Rock Star

As I promised in this post you can now view a few of the Halloween photos here.
Thanks go out to Number 1 Allan's Jacket fan Joyce for snapping these photos.
Just in case you're wondering, it takes years to develop that cool, aloof Rock Star disdain that I'm sporting. ;)

Driving

So, my friend Lauren took me out for my first driving session. It really wasn't a lesson so much, since I had a pretty good handle on the basics, as it was just trying to get comfortable behind the wheel. Which I started to, but it's clearly going to take a lot of repetition to make it natural, but I think I probably started off a lot better than most beginner's, I think. Everybody knows that first time drivers tend to be a little (or a lot) jerky. And there was a bit of that from me at the start, but in about 10 minutes I thought I had pretty good control of the gas and the brake, once i figured out the sensitivity of the pedals. I wasn't entirely comfortable with the car the entire time, but I imagine that'll come pretty soon.
Lauren's car is a Saturn and she didn't opt for all the amenitites so it was a pretty standard car, but it handled very nicely. After 40 minutes I think I had a decent grasp of braking, acceleration, and turning, left and right. We practiced in the Cheltenham High School parking lot, so there were few cars, and I did have an encounter with two, which mainly consisted of me stopping and letting them by.
Really, the big thing about the experience was my impatience in learning, and a few hours later, the desire to do it again. Which is good, it means that driving will not be a chore for me, and hopefully, it means that it'll get the hang of it sooner rather than later.
While it's clear that I still have a long way to go, with lots of practice, I think I should be ready to take my test in January, though that may prove to be overly optimistic depending on circumstances. If I could swing doing a session every other day or something, that'd be ideal. Unfortunately Lauren's not going to be around for the next couple of weeks, because of business, so I'll have to figure out something else.
I looked into lessons, but my schedule and the expense may not be beneficial, but we'll see. Anyway, hopefully, I'll have another session soon, because I want to master this as quickly as possible, because sitting at the edge of the horizon, is what everyone has been telling me for years: freedom and independence. And as the SEPTA disaster looms ever closer, it now has become a tantalizing, siren's call.

Not My Father's Son

So, coming home Wednesday night, my Dad and I were talking about the news and how the nightly national news is a dinosaur and that all the cool kids get their news online, when my dad was talking about columnists he liked and disliked. One of the names he mentioned of columnists that he liked would have caused a spit take from me, had I been drinking anything at that particular moment.
My family has always been of a liberal bent, and it only makes sense that my political philosophy started from there. But, I guess it illustrates how far right I've drifted over the years when my Dad holds up Ted Rall as a paragon of truth and patriotic dissent.
Hardly.
Ted Rall is a fifth columnist who cloaks his Anti-Americanism in the guise of hackneyed political cartoons. Don't believe me? Check out Andrew Sullivan's post last year on Rall's column inciting Iraqi insurgents and terrorists. Or his posts about Rall's Pat Tillman cartoon this past May. (You'll want to start at the bottom with Monday , May 3rd and work your way up to Thursday.)
It seems to me that everyone is quick to defend as dissent any criticism of the government, regardless of whether it is sound or not. Any critique of the government that starts from the premise that the US is a totalitarian and fascist empire is clearly delusional and empirically false. It's the kind of thing that no matter how eloquently put, is tantamount to saying that space aliens are controlling everybody through radio waves. I just can't take it, and by extension Ted Rall, seriously, and really neither should anyone else.
So, you can see why I thought my Dad thinking that Ted Rall is the only one speaking the truth about Afghanistan among other things shocked me a bit. But, then again, I suppose its always a shock when people you respect and admire turn out to be human like the rest of us.
On the bright side, he recognizes that Ann Coulter is a arch-conservative wacko, but now I need to get him to recognize that Ted Rall = Ann Coulter. Ah, parents. Though, it really could have been worse, he could have said Noam Chomsky instead.

Young, Dumb And Full of . . . .

Wednesday night the band played the Top 5 Bar and Grill on Haverford and City Line Avenue and we had the largest crowd there in the 3 times we've played that location. But, honestly that place with the tables cleared out could have easily fit twice as many people without being too crowded. What was surprising was the amount of young people in attendance, fresh faced young boys and girls whose only pursuits that night were pure bacchanalian pleasure, and whose clothes were more appropos to such Dionysian locales like Olde City or Delaware Avenue than Bala Cynwyd.
Still, far be it for me to complain about the plethora of hot young ass parading before me, I just found it odd that they enjoyed us as much as the older crowd does. Maybe, we'll be all right in the big clubs after all. Though, it became crystal clear that Shawn was on the right track about set list.
Monday, I should have some photos of the Halloween show and the one after to post, so look forward to that.

*****Update***** I was going to make the line about Shawn and the set list clearer, as one of my nameless readers expressed confusion about my point, but I don't think I could make it more clear than saying he's on the right track and we should have more newer songs in the set. So there, pay closer attention. ;)

SEPTA Sucks

One of the cruel, hard facts of living in the Greater Philadelphia Area is that we pay an arm and leg for the worst public transit system in the entire country. SEPTA has a massive fleet of buses, an anemic subway/trolley system and decent railroads. But, SEPTA has a very long history of mismanagement and fiscal problems. The latest crisis threatens to derail weekend service across the board and cut service after 8pm on weekdays.
As a longtime SEPTA customer, I can't say that I'm entirely sympathetic, why, because I'm a longtime SEPTA customer. Only those who have ridden SEPTA will truly understand what a true suck fest it is, customer service is greatly lacking across the board, that I can count on one hand the number of friendly conductors or bus drivers, among other things. Yes, I will be directly affected and may have to alter my lifestyle, (read get my license sooner rather than later), but, I'm feeling inclined to let SEPTA die and hope it gets replaced by something better.
While SEPTA is getting the short shrift from the dedicated funding pie from the state, I highly doubt that increasing state money will lead to a better SEPTA. But, what do I know, I just use the system.

Should We Be Worried?

I noticed this story on Drudge today and I'm pretty sure he's been posting similar stories this year.
Now I'm not a biblical scholar -- but I play one on TV-- but aren't plague of locusts one of the Seven Signs or something?
I'm just saying.

