Ramble On

Just back from the workout and time to browse and see who wrote what.......

Back now. I sent out a blanket e-mail this weekend wishing all my contacts in my address book a Happy Thanksgiving. This group consists mainly of family, friends and co-workers. Just a few words: Happy Thanksgiving from the new Mid-Westerner.

I have since received tons of responses and replied in length to each one. It was nice to see lengthy replies and pushed me to respond in turn and reconnect with people I haven't seen in over a year. I got to thinking about my childhood friends. I had many friends I left behind when we moved around NY when I was younger and I mostly lost touch with everyone. Why did it happen, lack of communication and location. The 2nd I could not fix but the first can be partially (I take most of the heat) to blame. Looking around today you see everyone has e-mail, text messaging, cell phone, blogs and voice mail. Back when I was growing up every home had one phone, and it had a cord attached to the headset and a rotary dial. Back then to keep connected you had to pick up a pen and write out a letter, stamp it, mail it and wait a week for a response (if the person replied quickly). Or you could pick up the phone and call. The problem with that was that with one line and no such thing as call waiting, time was limited and parents patience was very short. Over time those old friends became a few notes in the mail and a Christmas Card every year.

Today I am jealous of many of my co-workers, mostly 10 years younger and still closer to their graduation year than their 5 year reunion. They still keep in touch with their college buds thru e-mail, cell phones and Instant Messaging. What a wonderful tool this internet is. With it one can connect with their entire "circle" and stay in touch with ease. It takes but a minute to jot down an e-mail and send it on it's way, and bam I can continue a friendship and keep in touch with those who mean something to me.

God bless the information super highway. That and internet porn.

Friday Favorites (Late)

What is your favorite...

1. ...meal?
My wife makes this Chicken and Rice meal, which is awesome!! She does not make it often but when she does I wish she made enough for the week.

2. ...dessert?
Caramel Apple Crisp, with vanilla ice cream.

3. ...vegetable or side dish?
Mashed Potatoes, again the way the wife cooks them. Just enough butter and milk and I help with the mashing. Not to be eaten with the Chicken and Rice.

4. ...comfort food?
PASTA, I could eat it 7 days a week if I could.

5. ...cookie?
Peanut Butter. Although Girl Scout Thin Mints are a very close second. Homemade Peanut Butter is the only way to go.

As always check out Friday Favorites to add your and check out others!!

Let the Season Begin!

For me Christmas does not start until the very end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade when Santa stops in front of the store and the Thanksgiving Parade is over and the Christmas Season is upon us. I remember going to the parade as a child with my father and grandfather (one of the perks of growing up in NYC), I also remember the tree in Rockefeller Center, if ever in New York it is a must see as is FAO Schwartz this time of year. There was never anything like New York City during the holidays.

Managed to avoid the malls this weekend, the wife hit a few stores on the way to work on Friday but I managed to steer clear. Nothing really caught my eye in the papers on Thursday and I was not running with those crowds at 5 a.m.

TV Log:
Survivor
CSI
Extreme Dodgeball 2
Extreme Home Makeovers
Desperate Housewives

One show I have recorded a marathon of and am now watching daily is Ghost Hunters on SciFi. A very interesting show. Guys (and girls) set up shop in a place a suspected paranormal activity and try to prove/disprove a hunting. So far so good. Got a couple of goosebumps watching one night and saw the over active imagination of some home owners the next. Very well done and very believable. Do I believe, Hell Yes!! I firmly believe in the existence of the supernatural! I believe in God, and you can not believe in Him and not believe in Satan, I believe in life after death and the soul, I believe good souls go to heaven and the not so good go to hell and I believe that sometimes your soul is lost and wanders for awhile until it arrives were it needs to be. Sometimes you go back to things that are familiar and comforting, or just to go back and stir the shit. Either way it is entirely possible for ghosts and spirits to exists. That and the undead, but that is another post.

Activity has increased on the site and I see some Oswego people are visiting, I actually have a few good college stories I have been saving that I will now share. Please look around and as always drop a comment or two, thanks for stopping by!

