Election news, some random pics, and other malarkey

Nov 1st

Yest was a long day. I took Lu to church to sell candy w/ her Brownie troop (my rare contribution to her Scouting; Lisa's one of the leaders), then went off to work before returning at halftime of the Sunday Night Football game. Meanwhile Lis took the kids trick or treating again (Milwaukee has different times than Bay View) and ran the show at home. Another long one ahead of us today . .

I've finished "Worth Dying For" the latest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. 'twas a time, a few yrs ago, when I thought the series was going to hell, and quickly, but he's turned it around BIG time with the last 3 bks. Very enjoyable. Book geeks - who'd win a three way fight: Reacher, Joe Pike, or Spenser?

Some random phone pics:









Except in cases where the obvious exceptions apply (illness, travel, deployment, handicap) absentee voting is absolute BUNK. Getting off your butt & showing up at the polls is a sign to the world of how much you value YOUR voice being heard. It's also a great way to teach kids the same lesson. If you reduce the act to something akin to filling out a sweepstakes form or voting for A. Idol, all the more shame on you.

Nov 2nd - General Election Day

[re Disney star Demi Lovato dropping out of a tour to receive treatment for mental illness] Save the snark. I wish her well.

The Brewers have hired virtual unknown Ron Roenicke as their new manager. Roenicke was the bench coach of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. There are rumors that he got the job only after $ caused talks with Bobby Valentine to break off, but the club denies that they wanted anyone else. True or not, best of luck to him.



Drudge is calling the WI Senate race for Johnson, but I'm loathe to rely on exit polling with voting still open. We'll have to wait and see.

Family night in progress: pizza and garlic bread, followed by homework and a rental of Toy Story 3. YaYa and LuLu are even getting along, chit chatting, helping each other with chores and homework and standing up for one another. That last bit just isn't right. The world seems somehow . . . off.

Obama: Agenda 'all at risk' if GOP wins today. Let's hope so.

‎{Fair Warning: Gonna be a lot of political posts tonight. If it isn't your thing, feel free to scroll on by.} "Tea Party Scores Multiple Victories, ABC News Projects Rand Paul Win in Ky. Senate Race"

‎*Fair Warning: Gonna be a lot of political posts tonight. If it isn't your thing, feel free to scroll on by.* Dan Coats won Evan Bayh's seat in Indiana, marking the first Senate gain for the GOP today; also, as reported below controversial Rand Paul (R) will win in Kentucky.

CNN.com is now reporting that the House is in GOP hands . . .

Nov 3rd

Ah, happy day, happy day! Here in WI we put Scott Walker in the Governor's chair & knocked Feingold on his keister. Nationally the GOP picks up at least *60* seats and control of the House, the largest gain since 1948. The only downer was the local defeat of two folks I know. November 2nd 2010 = a great bleepin' day.

In non election news, Toy Story 3 was great, if a wee dark for the younger kids. Kudos to Pixar for crafting a fine trilogy. Later Lis and I watched the Swedish film "The Girl Who Played With Fire". Bleh. It was so slow we didn't even watch it clean through. Weird - the bk was better than the over-hyped Dragon Tatoo, but the movie version of that blew this sequel away.

Your likely Speaker of the House, John Boehner of Ohio.

One last political blurb (for the time being). I notice, coming off a trouncing, Dems, including Harry Reid, are big on saying "we must work together". I'm not against the notion, but uh, where was that crap when your Prez was telling Republicans to "sit in the back of the bus" and to "shut up"? How hypocritical to ask for courtesy when you were willing to offer none when YOU had the power.

[failed Gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett states he'll run for re-election as Mayor of Milwaukee] This one doesn't count. It's local. :) Yeah, he's an allright Joe, but I think Barrett has done little more than tread water and raise my property taxes as mayor. I just don't know anyone (better) who is interested in running right now, so he may get a bunch of votes by default.

Nov 4th

I just finished 'Splice' , a horror film about a genetically engineered humanoid. It wasn't terrifying, but it was intelligent & raised some valid concerns about that line of research. It also featured the oddest sex scene I've ever seen in a mainstream film. BTW, I found the female researcher morally repugnant, start to finish. In another life she would have been sewing kids together in a concentration camp.

[a follow up to Lovato] Again, save the snark. She seems like a very nice, talented young woman and my kids like her. According to her parents, she suffers from both eating disorders and a history of cutting. My prayers are with her.

Monday Roundup

It was great to see the Packers open their season with a win, especially against the Bears. It wasn't a very entertaining game, unless you enjoy the pigskin version of a pitcher's duel, but a W's a W. I thought the Packers defense looked great and exhibited tons of controlled, measured aggression. Plus I again had the chance to see Lovie Smith lose multiple challenges, which he seems to do each and every time I have to suffer through a Bears game. That's always fun.

