‘Twas the night before the acceptance speech and all through the convention hall……. I watched the “Roll Call” with the half hearted expectations of a child who knew there was no such thing as Santa Claus but waited up all night to see him just in case the little jolly fat man showed up. Thus it was the case last night, I half heartedly expected some kind of insurgent coup d'état on the convention floor by the Clinton-istas, especially after the tepid endorsement given by the Senator last night. Hillary asked the speaker to suspend the procedural rules and move by acclamation the nomination of Barack Obama as the democratic choice for President of the United States. Nancy Pelosi asked for a second on that motion and received a unanimous ovation from the crowd, thus, Barack Hussein Obama is officially the Democratic nominee and Hillary bowed out while the delegates danced in the aisles to the song “Love Train.”


I can’t let some personal thoughts get lost in what some may consider to be my “partisan writing.” It is a defining
moment in this country in which we see the nomination of a black man, by a major party, a single step from the White House. I also have to give it to Hillary Clinton for as she put it “Putting 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.” Although I do not agree with their politics I have to tip my hat to honor the accomplishments of these two individuals and the positive impact for women and minorities. Hopefully, we can put to rest the racism and inequality that has plagued our past. Win or lose we witnessed a piece of history in America and if you can’t see it then you are more jaded and cynical than even me.


For the sake of expediency Joe Biden and Former President Bill Clinton are the only two speeches that I will be commenting on. Even though I stayed true to my CSPAN DNC marathon by foregoing the accolades of the network troglodytes covering the convention for their pet causes and candidates. Frankly, the other speakers (Rockefeller, Kerry, Richardson, Daschle, Albright and current Senate majority wiener Harry Reid) were just shrill shills regurgitating the same message of “Change” and “McCain = four more years of the same,” mixed with an attempt at flexing their homeland security and foreign affairs muscles. All that came to mind as I listened was a saying that my father has quoted often, “Those who can DO, those who CAN'T teach.” I felt like I was listening to Ms. Crabapple from my high school civics class as I fast approached the “Recalcitrant Zone” in my brain.


Kendrick Meeks of Florida introduced former President Clinton by listing off a litany of half truths and contextual lies. The crowd gave the former leader a gracious ovation and Clinton had to admonish them to “Sit Down” because they had to move this thing along. Then he delivered the speech of Barack Obama’s political life. He showed why he has been the only two term Democrat to sit in the Oval Office. He took his shots at McCain but his harshest criticism came at the expense of republicans as a party. He skillfully articulated why Obama “Can” be considered qualified for the job. Because when Clinton ran back in 1992 his detractors also claimed that he was too young. Depending on your political bent and reality as you know it I will leave it to you to determine if that was a ringing endorsement for Obama’s qualifications. My description of Hillary’s speech last night as sparse or perhaps tepid was countered by a speech that showcased political acumen, stagecraft and erudite counter arguments. He did well regaining a foothold on his perceived legacy while solidifying his status as “The Rock Star” of the Democratic Party. Clinton has earned 5 stars for his speech making, he hasn’t lost a step or the ability to bite is lip with the same intensity as a good old hip shake from Elvis. When the dust of obfuscation settles and the clouds of distraction part what is left for the American people? To determine which Bill Clinton to believe, the one who has told us that Obama is vastly unqualified or the one who now says that he is supremely qualified?


How do you follow Bill Clinton’s speech if you are Joe Biden? A tender All American video retrospective of course! The “Veep” eagerly, perhaps a little too happily diagnosed this country as in serious condition, literally on life support with a brain dead administration at the switch poised on the brink of turning our lights out for good. Biden’s clear message is to pit the middle class against the rest of the country, to basically turn ourselves against each other in only the way that a real liberal can. But I digress, the truth of the matter is that with all kidding aside if Joe Biden was at the head of this ticket I might be thinking differently today, I don’t even have to dissect his speech because this guy has the “Cajones” to pull off being the lead dog in a pack. He has a great story, a legislative record of accomplishment, the record of looking a dictator in the eye and calling him a thug, a resolve that is refreshing, everything that his presumptive boss doesn’t possess, can’t lay claim to and……


Of course that is just my take.

Day two at the DNC and I am still dedicated to CSPAN for my coverage. I am even avoiding the taint of the mainstream media by ignoring the plague that is partisan bloviating displayed nightly by bobble heads who call themselves reporters and journalists. Dennis Kucinich was by far the most entertaining little dwarf I have ever watched in my life. His performance at last night’s convention left me howling, with his little elfish arms flailing he chanted “UP” for everything from healthcare to the kitchen sink. His histrionics were insane, inane and indeed out of touch with anything that dwells outside the walls of his little hobbit world. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana made an appearance on ladies night at the DNC and I am sorry but all I have to say about her rhetoric about the federal government and their failures during the aftermath of Katrina is “Pot calling.” Zip it Mary, you did as much if not more to let down your constituents than the federal government. Listening to her was like listening to a kid covered in chocolate tells you that they don’t know who got into the chocolate.


A parade of women sidled up to the podium and bashed the Bush administration ad nauseam all leading up to the keynote speaker Hillary Clinton. I have to admit, I am a fan of women, I married one. But these women gave me a headache and the appearance onstage after they all finished their little bash of Bush holding hands and dancing to a song that went like this “Sistas are doin it for themselves” made me embarrassed for women all over the world. Democratic workhorse Ed Rendell came to the stage and tried to bring it back down to reality but he sunk to the same old rhetoric of Bush / Cheney are evil and John McCain sits at the entrance to hell alongside them. According to the Democrats thus far, Bush bad, McCain bad, if you elect McCain we will see the end of America. If you elect Obama the angels will sing and “The One” will ride in on a chariot of fire and vanquish the evil capitalistic hoards that are hell bent on destroying the environment, the American family while putting children in slave labor camps to work for less than a dollar a month, oh wait, that’s what George Obama lives on in Africa. The message remains the same and the rhetoric isn’t swaying my thinking at all.