The Hockey Gods Are Angry

Annoyed that the NHL and NHLPA aren't even trying to resolve their dispute, the Hockey Gods have apparently found other outlets to express their displeasure. A week ago Sunday there was this, and then Friday night, there was this in Detroit, and yesterday the madness spread to South Carolina where we got this. Clearly, the message is "Get back to playing hockey, dumbasses, where fighting belongs." ;)
Seriously though, this is just crazy. I know tempers flare in competitive sports at any level, it would often get heated when I played street hockey with just my friends, that's part of the game, but it never leaves the field, and should never leave the field. I don't understand how a professional basketball player could even think of attacking fans, whether it's his own or the opposing teams. Fans are the reason those guys get obscenely huge contracts to play half-assed ball.
Fortunately, the NBA took a step in the right direction with their suspensions of the players involved, though I think guys like Ron Artest should get a Marty McSorley punishment and be banned from the sport permanently. And I hope the fans that were hurt sue him, and separate him from his assets, because really, that's the only way to talk to guys sometimes.
I'm, at least, grateful that it wasn't Philadelphia fans that were involved in any way with these incidents. That's one reputation for Philadelphia, I'd gladly give to Detroit. Though, everyone should be grateful nobody got hurt, can you imagine if something like this happened in Detroit or South Carolina.

Hanging Tough

It's been a tough week for Arlen Specter, but I'm glad to see that pressure from Social Conservatives succeeded in only giving Arlen a few sleepless nights. Looks he'll be the next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I've noticed, as have others, that Santorum has been quiet about the whole matter. Two more years, Rick, two more years.

Power Corrupts

Speaking of Tom DeLay, the Republicans voted in a GOP caucus this week to tweak their rules to protect the Majority leader in the case that he's indicted in Texas. Several of Delay's cronies in Texas have already been indicted, and the prosecuting DA may indeed have an axe to grind, but I doubt it, but even if it's found that Tom Delay is not criminally sleazy, it still looks like the Republicans are more interested in protecting their own, than upholding a higher standard. As always, Andrew Sullivan is keeping an eye on things, as are others in the blogosphere and in the MSM.
I really do hope that Tom Delay gets indicted and the GOP learns that having a majority doesn't mean they have carte blanche.

The Agony of Bad Decisions

Of course if it's game day in Philadelphia, it's time for a new T.O. controversy. This week: Monday Night Football meets Desperate Housewives, a suggestively naked Nicole Sheridan and a willing Terrell Owens. It's been impossible to watch TV or read the newspapers or surf the web without hearing about the MNF fiasco.
I've seen the spot and it's silly, full of bad acting (T.O.), and just stupid. Though everybody seems to be upset that kids might have or did see it, and it was inappropriate for children. See here, here and here. And some people thought it was racially insenstive. Be that as it may, there are things on television far worse, and take this as you will, but the only people complaining about the spots racial overtones are just a handful of black people. Personally, I thought the bit was racially neutral, Just a desperate housewife and a star football player, would have meant the same to me if it Peyton Manning and Halle Berry.
But, the most stupid part of this controversy is that it's a controversy at all. This should have been a one day thing and a brief mention as a follow-up later in the week. Instead, things like the DeLay rule vote in Congress get shifted to back burner, and the nation talks about how disgraceful this all was. Ah, well, the more things change the more things stay the same. I'll let John Smallwood and Sam Donnellon have the last word here.

The Thrill of Victory

So after all the doom and gloom of the prior week and the disheartening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Eagles got a chance for redemption in the national spotlight on Monday Night Football against the hated Dallas Cowboys. There is no other team in any professional sport that engenders such loathing and festering revulsion as the Cowboys engender in Philadelphians. It's a Montague/Capulets or Hatfield/McCoy kinda hate, though mostly it's been one sided for many years.
I'm not really sure why or how it started historically, all I know is that when I started to get into football, I've always hated the Cowboys. For a lot of Philadelphians, it's a birthright of sorts. You're born, you learn to walk, learn to talk, and finally you can express your hate for the Cowboys you've known since you were pulled from your mother's womb.
This kind of spanking though, you just don't forget, especially when T.O. does this.That's the kind of thing that makes the other team's fan hate you. And finally, now, Cowboy fans can share in the deep hate we have for them. For Eagles fan there is no better salve for whatever ails you than a thorough, and historical, spanking of the Cowboys.
And now all's pretty well in Iggles land again, for the most part.

Creative Differences

The big news, well, for me anyway, is what happened last Friday. The band had rehearsal and we were doing well up until I brought up 3 songs for consideration and had them put to a vote. I tried to frame what happened next as neutrally as possible in an email I sent to everyone. Here it is:

Well, these are the issues as I see them, your mileage may vary: Shawn, the only member of the band who actively scouts the A-list rooms and the band that play in them, compares our set list to theirs and finds ours lacking. He feels very strongly that we should start working on and playing "A-list" material now, if we want to be able to play A-list rooms at some point. So strongly does Shawn feel about this that when presented with three songs that are not "A-list" material that not only did he vote against them, he refused to sing them, if any of them were voted in.
Frankly, I could care less what's A-list material or not. I think the way we've been going to date has been working good for us. We all suggest a bunch of songs that each of us think might work or an audience will respond to and then we vote on them. Songs are in line to be learned if they get a majority of votes, we then learn them and see if we can actually pull them off live. If we can, great, they go on the list, if we can't, that's OK, too, we've got others waiting in the wings. We all agreed that this was probably the best way of adding songs, since everybody gets a say in what gets added. And in that time, we've learned songs that we don't play anymore, because they didn't work or we couldn't pull them off successfully, and there are songs in our set list that band members may despise A LOT!t, but they're popular or work well, so we play them every show.
Now, onto Tom: Tom hears Shawn's adamant refusal to play songs that could be potentially voted in, and perceives Shawn as hijacking the band, and subverting our song selection process. He voices his concerns, and feels so strongly about not letting a single band member subvert our democratic process, after having been promised in January that no one would try to do so again, that he quits in protest.
Exacerbating all of this, in what can be described, at best, is Tom and Shawn's antagonistic relationship. Both Shawn and Tom have a bit of a stubborn streak and rarely back down, and certainly not to each other, so regardless that both had valid points, neither of them were really listening to each other.
So, how do we resolve this? Well, it seems to me, that the best way to resolve this is for Tom to reconsider his decision to quit, since Shawn really has no intention of subverting the process, or hijacking the band, but was merely expressing his dissatisfaction and frustration in his own way. And for Shawn to commit to the selection process and to start submitting a list of "A-list" songs that we can vote on and work on, since the rest of us don't scout "A-list" bands and are obviously not recommending their material.
(If we want to get through our growing list of songs so that we constantly have new material, we may need to commit to two nights of rehearsal every week without a gig and at least one night of rehearsal every week with a gig.)
For me, this would be the ideal solution, as I don't want Tom to quit, and I think Shawn has a valid point, even if it was completely the wrong way to go about expressing it. I don't expect anyone to apologize, but there's a certain magic in this band, that would be gone, if someone left now. And, frankly, I don't know if I have the patience or the desire to get another new member up to speed.
We are at a crossroads here, gentlemen, and I don't care if Shawn and Tom never speak to each other ever again, but all of us, working together, make beautiful music together, and that should be the bottom line.
We all must be willing to commit to saving this band as it right now, in order not to lose what we have, so I expect to hear EVERYONE'S thoughts on this matter, (as there's probably some things I'm misisng or interpreting things incorrectly) and hopefully we'll just regard this matter as just another bump along our already rough journey to date.

