On Saturday, September 27th at 9pm Eastern, I will be watching Chris Rock’s HBO Comedy event Kill The Messenger. As most of you may know, when it comes to political humor, he along with D.L. Hughley are in my opinion the best out there. They say what’s on their mind and don’t care about what anyone things. And most of the time they are right on the money. One of my favorite movies, Head of the State, showed what could happen if a black man ran for president. Who would have thought it would actually happen a couple of years later.

The comedy series is unique in that it will be one show based on his performances in South Africa, London and New York. It looks like we’ll be in for a good time. For more information check out the HBO website.

I think what bothers me the most about this is that people have been saying the economy was in danger for a long time. Politicians who are in office always try to put a positive spin on everything and as you can see it doesn’t work. Even though they’ve waited until the last minute, I’m glad the Bush Administration has come to terms with what’s going on. I just hope they don’t make any rushed decisions and make things worse. Whoever wins this election is going to have a lot of work ahead of them. Whether you feel he is ready or not, Obama is a brave many for wanting to run for Office. No vacations on the ranch for him.

This year’s 2008 Beijing Olympics was full of drama, heartache, surprise, and hard work paying off in the form of solid gold!  Here’s part deux of my recap.

Before I had an opportunity to view any Track & Field events I had already heard the stories about this Jamaican guy that blew away the Men’s 100M sprint record but I could’ve never imagined how it.  Not since the late Florence Griffith-Joyner in the 1988 Seoul Olympics can I personally remember a track athlete engagin so many people who don’t follow track sports.  Even before the race it was very apparent that Usain Bolt, who owns one of the greatest track names ever, was either going to smoke the field or embarass himself severely with his aloof overconfidence before the race began.  His untied shoe and untucked shirt served only as cursors for the already obvious.  The 6′5″ runner was mentally defeating most of his competition who’d heard or seen his pre-Olympics hype.  With only 20 meters left in the race, Bolt had already begun to slow up and extend his arms in defeat of the world’s fastest runners and still managed to scorch the earth with a 9.69 time.

One athlete who got buried under the Track & Field and Gymnastics coverage is Keeth Smart.  Keeth was a member of the US Sabre fencing team who went through adversity more painful than a stab from a blade to gain his silver medal in Beijing.  Earlier this year he competed at a tourney in Algeria and returned to discover he’d contracted a rare blood disorder called ITP.  Doctors expected he could die within hours of his diagnosis.  After weeks of ICU care to overcome his severe ailment his mother lost her battle with colon cancer.  One would imagine anyone should be an emotional mahjong puzzle after so much difficulty.  However, Keeth used the opportunity to lead the 7th-seeded American team to victories over 2nd-seeded Hungary and 3rd-seeded Russia who featured 5x world champion Stanislav Pozdnyakov.  Since the Olympics’ end, Smart has decided to retire from the Olympics to focus on his pursuit of a post-graduate degree at Columbia University this Fall.  We wish him well.

For every happy Olympics outcome there’s always one on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Lolo Jones found herself caught at the wrong end of that spectrum.  With a commanding lead in the Women’s 100M hurdles, Jones’ foot caught on the 9th of 10 hurdles causing her to partially fall.  That one miniscule mistake removed her from medal contention as Jones staggered to a 7th place finish.  Her sister and mother watched in horror as they saw Lolo’s lead vanish along with her dreams of gold.  This after years of working odd jobs despite her Economics degree at LSU and depriving herself of A/C in the Louisiana heat to save money all to pursue her Olympic dreams.  The true tragedy in it all was that Lolo gave NBC a very composed interview only minutes after having her dream snatched.  NBC returned the favor by stabbing her in the back and showing footage of Jones crying under the bleachers immediately after her interview.  I don’t (and wouldn’t) expect them to be the most scrupulous group of people but that shot was beyond low.

Check back for the final chapter in this Beijing Olympics recap where I’ll cover US Men’s Boxing, the US Women’s B-ball Team, and the Redeem Team.

Received this via email and wanted to share. I don’t remember the “elite media” covering this story. I’m not sure, but this website may be the source of the email. They have tons more pictures, so check them out when you get a chance.

[The] Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.

The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It’s probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchorage talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally “a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots,” and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.

I felt a bit apprehensive. I’d been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage , if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it’s a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren’t sent by Eddie Burke, we’ll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing “socialist baby-killing maggot” haters.

It’s a good thing I wasn’t tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody’s trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn’t happen here.

Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn’t be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.

So, if you’ve been doing the math? Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin’s rally that got all the national media coverage! ?So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. ?Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska , who know her best, have things to say.

A couple of pictures from the rally:
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Here’s some information I received in an email from a friend of mine. You can also find some really helpful information on khou.com. My mom is still without power so, I’ve been calling her with updates. Please continue to keep those affected in your thoughts and prayers.

Re-entry Information 9/18/2008

Harris County
The county is open, but residents are not encouraged to return at this time.

Chambers County
Residents returning should be prepared to live without power for some time. Fuel shortages are also reported.

