Two Americas? Turned out to be TWO FACES from John Edwards

John Edwards official campaign photo

Edwards was my guy. I was going to vote for him until he dropped out.

Edwards talked a lot about integrity and honesty in his campaign.   Oh sure, all politicians do, but he made it central to his stump. It does smack of hypocrisy in hindsight. And as it was a theme in his campaign, it is therefore valid news.

Having said all that, I do believe that it is a matter between he and his wife Elizabeth.

Here’s my problem - why didn’t they say that to America?

He told her about the affair in 2006 and she says she forgave him. They announced in March 2007 that her cancer came back but they would continue the campaign. They chose not to say anything about the affair to anyone, even there campaign staff (who were all over the tv in shock last night).

To me that means they both lied by omission.

Had they held a press conference to say “Here’s what happened, here’s how we’re dealing with it as a family and please grant us some privacy on this matter.” then I could be more sympathetic. People are human and Edwards is, as Steve Martin so eloquently put it, a big dumb male. But when they both chose to lie about it is when the real trouble began, for me. Nixon didn’t fall because of the Watergate break-in, he fell because he tried to cover it up. Same thing here. It’s not so much the affair as it is that they covered it up. Both of them. So when I see people already saying “Look what he did to her”, keep in mind Elizabeth knew, forgave and then lied to cover it up. They’re both in this together and while not equal in “sin”, for lack of a better word, they are equally guilty of the lie.

I’m very saddened by this. They’re still trying to cover it up as much as possible, with the Friday night news dump, hoping to soften the blow.  Now John Edwards is even angry with ABC News for not sitting on the story until it aired on Nightline at 11:30 - at night- on a Friday- during the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.  Guess he thought it would slip past everyone that way.

As I said at the top, he was my guy. Issues important to me were the issues he spoke most about. Now he’s toxic. He won’t be found within two time zones of the Democratic Convention. No VEEP nod (I didn’t think he’d get that anyway), No Attorney General or other Cabinet post (I thought he’d get AG). Now his issues like poverty or college affordability will not be addressed as part of party platform. What now for Elizabeth’s efforts to raise awareness for cancer research and health care reform.? Important issues that should be addressed could now be scoffed at and dismissed as “something trivial the lying Edwards’ talked about”

Imagine no Obama or Clinton in this election. Edwards would be the nominee right now as this scandal is exploding. Because of this, McCain would win the election in such a walk he could appoint the Devil himself as Vice President and nobody would give a rat’s ass.

How did they think they could cover this up in the 24 hour newsworld? To think, with cable, radio, internet & blogs it was the GodDamn National Enquirer’s hounding that forced the story.

It seems that both Americas watch the news, especially the tabloid variety.

Here endeth my bombast.
Just my opinion. Your results may vary.

A Bull Can Dream…

I’m the kind of guy who always roots for the underdog. I’ll root for whoever has the longest odds against them. Whoever has the longest losing streak. The team or athlete nobody gives a chance. It is in that spirit that each year at this time, I root for the home team in Pamplona, Spain.

That’s right. I root for the bulls.

I figure if there’s ever a group of six lovable losers it these poor animals. No matter the outcome each day of the running of the bulls, the bulls are doomed to death. In Spain, it’s all part of the “Fun” apparently. Therefore, as the team who can never truly win, I am compelled to stand on there side.

Now this ritual massacre held annually for the festival of San Fermin has occurred since at least the 13 century. Not once have the bulls been declared the winner. They are the WASHINGTON GENERALS to the human participants HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS, if you will. A win is out of the question, as the bulls are destroyed in the end. Best I, as a BULLS fan, can hope for is a close score.

That’s why I’m happy to report my team had a great opening day! According to Associated Press, 70 people were injured on day one. Thirteen people were taken to the hospital, one of them seriously injured. One man suffered a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen and broken ribs! Two more people were concussed while 10 others were treated mainly for cuts and bruises.

Here, watch some highlights of today’s action!

(can’t figure out how to embed this video. I’m new to this blog stuff!)

That’s a great start. I’m happy that this scrappy young squad of underdogs is making a contest of this! Of course, it is an 8-day event, so they really should pace themselves. Humans can regroup and alter their game plan quickly, while my BULLS seem to stick to the tried and true battle plan of running scared down a narrow alleyway.

Well, here’s looking forward to round 2. Remember, if we can’t stop it, at least maybe we can get a fair fight called by the refs…GO BULLS!!!

p.s. - Sorry I’ve been neglecting my postings.  I’m getting back in to the swing of now. (Hopefully!)

Morris Intsructs McCain with False Attacks on Obama

Would America elect a President who is a secret Muslim sleeper agent sent to destroy democracy by appointing Rev. Wright and William Ayers to office? Dick Morris thinks so. So much so he’s literally trying to rally paranoid white conservative voters to the polls with this type of garbage. So much so he’s written exactly this. What’s worse, it’s been published by The Washington Post.

For those who aren’t familiar with him, Dick Morris is a Republican political strategist who also works for noted rightwing media, such as Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post and FOX News. He was once a campaign adviser to President Clinton, but has since gone on to publicly rail against both Clintons at the drop of a hat for anyone willing to give him a microphone or a byline.

