A true legend.

Well the news just came down that the great Paul Newman has passed away. Stage, live television and film, Newman could do it all. No one played the likable rogue better (not so fast Kevin Costner). Find me an actor today that has his body of work, drives race cars, opens summer camps for ailing children and owns a hugely succesful charitable business. You throw down, "Hud", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Cool Hand Luke", "The Hustler", "The Verdict" and of course, "Slap Shot", then you contributed. He will be missed.

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wow

I didn't get a chance to watch the Katie Couric / Sarah Palin interview when it originally aired, but because of the wonders of this "internet" thingy I have been able to watch several of the exchanges. Like this one:

It would appear that everyone's favorite beauty queen/

sports reporter/faith healer/vice-presidential candidate had a tough time of it.

So you wanna vote for a guy who voted for her? 

Good luck with that.

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Bush spoke to the nation last night. Let me give you the breakdown, although by now we should all know the tune.

"If we don't BLANK (fill in hastily thrown together, questionable plan of action) now, then we will most certainly BLANK (insert any fearful image here, mushroom cloud, another 9/11, economic collapse)". 

But like the American auto makers will tell you, you can only sell a crappy product for so long before the public just stops buying.

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News Flash...

Stop the presses!

That's one more off of my list of unanswered questions...Whew! Now I can get on to the other 700 billion more important issues we have to deal with.

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Do what now?

Whew...

I've written a few large checks in my life, back taxes, back child support, back massage, but I can only imagine what signing a 700 billion dollar bailout check would feel like. What do you put in the "Memo" line? Do you sign with red ink? So many questions.

Apparently the deal isn't going done as smooth as Bush and Paulson had hoped. One reason could be a small section of the agreement..32 words as a matter of fact.

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Really? We give you 700 billion dollars and do what, wave goodbye? Hope for the best?  All of this happens on your watch, all the while you're telling us things are fine, and then once the walls start to crumble you not only want a large check but also absolute immunity? Really?

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le view

You know for a show that quite honestly I cannot stand, "The View" finally did something today that I have to give them props for. John McCain dropped by today for what I can only assume he thought would be the usual fluff fest and a chance to score some easy women votes.

The girls had other ideas. (watch videos)

I love to watch noted right wing nut, Elisabeth Hasselbeck as she grinds her back molars into chalk while her candidate (as well as his wife) are actually being called out right in front of her. Earlier this month, Hasselbeck had hosted a luncheon for Cindy McCain and I'm sure they both thought today's show was going to be more of a cake walk.

Good for you ladies. Respect.

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today

You were in charge when it happened.

You avoided responsibility

You promised to capture the man responsible.

You failed.

You now claim that if the other party wins, they would allow it to happen again, only this time, they would be responsible.

You should be ashamed.

You won't be.

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Drill Baby Drill!

Well now. 

It appears that those crazy cats over at the Interior Department Agency know how to conduct themselves some business. The agency that collects oil and gas royalties has been caught in a wide-ranging ethics scandal, one that includes " allegations of financial self-dealing, accepting gifts from energy companies, cocaine use and sexual misconduct."

Do those guys know how to party or what? The investigation concludes that several of the officials (Government Officials by the way, so the "official" Officials): "frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives”. 

Now that's what I call horizontal drilling!

And that is what they found out! Imagine the stuff still tucked away..deep in the Alaska wilderness, just like so many of our future energy solutions.

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"A famous philosopher once said..."

...is a horrible way to start a speech. I hate it. If the philosopher is so famous, then name him. I hear it time and time again and you know the speaker is using this as a way to force the theme of the speech down your throat. What theme you ask? Well just wait for the second sentence, because it is coming. For example:

"A famous philosopher once said, 'you may fool all of the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you can never fool all of the people all of the time'...(pause)...well my friends, Bill Jones never tried to fool anyone...

please stop this. I mean it.

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brilliant...

If you haven't been watching "The Daily Show" this week, you have really been missing out. The gang is as sharp as ever.




This is why they do what they do and I sell hot dogs all day in the sweltering sun. All right, I don't sell hot dogs all day in the sweltering sun...but I can dream can't I?

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Conventional wisdom....

As I listen to the Republican National Convention this week, I am left with a few questions.

- If you are the true party of reform and change, my only question is reform what? Change what? Don't you have to admit that something is wrong first? And if nothing is wrong, then why do we need a pair of reformers to try and change something that isn't broken in the first place?

- If this convention is about McCain's military record and the fact that he served his country, then shouldn't that have mattered in '04 when John Kerry was the candidate with the military record? Shouldn't you have been offended when the Bush campaign "Swift Boated" him?

- If McCain is a true "maverick", then why didn't he push for his VP choice, Joe Liberman? Or his other choices, Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney etc.. Instead, he bowed to pressure from the religious right and picked a more hard right candidate.

- Is McCain a POW? I had no idea. They should really talk about that.

- Where is anyone from the current administration? Anyone? How the mighty have fallen.

- If Palin has made more "Executive" decisions than both Obama and Biden, then how many said decisions has McCain made? By that same logic, Palin is the better choice for president.

- Are we still using the same old "Washington Fat Cats/Angry left/liberal left/liberal elite/hollywood elite" line of rhetoric? I know the right needs a Bogey man, but can you not find a new one?

- make no mistake, I like John McCain. I may have voted for him in 2000, when the republican party tried everything they could do to bury him. Then, somewhere along the way, McCain seemed to change. Less "Straight Talk" and more party line.

- I have printed up a few thousand "Drill Baby Drill" T-shirts. Let me know what size. Please hurry.

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