Obama and Byden Renominated

MITT ROMNEY WANTS TO DOUBLE DOWN ON TRICKLE DOWN

I'VE NEVER LIED TO YOU - I'VE ALWAYS BEEN COOL - YES I'VE GOT TO GET THE VOTE AND I TOLD YOU ABOUT SCHOOL

FORWARD AMERICAN PROGRESS IS NOT A SPRINT, IT'S NOT EVEN A MARATHON; IT'S A RELAY! - YES IT IS

MITT ROMNEY'S GOOD WILL TRIP TURNED TO TRIPPING UP AND PRAYING FOR THE CONTINUED GOOD WILL OF THOSE HE BLEW IT WITH

WHEN IT COMES TO ASSASESING VALUE OF GOLD COINS, FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE USUALLY THE MOST RELIABLE

A MAN WITH A SPINE OF STEEL BY HIS VERY NATURE HAS A MAGNETIC PERSONALITY

MITT ROMNEY'S POLICY ISN'T A CLEAR CHOICE, BUT MULTIPLE CHOICE

TOO MANY HOT SHOT GUN SLINGERS LOOK FOR COURAGE IN A BOTTLE.  NEITHER, I TELL YOU, CAN COURAGE BE FOUND IN A PLANK OF A PLATFORM

JUST REMEMBER WHEN YOU VOTE - IN 2012 BIN LADEN IS STILL DEAD AND GENERAL MOTORS IS STILL ALIVE

TOO MANY A TYRANT BEGAN LIFE AS A SPOILED RICH BRAT KID

The networks blew it because Joe Byden began his speech early.  I was on CNN and they were doing the Byden video before six thirty and that's where the photo is from.  I switched to Joe Byden on KCOE just after Michelle Obama was interviewed about her girls getting sleepy during her speech and Shasha telling her mom that she did a good job.  We received reassuring character references from Joe Byden, which should be helpful in swaying the undecided voter, if there are any.  The theme of tonight was President Obama's difficult decisions and how he has never based the decisions he made on the latest polls.  Three decisions stand out and these are the Affordable Care Act, the bail out of Chrysler and General Motors, and the decision to go after Bin Laden.  Joe Byden pointed his finger and warned any political opponent never, ever to to dare say that "America's best days are behind her".  There was talk about energy of the future, and personally I would have left "clean coal" out of that list.  I don't have a real problem with fracking if a way can be found to do it safely.  Our oil exports are the lowest in twenty years.  Factory jobs have had their fastest expansion in over a decade.  The President began his speech at 7:25 and it concluded at 8:25 making for a shorter forty minute speech than Clinton's.  And for a weather flash - - they have been having rain in Charolette today.  So the decision to pull the outside gig was a wise one, even if it meant sacrificing the balloon drop, too.  Many of the things the President said were things we've heard from others already, but from the President's own valuable first hand words.  The end of the speech was fading out a little.  I didn't know if I was listening to a Presidential address or a Beatles concert.  One topic that was never raised by either side was the whole rise of hate crimes and violence lately, and getting some kind of a handle on the out of control firearms polliferation lately where all the nuts feel free to do their thing and hide behind the second amendment. But at least the President gave a tip of the hat to the global warming problem.  An issue I thought would receive far more notice than it got by either Convention.  An all new line for the President tonight was "I didn't bring about the change- - - You Did That".  We, the voters - - - in Our Hands rather than the President's will lie the destiny of America and whether Mitt Romney takes us down the wrong path.  But just remember on your transmission - - D stands for forward and R stands for - - Romney, or Ruin, or Reverse, or Republican.  The car is out of the ditch and Forward is now the only logical direction to go.  My only suggestion that at times the only thing you can do is to get on your knees, but that's only to fix the plumbing, and we all know what an Incontinence problem the members of the tea party have for drinking too much of a product not even grown in America.  Here is a news flash for those "2016" movie fans.  The workers on the plantation aren't going to take it any more- - and the drug of cheap labor will have its supply cut off and come January twentieth, the Tea Party is going to undergo some powerful withdrawal symptoms.

In the news new unemployment claims are down in the latest count.  This usually foreshadows a drop in the unemployment rate.  We’ll let you know tomorrow.  Also stocks are up over two hundred points again and now the Dow Jones Industrials are at 13.200 or something, or their highest level since December of 2007, which just happens to be the month that this whole recession officially began.  So we are officially “out of it” as far as stock prices.

Drew Peterson was convicted in an Illinois court today for the murders of both his third and fourth wives.  As you know the death of his third wife was first ruled an accident.  But when Peterson’s fourth wife met her demise in 2007 they exhumed the body of his third wife and retested her and put Peterson on trial for murder.  The family is emotional with joy now that the killer has been convicted.  They say they especially wrote the Illinois laws to allow for heresay testimony just to nab this bastard.  And I don’t think what was allowed was even heresay.

Xavier Beckera, who looks like Bill Richardson, spoke tonight at the convention on key economic issues and was illuminating.  Then the lady Michigan governor spoke on Detroit and auto unions.  She said “Maybe Romney has a love of cars, he even has special elevators for them to ride in.  In Romney’s world, the cars get the elevators – and the workers get the Shaft.  I kind of saw that one coming.  I guess I judge Romney more harshly than others who want to give him a pass on Bain capital because ‘He was only doing his job maximizing profits for his share holders”.  I’d be much more inclined to go along with that reasoning if Bain Capital were a publicly traded company – and I highly doubt that it is.  I don’t think just any Tom, Dick, and Harry could walk in off the street and plop money to buy a piece of Bain Capital profits.

Charlie Christ of Florida, like a dagger to the heart, is a Republican who came out and endorsed the reelection of President Obama “after he came to know him and saw his compassion when Florida needed it”.  You know what they say about “cast your bread upon the waters”.  Christ spoke of famous people who have switched Political Party affiliation - - notably Ronald Reagan.  He reminded us all that Ronald Reagan’s politics would be considered too moderate for this tea party set.  I think this need for moderation is a key one.  Clinton’s statements last night about Paul Ryan and medicare- - opened the logical question of how Paul Ryan would respond to the issue, the obvious lie of his, today.  Paul Ryan has refused interviews with all reporters on the matter.  Of course Romney has been famous for turning down interviews the entire past year.