Part 2

OK, at work now, just arrived to see the Colts beating Detroit 27-9.
It is now time for our Holiday Special. It starts after the Colts
game and runs an hour. Just different packages about the holidays,
gift, tricks, events, celebrating the season, should be fun. Then
after that I am free to go back for 2nds at the dinner table and eat
dessert with the family.

Hope you all are enjoying the day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great day!!!!

Eat drink and be merry for tomorow your wife may send you out to the mall!

Watching File

Last Night:

Amazing Race
NYPD Blue: The Final Season

I also missed Monday:

Still Standing
Everybody Loves Raymond
CSI: Miami

Right message wrong means....

Watching CSI:Miami last night I realized a few things. First off the story line was that of a militia that hated illegal immigrants and smuggling weapons into the US to deal with them. The one thing that stood out to me was when the lead cop told a CSI agent that he couldn't understand the victim because his Spanish wasn't that good, and that the man has been in America for 30 years and still didn't know English. The CSI, a citizen of Cuban decent, asked the cop if he bothered to learn Spanish. And that bothered me. I understand the need and desire of peoples to come to America, I understand the need of Cubans to flee their country and live in the US but once you are here, learn the language. Plain and simple. If I were to move to another country to live there for an extended period I would learn the language.

We are being assaulted in our own backyards by illegal immigration, and instead of standing up to the problem our government is trying to legalize many of these people. It is the same thing as saying any one who has escaped from prison is now a free man, anyone who has robbed a bank and has not been caught please come down to your local federal building for a Get Out of Jail Free card and enjoy your new found wealth. When I went to vote on Election Day I saw several Voting Instruction Posters in spanish along the wall in the room. At first I thought that was an excellent tool as I know 2 people who are from a South American country and were just made citizens this year and were very proud to be able to vote. Then I looked and saw no posters in Italian, French, Swedish, Russian, German, Arabic and thought why were those posters up?? Why aren't those new citizens from those countries afforded the same aids. Then I remembered something and hit the internet to research:

From the US Citizenship Application:
General Requirements: All naturalization applicants must demonstrate good moral character. The other naturalization requirements may be modified or waived for certain applicants, such as spouses of U.S. Citizens.

• A period of continuous residence and physical presence in the United States
• An ability to read, write and speak English
• Good moral character
• Knowledge of the principles of the U.S. Constitution
• Favorable disposition toward the United States

The ability to read, write and speak English!!!! Right there Requirement Number 2. Enough of the Spanishification of America! No more ACLU telling my schools and my local governments that they must have forms in Spanish and they must offer spanish in schools and they must have translators available. I have 2 brothers who spent time, lived and worked in other countries (Japan and Finland) and they had to learn the local language to speak and get around town. No one offered a translator at their work, they did not go into the grocery and demand the labels be printed in English. Then why do we do it hear with Spanish only. I know I come off as some backwater, white supremacist but only to liberals, I think. Send them all home, NO, invite them to out country to become citizens and intergrate themselves into this great country of ours, YES. If they refuse the invitation then send them back to their county of origin and good luck to them.

To those that accept the invite and work their way to full US Citizenship, welcome to America, enjoy and be good, productive citizens.

A Comment...

I do not like basketball and before you say, "Hey B you live in Indiana how can you not like basketball?!?!?" I am not from Indiana and have spent my entire life in New York were you have real sports like Baseball, Football, Hockey and Curling to watch (and yes I said Curling). But here I am in the Hoosier state where every yard has a hoop and 5th Graders are 6 foot 7 inches and I still hate basketball. But because of my location toady I must comment on the sport. By now everyone has seen the Indiana - Detroit brawl and my station covered it front to back and all sides included. Here are my two cents: What do you expect from a sport that takes overpaid, undereducated athletes and puts them within inches of charges, drunk fans?? First the players, this is a sport with no minor league, no training ground, no mature period, this is a sport that drafts kids OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL and gives them millions of dollars and throws them on the court with 9 other players and thousands of fans. This is a sport were a rapist continued playing like nothing was wrong, players choke coaches, make gangster rap albums and toss away millions because they do not know any better. They have not lived life and received an education and learned what it means to be responsible for your actions.