Mark Warner the former Governor of Virginia gave a pretty good speech about looking and working toward the future rather than living in the past. He effectively articulated his path to success in life, after failing in business twice he triumphed as one of those who got in on the ground floor of the cell phone industry. He acknowledged that this was only possible in America, something that I agree with but I don’t think is represented by democrats who talk a good game about the American dream and how it worked for them, how it the struggle was tough, the journey long and arduous but possible only in this country. I find this line ironic because rather than allowing the American people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and taking the American Dream head on they want to give it to you and I. Why was it fine for them but too difficult for the rest of us? This is the message that I get, the reality of Obama winning this election, liberals believe in the frailty and dependence off the individual, they believe that the government holds the key to success because it can and because people can’t. Conservatives believe in the grit and determination of the individual, the autonomy of a person believing that failure isn’t the end it is just an opportunity to try again until you succeed. Mark Warner, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are living examples of what the American Dream is all about and for the life of me I can’t figure out why America and the dream that is America worked for them but unless you follow them and their policies America will only fail you.


Governor Barry Schweitzer of Montana proved to be the single most entertaining speaker of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed his energy spiel and his almost dead on Tom Arnold like speaking style. He made a great case for weaning our dependency on foreign oil and a move away from the “Petro-Dictators” (a great new word) because they (the Petro-Dictators) will never hold our wind and our sun hostage. Montana is one of the few states where democrats and republicans actually work together. Governor Schweitzer appointed his rival as his Lieutenant Governor and together they have solved many of the issues that plague that state. Together they created the largest budget surplus, increased funding for education and most importantly they lowered taxes for the citizens of that state. Granted, he still found himself stuck in the spin of the moment portraying John McCain as the boogeyman in the pocket of big oil. That being said, he made a great case for energy independence and alternative fuels.


The “Hill” takes the stage……. she entered like a rock star and the crowd was loud and proud to welcome her. She started by declaring out of the box that she supported Barack Obama calling for a united party with a single purpose proclaiming that they are all on the same team. One of her bumper sticker sound bites was “No way, no how, no McCain” was her cry and proclaimed Barack Obama as her President. She went on to declare her democratic bonafides, championed her pet causes, children, healthcare and equality in wages pronouncing her gratitude for all those who supported including what she called her “Sisterhood or the Traveling pant suits.” She did declare the Supreme Court as a court in a conservative headlock and this was a very “I am woman speech.” With a heavy dose of Bush bashing as well as the first solid attack on John McCain by anyone at the convention thus far.


The tone and substance of her speech was effective, for Hillary. Now this is important, so pay attention boys and girls. While she threw her support in words behind Barack Obama and Joe Biden she was not all that flattering about his qualifications to be President. She used the word “Support” often but she never advanced him as supremely qualified to be the President and settled for advising us that Obama was simply a better choice than McCain. This speech was the speech of her political career and will serve her well moving forward in her political life, which should come as no surprise to those who have followed the Clintons, they advance their own agenda, always. When it came to advancing the cause of Obama the best one word assessment that I can offer is “Sparse” or perhaps “Tepid.”

Of course that is just my take.

I tend to shy away from network coverage of the conventions because I like the raw feed sans the partisan hack jobs by the Info-Tainers who rather than report the news have opted instead to be on air personalities for the respective parties. Instead I tune into CSPAN to watch the convention unfiltered, so keep that in mind as you read my analysis of the speeches.


At first blush the opening night at the DNC as kind of like “Fluffernutter,” it tasted good, but it kind of lacked in any nutritional value. Which in this case is simply a metaphor for answers to what and how Obama will in fact change things. Don’t forget that this particular campaign prides itself on its “Yes We Can” mantra of “Change” as its driving force. As for the much anticipated keynote speaker of the evening, Michelle Obama, she gave a very nice speech and she looked the part of the wife of a man who is one step away from being President of the United States of America.


I did catch the pandering shout out to Hillary Clinton which received a rather raucus applause with the only other comment recieving a matching vigor being when Michelle Obama mentioned the men and women who are serving in the military, recognizing their sacrifice. Other than that the message that I got was very vanilla, plain, no substance, nothing exciting or detail oriented. I really did enjoy the video montage put together by the DNC all kidding aside and I enjoyed her brother's speech as well. The Robinson family seems to be a genuine American family and I have to say that for the record.


The Ted Kennedy piece while apparently touching (I guess that I don’t have a heart) was without anything new and I swear that as he spoke I was listening to his speech from his insurgent styled campaign in 1980 when he challenged Jimmy Carter for the nomination. I get the fact that Uncle Teddy wants to leave behind a grand legacy but this heartless observer isn’t buying into the windswept version of his life as portrayed be the legendary documentarian Ken Burns. I mean most of it was filled with voice overs from John Kerry, that guy was a model for the Muppets. For Democrats this was a monumental moment, a way to recognize a lion of the party as he passes the proverbial torch to the new blood of the Democratic Party, I guess that would be an Obama / Biden era.


Among the other notable speakers, Nancy Pelosi was the same “Do Nothing” nattering nay-bob, or nattering nay-Nancy I guess would be more appropriate. How that woman ever got the Speaker's chair I will never know. I guess it is a lesson in “Seniority” isn’t always a good litmus test for an important position. Jesse Jackson Jr. spoke and from the tone and message of his speech I am pretty sure that he made his father proud. Missouri Senator Claire Mcckaskill gave an effective anti-Bush speech working into her time at the podium a comfortable number of references to a McCain victory being equivalent to four more years of Bush. I don’t know how many times I have to say this, give me substance and avoid the petty anti-Bush jabs. The only thing that has changed from 2004 is the fact that Bush isn’t running this time, but the blue dog democrats can’t let that bone go.


