Now that both ESPN and Sports Illustrated have declared it so, it is now official. 2008 is the best year in sports ever! Michael Phelps winning 8 gold metals! Usain Bolt running away with sprint records! Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor maywalshing their competition! Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open on 1 good leg! Nadal and Federer playing the best tennis match ever! Jimmie Johnson winning the Sprint Cup back-to-back-to-back! Danica Patrick finally winning a race! Brett Favre retiring and then un-retiring! The New York Giants beating the previously undefeated Patriots with the greatest catch in Super Bowl history! The Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Rays both going from worst to first! The Phillies bringing Philadelphia its first championship in 26 years! The Celtics and Lakers both coming back from the grave to renew the NBA's best rivalry! Kansas winning the NCAA basketball title after a 3-point shot at the buzzer! All of these accomplishments are great, don't get me wrong, but to proclaim that this year is the Best Sports Year Ever! is not only a big stretch but also demonstrates the East Coast bias of the national sports media.
If you are a sports fan in Seattle, San Francisco, or most other cities west of the Mississippi, you might rightfully take exception to this proclamation. In Seattle, the Seahawks just completed a dreadful season where half the team spent the year on Injured Reserve. The Mariners were truly awful, and the Sonics left town to be truly awful somewhere else. Even the Washington Huskies, one of the historically best college football programs in the country, had an awful year to forget. Washington State’s only bright spot this year was beating Washington. In the Bay Area, the San Jose Sharks had a decent run but fell apart in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs again, and this was the highlight of the local sports year. The Giants, A’s, 49ers, Raiders, and Warriors were all mediocre, and Stanford and Cal’s sports teams weren't much better. Even the perennial arena football power San Jose Sabercats had a down year this year, and may not play at all next year. San Diego, Portland, Phoenix, Denver, Houston, Dallas, and St. Louis all had down sports years this year. Los Angeles had some success with the Lakers, Angels, Dodgers, USC football, and UCLA basketball teams all having good years (plus the fact that Tiger Woods is a LA area native), but even their fans are depressed because all of them suffered heartbreaking defeats at the end of their seasons. Ditto for the university football teams in Texas. The Arizona Cardinals in Phoenix may be the only western team that can say they have had a successful year, but if Atlanta cleans their clock next week as the odds makers predict then that goes away too. However, because a New York won the Super Bowl, a Philadelphia team won the World Series, and a Boston team won everything else, plus the revival of sports in Florida and Washington DC, it is the Greatest Sports Year Ever!
I agree that this is very trivial in the grand scheme of things, but it just bothers me the read and watch this stuff. It is very disrespectful (yeah, that sounds pretentious, but it's true!). There should be some kind of bailout here or something to fix this. Let’s get Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the other Western legislators working on this. Congress should require Al Davis to either sell the Raiders or move them to an East Coast city, require the Sonics to return to Seattle, ban the Yankees and Red Sox from signing any free agents, and require ESPN to move their studios from Connecticut to Colorado. Now that is change that we can believe in!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
New York City Jet Blues
I recently returned from a short trip to New York City. It was my first visit to the Big Apple and came at the invitation of someone there that I am working with on one of my many volunteer projects. Since I was only there for 2 days I didn't get to see all of the city, but I was able to get around midtown Manhattan and see Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, Central Park, and the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I also got to spend some time in Greenwich Village as that was where my meeting was.
New York is an interesting place to be sure. There is, as the song goes, some "magic in the air." I noticed that the pedestrians in New York are not shy about cross the street on a red light. Man, if you do that in San Francisco you're likely going to get run over. The traffic, both in Manhattan and to and from JFK, was as crowded as any freeway here, though in Manhattan the traffic is almost all taxis and trucks. I was surprised to see that not all of Manhattan consists of skyscrapers. Indeed, between the Empire State Building and lower Manhattan (where Wall Street is) there are hardly any buildings taller than a few stories.
