Opening Stuff:
The CNN Poll of voters taken immediately after the contest -- 34% Indy; 33% Dem; 32% Repub -- had Ryan winning 48 -44. So that's what the poll said. If you went from Network to network after the debate I saw ABC Giddily leaning to Joe; NBC serious and discerning and quite fair to both; CBS similar to NBC but not quite as decerning. At MSNBC it was like visiting a meeting of a Communist cell. Fox was trying to be fair and balanced, but mainly was trying to build a case for Ryan in the face of a good job by the Veep. I say that it was a draw with the memorable event that will go down in infamy being Biden's mocking grin. When Joe spoke sensibly, he was forceful. I think myself and chief managing editor, and everybody across the dial (except MS) was impressed with Ryan's grasp of Foreign Affairs. Biden's biggest score was when he reminded Ryan he had letters requesting stimulus funds. At first I was yelling at Martha Radatz to tell Joe -- who looked like a kindergarten kid wanting to play with the other kid's toys -- to be patient and wait. Later though, I thought she settled in ok.
What I really came away from the debates thinking was that I may not watch the rest of the debates. I think that both sides have said just about everything they know and everything they say in future clashes will be repetitive, although they way they say it will be different. But, that's what Politicians do, isn't it? Maybe there will be some Celtics game on next week. Or, the Baltimore Orioles playing the Detroit Lions for the AL Championship!
Nothing moves my heart, stimulates my tear ducts more... than the scenes of soldiers returning home to loved ones.
The Question:
202 years ago today in Munich Germany, 1810 to be exact, Germans made fools of themselves at the first ever Oktoberfest. Today Oktoberfest lives throughout the US but where are all of the German beers? Can you name five well known German beers?
The Headlines:
--VP Battle: Smirks Versus Smarts.
--German Institute Of Human Nutritionists Say Coffee Drinking Helps With Diabetes, Heart And Dementia; Caffeinated Coffee Helps More.
--Markets Up After Debate; Investors Appear Anxious Over Upcoming Q4 Profit Reports.
--EU Named Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
--Sadistic, Ruthless Druglord Takes Over Deadliest Mexican Drug Cartel; US Addicts Keep Organization Treasury Full Enough To Buy Most Up To date Weapons.
--Syria Rebels Capture Air Defense Base.
As you know I often talk about deceiving newspaper headlines. Here's one this morning about last nights debate: "Decorum not a priority as VP Candidates clashed." Wouldn't have been more accurate to say, "Decorum Not A Priority For Biden In Clash Of VP Candidates." Ah, journalism! I usually read first, the end of any news story in the Providence Journal for that's where the reporter feels compelled to tell the true facts of the entire story. It's my favorite new game, "Find the truth!" It's more exacting than cryptograms and the toughest crossword puzzles.
Victoria Azarenka and others are revolving Number One's in women's tennis until Serena Williams decides she wants to play.
Have you noticed that all of those "Filler" news stories about odd happenings and all around Kooks are more and more coming out of Florida. With apologies to all my friends in the Sunshine state full of gators, snakes and odd giant bugs. The Kooks in California have become rich enough to hire PR agents.
Hollywood Obama fan and voter Ben Affleck actually comes across as a well informed, intelligent guy, with an ability to see the other side of an argument.
The Dems keep on saying they are in favor of letting the Bush tax Cuts lapse. But for the middle class, that would be a classic case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Within that tax cut program is a favorable capital gains tax which is quite helpful to many in the middle class trying to put together a financial future, and many already in the future.
Have you noticed how the lawmakers in our land always call a level tax, a tax decrease or level spending, a spending cut?
Armageddon Alert! Armageddon Alert! Yesterday my teenage granddaughter asked her parents to subscribe to the Providence Journal. That's a newspaper folks, with ink and trees and all! Yikes.
Martha Raddatz only said "Let's move on" while Ryan was speaking. Other than that noticeable little piece of favoritism to VP, she was knowledgeable and professional and handled the chore well. I was just waiting for her to say, "Joe, you're driving me crazy. Would you just shut up! (Translate: I can't protect you if you act like a madman.).
