We can all safely conclude that the mainstream media is in the tank for Barack Obama. But MSNBC has taken it to such heights that even a lefty like Bill Maher has noticed.
In response to the fawning of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Chris "I get this thrill up my leg" Matthews on Thursday evening, Maher said this:
“The coverage after (Obama's speech), that I was watching, from MSNBC, I mean these guys were ready to have sex with him.”
UPDATE: Mark "Mr D." Heuring got it!! The box score I featured this week was from a game back in June 1987 between the Cleveland Indians and California Angels. The starting pitchers that game, Phil Niekro and Don Sutton, set the record for combined age in a pitching matchup (90 years, 135 days)
I owe Mark one liquid refreshment at Keegan's.
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OK all you self-proclaimed baseball fans. Can anyone tell me the historical significance of this box score?
John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate on Friday in a startling selection on the eve of the Republican National Convention.
Two senior campaign officials disclosed McCain's decision a few hours before the Republican presidential nominee-to-be and his newly-minted running mate appeared at a rally in swing-state Ohio.
Palin, like McCain, is a conservative with a maverick streak who has shown a willingness to clash with others in her own party.
It's true that Palinisn't afraid to lock horns with fellow Republicans. However, she's usually the one assuming the more conservative position. Her most noteworthy battle was with fellow Alaskan Ted Stevens, a long-time GOP Senator. It was Stevens who was the catalyst for the ultimate blot on the GOP's eight-year run of fiscally irresponsibility. That would be the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. The goal of the project was to connect Ketchikan, on one island in southeastern Alaska, to its airport on another nearby island. When the project fell short of funding, Palin insisted a more fiscally responsible approach be taken.
While there have already been some Hillary supporters defecting to the McCain camp, this VP selection may also be an unwitting attempt to lure even more disaffected Clinton-ites. Regardless, the selection of Palin should not be considered a token choice. In her relatively short tenure in an executive position of government, she has already made waves.
Oh, I cannot wait until the VP debate between Palin and the smarmy Joe Biden!
Enjoy your coronation as the Democrat nominee, Senator Obama. Starting tomorrow, you will no longer be able to run from your questionable associations.
Nicollette Sheridan and Michael Bolton are again going their separate ways, a rep for the actress tells PEOPLE exclusively.
"Nicollette Sheridan and Michael Bolton have amicably ended their engagement," said Nicole Perna. "They appreciate your respect for their privacy in this matter."
The couple's relationship originally started in 1992, and lasted for five years.
While I couldn't care less about Mike & Nic, seeing Bolton's name again in the headlines reminds me of a rather humorous anecdote.
When Bolton was at the height of his popularity back in the late 80s, early 90s, my mother was a HUUUUGE fan of his. So when Bolton came to town in the Summer of 1994, Mom and a friend of hers went to see him in concert.
I talked to Mom the next day to find out how she liked the show. "Oh, it was absolutely fantastic!! But I have to admit that the opening act was pretty good, too."
"Anyone I've heard of?", I asked.
Mom replied, "Well, I know I've never heard of her. It was someone named Celine Dion."
Until yesterday at church, I had never heard the story of Eliot Mooney.
Words can’t begin to describe the awe inspiring faith and courage displayed by Matt & Ginny Mooney, Eliot’s parents, in the face of Eliot’s seemingly fatal illness. Eliot had had been diagnosed with Trisomy 18 while still in the womb.
Back in June 2006, a month before Eliot was born, Matt & Ginny described the nature of the disease.
Trisomy 18 is also called Edwards syndrome (or Edward's syndrome), and is the second most common trisomy, after Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). It occurs in about 1:5000 to 1:8000 births.
Trisomy 18 syndrome is due to the presence of an extra #18 chromosome, meaning that BABY MOONEY has three chromosomes in the eighteenth position instead of the normal two.
Unlike Down syndrome, Edwards Syndrome is usually fatal, with most of the babies dying before birth and those who do make it to birth typically living only a few days. However, a small number of babies (less than 10%) live at least one year.
I’m not ashamed to tell you that I shed a few tears while viewing the following video. This video clip, entitled 99 Balloons, is a retrospective of the life of Matt & Ginny’s precious little boy.
Yeah, nothing says "Change" like a Presidential candidate naming as his running mate a guy who's been a US Senator since the Richard Nixon administration.
Senator BarackObama has chosen Senator Joseph Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running-mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket, people told of the decision said.
Obama's selection ended a two-month search that was conducted almost entirely in secret. It reflected a critical strategic choice by Obama: To go with a running-mate who could reassure voters about gaps in his resume, rather than to pick someone who could deliver a state or reinforce Obama's message of change.
The McCain campaign quickly pounced on the announcement with the following TV ad:
As an arrogant blowhard, Biden has had a tendency to stick the proverbial foot in his mouth:
With a 35-year track record in national politics, Biden will most assuredly have manygaffes for which he will have to answer.
