It is amazing how quick they are to throw you under the bus (although he has no one to blame but himself) in Washington. All for some home improvements and a nice gas grille...sad.
From Politico.com
Senate leaders start returning Stevens PAC money
Now the Senate's top leaders have started to distance themselves from Ted Stevens.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Conference Vice Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) have both donated to charity $10,000 they received from Stevens' Northern Lights Political Action Committee, according to Politico sources. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is also planning to unload Stevens' money to a charity.
It's a sign that even though the official GOP stance is that Stevens should have his day in court, they don't want to be associated with him or his money at this time.
Virtually every politically vulnerable Republican senator has donated or is planning to donate Stevens PAC money to home state charities, including Sens. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Pat Roberts of Kansas, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Gordon Smith of Oregon.
McConnell's move, confirmed by campaign aide Scott Jennings, is most significant because he is the Senate minority leader, and his message is representative of where the GOP Senate Conference stands as a whole. McConnell is also up for re-election and is facing a well-funded challenger, Bruce Lundsford.
McConnell donated $10,000 to the Wayside Christian Mission, the same charity McConnell donated money that came from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Other senators have chosen similar local charities as a way to offload the Stevens money.
--G
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Throw the Bums Out
Jimmy Dimora, Ted Stevens, Frank Russo, Idiot---Eliot Spitzer, Marc Dann, William Jefferson (D, Louisiana)---not WJC--William Jefferson Clinton--although an argument was already made for that one--these are just a few of the men--politicians, rather, who are corrupt to the core and have no business serving burgers at McDonald's (not that there is anything wrong with that), much less serving as a county commissioner, a U.S. Senator, a county auditor, a Governor, and Attorney General or a Congressman.
The problem, I'm afraid is more complex than I could articulate, but certainly contributing factors include voter apathy, hypocrisy (on the part of the voter and the candidate/officeholder), misguided loyalty, and--I'm afraid--our two-party system. That's not an easy thing to say for a life-long Republican.
I'm beginning, more and more lately, to consider myself a conservative rather than a Republican. Make no mistake--there are good men and women in BOTH parties. I won't rattle them off here, but they know who they are. You corrupt pieces of crap--you know who you are too.
I'm tired of it. I'm tired of reading about it. Their corruptness taints a profession of which I am very proud. Until the unrepresented wake up, until apathy turns to activism, until we stop voting for familiarity rather than character, we get the representation we deserve. And, frankly, we don't deserve all that much right now.
Take a good hard look at who you're voting for--if you don't--shut up. If you do, at least you can look in the mirror when the next Jimmy Dimora gets caught--and trust me, they're out there.
--G
The Audacity of Vanity
Sorry for the silence lately folks--POTUS is on vacation, and I've been swamped at work. I'm sure Lefty and Big Red are busy too.
Since I have a moment, I want to pass along what I thought was a pretty good article--not usually a fan of Krauthammer---just so cantankerous---but it hits the nail on the head with this one.
Expect some posts soon on the corrupt Democrats who were just raided in Cuyahoga County...
The Audacity of Vanity
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, July 18, 2008
Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. He figures it would be a nice backdrop. The supporting cast -- a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins -- would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Ronald Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation.
When President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin.Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? What was his role in the fight against communism, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the creation of what George Bush the elder -- who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall but modestly declined to go there for a victory lap -- called "a Europe whole and free"?Does Obama not see the incongruity?
It's as if a German pol took a campaign trip to America and demanded the Statue of Liberty as a venue for a campaign speech. (The Germans have now gently nudged Obama into looking at other venues.)Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president.
Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article?
His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.It is a subject upon which he can dilate effortlessly. In his victory speech upon winning the nomination, Obama declared it a great turning point in history -- "generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment" -- when, among other wonders, "the rise of the oceans began to slow."
As Hudson Institute economist Irwin Stelzer noted in his London Daily Telegraph column, "Moses made the waters recede, but he had help." Obama apparently works alone.Obama may think he's King Canute, but the good king ordered the tides to halt precisely to refute sycophantic aides who suggested that he had such power. Obama has no such modesty.
We are the ones we've been waiting for," which, translating the royal "we," means: " I am the one we've been waiting for." Amazingly, he had a quasi-presidential seal with its own Latin inscription affixed to his lectern, until general ridicule -- it was pointed out that he was not yet president -- induced him to take it down.
He lectures us that instead of worrying about immigrants learning English, "you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish" -- a language Obama does not speak. He further admonishes us on how "embarrassing" it is that Europeans are multilingual but "we go over to Europe, and all we can say is 'merci beaucoup.' " Obama speaks no French.His fluent English does, however, feature many such admonitions, instructions and improvements. His wife assures us that President Obama will be a stern taskmaster: "Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism . . . that you come out of your isolation. . . . Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?We are getting to know.
Redeemer of our uninvolved, uninformed lives. Lord of the seas. And more. As he said on victory night, his rise marks the moment when "our planet began to heal." As I recall -- I'm no expert on this -- Jesus practiced his healing just on the sick. Obama operates on a larger canvas.
--G
Since I have a moment, I want to pass along what I thought was a pretty good article--not usually a fan of Krauthammer---just so cantankerous---but it hits the nail on the head with this one.
Expect some posts soon on the corrupt Democrats who were just raided in Cuyahoga County...
The Audacity of Vanity
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, July 18, 2008
Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. He figures it would be a nice backdrop. The supporting cast -- a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins -- would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Ronald Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation.
When President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin.Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? What was his role in the fight against communism, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the creation of what George Bush the elder -- who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall but modestly declined to go there for a victory lap -- called "a Europe whole and free"?Does Obama not see the incongruity?
It's as if a German pol took a campaign trip to America and demanded the Statue of Liberty as a venue for a campaign speech. (The Germans have now gently nudged Obama into looking at other venues.)Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president.
Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article?
His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.It is a subject upon which he can dilate effortlessly. In his victory speech upon winning the nomination, Obama declared it a great turning point in history -- "generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment" -- when, among other wonders, "the rise of the oceans began to slow."
As Hudson Institute economist Irwin Stelzer noted in his London Daily Telegraph column, "Moses made the waters recede, but he had help." Obama apparently works alone.Obama may think he's King Canute, but the good king ordered the tides to halt precisely to refute sycophantic aides who suggested that he had such power. Obama has no such modesty.
We are the ones we've been waiting for," which, translating the royal "we," means: " I am the one we've been waiting for." Amazingly, he had a quasi-presidential seal with its own Latin inscription affixed to his lectern, until general ridicule -- it was pointed out that he was not yet president -- induced him to take it down.
He lectures us that instead of worrying about immigrants learning English, "you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish" -- a language Obama does not speak. He further admonishes us on how "embarrassing" it is that Europeans are multilingual but "we go over to Europe, and all we can say is 'merci beaucoup.' " Obama speaks no French.His fluent English does, however, feature many such admonitions, instructions and improvements. His wife assures us that President Obama will be a stern taskmaster: "Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism . . . that you come out of your isolation. . . . Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?We are getting to know.
Redeemer of our uninvolved, uninformed lives. Lord of the seas. And more. As he said on victory night, his rise marks the moment when "our planet began to heal." As I recall -- I'm no expert on this -- Jesus practiced his healing just on the sick. Obama operates on a larger canvas.
--G
Friday, July 25, 2008
NOLA
New Orleans, Louisiana--The Big Easy--this year's host of the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Sounds exciting, right? Well, in our business it's a fantastic place/event/venue to build relationships with legislators and staff. That is, cultivate new relationships, and maintain and build upon existing ones. Relationships, you see, are the life blood of the business.
I was told by a legislator this week (over dinner at Mr. B's Bistro) that two characteristics, in his opinion, are required to make a lobbyist effect: 1. honesty 2. knowledge. NCSL gives us just another avenue to demonstrate both.
I flew in Tuesday morning---up at 4am, flight at 6am---landed in New Orleans (via Houston) at around 10:00am. I proceeded to my quarters for the week, an elegant place on St. Louis Street called the Omni Royal Orleans. I unpacked and received almost simultaneous emails from TC and the Counselor to join them for lunch. I did so at the in-house joint in the Hilton Riverside--just a short cab ride away. I had a fantastic burger and some fries. After catching up with TC and the Counselor, I headed to the conference venue--the New Orleans Convention Center. This place is HUGE! It was also home to alot of displaced citizens during Katrina.
