The Grand Slam

I felt, watching the debate last night, that John Kerry beat President Bush. Granted, I myself am not an objective viewer, but I found Kerry to be both incredibly human, in talking about his mother and in talking about his faith, while simultaneously having a significantly greater grasp of the nuts and bolts of the domestic issues than the President. In listening to the reactions of the people at MSNBC, which have genearally been to the right of everyone else, meaning they went hard saying Cheney won last week and some said Bush won on Friday, and I got the impression that they felt it was a draw, which I think goes for Kerry. He had the momentum, and I think showed very interesting parts of himself. Bush was persona #3, the frat boy with faith, the one Al Gore faced in 2000, not the smirking monkey of #1 or Yosemite Sam we saw in #2. A couple of thoughts on other things:

I've really been surprised by the indignation with which Republicans have gone after Kerry for bringing up Mary Cheney during the question about Homosexuality as a choice. John Kerry did not "out" Mary Cheney. Mary Cheney was onstage at Case Western Reserve last week with her partner, people who follow this race know she is gay. I think Kerry was simply using her as a real life example, especially of someone who might be conflicted because of a conservative upbringing. Check out Andrew Sullivan, a gay man himself, for his thoughts on the subject.

Josh Marshall, as well as David Frum of Washington Monthly, pointed out something very interesting about the Osama Bin Laden quote the President used in 2002 and denied saying last night. Its not that he either lied or forgot that is interesting, instead its the emphasis on the fact that since the Taliban was gone, there was no reason to worry about Bin Laden. In IR at Albion, we learned all about the differences between state and non-state actors. Republicans like Bush, and perhaps the Neo-Cons in the Pentagon and at State seem to believe that states, and only states matter. NSA's- Non-State Actors don't. Bin Laden, without the support of the Taliban, was no longer important, Bush seems to have been thinking. Well, its very possible Al-Qaeda was responsible for the bombing in the Sinai last weekend, that they were responsible for Madrid, and may or may not be plotting something here. Obviously, NSAs do matter. The insurgency in Iraq, whether being carried out by Baath loyalists, foriegn terrorists or simple home-grown guerillas, is proof the NSAs matter. The first question last night was whether our children (meaning people of my generation) and our grandchildren will be safer in the future. The only real way to do that, in my estiamtion, is to acknowledge that the era of states as the only actors in the world are over. This also does explain why Iraq became the focus of the administration so quickly. They needed a state to go after, and Iraq seemed the logical choice. So what if we're engaged in a war against religous extremists, let's attack a secular Muslim state, while the Mullahs brutally rule over Iran, and Saudi royal money flows into Wahabbist schools? The Iraqi's just made an easy target because Saddam had been so arrogantly flaunting the world for a decade.

Fun stuff. Anyone in the Ann Arbor area, stop by Scorekeepers at 310 W. MAynard, across from Borders, tomorrow for the radio show. I actually hit my lock last week, bringing my record to a scintillating 1-5.

Tonight

Ok, so I haven't posted in a week, and I'm sorry, various computer problems kept me from updating Monday and Saturday, so here I am today.

Tonight is the last great event of the campaign, or at least, scheduled event in the campaign. Looking at various tracking polls, especially Slate's election scorecard, this is getting extremely tight as we come down to the wire. The Slate site had neither candidate winning enough for Election, Bush at 270 and Kerry at 268. Ohio and Wisconsin were put in the Kerry column. Still, right now this is all sound and fury. If Kerry wins tonight, decisively or not, he probably wins the election, especially since all the talk over Thursday and Friday, and then going into Sunday morning, will be about how he's won every debate and has massive momentum. That the momentum thing is true is obvious, Bush's rather sizable lead of a few weeks ago has evaporated in nearly every poll. Bush needs a decisive win tonight in order to give himself the appearance of a momentum shift, but because of the moderator format, I don't know that he can get it, short of an enormous Kerry gaffe with no such gaffe on his own part. Both debates last week seem to have crystallized in people's minds as either, a draw in the case of the Veeps, or a slight Kerry win, if you believe the polls now coming in from Gallup and other organizations.

What I find curious right now is who both campaigns seem to be targeting. Bush is rallying the base right now, which may or may not be a sound strategy at this point. By all indications, turnout is going to be very heavy, which traditionally favors Democrats, perhaps the President wants to see if he can't change that paradigm. Kerry seems to be focusing his messages squarely to the undecided voters, hoping to get them in his column now, as opposed to remaining undecided, obviously. It seems that he's been doing a good job of that the last two weeks, so he perhaps should keep it up. I don't know that playing to his own base is really needed at this point either, they seem incredibly motivated.

I think the Red Sox win tonight, thanks primarily to the little man Pedro has now.

I know John will think I'm wrong, but I think the key to stopping the slide of the Packers might come this off-season. The Board of Directors needs to go to Mike Sherman and say "You either relinquish the GM job, or you're fired". With the McKenzie fiasco, the inability to find a competent backup QB, and the rather abymal drafts of the post-Wolf era (save Nick Barnett and Javon Walker), Mike Sherman the GM has failed Mike Sherman- Head Coach immensely. I would use the second rounder thay got from the Saint's for a QB, since, unless Leinart or Rogers come out, there arren't likely to be a lot of QB's in the first. Either that, or sign Drew Brees.

Anticipation
Ok, so I can't tell you what I think about what will happen tonight. I have read a lot of articles suggesting that this format does not fit Edwards style, and I agree with that. The question, though is will it matter. Dick Cheney is the Administration. He is the living embodiment of all this administration is. Extraordinarily partisan and secretive, ruthless beyond anything we've seen from President's not from Whittier College. I don't know if Cheney is the real puppet master or not. I think we on the left underestimate just how smart and how involved Bush really is. Still, Cheney is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most powerful Vice-President in the modern era, and probably ever. Edwards is going into this battle with six years of experience in Government. He is on the short end of the gravitas stick here. But still, I feel that his skills as an orator are such that he can cut into Bush/Cheney, and make the appeal that way, by talking about Haliburton, by bringing up Valerie Plame, and then Haliburton again. It will be exciting to watch.

The playoffs have opened and it is good. I expect both of the teams that won today to be victorious in their series. I am very interested in the way the Twins compete tonight, a lot of people have picked them in this series, despite a lack of success against the Yankees. If Santana is lights out tonight, wow, good stuff.

Kakistocracy
The Vice Presidential debate comes tomorrow. A lot of people remarked, in the days following Edwards' nomination, how interesting a contrast would come in the debate, with Dick Cheney, the dour CEO, against Edwards, the sunny trial lawyer. The important reason the debate will be interesting is the contrast in the jobs of the two men. CEOs and Trial lawyers live in different worlds, and when they collide, you often see extremely interesting debates and conversations. I would expect the same tomorrow. Cheney is incredibly well versed, and his demeanor, well his demeanor is one that conveys seriousness all the time. Edwards is almost Clintonian in his ability to connect with the common man. That's why the Republicans did not want a town hall debate here. Instead, we again have a sit down format, as we did last time.

The polls, predictably, have narrowed a great deal. The shocking shift, is of course, the Newsweek poll, which showed an 11 point Bush lead after the Republican convention, and a 2 point Kerry lead now. While not all that is a result of the debate, a lot of it is simple attrition in the last month. Still its obvious the debate has changed a lot of people's mines about John Kerry. The trick is now to at least get a draw in the next two debates, enough so that momentum does not shift back to the President. After today, there are 29 days til the election. One debate Friday, plus another the following Thursday, and then the final furlong, to use a horse racing term. Its getting into nitty-gritty time. Everyone needs to do what they can, especially in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa, to get Kerry elected. At this point, its difficult to see a landslide for anyone, this is where the ground game becomes important.

Style Points...Going Old School
I really want to blog on two things tonight. First is obvious, the debate, second, well, that really doesn't matter in the larger scheme of things, but I think its interesting.

I listened to the whole debate. I came home from Chicago, and at about 7 eastern time, after I had grabbed dinner, I started listening to Hardball on MSNBC on my radio. Most everyone agreed that Kerry had to win , or at least be good enough to slow Bush's momentum. Most everyone seemed to agree that it had to be Kerry's night, or else it was basically over.

As the debate came on at nine I really wanted to listen for the way each person was speaking, to see how much substance they were conveying. One person on MSNBC said before the debate that he felt that Kerry needed to avoid speaking in long drawn out paragraphs and be more down to earth. I don't know that he did that, but then, I don't believe he really needed to do that. I felt, especially early on, as Kerry was speaking in these very articulate and obviously knowledgeable statements, that he was hitting on major points that connected with people. He knew what he was talking about on every issue, and it showed. The president, early on, and this continued throughout, kept fumbling for words, or worse, taking empty pauses that he was unable to occupy with a facial expression that could win him support (I should mention that I've been watching a lot of the post-debate stuff on all the networks, yes, including a little bit on FOX News when nothing else its on, or the other 2 cable networks are just putting on spin people. I thought that the analysis afterwards was right on. Kerry did win. He did not deliver a knockout, but then he didn't have to, he just needed to close the gap effectively, and I think that we'll see in the next few days, as all the Sunday shows put out there new polls, that the gap between Kerry and Bush will tighten, perhaps significantly.
A couple more points on the debate; Kerry looked far more Presidential than Bush did. Its amazing what happens when that seal is gone. Kerry was ram-rod straight throughout, Bush slouched. Bush looked annoyed, pensive or simply like he didn't want to be there in a lot of the shots I saw. Kerry didn't have any obvious Al Gore type of moments, where he was sighing during Bush's responses. He made notes, he smiled, he looked as if he was enjoying himself, but also as if he knew he was, at least for tonight, the better man. The radio test, which is, minus the cameras, I felt that Kerry won purely on substance, and on style. He was far more articulate, and far more substantive than Bush, especially towards the end. Someone on the post-show on MSNBC said that he felt like Bush had come with 35 minutes of material for a 90 minute debate, which I felt was accurate. I think that tonight, providing that Kerry has another really good showing next Friday in the second debate, served notice to the American people that John Kerry is someone capable of leading the war, and that he is worthy of the office. (By the way, The Daily Show grabbed this, but did anyone notice when Bush referred the Al-Qaida as 'a group of folks' . I think they might go beyond that.

