Good morning all:

““You might think a clever Halloween costume for me would be to roll in batter and climb into a tanning booth so I’d look like a hot dog on a stick, but you’d be wrong. Very, very wrong.” — Dirk

Last night was a great night for Halloweening (I was discouraged from joining the kids demanding candy) so the kids came here. This morning I have tried everything to get my makeup off—maybe I’ll try to see if dabbing on some of my hot coffee works.

We had a fire-pit going full blast and Marcia handed out the candies while I chatted with the neighbors. For some reason they started shouting “fore” as I approached.

We’ve been asked why last week we flew Southwest to Las Vegas out of Columbus (100 miles away). This past Wednesday the official new stats from the Bureau of Transportation were reported. Cincinnati – Delta’s second largest hub – is an absolute 1-company monopoly and for the third year in a row we are therefore the winners. Our local airport is the highest priced place in the nation; on average 69% higher than the national average for a similar flight, and over 80% higher than that of nearby Indianapolis or Columbus.

Winter isn’t even here; in fact yesterday it was 70 degrees. Yet, the thinking is about our little cabin in Canada and the surrounding wilderness. This week the latest and final toy for the place was purchased. I stress final since Marcia has laid down the law and was all “NO MORE”! On Craig-List I found the perfect used ATV and was able to negotiate a deal. Ours is a 2002 Honda Recon with only 180 hours of use and which still looks brand new. In fact, our neighbor was so impressed that he even volunteered a spare helmet to the cause – now can you beat that?

Next week its election time and already we have a first landslide loss – the media. I have no idea what’s happened to an evenhanded investigative press. Go back to the 2006 events in Lebanon it was reported on and on about the horrors inflicted by the Israelis and nary but a line or two about the rain of Hamas fired rockets into Israel. When travelling internationally CNN’s International broadcasts, shown only outside of our borders, are blatantly one sided and very left-leaning.

In 2005, ex-CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter confessed he stopped watching his old network: “The unremitting liberal orientation finally became too much for me.” And, that during the 2004 presidential campaign, for example, Newsweek’s Evan Thomas predicted that sympathetic media coverage would boost Kerry’s vote by “maybe 15 points,” which he later revised to five points.

This election year it is no better. Why a citizen’s tax question to Obama would result in the press giving the candidate a “pass” and at the same time work with sympathetic state bureaucrats to dig through this man’s files for dirt is a cause for yelling “FOR SHAME”.

It is no wonder that the mainstream news agencies are closing bureaus, laying people off, and have incomes dropping like bricks.

It also means that I, as an independent voter, have had to wade through a bunch of political hyperbole and petty slogans to finally make up my mind. I have issues with McCain going back as far as his involvement in the Keating Five fiasco. Yet, he has a phenomenal amount of experience, is a national hero and patriot, and most importantly, he is a centrist willing to shake up the status quo in either party.

The other main candidate, Obama, is hugely charismatic and extremely well spoken. However, he is but a cipher with a minimal paper trail (even discussed with Tom Brokaw on Charlie Rose last Wednesday); a trail that I find to be either spun into oblivion or glossed over. The trail that does exist shows longstanding and ongoing list of connections with less-than savory characters such as unrepentant terrorist (William Ayers), a crooked slumlord guy (Tony Rezko), a spokesman for the PLO (Rashid Khalidi), and a raving bigoted preacher (Jeremiah Wright). Ongoing till it became politically expedient to dump them under the bus.

The voting record for Obama shows him to be about as far left as anyone in the senate and/or casting a No Vote much of the time (see “Issue Positions” section in link). Couple this with what could very well be an unfettered next couple of years with the likes of a Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters, and Chris Dodd at the helm. These are the same left-leaning extremist folk who have managed to push the ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats to the side and forced the likes of a Joe Lieberman out of their party.

That whole group plus an Obama conjoined at the hip makes for more than an undesirable combination as far as I am concerned. I see the three-legged stool of checks and balances to be transformed into a two-legged bit of a wobbly mess.

Now to get ready for a 10:30 matinee performance of Lesole’s Dance Project dancers at our Playhouse in the Park. With South African influence and geared for the young (and young at heart) it means that Marin and I are going to have a great time.

Make it a great week. Remember it was President John Quincy Adams who long ago said: “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

Cheers,

Dirk