback for Bush administration on vehicle emissions

The administration of George W. Bush suffered a legal setback here when a US federal appeals court ruled that government emission standards for light trucks and sport utility vehicles are not stringent enough.

The San Francisco-based federal appeals court ordered the Bush administration to tighten emission standards set for automobiles sold in the United States as quickly as possible, in response to a lawsuit filed by 11 states, including California, two cities and four environmental groups.

The plaintiffs especially noted that under the existing rules, thanks to a legal loophole, large 4x4 sports utility vehicles are allowed to pollute more than regular passenger cars. Car manufacturers have the widest profit margins in the sale of these popular vehicles.

California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger described the ruling as "another win for the environment and for consumers."

"Clearly, automobile companies have the capability to produce environmentally friendly cars," he said.

"Today's court ruling underscores the need for the federal government to step in and provide the extra push necessary to make these vehicles widespread."

California Attorney General Edmund Brown, himself a former governor, described the ruling as "a major victory and a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration and its failed energy policies."

Earlier Thursday Schwarzenegger was at the Los Angeles Auto Show, where he showcased environmentally friendly vehicles.

At the show "I saw first hand how automobile companies are harnessing new technologies to create cleaner and more fuel efficient cars," the former movie actor said.

Schwarzenegger and Brown, himself a former governor, on November 8 sued the US government to secure approval for the state's tough new proposals aimed at slashing vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

California passed legislation in 2002 requiring automakers to reduce vehicle emissions by 30 percent by 2016. As many as 16 other US states have reportedly indicated they will adopt California's emissions levels.

However, for the law to take effect, California requires approval with a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency, which has so far not been forthcoming, despite a request having been filed in December 2005.

Analysts say the EPA and the Bush administration have dragged their feet over California's demands because of fears of the effect it may have on the struggling US auto industry.

Schwarzenegger has made the environment a key issue of his tenure, signing a historic bill in September 2006 that saw the state become the first in the US to impose limits on global warming gases.

Under the plan, California will aim to slash the state's carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020, a figure that Schwarzenegger has said is equivalent to removing 6.5 million vehicles from the road.

5 Neat Guys

to all my homies out there grindin'

is it bad to do this to your kid?

BTW - he told me if the kid across the street got more candy on Halloween he is retiring from the game. Hardcore.

the hawk's offspring

I don't blog much about work- but this one is funny. The Hawk is a character.

make money money

Is this guy still operating?

the first britney

I did not know DiMaggio but he does not seem a nutter to me- this is from 2005. Just buried. !

from www.scotsman.com

Joe DiMaggio died convinced JFK had Monroe killed
ANNETTE WITHERIDGE IN NEW YORK
HE WAS only married to Marilyn Monroe for nine turbulent months, but Joe DiMaggio, the reclusive US baseball legend, vowed he would never forgive the Kennedys for her death.

Now, four years after his own demise, the man immortalised by Simon and Garfunkel in the song Mrs Robinson appears to have his revenge.


A new book, written by his long-time lawyer and close companion Morris Engelberg, reveals he really did believe the Kennedy clan killed Monroe.

"They murdered the one person I loved," DiMaggio confided to Mr Engelberg.

Officially, Monroe, who allegedly enjoyed affairs with both John Kennedy, the US president, and his attorney general brother, Robert, committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills in 1962.

But rumours she was killed by the Kennedys because she knew too much about the political dynasty’s Mafia links and was threatening to go public to get back at Robert for dumping her have persisted ever since.

DiMaggio, who organised Monroe’s funeral and, for the next 20 years, had white roses delivered to her grave twice a week, refused to talk publicly about what he thought happened. However, he appears to have sanctioned his memoirs to come out after his death.

The Yankee Clipper, as he was known, claims to have read the Hollywood star’s diary after her death.

Monroe’s journal disappeared shortly afterwards but, according to the book DiMaggio: Setting the Record Straight, the star of The Seven Year Itch had apparently noted her conversations with Robert Kennedy about CIA plans to poison Fidel Castro with the aid of the Chicago gangster Sam Giancana, and the government’s investigation into union leader Jimmy Hoffa’s Mafia links.

Monroe met the Kennedys through Peter Lawford, their British brother-in-law, and is believed to have passed on Robert’s pillow talk to Frank Sinatra, who in turn reported to Giancana.

Engelberg and co-author Marv Schneider tell how Monroe spoke to DiMaggio’s son, Joe Jnr, on the night she died saying she wanted to set the record straight.

"She said she spoke with RFK [Robert Kennedy] three or four times a week and he told her about the work he was doing," the book reveals. "He mentioned which mobsters they were going after. Marilyn would pass on some of those tidbits to Sinatra, according to Joe Jnr."

