August 23, 2008
Is It Biden? ::
This morning everyone (CNN, RawStory, etc.) seems to be reporting that Obama has chosen Biden as his running mate. I have mixed feelings about Joe Biden, but I think he would be a relatively safe choice although I was still hoping that Wes Clark would be the man. My biggest concern about Biden would be his tendency at times to insert his foot in his mouth!
Actually, I think this may be nothing more than a head fake from the Obama campaign, but I suppose we'll know for sure pretty soon!
[update] My official announcement must have gotten lost in the e-mail somewhere. Here is the official announcement of Biden as running-mate.
August 22, 2008
A Relative Measure Of Wealth ::
The consensus seems to be settling on the McCain's owning 8 houses. Must be tough deciding when to pack up from one and move on to try out another! And I'm sure good help is hard to find. From The Politico:
The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain's tax returns.The additional cash supports an "increase in the number of employees," the McCain aide told Politico. The aide did not answer a question about whether the growing staff stemmed from addition of new properties to the family's real estate portfolio.
I also see from The Politico piece that much of, if not all, the McCain properties were purchased either by a Cindy McCain trust or an unnamed McCain corporation:
The condo that serves as the McCain's primary Phoenix residence was purchased in 2006 for $4.7 million by Cindy McCain's trust. It is a 6,600-square foot unit.Less than one year after the McCains acquired it, a corporation controlled by Cindy McCain bought another condo on a lower floor in the same building for $830,000.
And, in between, the corporation plunked down $700,000 for a 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom loft condo for their then-22-year-old daughter, Meghan, who was moving back to Phoenix after graduating from New York's Columbia University. The unit is now listed for sale at $730,000.
I would be curious to see if there might not be some sort of tax dodge going on here. Someone should ask the McCains why their homes were purchased by trusts and corporations!
August 21, 2008
Kevin Hayden's Take On McCain ::
“what does he know and how long did he remember it?”
You can find Kevin at The American Street. Bookmark it!
John McCain, Jack Abramoff, And Ralph Reed ::
This clip is a bit long, but well worth viewing. As an aside, I have long been a fan of Melanie Sloan of CREW (Citizens For Responsibility And Ethics In Washington). When Al Franken had his radio show on Air America she was a regular guest and I don't understand why the other AA hosts don't put her on air regularly!
Ernest Borgnine's Secret To Longevity ::
And he is 91 years young!
Cracks me up!
Here's something courtesy of the BBC:
Men could reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer through regular masturbation, researchers suggest.They say cancer-causing chemicals could build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly.
And they say sexual intercourse may not have the same protective effect because of the possibility of contracting a sexually transmitted infection, which could increase men’s cancer risk.
August 20, 2008
Obama On The Attack ::
Unfortunately this ad seems to be only running in the Atlanta area, but it deserves a national audience:
We should be pounding these people with their hypocrisy all over this country!
August 19, 2008
Jack Cafferty Views John McCain ::
Sorry, I can't resist posting the entire Cafferty rant about McCain:
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation.His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.
Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.
I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why.
It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand.
Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not?
Throughout the evening, McCain chose to recite portions of his stump speech as answers to the questions he was being asked. Why? He has lived 71 years. Surely he has some thoughts on what it all means that go beyond canned answers culled from the same speech he delivers every day.
He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it.
He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.
One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.
Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?
John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.
He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.
I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.
George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.
He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.
I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.
I find nothing to disagree with!
McCain On Riches ::
Clueless Bastard!
I wonder just how he thinks the majority of Americans live! Pound this bastard!
August 18, 2008
A Firefox Problem ::
I'm running the latest from Firefox, but there seems to be some sort of problem with its rendering of stylesheets from on-line news organizations. Refreshing the page once or twice seems to solve the problem, but it is annoying!
August 17, 2008
Larry Sievers Passes Away ::
I have been following his progress with his bout with cancer on NPR for quite some time. From NPR:
Journalist Leroy Sievers, who covered wars, genocides and natural disasters in more than a dozen countries — and who chronicled life after his cancer diagnosis for NPR on-air and online — died Friday. He was 53.[snip]
In his radio essays, in his podcast commentaries and on the blog, Sievers addressed the polite silences that surround cancer. He described his early internal debates about whether it was worth it to buy new pants and shoes. He spoke frankly about his hope that he would live long enough to read the final installment in the Harry Potter series.
[snip]
In the summer of 2008, a week before his 53rd birthday, Sievers learned that the cancer he had kept at bay for so long had "exploded" throughout his body. His doctors told him that they had run out of treatment options.