Obama/Biden

What a coincidence! Way back in the day when umpteen democrats were vying for the nomination, I was routing for Joe Biden. Throughout all of his years in the senate he struck me as one of the few politicians who made sense and had the guts to say it. His expertise in foreign policy is unquestioned by both sides of the aisle & his life experiences rival McCain's. He does tend to take a tad too long to make his point but I suspect someone somewhere is going to be working with him on that. Obama made a perfect choice to balance the ticket and counter his weaknesses. Now we wait for McCain’s choice-someone young, sensible, firm on the issues, cool under fire, not afraid to offend the Christian or Conservative Right. Hmmmm...Lots of luck!

URGENT REQUEST!!

This is an urgent request for someone out there to create a website called something like "Simple Answers to Your Questions". In all of my roaming around the internet, I have yet to find one that meets the above need.
Here's what prompted this request. A couple of days ago I got this huge catalog in the mail that has all kinds of equipment. Lord only knows how I got on that mailing list but the point is it had among other things a whole bunch of generators: gas, diesel, porpane, multifuel, etc. They ranged in price from about $500 to over $20,000. Fortunately, we haven't lost power for a particularly long time here within the past few years but I do recall a time when we were out for several days during the winter. Fortunately, I have a wood burning stove so we could stay home but not having running water was a major pain. So I thought maybe now was the time to get a generator. The problem is they all state how many kilowatts they produce but I wasn't sure how to translate that into practical terms so I commenced a research project. Hence the problem. There were indeed plenty of sites that attempted to explain the relationship between watts, amps and volts (and Coulombs and Joules and Ohms). But they were mostly written by well-meaning college professors who were trying to make PHD Electrical Engineers out of the likes of poor dumb me!! So I went to a long time friend of mine who has become my go-to guy in such matters. So thanks to good old email, I quickly had a simple, completely sensible explanation (volts X Amps = Watts, i.e. 110 volt toaster oven operating at 13 amps = 1430 watts) I quickly realized that the great deal on a 6500 watt propane Honda generator wouldn't even run my water pump! So now back to the urgent request. Why couldn't I have found that out with the click of a computer key. That's why someone out there needs to pick up the ball here. You can link off my website or create your own. Come on, go for it. What else are you doing????

Two Questions

Two quick questions:
What prompts a young woman to wake up some morning and decide "By golly, I'm going to be a shot-put or, better yet, discus-throwing Olympiad?"

Do the Chinese seriously expect the world to believe that all of their 'women' athletes are at least 16? If you wanted to drive one of them anywhere in the US in your car, you'd have to put her in a child's car seat.

Just curious.

Back from Vacation

The ideal vacation to me is the one we just completed: One week at a house on the beach with the entire family. With the exception of some drizzly mornings and occasional thunderstorms, the weather was great. And even when it did rain or thunder, there was always enough to do inside. When the weather was bad the children tended to be in charge. Here are some of the activities engaged in by all of us at one time or another until the weather cleared:
1. Put make-up and finger nail polish on Grandpa & Nana who was visiting for the day.
2. Watch Olympics
3. Play school or doctor
4. Color & Paint
5. Read books and watch Elmo or Barney movies
6. Crawl around the room exploring everything (almost 1 year old Cole)
7. Play with puzzles & games
Otherwise, it was off to the beach! For the evening hours after the kids were in bed the guys took on the ladies in setback. By the way the men were 9 for 10-but who’s keeping track!

And what was going on in the world while we were away?? Well, the Olympics of course. And McCain and Obama continued to snipe at each other. And Russia invaded Georgia (One report has it that Cheney quickly ran into the oval office and explained to Junior that he could relax. It wasn’t THAT Georgia!). The war in Iraq continues to chug along. Also, judging by the number of email forwards on my computer, the lunatic fringe continues to be hard at work slandering, lying and demonstrating their inability to think rationally (did you see the one about Sambo, Rambo & Bimbo; or “eyes your new president”?) And finally back home the grass continues to grow. So it’s back to the yard and the rest of the routine.