The second thing has to do with getting baseball back in DC. I think its great. Major League Baseball's sad and shameful ownership of the Expos will be over soon, as will the fact that DC hasn't had a team in 33 years. Two points about this, a lot of folks, especially the Northern Virginia people keep saying that Washington lost baseball twice. That's not quite accurate. Both times the Senators left, in 1960 for Minnesota, and in 1971 for Arlington, TX, the owners simply got a ton of money to get them there, it wasn't that attendance was bad or anything. Second, they're doing a great thing by putting the new stadium in the Southeast part of the city, which really is the worst part of town. It should push economic development and be a big boost for the area. RFK is within a short Metro ride from downtown, and a really good temporary stadium, too. As for the name, I really like the idea of Mayor Williams' of calling the team the Grays, after the team from Washington that one 9 Negro League titles. The other names I like, as I heard them on PTI today, are the Generals and the Nationals, Federals works the same way. I think maybe they should leave the Senators in the past, besides, they want to make a point that they have no Senators, no voting power in Congress. I have my own suggestion, the Washington Power, that way, members of the team would be "Power players".

That is lame.

Happy Birthday Robert, and also, happy birthday, belatedly, to Karen.

Big Bads
I talked with Coach Hanlon on Friday about the difference between good and bad Michigan fans, suffice to say, I've never seen him as mad as when I even brought up the subject. This certainly makes life easier for me when I write my story for Dave coming up. I have my own thoughts as, well but I'll save those for later. On a weird note, we lost the transmitter right after I got to the studio, and we literally did an hour at Scorekeeper's while we weren't transmitting very well, just for the people at the bar.
We got maybe 6 calls after a big Michigan win on Saturday, very disappointing.
It was my grandmother'sbirthday Saturday, I hadn't seen her in a while. it seems that she's doing ok, but obviously there is a big hole there, one that will always be there. My parents and the rest of my family have done a wonderful job of doing what is best for her and keeping things relatively normal.
I am really looking forward to the debate this week. Both parties have been practicing teh bigotry of lowered expectations in the last week. This race is not over, it really isn't. This week, becasue it is the first debate, and becasue it will focus on foreign policy, which is the heart of this campaign, it is John Kerry's opportunity to close the rapidly decreasing gap with the president. Remember, there is no presidential seal on that platform Thursday, Kerry gets even with Bush on that fact alone. We have two men who have never lost a one-on-one debate. I think Kerry will win, but the 'wingers will spin it that since Bush spun to thoughts together, he held his own. Kerry doesn't need to crush Bush, he just needs to start pulling even. Remember, there are two significant political truths to remember: 1- In races involving an incumbent, late undecideds almost always break to the challenger, 2- Kerry is traditionally a great "Closer" to speak in horse racing terms.
To John- My friend, I realize these aren't great times right now, and I know that you're frustrated with nearly everything in your life. Just remember, there's a lot of people in this world who love you, who can give, and want to give you the support you need. Whatever you want me to do, I can do my friend.

M

Ok, so it has been a while, but not for lack of things happening. Last Saturday we got a lot of rather odd calls, given the rather odd game Michigan played. These games seem to happen to Michigan a lot, especially after losses, they struggle, but find a way to win, you know they will, but you can't help but be nervous.

On Sunday, Robert and I set off early, as we had to pick up Meghan and then make our way back to Chicago. We had a bad patch of traffic on our way out to Indiana, and then I had to take Robert back to school, which adds like 40 minutes to the total trip. Meghan and I made it back fine, I dropped her off, and then went back to my place.

Monday was my very, very long orientation at the Trib. I was there, literally all day, when really, just an hour or 45 minutes with an HR Person would have done it. It really got tedious. I then had class, and hopefully I'll be starting to do a couple of articles at the Torch soon.

Tuesday and Wednesday sort of blend together at work, because I was assigned a really big task right away. I had to verify the numbers on this enormous chart the magazine is running, and physically adding everything together took time. My fellow interns seem nice. One looks a lot like Jean. My dad came out Tuesday night, as he had to supervise the deconstruction of his companies booth at the Tool Show. We had Mexican, which was really good, but not quite Lopez good. I am trying to eat a bit healthier, so my lunches at work are changing. At OCC, I basically just ate fast food everyday. At the Trib, I am trying those Naked Food Juices. I liked the first two I had this week, plus, it cuts down on how much I pay for lunch.

Today I left work early, becasue they didn't have a ton for me to do. I had to track down a couple of books at the Harold Washington Library, one I couldn't find, the other, I couldn't check out. On the way home, my car had some problems, though I think some of that has to do with the amount of traffic there was as I left Chicago. I may take it down to the repair shop my Dad uses. If they think it might be serious, well, things might need to change.

All in all, its been a very hectic and interesting week. I like where I work, and they days seem to fly by. Still, I feel a bit disconnected from the city. I haven't talked to John in forever, and class just seems off. Maybe part of me stays in Ann Arbor every week, while still another part is looking for what is to come ahead, after I finish in December. I hope it works out, obviously.

Equivalency

Today was mainly me doing two things- checking in as to how much my ticket would cost, and then going to work at the station. My ticket will cost me 175 bucks, but thankfully I was able to give myself an extension on it until next month. Money is tight right now, especially because I just had to pay for my registration, which was $126. I just need to pay rent for the one month though, and then I'll be fine, especially once my refund comes from Roosevelt.
My thoughts have slowly been turning towards what I wasn't to do, or more accurately, where I want to go after I finish in December. Its not really all that silly, considering that I really should be starting to put together resumes and a portfolio for people. My mom told me that my Uncle Rob knows someone at the Los Angeles Times, which I think would be a lot of fun. Obviously there would be a great change of scenery, but I actually have more friends in LA (Susan, Colleen, Alex, Adam) than in Chicago (John). Besides, it might be fun to do something different. Besides, what I really want to do is be in DC again, because that's where I feel I am most at home intellectually and spiritually right now. Maybe that will change, maybe I'll enjoy my time at Chicago Magazine enough that I will want to stay. Maybe I'll want to work here at home, either in print or radio. We'll see. But right now I have options, and for the first time in forever, I am actually feeling a little bit happy about it.

I've decided what I need to do about something else too...

Better By You, Better Than Me
Ok, here's the quick rundown of the last few days.

Thursday- Last Day at OCC. Not really a tearful goodbye, but I was glad for the experience of working there, and obviously, for the money and steady job it provided. I got out of work at 1, went down for my drug screening, and then headed home. I stopped in Albion along the way to see who I could see. I ended up making a night of it. I stayed for the rehearsal of The Country Wife, featuring Andy Groggel, Michael Joseph Bohne, Audrey Coleman, and Karen Green, with Stephanie Mann as SM and Chelsea Sadler as ASM. Bohne then invited me to attend Euphonics rehearsal. Suffice to say, I was very proud of the way they sounded. Obviously, all the work that the founding members put in, especially those night in the first semester when we worked on Crazy Love for two months are being paid back ten-fold.

Friday- Went out to the bar again. I met Andy Mignery, who is married to Anna Fisher, who I went to High School with, see my reunion post. The turnout at the bar wasn't that great. I got eviscerated in NCAA 2005 by a guy named Archie, who came last week too. After the show I went out to Albion, where I got to hang out with some of the people who still knew me, plus I was able to see my nephew for the first time in months.

Saturday- Ok, so this is where the bad stuff happens. As I leave for the studio, I get pulled over by the Sherriff's. My registration expired, and I haven't fixed that yet, so I got pulled over and ticketed. I got to the studio right after Notre Dame's first touchdown, and the same nervous feeling came over me as it did when I watched the Oregon and Iowa games at Karen's last fall. Turned out I was right to have that feeling. We started getting calls in the 4th quarter from people saying Lloyd should be fired, and that he was too conservative. The last part was probably true, but the first part, well, that's for idiots. During the post-game manned the phones, which was akin to manning a suicide hotline. While the network post-game show was on, and then when our own show came on, we got a ton of calls form people who, when they couldn't put their frustrations on the air, aired them to me. I tried to be call, but probably just ended up being condescending, but then, I learned a long time ago not to get upset over things I can't control, obviously some people didn't get the memo.

Sunday- My parents met me in Jackson, as they were returning from Chicago where the tool show was. Also, thank you to them for putting my apartment together. We ate and then they sent me off. I left just in time to hear the Lions game, and basically heard the whole thing, minus the last 2 minutes, on the radio, either the Lions Network, or the Bears' one. I was surprised the Lions won, in that nearly everything they did to beat the Bears, forcing turnovers, blocking the kick, usually happens, to them. I have really been surprised by, and sort of angered with, the treatment of David Terrell by the media the last few days. People are dwelling on the taunting penalty he got in the 3rd, and then forgetting that he caught 5 balls for 126 yards. He was the Bears only real receiving threat most of the game. I think that maybe they all want to perpetuate the idea that he's an underachiever, to the point they are actually downplaying him playing so well.

Monday- Not much today, I went to class, which was ok, and then came home. To day I;m going to go to the Marlins-Expos game at the Cell, seats are general Admission for $15, I'm trying to decide whether to sit behind home plate, or try to get a bleacher seat, thus giving me a better opportunity to catch a home run. The Lions just lost Rogers for the year, but because of Roy Williams and Tai Streets, should still be ok. I was really impressed by the Packers last night, but not really surprised by the way they won. Their line is one of the two best in football, along with Kansas City, and they handled the Panthers D-Line well. I'm not so sure how the defensive strategy of blitzing all the time will work in the long run. I don't know that without Mike McKenzie, they have the corners necessary to shut-down big plays.

I will blog about the last few days tomorrow, just take this as me telling you I'm still alive.

