Fatboy Tom Predicts:
Obama will win 53% of the popular vote and 338 electoral votes.
The Democrats will win 20 Senate seats including North Carolina, Alaska, and Minnesota giving them a majority of 58.
The Democrats will win 248 seats in the House of Representatives.
From the Rush Limbaugh Radio Program: "We know that technological advancement is going along at light speed. And yet during this period of time, whether it be the last 57 years or be it the last 20 years, it seems that a majority of the black population has remained angry, frustrated, and behind. They've been left behind. They are acting like they've been left behind, and of course we've heard that this is because of racism, natural systemic institutional racism in America, that we are unfair, that this country is just horrible and rotten.
...The federal government became the father. The father didn't have to hang around in order for the kids to be okay, depending on how you define okay. But as you study more and more of this ACORN stuff, you find that it has been part of an entire movement that has been going on for two, maybe three decades, right under our noses.
We thought that it was just liberal welfare policies and all that that kept blacks from progressing while other minorities grew and prospered, but no, it is these wackos from Bill Ayers to Jeremiah Wright to other anti-American Afrocentric black liberation theologists with ACORN, and Barack Obama is smack dab in the middle of it, they have been training young black kids to hate, hate, hate this country, and they trained their parents before that to hate, hate, hate this country. It was a movement. It was a Bill Ayers, anti-capitalist, anti-American educational movement. ACORN is how it was implemented, right under our noses. It has been a movement, it has been a religion, and Obama and Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers were all up to their big ears in it."
I'm surprised that he didn't throw in Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, or Al Sharpton.
The other narrative in attempt to rationalize the failure of unbridled, unregulated economics is also emerging. You hear bits and pieces in various right wing sound bites. When confronted with a reality that is diametrically different that one's belief system, one must find someone to blame, particularly someone who one does not like very much. It is also very convenient to find a culprit who may reinforce your most negative prejudices. Grandson of Atwater and son of Rove.
Here goes.....
The failure of the credit markets, investment banks and insurance companies is due to the Democrats forcing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer mortgages to poor black people who defaulted. Additionally, the Community Reinvestment Act jammed through Congress again by Democrats required commercial lenders and banks to make bad loans to inner cities businesses and residents that also failed. It all started with Clinton and ends at Obama's doorstep. It really isn't important to remind folks that over 85% of sub prime mortgages that defaulted were offered by commercial lenders and not Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
The other parallel narrative among the blind and stupid neanderthals is that ACORN has registered so many illegal aliens, phantom voters and comic book characters that this will ensure an Obama victory in all the key battleground states. Not surprisingly those corrupting the sanctity of the vote are poor and black.
Voter registration fraud does not translate to voting fraud. Just because someone turns in a list of new voter registrations with Mickey Mouse as one does not mean that someone claiming to be Mickey Mouse can actually go into a voting booth and vote.
Faux News, talk radio and even representatives of the McCain campaign have used pieces of these two narratives to rally the base in the Republican Party. Stupid is as Stupid does.
Last weekend at a community event, a neighbor asked me “What the heck are you doing to your house? There is yellow scaffolding in the front." I paused for a moment before answering. I thought why is there scaffolding in front of my house? It took a moment to remember that members of our tuck-pointing family came by a few weeks to continue tuck-pointing our house. The scaffolding has been there for a couple of weeks and will remain there until who knows, Christmas?
I am very accustom to having scaffolding, bricks, ladders, mortar and other utensils of the bricklayer’s trade stacked in our basement, alongside our house or taking up most of the front façade. Living in a brick house that was originally built in 1896 has many interesting features and challenges. One is that, as with all old houses, it is a money pit, we are constantly remodeling, fixing, or changing something.
Old brick houses built on hillsides have their own special challenges. First, they are slowly falling down the hill. Gravity over time does funny things to anything built on a slope. Second, the mortar that holds the bricks together slowly disappears. This was very apparent when we bought our house in 1999. The house had many broken bricks and major gaps between the bricks where the mortar once lived. We were determined to find someone who knew how to repair masonry.
Being new homeowners of a brick money pit, we had no idea how expensive it is to find someone or someone(s) proficient at bricklaying or tuck-pointing. We called a few companies and soon realized that if my wife and I cashed in our annuity and took evening jobs, we then may be able to afford someone to repair our house. Ladies and gentlemen, the cost of tuck-pointing could bankrupt Bears Stearns!
We were at an impasse until another neighbor told us about a couple of masons who work for a company but do some tuck-pointing on weekends for extra cash. My wife gave them a call. They promptly came over and gave us a bid to repair the most damaged and exposed brick wall on the west side of the house. The only caveat is that they work on weekends when they have some free time. At the time it seemed like the best possible plan of action. We didn’t need to cash in our annuity nor did I have to don a Wal-Mart vest to greet people.