So, I spent most of the week, wondering what I was going to do. I had mentioned to Tom when we got back together earlier this year that I was done the next time the band broke up or somebody left. Which I don't think was an unreasonable position, as whatever momentum we had been building was always horribly wrenched and we spent the next couple of months looking for a replacement and getting them up to speed. And here we were faced with another such situation, made increasingly difficult because of amount of work Tom puts into this band. He's really been the defacto manager of the band, web designer, webmaster, is primary backup and does lead on a handful of songs, plays trumpet and harmonica on others, etc. Replacing Tom was going to be a tall order, and I wasn't really sure whether I wanted to do that.
Actually, I'm still not. Sometimes, when I'm not playing to an audience, I kinda wish I wasn't involved, so that I could devote more time to my other interests that also take up a lot of time. But, then I get to a gig, and we play and I'm into it again. So, I was still unsure what I wanted to do, until I got to Shawn's place on Thursday to discuss the future of the band. I kinda knew how it was going to go, and it went as expected. Personality conflict trumps all, I'm the only one that Tom doesn't rub the wrong way, so the band decided to move on without Tom.
So, we'll see what happens from this point on, as I've decided to see this thing through to the bitter end, whenever that may be. As befits Tom's professionalism, we'll have his services for all the currently booked gigs up until we have found a suitable replacement for keyboard. The rest of the stuff Tom did will be split up between us and our new band manager. Now all that's left is to find another keyboard player/vocalist who can pick up the majority of Tom's workload. Our first audition is Nick's friend Jim, someone I went to UArts with back in the day, so we'll see how that goes.
I'm not worried about Tom, he'll find another band pretty quickly, and he's been around long enough that he won't mope about it, these things happen, and you learn to move on. And I'm pretty sure, we'll end up playing together again at some point in the future.

Whew. What a week.

So a lot of stuff has happened this week, and I haven't really had a whole lot of time to write about stuff, until now. Hopefully, next time, I'll try and find time to at least put something up so it isn't a week before my next update. Anyway, let's catch up on some things that either happened or happened to me.

What I'm Watching Part 1

As most of you are probably aware I likes a me the anime lots. :-D I don't really watch a lot of live action TV anymore, in fact, I'd estimate that anime/cartoons are 65%-70% of the stuff I watch. [Yes, I'm aware that I'm a freak. But that's why y'all love me.]
I do watch, or TiVo and then watch, the original CSI, Cold Case (it's set in Philly and doesn't suck), the Daily Show, Chappelle's Show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Monk and All My Children. (What?! Yes, I said All My Children. Bite Me!) I was watching Enterprise, but it's so bleh now that not even the deliciously scrumptious Jolene Blalock can make me sit through 43 minutes of tired stories. TiVo records them for me and I spend most of the time in fast forward waiting to see if something interesting happens. Sundays are, of course, reserved for football and getting fatter lying on the couch. (Go Eagles!) And were it not for the inanity of the NHL and the NHLPA, I'd be watching Hockey. Thanks, guys. (Go Flyers when and if the league ever resumes play.)
Generally, the TV is either tuned to Comedy Central or Cartoon Network, since TiVo thinks we are either kids or like to laugh a lot. Which is probably not that far off, now that I think about it.
I'm going to start talking about anime, since it's less available than general TV stuff, but I'll eventually cover things like Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titans down the line. Anyway, I'm presuming that most of you are aware of what anime is, if not check here first.

[Just a little note: Any DVD links will point to Amazon as I'm sure they have everything listed, and I'm not sure about the other places. And as I'm pro-capitalist and pro-anime, it would warm the cockles of my heart to have people buy licensed, legitimate copies of shows and keep the cycle of consumerism going. ;) But, if you want to try before you buy, go to RentAnime.com. They work like Netflix, but are anime only (though Netflix has anime too, but I'm not sure their selections are as comprehensive) and I highly recommend them for those of you who don't feel like emptying your bank account trying to acquire every title you like, but want to keep the money flowing to the right people.]

So, before I start my list, I want to share with you a couple of observations: First, saying you like anime has certain connotations in the States, either people have an idea what you're talking about or they look at you like you've got two heads. (Which is happening less and less I've noticed, as anime becomes more mainstream). But saying you like anime in Japan is like saying you like TV, which is usually followed by a "Duh. What shows do you watch/like?"
Second, seasons in Japan are slightly longer than here in the states, a full season is usually 24-26 episodes and half a season is usually 12-13, compared to 22/11 episodes in a full/half season here. There doesn't seem to be any sweeps weeks and ratings seem to only determine whether a show warrants a second season or more, as I haven't really heard of many shows being cancelled. Most shows, however, only last for a single season, as they are planned that way from the start, some shows are planned for more the 26 episodes to start off with, and may end up running the whole year, 52 episodes.
3rd, the Japanese favor a style of serial storytelling, in that most series will usually have a plot arc running through the series that starts off in the background, and slowly reveals itself over the course of the season to resolve climactic and usually definitively in the last episodes, much like how Buffy, Angel and Babylon 5 did. Though there are few more episodic shows, these tend to run for very, very long times, as any resolution of the background plot would mean the end of the series. [The longest currently running show, at 370 episodes and counting, is the the detective show Matantei Conan, known as Case Closed here in the States, and shown on Cartoon Network and available on DVD. Other long running shows, include the pirate show One Piece, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh.)
So what bearing does this information have on my list? I'm not sure, other than requisite background information and perspective and I felt like sharing it, because I'm a geek like that.

