Merry Christmas, Motherfucker

While pedaling slowly up a hill, I spot a couple in their late twenties having an animated conversation by their car. As I pedal by, the following transpires:

Him: [mumbling] sucks [mumbling] thought I'd have some help . . .
Her: Well that was fucking stupid.
Jamo: Hey! That's not Christmas language! Christ died for those sins!
Her: Mind your own fucking business.
Jamo: [in my most Santa-like voice] HO-HO-HOOOOOOOO! MEEEERRRRRY CHRISTMAS!
Jamo: [continues to pedal away]

And a Merry Christmas to you too, dear readers. All three of you.

Steelers - Titans

People be freaking out, yo! For real, I can't remember so many people losing their minds over one loss. The Post-Gazette sports section reads like the day after a playoff loss. ESPN's website proclaimed that the Titans "dominated" and "manhandled" the Steelers. Maybe, to some extent, there was some manhandling, but I'm not totally convinced. Seemed more like "aggressive shoving" to me. I think it is important to think about 31-14 from the perspective of how we got there, and maybe what we learned in the process.

First, the "manhandling." Allow your minds to bask in the following factual numerical expressions:

First downs: Pittsburgh -- 23. Tennessee -- 16
Total yards: Pittsburgh -- 374. Tennessee -- 323
Pass yards: Pittsburgh -- 303. Tennessee -- 206
Rush yards: Pittsburgh -- 71. Tennessee -- 117
3rd downs : Pittsburgh -- 6/13. Tennessee -- 3/14 (!)
Possession : Pittsburgh -- 30:51. Tennessee -- 29:09

I don't know, brah. Doesn't seem like a "manhandling" to me.

The offensive line was particularly bad. They're typically no good, but they got blown off the ball just about every play. It seemed like every time Parker got the ball he was having to dodge at least one Titan who was already two yards behind the line of scrimmage. The defense, who have been amazing all year long at tackling, especially in the open field, couldn't wrap up anyone. I was amazed to see Ike Taylor get juked into next year by Chris Johnson on Tennessee's 4th and 1 touchdown run in the third quarter. That's a tackle Ike (and everyone else) has been making all season.

There is just no way Ben has a game that bad again this year. Four fumbles (two lost) two interceptions. When he wasn't fucking around getting sacked and throwing picks, he was brilliant (26-40, 331, 2TD). He's a high risk player, but the risks he takes lead to more good than bad. Yesterday was one of those days where every time he tried to make something happen, disaster struck. But this is what you get with Roethlisberger. Some weeks he scrambles around, dives for first downs, avoids blitzes and makes plays happen that win the Steelers games. Sometimes everything goes wrong. Still, there isn't anyone I would rather have.

The number of missed opportunities blow my mind. Ben's fumble on third and goal in the first quarter (3 points). Reed's missed field goal (3 points, and you could make a realistic case that Tomlin's tragically inept clock management at the end of that half had as much to do with that. There's no reason they didn't have at least one shot at the end zone there). The muffed punt by Chris Carr early in the third quarter that the Steelers couldn't come up with. The inexplicable decision by someone on the defensive line to simulate the cadence during the Titans' field-goal attempt late in the third quarter. That penalty wasted a great stand by the defense and cost them four more points. That's 10 points, also known as the exact amount they were losing by when they got the ball back late in the fourth quarter.

At some point I am left believing that they were simply out of gas. Their schedule has been brutal and heavily backweighted. They pulled off three consecutive wins prior to this week's shitshow that were absolutely championship quality. The defense played a solid game, but didn't make any big plays. Only one sack, and no other really memorable plays. Kerry Collins isn't that good, it was just that for the first time this year the Steelers weren't able to put pressure on the quarterback. Don't get me wrong, Tennessee is a good team with an exceptional offensive line, but the Kerry Collins Justin Gage combo isn't nearly as good as Cassel-Moss or Romo-Owens. But it's easy to look good when Silverback and Woodley can't get off the edge. I think they were just exhausted after having to bail out the offense three weeks in a row to win the division.

So, in a way I am glad they lost. This means next week's game doesn't mean anything, so they can work on getting some people healthy and getting some rest. They have three weeks to regroup and get pissed off at themselves just in time for the playoffs. I love it.

The only thing that I am really concerned about is their inability to run the ball. They're absolutely horrible at it. It is mindblowing that a team that good can be quite so bad at gaining yards on the ground. If they can't get it together in three weeks, it's going to kill them. The defense is too balls out to be on the field 30 minutes per game. It's up to the offense to move the ball on the ground to keep the clock running and let the defense rest. And if they get late into the game with a lead, it's crucial that they consume the clock. It's gonna be too cold in January to be throwing the ball 40 times per game.

Quick Question for You

I have been sick since Sunday. I don't get sick very often, which is a surprise considering I do not eat nearly enough vegetables and I drink an average of eight beers per day. I think the alcohol kills the germs. Anyway, a byproduct of not getting sick very often is not knowing much about how my body reacts to being sick, how to treat my sickness (what do you mean, three glasses of hot whiskey is not the recommended treatment?), or anything about getting better. Usually I just wake up one day and feel fine. So today, Vanessa asked me how I was feeling, and I told her, "I can't tell if I feel any better."

So my question is, is that possible? Is it possible to not be able to tell if you feel any better? Because I would think that if I felt either the same or worse I would be able to tell very easily. I mean, if I say I can't tell if i feel any better, I must feel better because it would be easy to tell if I didn't feel better, and really easy to tell if I felt worse. Right?

There is a definite possibility that I am so fucked up on both Day-and-Ny-Quil that I have lost all sense of what is going on around me. It's been a pretty intense 72 hour Quil bender. I was sent home from work this morning because, apparently, some of the members at my club find it off-putting when golf professionals amble around the premises, casually swigging DayQuil.

Anyway, if any of you can tell me how I feel, I would appreciate it.

Pierogies! Steelers!

The above picture is what my freezer now looks like. It's full of twelve boxes of Mrs. T's Pierogies. The GF, sick of hearing me lament the tribulations of living a life devoid of these doughy treats, ordered twelve boxes of what I call "the worlds most perfect food" to shut me up. I am now the proud owner of potato and cheddar, potato and four cheese blend, potato cheddar and bacon, and potato cheddar and jalapeno, pierogies. This is, without question, the greatest gift I have ever received.


That Steeler win last week was definitely the sweetest since Super Bowl XL. At this point, their defense is strong enough that even with their mediocre (at best) offense, they have a shot to go deep in the playoffs. I think it's going to come down to Ben. As long as he doesn't turn it over, they're going to be alright. In the nine games they have won, Ben has 12 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and 1 fumble. In the three games they have lost, Ben has 1 touchdown, 8 interceptions, and 2 fumbles.