What's that sound I hear?

Why, I believe it's the sound of a fish on the bottom of a boat flip-flopping around. Actually it's McCain changing his position yet again on pro choice vs. anti choice. He's allowed as how it might be OK for his running mate to be pro choice. A position he once held, then he reversed himself in order to pander to the conservative right and now he's back to square one again. On another front we hear the swift boat veterans are planning an attack on Obama. An attack clearly approved by McCain & his campaign managers. And finally, his comment that, well, maybe it might be OK if we had a time table of sorts for our eventual departure from the soil of another country!
All of this is the mark of a desperate man. Do we really know where John McCain stands on anything? The answer is no. When we ask him about the economy he refers us to his lead adviser who in turn tells us to stop whining!!! The choice in November is clear and guess what? It sure as hell ain't the big Mac!!!!!

Here We Go Again

Item 1: KM3 recently posted a piece on his blog (blogspot:georgeswebpage.com) that expresses his outrage with the current congress. For what it’s worth I agree-but not for the reasons he stated. I really don’t much care that they haven’t been passing much legislation. I’m beginning to agree with Calvin Coolidge who once said “that government that governs least governs best.” My outrage with this congress is spineless resistance to the Bush/Cheney mess. In 2006 the American people sent many republicans packing because they were sick of this administration’s leadership. They correctly recognized Bush & Cheney for what they were, i.e. the two people who have caused more harm to this nation than any other pair of elected officials in history. What has this congress done to correct that? Nothing!

Item 2: Here we go again with the off-shore drilling thing. They (McCain, Republicans and to some extent Obama) can’t get it through their thick heads that drilling the earth full of holes is NOT the answer. We need to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels-not find ways to use more. So, here’s what I would do if I were Dictator of the United States:

-subsidize companies to build nuclear power plants, wind power and solar power. Eventually put the entire nation on an electrical grid that would provide heat and energy for all homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, etc. That would save untold quantities of coal, oil and natural gas.

-next, with the coal that is saved from electrical generation, convert it to diesel fuel. The technology is there. It can be done. This nation has about a century’s worth of coal in the ground. Use it to power all diesel vehicles.

-next, impose heavy penalties on anyone using a gasoline powered vehicle that is not a hybrid. Eventually all gas powered motor vehicles would be hybrids getting around 40-50 mpg.

If all this were done, we could produce enough oil domestically to fill our needs until hydrogen fuel came into its own at which time we’re completely off fossil fuels!

That’s what I would do if I were the Dictator of the United States of America!

Obama Abroad

Sooo....what does one make of Obama's recent world tour? You can view it much in the same way as McCain and his supporters: Nothing but a feeble, transparent attempt to upstage McCain while trying hard to look as though he knows something about foreign affairs. Or one can view it from the Obama camp: A very presidential looking candidate doing what all future presidents should do-continue to learn as much as possible while introducing foreign leaders to the guy who will be the most important person in the world for at least the next 4 years.
As in all things the truth lies somewhere inbetween. But you have to admit, he did conduct himself pretty well. Yeah, yeah, all those Germans who turned out to listen to him aren't voters but the people who do vote were watching and possibly thinking 'Geee, maybe we finally have someone who isn't going to be held in utter contempt by the rest of the world thereby bringing about an era of international cooperation and progress.' or not.
One thing's for sure. McCain's reaction to the whole thing lacked class and substance. The best he could do is criticize Obama for going to the gym instead of visiting wounded troops. Come on, Mac. You can do better than that-or can he?

