I usually stick to talking about baseball over on Shot's Shack, but had a quick comment. Since it does touch on the 'political' I felt it better to mention it here.

Anybody else notice that there were almost as many folks booing G.W.B. yesterday when he took the mound as cheered him? Also, though it shouldn't have been a surprise, nobody over on ESPN even mentioned it. Same held true for shots of the event last night & today on the news shows and most seem to have edited the crowd sounds out completely.

Glad he had time enough to sit through and even take a seat in the broadcast booth for a while. Not like there is anything of any importance going on that he might want to look into before taking off for a few days.

The chart and the stuff in italics below are from Pew Research. You can use the link to see the full report.

I find it interesting that even with the Wright controversy, Obama still is seen in a more favorable light than Hillary. This has always been a weakness for Clinton and perhaps something she simply cannot overcome. It appears that the recent statements and what looks like bad memory, if not outright lies, about what happened in Bosnia certainly are not going to help.

I have also been a bit troubled by those Dems who say that they will vote for McCain should their candidate not win the nomination. Granted I still waffle on voting for Clinton should she get the nomination, but I know damn well that I would never vote for John McCain! How could you go from supporting a pro-choice candidate, who hopes to improve the availability of health care to voting for one who is anti-choice and feels he can sit back while the economy is going down the toilet? Spite goes only so far!

Large majorities of white Democratic voters view Obama as honest, inspiring, patriotic, and down-to-earth. Obama's personal image surpasses Clinton's on almost every personal attribute tested in the survey, except patriotism.
In addition, roughly twice as many white Democrats say the word "phony" describes Clinton than say it describes Obama (30% vs. 16%). And the gap is even larger in perceptions of likability; 43% of white Democratic voters say the phrase "hard-to-like" describes Clinton, while just 13% say it describes Obama.

Just interesting and I thought I'd pass it along.

Probably shouldn't say anything until the contracts are signed, but it looks like The Chaputs will be moving again.

We just heard from our real estate agent and he tells us the bank has accepted our offer on the condo.

Like I said to Donna, I don't know if it's a sinking feeling I feel or excitement. A bit of both I guess.

I'll let you know as we learn more about what we do next! Wish us luck!!

Nothing of note to add, but just a few general comments about political stuff.

Various news stories and some things I've heard on Air America have me wondering if the recent visits to the Mid-East by Cheney, Rice, McCain, etc. are indications of coming events. The neo-cons only have a few months to start a war with Iran, and I would not be surprised if they use the Israelis as cover. There is a report out of Germany that the Saudis are having meetings to plan what to do in case of nuclear fallout from an attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Face it, the Bush administration would never do anything without permission from the Saudi royal family!

Anybody else more interested in the protests that may occur during the Olympic Games in China than the games themselves? I know I am! Also of interest will be to see how NBC (which will be televising the games) will try to both mention the protests (so they don't look like they are covering for the Chinese) but will downplay any that take place (to keep on the good side of the same Chinese officials monitoring them). Should be more entertaining than track & field!

USA TODAY has an article about the possibility of a 'dream team' ticket of Obama & Clinton. It seems to imply that many Dems would like such a thing. Any of you know a fellow progressive hoping for that? I don't! Personally, I think only the Clinton camp is keeping their fading hopes alive with that idea and they are the ones who floated it to begin with.

At this point, I think the November election is going to be much closer than I would have thought even a couple of months ago. With the Clinton folks leading the charge against Obama and going negative they are basically giving the GOP a playbook to use, in addition to the Karl Rove classics they have on hand already. All the RNC has to do is keep Hillary's worst campaigns ads on a loop and keep having Fox replay them over and over. Sure save some money on doing their own.

As I may have mentioned before, I have my fingers crossed that a Democratic majority will keep President McCain from totally going bonkers in his first term. We can probably say goodbye to Roe v. Wade and any First Amendment rights we have left, but maybe we can keep ourselves out of the camps in Arizona until 2012.

They couldn't print this if it wasn't true!

Hope everybody had a non-toxic Easter, with lots of goodies (organic or not).

I would love to talk about what happened at Chez Chaput, but this is a family oriented site and I don't want to have to spend time explaining things which are hazy even to me.

Interesting being the only 'straight' male at dinner, but not the only thing that made the day special.

Donna outdid herself with the pork roast, her cheesecake and way too much other stuff that had all eight of us overeating. Folks also seemed happy with the leftovers they took home and I'm looking forward to some of the same later this week.

