A study in contrasts

Now that the Republican ticket is complete with Sen. McCain's selection of Gov. Palin as his running mate is really jumps out what a difference there is between the two tickets.

I'm no fan of lawyers. One ticket (DEM) has two lawyers the other ticket (REP) none.

One ticket has two graduates of east coast schools who went on to law school the other ticket has a graduate of the United States Naval Academy with an engineering degree who later attended the Naval War College and a graduate of the University of Idaho with a degree in journalism.

I'm an advocate of the sanctity of life and protecting the unborn. One ticket (DEM) has two candidates fully bought and owned by NARAL. The other ticket is solidly prolife. They don't just talk the talk they walk the walk. The REP presidential candidate adopted an unwanted child while his running mate recently gave birth to her fifth child who she knew would be born with Down Syndrome.

Politicians are compromised by excessive time in Washington, DC. One ticket (DEM) has two U.S. Senators with a total of nearly 40 years in D.C. The other ticket has a U.S. Senator (26 years) and the governor of a state as far from D.C. as possible.

I'm a military retiree who believes in a strong national defense. One ticket has two men who never served. You may have heard that the top of the other ticket served in the Navy for 20 years.

One ticket talks change but will bring just more of the same old Washington politics. The other party has two people with a history of pushing for reform even to the point of upsetting their own party.

The differences are stark and leave no doubt which ticket should be elected in November.

NFL Preseason (finally) Finished

The Browns ended their preseason winless with an 0 and 4 record. Repeat after me three times - Exhibition games DON'T MATTER! There is some truth to this statement. The only other time the Browns didn't win a single preseason game (1972) they made the playoffs. In recent years, the Indianapolis Colts ignored the results of preseason games with no lasting effect. Okay that's the sunny side to this story.

Here is the truth. They didn't just lose the pre-season games. No, they looked sloppy and undisciplined while losing. They suffered various minor and major injuries while losing.

A win over the Dallas Cowboys in the season opener would cause all that to be forgotten. However, right now pessimism reigns.

McCain's VP pick

John McCain will announce his vice presidential running mate in just over an hour just up I-75 at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The latest on Drudge has speculation centering on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Nothing is for sure yet since yesterday I went to sleep thinking it would be Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Here are a few rambling thoughts on the selection.

* Romney was out of the running as soon as the McCain campaign ran the ads showing Sen. Biden questioning Sen. Obama's qualifications. Those ads basically knocked every one of McCain's GOP primary opponents out of the running.

* Palin brings a lot to the table to help shore up areas of concern regarding McCain. She is strongly pro-life. She is a life time member of the NRA. She has pushed for government reform to clean up Alaska. She does have an area of disagreement with McCain - She is an advocate of drilling for oil in ANWR. The best thing McCain could do is to explain that during the interview process she showed him how little of the 19 million acres of ANWR would be used for drilling and her grasp of energy policy and environmental issues not only convinced him to change his position on drilling in ANWR but also convinced him she would be a great running mate who would not just be a "yes man" but a teammate capable of challenging his positions. . . . .

* My understanding is that Mitt Romney and others who ran against McCain will be there in Dayton when the announcement is made. That is a great show of unity. It is also a shrewd move by Romney. He needs to be perceived as a team player to have a future. If he campaigns aggressively for a losing McCain effort he would quickly be the frontrunner in 2012. There is also talk that his recent move to California is a first step towards running for California governor in 2010. Would he be just the second person to serve as governor of two different states (Sam Houston Tennessee and Texas).

* Democrats will certainly jump on Palin's limited experience. However, they should tread lightly since she has more executive experience than their ticket. She also is not on the top of the ticket. President may not be on the job training, but the vice president is essentially always in training for an unexpected promotion.

* Gov. Palin has five kids and has given all of them odd (at least to me) names.

A good, solid, bold pick. Personally, I'm more please with the bottom of the ticket than the top.

Another "mom" leaves child in hot car to die

Last year we mourned in Cincinnati at news that a mother left her child in a hot car all day while she was working as an assistant principal. The poor little two year-old child died from heat stroke. Making matters worse, justice was denied for that child as the county prosecutor chose not to press charges believing the action wasn't intentional. Now, sadly we have an eerily similar new case. A counseling professor (whatever that is) at Cincinnati Christian University left her 11 month-old child in a car from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM on a day with 90 degree temperatures. Eight hours in a hot vehicle! The little girl obviously suffered greatly as she was slow cooked to death in the hot car.

A question we will never be able to fully answer is, would this lady have been able to forget her kid if Nesselroad-Slaby had been publicly prosecuted last year and sentenced to prison? If these parents aren't criminally negligent then the term has no meaning.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones - RIP - UDPATE

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first African-American woman to represent Ohio in Congress, has died after suffering a brain aneurysm. While Rep. Tubbs-Jones was wrong on most issues much more often than not, there is no denying she was dedicated to her district and thought she was pushing legislation that would help her constituents. Rest in Peace.

UPDATE:

Don't often have to do updates to RIP entries, but there's a first time for everything. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has changed their article and now Jones' status has been upgraded from dead to critical.