Anyway, I checked in and did a tour of the venue--including the exhibit hall which housed all of the vendors in town for the conference. You name it, it was there--hybrid car manufacturers, health care providers, branches of the armed forces, cspan, cnn, bla, bla, bla.
After spending some time on site, i ventured back to my room, took a shower and met up with TC again for dinner. Double M joined us for dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville (as TC is a big fat parrot head). My cheeseburger in paradise was delicious--as were the numerous Miller-Lite's. After dinner we head to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter--to what turned out to be our "spot" for the week, Fritzel's European Jazz Pub. Fritzel's is small, but is loaded with musical talent--not the least of which was the fast fingers of the piano player (sorry I cant recall his name). This jazz band was made up of a drummer, the piano guy, a clarinet player and a guy on bass. Amazing talent these guys have--exactly what i envisioned the experience to be--in fact it exceeded my hopes and expectations. What a great experience.
Wednesday (ill skip the boring daytime stuff) we hit dinner with several Northeast Ohio legislators at Mr. B's Bistro (see above for link). I have no idea what i was thinking, but for my entree i had some kind of chicken and rice nonesense. It was terrible, and I regret tremendously my decision not to order a steak (or anything other than what i ordered). I was particularly jealous of the Senator's meal---a nice juicy filet on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce (with some sort of house dressing). It looked amazing. The wedge salad i ordered was delicious, however--as were the crab cakes we ordered for appetizers.
Tonight we went to Brennan's with a couple of legislators from southwest Ohio. Good guys (and their wives were as pleasant as could be). A fun group, really. I ordered the 14 oz Ribeye with the Garlic Butter Sauce. While the 31/2 hour wait was maddening, the juicy, delicious, perfectly-cooked ribeye almost---ALMOST made up for it. We sat down to dinner at 7:30pm and we didn't pay the bill until well after 11:30. Ridiculous. BTW--the Banana's Foster was AMAZING! Thanks, Ron.
I thoroughly---thoroughly enjoyed New Orleans, Louisiana (aka NOLA). The people are polite and proud, the food is amazing, the music is delightful and the ambience (i was careful not to say atmosphere) is unique. The heat and humidity, that's another story. I have to say, aside from the smell of diesel fuel, urine, and horse shit--the NOLA is a rockin' joint. I highly recommend a visit.
TC and I even worked in a tour of The National World War II Museum--inspiring and educational. I highly advise a visit.
After being devasted by Hurricane's Katrina and Rita, this city that sits in a bowl between Lake Ponchartrain and the grand Mississippi is an American gem.
Thank you, NOLA.
--G
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The TPC
As POTUS mentioned in his post last thursday, he and I--along with Pauly Walnuts (aka Geico) and C-to-the-H, played in the Annual TPC Classic.
No friends, I'm not talking about the Tournament Players Clubs--known worldwide for their amazing Golf Courses in Scottsdale, Sawgrass, Myrtle Beach or Las Vegas.
No folks, I'm talking about the Tom Patton Classic--at Mallard Creek Golf Club!
We could not have asked for a better day to enjoy the golf and world-class fare that was onsite--courtesy of Bucci's of Berea. The temperature topped out around 92, but throughout most of the course there was a nice breeze blowing.
I arrived early. With this golf swing, and my old, creeky bones, it's essential for me to hit the driving range. I was pleasantly suprised at how I was hitting the ball, so after about 15 minutes, I wanted to get my obligation to the host out of the way--so I tracked down TP, said hello, thank you, and proceeded to take one of the 12,000 donuts he had for everyone. I grabbed a few bottles of water for my teammates, then I set out to the putting range. After a few minutes, I was starting to work up a sweat, and I figured the perfect remedy for that nonsense was another tasty donut. I wish I could give props to the makers of those tasty pastries, but I know not from where they came! Damn good, though.
So we had some pretty decent pull there, so we were Golf carts 1 and 2--teeing off on hole number 1. Me, POTUS, and C-to-the-H had terrible first drives--Pauly Walnuts set us straight, though and hit his Tee Shot about twofiddy down the middle. (That's 250 yards for you non-slang speakers). We all settle under Pauly's ball for our second shot--C-to-the-H puts us close enough for Pauly to sink the put. Birdie.
We proceeded to bogey the 2nd hole, and followed that with another birdie on 3. After three holes we were even. I think we ended up making the turn at -3. At the turn, we were met with ice-cold Miller Lite's and some delicious Italian Sausages with sauteed green, red, yellow peppers and some onions. Dem was some good sausages! Bucci's is 1-1.
We started out on hole 10 a little lathargic--A fat sausage (and by now POTUS and I were into it with about 4 beers a piece). We caught fire though, and even yours truly was finding his groove on the Tee Box and even on the greens. We ended up -9--taking fourth place in the Scramble--one spot away from winning the hardware. Pauly Walnuts carried us for the most part, but each of us, on numerous occasions contributed to the team effort. It was a fun time. I can't believe I do this for a living!
So, we take our -9 under to the clubhouse where the meal above is waiting on us. After 6 beers or so--and alot of sweating, i was ready for a hearty meal. The pasta was delicious, the potatoes were seasoned nicely and cooked to make them soft enough without being mushy. I chose one of the larger steaks and it was cooked a little less than medium. It had good flavor--perhaps a little tough--but not bad for a golf course steak dinner.
Fun was had by all--and I'd say even with the overhead, TP raised a good amount of cash given the turn-out at the event. He'll win in November going away.
Pauly Walnuts, C-to-the-H, POTUS--thanks for the great outing. I hope I wasn't too heavy!
--G
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Now serving…
Two months after announcing the draft of Big Red, and threats to put him on waivers, our DC correspondent has stepped to the SteakMatters Platter (plate) with two posts. Its good reading, especially the review of Ray’s Hell Burger. I can’t wait to saddle up and place an order, but let’s hope they get a credit card machine in the joint by the time I get there.
Welcome to staff. We and the loyal readers of SteakMatters look forward to your reports for our Nation’s Capital.
-POTUS
p.s. – Tomorrow me and GOTSOO will be pursuing a ‘good walk spoiled’. Here’s hoping for GOTSOO’s second Hole-In-One and a good steak for dinner.
Welcome to staff. We and the loyal readers of SteakMatters look forward to your reports for our Nation’s Capital.
-POTUS
p.s. – Tomorrow me and GOTSOO will be pursuing a ‘good walk spoiled’. Here’s hoping for GOTSOO’s second Hole-In-One and a good steak for dinner.
History At a Glance--Experience of Past U.S. Presidents
By now, everyone knows that one of the knocks on Barrack Obama is that he is inexperienced. After going to law school, he magnanimously passed over the opportunity to take lucrative "Wall Street" jobs worthy of his Ivy League pedigree (Columbia undergrad and Harvard Law). Obama moved to Chicago to become a "community organizer" for low-income residents and for those seeking public housing. After law school he practiced as a "civil rights" lawyer in Chicago.
In 1996 he was Elected to the Illinois State Senate. In 2000 he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House. He started serving his CURRENT term in the U.S. Senate in 2005---a mere three years ago. That's three, 3, uno, dos, tres.
I decided to find out whether or not Obama would be considered inexperienced compared to past U.S. Presidents. Have I been exaggerating...does his experience compare favorably to some of the 43 U.S. Presidents. Does he have more experience than anyone elected to such high office?
Let's start with who most liberals and Democrats would say is the worst U.S. President ever, George W. Bush.
43rd President of the United States, W. was a two-term Governor of one of the largest states in the union, Texas. Prior to Governor of Texas, Bush earned an undergrad degree from Yale, an MBA from Harvard, and was a fighter pilot in the Air Force Reserves. He also owned a professional baseball team (Texas Rangers) and was somehow involved in the energy business--and of course was intimately involved in his father's successful presidential campaign...and was around the White House during the 8 years of the Reagan administration. Say what you want, but on paper, W. has a nice resume.
I know, I get it, one could make the argument that impressive resumes do not a good President make.