I like the Steelers' chances against the Cowboys this weekend. The forecast is for something like 25 and snowy at kickoff, which is not what the warm-weather, speed-oriented Cowboys want to see. A few weeks ago, people were talking about the Cowboys' offensive line as being possibly the worst in the league (when they lost to the Cardinals, Rams (!), and Giants over a four-game stretch), but now, after beating the Niners and the Seahawks, they're one of the best in the league. Please. Silverback is going to own those suckers (especially if the NFL decides to ever call a holding penalty on the guy who is blocking him, EVER). T.O. is gonna get his clock cleaned by Ryan Clark in the first quarter and mail it in the rest of the way. The only way I see the Steelers losing this weekend (or any other weekend) is if they beat themselves. Just don't turn it over, score 21 points, and win. It ain't that hard.

44

We have a great deal of healing to do as a country. As Barack Obama was announced as our new president, the bar I was in (see above photo) burst into a raucous roar as the frustration and anger of eight years was purged. Cheers of "Oh-Bah-Mah!" rang out, along with assorted random cheering and high fives as some hugged, and some cried. And it was at that point I found myself thinking that the perfect way to truly capture the feeling of unity among all the strangers packed into that tiny place was a song to emphasize our pride in America. But I quickly realized there isn't one anymore. At least not for the majority of those in that bar, who felt so disenfranchised by their country. The Star Spangled Banner. God Bless America. These no longer adequately capture the current mood of our country, and singing one of them would have been forced. But it felt like that was what we should have been doing. I think other people wanted to sing those songs too, but their pride in this country has been shaken by the path she has taken over the past several years. This is why Obama was elected. He as promised to restore our pride and unify our country. This is his most difficult and important task.

Perhaps what I found most incredible about last night was Obama's speech. We have watched him deliver spine-chiller upon spine-chiller, but last night was the one that I will never forget. Not because of the packed bar I was in where everyone stopped -- and in a room of 60 drunken and dazed San Franciscans the only sound heard over Obama's voice was the soft crying of those overwhelmed -- but because of how unbelievably cool he was when he was on that stage. There was no look of surprise on his face as he accepted what had just happened to him and his country. There was no tinge of fear in his voice as he spoke. He was just ready. It blew my mind. The command he possessed over that moment is something I will never forget.

There is no way to overstate the pressure President-Elect Obama now finds himself in, under, and around. He has taken our country on a twenty-one month journey that started with confusion, doubt, and skeptecism which morphed into anxiety, excitement, and that all important word, hope, and erupted last night with an unbridled euphoria nationally and worldwide the likes of which escape my recollection. In Chicago hundreds of thousands (if not a million plus) packed the park where Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech. In San Francisco bars and streets overflowed with thousands of deliriously happy Obama supporters. People in far-off and forgotten lands flooded streets with signs of an American President's likeness, chanting his name with a belief that he is a true prophet of change for an America that they feel has left them behind. He has promised that he will change the world. Certainly he is not the first person to promise this, but I think he is the first person who we actually believe can do it. This expectation that Barack Obama has built for himself is incredible, and any failure to deliver upon it will be devastating.

One of the biggest dangers I think we face at this stage is allowing the enormity of this achievement to immunize our new President from criticism. I have never been more grateful for the two-month lag between election day and the swearing-in ceremony, because I think the next 75 days will allow us to fully absorb what has happened and get us to a point where we can look at Obama as our president, and not just as our first black president. This is important, for if we are to truly realize both the change Obama worked so hard for, and the acceptance Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought so hard to achieve, we must treat President-Elect Obama as any other President, and we must not be afraid to hold his feet to the fire when they need to be, as our vigilance is our greatest resource. We must remember that he works for us. This is our country, every bit as much as it is his. Obama's earned this election in large part because of ability to inspire, but that alone is not enough to make him a great President. We must make him prove to us that he can lead our country, and we must hold him responsible for the decisions he makes, both good and bad.

I believe that I will be one of Obama's biggest critics as his term unfolds, because there are a lot of things he plans to do that I do not agree with. As I have said before, I am a center-right kind of guy, and Obama strikes me as a far left on several policy matters that I feel are hugely important. I do not go into these next four years with the unbridled enthusiasm I witnessed many express last night because I fear that there is a chance this young man's limited executive experience could prove costly as he inherits a country on the verge of a tailspin. All that said, last night I could not help but be overwhelmed by pride for what we had done. Forty years ago, Barack Obama would not have been allowed to use the same water fountain as me. Today he leads my country. Indeed, we have come a long way.

As I started typing this into a Google Document, I noticed every time I typed "Obama" I would get the dotted red spell check line underneath telling me I had misspelled it. So I went back and typed a bunch of different last names, just to see. Jefferson. Lincoln. Kennedy. Reagan. Clinton. McCain. No red line. It wasn't until I got near the end of this that the red line stopped appearing. I guess Google Docs got the clue that "Obama" wasn't a typo, but something it should learn to accept.

Welcome to the new America.

America

I'm registered independent because I don't want to be a democrat or a republican or a libertarian or a green, I want to be an American who comes to my own conclusions. I've never understood the concept of subscribing to a group (and what that group believes) rather than a set of independently understood ideals. I have a number of reasons for this, but high on my list is a belief that organizations comprised of like-minded individuals lead to groupthink, and groupthink leads to a fortification of beliefs that is often coupled with an insulation to those who question their beliefs. Pursuant to this, I find subscribers to organizations of like-minded individuals are often told what the organization believes, and this leads to "talking points" and what I like to refer to as "responding points." These people know what their organization believes (and how to recite it) and they know how to respond to people who espouse a different belief. And the danger in this is that it becomes automatic for a lot of these people, and it helps feed their insulation. This is okay for some things, but not okay for social and political opinions.

If you are reading this, you are likely aware that to this point I have found myself right of center for most of my life. This has caused me a fair amount of grief and nagging from both my liberal and conservative friends. I'm not complaining. People have the right to question me, and it's up to me to have answers. If one's beliefs aren't occasionally questioned, either by himself or by others, they will never evolve, and that is dangerous. But I feel that all too often I am questioned by those who are unwilling to hear my beliefs beyond my answers. "You think people should have the right to keep and bear arms? You Republican war monger!" "You think gay people have the right to marriage? You Liberal Hippie!" People hear what they hear and draw an immediate conclusion. It's exhausting.

