Obama Vs. McCain It’s Game On

Barrack Obama may be one of the greatest speech givers our nation has ever seen.  From an oratorical stand point, he knows how to draw a crowd in and connect with those watching him.  How many people besides, The Jonas Brothers could fill a football stadium with adoring, captivated fans. 

Though last night’s speech was well written there are a few jabs that may have bought Obama a fight.  Last night Obama said, “John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives.”  Just as Republicans can acknowledge Obama’s true desire to make life better for his followers, Democrats can acknowledge McCain’s true desire to keep this country safe.  At the Lakewood Theater that comment even drew a hushed cringe from the crowd.  I can only imagine what it drew from John McCain.

Barrack Obama may have just poked a sleeping lion.  I can’t see John McCain take a comment like that sitting down. 

I think what we witnessed last night was history, but it was also a look into the future.  This Presidential battle is going to turn into an old fashioned slug fest where only one candidate will be left standing, the other may be destroyed.  It’s any one’s race to win or lose.

The V.P. Pick that Would Rock the Political Universe

John McCain has not picked his running mate, yet.  But NBC5 IT man, now turned political analyst, Joe Rushing, has come up with a blockbuster idea for the McCain Camp.  “How about Hillary Clinton as McCain’s running mate,” Rushing stated boldly in the newsroom today.

Wouldn’t that be fun.  The Democrats would have a heart attack.  The Republicans would too!  I could just see the right wing extremists organizing their militia’s now.  I can’t think of anything more fun to cover, the controversy would be everywhere, but mostly deep inside each party.  The everyday, average American may actually like the idea.  For a reporter McCain-Clinton would provide endless fodder too.  So many angry people, I can here the yelling and screaming on the cable news outlet shows now.

The reality is, a McCain-Clinton ticket would most likely trounce Obama-Biden.  No Democrat or Republican would ever admit it, but unlikely duo would be more powerful than Batman and Robin. 

It wasn’t long ago that McCain was considered a Republican outsider.  Many of his views were to far to the left for the conservative radio hosts.  Some of them even vowed to leave the country if McCain was the nomination.  (They didn’t.)

Hillary Clinton and John McCain are known to be friends, surprisingly they agree on a lot of things.  But to quote “Jolten” Joe Rushing, referring to the McCain-Clinton ticket, “It’s an impossibility, it will never happen, but man would it make political reporting exciting!”

Bad Hair, Great Leader?

The pick of Joe Biden as Obama’s Vice-Presidential Running mate makes one thing perfectly clear.  The old time politicos, Democrats and Republicans alike, know the importance of an old white guy with silly hair.

John McCain has what us New Yorkers call, an old fashioned “Long Island Sweep.”  More commonly known as the comb over.  It looks like his fine white hair is weighed down in some kind of not to greasy Dipsy Doo. 

Joe Biden rocks, “The Trump plus 20.”  The Biden due looks great from a far, but its far from good.  Up close the thinning hair seems to float above the scalp somehow defying earth’s gravitational pull.  And if you look very closely, Joe Biden’s hair could almost fit into the mullet category.  Just a tad to long in the back.

Maybe these two great Americans know something we don’t know about the power of the bad white hair draw.  We do know each candidate is hoping the other will be, “hair today and gone tomorrow.”  (At least gone by mid November anyway.)

The Truth About Jenny The Elephant: Facts No One Can Dispute

 

There is all kinds of propaganda circling about what is best for Jenny the Elephant.  It’s best to break down fact from fiction. 

Here are the indisputable facts:

1. Jenny is old and there is no telling how long she will live.  It could be one more year it could be 10 more years.
2. The enclosure where she currently lives is to small.  At a 1/4 of an acre an Elephant should have more space.  Even Dallas Zoo Director Gregg Hudson agrees.
3. Moving Jenny would put her under stress, stress that could kill her.
4. She is in desperate need of a companion, without one could put her under stress, stress that could kill her.
5. Jenny has a history of complex medical issues.  There is no indication the Dallas Zoo is knowingly ignoring those issues.
6. Jenny is NOT currently on any medications or sedatives.
7. Jenny deserves to be happy.

Here are the statements up for argument and debate (meaning the truth is anyones guess):

1. The new 4 acre site will be completed in 18 months.
2. Jenny is depressed. (activists say she was swaying, today I saw no signs of that)
3. The best place for Jenny is in…..  (My guess is the sanctuary in TN, but who know what moving an old elephant from the spot she has lived for 22 years will do.)
4. Dallas is treating Jenny as a piece of property not a living creature.

Now it’s your turn to decide what is best for Jenny.  The above information should help you come to your own conclusion, based on facts not propaganda. 

I personally have no idea what the answer is, it’s hard to argue with the statement that she would be happier in a sanctuary where she can live out her days in a place not being bothered with kids screaming her name all day.  Maybe I’ll move to Tennessee with her.

The Price of Power, Here we Go Again!

It amazes me that even after dozens of stories about the often excessive “Price of Power,” electricity stories still generate dozens of emails to the NBC5 in box.