John Kerry was assigned the duty of discussing foreign affairs.  Last night Mike Meloy was talking about how Obama is soft on war criminals who torture prisoners.  Today we learn that this torture was more wide spread than originally believed.  Now I learn that one of the countries we farmed out our Torture Duty to was Kaddafi in Libya.  I’ve always wondered why Bush and Kaddafi were so buddy-buddy all of a sudden.  John Kerry reminded us that we won the battle of Libya without a single casualty and brought democracy to Libya.  Mitt Romney claims that he offers us a clear choice in Foreign Policy.  Mitt Romney doesn’t offer a clear choice, but Multiple Choice.  It’s not that Mitt Romney has no position on Afghanistan; Mitt has Every position on Afghanistan depending on the time of the month.  (Maybe it’s Romney’s menstrual period)  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan together are the LEAST prepared Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates in the past sixty years.  72 senators voted for the new START missile treaty with Russia but Mitt Romney came out against it.  According to Romney, Russia is our greatest enemy now.  Of course Mitt Romney will have the living albatross around his neck of not having once mentioned our fighting Troops at the Republican convention.  It would be too much the reminder that it was President Obama “who moved heaven and earth” to kill Bin Laden, something Romney said he would not do as President.  Also Prime Minister Netenyahoo has endorsed and approves of President Obama’s policy tword Israel, which is something that the Republicans repeatedly lie about.  My only complaint about John Kerry’s speech was that it was just too brief.  It could have been longer, but I guess they have a busy agenda tonight.

Stewart Sutcliffe recently said "Putting GOD back in the Platform just might have been the wisest thing they did all week.  But Stewart Sutcliffe also said the following a few months ago.  IT IS NEVER A GOOD BET TO BET AGAINST SATAN.    (Selah)

Bill Clinton Delivers the Knock-Out Punch

Former President Clinton not only hit tonight's 48 minute speech out of the ball park; he hit it half way accross the parking lot.  My only concern was that deligates might not appreciate the man's sheer brilliance and such brilliance and intellect is sorely needed in American politics today.  He stressed the emense value of cooporation over confrontation and pointed to the examples of cooperation in the past to get needed things done, which is the important thing.  He said one of three things could happen with a Romney budget and perhaps adverse combinations of All Three.  The deficet could balloon under a Romney administration.  Clinton made it clear how the life of medicare would be cut by eight years, if Mitt Romney was true to his promise to undo the Affordable Care Act.  Or the middle class could be saddled with enormous tax hikes averaging two thousand dollars thanks to the loss of needed deductions they have always relied on such as the mortgage interest deductions.  Or the third thing would be that programs for the poor would be gutted.  Remember Jesus said "As you did it not unto the least of these, you did it not unto me", which is a scripture everyone should sit up and take notice of.  Clinton brought up facts that have long been neglected about how President Obama is actually INCREASING the work result requirement by twenty percent.  Not even Franklin Roosevelt could cure a depressing resulting from an economic crash in four years, or really even in eight years.  He coined a parody slogan for the Obama campaign as opposed to his own 1992 slogan.  "It's the Math, Stupid".  Everybody should tell their friends about this speech in the unlikely event they didn't watch it, and tell those friends to tell all of their friends, too.  A President Romney would be a fulfillment of the words of Jude Juaninsky in 1978 to crash the economy and leave it to the next Democrat to clean up the mess, just like President Clinton has to clean up the mess he has left.  In the past 52 years the Republicans have been in power four years longer than the Democrats have, but produced only half the jobs during their time in power.  That one surely oughta get Mitt Romney's attention.  This was the first time that a former President of the United States made the official nominating speech for another candidate.  The speech speaks for itself and needs no further elaboration or summarization by me.

Earlier this evening I listened to Anne Richard's daughter on KOCE, the local PBS station here, but then the comentators got the better of it and I missed Stenny Hoyer's speech. (?)  So I switched to CNN, which Rush Limbaugh referrs to as the Clinton News Network.  There I caught Harry Reid's speech from yesterday, and I also heard them get to through the pro God and Israel plant in their platform, a move Rush Limbaugh will no doubt take exception to by the way it was done.  Also an Attorney General spoke about how Mitt Romney is a man who enjoys "Breaking the Rules".  I listened to a speaker from Colorado for a while.  And then there was that small business woman from either Maine or North Carolina.  (?)  And then a guy from NEXTEL also spoke.  And finally SCott Brown's opponet in the Massachusetts senate race spoke.  Most ANY speaker at our convention is more productive to listen to than just about ANY speaker from the Republican's own convention.  Anyhow now all those general campaign funds are freed up so both sides can really Go To Town in a way that they haven't been able to before.

It's Little Hints That Betray Lies

              
We see "hints of things" all the time.  Bart Simpson's tracking down who was "the rat in his organization" came via some blue candy that the perpitrator was fond of.  George Bush once was so wrapped up in his concern about 9 - 11 that he remarked to a reporter "I remember looking out and seeing the first plane hit the building".  He was specific to note that it was the first plane.  Nobody saw the first plane because nobody knew it would happen.  You have Paul Ryan changing the President's campaign speech to read "I told the people of that Wisconsin auto plant that they could get their jobs back and this plant would reopen".  That's the line being floated since Ryan knew the plant was slated to be closed.  The trouble is the President himself did not know that- - and that is not what the President said but rather "If I get my way, this plant will remain open for the next fifty years" or something like that.  A lie is exposed.  You have this whole customer about "serving the people" and all and Nordstrums used to have this policy of "the customer is always right".  However Romney treated his clients like shit and had not the SLIGHTEST remorse about selling down the river and squandering every last financial resourse the client had.  This is a MAJOR charactor flaw and no True businessman would have it, for the obvious reason you'd never stay in business.  And then there are people who reassign the John Mc Cain quite about "the fundementals of the economy being sound" as AFTER Lehman brothers failed when it was BEFORE there was a crash.  But John Mc Cain didn't know that and that's the whole point of the folly of his remarks.  The remarks were NOT some after the fact pep talk.  Judy betrays her basic economic ingorance when I informed her "Bond yields DROPPED after the supposed debt ceiling crisis" and she responded, "Well of Course they did.  Because people were less willing to borrow" betraying a fundamental ignorance about a basic fact of bond yields.  You have hints Christianity is bogus in two curious statements of Jesus Christ.  The one is during his prayer in the Garden on Passover eve when he said "And now I am no more in the world".  Clearly he's still there, so how can he say he's no more in the world.  It's in the Good News Bible in John 17 where Jesus also states, "Father, I have finished the work that you gave me to do", which wasn't true because he hadn't even yet been either arrested nor put on trial nor condemned to death. Then there is the line in Luke where he is quoted as saying "These are the things I was alluding to while I was still with you".  "While I was still with you???"  Here's one for you Universalists.  We know that theologically that "God's purposes are never thwarted but everything God intends will come to full furition".  How can you reconcile this line with others such as "It is not God's will that any should perish (or so to Hell)" or the line "Hell was created for the Devil and his Angels".  These HELL theologians would have you believe God intended one thing but circumstances got the better of Him and he felt compelled to change his mind.  People reading my stuff about Howard Richards can figure out from little hints there is something bogus about the whole person of Howard Richards.  For instance, I say that Howard and Pete were brothers.  And yet probably in 35 years of snail mail there is no recorded instance when the two of them were ever in the same room together let alone talk to each other.  Of course it's legondary that there were never any "messages" or appearence of Howard in the after-life.  The whole story of Howard's death was always kept fuzzy, vague, and second hand.  Somehow the "facts" never came to light after 36 years.  Also there are two completely different stories on how me and Howard even met- - and the setting for these stories is eighteen months apart.  Getting back to MITT ROMNEY for a moment, one might wonder where there is a total absence of any talk of Iraq or Afghanistan, or not so much as a tip of the hat to Vetterans, leaving the door wide open for Democrats to rush in on this issue.  One wonders how the Republicans could be so "daft", so stupid.  Not untill you realize the deep seeded cowardess of Mitt Romney to only think of self.  He doesn't want to even believe there WAS a draft.  Forget about the historical evidence of Evolution.  These Republicans don't even believe in the historical existance of George W Bush, Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Chaney.