Now the fans, they are too close and too drunk. If a fan ran onto a baseball diamond or a football field they would be mowed down by police before they got far. Sure there have been some incidents over the years but there is a clear and present barrier between the sport and the fans and that is the way it should be. I have seen the suspensions and I think the Detroit players got off too easy, not because I am from Indy but because they instigated it and fueled it. As for the fans I think they should empty the first 5 rows, increase police presence, stop beer sales at the half, and remove for life any fan who steps on the court or near the player bench. While I feel for the fans in the stands that were innocent bystanders, those 2 that came onto the court and attacked Artest then got cold cocked by O'Neal deserved the beating and should be arrested for trespass and assault (help me out here Brett).

End result, watch football and Sunday and pray Spring Training gets here quick!!

Almost There....

Sunday morning and I still have tons to do. Emptied the garage of Christmas boxes yesterday in preparation of the holiday. We haven't seen our Christmas stuff in 2 years, so this is going to be very fun. The wife loves Christmas time and decorating the house.

workus interuptus

OK now it is about 10 hours later and we had a nice busy day. Couldn't find a ladder long enough to reach the roof peak so we are hiring our general contractor to bring over some equipment so I can hang hooks on the roof and be done with it for the rest of our lives here. Did get the lights on the lower roof and managed to watch Peyton and the Colts tear apart Da Bears.....also managed to help parents clean out garage and bring so old memories and records and posters to sit in my garage for the next 15 years.

TV Viewing today:
Colts v Bears
The Simpsons
Arrested Development
Desperate Housewives

Thinking of keeping a list!

Friday Favorites

Movies

What is your favorite...

1. ...classic (old) movie?
Citizen Kane. While this should be the Greatest Movie of All Time, you left no place for Star Wars. This I believe lead the way to modern film making. Writing, Directing and Editing were all ground breaking and the use of optical effects made it the Jurassic Park/Matrix of it's time. The crown jewel in the master's collection this should be scene on Screen at least once in your lifetime. Side Note: I did not see this film until Senior Year of COLLEGE. I love and appreciate film and felt it needed to be seen on the big screen not on VHS (no DVDs in my collage years) on the 19 inch TV. I took several Film Classes at school and our teacher had many classics on film and showed them at the student union once a week on the big screen (Taxi Driver, Ran, Casablanca, The Deer Hunter). So finally he showed Citizen Kane my senior year and I was not disappointed. Best of all, never in my classes, discussions, talks and arguments about film did I find out what Rosebud was until I watched it.

2. ...comedy movie?
The Blues Brothers. One of the greatest movies of all time and in my personal Top Five!! Nothing like a break out movie for 2 comedy geniuses and 1 incredible director. Great moves, music and car chases. The cameos are smart and funny and the music lives on today. Side Note: I wrote a midterm report for my Music class in College on how the Blues Brothers revived the careers of Franklin, Charles, and James and interest in classic Rhythm and Blues. I got an A+.

3. ...action movie?
Raiders of the Lost Ark. A high action, intelligent story with relatively unknown Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. Well written and directed by our generations Masters of Cinema. Ford could have been a teacher at your school and turns out to be a great action hero. Made heroes out of regular guys and moved the muscle-bond actors into cheesey one-liner film schlock. Started a generation of wanna-be archeologists. And yes I took Archeology as a minor in College!!

4. ...drama movie?
The Godfather. It is funny that all of my favorite movies are made by men that looked to and respected the director of my other favorite movie. Coppola turned a terrific Puzo novel and turned it into the movie of all movies! Brando created the quintessential Mob Boss that even the real bosses tried to imitate. Nothing can really be said about this film but almost pure perfection. Rent and watch any of these movies on this list and you will have the greatest cinematic experience of your lifetime. Put all five of these on the big screen on one weekend and I would die a very happy man.


