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But Michael J. Critelli, 59, executive chairman of the mailing company Pitney Bowes, says unsolicited mail is not nearly as damaging to the environment as these opponents are arguing. Among its other products, Pitney Bowes provides goods and technology like postage meters to company mailrooms. Even though the company’s research indicates that 75 percent of Americans say they believe unsolicited mail is a major environmental problem, Mr. Critelli says the alternatives — like expanded use of e-mail solicitations — have environmental consequences as well.

In that case, let me offer a better alternative:

STOP BOTHERING US, YOU ASSHOLE!

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Less than a week from a potentially landmark presidential election, black voters in Florida are turning out in huge numbers to vote early, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis.

So are people 55 and older. And Democrats.

But voters younger than 35 — especially the college-age group that has drawn so much attention from Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign — are doing what they have largely done in elections past: staying home.

Remember all the ruckus when the national debt clock was one digit short, because the debt passed 10 trillion? That was just less than one month ago.

The debt right now?10.5 trillion.

[Quote:]

U.S. banks getting more than $163 billion from the Treasury Department for new lending are on pace to pay more than half of that sum to their shareholders, with government permission, over the next three years.

The government said it was giving banks more money so they could make more loans. Dollars paid to shareholders don’t serve that purpose, but Treasury officials say that suspending quarterly dividend payments would have deterred banks from participating in the voluntary program.

Just like stopping them from paying $70b in bonus money would have done, right? But if half of the $163b is going to shareholders, and $70b is going to bonus payouts, that leaves just $11.5b for making new loans. No wonder people think they’re not making new loans, they lack the money to do so!

[Quote:]

You’ve lost another consumer thanks to your combined use of DRM for all of your games and EULAs that strangle a users rights. I’m here to tell you publicly that I will no longer support the EA software distribution model and sadly no longer purchase any of the great titles EA will publish until your company changes how they treat a money paying, law abiding consumer. I am not only making my statement with my wallet but doing so vocally in the hopes of encouraging others to do the same.

I respect the fact that developers spend a lot of money and put a lot of time into creating great games. I am completely willing to put up my $50 for a new title. I am not willing to be treated to third party software installs on my computer, EULAs that effectively eliminate any rights I may have to use that software or dictate how I may do so after I’ve paid my money or in short, be treated like a criminal while the individuals who do pirate your software enjoy a better user experience.

I will not be pirating your software, so please leave me out of whatever statistics you plan to put forth showing how pirates are working on your bottom line. I simply will not purchase any more EA titles, no matter how good they look.

[Quote:]

From that LAT poll of Florida of Ohio (here is the PDF with all the numbers):

Already Voted:

Florida: McCain 49%, Obama 45%, Don’t Know 6%

Ohio: Obama 57%, McCain 35%, Don’t Know 3%

That’s right: Almost 5% of Florida and Ohio voters that have already voted don’t know who they voted for.

(Maybe these folks were just unwilling to answer the question, but that isn’t how the poll reads).

[Quote:]

Did you know that some Christian dingbat has dubbed today the “Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies?” Well here they are, at the Wall Street bull statue thing, praying to Jesus for money. The dingbat has explained, “We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems.”

[Quote:]

Just a clue: there’s this book called “the bible” that these people claim to follow, but I suspect they’ve never actually read it, or they might have seen Exodus 32.

[Quote:]

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Wednesday called for a “clean break” from the Bush administration’s energy policies, which she says rely too much on importing foreign oil.

In a policy speech, the Alaska governor said the recent drop in gas and oil prices shouldn’t deter consumers and lawmakers from seeking alternative energy sources. She cast energy independence as a national security issue, saying dependence on oil from the Middle East made the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorist threats.

“We not only provide wealth to the sponsors of terror, we provide high-value targets to the terrorists themselves,” Palin said. “Across the world are pipelines, refineries, transit routes and terminals for the oil we rely on. And al-Qaida terrorists know where they are.”

Palin spoke after touring Xunlight Corp., one of a handful of solar technology startup companies in Toledo, a struggling industrial city in this swing state. The city’s leaders are hoping that the solar companies will create jobs to replace some of those lost by downsizing in the auto industry.

But Palin made only a passing reference to solar power in her speech and instead renewed her call for more drilling in U.S. coastal waters. She repeated her signature anthem, “drill, baby, drill,” which seemed to fall a bit flat on the audience at the plant even as it’s become a popular chant at her rallies.

Gee, I wonder why that seemed to fall a bit flat….

And it turns out McCain has already posted his response:

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The Caribbean Monk seal (or West Indian seal) has been announced extinct on Friday. This comes as a shock (at least for me – and many others), as this is the first seal species announced extinct due to human activities; now, it will only be seen in drawings.After five years of futile efforts in which not even a single sighting has been reported, the U.S. declared extinct, and also declared that no other seal species has been extinct because of us. This probably (and sadly) opens the way for more such species to become extinct – unless something changes.

The Caribbean Monk Seal was a relatively small seal (6-9 feet) with rolls of fat around its neck and brown pelage that faded to a yellow-white color on the stomach. The last recorded sighting occurred in 1952.