So since I was right before.. lets make some picks...

So I know that some people are surprised by this new Obama presidency. At this point I'm thinking someone needs to update the world of spell-check because as I write this Obama has a dotted red line underneath. Anyway, I called it in 2004. Saw him speak at the DNC that year and said to myself, "Wow, why isn't he running for president?" Eventually, luck would have it, I would have my druthers. So I figured I'd make a few predictions, here is how I see the futures of The Pittsburgh Steelers, The Carolina Panthers, The Charlotte Bobcats, and The Penn State University Nittany Lions Football Team.

Lets start with my beloved Stillers, who are sitting at 6-2 after a week 6 bye. Coming off of a great win against the Skins on monday and facing the Colts at home today. I say we win today 31 - 17, propelling us to 7-2 and setting up 3 possible back to back to back home wins. Beating also the Chargers (week 11 @ PIT), and Bengals (week 12 @ PIT) at home, then hitting the road to lose to the Patriots (week 13), come home to beat-down a beat-up Cowboys (week 14) team. This is where it gets hairy, we will lose one of our last three games, probably to Baltimore (week 15), and then (whether or not anyone else has all season) beating Tennessee (week 16) and Cleveland (week 17 @ PIT) to end the season, but as I said it could be any of those three teams that hand us a loss, but mark my words we will not lose more than 1 of those final 3. Finishing the season at 12-4.

The "mighty" Carolina Panthers, just as the Steelers above, will also make the post-season. I placed my Panthers in quotes because I still don't buy the fact that they haven't just been lucky in half their games, but a win is a win is a win, and if you get enough of them you make it far. We take on the, never as scary as their fans, Oakland Raiders today, victorious! Panthers currently sit at 6-2 and look primed to (thats right I'm saying it here) win their next 6 games in a row bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. Not too much to ask for knowing the next 6 games are set as Oakland, Detroit, Atlanta, Green Bay, Tampa Bay (Monday night game at home, will be close, but a Panthers victory), and Denver. However, (yes every silver lining has a touch of gray) we will lose our last two games which are both away first loss to the New York football Giants, and second and final regular season game will be a loss to the 'Aints of New Orleans. But, as I've put it here 12-4, do you see a theme developing?

Nittany Lions. I cannot believe you lost to Iowa, although it was your only difficult opponent, you will not lose again, you will beat Indiana and Michigan State pretty handily and go on to beat whomever the BCS chooses as your opponent in whatever Bowl Game you get placed into. One loss isn't that bad, maybe now Joe Pa can retire with pride, but still watch all the games from the press box and still be revered as a football god.

Bobcats. Well, lets say its just a touch too early for me to call this. They could still pull it out and make the playoffs, they NEED to make the playoffs, they have a new coach, but I just cannot call it, its like saying that Sox are going to win the Series next year, you just can't say. As MSNBC would say the Bobcats are too early to call.

So thats what I think, looks solid, as for the post-season results, stay tuned.

Ahhhh thats why he'll go down as one of our best Presidents..

As I watched President Clinton speak (actually watched it 3x's tonight) I was reminded of what it was like back in the good old days. You know when we had a president who was a gifted orator.. not a bumbling idiot who stumbled on every other word...

What else you ask??

Lets break it down.. see if you can pick it up as I lay it down for ya.. ya' heard...

- A balanced budget... you know when our Federal government was taking it more than it was spending (or at least even).. which led to...
- A Surplus! As in the OPPOSITE of a DEFICIT!! What a novel concept.
- A military ready to protect us (not stretched thin for many reasons which will only turn my face red and make me scream HALLIBURTONNNNN)
- Decreased cost of college education
-What else do i need to point out??? Constant increase to the value of your home.. ahhh you've heard it all before what i am doing repeating this...

Clinton just blew it up! For two nights in a row a Clinton showed this country what it needed to see, what all of us enlightened thinkers (progressives) have been saying (or cursing under our breaths) for 7.789 years.

He hit every main point, and proved to the nation that the only clear choice is Barack Obama. I've put this out on my Facebook page, and have offered it to multiple people I've argued politics with in person over the past year(s), and so I will offer it again here today..

Convince me to vote for John McCain and I will do it, and I will blog about why, and I will convince people I know, and I will pay you $500 USD. Thats right (although this is worth much less after 8 Bush years in the white house, I will not be adjusting for inflation as we are in a recession.. duh.. read a newspaper).