Hitting the Fan
Tonight is the interview with Ben Barnes, former Texas Lt. Governor, that I told you about last week. His interview with Dan Rather will be part of a larger package about George Bush's National Guard Service that runs on 60 Minutes. We also had the release of additional documents yesterday, saying that Bush did indeed have a large gap in service, and that he missed a medical exam he needed to keep his Pilot's certification. He said in 2000 that this was because the plane he flew was obsolete, but the plane's continued in operation for more than a year. The Boston Globe details that Bush reneged on Commitments to continue with Gaurd training, but was not punished for it, on two occasions. He also said that he would join a unit in Massachuesetts that he never joined.

The Kitty Kelly profle of the Bush family comes out in a couple of weeks, too. She alleges that while his father was president, W did Blow at Camp David. I don't know if this is true, though presumably, Ms. Kelly has enough evedence that she could win a lible case.

I'll be watching tonight. I have to get my drug screening tomorrow after work, then I'll be on my way home. I am planning on stopping in Albion on the way back, figuring I'll be just in time for people to be at the Theatre, so I'll stop by and he who I see.

Fighting
I haven't received my things from the Tribune yet, they sent me forms via email today, and they said they are sending me form so I could get a necessary drug test.

I am a bit torn as to what to do for an important thing coming up, I know I want to do something though.

I talked to Susan on Sunday, it was really good to talk to her, as we haven't been able to connect with each other for a really long time. Its good to know that she and Laura are doing so well in the Theatre work. Its also good to know that Colleen is doing well and that Adam, despite a setback, is going to be fine.

Kerry seems to be fighting back, which is good. I read a Newsweek article online that lacked about the tension in the campaign recently, because Mary Beth Cahill, his campaign manager, made a big mistake regarding the Swift Boat Vets, thinking it would blow over and the Kerry needn't concern himself with it. This, combined with a lot of other things, contributed to a bad August. Now the question is, can Kerry, a man who's best when his back is against the wall, and is among the finest closers in politics, get momentum back before and after the debates? He is a skilled debater, and Bush is unlike anyone he's faced. The Republicans won't be able to do what they did last time, which was lower the expectations so much that if Bush forms a complete sentence it's a great accomplishment. He's the President, he has to show a grip on policy.

Zig-Zag
The above refers to "Democrat" Zell Miller and the vitriolic and demagogic speech he gave last Wednesday. Zell has a propensity for switching positions and if you read Joe Conason in Salon, which is linked to the right, you'll find he also has a refined ability to stab his allies in the back. This was Zell Twelve years ago, the man who introduced Bill Clinton before his nomination. Zell is a lot of things. He was a segregationist. What he is now is the last of a breed. He's the last Dixiecrat, about the only one who has stayed in the party after most, Trent Lott, Phil Gramm, Fred Thompson left the party, or died like Strom Thurmond and George Wallace. Zell says the Democratic party has left him and the values he represents. I say, good for the Democratic party. By the way, when Zell got appointed to the Senate, he called a John Kerry "a true American hero".

The Republicans are what they are, incredibly disingenuous and hypocritical. They tell us that John Kerry attacks George Bush at every opportunity. Yet George Bush's name was barely mentioned at the Democratic convention. Republicans went after John Kerry's patriotism at their convention and all but said that he'd be the greatest disaster in the history of the nation if elected. Meanwhile, record deficits, huge increases in the cost of health care and the loss of over a million jobs, with far less paying ones substituted in their place, the Bush record, doesn't get talked about. Republicans are the first to charge the Democrats with playing class warfare, but no one stirs up more resentment and ill feeling on class than Republicans, and in a far more insidious way. They turn people against the defenseless, the poor. I don't think anyone would argue, other than the really radical left, the people who call veterans "baby killers", who don't represent 99.9% of liberals, would say that the War in Afghanistan was unjustified, and that its good Saddam is gone. I disagreed with the Iraq war, but when I met a veteran at my class reunion I thanked him, because Lord knows I wouldn't go. That being said, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, we are, at best, struggling to win the peace. I believe John Kerry would do a better job than what has been done, and I think that his time in Vietnam, however brief it was, makes him, by definition better able to understand what happens in combat than men who have never heard a shot fired in anger.

The last Two days have been pretty interesting. I went down to TKA on Friday at around 1. Me, Dennis and Mike went out for the remote broadcast at Scorekeepers, which was the same bar I went two a week and a half earlier with my reunion. I basically just hung up banners for the radio station. I didn't really do much else. But I did get to meet more people from the station, as well as meet some of the callers/listeners who came out. Next week, if I go back on the remote, should be a lot more crowded, because it will be Notre Dame week, as opposed to Miami of Ohio.

Yesterday, I went down to the studio at halftime of the Michigan game, to prepare for the post game show. I must say, listening to the product of the post game show, as I had for a really long time, and actually seeing it done, the amount of effort by so many people is absolutely amazing. Me and three other people worked to get callers and stats, put together the highlight show, and to edit and put together press conference tape. I should say, in fairness that I had the easiest job, answering phones and getting stats. The other people have been there a lot longer than I have and do a great job.

I have to say that last night, along with Thursday, have really made me appreciate the importance of quality kickers in football. Northwestern lost in 2 overtimes because their kicker went 1 for 6 on Field Goals. At the Albion game yesterday, Butler's kicker missed 2 extra points and a chip-shot field goal. And last night, Oregon State was denied an upset of LSU because their kicker missed three extra points. It was painful to watch his reaction because I know that he had to feel so guilty about losing his team the game.

As far as the Michigan game is concerned, the defense looked tremendous. If I had my way, and assuming that his injury was real and not just some creation of Lloyd's to fool Miami, Matt Guttierez should start next week at Notre Dame. I just have this weird feeling that we are seeing Brady vs. Henson again, as people don't seem to count time within the program as experience and just want to see the Golden Boy with the Golden Arm. I would advise those people to remember how wrong they were before. There was no way then, and no way now, that Henson was the better QB, despite the accolades.

I know there are Notre Dame fans who read this blog, and suffice it to say, I don't know that next week is going to be very pretty. I don't mean that to be mean, there just looks to be, after watching Michigan and Notre Dame yesterday, a real difference in the physical talent level of the two teams. Notre Dame will play very hard next week, as they always do. They could summon enough to beat Michigan. But it also wouldn't surprise me if it got real ugly, real quick.

Timing
Today, thankfully, has been a bit of a break from the stresses of the last few days. I haven't done a ton, I had a project earlier in the day for work but I finished it in about 45 minutes, so since then I've been doing nothing. Which is fine by me. I decided I'm going to go out to the Sprint Store tonight and then just look for a parking space, rather than waiting tomorrow and then going home. I need to write a pitch for my Journalism Project for Tomorrow.

I haven't kept as close a tabs on the Republican convention as I did the Dems. Part of this is stress and part of it is that nominating conventions of incumbents are incredibly boring, even more than those of challengers. I did, however, see a bit of the twins' "speech" last night. The speech that one site, probably only half-jokingly, said might have lost the Republicans the election. They came off as arrogant WASPS and spoiled rich girls with absolutely no direction and no desire to find it. And by the way, anyone who says they're hot is an idiot. They're not. Jenna looks like a female version of her father, which is just bad to think about. Barbara looks exactly like 10-15 girls currently at any high school in America. Chelsea they certainly are not, and they certainly don't seem to have the same head on their shoulders as Alexandra and Vanessa. By the way, I saw that they were booed at the VMA's Sunday. I know part of this may have been the crowd not wanting to hear political messages or being pro-Bush, but I also have another thought. While the two of them are both attractive, they aren't their step-brothers, who, and I say this as a heterosexual male, are both jaw-droppingly handsome.

By the way, watch 60 minutes next week. After the Woodward interview, there was extensive coverage on the aftermath for a week and a half. Next week, 60 Minutes will have an interview with the man who got Bush into the National Guard, and now says he is ashamed that he did.

Apis mellifera and Castor canadensis

The last 5 days have been among the most stressful, though ultimately rewarding of my life. Here's a quick run down:

Friday: After calling place for sublets, and finding that I had received no replies to my Craigslist emails, I went to Apartment People at 2. We found a few places that had what I was looking for, meaning a short term (3 month) lease. All were owned by the same company. Needless to say, I was kind of stressed because I was limited in choice to three places owned by one company, and they held all the power over me, because otherwise I had no place to live come Monday. I found a place I liked, only to find out that I have to pay a non-refundable $250 fee for a short-term lease. I had to give apartment people some of my deposit plus money for a credit check. I overdrafted. Anyway, I fretted about having no control, but still, I had to have a new place and this one seemed to fit me. I ended up having to pay first months rent along with $35 for the credit check, and then had to pay the $250 plus my last months rent when I signed my lease. I went down to see Laura at 8 and then we both went to see John's final performance at 10. I t was a good show, and it was really good to see the both of them again. I also gave Laura her present Slapshot and Slapshot 2. When I left John's at around 1:45, there was no sign of the 22, which runs up and down Clark at night, but does so only every half-hour. So I preceded to Lake Shore Drive to pick up the 151. Only it didn't come. For a while I just stood at the bus stop, marveling at the number and the size of the spiders that surrounded me. Then the rain came. At first it was just drizzling, then came down a little harder. I stepped back to find cover under a tree. I t afforded me good protection for a while, and then well, the rain started coming in extremely heavily, including coming in horizontally. The tree was useless. I just kind of stood there for a minute not thinking, in a kind of shock brought on by the amount of rain. After about 3 minutes, which seemed like thirty, of being pounded by rain, I ran across the street under the carport of an apartment building. My phone was in my pocket and got completely soaked. I was able to call John, who thankfully came and got me. We drove, and sometimes waded, through the streets as he got me home. When I got there, my phone was acting kind of funny...

