Obama mistakes

As the presidential campaigns advance Obama is making more and more mistakes.

Several days ago McCain came out in support of drilling more in the Gulf to ease gasoline prices. Obama said his statement was just a trick to mislead voters; that drilling more wouldn't affect gasoline prices for a least five years.

Obviously, Obama doesn't believe in forward thinking! Apparently, he feels that we should worry about five years down the road until it gets here. What will gasoline prices be in five years if he is elected President?

Former General Wesley Clark, who has endorsed Obama, came out questioning McCain's qualifications to be president. He doesn't feel that being shot down over Vietnam is a qualification. Well, neither do I. But what he went through and did while captive qualifies him as a National Hero and his years of service in the Senate qualify him as much as anyone... which is more than Clark has done. He couldn't even get his campaign off the ground.

Obama's mistake? He hasn't disavowed Clark's endorsement! If Obama means no one should question McCain's patriotism then Obama should not just distance himself from Clark he should denounce and disavow Clark.

It's time for Wesley Clark to take his retirement seriously and retire to private life and close his public mouth!

Obama-Dobson argument a “political blunder” for Obama

Obama isn't going to win any Evangelical votes by attacking Dr. Dobson. Dr. Dobson is too respected by Christians, in general, and we will not accept or tolerate attacks against him. Sen. Obama better make sure of this facts prior to preaching to the choir!!

Even though Evangelicals haven't been real keen on McCain there is nothing like an attack on our own (Dobson) to unify us in our decision November and it isn't going to be Senator Obama and his left wing pastors!

Washington DC, Jun 29, 2008 / 06:04 pm (CNA).- Gary McCullough, director of Christian Newswire, has called Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s attack on Focus on the Family president James Dobson a “political blunder” that could have a significant impact on Evangelical swing voters who were otherwise lukewarm towards Obama’s opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Sen. McCain’s past ambivalence towards same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research, McCullough wrote, had not excited the hard core of evangelicals.

“The evangelical community had been fairly unimpressed by John McCain.  But Obama has shown a grave lack of political wisdom: he did not let this sleeping dog lie,” McCullough said in an opinion piece published on Christian Newswire.

Dr. James Dobson’s June 24 radio show critiqued Obama’s use of Scripture in justifying his political policies and positions. The next day Obama responded to the evangelical leader’s critique by saying that Dobson was “making stuff up,” which McCullough said was “an indirect way of calling Dobson a liar.”

McCullough said Obama’s treatment of Dobson eliminated any sympathy Obama would have received for the attacks on his religious associations, such as his long relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama’s remarks also would be perceived as an insult towards “the single, most powerful influence on evangelicals,” he claimed.

Dr. James Dobson’s radio show reaches about 1.7 million listeners.

“His mistake could prove to make the difference in November -- in favor of McCain,” McCullough wrote.

Speaking to CNA, McCullough said that Obama’s remarks concerning Dobson shows he gets into trouble when he is “off-script and not reading from a cue card.”

“He picked a fight that he can’t unpick,” McCullough suggested.

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old Texas rancher, whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.

Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our President.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, 'Obama is a 'post turtle'.

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what's a 'post turtle'?

The old rancher says, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, feet a'flailing in the air, that's a 'post turtle'.

'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just wonder what kind of a dumb ass put him up there.'

long and short of it

One week ago tonight Cheryl took me to the hospital with difficulty breathing and chest pains. I was promptly admitted to the cardiac floor. The fear was that the thalidomide I'm taking for the myeloma may have caused a blood clot.

After a series of tests including a bronchial flush (I call roto-router of the lungs), a walking stress test with echocardiogram and a whole lot of other unpleasant stuff and many pokes for blood it was finally determined I have a mild staph infection in my lungs.

I was dismissed late Tuesday evening with a prescription for a medication to protect my kidneys from the dye used in the stress test. There wasn't a pharmacy in the near vicinity that had even heard of the medication. After many telephone calls by Cheryl and a few from me my admitting doctor arranged for the hospital internal pharmacy to give me the medication (it was just 3 doses).

On Wednesday the Pulmonologist called and prescribed an antibiotic for the infection. I take 1,000 mg per day for ten (10) days which is two horse pills.

I'm still having a little difficulty breathing sometimes but it is getting better. I go back to the Oncologist on Wednesday and Cheryl is planning on being back for that. No she didn't neglect me while I was in the hospital. She had some critical meetings she had to attend so my sister, Linda, the RN, came to be with me.

The "long and short of it"... the weekend was short, really short and the week was long, very long. I had difficulty keeping tack of the day and date. You'd think I was taking medicine!

Hurricane Katrina vs Devastating Iowa 500 Year Flood

Aren't Mid-Western values great! Some of the best, hardest working, honest people in the world live in the mid-west and I'm proud to be a mid-westerner!

• Why aren't all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons and asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?
• Why isn't the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn't solved the problem?
• Where are all the FEMA trucks and trailers?
• Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?
• When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines?
• Where is Sean Penn in his rescue boat and the Dixie Chicks?
• Where are all the 24/7 lurid news tales of cannibalism and unnecessary drownings?
• Why did Iowans evacuate so prematurely; why are they not holed up in deathtrap sports centers?
• Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets? When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a 'vanilla' Iowa, because that's the way God wants it?
• Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?
• Why are the Iowans not complaining more and demanding to be saved?
• How come in about 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again?

Deep thoughts...

6/18/07 Oncologist visit

Today's visit to the oncologist was interesting. In the past two weeks my hemoglobin has gone of 12.1 to 12.2. Not much change but it is in the right direction and is pretty good considering I have cancer.

I have been having a few side effects from the thalidomide but nothing that I thought was unusual. However, I have been experiencing some light headedness and difficulty breathing. The oncologist think I might have a blood clot which can be caused by the thalidomide.

In order to determine what is going on they sent me to the hospital to have a CT scan. I had it this afternoon and it didn't show anything. So, tomorrow I will go back to the hospital for an echocardiogram. If that doesn't show anything then I will go to the pulmonologist but they really don't think I'm having a lung problem.

Life is interesting and now, on to something else.