This Week's Big Winner and Loser!

This week's big winner: Louisiana and New Orleans.

The response to Hurricane Gustav has been remarkable. The evacuation of the Gulf Coast has run more smoothly than anyone expected and that is a tribute to the leadership of Governor Bobby Jindal and The Big Easy's Mayor Ray Nagin. They had a very organized campaign to clear the area and patrol the streets to protect the public from looters, which is why more people stay during natural disasters than leave.

Normally, I would say they were just doing their jobs and because they were just doing their jobs they don't qualify for being a winner. But after both the natural and political disasters of Katrina and Rita three years ago, the authorities got their butts in gear and worked to prevent them ever occurring again. After all, isn't life about learning from your mistakes?

The critical thinking and fast action of these governments are what make them this week's big winners.

This week's loser: Barack Obama.

From what was supposed to be his big week, the week of all weeks, the week that he was to re-introduce himself to the nation as a hard-hitting, take no prisoners campaigner, the week he was to prove he can make great executive decisions by choosing a vice-president the nation was very open to - has been stepped on by - (drum roll, please)

John McCain. Ouch.

The McCain camp made a very smart move by announcing the V.P choice the day after Obama's big speech in Denver. Not only did they announce it, but they created more buzz by leaking several false reports naming several potential veeps causing a frenzy at the networks. This was a very risky, but ultimately a very wise move for McCain. It payed off. The weekend headliner was to be Obama, but instead he found himself below the fold on all the major newspapers.

Obama also got a nice bounce out of the convention: Real Clear Politics shows roughly nine points. It would have been much bigger, maybe double if McCain would have waited until Sunday to announce.

But he didn't.

Now we all await the arrival of McCain's speech on Thursday. Can he hold a candle to Obama?

We shall see.

Response to The Anti-Soma's 'Hooray...'

First, let me be clear: I love The Anti-Soma. Anti-Soma is a dear friend of mine no matter how often (and it's only been once) I get mad at them. We are often at opposite sides of many issues and we have stated that, as long as we back up our own arguments, we can get as cut-throat as we want because, hey, it's fun! So, here I go.

Let me be equally clear: Anti-Soma is not going to vote Democrat if Jesus Christ himself came down from his banqueting table and ordered them otherwise. They were never looking for a reason to vote for Obama but they were looking for a reason to vote for McCain. But, come on, A.S., find a better reason. I mean, really!

On Friday, I wrote a piece regarding McCain's terrible choice for V.P. The Anti-Soma responded and you can read that here. Now, like them, I do agree you need a reason to vote for a candidate. Simply voting against a hopeful is not enough. It completely goes against the whole process. A.S. stated that they found a reason in Sarah Palin, and began to refute my reason's against her.

A.S.' logic has totally escaped them. Gone. Kablooey. Call the paddy-wagon.

In response to my suggestion that her lack of identity nation wide was going to be a liability and the McCain camp was going to need to define her before the opposition does, A.S noted:

...she did a fair job defining herself in her initial acceptance speech,
and I think she'll define herself better than anyone else possibly can
within the next two months.

It takes more that one speech to define a Presidential candidate. Just ask John Kerry. He had an excellent self-promotion tour just prior to the 2004 DNC, but the Republicans did a better job of defining him. Kerry defined himself as a war hero. Bush defined him as a traitor.

Bush won.

Think about it. She defined herself as a wife and mother. Great. But a wife and mother doesn't make you experienced enough to be President of the United States. And that's the argument that the Obama Camp is going to make. Duh.

As for the op-ad piece in the Daily Kos: it's disgraceful. It's tasteless and I won't link to it on the principle of frivolity. I agree with A.S. It's crap.

Continuing, I stated she was under Federal investigation. A.S.:

First of all, she's not under federal investigation. She's under
investigation by a state ethics committee. There are allegations, but she
has discussedwhat's going on.

Yes, I miswrote. I apologize to Mrs. Palin, her family and her supporters. But A.S. totally missed the point.

The mere fact that she is under investigation, state or otherwise, whether or not she discussed the problem, is moot. The average American voter does not care about details. They hear "investigation" and it's a black mark.

She's only held elective office for two years. Again:

This completely ignores her eight years as a mayor of a small town. John
Zogby rightfully points out that small town politics can be far more vicious and
cutthroat than those of larger towns. In other words, she's not only got two
years of elected office experience on Obama, but that all ten of her years of
elected office--as mayor and governor--give her ten more years of executive
experience than all of the other candidates, presidential and vice, put
together.