Furthermore I will publicly apologize (in whatever medium is most acceptable to the winner) to John McCain for calling him any of the following terms which I have used to describe him since the start of his campaign: Old; crotchety; out-of-touch; senile; dangerous; lacking-intelligence; scary; pale; backward; conservative.

DNC v. RNC.. good luck McCain

First off, Clinton spoke beautifully last night. As it was put, "she hit it out of the park."

Second off, Richard Dreyfuss is on MSNBC right now commenting on the filth that calls itself the republican party.

Obama is actually going to win this. He's jumped several points since yesterday (had to figure that would happen once Hillary begun to bury the hatchet), and still hasn't made what should prove to be one of the most memorable speeches American politics has seen in 40 years. President Clinton tonight (the last successful resident of the White House) will do several things: 1) Prove to the world that Obama is very capable of leading this country; 2) Help unite the party even further; 3) Attempt to bring blue-collar whites into the Obama camp; 4) Show that even though we may be liberals we have no problem using responsible military action; 5) Attack John McCain for being Bush x 2; 6) Finally I expect him (as a gifted orator) to change his tone during the speech, showing how he personally has changed his mind over the past 16 months about Barack Obama, and that its ok to change your view, it simply means you are thinking.

But I've heard Bill give big speeches in the past, who I haven't seen much of... Biden. Joe Biden is a true Pennsylvanian. He speaks his mind, he supports the organized labor, and he fights like hell. Not to mention he is intelligent and has an excellent world-view. I believe this is the speech to watch tonight, because Biden doesn't want to get outshone by Clinton when its he who is the second seat on this ticket. Look for Biden to attack McCain on policies, on the economy, on energy, and on his inability to work with the Democrats after this election period.

Final thought. I love this convention, the coverage has been great I love seeing the protesters behind the CNN and MSNBC sets outside, shouting "9/11 was an inside job! (a view that I've held for a while, if you haven't watched Zeitgeist, you have no idea)" As well as shouting the link which this Title will take you to, www.infowars.com. Obviously you have to take this sort of writing with a grain of salt, but for the most part it makes sense. The only thing I haven't liked about this convention is the amount of money that has been spent, I know its just a sign of the times, but a more scaled-down, less ostentatious set-up would be more appropriate considering the current state of our economy.

Fight for Obama!

www.barackobama.com

Obama? McCain? Who has more to lose from the faith-based forum?

As I write this I am beginning to watch Senator McCain take questions from Pastor Rick Warren. Many of you who know me would ask "Shawn, what do you care about the faith-based community's vision of the next president?" Honestly I don't. I am not a person of faith, raised Jewish, but I am at this point, as I have been since just after my Bar Mitzvah, a self-proclaimed agnostic. However, the recent polls have indicated that Obama and McCain are essentially dead-even nationally, which makes any current debate between these two important. But as the title states who has more to lose? In one word, McCain. He leads the polls of white-evangelicals at the rate of 68% to 24%, how much worse can Obama do. Any sales-based training will indicate to you that regardless as to how good of a salesperson you may be you will be able to easily convince 25% of your market to agree with you. While I watched tonight, as Obama took questions before 6,000 people at Saddleback in California, he routinely convinced more than 25% of the audience that he was correct.

Nobody has been questioning John McCain's Christianity. Tonight Obama showed his knowledge of the Christian faith as well as his knowledge of scripture. He proved to generations of Americans that he is not Muslim, he is not the Anti-Christ, he is, in essence, our best hope for a better country. As I continue to watch the forum, I notice McCain constantly being interrupted for applause, definatively more boistrous than Obama's but still, if he makes in-roads with some people at this junction, it will quantitatively increase his polling numbers in the months to come, especially once these two begin to debate in a less civil manner, ie. presidential and vice-presidential debates. During those debates I have little fear that Obama will demolish McCain in every effort to prove a positive policy position. Think Kennedy v. Nixon, but dare I want to further the similarities between Kennedy and Obama.

On the issues Obama did not waiver, he did not falter, he didn't beat around the bush or deny his positions, he used LOGIC to show people WHY he believes the way he did, be it faith-based logic or simple LOGIC. Obama didn't attempt to lie to gain votes tonight, he showed who he was, he saved his hide, he kept is 24% and probably gained a few as well, if not, people will remember (hopefully) his ability during this forum to show his true colors, honesty, humility, intelligence, and candor.