Ok, so onto the list:

Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex 2nd Gig: I figured I'd start with this TV series, because some of you may be aware of the movies. (The original Ghost in the Shell released in 1995 or Ghost in the Shell: Innocence released just a month ago. if you haven't seen either of them, the original movie is available on DVD while the sequel "Innocence" may still be in theatres, and will be released on DVD at the end of the year.)
Both the movies and the TV series are derived from the same original work by Masamune Shirow. (And being a huge Shirow fanboy, naturally, I just lap it all up.) But the movies and the TV series occupy different universes. Whereas the movies are heavy on existential philosophy and literary references, the TV series is more down to earth, favoring more action and political intrigue, though those existential questions still come up, they're more appetizer as opposed to full meal. The TV series also presumes that the events of the movie and the manga didn't happen.
The TV series centers around the Japanese government anti-terrorism department Section 9 and its cases of cyber-terrorism and political corruption that eventually threatens that same department. It's part police procedural and part actioner, extremely well written, better than most live-action shows, but like most police procedurals the character development is filler, not the focus.
The central character is the female cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi, though her subordinates Batou and the Togusa get a lot of face time in this series. (Especially Togusa since he's only a got a handful of minor implants, he's the most human of all the Section 9 members, he's even got a wife and kid.) The Major, as she's called, is your prototypical hyper competent, ass kicking, tough as nails woman, though, being all cyborg except for her brain and spinal cord kinda blurs that definition. Though, like the movies, the Major is pretty much asexual, but she's not nearly as emotionally distant, she even has a sense of humor. (To be honest, though, the movie Motoko is probably more accurate of how a nearly 100% cyborg would behave, more machine=less humanity. In the manga, however, the Major retains a lot more of her humanity, including her sexuality. [Sorry, boys, none for you.;) which is another reason I like this series, as I'll explain in another post.]) The TV series also has more humor than the movies, though not like the manga. Which is better, in some ways, as the face faults and wackiness that mark Shirow's work, became more jarring, the more hyper-realistic and technically complex he got.
So the first series is being released on DVD by Bandai and began airing on Adult Swim on Nov 6th at 12:30am, be sure to check it out. (Don't worry if you missed the first episode, you can still pick it up in later episodes, plus they'll re-run it down the line.) I'm currently watching the second series, which picks up after the events at the end of last season. While the series is considered licensed, some naughty fansubbers are still, slowly, releasing fansubbed episodes of this series. Which is ethically questionable on my part as well, as I like to encourage people to buy domestic releases, but as there is no domestic release yet, I think I can rationalize my behavior with a simple pledge to purchase the domestic release when it's available, and not tell you, my dear readers, where to get it.
Sketchy, I know, but on the Aristotlean scale of Virtue, I'm merely a Continent man with occasionally fits of Incontinence. ;)

Legend of Galactic Heroes: This title, currently unlicensed for US distribution, could probably best be described as Babylon 5, minus the aliens and the space station. Or maybe Star Wars, if George Lucas could actually write political power struggles with any skill or nuance. Humanity has colonized the Galaxy, leaving Earth a distant and dim fragment of collective memory. The majority of space is ruled by the Empire, which in its style and look is reminiscent of World War I Germany or 19th century Prussia. And they are opposed by the Free Planets Alliance, a poorly run democratic (actually more socialist, now that I think about it.) entity rife with corruption. The show follows a couple of young men as they rise through the ranks of each side to positions of power against corruption and enemies within and without and trying to steer their nations on what they believe to be the best course.
I don't really think I'm conveying the epicness or the coolness of this show, though. Between 4 seasons (110 episodes) and a couple of OVAs and movies, I think there's something like 60+ hours of animation, but I've only seen about a tenth of this so far.
This show while not heavy into character development, is heavy on the characters. New ones keep getting introduced and looking the Cast list is like looking at a Japanese phone book, but there are no throw away characters, each character they introduce will have some bearing on the overall plot either for that episode or for the series as a whole. The intrigue is top notch, schemes and machinations and nefarious plots abound, especially on the Empire side of things.
Which brings me to another observation, Legend of Galactic Heroes goes out of its way to muddy up the sides quite a bit. The Empire is declining, and the Alliance is rife with corruption, but I suppose that's done out of necessity since you're supposed to root for the young guys on both sides.
Anyway, the first 20 episodes are available here using Bittorrent. (As a client I'm now recommending Auzureus.)

So that's Part 1. Part 2 will cover some more sci-fi stuff, including the new Gundam Seed series. Because you can't watch anime without running into Giant Robots at some point. Stay Tuned

He's Dead, Jim

Finally, Arafat has shuffled off this mortal coil. But, I come to bury him, not praise him as some feel the need to do. That this man, whose single greatest contribution to humanity was the expansion of modern terrorism to include civilians, especially children, should be honored as a head of state, and a freedom fighter, is to besmirch those who have gone before him. I could write more, but this piece by Jeff Jacoby says it better than I could. Though I will end with one last Shakespeare reference:
"Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it." Macbeth Act 1; scene 4

***Update*** I love how in some of the articles written about Yasser Arafat today are lines like "his dream of a Palestinian nation left unfulfilled." while failing to mention that he walked away from a a 2000 deal that would given the Palestinians nearly everything they had asked for, including a recognized Palestinian state. So I think that calling him "the Father of the Palestinian Nation" would be premature at best, and a lie at worst, considering he aborted the chance to really make history. And yet, he got a Nobel Peace Prize, Jacques Chirac calls him a man of "courage and conviction" and gives him a French Honor Guard for his coffin. Even while members of his Fatah organization are saying things like "Let the doors to hell open and burn the Jews to dust." And that's probably the reason why Arafat never agreed to the 2000 dea, but the greatest benefit of his death is that we have hope again. Hope for peace.

Thank You

"The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson.

Today is Veteran's Day and it is time for meaningful reflection and honored reverance for those brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces who risked and who gave their lives to preserve and promote the ideals that this country was founded on: Freedom, Equality, Democracy. It is also time to give thanks that our veterans have made it possible for me to have been born and raised in a country where people like Michael Moore, George Soros, Maureen Dowd, and Noam Chomsky can wail and caterwaul at this Administration for its supposed imperialistic and fascist tendencies, and in some cases the "evils" of the United States, from the safety of their homes, without the fear that they will be "disappeared" in the dead of night. Which is why this country, for all its faults (and there are many), works, because among its citizens are those intrepid souls who are willing to fight and die, if necessary, to protect the freedom of people who wholeheartedly oppose everything for which they stand for, or who exploit them for their own selfish and/or political gain.
So, again, I say "Thank You."