McCain, Merit Pay & Education

Jumping off the front page of The Wall Street Journal Thursday reads the following headline: McCain Outlines His Education Plan…. The sum and substance of this plan is pretty much the same as what Republicans have been saying ad nauseam for the past several years, to wit: there should be merit pay and a publicly funded voucher system. To the second I say no way. Strengthen the public schools. Don’t destroy them. The issue of merit pay, however, is a tad more complicated. Having served in public education for over 30 years, I will be the first to say that in all of my years I have known my share of colleagues who were quite simply not getting it done and it annoyed me a lot that they were making as much as me who was getting it done. And yet, I can’t support McCain’s program for merit pay because the whole thing is tied to test scores. Here’s the theory the Republicans love to put forward: Education is a business. As in all businesses, your compensation is based on your performance, right? Therefore it follows that if you perform satisfactorily (according to test scores), you’ll be justly compensated. If you believe that, I've got some property in New Orleans I'd like to sell you. Here’s the problem: The basic premise is wrong. That’s not at all how it works in the private sector. Think of all the people you know who were forced into retirement or who otherwise got shafted by their companies for reasons entirely different from performance-poor or otherwise. So let’s cut the bull and tell the truth. Second, the reason why merit pay won’t work is because there are certain significant segments of our society who simply do not value education. What’s a teacher supposed to do about that? Is that in his/her control? On top of that what about the significant number of students who don’t or barely speak English? Do you seriously expect them to be able to pass a test? Look, there’s no question there are people who simply do not belong in a classroom. Fine. Get rid of them. Fire their butts and let them work at McDonald’s. Then, those who are left can continue to do the fine job they’re doing for however much the pay scale they’re on dictates.
Like much of what we’ve heard from McCain, his ideas are poorly thought out and overly simplistic. He is more interested in pandering to the republican base than finding genuine solutions to complicated problems.

No Place Like Home

The recent issue of Money magazine features its annual "Best Places to Live" article. In spite of the long scientific explanation of how they arrived at their conclusions (crime rate, education, environment, cost of living, etc), I'm always surprised at some of the places they've chosen. For example their Number One place to live in the entire USA is Plymouth, Minnesota. Now, before I start hearing from all you fine folks in Minnesota (like they're going to see this!), I'm sure it's a grand state & I'm equally postive that the three days a year you have summer are beautiful, but let's face it. The rest of the year is COLD-even colder than here in beautiful New England. At close to $5 a gallon for fuel oil, that does it for me.
Another thing I noticed is the relatively high number of places in the top 50 that are in Texas. Again, no offense, but I've been to Texas-several times and in several locations. Without going into unnecessarily graphic details, just let me say, I'll stay here, thank you.
There were very few places in New England that were on the top 100 list-probably due to cost of living. Some in Mass. and one in CT but that was it. I recall just a few years ago Danbury, CT was the number one place. What happened in a few short years that it didn't even place in the top 100? Oh, well. As Dorothy said, 'There's no place like home'.

Who Needs Enemies??

I don't care where you stand on the political spectrum. You've gotta be feeling sorry for McCain and Obama. First, Obama's religious affiliations do a number on him. Then, McCain's religious guys come along & do the same for him. Next, McCain's chief economic advisor calls us a nation of 'whimps' and finally in this morning's paper is a picture of the cover of the latest New Yorker magazine-a publication I always considered to be fairly classy. The picture is of Obama dressed in Arab attire and his wife dressed like a terrorist. OK, it's supposed to be satire but who will really see it that way??
With friends like this, who really needs enemies?? And, hey, here's the good part. It's only just begun!!!!