The flight to New York was fine, but the flight back was a 9-1/2 ordeal. I got stuck in a middle seat, though I managed to get in a exit row so I had some leg room to work with. Then the flight had to be diverted to Denver because there wasn't enough fuel to make it all the way to Oakland. Seriously, the plane was running out of gas. Because of the diversion we flew through an area of rough turbulence that had me reaching for the Dramamine. When we landed the pilot said that the "gas and go" would only take about 20 minutes. The fueling itself took 45. The ground crew decided to clean out the septic tanks while we were there, but one of the values broke, so we were stuck for another 30 minutes while they fixed that. Then, because we were on the ground for so long they had to de-ice the plane before we took off. Why they didn't think of that (we were landing in Denver after all!) is beyond me. So the 20 minute delay ended up being close to 2 hours by the time we landed in Oakland. And get this, you would think that they would have served free drinks to us to compensate for the delay, but nope, they were still charging for the drinks and they didn't do a second snack service even though everyone had missed their dinners because of this nonsense. This will be the last time that I fly JetBlue (there, I said it) t0 New York.
There, I feel better now.
New York is an interesting place to be sure. There is, as the song goes, some "magic in the air." I noticed that the pedestrians in New York are not shy about cross the street on a red light. Man, if you do that in San Francisco you're likely going to get run over. The traffic, both in Manhattan and to and from JFK, was as crowded as any freeway here, though in Manhattan the traffic is almost all taxis and trucks. I was surprised to see that not all of Manhattan consists of skyscrapers. Indeed, between the Empire State Building and lower Manhattan (where Wall Street is) there are hardly any buildings taller than a few stories.
The flight to New York was fine, but the flight back was a 9-1/2 ordeal. I got stuck in a middle seat, though I managed to get in a exit row so I had some leg room to work with. Then the flight had to be diverted to Denver because there wasn't enough fuel to make it all the way to Oakland. Seriously, the plane was running out of gas. Because of the diversion we flew through an area of rough turbulence that had me reaching for the Dramamine. When we landed the pilot said that the "gas and go" would only take about 20 minutes. The fueling itself took 45. The ground crew decided to clean out the septic tanks while we were there, but one of the values broke, so we were stuck for another 30 minutes while they fixed that. Then, because we were on the ground for so long they had to de-ice the plane before we took off. Why they didn't think of that (we were landing in Denver after all!) is beyond me. So the 20 minute delay ended up being close to 2 hours by the time we landed in Oakland. And get this, you would think that they would have served free drinks to us to compensate for the delay, but nope, they were still charging for the drinks and they didn't do a second snack service even though everyone had missed their dinners because of this nonsense. This will be the last time that I fly JetBlue (there, I said it) t0 New York.
There, I feel better now.
Friday, December 12, 2008
News and Comment... Good. Day.
As I'm sitting around the house waiting for new job to start, I came across a few items in the newspaper that I felt were worthy of comment:
Headlines courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Madonna blasted for stirring up lust": Yes, apparently the Material Girl is stirring up sinful emotions with the people of Chile, at least according to Chilean Cardinal Jorge Medina. Cardinal Medina spoke out in his sermon on Wednesday saying that Madonna was causing "crazy enthusiasm" and "impure thoughts" during her current concert tour in Chile, the first time she has ever toured the country. This is of course not a new accusation. Madonna herself tends to encourage such comments I would imagine (how else to explain Erotica?). What got me was the venue that Cardinal Medina chose to make his comments, a mass in honor of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. So I guess as far as the Cardinal is concerned making 3,000 or so dissidents "disappear" forever is OK but causing people to think lustful thoughts is not.
"Reid tries to clear air over 'smelly' remark": It appears that Nevada Senator Harry Reid doesn't like the smell of tourists that visit the Capitol. He too chose a very interesting time to make his disparaging remark, the grand opening of the new Capitol Visitor Center. Reid noted during the opening that in the summertime "you can literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol." What got me was Reid's response to the flak that he got from a number of sources including his hometown newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Anyone who took the time to watch my statement or read it in full knows the point I was making: I'm always pleased when the Capitol is filled with citizens eager to learn about our country's great history and the work that we do in that historic building," Reid wrote in a letter to the Review-Journal. So is Senator Reid pleased about the tourists' smell? Does it smell like victory to him? (bonus points to you if you get the reference) That's the only way I can see his point. No wonder the car bailout bill failed.
