So Many Topics, So Little Time....

Some days you have to search the dark, deep recesses of your mind for something to write about (and trust me, my mind can be pretty dark sometimes). Often I just find something interesting that someone else has written, and take the day off.

And then there are days like today, with enough happening to fill ten blogs. So lets get started:

+ Fred Steps Down: Okay, I knew it was coming, but it still hurts to see the one true conservative in the race step down. I still have hopes that Fred may play a role as a VP candidate, but I’m not sure the remaining candidates, with the possible exception of Huckabee, are smart enough to see the value that Fred would bring to the ticket. And since I don’t see Huckabee getting the nomination, Fred can probably go back to Law and Order.

This is the time of the year when we start playing “What If” with the candidates. According to most of the polls I’ve seen, any of the Republican candidates can beat either Obama or Edwards, But who really trusts the polls? As for Hillary, she ekes out a victory over all of the candidates except McCain, who would be likely to pull in the independent vote.

Now personally, I think any of the Republicans, with the possible exception of Huckabee, would win in the General Election. Primaries are all about style, and once the nominees are set we get into substance, and we have more substance. I’d probably give the nod to Obama over McCain since that same independent vote he would garner in beating Clinton, he would lose to Obama.

But the only real thing that matters is that it is ANYONE but Hillary. I can live with an Obama victory, but Hillary sends shivers down my spine

+ Speaking of Obama and Hillary: I have watched every debate this season, and the one time I miss one, something actually happens. So Hillary blasts Obama for his stance on the war (When her stance is a true embarrassment), and then she has the Bal…., um, the guts, to blast him on a fundraising “scandal”. This from the queen of fundraising scandals.

At the debate, Obama and Clinton landed several rattling punches over each other’s prior business relationships, with the Illinois senator remarking that he was working to protect jobs from leaving the United States when Clinton was “a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart.”

In return, Clinton said she was fighting against the policies of Ronald Reagan when Obama was “representing your contributor, (Tony) Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago.”

At this point Obama should have brought up Hillary’s role in defending the Black Panthers, as an intern at a law firm headed by the President of the California Chapter of the American Communist Party.

Honestly, I think the entire democratic primary results could have been decided last night with one easy sentence, one that would go down in debate lore with Lloyd Bentsen’s “…and you sir are no Jack Kennedy” jab at Dan Quayle. Jus imagine Obama looking into the camera and stating “I can’t believe I’m getting a speech on morals by a Clinton.” Campaign over.

+ Is It True Because You Say It, Or Do You Say It Because It’s True?: I was going to write this great piece today on all of this economic doom and gloom coming out of the media, and whether they were merely reporting on economic woes, or whether or not they were actually contributing to these woes with their dour predictions. And then my Blog friend Doug over at http://www.iowageekonline.com/ went and beat me to it. Sure, I could put my thoughts down, or I could just direct you over to Doug & Jody’s site and ask you to read the post titled: Stupid Headlines of the Day. Well done Doug!

+ I Must Be A Masochist: Sometimes I shove sharp bamboo sticks under my fingernails. Sometimes I just cut ¼” deep valleys into my abdomen and pour Morton’s salt into the wounds. But usually when I want to inflict real pain, I just flip over to the Randi Rhodes Show on Air America.

All I did was listen to ten minutes – just ten minutes – of Ms. Rhodes show today as I was waiting to pick up my daughter from school. These were just a few of the tidbits that I got out of that short time period (remember, this is the same woman who claimed that Blackwater started the California fires, and claimed she was mugged by a "right-wing operative" after a drunken blackout.)

First, we should elect Hillary because we already know all of her scandals, and we have no idea what skeletons might be hiding in Obama and Edwards closets. Well heck, using that logic we should work to change the constitution to allow us to re-elect George for a third term. Oh, and Randi, I have a little hint for you: There are still PLENTY of skeleton’s in Hillary’s closet.

Next, in a discussion on those very scandals, Randi informs us that whole Paula Jones thing never happened. Never mind that Bill settled the case for over $800,000 – a princely sum for something that “never happened” – nor that Bill was found guilty and impeached because he lied about the Jones case to a grand jury. Now I always thought that was pretty damning evidence, but apparently Randi knows something the rest of us don’t.

Have you ever heard Bill Clinton referred to as “our first black president?” Of course you have, and if you ever wondered where that came from, Randi filled us in today. Apparently Republicans hate Bill Clinton as much as they hate black people, therefore Bill is “our first black president.” Using this logic she also concludes that Mr. Clinton was also our first gay president and our first female president, because Republicans hate them as well.

Can you imagine if a conservative host claimed that democrats hate blacks, gays and women? All hell would break loose. Ms. Rhodes should consider herself lucky that no one actually listens to her show.

+ R.I.P. Heath Ledger: Wow, Heath Ledger is dead at only 28 years old. Apparently he was found near empty sleeping pill bottles, although at this point it has not been determined if the possible overdose was accidental or suicide. Ledger had several memorable roles in his short career, including a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, and most recently appeared in I'm Not There, in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan.

Ledger also recently finished filming The Dark Knight, in which he plays The Joker to Christian Bale’s Batman. From the previews, I think this could have been one of Ledgers greatest roles. Sadly it will be his last.

+ On A Lighter Note: Well lets face it, wouldn’t anything be a lighter note after that last story? But today the nominations for the Oscars were announced, and I’d like to put my two cents in. Cindy and I try to see all of the nominated pictures each year – not always an easy task considering that some of the art fare doesn’t make it to our small town – and we still have a few to see before I can give my official picks. But in my mind mind it’s going to be tough to beat “No Country For Old Men”.

So what do you think? Any input?

+ As if this wasn’t enough: On top of all of this going on, I start a new job in less than two weeks, and I have a lot of work to do to get ready. I decided that since I was going to be running a large book store, it was time to brush up on the classics. I’ve already finished “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” and “The Cat In The Hat”, and now it’s on to “Goodnight Moon” and “Everybody Poops”.

Actually, I can probably skip “Everybody Poops”, as I have been doing a pretty good job of following the Clinton campaign already.