Songs used without Permission

What is with all of the songs being used by the McCain Campaign without permission? I can't believe how many musicians are angry and offended that they are being used by candidates they do not support! The list goes on and on of artists complaining that their songs were used at rallies and ads without permission or royalties being paid. In addition to the most recent protest from Bon Jovi:

Just yesterday, Survivor joined the bashing bandwagon, requesting that the McCain-Palin campaign stop playing the band's hit Rocky theme, "Eye of the Tiger," for appearances by John McCain; last week, the Foo Fighters issued a terse statement demanding that the GOP contender refrain from using "My Hero."

Last month, Heart issued a cease-and-desist notice to the campaign after their hit "Barracuda" was twice used at Palin's campaign theme, including being used at the Republican National Convention. In August, Van Halen groused about "Right Now" being used at rallies, while John Mellencamp protested the lifting of "Pink Houses" and "Our Country." Jackson Browne even filed a copyright infringement suit against McCain and the Republican National Committee for using his biggest hit, "Running on Empty," in campaign ads. [original source]

Neighbor's House Burns

Shortly after returning from dinner last night with Justin and Ashley (who watched our dogs on our recent trip) we noticed that the house across the field was on fire. We called the fire department who said they were on their way, but it seemed like an eternity until they got there. The owner wasn't home - he actually is rarely in town, but I had noticed his smokestack smoking earlier in the day. After remaining mostly confined to an addition, the fire then spread to the rest of the house. The structure is still standing but I am pretty sure it is a total loss. We don't know the owner but I feel so bad for him. I don't even know where he slept last night, and it was below zero here in the Goldstream Valley.

Palin Ethics Troopergate report...her response!

Only Palin could take a report finding her guilty of ethics violations and abuse of power and say that it found her innocent and vindicated.

Page 8, Finding Number One of the report says: "I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act."

She is truly one of a kind. Since I don't want to go on and on about it, you can read more from the Anchorage Daily News or from Alaska Real's blog.

Pictures of Melody without a hat

I can't wait to meet my cute new niece! I think she looks a lot like Melissa. Here are a few more pictures they sent so we can evaluate how much hair she actually has...Emmy, Ravenna and Melody are all so differently colored, they are going to be like the United Nations of cousins!

Back to Fairbanks...barely

We made it back to Fairbanks at 2 am this morning, after nearly 24 punishing hours of travel. It is so nice to be home, even though it was great to see so many of our wonderful friends and family when we were down South.

Here are some pictures to get us updated...

Emmy and Grandma Sizemore//Us at the Sizemore house :-)

Joe, Jeremy & Terry David Counceller

Jeremy and Emmy with Bobbi Jo McIntyre

Jeremy & Matty//Dave & Jeremy

Emmy & the Bauer twins//Horse, Emmy & Jeremy

Melody #2

I hear Melissa claims Melody has more hair than Emmy does right now. But in every picture she is wearing a hat. Come on, let's see some proof! :-)

Melody my new Niece!!

After an anxious day down here in Connersville I got word Melody was born to my sister Melissa and her husband Ty. I don't know much besides she was 8 lbs. and has brown hair. She apparently had a bit of fluid in her lungs when she was born and they were thinking of sending her up to Anchorage, but she stabilized and is doing much better. I realize I don't even know her middle name, so I will have to do another post when I have more info.

As for us, we are off to Cincinnatti this morning for Wade and Gertrude's wedding. Then we fly out of there tomorrow morning back to the Last Frontier...

SNL and the Election

Well, since we have been in Indiana I have spent a lot of time catching up on my TV watching. It has been mostly mind-numbing, with a few moments of dispair thrown in. I was particularly upset with the negative tone the election is taking, especially by the McCain-Palin ticket. I am astounded that they would be okay with it when they rile up the crouds to the point that someone yells "kill him" (possibly about Obama) and at another rally, some people heckled an African-American videographer. How could you allow things to get so out of hand at your own rally without giving people the impression that you support such behavior? It is a small consolation that these are people who long ago decided on who they would be voting for, so the hatemongering is only making them more empassioned about how much they despise people different than themselves. The focus away from important issues like the economy is not swaying any undecided voters to vote Republican. We are headed for some rough times and we need to work together a lot better than this if we are going to come through.

The one spot of light in all this has been the hilarious Saturday Night Live skits spoofing the election. the Sarah Palin impression by Tina Fey of course has been funny, but the re-enactment of the town hall style debate they showed last night was also great. It was almost as funny as the real one, especially when Tom Brokaw was getting all mad about the candidates talking too long, and then trying to read his teleprompter and both Obama and McCain were standing in his way. Ha!

In Tennessee

We are currently at Jeremy's Mom and Stepdad's house in Tennessee. It is HOT! Emmy is having the time of her life in the play room filled with toys. I am a bit wilted but enjoying myself. We went out to the Olive Garden last night. my FAVORITE chain restaurant. Tomorrow we head back to Indiana to stay with Jeremy's Dad.

We are all waiting to see when Melissa goes into labor. It could be any time so it is hard to be so far away. I can't wait to meet little Melody!

Cute Animal babies

Awwwww. In need of something happy to report, I have resorted to this monkey baby. That mama really loves her baby. In other baby-related news, my sister Melissa is going to have her first baby, probably within a week. If she were to email me the 4-D ultrasound pictures she got the other day they would be up on my blog by now. So instead, you get this baby monkey.

"A newborn Javan Lutung, also known as Javan Langur, is embraced by its mother, Smirre, in the Budapest Zoo in Hungary. The Javan Lutung baby, born Aug. 18, was the first of its kind to be born in Hungary."