The Politics Of Extortion

In the good old days this used to be a government of the people and
for the people. Alas those days are gone. In the past 7 years we've
turned to a government of extortion. "The threat of terrorism in oder
to ignore the Constitution and Human Rights. The (nonexistent) weapons
of mass dertruction to justify a war. Today the collapse of global
economy to rush and give away $700 billion. America wake up! Your
hopes, dreams and future are wilting like flowers in the desert. Wake
up America.

What Kind Of Man Are You?

You're positive they're 8 years old? Ok, lets see. I'll take that one
and that one. An hour you say? Sure, here's your $80. Come with me
sweety, papa's going to show you some fatherly love... Now I ask you,
what kind of man is this? I have my own opinions on what should be
done to his kind. Including the removal of some body parts. But what
can we do to handle all the others like him? How do we give these
children back their childhood? Human trafficking is a problem. Become
aware. Take action.

Mom! She Said I Was Wrong So I Decided To Break Her Dolls

If the above sounds familiar you may have kids. On the other hand you
may be following Congress and their failure to come up with some kind
of bailout for the economic crisis. It failed because Nancy Pelosi
made a partisian speech before the vote. Give me a break! The ship is
sinking and we're arguing about who said what. Hello!! It's SINKING!!!
If you want to punch Joe Blow, fine go ahead and punch him. But please
do it after you save the ship. There are others on board besides you
two.

Random Planet

Whenever looking for the lighter side of the news check out the
section Oddly Enough at www.reuters.com and experience it. Topics
covered vary from the Brazilian speedster that racked 1.8 million in
traffic violations, the ponny-sized pig slaughtered for "kidnapping" a
woman for 10 days and they'll even cover the religious minister being
taken to court so he can get rid of some of his 86 wives. The fact
that he is 84 years old does not stop him from doing so. Whatever he's
taking I want >;-)

Country Politics vs The Individual - Which One To Choose?

Some countries political ideologies may clash with the ones we support
here at home. Some with violence and others with enough tension to
want to bash some heads together. However never fall for the trap of
generalizing and pinning the ideology to the individual. Keep the
doors open for communication. Engage in a healthy exchange of ideas.
You may find that both sides are arguing about the same point viewed
from a different angle. Cultivate understandings, make friends and
unite the world.

There Are No Strangers

Have you ever met a stranger and confided your life's secrts to them?
Why? Is because they will not judge you? Or because if they do you
really don't care? I think there is another reason. I believe we are
immortal spiritual beings. We've walked this Earth before and created
some bonds that go beyond the mere death of our bodies. We may not
always remember the details shared, but the connection is there. Look
around you. Pay attention to your instincts and may you meet all your
friends again.

Presidential Debate - Sept 26, 2008

We had the first Presidetial debate yesterday, which was very civil.
And considering the amount of mud slinging going between the two
campaings it's quite an accomplishment. My hat goes off to both
Senator Obama and McCain. There was not as much substance as many
would like, but when your every word is gone over for facts I'm not
going to blame them. They presented themselves to the American public
and now it is up to them to decide.

The Man Who Could Talk To Elephants

Some time ago I met Lawrence Anthony from the Earth Org. This is a man
with such passion and love for elephants that he can talk to them. He
is an activist who will go anywhere to save these gentle giants. And
when I say anywhere I mean anywhere. Even to the middle of civil war
in the heart of Africa. Meeting with war leaders who are unreachable,
delivering his message and even getting them to protect the elephants.
Visit www.lawerenceanthony.org and www.earthorganization.org for more
details.

Unspoken Words

Sometimes life is hard. I sense your going is a though one. I know
mine is. Wish I coukd say it, but we both accepted the rules that say
not to talk about it. You may feel me far away. I don't want to be
another burden on your shoulders. It may be that our feet will walk
different paths and I know the importance of what we do. Maybe you
should stay or maybe come with me, I don't know. All I know is that
you make my walking easier and more enjoyable. Whatever happens know
this - I love you.

Credit crisis, who's at fault?

Things always happen for a reason, and the current credit crisis is
not excempt from this rule. There is something done or not done,
always. While the following article may not be the only reason it
portrays what may be the general attitude that brought this crisis
upon us. However there is something missing here. Those people who
were 'victims' to these practices agreed to them. You can never spend
more than you earn, it's basic economics. And on that a lot of people
need more education.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:15:58 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: CNN - Ex-bankers on pushing customers to rack up debt
To: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>
Cc: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>

Sent from michaelrivera0619@gmail.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

Ex-bankers on pushing customers to rack up debt

As an account manager for credit card giant MBNA, Cate Colombo spent
four years speaking to customers, answering questions about interest
rates and waiving late fees.

