Dear President Elect Obama,   Let me begin by saying that in choosing Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at your inauguration you have not lost my day-to-day political support; however, you have greatly diminished my respect for you. To regain my respect, I urge you to recognize that no shade

Is there a klavern in your town? (In your town)If not, then why not have us down? (Have us down)You'll never recognize us, there's a smile upon our faceWe're changin' all our dirty sheets and a cleanin' up the placeYep, since we got a lawyer and a public relations manWe're your fri

The day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday" because that is the day most stores break into profitability. The start of the Christmas shopping season, Black Friday typically accounts for 10% of all sales during the holiday period. Unfortunately, this year I doubt there will be much cause for celebration among th

Jamison Foser, in his Media Matter column "When did experience become a flaw?" summarizes media complaints about Obama relying heavily on for Clinton staffers and Washington insiders in staffing his cabinet and administration. The appointment of Hillary

Barry Karr the director of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI, formerly the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, renamed to better capture the breadth of the group's mission) reported this week on the help CSI

Probably for the wrong reasons, the Democrats in congress did the right thing on the auto industry bailout today. They kicked the ball back into the laps of the big three's executives, giving them 12 days to come up with plans to show how

When I was an enlisted man in the Army, we used to joke that the difference between the Army and the Boy Scouts was that the Boy Scouts had adult leadership. It looks like the same joke could be applied to the US Government today.   Fortunately, we have finally elected some adult leadership. Unfortun

I suspect that by the end of the week congress will again have achieved gridlock on the question of whether to bail out the big three US automakers—effectively denying their request for assistance. They will of the minority who, for a variety of reasons, are against the bailout will block the will of the majority,

I got the munchies while trying to develop a subject for today's post, but all I could find was some low-sodium, high-fiber crackers that taste like crispy cardboard. They seemed symbolic of how I feel while looking at the news. Blah!

Yesterday the US Supreme Court heard an amusing case pitting the right of free speech against ingrained religious belief. The case springs from a dispute in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Salt La

In a clip that has been shown so often that we should all have it memorized by now, Sarah Palin responds to Greta Van Susteren's question about a 20012 presidential bid, "This is what I always do. I'm like, 'God, if there is an open door for

Iraq is a problem without a solution, and the blame for the coming foreign relations disaster belongs entirely to President Bush. The only way to avoid the coming bloodshed is to never have invaded Iraq in the fist place.   Even John McCain's prescription of remaining in Iraq 100 years would not avoi

Although the concept of marriage is primarily religious and the history of the practice is found in religious tradition, marriage in the United States often, but not always, has two components. It always has a secular component and only sometimes has a religious component.

For the last 21 months, many of us have diligently followed the presidential race from the party primaries through to Barack Obama's inspiring victory. It would be nice if that were enough, if we could all go back to focusing only on individual interests—like ruminating on the philosophy of tiddlywinks or practicin

During the final presidential debate, Bob Schieffer asked both McCain and Obama which of their campaign promises (cut taxes, invest in renewable energy research, institute universal health care, etc.) they would have to delay

As a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research, I spent the months following the 2004 elections reading the pollsters rationalize how the exit polls (that said Kerry should have won) were wrong. I was never convinced. This is just my opinion, but based on the polls last time, I think the Republicans w

Above this, I am going to post a final exhortation to Obama Voters to go to the polls. After that I am going to follow a traditional blog format with periodic observations on election day. Once I finish this post I am going to read a mystery for a bit then go to bed. I have already voted. If you haven't, get off the comp

It is late, there are only19 hours and 12 minutes until the poles close in California, so I will not take much of your time. But I had to write when I discovered that conservative Andrew Sullivan, who writes the Daily Dish for the Atlantic,

I am watching Sarah Palin giving a speech in which everything she ways about Barack Obama and his positions is not true. For example she says Obama's tax plan has changed to the point that he plans to increase taxes on those making over $120,000, and that his plan has "flip-flopped."   From the persp

As I write this there are 25 hours and 59 minutes until the polls close in California tomorrow, and hopefully we will see the end of the McCain and Palin Magical Mystery Tour. Until then, we have little choice but to endure a final round of McCain and Palin misrepresenting Obama's positions. It would be a relief, if

As I write this, only 50 hours and 36 minutes remain until 8 PM, 4 November, when the polls close here in California. Then it will be too late. The die will have been cast. All that will remain is the tallying of the vote and the screaming and gnashing of teeth from one party or the other. Until then, if you haven't vote

I have been good. I have been nice. I have refrained from speculating on what sort of mental disorder could account for the devotion of some middle-income voters to John McCain. But I have had it with Joe Numbnuts Wurzelbacher and his ilk (too bad it's ilk and not elk; doubtless Palin shoots elk).

Yesterday, in a lightly reported story, Fred Bramante stepped down from John McCain's New Hampshire Leadership Committee and endorsed Barack Obama for president. Bramante, former chairman and current membe

I hate to admit it, I was wrong. Senator McCain did not go after Barack Obama for being a celebrity again. I was wrong because I underestimated John McCain's shear, unmitigated gall. After picking Sarah Palin because of her political appeal rather than her preparedness to take over as president should the need arise, it

I could be wrong, it happens about twice a year, but I suspect after Barack Obama's thirty-minute commercial tonight we will hear John McCain again trying to gain some leverage out of calling Obama a celebrity

Without thinking about it (and isn't the lack of thought part of the problem) both John McCain and Sarah Palin admit that they are characterologically unfit to be president-both admit to being mavericks.