Let me see if I'm clear because I don't want to misunderstand: a small town mayor, a town roughly the size of Webb City, Missouri, gives you the 'executive experience' needed to run a country? Are you telling me that Small Town, Alaska, population 35,000 (and I am being very liberal with that number) readies her for dealing with Russia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq?You are telling me, if I am clear, because Small Town, Alaskan politics are cut-throat, that she is ready for the world debate and a nation wide campaign? A.S., if that is your argument, all you, Palin and McCain are in for a very rude awakening.

Let me point out the fact that Senator Obama, who I am not endorsing by any means, has far more foreign policy experience than she does. Why? Oh, yeah. She has none. Obama has about the same amount experience on the Nation wide stage as she, but McCain keeps touting Obama's lack of experience. All I am saying is Gov. Palin totally diminishes his own argument against Obama. Her time in Small Town, AK has prepared her for conflict with Caribou, not Putin. Give me a break.

Now, I agree that Palin is not to be underestimated. I am not saying that she is going to be a bad campaigner. I am simply saying that McCain's choice, at first read, looks senile. He wanted a woman so he chose a woman he met once, during the vetting process who has no experience what so ever. There are far more qualified women to take that spot if he really wanted a female. The fact he chose THIS female is what will be perceived as being condescending.

Geraldine Ferraro even said so.

Friday Funnybone: 29, August, 2008

Palin by Comparison

Republican Presidential hopeful, John McCain, has chosen his running mate: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

McCain was hoping to steal some of the women vote with this choice. Palin as 44 years old, a one term Governor from an insignificant state electorally and has only held her current position for less than two years.

McCain was wanting a surprise. He was wanting to show he could think outside the box and choose someone who would make the country say, "Wow. Who-da thunk it? Bravo!"

It didn't.

I will do for you, what McCain should have done for himself. I will make a list of pros and cons and then pass judgement, so to speak.

Affirmative Palin:

1. She's a Woman. She will make the disgruntled Hillary voters give a second look to McCain before voting for Obama.

2. She's a staunch conservative: pro-life, anti-gay marriage, pro-guns. She will help bring the Evangelicals over to the McCain camp, especially since they have been glaring at him whilecarrying crosses and garlic.

3. She's attractive. (It's superficial, but it matters.) A former Miss Alaska.

4. She's a governor which will help the "executive experience" debate. She also has an amazing approval rating: upwards of 80%.

5. She's "outside" Washington.

Negative Palin:

1. Who the hell is Sarah Palin? No one knows her. The McCain camp is going to need to define her and hope to hell they do it before Obama does.

2. She's under federal investigation for abuse of power. Hmm, abuse of power - that certainly negates the "I'm nothing like Bush" argument.

3. She has praised Obama in the not-so-distant past regarding his energy plan - a definite difference between he and McCain.

4. She has only held elective office for a total of two years. This causes the McCain camp to give up the argument that Obama is inexperienced. Especially because he has held elected office 8 years longer than she.

5. She's a woman. - No, I'm not being sexist here, so stop it. But there is an element of risk here. McCain wants to attract women 35 to 50 to him. But the Palin pick could be seen as a condescending move. It also adds an element of risk because her abortion stance will be seen

as a liability to democratic women.

6. The Alaskan Republican party is a mess and though she is not currently linked to them, Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Don Young are in legal pickles of their own. This is also giving democrats an edge in Alaska and could further hurt the McCain camp up there.

So there you have it. The cons outweigh the pros. This was a very risky and will ultimately be a very bad move for McCain.

The only smart move today was the way the info was released: the day after the Obama speech at the DNC, stealing his thunder.

However, if Dems try to paint her as another Agnew or Quayle, it will come back to haunt them. Too, Joe Biden now faces a very tough line to tow in the V.P. debate in St. Louis on October 2nd. He can now no longer be the pit bull that Obama needed. If he is, he will be accused of exactly what Obama was accused of: sexist.

"Convention"al Wisdom

The 2008 Democratic National Convention was not a hit. It was a punch. It wasn't a tap. It was a bitch-slap. It didn't start out as such.

At midpoint, I was very nervous for the Democrats, who seemed to have such an advantage going in to this year but were actually losing going into Denver. Obama was letting McCain walk all over him at every turn. Ad after ad after ad blasted Obama for his lack of experience, this celebrity following and, yes, even his patriotism. Obama was not fighting back and McCain was rising in the polls. The Democrats needed firepower and now!

