The Age Issue

FYI - the MOVE continues.  Still working on getting daughter settled into the new place.  We're nearing the end of the major part of the MOVE, though.  Still, that's why posts have been few.  By the time evening rolls around, I'm tired.  And early morning doesn't last as long as usual, when you have extra things to do!

So, one quick note from the campaign trail. Where, it seems, age is becoming a real, but subtle, issue.

Obama Takes Cues From Bill Clinton In Handling McCain's Age

They have been the preferred adjectives for the Obama campaign when going after its opponent. Following a John McCain misstatement, policy shift, or harsh attack, the Senator is usually labeled "confused," "angry," or a hybrid of the two. Aides to the Illinois Democrat insist there is no deeper meaning to their word choices. But it is hard not to notice the underlying suggestion of such remarks: John McCain is old. It is a standard fare in politics to [...]

Surprised?

Not I. Not at all.

McClellan: The White House Sends ‘Talking Points’ To Fox News Commentators And They Use Them

On MSNBC’s Hardball last night, host Chris Matthews asked former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan if he saw “FOX television as a tool” to get the White House’s “message out” while he was in the Bush administration. “Certainly there were commentators and other, pundits at FOX News, that were useful to the White House,” [...]

Name The Team

Come on!  Get creative, folks!  I'm betting most all of us could do better with the names than the folks next door in Oklahoma are doing!  Here's some comic relief on a hot Saturday night.

Idiotic Names Proposed For Oklahoma City NBA Team

From the Sports Desk... The NBA has filed for trademark rights to six potential nicknames for the league's new, stolen Oklahoma City franchise. Now, here's what's funny. All of the names are absolute train wrecks. They're laughably bad. It seems [...]

Energy Costs

Note that I'm the guy who just got the highest electric bill he's EVER received, and this in the house that does not have a pool to keep circulating!  I can only imagine what next month will bring, since we're locked in a two week cycle of 100 degree highs. HELP!  And, for those in the cold parts of the country, a potential bit of help for heating this winter is in trouble.

Senate Republicans block heating aid bill

Republicans on Saturday blocked the Senate from considering a bill next week that would nearly double federal aid to help the poor pay heating and air-conditioning bills. Although a dozen Senate Republicans support the measure, most voted with GOP leaders who would rather spend the time trumpeting their [...]

Quick Saturday Update

It's been a busy day.  Hit the farmer's market with the kids and their families (including the future in-laws), grabbed lunch downtown (I'm always surprised at the number of establishments that opt to become "over 21" to allow smoking, at the expense of losing lots of potential business from families with children. We'll spend much of tomorrow helping our daughter move from her apartment into a house.  It's only minutes from us, so that's a GOOD thing!  More family "stuff" on tap for tonight, but I took a moment to scan bloglines and came up with a good one for you, via AMERICAblog.  Let's just say the national media is beginning to look just a tad bit biased at times.  Need evidence?

Exposing the blatant bias -- and unprofessional journalism -- of ABC's Gibson and Stephanopoulos again

Jed slices and dices ABC's latest report on the presidential race. Watch the video and you'll see, it's pretty appalling: "After tonight’s broadcast of ABC News with Charlie Gibson, ABC might as well openly declare its support for John McCain. Hours after first watching it, I’m still stunned at just how blatant its bias was. About the only good thing [...]

Redacted

Simply amazing. They're burning through black markers like crazy!

Yoo-Bybee II

Yesterday the ACLU finally got hold of the infamous August 2002 "Yoo-Bybee II" memo, which outlines acceptable interrogation techniques for CIA prisoners held outside the U.S. I figure you probably want to know what's kosher and what's not, so [...]

Two-Faced Politics

John McCain has really backed himself into another corner. He seems to have a rather strong propensity to do such things, doesn't he?

Vets blasts McCain's double standard of attacking Obama for doing what McCain did, too

...On the other hand, Brandon Friedman from VoteVets, who knows a thing or two about how the military operates, didn't buy McCain's attacks. Instead, he exposed McCain's double standard, linking to an April 2008 CNN report where McCain adviser Steve Schmidt said of visits to military installations, [...]

Savaging Michael Savage

Not that he doesn't deserve it, mind you.  I think I understand what he was TRYING to say, but he certainly went WAY over the top in how he said it.  I've never thought much of Savage's "beat 'em up" approach or his ability to lump everyone he criticizes into one handy category.  He's earning no friends in Congress, either.