Kathy Ellingwood did the same. She lasted only a year and a half
before quitting this summer.

The women worked in different departments at the sprawling customer
call center in Belfast, Maine, yet they share similar stories about
aggressive selling tactics they claim they were told to use to push
cash advances, sometimes getting customers to max out their credit
cards.

"Every customer who calls in is a mark. It's a great big con," said
Colombo, who estimates that she alone sold almost a quarter of a
billion dollars in the four years she worked for MBNA before it was
bought in 2005 by Bank of America.

Americans now carry $850 billion in credit card debt. Consumer groups
are lobbying Congress to include better protection for credit card
holders, demanding legislation to prevent what they call unjustified
interest charges and deceptive practices, especially in light of the
massive financial bailout now being considered.

Colombo and Ellingwood said that within seconds of a customer's call,
they would have his or her entire credit history on screen, and they
were trained what to say to sell people money.

"I would say 90 percent of the time, people were pragmatic. They would
say, 'I don't need $100,000,' and we would find a way to convince them
they needed the money," Ellingwood recalled.

She said they would look for trigger words like, "I'm in financial
difficulty" or "I can't make my payments." Colombo said other triggers
were, "I have to send my son to college. My car is not running. I'm
moving."

Colombo said some people even asked about getting a $50,000 cash
advance -- usually at zero percent interest -- for a down payment on a
house. And although that's illegal, the former employees say they were
trained to get around it by saying, "I cannot give you money to use as
a down-payment on a home. However, what I can do is, I can deposit
some money into your checking account, and once it's there, the funds
are there, it's yours to do with what you please."

Bank of America told CNN, "Only customers in good standing and with
good payment history are able to access cash up to available credit
line."

But Colombo and Ellingwood say they were told to sell hard to
everyone. Once the customer agreed, they say, they would speed through
intricate disclosure notices. Among the details, how a zero-percent or
low interest rate could convert to as much as 28 percent if a payment
was even a day late.

"You're basically looking at people who need the money most, who may
not be able to afford it," Ellingwood said.

Colombo remembers having a conversation with one man in his 90s.

"He had all this available credit, maybe $100,000. I have my manager
screaming, 'Colombo, you need to sell. You need to sell. You need to
sell,' " she said.

Bank of America calls its terms "clear and transparent." But credit
card lending practices have now gotten the attention of Congress.
Consumer groups support a bill to curb what they call predatory
lending.

The American Banking Association opposes it, saying, "Consumers have
benefited from a competitive marketplace that allows for pricing based
upon risk."

Americans for Fairness in Lending, which put CNN in touch with Colombo
and Ellingwood, wants deceptive credit card practices included in the
financial bailout legislation that is now before Congress.

Its director, Jim Campen, said, "We haven't identified any illegal
practices. What we've seen are practices that are highly unethical.
It's extraordinarily common."

The two women say their conversations were monitored, and the more
they sold, the bigger their salaries.

"If you didn't do it, you got yanked off the phone," Colombo said.

She said a manager once yelled, "You let your team down. You let the
bank down. You let the stockholders down!"

Bank of America said it does not talk about individual cases but calls
the allegations by the former employees "incorrect."

Spokeswoman Betty Reiss said, "Our call center associates are focused
on serving customer financial needs and responding to questions about
their accounts."

But Colombo said her performance reviews -- which she provided to CNN
-- tell a slightly different story about selling tactics. In one, she
is told by supervisors to be more aggressive: "You cannot sell what
you don't offer." Another reads, "Understand the importance of selling
at the highest possible rate."

CNN asked whether the customer call center in Belfast was perhaps
operating independently; both women shook their heads and described an
environment in which call centers across the country would compete
with one another.

"I worked four 10-hour shifts. The goal was to make $25,000 an hour,
which is $250,000 a day, which is $4 million a month," Colombo said.

Although Colombo does not know whether the practices were widely known
at Bank of America headquarters in Delaware, she said this about her
immediate managers: "Everyone on that level knew what we were doing.
We were being told to do what we did."

Do the women feel guilty about what they did?

"Yes, without question," Colombo said.