My conservative friends have a very black-and-white view of the way the world works, and this lends itself to being very inhospitable to people like me. It is all or nothing with them, and they are very supportive of their own kind. They think I am a fake because I don't subscribe to National Review and I question John McCain's VP pick. My liberal buddies, on the other hand, are incredibly passionate. There's a definite "us against the world" attitude in the liberal community, even when that isn't the case. And they go after their causes with an intoxicating vigor. However, that vigor often leads to intolerance and occasionally clouds them from fully considering the best way to achieve their goals as well as what achieving their goals would actually mean.

But I don't believe that every conservative is close-minded and stubborn or that every liberal is flaky and misguided -- I think there is a continuum that exists between those two extremes (and frankly, that continuum extends well beyond the two extremes I mentioned), and people exist on this continuum . And more specifically, people's individual beliefs oftentimes occupy different parts of this spectrum. You are allowed to support gay marriage but think that global warming might not be entirely anthropogenic. That's okay.

This brings me to a couple of nights ago, having a conversation with my father in which I attempt to explain to him my feelings on Obama and McCain and that while I'm not particularly excited by either of them, I think I'm voting for Obama. I proceeded to attempt to lay out a number of well thought out ideas to support my decision, but I found that trying to get through to him was nearly impossible. He's a McCain guy, and I'm fine with that. Reasonable people are allowed to vote for McCain. But what frustrated me was my dad deciding that since I wasn't on board with a McCain presidency that I was a flake. "I guess you can't move to San Francisco and not catch the disease [of liberalism]." Those were his exact words, and I'm going to tell you it pissed me off. I don't care that he thinks I'm a liberal, I care that he has caught the disease of unreasonable discourse. I'm instantly unreasonable because I think McCain has shitty education policies and doesn't deserve to be president just because he's a war hero (and he is). Really? I think it is sad that this is what discourse has come to.

That. Just. Happened.

Walking up the street today, I noticed a spaced-out looking woman in her mid sixties seemingly floating down the street toward me. She was rail skinny with frizzy whitish-blond hair, thick rimmed glasses, lots of bracelets, and she spoke in a high thin voice that was almost absorbed the instant her words left her mouth. Like some sort of cracked out angel. Anyway, she got to about two feet away from me and asked,

"Do you know where Muddy Waters is?"

And at this point I just don't think it was unreasonable for me to think she was talking about, you know, Muddy Waters. And, according to that Wikipedia article to which I just linked, dude has been dead since 1983. So given all that I had been able to ascertain in the 12 seconds this lady had been in my life (her looks, voice, asking where dead people are) I decided; this bitch crazy. So I gave her the kind of smile you give your grandma as she explains to you for the four-hundredth time as you look out over downtown that, "This place used to be alllll orange groves, faaaaaar as the eye could see!"and said, "Nope, don't know where he is. Sorry!" and continued up the street.

And it wasn't until I got into my apartment, unwrapped my burrito, and started to eat that I realized she wasn't talking about the musician at all. She was talking about the coffee shop, about five blocks from where we were.

I really hope she's not still wandering around looking for some coffee.

Hello, Krugman

I respect Paul Krugman quite a bit, but I'm a little miffed at his most recent offering in the Times opinion page (as shared on the Goog reader today by CKG). He attempts to set up an argument for Obama by arguing against McCain. I hate when people do this. The Republicans pulled this in 2000 and 2008. In 2000, Gore carried so much baggage due to his connection to Clinton that he was painted as a political pariah. "It will be four more years of Clinton," they exclaimed. (In much the same way Democrats are talking about McCain being an extension of the Bush administration.) And in 2008, the logic in voting for Bush again over Kerry was, essentially, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. We should know better than this by now.

But Krugman frames his argument as such:

So what do we know about the readiness of the two men most likely to end up taking that cal [about the financial infrastructure crumbling]? Well, Barack Obama seems well informed and sensible about matters economic and financial. John McCain, on the other hand, scares me.

I would love to know what Obama has said that makes Krugman believe he is well informed. McCain scares me too, but again, that doesn't do anything for selling me on what Obama can do aside from being "not scary" about the economy. He continues:

About Mr. Obama: it’s a shame that he didn’t show more leadership in the debate over the bailout bill, choosing instead to leave the issue in the hands of Congressional Democrats, especially Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. But both Mr. Obama and the Congressional Democrats are surrounded by very knowledgeable, clear-headed advisers, with experienced crisis managers like Paul Volcker and Robert Rubin always close at hand.

Krugman never even entertains the thought that perhaps the reason Obama didn't show more leadership in the debate over the bailout bill was because he didn't have anything prescient to say. That maybe Obama doesn't really get it either. But for Krugman, this is okay as Obama has chosen to leave the discourse on this matter to his "very knowledgeable, clear-headed advisers . . . crisis managers . . . " But this logic reminds me far too much of the logic republicans used to defend Bush when his intelligence and presidential acuity came into question. Bush defenders (including myself, for some time) would reference the Bush cabinet and insist that even if Bush wasn't the most qualified president in our history, he had assembled an all-star cabinet to advise his every decision. I think at this stage of the game we can definitively say that doesn't necessarily work.

Krugman then continues the column by citing several more examples of why McCain would be a financially disastrous President while not offering a single argument for Obama's financial expertise.

I want to be clear that I am not trying to argue McCain over Obama with regards to who is better suited to right our crumbling economy. The point is that we need to be finding reasons why one candidate will be better than the other; and it's not just about the economy, it's about every issue. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Fuck You of the Day

Sometimes I really enjoy this city, and I feel like it is the only place besides Pittsburgh I'll ever really love to live in. And sometimes, I want to take a flamethrower to city hall. This is one of those flamethrower times.

Observe this picture:

You may click to enlarge. It is not a Rick Roll. I am fucking sick of Rick Rolling.

Indeed, it is a parking ticket. Usually when I get these, it's my fault. I flake out and don't see a restriction sign and come back to a memo stuffed under my windshield wiper that reminds me of how much of a retard I am, and that my retardation requires some sort of fee for the city. I accept this. But look closer, in the bottom right corner:


It says "WHEELS STRAIGHT." WHEELS STRAIGHT. I got a $45 ticket because my parked car's wheels were straight on a grade greater than 3%. Which begs the question; Are you fucking kidding me? I half expected to flip the ticket over and see something like, "You've been LOL'ed by www.faketicket.com (a subsidiary of icanhascheezburger)."