2nd President of the United States, John Adams. Adams was a farmer. He was a Harvard-educated lawyer. He was a delegate to the first and second Continental Congresses. He was one of the primary leaders of the movement that led to the creation of these United States. During the Revolutionary War he went to France and Holland to secure funds for the war effort, and helped negotiate the treaty of peace. From 1785 to 1788 he was minister to the Court of St. James's, returning to be elected Vice President under George Washington. He served two terms as Vice-President of the United States.
42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton. Clinton graduated from Georgetown University where he was a Rhodes Scholar (Oxford University). He also graduated from Yale University law school. In 1974 he ran for but lost race for U.S. Congress. In 1976 he was elected Attorney General of Arkansas. In 1978 he was elected Governor of Arkansas. He lost a bid for a second term, but later won a race to retake that office--where he stayed until he was elected President in 1992.
32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR attended Harvard undergrad and Columbia Law School. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920. In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York. He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms.
13th President of the United States, Millard Fillmore. In 1823, Fillmore was admitted to the bar; seven years later he moved his law practice to Buffalo. He was an associate of the Whig politician Thurlow Weed. Wee helped Fillmore hold state office and for eight years was a member of the House of Representatives. In 1848, while Comptroller of New York, he was elected Vice President in the Taylor administration. He became President in 1850 when President Taylor died suddenly.
20th President of the United States, James Garfield. Garfield, one of Cuyahoga County's own, worked on canal boats to earn enough money to attend college. He graduated from Williams College (Massachusetts) in 1856. After Williams, he attended Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College) in Ohio as a classics professor. Within a year he was made the college's president. In 1859, Garfield was elected to the Ohio Senate. As early as 1862 he served in the Union Army and fought in the Civil War. At the early age of 31 he was promoted to Brigadier General. The highest rank he achieved was Major General (two-star general). While he was away in 1862, he was elected to Congress where he was reelected for almost 20 years. In 1880 he was nominated to be the Republican party nominee for president where he subsequently defeated General Winfield Scott.
18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Grant, who many consider one of the worst U.S. Presidents ever (but for Jimmy Carter), was a graduate of West Point. He fought in the Mexican war under General Zachary Taylor (future U.S. President). He was promoted to Major General during the Civil War by President Lincoln. In 1864, Lincoln appointed Grant as General-In-Chief of the Union Army. On April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered to Grant who wrote out terms of surrender. He was elected President in 1868 and served two terms.
Folks, I can't find a single President of these United States with anywhere near the pathetic resume sported by Barrack Hussein Obama. This man, who was serving in the Illinois State Senate just three years ago--has no business being President of the United States. He is too inexperienced. His flip-flopping on almost every issue in this campaign proves that he has not matured enough politically to be where he is today.
To some, this inexperience is an asset. That may be true were he not acting like a run-of-the-mill politician. We are in the middle of a war. We are in a protracted confrontation with Iran. Energy prices are soaring, the economy is in the tank. Now is not the time for on the job training--now is the time for tried and true experience.
John McCain is a veteran of our United States armed forces. He attended college at the United States Naval Academy. He served in the U.S. Navy for 22 years. He was a fighter pilot, and per one of my more recent posts, you are all aware of his plight in southeast Asia where he was a P.O.W for 5 1/2 years. His naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. McCain was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982. After serving two terms in the U.S. House, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 where he has served for 22 years.
The choice is clear, my friends. Unfortunately, most can't see the forrest for the trees. It's time to get real America. I get wanting change. I want change. Obama, however, is not the kind of inexperience we need in a crucial time in our nations history.
--G
In 1996 he was Elected to the Illinois State Senate. In 2000 he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House. He started serving his CURRENT term in the U.S. Senate in 2005---a mere three years ago. That's three, 3, uno, dos, tres.
I decided to find out whether or not Obama would be considered inexperienced compared to past U.S. Presidents. Have I been exaggerating...does his experience compare favorably to some of the 43 U.S. Presidents. Does he have more experience than anyone elected to such high office?
Let's start with who most liberals and Democrats would say is the worst U.S. President ever, George W. Bush.
43rd President of the United States, W. was a two-term Governor of one of the largest states in the union, Texas. Prior to Governor of Texas, Bush earned an undergrad degree from Yale, an MBA from Harvard, and was a fighter pilot in the Air Force Reserves. He also owned a professional baseball team (Texas Rangers) and was somehow involved in the energy business--and of course was intimately involved in his father's successful presidential campaign...and was around the White House during the 8 years of the Reagan administration. Say what you want, but on paper, W. has a nice resume.
I know, I get it, one could make the argument that impressive resumes do not a good President make.
2nd President of the United States, John Adams. Adams was a farmer. He was a Harvard-educated lawyer. He was a delegate to the first and second Continental Congresses. He was one of the primary leaders of the movement that led to the creation of these United States. During the Revolutionary War he went to France and Holland to secure funds for the war effort, and helped negotiate the treaty of peace. From 1785 to 1788 he was minister to the Court of St. James's, returning to be elected Vice President under George Washington. He served two terms as Vice-President of the United States.
42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton. Clinton graduated from Georgetown University where he was a Rhodes Scholar (Oxford University). He also graduated from Yale University law school. In 1974 he ran for but lost race for U.S. Congress. In 1976 he was elected Attorney General of Arkansas. In 1978 he was elected Governor of Arkansas. He lost a bid for a second term, but later won a race to retake that office--where he stayed until he was elected President in 1992.
32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR attended Harvard undergrad and Columbia Law School. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920. In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York. He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms.
13th President of the United States, Millard Fillmore. In 1823, Fillmore was admitted to the bar; seven years later he moved his law practice to Buffalo. He was an associate of the Whig politician Thurlow Weed. Wee helped Fillmore hold state office and for eight years was a member of the House of Representatives. In 1848, while Comptroller of New York, he was elected Vice President in the Taylor administration. He became President in 1850 when President Taylor died suddenly.
20th President of the United States, James Garfield. Garfield, one of Cuyahoga County's own, worked on canal boats to earn enough money to attend college. He graduated from Williams College (Massachusetts) in 1856. After Williams, he attended Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College) in Ohio as a classics professor. Within a year he was made the college's president. In 1859, Garfield was elected to the Ohio Senate. As early as 1862 he served in the Union Army and fought in the Civil War. At the early age of 31 he was promoted to Brigadier General. The highest rank he achieved was Major General (two-star general). While he was away in 1862, he was elected to Congress where he was reelected for almost 20 years. In 1880 he was nominated to be the Republican party nominee for president where he subsequently defeated General Winfield Scott.
18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Grant, who many consider one of the worst U.S. Presidents ever (but for Jimmy Carter), was a graduate of West Point. He fought in the Mexican war under General Zachary Taylor (future U.S. President). He was promoted to Major General during the Civil War by President Lincoln. In 1864, Lincoln appointed Grant as General-In-Chief of the Union Army. On April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered to Grant who wrote out terms of surrender. He was elected President in 1868 and served two terms.
Folks, I can't find a single President of these United States with anywhere near the pathetic resume sported by Barrack Hussein Obama. This man, who was serving in the Illinois State Senate just three years ago--has no business being President of the United States. He is too inexperienced. His flip-flopping on almost every issue in this campaign proves that he has not matured enough politically to be where he is today.
To some, this inexperience is an asset. That may be true were he not acting like a run-of-the-mill politician. We are in the middle of a war. We are in a protracted confrontation with Iran. Energy prices are soaring, the economy is in the tank. Now is not the time for on the job training--now is the time for tried and true experience.
John McCain is a veteran of our United States armed forces. He attended college at the United States Naval Academy. He served in the U.S. Navy for 22 years. He was a fighter pilot, and per one of my more recent posts, you are all aware of his plight in southeast Asia where he was a P.O.W for 5 1/2 years. His naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. McCain was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982. After serving two terms in the U.S. House, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 where he has served for 22 years.
The choice is clear, my friends. Unfortunately, most can't see the forrest for the trees. It's time to get real America. I get wanting change. I want change. Obama, however, is not the kind of inexperience we need in a crucial time in our nations history.
--G
On a mission!
So last night I failed in my endeavor to enjoy a juicy burger from "Ray's Hell Burger," but today I ran into a friend making rounds on the hill who also had heard about the new joint and was eager to try it out himself. Luckily both of us had no firm plans except possibly go watch the Congressional Baseball game in 95 degree heat, which can be fun especially since the Democrat Members usually do a great interpretive performance of the "Bad News Bears."