The latest target of angry electricity buyers, Cirro Energy.  I did a story on a man who’s contract expired and Cirro raised his rate from .10 per KWH to .23 per KWH.  That more then doubled his monthly bill.

Cirro insists it warned the customer that his contract was about to expire but acknowledged it never told him his rate could more then double.  The customer then asked to negotiate a lower payment for the bill, he said Cirro would only negotiate if he resigned a new contract, he didn’t.  The customer used the word, “Strong arm.”

When chatting with an Executive Vice President of Cirro, he kept saying once off the contract customers are at the mercy of the spot market.  When asked if 100 percent rate hike is excessive? He replied, not if the market calls for it.

There didn’t seem to be any comprehension on either of our parts.  I didn’t really see his point and he didn’t see mine.  I often find myself breaking complex issues down to the simplest denominator.  In this case, a 100 percent rate hike, with no warning, (except your contract is about to expire and your rate could go up) is extreme and could be argued that it’s just plain wrong.

American Airlines Needs a Better Response

When news broke on Friday that the FAA was fining American Airlines for putting planes back “in service” that shouldn’t be flying, I expected a better response from their PR people.  The FAA says two planes flew 58 times with out a working auto pilot.  One one flight the auto-pilot “disconnected” during a landing.

American’s response, “We disagree with the findings” and “the fines are excessive.”  Privately I would expect as much.  But publicly I thought they may try to ease the public’s concern a little more tactfully.  I was expecting something more on the lines of,

“These are serious allegations, we take safety seriously and it is our top priority.  American Airlines will be launching a full investigation.  We have confidence in our maintenance team but if we find anything wrong with how they handled the maintenanceof our aircraft, swift and decisive action will be taken.  With that said we want to wait until our own investigation is complete before commenting on the FAA’s disciplinary action against us.” 

From my discussions with numerous travelers, completely dismissing the findings as inaccurate is not what the public wants to hear.

Tony and Jessica Are Having a Baby…

Well, not yet.  But if you believe the tabloids, Jessica is said to be “feverishly” trying to conceive.  The gossip sight The Bosh is even reporting that Jessica Simpson mistakenly read a pregnancy test, then told Tony Romo’s Family she was pregnant.  Supposedly the family was furious!

Cowboy fans wouldn’t be happy either.  With the season of dreams nearly upon us, at this point, the only “Baby”, Tony should be dealing with is Martellus Bennett.

Martellus Bennett, I Played Football with a Guy Like You

 

Every team in America has a Martellus Bennett.  When I played Pop Warner football we had one, when I played in High School football we had one and when I played in college we had one.  I am talking about the guy with tremendous ability who thinks he is too good to go full speed during practice, too good to pay full attention to the coaching staff and to good to be perceived as an “eager beaver.”

The latest episode of Hard Knocks once again paints the Cowboy’s rookie tight end Martellus Bennett as lazy and uninterested.  He better get interested fast or he may turn out to be the Cowboys next Bobby Carpenter.  I realize Bennett has tremendous talent, the coaches do too.  But just as Tank Johnson’s enthusiasm for the game is contagious so is Bennett’s apparent lack of interest.

Martellus, you have been given a gift and being paid handsomely to use that gift.  Don’t let the team that is paying you down, and don’t let the fans down.  There are a million young men who would love to have the opportunity to play in the NFL.

NOTE:  As a TV man I do realize the producers of Hard Knocks, in thier quest for compelling story lines, can make Martellus look worse than he really is.  Let’s hope that is what is happening.

With Crypto Creeping, Pools Need to Be Clean

It amazes me that 80 percent of public and semi public pools in Dallas failed their inspections.  Yes, 80 percent!  Some, like Kidd Springs Park, didn’t even have Chlorine in the pool.  Say What!!!???

Here is the kicker, and it’s typical government non-sense.  Inspectors inspect the public pools before the season opens.  That is a good idea.  But they don’t require the pools to be up to speed before they inspect.  So what happens is, most pools fail because they simply didn’t try to pass because the pool was closed.

The inspector then tells them to clean up and fix all the things the operator most likely already knows he has to fix.

Here is my proposal, how about you mandate pools are in compliance, then send out the inspector.  It will give the city, the public and the inspectors a better picture of just how well pool operators really take care of their pool.

Why send an inspector to inspect a pool that everyone knows will fail?  It’s another example of backward bureaucracy.

D Magazine wrote a great article on this with a site where you can check the inspection reports of local pools.

The Sleaziest Con man in Town

It takes a low down dirty rotten scoundrel to exploit high school kids to make a quick buck.  But apparently that is exactly what some huckster in Arlington is doing.  Posing as a parent of a Arlington High School band member, the thief is going door to door fraudulently soliciting donations for the bands school trip.

The trip hasn’t even been approved yet and the band wants everyone to know about the con man. 

It’s one thing to try an make a quick buck, but posing as a band club booster is really low.  Here’s the catch, for a few more minutes of work the thief could actually make his rounds in a legitimate fashion.  He tells people he will paint house numbers on the curb for a 25 dollar donation, then never does the work. 

Instead, the con man should just stop using the band as a ploy and simply solicit money to paint the curb.  Once the painting is done, the homeowners can fork over the cash.