My Face Hurts < Wistful SIgh > Ah, The Springtime Of My Youth

So, I have bad teeth. Not rotting, falling out of my head teeth or British bad teeth, just neglected and cavity ridden teeth, complicated by the fact that up until 3 years ago, I haven't had dental insurance since I left college. Anyway, my teeth need a lot of expensive work, and it's an ongoing process. A couple of months ago, my dentist started working on my third root canal, and as I was laying there in the chair, he looked like he was really working hard, lots of drilling and scraping. At some point he stops and starts to clean up, and I thought he was done, since he put in a temporary filling. Nope, as it turns out, I had a freak tooth with 5 canals, and he couldn't for the life of him get to the final canal. I admire that actually, knowing your limits and when to stop. I usually hate dentists, but Dr. Adelman I like, even though I neglect my teeth and get lectured constantly about taking better care of them.
Anyway, Dr. Adelman strongly recommends that I go see a specialist and let him take care of it. Of course, he makes the mistake of saying that there's no hury, so I don't make an appointment right away, in fact, I don't make one until last week, after I've seen the dental hygienist for my biannual cleaning. And I probably might have waited longer, if it hadn't started to bother me a bit.
So I go see the specialist and so it begins again, though this time, there's a special twist that makes the ordeal remarkably more bearable. Dr. Schoengold uses a dental dam to keep the area he's working on as sterile as possible, which means surgical latex.
Now, I have a poor sense of smell from years of clogged sinuses and allergies. I have to be nearly up against something to be able to smell it properly, unless it's an really, really, strong scent. And since, just like the commercial says, smell is the strongest sense associated with memory, the smell of latex up in my face, brought back some pleasant memories. So, I ended up reminiscing as Dr. Schoengold drilled, scraped, drilled, scraped and drilled and scraped some more.
An hour later, though, after the novocaine wore off, it was difficult to chew without a great amount of discomfort. And it annoyed for the rest of the day. Hopefully, tomorrow, it'll be less annoying.
I go back next week for him to finish up. ;)

Day Shall Dawn Again

There was a palatable sense of dread and fear you felt permeating the city of Philadelphia and it's neighboring suburbs today, the sting of a loss so brutal and so thorough that it will take some years to recover. It was a punched you in the gut, bloodied your nose, threw you to the ground, rubbed your face in the dirt, stole your shoes and your best girl kind of loss. No, I'm not talking about the Presidental election, that was sooo last week, but something far, far more important to Philadelphians: the Eagles finally lost their first game this year 27-3 to cross-state rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers. And such a devastating loss has created doubt in Eagles fandom, which is to say the vast majority of the Delaware Valley, where there was cocksure confidence before. So tortured and fragile is our psyche that after such a loss, the first of the year, people, all one hears now are the portents of doom and the "why me?" cries of yet another journey short of the Promised Land. Such is life in Eagles country, and I for one devoutly hope that like Red Sox before them, the Eagles finally get this damned monkey off their back.

I Think I'm Going To Be Sick

This story I found on Drudge was enough to make me queasy. I cannot imagine the moral equivalence gymnastics it took to feel sadness at the potential passing of a murderer and a terrorist. Arafat is not freedom fighter, he's a brutal, vicious thug and the world will be a better place when he is gone. I'm glad he will not get the opportunity to be a martyr, though in his current condition he is not suffering as much as I would like. Oh well, at least his wife is doing her part to ensure a vicious power struggle will occur before his body is cold.
The deathwatch continues. . .

Let The Power Struggle Begin

In what I can only think of as good news, varying news outlets are reporting an Israeli story that Arafat may be brain dead. Palestinian officials are denying it, some of them even saying that his condition is not serious. I can only think that they know what's coming and they're afraid. Arafat was barely controlling the Palestinians as it was, and there's nobody with the kind of power, authority or respect that he had anywhere among the Palestinians. Look for a vicious, bloody power struggle (over, say, the next two years) between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority as they duke it out for control, with Israel picking off any extremist that emerges. Hopefully, at the end of this a moderate, sensible Palestinian leader emerges and they finally work out a viable, two state solution that everybody can live with.

The Results

OK, Election 2004 is over and despite all the dire predictions it was a clean, unassailable victory for Turd Sandwich, I mean Bush. ;) While I'm disappointed, but not surprised, I don't think for one minute that it is the end of the world. What happens next? Not entirely sure, but that's the subject for another post after this one.
Anyway, Let's look at the races I predicted on Tuesday and see how my candidates fared and my guesses panned out.

U.S. Senate PA: Joe "Sacrifical Lamb" Hoeffel, Dem. and Arlen "Magic Bullet" Specter, Rep. Specter is the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, having represented us for the last 24 years. He is a moderate republican, as opposed to Rick Santorum's funadmentalist, arch-conservative, socially oppressive, slippery-slope, "I don't hate Gay people, just Homosexuality" loonyness. Conventional wisdom says Specter takes this handily, but I voted for Hoeffel, because, I'd rather have a Dem to counteract Santorum.

As predicted Specter won, though Hoeffel led early and made it a much tougher race than he's had in a while, but ultimately Specter won every county in Pennsylvania, except Philadelphia, and had a comfortable 500,000 vote edge. Though, Specter seems to have picked up a mission for his unprecedented 5th term. Money Quote: "The number-one item on my agenda is to try to move the party to the center," Specter said. Which is music to the ears of this independent libertarian. Hopefully, he can deliver on his promise. *** UPDATE *** Specter has since "clarified" this statment to mean that the Republicans don't have a rubber stamp majority in the Senate, and not that he, personally, was going to weed out anti-abortion judges. Hopefully, the Dems will be able to field a decent candidate to knock off Santorum in two years, as he's expressed Presidential aspirations recently and you can probably guess that I don't think he's Presidential timber at all. ;)

U.S. Congress 2nd District: Chaka Fattah, Dem and Stewart Bolno, Rep. After the 2000 election, there was much redistricting across the nation and we were part of the trend. So instead of being in the 13th District with the much more interesting battle between State Rep Allyson Schwartz and her perennial challenger and personal nemesis Melissa Brown, we get lumped in with part of Philadelphia and get the bulletproof Chaka Fattah and the poor, dumb soul the Republicans nominate to "take one for the team." Fattah is a good, effective politician for the district and a decent human being, which makes voting for him a no brainer.

Again, this was one in the bag for Fattah, who's margin of victory was 213,000 votes. Considering that just over 280,000 votes were cast in this district, Bolno really was a sacrificial lamb.