I understand that the hills in San Francisco are steep, and curbing one's wheels helps prevent runaway cars. But, my wheels were curbed. Granted they weren't buried into the sidewalk, but they were definitely angled toward the curb. And $45 for this violation? What a raping! Is it not enough that it is a million percent more expensive to rent an apartment in this city? Or that San Francisco taxes the everloving shit out of my paycheck every two weeks? Or that I already paid the DPT $85 for the esteemed privilege of parking on the street in my own fucking neighborhood? They need to rake me for $45 because I didn't curb my wheels enough for some parking cop? Jesus Christ, San Francisco. If you're going to bend me over the least you could do is offer a reach around.

So fuck you, San Francisco. You have cost me approximately eight beers.

Great, Now the Irish are Racist

It used to be the Irish could could just stagger through life in various stages of sobriety, weaving week-long benders together with weeks of moderate sobriety all the while complaining about the wussy English or the stupid Italians. But now, thanks to Fianna Fáil party member Martin Cullen (who is Ireland's Minister for Arts, Sport, and Tourism), my people are totally ignorant. In an interview with some other idiot about how micks can win more medals at the Summer Olympics . . .

"Obviously, unless you're black and African you're not going to do well in sprint or middle distance," he says. "We'll get the odd one coming through, like a Sonia or an Eamonn Coghlan, but we'll deal with them as they come. But the likes of the javelin, the discus, the pole vaulting, these are the ones being won by white Europeans. Physically and mentally we're suited to them, and it's easy to see how we could do well here."

We'll get the odd one coming through, but we'll deal with them as they come?

What the fuck, dude? What. The. Fuck.

Sarah Palin

I don't think anyone has any idea who this woman is. Apparently she's from Alaska, and is an up-do enthusiast:













Yeah, baby.
















My guess is McCain and his people started freaking out when they realized that Obama's campaign became exponentially more versatile when Joe Biden joined the ticket. This added experience to Obama's youthful change platform, balancing his campaign nicely.

I don't know anything about this woman, and she might be well qualified and prepared to be VP, but I have to believe that she wouldn't have even been on McCain's list of possible running mates had Hilary won the nomination. And of course this leads me to believe that there is someone else out there that is more qualified and was overlooked so McCain could could say, "Look, now I have someone who is youthful, good-looking, and a woman! See! Change! I can do change too! Love me! Why won't you loooooove meeeeeee?!"

Cynicism runs deep this time of year.

The Football

Because I am a giant nerd when it comes to football season, I have decided to start a football blog. Because, you know, this blog is so popular that I'd hate to alienate my massive readership by subjecting them to post after post of football talk. So I've decided to park all of my football related nonsense at http://www.footballpr0n.blogspot.com/.

It's just way too easy to post stuff on the internet.

Joe and Me

This actually happened to me at work the other day:

me to guy with his back to me on cell phone: Sir, I'm sorry . . .

man on cell wheels around, turns out to be Joe Morgan, wearing an enormous grin: HAHA, oh yeah? Hi!

me, completely stunned: Yeah, no, hey, yeah we, uh, don't allow cell phone use in the clubhouse.

Joe: Oooooohhhohohhoooh, haha, I'm sorry! I do go on, don't I?

Me: [blank stare]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, after his round, he ambles into the golf shop. I have a baseball game on. There is nobody else in the shop.

Joe: Ohhh let's see who we got here, oh, wow, the Red Sox. I think they're eventually going to overtake the Rays [wanders over to the cashmere sweaters, starts to rub them] for first place in the AL East, but the Yankees have too much inner turmoil right now and their pitching staff just isn't up to par [heads to the ladies section, examines the visors] with what a real playoff caliber team would need in order to compete for a place in the postseason which is why I wouldn't be surprised . . . although it's funny, cause you know . . . [Joe's friend walks in]

Joe's friend: Ho-kay there, Joe. Time to get a move on.

Joe: Alright then, well it was nice today here thank you. You have a marvelous golf course thanks for having me out then . . . [trails off as he walks out the door]

Aaaaannnnnnd scene.

I Can't Believe I Haven't Seen The Dark Knight Yet

I just can't fucking believe it. Really, it's fucking ridiculous.

Wash'N Fold Changed My Life

If you're anything like me, you have an irrational hatred for doing laundry. Don't get me wrong, I get a thrill out of stepping into a freshly pressed pair of pants as the next guy, but the actual act of doing laundry is so agonizingly boring to me that it nearly brings me to tears every time I reach for the Tide. Generally once a week you can find me under a pile of smelly socks weeping softly. Until today. From now on, I am a Wash'N Fold Man

I know I can be an emotional man who, at times, will exaggerate the importance of an event and just what it means to me. This is not the first time I have said something has changed my life. But I think the Wash'N Fold will legitimately change my life. Check this shit out:



That's my stash. Clean, fresh smelling laundry folded crisply into an easily transportable cube for only $.69/lb! $.69/fucking lb! They're practically giving it away!

The only downside I can think of is the possibility of some weirdo getting friendly with my underwear. Sometimes you have to let certain things slide. This Wash'N Fold (always capitalized, to emphasize reverence) is appoximately .02 miles from my new apartment (third floor, top left bay window. Tour forthcoming), which seals the deal. For the next 12 months, you'll find me at the Wash'N Fold.

Reality Check of the Day

At first, I thought this might have been an artist's rendering of what Haley Joel Osment will look like when he's 30:



Turns out it's Britney Spears. This Britney Spears:



Great googily moogily.

Strange Places

We all keep giving Carmina, Marc, and Zhi a hard time because of where they're moving, but in fairness, it isn't really that bad. Just check out this Google Map of bars around their new house. See? Plenty to do. They'll be fine.

Best Use of the Inernets Award

This one goes to the website featuring photos and information on men who look like old lesbians. This falls into my current top five, with failblog holding strong as the king of the internets.

The D.C. Gun Ban

I have always been skeptical of the generally accepted connection between guns and violence. I think there is a misconception that guns equal violence. But if enough people used hammers or baseball bats for unsavory deeds, I presume our perception of those things would change as well. But let me make no mistake about my feelings about guns; I hate them. I wish they didn't exist. If I had my way, we'd melt all the guns in the world down into one kickass jungle-gym or something. But I realize that guns are readily available to anyone who wants to access one, and that isn't going to change. So while the lifting of the D.C. ban on firearms seems like a step in the wrong direction, I remain unconvinced that any more innocent people are going to be negatively effected by guns in D.C.

If a criminal wants to get a gun, he will get a gun. It doesn't matter how illegal it is to own one. A "law" isn't going to deter a criminal. I can't imagine a scenario where a criminal says, "You know, I'd love to break into that house and steal some stuff, it's just too bad I can't legally get my hands on a gun." The more realistic scenario I imagine is the criminal deciding he wants to break into a house, obtaining his gun illegally, and then breaking into said house where it is unlikely that the people inside have a gun of their own for protection.