According to Rush Limbaugh the reason why the open air stadium speech was canceled was not because of an oncoming thunder storm but rather that "These democrats knew they would never be able to fill 64,000 seats".  Is Rush kidding?  Obama could do that in a heart beat if he wanted to.  This whole crowd along with the American people are totally energized and fired up.  But the thing is Rush Limbaugh was desperate for an opening line, an opening topic so he didn't come off as a total jackass.  And then Rush comes off with this crazy political bifercation theory where "The party is one way with the cameras on and another way completely when the cameras are turned off".  Once again is Rush kidding?  I can tell you the message of the democratic convention was completely consistent last night.  The only thing is - like Clint Eastwood- - Rush has been having too many imaginary conversations with himself- - like Richard Nixon walking down the white house halls having conversations with pictures of the dead presidents.  As to that line about mainstream network viewership being down.  The answer here is obvious.  TV networks are declining while cable and computer services are taking over for the communacation roles in people's lives.  Certainly Rush Limbaugh isn't so stupid that he doesn't realize this.  Well, the first polls aren't out yet - - but you know I'm waiting for them with baited breath.

There is a scandal come to light just this morning via the state Controler's office - in California involving big institutions such as Cedars Simai and St John's hospital in Ventura.  These large "non profit" hospitals can get by without paying taxes even if they devote as little as two percent of their business to charity cases.  Charles Eidelson was just on the phone to David Cruise.  Keep in mind that medical costs are skyrocketing and this state is desperately short on funds, and these big institutions aren't pulling their weight. People chide liberals for "wanting to turn us into Europe" and yet Europe does not have the sort of adverse health statistics that we are plagued with in this country in such areas as infant mortality.  Some say that this is creeping "cradle to grave insurance".  It used to be that becoming a doctor entailed a necessary ammount of "charity cases" serving people in energencies or people who would never be able to pay you back.  Somewhere along the line the medical profession lost this ethic.  According to Judy, all these doctors are leaving the medical profession in droves because they are scared spitless of Obamacare.  But the thing is we have been wrestling with this health care issue in this country for eighty years and it seems to me it was only a matter of time before some sort of solution was come up with.  Of course it's a known fact that if you want to catch a deadly bacterial infection for which your body has no immunity, go to a hospital.  I say this just as a word to the wise.  Nobody welcomes going to the hospital.  But when you do, it should not wipe you out economically.

THE TWILIGHT OF THE VINYL LP AND KLASSIC ROCK Thirty years ago (1982 – 1983) were the last years of the vinyl LA record.  CD's first were announced in March of 1983 but it really wasn't till 1985 that record companies began in mass converting their stuff to compact disk, and certain groups such as the Moody Blues were even a year after that.  Some groups like Dire Straits offered "bonus playing time" for their CD listeners. Let’s give sort a good workout and sort the following names who were either male solo artists or male lead singers of the leading rock groups.  Actually this was a time when solo singers were highlighted by name, and there is an impressive number from this period thirty years ago.  Actually the other day they featured "Billy Squire" and I had drawn a blank on what he sounded like, till my memory was refreshed.  How many of these artists are you fermiliar with in the twilight years of "Classic Rock"?  I've got enough names listed here to open up my own vynal LP record store.  But I do not own all these artists.

Adam Ant Billy Idol Billy Squire Bob Dylan Bob Marley Bono Brian Adams Bruce Springsteen (1984 reemergence) Cheech Merin (one time 1985 reemergence) Chris Squire David Bowie David Lee Roth Don Hendley Geddy Lee George Thorogood Glen Fry Jackson Brown Jello Biafra Joe Jackson John Cougar Mellencamp John Fogerty (one time 1985 reemergence) Julian Lennon Lou Graham Mark Gnoffler Michael Jackson Mick Jagger Ozzy Osborne Paul Mc Cartney Paul Rogers (1985 reemergence) Pete Townshend Peter Cetera (spelling?) Peter Gabriel Phil Collins Prince Rick James Rick Springfield Robert Plant Stephen Tyler Steve Perry SteveWinwood Tom Petti and Wierd Al Yankivick