Saturday: This was probably one of the most frustrating days of my life. I found out I had overdrafted in the morning. However, when I tried to call her back my phone said it had no signal strength, despite being at a pretty high level on my screen. I tried again several times, sometimes getting through for a few seconds and sometimes not. I went down to the Sprint Store down my block, and they said they had no technician, so they couldn't test my phone, I had to go to the store on Devon to do so. I paid the remaining part of my deposit and then headed North. Devon is where the 36 ends and where some 151's do to. I figured it was probably close. It wasn't. It took almost an hour and a half to get out there, plus the time I spent in line and waiting for the testing, which too a half-hour, and I didn't know when my parents would be arriving. I ended up having to call my grandmother to tell my parents where I was, and had to do so when I came back as well. When my parents got there about a half-hour after I did, around 3:30 we were all tired. my dad suggested we put my phone number on his phone, which we did. But we ad to go up to the Devon store again, though it took less time because we were in the car, and I didn't have to wait for testing like I had to the first time. We ate, though we had to wait a really long time for our food, and then went back to my apartment. We cleaned up and then went to bed.

Sunday... We got most of the heavy stuff into the van dad had brought from work, that's all my parents took. The rest of the stuff I figured I would move myself. My parents left around 1, and I went back, picked up a bit and then just sort of spent the day hanging out and getting stuff ready to move.

Monday... Woke up at 8:30, thinking I would just go down to my new management company, sign my lease and get to moving in. No, they couldn't have me in until 11. Ok, I started moving stuff into the hallway in the meantime. At around 10:50, I left to sign my lease, and a call came for me. It was Cassie from Chicago Magazine, They offered me the internship, and I most gleefully accepted. It was especially sweet given that I had basically given it up for dead. I told them I would start the 13th, so I could give OCC two weeks notice. I went and signed my lease, everything is cool. I find out my carpet hasn't been cleaned yet, so I have to avoid the carpeted areas. I start stacking the load in my car in the kitchen and bathroom. John came around about 1:30 and we took my mattress over. I then had to get the component parts of the bed in the car, which proved more difficult than I had anticipated. I took that stuff over. Then my battery died. I got the building engineer to jump me, but I had to drive around for a few minutes to charge the battery. I loaded as much of the stuff from the hallway as I could and took it down to the new building (which is only 1 1/2 blocks from my present one, me and John were able to physically take the mattress to it) only to find a truck blocking the door. I took what I could in, but it was almost time for my class, so I parked the car, which still had a bunch of stuff in it, and left for school. Both the car and the belongings were there when I got back, and I went back for the last bit of things in my old room. The table which my uncle gave me proved to be very hard to deal with, I actually had to leave it sitting in the alley as I dropped my other stuff off. I found a parking space a block away from my building and physically carried it there, which was very awkward. Finally, I got in at around 10:30, exhausted, sweating and grateful for the end of the day.

Today...
My hands are aching, especially the inside of my hands. I'm sore. But I'm happy, because I'll have an in at the Tribune Company and the print internship I wanted. I still am going to do TKA, which means I'll be pretty busy, but I was busy this summer and thrived. I just want to say thank you to my parents for helping me so much this weekend. Thank you to John for helping me move the Mattress. I don't know what I want to say about my old place, only that I have been both extraordinarily happy there, but I also succumbed to self-pity and depression while there. Still it was a great experience.

Happy Early Birthday to Miss Laura Kraly.

Bitter Pill
I still haven't heard from Chicago Magazine, which means it would seem time to pretty much admit defeat on that one. I am going to call In These Times after work, I have all day free tomorrow, and try to see if they have anything that could be considered an internship. It is going to be a challenge to find the hours I need at TKA, as there are only 11 football Saturdays, though I suppose I could see about working nights when Michigan Basketball or Hockey is going on. I figure 9 to 11 hours a day on Saturdays plus 6-7 on Fridays comes to about 200 hours, meaning I need to come up with another 25 somewhere down the line.

I have a lead on an apartment, however, it is only for one month. I would move in Sunday and then stay til October, though I suppose it might be possible to stay there on a month to month basis. At least I have a good idea where I might live now, rather than having to fret about that and work. This whole week I've felt that, as they say in Rocky Horror: "The Sword of Damocles is hanging over my head." Its the end of my lease, and since I was unable to get an internship in print, which is what I would want to do, I any have to get another internship, post-graduation to improve my job possibilities. Its starting to hit me that in 4 months my education will likely be over, and the real world is beginning. I know my parents are scared, I don't know how I feel.

There isn't a lot else going on, though the NCAA did just announce they were denying Mike Williams' appeal, meaning they have no rejected Williams and Jeremy Bloom's appeals in one week, after saying they were trying to be more "athlete friendly". The NCAA sucks, basically.

I'm looking forward to John's show tomorrow, and the day off. I need a break after this week. I also can't wait to see Laura.

Happy Birthday Mom.

remembrances
I have yet to hear from Chicago Magazine. When they talked to me they said "middle of the week" which I suppose could also mean tomorrow. I emailed just in case and have yet to receive a response, but they may be busy putting out their next issue right now, and thus not to worried about me or the internship question. Hopefully I'll hear something soon. The same goes for a sublet/room. I'm starting to get in the panic stage, as I move out Sunday, and after that, I don't know what I'm going to do Monday-Thursday. I know I'll find something, I just need something now.

I talked yesterday about my reunion, I wanted to mention something that I didn't mention yesterday. A classmate of mine had joined the army and had spent a lot of last year in Iraq. He talked about some of the things he had to do, rough up some kids with AK-47's for example, and just what it was like to be shot at, and to be in country where death could be around the next corner. I asked him some questions about what it was like with the people, specifically, whether he hated the Iraqis and whether the Iraqis hated us. He didn't hate them, though he hated those that shot at him. I guess I was not surprised when he talked about how the place was divided. How some would be happy to see them, and others, well, others would stare you down with Kalashnikov's. It was really interesting.

Do want to know what "shady" really is? Its not taking your flight examination because you might well be to hungover to pass or not want to reveal your drug use. Its going months without attending the drills in the Champagne unit your father got you into. Neil Steinberg, who writes for the Sun-Times said this on Monday :
"How the Republicans could have imagined there would be any upside in questioning John Kerry's Vietnam record is a mystery. Doesn't it all boil down to this: Kerry went to war and President Bush didn't? Frankly, if Kerry had responded to combat by flinging away his gun and hiding in tears under a tarp on his swift boat, it wouldn't erase the overarching fact that he put himself in harm's way for his country, while Bush hid behind the privilege that was to eventually deposit him, blinking and amazed, into the White House."

Well here goes,

I came home, again, Friday afternoon. I picked up Meghan, who I went to High School with and works downtown, and we were off to Ann Arbor. We talked for a while, and it was pretty pleasant. We weren't especially close so it wasn't like talking to your best friend or anything, but it was generally pleasant. We avoided traffic around Ann Arbor by getting off 94 early, and I dropped her off around 5:30. I got home to get ready. I had a bit of an argument, such as they are, with my parents because at the time, I didn't know if I 'd have an internship and where, I'd be living. Its all really confusing. After cooling off, I went to the reunion. Now the flyer I got in the mail said it started at 7. I got there around 7:30, wanting to be fashionably late only to find that I was actually the second person to arrive. most everyone else was waiting until 8 for the Open Bar to start. I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a really long time. Some I was glad to see. I saw a lot of growth out of a lot of people. (Interesting fact by the way, 14 of my classmates are either married or engaged, including to each other. This comes to a rate of 21%. In five years, my guess says its above 50%) Some, of course, and for me a distressingly large number, hadn't shown much growth at all. While I appreciate the need to sow your wild oats at this age, there has to be more to life than going out and getting blitzed every night, which was the same thing you did in High School, and perhaps the same as you did in College. I'm sorry, I'm just a bit frustrated at this point. Many people, after the open bar closed at Midnight, decided to head down to another bar, which I went to, just to see if anyone needed a ride home. No one did, though I don't know if that was a rejection of the ride or a rejection of me. I sensed a lot of hostility from the "cooler" people at the reunion directed at me, why I don't know, but it certainly seemed to be there. Of course I have spent a long time passing judgment on these people, but I don't think I've gone out of my way to hurt anyone.

I stopped in Albion Saturday and had dinner at Lone Star with Mike Bohne, Kopec and Huff, as well as Denise Robinson and Jeannie. Chelsea Sadler was our waitress. It was god to see those people again, though I wish I had more time to search out everyone else I wanted to see.

I got a call from TKA on Monday. They want me for Fridays and Saturdays during the fall. Obviously this is very good news, as I now have an internship in the bag. Is it absolutely that I want to do? No, but it does allow me to finish here, plus potentially make some good contacts down the line at either radio stations or newspapers.

Still looking for a place. I'm putting in a call on a place I saw for subletting on Craigslist, which is in Wicker Park. It would be short term, which is what I need. Plus it would actually be cheaper than my current apartment, as this one runs about 550 a month plus 100 in utilities compared to the 675 I pay now, which includes electricity and gas.

God, I can't wait for this to settle down. Cross your fingers that Chicago Magazine gives me the ok tomorrow or Thursday. I'll need all the help I can get.

Quick Post, I'll blog more about this tomorrow.

Reunion: Kind of disappointing, that will be the main focus of my post tomorrow.

TKA- Looks good to go, now, I just need to see when, and how much, they want me.

Place to live- It looks like I'll be staying in Chicago for the semester, unfortunately, this means I need to find a place ASAP, so I can move in relatively soon.

I will let all of you know how Chicago Magazine turns out.

Goings On

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty crazy. On Tuesday I went for my interview at Chicago Magazine. I felt it went well, I answered all the questions they had, and I think, came off as enthusiastic about potentially working there. That's what I need. I was very excited afterwards, and suddenly not so sure what I wanted to do come September, because, truth be told, print is more of what I want to do. After my interview I went down to my counseling session, and then home. And, by home, I mean Ann Arbor. Rain was pouring down in Indiana, and basically stayed with me all the way home, which sort of dampened the drive a bit, but I still had fun, because commercial-free Radio is so great.