I have lived in a number of cities all of which allow people to own firearms if they want and nobody goes around shooting people just because they're allowed to own a gun. I'd bet a large amount of cash that the number of people killed or injured by guns in D.C. does not increase.

Everyone Likes Tiger but the Racists

When you have too much media, like, say, America does, people in media tend to say a lot of insane things because they more or less run out of sane things to say. Sports media is particularly vulnerable to this because, first, the passion people have for great sports oftentimes overshadows the history of sport. So when some person or team delivers an incredible performance, the media tend to freak out and coin whatever happened as "one of the greatest of all time." Generally, this is because it was just so fucking exciting to watch and they're all so jazzed up by it that their perspective is eclipsed by passion. And second, people love to be around history. People love to believe they witnessed something that was so uniquely special that they go out of their way to convince themselves that what they saw was one-of-a-kind. Just ask anyone over 50 who lives in Pittsburgh. You'd think Three Rivers seated 275,000 people because every single one of them was there when Franco Harris made the Immaculate Reception. So the media people show up on camera and decide that this is their chance to be the guy who was the media guy when X did something that will become part of unforgettable sports lore. ESPN eats that shit up.

So today Tiger Woods did the following things at America's national championship of golf. The U.S. Open. The Super Bowl of golf.





And then there was one other equally amazing thing that isn't on the YouTube so therefore doesn't actually exist in the annals of history at this time. But it doesn't really matter because most of you don't give a poop about golf so this is useless to watch anyway. But take it from an Ass Pro, this shit was was B-A-N-A-N-A-S. And the greatest thing about it is that Tiger is like 6 weeks removed from arthroscopic knee surgery so every so often when he swings he recoils in pain and then limps down the fairway. It's getting to the point where his caddie is going to have to carry him between shots, Byron Leftwich style.

Anyway, I'm chilling out here watching everyone who has anything to say about the U.S. Open describe how this was possibly the most off the charts round of golf in history. The same golf that has been around for 300 years. I think for sure it was one of the most dramatic rounds in recent history, considering the stage and the condition of Tiger. Watching him swing and then clutch his knee and then make insane birdies and eagles from all over the field while trying to win the most important tournament of the year was amazingly compelling. But considering he didn't even shoot the best score of the day, I hardly think we can start labeling today's round one of the best rounds ever.

Tiger Woods makes everything one million times more exciting than they would normally be. Uh, on a golf course, at least. I bet a Tiger woods amusement park would be sweet too. Or something. But i think it's important to chill out for a minute and just remember that while what he did today was dramatic and exciting, it wasn't really a very good performance. A bounce one way or the other would have made today just another crapola round with Tiger hitting tee shots into concession stands and pegging spectators with wayward iron shots.

Besides, none of the shots he hit today was nearly as awesome as this one. Stick with it. It's worth it.:



Yowza.

Stood up by Jim Leyland

From time to time, my golf club will get requests from athletes or coaches or actors or other assorted people of note to play a round of golf when they're passing through San Francisco. And in order to keep the peace with the membership of the club, and to make sure the people dropping in treat the course with some sort of respect, one of us assistant pros will play with them.

Today I was supposed to play golf with former Pirates and current Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland and "a couple of his coaches." This had me extremely excited, because that meant that in addition to playing with Leyland, I was possibly going to be playing with other former Pirates coaches and players who are currently on his staff. This included Lloyd McClendon, Gene Lamont, Rafael Belliard, and Andy Van Slyke.

Andy Van Fucking Slyke.

I think every boy born in Pittsburgh between 1978 and 1984 had Van Slyke as one of his heroes. Or if he didn't he was a jerk. But Andy Van was my favorite Pirate from those awesome early 90's teams and without a doubt is my favorite Pirate of all time. I can't even remember why I liked him so much. I vaguely recall him sporting awesome anti-glare, reasonable hitting, and making a handful of diving catches.

Anyway, Leyland and his entire staff stood me up as I waited around the golf course for like 90 minutes when I could have been sleeping. So screw off, Jimbo.

But you, Andy Van Slyke, you hang in there, buddy.

Black Armband

People have been asking me (specifically at work, where all we talk about is sports) why I don't seem particularly "in" to the Penguins Stanley Cup run. I thought about this for a while, because I am a Penguin fan, but generally I don't pay much attention to hockey. Football is my sport, and I know that shit inside and out.

But I decided tonight, as I was watching the Penguins let the Stanley Cup slip through their grasp, that I can't emotionally get that involved. I physically can't. During football season, I have 16 separate aneurysms while most everyone else is "enjoying the football season." It's really a nightmare. I'm a wreck every Sunday, and it takes so much out of me that by the time the season is over, I'm usually relieved that I don't have to deal with that sort of emotional exhaustion for seven more months.

But with the Penguins making the playoffs, and the city of Pittsburgh basically turned into a town of puckhead maniacs, I had to watch. And when the Pens took the ice for game one of this thing, I noticed my left arm tingling and an acidic coppery taste filling my mouth. I bailed out. I couldn't do it. I was like a little kid watching his first scary movie, covering my face with my hands, only ever so carefully daring to peek through at calculated intervals.

So I'll confess. I haven't watched as much of this series as most true fans. But when the last seconds ticked by tonight, I had the same knot in my stomach as when David Garrard pulled off the most improbable quarterback sneak in the history of the Steelers on 4th and a mile at Heinz Field last year

If You Don't Like Hillary Clinton, You are a Sexist

Peggy Noonan basically crane-kicks Hillary Clinton right in the uterus in today's Wall Street Journal. She leads off with brief biographies of Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir, Prime Minister of India Indira Ghandi, and Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher. Then drops this:

You know where I'm going, for you know where she went. Hillary Clinton complained again this week that sexism has been a major dynamic in her unsuccessful bid for political dominance. She is quoted by the Washington Post's Lois Romano decrying the "sexist" treatment she received during the campaign, and the "incredible vitriol that has been engendered" by those who are "nothing but misogynists." The New York Times reported she told sympathetic bloggers in a conference call that she is saddened by the "mean-spiritedness and terrible insults" that have been thrown "at you, for supporting me, and at women in general."