Nothing was strong. The first day, neither W. nor McCain were mentioned in prime time. Michelle talked extensively in her keynote about Barack as a boyfriend, husband and father and little else. Hillary's speech was pedestrian at best. She did what she needed to do to keep the blame off her and Bill's legacy should Barack lose. She made a few good points, but alas, it was not the greatest of speeches. Bill's was the same way. Joe Biden, Barack's Veep, had a well written speech, but poorly executed. Nothing seemed to be working in Obama's favor. The only surrogate which seemed to get the memo of exactly what to do was John Kerry. If Kerry had spoken at his convention the way he did this year, this would have been a gathering about re-nominating him.

Cue Obama.

At every turn, Obama had been playing the nice guy. The good guy. The guy who refused to go after and define his opponent, instead letting his opponent define him. At every turn Obama was getting slapped in the face with a proverbial flounder and McCain was enjoying it.

McCain was also hitting Obama on the spectacle of the convention venue, calling it "a Greek temple" and tried to add another question mark over Obama's skull by cynically asking whether or not he was delivering his speech in a toga.

The set was a bit Broadway, even for politics and the confetti cannons and fireworks seemed to be more a center-piece than accented flare. This may come back to hurt Obama.

He walked up to the podium and gave the speech of his life. It had what the other speeches lacked: substance. It lacked what his other speeches had an abundance of: poetry.

It also decked McCain in the one-hundred-point spot! He held fast to his plan, he stayed on message, and he brought up his weaknesses - or the ones the Republican machine will try to create - before they could which fizzles their attacks. Smart move.

The speech, though not perfect, was exactly what the convention needed. Either by accident or by perfect planning, the convention was a lot like the month of March: in like a lamb; out like a lion.

Here is an excerpt of Obama's acceptence speech at the Democratic National Convention:

Best of the Best: Television Series Finales

Every so often I will post what I believe to be the best of the best about something or other in ascending order. This does not have a set rotation as with the Friday Funnybone and are strictly my opinion, no one else's. If, in the Best of the Best, you feel I omitted something that you feel should be on the list, tell me. Send me a post.

The inaugural "Best Of" is about television series finales. There have been several great ones over the years, some more inspirational than others. Then there are bad ones. ( I will post those at a later time.)

5. M*A*S*H - after a long run of 11 seasons, Radar, Colonel Potter and Hawkeye Pierce all said farewell in the most watched finale in television history. Anticipation was building for what seemed to be a very vague fade-out, when it turned into anything but. The final shot is one for the hall of fame after Honeycutt rides away on his motorcycle and Hawkeye gets in the chopper and flies away for home – seeing the message Honeycutt scribed in stones for his friend: “Good bye.”

4. Star Trek: The Next Generation – said adieu to first-run syndicated airwaves in May of 1994 for a not-so-bold leap onto the big screen. The movie franchise paled primarily due to the explosive last episode which bookended the series with the pilot, and initiated the return of one of the most popular reoccurring characters. One of the more interesting ways to end the series, the powers-that-be provided us with an ending with had a feeling of closure and finality, but was not wrapped in a pretty bow, implying the crew would continue to boldly go where none have gone before. Even the most cynical of non-trekkers got teary-eyed with Picard’s last line; “..and the sky’s the limit.”

3. Newhart – an innkeeper, his smart-assed wife, the spoiled maid, Larry the neighbor with his brother, Darrell, and his other brother, Darrell – were in living rooms across the country for the better part of the 80’s. They said good bye in what was to be the most surprising of fashion when Bob Newhart awoke in the bedroom from his first long-running 70’s sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show. Next to him, Suzanne Pleshette – his wife from that series as well. The gist was simply that the 70’s Bob was having a dream about the 80’s Bob for eight years. The ending was a total surprise and just as much of a secret until it aired in May of 1989.

2. Roseanne – ended her 9 season run in May of 1997 after betraying her fans for an entire season. Roseanne’s appeal was her blue-collared approach to humor – something with which real-life folks highly identified. In the last season, the Conners won the lottery, putting them in the hoity-toityness of society. Soon after, Roseanne’s ratings dropped. But the final episode brought everything full circle – having the entire last season as simply a chapter in the book Roseanne Conner was writing about the entire series. In it, she discovers that money will not solve problems – and her spirituality suffered as a result of her newfound fortune. The show was prophetic, poetic and very sad when we learned of the death of Dan, John Goodman’s character, in the previous season.

