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Finally parts of the U.S. might see some real internet speeds:

Google says it will run fiber-to-the-home trials at the astounding data speed of 1 gigabit per second. They'll sell this service at "a competitive price" to 50,000 people, possibly rising to 500,000 people.

It's at this point that I'd like to toss around some choice slang that is not acceptable when printed under the NPR banner. But I can't. So I'll just leave it at this: Holy cow!

I can't get past that speed number: One gigabit per second. Google says that's about 100 times faster than most home broadband connections. I'd say it's more than 100 times faster. My DSL connection is certainly not running at 10 Mbps. This is the kind of number that makes you sit back and wonder, if they can do that, why isn't someone else -- a dedicated ISP, for instance -- already doing it?

Internet speeds in the United States suck to the point that the birthplace of the internet is now ranked 28th in the world for internet speed. When it comes to broadband penetration, the U.S. is slightly better, ranking at 20th. So why hasn’t the existing ISPs been doing anything? Simple – they are greedy. Infrastructure is a big cost and they don’t want to invest in it.

Here’s why the White House will go after Howard Dean but not the actual people who are derailing health care reform:

People wondering why the White House does tough, public pushback against Howard Dean but not against the likes of Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman ought to take a deep breath and consider that Nelson and Lieberman . . . get votes in the United States Senate.

The White House hasn’t publicly attacked Bernie Sanders or Roland Burris over there Dean-esque doubts any more than they’ve publicly denounced Nelson or Lieberman. That’s because the White House doesn’t want to get into a downward spiral of recriminations with any of the 62 Senators who they’re hoping will vote for the bill.

As Aravosis puts it “In other words, they'll respect you when they fear you”. Truer words never spoken.

And the failure in math from the right begins:

After the 9/12 march on Washington, conservatives falsely claimed that over a million people attended, when in reality the closest thing to an official count — numbers given by the Washington DC Fire Department to ABCNews.com — placed the crowd at “approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people.” Though today’s anti-health care reform rally has been much more sparsely attended, that hasn’t stopped conservatives from inflating the numbers again. On G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show today, producer Franklin Raff, who was on the ground at the rally, told guest host Joseph Farah that the crowd is “just as big or bigger than” the 9/12 rally, which Raff estimated “at about a million.”

Capital Hill Police are estimating it at 4,000, and here is a nice aerial photo of the crowd today:

You really have to feel bad for the women married to these wingnuts. I guess they get told every night that 2 inches equals a foot.

This is making a lot of news right now, so I got to ask this – are you shocked? Boehner didn’t hold a single townhall during August. Instead he chose to speak to a gathering of tea baggers. Yeah there is a lot of support there.

How about Boehner’s constituents contacting his office? Well I am one of his constituents and contacted his office numerous times in the past. What do I end up with? Talking points and asking to give to his reelection. This guy does absolutely nothing for the people of his district – NOTHING.

So no, it’s no shock what so ever that Boehner hasn’t met anyone. He is a coward that hides from opposition, even if it’s  the very people he is supposed to represent.

For close to a quarter of a century I have been a smoker. I average about a pack and a half a day. During this time I have tried everything. The patches didn’t do a thing. The gum and lozenges never worked. I even tried Chantix, the “stop smoking” pill twice and had no luck.

Then a couple of weeks ago I learned about a product called NJoy, which is an electronic cigarette.

Electronic cigarettes are gaining huge popularity. They turn a liquid form of nicotine into a vapor. You drag on it like a cigarette and get your needed nicotine. On top of that it tastes pretty much like a cigarette and you get the same mechanics of smoking. All that without the tar and harmful ingredients found in regular cigarettes, well except nicotine.

This magical device helped me quit last week and I feel great. I get a minor craving every once in awhile for a real cigarette, especially after meals, but a quick hit of my NJoy and I am back to normal.

So guess what?

The government wants to ban these things. They think that these devices, which have helped thousands quit now, might be a danger to us. Their argument – they don’t know if inhaling nicotine is harmful or not. There for they think these products should be banned until the FDA can study them. Of course that would mean banning them for years and then when they say “well yeah inhaling nicotine is harmful, just like smoking a cigarette, but at least your not inhaling tons of carcinogens with these”, then they will allow them to be sold with a huge tax.

It amazes me that they can even attempt this argument. For years the government turned their back on the dangers of smoking. Sure they said “oh its bad for you”, but did they do anything about it really? Hell they wouldn’t even regulate the cigarette companies. Just now there is legislation going through to do that, and its passage in Senate isn’t certain.

T wo weeks after losing, Marilyn Musgrave is no where to be found:

Two weeks after the brutal loss, Musgrave still hasn’t called her opponent to concede or to congratulate the victor, as is not only textbook but also mannerly to do.

Moreover, Musgrave’s ill manners bleed into her own team. Rumor has it she still — 14 days later — hasn’t even thanked her campaign staff. (Again, textbook.)

Musgrave press secretary Joseph Brettell tells us: “It’s a campaign matter, and I have no further comment.”

Those Republicans sure are a class act – aren’t they? I guess she really did take her ball and go home.

It amazes me hearing Republicans go after John Lewis for his statement yesterday. His statement was 100% true. Republicans have been pushing the race card without actually saying it. What Republicans are trying to do though is say they aren't pushing race as a black and white issue. Instead they are pushing race as an Arab issue.

Look at the tone of recent ads and the whole "who is Barack Obama?" That line alone instills a feeling of racism. Sure they are trying to do it while acquainting him with Bill Ayers, but considering a McCain supporter sat on the very same board that Obama and Ayers did the question could be posed back to McCain. If that happened people wouldn't react the same, simply because he has a white face.

Every political ad is very well designed. All reactions are thought out fully. The Republicans have always had the upper hand in this. We saw it during 2004, and you can't tell me they didn't know what the responses would be from the ads today.

Obama hasn't pulled the race card, like many on the right are claiming. In fact they are proving their racist mindsets by even trying to claim this. Instead John Lewis went out and warned that we could face a serious problem in our country if the tone isn't changed in this campaign. John Lewis knows about this since he was right in the middle of it before. If Republicans want to win over more independent voters they need to stop stoking the flames of racism and embrace the remarks by one of the wisest men this country knows when it comes to racial tensions.