Oakland Raiders Losing To Broncos 41 to 14; Officiating Terrible

I'm watching this debacle of a Monday Night Football game, which finds the host Oakland Raiders getting hammered by the visiting Denver Broncos 41 to 14 at this point in the game with about a minute left.

But even though the Raiders are losing, I've got to complain about how the officials just let the Broncos defensive backs plain manhandle the Raiders wide receivers -- there should have been at least three pass interference calls.

Tragic.

More terrible still is the overall game plan put together by head coach Lane Kiffin and his staff.  They tried to rely on their running game almost exclusively in the first half and even then Kiffin does not seem to know that his prize running back Darren McFadden is an outside speed specialist and not Deuce McAllister of the Saints.

It seems like it's going to be a long year for the Raiders. 

Open letter to John McCain: Bureaucrats and Health Care

What would you advise, my friend? You say you’re in favor of changing everything that’s wrong in Washington, you’re trying to reclaim your old label as a maverick, and distance yourself as far as you can from Bush after voting with him about 90% of the time - but leaving health care the way it is because Obama thought up changing it first? That's toadying up to the lobbyists from big insurance companies, that's politics as usual, and believe me, maverick, our health care system ISN'T working for everybody.

Here's a story of how insurance-based health care decisions worked against a woman who suffered nerve damage during the birth of her second child. Health Partners changed her medication/treatment without consulting her records, or her doctor... no medical professionals were involved, just a clerk delivering news that her treatment was no longer eligible for coverage because nobody at Health Partners took the time to even read her diagnosis, let alone get a proper medical evaluation of her symptoms and the treatment protocol. It was medical decision making based on profit.

I could retire on the money Senator McCain is paying the lobbyists on his campaign staff. How is this change? You can't just SAY you're for change because you're scared to be aligned with the President... especially when you support nearly every initiative or policy he's undertaken. Come on, Senator, tell us please: How do you cave on torture? How do you argue we should throw the bums out when you're one of the most senior legislators? How can you tell voters that Obama's wrong to try to improve health care and look yourself in the mirror?

While I'm at it: How can you pretend Palin's against earmarks?

Seriously, my friend: WTF?

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Maverick my ass

Once I learned just how much pork Sarah Palin got via earmarks I could barely believe the commerical media were glossing over it. But for McCain to try to reclaim the maverick personna after how he toadied up to Bush since 2000, and trying to paint his ticket as conservatives that can bring change? That's the epitome of unbelievable Rovian tactics.

We may not know much about Palin yet, but we do know votes for John McCain are votes for more of the same.

Black Voter Registration Purged by Florida Republicans

While the media focuses on the antics of McCain's chosen VP battleground states are purging their voter rolls.In Colorado, one fifth of all voter registrations were dropped. Florida is refusing to accept 85,000 new registrants -- overwhelmingly blacks. Ohio & Nevada are scrubbing tens of 1000s of voters who lost their homes.

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Headline News Robin Meade Used My Jesse Jackson Interview

I happened upon this cached page of the August 30th 2008 presentation of CNN Headline News Anchor Robin Meade's coverage of the DNC Convention, which featured my Jesse Jackson Interview.

Thanks Robin!

I also happened on CNN's presentation of my "Clinton argument" video, which is here, too.

Zennie Abraham - CNN iReporter Interviewed After Obama Speech At Invesco Field

iReporters inside the stadium 2:51
iReporter Zennie Abraham describes what it was like inside Invesco Field.



This was my interview that I gave from inside the "Blogger Lounge" on the 4th floor level at Invesco Field.  What CNN did not know is that I had to talk loud over the din from the bloggers still in the room at the time.   But still I thank CNN for giving me the chance to share my experience with the nation and the World.  

John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd - Sarah Palin Next?

I love this. It's as if John McCain really did get BarackRoll'd at the Republican National Convention. 
It stands to reason that Sarah Palin's next.

Palin Won't Do Interviews Until Treated with "Deference"

Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just told Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace that McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself to any tough questions from reporters "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."

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Palin Confuses Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae and Government Role - First Gaffe

Well, McCain campaign advisor Todd Harris said they didn't want Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to make a mistake early on, and that's exactly what happened today.  Palin, commenting on the news that the Federal Goverment was going to take over the poortly performing loan organizations Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, apparently did not know that the firms were privately owned and held.  Palin said this, as written by the McClatchy Washington Bureau:

McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, speaking in Colorado Springs, Colo., said Fannie and Freddie had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, however, aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization.

It's this basic lack of knoweldge of Federal Government operation that both Obama / Biden supporters and GOP backers who questioned McCain's logic in selecting Palin are concerned with.  Palin has no experience in talking about, let alone working to solve, Federal Government problems and policy matters on a regular basis that many wondered if McCain would have to engage in "on the campaign trail" training.

It appears that's the case.

This comes a week before Palin's scheduled ABC interview.

John McCain Reportedly Shoved Woman In Wheelchair in 1996

We still get report after report on examples of Senator John McCain's temper. Here's another one:

In 1992, McCain sparred with Dolores Alfond, the chairwoman of the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen and Women, at a Senate hearing. McCain's prosecutor-like questioning of Alfond — available on YouTube — left her in tears.

Four years later, at her group's Washington conference, about 25 members went to a Senate office building, hoping to meet with McCain. As they stood in the hall, McCain and an aide walked by.

Six people present have written statements describing what they saw. According to the accounts, McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall.

As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain.

"McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.

The there's the famous "Fuck You" Incident, described in this video:





CNN has this segment on his temper:


 

McCain Now Leads Obama In Gallup 48 to 45 Points Today

After the Republican Convention Senator John McCain now leads Senator Obama in the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll for the weekend, 48 percent to 45 percent and mostly due to the newly-engaged conservative base excited over McCain's running mate, Governor Sarah Palin.  But since this poll was conducted during the weekend days (today is the 7th), I think it reflects that more older people were at home to answer the phone.

By Tuesday, Senator Obama will recover his lead.  

Sarah Palin Asked For $853,623 In Earmark Money Per Day As Governor

This video of an interview grilling by Fox News' Chris Wallace of McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis reveals that Alaska Governor and GOP VP Candidate Sarah Palin hired a Washington Lobbyist to get $27 million in earmarks for Wasilla, Alaska when she was mayor (and left that town with a $20 million deficit) and as governor she asked for $589 Million in Pork Barrel Projects.

That comes to $853,623 per day for a state of just 670,000 people!