"Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

It's unfortunate that the crowd chanting for the Democratic presidential nominee starts sounding like the crowd at a Jerry Springer show...

My main (congress) man

Raul Grijalva, possessor of the only pushbroom mustache in Congress and representative of one of this country’s largest and most Hispanic congressional districts, officially nominates John Edwards for vice president:

Four years ago, we were promised compassion in the White House. That promise has been broken. Compassion means making environmental standards stronger not weaker. Compassion means putting the well-being of our people and our public lands above the profits of corporations. Compassion means being straight with the American people about the justification for war and honoring our troops with the truth. Compassion means investing in our children's future, not tax cuts for millionaires...
The current administration has successfully divided our country and this is one division too many. One broken promise is one too many. One child left behind is one too many. One senior citizen without support and comfort is one too many...
John Edwards is a man who understands that two Americas is one too many and there is no better man I know to unite us once again. As vice president, John Edwards will provide our nation new leadership, with optimism and direction, not selfish pride and favoritism, a common ground view of America -- where the "American dream" thrives. A dream that recognizes the fundamental purpose of our government is to hand over a better, stronger nation to our children. The election is about that dream.

Not the best speech and not the best speaker, but Grijalva did a good job of tying together some of the campaign’s criticisms of Bush and the solutions offered by the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Bush is not compassionate, he is not a uniter. Edwards, on the other hand will do away with the divisive “Two Americas” and build the foundation for a brighter future for every citizen of this country.
I've talked with Grijalva several times and found him nothing short of a true advocate for the least well-off of his constituents, a staunch defender of the environment and personal freedoms. He's no rising star, no bright Democratic future, but Grijalva just may be making a few more waves than he ever counted on... not a bad thing at all.

The Future...

Barack Obama is freakin' awesome:

If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper — that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one...

Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America — there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

The first time I've seen the man speak, but damn if he isn't an orator on the order of King. He will be in the Senate and it wouldn't be the slightest surprise to me if one day my vote for president went for Obama...
A shame Janet was basically awful... the speech reads well, but Gov. is just not much of a public speaker.

Good-bye, Cotton

Cotton Fitzsimmons dies at 72.
One of the most positive figures in all of sports, Cotton was a coach, a voice on the radio and an enthusiastic basketball spirit.
Before Paul Westphal, Charles Barkley and AWA set everybody on fire, Cotton led the Suns as KJ, Thunder Dan, Hornacek and Chambo just kept getting better each year.
The Cotton Express. What a guy.

Episode III

Maybe it's just the last stand of a guy who spent childhood fascinated by a galaxy far, far away, but I still have to keep at least a bit of hope alive that Lucas will actually finish his prequal trilogy with a good film.
After enduring two of the most madeningly lame movies in history, I want a good one.
I want Revenge of the Sith to kick some serious, serious ass.
In what obviously will be the single darkest movie of the six, Anakin will turn Darth, and I'm actually rather pleased at the title. Although it may seem like a ploy to just select a word with such dark, vile connotations, 'Revenge' actually goes back to the original title for "Return of the Jedi." And directly mentioning the order of the Sith seems to be an indication that the film will explain some of the mythology behind the dark side Jedi.
Eh... who knows really.
Lucas has a terrible track record for the prequals so far, but I'd really like this last one to abandon all the mundane dialogue, over reliance on special effects, piss-poor acting, thin story lines and general created-to-please-focus-groups feel and re-establish the Star Wars world that captivated me so much so long ago.

No run support...

The Diamondbacks have scored a total of 24 runs in the recent 10-game losing streak. Diamondbacks have given up 61 runs in that stretch. Whew. Please score some runs and finish this season somewhere better than the worst team in baseball. Please.

The Boss

Just in case there was any doubt that Springsteen is one of the coolest people alive...

Springsteen delivers on promise to artist
Musician plays guitar, shares time with area teen

A great story, a great rock n’ roller, a great American.

What’s a more presidential trait than ‘pulsating rhythm’

There’s a growing buzz about John Kerry’s teenage garage band, the Electras.
Head over to Kerry Rocks for a listen, and to read the liner notes. My favorite is this gem:
“John Kerry, electric bass, is a resident of Oslo, Norway, and the producer of a pulsating rhythm that lends tremendous force to all the members.”

A 'rotten' bio

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.