Bush came to Greensboro to honor a local volunteer and mentoring program today. Which was very nice of him to do. However, I couldn’t help but notice how many police had to be involved for Bush’s visit. That’s a lot of tax payer dollars at work.

Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to fly a group of the honored volunteers up to D.C in first class, with five star rating hotels to stay in, than have the entire Greensboro police force out there? They had to block every driveway, every intersection for the route the President took. Seems like a frivolous waste of taxpayer dollars in a time when our economy is sliding deeper into recession and corporate bailouts are the norm…

Why am I surprised George W. Bush would waste tax payer dollars?

These photos are were taken at the intersection of Benjamin Parkway and Westover Terrace:

Konarka Technologies, a startup based in Lowell, MA, has opened a mass production factory building solar power panels using organic polymers. Applied similarly to ink jet printers and photographic film, thus further lowering the cost of production.

This factory is part of our economy’s first steps towards a stable renewable energies sector. American jobs for Americans. It is anticipated the factory will produce yearly up to one gigawatt of power through the solar panels manufactured, the equivalent of one nuclear power plant.

Read the article now at TechnologyReview.com ->
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21574/

Learn more about Konarka Technologies ->
http://www.konarka.com/

I was late arriving at ConvergeSouth, located at A&T University - Greensboro, NC, but I heard the Robert Scoble talk. The best quote is shown below. His talk focused on the voice each of us has, the private broadcasting studio we each represent given the new accessible technology. Very good talk.

I do not understand why we continue to pursue such a ridiculous energy policy. Fossil fuels have only greater and greater costs to offer us.

Buy electric cars. It’s long overdue. And, no, that will not solve the whole problem, but it is a start towards a solution.

From Twitter.com:
usernames above quote
(harvested at 11:20PM, 09-03-08, just after Sarah Palin spoke)

film_girl
“I seriously want to shoot my television set a la Elivis. Palin sucks. Ferraro 2.0. Way to set us back lady! ”

roztedford
“I just threw up in my mouth a little…I’m going to bed…. ”

rosebeezy
“who needs to watch any news when you have people on twitter to tweet it for you, and it’s much more amusing to boot. ”

NandRPolitics
“Palin’s speech: So, if you watched Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech at the convention Wednesday ni.. http://tinyurl.com/6fxgm3 ”

laurenpressley
“i cannot believe she just said that ”

brandonpierce
“Wow. Elizabeth Dole commercial. http://tinyurl.com/5lpvok ”

Scobleizer
“I’ve been watching the Tweets and Palin hit a major home run. Enough politics, got some deadlines to meet now… “

jrmozart
“Look at Mr. Palin spanking that baby! “

SeaGen (the subsidiary company of Marine Current Turbines), is the 1st to go commercial with tidal wave power generators. SeaGen just started the new installation at Strangford Lough, the largest inlet in the United Kingdom.

SeaGen have developed technology to install off the coast of Ireland for electricity production by harnessing ocean currents. This new installation, if successful, will be used throughout the coastal regions of the United Kingdom.

Source Article:
MIT’s Technology Review: First Tidal Power Generator

Palin’s Wikipedia page was edited shortly before John McCain announced her as his VP. The Wikipedia results were a much more favorable perspective on the candidate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

Infectious Greed has an article on this, but I first heard of it from NPR earlier today on the radio (Palin’s Wikipedia Entry Gets Overhaul, by NPR).

This type of favorable, or strategic editing of public information is not new. Diebold was caught in the act, altering their records and those of their competitors. Wikipedia is no novice to this tactic and replaced the edited content in Diebold’s case. (Corporations, politicians alter their, and their competitors Wikipedia entries? Noooooo! by Writes Like She Talks, also see Who’s Editing Wikipedia? by Plunderbund)

This is uncouth at best, but inappropriate is a good word for it too. Spin doctors at work, the Republicans are already weaving their magic web around Sarah Palin to cast her in the best light possible.

The media is of course run by liberals, right? Riiiiggggghhhhhtttttt…. I’m sure the liberals were lining up to give Palin the good word on Wikipedia.

Pandering. Artifice. Is this what we should expect of 21st Century politics?
Now I see why cynicism is so popular.

Interestingly, at the time I wrote this (08-29-08 - 6:45PM EST) I had a hard time finding the official website for Sarah Palin. I have a website, and I am not running for Vice President. What happened to her website? I found the Alaska governor’s website on the US Government website: http://gov.state.ak.us/ But my question is, why doesn’t she have a personal website outside the government? I’m ready to start checking facts.

We achieve greater awareness of possible leaders by having a white woman in the race and a black man on the ticket. Regardless of outcome, and I refer to what either party will do with the presidency (be he Democrat or Republican), our society now sees (in a VERY public theater) minority people stepping into leadership roles.

Let me state it one more time, in the simplest of terms I can:
Regardless of outcome, our society now sees minority people stepping into leadership roles.

This is a great thing for the advancement of equality in America. Moving forward perhaps we will see more options across the entire political spectrum.

All gone by the afternoon, but at 11:30AM this morning it was basketball underwater.

The creek’s far bank is past the trees, the line of shrubbery in front of the electricity tower. I don’t know how far that is, but it must be more than 100 feet the water washed over the banks of the creek into the park.

This is Lake Daniel Park, Greensboro, NC seen from the bridge that crosses the creek north towards Benjamin Parkway. The restrooms building is to my left, the bridge is behind me on the right.

Jonathon perches on the railing of the east facing bridge, the one that goes through to E. Lake Drive. I estimate the water to be around 20 feet deep under the bridge. The current was strong near the creeks, I worried I’d slip with my camera. I was wading in the water up to my thighs.

I don’t know what this playground piece is called, but it must be about two or more feet under water.

I drove by and wondered, but the cat was fine. All water logged, the cat was laying on the sidewalk as if dead. I stopped and received a plaintive meow, then a staggering towards me. I just hope the little guy found his way home.

News & Record, Greensboro reported 1200 gallons of untreated water was released at 3740 Battleground Ave. for one hour. Horsepen Creek tributary of the Haw River basin received some untreated water as well. Along with other locations throughout the city of Greensboro.

I can not confirm this, but I believe North Buffalo Creek runs through Lake Daniel park. There was no mention in the article of untreated water spillage in that neighborhood. I’m glad it’s still raining nonetheless.