Time to Play

Anyone who spends time on a regular basis with grand children knows that you're going to be doing things that you haven't done in a long time-or ever. For example when I spend a day with my 4 yr old grand daughter we play games. Her favorites are school and doctor-especially doctor. With few exceptions, her dolls (she has several at our house) are the patients. Sometimes I'm the patient but we haven't done that in a while. The ususal procedure is that I'm either the doctor and my grand daughter is the doll's mother or she's the doctor and I'm the nurse. We play out the whole thing to the extent that the room where we spend most of our time together becomes the waiting room. All the dolls are seated on the couch and I ask an imaginary nurse to call them in one at a time. Their complaints cover a wide range of ailments which is all carefully explained to me by my grand daughter. Some just need routine check-ups along with shots. We use smiley stickers as band aids to cover the point of injection. Sometimes they have fevers and illnesses or sometimes they'll need tubes inserted in their ears. The latter is a much lengthier procedure. My grand daughter has tubes in her ears herself & it's amazing how much of the procedure she remembers. For example if I don't administer the anesthesia correctly, I'm sternly reprimanded! Another interesting thing about all of this is that when it comes time to give the shots, she says I have to ask the nurse how many. I mention that since I'm the doctor, wouldn't I be the one to make that decision and she says well if I don't like what the nurse says, I can ignore her. I usually end up giving about 4 shots with a toy plastic hypodermic needle in her medical kit. This goes on until she tires of the whole thing and abruptly switches games. That's the other thing. You have to be ready for fast transitions. One minute we'll be playing doctor and the next I'm a child sitting on a cloth circle at school having a story read to me be my grand daughter who has instantly become the teacher. Her name is always Miss Amy and I'm always Keila. Sometimes I get in trouble and I have to go in the closet for time out. I asked her if that happens at her school and she said no and I know it's not a term her parents use so where she got that is anyone's guess. This goes on for quite a while until it's time to have lunch or we go outside. Even when we go outside to the swings and slides, the games will frequently persist. Often the dolls are loaded into strollers or toy shopping carts and hauled to the play area. Sometimes I'm the teacher watching them play or other times I'm one of the students. Then, we'll suddenly switch and play hide and seek. This goes on for pretty much the whole day.
Another dimension to all of this is when the younger grand daughter is with us. She isn't quite two, but she already likes to play doctor. She says doctor and goes to the medical cart and puts on the stethoscope. She puts it against my back but if I don't put my shirt up, she gets very annoyed. Then she takes deep breaths as though she were the one being examined. Then I get the inevitable shot. I'm sure as they get older, I'll be treated to new experiences that I barely remember from when my children were little. It's great fun. Check back for more stories.

Obama for President

When you cast a vote for Barack Obama, you will be voting for:

-The end of our involvement in the civil war of another country

-The end of ‘good ol’ boy’ Washington politics

-The end of a bunch of hypocritical Republican windbags trying to tell the rest of us what to do all in the guise of ‘American Values’

-The end of Supreme Court nominees who put the Federal government and corporations ahead of individuals

-The end of unfair taxation

-The end of a Republican created national deficit

-The end of a staggering display of arrogance and indifference to the international community

-The beginning of tolerance and fair play

-The beginning of responsive government

-The beginning of economic prosperity that will not be at the expense of the poor, young and aged.

Now if you vote for John McCain, you’re voting for basically:

-Four more years of Bush/Cheney policy.

How’s that been working out?!? Enough said!

Happy Birthday, USA

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”

The person who penned the above words, Abraham Lincoln, was speaking of the deadliest battle in American history-The Battle of Gettysburg-fought July 3rd, 4th & 5th 1863-exactly one hundred forty five years ago. It was during the same year that Lincoln freed the slaves. Today, for the first time, on this two hundred and thirty second birthday of the United States of America, a black man is running for president. Slow progress for sure but progress nevertheless. Just don’t look too hard at the email forwards making the rounds these days or the websites being created or listen to carefully to the Rush Limbaughs and Patrick Buchanans or the Al Sharptons and Jess Jacksons of the world. These are people who can’t get past that first layer of skin on a person. Shallow thinkers, indeed. One would hope they’re the exception-not the rule.
Happy Birthday, America. Long may you endure.

Oil, oil everywhere......

I heard Newt Gingrich speak the other day about oil shale, off shore drilling and ANWR. Shortly after that I rec'd an email forward from a friend of mine regarding the same issue but focusing on ANWR. With the price of gas going up, up and away there is more and more discussion on how the tree lovers and bleeding hearts are blocking our poor nation's quest to be energy independent by prohibiting drilling in the above regions. Junior has added his two cents to the discussion as well (See my blog #58 on georgeswebpage.com, blog spot; G's Place).

