Why Would Anyone Work For That Nutjob??

   And now for really important commentary...

   The press conference was too painful for me to reference directly so this will have to suffice for now!

Palin and "Gotcha" Journalism

   It just gets worse..

   Please make it stop.

   Is it November 4th yet?!

I Disagree With Obama On The Bailout

   I am disappointed to see him enthusiastic about passing the bailout but I'm not surprised given his situation politically. "Rescue plan", my ass!

Now I Know I'm Not Being A Partisan

   If Fareed feels this way, it is likely true..

My Representative (And A Bunch Of Others) Did The Right Thing!

   Rep. Mark Udall did the right thing by rejecting this pile of excrement!

Gov. Palin's Interview With Katie Couric

   It has been sprinkled liberally (pun not intended! :) ) across the web so I will not do so here but suffice it to say, Palin's interview with Couric was SCARY! She is clearly a nightmare unscripted.

Paul Newman Dies

   Boo. We've witnessed the passing of a cinematic legend. And adding insult to injury, the salad dressing industry will never be the same again.

The Inevitable Post-Debate Analysis

   I'll keep it short.

   McCain looked like an old guy, who has waited his turn in line but who is sadly out-of-his-league when it comes to providing a new direction for our country. The financial crisis, his bizarre decision to suspend his campaign, his almost-no-show to the debate, and his continued fervent support for a running mate that plenty of conservatives are saying needs to remove herself from the ticket, equals a no-go for his shot at president.

   Obama did not perform as well as he could have but was solid. He actually answered most of Lehrer's questions rather than segueing into unrelated monologues on all things military, as McCain did.

   Honestly, Obama just came across as much more presidential even if he didn't decisively "win" the debate.

   I can hardly wait for the VP debate next week.

Great Quote Regarding Gov. Palin

   Remind me again why Sen. Obama did not pick Sen. Hagel as his running mate?!

Oh, So Now You're GOING To Debate..

   What a joke!! This smells like political theatre at its worst!

Props To The GOP Reps

   Wow..There are a number of GOP representatives actually representing their constituents who are overwhelmingly (by some accounts 90-1) against the bailout plan!

The Single-Threaded President

   Does Sen. McCain honestly believe the president has the luxury of focusing on one issue at a time?!

   Only as a senator can you not be expected to do your day job as you apply for a new one. Even as you tout your successes in your current job as the reason for why you should get the new job.

Ahh..Now I Hear Some Outrage!

   Ahh..Now I hear some outrage about the handout..errr..bailout and guess what - they've got my talking points (exec compensation, no golden parachutes, etc.)

Show Me Your Lightning Bolt!

   Ahh..There's what I've been looking for for three weeks now. The Chargers FINALLY got their act together and showed some cohesion tonight on MNF.

   I knew it would happen eventually - I had just hoped it would be prior to Week 3!

   They have a long slog ahead.

Where's The Outrage?

   $700 billion to bailout these fucking criminals on Wall Street?! Are you kidding me?

   I am ready for the outrage - and I hope it comes HARD from every Main Street in America. This shit has got to stop. Throw out the crooks in Washington. Throw out the CEOs that engage in risky behavior with no personal risk.

   It is time to empower the SEC with additional powers to govern publicly-traded companies. It is in all our best interests.

A Day Off

   What a nice break to be away from the kids for an entire day. Though we love them dearly and can't imagine not having them as a part of our family, it is also a fact that my wife and I need a break from them from time to time. We don't get away often enough so when we actually do it is time to be treasured.

Arrrgh...Avast Ye Scurvy Dogs!

   Yes, it is International Speak Like a Pirate Day again and this year things are so grim economically that the pirates are plundering our pocketbooks in broad daylight.

   What a debacle.

Stock Market Madness

   Chalk up another good one from Mark Cuban - this time on the inevitably tumultuous stock markets.

   What really rings true to me is his suggestions about how to, if not fix, at least improve future prospects, namely making CEOs responsible for SOMETHING.

   As I recall, good old Sarbanes-Oxley was supposed to do that and all it got us was a ton of shitwork in IT, generating reports, for Accenture, and the others that created the "SOX Auditor" gravy train, to review. All the while fattening their wallets with a new, endless source of billable hours.

A Vote For Love - It Is Hard To Argue Against

   I must officially congratulate Brad Pitt on a truly decent example of donating with his heart.

   Instead of lambasting those who have proposed and are supporting this legislation, Pitt issued a positive statement about why he opposes it.

   Bravo.

Issues Please!

   OK, I will cop to being a part of the problem, but this has gotten completely out-of-hand. The sniping, excerpting, misleading, and yes, outright lying that has happened on both sides of this presidential campaign is now, in my estimation, officially nauseating.

   Please, please, please, Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain (and your distinguished running mates) get back to talking about real issues that affect real Americans! And not just broad generalities either - I'm talking details about implementation of all these great new policies you're extolling!

   Can we please get back to the campaigns talking positively, about what they bring to the table, rather than negatively about how bad the other guy is?