Yesterday, I had my tryout/interview at WTKA. I got there around 2 and talked with the host of the afternoon drive time show, Dennis. He had me fill out a questionnaire, including making up my own questions, and then took me in to the producer's area. I helped write copy for the updates. During the show, which started at 4, I answered phone calls, and put up the information of the screen for Dennis to read in the studio. Everything went pretty well, I screwed up a couple of times, including accidentally hanging up on regular caller High Octane Mike. The phone lines really lit up once, while we were discussing Michigan football, which was to be expected. On the whole it was a really fun time, and I think I did well, hopefully I'll be getting a phone call soon. Chicago Magazine said they would call next week.

Thank you so much. You Know Who You Are. Thank you so very, very much.

Constitutions

I saw John's show again, and again I enjoyed it tremendously. It was good also, despite some initial apprehension on my part, to see Jean and Rhea. They were welcoming and it was much appreciated, given how I had initially feared it may go. Thank you to you both.

I saw an interview with Alan Keyes last Friday, where he talked about repealing (presumably) two amendments to the Constitution. One was to be expected, and he didn't outright call for it's repeal, but he wants to get rid on the Income Tax, in favor of a national sales tax, which would essentially repeal the 16th Amendment. The ironic twist is that he also called for the repeal of the 17th. Its ironic because he did so while running for Senate. The 17th Amendment calls for the direct election of United States Senators, as opposed to their selection by their states legislature. His point was that the Framer's intended it to be that way. Unfortunately, Keyes fails to understand that when the Amendment was passed they believed they were acting in the spirit of the Framers. And the Framers were not gods, they were fallible, after all that's why we have amendments, to correct their mistakes and update the Constitution for the changing landscape.

The Men's team that lost to Peurto Rico is a deeply flawed team. The problem is, the NBA league office was instrumental in finding the players on this team. They were looking to sell Jerseys and product, not win. There is no reason LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade should all be on the team. There is no way on God's earth that Stephon Marbury should have been allowed to be considered. The people who selected this team are not guilty of panic so much as they are supreme arrogance. They thought we could send out anyone who was succesful in the NBA and assume they would have success in International Basketball, which is more different than International and NHL Hockey are from each other. We currently have three, 3! post players, and only one seeing significant time. The other players are either slashers or athletic wing players who can't shoot. Post play and slashing are limited in the FIBA style of play because the zone is used so often and so well. The US Team has no one who cou8ld be considered a great shooter, we aren't producing a lot of them any more, and those we do (Michael Redd, Brent Barry, Reggie Miller, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen) are sitting at home. Now, truth be told, Allen was originally on the team, and Rip turned them down after being invited at the 11th hour, but still, the makeup of the team is compromised. What follows is my group of 12, one I think would be much better suited to the International game:

C- Tim Duncan- He's played well, and because he's so unselfish and passes well, he fits perfectly the style that is needed in the Olympics. Ben Wallace would be there too, for a banger off the bench for just rebounds and defends and doesn't demand the ball all game.

PF- Rasheed Wallace- At least one big man needs to be able to step out in International basketball. Rasheed has the perfect game for this level, he's unselfish, a tenacious help defender, and rebounds on both ends. Plus he shoots well from outside.

SF- Lamar Odom- Again versatility is key, and Odom can handle the ball, and rebound. He's not a great shooter but that's why we have...

SG- Michael Redd- The best American born shooter currently in the NBA, he would be an absolutely perfect zone-buster, because his greatest offensive weakness, his inability to create his own shot, doesn't matter in a Zone dominated game. Rip Hamilton would also be quite good in this role.

PG- Chauncey Billups- He can shoot, especially spotting up. He creates for his teammates and he would be a beast for International point guards to play because of his strength. Brent Barry could come off the bench to shoot and to create.

Of the bench, in addition to the guys I've already said would be:

Iverson- He's not a good shooter and demands the ball too much, but no one on earth is better for scoring in bunches.

Tayshaun Prince- The perfect international wing defender- incredibly long and is able to shoot well enough, but he's here for defense.

Shane Battier- See above.

Brian Cardinal- Because no one will out work him, he'll shoot, and he will bang with anyone.

Sensitivity- Bain of Royalty

The complete non-issue that is John Kerry calling for a more "sensitive" war on terror, and the 'wingers trying to make Kerry out to be a kind of pantywaist who will try to lure Osama Bin Laden out of hiding, is just ridiculous. What Kerry meant, what anyone with half a brain knew he meant, was that he would try to get more of our allies involved, especially in the Arab world, so that we can start reducing our own troop levels. The Repub's (Cheney, Newt, Hannity) were making it out like he said that we need to be weak to fight the war on terror. No. We just need to have some semblance of an idea of how to approach the Arab world, not as Rush said a couple of days ago "make a parking lot out of Najaf", one of the sacred sites of Shiite Islam. That's being really brilliant Rush. By the way, if you'd like to sign a petition to get Rush off of Armed Forces Radio, or just get someone from the other side to counterbalance him, here you go. Its from Media Matters, which I now have a link to over with the rest of my links. Go, its very educational and has a lot of good information on the half-truths and b.s. of the right.

A lot has been going on as far as the internship front goes. I have an interview Tuesday with Chicago Magazine, which would be nice to work at, but would keep me here. I have a sort of tryout/interview at WTKA on Wednesday. I will be going back home Tuesday night, going in at 2:00, doing some guest booking and some operating the board during the afternoon show. This is great, but I may need to get back here to work on Thursday, and then go back home Friday for my 5th class reunion. Phew. We, my family and I , are currently trying to figure out a way for me to do that, whether it involves driving twice or taking the train or whatever.

If anyone saw Hardball last night, you heard Chris Matthews nail John O'Neill in a lie about not being employed by the Nixon White House to go and discredit Kerry. A lot of what is in "Unfit for Command" has been debunked, it was when it came out in 1996, when Kerry ran against Bill Weld, and hopefully it will now as well.

New Jersey- Wow

It takes courage to do what James McGreevey did about an hour ago. Not only did he admit an extramarital affair and resign as governor, but he came out to the world.

"Were there realities from which I was running?" he asked. "I do not believe that God tortures any person simply for its own sake.... In this, in the 47th year of my life, it is arguably to late to have this discussion. But it is here and it is now.... And so my truth is that I am a gay American. And I am blessed to live in the greatest nation... with the greatest tradition of civil liberties in the world."
"Yet because of the pain and suffering and anguish I have caused to my beloved family.... This is an intensely personal decision and not one typically for the public domain and yet it cannot and should not pass... I am also here today because shamefully I engaged in a consensual affair with another man that violated my bonds of matrimony. It is wrong... It is inexcusable...."
Amazing!
"I am removing these threats by telling you directly about my sexuality," he says, telling the press that if his sexual life had remained secret the state would have had problems.
"Given the circumstances surrounding the affair and its impact on my family and my ability ... as governor, I have decided to resign." - Taken from Jeff Jarvis

That's an amazing speech, and an incredibly courageous stand to take. From the reports I'm reading today, this has been building for some time, and McGreevey hasn't been a great governor anyway. But still, it took courage to do what he just did. I don't know what impact this will have nationally, probably very little. The media will hit this hard in the next couple of days, but it will probably evaporate soon. The e conservative media will try to paint this as evidence of the moral decadence of the Democrats, but McGreevey did the right thing as far as that was concerned, he took the hit, resigned, said what the reason was, and took personal responsibility for hurting his family. Wow. That took guts and a whole lot of it.

Please support, if you can or want to, the PAC my professor from Washington Semester is a part of. It raises money for, and supports the efforts of women candidates who are under 40. This is the "pipeline" theory. I'll explain later. But its a worthy, and bipartisan, cause.

Hey! I'm still here
Hello again everyone, its been a rather stressful week for me, so I haven't blogged as much as I would have liked to, but I am here now, so I'll just mention a few things.

Congratulations to John on a fine show last week, I enjoyed it, and I'm sure, if the crowd and the response from your castmates was any indication, this won't be the last time you'll be performing like this at Second City.

I saw Collateral on Saturday. I really enjoyed both Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx's performances, and I love Michael Mann as a director., so I did really enjoy the movie.

Work's been hectic this week, and so I haven't been able to blog there, plus I'm working on my website project for class, which takes some time as well. My internship status is still up in the air, irons currently in the fire have not been struck the way I might have liked.

A lot of the news lately has been looking at the Swift Boat Veteran for Truth ad that is airing in some of the swing states. I don't think the media is doing enough right now, to expose the people behind this. I saw Nightline last night did mention the fact that none of the men who appear in the ad actually served on John Kerry's swiftboat, but served with him the same way Colin Powell and John McCain did, they were in the same war at the same time. There's dirty money behind this. Much of the same money that was behind smearing John McCain n South Carolina in 2000. I know that McCain and Bush campaigned together this week, but you have to know that McCain sees him as a slimeball.

Fun Stuff to think about here, got to love those Vogue Girls

Alan Keyes- The Black Kermit

If anyone remembers SNL's sketches about the 2000 Republican Primary, you might remember Tim Meadows portrayal of the right wing talk show host/ Muppet. When I saw earlier this week that the Illinois GOP was strongly considering Keyes, and now that they have offered him the position, I was flabbergasted. He has no ties to the state of Illinois, none. And this is a person who ripped Hillary Clinton for "carpet-bagging" in 2000, and no he's doing the same. Look, I know that no one who went after the position here, meaning those who lost in the primary was particularly attractive, as they all lost very badly, and no one in the GOP establishment wants to run out and get crushed by Obama. I would have thought about nominating Chirinjeev Kathuria, who finished last in the primary, but would give the Illinois GOP good press for being the first party to nominate a Sikh for higher office. Plus it makes the party more outwardly "inclusive". Anyway, Keyes is so far out to the right he's falling off, and his natural constituency, African American Fundamentalist Catholics, is not particularly large. He is a very eloquent man, plus he was the only candidate to say yes to debating at Albion when we were trying to get a Republican debate in 2000, so I don't hate him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he lost by 25 or more points in November.