Galveston County
All areas are closed to residents.

Brazoria County
Residents returning should be prepared to live without power for some time.

Ft. Bend County
Residents returning should be prepared to live without power for some time.

Jefferson County
All areas are closed to residents.

Orange County
All areas are closed to residents.

Newton County
Mandatory evacuation still in effect
No electricity

Jasper County
Mandatory evacuation still in effect
No electricity
No Fuel
No Water

Liberty County
No electricity
No telephone service
Cannon Fuel supply store on 321 between Dayton and Cleveland is the only fuel source

Impassable Roads due to flooding:
163 in Tarkington
East River Drive (CR 370)
CR 3709
CR 1413 off 1413 (Dayton area)
CR 470 off 1409
CR 677 off 321

Shelby County
Parts of Center have electricity, rest of county has no electricity
Roads are passable

Angelina County
All roads are passable
Part of the county has electricity

San Jacinto County
Main roads are passable
No electricity
No fuel

Polk County
Major roads are open
FM 942 is not passable due to trees
Jack Station Road is not passable due to trees
Holiday Lake Estates is not passable due to trees

Nacogdoches County
80% of county has no electricity
Fuel stations available within city of Nacogdoches
Many county roads impassable
All State Highways and FM roads are passable

Trinity County
All roads passable
No electricity
No fuel
Boil water notice

Sabine County
All main roads passable
Working to clear all service roads
Partial power in Hemphill

On Larry King Live last night, King got Donald Trump to officially endorse John McCain as President. It was funny because right after he said it, there was a ‘Breaking News’ ticker on the screen showing his endorsement. Why is this “Breaking News”? I expect someone like Trump to be a McCain supporter. He’s a savvy businessman who’s all about the dollars and since John McCain is a friend and doesn’t want to raise taxes on the rich, Donald is for him.

No one wants to give more money to the government, but I know when Bill Clinton was taxing the hell out of everyone, Americans had jobs and the economy was good. In every election the campaign promises we hear are actually campaign assumptions. No candidate knows what will happen because every bill has to come through Congress. Even when the Republicans had complete control over the country, they failed to really do any of the things they promised the American people. So I’m voting for the person I think will be able to convince both parties to work together. That’s what it’s going to take to set this country back on track and Barack Obama can make it happen.

I was in the car on the way home Monday listening to the Glenn Beck Show and heard a really good interview with Chris Gardner. If you’ve read the book or have seen In Pursuit of Happyness, then you know his rags to riches story. It’s an amazing one and is an example of how dedication and hard work can pay off.

Beck is a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” type guy and I can respect that. But his show can be annoying at best and there are very few times when I catch an interview such as this. I’m not sure if the video is out there but I was able to get a transcript from the CNN website. In listening to the interview, I felt like Glenn was trying to get Gardner to use the “bootstrap” logic a number of times and Gardner wouldn’t fall for it. Read this portion of the transcript and let me know what you think. Am I reading too much into this?:

BECK: I wasn`t aware of that.

I don`t know if you`ve been watching TV the last couple of days, but everybody is talking about, you know, the financial markets. And now it`s turning into politics. I don`t even know what half of it really all about. And I do this for a living. And then they turn it into politics, and it just becomes blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It is interesting that two areas affect all of us in a way that doesn`t make sense to most of us: politics and financial. That`s why I try to keep things at the gut level, and that`s why I wanted to talk to my next guest, an extraordinary guy with an extraordinary story that you know. He says it like it is. CEO of Gardner Rich and Company, is the author of “The Pursuit of Happyness,” Chris Gardner.

Chris, as always, good to see you.

CHRIS GARDNER, CEO, GARDNER RICH AND COMPANY: Always, brother. Good to see you.

BECK: So I`ve wanted to talk to you now for a while, because I think we are moving into this area in this country where nobody really understands pull yourself up by the boot straps anymore. You know, everybody is — is expecting something to be done for them.

When you look at the financial markets being bailed out by the U.S. government, what comes to mind?

GARDNER: The small business people in this country, they would like to be bailed out, too.

BECK: Amen.

GARDNER: OK. And how are we going to decide who gets a bailout and who doesn`t, right?

And let`s add one thing to that. The investors and the shareholders and the employees, Glenn, who lost billions of dollars, at no point have they felt like they`ve been bailed out.

BECK: Right.

GARDNER: OK? So I wish there were another word we could use besides “bailout.”

BECK: Screw?

GARDNER: Well, OK, screw. Descriptive, right.

BECK: I mean, come on, it`s true.

GARDNER: But again, there are a lot of small business people right now who would love to have the government come in and say, “You`ve got a home or job (ph). You lost your franchise. And by the way, here`s a check for a few billion dollars to go about your own.”

BECK: You know, it`s amazing, because I just said this on the radio today: 70 percent of business in America is small business.

GARDNER: Absolutely.

BECK: And nobody is trying to bail out or talking about bailing out.