It will also be interesting to see how the mainstream media spins Obama's selection. When George W. Bush selected Dick Cheney as his running mate in 2000, the magic word amongst media circles was "gravitas". The implication was that Bush so woefully lacked experience that he needed someone with Cheney's clout to help him be an effective Commander in Chief. Never mind the fact that President Bush served six years in an executive position of government, which gives him much more useful experience than Obama. But now you have a Democrat ticket of an attorney turned "community activist" in only his fourth year in the US Senate teaming with another lawyer who's been in the Senate for almost six full terms.
This selection also seems to be an unwitting admission of Obama's lack of foreign policy aptitude. Biden is the chair of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. But that shouldn't bring comfort to the American people when you consider his suggestion in October 2001 on how to deal with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To sum it up, Biden suggested we send $200 million to Iran with "no strings attached." Apparently this was deemed a good will gesture to the Arabs to assure them that America is not focused on their destruction.
Ladies & Gentleman, the Democrat Presidential ticket: A man who thinks Afghans speak Arabic and a guy who doesn't know the difference between Arabs and Persians.
UPDATE: Someone nailed it within the first hour of the original post! The box score is from a game back on June 21, 1989 with Sammy Sosa hitting his first career home run. He hit it off another future Hall of Famer alleged steroid abuser in Roger Clemens.
Upon wrapping up their nine game homestand today, the Minnesota Twins will embark on 15-day, 14-game road trip. In fact, 24 of their next 30 games will be away from home. Given the fact most American League teams have struggled on the road this year (the LA Angels of Anaheim are the only AL team with a winning road record) this upcoming trip will likely make or break the Twins’ season.
One may ask ”Why such a long road trip?” In case you haven’t heard, there’s a rather large contingent of Republicans coming to town soon. As a result, many fans (and possibly Twins players and coaches) are cursing the GOP National Convention taking place the first week in September. Due to the need for accommodations of the conventioneers, can you imagine the logistical nightmare of visiting baseball teams coming to town? Besides, there have been teams in a similar situation who have had it worse.
Does anyone recall the 1992 Republican Convention in Houston, TX? With the actual gathering taking place in the Astrodome, the Houston Astros were forced to play on the road for 26 consecutive games. Of course, the argument there would be that the ’92 Astros were not a division contender like the ’08 Twins. Fair enough. But the Astros gutted it out and went 12-14 on the trip. That’s darn near a .500 record on a grueling trip that took them through (in order) Atlanta, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis and Philadelphia.
If manager Ron Gardenhire could sign a deal to go 8-6 on the upcoming road swing, I think he would take it in a heartbeat. And if he couldn’t find a pen, he would prick his finger and sign it in blood.
Over the past 10-plus years, there has been only one TV show which I have made an appointment to watch. That would be CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which can be seen every Thursday evening on CBS. Combine that with the fact that I have long admired actor Laurence Fishburne, I was thrilled to hear the latest entertainment news.
Fishburne, an Emmy and Tony winner, will be introduced in the ninth episode of the upcoming 10th season {Actually, this season is only the 9th – ed.}, the network told The Associated Press on Monday. He'll play a forensics scientist with a secret.
"I am elated and delighted to be joining the cast of `CSI,'" Fishburne said in a statement, adding that he looked forward to a "wonderful collaboration" with those involved in the series.
Fishburne plays a college lecturer and former pathologist who is focused on why people commit acts of violence.
During Season eight, I noticed the character of lead forensic scientist Gil Grissom (played brilliantly over the years by William Petersen) seemed more detached from the rest of the crew. I almost had a sense that his heart was no longer in it. Perhaps this move may be just the thing to resurrect what was becoming a rather moribund TV series last year.
There's a debate whether or not this is authentic, but who cares. The thought process is spot on!
An email from Ireland to all of our brethren in the States...a point to ponder despite your political affiliation:
'We, in Ireland , can't figure out why you people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.
On one side, you had a pants wearing female lawyer, married to another lawyer who can't seem to keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer, who goes to the wrong church, who is married to yet another lawyer who doesn't even like the country her husband wants to run!
Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate 'Mc' terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship !!
What in God's name are ye lads thinkin' over in the colonies?
However long we have on this earth, it's a whiff of time when compared to eternity in Heaven.
While our finite minds can't even begin to comprehend an eternity, we think we know the natural order of things of this world. More specifically, when a parent welcomes a child into this life they never anticipate seeing the end of their children's days.
A young man by the name of Kent Monson was killed in a motorcycle accident this past week. Kent, who was the grandson of our founding pastor and nephew of our senior pastor, was only 21-years old.
I hope you will join my wife and I in extending our deepest sympathies and prayers to Kent's parents Keith and Tammy as well as his sister Brittany.