1. Six Feet Under - by far the most ingenious and the most creative of all the series buried its five year life in 2006. Prior to, fans of the show got to watch a death every week and how that seemingly random event affected the family in multiple ways. Then Nate passed away before the ending episode, and we watched a tormented family go through more hell. In the finale, a car-ride into the future showed us just how all of these characters’ lived their lives before their deaths, with the youngest of the bunch living to a ripe-old age of 102.

Devil Children...

...and the parents who hate them enough to let them get away with everything!

I am so sick of parents who want to be friends to their kids before being parents. I work with the public day in and out so I have had many an experience in the heathen child destroying everything he comes into contact with and the mother looking at me saying how cute and wonderful he is.

Lady, beat the little bastard!

I also attend that same maternal one (or lack of) spouting how we should never spank children because it promotes violence and will do more harm to that child than good. Children learn to be violent from their parents. Children need to be loved when they do something wrong.

Bullshit.

For the record, this new-found idea of not spanking your kids because it turns them into the next Ted Bundy or Hannibal Lecture is, by far, the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Kids have been getting spanked since Cain and Abel - okay, bad example there - and the violence ratio has been probably better than it was, say during the Grecco-Roman empire.

Let me put it another way. My dad got spanked. So did my grandfather, and his father and his father....

I got spanked, too. And I deserved 90% of what I got. The other ten percent of the spanking that I received that I don't feel I deserved my mother to this day has a perfect response for: "Just think of it as you getting punished for all the things you DID deserved getting spanked for and just didn't get caught" Believe me, there were many. Far more than that 10% would cover.

Kids need to know boundaries. They need to know consequences. They need to know if they come over to Uncle Mateo's house and play with his very expensive stereo and it breaks, the belts come out. And thusly, so do the tears.

I am not a father. I will concede that right out. But I do believe I would be a good one as I someday hope to be. And I will spank my child when need be, because, out of love, I want him/her to grow up to be a gentleman/lady and have people just be in awe of their respectfulness. Parents who don't punish severely when need be simply don't care about their children to do it, or don't care enough about them to learn how.

Kids don't know consequences because they are taught by example not to take responsibility for their actions. Spanking simply teaches responsibility through consequences. The pro-switch people understand this. And there are FAR more people who are pro-corporal punishment than anti - it's just that the Anti are screaming at the top of their lungs.

Maybe THEY should be spanked, too - along with the little bastards they are raising.

Another One Bites the Biden!

I was rudely awakened this morning at but the inane buzz of my shamefully outdated Samsung 2200; I received the now infamous email from the Obama campaign (ironically received at 3 am) announcing Joe Biden as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate. I predicted this in my post last Tuesday; now we shall see how I do on Friday when McCain sends Western Unions to all his supporters.

Joe Biden is a spectacular choice for ol' Bama. First, he's a liar - a quality that seems to be the quintessential requirement to be a successful politician. He was quoted as saying, the very day I posted my prediction of this outcome - "I'm not the guy!" My very good friend from Theanti-soma noted that I was wrong and Biden would not be VP. (Privately, I said that Biden was bluffing.)

Secondly, Biden is one HELL of a speaker, which would help reiterate Obama's gift of the telepromtered word. But unlike Obama, Biden is also extremely quick on his feet. He is the one who came up with the famous observation about Rudy Gulliani, "A noun, a verb and 9/11"

Finally, Biden has hella experience that Obama doesn't. This is a hard ticket to beat. This is THE ticket to beat. Many pundits at this moment are contemplating the poll bounce that Obama may get out of this.

Prediction: Obama WILL get a bounce out of this pick - more than any others, including Hillary Clinton. And it will be big!

FRIDAY FUNNYBONE! - 23 August, 2008

Veep, Veep - Vroom, Vroom!

The race for the Vice-President is on.

Oh, wait! That's right. There is not race for VP. We don't vote on the Veep because no one cares about that office, not even the poor schlep who holds that position. Why? Because the Vice-President is kind of like the Queen of England - she can't even get Springsteen tickets without talking to Oprah first.

So, why do we care?

We don't. In past elections, if we would have had more forethought to the Vice Presidential candidate, the election would have turned out differently. Case and point: Michael Dukakis would have been elected in 1988 in lieu of George H. W. Bush because Lloyd Bentson was a hell of a lot better than Dan Quayle.