I'm sympathetic to the plight of the woman. Really. But I also believe that the kind of talk Hillary is engaging in does nothing to help break down the barriers of sexism but rather reinforces them by making them seem like everything bad happening to her in this election can be blamed on her being a woman. Noonan speculates that this tactic isn't to garner votes, but to shift the lens through which history views her inevitable defeat. But I think that's absurd considering she's going to lose to A BLACK MAN. It's hard to play the prejudice card with people who were once considered less than half a person.

Americans today are much softer than pretty much any people from anyplace else at any time in history. The amount of grief Meir and Ghandi and Thatcher had to endure because they were women was monumental. But I doubt you could go back in the annals of history and dig up a transcript of any of them complaining to the media about the "mean-spirited, terrible insults" they were receiving. But these days that kind of crap makes you a folk hero. And anyone who tells Hillary to suck it up and deal with it is a sexist.

If she can't handle the shit she gets from American media, how is she going to deal with going to places like Iraq and Afghanistan? I just can't imagine someone going into a hostile area like that after groaning about sexist treatment in the media. She seems so fragile it scares the shit out of me.

American Airlines is Saving Most of us Lots of Money

I had at least 5 people complain to me today about the SFGate piece on American Airlines deciding to charge $15 for each passenger's first checked bag. And every single one of them thought I was an asshole for deciding that I like this policy. Because in the face of insanely high oil prices airlines have two choices: 1) They raise the price of all their flights to compensate for the loss, or 2) they charge the individuals who create more strain on the airplane in the form of checked bags extra money so they are forced to pay for the extra fuel needed to haul their suitcase full of whatever. Maybe it bothers me less because I only own like 4 shirts and one pair of jeans and never have to check a bag.

Hillary Clinton

She's just like you and me:

I Must be in San Francisco

This morning while walking back from getting my haircut at one of San Francisco's finest hair boutiques (SuperCuts), I passed the middle school during what was either a music class or band practice. As I got closer, I heard the conductor in a loud, teacherly voice bellow, "1..2..1, 2, 3, 4!" and the band started playing -- you guessed it -- White Rabbit. White Rabbit, by a band called Jefferson Airplane from an album caled Surrealistic Pillow. Middle school kids. Middle school!

I sat on the school steps until the White Rabbit peaked.

Obama is a Mac-Daddy!

I've watched this twice and I'm not sure if it's real.

The Deification of Brett Favre

This is something I wrote a while back after watching a Wrangler Jeans ad featuring Brett Favre:

The average career for a player in the NFL is 3 years. Brett Favre has been a league staple for 17 years. Since 1991. Since I was 9.

As long as I have been able to reasonably comprehend what the NFL is, Brett Favre has been a part of it. He has started nearly 250 consecutive games, won 152 of them. He's thrown 424 touchdowns, won two Super Bowls, rushed for almost 2000 yards, and scored 40 touchdowns. He even has one reception. But for all of these things what separates Favre from every other player in the NFL is the intangibles. Not that he's smart on the field, which he is, not that he's confident on the field, which he is, not that he's a great on-field leader, which he is. It's that one intangible. That for someone who is 38 years old he plays the game more than any other player. Not only has he played more actual games than anyone else, but that he has more fun on the field than anyone else. For so many players the NFL is a job. Not for Favre. For him, football is pleasure, not business. He is the anti-Bonds.

For what feels like this entire millenium we have been calling Brett Favre overrated. Washed up. He's in it only for himself. He's just hanging around to break the touchdown record. He's slinging it too much. Throwing it into traffic. 29 ints in 2005. He's finished. Washed up. And for all the love we have for Brett it just became too much. Will he retire this year? I mean, he is old. He's got his rings. Why not turn the franchise over to Aaron Rogers? Let the city of Green Bay go? Let them move on. Maybe Brett could stay on as a coach or an adviser.

But while we said that, because we knew it was the logical thing to do, we always kind of hoped he'd stay. He brought something special to the game. If Brett left, who else would throw an 80-yard bomb for a score and then sprint down the field, arms above his head, fingers pointed skyward like a 10 year old and carry the receiver off the field on his shoulders in celebration? (And sure enough as I write this sentence Favre throws a 79 yard beaut right into the arms of rookie receiver James Jones and does the whole routine but hoist Jones onto his shoulders. Hmmm. Maybe he is getting old.)

On Monday Night Football ESPN did everything it could to somehow make Brett Favre a more transcendent figure than he already is. There is a palpable feeling that in a league with out of control contracts, out of control athletes, and out of control egotism, losing Brett Favre might mean losing the last truly pure entity the NFL has left. Because beneath that graying head of hair and aging facade we see a youthful exuberance for something that we all wish we had. It's hard to find someone who truly loves what he does every day, and in Brett Favre we see that and it's completely intoxicating.

All night long ESPN tried to everything they could to pull the thread of Jay Cutler being the next Favre. On the second play from scrimmage Cutler improvised a two-handed shovel pass to salvage what he could out of a broken play and before the pass could fall incomplete Tirico, Jaworski, and Kornheiser were falling over themselves to compare that kind of improvisation to Favre. The thought of a NFL without a Brett Favre is just too much for some people to take.

Until he retires we'll see plenty of pieces about the boy next door who guts it out with the best of them. The guy who went out and had the game of his life the day after his father died. Precious memories narrated by his wife. Everything they can to reinforce the image of the guy in the Wrangler commercial who plays backyard football and hangs around the pickup truck by the lake and who happens to be one of the most prolific passers of all-time. He's the everyman who made it in America's favorite sport on the most storied franchise ever and somehow never lost perspective. We've seen him celebrate, we've seen him suffer, we've seen him cry tears of joy and tears of pain. In a game where players are obscured by helmets and facemasks Brett Favre has let us in to see who he truly is. He is what we wish every team was made up of. Passion, excitement, gamesmanship. We need more Favres, not less. It's hard to think that in a league with 1696 players one could have such a profound impact, but Favre did something to America's collective consciousness with regards to the NFL that will never be forgotten.

So while people like me might be sick of hearing about how much fun he has and how great he's been for the game for so long, maybe we should just shut our traps and absorb it while we can. And I hope that we can get away from trying to crown someone the next Brett Favre. Sure Cutler is scrappy, has fun, and can throw it a ton. But there won't be anyone like Favre ever again. And that's the way it should be. Legendary players like Favre are one of a kind. We call them one of a kind for a reason, and with someone like Favre there's no expiration date on that title.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Your 2008 San Francisco Giants!