Now It Begins - - -

Well, it's Tuesday evening and the Convention has begun.  Happy you decided to join me this evening or whenever you are reading this.  You know I thought that perhaps I would hold off on my thoughts on this Democratic convention so far untill I got word from others more astute than I such as Randy Rhodes, Bill Press and Stephanie Miller.  You know - I wasn't whistling Dixie when I talked about "Standing on the shoulders of giants" in that one posting.  But then I thought, "No, I want to discuss my own unvarnished and unprocessed first impressions".   I began watching the convention just before five on CNN and I listened to that white guy with a real "tan" and didn't know whether he had black blood or what.  You know the rather contentious one, that made one fantastic strong point after another and says sacrifice is something as a nation that we ALL have to participate in, even if you're rich, even if you're poor.  It's called Patriotism.  That's old fashioned, but that's the way Love of Country should be.  (to paraphrase an old Everley Brothers song)  In this time of fighting two simotanious wars and a looming national debt, we can't get notes from the teacher that read "Please excuse me from duty because I am rich".  No.  That's not how it works.  Romney may not want to mention the vetterans but the Democrats were more than happy to step up to the plate.  There were women who talked about control over their bodies and "Freedom to love whomever you want".  That's an artful way of avoiding either the words "abortion" or "homosexual".  Women more than any other sector of the population will be helped by Obama Care if it's implemented, or hurt if it isn't.  Then there was that Castro guy who spoke of Romney's many faults.  Romney is the man of "No", who is titular head of the party of "No".  That's where the words "Yes we can" come into play.  The key here is that we all want to succeed but to do that we need an opportunity.  Someone has to crack open the door so that it doesn't automatically slam shut and lock again.  That Thursday at the Mormon gathering what struck me about Seid's church was this very "opportunity for advancement".  One can be whoever and become qualified to go to the Temple and wear the white robes and get baptized.  One might even earn their way to a higher rank such as Bishop.  But there has to be some kind of structure or ladder there to climb in order to do that.  In order to succeed in life there first has to EXIST - - a Way to make that happen.  The trouble with Pastor Mark is that he shunned the government of the old church when he formed his new church in a private home.  But the people who owned the home made the remark to me "I'm leaving Mark's church because I don't want any Jonestowns happening here".  The trouble is when you join a Calvary Chapel you less join a "religious body" than you do a social clique like something Mitt Romney might join where you have to "click" with your piers in the club.  It's not a government at all but a social clique.  And this, pardon the extrapelation, is what has become wrong with this country.  It's become a nation where to succeed you have to either BE a "good old boy" or be really tight with one.  (no gay allusions here - - )  The idea of Liberty is that "Justice is Blind" and doesn't descriminate but wears a blindfold and weighs people in the balance, so that they can be Proved on their merit rather than kissy-up points.  What struck me about Michelle's remarks was her deep sense of principle, and caring, and dedication, and consistency.  One thing she loved about "Barry" (Barock) is that he was consistent and steadfast to his early Principles.  He turned DOWN high paying lawyer jobs to take up community service and to serve his fellow man.  This is what true Christianity used to be all about and what the original Christian, Jesus of Nazareth, practiced.  I think the most astute remark all evening long was as follows.  "Success is NOT determined by how much money you make in life but how many people your success is able to help".  This beggs the question of Mitt Romney who like desciples of Chuck Smith are too much the opera singers.  You know, "Me - - me - me - me - - meeee".   It's like that kid in church who thinks he escaped the pastor's wrath against sin because "After all, there is no law against Me-ing and Me-ing".  (It's a joke about masturbation)  Unfortunately I've known for a long time the Right Wing partakes too much in verbal auto erroticism- - or more widely known as "the political echo chamber".  And as any vocalist can tell you "Almost anyone can be made to sound good in an echo chamber".  Michelle was very insistentant that we catch the same "vision" of the world that she had.  She echoed my observation of the other day that we liberals need to be more Proactive, because at this point that's the only way we'll get things done.

It's one of those strange paradoxes that often the whole "Creation process" comes not from making something new but "knowing what to take away".  I'm not even sure whether I Myself am sold on this but listen up anyhow.  They say an artist who chizzles out the marble statue of a naked man or whatever just says 'Oh the image is EASY to do.  I just take everything away that doesn't look like David", or whoever he is doing.  I'm sure there is many a Jewish moel, who fancies himself as some kind of "Ar-teest" who is engaged in the "Creation Process".  They have actually invented a form of "Replicator' of 3D physical objects, in the spirit of TNG.  You just use this gray amorphus powder and stick it in this trash compactor thing.  Then you take a 3 D holographic image of the object you want copied and it's replicated in the power, which all melds together.  As such if you copy something with mechanical gears in it and all, they will still work, just like the original object.  In a posting not in this blog recently I talked about the saying about how "All things are Possible with God".  But Neil Savedra or John Calvin will also tell you that NOTHING is possible other than what has been "Predestined".  So how can this paradox be?  One definition of Time might be- - a study of Ontology- - which is the study of necessary cause leading to an inevitable "effect".  Our own timeline is one hundred percent "cause and effect".  And every other time line views Themselves- - - the same way.  But we wouldn't view THEM that way and they wouldn't view US that way.  Capish?  You see originally there was no Time.  There was no "cause and effect" in other words.  As such everything WAS still possible.  The minute you start to make choices you necessarly embrace one course of action - - while excluding and discarding Another, which in its own view might be Just as probable, from a mathematical standpoint.  There is this eternal struggle between causality and mathematical probability.  Once the beads have been strung, you're pretty much stuck with the sequence of colors you have chosen.  But I think what the Democrats want to do is to say that "you may not have had choices in the Past, but the future is still to be written- - at least from our Human vantage point.  If there ARE - - - "other possabilities that open up" - - then their certitude of happening has already been decreed by Destiny.  For instance it's my belief that Destiny has already decreed that we have now seen our LAST public oppinion poll where Mitt Romney and the President are in a dead heat.  The way I see it that henceforth from this moment that the President is going to start pulling away and place an increasingly cavernous distance between himself and also ran Mitt Romney.  The tea party members will only be able to stand there stunned, with their mouths gaping open.  We should rejoice in this- - that Our Time has finally Arrived, and has been a long time in coming.  A train may be a long time in coming - - - but when it finally arrives we need to jump aboard while it is passing because it has too much momentum to stop.  As such this will not only be the start of school for another year, or the opening kick-off week of football, but it will be the week that our Victory became assured and even those on the right see the writing on the wall.

Republicans - Off To A Bad Start

Randy Rhodes reminds us that the first sight many Americans witnessed the most important night of the Republican convention was the Clint Eastwood exhibition.  In that speech he alludes to Obama breaking a promise from not closing Guantanamo Bay Prison, even though it was congress that prevented him from doing it.  The crowd cheered when Eastwood suggested we get out of Afghanistan tomorrow and cheered more when he said "Obviously Obama doesn't know what happened with the Russians".  The Republicans got zero bounce out of that convention polls now reveal.  One poll has them tied dead even and another had Obama out by a point.  Mitt Romney should know the income tax issue is not going away.  People, the independant voter, will only assume the worst.  Romney is still known as the guy who insulted someone's home made cookies saying they cane from the local 7 - 11 and talked about how "all the trees in Michigan are just the right height".  Paul Ryan actually mentioned it as an American virtue that our country cares for the disadvantaged and down and out.  A remark that got zero applause from this audience.  If you've heard Obama out on the campaign stump this weekend you know that the President is constantly praising American achievement and hard work.  Joe Byden reminds us that the Presidential Debt comission - - if it had had Paul Ryan's support and vote, would have indeed been implemented.  Because of Paul Ryan's direct action it was not.  Paul Ryan voted for all the usual President Bush debt increase items including the massive TARP pail out, both off budget wars, and various Bush stimuli to the economy, in which in his own words he said the very things supporters of the President are saying now.  All you need is a VCR player to play all of this stuff back and campaign ads,  Nobody was inspired by this convention.  The President had adopted the theme that you might as well have watched this convention on an old black and white TV- with rabbit ears, because it is a rerun.  You have seen this program before- - and it failed.  Bush wants to put all of the same Bush corporate cronies back into power who drove the economy into the ditch to begin with.  Women hate to feel they are being patronized or "buttered up" just to get something- - in this case their votes.  People aren't as dumb as Mitt Romney believes they are.  He thinks just because he's shallow and self centered than everyone is that way.  There are bigger issues in any Presidential Campaign than the glorification of Self.  The plain fact is that a whole lot of people are BETTER off now than they were four years ago.  Their Individual Retirement Accounts are worth a hell of a lot more.  I'll tell you that.  In general people are sustaining far less personal debt than they were four years ago.  Most polls say that people by nearly two to one think President Obama will win.  I told you Las Vegas betting offs are a dollar eighty on the President winning to every dollar bet on Romney.  It may seem like a trivial fact but there is an old economic saying "money knows".  Certainly a man who's supposedly spent as much time around economic markets knows that.  And yet apparently the desire to keep that Honeywell plant in Illinois rather than in China is referred to as "communist", but shipping those jobs off to China is good old American capitalism.  They say they like free markets- - except in the case of having open competition for buying prescription drugs.  They believe in competetion but say that Public health care would drive Private health care companies out of business.  How?  Private colleges haven't driven public colleges out of business.  Why don't these Republicans do what they claim to want and trust the markets?  They obviously don't trust democracy.  We know that because of the Paul Warwick remark about how "Frankly our voting leverage goes up as the voting population goes down".  Time and again it's been shown that the more ads people actually see - - of both Candidates, that the President's poling margins increase.  Well, you've heard all this before.  I'm just reminding you again.