5. ...movie of all time?
Star Wars. I saw it on the big screen when it first came out in New York City in 1977. Darth Vader and C3-PO were there and everyone was wondering what the hell was going on, we never had lines like this to see a movie. I must have seen it dozens of times on the big screen since, was blown away and torn apart when Han was frozen and Luke finally had a father. Ran from school (8th Grade) and packed the local theater to see the first showing (3:30) of Return of the Jedi, cheered when the Ewoks bit it and booed when Vader's helmet was removed. It was, is and will always be STAR WARS, not Episode IV or A New Hope, but Star Wars. I had the original 12 action figures and the Lunch box, and the sticker book and the lightsaber that was a flash light and an inflatable saber. This was the movie that started my love for cinema and until the unaltered original comes out on DVD I will only watch my bruised and battered VHS Copy.

I Want A New Drug

I broke down finally a bought a new computer (actually broke the wife down). I am on a 5-6 year old machine that I have upgraded as far as I can go. The time was now and the discounts and freebies at Dell were just right. I did a lot of research and went back to Dell, again. It's a kick ass machine with which I hope to do tons of video editing and digital photo projects. This computer will go to the boy and eventually add a wireless option so we can share files and he can surf the (limited) web.

That being said I wanted to spread the word on some new toys I have downloaded and will have to re-load on the new computer when I get it:

Firefox Browser: Now I thought this was for those funny people with the penguin on their computer but it turns out this is a fantastic browser and great alternative to Internet Explorer. I am not Microsoft bashing, I like their products and am not a Gates-hater (More power to him), but I love the add themes and extensions of Firefox and have not had a problem yet in viewing any page I visit. I also like the fact that many websites are geared towards IE and usually have a ton of little downloads/spyware waiting for me to log on. With Firefox I do not have that problem. Give it a shot, I am a believer and will use it on the new computer and only use IE if I have to. They also have a e-mail client called Thunderbird but I have yet to explore it.

Hello: This is a picture transfer/share program. I is linked with Blogger so if you have a blog and want to post pictures this is the easiest way!!!! You can also get friends and family to download the program and easily share pics with everyone......very neat.

GMail: Last but not least is Google's answer to Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, it is GMail. I am in the beta and was there when I first got the invite from Blogger on day one and I love it. I have given away 15 invites since it has started and converted 14 of them. Great web interface, unique way of filtering and storing mail ( 1 gig of online storage). Check it out and if you want to try it, drop me a line and I will send you an invite.

More ranting and raving later..........

CBS Fires Producer Who Broke Into 'CSI'

Yahoo! News - CBS Fires Producer Who Broke Into 'CSI'

This is for me fantastic!!! While I really do not have to deal with this stuff anymore in my new job, at my old station in New York we were constantly interrupting regular programming for the smallest of news events in an effort to report it FIRST. I have always been of the opinion that no matter what the graphic package, no matter where the looks, or how tight or loose the shot is or if they stand or sit, if they toss back and forth or just read the news, banter, no banter, small talk about personal lives or plain just rip and read the news, if you do not like the station and/or personalities delivering the news you will not watch it.

Plus if I am watching a program I absolutely HATE news interruptions of non-essential news stories. WTC attacked, Oklahoma City, Election Results, out President shot sure. Anything else can be handled with a quick crawl on the bottom of the screen and the lead of the nightly news, otherwise stop breaking in. When you break in first you only piss off your viewers and then if the story is big enough make them change the channel to the nes channel they prefer.

In a need to be first example I present the case of the dead fireman.

