After a delay in making his announcement, moments ago CNN claims it has confirmed that Obama has picked Biden to be his running mate. I don’t know what led him to make that choice, but I think having two senators on the ticket isn’t a great idea. I would be saying the same thing if Hillary were his pick.
At this moment, the Wikipedia entry for Biden says nothing about him having survived a brain tumor, which is an odd omission. I don’t recall if it was malignant. I know two people who had non-cancerous brain tumors and they have both been fine for over twenty years.
Hi! Well-next stop, the debates. Don’t know if I’ll watch. I’m liable to throw a shoe thru the TV. Nah, actually I’d turn on something else. By the way, Tabi was spayed and the vets agreed we did the right thing. Internally she was very small and she was a fertile Myrtle-carrying 7 kittens! Some may have never developed, been stillborn, or miscarried. She’s anemic from flea bites and the parasites she had and her white blood cell count was up. So she is now a healthier, happier recovering kitty. I’m just glad we could help her and keep her from having to go thru all that. Now with Ike likely to go into the Gulf, New Orleans residents must be at their breaking point. This time of the year must be hell on your nerves in the Gulf and islands like Cuba and Haiti.
It’s a real shame that things are so bad for New Orleans I remember as a kid that Louis Armstrong was like an ambassador for the city. It’s a city I always wanted to visit for the music venues. Now I wonder what will happen. Gustav is now a category 4, New Orleans is now under a mandatory evacuation, and be darned if the cone of expected landfall isn’t centering right at the city. On shows ranging from “Nova”, “Nature”, “This Old House”, “Dirty Jobs”, and shows the Weather Channel produced, there have been new homes built and old homes gutted and rebuilt, some sections have recovered better than others, but about 2/3rds of the population was back. Now the questions are was it all for naught, are the levees going to fail, and is the city going to flood? Let’s hope all the answers are “No!”.
The daughter of some friends was attending Tulane when Katrina hit. She was home for the semester, then she attended school in Boston for a semester before she could return. On the drive back to New Orleans — a full year after the storm — photos she took showed corpses of dead animals along the roads, and buildings completely demolished. A Home Depot had been flattened. How much better are conditions there now, I wonder?
Hi! OOPS! i goofed on those Katrina numbers. She was a category 5 and hit as a 3. They think Gustav will hit the US coastline as a 3. It is likely to strengthen to a 4 before then. Good thing we took Tabi to the vet. She’s very small due to a heavy flea and internal parasite infestation so she and our other cats got their Frontline Plus treatment. Although Tabi is isolated, the other cats could get fleas still. She’s taking Strongid for the parasites. Her kittens are just little tubes right now but because she’s small and weak we made the hard decision to have her spayed Wed. to prevent her from a complicated pregnancy. Not only that but she is carrying 6 to 8 kittens and she’s not much older than puberty. The best thing anyone can do is SPAY & NEUTER YOUR PET(S)! Not only does it avoid this, but also reproductive cancers. And no, humans, YOU will miss those organs more than your pet will!
Thanx Doug! I agree with you 100% We may be able to unite our party, but who knows about the country…..In the Katrina comment, I hope that the Gulf States are spared from Gustav and worse damage than Katrina. And if anybody says any comment about New Orleans deserving what they get, just like was said in 2005, and this year about Iowa-about any state affected by Gustav-may that person get a one way ticket to Hell! No matter what party they are from! Remember, alot of the south states are “red” and they have had undeserved hard times with weather. Florida just had all that rain and they don’t need more, and it was nothing to do with 2000. And nobody should have a natural disaster blamed on or wished on them!
Joan,
I understand how it is! I have put myself into a froth on many occasions, feeling furious and frustrated by the reckless, negligent, and even criminal, acts of the Bush administration.
The GOP, under the influence of the Neocons, no longer believes in the two-party system. Being willing to negotiate and compromise is considered a sign of weakness.
Therefore, all Democrats need to get behind the Obama-Biden ticket, and do what Republicans understand — exercise power. The Hillary supporters who say they would rather vote for McCain are giving the Republicans the division they need to conquer yet again.
1) I promise-no more political comments. I put myself in a funk. And I’m concentrating now on my new feline buddy Tabi. 2) Wanted to pass on some real dire news-The Weather Channel and Google Earth have analyzed possible computer tracks for Gustav and it may follow the same track as Katrina. That includes same storm surge and precip patterns. Worst of all, it could hit as a category 3. Remember, Katrina was a 1 when she hit New Orleans. So a mandatory evacuation is likely and now there is a hotline for rides needed.
PHEW! I think I’m poli-ticked out. I’ll be so glad when Election Day is over! We’ve been visited by a very young cat who nobody knows her owner and of course she’s pregnant. She’s been staying around our house so we’re going to see how far along she is and go from there. I’m getting a room ready for her so if she has them she’s not outside. She’s very friendly but whoever had her is an idiot for not spaying her. Well, now that we have her a spay is in her future! People, fooey!
Cactus Lizzie hasn’t been around here much of late, but she’s a Christian, married to an ordained minister in fact. I can safely speak for her that she agrees with you 100%, Joan.
I’m wondering how any Christian can say Dubya is not the worst president when he lied to get the American public to support an unnecessary war. Did God really want these 4,000+ American men and women to die because of lies? I asked many questions in an earlier post concerning the same type of subject that nobody seems able to answer and would love to see someone in the media ask supporters of the Iraq war from the major parties the same questions. I’m sure God didn’t want people to die on 9/11/2001 the way they did, but I don’t think He’d be too happy with Dubya either.