McCain isn’t Bush, no matter how you fold him up and try to force the issue you can’t make a Bush out of a McCain. The American people wanted to hear about the guy who they are nominating, they wanted to learn more about the skinny black kid with the funny name. What they don’t want to hear is hyperbole and tired old campaign styled tactics that have only worked 2 times in the last seven election cycles. Obama made a mistake not picking Hillary for the simple reason that the two elections cycles that have worked for the Presidential nominees in the past 28 years were in fact her husband’s. Democrats, attention all Democrats, leave Bush out of this election, for that matter leave all former Presidents out of this election. Take your eyes off of the rear view mirror and focus on the road AHEAD of you while explaining to us, the passengers, where you are going and how you are going to get there while reminding us exactly who you are. I score the 1st night of the Democratic National Convention as a total bust for lack of forward thinking and a failure to engage.


Of course that is just my take.

The official gun has been fired over the weekend which started the Democratic National Convention. One would think that it was the in the form of the text message that went out to the Obama-nation informing them that Joe Biden of Delaware was the “One's” pick but I think that the gun that was fired was fired by leftist Hollywood and Madonna. At a concert Madonna ran a video clip in the background featuring Hitler, Mugabe and then an image of McCain. What is it with those who love to draw the comparison between who and what they oppose and Hitler? And what is it with Hollywood’s need to inject themselves into the campaign for the White House. Of course when I say Hollywood I mean the entertainment industry in general. Madonna didn’t just tip her leftist hat she removed it and took a bow. Later in her performance she again used the video screens to flash the images of the slain Beatle John Lennon, Gandhi and former Vice President and current darling of the eco-freak movement Al Gore followed by…….. You guessed it “The One” Barack Obama.


So it has begun, the spin by the democrats to demonize John McCain. Now if you have read this blog or anything that I written politically then you know that I am no fan of McCain, I have beaten that drum since he was tapped by conservatives to be their pick. So far in this race for the White House I have been unable to wrap my arms around either McCain or Obama because I believe in fact that they are the same person wrapped in a single package. One is a socialist and the other is a Marxist and neither of them is good for America. But when Madonna starts flashing pictures on a screen at an overseas concert that portrays John McCain in the same light as the brutal dictator of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe and the king of all serial killers Adolf Hitler I have to begin to think maybe, just maybe, this fellow named McCain is the horse that I should be backing.


If this is going to be the strategy of the left, to paint the right has though they were the equivalent to some of the most malevolent characters in society then we are right back where we started and all the Democrats have shown me is that rather than having a plan, issues and a platform their strategy for victory has not changed. Painting a mustache on the face of your opponent and calling hum Hitler is tantamount to printing out bumper stickers with the slogan “Anybody but Bush.” It isn’t a plan, it isn’t articulating the issues that are important to the American people. Now I realize that Madonna and her concert have nothing to do with the Democratic National Convention proper but, it has everything to do with the Democratic National Convention, this is where they get the lion’s share of their funding, from the elite Hollywood types (see my definition of Hollywood above).


Today we get the first glimpse of Barack Obama and his new best friend Senator Joe Biden. Well, his new best attack dog. Now before you get all angry and demonize me for saying that, Joe Biden is an attack dog, he is the meaner side of Barack Obama. Make no mistake, Obama didn’t choose Biden because he lends the campaign credibility, after all, this is the guy who plagiarized work, he is the guy who uttered some racially insensitive slurs at the expense of the Indian community, so being politically correct isn’t in Joe’s lexicon of behavior. No, Obama picked Biden for one reason and one reason only, he is a vicious attack dog with a million dollar smile and he will gut you and show his pearly whites as he does so. I am not sure that Biden was the best pick for Obama, I think that Hillary or Bayh would have signified the change that Obama seems to have wrapped himself in. Picking Joe Biden brings nothing to the table when it comes to the message of change. Choosing Biden just goes to prove that in order to get anywhere in Washington you need a ferryman who knows the lay of the land, where the bodies are buried and what the secret combinations to the vaults are. Bringing in one of the old guard proves to me at least that there is no change on the horizon, that Obama is just another in a long line of guys who almost got there on their own but in the end had to reach for one of those familiar hands to pick them back up.


Of course that is just my take.

I wanted to start off by letting you all know that little Meagan Haught collected enough money to pay for her tuition and is currently attending classes with her freshman classmates. A special thanks to Kevin Grover over at “A Voice of Common Reason ” for alerting his readers and thus my readers to the plight of this young girl and her situation. A special thanks to all of those who contributed to the tuition fund. Kindness and charity is the key ingredient to the greatness of this nation. If it were not for the random acts of those two ingredients this young girl may not have had the opportunity to be around the people who have helped her through a very rough patch in her life. This was a heart tugging story with a very happy ending .


Okay, now onto the business at hand. I am gearing up for the political playoffs that will lead us to the political “Super Bowl.” The Democratic National Convention starts Monday with coverage beginning as early as tomorrow and I will be glued to the news between now and the end of the Republican National convention which begins September 1st. I cannot stress enough how important it is that my readers take the time to catch as much of the coverage as they can during both of these conventions. Remember, this is the run-up to the day we all walk into a voting booth and cast our ballots for the leader of the free world. If you can’t watch the coverage, read the follow-ups in the print and electronic media. Don’t just trust in one source for your information, unless of course you are one of those zombies who believe whatever your favorite “Info-Tainer” spews as fact. For the record, Fox news is clearly an arm of the Republicans and MSNBC and CNN are arms of the Democrats, these outlets spew propaganda when it comes to their respective candidates. I will add a caveat here, MSNBC is so painfully partisan that it is getting to the point that I can’t even stomach their programming any longer. If Barack Obama wins this election, Keith Olbermann should get the nod for Press Secretary in an Obama administration. To be fair I recognize the irony in that jab since the late Tony Snow of Fox News was the Press Secretary for the current Bush Administration, which goes to show you that the press and journalism has become too immured in politics, they have blurred the lines and become propagandists for administrations. So be on your guard and feed your brain with more than just a single source for the news.