This took place several years ago when I directed the Weekend Evening news at my old NBC Station. During the news cast a report came in of a single car fatal accident in a small town east of Rochester. The man driving the car had a heart attack and crashed his vehicle and died. It just so happens that this was the Battalion Chief of the local Fire Department returning home from a fire. Now the producer wanted to include that information in the "breaking" story and I disagreed. He argued that since we did not release the name of the man we could report the story as he wrote it. My argument was that in a small town there would be only one Battalion Chief and many would know exactly who he was without mentioning his name, ESPECIALLY the family and friends who were still in the dark as it just came over the emergency scanner and rescue crews were not even at the scene yet. I for one did not want the family to find out about their father's death on the 11:00 news. We fought like cats and dogs and I told him I would not put the story on the air as written. End result was we aired the story to protect the identity of the victim and I got called into the News Directors office on Monday to explain my actions. News Director agreed with my position but not my 'method' of expressing it (I do believe words like "idiot, assinine, asshole, and piece of shit" might have entered the argument at some point).

Bottom line is now I hope Producers will think twice on all levels of TV before they cut into our favorite programs.

The Favorite Five

From Bubby at The Internet Ate My Homework:

What is your favorite...

1. ...Currently airing television show?
Lost. Just because my all time favorite is still airing.

2. ...television show of all time?
NYPD Blue. See above. I have been here since Episode One and will be here till the end. I never quit nor wandered and will stop watching TV on Tuesdays at 10pm next season because it can never be replaced. Note that Blue only narrowly beats The Simpsons here.

3. ...television show that got cancelled?
Wonderfalls. Was an excellent, well written show but in the age of Fear Factor/Big Fat Something/Swan TV, there is little to no room on the schedule for well written, well directed, well acted shows. See also Firefly, Tru Calling and Space: Above and Beyond .

4. ...movie that you wish would be made into a television series?
Underworld.

5. ...television show that should be made into a feature movie?
None as they never work (X-Files, Lost in Space, SpongeBob Squarepants). But if done right, same cast same directors, same writers then Space: Above and Beyond.

Movie Reviews

Saw two movies in the last 24 hours. The family went to see the Incredibles last night at the Grand opening of our newest movie theater. Quick lines, roomy seats, stadium seating and no commercials before the main feature. All adds up to our primary theater for all our entertainment needs.

Now the movie. Pixars latest is indeed an excellent flick. Plenty for the whole family!!! Mom and Dad will enjoy an excellent story line and well thought out characters. Voicing by Craig T Nelson (of Coach fame), Holly Hunter and Samuel L Jackson are superb! The animation, action and kid characters will keep Junior and Sis entertained for the whole 2 hours. Pixar and Disney do not disappoint in this one. It is PG instead of the usual G (Toy Story/Nemo/Ant) and there is violence and danger (they are super heroes).

For me I enjoyed the entire thing. It reminds me of Powers (one of my favorite comics) and I wonder if Brian Michael Bendis is calling his lawyers. That said I would highly recommend this flick for any family with kids old enough to sit through more than 80 minutes of film. Go as a family and enjoy!

This morning the boy and I went to see a sneak peek of SpongeBob the Movie. If you enjoy the show, then go if not then stay away. It was fun, silly, stupid and entertaining all wrapped into one movie. Nick just linked 3 half hours of episodes and made a movie. I had more laughs and enjoyed the episode Sailor Mouth more than the whole movie and would take the kids to see this one if you have nothing better to do. Also go to this one alone and leave the wife at home, bank up Daddy points so you can back out of the next trip to Walmart to go clothes shopping........Honey remember I took them to see SpongeBob and gave you the Saturday off, remember honey bunches.............

Arafat

The terrorist is dead and I have only one big choice ahead of me. Should I continue to support the various networks and news agencies that proclaim this 'great man of peace'. The man is the father of modern terrorism!!! An evil man if ever there was one, a modern Hitler, the demise of the Nobel Peace Prize and I for one am glad he is dead and hopes he rots in Hell.

And I am not Jewish if you are thinking that, I have no real view on Israel, I am just a rational man who calls a spade a spade. A man who spent his life murdering people should have been executed and tossed on the side of the road!

Veteran's Day

Today is the day for Veterans. This is not the day to remember the brave men and women who gave their freedom so we might be free. Today is the day we recognize, support and personally thank (if you can) the brave men and women who served this great country and now live and work among us again. My father served in the Navy, my father-in-law the Army, as well as my uncle. My other uncle made it to Colonel in the Marine Corps and retired several years ago.