By the way, PTM should get on the phone with Butch Hollowell as soon as possible if Kerry loses the election. Hollowell is the head of the Michigan Democratic Party and an Albion grad. If we could get Albion arranged as a debate site, and put it on in say, early January, the Cable Networks would cover it, the way they do other debates around the country, giving Albion a lot more exposure.

They should do the same thing if the Lions ever decide to train somewhere other than Allen Park.

I've liked the way people have covered the Bears camp in the Chicago area so far. Obviously, there have been two main storylines, Lovie Smith coming in with a new, tougher training regimen, and the injuries, particularly to Hamstrings that it may have caused. Urlacher will likely be out for preseason. This bodes well for the Lions, especially when you consider that a lot of the Bears players who were told to lose weight will not have adjusted to their new bodies by the time they play Detroit in week one. On the plus side for the Bears, David Terrell has been lighting it up so far, which is good. He went to a fine institution.

Kris Benson is a lucky man. He pitches for the Mets now, which is good for Anna, New York needs this sort of thing.

Repeating the Part Where I Said All About the Things

I enjoyed the performance of Les Miserables that my old high school did. It was a combination of current and alumni students in it, and so I was able to see a few people I hadn't seen in a while, plus Robert was in it and did a good job.

I thought my interview went well last week, I should be hearing something soon, if I don't, its time to panic, because I've already told my leasing agency that I'm not renewing my lease, so I may have to start looking for sublets for three months.

By the way, Sandy Berger has been declared innocent of wrongdoing, nice to see it so highly publicized in the media.

I thought the Dodgers really made a lot of moves they didn't need to make last week. The one question I have more than anything is: Why would you consent to add Paul Lo Duca to a trade without knowing for sure Charles Johnson was coming? Now, you go from having an All-Star caliber catcher to Brent Mayne who has always been (Expect for the Triple Play 99 team run by yours truly, where he hit .325 with 52 HR's) a backup or platoon catcher. Even if they've improved their starting pitching with penny, aren't you costing yourself runs by this move? I don't get it.

The USA Basketball team just lost to Italy by 17 points. I'm not shocked by this, considering that Italy made 15 three-point shots as well as the fact that the US team is extremely young. I still think they will win in Athens, but I wouldn't be shocked if they lost one game in pool play. The one game that scares me, if they get to the medal round, is China, because there is no one on the US team that will be able to guard Yao. By the way, the team plays Germany next, I'm putting the over/under for points from Dirk Nowitzki at 41.

Deadline


The Cubs just traded for Nomar Garciaparra. They didn't have to give up Matt Clement or Carlos Zambrano to do it, that's the advantage of doing a four-way deal. This deal goes down as follows, the Cubs get Garciaparra, the Red Sox get Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientiewicz, the Twins get prospects, and the Expos get Alex Gonzalez plus prospects. E everybody seems to win here. The Cubs get Nomar's fantastic bat, the Red Sox dramatically improve their infield defense, and from a chemistry standpoint, help themselves by getting Nomar out of the locker room. The Twins and Expos were either going to lose the players they gave up, or had their replacements on hand. The prospects they get are like getting free money, they were going to lose them anyway, so they got what they could. This helps the Cubs tremendously, from both a PR standpoint and in their ability to put a team on the field to catch the Padres for the wild card. Their aren't overtaking the Cardinals, but in a short series, with their arms and now Nomar's bat, they are in great shape.

The White Sox really made a move I don't get. They traded Esteban Loaiza to the Yankees (I hate the f*****g Yankees) for Jose Contreras. I don't get this because Contreras has consistently proven he's not a money pitcher, and the White Sox need money pitching to catch the Twins right now. The Yankees settled, once they knew they weren't going to get Unit, they got who they could. This seems like a wash from the Yankees perspective, so I don't get why the White Sox did it.

I need to mention this. Tyson was knocked out in the 4th last night, by Tomato Can Danny Williams. It's over. Finished. Tyson is done, the only reason to watch him is to see if he'll do something crazy, and he is obviously not in any way capable of being a contender for anything. In a way I feel bad for Mike, he's been used by everyone in his life. But now, he has to fight for his own financial solvency, which is no reason to go out and get punched in the head for a living. This story is an incredibly sad one, especially because its no seems sure that the man who was once the Baddest on the Planet is going to end up someplace not good. If we find him in a ditch or under an overpass in ten years, it won't be surprising. Its extremely sad.

Kerry Defines Himself- And other Convention observations

Sorry about the lack of posts the last couple of days, I will try to catch up with my thoughts on the convention now.

Day Two- If you could fault the networks for anything, and there is a lot you can, its that they didn't show anything of the second night. Listening and watching Obama's speech, the Chicago stations cut away to show the speech, I sensed that I was watching the first black president of the United States, or at the very least, a man capable of holding a part on the political stage for an incredibly long time. He had something, by espousing the conservative sounding values of self-reliance, by using the details of his own life to highlight the stories of those he was telling about others and the rhetoric about the one America, not a liberal/conservative red/ blue state one. The line that really grabbed me was the "We worship an awesome God in the Blue States" line. This was a fabulous appeal to show that the Democrats are not just some atheistic, secularist party. I believe its also a line that a guy like Obama could deliver. Clinton projects empathy when he speaks, Obama has real force and conviction behind what he says.
I was impressed by Ron Reagan. I'm sure that he couldn't go out and endorse John Kerry, Nancy almost assuredly would not have let him go if that had been the case, but what he was implying was clear. I was very disappointed by the response of the people on FOX afterwards, as they kept talking about how disgusted they were with Reagan for doing this. Teresa was ok, I didn't think she came across as the asset she can be. I think a lot of women, particularly single women, probably the most important demographic for the Democrats this year, will be drawn to her intelligence, sophistication, and independence. I do agree with the criticism, though, that she didn't talk enough about her husband.

DAY 3- The immediate thing that stood out to me about the coverage was the way that Al Sharpton's speech was treated. On MSNBC, Matthews, Howard Fineman and Doris Kearns-Goodwin seemed to be turning it into Pat Buchanan '92 redux, that middle America would be rushing out to buy their Bush/Cheney foam hands because of Sharpton's rhetoric and style. Sharpton did riff, for about 15 minutes past his allotted time, but what he was saying can help to bring out the African American vote. By all indications, turning out the African American vote, especially in the swing states, will be crucial. To win Michigan, for example, the Democrats need to have a majority of about 350,000 votes, which is achievable, coming out of Metro Detroit, in order to counter-act the Republican majority on the Westside of the state and Oakland County. The only way to do that, as Jim Blanchard will tell you, is to get out the African American vote. Sharpton was simply reminding everyone that Democrats have been good to and for African Americans. People were more upset about it because it seemed to go against the tone of the rest of the convention. They talked so much about Sharpton, that I missed Granholm, who seemed to acquit herself nicely, though The Daily Show did a nice riff on her speaking style, and her former job as a tour guide last night.

John Edwards' daughter, I have to say, is very attractive.

Elizabeth is an asset, and a big one, for two reasons. She is incredibly articulate and smart. And she looks like America. What Teresa perhaps doesn't have is a connection to Middle American women, Elizabeth thinks like they do, talks like they do, and yes, looks like they do. The fact that she is heavier only adds to this appeal.

I found Edwards a bit disappointing, though the speech worked overall. I felt like the expectations were so high, he couldn't possibly deliver on everything. People make him out to be the modern descendant of Cicero and Demonsthenes, he's not, but he still is effective. The speech worked for me, and I think, for Americans in general. I can imagine Edwards as President and it doesn't strike the same fear in my heart as a Cheney presidency. I didn't feel like Edwards "Two Americas" theme developed enough in this speech as it did on the stump. By the way, he's also attractive, not that that matters...

last night, especially the introduction of Kerry was masterful. His daughters humanized him as a father, and spoke extremely eloquently, the gauntlet has now been thrown down the Jenna and Barbara. Having Andre Heinz out also worked, because it underscores the human qualities of Kerry and Teresa, that they have successfully managed to put together a blended family that seems to care about each other. The "Band of Brothers" and the film, were excellent touches, though it may have been better to use the film to immediately introduce Kerry. Cleland was good, he's become sort of the patron saint of the campaign. People in the party are upset because of the way Saxby Chambliss questioned the patriotism of a man who left three limbs in Vietnam, and they should be.

I felt Kerry did a great job of showing strength last night. The earlier speakers, his family, the Green Beret he rescued, did a wonderful job of humanizing him. He looked and sounded Presidential last night, which is not something that always happens. Dukakis didn't look presidential, Mondale didn't. I didn't really dig the salute, but I understand why he did it. This is a man who views the world, perhaps justifiably, through the prism of Vietnam. It is, and probably remains, the defining time in his life. That came through in the speech, the kind of sense of duty he projected. That was good. The middle portion of the speech seemed to get bogged down a bit more than I would have liked, but he needed to put out policies, and that seemed to be an effective way to do it. The one thing I didn't feel like he did, was to make specific proposals for what he would do in Iraq. The generalities were there, but he has to develop specific, or the Republicans could eat him alive at the end of the month.

I saw Bush's address at SMS this morning. I don't think the speech and message are incredibly effective. He's going after Kerry for not having enough big accomplishments in the senate, and truth be told, there are not a ton of bills that bear his name. What he has done, it seems, has been to be a tireless investigator, which is a perfectly legitimate role to play in the senate. Not everyone can be on every bill, sometimes you have to fill other niches, and Kerry, the ex-prosecutor fills the role of investigator. Also, to make light of Kerry's lack of focus on his Senate record is to potentially invite focus on Bush's lost years. I saw another blogger talk about the potential danger in saying that Kerry hasn't accomplished anything when he's spent most of his adult life in public service, while Bush was, well, we don't know what Bush was doing, other than operating unsuccessful business ventures and "partying".
Oh well.