Now it seems he’s set his sights on Senator Barack Obama.

On this Sunday, May 18, 2008, the Washington Post published an opinion piece by Dick Morris entitled “Obama Has the Upper Hand. But McCain Can Still Take Him.” Now Mr. Morris is entitled to his opinions. After all it is an OP-ED piece. Besides, if I didn’t value hearing other opinions, I’d have no business writing these opinions of mine. Time to share some of my opinions of Mr. Morris’ article.

Read more of this article on my AC page

Hardball Hilarious

Normally I’m not much of a Chris Matthews fan, but this is worth watching.

Matthews calls out Kevin James

(not this one, this one)

for talking out of his ass…

Enjoy!

Drinking Around The World…(not just EPCOT)

The good people over at Forbes magazine have complied a list of the World’s 15 Heaviest-Drinking Countries. Who better than a large group of finance/investment Wall Street types to ask about tying one on? Who, you ask? How about the folks over at the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development? They are the ones responsible for tracking and compiling the data on per capita alcohol consumption around the world.

Nice gig. I wouldn’t mind doing some fieldwork on that assignment. Just imagine, touring the pubs, bar & taverns of the world on someone else expense account for “research”? Where was this choice when I was searching for a college major? I mean I already had acquired many hours in the field at a local TGI Fridays across from campus. Maybe I should have talked to the Dean about an externship…

Read more of this article on my AC page

The next big non-presidential political story.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Chances are if you live outside the Tri-State Area, you haven’t heard of Vito Fossella. He’s a Republican Congressman who represents New York’s 13th (just so happens to include my brother’s area of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn). Locally, he’s had some episodes involving misuse of campaign funds, questionable payments from consulting firms and even breaking congressional campaign rules when he sent a mailer with a picture of himself with The Muppets. For Shame.

Now he’s getting some attention outside of Staten Island and Brooklyn for his DUI in Virginia. See, he ran a red light in Alexandria. When the cops stopped him, he blew a .17, twice the limit in VA or almost everywhere else. Once that could have been big enough trouble for an elected official right there. These days it probably would have blown over though, what with New York’s Governors Spitzer and Paterson having raised the bar for scandal so high recently. So how could he make it up to the Olympic level of scandal competition?

Fossella was bailed out by Laura Fay. Who is she, you may ask? Not someone from his staff or campaign. No, she is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel whom had met Fossella while she was the Air Force’s House liaison. Oh yeah, she’s also the woman he’s been seeing on the side for years and has fathered her 3 year old daughter. Apparently, he had told Ms. Fay he was leaving his wife of 18 years, Mary, and their 3 children. Also apparent, he never told that to Mary.

So let’s review:

• Drunk driving arrest.
• Adultery
• Fathered an illegitimate child
• Lied to his family
• Taxpayer dollars may have funded some of the encounters of the affair
• Even lied to his lover about being separated from his wife.
• May have to resign by Monday.

Alas, the party of “family values” has shown it’s true colors again. The Republicans are actually the party of “Do as we say and not as we do”, projecting it’s own troubles and vices on to we Americans that disagree with their “every man for himself” ideology. I feel sorry for Rep. Fossella’s wife and children, but feel nothing but glee at exposing him as nothing more than conservative hypocrisies in action.

For the record, these are not my family values.

So Sen McCain, presumptive head of your party, if you could stop calling me “my friend” I’d appreciate it.
We all know how big guilt by association is these days…

Every picture tells a story. Don’t it?

You may have noticed I’ve been working on a personalized header photograph. Hope you like it. I’m not thrilled with the quality, but it’ll do for now. I may tweek it here and there. Stay tuned. Maybe I should offer a prize to the first person to notice a change…

I’m trying to properly represent the places that have greatly impacted my life:

St. Louis, Missouri

Jupiter, Florida

and Central New Jersey.

If we move, I’ll have to add more.

(articles of substance will arrive someday soon. I promise.)

So, yeah. I have a blog…

I signed up for my own blog 8 months ago.  They’ve been a pretty full and hectic 8 months, what with becoming a father and all.  You can see how I’d never have time to sit and write.  Well now I think I’ve reached a point where I can.

For you see, I have learned how to type with both hands while also holding my 7 month old daughter, Corinne.

So now I’ll start to use this bloggy thingy more often.  I’ll write about anything that interests me; politics, music, sports, comedy, radio, whatever gets my attention that day.  So be ready for an eclectic group of topics.

I’ll also soon fill out the “about” section with information on me, my wife, Stacy, our baby girl Cori and our menagerie of cats & a dog.  Keep an eye for new links and pictures as well.

I can only hope the zero people reading this will enjoy my new hobby.

So it begins!

Orthodoxpoulos?

I saw George Stephanopoulos sign off from THIS WEEK this week by wishing his fellow Orthodox Christians a “Happy Easter”.

Random thought here;

How orthodox can you be if you are working on Easter??

Nothing personal, George.  Just wondering.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!