OK, now listen up all you Democrat bashers & anti-environmentalists. I'm only going to say this once. Even if we were to drill a hole in every square foot of American territory, including coastal regions, and even if we mine every ton of shale we have, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. It will be AT BEST 10 years before one single drop of oil finds its way to market.
2. And when that happens there is absolutely no guarantee that your gas tank will see one drop of that oil unless of course you propose nationalization of the industry. That should get the Republicans shaking!
3. Even if your gas tank does actually see some of that oil, it's a temporary fix, at best.
4. The solution is CONSERVATION and intelligent use of what we DO have, i.e. 30% sugar based ethanol, hybrid vehicles, coal to diesel fuel, nuclear energy, etc.

Got it?? Now quit whining about the Dems and tree huggers and get back to work!

Supreme Decisions

OK, here's a little quiz for you:
Who are the two people Bush appointed to the Supreme court?
Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
Name as many members of the Supreme Court as you can?

Stumped? Don't worry about it. Not many people can answer those questions. (Answer to first two: Alito & Roberts; Roberts) Yet, there are in my humble opinion two really important things a president does: send our nation to war and appoint Supreme Court Justices.
We already know how Junior and McCain feel about the war thing and we already know how Junior handled the Supreme Court thing. But what about McCain and Obama. Given they're position on issues, one can make educated guesses but when you appoint Justices, it's basically a crap shoot. Once they get on the bench, they can do absolutely whatever they want and no one, but no one, can do a thing about it. Still a president does have a lot of influence in who he appoints (conservative, liberal, etc).
The reason I bring this up is because the court is now in the process of ruling on a number of key issues. Three such decisions have already stirred a lot of controversy: 1) Detainees at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to due process; 2) A child rapist can not be executed; 3) The Exxon Valdez oil spill award has been reduced from $2.5 billion to $500 million. Today they're ruling on an important gun control case.
Where ever you may stand on these issues isn't the point because your opinion counts for nothing. Ever since the Supreme Court gave itself the authority of 'judicial review' way back when, no person, company,organization or branch of government has much to say. Soooo....is this an important consideration in the upcoming election? You decide but if you're thinking 'Who cares? Decisions by the SC rarely affect me', I would invite you to consider a ruling passed down by the court last year: a municipality has the right to seize private property for the purpose of commercial development. Can't happen to you? Ask a bunch of people in New London, CT.

Blame dem Dems

Leave it to Junior to spend the rest of his mercifully short tenure in office playing the blame game with the price of oil. Now he's trying to convince us that the high price of gasoline is because the dems have been blocking further drilling in Alaska National Wildlife Reserve (hitherto referred to as ANWR). Oddly enough part of what he says is true. Part of the problem is supply. But that's where his understanding ends. What he doesn't know or at least what he refuses to acknowledge is that it isn't necessarily a given that ANWR oil will end up in your gas tank. All oil goes through the world commodities market & then resold. It doesn't necessarily go direct to a refinery.
Second, Bush sees no problem with permanently endangering a delicate wildlife preserve for very temporary gains.
Third Junior has conveniently forgotten that for six of his 7+ years, the Republicans controlled congress. They're the same guys (and precious few) gals who led this country into the deepest deficit in history.
Which leads to the fourth point. The value of the US dollar on the world market is extremely low. That's because there are so many of them out there. That's because we have a huge deficit. (Imagine poor Junior trying to follow this!) Oil is traded in dollars, hence, a dollar buys less oil than it once did and it will get worse until someone comes along to control the deficit. This is all complicated by speculators trading on the world market. But when anyone tries to explain all of this to Bush, he takes two aspirin and calls Cheney. Oh sure, the oil companies are taking their profit but don't expect the good old oil boys to do anything about that. That's the American way. No matter that the concept of competition is a joke & that basically what we have is a monopoly. When's the last time you saw a price war at the gas pumps?
What Junior should be doing is taking steps to cut the deficit and urging conservation. Those are the things that will eventually solve this problem. I wonder if McCain & Obama know that.