"Absolutely," Ellingwood added.

Americans for Fairness in Lending said it wants the Senate to ensure
that consumers are protected from what it describes as the deceptive
practices of many of the same financial institutions likely to benefit
from the $700 billion bailout.

The Credit Card Bill of Rights passed the House this week. But it's
opposed by the banking industry and the White House, which said it
would lead to less access to credit and higher interest rates for
consumers. For its part, Bank of America would not talk about
individual cases or provide a copy of the disclosures that its
accounts managers read to customers over the phone. It also refused to
answer questions about training procedures for account managers at
call centers across the U.S.

However, the spokeswoman said the bank "has nothing to gain by
extending credit to people who do not have the ability to pay back."

Communication

"A man is as alive as he can communicate"-LRH And a man in my
position, sad to say, must be dying with the lack of communication
termimals. Then again there are ways to come back to life with just a
little communication. Recently I've discovered the joys of pen pals at
www.penpalworld.com Wonderful site where you can connect with people
from all over the world. I've made some friends and honestly, I feel
alive for the first time in a long time.

Lance Armstrong: I'm cycling to take cancer message worldwide

Wow! This man deserves our admiration. He does not know the definion
of the word quit and lives with an intensity and passion for his goals
and ideals. My hat goes off to you and hope to see you victorious in
France this July.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:08:00 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: CNN - Lance Armstrong: I'm cycling to take cancer message worldwide
To: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>
Cc: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>

Sent from michaelrivera0619@gmail.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

Lance Armstrong: I'm cycling to take cancer message worldwide

Cycling superstar Lance Armstrong stunned the sports world September 9
when he announced that he would come out of a three-year retirement to
attempt to win the Tour de France for a record eighth time.

The 37-year-old Texan said he was returning to raise awareness of
cancer, having survived testicular cancer to triumph in cycling's most
famous race.

Armstrong spoke Wednesday with "American Morning's" Kiran Chetry about
what lies ahead in his return from retirement and the message he hopes
the world will embrace.

Kiran Chetry: A lot of excitement around the fact you that are
returning to cycling. Are you going to race in the Tour de France?

Lance Armstrong: That's the plan. Certainly that's the marquee event
in cycling, the one that draws the most attention and eyeballs. And
with the campaign to take Livestrong global, you want to do the most
high-profile event and reach out to the places that need the message
the most -- France being one, Australia another, South America, South
Africa, Asia -- a lot of places where the global epidemic for cancer
is still prevalent.

Chetry: You were diagnosed and given a 40 percent chance of survival
when you were in your mid-20s, and for you, this has become a passion
perhaps even greater than cycling. Is that the reason you are
returning to the sport?

Armstrong: It's the first reason. I guess if I looked at it from an
athletic standpoint, I don't really need to win another Tour. Seven
Tours for me was a dream, six broke the record, so that eight doesn't
really mean much.

But we had some success in the state of Texas with Livestrong; we had
success in the United States, making it part of the national dialogue.
Now it's time to take the message around the world and erase some of
the stigma that exists with cancer and increase funding not just in
the United States, but all over the world.

Chetry: You can't go anywhere without seeing someone wearing your
bracelet. That's led to $70 million from the bracelets alone. Why did
that message seem to resonate with so many people?

Armstrong: It's very simple. It resonates because the disease affects
everybody. Not that everybody has been diagnosed themselves, but
everybody has a family member or a neighbor or a classmate that dealt
with this disease. So it is literally 100 percent the basis. Everybody
understands that everybody wants to ultimately see this disease go
away in our lifetime.

Chetry: Getting back to cycling, one of your former teammates, Robbie
Ventura, was talking about how difficult it is. He said the hardest
part will be going back to the mental discipline of training --
eating, sleeping with 110 percent commitment and snapping your brain
back to the being perfect all the time. Is it the mental part that is
harder than the physical part?

Armstrong: The mind has snapped back. Mentally, I feel 25 again. I
feel motivated and more inspired than I've ever been to get back to
the bike and work hard to make all the sacrifice it required to be
competitive.

Physically, at 37, I'll be almost 38 when I start the tour next
summer. That's slightly different, but ultimately, I believe that the
mind powers the body, and once the mind says we want to do it, then
the body will follow.

Chetry: On a practical level, what is that type of training like? What
do you do every day?