Good luck tonight John.

Night 1
I did a presentation yesterday on political blogging, and it went very well. I've spent a lot of today looking at opinions about what happened last night, and how it might effect things. I didn't see any of Gore's or Carter's speeches, beyond the highlights later, and I heard snippets on CNN and MSNBC's Radio channels.
I did, however, get to see most of Bill Clinton's speech. He remains the master. His speech, I heard Russert say, and I agree, was more old-fashioned oratory than anything else. He said George Bush was a good man, a good man who happened to be wrong about a lot of things. Clinton did a fabulous job, probably a better one than the "valedictory" speech he made in Los Angeles four years ago, in getting people to look at the new guy as the one to lead us. He didn't do a great job of doing that for Al Gore. He did an excellent job of it for John Kerry. He took self-effacing jabs at himself, and his connections with the administration, on taxes and in comparing John Kerry's war record to that of the Republican ticket and himself. He was vintage Bill, going after every side, Moderate conservatives, liberals, moderates. I don't know how often we will see Bill again at these things. Carter's appearance last night was the first time he had done anything at a convention in a while. Unless Hillary gets nominated, and I strongly doubt that she will, in the next two election cycles, we may not see Bill again for a while. If, however, this was a swansong, he had a beautiful one.

Gore was self-effacing, and he needed to be. If he went crazy criticizing Bush, the Republicans would have painted him as the left's Nikita Kruschev, barely sane, banging his shoe on the podium. He was restrained. He reminded people of 2000 without whining, as he has a right to do. He made soft-peddled appeals to Nader voters. Gore may become an effective campaigner if the Democrats want to use him. I would use him in states like Florida, Oregon or Minnesota, battleground states that might be tipped by Nader voters. He can be a living reminder of what happens when you throw your vote away.

Tonight won't be televised nationally by the broadcast networks. If you have Cable, or live in Chicago, watch Obama's keynote, as it might be the official beginning of a spectacular career. Theresa Heinz-Kerry will speak tonight, as will the old Lion himself, the senior Senator from Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy.

Kerry's people have done a good job of keeping people restrained, of muzzling the anti-Bush rhetoric. Both Dean and Kucinich, and Dean speaks tonight, have promised to keep the rhetoric toned down, because we have to win. We have to. For those of you who want red-meat, understand that this isn't your time. This is Kerry's time to introduce himself to all those people out there who don't know who he is. This is John Kerry's time, not the anti-Bush time. We know that George Bush isn't the one we want, we know he isn't the right man for the job. But lecturing undecideds about it, and being full of vitriol in doing it is not the way to win hearts and minds. Bush is, if nothing else, a decent man. People want to like him. People just need to understand that we need a man of intellectual substance now, one who realizes, as the 42nd POTUS said last night "That Strength and Wisdom are not opposing virtues" 

Goings On...
The Sandy Berger story is completely ridiculous. The chances of actual criminal charges being filed are slim to none, so why exactly are we seeing this covered so hard, especially by conservatives?

Two reasons...1. Sandy Berger is a Clinton guy, and therefore inescapably evil. Even if he did something accidentally, he had to "know" on some level what he was doing. The commission itself has said that nothing of value was taken, that in fact, they had seen the relevant documents already. John Kerry, as a member of the intelligence committee had the security clearances to view the documents himself, so Berger wasn't taking stuff to show him. Conservatives believe there has to be a coverup. He's a messy guy, idiots, people forget things, people are disorganized. His office is probably stacked high with papers and notes, if the Clinton's did something, believe me, we would know by now. 2. The report that came out yesterday may have been though to be more damning than it actually is, and so the Bushies thought they needed political cover.

The Administration is apparently looking for Catholics in Pennsylvania, and presumably elsewhere, to provide them with Parish directories so they know who to target. This is silly. We, speaking for all Catholics, do NOT vote as a bloc, we vote as we want to vote, individually. Most f us are ok with a constitutional right to privacy, meaning a right to choose and the right to get contraception. We believe this at about the same rate as the population as a whole. We are what we are, ourselves, islands. We aren't dictated to by the Pope, and not even by our own Bishops as to how we want to vote. We are more free thinking than that. Mostly.

 

Weird, Wild Stuff
I'm the only one in my office right now, and I mean the only one. Everyone else seems to have gone home. It got incredibly dark around 2:30 or 3, it looked like it was 5 or six hours later, but it is lighter out now. I had real trouble getting to sleep last night, mainly because of the heat. I only have an oscillating fan, and it was damn near impossible to get comfortable last night, plus I had a lot on my mind.

I got good news on the internship front, I have an interview next Friday at Ann Arbor's own WTKA. I grew up listening to the station, and it would be a ton of fun to work there. Plus, I could try to get stringing work at the A2 News as well as do my stuff at Roosevelt. I got notice yesterday that my room is going to be shown now, because I am not renewing my lease, funny how fast things go by when you think about them. 

I received to bits of mail from my old High School yesterday. Well, actually I "received" them a while ago, but they were sent home, not to me in Chicago. They sort of pull me in two directions in terms of how I look back on my high school life. One was the invitation to my first class reunion, the big Cinco. I'm not that Jim Shilander anymore. I'm  not sure how I'm going to react seeing all of these people again, all of these people who made me feel, often through no fault of their own, so insignificant and mediocre. Are there people who might be there who I would like to see, yes. I went to school with a large percentage of them for 12 years, and we picked up people along the way. I always felt like, having graduated with 67 kids, I got to know a lot of those people perhaps more intimately than I would have liked. There are those who I'd like to see if only out of some sense of scientific curiosity, to see what happened to them. And then, there are those who I really do not care about, largely because it was obvious they never cared at all about me or anyone but themselves. I realize that high school and adolescence in general is a time for self-centeredness, and I was as guilty of it as anyone, but still, the people who haven't changed, the people who's college or post-high school lives have not given them perspective on their actions? Those people I don't need to see. I may just go to antagonize as many Opus Dei folk as I can, we'll see.

I also got a letter about the benefit performances of Les Miserables being performed by the Drama Club and various Drama Club alumni. I would have liked to have done it, but 5 hours each way driving time makes it difficult. Robert is doing it, and he has a pretty good part, though he is admittedly not the strongest singer. The Drama Club was sort of my refuge while I wasn';t playing football in the fall. I did eleven out of a possible 12 shows in high school, and I loved every second of it. I feel that as someone who does have self-image issues, who is introverted, that theatre gave me the opportunity to explore. I was often more comfortable as someone else than I was as myself. Ms. Anne Kolaczkowski-Magee has run the program since she's been there, and when she left for two years to get recertified, it was taken over by the very capable and talented Glenn Bugala. Ms. K-M is one of my heroes. I don't think anyone at that school works harder for her students and cares more about their lives. She really does love her craft. Glenn Bugala was the same way, though he was put in a very difficult position because a lot of people didn't want to accept that Ms. K-M had left. The benefit is for a new theatre that they are building at the new school. For the last 15 years, the school has either had to rent out space from Ann Arbor Civic Theatre or find a space for a show. Now they'll have their own shop, their own stage, and their own storage. Ms. K-M joked in the letter about making it the K-M theatre, but frankly, that's what it should be. I can't think of anyone else to name it after (especially cause no one at Richard knows who Bob AuFrance is). There is no one more deserving. I will be there, guaranteed.

Fun Times, and well...
 
I picked up NCAA 2005 on Thursday, so needless to say, I've been playing it quite a lot lately and enjoying it. I started a successful dynasty as Michigan and am presently beginning my third year as head coach at Connecticut, where I just finished #2 in the country. The new features are very cool. For John, the X-Box version is equipped with X-Box Live capability, but since I have a PS2, I don't care. They've added some interesting little tweaks to last years game. EA added a measure of players "composure", for example freshmen are easily rattled while Seniors aren't. Homefield advantage is real, the controller shakes when you have the ball and the crowd is loud, and you can pump up the home crowd on defense. My favorite changes, though, are smaller tweaks. Discipline is now in the game, so if players commit infraction you can choose whether and for how long kids are suspended. Before the recruiting process starts, players can transfer from and away from your school, and you convince those who want to leave to stay. In recruiting, you can now recruit "ATH" or athletes, who have not set position. My favorite tweak of all, though, is the ability to switch player's positions. If I have too many linebackers, I can shift people to End to get them on the field and give myself a more athletic team. This is a really fun feature that I have enjoyed tremendously. Still, all of this is fake.
 
Obviously my congratulations to Jean and Kelly. I wish you both the very best.
 
I walked down to millennium Park on Saturday, just to check it out, and to make the walk, its 3 miles each way so its good exercise, no matter how much cheesecake I buy at the Cheesecake Factory. It really is a fabulous place, just this amazingly idyllic spot in the middle of downtown. Cloud Gate was a huge attraction, because apparently people can't get enough of seeing themselves in highly polished metal. I really loved the fountains they have. It's a different take on the fountain, video images of people come up on these large screens built ito the structures with are probably 20' high. Water goes around the sides of the structure when the images are on. Then the faces look like they're spewing water, and they do, because the "fountain" is built into where the mouths are. Then water comes down the front, soaking the kids underneath it. I really loved it, seeing all the kids and their families enjoying themselves at this really amazing and fun place, a place that's open to everyone.
 
I don't know if anyone saw this from last week's gay marriage debate, I caught it from Andrew Sullivan and Wonkette, but there was a rally of different "celebrities" to promote the amedment. Pat Boone was there, wearing an incredibly fluorescent jacket that made him look like he was the chairman of the Orange Bowl committee, and former Redskins corner Darrell Green was there as well.  Most ironically, Dean Jones was there. For those of you saying "Who the F*** is Dean Jones?", well he was the star of the Love Bug Movies and played the evil vet in "Beethoven". The weird, and sort of ironic part is, as few people, other than Sondheim and Alexis Snyder, know Dean Jones was the original 'Robert' in "Company" on Broadway. Obviously, and Alex, Chelsea Sadler and Rob Murdock will attest to this, Robert coming out for discriminating against gay people is just weird. 
 