As of March 2001, the gal and I had been married all of eight months. We were living in the Brooklyn Park condo she bought 3 ½ years earlier. Since it was just the two of us (and a couple of felines) the 950-square foot home was just enough space. Of course it didn’t hurt that we were still newly married, otherwise the bathroom the size of a phone booth may have been a source of tension.
It was at this point in our new life together when we received a letter in the mail from Bill the real estate agent. Bill was telling us that the current market was quite advantageous to sellers. In fact, he sent us an analysis of our area indicating what similar properties were selling for. Some were literally going for double what Jen initially paid for her place in August 1997. It was at that point where we got stars in our eyes! We could make a lot of money off this place, pay down a mountain of debt and upgrade our residence. Long story short, Bill already had some pre-approved buyers ready to move in if we were willing to sell. We jumped at the deal! As a result, we did indeed pay down our debts and upgraded to a brand new townhome in Coon Rapids. We could hardly believe that something so nice was available to us at that point in our lives.
So tonight we will be spending our last evening in the home we were blessed with 7 ½ years ago. It hardly seems possible we’ve been there that long while at the same time it feels like we’ve never been anywhere else. But as is the motto for our family, ”The Best is Yet to Come!”
We will be moving to a temporary residence (my Mom’s place in St Paul) for the next six weeks until our next (and probably final) house is fully constructed.
Since my prior post was number six hundred sixty six, I felt the need to post something so as not to see that particular number when I log in.
The following video is as good as anything.
Kudos to NBC guy Bob Costas for an insightful interview with President Bush at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. As a result, I’m sure Costas will get an earful from that insufferably arrogant putz NBC colleague Keith Olbermann for actually conducting the interview with dignity and respect.
We close on the sale of our current residence on Friday and then Jen’s mom closes on the sale of her house on Tuesday the 26th.
Since we moved forward with the plans of moving Mom in to our newly constructed home (estimated completion: September 25!!), it’s been non-stop work on preparing her house to sell. The largest undertaking has involved purging the 20-plus years of junk. Today we felt as though the albatross was almost completely removed from our proverbial neck, but I personally did not escape physically unscathed.
I volunteered to go up into the attic above the garage and throw down the remaining boxes and carpet remnants stored up there. While sitting on one of the wooden beams, I leaned forward to grab a box when my foot put too much pressure on one of the floor panels. Next thing you know there was a loud collapsing sound. My gal will tell you that she quickly turned around to see my legs dangling from the garage ceiling! Thankfully the wooden beams were strong enough where I was able to pull myself up back into the attic. I suffered a slight cut on my left knee (no stitches required though) and bruising all up and down my left leg and thigh. Thankfully it’s nothing serious but it was enough to cause the gal great anxiety.
Next week we plan on being 100% complete with the clean-out and thus will be ready to move Mom’s belongings to a storage facility.
Yes, life will be dramatically different one year from now!
Jan Parker (left) represents District 2 of the Ramsey County Board. For more insight as to why she must not be allowed to retain that position, read the indomitable Mark “Mr. D” Heuring.
There is no doubt that New York Jets QB Brett Favre (sounds bizarre, eh?) will one day be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And he will undoubtedly be inducted as a Green Bay Packer after achieving almost every notable NFL passing record as a 16-year member of the Green and Gold.
However, Favre is not the first future Hall of Fame quarterback to leave the team where he had his most heralded success and finish his career elsewhere.
In 1973, 40-year old Johnny Unitas ditched the familiar helmet with the horse shoe for head gear featuring a lightning bolt. Best known for leading the Baltimore Colts to three world championships in his 17 seasons, Johnny U had one forgettable campaign with the San Diego Chargers. In his four starts with the Chargers he threw seven interceptions and was sacked fourteen times.
Joe Namath is most famous for guaranteeing his New York Jets would upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. But after 12 seasons in the Big Apple, Namath played one final campaign with the Los Angeles Rams in 1977. In four starts that year, Namath completed less than 50% of his passes, threw five interceptions and was sacked seven times.
Of all the Hall of Fame quarterbacks to finish their careers with a different team than which they began, Joe Montana probably had the most success. After leading the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl titles in the span of nine seasons, Montana left the city by the Bay for Kansas City in 1993. In his two seasons with the Chiefs, Montana led them to the playoffs both years, including the 1993 AFC title game.
At age 38, Favre still has some football left in him. And given his competitive nature he’ll try to play out his contract which takes him through the 2010 season. You see, it’ll be the 2010 season when the Jets and Packers will next face each other.
Monday, July 27, 1992. The Minnesota Twins, defending World Series champs and owner of a 60-38 record, were leading the AL West division by three games over the Oakland Athletics. At the Metrodome that evening, the Twins would begin a big three game series against the A’s with a chance to put Oakland further back.