   I remain hopeful that the first debate next week will force them both to get back to selling themselves rather than merely warning us about their opponent.

An Affront To The Integrity Of The Game

   I thought by now I'd have cooled down but it has only gotten worse.

   My beloved San Diego Chargers got severely jobbed by the officials in their game against the Denver Broncos yesterday afternoon.

   The web is crawling with regurgitations and analysis about what transpired but suffice it to say that the very people entrusted with ensuring that the teams on the field of play are the ones that decide the outcome of a football game made a travesty of the instant replay system and the hallowed NFL rule book.

   Now I know there are a million other ways the Chargers could have won had they played better throughout the game, but the fact remains (and Ed Hochuli, the ref, acknowledged it himself) that the Bolts had a game stolen from them.

   Considering that, despite the fact it is only Week 2, this was a hotly contested division game, you'd think the officials would consciously try harder than usual to let the players play. But they didn't and I sincerely hope this doesn't end up either getting the Broncos to the playoffs or preventing the Chargers from making it in. Because if it does, the outcome of this game will be forever asterisked in mine and other fans' minds.

Obama Speech Tickets? No Dice.

   After learning via an email from Obama's campaign that he'd be speaking in Golden on Tuesday morning, my son and I made an attempt to secure me a ticket. We headed for the Golden campaign office and arrived 15 minutes before it was set to open. Yeeeeahhh..that wasn't going to work. The line was about half a mile long.

   We turned around and, at my son's insistence, headed for the Olde Town Arvada campaign office. By the time we arrived there, 15 minutes into tickets being distributed, the line was still at least 300 people long.

   A tad disappointed, but pleasantly surprised, we headed home in time for the early NFL games, and content that if that many people wanted to so badly see Obama speak that they had turned out in droves early Sunday morning, Colorado (and more critically, our swing county of Jefferson) must still be in play.

A New Take On Concerns About McCain's Credentials

   Mark Cuban, who I admire despite The Benefactor, has a very poignant post up on his blog which spells out what I consider to be salient concerns about McCain's admitted technical ineptitude.

   While there has been plenty of chatter from the left about all manner of concerns about McCain, this comes from a guy who has clearly stated he is not enamored of all things Obama, so it seems that much more difficult to refute with the typical right-wing bluster.

Nice Work, Barbara!

   I have to say I never expected The View to be the only mainstream media entity to actually ask McCain some hard questions!!! Nice work!!

Sen. Lieberman - Our Tireless Protector

   Thank goodness for Connecticut's Sen. Joe Lieberman. Without him we'd all live in mortal fear of YouTube.

Reflecting On Seven Years From That Fateful Day

   I know everyone and their monkey's uncle is probably writing a 9/11 remembrance post this morning and, in that respect, I am no different.

   I clearly remember where I was and what I was doing when the towers fell (and when they were hit, for that matter).

   I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes for the families affected directly by this tragedy. And for what has transpired since then to hedge against something like this happening again.

   A lot has been said claiming we are safer than the we were back then but I am not fully convinced. Per usual, our government has taken the reactionary steps to treat the outcomes, not the roots of the problem. All the while eroding our civil liberties and our reputation around the world.

   Sadly, the fact that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi has not motivated us, in the seven years since that dark day, to aggressively move away from dependence on their oil. So as we continue to drive our cars we continue paying for future potential terrorists' Wahhabi education. We don't have comprehensive immigration reform - we have the polarized views of the amnesty-providers and the xenophobes.

   I guess what I'm really trying to say is that this marks a sad day - a sad day in history for what happened back on that Tuesday morning and a sad day for what has not yet happened as of this Thursday morning.

Consistent Banana Slicing

   Though not a huge Woody Allen fan, I saw this quote from him in Newsweek a few issues back and laughed out loud:

   On his habit of cutting a banana into seven slices each morning:

      "I know it would be a total coincidence if I didn't slice it into seven pieces,
      and my family were killed in a fire...I understand that there could be no    correlation, but, you know, the guilt would be too much for me to bear, so it's    easier for me to cut the stupid banana."

Love The Screenshot

The title says it all. Not the video at the top of the page but the whiteboard shot midway down the page.

"Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less"

   As seen on a bumper sticker of a car I was behind on the freeway this evening on my way home from work.

   What apparently would not fit on the sticker, and therefore was omitted, was "..In 10 Years Or So."

   Not as catchy but slightly more accurate.

   Hey, smart people, how about a little forward thinking, OK?!

   Newsflash - we're running out of dinosaur remains to pump out of the ground. Maybe we should stop giving these oil companies, that are making record profits while we the customers suffer, tax breaks and demand that that money be spent on working toward using something other than oil to drive our economy.

   Things like this make me wonder how some people can plan far enough ahead to set their alarm clock to get up early every morning and go to their job as a cog in the machine. Ridiculous.

Ahhh..The First Sunday Of The Football Season!

   Only problem is..my damn Chargers lost.

   I guess that is what happens when you're playing at home, are considered a 10-point favorite, and are overconfident that you can beat a mediocre NFC team from the East Coast who is missing their best player.