Armstrong: It goes in phases. Right now, I'm spending half my time in
the gym and half my time on the bike. Come January, all of the gym
work will go away, and really for the rest of the season, all you do
is train on the bike and obviously focus on other things. Focus on
stretching. Focus on the technology of cycling. Focus on diet. Focus
on the team and strategy and all the other elements.

Chetry: I want to ask you about presidential politics right now. I
know you met with and talked and I saw you touring with John McCain,
and he's a cancer survivor himself. What does the president need to be
aware of? What type of action would you like to see happen when either
one of these men makes it to the White House as it relates to cancer
research?

Armstrong: Well, there are a lot of things that the future president
needs to do. I think the president needs to focus on the continuum of
the disease all the way from prevention to end of life.

We need more funding at the federal level both at the National Cancer
Institute and the National Institutes of Health. Both candidates have
pledged to increase funding. Barack Obama has pledged to double
funding at the NCI. I think we should do more about regulating and
controlling tobacco abuse in this country, especially when it comes to
the youth of America. There are a lot of steps here

But I think you have both candidates that are engaged. One is a
survivor himself; the other, Barack Obama, having lost his mother to
this disease. They will enter the White House with this as a priority,
I think.

New Discoveries

Surfing the net on a 1x1 1/2 inch phone screen with no video
capabilities is not a lot of fun, but once in a while your search pays
dirt and you are in for some surprises. One of those is AJ Marks
creations. I've been hooked to his stories based on the original
Battlestar Galactica. Look him up at www.ajstories.com and check out
some of his stories, you may be in for a pleasant surprise.

How We Got Into This Money Mess?

Came across this article and loved the simple simon way it explained
this economic mess were in.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:08:29 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: CNN - Commentary: How we got into this money mess
To: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>
Cc: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>

Sent from michaelrivera0619@gmail.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

Commentary: How we got into this money mess

"Greed is good."

At least, that's what Michael Douglas' character Gordon Gekko claimed
in the movie Wall Street. But, just like Gekko, the modern-day
companies that followed that motto now find themselves wondering how
everything could collapse so fast.

You know the names by now: Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns,
IndyMac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG. And that's not
even counting companies like Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman
Sachs that, while still in existence, have lost untold billions in
market value and have laid off thousands of employees.

Maybe greed isn't so good after all.

Lehman was founded in 1844 when Henry Lehman, a German immigrant,
opened a small shop in Montgomery, Alabama. His brothers joined him
six years later and, by 1858 they were busy turning cotton provided by
local farmers into a cash crop -- a business that didn't have anything
to do with helping low-income families afford 27-bedroom McMansions.

More than 150 years later, after surviving the Great Depression, Black
Monday, the savings and loan crisis and the dot-com bust, Lehman
Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection. They had gone 14 years as a
public company without ever reporting a single quarterly loss. Now
they will never again post a profit.

Bear Stearns' story is eerily similar. Founded in 1923. Survived every
crisis. Never posted a quarterly loss until last year. Gone without a
trace.

So how did 235 years of rock-solid American finance disappear
virtually overnight? Well, it's not as complicated as you think. If
you replace all of the acronyms invented by the brainiacs on Wall
Street with references to things that Main Street understands, it
becomes a lot easier to see how it all happened. Here's a quick story
I invented that does just that.

(Note to any Wall Street executives who might be reading this: I know
this simple little story isn't perfect, but let's remember that you're
the ones who tried to make everything complicated and I'm the one who
still has a job.)

It's just before Christmas,1996, and as you watch overeager parents
trample each other to buy Tickle Me Elmo dolls for their kids, you see
an opportunity. "This isn't a Tickle Me Elmo bubble," you think to
yourself, "this is a long-term trend. Every person in America will
soon own a Tickle Me Elmo, maybe even two. It's the American dream."

You approach your local banker about a loan and, naturally, he loves
your idea. In fact, he loves it so much that for every $1 you have in
your account, he's willing to lend you $34. Great deal, you think, as
you max out your credit line and buy as many Tickle Me Elmos as you
possibly can.

Sales are easy at first. People are lining up to buy your dolls and
the prices are going far higher than you ever thought. The only person
happier than you is your banker.

But the following year something unexpected happens: Kids stop asking
for Tickle Me Elmos. You try to cut the price, but no buyers show up.
You cut the price more, but your store remains empty.

Panic sets in.