Two quick things I'd like to mention to folks considering using computers in the library.

1) We librarians really don't need to know your business or private life. We are here to assist you with the electronic resources we have for your use and are happy to do so.

2) If you might possibly have naked photographs of yourself on a disk or USB drive, it is probably not wise to ask us to assist you in accessing such material.

Thank for your kind attention. I going to go put my head under a faucet now.

I'm adding a link to the site VA WATCHDOG over on The Left. On this the fifth anniversary of 'shock & awe' we should take a moment (maybe many moments) to remember the nearly 4,000 men & women who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, the hundreds of thousands from both conflicts who returned maimed in body & spirit. All the while His Smugness and cohorts continue to lie, cheat and steal as much as they can before January of next year.

I hope that there will come an end to this, if not next year than at least a beginning of an end. A return to what some of us still believe is a country of values and morality. Than again, maybe I'm being too optimistic.

I was a history major in college and have probably forgotton most of what I learned during those four years. I've been reminded of this when I began listening to the audiobook adaptation of Stephen Kinzer's "Overthrow: America's century of regime change from Hawaii to Iraq." Highly recommended and doubly so as you see that a little more than 100 years ago the American government began working with corporations to ensure U.S. economic superiority.

Some of the most frightening passages talk about the arguements used by politicians, business men and their media stooges to justify what they did and to stir up the public. Henry Cabot Lodge in the late 1890s would fit perfectly with the neo-cons of today. It's also sad to recall the 'real' Teddy Roosevelt both before and after that charge in Cuba.

I also want to recommend the articles over at SLATE titled, "Why did we get it wrong!" Some good pieces by folks who formerly supported the war, and of course, one by Christopher Hitchens on how he didn't.

I think Senator Obama gave an amazing speech. It demonstrates that he has class and will not backstab a long-time friend for political expediency. In another place and time, this would end the matter and we could move on. Sadly, for the Clinton and McCain campaigns, the entire Republican Party and most of the Mainstream Media it will not stop them from bashing him.

As I see it both Clinton and the GOP are not going to let this go. The GOP because they would rather run the old man at the head of their ticket against the one Democrat they can beat. Hillary and her handlers would rather have McCain win and allow four more years of Republican domination, so Senator Clinton can run again in 2012 and possibly win. I actually feel bad about feeling that way but in my heart, I think that is exactly how the Clinton’s see things. If not her, than nobody!

The two talking cats

Somebody will know why I posted this.

Vote for it as most adorable on YouTube.

We have put a few things on hold here at Chez Chaput, since we are still waiting for the results of some medical tests Donna took a couple of weeks ago. Once we get those (hopefully today) we can begin planning what has to be done.

I don’t mean to be mysterious but I also don’t want to say anything if it turns out to be something less than the worst. Trust me, I’ll keep you all informed.

The main thing is that we are going to hold off on condo hunting for a while. We are leaving the two bids we have in place, but won’t be actively looking for anything else for the time being. We would be pretty happy with either of the places we’ve found so far, although one would need a bit more work than the other before we could move in.

Because of that we have spent some time at Loew’s checking out appliances, carpeting and flooring, as well as looking at way too many paint samples. Considering my partial color-blindness it seems to me that over a third of the samples look identical, so I’m leaving it up to Donna (with not always helpful input from Kristina) to pick the colors.

On a much lighter note, Donna and I spent part of both Saturday and Sunday playing Bingo. We went to our favorite place on Saturday evening and then made a last minute decision to travel to San Manuel for their Sunday games. Seriously, at 10:30am we had very different plans for our afternoon and at 1:00pm we were handing over the car keys to the valet at the casino. Part of this was due to unreturned phone calls from my stepdaughter who was busy playing in a ‘ladies only’ poker tournament at a different casino. As Donna always says, “Let’s blame The Child!”

As the Democratic Primary process drags on and on I have to ask myself, seriously, if I could/would vote for the Dem candidate no matter who it might end up being. At this point I don't know that I could and still feel good about myself or the party of which I have been a member since 1972.

I don't think I've ever felt as passionately about a candidate as I did when I voted for George McGovern way back when. I not only donated several hundred dollars to the campaign, but worked in the Norfolk, VA campaign headquarters as a volunteer for several months, up to and including election night. Since then I've restricted myself to simply voting in primaries & in general elections.