ANOTHER UPDATE:

The Plain Dealer has changed their mind again and downgraded her status back to dead. Obviously they don't understand the concept of Rest in Peace. I understand professional ambition and wanting to be first with a story. However, when it comes to reporting a public figure's death it is probably better to be certain and late than to be first and wrong.

Need to see Detroit's mayor? Better get a visitor's pass

It is hard to decide whether Michigan's sorry political situation is funny or sad. Since I'm an Ohioan I'll go with funny.

Judge Ronald Giles just sent Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to jail moments after the mayor pleaded for forgiveness and admitted he made an unauthorized trip to Windsor on city business.

So, when you get bond to stay out of jail and you violate the terms of the bond you get put in jail. Okay, makes sense to me. Oddly enough the fools in Michigan just this week reelected the mother of the crooked mayor to another term in congress. Actually, she just won the Democratic primary, but Michigan is such a liberal cesspool that winning the primary means she gets another term.

Our long national nightmare is over

The title of this post is stolen, with apologies to our 38th president, to refer to Brett Favre being traded to the New York Jets. The nightmare was ESPN (among others) covering this story excessively. Don't get me wrong, Favre was a very good (sometimes great) quarterback, but in the end he became just another selfish professional athlete who was more concerned about ME than about team. His "I'm bigger than the team" mentality was demonstrated over the last few years by his maybe I'll retire or maybe I'll be back routine. Finally, the Green Bay Packers took him at his word and moved on. Now, maybe ESPN can figure out that there are other players, other teams and other sports.

Random Links for Tuesday 5 August

Haven't had time to post the last few days between our church festival and a messy home repair. So here's a few links for you:

Last week when I posted about the suspect in the 2001 Anthrax attacks committing suicide I surmised that his death would not mean case closed. Here is the first article making that case - Bruce Ivins Wasn't the Anthrax Culprit.

Oddly, the case has an local connection:

When he was a University of Cincinnati student, Bruce Ivins was rebuffed by a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, U.S. authorities say. And his decades-long obsession with the sorority may link the former Army biowarfare scientist to four anthrax-laced letters mailed in 2001.

Thomas Sowell weighs in regarding the investigation and how Steven Hatfield was labeled as a person of interest.

Recently, some of Sen. Obama's supporters, responding to Sen. McCain's video mocking Obama's celebrity status, have made a comparison between Obama and Ronald Reagan. Dan McLaughlin at Baseball Crank took that comparison apart. About the only similarity that remains is that both gained initial political prominence from one key speech. Obama gained national prominence from his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Reagan first major political speech was in support of 1964 Republican nominee Sen. Barry Goldwater. That is where the similarities end. Crank has video from both speeches and a rundown of what the men did between those speeches and seeking the presidency. Click the link to see the video.

Stupid story of the day: Is Death Row Inmate Too Fat to Die? Uh, NO! His idiot lawyer is arguing that the drug that is supposed to ensure he feels no pain from the process may not work because of his weight and other medications. Sounds like we are feeding him too much in prison. The second stupid thing is this story is this paragraph:

Cooey, 41, is sentenced to die for raping and murdering two young women in 1986. His execution is scheduled for Oct. 14.

Maybe he wouldn't be too damn fat for execution if we didn't take 22 years to punish him for his crimes. Jeez!

Pelosi’s church has not withheld communion. The way this article is written it seems to put the onus on her church to deny her communion. The question shouldn't be whether the Eucharistic Minister denied her communion at the alter. No, the question should be why is she presenting herself for communion? She openly and actively supports abortion on demand including public funding. That is an aggressive rejection of church teachings. Maybe she just needs to find another church, I dunno maybe she can find one that doesn't place much value on human life.

Lies of ommission

Stop by BizzyBlog today. He has a post regarding the reporting of Exxon Mobil's 2nd quarter profit. The media has reported Exxon's record profit almost as if they are reporting on a crime. However, most media outlets ignore how low a profit margin they have and how much taxes they pay. If Exxon's taxes are nearly three times their profits then who is really gouging the customer.

BREAKING NEWS: Anthrax attack suspect found dead

This is a classic good news - bad news story. This morning we find out a man, Bruce E Ivins, committed suicide as he was about to be charged as a suspect in the anthrax attacks that occurred shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

The good news:
* Apparently, good detective work eventually led to the individual who murdered several people and terrorized countless people who were scared to open their mail in the aftermath of these high profile attacks.
* The individual committed suicide saving us the cost of his trial and incarceration.

The bad news:
* Regardless of the good work which led to this guy, it took far too long. If he had access to this stuff through his job he should have been seriously considered earlier. Bottom line: nearly seven years is too long.
* Sloppy and heavy handed investigative work led to Terry Hatfield being identified as a prime suspect. Hatfield is owed a major apology. We're left to wonder whether an excessive focus on Hatfield helped the guy who did it avoid detection.
* The suicide means we will likely not get clear answers about his motives and methods. Nor do we get 100% certainty of his guilt. He likely is guilty, but could have committed suicide out of fear of the pending embarrassment of being charged. Remember, the folks saying it is Ivins are the same folks who focused on Hatfield for five years.
* Additionally, the suicide will play into the nutty conspiracy believers. The same morons (Troofers) who think there were no planes that flew into the buildings, but rather the government intentionally blew the buildings up so we could go to war, will quickly be claiming he was killed as the suicide is just a cover story.