However the heat deterred us, and we decided to hit up the burger joint. This time we went earlier, about 6:30, and fortunately the line was manageable. The place is narrow, barely decorated, but in the back, the kitchen is completely open behind the counter, and you can watch the whole process. They are literally grounding the beef and making the patties as you order your burger, and the beef used is the same prime aged heaven he serves up right next door. All the patties are 10 oz., so a good size burger and that is the only size it comes in. They have a few set preps, but most build the burger starting with the seasoning which is either au poivre, diablo, or basic grilled. Then he has an extensive selection of cheeses and different toppings you can add for a few dollars more. I decided to opt for one of the preset ones because it had everything I wanted. I ordered what is called the BIG POPPA, which is done au poivre, rolled in peppercorns, with danish bleu cheese, caramelized onions, and sherried mushrooms. I got the burger med/rare, and ordered a mini pitcher of Old Dominion Root Beer which they have on tap, and since they have no regular beer. Just a selection of fancy sodas and also massive root beer floats. On a side note, root beer on tap is delicious, it was a great compliment to wash down the burger
After the ordering they take your name and you have to fumble back into the dining room to find a seat. After a few minutes they call your name and you have to waive them down to bring you the burger. They have no fries, but it is served with corn on the cob and a watermelon slice (if you want a salty side, there is a selection of potato chips)The burger was massive with all the toppings, so I felt the need to cut it in half. It was magnificent, it was literally the freshest and tastiest ground beef I have every had. At times the flavors were competing with one another and it got a little intense with all the peppercorns, bleu cheese, onions, and mushrooms. My one complaint though is that the burger is almost too juicy and the bun falls apart a bit, so it can get messy. However, for 8 bucks, and some damn tasty root beer on tap, it is well worth it, and I will be back for more. FYI, cash only...
Cheers,
BR
From the Inbox...
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. The purpose of this email is to give everyone a quick update on my State Representative campaign. As some of you know, I have been out knocking on doors since late April. We have a had a real positive response and a lot of energy is being generated regarding the campaign. If you haven't done so already, check out my website - www.urbanforohio.com
There are a bunch of great pictures of the campaign out and about in the District marching in parades and running in races. One thing I'd like to do between now and November with your help is to get a small group of people together on the weekends to help "blitz" a neighborhood either knocking on doors or doing literature drops. Ideally, we'd plan to meet at a central spot to where we would be that day and then head over to a specific neighborhood. I have already received several kind offers to help out. The more people we have out in a particular neighborhood, the more voters we can contact. And voter contact is the key to any race.
Again, thanks to everyone who has supported me and thanks to those that will spend a little time volunteering over the next several months. November 4th will be right around the corner. If you know anybody in Avon Lake, Avon, North Ridgeville, Sheffield Village, Elyria, Carlisle Township, Eaton Township or Columbia Station, please let them know about my campaign. All the best.
Dan Urban
Paid for by Urban for Ohio Committee, 3393 Spruce Court, Avon, OH 44011, Tom Pratt, Treasurer
--G
There are a bunch of great pictures of the campaign out and about in the District marching in parades and running in races. One thing I'd like to do between now and November with your help is to get a small group of people together on the weekends to help "blitz" a neighborhood either knocking on doors or doing literature drops. Ideally, we'd plan to meet at a central spot to where we would be that day and then head over to a specific neighborhood. I have already received several kind offers to help out. The more people we have out in a particular neighborhood, the more voters we can contact. And voter contact is the key to any race.
Again, thanks to everyone who has supported me and thanks to those that will spend a little time volunteering over the next several months. November 4th will be right around the corner. If you know anybody in Avon Lake, Avon, North Ridgeville, Sheffield Village, Elyria, Carlisle Township, Eaton Township or Columbia Station, please let them know about my campaign. All the best.
Dan Urban
Paid for by Urban for Ohio Committee, 3393 Spruce Court, Avon, OH 44011, Tom Pratt, Treasurer
--G
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
My First Post...
I understand this is long overdue, but here goes…
First off I would like thank POTUS for extending me the invitation to post on this fine blog, and to Lefty and GOTSOO for not objecting. I have enjoyed reading the posts for months, and it is good to finally be participating.
My intent was to post a rundown of previous steak experiences, but that proved cumbersome, and I thought it better to start from the present (also many of them were with Lefty and POTUS, so I felt they were well covered.)
So this evening after leaving the Lefty Jr. Group for the day I rushed home to start moving my stuff from my small room in my house to a slightly larger more expensive room a mile down the road. I have a 2 week window, so I am moving most stuff by car. After several car loads, I was famished and decided to check out Ray’s the Steaks Chef/Owner Michael Landrum’s new burger joint, Ray’s Hell Burger. This guy didn’t even put out a release for the opening, an editor for the Washingtonian was eating at Ray’s the Steaks and saw a hand written sign on the window saying “Try Ray’s Hell Burger” with an arrow pointing down the strip mall. So of course it gets a write up and now the line is out the door…
So since I moved much closer to the city center of Arlington, I decided to leave my car at my new apartment and hoof it. I was pleased to find out the walk is slightly less than 15 min. So I get to the tiny strip mall about 8:30pm, and low and behold the line was still out the door at “The Steaks,” and of course also “Hell Burger.” I got inside the place, it was so packed and the line was so long to the little counter where you order in the back that I asked the lady how long she thought. She quoted me 20 minutes, and I just wasn’t in the mood to wait by myself so I hoofed it back. On the way I passed a delicious little specialty burrito place called California Tortilla, however I was in the mood for something with a little more meat. I managed to get to the Italian Store right before closing, and got a massive Italian sub with 3 kinds of cured meat (Lefty and POTUS can also attest to these sandwiches). Although not the steak burger I was hoping for, always a satisfying meal. Ray’s Hell Burger review to come shortly…
I got home just in time to catch the tail end of a replay of the Home Run Derby, to watch Josh Hamilton get robbed because they reset the totals for the final. On a side note, he has 95 RBI’s at the break, which is an astounding stat in itself. But even if he has the same performance for the second half of the season he will finish with 190 RBI’s, which is amazingly one shy of the all time record of 191, set in 1930 by none other than Hack Wilson. I still think this is the most underrated record in all of sports, and I challenge anyone to come up with another one that is so seemingly unbeatable, save Cy Young’s 511 wins.
So my first post wasn’t exactly steak focused, but I felt I needed to break the ice, especially since POTUS threatened to revoke my membership and it had been awhile since I got it.
Cheers gentlemen,
BIG RED
First off I would like thank POTUS for extending me the invitation to post on this fine blog, and to Lefty and GOTSOO for not objecting. I have enjoyed reading the posts for months, and it is good to finally be participating.
My intent was to post a rundown of previous steak experiences, but that proved cumbersome, and I thought it better to start from the present (also many of them were with Lefty and POTUS, so I felt they were well covered.)
So this evening after leaving the Lefty Jr. Group for the day I rushed home to start moving my stuff from my small room in my house to a slightly larger more expensive room a mile down the road. I have a 2 week window, so I am moving most stuff by car. After several car loads, I was famished and decided to check out Ray’s the Steaks Chef/Owner Michael Landrum’s new burger joint, Ray’s Hell Burger. This guy didn’t even put out a release for the opening, an editor for the Washingtonian was eating at Ray’s the Steaks and saw a hand written sign on the window saying “Try Ray’s Hell Burger” with an arrow pointing down the strip mall. So of course it gets a write up and now the line is out the door…
So since I moved much closer to the city center of Arlington, I decided to leave my car at my new apartment and hoof it. I was pleased to find out the walk is slightly less than 15 min. So I get to the tiny strip mall about 8:30pm, and low and behold the line was still out the door at “The Steaks,” and of course also “Hell Burger.” I got inside the place, it was so packed and the line was so long to the little counter where you order in the back that I asked the lady how long she thought. She quoted me 20 minutes, and I just wasn’t in the mood to wait by myself so I hoofed it back. On the way I passed a delicious little specialty burrito place called California Tortilla, however I was in the mood for something with a little more meat. I managed to get to the Italian Store right before closing, and got a massive Italian sub with 3 kinds of cured meat (Lefty and POTUS can also attest to these sandwiches). Although not the steak burger I was hoping for, always a satisfying meal. Ray’s Hell Burger review to come shortly…
I got home just in time to catch the tail end of a replay of the Home Run Derby, to watch Josh Hamilton get robbed because they reset the totals for the final. On a side note, he has 95 RBI’s at the break, which is an astounding stat in itself. But even if he has the same performance for the second half of the season he will finish with 190 RBI’s, which is amazingly one shy of the all time record of 191, set in 1930 by none other than Hack Wilson. I still think this is the most underrated record in all of sports, and I challenge anyone to come up with another one that is so seemingly unbeatable, save Cy Young’s 511 wins.
