My presidential dilema....

David Broder had a great column today about Barak Obama's Denver speech. He hit what I feel right on the head. Most of you know that I'm all over the map with my political beliefs. One thing I do strongly believe is that our country needs change. Change in energy policy, education, health care, organization, foreign policy, budgeting & special influence. Don't confuse what I just wrote with me saying that Geaorge Bush is the root of all of the world's ills. What Obama was preaching in March stired up lots of support and interest, in cluding in me. But lately things seemed to have changed. Here's the paragragh that sums it up for me.

"One of the major questions about Obama, of whom so little is known, is whether he is really serious about challenging the partisan gridlock in Washington or whether his election would simply bring on the regular wish list of liberal policies.

His Boston speech -- and many others early in this campaign -- suggested that he was sincere in wanting to tamp down partisanship and would be creative enough to see the need for enlisting bright people from both parties in confronting the nation's problems.

But the Denver speech, like many others he has given recently, subordinated any talk of fundamental systemic change to a checklist of traditional Democratic programs."

I joked a while back that an Obama/McCain election would be the toughest choice for me ever. I've always liked McCain. His plain talk is always refreshing in a time where every word a politician chooses is parced to the milimeter. He too has changed. The steadfastnest of his previous veiws on campaign finance reform, oil drilling and others now seem to be more in line with the party bosses. They/he seem(s) to forget that those views are what got him the nomination in the first place.

Anyway, there's where I stand. My vote will probably go to the candidate who I feel will most likely actually deliver change. Is it old school McCain or new school Obama. Or is it Bob Barr... who knows. I will, in about 2 months.

Lawnmower Music Review

I was preparing myself for cutting the grass today and syncing the ol' iPod and remembered a few old CDs I wanted to import. Straight out of High Fidelity.... my top 5 cds to listen to while mowing the lawn.

1. The Lemonheads - "Come on feel the lemonheads" (only because I don't have "It's a shame about Ray" imported yet)
2. Jimmy Buffett - Fruit Cakes (If I have to pick an albumn not my mix playlist)
3. Duran Duran - Greatest Hits (You don't realize how awesome this cd is until you listen)
4. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People...... And today's discovery..
5. Talking Heads - Sand in the Vaseline disc #2 - (nothing but) Flowers is an awesome song.... just sit back, dig the rhythm and mow!

Of course all comments are welcome..... what are your favorite tunes to listen to when giving the grass a haircut?

Cool easy web browsing

I hope there aren't many people left who have yet to use Firefox . So much better than Internet Explorer. My favorite aspect is all of the add-ons you can customize Firefox with. I came across this one, Morning Coffee, today. It's perfect! You can customize what days to load what tabs. Perfect for loading up the Sunday sports section or daily opinion pages. I can't rave enough about this. Check it out!

Why I'm not excted about the election

A great article today in the Washington Post. All the little bickering and accusations just keep the candidates from addressing issues. Not that they're the only ones to blame, when was the last time you heard an indepth article on your six o'clock news about the differences between issues? Campaign ads on either side only tell half truths.

I counld go on but I don't want to waste my time just ranting...

Vote Barr/Root 2008!!

Separating the wheat from the chaff

Just a couple of articles that caught my eye today.....

• The summer joys of fresh tomatoes and the work needed to farm them is described in a great article in today's Boston Globe.
• A rare site, the Christian Science Monitor has a very good, non-partisan report on McCain & Obama's energy plans as contrasted to the city of Austin, TX energy plan. A well written piece that is more than just a mouthpiece for campaign talking points (that's a rarity).
• And lastly, in the midst of a summer heat wave, check out a brief history of the bikini slideshow on Slate.com

It's called a LIBRARY!!

Library
noun, plural libraries
1) A place in which literary and artistic materials, such as books, periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, prints, records, and tapes, are kept for reading, reference, or lending.

Check out this link.

I'm not sure if the guy who invented this site is dumb or very smart making tons of cash off of really dumb people.

I wonder if anyone ever told him " You realize that most cities, towns, municipalities, counties, schools & universities provide this service for free and they will be your competition?"

And another thing... he only has 140,000 books! Whether audio books, mp3, cd or paperback... that's a pretty meager number compared to most libraries and lending library systems.