Biden Visits Wilkes-Barre

Joe Biden visited 40 minutes north of where I live, and he didn’t disappoint. The good-ol’ Biden Gaffe-o-matic was up and running:

But his intended attack ended up confusing some of the crowd.“Ladies and gentlemen, and I say to the national press here, the single biggest tax cut proposed in history for the middle class is being proposed by John McCain,” he said, rather than calling the plan a tax increase.

Of course, that was preceded earlier this week by him saying that clean coal was not the way to go in the United States, despite the fact that Obama’s stand is that he is FOR clean coal.

But no matter; after all, Biden is from Scranton, an area that once thrived on the anthracite coal industry, and in which many in the area are banking on a resurgence of coal. That’s OK Joe; Barack doesn’t need votes up here in Hillary Country (and thus increasingly McCain Country) in a SWING state….

Random Stuff 9/4/08

     On Monday, we went to Jackie’s sister’s house for Labor Day. Gorgeous weather, and a nice relaxing day. On the way home, we got a flat tire. It turns out that it was shredded on the inside (I had to drive over 1/2 mile before I was able to pull over), but they couldn’t find anything that punctured it. So, almost $300 later, we have 2 new front tires and the front end aligned. Yes, the tires were expensive, but since we drive so much, I get the top of the line “Touring” tires that have an 80,000 mile warranty,

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There’s a letter to the editor of “Quest”, a magazine published by the Muscular Dystrophy Association in it’s Sept-Oct issue that fits right in with my philosophy and this blog’s title:

I’m 53 years old, soon to be 54.  At the age of 3, I was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, and in 2002 I learned I had osteoporosis and massive degeneration of my hips.  In spite of it all, I’m still on my feet-walking and swimming twice a week as part of my therapy.  I’ve recently begun taking Boniva for osteoporosis and I still use magnets at night and drink green tea to keep healthy.

But I have to say that most of it is your state of mind.  A person’s state of mind rules their body.  To stay healthy, you’ve got to keep motivated. When we give in to negative thinking, that’s what makes us go downhill.

D.A. Herman
Alliance, Neb.

(Ms. Herman was featured in a portion of this article )
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Kevin’s pediatrician, (and the head of the department I work in) has an interesting story. Dr. M. was doing his residency in Wilmington, Delaware in 1972, and one of his patients was a child involved in a car accident. The boy’s father had a new job, but wasn’t able to make it for the first day of work. Dr. M was in the boy’s hospital room when his father was sworn in to his new job. The father was Joe Biden, and he was sworn in to his first Senate term in his son’s hospital room with Dr. M. present. I told him that Biden better give him an invite to the inauguration if they win! 

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My favorite part of Sarah’s speech at the convention:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don’t

quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their

religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

Of course, I grew up about 20 minutes away from Scranton, and I’m writing this post clutching my Smith and Wesson .357, with my Norinco SKS at my side…  🙂

 

Prior to the speech, I wasn’t sold on either candidate, but was leaning toward McCain (800 million in NEW government spending by Obama leaves me no other choice). Now, I’m cautiously optimistic with Palin on the ticket. The main draw for me is that she goes against the status quo, fought excessive spending, recognizes that we must drill domestically WHILE developing new sources of energy, and she sold her state’s jet on eBay!

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I wonder why US Weekly magazine had such a contrast in covers: Barack and Michelle Obama with the headline “Why Barack Loves Her” vs. the most recent with Sarah Palin and Trig (her baby with Down’s Syndrome) and the headline “Babies, Lies, and Scandal”. 

Well, Megyn Kelly did a great job in interviewing the Senior Editor of the magazine and asking some tough questions (the interview didn’t go well for the editor).