Poor Jimmy. He got a bum rap. A truly great person without an aggressive bone in his body. That’s why he lost the second run at the White House. The worst thing they could dig up on him was his brother Billy (remember “Billy Beer?” check THAT out on e-Bay!) Of course, he had “lusted in his heart” after other women. What normal male hasn’t? I’d check under their hoods, so to speak, if they did not!
I totally agree with my father. He’s an intellectual political pundit of the highest order, if he isn’t always correct. He and my mother HATED the Kennedys.This always puzzled me, as my mother later adored Bill Clinton, who proved to be very Kennedy-esque in ALL regards. I somehow feel that despite his roving eye, JFK kept the nukes from flying during the Bay of Pigs. I stink at history, so I may be wrong at that. Bobby (also a hoser, as my husband likes to call them) was even more of a “people’s president.” and that’s why Manchurian candidate Sirhan Sirhan killed him (jes kidding, love those conspiracy theories!)
As per Gore, his global
I like what Jimmy Carter has done since leaving the Oval Office. If we had a president who also was a philanthropist like that all along he would certainly have my vote. By doing more for people instead of just stating your religious beliefs would make me less cynical of anyone calling themselves a Christian candidate. I believe politics has no place in religion and vice versa, but kind words, yes, and no attack ads, and deeds are what I ideally want out of my candidate. All this fighting and backbiting by the candidates makes me depressed and angry during an election year. Now Paul I do disagree about Al Gore, and it did not take him to teach me about global warming or changing weather patterns. I’ve been reading up on it since elementary school (1971) when we learned about fossil fuels, climate, pollution, the atmosphere and ecology. I always think “Love your Earth! It’s the only one we’ve got!”. 🙂
I can’t go along with that assessment of Carter. Jimmy’s seeming passivity was bad, but George W’s undeniable aggression is much worse.
Bush Jr. is, without question in my mind, the absolute worst president in my lifetime. My father, a reformed Republican but still a Nixon fan, calls Dubya the worst in his lifetime, and he was born during the Coolidge administration.
OK, fair enough, Paul, both sides have had some real doozies. Now the question is, how do we get someone worthy to run when the 2 major parties’ candidates always win and parties like the Green Party, who do have a good platform, lack the big bucks to have a chance? Money indeed makes the world go ’round but it sure DOESN’T guarantee happiness! Politically it seems to make things worse. Personally, I’d rather see some “normal” person run rather than a career politician because the career politician is already corrupted, closed-minded, and allied with his own kind in Congress. Still-I will vote for Obama-but I’m not altogether happy that he’s already proven centrist and even right of center in his voting recently. But I do not agree with McCain or his tactics.
I met Kerry a long time ago when I was a reporter, and he already had that aloof, distant thing going. In general, it seems my impressions of politicians have held up, both good and bad. I assumed Clinton’s womanizing would catch up with him, and it did, and I felt that Bush Jr. would be a disaster, and he has been.
And don’t get me started about John Kerry!
Joan,
I agree completely with your assessment of Dan Quayle. He was the John Edwards of his day. An empty-headed pretty boy used to attract the younger voters. Quayle and George W, are certainly among the worst Republicans elected in my lifetime. But the Democrat party has had their share too…Jimmy Carter (the worst prez in my lifetime…and that’s saying a lot with George W. as prez), Al Gore (soon to be revealed as an enormous fraud) Teddy Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. It’s sad, but there’s not a single qualified candidate running for VP or President. They are all corrupt and/or liars. McCain included! (and I’m a bit more to the right than I assume you are)
Hi D.F.! That’s why I brought up the notion of Dan Quayle because between he and Dubya I don’t think there’s even half a brain there! Imagine if they were both running for the GOP prez nomination! Imagine that debate! It would be a sad commentary on the education and intellect of America! 🙂
Well, actually, they won one and lost one with the Bush/Qualyle ticket. Looking at some of Quayle’s famous quotes and facts, though, he seems to have been the harbinger of Bush 2.
In my book, Dan Qualyle is best remembered for introducing the revolutionary alternate spelling of “Potato”: P-O-T-A-T-O-E, which has been the accepted spelling in Red States ever since. Long after people have forgotten Murphy Brown (fading away even as we speak), they will certainly remember “POTATOE!” Just type “potatoe” in a Google search and see what you get!
Of course, he is also the man who inspired one of the more famous political quotes of recent history: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
And the Republicans STILL won the election! Which I guess shows how much – or how little – a VP choice means on Election Day.
Quayle was a curious choice. As if the subdued Bush wanted somebody on the ticket who wouldn’t outshine him. Today, Quayle is remembered only for his Murphy Brown comment, and the fact he indirectly acknowledged acceptance of abortion rights.
Yes, I see a 1988 NY Times article. Aneurysm, not tumor. Thank you for the correction! But what of Biden’s hair plugs? 😉
Doug, Biden had an aneurysm in 1988, not a brain tumor.
Uh-I seem to recall a moron VP from a few years back named, um, Dan Quayle. Funny how the GOP loses their memory over their lapses in judgment. “I’ll take Women, Golf and ‘Hoosiers’ for $500, Alex!”. Oy! Let’s see if the GOP can pick a VP candidate without a current subpeona, scandal, indictment or conviction.
I suppose the rationale was that Biden would squash more talk about a lack of experience. I’ve never felt one way or the other about Biden, which is my way of saying he doesn’t impress me.
But no matter. I feel very strongly that John McCain shouldn’t be elected. It’s time for a new start and to begin the undoing of the Neocon’s influence in Washington.
Joe Biden? Joe Biden?! Does this indicate to anyone out there how terrible Obama’s judgement is? At least we’ll have an interesting election season watching Joe Biden show us how much of an idiot he is as he stumbles by saying something crazy. Biden? Obama…was Howard Dean busy?