Lions 2008 Season Prediction

Here's my (optimistic) prediction for the Lions:

@ATL: W

GB: W

@SF: W

BYE

CHI: W

@MIN: W

@HOU: L

WAS:L

@CHI: W

JAX: L

@CAR: W

TB: L

TEN: L

MIN: W

@IND: L

NO: W

@GB: L

That brings us to 9-7, which is probably good enough to win our division and enter the playoffs for the first time in many, many years.

Palin's Qualifications

Over at Salon, Joe Canason says Palin is just a token woman to the republicans.

To anyone who disagrees with this, name one qualification she has for Vice President?

As Keith put it, she makes Barack Obama look like John Adams.

Indeed.

McCain's Harriet Miers

A couple years ago, George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers to be a Supreme Court justice.  Her name was withdrawn over criticism of her qualifications and George was charged with favoritism.

She may not be a crony of John McCain, but she is definitely not qualified.  She was likely picked for being a woman, and that's it.  Her idol in the republican party is Pat Buchanan.  Yes, that Pat Buchanan.  

There were many other qualified women McCain could have chosen, such as Carly Fiorina, though she brought issues too.  None, however, are less qualified than Sarah Palin.  

She's got her looks, her "outside the beltway" attitude, and she hunts deer.  That's about it.  

  

Palin: Pro's and Cons

Sarah Palin is certainly an interesting pick.  Here's a rundown:

Pros:

1. Young, attractive

2. From Alaska, so outside of the "influence of Washington."

3. Pro-life, pro-gun

Cons:

1. A family values candidate, with a young special needs kid.  She will have to practically abandon much of her time with these kids to campaign.

2. From Alaska, which may lead people to believe that she doesn't understand the problems of the lower 48 states.

3. Used to be a big supporter of Pat Buchanan, she is probably more conservative than McCain on many issues.

4. Absolutely no foreign policy experience.  Contrast that with Joe Biden.

5. Likely not "ready on day one" to be president.

6. Has only been a governor for 2 years.  Almost no nation wide experience.  Prior to being a governor, she was a mayor of a small town.

McCain picks Palin as VP

John McCain has picked Sarah Palin, 28 years his junior, to be his running mate.

McCain is taking a big gamble.  Palin is extremely conservative on issues such as abortion.  I think it is unlikely that large amounts of women will go for this.  

She is also from Alaska, which may seem foreign to some.  She is also facing an investigation for charges of corruption.

There are also concerns that she has several young children, including one that is special needs.

What is interesting:

1. For the first time ever, we have people from Alaska and Hawaii on the ticket.

2. Either a woman will be VP, or an African American will be president.

Pat Buchanan Praises Obama's Speech

Calling it a "deeply centrist" speech, Pat Buchanan gave a large amount of praise to Barack Obama

Buchanan called it, "Genuinely outstanding and magnificent."  "The greatest convention speech."  Better than JFK or anyone else that Buchanan had seen.  "Beautiful."  

John McCain is shitting in his pants right now.

PS: This is my blogs 5ooth post.

More thoughts on Obama's speech

It inspired me unlike anything I've ever heard before. We are not simply looking at an election between two men.

We are at a defining moment in our country's history, in which we can move forward. We can help our fellow citizens rise to places they've never been before.

Obama threw everything back at McCain and gave us specific solutions to the problems we face in our country. Shall we continue on, separated, fighting each other over the scraps of meat that make up our individual goals of our country. Or should we stand together, and bring fundamental change to the USA?

He exposed the empty facade of the republicans, the ownership society that doesn't own up to its own failures. John McCain and his party have failed our people can we cannot let them win. My future, your future, our futures depend on this election.

He is our dream

In one sentence: Obama's best speech ever.

On the 45th anniversary of Dr King's "I have a dream" speech, Barack Obama delivered a speech in which he officially accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States.

In this speech, Obama was less celebral and more specific. He pointedly referred to areas in which McCain is even more extreme than Bush, such as the Iraq War. While the Bush administration is finally on the verge of setting a timetable to pull out, McCain wants us to remain there permanently.

While telling us that John McCain deserves respect for his service to our country, he reminds us that John McCain votes with George W. Bush 90% of the time. Nobody can in good consience vote for McCain unless they really love the last 8 years.

Obama says that its not that McCain doesn't care, its just that he doesn't understand. McCain has said in the past that you are middle class if you make 4 million dollars per year. McCain gives less tax breaks to those making under $150,000 than Obama.