"Study finds many kids use herbal remedies": Unbeknownst to most of us I would guess, the government conducted a survey and found 1 in 9 kids are using some form of alternative medicine, such as herbal remedies and acupuncture. This does not include religious healing, by the way, as the government was quick to point out. What got me here is who is using them and what they are being used for. The survey found that kids that were covered by private insurance plans were more likely to use alternative medicine than those who were uninsured. I guess it makes sense in that richer kids would be more likely to experiment compared to poor ones, no doubt with the encouragement of their yuppie parents, but what does it say about private insurance? The survey also found that alternative medicine was being used to relieve back and neck pain more than anything else. What does it say about our kids today when so many are suffering from pains commonly associated with old people?
"'Day Without a Gay' demo fizzles": Yes, if you were homosexual you were supposed to call in sick on Wednesday in protest over the passage of the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in California. However, it appears that few gay people did, even in gay friendly San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed some gay people (they are easy to find in San Francisco) and many of them told the Chronicle that they couldn't afford to take the day off because of the uncertain economic situation. Some gay store owners complained to the Chronicle that the gay boycott came in the middle of the Christmas shopping season. What got me was that for all the attention being paid to gay marriage these days it's still trumped by the economy in the minds of most gay people. Even gay people are more concerned about their pay checks then about making a protest. If that doesn't demonstrate just how normal gay people are I don't know what else will.
"Abdul says Fox ignored stalker issue": I cover this in detail at my other blog, The Armchair Idol Judge. Go ahead and click, I know you want to...
Headlines courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Madonna blasted for stirring up lust": Yes, apparently the Material Girl is stirring up sinful emotions with the people of Chile, at least according to Chilean Cardinal Jorge Medina. Cardinal Medina spoke out in his sermon on Wednesday saying that Madonna was causing "crazy enthusiasm" and "impure thoughts" during her current concert tour in Chile, the first time she has ever toured the country. This is of course not a new accusation. Madonna herself tends to encourage such comments I would imagine (how else to explain Erotica?). What got me was the venue that Cardinal Medina chose to make his comments, a mass in honor of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. So I guess as far as the Cardinal is concerned making 3,000 or so dissidents "disappear" forever is OK but causing people to think lustful thoughts is not.
"Reid tries to clear air over 'smelly' remark": It appears that Nevada Senator Harry Reid doesn't like the smell of tourists that visit the Capitol. He too chose a very interesting time to make his disparaging remark, the grand opening of the new Capitol Visitor Center. Reid noted during the opening that in the summertime "you can literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol." What got me was Reid's response to the flak that he got from a number of sources including his hometown newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Anyone who took the time to watch my statement or read it in full knows the point I was making: I'm always pleased when the Capitol is filled with citizens eager to learn about our country's great history and the work that we do in that historic building," Reid wrote in a letter to the Review-Journal. So is Senator Reid pleased about the tourists' smell? Does it smell like victory to him? (bonus points to you if you get the reference) That's the only way I can see his point. No wonder the car bailout bill failed.
"Study finds many kids use herbal remedies": Unbeknownst to most of us I would guess, the government conducted a survey and found 1 in 9 kids are using some form of alternative medicine, such as herbal remedies and acupuncture. This does not include religious healing, by the way, as the government was quick to point out. What got me here is who is using them and what they are being used for. The survey found that kids that were covered by private insurance plans were more likely to use alternative medicine than those who were uninsured. I guess it makes sense in that richer kids would be more likely to experiment compared to poor ones, no doubt with the encouragement of their yuppie parents, but what does it say about private insurance? The survey also found that alternative medicine was being used to relieve back and neck pain more than anything else. What does it say about our kids today when so many are suffering from pains commonly associated with old people?
"'Day Without a Gay' demo fizzles": Yes, if you were homosexual you were supposed to call in sick on Wednesday in protest over the passage of the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in California. However, it appears that few gay people did, even in gay friendly San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed some gay people (they are easy to find in San Francisco) and many of them told the Chronicle that they couldn't afford to take the day off because of the uncertain economic situation. Some gay store owners complained to the Chronicle that the gay boycott came in the middle of the Christmas shopping season. What got me was that for all the attention being paid to gay marriage these days it's still trumped by the economy in the minds of most gay people. Even gay people are more concerned about their pay checks then about making a protest. If that doesn't demonstrate just how normal gay people are I don't know what else will.