My post yesterday went long so I won’t bore you all to tears with another rant containing too many free associations that I am sure made you all think that I had finally snapped. Instead I will opt to end this with a simple, Have a great weekend everybody.


Of course that is just my take.

Often times it mystifies me that I get some of the mail that I get, I find myself explaining the sarcasm that is used as I write. I am a very satiric writer who has a voracious sardonic approach. My love for the candidates this time around as well as the process as it stands today is, well let’s call it what it is, a train wreck. For those who have served in the armed services maybe you are more familiar with this term a “Cluster" (rhymes with puck). If you wanted banal drivel there are millions of lines of words being strung together out on the internet as well as printed on cellulose every day. Pinheads of every stripe and configuration go on the airways and eviscerate their competition on the other side. Here, inside this domain, I come at it my way with my color, my twist and an attempt to rescue my country from the slugs that slowly create snail trails as they make their way through the idiocy provided by countless others as a path through a maze that has no exit but one that drive them deeper and deeper into the abyss that is Washington. I hope that if you take the time to include this blog as part of your journey that you will find that it contains some wisdom and actually leads you somewhere positive and that maybe the irony found herein refreshed you and allows you a respite from the deluge of pure half baked nonsense that is being peddled to you at every turn.


I am not the weepy liberal who cries every time a tree falls in the woods or an atom of “Air” is assaulted by carbon-o-fascist dispatched by the earth destruction brigade, hell bet on flattening the planet into a paper like airplane only to be hurled into into space by heartless conservative neo-thugs as trash to no begin phase two of their destructive blueprint, the wide spread pollution and destruction of the universes. Nor am I the shallow angry man, the redneck or more commonly referred to these days as the conservative who shouts on his television show, radio station or drives around with a gun rack in my truck packed with automatic rifles that I claim are necessary weapons for hunting squirrel terrorist cells planning and plotting in my attic, even though that bearded one sure the hell looks like Osama Bin Laden himself, but I digress. Nor am I the loon who rants about the injustices set upon him and his kin by the Bo-tards in the other party. So let’s recap, I am not the crazy conservative nor am I the weepy feeling liberal. I am a brand of my own and this blog is a brand of its own. So, now that I have fully confused my readers and any alien who decides to drop in on the “internets” or picked up a newspaper and read my work, I have some explaining to do about what has been written about the last two days. I decided to attempt a more stylized approach, bi-partisan rather than antagonistic. Apparently I didn’t do it all that well judging from the emails from those who are otherwise loyal and pretty predictable in their responses.


Now for the explanation, to understand the last two days first you have to understand exactly how heroin affects the brain, oops wrong piece, seriously. I attempted to write those pieces as I listened to the candidates and through the lens of the media that has been covering these two socialists running as Americans from the days they became the presumptive nominees. Mixed in my mainstream media commentary I did salt and pepper it a bit because I couldn't resist. First of all the scoring or awarding Obama a B+ and McCain a solid B, today all you have to do is show up and you get a passing grade. In the end they were all just waiting for what is now called a deferred A+ to be anointed on Obama’s head by his liberal minions and for John McCain to receive his A+ in some Pagan ceremony conducted by a bunch of old men in bad outfits that involves the sacrifice of a farm animal. So don’t feel too juiced up about my scoring system, it will be pushed aside in the name of political correctness.


That remark by Obama when he was asked the question on “When life begins.” His answer “that it was above his pay grade”, pitiful, week, pathetic, I shook my head in shame for this man. In one answer he offended the “Women’s right to Choose” crowd by not performing an actual abortion right there on stage and he offended the right to life crowd by not even taking a stab at when life actually begins. This shows that he doesn’t have the experience to run the executive branch, he is still acting like he is an occupational employee who doesn’t believe in thinking or acting outside the job requirements. On that same question McCain promptly said “When conception occurs.” A good answer, depending on who you debate it with but remember, it was an actual answer. On the question of whether or not evil exists, Obama danced around like his shoe laces were on fire while McCain to his credit smacked that question like it was the ass end of a working mule on crop harvesting day. Also, I am sick and tired of hearing about George W. Bush, whether it is the Obamessiah himself or his minions they are still trying to make the old John Kerry drum beat the tune of “Anybody but Bush.” Granted, they have tweaked it a bit and now it sounds like this, “If you want four more years of Bush.” Hey weepy liberals, Bush isn’t running. I guess that I want to know why they are still battling Bush, maybe it is because they don’t have any real answers to the issues and they find themselves once again saddled with a flashy candidate who appeals to Europeans but cant connect to his fellow Americans. Remember the, “I am a citizen of the world” comment you made in Germany, Obama? There are a lot of us Americans who would have liked to see you be as proud being an American.


We can talk about taxes, healthcare, education. The economy and the ever spinning wheel of despots and dictators that land on GO every six months and the answer is always the same. Obama wants to raise your taxes to pay for close to a TRILLION dollars in new spending while negotiating with terrorists and meeting personally with petty dictators. He has no qualms about hiding his true beliefs when it comes to the church he attended, the one that preached an unbelievable degree of hatred for whites and for America and he expects us all too simply write that one off and forget it. Hey Barack, I have been reading up on Black Liberation Theology and frankly, it scares me. I stated earlier in my mainstream media take on your faith that it isn’t my place to question another man’s belief in God but I can disagree with your concept of who God is and what he delivers unto man. This is a whole theological debate that could take a great deal of time to run through so let’s just agree to disagree on who our respective Jesus Christ model actually is.