This year is different. We have an African American so people are looking to his possible successor because so many idiots are afraid he won't make it to a second term without meeting and assassin's bullet; we have another candidate who personally watched Moses bring down the stone tablets from atop Mt. Sinai so the fear of him dropping dead from the shear shock of victory is also in the front of the minds of voters.So all attention is on the Veeps. Who will it be? No one knows. Wednesday, August 20th, Barack Obama is expected to announce his choice. McCain, a week later. No one knows who the un-lucky sons-of-bitches will be, but it is fun to guess.So here are my predictions:

SENATOR OBAMA:

Barack Obama is in a really tough spot right now. He is very unknown and that in hurting him. He also has a dearth of governing and military experience. He needs someone to balance that out. There have been three names mentioned more than anyone: Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Senator Evan Bahye of Indiana and Governor Tim Kayne of Virginia.One thing is clear, Hillary Clinton is out of the running because she is already slated to speak at the DNC, two days prior to the Veep is scheduled to speak.

Who SHOULD: Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. This is for several reasons: One, he has governing and administrative experience serving two terms and New Mexico's governor and eight years in Bill Clinton's Cabinet. Two, he has foreign relations experience serving as ambassador to several nations. Three, he will help with the Latino vote. Four, he has a military service record. By all accounts, he is more qualified to be president that Obama himself. That will help him. Finally, he does not have the personality to overshadow Obama that say, Hillary, has.

Who WILL: Senator Joe Biden. Senator Biden has foreign policy experience serving on the Foreign Policy committee of nearly thirty years. He is smart, sharp, a great speaker - and is not too nice of a guy - which is great when you consider the Veep's job is to be more attack dog in the campaign. The only problem, is he could be too popular as far as his credentials are concerned and overshadow Obama. This won't be good. He also tends to let his mouth get away from him and it could hurt the campaign.

SENATOR McCAIN:

For all intents and purposes, McCain is in a really great lie right now. He is closing the gap between himself and Obama, he is well known, people know where his goes and his choice isn't as critical here. But he is the second to announce, so if he plays his had right, McCain could chooses someone that will help grab voters, say a woman. Someone young to balance out his years wouldn't hurt either.

But the thing he really needs to pay attention to is the Conservative vote. He is considered to be too much of a maverick by most elephants so it stands to reason he needs someone really psycho right.Though several names have been tossed around here, a surprise is actually expected.

Who SHOULD: Congresswoman JoAnn Emerson of Missouri. This is actually a perfect choice. It also plays the "unexpected" card. She is Washington having been in congress for nearly 15 years. She is relatively young, energetic and extremely conservative. She is not known on the national scene, but that doesn't matter considering Missouri is a major swing state, and however Mo goes, so goes the nation. Emerson will sure up Missouri, handing McCain the proverbial Garden of good and evil. Also, the woman vote here could be more impressive. Women could swing over to McCain, especially with Obama not picking up Hil.

Who WILL: Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. He is one of several names who have been kicked around but the smart move here is he is far more conservative than McCain, he is young, and he is the governor of a blue state which could take it out of the Dem column and move it to the Rep side come election night. McCain desperately needs one of those considering most of the flips are expected to be Rep to Dem. Red to Blue. Pawlenty is also a great speaker behind the podium, and looks far more presidential than McCain. He also has a full head of hair.

I may be wrong here - but I doubt it. And if I am, I will eat my words. We shall soon find out.

It's Showtime

This is a new blog dedicated to the opinionated patrons who like to ingest and digest other's thoughts about the world.

Sometimes I will comment about politics and world affairs; sometimes I will share my views on movies, books, television or music; sometimes I will post about religion or morality. Every Friday is dedicated to the fun, funny and ridiculous. There is something on here for everybody.

Am I liberal? Am I conservative? Am I boring? Well, only you can determine those answers for yourself. Occasionally, I will have joint comments with other bloggers and I will most likely take a stance on an issue whether I agree or disagree with my colleagues or not. Why? Because this blog is all about opinions, different ways of viewing the world, being allowed to express those opinions - and more importantly - reading and respecting opinions which differ from yours or mine.

And open mind is the essence of intellect.

So, if you agree with me? Fine. Make a comment and tell me. If you disagree with me? Awesome. Make a comment and tell me. If you are offended my anything I have to say? Even better! Make a comment and tell me. If you are apathetic. That sucks. But - make a comment and tell me. Do you see a pattern here?

Avert your attention to the right of the monitor where you will see a few interests.

First: A weekly poll of this or that or the other thing. Vote.

Second: A book list. This is a list of books I have read and in my opinion, everyone should read at one point or another. There is a little of everything in that list and the only thing they have in common is that they are very provocative.

Third: A movie list. Same situation as with the books.If you see a movie or read a book on these lists and wish to express your opinion on them, great! Make a post. If you think I need to read or see one, make a post.

Welcome to Kill the Cat!