In another example of how, in comedian John Hodgman's words, the 2008 presidential election is a "referendum on reality," we find that Senator McCain's Healthcare Program only works in wonderland.

It is worth repeating comedian John Hodgman's observation that the 2008 presidential election is a "referendum on reality" which may provide the sharpest distinction between Barack Obama and John McCain. Obama's campaign is anchored in reality, while McCain's campaign headquarters appears to be in fantasyland.

On the Rachel Maddow show last Monday night (10-20-08), comedian John Hodgman delivered the single most cogent summation of the 2008 presidential campaign yet offered. (Never underestimate the power of good comedians to place their forefinger on the truth) The campaign, according to Hodgman is a "referendum on reality."

My absentee ballot is now safely ensconced in the county elections office, and I feel better. Voting this way is a small, almost insignificant task. I don't have to stand in line for hours as the early voters in Florida do. I salute them for their persistence, and I urge every registered voter around the country to overc

The economic crisis and recently falling gas prices have pushed the need for the US to switch to non-oil based energy lower on the voter's priority lists. This is unfortunate because the best hope for a quick economic turnaround is for the United States to take the lead in developing new energy technologies. &nbs

Intelligence by itself is not enough to make a good president. A certain level of intelligence, however, is a prerequisite, and neither Palin nor McCain have enough to work the cash register at McDonalds.

An old joke about borrowing a jack illustrates the kind of "analysis" McCain, Palin and their supporters use in discussing Barack Obama's Health Care and Tax Plans. In this posting, I will examine how this inaccurate "analysis" it is applied to Barack's Health Care Plan, and return in Part II to examine its use against h

The news that Governor Palin inappropriately charged the Alaska Government for the cost of her children's travel and lodging at numerous events where they had no official function (Ask yourself whether you want your tax dollar

Senator McCain is trying make political capital on Senator Biden's boneheaded statement that if Obama is elected president, "We're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy." (With running m

I hate plumbing! It is hard work, usually performed in cramped, dirty spaces-which reminds me, Sarah Palin brought up Joe the Plumber again while she was lying about Barack Obama's tax plan on a news clip today. She correctly

Today on Meet the Press, General Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president. While this endorsement does not close off all arguments against Barack Obama, it should be sufficient to put a stop to the fringe argumen

They should have used a stuffed moose with a picture of Palin taped over its face. It would have been just as lifelike and talented. Her lack of more than a couple lines probably shows that she is a slow study. I wonder if they have to use behavior modification (like trainers use with chimps) to teacher her to repeat a n

Working on this blog and a new novel, I tend to keep, putting it mildly, irregular hours, and my sleep is often disturbed by horrific dreams of a white-haired gnome, wearing a golden crown, cackling maniacally as a Blackwater swat team forces Keith Olbermann into a dungeon. "I pulled it off! I pulled it off!"

It starts with the Bill Ayers innuendo again. Chris Mathews is trying to ask Representative Michele Bachmann (R Minnesota) if it is OK to try to fan the flames of hate and division in this country through the Republican Robocalls which imply that Barack Obama is currently involved with someone (Bill Ayers) who is current

Back in June when the increase in the price of was the crisis du jour, experts and Democratic politicians tried to tell the American Public that new off shore drilling was not a quick fix. It w

Watching John McCain's appearance on the David Letterman show made my skin crawl. Afterwards I had to scrub in a hot shower and dowse my body in disinfectant. Senator McCain's ambition has turned him from an honorable man and an American hero into something unclean, a moral leper.

According to the comparison chart provided by the Sunday Parade Magazine found in many newspapers across the country (not know for left-wing leanings), plumbers in this group—earning more than or equal to 90%

OK. Barack Obama is up in all of the major election polls, and all of the instant polls show that he won the last debate. But we Obama supporters must not let our guard down. There are still 19 days until the election, and we cannot allow complacency to set in! We still have to get out the vote for Obama. The dan

As we here at the café are preparing (by popular demand) our chilidog special again for the debate night, we hear one question repeated over and over. Will John McCain or Bob Schieffer bring up Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and or Tony Rezko? And how will Barack answer?

For the final push! From now until November 3, for every purchase of "God Is a Rubber Duck" through my fully secure createspace store I will donate $2.52 (over one-half of my royalties) to Obama (or

Just as John McCain's tax proposals gives him a $300,000 tax cut (as opposed to a tax increase under Obama's plan), this proposal will undoubtedly save John McCain money. The best you can think of him is that he just doesn't see the needs of the 98% of Americans who have less than he does. The worst you can think, is tha

My queasy feeling was not relieved by reading Senator Charles Schumer's "How to Rescue Banks" in the Wall Street Journal. Schumer affirms that the injection of capital is a good idea (it was like getting a second opinion on a medical

When Rachel tried to get Frum to distinguish between her sort of speech and tone and political proclamations that suggest Obama is a dangerous unknown, or say "Barack Obama is someone who pals around with terrorists." Frum again took the opportunity to chastise Rachel for failing to adequately manage her "small plate of

Will somebody turn on Tina Turner's, "We don't Need Another Hero," for background music? If we learned anything from the Economic Crisis, it should be that the new problems this country will face demand leader with a steady hand, someone like Barack Obama, who is a thinker first.