Which Candidate wants to "Face the Nation"?

Joe Byden spoke today in Wisconsin and I strongly urge everyone to access that speech on C-Span.  It's the meatiest speech I've heard in a long time and it answers a lot of questions undecided people may be honestly having as to who is and who isn't telling the truth.  Byden knows his numbers and his facts and is not afraid to recite them.  But meanwhile here is almost all of "Face the Nation" from Yesterday morning, and I assume all the usual Copyright laws are in full force, but here is what was said courtessy of CBS news.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY (D-Maryland/Democratic Governors Association Chairman): Well, look, there were three things that you didn't see at the Republican Convention. You didn't see any new ideas for creating jobs. You didn't see George Bush. And you didn't see Mitt Romney's tax returns. And-- and the fact of the matter is, it was George Bush's policies that drove our country into the worst set of problems any president has inherited since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But facts are facts and we cannot deny that for twenty-nine months in a row now, we have seen positive private sector job growth, foreclosures are lower than they were before the President even took office. So, this is hard. These were deep problems. But what you're going to see in the next few days here in Charlotte is an agenda and a vision for America's future, where our middle class is actually growing, becoming stronger, where we create opportunity. Their only idea is ladling on bigger tax breaks for billionaires. We believe in greater security in our jobs, in our homes and in our golden years.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, Stephanie Cutter, do you see any openings here coming out of the Republican Convention? I mean, Paul Ryan established himself he is no longer the policy wonk, he is the attack dog.

STEPHANIE CUTTER (Obama 2012 Deputy Campaign Manager): Right.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Did he leave any openings for you?

STEPHANIE CUTTER: Well, I think the big opening that they left for the President is that they never said where they wanted to take the country or what they wanted to do. It was a week of personal attacks, empty platitudes, and where the one thing that you are left with is they really think that lying is a virtue, and I think the American people disagree with that. This week will be very different, you know, you'll get a sense-- at the end of this week, you'll have a real sense of how the-- how the President wants to move this country forward and we'll-- we'll look at the things that we've been able to do over the past four years to move the country forward, whether it saving the auto-- auto industry and a million jobs with it, helping kids afford college, passing Health Care Reform where millions of people are already benefitting from it across the country. So this will be a very different feel. We're going to be talking to all Americans, not just rallying our base like we saw last week.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, are you saying they're just a bunch of liars?

STEPHANIE CUTTER: No Bob, I didn't say that. I said--

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, you said, lying is a virtue.

STEPHANIE CUTTER: Oh, I heard a lot of things that weren't true last week. I think we can all agree with that. I think we can all agree that, you know, they-- they blamed the President for blaming-- for not-- for closing an auto plant in Janesville, Wisconsin that closed under President Bush. They blamed the President for cutting Medicare, when Paul Ryan included those same savings in his budget. The difference is, the President put that money back into Medicare, but Paul Ryan used it for tax cuts for the rich. There are a number of things like that. The twelve million jobs that they promised the American people. Bob, you know, those are already forecasted under the President's plan. Economic forecasters already said over the course of the next four years, if we stay on the President's plan, we'll create twelve million jobs.

BILL RICHARDSON (Former New Mexico Governor): My sense is that, that coalition that elected the President, the young, minorities, independent voters, is going to be there. I think there's a view that the President is moving very much in the right direction, that the second term is going to show him I think go from a good President to a great President. I think what you're also seeing in this convention is a convention that's positive, that's going to show the contrast between where we want to go, the Democratic Party, and the President, help the middle class, the worker, not have trickle-down, warmongering foreign policy as the Republicans want to do. And, you know, I was struck. I've been through a lot of conventions. You mentioned '04. That's, by the way, when I was supposed to speak and Al Sharpton took my time away. I don't know if you remember that. I was supposed to be on prime-time. But my point is that--

BOB SCHIEFFER (Overlapping): But he was sort of the Clint Eastwood of that time.

BILL RICHARDSON: Yeah, right. No, but you mentioned Clint Eastwood, I mean, the lonely gunfighter. That's what the Republicans were projecting. It's all individual responsibility. Yes, but I think the Democratic Party is about family, about unity, about bringing people together. We're all in this together. We're all trying to rebuild the economy together. And I think you're going to see this convention not appeal to the base, not have a bunch of nasty attacks. You're going to see a convention filled with promising young Hispanic speakers, you're going to see diversity, you're going to see multiculturalism. You're going to see a real effort to engage the middle class, engage the American worker, and say that we want to be positive about this country. We're not going to be a bunch of negativists.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, let me ask you about this. So Bill Clinton turns out to be one of the bigs or maybe the big star, other than the President, of course, of this convention. Stephanie Cutter, what does that mean? I mean, Bill Clinton is a centrist. Is this mean that Barack Obama is trying to move the Democratic Party back to the center because, after all, Bill Clinton is called for extending at least temporarily the Bush tax cuts.

STEPHANIE CUTTER: Yeah. Well, Bob, I-- I don't agree that the party has moved left, right, or center. Bill Clinton is going to describe the type of economic policy that led to the greatest expansion, the greatest economic expansion in a century by investing in our people, investing in education, cut-- cutting taxes for the middle class, but asking the wealthy to pay their fair share. That's what built that Clinton expansion, and that's what the President's policies today are all about. And that's what-- where the President wants to take this country. So what President Clinton is going to say is if you're looking for a president who can grow the middle class, create that economic expansion, move away from the policies of the past that actually crashed our economy and punished the middle class, then Barack Obama is your guy. I've done it. He's doing it. That's the clear choice in this election. We know what not to do, what was done over the previous decade. And we know what to do under the Clinton administration in terms of how to build a balanced economy where everybody can get ahead.