Still Trying....... 

Catharsis
My session today was ok, I think it helped me deal with some issues, but I still don't know how to rectify them.

Congratulations to all of you who called and emailed you members about voting against the FMA. It couldn't even get a simple majority, let alone the 60 it would take to put it to a direct vote on the Senate floor. Obviously, thank you to all of the Republicans who crossed the leadership and voted with the Democrats.
The Ditka thing is actually possible. This doesn't shock me, as after Ditka the only viable candidate is Jim Oberweis who finished second in the Republican primary while running an anti-immigrant platform, which played terribly, because it showed him to be a hate monger and demagogue. I think Ditka would be a disaster for the party here, as his politics seem very far out on the right. Republicans win here by attracting moderates. Ditka won't be able to do that all that well, and Obama will beat him, but at least it doesn't "cost" anyone in the party organization politically if an outsider runs and gets beat.
Speaking of Obama, he will be delivering the keynote address at the Democratic Convention later this month. This really could make him a huge star if he plays this right and delivers a great speech. A Cuomo like moment would not only assure him of winning here, but frankly put him on the fast track towards a brighter future, like a spot on a ticket in 2012. 2008, if Kerry loses, would probably be too early, but he does have an extremely bright future ahead of him.

The Shaq thing also happened today. Personally, this is more like Wilt going to the Lakers than Kareem going there, two comparisons that have been made often. Wilt was nearing the end of his career, as Shaq is. Still, he makes Miami an absolutely huge force to be reckoned with next year, especially if they are able to go out and get someone to fill some of the slots vacated by the guys traded for him. I am also getting the funny feeling that Kobe might sign with the Clippers.

Watched the ASG last night. It was amazing to see Ali, as it always is, particularly when he sprang to life as he did, with the Ali shuffle and playing with Jeter and A-Rod. Bob Feller made some idiotic comments about how Ali was a traitor to his country because he refused induction, you know, more than 30 years ago,but he's basically a sad old man at this point. The game itself was disappointing, though I do find the allusions to Bull Durham, with regards to the Piazza/Clemens battery, to be interesting. Carlos Guillen was the only All-Star who didn't play, and I'm not that surprised because Torre took 4 Shortstops and played Jeter for like 5 innings, meaning that Young, Tejada and Guillen would be splitting the final four, which meant two would just get an inning apiece. Guillen didn't sound bitter, and I wouldn't expect him to, though he can get revenge starting Thursday, when the Tigers and Yankees start a series.

23
I had a pretty good weekend, my family (parents, Robert and Grandma Graham) came down Saturday. It forced me to clean up my apartment, which was most assuredly needed. We also did some much needed work on my internship, which I hopefully will be hearing about soon. Saw Anchorman on Sunday with John, which was a lot of fun, and extremely funny. Still, I couldn't escape the melancholy thoughts I've been falling into over the past few weeks. I have to do something for my therapy tomorrow that is drudging up a lot of feelings and frankly, they are hard to confront. Decisions hat have been made, choices of mine over the past five months need to be looked at, and sometimes these feelings and actions are hard to think about. I hope it helps, because I have had a very hard time the last few days, and its rough to keep feeling like this.

ESPN's ratings of the most tortured sports cities ended today with the one logical candidate, Cleveland. The Ten worst sports moments included Jordan's shot on Ehlo at #5, so you know there are pretty bad things on the way. The Drive and the fumble are there, as is moving the Browns. #1 is pretty obvious though, and from personal experience, I know how painful it was.

I want to thank my parents for going above and beyond in their desire to help me with my internship, thank you both so very much for being willing to help and working so tirelessly for me while I go through this difficult time.

A quick couple of things. Salon has a look at John Edwards' career as a trial lawyer, and finds that he didn't go out of his way to try and destroy the American way of life, but that he represented real people who were wronged by negligent businesses. Second Rob Pelinka, who is carols Boozer's agent, is apparently resigning as Boozer's representative. I grew up watching Pelinka play as a member of Michigan's basketball team. He was on the second unit, the one referred to as the "forgotten five" Eric Riley, James Voskuhl, Pelinka, Freddie Hunter and Michael Talley. They had been expected to start and play the year the fab five got there. They formed a fantastic bench and saved the teams bacon at several points in the season. Pelinka hit a bunch of threes that WON a game against Michigan State in East Lansing. I knew he wanted to be a lawyer. He showed up on ESPN's "The Season" a couple of years ago, as he was representing some players on the Clippers, who were the subject of the show. Now he has Boozer and Kobe. Kobe, who may well end up with the Clippers is less interesting right now than Boozer. From the reports that have come out, it seems that Pelinka wanted to honor the deal Boozer had with the Cavs, but Boozer took Utah's offer of more money. This isn't Utah's fault. They may well be a top contender next year given their newly improved frontcourt and bench. I obviously can't blame Pelinka. The Cavs kind of screwed themselves, and Boozer screwed them. I can't say either was wrong or right, but that's what happened.

Stuff

I frankly don't have much to say today, basically because not much has happened in the last 18 hours. The only thing I find sort of interesting is that people are talking about running Mike Ditka for the Republican senate seat that was vacated by Jack Ryan. My only thought is, "Who wants to watch that train wreck of a debate?" You have Ditka, head foota=ball coach and never the most intellectual guy, facing the former head of the Harvard Law Review and State Senator Barack Obama. Does anyone think Ditka would have anything, and I mean anything remotely interesting to say that would be what he wanted to say, not someone telling him? Does he know anything about any issue? This just might be the answer however for anyone who was hoping for more "Superfans" sketches on SNL or who wanted to know what Senator Ditka would sound like.

My family is still coming down tomorrow. My grandpa Shilander suffered a small stroke earlier this week, but seems to be recovering nicely, he should go home in a couple of weeks, after therapy. He will be 80 later this year. We're putting together and sending out my resumes this weekend, so wish us luck, and wish me luck in cleaning my apartment for when they get there.

One long day, for me and Kenny Boy

Today has been really weird, just drawn out and long. For some reason I'm having a real hard time focusing one one particular thing right now, maybe its end of the week stuff. My resume and everythign looks good, me and my family will work on sending stuff out tomorrow, and one of my professor's will look at it tomorrow to see that its ok. Then my family will come down Saturday, we'll get stuff to gether and go out, and then they'll leave sometime early Sunday. It'll be quick, but hopefully we'll get a lot done, grocery shopping, putting out resumes and taking stuff home chief among the priorities. Last night's first class was just a bit off for some reason, hopefully it will get better next week when we get into our real room.

I hope, I think like the rest of America, that Ken Lay goes down and goes down hard. I don't think he believes he's done anything illegal, perhaps just unethical. But I don't know that any jury isn't going to convict. A judge might not, but the grand jury took its time on the indictment, so they should get it right. One potential problem for the White House will be if Lay suddenly feels like talking, about the Energy commission, about Saudi oil money, about giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in money and services to Bush, we'll know soon enough what exactly their reationship was like.

One voting bloc seems to be underestimated by a lot of people, particularly Republicans. That is the voting bloc controlled (potentially) by Howard Stern. There are a lot of young men out there, in their mid to late 20's, and politically disengaged, that will do essentially anything Howard tells them. Since September 11th, Stern has been behind Bush, reflecting the general mood of the country. Since the FCC Crackdown started, however, the tide has turned in Stern's mind. He's been going hard against Bush, and he's been adding affiliates across the country (on Infinity) to make up for the loss of the ones Clear Channel owned, that dumped him. The FCC and Clear Channel are both big Bush supporters, though the FCC just sort of carries out his wishes and can't contribute any money the way CC does. If Stern tells his listeners, especially in places like Florida, Michigan and Ohio to go and vote, and vote for Kerry, they will. They don't know the issues and aren't particularly informed, but they have reason to dislike Bush, Howard said so. That may be enough to pick up some crucial states. Now, if we could just get Single women to vote more, we'd be all set.

One long day, for me and Kenny Boy

Today has been really weird, just drawn out and long. For some reason I'm having a real hard time focusing one one particular thing right now, maybe its end of the week stuff. My resume and everythign looks good, me and my family will work on sending stuff out tomorrow, and one of my professor's will look at it tomorrow to see that its ok. Then my family will come down Saturday, we'll get stuff to gether and go out, and then they'll leave sometime early Sunday. It'll be quick, but hopefully we'll get a lot done, grocery shopping, putting out resumes and taking stuff home chief among the priorities. Last night's first class was just a bit off for some reason, hopefully it will get better next week when we get into our real room.

I hope, I think like the rest of America, that Ken Lay goes down and goes down hard. I don't think he believes he's done anything illegal, perhaps just unethical. But I don't know that any jury isn't going to convict. A judge might not, but the grand jury took its time on the indictment, so they should get it right. One potential problem for the White House will be if Lay suddenly feels like talking, about the Energy commission, about Saudi oil money, about giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in money and services to Bush, we'll know soon enough what exactly their reationship was like.

One voting bloc seems to be underestimated by a lot of people, particularly Republicans. That is the voting bloc controlled (potentially) by Howard Stern. There are a lot of young men out there, in their mid to late 20's, and politically disengaged, that will do essentially anything Howard tells them. Since September 11th, Stern has been behind Bush, reflecting the general mood of the country. Since the FCC Crackdown started, however, the tide has turned in Stern's mind. He's been going hard against Bush, and he's been adding affiliates across the country (on Infinity) to make up for the loss of the ones Clear Channel owned, that dumped him. The FCC and Clear Channel are both big Bush supporters, though the FCC just sort of carries out his wishes and can't contribute any money the way CC does. If Stern tells his listeners, especially in places like Florida, Michigan and Ohio to go and vote, and vote for Kerry, they will. They don't know the issues and aren't particularly informed, but they have reason to dislike Bush, Howard said so. That may be enough to pick up some crucial states. Now, if we could just get Single women to vote more, we'd be all set.