State Attorney General: Jim Eisenhower, Dem. and Tom Corbett, Rep. I could have gone either way on this one. Though Corbett's ads tried to paint Eisenhower as soft on crime because he was a defense attorney and actually managed to get some of his clients off. Donna and I split on this one, I think, mainly because we thought each one would have made a decent attorney general. So, I went with Eisenhower and I believe Donna went with Corbett, so we'll see how that turns out.

This was a relatively close race, judging by Corbett's margin of victory of 118,000 votes out of roughly 5,345,000. So, Donna gets the points for this one. Again, either guy was good in my book, so it's win-win. And it also proves that Pennsylvanians didn't just vote party line.

State Auditor General: Jack Wagner, Dem and Joe Peters, Rep. Reading through the candidates positions and statements, I'm going with Peters as Auditor General, as he looks like the better candidate.

Wagner won this one with a more comfortable 300,000+ vote edge, which is shame, because I thought Peters was actually the better candidate.

State Treasurer: Bob Casey, Dem. and Jeanne Pepper, Rep. Casey is the son of former PA governor Bob Casey and is looking to possibly springboard a governorship in a couple of years. He is a tool, however, and Jeanne Pepper has the goods for the job. Also, I traditionally vote Republican in financial positions, since conservatives historically, tend to reign in spending as much as possible, and that's a good thing. Nobody should ever spend money recklessly, especially government.

Regardless of how much a tool Casey is, he's a well-funded tool. And he easily beat Pepper by a dominant 1.4 million votes. Oh well, I guess the majority of Pennsylvanians either didn't see the debate Pepper crushed him in, or saw it differently than I did.

State House of Representatives, 154th District: Larry Curry, Dem. and Jeffrey Belford, Rep. This one is also a no brainer, for me at least. I'm heavily biased toward Larry Curry, considering I've met him a few times, been over his house once or twice and went to school with his daughter, Jackie. (She was one or two years my junior.) He's been our State Rep, for as long as I can remember, and every two years, I keep voting to send him back.

Curry wins by 16,660 votes out of 33,448. I'm pretty sure this job is his as long as he wants it or he lives, which ever comes first.

So those are my choices. Wait, what's that? What about the Presidential race? Well, we all know who's running and what they stand for. (At least we should after being repeatedly assaulted by their commercials for an entire year.) So, I voted for Giant Douche over Turd Sandwich.

As we all know by now, Bush (Turd Sandwich) won re-election. And it was a decisive victory, as 60% of the eligible voting populationn turned out for this election and he won the popular vote by 3.5 million votes or 3% The vote total as the MSM will tell you surpassed that which got Reagan elected, but as a percentage of the population, Reagan still ranks higher. More importantly, he won the electoral college handily 286 to 252. Which means that Kerry (Giant Douche) lost states that Gore (Giant Dildo) won in 2000. And the Democrats lost ground in the Senate and in the House, so something's gotta change among the Democrats and may I humbly suggest the axeing of DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe. Under his watch, the Democrats have two Presidential elections and have lost ground in the mid-term elections. Not to mention that he's a partisan hack.

My friend Matt sent out a election pool sheet he got at his work, and while I can't win, I did make some predictions based on their sheet for a couple local and national races. Here's the sheet and my predictions.

9 Senate Races

Pennsylvania
Dem. Joseph Hoeffel****** Rep. Sen. Arlen Specter

Specter wins, it's closer than polls suggest, but he still has a decent margin of victory.

Specter 53% Hoeffel 42%, That's a couple percentage points closer than was polled, but still a handy win.

Oklahoma
Dem. Brad Carson ****** Rep. Tom Coburn

Coburn Wins

Coburn did indeed win by a 10 percentage point margin. This might have been Presidential coattails as Bush easily won Oklahoma.

South Dakota
Dem. Sen. Tom Daschle******Rep. John Thune

Thune wins upset, in the sense of unseating an incumbent, not in the underdog sense. Thune is leading Daschle in the polls.
Matt says: "Looking at SD, there are more than enough undecideds to turn the thing around, and I think they'll go for the incumbent in that race. I almost picked Thune, but I think Daschle will survive in the end."

The other crowing point of this election for the GOP, after spending an assload of money, the removal of the Senate Minority leader, Daschle loses by 4000 votes which represents 2% of the South Dakotan voters. So I guessed right, and Matt guessed wrong.

Florida
Dem. Betty Castor ******Rep. Mel Martinez

Martinez wins because Bush wins Florida handily this time around. Matt says: "In FL, I'll really kick myself if I got it wrong, because I really had a good hunch about Martinez, both for the reason you mentioned and because he's Cuban. But the polling on Castor is too strong for me to ignore, so I went with her in the end." My response: "Oh, there was polling putting Castor ahead? Hmm, oh well, we'll see I guess."

It was a tight, tight race that took a few days post election to call, but in the end I guessed right, again. While, Bush had a 5% point margin of victory, Martinez only had a 2% edge, so Presidential coattails didn't help him out as much as I thought it might.

Alaska
Dem. Tony Knowles******Rep. Sen Lisa Murkowski

Knowles win this one. Murkowski is battling a charge of nepotism, which is appropriate since her father, the governor, did appoint her, while Knowles is a popular ex-governor I think.

But, not popular enough, apparently. losing by 10,000 votes and 4% points. What's interesting is that Murkowski did not break 50%, even though Bush crushed Kerry 62% to 35% in Alaska.

Missouri
Dem. Nancy Farmer******Rep. Sen Kit Bond

I picked Kit Bond for this one. Missouri had a big Senate Race 4 years ago, you remember that one, where John Ashcroft lost the popular, but very late Mel Carnahan.

Bond wins this one by a larger margin than Bush takes the state. 56%-43% vs. 54% - 46%.

Colorado
Dem. Ken Salazar******Rep. Peter Coors

I almost picked Pete Coors on this one, since he's the scion of the Coors Brewery and he's got name recognition, but it appears Salazar is a more popular figure in Colorado and has comfortable lead in every poll, so Salazar it is.

With a decent 5% margin of victory Salazar wins Colorado, even though Bush wins the State by the same 5% margin. 52%-47%

North Carolina
Dem. Erskine Bowles******Rep. Richard Burr

I picked Erskine Bowles to win by a razor thin margin. Matt thinks Burr is going to win. This one is all related to Clinton as Erskine Bowles was Clinton's Chief of Staff, I think. Bowles had a comfortable lead a few months ago, until Burr started running ads reminding North Carolinians that Bowles worked for Clinton, now it's a dog fight, and really too close to call.