BOB SCHIEFFER: What do you think-- what-- what do you think about having Bill Clinton here? I mean he does have good things and bad things in his past going.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY: Well, I-- I think for all of the reasons that Miss Cutter just outlined, I think it's-- it's going to electrify this place. I mean let's face it. Look, ideology doesn't move our country forward. We have to do the things that we know work, and what we did in President Clinton's years was to create jobs, was to make our middle class not only stronger and more secure in their own homes, but to give their children better opportunities. This is all about opportunities that grow our middle class. Bill Clinton did it. And you know what, Bob, at the same time he created a surplus when he had been left by Ronald Reagan a big deficit. And Ronald Reagan and-- and the first President Bush. And in the same way, though, I mean, he did not do that in one term. He did not do that in one term.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, let me--

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY: And I think it's important to remember that.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --let me just ask you that. Can you honestly say that people are better off today than they were four years ago?

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY: No, but that's not the question of this election. The question, without a doubt, we are not as well off as we were before George Bush brought us the Bush job losses, the Bush recession, the Bush deficits, the series of desert wars, charged for the first time to credit cards, the national credit card--

BOB SCHIEFFER: Yeah. But I mean, Governor Richardson and-- and Stephanie Cutter--

STEPHANIE CUTTER: Yeah.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --George Bush is not on the ballots.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY: Yeah. But we are making progress--

STEPHANIE CUTTER: Right. But I don't want to address one--

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY: --out of the deep, deep hole.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right.

STEPHANIE CUTTER: You know, in terms of the question are people better off today than they were four years ago, I just want to remind you what was happening four year-- years ago at this time. In the quarter before the President took office, we lost three million jobs. Our country was bleeding. Our financial system was on the verge of collapse. We were passing bank bailouts to ensure that--

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY: Right.

STEPHANIE CUTTER: --our system could stay afloat. That's what was happening before the President took office.

BILL RICHARDSON: And-- and, Bob, the best difference and the best progress has been made in the area of foreign policy. President has gotten us out of Iraq. We're getting us out of Afghanistan. We've got free trade agreements in Latin America. We've got a President that brilliantly dealt with the situation in Libya, with the Arab Spring. We have solid relations with China and Russia. We're competitive with both. But we're not going to be like Governor Romney who says on his first day he's going to start a trade war with China. And he's-- our biggest geopolitical foe is Russia. I mean, just those words is enervating and putting a lot of people nervous. I think what this President has done is restored our prestige abroad. We're leaders but we're collaborating with other nations. NATO, Europe, we're all tackling this economic crisis internationally together. Outreach to the third world, to Africa, Asia, Latin America. I think the President is not running overseas, but everywhere you go, all around the world--and I travel a lot--the international community wants to see this President re-elected. Obviously, we've got to do it here.

BOB SCHIEFFER: So, Michael Eric Dyson, let me go to you next. You had minorities last time out. Young people very enthusiastic about the President. This election is so close. I'm not sensing the enthusiasm that we saw the last time out from those groups.

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON (Georgetown University): Well, I think, that first of all, you had a historic campaign. You had a figure of incredible value articulating a vision that united America in a unique fashion. So it's hard to repeat that magic. You know, you want to go back to the-- to the hat and try to pull out the rabbit again, but you realize--and I think the Obama campaign has deftly deployed its resources in realizing that you can't create that magic again. But you've got to speak, as Trish just indicated, to the fundamental economic realities that people confront, because if it looks bad now, I think the Obama campaign says imagine what's going to-- what it's going to look like under Romney and Ryan, you know, cutting all of these jobs, women's jobs. It looked like it was a love fest for women last week, except where it counts, in the pocketbook, in the home. Women still make seventy-seven cents on a dollar as to what a man makes. As a result of cutting nutrition programs that stand between many poor women and being able to survive, I think the Obama campaign is reaching out to those minorities, women included, to suggest to them that, yeah, it's been tough; look, we had a horrible condition that we inherited. Give us a little bit more, you know, time to fix this because it doesn't take just three or four years. But at the same time, they are selling a vision and a value that I think appeals to those people. We'll see how-- how successful that is.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Dan, you had s big, long piece in The Washington Post today. What do you think that President Obama has to do here?

DAN BALZ (Washington Post): Well, I mean, one of the-- one of the issues is-- and it was-- it was-- it was set up at the Tampa convention with the notion that people are disappointed with the president. They went hard on the idea he's not a bad person, but he's not been a successful president. The key, I think, is whether they can turn disappointment into rejection. And I think what he's got to do here is two things. One, as Eric suggested, something has to be done to energize or reenergize the coalition he put together. It's not 2008 again, but they need to do more work on that. I think equally important is to come in here and give a clearer sense of what a second-term agenda is really about. They've done a good job this summer in attacking Governor Romney. I think here they have to-- he-- and he in particular has to be more forward looking in a more precise way about what that second term looks like.

BOB SCHIEFFER: And Bill Clinton, John, what about having Bill Clinton here? What does that amount to?

JOHN DICKERSON (CBS News Political Director): Well, you know, the first thing is that Bill Clinton adds some excitement. In talking to Democratic strategists in the last few days they said one of the problems for you--and they meant us in the media--is finding something exciting that's going to happen in Charlotte because the energy in the Republican Party you had, you had Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin, you had Chris Christie, you had Paul Ryan, these are exciting figures, even if you don't agree with their ideology. In the Democratic convention here, it lacks that excitement, in part of the because of the hangover of the economy and the fact the president has to wriggle his way out of getting stuck with a tough economy. So Bill Clinton adds excitement. He also adds a frame and a-- and a way of explaining this election to people. He is better than most politicians alive today at connecting policies with people's lives. And that's what Barack Obama ultimately has to do. But Bill Clinton gets to kind of plow the field and prepare it for President Obama when he comes and talks Thursday night by saying, I understand, we understand the difficulties of the-- of the life you lead now, and here are specific ways that we are trying to help you. And that's where the Democrats think Governor Romney missed a step in-- in his convention was saying, I understand you, and here's a specific way in which the way I understand you is going to make your life better.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Dan, where do you think this race is right now?

DAN BALZ: I think it's very close. I would assume that the Romney campaign got a small bump that will disappear pretty quickly. The President may get a small bump at the end of this week. But everything we've seen over the last four, five, six months is that this race will settle back to where it has been, which is an almost dead-even race, and neither-- neither candidate quite at the fifty percent level you need. And so the debates are obviously going to be critical when we get to October. The jobs reports that we get will be a factor. But this race looks like it could be close right to the end.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Trish, I want to ask you, because you're a working mom.

TRISH REGAN: Mm-Hm.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Ann Romney made-- I thought a really, a very, very good speech.

TRISH REGAN: Mm-Hm.

BOB SCHIEFFER: She'd told us things about her husband that I think a lot of people didn't know. But you think she-- and it was obviously aimed directly at women.