I think I have lived in three of the top five most baseball depressed cities at their peak of depression. Pittsburgh, clearly. Baltimore, which still holds out hope for a Cal Rikpen comeback. And now San Francisco, which since their World Series appearance of 2002 have been no better than the Royals. So imagine my excitement when I opened up today's San Francisco Chronicle and found this sprawling beacon of athleticism:That's Ray Durham, listed at 5'8" 170lbs. But that is from last year, before his apparent boob job. He'll be the Giants starting second baseman. Clearly Spring Training has taken its toll on Durham who until now has been mostly focusing on conditioning his sunflower-seed-spitting muscles and not his lying-on-his-side-muscles. In fact, spring training has taken its toll on several of the Giants, who already have four players that are going to be unable to participate in the remainder of the preseason.

I'm beginning to wonder if we should still consider baseball a sport because if we do then we're required to consider those who play baseball athletes, which clearly many of these men are not.

Just How Limited is Our Democracy?

Pretty fucking limited. I had no idea how crazy it was until I came across this:

“Delegates are NOT bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the convention or on the first ballot,” a recent DNC memo states. “A delegate goes to the convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate. At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required.”

Which is outrageous to me. What is the point of this whole procedure if, at the end, our vote may actually not count? Further, who in the hell decided this was a good idea? I can only imagine what would happen in this country if Obama had the nomination locked up by the convention only to have some DNC suit amble to the microphone and say, "Uh, yeah. Well, so here's the thing..."

And don't think this isn't possible:

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.[...]

“I swear it is not happening now, but as we get closer to the convention, if it is a stalemate, everybody will be going after everybody’s delegates,” a senior Clinton official told me [Roger Simon] Monday afternoon. “All the rules will be going out the window.”

Can you imagine how much faith in voting would be lost if this actually happened? America has a legendary apathetic voting base as it is, but if people watched their delegates completely disregard their wishes it could alienate an entire generation of voters. And what about the concept of the democrats running a candidate that their party doesn't actually think should be president? Would there even be a chance of her winning? Would the backlash of the democratic voter base be so incredible that we would see the smallest democratic voter turnout in history? Would the democrats then achieve the impossible task of running a candidate that sucks worse than John Kerry?

And then think about all of the things that would be done to convince pledged delegates to switch. Clinton would be paying back favors for the rest of her life. There's no possible way her presidency would be viewed as legit. I bet in 50 years we'd see a book published of the things the Clinton campaign did to win the 2008 nomination that would rival Watergate.

I think Clinton's biggest advantage is a fat Rolodex and a hugely influential husband who could call in more than his share of favors. We might actually see how real that advantage actually is. I hope for the sake of all of us we don't.

The Mitchell Report

I had an absolutely epic post drafted about the Mitchell Report and Clemens' testimony on Capitol Hill from earlier this week. Really, this thing was like 6000 words. And I realized that nobody besides Zhi would read it. And I realized that I haven't paid nearly enough attention to this steroids stuff to have 6000 words worth of correct, interesting, well-informed info. So, long story short, I got to a point where I had too much to really want to skim through it and re-draft it because it mostly wasn't good. Right.

But the main idea is that baseball really screwed this one up. They ignored the issue because they had a good product that erased the memories of the 1994 lockout. Fans were happy, owners were seeing revenues skyrocket, and Red Sox fans stopped complaining. But when the elephant in the room (which is only slightly larger than Bonds' steroid-inflamed skull) became such that even people like my mother, who doesn't know Barry Bonds from Micheal Jordan, could look at these players and comment on how unnaturally large they'd become. (Side note: my mother, like every Pittsburgher, was a die-hard Pirate fan until after the 1992 season when the Bucs traded Bonds to the Giants for a handful of beans and embarked on their decade-and-a-half "rebuilding" project that has no end in sight).

But in the process of trying to rehabilitate the game Bud Selig invoked the almighty power [ineptitude] of our congress whose independent study has led to a media circus on Capitol Hill. And once this all has been resolved, we might see Clemens or Bonds end up in jail but that's it. That's the upper-ceiling. As we speak, guys are at spring training taking needles in their asses to try to keep up. And it's entirely worth it to them because if they get caught, they still have their money. And If they don't, then their numbers skyrocket and they make more money. The Mitchell Report gave us heads to put on our mantle to point to and say, "Yeah, these guys are cheaters," while nothing actually changes.

As a fan of sports and the entertainment they bring me, I like my games to be entertaining. And 105 mph fastballs, curveballs that drop 18 inches off the plate, and 525 foot home runs entertain the shit out of me. But as someone who plays sports as well I can't imagine the frustration I'd feel if I was a clean athlete on the cusp of the pros only to see my spot gobbled up by a 'roid-raging fraud. I think baseball has an obligation to integrity and the safety of its players, and steroids compromises both. At this point I don't know what busting prior steroid users does to help anything. I want to see some reform from this point, and that means Bud Selig and Donald Fehr getting real about investing in the future of testing for HGH and whatever else chemists are concocting to skirt the existing battery of tests. Without this, Major League Baseball will become no better than the WWE.

Some Thoughts on McCain

CKG's response (over on the faceboob) to my post about voting got me thinking the following about John McCain:

• Something that was mentioned before the primaries began but has been swept under the rug since is McCain's age. He's going to be 72 when the election rolls around. That's old. Of course, McCain will likely have the best health care in the world (and probably has for quite some time). But he fought in wars and was in a POW camp for 5-1/2 years. That takes a toll. It has to. So, not to be mean, but how much longer does this guy have? Barack Obama catches a cold, it's likely no big deal. A 70-something man catches a cold and pneumonia becomes a real concern. I'm just saying.

• The flip side of this is the old vote. We hear a lot about how Obama is young and therefore will carry the young vote. Why wouldn't McCain carry the old vote? Wouldn't old people want to see a president they relate to in the same way young folks want to see a hip, good-looking young guy like Obama?

• CKG mentioned talk of a McCain-Huckabee ticket (assiming McCain gets the nod, which I think is reasonable). I think this is a scary ticket for the democrats. If you look at the votes McCain has won, they're primarily not with conservatives. He's gobbling up all the independents and others. What the big concern is now for the republicans is whether or not McCain can secure enough of the hard right vote (which he struggles to do primarily due to his liberal views on immigration)h. I think Huckabee and his religious values make him an appealing V.P. to Christian-conservative voters who would like to see him slide into office in, say, 8 years. Not to mention, Huckabee is a good 20 years younger than McCain, so that would help balance out the age issue I mentioned above.

[As I write, Mittens decides to execute his bid for office. It's been a bad week for New England. I wonder where his delegates will go....]