Erskine Bowles loses John Edwards seat for the Democrats, by 5% points. Apparently North Carolinians don't like Clintonites very much. Note to North Carolina Democratic Party, Bowles has now lost twice, time to pick a new horse.

South Carolina
Dem. Inez Tenenbaum******Rep. Jim DeMint

All the gay baiting propels Jim DeMint to join Rick Santorum in the looney, fundamentalist, right wing branch of the Senate. Way to go, South Carolina.

With a very comfortable 10% point margin, Jim "Gay Marriage is bad" DeMint fills Strom Thurmond's shoes.

House of Representative Races

Pennsylvania 6th District
Dem. Lois Murphy*******Rep. Jim Gerlach

I said: "Hmm, Lois Murphy, I've seen more negative commercials against Gerlach than I have against Murphy, and we all know if you repeat something enough times, it becomes true. ;)"

Gerlach manages to squeeze out a 6000 vote victory.

Pennsylvania 13th District
Dem. Allyson Schwartz*******Rep. Melissa Brown

As I mentioned before, Melissa Brown is always running against Allyson Schwartz, it's like a personal vendetta with her or something. Anyway, Allyson Schwartz smacks the sleazy ho down like an angry pimp.

Schwartz slaps Brown down for a 15% margin, but it's not the bitch slap I thought it was going to be (25%+) So, we'll see Brown running after Schwartz again in two years. Yay.

Texas 32nd District
Dem. Congressman Martin Frost ******VS******* Rep. Congressman Pete Sessions**

**These two experienced and partisan lawmakers are waging a North Dallas slugfest marked by massive spending and bitter exchanges. Both are incumbents.

You remember a while ago when all the Texas Democrats ran away to New Mexico and Arkansas to protest the redistricting in Texas instigated by Tom Delay, and you remember Tom Delay using the Office of Homeland Security to find them and bring them back, as if he was the Governor? Yeah, this is what they were protesting. My pick, Pete Sessions reaps the fruits of Tom Delay's meddling.

I guessed right on this one. Most of the Republican incumbents beat out the Democratic incumbents in the Texas redistricting. It was not close though, Sessions had a 10% point margin. Oh well, maybe DeLay will get an ethics violation to stick to him when he comes up for reelection in '06


Who will win the Presidential Race?

Dem. Senator John Kerry******* Rep. President George W. Bush

My pick: Bush wins the Presidency by 10 electoral votes.

Got the pick right, but not the spread. 286 to 252, a difference of 34 votes. As I mentioned Kerry lost 2 states that voted for Gore in the last election. (NM, IA). This year Ohio was the key, and unlike the pundits were predicting, there was no new Florida debacle.

What Presidential Candidate will win the battleground state of Pennsylvania?

Dem. Senator John Kerry******* Rep. President George W. Bush

Once again, the Giant Philly Democratic Machine delivers the State of PA to the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, by the same margin Gore won the state in 2000.

Again, I get the outcome right, but the spread wrong. Gore won PA by approximately 200,000 votes in 2000, while Kerry won by about 130,000. Bush added 2% to his total this time. 51%-47% in 2000 compared to 51%-49% in 2004. But, again, it looks like Philadelphia and her suburbs were the margin of victory.


Tie Breaker

What percent of the vote will the Barrack Obama, Senate Candidate from Illinois receive?

You remember Barrack Obama, darling of the Democratic National Convention and "potential superstar" for the Democrats, whatever that means. My pick: Barrack Obama 67%, Alan Keyes 30%, Other 3%. This one really is a gimme, though, as most polls are putting Obama between 62%-69% of the vote.

In what is really the story of this election, the polls were off. Obama wins 70% to 27%.

So, there you have it. Election 2004 in the history books, without all the drama and agony of the 2000 election. As I mentioned, before I'll probably post my thoughts on what this all means, hopefully, soon. And we'll see what 4 more years of W, brings us.

Vote Early, Vote Often

So the day has finally arrived. After nearly two years of posturing, campaigning, carefully scripted debates, distortions, lies, fabrications, gotchas, and other assorted crap endemic to our political systems, we're finally down to the part that matters, voting. And just based on empirical evidence, we're probably going to have record voter turnout this election. Donna and I were numbers 94 and 95 this morning at 8am, an hour after the polls had opened. Usually, when I vote at that time and that place, I'm like 25, and there was a steady stream of people coming into Memorial Hall. There seemed to be more people out and about today as well. I saw really long lines in a couple places on my way to work, and the Great Philly Democratic Machine apparently worked late into the night or obnoxiously early this morning because there were Kerry/Edwards signs everywhere.
Frankly, I'll be really glad once the election is over and I stop getting the pre-recorded phone calls from Gov. Ed Rendell and Bill Clinton, or the daily reminders for Donna and/or myself from the Democratic party to vote, and who should I vote for. Or the knock on my front door from the non-shrieking liberal MoveOn.org activist urging me to vote Democratic. The pollsters calling weren't so bad, but I'm glad TV will go back to airing the million and one commercials for Lipitor, Valtrex, Synestra, Allegra, et al, instead of the really heinous political ads we've seen. Now all that's left is to watch the Daily Show tonight and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

So who did I vote for? Well, these were the races in my district:

U.S. Senate PA: Joe "Sacrifical Lamb" Hoeffel, Dem. and Arlen "Magic Bullet" Specter, Rep. Specter is the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, having represented us for the last 24 years. He is a moderate republican, as opposed to Rick Santorum's funadmentalist, arch-conservative, socially oppressive, slippery-slope, "I don't hate Gay people, just Homosexuality" loonyness. Conventional wisdom says Specter takes this handily, but I voted for Hoeffel, because, I'd rather have a Dem to counteract Santorum.

U.S. Congress 2nd District: Chaka Fattah, Dem and Stewart Bolno, Rep. After the 2000 election, there was much redistricting across the nation and we were part of the trend. So instead of being in the 13th District with the much more interesting battle between State Rep Allyson Schwartz and her perennial challenger and personal nemesis Melissa Brown, we get lumped in with part of Philadelphia and get the bulletproof Chaka Fattah and the poor, dumb soul the Republicans nominate to "take one for the team." Fattah is a good, effective politician for the district and a decent human being, which makes voting for him a no brainer.