In a related story TV Stations Cancel 'Saving Private Ryan' for fear of FCC fines. What a terrible waste. This is a terrific movie that I had the honor of seeing in the same theater as a D-Day veteran. He was kind and gracious and amazed that Spielberg had got it right on the nose. If your city or town does not carry this movie you must do two things:
1) Call and complain.

2) Go out and rent it and watch it tonight instead of ABC. And let them know that!

From my Alma Matter, it is November 9th and they had thier first significant snowfall. I miss that....not! 

Monday Night Football

It is late and time for bed, just a quickie. I just returned from the Greatest Sports Experience of my adult life, yes Monday Night Football. My parents are Season Ticket holders and I some how drew the long straw and got one of the seats for tonight! All I can say was it was AWESOME. Not only a fantastic game (Colts Win) but Indy pulled out all the stops and I really can see what a great and growing sports town this is. Downtown was PACKED with people and the Colts threw a hell of a party. From the Downtown Rally at 11am till the final whistle at Midnight, it was all about the Colts and their fans.

Great seats, good food and excellent company, oh and awesome football.

Monday Night Football, it does not get any better!!!!

Six and Three is Nine...

Went up to Chicago yesterday to see the new niece. Fantastic!

Got to walk around downtown Chicago for awhile. Went to Michigan Avenue and started at the Tribune Building and made it to the Water Tower. Shopping, shopping, shopping, the wife was in heaven (of course we've neither the time or money for purchases, but still fun). Many big stores and stuff not see outside of 5th Avenue in NYC. My favorite part of course was the Tribune Tower and the fact that they have bricks from buildings, monuments, churches, temples, mountains, etc from all over the world. A brink from the Alamo, Fort Ticonderoga, The Great Wall of China, the Parthenon, you can see where this is going. Absolutely awesome. I could have spent the day walking around the very large building checking out each brick and stone, they even had a piece of St. Peter's Doorway from the Pope's Residence in Rome! I'll have some pics from the trip later. With 2 brothers living up there I must get away to visit more often.

Awesome Site

One last hurrah in the Electoral Vote Map, county by county, state by state, a great site!!!

Email Test

This is a test of the e-mail blogging system.

It's A Lonely Old Night.

It is the day after the day after the day after elections and I have noticed something, Democrats are a bunch of cry babies. Sure that sounds childish but take a look at what most are saying. Four more years of a national nightmare, the terror continues, Bush is not what America needs or wants, most Americans are misguided. They do not seem to realize that they are in the minority. They had Moore and The Boss and P. Diddy and Melencamp and Barbara and Leonardo and Cameron and Moby and Dave Matthews all getting out the message to colleges and young voters all over America preaching the good word of Kerry/Edwards and it did not matter. When they awoke on Wednesday they saw but still have not realized that their views are of the minority in America. Looking at the Electoral Vote Map at CNN.com you see that the majority of states went Bush and when you check the individual states that went for Kerry and look how they voted by county you can see they only reason they went Democrat was due to the big cities. California, New York, Washington and Pennsylvania only went Blue because of LA, NYC, Seattle, and Philadelphia. The proof is right there, and the Democrats are having a hard time seeing it. Bush can 'push' his adjenda through because that is what a MAJORITY of Americans want, the first President to be elected with more than 50% of the popular vote since 1988, I think that message is pretty clear.
Note to Dems, go back home and realize that America does not share your views, it choose the President that represents THEM and that you needed a better man with a better message than "Anyone But Bush".

It's A Girl

My first niece was born this morning at 2:15am in Chicago, mom is doing well and dad made it all the way from Sweden to be there, and just in time!!!!!

Late Night Rambling

OK, I downloaded a new browser today, FireFox. Not sure why, but I am using it and it seems to be alright. Works right there with the gmail thang and I thought I would give it a try. So far so good.

