A nation’s son has died

Back in college I had the honor to meet Israeli pilot and astronaut Ilan Ramon at an event in San Diego. Col. Ramon was slated to go to space with NASA as the first Israeli to ever leave Earth. The mission was delayed a few years and when it finally happened, Col. Ramon instantly became a national hero of epic proportions. Col. Ramon would never have the opportunity to share his stories of space, nor would he have the opportunity to bring back the Torah scroll that survived the holocaust because along with his fellow astronauts Col. Ramon died when the Columbia exploded upon reentry in to Earth’s atmosphere.

No comes news that Col. Ramon’s son Lt. Assaf Ramon, a pilot in the Israeli Airforce died when his F-16 crashed.

From the LA Times:

The young pilot’s single-seat aircraft had left a military base on a training exercise and dropped from radio contact when residents of a Jewish settlement reported a window-rattling explosion and a huge ball of fire rising behind a hill, followed by clouds of black smoke. Later the military announced that Ramon’s remains had been identified amid the plane’s scattered wreckage in a remote region of the West Bank south of the city of Hebron.

The cause of the crash and the pilot’s failure to eject from his plane were under investigation, the military said.

While I never met Lt. Ramon, I am very sorry to hear about his death and I mourn along side with the people of Israel who have experienced loss of a hero and his heir.

writer’s block

If you have ideas how to break it, please let me know!

UGH!

Slumdog Millionaire

Going to see it…

update: So good!

Yes We Can…eat pie

Yes We Can…eat pie

Saturday morning marks the 3rd annual Rosenberg Pie Eating Contest. I’ve won the last two and I plan on winning number 3rd. The pie is Coco’s harvest pie, it’s a thick moose pie with a creme topping. It’s thick and rich and shouldn’t be a pie used for a pie eating contest…but due to family tradition, this is how we do!

Check back for photos on Saturday.

Fire Maps

The LA Times has a great map of the Orange County and LA Fires:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ocfire-map,0,4263319.htmlstory

No on 8 Rally

This image is from above the 101 Freeway. According to the LA Times, 40,000 marched on Los Angeles to protest discrimination.
Protest above the 101

Check out my photo set from the day.

Does Joe the Plumber has $150k for clothes?

From Politico:
Sarah Palin, in a red leather jacket, waves as she steps on stage before a crowd at a baseball field in Grand Junction, Colo., on Monday.

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin’s announcement. Pre-September reports do not include similar costs.

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent,” she said.

The business of primping and dressing on the campaign trail has become fraught with political risk in recent years as voters increasingly see an elite Washington out of touch with their values and lifestyles.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore took heat for changing his clothing hues. And in 2006, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was ribbed for two hair styling sessions that cost about $3,000.

Then, there was Democrat John Edwards’ $400 hair cuts in 2007 and Republican McCain’s $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes this year.

A review of similar records for the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee turned up no similar spending.

But all the spending by other candidates pales in comparison to the GOP outlay for the Alaska governor whose expensive, designer outfits have been the topic of fashion pages and magazines.

What hasn’t been apparent is where the clothes came from – her closet back in Wasilla or from the campaign coffers in Washington.

The answer can be found inside the RNC’s September monthly financial disclosure report under “itemized coordinated expenditures.”

It’s a report that typically records expenses for direct mail, telephone calls and advertising. Those expenses do show up, but the report also has a new category of spending: “campaign accessories.”

September payments were also made to Barney’s New York ($789.72) and Bloomingdale’s New York ($5,102.71).

Macy’s in Minneapolis, another store fortunate enough to be situated in the Twin Cities that hosted last summer’s Republican National Convention, received three separate payments totaling $9,447.71.

The entries also show a few purchases at Pacifier, a top notch baby store, and Steiniauf & Stroller Inc., suggesting $295 was spent to accommodate the littlest Palin to join the campaign trail.

An additional $4,902.45 was spent at Atelier, a high-class shopping destination for men.

Racist coward at a McCain rally

Last nighton “The Late Show,” David Letterman pressed John McCain to name another terrorist that Obama hangs around with. Since Gov. Sarah Palin and John McCain himself say that “Barack Obama pals around with terrorists,” Letterman asked McCain to name someone aside from Ayres who is a terrorist that Barack Obama pals around with. Sen. McCain laughed and said millions of things are said on the campaign trail.

Senator, there are millions of things said on the campaign trail, but your job is to inspire people to do good not to become nasty un-American bigots. These video is from one of your supporters at your rally. While you had no way of knowing what this man was saying outside your rally or even inside your rally, once you know these kind of actions are going on, it’s imperative for you to denounce all of them.

Rep. John Lewis shouldn’t apologize for his comments about you and your running mate encouraging hate because here is a stark example from your supporters.

Here is the coward once he realizes he is on a network camera:

McCain stands up for Bush before he stands up for himself

John McCain’s “campaign reset” speech is the same from the 2004 Republican National Convention. H/T Americablog:

John McCain invented the BlackBerry

According to a McCain spokesperson, John McCain invented the BlackBerry. Too bad after inventing the BlackBerry, he gave it to the Canadians!

From Jonathan Martin’s Politico Blog:

Asked what work John McCain did as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate’s top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.

“He did this,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry.  “Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

Al Gore, call your office.

(Courtesy of Amie Parnes, on the trail with McCain)

See what other people have #invented? What have you #invented? Tell it to Twitter.