Good to see Aaron Rodgers notch a last minute comeback too, which should shut up the brainwashed Favre lovers for a minute or two.

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Kanye West at the VMA's, interrupting Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech? Assholish. The guy makes great music, but it's about time he shut up and became a reclusive - and QUIET - artist.

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Speaking of inappropriate outbursts, a co-worker of mine asked my opinion on Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" comment to the President. She isn't a conservative; well, that goes without saying as I'm the only one there who doesn't drink the Kool-Aid ;)

In fact this is a transgender co-worker, and as you can imagine we've had a fun time debating politics before.

"I think it was a stupid time to say it, and the wrong place to say it. I think he deserves some form of censure for his outburst, but in the end all he did was call a guy a liar. There are people on the web acting like he raped their Grandma and killed a baby. Get over yourselves. You know Wilson and the guy he beat have both raised over a million dollars since the speech? F that. I don't live in South Carolina, neither do most of the people getting all up in it. Let the people down there decide what they want to do with him. If they don't like him, they'll vote him out."

Here's what suprised me.

"Yeah," she said. "I agree with you. I mean, I so don't agree with the content of what he said, or where he said it, but you kinda have to admire the guy. It took guts to stand up there and say that. At least the Republicans know what they want and aren't afraid to say it. I wish there were more Democrats that had the balls to fight for what they want."

"We AGREE???," I said. Wow. Hell done froze over. :)

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Congrats to Antonio for winning HGTV's Design Star 4. I knew he was going to take the crown , but I'll let you in on a little secret: I think Dan out-designed him in the final challenge.




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Finally, I watched Doctor Who: The Next Doctor last night after the game. Great episode, really well done, and quite touching in parts.You know what? Jackson Lake would have made an entertaining and unique 11th Doctor.

Obama's Speech to the Children

The press is abuzz with the backlash against the President's plan to speak live to schoolchildren across the nation. Sure, I'm aware of Bush 41 made a similar speech in the early '90's (and was met criticism from the Left) but let's be real: I love George Herbert Walker Bush, but a great speaker he was/is not; the very notion of anyone fearing a Svengali performance from him is laughable.

Locally, Green Bay, Elmbrook, and West Bend Districts have decided against showing the speech. Other areas, such as Milwaukee, have handed off the controversy down the chain of command, making it a school by school, and sometimes class by class decision.

I have every confidence, especially in the wake of the furor, that the speech will be full of cheer leading rhetoric and devoid of substantial content, left/right or in-between. My original, very vocal complaint was the list of activities the White House asked accompany the speech. Yeah - uh, CREEPY. Don't quote Kennedy's "Ask Not" blurb at me - Kennedy asked you to serve your country, not the Oval Office.

Like I said on FB, if my kids are going to worship some dingbat with an inflated ego, dammnit, it's gonna be ME :)

If their schools decide to run the speech, I won't pull them out, but I will read the speech first and if necessary, offer my (gentle) opinion. He is (sigh) our President, and so I will not disparage him openly in front of the kids.

I want to point out something though. This has all been blown out of proportion, but I won't lie and say it doesn't tickle me a bit. Putting that aside, let's go back to that line about the Left going after Bush 41's speech and failing to rouse the public's ire.

To quote the Journal-Sentinel.

The difference is, this time, it's resonating.

"It's not about the speech itself," [UW-Madison political science professor] Franklin said. "It's the right's ability to seize on it and the ability to build on a narrative about Obama."

You'll see and read a lot of polls that predict doom for Obama and this Congress. I concur with the assessment for Congress - there should be a lot of Dems fearing for their job on the Hill, although much can change in a year - but I don't have much confidence (yet) in tossing out Obama. The luster has worn off, but the Cult of Personality may resist change, just to avoid admitting they were duped in '08. And much, MUCH can happen in three years to resurrect a campaign.

But here's where Obama IS failing. Bush was hated. Hated, like no other since Nixon. If he had announced a similar speech the left would have gone apeshit, the right would reflexively have argued against them, and Everyday Joe would have shook his head at the fools and gone on with his day.

Obama is not hated by most people. Any yet, the Right goes apeshit, the Left responds, and Everyday Joe seems, more and more often, to side with the right. This was true in derailing the health initiatives, and today it's causing large school districts to tremble.

Remember, Obama won Wisconsin, and took Milwaukee handily. And yet now, on something as simple as a televised speech, the public speaks loudly enough to cause MPS to shun a decision and take it on a case by case basis? Wow.

