History

After the Obama election victory, it is required that I write about it.

I supported him so I was happy to see him win. It was also amazing to see the emotional connection so many people had made to him. But most of all it was moving to see the reaction of a wide variety of Civil Rights activists that paved the way for this to happen. Many of whom thought they would never live to see this day.

Now that Obama is preparing for the Oval Office and all the responsibilities that come with it, it is my hope that he will have a bi-partisan cabinet and that he will make intelligent decisions with much consultation from his Cabinet and Vice-President.

I saw CNN's coverage this evening while I was at the gym. The international reaction says a lot. To see people cheering in Singapore and Australia, Kenya and France, the United Kingdom and the United States it shows the significance our decisions are to the world. Obama has the potential to be a truly unifying figure on the global stage. And finally, the words of Nelson Mandela's letter to Obama were truly moving. You should look them up.

Here is to hoping for recovery and growth in the next 4 years.

I think I can do it

So I have been really bad about keeping this blog up. I admit it, it is my own fault. But I have been doing one regularly (once a week) at work for a while now and I think I can keep this one up.

So I will also try to post once a week here, maybe I will do them one after another so I don't forget.

But for now I am going to post one tonight.

It has been a roller-coaster for me lately. I live 1500 miles from my family. This is something new-ish for me. I have been doing it for just over a year now. For the previous years I have been within a 3 hours. I have times where I find myself making 2 minute phone calls home just to hear my parents' voices and then I have moments where I am just living it up out here. So it is quite interesting.

As I type we are nearing the holiday season and it does become a little more difficult for me. I have always enjoyed spending the holidays with my family and this may be the first year I don't spend it with them. I know I cannot afford to fly home for Christmas and I really do want to be out here for Christmas (not just for the skiing). So it is hard. Fortunately I have friends that I can be around and I have several families that have "adopted" me to make sure that I am not lonely when holidays such as Thanksgiving and Easter roll around. So I am looking forward to it, but I admit that it has been tough lately as I haven't really spent much time with my dad in over a year. We both have crazy schedules so it makes it tough to coordinate seeing each other. I am just hoping that the economy will rebound and that I will be able to actually have some money and visit him or pay for him to visit me.

That is enough for now. I will try to think of some heady things for the next blog. Until then...

A Note to Bristol Palin

Dear Bristol,

I just read on Reuters New Wire that you are pregnant. This information comes out after a blog made the claim that your brother Trig is actually your son. While I don't want a 17 year-old to be stuck in the media frenzy that is her mother's race for high office, I do feel the need to give you one piece of advice.

I am sure that "your choice to keep the baby and marry the father" was 100% yours and not at all influenced by your mother's beliefs against abortion and single-motherhood. But I am here to be a voice of reason. I am not going to tell you to abort your child. I am pro-choice, but that doesn't mean that I believe all pregnancies should be aborted. I believe you should have been better educated about sex and had birth control readily available. For some reason, people like your mother believe that if they tell youth sex is bad, they won't have it. They are wrong. And now you are not able to have safer sex because people like your mom are not taking those steps. They are all or nothing. The "all" being abstinence.

Here is where I am bothered. If it is your choice to marry the father of your unborn child, then I applaud it. If you are doing it because you two honestly and truly love each other. Your mother and her conservative friends love to propose Defense of Marriage Acts at all levels of government. But their defense of marriage does not include divorce. And last I checked, divorce ruins more marriages than same-sex marriages do. Let me clarify, I am not promoting banning divorce. I am saying if we are going to defend marriage, then we have to fight divorce.

You are young and I too was once your age. I would be on my 3rd or 4th marriage now if I married everyone I thought I loved enough to marry when I was younger. But it did not work out and I did not marry any of them. In hindsight, I probably would have been divorced. I have a feeling you received pressure from your mother to marry the father of your unborn child. Do not marry him for the sake of not raising the child in a single parent home. You will regret it and the child will grow to have distaste for one or both of you and will also grow up with a skewed view of the world. Marriage is something serious, so is having a child, especially in your teens.

So I say to you, Bristol Palin, if you don't want to raise this child and you don't love the father enough to be with him 40 years down the road. Give birth and give the child up for adoption. I know there are thousands of people who are unable to have children that would gladly adopt your bundle of joy. There is no shame in giving birth, giving the child up and not getting married and then going to college or work or the military and leading a normal life. Don't drastically change your life because of your mom's political desires.

Sincerely,
me

Sad Day for Politics

In a world of extremes, it is always nice to have a voice of reason. An impartial voice. I love Keith Olbermann, but I understand that he has a bit of a liberal bias. But to counter all the Keith Olbermanns there are the Rush Limbaughs, Bill O'Reilly, and so on.

Today, one of those voices tragically passed away. Tim Russert, moderator of Meet The Press as well as a regular contributor to NBC/MSNBC's political coverage, has passed away. Russert was an impartial voice. He didn't sound the death knoll on Hillary Clinton until it was obvious she would never make the nomination, he has not spoken poorly of any of the candidates, he is a voice of observation in a medium where the voices tend to be more of opinion than reality.

It is a shame that such a great contributor the the political landscape of the United States has left us. I always listened to what he had to say and I enjoyed whenever he was on a program speaking on a political matter. I was looking forward to hearing him during the coverage of the 2008 Presidential Campaigns. But alas, his voice is gone.

