Midday Open Thread

•  The NYT provides a fascinating graphic showing how often certain words are used by all of the Presidential candidates.
•  From the “how could somebody do that” department, a six year old and her mother submitted an essay in a contest to win an all expense paid trip to see Hannah Montana in concert, courtesy of Club Libby Lu, a clothing store for girls.  The sad essay about her soldier father who was killed in Iraq tugged at the heart strings of the executives and they selected her as the winner.  The problem is, they made it up.  Can you get any lower than that?
• Hey wingnuts, you tried to spin Gore’s energy consumption (and failed).  So don’t try again, or you’ll look even lamer.  Gore has gone even greener:
  

  The former vice president has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs – even on his Christmas tree.

  “Short of tearing it down and starting anew, I don’t know how it could have been rated any higher,” said Kim Shinn of the U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design.

  -Plutonium Page

• The rate of suicide bombings is rising in Iraq.

-Plutonium Page

• Comfortable, warm, and well-fed, Dubya does his best to relate to us commoners:  
  

  President Bush tried Saturday to assure many families that he knows they are struggling to pay bills, even as he again defended the economy’s strength.

  “Some of you worry about your ability to afford health care coverage for your families,” Bush said in his weekly radio address, recorded at his Texas ranch.

  -Plutonium Page

• Local Iowa blogs are getting a lot of attention as the caucuses draw near, and Wired takes a look, profiling the Iowa Independent in particular. - MissLaura
• John Quiggin at Crooked Timber finds a victory of science over creationism. - MissLaura
• This Clarion Ledger column reviews the history of special elections in Mississippi and considers whether Haley Barbour is setting himself up for a ‘US Senate seat for life’. - smintheus
• Is the Musharraf government being candid about how Benazir Bhutto was killed? Cernig assembles radically conflicting testimony. - smintheus

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