DiMaggio shed no tears when the Kennedys were assassinated. According to the book, which contains a foreword by Henry Kissinger, DiMaggio believed "they got what they deserved".

DiMaggio, who was 84 when he died after a long battle with cancer, refused to shake Robert Kennedy’s hand when they met at New York’s Yankee Stadium. Just a few years before he died he agreed to go to the Kennedy Centre only if no member of the extended political family was there.

When Engelberg asked him why, DiMaggio responded: "What they did to me will never be forgotten."

DiMaggio was considered to be one of the greatest baseball players, but he hated the limelight and sports fans were stunned when he suddenly married Monroe in 1954. He was 39 and already retired, she was 27 and at the height of her fame.

They spent their honeymoon in Japan, where 100,000 US troops turned out to meet them. Afterwards, Monroe commented: "I have never heard so much cheering." DiMaggio replied knowingly: "I have."

Few were surprised when the couple split within nine months. He moved to Hollywood, Florida, and in later years, became estranged from his only son, Joe Jnr, and other family members.

Engelberg, his next door neighbour, came under attack in the months before the player’s death for appearing to control every aspect of DiMaggio’s life.

green onions

are an important part of any diet.


seconds....


desert....

never tired

hey lama

This is how I am feeling this morning.

september

September for me is usually like the "real beginning of a new year". Things start in September. I am usually amped in Sept. Not this one. My mind is a bit soft and gushy (ha!). I got a new lil man in the house, except he in not in the house, he is in the hospital. He is suppose to be coming home in 2 days!

I am not going to go postal, but I get it. I found myself this morning, after parking at the hospital giving a meter maid the dirtiest look. He had to have felt the, "eff you", I was sending him. I was 2 minutes late the day before and they ticketed me. Plus $2 get you like 20 minutes on a meter!!!!

I thought about the people who have a loved one in the hospital who have to drive and park and are maybe on a tight budget
(who isn't?). That made me shoot the look. Am I getting old for bitching about this, or just old for visiting a hospital.

Plus, Nate grew another head as you can see above. Now he thinks he is twice as smart as me.

More to this record.....

Bonds ball to be branded with an asterisk

Sep 26, 2007 08:26 AM
Associated Press

NEW YORK – The ball Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756th home run will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame, its owner said Wednesday.

Fashion designer Marc Ecko, who bought the ball in an online auction, set up a Web site for fans to vote on the ball's fate, and the decision to brand it won out over the other options, sending it to the museum unblemished or launching it into space.

"We're going to be working with the folks at the Hall of Fame," Ecko said on NBC's "Today" show.

Ecko, whom Bonds called "an idiot" last week, had the winning bid Sept. 15 in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit Aug. 7 to break Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs. The final selling price was $752,467 (U.S.), well above most predictions that assumed Bonds' status as a lightning rod for the steroids debate in baseball would depress the value.

The asterisk suggests that Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks on them to ballparks as he neared Aaron's hallowed mark.

Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey, also interviewed on the show, said accepting the ball did not mean the Hall endorses the viewpoint that Barry Bonds used drugs.

"We're happy to get it," he said. "We're a nonprofit history museum, so this ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown without Marc Ecko buying it from the fan who caught it."

The Giants announced Friday they will part with Bonds after this season, the seven-time NL MVP's 15th in San Francisco and 22nd in the majors.

the boss

The Boss has a new record soon- in celebration of his genius.

paper

Well- I was off for a week with a newborn, and came back to my desk looking like this.



These bastards did it. I heard they stayed til 9pm working on their masterpiece.



I thought whatever , I have work to do.

the dad i aspire to be

Some of the infamous sessions with Beach Boy dad, Murray Wilson.

little brother

Growin' Indeed
Nate got a little brother, Ben.

thanks much

In my trolling for videos on Youtube - I notice that most of the videos on their are from MuchMusic. I used to work at Much- I guess it was because no one played this stuff and true music geeks taped shows like Rap City, Wedge and Power Hour.

Wilcannia Mob

A favourite tune of mine from M.I.A's new records "Kala", is Mango Pickle Down River with the Wilcannia Mob.

Wilcannia Mob are an Aussie Aborginal schoolboy group.

This from The Sydney Morning Herald.....

Ok, so we won something, now take us to Maccas
By Debra Jopson
October 14, 2003

Hmm, not a good bridge to jump off . . . Aboriginal schoolboy rap group the Wilcannia Mob arrive in Sydney to collect a Deadly award for their song about riverside life. Photo: Dean Sewell
Colroy Johnson, aged 11, may have been more nervous than most of the stars of stage and sport who flocked to the Sydney Opera House last night.

They were gathering for the Deadlys, the nation's most prestigious Aboriginal awards, but Colroy had other things on his mind.