State Attorney General: Jim Eisenhower, Dem. and Tom Corbett, Rep. I could have gone either way on this one. Though Corbett's ads tried to paint Eisenhower as soft on crime because he was a defense attorney and actually managed to get some of his clients off. Donna and I split on this one, I think, mainly because we thought each one would have made a decent attorney general. So, I went with Eisenhower and I believe Donna went with Corbett, so we'll see how that turns out.

State Auditor General: Jack Wagner, Dem and Joe Peters, Rep. Reading through the candidates positions and statements, I'm going with Peters as Auditor General, as he looks like the better candidate.

State Treasurer: Bob Casey, Dem. and Jeanne Pepper, Rep. Casey is the son of former PA governor Bob Casey and is looking to possibly springboard a governorship in a couple of years. He is a tool, however, and Jeanne Pepper has the goods for the job. Also, I traditionally vote Republican in financial positions, since conservatives historically, tend to reign in spending as much as possible, and that's a good thing. Nobody should ever spend money recklessly, especially government.

State House of Representatives, 154th District: Larry Curry, Dem. and Jeffrey Belford, Rep. This one is also a no brainer, for me at least. I'm heavily biased toward Larry Curry, considering I've met him a few times, been over his house once or twice and went to school his daughter, Jackie. (She was one or two years my junior.) He's been our State Rep, for as long as I can remember, and every two years, I keep voting to send him back.

So those are my choices. Wait, what's that? What about the Presidential race? Well, we all know who's running and what they stand for. (At least we should after being repeatedly assaulted by their commercials for an entire year.) So, I voted for Giant Douche over Turd Sandwich.

My friend Matt sent out a election pool sheet he got at his work, and while I can't win, I did make some predictions based on their sheet for a couple local and national races. Here's the sheet and my predictions.

9 Senate Races

Pennsylvania
Dem. Joseph Hoeffel****** Rep. Sen. Arlen Specter

Specter wins, it's closer than polls suggest, but he still has a decent margin of victory.

Oklahoma
Dem. Brad Carson ****** Rep. Tom Coburn

Coburn Wins

South Dakota
Dem. Sen. Tom Daschle******Rep. John Thune

Thune wins upset, in the sense of unseating an incumbent, not in the underdog sense. Thune is leading Daschle in the polls.
Matt says: "Looking at SD, there are more than enough undecideds to turn the thing around, and I think they'll go for the incumbent in that race. I almost picked Thune, but I think Daschle will survive in the end."

Florida
Dem. Betty Castor ******Rep. Mel Martinez

Martinez wins because Bush wins Florida handily this time around. Matt says: "In FL, I'll really kick myself if I got it wrong, because I really had a good hunch about Martinez, both for the reason you mentioned and because he's Cuban. But the polling on Castor is too strong for me to ignore, so I went with her in the end." My response: "Oh, there was polling putting Castor ahead? Hmm, oh well, we'll see I guess."

Alaska
Dem. Tony Knowles******Rep. Sen Lisa Murkowski

Knowles win this one. Murkowski is battling a charge of nepotism, which is appropriate since her father, the governor, did appoint her, while Knowles is a popular ex-governor I think.

Missouri
Dem. Nancy Farmer******Rep. Sen Kit Bond

I picked Kit Bond for this one. Missouri had a big Senate Race 4 years ago, you remember that one, where John Ashcroft lost the popular, but very late Mel Carnahan.

Colorado
Dem. Ken Salazar******Rep. Peter Coors

I almost picked Pete Coors on this one, since he's the scion of the Coors Brewery and he's got name recognition, but it appears Salazar is a more popular figure in Colorado and has comfortable lead in every poll, so Salazar it is.

North Carolina
Dem. Erskine Bowles******Rep. Richard Burr

I picked Erskine Bowles to win by a razor thin margin. Matt thinks Burr is going to win. This one is all related to Clinton as Erskine Bowles was Clinton's Chief of Staff, I think. Bowles had a comfortable lead a few months ago, until Burr started running ads reminding North Carolinians that Bowles worked for Clinton, now it's a dog fight, and really too close to call.

South Carolina
Dem. Inez Tenenbaum******Rep. Jim DeMint

All the gay baiting propels Jim DeMint to join Rick Santorum in the looney, fundamentalist, right wing branch of the Senate. Way to go, South Carolina.


House of Representative Races

Pennsylvania 6th District
Dem. Lois Murphy*******Rep. Jim Gerlach

I said: "Hmm, Lois Murphy, I've seen more negative commercials against Gerlach than I have against Murphy, and we all know if you repeat something enough times, it becomes true. ;)"

Pennsylvania 13th District
Dem. Allyson Schwartz*******Rep. Melissa Brown

As I mentioned before, Melissa Brown is always running against Allyson Schwartz, it's like a personal vendetta with her or something. Anyway, Allyson Schwartz smacks the sleazy ho down like an angry pimp.

Texas 32nd District
Dem. Congressman Martin Frost ******VS******* Rep. Congressman Pete Sessions**

**These two experienced and partisan lawmakers are waging a North Dallas slugfest marked by massive spending and bitter exchanges. Both are incumbents.

You remember a while ago when all the Texas Democrats ran away to New Mexico and Arkansas to protest the redistricting in Texas instigated by Tom Delay, and you remember Tom Delay using the Office of Homeland Security to find them and bring them back, as if he was the Governor? Yeah, this is what they were protesting. My pick, Pete Sessions reaps the fruits of Tom Delay's meddling.


Who will win the Presidential Race?

Dem. Senator John Kerry******* Rep. President George W. Bush

My pick: Bush wins the Presidency by 10 electoral votes.

What Presidential Candidate will win the battleground state of Pennsylvania?

Dem. Senator John Kerry******* Rep. President George W. Bush

Once again, the Giant Philly Democratic Machine delivers the State of PA to the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, by the same margin Gore won the state in 2000.


Tie Breaker

What percent of the vote will the Barrack Obama, Senate Candidate from Illinois receive?

You remember Barrack Obama, darling of the Democratic National Convention and "potential superstar" for the Democrats, whatever that means. My pick: Barrack Obama 67%, Alan Keyes 30%, Other 3%. This one really is a gimme, though, as most polls are putting Obama between 62%-69% of the vote.

Matt thought the tiebreaker should have been the number of votes each Presidential candidate got in the Electoral College, but oh well. Tune in tomorrow to see how my candidates did and how my predictions panned out.

Oh, and don't forget to vote, if you haven't already. Remember, you've got to play to win. ;)