Listen, here is the bottom line to the Broke Back event at Saddleback Church. The only person who was genuine on that stage was the Pastor, which is sad to me since he is the man in the middle of the two men vying to lead this country. John McCain answered his questions succinctly and with resolve while Obama stammered a stuttered his way through his. A sure sign to this observer that Obama spent far too much time formulating answers to questions that are basic, questions that even require a simple yes or no answer like, “do you believe in evil,” he couldn’t even spit out a single syllable word for that one. But I can, yes Barack Obama there is evil and if you aren’t careful that is the word that people will begin to associate with your name, granted, you might not measure up as the big bad evil, perhaps you will be known as L’il Evil or even as a Mini Evil. You may think that is harsh but this guy has a pedigree that begs a full investigation, hopefully an investigation done by actual journalists unlike those Elmer Fudd journalists that couldn’t catch that wascally wabbit John Edwards. There is fodder out there, fodder in the form of business associates who are now in jail, Preachers banned from pulpits, a church that is founded in hate with a theology that would make most of middle America blush. A scant 143 days in the U.S. Senate. Another friend who has no compunction about standing on Old Glory to show his disdain for his country, the same man living a life free of remorse for his domestic terror ties and activities. Marxist views regarding America where the rich are punished and economic justice is dispensed by the “ONE” the Obamessiah. This thing will come crashing down because it is nothing more than a house of cards. The Clintons have to be sitting back wondering what the hell happened and John McCain is sitting there ready to step in and take the lead. But don’t celebrate too quickly, without the Marxist regime of Obama we will have to settle for the Socialist regime of McCain. America has a choice, it isn’t pretty but it is real, we can either vote for a Marxist Administration or for a socialist Administration. I will be voting in this election, granted I will be holding my nose as I do it but the truth is there have been far too many brave men and women who have paid the ultimate entry fee to the voting booth for me. My choice may not be right but it is a right that we should hold close to our hearts and protect with every fiber of our being, use it or lose it so I will be using it.


Of course that is just my take.

This was one of the first glimpse of both Obama and McCain onstage together, they share a brief man-hug before McCain sat down for his interview / conversation with Pastor Warren. McCain’s first question out of the gate was a “Three Wiseman” question, to which he answered General David Petraeus, John Lewis the congressman from Georgia 5th district and Meg Whitman the CEO of eBay. All fine people and fine examples of what makes America great, all for different reasons and on different paths. Off the bat McCain seems stiff, exercised in his speech and scripted in his answers. He does have a wry sense of humor that he uses effectively. When asked the same “Moral Failing” question he answered the failure of his first marriage. Regarding America he says that we have failed ourselves especially after 911. He ended it with the best sound bite so far, “Serve an interest greater than your own self interest.” McCain was asked for an example of when he may have bucked his own party, for a specific piece of legislation. Before answering the question he threw out the issues of global warming, out of control spending, torture but he settled on when he wacks a freshman in congress serving under Reagan and he disagreed when that President decided to sent troops to Beirut. This was a way for him to pander to “Reagan-ites” as well as slap those same “Reagan-ites,” a very interesting move on his part, in my humble opinion.


On the question of not wavering, standing ones ground over time, McCain answered with an emphatic push for offshore drilling. This is something that he had been opposed to in the past but as it relates to the here and the now McCain stated we can no longer send the $700 billion a year to those countries that wish us harm. Pastor Warren then asked McCain what the single most gut wrenching decision he ever had to make. McCain answered with what I believe is his strongest point, his moral clarity, character and the sheer metal of the man. He retold the story of the time when he was a POW and the son of a high ranking military commander. As such he was given the chance to leave that prison, he didn’t, he stayed alongside his men for 5 and one half of a year. If there ever was a doubt about this man’s character I hope that everyone who reads this can take a minute and wonder to themselves if Barack Obama, or even if they would have the moral fiber to make that call. That was the once in a lifetime shot at proving who you are and John McCain hit it out of the park. Showed where his loyalties were, where his character comes from and what we should all hope of ourselves.


Now we move onto matters of faith to which McCain answered that he was saved and forgiven denoting his Christian beliefs. He pulled another story from his time as a POW to illustrate his beliefs and it was touching, brief in its retelling put powerful. I again will not judge another man’s faith, and just as I take Obama at his word, I take McCain at his that he believes as he states he does. Onto the issue of abortion, Obama answered the question of when life begins by dodging the question “it is above my pay grade.” McCain hit the question head on and stated that life begins at conception. Of course as the Republican candidate I would not expect any other answer and the same goes for Obama’s answer. This is a fractured subject in America and one that will not be answered until we can sit down and have an honest discussion about it, so I will skip past the deeper answers given by McCain because both candidates are simply towing the party line. McCain went on to answer the question of gay marriage as one would expect a republican to, he defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Establishing his side of the issue by slamming California’s decision to redefine marriage, he did sound as though he was wavering a bit on civil unions and could support that, but you would have to listen and figure out what he meant between the lines. Stem cells popped up and again the party line was firm, no embryonic stem cells, pursuing the other form of stem cells seemed to be his option.


On the topic of evil and if it exists and how we should deal with it McCain was very clear that evil must be defeated, it can’t be negotiated with, reasoned with or coddled and he made the promise of following Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell. He also feels that the war of the future, the evil of the future is the fight against Islamofascists with the key battleground being the theater in the Middle East. We moved on to which justice McCain would not have appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court, big surprise when the answer turned out to be Justice Ginsberg (Ruth Bader) Justice Breyer (Stephen) Justice Souter (David) and Justice Stevens (John Paul) all liberal justices. These are throw away questions, retarded questions, naturally Obama would boot off the conservative justices and McCain would boot off the liberal ones, this isn’t rocket science. McCain was asked about faith based organizations and he would encourage a broader role for those organizations. On the issue of schools he differed from Obama by advancing the idea of merit based pay with an additional penalty for bad teachers, choice in schools which is a departure from and expanding role of public schools and teacher's unions under an Obama administration. This is the same old argument that has been going on between liberals and conservatives, do you believe in choice and competition, merit based pay or do you believe in the public school model? Now we move to taxes and the definition of what and who the rich are. McCain booted this question around and wouldn’t settle on a number but instead opted for an “Idea” of what rich is and yammered on about just keeping taxes low for everyone. Now while I am not happy about his non-specific answers I am happy when a politician uses the words lower taxes for all. Sorry I am like Pavlov’s dog on this issue since I feel like I am constantly getting bent over the barrel when it comes to taxes. McCain wants to keep them low and Obama talks about raising them, you figure out who wins on that issue in my mind.