"Abdul says Fox ignored stalker issue": I cover this in detail at my other blog, The Armchair Idol Judge. Go ahead and click, I know you want to...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Genius of Bowling and Peppermints
Hello there, just checking in to see how things are going.
Following up on a earlier post, I finally asked one of my co-workers why he congratulated me for leaving. He told me that usually when someone elects to leave on their own (as opposed to be fired) it's usually for a better opportunity. So he was congratulating me for earning the greater opportunity. OK, that's makes some sense.
I participated in our company bowling tournament tonight and the wrist of my throwing hand is almost rigid. It was my first trip inside a bowling alley in over 20 years, and I actually managed to break 100. It was a last minute decision to attend, since this is my last week at work. But I figured what the heck and went. Considering both of parents were hardcore bowlers when I was growing up I've always wondered why I always sucked at it. I also wonder how in the world a sport like bowling ever got invented. In mean, who could have thought of doing it in the first place?
I recently downloaded "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock and I've been playing it almost non-stop ever since. I've heard the melody many times before but it's the lyrics that have me captured under its spell. Check this out:
Good sense, innocence, cripplin' mankind
Dead kings, many things, I can't define
Occasions, persuasions, clutter your mind
Incense and peppermints, the color of time.
Who cares what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothing to lose.
Incense and peppermints
Meaningless nouns
Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around.
Look at yourself, look at yourself, yeah, yeah
Look at yourself, look at yourself, yeah, yeah, yeah!
To divide this cockeyed world in two
Throw your pride to one side, it's the least you can do.
Beatniks and politics, nothing is new
A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view
Who care what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothin' to lose.
Good sense, innocence, cripplin' mankind
Dead kings, many things, I can't define.
Occasion, persuasions clutter your mind
Incense and peppermints, the color of time.
Who care what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothin' to lose.
Incense and peppermints
Incense and peppermints
Sha la la
Sha la la
Sha la la
Sha la la
Sha la la
I especially like the line "A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view." I'm sure there is a message there but damned if I know what it is. This is pure genius my friends. One wonders why these guys never had another hit song.
Or maybe it's just the organ and cowbell. I gotta have more cowbell!
Following up on a earlier post, I finally asked one of my co-workers why he congratulated me for leaving. He told me that usually when someone elects to leave on their own (as opposed to be fired) it's usually for a better opportunity. So he was congratulating me for earning the greater opportunity. OK, that's makes some sense.
I participated in our company bowling tournament tonight and the wrist of my throwing hand is almost rigid. It was my first trip inside a bowling alley in over 20 years, and I actually managed to break 100. It was a last minute decision to attend, since this is my last week at work. But I figured what the heck and went. Considering both of parents were hardcore bowlers when I was growing up I've always wondered why I always sucked at it. I also wonder how in the world a sport like bowling ever got invented. In mean, who could have thought of doing it in the first place?
I recently downloaded "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock and I've been playing it almost non-stop ever since. I've heard the melody many times before but it's the lyrics that have me captured under its spell. Check this out:
Good sense, innocence, cripplin' mankind
Dead kings, many things, I can't define
Occasions, persuasions, clutter your mind
Incense and peppermints, the color of time.
Who cares what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothing to lose.
Incense and peppermints
Meaningless nouns
Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around.
Look at yourself, look at yourself, yeah, yeah
Look at yourself, look at yourself, yeah, yeah, yeah!
To divide this cockeyed world in two
Throw your pride to one side, it's the least you can do.
Beatniks and politics, nothing is new
A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view
Who care what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothin' to lose.
Good sense, innocence, cripplin' mankind
Dead kings, many things, I can't define.
Occasion, persuasions clutter your mind
Incense and peppermints, the color of time.
Who care what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothin' to lose.
Incense and peppermints
Incense and peppermints
Sha la la
Sha la la
Sha la la
Sha la la
Sha la la
I especially like the line "A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view." I'm sure there is a message there but damned if I know what it is. This is pure genius my friends. One wonders why these guys never had another hit song.