GARDNER: It`s not going to…

BECK: I haven`t heard a single politician say, “Well, you`re too small to fail.” It`s all too big to fail.

These guys, when I looked at the way some of these companies were making loans, you know, and mortgages, you didn`t even have to fill out all the paperwork.

GARDNER: No.

BECK: You deserved to fail.

GARDNER: And you know what? You know what`s going to happen here? Hopefully. This could be the last wake-up call for Wall Street. Company X was making all this money during these subprime mortgages.

BECK: Yes.

GARDNER: So all the other guys feel like if we don`t get into that business, they`re going to take the market share. They`re going to make more money than us, and we`re going to be in a less than desirable position. So let`s do it, too.

The companies who did not go that way, Glenn, some of your community banks, some of your more focused financial services opportunities, they could be very interested in investment opportunities right now.

BECK: So let me — let me change gears and go to Hurricane Ike. I saw a story over the weekend. You know, I`ve never heard the government ever warn anyone, “Leave or you are facing certain death. And we will not come back to rescue you.”

Two thousand people, 40,000 didn`t leave their homes after that. Two thousand that didn`t leave their homes, needed to be rescued this weekend.

Meanwhile, the rest of the city needs to be rebuilt and trees cut and power lines relaid.

GARDNER: Sure.

BECK: And the government is spending the time rescuing those people. Do you think it`s callous to say, if you got that warning, and you could have left, and you didn`t leave, it`s not my responsibility?

GARDNER: I will tell you something and it`s probably going to get me in some trouble.

BECK: Yes.

GARDNER: There`s something called tough, and there`s something called Texas tough. OK? And those folks, honestly, in that part of the country, they`ve seen some of these storms. They can name every name you could ever come up with.

BECK: Sure.

GARDNER: They`ve seen so many storms, and they probably felt like, well, we can weather this storm. But in this case, look, I think your point. When the government says, “You`re facing almost certain death, and we ain`t coming back,” there is a point that you realize, the cavalry ain`t coming.

BECK: Yes. But they did come. So now — so now does it mean anything anymore? The reason why they came is because they`re like, well, we can`t let these people suffer. We can`t let — look, you`ve got the rest of the city suffering now. You told these people to leave.

I mean, is there such a thing as the American that doesn`t — that says, “You know what? I want to do it myself. There`s something to be gained from saving myself”?

GARDNER: It is probably what some of those people thought, Glenn, that “I could weather this storm also.”

BECK: Right.

GARDNER: But in this case, they were wrong. They were wrong.

BECK: OK. All right. Back in just a minute. As always, Chris, thank you, very much.

GARDNER: Thank you, Glenn.

BECK: Chris Gardner. Back in a minute.

source

Just so everyone knows, the government bailing out public corporations is BS. I understand you don’t want them to fail, but isn’t that what capitalism is all about? Only the financially strong will survive and the executive management of these companies should be put in the streets with no compensation for what they’ve allowed. If the government wants to get involved, then they need to manage all of it. But would that be any better?

That’s a whole other post.

I received this in an email from Central Dallas Ministries. Just another way to get involved in the community:

Central Dallas Ministries will host Community Hunger Day on October 27th. We hope that you are interested in being part of this fight against hunger.

We are challenging the Dallas-Fort Worth community to fast with us on October 27th. We are also asking individuals to set up their own personal website, showing their support for our fight, and asking other to join them by fasting and by giving financially.

This link will take you to a PDF that explains a little more about how you can participate.

We firmly believe that there will be at least 2,000 members of the community who want to join our fight against hunger. If each of those people asks 10 friends to generously give just $50 each, we will raise $1,000,000 for hunger relief!!

Will you join us?

For those who didn’t get to see the entire parody on Saturday Night Live, here it is. I’ve been a fan ever since Eddie Murphy was a cast member and they’ve made many careers in the time it’s been on the air.

I thought it was really funny. You have to know Hillary is thinking the same thing. I’ve always thought choosing her as VP was McCain’s way of getting back at the Dems. I guess he felt he had nothing to lose. and it does make for an interesting election. Something to definitely tell the kids.

I have family in Houston and so far the best source of information I’ve found is the Houston Chronicle’s Blog at http://blogs.chron.com/hurricanes.

If you have any other sources or additional information you’d like to share, feel free to post it in the comments area. I’ll keep this post at the top until the threat is over.

Updates:

• It looks like my mom and brother are going to stick it out. Fort Bend County hasn’t issued an evacuation and are asking people to keep the roads clear for those neededing to evacuate. As a kid, we’ve road out some tough hurricanes before. I pray this one won’t be as bad as they think it’ll be.
• Another really good storm tracking website. http://www.stormpulse.com/fullscreen/hurricane-ike-2008
• Another sent to me from my mom http://www.houstonhidefromthewind.org
• I saw this site being used on CNN http://hurricanetrack.com
• You can watch a simulcast of the news in Houston (KHOU-TV) on C-SPAN
• I’ve also been following the Dallas Weather Blog at http://weatherblog.dallasnews.com