Overall I give McCain a solid B on his performance. That’s right his “Performance” because after all is said and done both McCain and Obama are simply performing for our votes. They are picking their words carefully and doing their best to look and play the part of President effectively. This is all going to boil down to who America wants to cast in the role of President. Do they want the young, articulate, well coifed and smooth tongued young up and comer or do they want the grizzled veteran who has hacked his way through the jungle of politicos, knows every nook and cranny, where the bodies are buried and the secrets are hidden. Sitting before us are two polar opposites in every sense of the word and the decision is yours and yours alone. So choose wisely my readers, since they are so opposite they would lead this country in different directions. Which direction are you most comfortable with? If you want to watch McCain or Obama's perfprmance on Stage with Pastor Warren just click here.





Of course this has just been my take.

Saddleback Church was the site of the first glimpse into what this 2008 campaign is going to look like, kind of. Both Barack Obama and John McCain joined Pastor Rick Warren in an interview style setting to answer questions posed by the leader of one of the largest Evangelical Churches in California. What would a political event be without controversy right out of the gate? The participants were supposed to go before the Pastor sans questions or any kind of “Heads-Up” and since Barack Obama went first there have been cries that McCain listened in advance to his appearance on the stage. In other words, McCain cheated, he has been charged with breaching the “Cone of Silence.” I am yawning right now, this type of petty politics bores me to tears. Back to the stage, Pastor Warren started out by making the statement that we should be able to disagree in this country while maintaining respect for one another without demonizing those who oppose us, a statement that I attempt to live by.


Obama seemed comfortable on the stage and in this type of forum. You can tell that as Obama answers questions he is literally thinking about every word that is coming out of his mouth, almost counting them. This is something that I have noticed getting worse over time, he is becoming more calculating in his speeches and is losing the natural flow that we saw during his keynote address at the 2004 DNC convention. The Pastor queried Obama on what his greatest moral fault might be and to that question Obama answered; His selfishness. His actions as a young man that caused him to think of only himself and those things that he did that were selfish; drinking, taking drugs, his attitude in general. I found that to be refreshing, honest and in no way do I doubt his reflections. The conversation switched to matters of politics and the issue of flip-flopping and whether or not that was a political crutch or a matter of practicality. Obama danced his way around this question and it segued into his opposition of the war. Now this is a personal observation, but I saw a man take an issue and twist it to his advantage like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. I believed him as he talked about opposing the war but Obama lost me as he embellished a bit too much, waxing philosophical with advisors over the long term affect of the war, it was all a bit too smooth. Obama professed his testimony in Jesus and as a Christian myself I have to state for the record that I am in no position to judge another man when it comes to his relationship with God. Obama acquitted himself nicely as a Christian and appeared to understand the fundamentals when it comes to the atonement, redemption and the meaning of believing in Jesus Christ.


It got a little interesting for me as the Pastor went on to query Obama about the hot button issue of abortion, one of the kryptonite issues for liberal Christians. Obama, the great orator and off the cuff master answered the abortion question by simply stating that it was above his pay grade. Now this is where I take issue, you are seeking the office of President, the highest leadership post in the free world, you can’t claim that this is above your pay grade. I score that one as a dodge and a swerve and a punt all in the same frame. On this particular issue he equivocated like I have never seen. There is a simple explanation that can satisfy both sides to this issue but I have yet to hear a candidate articulate it well. We visited the issue of marriage next, to which Obama declared that marriage is between a man and a woman, he jumped through the side door by opting for civil unions again equivocating before an evangelical audience. We moved on to stem cell research, and Obama towed the party line with a rather rational explanation that worked. On the topic of “Evil” Obama agreed that it does exist and he believes that evil has to be confronted squarely and head on. He artfully stated that evil has been perpetrated in the name of good, a slap at many republican issues and platforms, more specifically the war effort in Iraq, a point that didn’t escape me and offended me as well.


The pastor then went on to ask about which Justices he (Obama) would not have nominated to the Supreme Court to which Obama answered Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia. Being in an evangelical forum he danced around the nomination of Justice Roberts, a popular figure among evangelicals. Obama was careful to slap him, but slap him he did. We moved into faith based organizations and Obama danced around this issue as well but in the hiring practices of those organizations we saw Obama dancing very fast. On to education, again, Obama towed the party line and would not acquiesce to anything other than the views and practices of the members of the teachers unions that are among the democrat’s highest ranking memberships.


The conversation / interview moved on to taxes and who Obama defines as the rich. This is where my ears perked up because now Obama defines rich as those who make above $150,000 a year. When this started, defining the rich for Obama there was no number attached, it was left to our individual definitions, the boogey man who makes all the money. Obama was then forced to define “Rich” and it became those making $250,000 a year, now in front of Pastor Warren we have bottomed out at $150K, I guess that even the rich are subject to recessions and depressions. This is where the guilt comes. Obama asks the rhetorical questions, do we want better schools, better roads, a better country? He then says that we have to pay for it, that nothing is free. My problem is that if we want to solve the problem we need to stop the bleeding first, the spending in Washington, then we can address the need for higher taxes. The thought that we take more money from more people first and then we address spending is purely a political line of thought.