On the flip-side, McCain (for the first time) seems somewhat intelligent, but his speaking points are not winning anyone else over. It is the same face-time I've seen time and time again from McCain, the same Bull Shit, the same Right-Wing talking points, the same Pro-Bush agenda which we have heard time and time again, and I believe, with full conviction that America will be tired of McCain before the election arrives. For such a "patriot" he sure seems to think of the US military as a chess piece more than an actual entity of young American's who give their future's in hope that they can help their country and be greatly compensated for their actions. We should be DAMN SURE that we know WHY we send them into harms-way before we send them, that we have explored all the options and use them as the last course of action and only when necessary.

As I continue to watch, I am still not impressed with McCain. I am biased though, do not think of this as a concise determination of the actual proceedings, as I have a very small notion as to what McCain can do for this country. I've said it before his logic is faulty, he is too old, he is too military-based and in the wrong way. Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran? Are you kidding? I am very disgusted by his positions, but tonight it isn't about me.

Obama tonight has everything to gain, McCain has everything to lose. From this point on, mark my words, prove me wrong if need be, you will see a constant decline in Senator McCain's national polling numbers. He has nothing new to offer and people are slowly realizing that the other 50% of this country have been correct for a LONG time.

If you called my dog a dingo... you were probably right.

I remember it as if it were yesterday.

I thought we were going to LOOK for dogs, but no, Erin had other ideas. In her mind, we were going to GET a dog. Not just any dog, but THE dog, and it had to be a puppy. Boy was it ever a puppy. She was about 4lbs, wrinkles all over, big floppy ears, big knobby paws, and tons of energy. She had fresh stitches on her undercarriage from being spade (which now pisses me off, but what can you do), a fresh tattoo, and a few worms, but other than that she was 100% tough.

Leila Jane sitting on Erin's lap the day we brought her home.

We named her Leila Jane, after the Clapton song, and figured Jane was a good middle name to use, just kind of came together. They told us she was a Chinese Sharpei, Boxer mix, and that she would get to about 35-40 lbs. At six months she was 40 lbs. She continued to grow, but she was always well-behaved, even for being confined to an urban apartment at first and now an even smaller duplex (although I must admit she loves to run the stairs, but with her long legs and muscular frame she only hits about 4 on the way up). She rarely messed inside, and if she did we knew she was sick. She played rough, but thats probably a combination of her size, my constant roughhousing with her and the fact that her best bud in Charlotte was Tanner, my buddy's Pit Bull.

She is now about 19 months old, and weighs in around 70lbs, she is still gentle, very intelligent, loving, and at times a bit weird. Weird, yeah, my dog... hunts dogs, and cats, and birds, and squirrells, and snipes (not really, I told you she was intelligent, she doesn't fall for the "snipe hunt" as quickly as a pledge). You ask, "what do you mean by 'hunt' Shawn"?" Well happy you asked, she gets down low, crouching to about half her normal height, her steps are slow and deliberately placed, eyes fixed on her prey, and just as she senses her timing is perfect, she leaps towards the prey accelerating to almost max speed within fractions of a second, and usually pulling my arm from my shoulder. A funny picture illustrating the end result of Leila's hunting prowess is below. The short of the story is that Leila got into "hunt mode" as she was exiting the house, she chased a kitten around the house behind us to our neighbors back porch. Once I caught up, this is what greeted me.Thank God for picture phones.

At this point if I were you (thank God I'm not, just kidding you seem like a great human), I'd be asking "What does this have to do with the title?" Well essentially this is all pointing to the fact that we cannot for the life of us figure out what type of dog she is. That is until the other day, I was at a friend's house up the road a spell, and his roommate's dog look just like Leila, well just like Leila plus like 30 lbs. After questioning the roommate about his dog I was told he was part American Dingo, also known as Carolina Dog. I had never heard of the breed, nor had I ever seen a Carolina Dog before, so I got home and gots to some reading.

You can click on the title of this article and Wikipedia will break it on down for you like you know they would. Essentially Carolina Dogs are thought to be the original dogs in this part of North America (what part? why the best part, the south east). Its believed that these are the ancestors of Korean dogs, who crossed the Bering land bridge with some of the first (who knows right? I wasn't here) humans to step foot on this beautiful continent, they lived here, side by side with Native Americans, as a type of Pariah dog, communal, a great hunting partner, and obviously a strong breed, as I have one of them using a pillow on my couch right now.