That, and not any poll number, leads me to question the effectiveness of The White House here in late summer 2009. Every compromise costs him support on the far Left (anyone read the Left's scathing attacks on his escalation in Afghanistan?) Every controversy increases the right's confidence, and the publics trust in what they say. And every overblown, waste of time dogfight chips away at the center that is the be all and end all of any electoral victory.

If, IF, that continues into 2010 and beyond, sayonara.

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Green 'Czar' Van Jones is another clumsy example of the White House's summer. This guy is a 'former' 911 Truther, or else someone dumb enough to be 'duped' by a 911 Truther; someone who called Republicans "Assholes" in a public forum (I blame Rahm's culture of vulgarity for instigating that one), he's done a public impersonation of Bush on Crack , and said only white kids shoot up schools.

Quote: "You've never seen a Columbine done by a black child. Never. They always say, 'We can't believe it happened here. We can't believe it's these suburban white kids.' It's only them. Now, a black kid might shoot another black kid. He's not going to shoot up the whole school."

Fine for Chris Rock to say on stage, but not appropriate for a public official.

Get rid of him. He's a liability, and a PR disaster that draws even more attention away from Obama's goals (oooh, on second thought: let him stay).

The bigger question is: why haven't they dismissed him already?

UPDATE: Someone in the WH must read this blog (here's hoping they don't put me on one of their 'watch' lists.) He's now resigned his post.

On two fools: one confirmed (Gov. Sanford) and one suspected (Brett Favre)

I've just read a note on Facebook that says Favre has signed with the Vikings. No confirmation yet, but if the bum has gone full Judas you can expect a post here tonight.

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In other news, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, ye who went off grid for a week, then resurfaced saying he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, has confessed: he was actually in Argentina visiting his extra marital lover.

What a knob.

Forget all the talk about how he's blown a run for the Presidency in 2012; IMHO he was too flaky to have had a serious shot at the job. No, my concern lies with his family, who spent Father's Day sans Dad as he bonked his girlfriend, and the people of South Carolina who now have to figure out what to do with the moron.

To me, it's all crazy. I mean actual 'get on some meds' crazy. You're the Governor and you decide to vanish from the state, without word to anyone, and leave the continent to get some tail. After a week you return, make up a goofy story that was doomed to fall apart as soon as airline records leaked, and then go all sobby-sob to the press. That isn't normal. It just isn't.

And to those who will jump on this and gloat that the party of 'family values' has failed again: I'm afraid I'll never agree, any more than I'll understand the need to disparage any attempt to promote positive values. There is no harm and plenty of good in aiming for an ideal, be it 'get married before you have a baby', 'don't cheat on your spouse', or 'don't break the bleepin' law'. If you don't hold those ideas dear, fine, I know of no law that says you have to; but don't knock people who do.

Those who stumble are not a discredit to the idea, but simply a testament to the persistent failings of human nature.

Or in the case of Sanford, of a need for some f'ing Xanax and a shrink.

Kate Winslet, Voting, and a Simple yet devious Plan

I took LuLu and voted this afternoon. There was no line to speak of and it all went smoothly.

Mind you, I didn't have to show ID or for that matter even spell out my complete eleven letter last name. I got through 'slap' before they found me on the printout. The election workers themselves then volunteered my first name, I concurred that yup, I am Daniel, and they handed me a ballot. I really don't understand how you need two forms of ID to get a library card in this city but, in theory, any of you could have walked in and voted in my place without knowing my first name or most of my last.

Eh, a fight for another day.

Of the six non-Presidential offices up for grabs on the ballot, five were fully uncontested and the sixth faced token opposition from a gay/lesbian party. Whatever problems this city might have - oh, and there's a bunch - Republicans are completely absolved from blame, since they don't even get a whiff of elected office in Milwaukee. Sad.

I'll confess to waffling on the park tax at the last minute, convinced by a wife who argued that the chance for reviving the parks was worth the risk. I think it was all a bit too Capra-esque, but she's right; I guess the parks are worth the risk.

So while I think I'll regret doing so, I voted 'yes' when faced with the ballot.

Fear not, there was no way in hell I was voting anything but 'no' on the silly sick leave referendum, and that decision held.

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On a COMPLETELY different topic, Vanity Fair has a series of stunning photographs of Kate Winslet, the best actress of this generation and a crush of mine since before Titanic.





Here's the deal. Someday I intend to write a bestselling novel that will be made into a blockbuster movie. At my insistence the New Kids will do the title song, Donnie Wahlberg will have a part, Ben Afleck will star and Kate Winslet will have the female lead. Thus Lisa and I will get to meet our respective crushes personally.

A simple plan, no?