Overall I would give Obama a B+ in his performance even though I hate to use the word performance. He seems very comfortable and has learned from his time on the stump. He is painfully calculated in his responses and has a tremendous base of knowledge to work from. He seemed to warm up the crowd at Saddleback and on the tough issues like abortion, gay marriage and issues of faith he acquitted himself nicely. He has the uncanny ability to answer a question by not answering which is usually a political proficiency that is culled over time. He danced around many of the issues but in the end I think that he did enough to keep those who are sitting on the fence when it comes to his candidacy still sitting on the fence, in other words, he didn’t screw up. This went long so I will cover McCain’s appearance at Saddleback tomorrow. If you want to watch Obama or McCain’s interview with Pastor Warren just click here.


Of course this has just been my take.

I had dinner with friends over the weekend and an interesting topic came up, alternative fuels. As anybody who has read this blog can tell by now, I am very political in my writing and I tend to lean towards the right in my thinking. Now just because I lean towards the right in my thinking doesn’t mean that I follow the right blindly. There are plenty of issues that those on the right don’t seem to get, or don’t care about or they talk a good game about it but they never seem to do anything about it. Alternative fuel seems to fit in the category of talking a good game but never doing anything about it. When it comes to alternative fuels it is my opinion that both parties are guilty of talking about it but in the end doing nothing.


Since the fuel crisis in the 70’s both parties have been in power and neither party has seriously pursued viable options to fossil fuels. Sure they talk a good game. During campaigns we hear all about the need. We hear all about the short comings of the other party when it comes to action. Politicians come and go, parties move in and out of power and we are left driving the same cars that burn the same fossil fuel while we watch the price of gas undulate like a fat man on a diet. When will those who set policy in this country get the message and do something about it? We can put a man on the moon but we can’t develop a renewable energy source. We explore new planets in our galaxy using unmanned probes but we can’t move away from fossil fuels.


Of all the issues out there that are important to the working men and women of this country no issue would have a bigger impact if addressed than developing an alternative cheaper fuel source. Who cares about healthcare in this country if you can’t afford the gas to get to the hospital? Who cares about employment if you can’t afford the gas to get to work? Who cares about national security if we are forced to buy fuel from those who wish to do us harm? Like it or not I also think that there is a toll we are taking on the environment when it comes to fossil fuels. What that toll is I honestly can’t say. What I can say is even if it is minor, we should care. I had a boss once who asked me to take on a difficult project, one that someone had been working on and had been unable to make any progress on. I told him I would try. He promptly told me to sit back down, telling me that the guy who was already doing it was trying. The moral to this little bit of wisdom; we need politicians who are done trying, we need people who will just commit and get it done. America is smarter than this.


Earlier when I wrote, “When it comes to alternative fuels it is my opinion that both parties are guilty of talking about it but in the end doing nothing.” The ironic thing, the funny thing, the absurd thing is that I wrote this entire piece several years ago, well except for this last paragraph of course. My point is that we have seen and heard all of this before, year after year, election after election and where are we today? We are still burning fossil fuels to power the same combustion engines that we have always driven. The guys that have come and gone as Presidents have been “Trying” and well, trying just isn’t going to get it done. Alternative energy is like everything else that politicians talk about, it is just that, talk. We need action, not words, we can no longer simply and blindly trust the pre-election terminology of a different version of the same old thing. As far as I am concerned Barack Hussein Obama and John Sidney McCain are just spouting the same old tired and worn out rhetoric that their predecessors spewed. They are guilty of violating the air quality in this country through the emission of noxious common nonsense, recycling the same nattering over and over without producing one original idea between them. I wish they would both just sit down and shut up because we have had plenty of empty suits just like them “Trying.”




Of course that is just my take.

I’m cutting bait today, beating a path out of my office. I don’t feel like writing, and if you aren’t feeling it, you can’t make it happen so my recommendation today is to head on over to:


A Voice of Common Reason : Kevin has an interesting Humanitarian story online that everyone should read and think about.


Kyle-Anne Shiver : Kyle has posted a memo from the desk of David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign Chair that is unbelievable. I can’t vouch for its authenticity but if true it made my skin crawl.


American Thinker : Another website filled with Gems.


Politico.Com : Since they seem to always be on the cutting edge, love their site and know that if you visited it you would find something to your liking.



Anyway, I am outta here but I didn’t want to leave you empty handed. So visit those sites and I hope that you enjoy the material you find there.



Of course that is just my life.

I feel the need to clarify a few things. First, I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. However I am probably closer to being a conservative rather than a liberal. I am a registered Independent. My problem is with the two party system that has evolved into its current incarnation. Washington is broken, our way of government is broken and “The Constitution” has been shredded into a document that is unrecognizable. Many on the left want to place the blame on those on the right, they especially want to point the finger of blame at President George W. Bush. My belief is that while Bush has done a lot to tinker with the constitution, the destruction of that founding document has been taking place for many years, prior to the arrival of the current President. The Constitution is something that holds a special place in my heart personally. A copy of it hangs in my office and I know what it says. I may not be a constitutional expert but at least I feel comfortable talking about it, which is something I can’t say about most Americans. Take a minute and be honest with yourself, I am not asking you to share this with anybody else, when was the last time you read the constitution?


Sure, people will boast about their working knowledge of government, about what they feel is at the heart of all that troubles this nation but in the end while people trumpet their opinions they base those opinions on little more than personal passionate feelings rather than sound practical knowledge. This is why Barack Obama has gained so much popularity not only here in this country but he has captured the imagination of an entire world. It isn’t because of his pure knowledge and understanding of our government. By his own admission he is a community organizer from the South Side of Chicago, something he is rather bellicose about. In truth he has been a United States Senator for less than 200 days. Now while I am laying out Barack Obama I don’t want you to make the natural assumption that I think that John McCain is any more knowledgeable about the constitution. However, he does have a better understanding of how our government actually works.