So my first post wasn’t exactly steak focused, but I felt I needed to break the ice, especially since POTUS threatened to revoke my membership and it had been awhile since I got it.
Cheers gentlemen,
BIG RED
The November Nine
The World Series of Poker, Main Event, table is set with nine players, all names you don’t know, but one which will go down in Poker history come November 9 when the final table is seated to determine who will win the most coveted bracelet of them all.
Again this year’s field at the WSOP Main Event a record breaker, with the winner scheduled to go home with $9.1 million. In fact, of the Nine who will sit at the table in November, eight of them will walk away with at least $1 million.
And to think, it was only a few short years ago that Chris Moneymaker, pulled in over $2 million and ignited the poker crazy that reins today with no sign of slowing.
With the long break, look for the WSOP and ESPN/ABC to promote the hell out of the November Nine. And they certainly will have to - there isn’t a well know pro among the whole lot.
Read the full story here.
With the long break, look for the WSOP and ESPN/ABC to promote the hell out of the November Nine. And they certainly will have to - there isn’t a well know pro among the whole lot.
Read the full story here.
- POTUS
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Matchbox
Boss has recommended this restaurant in several times to me. It’s located in DC’s Chinatown district, or as I like to tell Big Red – the Arena District. [Sidebar: Big Red, the SteakMatters nation awaits your first post. Put something up or I pull your ticket.]
So me and Big Red grabbed lunch a few weeks [now months] back at Matchbox, vintage pizza bistro, in Washington DC. The restaurant is located in ‘matchbox’ of building, 3 stories high, and 15 feet wide. On this late, spring day there was haze and humidity that only served as a preview of what summer holds for our nation’s capital.
We were seated quickly on the third floor, unfortunately, the haze and humidity of the day followed us to our seats as well, which was not a good start for my first Matchbox experience. And while it was the lunch rush, we were disappointed by the total lack of attention from the server. Once she finally showed we ordered quickly, not knowing when she would be back.
At Big Red’s suggestion, we ordered salads, 3 mini-burgers, and a 6-slice matchbox meat pizza (pepperoni / sweet Italian sausage / crispy bacon / zesty tomato sauce / mozzarella). Unfortunately, our food came out before the table next to us, who had been seated for some time before our arrival (I always hate when that happens to me) which led to an uncomfortable moment as our tables were right on top of each other and it was obvious that our neighbor’s had similar order, but it was definitely not theirs.
The salads were crisp and the dressing were good. But I wasn’t there for the salad, I was there for the pizza. However, I got side tracked by the mini-burgers. Oh were they good. I nice app for two, or get the big one for yourself.
Now the pizza. I’m usually a medium thickness, crispy crust guy. But Matchbox is a thin crust, oven baked ‘za. Boss prepared me for the crust, but not for the taste. It was truly one of the finest pizzas I had ever tasted. The crust was light, but not dried out. The sauce has a nice tang to it and the meat was superb. The pepperoni cooked up crisp, the sausage was sweet and the mozzarella fresh. I can’t wait to go back.
Tip of the SteakMatters Platter to Matchbox. You started slowly, but ignited into an inferno of flavor. I’ll be back for more.
- POTUS
So me and Big Red grabbed lunch a few weeks [now months] back at Matchbox, vintage pizza bistro, in Washington DC. The restaurant is located in ‘matchbox’ of building, 3 stories high, and 15 feet wide. On this late, spring day there was haze and humidity that only served as a preview of what summer holds for our nation’s capital.
We were seated quickly on the third floor, unfortunately, the haze and humidity of the day followed us to our seats as well, which was not a good start for my first Matchbox experience. And while it was the lunch rush, we were disappointed by the total lack of attention from the server. Once she finally showed we ordered quickly, not knowing when she would be back.
At Big Red’s suggestion, we ordered salads, 3 mini-burgers, and a 6-slice matchbox meat pizza (pepperoni / sweet Italian sausage / crispy bacon / zesty tomato sauce / mozzarella). Unfortunately, our food came out before the table next to us, who had been seated for some time before our arrival (I always hate when that happens to me) which led to an uncomfortable moment as our tables were right on top of each other and it was obvious that our neighbor’s had similar order, but it was definitely not theirs.
The salads were crisp and the dressing were good. But I wasn’t there for the salad, I was there for the pizza. However, I got side tracked by the mini-burgers. Oh were they good. I nice app for two, or get the big one for yourself.
Now the pizza. I’m usually a medium thickness, crispy crust guy. But Matchbox is a thin crust, oven baked ‘za. Boss prepared me for the crust, but not for the taste. It was truly one of the finest pizzas I had ever tasted. The crust was light, but not dried out. The sauce has a nice tang to it and the meat was superb. The pepperoni cooked up crisp, the sausage was sweet and the mozzarella fresh. I can’t wait to go back.
Tip of the SteakMatters Platter to Matchbox. You started slowly, but ignited into an inferno of flavor. I’ll be back for more.
- POTUS
The Annual Summer Fun Fest
Celebrated this weekend with the Annual Summer Fun Fest. Most of The Crew was in attendance: Doyle and Mrs. Brunson; Rabbi and Soon-to-be; Pat Sayjak and Vanna; Seabiscuit and Baker; Swimmer and Fin; Radio; Austin; Autograph; Heavy Duty; Boss; Lefty and Stretch; and a cast of characters to make an epic.
We started at 5:00 pm and rolled for another 11 or so hours, hitting the rack some time around 4:30 am. Food, beer, cornhole, poker and of course friends. What a great annual affair. My apologies for the lack of invites this year, we put it together at the last minute. I know some got left out, but remember, there’s always next year.
Congrats to Mrs. Brunson, the nights biggest winner. Nice take down from the field of 18. Let us not forget Vanna, who with the help of Pat, took down the losers’ table. Next year, we’ll have a computerized tournament.
Thanks to all that attended.
- POTUS and FLOTUS
We started at 5:00 pm and rolled for another 11 or so hours, hitting the rack some time around 4:30 am. Food, beer, cornhole, poker and of course friends. What a great annual affair. My apologies for the lack of invites this year, we put it together at the last minute. I know some got left out, but remember, there’s always next year.
Congrats to Mrs. Brunson, the nights biggest winner. Nice take down from the field of 18. Let us not forget Vanna, who with the help of Pat, took down the losers’ table. Next year, we’ll have a computerized tournament.
Thanks to all that attended.
- POTUS and FLOTUS
Mark Twain reports…
POTUS Lives.
The report of my death was an exaggeration.
Many thanks to GOTSOO for keeping the home fires burning. It’s hard to believe this is my first post in eight days, and many more since Vegas and my last series of posts.
I have to admit it, I returned from Vegas to a new toy – a DVR – to go along with my new-to-me HD big screen. What a set of weeks it’s been. Although I have to admit, it has certainly cramped my late night posting. Poker – DVR; Modern Marvels – DVR; Politics – DVR. Heck, sending the kids to bed – I hit the record button. FLOTUS wants to talk during the news – PAUSE. What an invention!
Oh, yeah I’ve also had the usual - work, kid’s games, the 4th, and yard work at 1600 Pennsylvania – you get the picture.
Happy to be back in the saddle.
- POTUS
Many thanks to GOTSOO for keeping the home fires burning. It’s hard to believe this is my first post in eight days, and many more since Vegas and my last series of posts.