Today my sister-in-law went into labor, they live in Chicago. My brother is in the entertainment industry and was in Sweden with one of his new bands, when he got the call. He immediately jumped on the first flight out and back to Chicago. He took American Airlines out of London and this is what they did when they found out he was leaving early (return trip was Sunday) because his wife was in labor. First they bumped him to First Class, then gave him use of a bed to sleep 'jumping the pond', they announced several times the status as he called his wife from the flight, let him deboard first and helped him in customs and then gave him a bottle of champaign to celebrate with his wife and new child tomorrow. Now that is Class!!

And The Feelings Right......

Oh yes it was Election Night.

Blogger was swamped yesterday and then the e-mail blogger function was down and so on and so on and so on. So here, a day late and a dollar short are my Election Day observations.

I awoke bright and early to get out and vote and run some errands as I was scheduled to work late (Election Day is the BUSIEST day of the year for most TV Stations). I passed my polling place 4 times before I parked and went in. The line was around the church it was held in and the parking lot was so full people had to park in the Golf Course lot across the street. It took me 1 hour to actually get into the voting area. When inside the process seemed to go very smooth so I know the delay was just in sheer numbers not lack of machines (about 12) or delay by poll workers (they were quick and efficient). It is still amazing to see the process at work! My only problem is I think I want some new choices, in my career I have vote for president as follows: Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush...I think I need a little more variety.

Work was alright, we did a great job getting out the numbers, we finished a strong second in the ratings and had some excellent local cut-ins. Side note: I think that any CBS station has and will take a ratings hit on all things news until Dan Rather steps down. I do not care what party or person you support, that stunt with the Guard Memos that turned out to be false has left a stain on Rather and by extention CBS News. People tune into you on election night to watch the national coverage and we the local affiliate will pop up every half hours to report on local races. If you don't like the national coverage you will not see our local coverage cause you will be elsewhere.....

Anyway the night was long but we had an excellent crew and our numbers were great. I got home a little after 11:00 and was able to switch around the channels and noticed that NOT ONE station had similar numbers, so were off by 50-60 on the Presidential race, unreal. The kicker on that one was that NBC and MSNBC had different numbers on their boards, go figure.

Onward Christian Soldier.......

Did he not know that lions had been eating Christians for a very long time now?

Man Tries to Convert Lions

When It's Over

Had trouble getting onto Blogger today and wanted to write a little something this morning. But now as I watch Kerry's Concession Speech, it seems a little moot.
I am surprised and glad that Kerry is taking the high road and not dragging this thing out in the mud like Gore did in 2000. Bush now has a long road ahead and must re-unite this country and I for one feel he can do it.
The first President to win more than 50%of the popular vote since 1988. That has to say something. This is how America should work and we should all look at 2000 as a lesson to be learned and never repeated.

God Bless America!!!!

The 'Chusing' of a President

When you go out Tuesday, be sure you are educated on your candidate's issues. It also helps to be educated on our election processes. Below are sections from the US Constitution, and a link to more on The Electoral College.

Article II. - The Executive Branch
Section 1 - The President
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

Amendment XII - Choosing the President, Vice-President. Ratified 6/15/1804.
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;
The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.
The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two- thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

PS: Nothing on Popular Vote here.

Sweet November!!

Happy Halloween all!!!! Hope your day (and night) was filled with Treats AND Tricks!

Last night was a big step in our house. The boy went Trick or Treating with out his parents. He picked out his costume (the Scream Mask), grabbed a flashlight, pillowcase for the goods, and a walkie-talkie (we are not CRAZY) and headed out. He checked in every so often and always stayed in the group. He had a nice haul and had a good time. We had about 60 so odd kids, WAY up from the ONE last year and THREE before that! Now it's countdown to Turkey Day the Christmas. We made a pact this year to send out the Christmas Cards, THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING instead of the day before Christmas. We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow is the BIG day, you know, the last day of election commercials! I cannot wait. Oh and be sure to vote! Vote Bush, Vote Kerry, Vote Nader, just vote. More importantly vote on local issues, even if your area is predominately the opposing party, get out there and make your voice heard locally. The most important right was have as Americans and less than 48% use it. Tomorrow, do the right thing.