In 1982, I happily voted for Barry Commoner, who ran as the candidate for the short-lived Citizens Party. Although several of my friends tried to get me to switch to John Anderson, a very likable guy who ran as an Independent as some of you may remember. It's not that I was rabidly anti-Jimmy Carter at the time, but I still had hopes that a more liberal voice was needed on the political scene.

Finally, I don't regret voting for Ralph Nader in the 2000 election. The campaign was Gore and the Democrats to lose, with aid from Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris and politicized Supreme Court majority. There has been enough proof since then to show that Nader's total vote count would not have changed the results, but rather the election was stolen. Of course, why Nader continues to run baffles me totally.

The only reason I bring this all up is to point out that while I haven't always supported the Democratic candidate at the top of the ticket, I've always considered myself a Democrat at heart. In non-Presidential elections it's not unusual for me to simply enter the booth, pull down the Democratic lever and leave. Of course, that was back in New York & Connecticut when they had the old fashioned (and much missed) voting machines.

I'm going to keep thinking about all this and will let you know, probably by November 3rd, what I've decided to do.

Holy crap! I just read that NY Governor Elliot Spitzer is stepping down. According to what the New York Times reports Spitzer has 'links' to a prostitution ring which is being investigated. The governor's name came up during wiretapped conversations of some sort.

I'm sorry to hear this as I have always had a lot of respect for Spitzer and voted for him back in 'o6. Just goes to show you can never tell what's going on.

I'll be following this story and am really curious to hear what my friends back in NYC have to say on the issue.

Even the mainstream media (MM) are discussing the following issues, so I guess it's safe to make a few comments.

Hillary wants to have it both way it seems, attacking Obama with the 'fear' ad about the 3:00am phone call, but at the same time floating the idea of Barack as her V.P. Everybody, including the Big O have already pointed out that he is ahead in delegate count and number of state primaries won. Why should he even consider the Number Two spot if he may very well be running for the Oval Office seat later this year? Also, if he isn't qualified to answer the phone why IS he qualified to be V.P.? Finally, the whole "I have experience, John McCain has experience and Obama made a speech" thing seems silly if she wants him to join her in the podium in August.

From what I've been seeing the past few days the Clinton campaign might have done a bit of research before putting the "3:00am phone call" ad together. You use footage about eight years old and then have the 'little girl' in the ad pop up all over the news shows talking about how she not only supports your rival but is working in his campaign. Bwahahaha!

I'm at work and typing this, so I'm not sure if the Blogger site is still being blocked by our filter, or if the 'work around' I'm trying is what works. I'll probably be using this from now on if it continues to give me access.

Should somebody be dismissed from a political campaign for engaging in 'free speech'? Considering the stunts the Clinton campaign has pulled and continues to pull on an almost daily basis the term 'monster' actually seems pretty mild. I could think of a few more terms, but won't as this is a 'family' blog. :-)

Considering that at one time I had a great deal of respect for Hillary & Bill, I really do feel bad that they have revealed themselves to be exactly what others have said of them. Seemed way too easy for them to pick up the Rove brand of campaigning, didn't it?

Just to keep everybody updated:

We're still condo hunting out here and will probably be checking out two or three places tomorrow with Eric. Sadly, we still haven't heard back from the bank on one of the properties on which we put in a bid. We have seen a couple places nicer, but the earlier place could be fixed up and Donna loves the layout. Bottom line, it is also a few thousand dollars cheaper even including some of the things we'd have to purchase.

On a more pleasant note, we're heading out to Bingo again tonight. I hit for $250 last Saturday night, so I've been picking up some comics and tonight's 'buy-in' from all that. Donna and I have pretty decent luck at this place, although her biggest hit was still back at San Manuel Casino.

Speaking of that place, The Child seems eager to travel up there with us so we may be taking a family outing next Saturday when I'm off. My step-daughter is going through a serious poker playing phase, winning a few online tournaments and doing pretty well at another local casino's tables. Word is she has been mistaken for a certain female Poker all-star by several folks. A couple of the dealers at one casino have even given her the nickname, "The black widow" because of the number of male players she has 'killed off'. Ya gotta love it!!

Just wanted to jump in quickly here with some news.

Apparently the City of Orange, at least their computer filter, has labeled Blogger a ‘social networking’ site. Therefore I am unable to access it while on at my workstation. Since I rarely go online at home (as I like to be spending time with my wife) I can’t say how often I’ll be posting at either of my blogs.

I’m considering trying to find someplace else to post a webpage that I can get to on my breaks and at lunch. I’ll keep you informed.

On a political note, I WILL NOT vote for Hillary Clinton in November. FYI!!