Autism and Science

While doing my usual Tuesday morning errands, I was listening to Imus in the Morning on ABC radio. Imus very ofter has his wife, Deirdre, as a guest. Her particular passion is the fight against Autism. She does speaking engagements, raises money & awareness and fights for more funding for research. So far all this is fine. We all have to have our causes. The trouble begins when she states repeatedly & unequivocally that one of the chief causes of Autism is the nation’s immunization program. This is where she loses me. Ms Imus did what many people do when discussing an issue in which they have too much emotional involvement. She neglected to think like a scientist. Her entire argument was based on the premise that since there is such an increase in Autism, what else could it be but something all children have in common: immunizations. She failed to take into account the many variables involved in this issue:
1. The very definition of Autism has changed dramatically. It is no longer a single entity. It is now a syndrome consisting of many things, i.e. Asperger’s Syndrome.
2. Diagnostic procedures have improved tremendously. I’m sure we all know adults, many adults, who if they were children today would be diagnosed with some form of Autism.
3. The general population has grown and continues to grow. Statistically, it’s impossible for there NOT to be more cases of Autism.
Science and the Scientific Method will solve this and all other problems. Not hysterical ranting or wild assumptions. Correlation does not presume cause and effect.

Tim Russert Remembered

I was very saddened to hear of Tim Russert's passing. I enjoyed watching him on "Meet the Press" very much. I've also heard him on many occasions having discussions with Don Imus on Imus's morning radio show. In addition to being an extraordinary broadcast journalist, he sounded like a genuinely nice guy. He had the rare ability to ask hard questions of someone while respecting them and preserving their dignity. His level of preparedness was unbelievable. How he was able to find some of the old news clips he used with people was amazing. There's on one else like him now. Chris Matthews & his ilk are annoying blowhards who can't keep their mouths shut long enough to hear a reply and people like Bill O'Reilly are just plain obnoxious. It will be interesting to see who NBC get's to replace him. �

Mac vs PC

You know those Mac vs PC ads? I think they’re really clever and since I’m a long time Mac user while also being quite familiar with Windows, I really get the humor. Of course PC users probably don’t laugh quite as hard as I do because they’re still smarting from upgrading to Vista. Just the other day I got a message from a friend of mine who had a sad tale indeed of his recent purchase of a PC (Forgot the name. Doesn’t matter. They’re pretty much the same anyway) with the new Vista OS. After hours on the phone with someone in India, he still wasn’t able to transfer his address book or get his email to work properly. He then had to buy third party software to help with the problem. I haven’t heard from him recently so I don’t know where it stands now. He probably jumped off a bridge! Even if you do need a Windows OS to run some specialized software, you can always load the more stable Windows XP on a new Mac. When you boot up, you choose the OS you want. That simple.
However, be warned. There is definitely a downside to buying a Mac. For example you don’t get to further the cause of cultural exchanges because you’ll never be talking to tech people located in other countries. Another thing is you don’t get to load up your book shelves with impressive books like “Vista for Dummies”. Also, you’re not going to be in a Best Buy or Circuit City any time soon looking for a smart new printer or scanner because the old one is going to work just fine. Yet another good reason to stick with a PC is because when your wife hounds you to redo the family room (stupid thing was done 10 years ago. Our neighbors Sam & Ella haven’t done theirs in 30 years and it looks just fine to Sam & me), you’re going to be up to your eyeballs in antivirus software trying to figure out what’s going to be compatible with what. You see, Macs are pretty much virus free. Forget shopping for other nifty new software too. Macs come preloaded with a suite of software called ‘iLife’ which includes iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, iCalc, iWeb, Garage Band (for composing your own music), iMail & more. At least you will get to buy MS Office Suite.
No, on second thought PC users, stick with your little Dell. You can’t handle a Mac!