I hope many young journalists look to the example that Russert has set and follow in his footsteps. He, like Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather were among the best of the best in my life time.

I send my condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and fans. May you rest in peace Tim and may your legacy live on. Godspeed!

Obama's Running Mate

Even though Sen. Clinton will not admit she is defeated short of doing some underhanded thing to win, I am willing to admit she is out and for the 2 "Major" parties it will be Obama v. McCain.

I have pretty much accepted that McCain will select Huckabee as his running mate as that will cover the religious right.

Obama has options. People keep mentioning a Obama-Clinton tag team. I say no. His message has been change and she is not change. So it is not helpful to pick her. Tim Russert mentioned that Obama might have to make a concession and choose a Clinton Supporter as his running mate. That could be true, but I am not worrying about that. Here are 4 people I think he should consider choosing (in no particular order):

1. Dianne Feinstein; Senator; California. She is an influential member of the senate, she is a woman (for those that are gung-ho about getting a woman into office), and she has a pretty good track record. I think she will get the people that Obama couldn't get when competing against Clinton.

2. Russ Feingold; Senator; Wisconsin. He is definitely a change candidate. The lone vote against the Patriot Act (yep, 99-1 and he was the 1) and he voted against the war. He was originally going to run for the Office of the President but decided not to as he went through a divorce. He does what the people want and he is loved in Wisconsin. This would help Obama win Wisconsin, the closest of all states in 2004.

3. Barbara Boxer; Senator; California. Much the same reasons as Feinstein and she is a Clinton backer. I think she could appeal to the Politicos while allowing Obama to still focus on change.

4. Dave Obey (pronounced Obee); Representative; Wisconsin. I know I have picked only California and Wisconsin as possible places to find running mates. But Obey is a tough guy who doesn't take crap from anyone. He is the #5 ranking member of the HoR. Which is still higher than the #1 Republican (#6 overall). Again, he could influence the swing states (like Wisconsin) and he appeals to the working class really well.

Those are my thoughts.

Idol

I have given up on American Idol. Horrendous guests and the quality has gone down and now it is just a teeny bopper popularity contest. Not worth writing or predicting.

I will now move onto bigger fish.

AI Speed Pick

Ok, I have been gone the last 2 weeks and I felt that Chikeze and Ramiele would be eliminated.

For tonight, your Bottom 3 will probably be:
Kristy Lee (aka Bulletproof)
David Cook
Brooke

I hope that Kristy Lee goes home, but it could be David or Brooke. I wouldn't mind if David went home. Next week will resume the better AI coverage.

AI Top 11, er, ok 8 and top 3

Last night on American Idol we saw how incredibly boring the commercial music scene can change some of the best songs ever written. It can also show how the Beatles are losing ground with the younger audience.

I apologize for waiting so long to write this. My back has been killing me and I waited until the last minute to post. So here are my thoughts on the show last night:

Best Song Choice: Carly
Runner-Up: Michael and David A. David's songs went well with his voice so it was a good choice. Michael picked a great song, but it had to be hacked to pieces because we decide on who to give a multi-million dollar recording contract based on 1:30 minute songs.

Best Performance of the Night: Carly
Runner-Up: David A.

Best Arrangement: Kristy Lee's version, but it would sound better if Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, or another predominant female country singer were singing it.
Runner-Up: Carly

Other Thoughts:
Ramiele was boring to me again. When she was singing I simply wrote "college karaoke". It sounds like Karaoke night at the college bar. Good, but nothing worth filling a venue for.

Amanda shall henceforth be known as Shedence Clearwater Revival. She sounds like a female version of Creedence (and in my book, that isn't a good thing). She could sing all her songs from this season back-to-back and I wouldn't know the difference between Back In The U.S.S.R and Muskrat Love.

I wasn't impressed with Kristy Lee. Again. I think Buck Hollywood could sing it better than she did. Maybe if you pressure him enough he will. Go here to see him. What the Buck?!

Finally, my most disturbing part of the night. With 11 choices from the Beatles songbook, having already eliminated 12 from the week before and having eliminated Imagine earlier as well (I don't know the logistics of who owns rights to what, so I lump it in there) people are left with slimmer pickings, but still some excellent songs. Carly and Michael picked GREAT songs, Brooke and the Davids picked good songs as well. But what bothered me is that one of the Top 5 Beatles songs of all-time was NOT sung! David A., Jason, and Michael screwed the pooch by not singing While My Guitar Gently Weeps. George Harrison wrote a great song with emotion and melody and so many things you could do with it. Plus lots of great artists have covered it, giving you some pre-written arrangement options to work with. But EVERYONE passed. Sad. At least nobody sang Octopus's Garden. Sorry Ringo.

So who is going home you might ask?

My final 3:
Shedence - While I hope she goes home, so I don't have to listen to the same version of different songs, she probably won't go. Neil Young might have to write a song called Southern Woman.
Kristy Lee - She is going home. Bottom 2 every week, eventually your luck runs out.
Ramiele - She will most likely be safe, but she is turning out to be very bland in her singing.

Wild Card: Chikeze. I think the second half of his song saved him. The first half and harmonica solo were on par with a root canal.