I have to admit it, I returned from Vegas to a new toy – a DVR – to go along with my new-to-me HD big screen. What a set of weeks it’s been. Although I have to admit, it has certainly cramped my late night posting. Poker – DVR; Modern Marvels – DVR; Politics – DVR. Heck, sending the kids to bed – I hit the record button. FLOTUS wants to talk during the news – PAUSE. What an invention!
Oh, yeah I’ve also had the usual - work, kid’s games, the 4th, and yard work at 1600 Pennsylvania – you get the picture.
Happy to be back in the saddle.
- POTUS
Did This Offend You?
I'm sure by now you have all seen the photo above (The New Yorker) depicting MO with a picked-out fro, strapped with a machine gun, wearing combat boots and giving her Bo, BO, the rock. BO is decked out in Muslim garb--unhelpful satire to a liberal black man fighting the perception that he is, in fact, and in name, a Muslim.I would be offended if I were him, although I'm not personally offended. It speaks to a bigger problem he has, however. That's how alot of American's see him--and her. Ironically, that perception was created by them. Of course, alot of folks see them as a refreshing change of pace to years of Bush-hating.
I find it amusing, if not sad, that the only folks bringing up BO's race and his non-Muslimness (yea, i made the word up)---or anything Muslim for that matter are 1. Liberal rags like the New Yorker; 2. Obama himself; and 3. His surrogates complaining that others are making race an issue.
I know this is a touchy subject for some, but I'm going to just call it like I see it. Why can't Republicans and conservatives (and many Democrats) criticize the guy? He's like the Teflon Don of politics--nothing sticks. The guy has flip-flopped on more issues and with more frequency in the last week than John Kerry ever dreamed of flipping and flopping in 2004. He has changed his position--and done so very recently--on almost every major position of importance in this campaign.
He was originally for immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, then he was against the surge saying it would never work, then he said the surge is working, then he said it isn't, then he said we needed to focus our troops in Afghanastan--all this and he has yet to even speak to commanders on the ground. That made me dizzy.
Then there was the American Flag pin. He wouldn't wear it. Commenting on the matter in late 2007, he said "The truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security. I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. Instead I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe what will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism." What? An answer Bill Clinton would be proud of!
Now, of course, he wears the pin. He can't afford to alienate the middle-class white vote, for whom the symbolism of the flag is sacred.
Then, of course, there is the Reverend Wright fiasco that we have exhausted on these pages. He started by saying he didn't know his sermon's were of such a fiery nature, then he said that he just wasn't there when he delivered those sermons, then he said he could no more reject his friend, Reverend Wright, anymore than he could reject any friend of his, then when the firestorm did not die down, he threw his unrejectable friend right under the bus.
Then you have the case of public financing of the presidential election that I covered just a few days ago.
It doesn't end folks. He changes his mind more than I change songs on my iPod. I'm not against changing course, or changing one's mind after careful contemplation--but he has taken it to the extreme. Obama was supposed to be a different kind of politician, one who would usher in CHANGE. Folks this is more of the same, and blatantly so.
Heaven forbid we criticize him, though--do that and you're a racist or a bigot. Why can't it be what it is--that alot of American's will reject him in November because he is too inexperienced, that he's made alot of missteps in this campaign, that his hand and mind have not been steady, that he is short on detail and solutions, and long on rhetoric?
Having said all that, the American electorate are dumb enough to elect the guy. In the face of an exponentially better choice, the fact that John McCain has an (R) before his name on the ballot just may be enough to defeat him. That would illustrate the fickleness of the american electorate once and for all.
Obama can talk a good talk, but he is not walking the walk.
--G
What's On G's iPod?
This week, I've chosen one of my all-time favorite songs. It was originally done (quite well) by Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1973. Ronnie Van Zant made it one of Skynyrd's most popular songs along with Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama,Call Me The Breeze and What's Your Name?
With all due respect to RVZ and the rest of the boys in Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shinedown did a version of this song that, if it doesn't give you chills, you need to check your pulse.
Shinedown, out of Jacksonville, Florida is led vocally by a guy by the name of Brent Smith. In my humble opinion, Smith has THE...THE best voice of lead singing rocker of all time. It's powerful and it's moving.
Take the time to watch this, it's good stuff. Prior to the song in this live version, he gets choked up talking about his friend "Dimebag" Darryl Abbott, who was murdered (shot) on stage during a live performance at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio.
As you listen to the song, remember, this is live---and he STILL sounds that good. Truly amazing is this guy's talent--and a mainstay on my iPod.
--G
Monday, July 14, 2008
Beer, Part 2
To follow-up on Lefty's post last week, the fat lady is singing on the Anheiser-Busch / InBev deal...only it ballooned from 46.3 billion (as George Will reported) to 52 billion. A belgium company owning an American brewery--a staple in the refridgerator's in Redneck, U.S.A.
I guess next, India will buy McDonald's and make it beef-free.
--G
I guess next, India will buy McDonald's and make it beef-free.
--G
Sunday, July 13, 2008
McCain's Time as a POW
We all know John McCain was a prisoner of war. We all agree, for the most part, that he is an American hero. I really didn't give much thought to what he went through during the time he was captured with a shattered right leg and two broken arms.
The following is an excerpt of an article that originally appeared in U.S. News, in 1973. You owe it to yourself to read--you owe it to McCain to read:
I hit the water and sank to the bottom. I think the lake is about 15 feet deep, maybe 20. I kicked off the bottom. I did not feel any pain at the time, and was able to rise to the surface. I took a breath of air and started sinking again. Of course, I was wearing 50 pounds, at least, of equipment and gear. I went down and managed to kick up to the surface once more. I couldn't understand why I couldn't use my right leg or my arm. I was in a dazed condition. I went up to the top again and sank back down. This time I couldn't get back to the surface. I was wearing an inflatable life-preserver-type thing that looked like water wings. I reached down with my mouth and got the toggle between my teeth and inflated the preserver and finally floated to the top.
Some North Vietnamese swam out and pulled me to the side of the lake and immediately started stripping me, which is their standard procedure. Of course, this being in the center of town, a huge crowd of people gathered, and they were all hollering and screaming and cursing and spitting and kicking at me.
When they had most of my clothes off, I felt a twinge in my right knee. I sat up and looked at it, and my right foot was resting next to my left knee, just in a 90-degree position. I said, "My God--my leg!" That seemed to enrage them —I don't know why. One of them slammed a rifle butt down on my shoulder, and smashed it pretty badly. Another stuck a bayonet in my foot. The mob was really getting up-tight.
Read the entire article here.
--G
Saturday, July 12, 2008
First Tim...Now Tony
It seems like just yesterday I was blogging about the sudden, tragic death of one of my favorite political commentators, Tim Russert. As you'll recall from reading my blog, I had a tough time with Russert's death--it really hit home. I felt like I knew Tim and his death sadden me more than I can effectively articulate on these pages.
As mid-June brought the untimely death of a great Democrat, wonderful husband and proud son, mid-July brings an equally tragic end to another great figure---a conservative Republican, musician, family-man and journalist. Tony Snow is dead at the age of 53--having fought, but lost his battle with (first colon), then liver cancer.
As Roger Ailes said today on the network, "If god needs a good press secretary, now he's got one".
It's a sad day. I'm not looking forward to mid-August.
Rest In Peace, Tony.
--G
Friday, July 11, 2008
Can You Believe in Obama?
Got this good article by Mort Kondracke from Boss. Mort makes some great points. My question is...why am i hearing nothing but crickets from the McCain camp?
Obama's Changes Raise Issue: Can You Believe in Him?
By Mort Kondracke
Maybe the biggest question of the 2008 presidential campaign is "Who is Sen. Barack Obama really?" Of late, the mystery is deepening.
It's customary for presidential candidates to move to the center for the general election after they've pandered to their party's base in the primaries -- but the Illinois Democrat has claimed not to be your customary candidate, but someone who was going to usher in a new politics.
He has eloquently promised "change we can believe in," but lately he's changing his tune on so many issues it's becoming a legitimate question: Can voters really believe in him?
In a year when Democrats have everything going for them, I think the primary reason Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is trailing Obama by only 2 points in the Gallup Poll is that voters still have their doubts about Obama.
Some of the doubts are ridiculous or even pernicious -- such as whether Obama is a patriotic American, a Christian, a person who "shares your values."