But things actually tightened up as the A’s won the first two games of the series, thus shaving the Twins’ division lead to a mere one game.
Then came the series finale where the Twins looked to avoid a sweep. They took a 4-2 lead into the ninth inning with closer extraordinaire Rick Aguilera on the mound. With one out and two runners on base, an obscure rookie by the name of Eric Fox stepped to the plate. Certainly in a game of such high magnitude, the All-Star closer should have been able to put away the rookie. Instead, Fox drilled a three-run homer to give Oakland a 5-4 lead, an advantage that would not be squandered by their Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley. That pivotal game proved to be a reversal of fortunes as the Twins went 30-31 the rest of the season and finished six games behind Oakland for the AL West title.
I hate to say it (and I hope I’m wrong) but Monday evening’s loss had almost that same death knell feeling to it. With a 6-0 lead against the pitiful Seattle Mariners, the Twins looked poised to extend their lead in the AL Central to a full game over the idle Chicago White Sox. But in a stunning turn of events the anemic Mariners offense scored ten runs in the seventh inning en route to an 11-6 win.
Former Twins skipper Tom Kelly used to say that momentum is as good as next day’s starting pitcher. If Scott Baker pitches a three-hit shutout tonight, then Monday’s debacle will be a distant memory. But if the Twins lose yet another game to the worst team in the American League, uncertainty and doubt may begin to creep into the minds of the young players.
Come October, this three-game set may very well be seen as the pivotal series for the 2008 Twins, one way or another.
I went to bed Monday evening after watching the Twins cruise to a 6-0 lead in Seattle after 4 1/2 innings. Since the Mariners stink, I figured the Twins had the game in the bag.
So you can imagine the mess I made when I had taken a spoonful of Raisin Bran just as I read this:
There's things that you can do individually though to save energy. Making sure your tires are properly inflated. Simple thing. But we could save all the oil they are talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires. And getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much.
On August 1, 1988, I was a month away from starting my second year of college. At that time in my life I really didn’t have a lot of cares in the world since I was still living at my Mother’s home for free. I was working at a convenience store on the West side of St Paul just for spending money. In fact, I was more concerned about my Minnesota Twins repeating as World Series champions than a Presidential election that was a mere three months away. It should have been a historic time for me given that I would be casting a vote for the first time in my life. But since the only political slant I ever heard was from my liberal Father and paternal grandparents, I planned on just blindly voting Democrat across the board.
Little did I know that 20 years ago today the one individual who would eventually open my mind and heart would be making his debut as a national talk radio host.
It was the Spring of 1992 (and I was a month away from graduating college) when I heard Rush Limbaugh for the first time. And it was actually by accident. I had been listening to the Minnesota North Stars the night before on AM 1500 KSTP when I turned on my radio that afternoon. Upon doing so, I heard a rather self-assured gentleman talking passionately and eloquently about things like patriotism, capitalism and democracy. It immediately grabbed my attention since such terms were scoffed at by my Political Science professors at my University. Combining a high intellect with a witty repartee, Rush’s radio show became an instant favorite! His show also taught me to be optimistic and how I could indeed make my own destiny as opposed to accepting the doom and gloom doled out by the mainstream media on a daily basis.
Before long, I would become a “Rush junkie.” When his TV show debuted that Fall, I stayed up late every evening to watch it! I would even take notes when he presented actual statistics documenting how cutting taxes actually generated more tax revenue. I even purchased the first book he ever wrote, entitled The Way Things Ought To Be. Not only that, I actually read it cover to cover in about a week! Indeed, this transformation had my head spinning. Despite vowing to never take another class or read another book after four five years of college, I found myself excited to learn about subjects other than sports!
So today I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge Rush Limbaugh on this his 20 year anniversary on the national airwaves! May your indelible passion and optimism continue to light the torch of liberty for many more years to come.
In 1973, 40-year old Johnny Unitas ditched the familiar helmet with the horse shoe for head gear featuring a lightning bolt. Best known for leading the Baltimore Colts to three world championships in his 17 seasons, Johnny U had one forgettable campaign with the San Diego Chargers. In his four starts with the Chargers he threw seven interceptions and was sacked fourteen times. 
Joe Namath is most famous for guaranteeing his New York Jets would upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. But after 12 seasons in the Big Apple, Namath played one final campaign with the Los Angeles Rams in 1977. In four starts that year, Namath completed less than 50% of his passes, threw five interceptions and was sacked seven times. 
Of all the Hall of Fame quarterbacks to finish their careers with a different team than which they began, Joe Montana probably had the most success. After leading the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl titles in the span of nine seasons, Montana left the city by the Bay for Kansas City in 1993. In his two seasons with the Chiefs, Montana led them to the playoffs both years, including the 1993 AFC title game. 