You're pretty sure that this downturn is just temporary (after all,
who wouldn't want a Tickle Me Elmo?) but you're quickly running out of
cash. Your only option is to buy time and hope that Tickle Me Elmos
start flying off your shelves again.

You visit every bank in town and, using your piles of Tickle Me Elmo
dolls as collateral (which, of course, you purchased with money you
didn't have) you get as much new capital as possible.

Soon that money is also gone. Even your friends and family refuse to
give you any more loans. At the end of your rope, you go to your town
council, which gives you a "bridge loan" to get you through the next
few months (something that makes your Furby-selling competitors
extremely upset).

Unfortunately, no matter how much you borrow, there's still one
nagging little problem: No one wants to buy your stupid Tickle Me Elmo
dolls anymore.

The longer you wait, the less they're worth. You sell some for pennies
on the dollar, but pretty soon you can't even do that. Then things get
even worse: News breaks that China is poisoning some Tickle Me Elmos
before shipping them to the United States. Now your dolls are not just
out of favor, they're toxic. You literally can't even give them away.

Soon the rest of your money dries up, as do the people who are willing
to lend you any more of it. Now you're out of cash; out of a job, and,
if not for the pile of poisonous Tickle Me Elmo dolls in your
basement, completely alone -- which sounds kind of like the CEOs of
Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

Believe it or not, this ridiculous story may be far from reality, but
it's not that far off from describing what these financial and
mortgage companies did to themselves. Just replace the Tickle Me Elmo
references with the once popular, then discounted, now completely
toxic subprime mortgages and you're pretty much there.

When you cut through all the noise about "bridge loans" and "discount
windows," what you're left with is the fact that too many companies
still own way too many Tickle Me Elmos that no one wants to buy.
Giving those companies more money doesn't solve anything, it just buys
time. Unless and until the underlying problem is fixed, no real
turnaround can happen.

But we all know that investors (and elected leaders worried about
their careers this November) aren't all that patient. That's why the
new chorus you're likely to soon hear will be from people arguing that
the only way out of this mess is for the federal government to step in
and purchase all of the toxic mortgages themselves. That would allow
the companies with eyes bigger than their balance sheets to start
over, with barely any repercussions whatsoever and without ever taking
responsibility for their mistakes.

Come to think of it, maybe greed isn't so bad after all.

Would the government actually consider that idea? They already are. In
fact, the only thing stopping politicians from "rewarding" us with a
new government agency that will put billions more of our tax dollars
at stake is, ironically enough, the election of new politicians.

Disclaimer: Tickle Me Elmo is still an extremely popular, non-toxic
product and, to the best of my knowledge, is not responsible for the
credit crisis.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

CNN - Commentary: What to expect from McCain, Obama in 56 days

Hey, here is a good reason also why I stopped. After reading the
papers I find my ideas (or is it theirs?) mirroring each other. So
instead of doing the work that someone else is doing I'd rather spend
some time knowing myself. Besides, while the elections will be done in
the next two months my life will continue beyond that... at least I
hope so.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 13:16:54 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: CNN - Commentary: What to expect from McCain, Obama in 56 days
To: "michaelrivera0619@gmail.com" <michaelrivera0619@gmail.com>

Sent from michaelrivera0619@gmail.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

Commentary: What to expect from McCain, Obama in 56 days

Now that both conventions are over, Labor Day is behind us and the
kids are back in school, let's take a look at how the last 56 days of
the fall campaign may shape up:

What to look for from John McCain

I still think McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin was insane from a
governing point of view, but she has clearly energized the
conservative base of the GOP -- folks who have always been leery of
McCain. Her selection and the relentlessly negative convention have
fired up McCain's base.

The party of Reagan -- sunny optimism, criticism offered in folksy
witticisms and the shake of a head -- is gone. This is the party of
Giuliani and Palin: sarcastic, sneering, snotty and snide. I don't
know why, but meanness plays with the GOP base.

But the right-wing base alone will not win this race. McCain needs to
move to the middle, and the Palin pick makes that tougher. So expect
him to send Palin to small markets, use her to fire up the
right-wingers, and then get his butt to the swing states.

Let's face it, the Bush-Republican brand is dead. Selling the old Bush
line in this economy would be like trying to sell tickets for the
return trip on the Titanic after it sank.

So McCain is not going to make this a race about ideas. After all, he
actually has voted with Bush 91 percent of the time. Perhaps that's
why his campaign manager said this election was not about issues.
McCain plainly wants this race to be about biography. His is actually
the campaign built around a cult of personality.