He brought some of this on himself -- by saying that wearing an American flag lapel pin constituted "false patriotism" and by remaining for 20 years in the racially incendiary Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church. Some of the rest of it -- such as that Barack Hussein Obama is really a Muslim -- is being spread on the Internet by haters.
It's perfectly reasonable that Obama take steps to make it clear that he really does love and appreciate the country and that he shares middle-class values. So, he's put the pin back on. In TV images as he speaks, he's practically wrapped in American flags. He's re-explained his ancestry and his upbringing.
He has a problem with white working-class voters, and if he takes his position to appeal to them -- or changes positions -- it's probably no big deal.
Obama also endorsed aspects of President Bush's faith-based initiative. White working-class voters do love their guns, their churches and law and order, after all.
It also undoubtedly helps Obama with the crucial independent vote for him to cause dismay among his supporters on the MoveOn.org left -- as he did by dropping his pledge to filibuster the grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies taking part in Bush's terrorist surveillance program.
I happen to think it was the right decision on the merits -- and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reform bill needed to be passed promptly, so Obama was bowing to reality.
But much more dubious -- in fact, raising questions of character -- is his abandonment of a solemn promise to run his general election campaign with public funds if his Republican opponent did.
Obama still says he favors public financing and he even claimed with a straight face that his collection of hundreds of millions of dollars from small, private donors -- along with a lot from big donors, too -- actually constitutes public financing.
From this episode -- which probably matters only to political insiders -- we learn that Obama is a politician of ... shall we say, flexible principles. Pastor Wright told us as much before Obama disowned him, although the pastor certainly deserved to be disowned.
Then there's his position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said during the primaries -- and continues to say on his campaign Web site -- should be renegotiated. But lately he's said that statement was "overheated."
It seems he wants it both ways -- satisfying the anti-free-trade AFL-CIO on the one hand and a passel of pro-trade New York investment bankers on the other.
And, finally, there's Iraq. It's been a bedrock principle of his campaign that he would pull all U.S. combat troops out within 16 months of taking office. Last week, in one press conference, he said he might "refine" that schedule.
In a hastily called second press conference, he said, no -- he was sticking by the schedule, though the pace of withdrawals might change from month to month, depending on circumstances and military advice.
Is this a flip-flop? A canny pragmatist's bowing to changed circumstances and the dawning awareness that U.S. foreign policy might well be on his shoulders? It would convince me that he was a daring man of character if he went to Iraq, saw Gen. David Petraeus and the situation on the ground and came back saying: "This war was wrong at the start, but now we have to win it -- and we can win it, politically and militarily. We will withdraw -- but only under conditions of success."
Such a statement would finally show that he can buck the dominant attitude of the Democratic Party. If he added that he was wrong to oppose Bush's 2007 troop surge, so much the better.
Pending such an unlikely event, the question is open: Is this guy the real deal, or an eloquent phony? A flip-flopper, a cynic, just an ordinary pol with a gift of the gab -- or a genuine center-liberal capable of tacking while steering a determined course?
There's time to find out before November, but the media have to help with intense, ongoing scrutiny and lots of tough questions.
Mort Kondracke is the Executive Editor of Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill since 1955. © 2007 Roll Call, Inc.
--G
Obama's Changes Raise Issue: Can You Believe in Him?
By Mort Kondracke
Maybe the biggest question of the 2008 presidential campaign is "Who is Sen. Barack Obama really?" Of late, the mystery is deepening.
It's customary for presidential candidates to move to the center for the general election after they've pandered to their party's base in the primaries -- but the Illinois Democrat has claimed not to be your customary candidate, but someone who was going to usher in a new politics.
He has eloquently promised "change we can believe in," but lately he's changing his tune on so many issues it's becoming a legitimate question: Can voters really believe in him?
In a year when Democrats have everything going for them, I think the primary reason Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is trailing Obama by only 2 points in the Gallup Poll is that voters still have their doubts about Obama.
Some of the doubts are ridiculous or even pernicious -- such as whether Obama is a patriotic American, a Christian, a person who "shares your values."
He brought some of this on himself -- by saying that wearing an American flag lapel pin constituted "false patriotism" and by remaining for 20 years in the racially incendiary Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church. Some of the rest of it -- such as that Barack Hussein Obama is really a Muslim -- is being spread on the Internet by haters.
It's perfectly reasonable that Obama take steps to make it clear that he really does love and appreciate the country and that he shares middle-class values. So, he's put the pin back on. In TV images as he speaks, he's practically wrapped in American flags. He's re-explained his ancestry and his upbringing.
He has a problem with white working-class voters, and if he takes his position to appeal to them -- or changes positions -- it's probably no big deal.
Obama also endorsed aspects of President Bush's faith-based initiative. White working-class voters do love their guns, their churches and law and order, after all.
It also undoubtedly helps Obama with the crucial independent vote for him to cause dismay among his supporters on the MoveOn.org left -- as he did by dropping his pledge to filibuster the grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies taking part in Bush's terrorist surveillance program.
I happen to think it was the right decision on the merits -- and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reform bill needed to be passed promptly, so Obama was bowing to reality.
But much more dubious -- in fact, raising questions of character -- is his abandonment of a solemn promise to run his general election campaign with public funds if his Republican opponent did.
Obama still says he favors public financing and he even claimed with a straight face that his collection of hundreds of millions of dollars from small, private donors -- along with a lot from big donors, too -- actually constitutes public financing.
From this episode -- which probably matters only to political insiders -- we learn that Obama is a politician of ... shall we say, flexible principles. Pastor Wright told us as much before Obama disowned him, although the pastor certainly deserved to be disowned.
Then there's his position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said during the primaries -- and continues to say on his campaign Web site -- should be renegotiated. But lately he's said that statement was "overheated."
It seems he wants it both ways -- satisfying the anti-free-trade AFL-CIO on the one hand and a passel of pro-trade New York investment bankers on the other.
And, finally, there's Iraq. It's been a bedrock principle of his campaign that he would pull all U.S. combat troops out within 16 months of taking office. Last week, in one press conference, he said he might "refine" that schedule.
In a hastily called second press conference, he said, no -- he was sticking by the schedule, though the pace of withdrawals might change from month to month, depending on circumstances and military advice.
Is this a flip-flop? A canny pragmatist's bowing to changed circumstances and the dawning awareness that U.S. foreign policy might well be on his shoulders? It would convince me that he was a daring man of character if he went to Iraq, saw Gen. David Petraeus and the situation on the ground and came back saying: "This war was wrong at the start, but now we have to win it -- and we can win it, politically and militarily. We will withdraw -- but only under conditions of success."
Such a statement would finally show that he can buck the dominant attitude of the Democratic Party. If he added that he was wrong to oppose Bush's 2007 troop surge, so much the better.
Pending such an unlikely event, the question is open: Is this guy the real deal, or an eloquent phony? A flip-flopper, a cynic, just an ordinary pol with a gift of the gab -- or a genuine center-liberal capable of tacking while steering a determined course?
There's time to find out before November, but the media have to help with intense, ongoing scrutiny and lots of tough questions.
Mort Kondracke is the Executive Editor of Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill since 1955. © 2007 Roll Call, Inc.
--G
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Beer
This one speaks for itself!!!
July 10, 2008
Beer: Is There Anything It Can't Do?
By George Will
WASHINGTON -- Perhaps like many sensible citizens, you read Investor's Business Daily for its sturdy common sense in defending free markets and other rational arrangements. If so, you too may have been startled recently by an astonishing statement on that newspaper's front page. It was in a report on the intention of the world's second-largest brewer, Belgium's InBev, to buy control of the third-largest, Anheuser-Busch, for $46.3 billion. The story asserted: "The (alcoholic beverage) industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer. ... "
"Non what"? Do not try to peddle that proposition in the bleachers or at the beaches in July. It is closer to the truth to say: No beer, no civilization.
The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer. To understand why, consult Steven Johnson's marvelous 2006 book "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World." It is a great scientific detective story about how a horrific cholera outbreak was traced to a particular neighborhood pump for drinking water. And Johnson begins a mind-opening excursion into a related topic this way:
"The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol."
Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol -- in beer and, later, wine -- which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process.