Reading Between the Lines Movie Reviews:
--Argo is a thriller that lives up to and even surpasses the best in the genre. It is a history lesson inside a fast moving, tense and very clever film about creating a fake movie as a ruse in an attempt to rescue US hostages in a riot torn, post Shah Iran. See it.
--Here Comes The Boom stars one funnyman I enjoy, Kevin James as a teacher, and they say it isn't bad. Pal teacher Fonzi with a paunch, I mean an aging Henry Winkler playing an aging teacher who needs help saving the failing school's music program. James, urged on by the female star playing the school nurse, Salma Hayek, steps in and becomes a mixed martian arts fighter to raise money. I can imagine the martial arts a being low common denominator over the top times , and the movie being very predictable, but all in all, it is probably worth an hour or so.
The Conscience: Chapter 10 continues --
I was steeling myself, getting ready for a confrontation with the outwardly charming but apparently tough as nails owner and CEO of one of the world's biggest yacht builders, and a very msyterious one so far, at that. All I really know is what I see in front of me, a great ass on a well dressed woman who walks beautifully. Frankly, after that rushed greeting with the big smile, I really know more about her back than anything else. That's what Lawyers like me do, learn a lot about what's in front of them, relevant or not.
Arriving in her amazing office, her back became quite irrelevant as she she turned towards me in all her feminine glory. There was a distinctive pause in my steps, maybe a severe buckling of the knees. She is even better looking than I imagined while watching her rear.
"Sit and relax," she said within a sweeping gesture from her arm and in a voice that melted my heart. This was going to be a tough negotiation, I thought. "Water? Whiskey? Coffee?"
I felt the beginning of a cold sweat as she said whiskey. Why does everybody tempt me like that. "Coffee please, and upon eying a tray of delicious sweets I added, "And you choose one of those delectable looking pastries!" She smiled at that.
"Should I call you Angelica, Ms. Mrs. Baglietto..."
"Call me Angelica and it is Ms.," she she offered as she handed me a delicious pastry on china that appeared to be a valuable antique. "This is quite the beautiful piece of china. Is it antique? I collect, or did collect good china." She placed a cup of coffee in the same china on the desk near my right elbow.
"No no, this is a fine hand painted reproduction by OperaNova, which I imagine you can buy at home, maybe Nieman Marcus. One of my favorite stores when I am there."
She went back for her own coffee and moved quietly moved behind a desk that I knew was not a reproduction. I bent over and snapped open my briefcase, hauled out some papers and shifted around towards her. She was staring at me, elbows on the desk and chin in hands. "So, the idiots at Bernard sent you to be nice to me, is that correct?"
The Answer:
When I was slopping up the brewskis on a regular basis, the only German beer was Lowenbrau Munchin. Now it isn't even listed on the top Greman Beer's list which has as the Top Ten Best Sellers: Oettinger, Krombacher, Bitburger, Warsteiner, Beck's, Hasseroder, Veltins, Paulaner, Radeberger and Sternberger. Lowenbrau isn't on any top list, and I'm wondering if that is because it was taken over by Anheiser Bush? If you want to experiment with new beers, check out this list of 24 best in USA:
http://archive.mensjournal.com/the-24-best-beers-in-america-gallery
Congressional people over the history of the US have rarely made good Presidents. And, as I noticed that last night these two Congressional lifers got so caught up in arguing minutia that they failed to see the big picture. That's what I liked about the Mittster in his first debate as he clearly drew the distinction between Barak's Big Government vision of today and the USA as intended by the Founding Fathers, who - by the way - knew a thing or two about the problems of suffocating edicts from on high. I liked Romney's understanding of the States role that has for two centuries set America apart from other governments. The America, an over-all well run machine that led the world. That was the envy of the world. That allowed freedoms for the rich and poor alike to gain or lose fortunes. Where individual responsibility determined the fates of all.
Have a wonderful weekend. The old fashioned way!
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