He says that McCain's "ownership society" means that "you are on your own." No healthcare, tough luck. No job? Deal with it. Your kid is sick? We won't help. Another tour of duty to Iraq? Good luck. That, Obama says, is what the republican's policies have created, and I do agree with him. Not everyone has the support of a family like I and many of my peers do.

Obama tells us about his heroes: his grandparents, who sacrificed material success to pay for his college.

Obama says that government cannot solve all of our problems, but it should be able to provide us a safe place to live, help provide schools for our kids, provide us with clean water, and help us. And that this is the promise of America. While we must look out for ourselves, "We are our brother's keeper, our sister's keeper."

Specifically, Obama would eliminate the capital gains tax for small businesses, cut taxes for 95% of all families (McCain would mostly cut only the top 25%'s tax). He has also promised to end our use of foreign oil within 10 years. He reminds us that McCain has voted against fuel economy standards and cleaner energy. Drilling is putting your thumb in the whole of the dam. Obama promises the use of a myriad of technologies, including nuclear power, wind power, biofuels, and many other sources that will provide us with millions of new jobs.

Obama reminds us that this would cost money, but that he will eliminate ineffective programs and close tax loopholes for corporations to pay for this. Contrast that with McCain, who wants to continue a war that is not currently funded.

Obama tells us that we must take responsibility. Fathers and parents must take a part in their childrens' lives. We should all be concerned about the environment and do what we can.

"McCain says he will follow Usama Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him into the cave he lives in." This is true, McCain is afraid to go into Pakistan.

"You don't protect Israel and deter Iran by talking tough in Washington."


But more important than any of this speech, Obama is the dream of America. Forty-five years ago our country was heavily divided by race; many minorities could not easily vote, get a job, or even go in the same bathroom as whites. Dr. King began the (mostly) non-violent movement that changed all that.

Obama talks about specific ways in which we can come together:

On gun control: While hunters and urban dwellers may have different opinions, "Don't tell me we can't come together to keep AK-47's out of gang members." I agree and support background checks.

On gay marriage: While we may not agree that gay people can get married "Don't tell me we can't help gay partners be able to visit each other in the hospital." I know of nobody who will not agree with that.

Chris Matthews remarked tonight, that unlike Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and other African Americans who were appointed to their positions, Barack Obama has been democratically elected to be the candidate for president. We have come a long way in the past 45 years, and we can only hope that Barack Obama will be elected president, as my future, as well as yours, depends on it.

Lastly in his speech, Obama reminds us that we should engage in debate without judging each other's patriotism. He tells us that McCain loves our country as much as himself, or you and me. He says that while we can debate policies, we should not debate the character of the opponent. He says, "I've got news for you John McCain, we all put our country first."

He is taking the debate from the Britney Spears ads to the issues, and that is ground in which John McCain will surely lose.

Hurricane Gustav could spoil the GOP's parade

Hurricane gustav could potentially hit New Orleans on Monday, the same day that Bush speaks to the GOP convention.  I hope that it doesn't hit that town (I'm going there in January), but if it does, that would truly derail the republicans convention, especially if the levees break again.  And all under the watch of Piyush "Bobby" Jindal.  

John Kerry's Best Speech Ever

If he had been like this 4 years ago, he'd be running for his second term.

Bill Clinton at the DNC

President Clinton gave a great speech, one that he wrote.  It was much better than even Hillary's or Mark Warner's yesterday.  See for yourself (skip the first few minutes, he spends all of them calming the audience down, they could not stop clapping!).

Bill attacked McCain on national security, correctly saying that time and time again, John McCain is wrong on national security and that Barack Obama has been right.  Afghanistan, Iraq, and many others.

China's Renewal and America's Stagnation

Here is a great opinion piece by Thomas Friedman (author of The World is Flat and an upcoming book on the environment).  

He makes a great point.  Between us and the Chinese, who is living in a third world country now?  And what can we do to generate an American renewal?

Hillary's Speech

I'm not a big HRC fan, but her speech was right on the money.  

"No way, no how, no McCain."

"It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together in the Twin Cities.  Because they're awfully hard to tell apart."

All of the Hillary supporters who had thoughts of voting for McCain are going to have a fair amount of cognitive dissonance tonight.  Hillary didn't just tell them to vote for Obama, she told them they would be disrespecting her and everything she believes in to vote for McCain.  Maybe some of them will stay home on election day, but I think the vast majority will vote for Obama.

Case closed.  Bye-bye McCain.

Mark Warner DNC Keynote Video

Quote of the night

"John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush more than 90% of the time...that's not a maverick, that's a sidekick. "

--Bob Casey

Pat Buchanan

Bonus points to Pat Buchanan for saying on the air that if you want to hear Bush and Cheney getting absolutely hammered, tune into Ron Paul's convention.