TRISH REGAN: Sure.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think she will change any minds? Will that be a factor?

TRISH REGAN: Well, I think it's a pretty tall order to expect Ann Romney to close this gender gap for her husband. For as many women that are going to relate to her you have single moms you have working moms that simply won't. And when she talks about gas prices and when she talks about grocery bills, they're thinking to themselves, you know, that's been a long time since you really had to feel that pain or-- or knew what that was if ever. So it's a little bit of a challenge for her. But without doubt Mitt Romney needs to get his message across to women because women are the CFOs of their families. They're the ones that are writing the checks and balancing the checkbook every week. And they care about this economy. They care about their children's future. So debt matters to them. And if he can-- if he can convey that he is the most competent man for the job I think he stands a shot. In other words, Barack Obama, without doubt certainly has the-- the popularity vote. But it could come down to competency, and-- and that's the issue. They're not marrying the guy, right? They're hiring him fair a job, and if he can prove he's the one then he's got a better shot.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Michael, I mean, most people in every poll, an overwhelming majority think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: Yeah.

BOB SCHIEFFER: How does Barack Obama handle that? I mean, you can't just keep saying it's all George Bush's fault.

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: Sure.

BOB SCHIEFFER: You've to go beyond that. What-- what does he need to do here?

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: Well, I-- I think, look, first of all, just by the very statesman-like character of the President, that in the face of vicious opposition, think about Clint Eastwood's little, you know, montage of scenes there where he's speaking to an empty chair. I just, geez, I didn't know you read Ralph Ellison like that and understood the invisible man. And furthermore they're conjuring a Barack Obama who's a figment of their imagination which is already metaphor for how this Republican Party has seen him. I think when America sees that, look, you can talk about competency, but here's a guy, Mitt Romney, he won't release his taxes for several years. He doesn't talk about how Bain Capital ruined the lives of so many people--

BOB SCHIEFFER: But is that really a big deal that he won't release his taxes?

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: Well-- well, yeah, because it's a big deal because it indicates something about character. He continues to make Obama the other, the significant person who's kind of outside our perspective here. And I think that's quite interesting and intriguing from a guy who comes from a religious perspective that has fought for significant inclusion in the lar-- mainstream of American culture. Here you've got Mike Huckabee saying, I don't care where he takes his family to church. I care where he takes his country. A great line. But wait a minute, you just said this guy, Obama, who's a Christian like you, is not a guy who can be trusted. So I'm saying about all of the trust factor here when it-- when it breaks down, Barack Obama is a cool character. He understands that he's got to talk about the bottom line, and that, yes, I can't keep blaming the other guy, but somebody else stole the furniture. I moved into the House. Now you're mad at me because the furniture is gone, give me a chance to buy something from a cheap place or maybe even IKEA. Let me put something together here that allows the American voter to believe that I'm the person. So I think it comes down to what Trish said, selling the belief that there is a person who can steady the economic shift in-- ship in the midst of rough waters. I've seen nothing from the Oba-- from-- from the Romney campaign to suggest that their suggestions will do something better, except cut the government and hate the size of the government, which is no kind of recommendation.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Let me ask Dan quickly, who has the best team out there right now, just from the standpoint of, you know, getting the word out and doing what needs to be done in a mechanical kind of way?

DAN BALZ: Well, I-- I think over the course of the summer the Obama campaign showed itself to be very aggressive and relentlessly negative in going after Governor Romney. And they've-- they've been very disciplined about that. What we will see about the Romney campaign is whether their willingness to let some of that happen and come to the sense if we can get to Labor Day with a dead-even race, we are really in this. They took a lot of pounding and they took criticism for allowing some of that to happen. They have a theory of this election, and we'll see whether they're right.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, I want to thank all of you. It was a lot of fun talking to you. We'll be back in a moment and I'll have some final thoughts.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

BOB SCHIEFFER: So, another general election will soon be under way. And this time it's an unusual match-up--a President who doesn't much like politics and a challenger who's not all that good at it. To be sure, they are both qualified to hold the office--good men of high moral character, and both are lawyers, for whatever that's worth. But it is the little things that give me pause. It is well known in Washington that hanging out with other politicians is Barack Obama's least-favorite thing. And now we learn from the Wall Street Journal that he has finally begun to write thank you notes to his big donors. That's hard to believe. But it is no more surprising than Mitt Romney deciding to remodel the beach house, the one with the car elevators, with an election approaching, or going to London and wondering aloud whether the British were ready to host the Olympics. Old-time politicians would know better. I appreciate anyone willing to take the abuse that comes from getting into the arena and trying to make things better. But somehow our modern politicians seem to have forgotten the basics of politics. What I miss are the politicians who were not just good at it but had a real zest for the game--the Reagans and Dirksens and the LBJs and Tip O'Neills. Somehow their obvious love of politics gave me confidence they could work things out. Just a small thing, but I wish we could see more of that. Back in a minute.

A "Real Light" Illumines Everybody Else Around

We look forward to returning at least from our dark foray into yester-year at the Republican convention, back to the Present where we except from the Democrats a whole lot more substance than we got from the Republicans this past week.  Two lines that really stand out to me right now is the one about "We won't be dictated to by the fact checkers because everybody approaches things from their own point of view".  It's statements like this why I am an Objectivist in the actual sense of that word.  That is, that facts are singular things.  If you say "Tokyo is the capital of Japan, there IS no "other point of view" as pointed out on the Chris Matthews show last night.  Also this party has turned their back on science and the clear and growing evidence of global warming, rising oceans and other climate catastrophies.  Clearly the cure to our energy crisis is to REDUCE DEMAND on fossile fules.  Even if tomorrow we found twenty percent of the world's supply and were able to drill it IMMEDIATELY it would only reduce the price of gasoline from  four dollars a gallon to $3.20 a gallon.  It would not reduce the price to two dollars.  The only real way to spend LESS on energy is - - to spend less on energy through increased efficiency and green fuels, which Romney at no time even mentioned.  It was noted there was a bifercated Mittens Romney.  You have the "rehumanized" Romney when he speaks of his family and church life- - then there is Romney the snarky jerk.  He put things in his speech about Afghanistan- - and "throwing Israel under the buss" and fomenting a war with Iran - - and snubbing Vladamir Putin- - which were not even advancing an agenda his own crowd there cared to hear.  It's as though he were saying "Yeah I'm saying I'm a nice guy but don't forget that I'm Really a Jerk".  As to his remark about "I wanted Obama to succeed because I wanted America to succeed" if I were Obama I'd call him out on that and say "Allright then.  Tell your goons in the Republican house to vote my jobs program out of comittee and pass that legislation so I can sign it, if you've got the guts, and then we can put it into effect and I won't mind if you even take a little credit for increasing the jobs rate between now and November".  And then you'll have that "good feeling" about having, perhaps for the first time in your life, having done the right thing".