"It's gonna blow up," he said after spotting the sails. "I don't like going on boats."

Colroy, who had clambered off a bus at 2am yesterday after a 12-hour bus ride from his outback hometown, may have a bit to learn about the harbour.

But he has already taught young hip-hop fans around the nation about riverside life as one of the five Aboriginal schoolboys in the Wilcannia Mob, whose song Down River became a sensation when Triple J began playing it a year ago.

Last night their raw Aussie rap song about swimming, fishing for bream and jumping off the bridge won them a Deadly for best single release of the year.

"If we won something, we won something," said Keith Dutton, 14, with casual aplomb before the announcement.

But Kerry King, mother of Lendal, at 10 the youngest of the five rising stars, said that for Wilcannia (population 750 and falling) a win would mean "another big burst of pride and honour and self-esteem".

"The song gives a positive image back to Wilcannia," Ms King said. "The simple things they sing about indicate our lifestyle; how we can live in a remote area in a harmonistic way.

"There are not a lot of material things out there, but it's about using what's there in the river and being part of our life."

Four of the little blokes in their rappers' caps, who wowed Homebake last December, were in Sydney for only the second time yesterday, arguing over which brand of cars were best, speculating on jumping in the fountain near the Opera House and asking to be taken to McDonald's and Wonderland.

But at SBS Radio, they clammed up for Aboriginal presenter Lola Forrester, except for a few clicks and "brrrrrs" into the mikes.

Buddy Blair, 13, the chatty one, slumped as if asleep, declaring: "I don't want to be a rock star."

But Ms Forrester coaxed their new song out of them.

"Barkandji Boys are back, with another track, still doing backflips and jumping off the bridge. Burandoo is Barkandji for fish," they sang.

To be released later this month on the album All You Mob 2, put together by their mentor, Sydney hip-hop artist Morganics, the proceeds from this song, like their first, will go into a trust fund they can use from age 18.



SORT OF REMIND ME OF A CLASSIC FROM A FEW YEARS AGO

it gets dark at 4:30

the is selfish - but I got one word "sold".



Liberals promise February long-weekend

Sep 03, 2007 05:48 PM
Richard Brennan
OTTAWA BUREAU
The provincial Liberals are promising to give Ontarians a long weekend in February if they are re-elected.

"In our party's platform, which will presented in a few days, we will include a provision to create a new statutory holiday in the month of February," campaign chair Greg Sorbara announced today.

The holiday would fall on the third Monday in February, which is already known as Heritage day in most of Canada. So far the Liberals are calling their proposed day off "family day."

"Ontario winters are very, very long and Ontarians deserve a statutory holiday in February," Sorbara told reporters at Queen's Park.

The vote-getting pledge is reminiscent of the 1985 Liberal promise to put beer and wine in the corner store, which the David Peterson government reneged on when it got into power.

Sorbara, who is the provincial finance minister, said Ontario governments have been talking about having a long weekend during the long winter months for years, joining other provinces such as Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan.

"It's probably something that should have been done some time ago," he said.

While even Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory wouldn’t disagree with the fact Ontarians could really use a break in February, he suggested the timing of the announcement is just a tad opportunist.

“The gap between New Year’s Day and Easter is a long gap and I’m all for family having a day to be together,” Tory said just before boarding his campaign bus.

“I just have to ask why, at the very, very end of a four-year term, 38 days before an election, did he suddenly have this brain wave?”

Given the loss of some 175,000 manufacturing and resource sector jobs across the province, New Democrat Peter Kormos suggested a more appropriate Labour Day announcement might have been to offer workers some kind of assurance that the government is working to preserve good jobs in Ontario.

Noting the Liberals already killed a private members bill that would have established another stat holiday, Kormos said this announcement could end up being nothing more than another broken promise.

“There have been private members bills before that the Liberals supported, but the McGuinty government declined to put it into effect,” he said.

“We couldn’t believe his promises four years ago. We have no more reason to believe his promises today.”

But Sorbara dismissed the criticism, suggesting the Ontario economy is only now strong enough to bear an extra stat holiday. Ontario is no longer struggling to deal with the economic deficit left by the previous Conservative government and the last three-day holiday of the summer just seemed like a good time to announce it, he said.

While Sorbara admits corporate Canada is likely to scoff at the idea, he maintains the province can more than handle it economically.

“We know that initially there will be some impact on productivity. That’s always the case with a holiday,” he said.

“But our own analysis suggests we’ll make that up and more because a workforce that gets time off is a workforce that works even harder when they’re on the job.”

Adding a Family Day to the calendar would give Ontario workers a total of nine long weekends per year, putting the province on par with Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Territories

The Champion Of The Arena

The Lily Allen number "Smile"




The Jackie Mittoo and The Soul Brother number "Free Soul.