Mark Warner's Keynote

Mark Warner's keynote speech was fantastic. He is a completely moderate democrat, who was the governor of Virginia from 2001-2005. He gave a phenomenal speech, but I think that the best part was when he said (and this is paraphrasing):

the worst thing that Bush did was not tapping the resolve of the American people after 9/11. If he had told us after 9/11 that we need to stop using foreign oil that pays the terrorists salaries, by giving up most of our SUV's, carpooling, riding bicycles, and buying hybrids, we would be in a much better world now."

He is right. Gas would not be $4 a gallon due to decreased demand, and it wouldn't matter if it was since everyone would be in a hybrid or not need to buy gas. Bush told us to "go shopping" after 9/11 which only drained our pocketbooks and got us more SUV's and foreign oil.

Warner also told the audience that if we can send a job to Bangalore, we can send a job to rural Virginia (or Flint, MI as another of his examples). During his administration, many "on-shore off-shore" high tech jobs were created in rural Virginia.

One day, Mark Warner may be our president, but if we want to follow what he says and invest in science, the future, and our people, we cannot elect John McCain as president.

I will post the youtube soon.

Not good for Israel's public relations

The very opposite of Mel Gibson.  A drunk Israeli settler, claiming that his people killed Jesus.

I highly doubt this represents the Israeli settlers, but people really need to learn to lay off the booze when there's cameras around.

I'd probably be pissed if a film crew was following me around too, but this is not going to get the Christians to side with him.  

McCain: The Brezhnev Concern

While most of us generally think of McCain in terms of what he represents politically, there is another concern that should be at the forefront of the news: mental decline.

Many pundits will opine that McCain needs to pick someone younger (like Mitt Romney) in order to persuade voters to back a 72 year old. The general consensus is that McCain may not be able to survive the next four to eight years, so a young VP is necessary just in case McCain croaks.

Despite McCain's recent cancer episodes, he seems relatively healthy, physically, but there's another concern we must not forget.

Old age does not just suddenly appear. It takes time to develop, and by the time it is obvious a lot of damage can be done. Especially when you have a man who plans to carry forward the legacy of one of the most secret administrations ever.

We can look to the Soviet Union to see this in action, with Leonid Brezhnev. When Brezhnev took over from Khrushchev, he was a spry 58. By the time he died in office, he was 76, which is, coincidentally, the age McCain would be at the end of his possible first term.

Boris Yeltsin reported a typical encounter with the older Brezhnev, who was still alive, but would not be able to even comprehend the papers he would sign.

Could this happen to John McCain? In McCain's age group, on average 5% of people will have Alzheimer's or acquire it within a year. While a 1 in 20 chance may not seem very high, would you be willing to take this bet on someone who can push the big red button?

Obviously, most of my readers will not for such a man, but it is a shame that the media refuses to discuss this issue at all. They are likely afraid of offending seniors, but I think that these are the people who would be least offended, as most of them would have likely worried about dementia themselves and seen it up close with friends.

One important thing to ponder, is McCain currently in a mental decline? He is working very hard everyday, mentally. At his age, thinking is tough work for even the healthiest, and one must worry about his mental state after five years as a POW anyway, which probably aged him mentally by many years. When you see McCain's confusion on basic mental functions, such as speaking, it becomes apparent that he is not as sharp as he was even one year ago.

The real concern is that McCain would not visibly become incapacitated, and his advisors would take over for him, people like Phil Gramm, or the Georgian Lobbyist. With people like that running the country, and only giving McCain pre-written executive orders to sign, who knows what would happen, especially since these people would have an easy scapegoat should anything go really wrong.

So, how did Brezhnev's illness work out for the Soviet Union? Not too well. During the 70's the economy stagnated and it is unlikely that Brezhnev knew anything that was going on. Ten years after his death, his counry was no more. And Russians are left with the legacy of Brezhnev jokes:

During the Olympics, Brezhnev is giving a speech and begins it: "Oh, oh, oh..."
His advisor says to him: "Comrade Brezhnev, those are the Olympic Rings, you do not need to read them."

Hopefully we will not have these type of jokes in four years...

Ron Paul does WHAT?!

Ron Paul, the last bastion of liberty, has sold out.  He has endorsed Alaska Rep. Young, who is about as fiscally conservative as Hillary Clinton (and that's probably being unfair to Sen. Clinton).  

I guess we should all remember that Ron Paul is indeed 73 (that's one year older than John McCain), and at this stage of his life, with his manifesto published, he may feel its time to just be nice to people and compromise.

More here.