Gay for Glaceau

I'm completely in love with vitaminwater. It's stupid. Mostly, it's sugars and things that are kind of bad-to-okay for you. But there are some vitamins, and things like "lutein" and "theanine" and "calcium" and other made up ingredients. And they come in these really interesting colors that inexplicably make them more delicious. And what's more, sometimes our local supermarket has them on sale for a buck a piece. After a while it just becomes the economical thing to do.

So you'll understand why today, when I saw this puppy staring me right in the face, I had no choice but drop $2.24 and take the ride:
That's right. Sixteen fluid ounces of vitaminenergy. Vitaminwater's next evolutionary step and I never saw it coming. I wish someone had taken my picture the moment I happened upon this pint of pure joy in the local Walgreen's.

For the record, I really don't get down on energy drinks. First, I'm not that big on caffeine because it tends to tweak me out pretty hard, and I become almost instantaneously addicted to it. So if I don't have caffeine the next day, I have a little less energy (all things being equal, of course). This compounds itself the more days I go consecutively with caffeine. On top of that, I think Red Bull not only looks like cat urine, but it tastes a bit like it too. And sugar-free Red Bull? Really? Is that the flavor you people were looking for? Having said that, I do occasionally partake of the energy drink because they're very effective at, say, helping you push through that last few hours before sunrise.

The Walgreen's had three flavors. I will capitalize them for emphasis: Dragonfruit (red), Fruit Punch (purple, for some reason, and not red) and Tropical Citrus (yellow, appropriately). Naturally, I got the Dragonfruit. The first thing I looked at was the ingredients. Ingredient 1? Carbonated water. This upset me. I always feel like carbonation is a cheap way to cover up nasty tasting substances. Bad times. As I rifled through the rest of the ingredients, I noticed that it had the requisite crapola like caffeine, taurine (which I think is mostly just speed), guarana, and some other stuff. But it did, way down at the bottom, have some vitamins listed. Good times. The Glaceau people say this is the difference:

unlike other energy drinks that look like they glow in the dark (loaded with weird chemicals and preservatives), vitaminenergy has no artificial colors, sweeteners, or flavors. we also use natural caffeine, like you'd find in coffee or tea...

And the breakdown:

• b + c vitamins for metabolic energy
• natural caffeine for immediate energy
• ribose for sustained energy

And the website features flash-animated floating vitaminenergy cans with little bands of energy orbiting around them from all sides, so I'm set.

The verdict? I thought it tasted pretty good. Not as good as the Dragonfruit vitaminwater, but good. Also, I don't know what a dragonfruit is or what it's supposed to taste like so perhaps this energy version is closer to the real thing. Anyway I drank it at work in the first 30 minutes I was there. About 20 minutes later I felt my pupils constrict and I nearly caught fire (the caffeine). A little while after that I leveled out and everything was cream cheese. I coasted through the day without experience any sort of crash. To be fair, I slept about 10 hours last night, but even sometimes when I sleep that much I feel a touch sluggish because of my sloth. The downside is the gf threw me out of bed tonight for tossing and turning too much which leads me to believe that maybe this stuff works too fucking good. Or maybe I'm just a gigantic pussy when it comes to caffeine tolerance. Either way, I was more than satisfied. It's a little pricey, but you get more of it for your money than, say, Red Bull. The fact that I didn't crash or wind up with a caffeine-chemical hangover was big. And I feel like the vitaminwater name provides a sane alternative to more wild-eyed beverages like "Monster" and "Hype" and "FirePower Extreme" (find a full list of the madness here) all of which make it seem like your muscles might burst through your clothes in a fit of pure energy and you'll accidentally dislodge a mailbox from it's moorings while simply trying to mail a letter.

The tremendous upside is that we will almost assuredly see a spike in vitaminenergy related alcoholic beverages. If you add vodka to one of these it could easily make a "VitaminSparxx." Or we could drop shots of vodka into half-pints of the stuff to create a "VitaminBomb." The possibilities are endless....

Rock Band Upgrade

About a month ago I was talking to k2, Jenna, and the gf about how the current rock band drum set was good, but not great. Basically, my ideas were 1) a hard rubber surface would make the stick react off the drum head more realistically thus making playability easier, and 2) mounted cymbals would be a lot more intuitive and expand all sorts of options for improvisation and realistic play. Now all I have to do is scrounge up between $300 and $400 and somehow wait until next fall....

Not to Beat a Dead Horse....

But Ari Fleischer, Bush's Press Secretary from 2001-2003, from last night;

"There is no doubt ... we [republicans] hope and pray every night to run against Hillary Clinton,"

Voting is Hard

And I reckon it should be. I've only been allowed to vote in two elections, but each time it was really difficult to decide who to vote for. I think there are two ways one can approach voting. The first, and by far the most popular, is voting for who you like the best. That seems pretty reasonable. I've done it for each election I've voted in and it seemed like a good idea at the time. But the second option is one I've been kicking around this election cycle, because I think it might fit our country's style of limited democracy better. Sometimes, you have to vote for 1) the lesser of two evils or 2) the most electable candidate that represents your views the best. You need to use your vote strategically

I think we get frustrated because our two party system perpetually leaves us with two candidates who, at best, tangentially represent us. In 2000, we had a prominent third party candidate that rustled up enough support to create a dent in the final vote tally largely because he wasn't a democrat and a republican. The problem is that in 2000 Ralph Nader and the green party likely cost Gore the election because just about everyone who voted for Nader would have voted for Gore had Nader not been involved. And between Bush and Gore, Gore was clearly the greener of the two. But the notion that you should vote for who you like the best got in the way of the logic that a vote for Nader is, essentially, a wasted vote and that vote should go to the guy who you agree with the most and who actually has a chance to get elected. Sure, Gore wasn't going to be as green as Nader, but the alternative was a guy who really didn't give a shit about the environment.

If I'm a voting democrat today, there is simply no doubt in my mind who I vote for. It's got to be Obama because quite simply Hilary is unelectable. There is no chance in hell republicans are going to approve four more years of a Clinton presidency. Republicans despise the Clintons, and they'll never vote for her. And this is what I'm talking about. You have to use your vote strategically. You might be in love with Hilary Clinton, but you have to make sure you get a nominee out there that is electable. In 2004, Kerry got the nod despite the fact that he was loathed by half the country before the democratic convention. And then he lost the presidency to a guy who proved four years in he was one of the most incompetent people in the country.

Democrats think there is no chance for a republican to win the presidency, but it's just that kind of hubris that cost them the 2004 race. I feel that if the republicans get McCain out there, he has the kind of crossover appeal that could garner enough support to handily beat Clinton and possibly Obama. Republicans need to do the same thing: Romney and Huckabee don't strike me as electable. McCain is the clear choice for them.