Right about now you are thinking that this is my way of telling you that John McCain is more qualified because of his familiarity with the day to day inner workings of the Washington scene. Au contraire mon ami. Barack Obama suffers from the lack of experience necessary in my mind as well as a skewed sociological view while John McCain is simply too embedded, part of the overall problem, an endemic part of the epidemic that has swept Washington. I have long advocated a move away from the two party system that is currently the pattern or the norm. I realize that we have third party candidates but for the most part they are looked at as fringe dwellers by the mainstream. I also realize that this country is starved for change. So much so that they are looking to a man like Barack Obama to usher in that change they are so hungry for. My fear is that while Obama does in fact represent change, America isn’t ready or prepared for the type of change that this freshman senator from Illinois will bring. Based on his life, his beliefs and despite the image that is being fostered by the media, Barack Obama represents a side of this country that if exposed is about as fringe as it gets. I have laid this challenge out before and until this election is said and done I will continue to pose it to all those who read what I write. Investigate the men who say they want to be your President, the men who will set the tone and the direction of the country that you will be leaving for your children and your children’s children. If you take the time to really look at Barack Obama, research the life and times of this man and those who he looked to as he gathered his life’s knowledge you will see that it is foreign to what you know to be true, it is foreign to the original Constitution of the United States of America.


Now while I am dumping on Obama understand that with McCain you get much of the same. His sponsoring of campaign finance reform and the McCain-Feingold legislation that resulted smacks of un-constitutional blather. McCain’s reforms on illegal immigration are absurd and a violation of the Constitution. I do not want to come off as a one hit wonder, the guy who writes Op/Ed pieces that skewer Obama while favoring McCain because I think that until we rid Washington of those who wish to turn the constitution on its head we will continue to see a steady decline in this country. The government is here to protect and serve the people, politicians today have usurped their authority and trumped their duties in an effort to gain further control and power over the people and the people’s property, their rights and their obligations. The beauty of the constitution is its simplicity and those who dwell in the halls of congress and roam the offices of the White House have done nothing but muddy the waters, make the simple difficult and obfuscate clarity.


Of course that is just my take.

Today I have nothing, after trolling the pages of the web while listening to the news in the background I came up empty. Maybe it is the Olympic Games and the fact that the news cycle slows to a crawl during that time. Everywhere I turn it seems as though the news organizations are just cleaning up all the stories that they reported on and left hanging out there without a resolution. With the election fast approaching the candidates seem to be napping, getting ready for the nonstop push through the finish line in November. I guess that I am a little miffed that during this slow time the media hasn’t taken the time to do a little research on the candidates who stand before us wanting to lead us, especially Barack Obama.


There is so much about Barry that I don’t know, that I have to discover all on my own. I am in the process of reading his first book, “Dreams of my Father” and I have to say it is a treasure trove of information, an insight into the man who has gained so much popularity in a relatively short time. I am confused over the fact that nobody in the press, liberal or conservative alike has challenged the second most powerful man in the country. Why haven’t the conservative hawks like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity taken him to task over the words in the book? Why hasn’t liberal stalwarts championed the liberal bordering on socialistic sentiments of the text? If you have read this book and you are a conservative you would find moments in the book where you would shrink in horror and if you were a proud liberal you would puff your chest out in pride at the Che Quevarea message being delivered by an American running for President.


I am not sure why, but we are seeing a white washed version of the candidate Barack Obama, a version that is being portrayed to the general population in as a softer version of the real man. It wasn’t so long ago that the New Yorker ran a cover showing the more militant side of the Obama’s only to find themselves having to back pedal and fall on the satire sword. After reading the book I have to wonder if satire is really an artful dodge or a code meant to force us to look at a version of reality that has been staring us in the face since this campaign began. I will openly admit that with my eyes failing it does take me longer than average, way longer, to actually read a book and I haven’t read the entire text but the pages that have passed what is left of the optic nerves of this writer have raised at least a few red flags. The problem is that for whatever reason there is either an antipathy toward the previous life and times of Barack Hussein Obama or a genuine fear in exposing that life. Either case is enough to worry me and begs the question, why? Why is the media apathetic towards the life and times that shaped the Obamas? Sure, we get the candy coated moments, the cute times that we all struggled through but what about seeking to learn more about why the Obama’s felt it necessary to maintain a membership in a hate filled church, one that taught Black Liberation Theology under the guise of Christianity? Where is that explanation? How can we so easily wipe away the anger that would find this future potential President sitting at the feet of a bigot, a hate monger, someone who believes in the worst about America rather than the promise and the hope of America?


The reporting on the possible future President of the United States reminds me of the lack of reporting that went on surrounding John Edwards and the affair that was going on under the collective noses of the mainstream media. These watchdogs of American society failed us at the single job that they have, to ferret out the truth and to expose it. The single thing that the media has proven over the last several years is that they will look into only those truths that they deem as relevant and important rather than doing the job they were taught to do, trained to do. Truth has become a matter of inconvenience to them rather than a matter of journalism. If they like you, if they are affiliated with your party, then the truth is subjective rather than objective. Many say that the John Edwards affair may hurt the democrats overall in the upcoming elections, I happen to agree with that thought process but for different reasons. What John Edwards has taught us is that American Journalism is asleep at the switch and prone to cover only those stories that piqué their own personal curiosities and fit within their own personal agendas. If you haven’t taken the time to read about the men who are asking for your vote I suggest that you take the time to do so. Voting is a massive responsibility and one that should be exercised with great care and only after one has edified themselves with available information. Don’t just sit back and let your favorite “Info-Tainer” tell you who to vote for and why, figure it out on your own or suffer with the choice of a media that hasn’t been able to report the truth honestly for some time now. Fox news is in the tank for conservatives, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN are all in the tank for Liberals, if you rely on any one of those venues for your information then you are nothing more than an extension of their views, a puppet. There is enough unbiased information out there for you to come to your own conclusions sans the mainstream media and responsible people never rely on the words written or spoken of mouthpieces for political parties or candidates.


Of course that is just my take.

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