Message from the floor of the US House: “If Michael Savage wants to see a moron, he should look in the mirror.”

Representative Mike Doyle (D-PA) takes on Michael Savage’s ridiculous comments on autism. The strongest movement yet to get Savage fired is underway.   UPDATE: (Nicole) And it’s been successful, at least in [...]

Non-Story?

Lots of buzz as we head into the weekend from folks who are following the allegations of a John Edwards "love child" and the accompanying affair.  The big problem is that the story is from the National Enquirer. But, bits and pieces of it are beginning to get journalistic "legs" in the more mainstream media.  Lawsuits always seem to lend some credibility to such things.

National Enquirer's John Edwards Love Child Piece Reportedly Prompts Criminal Complaint

The National Enquirer reports that it has brought a criminal complaint against the Beverly Hilton hotel in response to the actions of the hotel's security staff while representatives from the magazine were trailing former presidential candidate and Senator John Edwards.  "As Butterfield and Hitchen tried to question Edwards, he ran down [...]

Oh, by the way, I've pretty much decided that using Blogger's new internal editor is pretty darn efficient.  You have to dig around a bit to find the draft version, but it has some nice features.

Trying For Attention

It's looking like John McCain's appearance on CNN this afternoon (see below) was probably a rather blatant attempt at grabbing back some headlines.  The problem is, he's getting a lot of negative press over what he said.  Meanwhile...

The Invisible Maverick

Poor John McCain. Barack Obama's trip across the pond is going rather well. Important foreign leaders are all but endorsing him. Kings are literally playing his chauffeur. So, other than continuing to make a fool of himself, what can the Republican standard-bearer do? Well, the Washington Post reports: "Anxious to counter [...]

Heat Wave

Technorati Tags: Fox News,George W. Bush,Polls

It is July in Arkansas and temperatures are nearing 100 degrees. That means August is still ahead and I just got an electric bill that boggles the mind. We’ve been doing such a great job of keeping the thermostats set several degrees higher than is usually comfortable, then moving the air around with the ceiling fans.  I was really hoping for a bill that made me feel quite smart for all of our efficiency efforts.  I can only imaging what it would have been if we hadn’t been trying so hard.  Ugh.

Just noticed another presidential popularity poll.  This one from Fox News.  Ever THERE, the news for George W. Bush is not good.

27 percent: Bush hits new approval low in Fox News poll.

In a new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Corp poll, just 27 percent of the country approves of President Bush’s job performance, which is his lowest approval rating yet in that poll: TPM’s Eric Kleefeld points out that the Fox poll also contained “some rather loaded questions,” such as starting a question by stating that “some people believe [...]

Housing Crisis

Another example of an economy in trouble. Big trouble.

Race and the Housing Crisis

When troubled borrower Diane McLeod’s debt problems made the front page of The New York Times earlier this week, she ignited a debate over borrowers, lenders and personal responsibility that shows no signs of slowing down. Op-Ed columnist David Brooks took the opportunity to point out that […]

Putting Words in His Mouth

John McCain’s handlers must be really having a rough evening.  He’s being called on the political carpet for not one, but SEVERAL things he said in a late afternoon interview on CNN.  I spent a good part of this afternoon getting my second Sirius unit hooked up to play through the stereo in the family room, so I was peaking signal readings and not watching TV!  Here’s what I missed (did you miss it, too?)

 

McCain On Maliki's Endorsement Of Obama's Pullout Timeline: He Didn't Mean It

Okay, John McCain just wrapped up his interview with CNN, and there were a couple of real live ones in there that should juice up your happy hour a bit. First, McCain dealt with Nouri al-Maliki's inconvenient endorsement of Obama's [...]

 

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Iraq War,Nouri al-Maliki

Sad Note

Technorati Tags: Randy Pausch,Pancreatic Cancer

We pause to note the passing of a man whose inspirational "last lecture" became an Internet sensation and sparked an emotional outpouring from many.

Randy Pausch, Subject of ABC Special, Dies

Randy Pausch, the man whose inspirational "last lecture" about living life to the fullest even while he battled cancer, has died. ABC News first reported the story this morning. ABC's Diane Sawyer anchored an hour-long special with Pausch in April, seven months after Pausch delivered that "last lecture" at Carnegie Mellon. The lecture has [...]

If, somehow, you haven't seen Randy's lecture, take a few minutes and watch.

Memories

Just a couple of pictures to take you back to your childhood.  Or, perhaps, help you understand what you missed by growing up after the 50’s and 60’s.