Or maybe it's just the organ and cowbell. I gotta have more cowbell!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Ignorance Is Bliss
As I was flipping through the radio channels on my way into work this morning I came across an interview with author Brigitte Gabriel, author of They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It and president/founder of ActForAmerica.org. One of the things that she was ranting about was that there was an Islamic school, I think someone in Florida, that was receiving education funding from the federal government. She claimed to be outraged that there was an Islamic terrorist school operating right here in the US that was being funded by the federal government and that the American people didn't seem to care. She accused us of being ignorant and caring too much about Dancing With The Stars and American Idol and not enough on things that are important.
These comments were remarkably similar to those made by former war protester and U.S. Senate candidate Cindy Sheehan in 2007, when she announced that she was leaving the anti-Iraq war movement. She too was upset that Americans were paying more attention to reality TV shows then they were to her cause. She too felt that people would be outraged if only they were paying attention. Ultimately, she gave up on the anti-Iraq war movement when she realized that America wasn't listening to her anymore.
Are you as tired as I am of being continuously called ignorant because we pay more attention to reality TV shows than to their all-too-important causes? Maybe the reason we're not paying attention to these folks is because we don't care about what they have to say, or that we have more important things in our lives to worry about like the sudden reduction in my retirement fund, the bankruptcy of the bank that has my home mortgage, whether or not I'm making a big mistake by changing jobs in this economy, and how I'm going to travel to see my family at Christmas. I don't think I'm ignorant that I care about these things and others, including American Idol, more so than the "possible" threat of a Muslim school in Florida or why President Bush wouldn't talk to the mother of a Iraq war veteran.
The same holds true for groups like PETA and Code Pink, plus right-wing radio talk show hosts who claim Obama supporters are stupid for not knowing who Bill Ayers is. I know who Bill Ayers is and quite frankly I don't care. If he's named to Obama's Cabinet then I'll care, otherwise why should I? I hate to break the news to all you single-minded activists, but Americans are not stupid, they just have more important priorities to deal with.
Though, to be honest, I don't much care about Dancing With The Stars either. But American Idol, now that's an entirely different story...
These comments were remarkably similar to those made by former war protester and U.S. Senate candidate Cindy Sheehan in 2007, when she announced that she was leaving the anti-Iraq war movement. She too was upset that Americans were paying more attention to reality TV shows then they were to her cause. She too felt that people would be outraged if only they were paying attention. Ultimately, she gave up on the anti-Iraq war movement when she realized that America wasn't listening to her anymore.
Are you as tired as I am of being continuously called ignorant because we pay more attention to reality TV shows than to their all-too-important causes? Maybe the reason we're not paying attention to these folks is because we don't care about what they have to say, or that we have more important things in our lives to worry about like the sudden reduction in my retirement fund, the bankruptcy of the bank that has my home mortgage, whether or not I'm making a big mistake by changing jobs in this economy, and how I'm going to travel to see my family at Christmas. I don't think I'm ignorant that I care about these things and others, including American Idol, more so than the "possible" threat of a Muslim school in Florida or why President Bush wouldn't talk to the mother of a Iraq war veteran.
The same holds true for groups like PETA and Code Pink, plus right-wing radio talk show hosts who claim Obama supporters are stupid for not knowing who Bill Ayers is. I know who Bill Ayers is and quite frankly I don't care. If he's named to Obama's Cabinet then I'll care, otherwise why should I? I hate to break the news to all you single-minded activists, but Americans are not stupid, they just have more important priorities to deal with.
Though, to be honest, I don't much care about Dancing With The Stars either. But American Idol, now that's an entirely different story...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Congratulations?
One of the reasons why I took down the old blog was because my bosses at work discovered that I had one. One of the reasons why I have this new blog is because I just gave those same bosses my letter of resignation.
But not because of the blog.
I point this out because I find it interesting that my friends, colleagues, and even some of my co-workers have been congratulating me for changing jobs. Mind you, I'm not getting a promotion and my compensation at my new place of employment is about the same as what I'm getting now. Essentially all I am doing is changing jerseys from one team to another, and yet there are a lot of people who seem to be happy about it, many more than I would have expected. I don't remember getting this many pats on the back when I changed jobs before.