This is where our tuck-pointing journey began. Our tuck-pointers did a great job. They replaced bricks, sealed various cracks and replaced mortar on the most damaged part of our house. Normally they would arrive about 8:30 AM on a Saturday. We would invite them in for coffee and some danish. They would work a few hours and leave for day. They would also eat my wife’s wonderful chocolate chip cookies during their mid morning breaks. It was a good relationship.
Not surprisingly, we got know the tuck-pointers as we moved from the west side of the house, to the south side and finally to the east side. We learned about their families, their health issues, their various ups and downs. We sold them a car, exchanged Christmas gifts and went to UC football games together. When they had time, they came to work. When we had some extra money, we paid them.
The special part of our relationship with our tuck-pointers is that we never know exactly when they will appear. They may stay away for a couple of months but suddenly appear on a sunny Saturday. We only have the front north façade of our house to complete. In many ways it is the most tedious and complicated due to the masonry features and brick front porch.
Somehow the intermittent Saturdays evolved into intermittent months and finally to seasons. It was just part of any longstanding relationship based on mortar and sand.
To our surprise, our masonry friends appeared at our house a couple of Saturdays ago bound and determined to finish their work. Naturally, we invited them in for breakfast and our normal chat. It was like the good old days. As a normal courtesy, I asked one of the tuck-pointers about his son who loved football. I remember that he played in a peewee league. Don, the tuck-pointer, responded, “He’s having a great year. He is the starting safety on his high school football team.” Jeff, the other partner in crime chimed in, “You know Tom, Don’s son is 6’3” and weighs 225 lbs.”
I had a moment of clarity at that point in the conversation. I soon realized that the tuck-pointers have been working on our house since Don’s son was 7 years old. He now is 16 and soon to graduate from high school!
It is increasingly apparent why I stumbled in responding to the neighbor’s inquiring about the scaffolding. My wife and I have become so inured to having masonry equipment stashed in or near our house. Over 9 years it has become invisible. Scaffolding? What scaffolding? It’s an extension of our home.
When we bought our Queen Anne Victorian, we were told, ”When you find good craftsmen, hold on to them. They are like gold.” Well, we did. We have traveled together through heart surgeries, AA meetings, carbon monoxide scares, and hundreds of chocolate chip cookies.
Perhaps they will complete tuck-pointing our house when Don’s son finishes college. Or maybe not.
The Washington Post reported this morning that at a rally in Clearwater, FL, Governor Palin said, ""Now it turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," "Boooo!" said the crowd.
"And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,'" she continued.
"Boooo!" the crowd repeated.
"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.
Palin went on to say that "Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers's living room, and they've worked together on various projects in Chicago."
She didn't stop to reprimand the heckler or say anything in response to the "kill him" comment. Governor Palin continued reading her prepared sound bites.
"Mein Fuhrer, I am ready to take the necessary actions to protect the homeland. We must purge this country of the impure, unholy and the unpatriotic."
Stupidity and ambition are a volatile mix.
"So, I guess, this is all an around and about way of saying that I'm in the Free Sarah Palin camp. I don't mean throw her out there and hope she swims. She needs to be prepared on the substance. But she also needs to be taught techniques to relax, feel calm and grounded, find her center, listen strategically, and take control. Deep breathing exercises, physical and vocal warm ups, can help. Finding that one person in the audience to connect to, or forgetting the audience altogether and having an intimate chat. She needs to find whatever works. And every bit of coaching she gets should be directed toward helping her exude the charm, charisma, and confidence that has gotten her this far." Amy Holmes from the NRO Corner.
It really is a sad day in American politics that candidates for the highest or next highest office need to be coached on how to breath, answer questions or behave in a debate. This reflects badly on John McCain for tapping Palin as his running mate. This also speaks volumes to the lack of intellect. gravitas, and maturity within the present day Republican Party. The worst kind of sexism is tokenism. I am confident that the Republicans could have selected a capable women with far more experience to be McCain's running mate if they truly wanted someone who could be President. They opted to select any women, particularly if she is attractive to run with Little John. Sarah Palin was unqualified weeks ago and will continue to be after tonight's debate.
I don't want someone who looks and sounds like "Average Joe" waiting line at Wal Mart for President or Vice President. These are extraordinarily difficult times with many complicated issues. Let Average Joe stay home and watch Dancing with the Stars. I want a leader with great intellect and integrity to be my President.
Groucho Marx said it best, "i don't want to join a club that would have me as a member."