Johnson notes that historians interested in genetics believe that the roughly simultaneous emergence of urban living and the manufacturing of alcohol set the stage for a survival-of-the-fittest sorting-out among the people who abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and, literally and figuratively speaking, went to town.
To avoid dangerous water, people had to drink large quantities of, say, beer. But to digest that beer, individuals needed a genetic advantage that not everyone had -- what Johnson describes as the body's ability to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases. This ability is controlled by certain genes on chromosome four in human DNA, genes not evenly distributed to everyone. Those who lacked this trait could not, as the saying is, "hold their liquor." So, many died early and childless, either of alcohol's toxicity or from waterborne diseases.
The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors -- by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol."
Johnson suggests, not unreasonably, that this explains why certain of the world's population groups, such as Native Americans and Australian Aborigines, have had disproportionately high levels of alcoholism: These groups never endured the cruel culling of the genetically unfortunate that town dwellers endured. If so, the high alcoholism rates among Native Americans are not, or at least not entirely, ascribable to the humiliations and deprivations of the reservation system. Rather, the explanation is that not enough of their ancestors lived in towns.
But that is a potential stew of racial or ethnic sensitivities that we need not stir in this correction of Investor's Business Daily. Suffice it to say that the good news is really good: Beer is a health food. And you do not need to buy it from those wan, unhealthy-looking people who, peering disapprovingly at you through rimless Trotsky-style spectacles, seem to run all the health food stores.
So let there be no more loose talk -- especially not now, with summer arriving -- about beer not being essential. Benjamin Franklin was, as usual, on to something when he said, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Or, less judgmentally, and for secular people who favor a wall of separation between church and tavern, beer is evidence that nature wants us to be.
georgewill@washpost.com
Copyright 2008, Washington Post Writers Group
Lefty
July 10, 2008
Beer: Is There Anything It Can't Do?
By George Will
WASHINGTON -- Perhaps like many sensible citizens, you read Investor's Business Daily for its sturdy common sense in defending free markets and other rational arrangements. If so, you too may have been startled recently by an astonishing statement on that newspaper's front page. It was in a report on the intention of the world's second-largest brewer, Belgium's InBev, to buy control of the third-largest, Anheuser-Busch, for $46.3 billion. The story asserted: "The (alcoholic beverage) industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer. ... "
"Non what"? Do not try to peddle that proposition in the bleachers or at the beaches in July. It is closer to the truth to say: No beer, no civilization.
The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer. To understand why, consult Steven Johnson's marvelous 2006 book "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World." It is a great scientific detective story about how a horrific cholera outbreak was traced to a particular neighborhood pump for drinking water. And Johnson begins a mind-opening excursion into a related topic this way:
"The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol."
Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol -- in beer and, later, wine -- which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process.
Johnson notes that historians interested in genetics believe that the roughly simultaneous emergence of urban living and the manufacturing of alcohol set the stage for a survival-of-the-fittest sorting-out among the people who abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and, literally and figuratively speaking, went to town.
To avoid dangerous water, people had to drink large quantities of, say, beer. But to digest that beer, individuals needed a genetic advantage that not everyone had -- what Johnson describes as the body's ability to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases. This ability is controlled by certain genes on chromosome four in human DNA, genes not evenly distributed to everyone. Those who lacked this trait could not, as the saying is, "hold their liquor." So, many died early and childless, either of alcohol's toxicity or from waterborne diseases.
The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors -- by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol."
Johnson suggests, not unreasonably, that this explains why certain of the world's population groups, such as Native Americans and Australian Aborigines, have had disproportionately high levels of alcoholism: These groups never endured the cruel culling of the genetically unfortunate that town dwellers endured. If so, the high alcoholism rates among Native Americans are not, or at least not entirely, ascribable to the humiliations and deprivations of the reservation system. Rather, the explanation is that not enough of their ancestors lived in towns.
But that is a potential stew of racial or ethnic sensitivities that we need not stir in this correction of Investor's Business Daily. Suffice it to say that the good news is really good: Beer is a health food. And you do not need to buy it from those wan, unhealthy-looking people who, peering disapprovingly at you through rimless Trotsky-style spectacles, seem to run all the health food stores.
So let there be no more loose talk -- especially not now, with summer arriving -- about beer not being essential. Benjamin Franklin was, as usual, on to something when he said, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Or, less judgmentally, and for secular people who favor a wall of separation between church and tavern, beer is evidence that nature wants us to be.
georgewill@washpost.com
Copyright 2008, Washington Post Writers Group
Lefty
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
For those of you who like to pinch a penny (Aahhhmmm...POTUS), not that there is anything wrong with that, save some money and send an ecard. I found this cool site to do just that: http://www.someecards.com/. Cards range from funny to raunchy, to funnily raunchy. Good stuff. Laughs are on the house.
Some of my personal favorites (ill break them down by category):
Apology: Sorry I sporadically neglect your testicles during love making.
Baby: You're going to be a great father, assuming you're the father!
Anniversary: Let's break out the special lube tonight!
Thinking of You: I'd so much rather be alone with you than a bottle of moisturizer.
Workplace: We need to discuss the impact you're having on the men's bathroom.
You're welcome.
G
Monday, July 7, 2008
Nasty Netty's
After almost three years of working on a particular piece of legislation, i traveled to Marblehead Lighthouse in Marblehead, Ohio to bare witness to the final step in the legislative process--the governor signing the bill.
I guess technically, that isnt part of the legislative process seeing how it's an executive action, but you get my drift.
It was a beautiful day, but perhaps a little too humid for my taste. The breeze off the lake felt good. It made the fact that the Governor was running a few minutes late seem acceptable. I joined up with some colleagues who where there to witness the fruits of their labor as well. We didn't get everything we wanted, but we got enough.
Anyway, after the signing, which featured a joint public appearance by the current Governor and the immediate past Governor (Mr. Taft), I said my goodbyes and thank you's and made my way out of Marblehead State Park.
On my way in, I saw a little dive hotdog joint....Netty's Famous Chilidogs. I thought to myself as I passed the little orange building, "On my way outta here, big daddy's having some world-famous hotdogs". After all, how do you pass that up?
So, true to the promise I made myself some hour and a half earlier, on my way out, I stop at Netty's. As I'm ordering two Netty's chili dogs with mustard, chili and onions (medium coke), who rings me up on the celly? None other than POTUS himself. I tell him to hang on so I can pay the nice lady waiting patiently for some schmuck in a suit on his cell phone (i.e. me).
I give POTUS the scoop on Netty's and he makes the Executive decision that this is absolutely a bloggable event. So here we are.
My review: The only thing these chilidogs should be famous for is their undisputable ability to inflict gastrointestinal distress on their consumer. Absolutely disgusting. I actually took pictures of these charlaton weiners, but I'm not going to put you through that mess. They were as aesthetically displeasing as a pile of poo.
If you're ever in Marblehead, Ohio and stumble upon a cute little orange building that lays fame upon their dogs, run away my friends---or at least get your Garmin out to find the closest Restrooms for the after-meal treat that will no doubt arrive quicker than a fat kid on cake.
Thumbs down, Netty's--and shame on you for false advertising!
--G
A B CC Ya!
Well it looks like CC Sabathia is just short of being signed, sealed and delivered to the Milwaukee Brewers. After rejecting the Tribe's preseason offer, the deal seemed to be cut to go look for greener pastures.
For those that are 'shocked' about the move, don't be. I've heard Paul Dolan speak repeatedly about the fact that if CCS wanted $20m/year, he would get it as a Cleveland Indian. I don't fault the Indians, in fact, I give them credit for being up front on this thing. But they also realize that as a mid-market team, if they are going to keep players like the reining Cy Young winner, that they need to find other 'revenue streams' - hence the creation of Sports Time Ohio. As Tribe fans, if we hope land and keep players looking for that big pay day, we need STO to survive.
This should also be a walk up call for all you LBJ fans. The CCS move is only the first of the marquee players to move on.
- POTUS
p.s. - For all the baseball fathers out there, use this as a teaching moment for your sons and daughers. You either root for a player or a team, but in this day of Sports as Business, our childern need to know that at the end of the day a team or a player is going to do what is in their best interest. I know the Prince will be upset about this trade, but at 1600 Pennsylvania, we root for the Home Team.