I'm thinking maybe some of it is because some of my colleagues regard the company that I am moving to to be more prestigious than the one that I am at now. I don't know if I share in this opinion but the firm that I am going to is one of the best in my profession. That's why I'm going there. Perhaps some of them are also assuming that I'm getting a promotion out of this deal. Perhaps one day soon I will, and indeed one of the reasons why I moving is because of the greater chances of getting promoted. Perhaps it's because that's all they can think of saying to me when they hear the news. When my resignation was announced to the staff I felt like I had just told people that I had a terminal disease. I noticed a lot of people tip-toeing around me or being hesitant in saying anything to me. So perhaps it's like asking "how ya doing?" to total strangers, just something to fill the air and relieve the stress that comes with the silence.
Or maybe I'm just imagining things.
But not because of the blog.
I point this out because I find it interesting that my friends, colleagues, and even some of my co-workers have been congratulating me for changing jobs. Mind you, I'm not getting a promotion and my compensation at my new place of employment is about the same as what I'm getting now. Essentially all I am doing is changing jerseys from one team to another, and yet there are a lot of people who seem to be happy about it, many more than I would have expected. I don't remember getting this many pats on the back when I changed jobs before.
I'm thinking maybe some of it is because some of my colleagues regard the company that I am moving to to be more prestigious than the one that I am at now. I don't know if I share in this opinion but the firm that I am going to is one of the best in my profession. That's why I'm going there. Perhaps some of them are also assuming that I'm getting a promotion out of this deal. Perhaps one day soon I will, and indeed one of the reasons why I moving is because of the greater chances of getting promoted. Perhaps it's because that's all they can think of saying to me when they hear the news. When my resignation was announced to the staff I felt like I had just told people that I had a terminal disease. I noticed a lot of people tip-toeing around me or being hesitant in saying anything to me. So perhaps it's like asking "how ya doing?" to total strangers, just something to fill the air and relieve the stress that comes with the silence.
Or maybe I'm just imagining things.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
As I Was Saying Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted
For a number of reasons that I may discuss in the next few months, I've been thinking about reviving the old Reality World blog. Fortunately my old URL is still available so my sister wouldn't need to change the link from her page. I haven't decided for sure yet if I'll be maintaining this blog over the long haul, but I've re-established this page as a placeholder just in case.
Now let's see how long it takes before my sister finds out about this.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say in my old blog that I did in fact set up a blog for American Idol, even after telling my Mom twice that I hadn't (so in a way this post is sort of a confession). It's the reason for the change in my nom de plume and profile in case you were wondering, or at least paying attention. The Idol blog actually got some attention from blogged.com, which rated it the 13th best American Idol blog on the Net. Pretty sweet, huh. Regardless of whether or not I post anything here The Armchair Idol Judge will be the home of my Idol recap posts again next season.
I also want to take this opportunity to replay a post from the old blog, published on February 7, 2007:
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the man that the vast yet wacky Right Wing Conspiracy fears more than anyone else, the junior senator from the state of Illinois, Barack Obama.
OK, I was mostly looking for a reason to post another You Tube video (I sooo love DSL), but I've noticed that there have been a lot of outrageous and untruthful claims made against Barack Obama by the likes of Fox News and right wing talk show hosts. There was the claim by Fox News and the Washington Times that Obama went to a Muslim extremist school in Indonesia, which turned out to be a public school. It's only a Muslim school because, well, most of the people in Indonesia are Muslim (I've been there, so I know). Then there are those like Rush Limbaugh who claim that Obama is hiding his "Muslim heritage" and have taken to calling him "Barack Osama", even though Obama admits in his book (which I've read and I'm assuming they haven't) that his stepfather was in fact Muslim. I even heard someone claim on another right-wing radio show that Obama led a anti-Vietnam student protest at the University of Hawaii in 1969. Only problem is, Obama was 8 years old in 1969 (a small fact that the host didn't bother to mention, or maybe they think he's really, really smart). You don't hear these type of claims about any of the other Democrat candidates, even Hillary, and I think it's because they are afraid of him and his candidacy for President more than any of the others.
Why do they fear him so much? For one, they have nothing on him. The conservatives have so much baggage on Hillary that they can tie her up at airport security for hours. John Edwards? A trial lawyer, a loser to Kerry, an empty suit, plenty of ammo for the gun loving right wingers. And the rest of the Democrat candidates are either unknown or have no chance to win (though I wouldn't be surprised to see Gov. Bill Richardson become a factor before all is said and done. He's my dark horse, long shot, "what the hell" bet right now). Obama is entering the campaign plane with just a carry-on, hardly enough to do a "Monkey Business/Willie Horton/Swift Boat Veteran" style attack on him with any degree of credibility.