First, from an email received from one of my good old friends (not that he’s OLD, but he HAS been a friend for along time) – remember Woolworth’s?

And, then, a picture that could have been from my youth.  Remember those old round-screen TV’s?

Technorati Tags: Television,Woolworth's

Testing. Again.

Still playing. Trying to find a formatting option that really works for offline writing.

Death Row Endorsement

This isn't exactly the best character witness but I think it is interesting nonetheless. Before he died Wednesday evening, death row inmate Dale Leo Bishop apologized to his victim's family, thanked America and urged people to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. "For those who oppose the death penalty and want to see it end, our best bet is to […]

 

Technorati Tags: Death Row,Execution

Quick Kicks

Technorati Tags: John Edwards,Iraq War,Obama,McCain

Spent several cups of coffee this morning wading through an ever-growing collection on Bloglines, deleting some blogs that I seldom manage to read. Hopefully, that will make the whole process of collecting info a bit more streamlined!

So, just to prove that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, here are a few Quick Kicks from the blogosphere:

Slate Rolls Off the Rails - John Edwards’ “Love Child”?

The National Enquirer has been dogging John Edwards for several months as a result of an anonymous "source" claiming that he has a love child hiding out in California. And outlets such as Slate and National Review are wondering why the legacy media isn't picking up on this story. I have an answer [...]

Still not supporting the troops. Still.

How can this still be? After all the years of sloganeering by Bush, Cheney, McCain and the others who led this country into a war, our troops still aren't being supported. The wounded soldiers are not getting the care they deserve. It's [....]

The Bubble of Obama Supremacy

Barack Obama is riding within the biggest fantasy bubble this side of Oz. You know what happens to bubbles [...]

Finally, one for a chuckle:

One Picture Says it All: Feel the McMentum!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Stand By

The rebirth of this blog is about to begin….

Questionable Journalism

They build a strong case here. I’m not impressed with CNN’s reporting.  Pretty strong arguments against Ali Velshi here.

CNN’s Velshi Pimping Dirty ‘Oil Sands’ Boondoggle

CNN’s senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi, is a one-man public relations team for the polluters that advertise on his network. In response to rising energy prices, Velshi has spent months promoting the Nazi-era technology of liquid coal. On CNN’s American Morning, Ali Velshi previewed his weeklong tribute to another disastrous and dirty boondoggle, the Alberta [...]

One More

Just one more. For now.

Condoleezza Rice Has Been ‘Playing A Lot’ Of Golf During Iraq War, Not Willing To ‘Sacrifice’ Her Game Like Bush

In May, President Bush revealed that he had given up playing golf because of the Iraq war. “I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal,” said Bush. But apparently Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice doesn’t feel the same way. While at the AT&T National golf tournament this weekend, Rice gave an [...]

Technorati Tags: Condoleezza Rice,Golf

Fresh Stuff

Trying to get things moving again.  Heard this one today and felt my blood pressure rise, just a bit.

Cheney’s office ‘fixed’ EPA testimony on global warming

You may recall a story from October, when Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before a Senate panel on the impact of climate change on public health. Before Gerberding could talk to lawmakers, however, the White House altered her testimony. References to potential health risks were removed — [...]

Technorati Tags: Cheney,FDA,Global Warming

Mid-Week Update

Finally found a few moments to wade through the wonderful world of blogging, and stumbled on a few things that really caught my eye. I know I've been bad about updating lately, and I apologize. Now, start reading. And, don't be afraid to leave a comment along the way.

English Only Rule Aimed at High School Valedictorian

The folks of Terrabone Parish in Louisiana want to cultivate their image as being backwards. Their lack of values are showing. Now they are set to require all speeches be made in English after the Valedictorian included a sentence of
Vietnamese in hers -- she did so to honor her parents, proving her own strong
values.

McCain gets ‘visibly angry’ when challenged on whether military experience prepares him to be president.

ABC News’ David Wright reports that when he asked John McCain to “explain how his Vietnam experience prepared him for the presidency,” McCain “became visibly angry”: McCain became visibly angry when I asked him to explain how his Vietnam experience prepared him for the Presidency. “Please,” he said, recoiling back in his seat in distaste at the [...]

Bush Stimulates The Porn Industry With His Economic Package

When President Bush announced his economic stimulus in January, he bragged that his package was the “right size” and would “boost” the economy: "I am pleased that this agreement meets the criterion that I set forth last week to provide an effective, robust, and temporary set of incentives that will boost our economy and [...]