My research proved exciting as each and every bit of Carolina Dog filled my head. She fit EVERY single characteristic, she no longer looked like a Boxer German-Shepherd mutt, or a Sharpei mix, no, she was some sort of mutt with Carolina Dog, if not 100% Carolina Dog. Its a fascinating history these dogs have, still living wild in the lowcountry and swamps of the Carolinas and Georgia. Still living alongside humans thousands of years later, truly man's best friend.

Below I have put a couple of pictures so you can see what I mean as far as the visual similarities between Leila Jane and prime examples of American Dingos/Carolina Dogs. The personality profiles I read were also remarkably similar, and anyone knowing Leila can attest to the fact that she acts a bit unlike most other dogs.

Thanks for reading. Here's some comparison photos.Leila and Erin on the Beach.

Leila (8 mos) sitting on the couch.

Carolina Dogs. (above and below)

Check out more Carolina Dogs/American Dingos by simply performing a Google image search.

Why does billing have to be a hassle every month?

Every month now it seems to be the same old same old. Dealing w/ Charter Communications, trying to figure out what should be a straight forward statement.

I saw an advertisement on the internet a month or so before we moved from Charlotte to Carolina Beach. "$69.99/mo - High Speed Internet, Basic Cable, and Unlimited Digital Phone." Sounded like quite the deal, you could end up paying $69.99/mo for just High Speed internet w/ some companies.

So I set it up, online, scheduled an Install date, talked to a very polite Indian woman to verify my information. It was a breeze, so much easier than all the Bullshit Time Warner puts you through in Charlotte, with my half an hour waits to talk to customer service, or technical support.

Wow was I wrong. I haven't had anything go right, they didn't even have record that I had set up an installation, and right now, as I write this post I am sitting on 1 full hour of conversation w/ billing reps online. As I lose more hair.

I did this last month, I dont like getting a bill which states I have previous balances. Previous Balances indicate to me that I didn't pay something.. and I know that is not accurate. I paid for modems, I paid for installation, I had shit waived, all I want is a bill that says $69.99/mo + taxes and other BS connect fees and line usage BS = $85.67, not 80someodd dollars + 54.71 we pulled out of our asses = 400/mo + 10% due at signing, with an ARM and a fixed odds that we will just cut off your services in August regardless and charge you a 40 reconnect fee for each of your three services. "Thank you for calling charter, you are a valued customer."

1 hour and 20 minutes I will never get back, couldn't make it to the aquarium b/c of this BS. I am not just going to pay a bill, past due, previous balance, balance forward, blah blah blah blah, either show me what I'm paying for or accept the payments I send you.. option A or option B.

Essentially what I am trying to say here kids, is that if you set up w/ Charter a couple of things are going to happen. 1) Your internet will probably not connect for up to a week as Charter doesn't want to buy more IP addresses. 2) Your package (well not YOUR package) but the Charter package you chose may be low priced, but you will still have $30-$60 installation fees associated w/ each service. 3) You will be told, if you do not understand their complicated and rediculous statements that a service interruption could occur at any time.

The internet is quick, the cable comes in clearish, the phone is a phone is a phone.

I am so aggravated if I wasn't working tonight I'd be drinking this afternoon.

Peace and Chicken Grease.

John McCain, War Hero to Grumpy Old Man

John McCain is an idiot. He is out of touch (completely), ill-informed, and shabby. The sad thing is, prior to the 2008 general election I had a favorable view of John McCain. I saw him as a moderate-republican, a person who actually looked out for his constituents. I saw him as a centrist, a beltway republican who wasn't afraid to cross the aisle to better the US. I saw him as a person who understood war, who didn't want to repeat the failings of Vietnam, and as a candidate who had been on the receiving end of terribly negative campaigning in 2000.