Second, Barack Obama doesn't have to try and explain away that ball and chain known as Iraq that is tied to the legs of Clinton, Edwards, and most of the other candidates (including the GOP ones). Obama doesn't have to claim that he was "for it before he was against it" and other such nonsense that made John Kerry look so wishy-washy. Look at the other candidates, especially Edwards, try and use Iraq as the prime message of their campaign, probably because that's what their handlers are telling them to do. It's pathetic in a way. It's also so 2004. Howard Dean tried that and look where it got him. YEEEEHAWW! Obama just says that we need to pull out of Iraq and that's that. No screaming. No yelling. Just simple matter of fact statements. Even if you disagree with his position the way he presents it almost demands some degree of respect.
In fact, Obama hardly ever screams and yells at all, which is another reason why the right wingers fear him. His speeches are not filled with the hatred for Bush, Chaney, Iraq, and the GOP that dominates the thinking of most of the other so-called "progressives". Even though Obama is very much an old-school liberal his primary message is that the Democrats need to work together with the Republicans rather than throw them into a fiery grave like Cindy Sheehan and her friends want to do. The neo-cons have been able to use all this bile and hatred for their own gain by making the liberals look like angry, babbling fools. They can't do that with Barack though.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, Obama is the first Democrat who has some credibility when he talks about morality. For years the Democrats have watched with envy in their eyes the way that the Republicans have been able to appeal to Christian voters. The Dems have tried to do the same, mostly by claiming that poverty is immoral, but it's been coming across as fake, phony, and pandering for votes. Obama, however, has been able to talk the talk and sound genuine in the process, perhaps because he was talking like this before he became the junior senator from Illinois. He may be the first Democrat that can walk into a conservative Christian church, the heart of the Republican base, and walk out with at least a few vote pledges. Not even John McCain has been able to pull that off.
Mind you, unlike my sister who appears ready to marry the guy, I'm not ready to cast my vote for him. I need to know where he stands on the issues and whether or not he'll help make me richer and happier (because let's face it, isn't that all we really care about?). I will say this, though, the fact that the whackos on the right seem to fear him so much leads me to think that there may be something to this fellow.
So now the Democratic Party has a decision to make. Do they back the one that they've lusted after for years (the junior senator from New York), or do they back the "safe" choice (such as the former senator from North Carolina), or do they back the guy that their opponents fear the most? Some conservatives, like Dennis Miller, are already claiming that Obama should give up his aspirations for President before he gets eaten by the Clinton machine. I wonder, though, how much of this is wishful thinking?
Just call me the Reality Prophet, well except perhaps for the part about Bill Richardson and the part about my sister marrying the guy, though I know that she did vote for him. And yes, before you ask, I did too.
Finally, I heard these words from former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz on Saturday that I thought were extremely profound and worthy of sharing:
"Even if you manage to win the rat race, remember that you are still a rat."
To be continued?
Now let's see how long it takes before my sister finds out about this.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say in my old blog that I did in fact set up a blog for American Idol, even after telling my Mom twice that I hadn't (so in a way this post is sort of a confession). It's the reason for the change in my nom de plume and profile in case you were wondering, or at least paying attention. The Idol blog actually got some attention from blogged.com, which rated it the 13th best American Idol blog on the Net. Pretty sweet, huh. Regardless of whether or not I post anything here The Armchair Idol Judge will be the home of my Idol recap posts again next season.
I also want to take this opportunity to replay a post from the old blog, published on February 7, 2007:
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the man that the vast yet wacky Right Wing Conspiracy fears more than anyone else, the junior senator from the state of Illinois, Barack Obama.