McCain will continue to emphasize his remarkable suffering in service
to our country. After months of research I have uncovered a heretofore
unknown fact: John McCain was in the military. I'm pretty sure he was
a POW. And I'm pretty sure Barack Obama was not. So expect to see
McCain continue to run on his past rather than America's future.

The flip side of a character-based positive message is -- you guessed
it -- a character-based negative campaign. I hate to say this, but the
McCain campaign -- and its right-wing allies -- are going to play the
politics of fear and smear.

You saw it in St. Paul: doughy Republicans scoffing at Barack Obama's
time as a community organizer -- even though Obama's work was the
embodiment of the values the GOP claims to believe in: faith-based,
family-centered, self-help, hands-on, non-bureaucratic.

If you thought you'd seen it all with Willie Horton, the vicious
attacks on Bill Clinton and his family (including John McCain himself
cruelly mocking the appearance of then-12 year-old Chelsea), or the
"swift-boating" of John Kerry, you ain't seen nothing yet. Obama's
been maligned from the right as a Muslim, an elitist, a socialist --
and that's just the warm-up act.

What to look for from Barack Obama

For his part, Barack Obama needs to drill two numbers into the heads
of every American: 91 and 134. 91 is the percentage of the time McCain
has voted with Bush, and 134 is the number of corporate special
interest lobbyists involved in the McCain campaign.

Obama will likely argue that no one who votes with Bush 91 percent of
the time is a maverick, and that someone with 134 former or current
lobbyists advising, funding or managing his campaign cannot be
considered a reformer. If Obama can shatter the image of the maverick
reformer, even McCain's heroic POW story will not be enough to win the
White House.

On the positive side, Obama will likely stress the economy, including
his plan to cut taxes for middle-class families and small business, as
well as his plan for energy independence. The key to success will be
connecting with voters.

As someone who was raised by a single mom, who knew real poverty, who
went to the best schools with scholarships and student loans, Obama is
a living testament to the power of the American Dream. He needs to
connect emotionally, not intellectually.

The kid who came up the hard way cannot allow himself to be cast as an
elitist by a guy who owns nine homes in three time zones. Joe Biden
helps enormously on this front. He may have been selected for his
foreign policy expertise, but his ability to touch the hearts of
middle-class families makes him an indispensable asset to the
sometimes professorial Sen. Obama.

All of this, of course, should be taken with a block of salt, not just
a grain. A year and a half ago, I thought the general election would
be Hillary Clinton versus Mitt Romney. No one knows what's around the
next corner, much less the dozens of hair-pin turns between now and
election day.

The most important thing to keep in mind as this campaign unfolds is
to expect the unexpected. The campaign that is more nimble, more
aggressive, more free-thinking is the one that will be able to
capitalize on the shifting terrain. The ability to improvise, whether
in sports or warfare or politics, is often the most important talent
of all.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

Done With Politics

Following the political race was fun for a while until things started
to take a nasty turn. Honestly I got tired of the divisive tactics at
the RNC and knowing by extrapolation that it'll only get worse in the
next two months. Hey the Democrats are no saints, and while Obama will
try to curb the punches it'll get ugly. So I'm back to my basic
purpose when the blog got started, politics may come in but won't have
such a central role as it had before.

Distance? Time? What's That?

Today got a message from an old friend saying that I haven't changed
since we last saw each other in '95. That reminded me of the song
line saying "I ain't changed but I know I ain't the same." You know
it's true. Things have changed around me, I deal with things in a
different way, but the basic me is still there. Some gray hair here
and there, a few wrinkles that were not there befeore but I'm still
the rame playful, kind and loving friend. And that my friend is a
great relief.

cabin fever...

a term popped into my mind and had to clear it. cabin fever. ouch!
sounds exactly the way that i feel. not a very good feeling. i think
i'll stick my nose in a book and take a trip to wherever the author
decides anywhere but here. at least for a while...

Back...

Finally I'm back. Been gone for a couple of days with some minor body
problems. Seems like Palin and Gustav have been stirring up a storm.
If McCain wanted to capture the media spotlight, he certainly did.
While Iwas ready to vote for Palin for President, I'm not so sure now.
The turnoff being her teenage daughter's pregnancy. Hey, my hat goes
off to mom for the support but do I really want someone who can't put
order in her house to be at the head of Nation? I don't think so.