I Don't Get It

Two very interesting simultaneous events occured as I was driving this morning. First, on CBS radio I heard the price of a barrel of oil on the world market 'dipped' to $125. Second as I passed an Exxon/Mobile station I noticed the price of regular unleaded was up 4 cents in the space of a couple of hours. I don't get it. I just don't get it. When oil goes up there's an immediate increase in the price of gasoline at the pump. But when it goes down isn't it supposed to go down at the pump too??? Plus if the oil companies, as they've testified ad nauseum, are victims of supply and demand, and, as they're claiming, they have to pay as much for 'sweet crude' as the rest of the world, how's it possible for them to be reporting record quarterly profits? I'm no genius but it seems to me that at the end of the day in order to have a profit, you must have tacked on some cash some where along the way, right?? I don't get it. But I'm sure our Congress will get to the bottom of it!!!!

Take cover. Here they come!!!

Well they’re at it again-this time with a vengeance. I’m talking about the lunatic fringe. The so-called Christian right who haven’t a clue what Christian values are all about. I’m referring to the spate of email forwards filling my mailbox that have some of the most vicious, vile stuff yet seen about Barack ‘Hussein’ Obama. Note that these nuts are always sure to reference this guy’s middle name, as though it had anything to do with Saddam Hussein. If Obama gets the nomination, as it now seems he will, I fear this Fall’s presidential campaign is going to be very ugly indeed. The real question is will main-stream America see this crap for what it is or will they buy into it? It will be a real test of this country’s moral character. Let me be quick to point out that a vote for John McCain will not necessarily mean the nation has failed. The test will be how the campaign is conducted and what’s said during the course of it. Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic but hope springs eternal so I’m hoping I’m wrong. Stay tuned.

The Real McCain

Headline: McCain hammers Obama on security.
Behind the headline: Apparently John McCain finds fault in Obama’s comment that he would talk to our adversaries. McCain sees this as a sign of weakness and a signal that Obama would yield to appeasement-the failed policy that was attempted by European leaders with Hitler.
The truth is McCain’s analogy is grossly lacking in logic. Obama has made it very clear that talk is just that-talk. While talking he would continue fighting terrorism where we should have been all along-Afghanistan & Pakistan. Apparently McCain thinks the Bush/Cheney approach to world diplomacy (my way or the highway) has been effective and therefore he would continue it if he were elected. So how’s that been working out, nation???? Let’s face it. Given McCain’s position on various issues over the years and especially over recent months, it’s clear this guy is an old George Bush. The really sad part is that there are many who consider that preferable to either of the other two choices. Here we go again!

Bits & Pieces-4th Edition

1. Just returned from a two week trip to Florida. A long, long time to do pretty much nothing but read and roast in the Florida sun but nevertheless enjoyable. Now it's back to reality-long grass, tons of chores around the house (till, mulch, plant, powerwash, windows, paint, etc). Still, it's good to be home.
2. And now a word about the gas prices. I'm thinking back to the '70s when not only was gas expensive but you had to wait in long lines for a very long time to get it. Extreme efforts to conserve is what turned that around and it will be the same thing now. As soon as the driving public 'gets it' & starts conserving, then we'll see relief.
3. On a related note, Mr. Bush recently announced his failure to convince the Saudis to produce more oil. He's puzzled. Geee, Junior. Let's think about this. You and Cheney spend the last seven years flipping off the world and now you wonder why you're not getting any cooperation!!! Eight months to go. Let's hope it's not a rerun of the last 7 years.
4. I mentioned above that I read a lot. One of the books I read was John Grisham's latest effort 'The Appeal'. Typical Grisham fare but very disturbing because of its proximity to reality. Without spoiling it for you, it's generally about how money interests work to elect a State Supreme Court Justice in order to influence rulings. As explained in an afterword by the author, the book is fictional but the idea is very much a reality. Read it.
5. And now on a lighter note: My good friend 'The Work Bench Blogger' recently wrote about his struggles with his lawn in general and moss in particular. On the same subject, I recently read an article from some expert who was trying to explain how to get rid of moss. Well, here's the thing. I like moss. In fact I encourage its growth in my yard. Consider this: it's green; it doesn't need to be mowed; it's soft and felvity to the touch; and when you fall on it you don't get grass stains on your clothes. What could be wrong with that??

