Ball point pen on the morning newsprint If it's Sunday, it's Meet The Press... Never has a slogan been more apt, for my household and for millions of Americans, it was simply a part of our routine. Tim Russert had no equal. His was the only can't-miss-show on television and his absence will be missed by everyone who cared to be informed. He was 58. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint Senator Obama might decide to sure up the mid-west, the moderates, the women and those inclined to vote for someone with gray hair by picking Kathleen Sebelius as a running mate. A two term Governor of Kansas, she also brings executive experience. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint It was Jim Johnson's job to vet possible vice presidential candidates for Barack Obama, but no one vetted the vetter and he has now resigned from the campaign. While skyrocketing interest rates on sub-prime loans are causing many Americans to loose their homes, it's been reported that Jim Johnson, as CEO of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae for short) accepted millions of dollars in sweetheart loans from Countrywide Mortgage at below market interest rates. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint The VP watch is the only game in town. Lets take a look at some of those on the short list. Up first, former Virginia Governor, Mark Warner. Obama would like to sure up the South and those Appalachian voters who aren't getting the Obama vibe. Warner is a moderate Democrat who might help Obama appeal more to centrist voters. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint As a Yankee fan I remember Ken Griffey Sr. when he played outfield for the Yankee's between 1982-86. Back then, the precocious little junior would run and play in the tunnels under the stadium. Years later he would return with the Seattle Mariners as a super star center fielder and prolific home run hitter. In 1995 he lead the Mariners back from a 0-2 deficit to end the Yankees season by winning three in a row, taking the short five game series, while contibuting five homers. He was the youngest player to hit 350 and 400 HR's, but unlike Barry Bonds, Griffey grew old the old-fashioned way, getting injured and slowing down. Yesterday, Junior became only the sixth player in major league history to hit 600 home runs. Congratulations! ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint No, It's not Matthew Broderick...todays doodle is of David Plouffe (pronounced Pluff), the campaign manager for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Plouffe is credited with the strategy that won Iowa and prolonged the primary season past Super Tuesday. The idea was to esablish an early presence in states where their opponent (believing the race would be over) had no organization. That strategy yielded twelve consecutive wins after super Tuesday and produced the margin of victory that would never be relinquished. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint I will continue on Monday profiling the team behind Barack Obama. Today I wanted to take a moment to remember Robert F. Kennedy. On June 5th 1968 he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning California's Primary election that day. He died the following day-forthy years ago today. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint Leading off, Political consultant, David Axelrod. Axelrod is credited with implementing a strategy that encouraged grassroots participation, involving the people and giving them a stake in the campaign. Encouraging bloggers and using the internet to build an army of donors contributing a hundred dollars or less, Obama's grass roots fund raising soon dwarfed the small number of deep pocketed contributors in other campaigns . ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint Congratulations to Senator Obama! Yesterday in my post regarding the passing of Bo Diddley I linked to some footage of him performing his self titled song released in 1955. That was before Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech, before the end of Jim Crow laws, before civil rights legislation, and before Barack Obama was born. The camera pans several times to the audience showing white kids bopping to Bo's rhythm and blues, but in the last few seconds (about 5:17 in) the camera pans to a segregated group black girls enjoying the show from what appears to be the balcony. That was fifty years ago, when many southern states legislated that blacks had to use a separate entrance, learn at a separate school, drink from a separate faucet, sit at the back of the bus, and could only sit in the balcony at theaters...Last night our nation made Bar ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint Three beats, a pause, then two more beats. That was the trademark Bo Diddley beat that Bo used in his self titled song, and as the foundation for so many of his hits. He influenced a generation of artists including Buddy Holly, U2 and George Thorogood, who covered and introduced a new audience to his song "Who Do You Love". Bo received a life time Grammy Award and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was 79. WATCH BO DIDDLEY HERE AND HERE ...
Read More