   Though Phillip Rivers and LT both played solid games, the defense allowed Carolina's running backs to walk all over them and couldn't prevent a last-second touchdown on 4th and goal.

   Flush..The season is still VERY early but this was not a good way to start it off.

Important Graphical Renderings

   I saw this in Wired - awesome!

Ahh..There Is Hope

   Does this mean that people are genuinely scared now of how bad it could be if McCain gets elected and then suffers an unexpected expiration?!

Good Man, Wrong Man

   Sen. John McCain's speech this evening, accepting the Republican party's nomination for president, reminded all of us of his long service to our country.

   This makes him, in my estimation, a good man.

   The problem here is that he is also the wrong man for the job.

   He is old and frankly, has served plenty of time in Washington. If term limits were established, as I think they should be, for all elected offices, he would not be a senator today.

   I want someone that is of, or close to, my generation, to represent me. Such a person is far more likely to champion goals and target problems relevant to me and my family.

   And more importantly, though a decent, loyal patriotic, Sen. McCain's stands on the issues that matter to me, today, are in direct conflict with mine.

The Difference Between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom?

   In tonight's example, only that pitt bulls do not make good lap dogs.

   Seriously, I was not terribly impressed by Gov. Sarah Palin this evening. She sure talked tough but it was clearly not a speech she herself wrote. Or at least I hope it wasn't. Because it was full of ridicule and personal criticism of Barack Obama. I imagine he might now start being a bit less civil to her. The outright lies about Obama's record were pretty weak.

   Maybe I'm not being fair to her and maybe I was already resistant following my pal Rudy Giuliani's piece of shit...err..work. But she is clearly not who I want in the number 2 position at the top of the food chain. Her accent and persistent grin remind me, frightfully, of that high school graduation speaker who tries to be bigger and tougher than she really is and just ends up looking a bit ridiculous.

   I hope she realizes how nasty things are going to get here soon. And I hope she'll swap out the glasses for contacts prior to the VP debate as I'd hate to see Biden have to ask her, on camera, to remove the specs before he clocks her! :)

My Decision Has Been Made

   Though I doubt it comes as a surprise to anyone that has read any of my past posts, I am totally committed to casting my vote in November for Obama/Biden.

   During the primaries, on the Republican side, I clearly connected the most with Ron Paul (for the revolutionary change he represented/represents) and John McCain for his bipartisan record and moderate stand on most issues. The deal breaker for me with McCain, of course, was his unyielding, unapologetic support of the Iraq war. I hate to even contemplate being labeled a single-issue voter, however, but the war is a big one. Except for energy independence, which any rational person will tell you is closely tied to the war, Iraq is my number one concern because it is damaging us in so many ways.

   Now McCain has picked his vice presidential running mate and, in so doing, has sealed the case against him in my mind.

   Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is closer to my age than anyone else on either party's ticket, has a family, is ambitious, and female - all attributes I consider positive.

   But she is far more conservative than even he is - strictly anti-choice and pro-drilling in ANWR.

   So while I consider the ethics investigation being conducted against her, the fact that she has been governor (of a state with 660,000 residents) a whole year and a half, and that she has zero foreign policy experience, unfortunate, the previous paragraph's sentence is all I need to know she is not in line with my beliefs.

   It has been well-documented that she is a Roman Catholic, that she and her husband have five kids, the most recent one having Down Syndrome. Her most recent family news has been the revelation that her 17-year-old, unmarried daughter is 5 months pregnant.

   Much has been made by both the Obama/Biden and the McCain/Palin campaigns about family being out-of-bounds and while I agree that blasting people's families, and certainly their minor children, in the media is not what people should be focused on, it actually IS very relevant to me.

   Because here is what this tells me about Sarah Palin. She, per traditional Catholic beliefs, does not personally believe in using birth control, hence the five kids. She does not believe in abortion under any circumstance (she allowed herself to get pregnant at 43 or 44, an age at which women have become increasingly prone to bearing babies with birth defects), evidenced by the fact that she knew during her pregnancy that her youngest son would be born with Down Syndrome. And she apparently preached abstinence only to her daughter, despite the well-documented fact that teenage kids from religious families have the same hormonal urges as those from non-religious families. Moral to this whole story - she puts religious beliefs ahead of common sense. And exhibits very suspect judgment.

   Maybe this explains why she actually thinks women that were Hillary Clinton supporters will now support her, nevermind that she has completely opposite views to Clinton on most traditionally "female issues."

   Now, I'm sure she is a good person, as I believe McCain to be, and even George W. Bush probably is (if not terribly bright and ridiculously stubborn). In fact, only Dick Cheney strikes me as someone in the current administration that truly is a bad person. But do I want her as the vice president? And further, do I want her as the next-in-line to the Oval Office should something render a President McCain incapacitated or dead?

   That answer, is clearly "No!"

Happy Labor Day!

   Happy Labor Day to one and all!

   I hope you have the day off (I recognize, that horribly ironic as it is, some folks must work on this holiday) and have fun plans with family and friends planned.

   Cherish every minute you get to spend with them!