I get paid for this??!!

I read an article in The Wall Street Journal recently that reported on a number of people who were able to give up their regular jobs and make a pretty decent living blogging. It seems these folks were getting so many hits on their blogs that companies were willing to pay to have their products advertised on the blog pages. I found it interesting that one could make money doing what basically the bloggers do on this web site so I decided to check out some of them. I was completely underwhelmed! It was amazing how devoid of content and, to me at least, interest these sites were. Yet, they draw thousands of hits a day. I remember how happy I was when this website surpassed the 6000 hit mark and the blogspot link is up to about 1500 hits in a fairly short period of time. I'll put the website address of some of them here so you can decide for yourself.
Dooce.com
notesfromthetrenches.com
designmom.com
fussy.org
suburbanbliss.net

For this I can get paid???

Here Are The Rules

One of the nice things about being the parent of grown children is that you have lots of good memories to look back on. Being a grand parent is icing on the cake-kind of like the double feature of a really good movie. Very often while driving, my 4 year old grand daughter likes to play games-very similar to when her mother and uncle were little. The grand daughter's games are a little different though because, unlike her mother and her uncle, her sister is too young to keep her honest. For example here's a game she loves to play: I'm thinking of something that lives in (fill in the blank). Here's how it often goes:
Child: I'm thinking of something that lives in a circus.
Grandpa: Is it an elephant?
Child: Nope
Grandpa: Is it a lion or tiger?
Child: Nope
Grandpa: Is it a bear?
Child: Nope
Grandpa: OK, I give up.
Child: It's a bear.
Grandpa: But I said that.
Child: Yeah but I changed my mind then but now changed it back. My turn again.

There are three rules to playing games with a 4 year old:
1. They get to make the rules.
2. They can change the rules whenever they want.
3. Don't like it??? See rule #1.

Now here's a really odd coincidence for you. My wife has the same set of rules. Hmmm.....verrrry interesting!!

How To Handle China

So China's at it again. This time it's not facing down students with tanks. This time it's the violent suppression of Tibet. Naturally, Hill, Pelosi and lots of others are offering all sorts of ideas as to how the U.S. should react. One that's floating around a lot is to boycott the opening day of the olympics. It's thought that by doing something like that, China will feel enough pressure to change the way it does things in Tibet and on its streets. But I had another idea. I wonder if perhaps China would feel even more pressure if we were to close our borders to Chinese made products. I wonder how that would play. Of course Americans would have to get used to shelves that are empty of their prized inexpensive stuff. Walmart & Target stores would have to close-literally. As a little experiment, look around your house and see how much stuff is made in China. Don't forget your kids' toys especially. Can you handle not being able to replace any of that stuff? I guess a boycott is a little too drastic. The hell with the Tibetans. What have they done for us lately?

Wit & Wisdom of Children

From the Mouths of Babes: From 4 yrs old to 4th grade (in just one week).

Setting: High on the platform of a tube slide in a crowded park.
Child: Grandpa, grandpa!
Grandpa looking up at child: What? Are you afraid up there?
Child: No but I was wondering, how come you have so much hair in your nose?
Followed by peels of laughter from numerous parents who overheard the exchange.

Setting: Driving in a car in moderate traffic.
Child: A great deal of conversation.
Grandpa: Hold on, Sweetie. Grandpa's trying to concentrate on driving right now.
Child: What's the matter, can't you listen and drive at the same time?!

Setting: Dismissal time in a fourth grade class.
Child: Did you know Einstein married his cousin in Germany?
Substitute Teacher (me): Well, no. Actually I didn't know that.
Child: I think he had issues, don't you?

Moral of all of this: Everyone should spend a certain percentage of their time around kids. You'll be amazed at what you'll learn!