OK, I was mostly looking for a reason to post another You Tube video (I sooo love DSL), but I've noticed that there have been a lot of outrageous and untruthful claims made against Barack Obama by the likes of Fox News and right wing talk show hosts. There was the claim by Fox News and the Washington Times that Obama went to a Muslim extremist school in Indonesia, which turned out to be a public school. It's only a Muslim school because, well, most of the people in Indonesia are Muslim (I've been there, so I know). Then there are those like Rush Limbaugh who claim that Obama is hiding his "Muslim heritage" and have taken to calling him "Barack Osama", even though Obama admits in his book (which I've read and I'm assuming they haven't) that his stepfather was in fact Muslim. I even heard someone claim on another right-wing radio show that Obama led a anti-Vietnam student protest at the University of Hawaii in 1969. Only problem is, Obama was 8 years old in 1969 (a small fact that the host didn't bother to mention, or maybe they think he's really, really smart). You don't hear these type of claims about any of the other Democrat candidates, even Hillary, and I think it's because they are afraid of him and his candidacy for President more than any of the others.
Why do they fear him so much? For one, they have nothing on him. The conservatives have so much baggage on Hillary that they can tie her up at airport security for hours. John Edwards? A trial lawyer, a loser to Kerry, an empty suit, plenty of ammo for the gun loving right wingers. And the rest of the Democrat candidates are either unknown or have no chance to win (though I wouldn't be surprised to see Gov. Bill Richardson become a factor before all is said and done. He's my dark horse, long shot, "what the hell" bet right now). Obama is entering the campaign plane with just a carry-on, hardly enough to do a "Monkey Business/Willie Horton/Swift Boat Veteran" style attack on him with any degree of credibility.
Second, Barack Obama doesn't have to try and explain away that ball and chain known as Iraq that is tied to the legs of Clinton, Edwards, and most of the other candidates (including the GOP ones). Obama doesn't have to claim that he was "for it before he was against it" and other such nonsense that made John Kerry look so wishy-washy. Look at the other candidates, especially Edwards, try and use Iraq as the prime message of their campaign, probably because that's what their handlers are telling them to do. It's pathetic in a way. It's also so 2004. Howard Dean tried that and look where it got him. YEEEEHAWW! Obama just says that we need to pull out of Iraq and that's that. No screaming. No yelling. Just simple matter of fact statements. Even if you disagree with his position the way he presents it almost demands some degree of respect.
In fact, Obama hardly ever screams and yells at all, which is another reason why the right wingers fear him. His speeches are not filled with the hatred for Bush, Chaney, Iraq, and the GOP that dominates the thinking of most of the other so-called "progressives". Even though Obama is very much an old-school liberal his primary message is that the Democrats need to work together with the Republicans rather than throw them into a fiery grave like Cindy Sheehan and her friends want to do. The neo-cons have been able to use all this bile and hatred for their own gain by making the liberals look like angry, babbling fools. They can't do that with Barack though.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, Obama is the first Democrat who has some credibility when he talks about morality. For years the Democrats have watched with envy in their eyes the way that the Republicans have been able to appeal to Christian voters. The Dems have tried to do the same, mostly by claiming that poverty is immoral, but it's been coming across as fake, phony, and pandering for votes. Obama, however, has been able to talk the talk and sound genuine in the process, perhaps because he was talking like this before he became the junior senator from Illinois. He may be the first Democrat that can walk into a conservative Christian church, the heart of the Republican base, and walk out with at least a few vote pledges. Not even John McCain has been able to pull that off.
Mind you, unlike my sister who appears ready to marry the guy, I'm not ready to cast my vote for him. I need to know where he stands on the issues and whether or not he'll help make me richer and happier (because let's face it, isn't that all we really care about?). I will say this, though, the fact that the whackos on the right seem to fear him so much leads me to think that there may be something to this fellow.
So now the Democratic Party has a decision to make. Do they back the one that they've lusted after for years (the junior senator from New York), or do they back the "safe" choice (such as the former senator from North Carolina), or do they back the guy that their opponents fear the most? Some conservatives, like Dennis Miller, are already claiming that Obama should give up his aspirations for President before he gets eaten by the Clinton machine. I wonder, though, how much of this is wishful thinking?
Just call me the Reality Prophet, well except perhaps for the part about Bill Richardson and the part about my sister marrying the guy, though I know that she did vote for him. And yes, before you ask, I did too.
Finally, I heard these words from former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz on Saturday that I thought were extremely profound and worthy of sharing:
"Even if you manage to win the rat race, remember that you are still a rat."
To be continued?
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