Rush Limbaugh once said that super max theater images were "so real it was like three dimensional".  Well, we are moving tword the point when even Nolan Ryan will have trouble discerning the real object from the image reproduction.  Leo Le Port was saying the whole media was going to move to either “four K or eight K HD”.  I think he meant 4 meg or 8 megapixel HD because 4 K wouldn’t look like shit.  I used to say for a long time that a 1.5 megapixel image would give you a pretty sharp photograph.  Now Apple has double the HD resolution.  Leo says that 3 D is responsible from going to two megs to four megs.  Two megapixel would be your 1080 P TV picture, if stations didn’t transmit only in 740 P and not 1080 P.  First let’s make sure we’re all doing 1080 and many new sets are good at simulating that with extrapolations.  But keep in mind to go to four megs for 3 D you keep the same 1080 P flat vision picture.  I remember last night I had a dream about looking at some photographs of our national parks in some book or booklet and remarking “These people are behind the times because none of those photographs are in 3 D”.  Now if we were to go to four megapixels this would mean that picture resolution would go up by a factor of 1.414 because you must remember total pixels on anything get squared over “optical” or telescope resolution ratings.  So now if you were to go to 8 megs, this would bump the resolution up to doublt or 1.414 times the four meg image.  For the short explanation then – people like Japan want to double the current 1080 P resolution, and to do this you need four times the pixels.  Leo says because of this then, this move twords storing images in the cloud will be slowed because with that much material to download it just makes sense to have some physical source here.  Of course eighty inch TV screens will become more common place.

They now have an exciting new Zoo innovation for primates for the benefit of both ape and spectator alike.  They are building an elevated network of cosways across the zoo going into the growth so that the chimps can have the sensation of actually “exploring in the wild” and they even feed origantatangs on a pole while in the trees because that’s the way they like it.  The children now have the experience of not knowing which ape will be passing by that day or what activities they will be engaged in.  Last night was a Blue Moon, but with the Romulans and on Sirius A - - Blue Moons are the second NEW moon of the month, rather than the second full moon.  Now they are talking about the most extensive high school football stadium .  It’s a professional calabre one with a press box and exercise expanse and concession stands and the whole bit.  They say that the price of gasoline will fall with the coming of the winter blend in a month or so.  Prices vary wildly from state to state with California and Illinois the highest and Colorado and many Mountain states at the lower end.  We are getting eight and nine foot waves off our shores right now, and occasionally higher.  This is not a bit unusual for us even with the nearest storm a thousand miles away.   Rip tides come from breaks in the sand bars under water, where the water gets sucked out all in one place.  They are warning of west Nile virus around here.  USC has a real hope of going all the way this year because that dreaded bowl ban that seemed to go on forever is lifted this season and it really shows in the energy of the fans.  Hal David, the other half of the Bert Backerack and Hal David song writing team, died today.  The experts are predicting that the Obama Administration will add twelve million jobs in the next four years.  That would be three million jobs a year or 250,000 jobs a month, which we had actually achieved for a while earlier this year.

BLAST FROM THE PAST -2005

Which brings us to Jesus.  Some may say of the paragraph, “Are you then shunning the light and fleeing to the darkness”.  Look again.  Look at the clues.  Where do you see a “well lit mirror”?  In an actress’s dressing room, of course.  When you go on Stage, the light is manipulated so that it puts the actors in their best light.  Jesus himself was asked about going to church and how come they always ask for money.  Jesus did kind of a Mark Bove answer.  Meaning - - "I know what it says in the Bible about giving willingly and not out of either necessity or cooersion - - - but I don't believe in quoting the scripture because the Devil does that.  So let me tell you my real answer".  Mark Bove will often start a sermon by reading from the Bible, but then spend the next 2/3^rd. of the sermon explaining why the first part isn’t true.  Where Jesus was really “coming from” today was saying that Organized Churches are a good thing because look at all the effort involved in putting on a good show for you.  You have L A’s high parking lot rates, you have the air conditioning, the choir, the rock band, if there’s one, and the whole shebang.  And “You pay for what you eat”, as Gene Scott says, just like a restaurant.  That’s fine, if all Christianity is is a business transaction. There’s a song Elvis sings in “The Billion Dollar Sessions” that goes, “I’m in a crowd, but I’m all alone”.  I’ve felt like that, particularly at church.  Often after the service is over I desire to talk and share with others about the message and ways that I might apply it to my own life.  You know what happens; I get walled out.  And this is the point.  The various Beatles can talk about “seeing through each other” but I see “through” the light, and the glare of the Darkness is staring at me.  Jesus has likened heaven to being on some permanent Heroin high where you don’t care about anything.  I think their whole idea about what the “Light” is is off base.  We are the light.  I know that sounds a little blasphemous, but if you read the sermon on the mount, that’s what it says.  We are the ones who are to have the light and shine, so that we may illuminate the world around us.  But what do Christians do?  They stare at the light as if to get some fix, like a man on LSD staring at the sun.  They stare at the light and it no longer has the same effect on them so they seem to need more and more of it.  They have a word for that; it’s called going blind.  As Lennon says, “Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see”.  To Christians Jesus is a drug that you continually need “more and more” of. A month or so ago someone on educational television talked about a man that had lost his wallet during a power failure and he found it frustrating to search in the dark.  Then he noticed that the street light outside his house was still on.  So he went out there.  Someone asked him what he was doing and he said searching for my wallet.  When asked why he wasn’t searching for his wallet in the house he said, “Because the light is out here”.   You’ve heard the saying, “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”.  Christians don’t seem to have gotten that message.  One time, and I’d said this before, I was outside and walked by a street light and the Gene Scott saying came to me, “Never doubt in the darkness what God told you in the light”.   What did this saying mean?  Ab-solutely nothing.  Jesus said, “If you don’t like country music for 20 minutes on Sunday morning, you won’t like it for eternity”.  The job of the Saint isn’t to “hide” the darkness in his life so he’s not aware of it, but rather to dispel the darkness by shining a light on it.  If I test out a flashlight in the day time and am satisfied it works, that doesn’t matter after a power failure and I need the flash light to see and it doesn’t work. Jesus won’t even acknowledge that there are tentacles of darkness at work.  But as Dr. Phil says, “You can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge”.  In the Lion King  (the “Lying King” as some call it) the Lion King tells his son never ever to go into the shadow places. You’ve heard of “homophobia”.  This is dark-o-phobia.  So many Christians appear to be running away from phantoms.  You know in the movie “Dial M For Murder”, Mark Halliday happens to be one of the good guys.  He’s practically the hero of the movie even though he is the “other man”.  I guess what you have to ask yourself is, “Can you call it a marriage when your husband wants to kill you?”  What does “God” want to do to you?