However since this election has begun, he has done nothing but appall me. His first misstep, giving a "big" speech the night that Obama locked up the delegates needed to be the Democratic Presidential Nominee. Second misstep, running a dirty campaign, constantly attacking Obama as if he had stolen Karl Rove's play book even tho he swore to run a good campaign focusing on the issues. Third, not having a clue about his own talking points and furthermore admitting that he knows nothing about the economy, in fact he knows so little that he went as far as to say that the Bush tax cuts needed to stay because of their stimulating effect on the American economy. Lastly, there are so many gaffs in the McCain camp that it is difficult to show them all, impossible to list them all without a severe bout of carpal tunnels, however I will say this... whining about the media being biased against you isn't going to get the media on your side. Why do you think the media is covering Obama more? Could it be because he is the first African-American candidate with a chance of becoming president? Is it possible that his trips around the world are a bit more sensational than say an almost canceled press-conference in front of the cheese cooler at a grocery store in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania?

Anyway, I would like to follow this up with a comment to Right-Wingers, Centrists, and Left-Wingers. Especially the Right-Wingers. If you would stop supporting these half-wit candidates you'd probably have some support from across the aisle, but if you continue to support these Bush/McCain Jokers, you wont have any support from the Left. To the Centrists, you want Obama, I dont have to tell you that, just don't go and support that Ego-Maniac Nader, if Nader actually wanted to help the citizens of the US he would've aligned himself with one of our two parties and helped to fix our government from the inside-out. And to my brothers and sisters on the Left and Far-Left, stick with your man, I know Obama isn't as liberal or socially forward-thinking as most of us would like, but he is the best person for the job, and he's probably the best candidate for the job since Clinton, Bill.

I just cannot believe the amount of shit I have to put up with for this McCain fella'. Every time I turn on the news I end up with a twinge in my neck from my head shaking side to side in disapproval as they show me the next stupid thing John McCain has done or said. I thought Republicans felt strongly about personal responsibility, doesn't he realize its his own fault his campaign is going down the crapper?

Baaaah. In other news, its been a slow week on the Island, combination of considerable cloud cover and $4 gas. We need an alternative to our energy issues so people can come to the beach and tip me. It is nice today tho. I think I'm going to hop on the Cruiser and head on down to the Boardwalk, get some pizza at Frank's.

Holler atcha boy.

Pickens Plan, CNG, Hybrids... The answer may be blowing in the wind.

So I gotta say I'm pleased to see the ideas coming out of Texas. Generally not something you'd expect to hear coming from a self-proclaimed Social-Democrat. T. Boone Pickens plan to reduce America's narcissistic addiction to oil is a great example of the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that these sad (economically speaking) times should produce from successful people. The beautiful thing to me is the bi-partisan appeal of plan, who can say "I enjoy coal-fire power plants, soot, destroying the environment, and not creating thousands of high-paying jobs." I wont summarize his ideas, by simply watching the 5 minute video on the Pickens Plan website you can figure it out on your own.

It got me thinking, which gets me reading, which seems to not be popular at all.

So his plan calls for using Compressed Natural Gas or CNG to power 20% of our vehicles. While reading a few reviews of people in this country and others (it seems Argentina has quite a love affair w/ CNG powered automobiles) I realized the versatility and advantages of a Natural Gas Vehicle. Similar mileage exists for most passenger cars, with reduced emissions, and a much much lower cost. Its also cleaner burning, which lends one to believe you could operate the vehicle for a longer period of time, this however I was unable to prove. The cost is about $1.40- $2.75 a "gallon." So...

If mileage is similar, conversion is simple (and relatively inexpensive depending on vehicle make/model), and power isn't sacrificed, why haven't we tried this? Where is Detroit? What if you applied it to a Hybrid? If the numbers work out (55mpg , $2.50/gallon, 180mi. trip) could I get from Carolina Beach to Charlotte for less than $10.00 in fuel? Thats not just great, thats amazing. Why has it taken us all this time to figure this out? I am really sick of lobbyists right now.

So CNG aside I think the real story is the wind, we need to utilize this new technology and harness the wind for our power... and our purchasing power. This industry would create thousands of jobs, which, are hard to come by these days. I don't need to tell you that.

Anyway, it was a nice day on Pleasure Island, hot as hell, but nice, I drove my car for the first time in a few days, and she is running fine. Gotta love the Huffy for taking me almost everywhere I need to go. Riding on 26's, ya' heard.

So who wants to sponsor me? I want to convert a Prius to CNG and honk the horn as I pass every gas station.

Ok I'll sweeten the pot. You not only get to sponsor me, you also get to put an Ad wrap on the vehicle.

Just an idea, from me.

Holla' atcha boy.