I didn’t watch the acceptance speech Obama gave in ancient Greece Denver tonight, but not to fear, I had a friend who was watching it with a few of his friends, and they were good enough to record their observations for posterity.  He passed it on to me, so I in turn pass this on to you:¹

[20:59] A.Friend: earlier, they showed the stadium and were talking how many people were there — that he was giving the speech in front of 85000 people and they’d likely have to turn thousands away.  but when they showed wide angle views of stadium, even though there were people everywhere in the place, the were so thin in places that you could see the color of the seating in various sections.  Sure they could still be packing them in, but it was /NOT/ even close to being packed. 

[21:00] Me: somebody mentioned that the crowds looked like the people you’d see at an infomercial audience cheering wildly (and inanely) at any damned thing

[21:00] A.Friend: haha

[21:00] A.Friend: yeah mostly.  you could see them notice the camera and perk up

Both Pelosi and Biden who were chastised by Catholic Archbishops for their prolife stances show no signs of contrition, and continue to insist their positions are not controversial.

First, Biden, who claims that his beliefs may not be in line, but it is OK, because the church doesn’t really care ¹:

Joe Biden supposedly will attract Catholics to the Democratic ticket, but not if he follows Pope Nancy Pelosi for doctrinal guidance.  In a profile of Biden for the Christian Science Monitor, Biden credits his Catholicism for his focus on “abuse of power”, but shrugs off the abortion debate as a minor controversy.  He even goes on to tell Gail Russell Chaddock that his views on social issues fall completely within Catholic doctrine:

“The animating principle of my faith, as taught to me by church and home, was that the cardinal sin was abuse of power,” he said in an interview with the Monitor. “It was not only required as a good Catholic to abhor and avoid abuse of power, but to do something to end that abuse.”

OK, I admit, that title almost reads like some lame joke lead in ( a priest and abortionist and a democrat walked into a bar and…..).

But believe it or not, it is news. Now, as a disclaimer, I am not promoting a stand on abortion here, this is merely about Democrats who are Catholic.

It started with this story a few days ago, where Nancy Pelosi apparently decided to speak authoritatively on Catholic doctrine:¹

I’m always astounded as to the extent of deception in which pro-choice Catholics indulge themselves, both inwardly and outwardly, to justify their positions. Perhaps there is no balder example of this than Nancy Pelosi attempting to spin the Catholic doctrine on human life today on Meet the Press. Pelosi argues that the Catholic position on human life only developed in the last 50 years and that it doesn’t impact abortion in any case:

Washington has a plethora of industry, but there are two names that pretty much come to people’s minds when they think of the state:  Boeing and Microsoft.  I have worked for both, and while I have mentioned my high tech industry experiences, I don’t talk about Boeing much.

I hired on to the 777 plant in Everett in 1996, about a year and a half after I left the Air Force.

Prior to my hiring on, in 1995, I began to pay attention to Boeing.  It was just prior to Christmas in 1995.  I heard the stories and saw the TV reports.  Christmas shopping at the Auburn Super Mall we drove past the picket lines.

I noticed something.  Boeing had offered them a new contract at around 45 days and they were voting on it.  A person labeled as a Union Officer came on TV expressing his optimism.  The membership flatly rejected it.  Shortly afterward, the same guy spoke on TV about how he had been pretty sure the Members would reject it.

I admit, I laughed.  I figured if that was the kind of dufas they elected, oh well.

Obama and his flock of acolytes have consistently portrayed him as the younger, hipper candidate.  The candidate of change.  The fresh wind in the sour air of politics, the new voice.  Someone not a part of politics as usual.

They have charged that John McCain is the old man, the voice of stagnation.  An old hide bound white guy in a sea of politics ruled by old white men.  A guy who has made a career out of politics as usual, and partisan bickering.

So it comes as no shock to learn that Obama has taken the fresh, bold and utterly hipper step of choosing a running mate who is an old white man, who has made a career out of politics as usual and partisan bickering.

Finally:  Change we can believe in. 

Why?  Frankly, because he wants to win.  Now, granted that Hillary has more support, and a ticket with her might be the golden ticket for a sure win, but imagine being president and constantly having to watch your back, waiting for the chance for her and Bill to stick a (figuratively speaking only here) knife into it.  Hillary is just too ambitious.

Let’s be honest, at my age, the drinking age isn’t anything I really care about.  I think I have been carded once in the last 10 or 15 years.

But i do have children, two of which are still under the age of 21, so for their sake, and for the unnamed hoard of 18-20 year olds, I want to visit the issue.

What brings this into focus is the recent call to raise the drinking age back up, presented by a coalition of college professors.¹

College chiefs urge new debate on drinking age

College presidents from about 100 of the nation’s best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.

Men pour beer on a drunken student during Spring Break on South Padre Island, Texas.

The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age.

Via Orb:¹

08/19/2008 22:00 PACIFIC

SEATTLE, WA - ORBUSMAX EXCLUSIVE

***** DID OBAMA SUPPORTER BREAK SCHOOL POLICY AND/OR ELECTION LAW ON MONDAY AND PRIMARY ELECTION TUESDAY (8/18-8/19)? *****

The Seattle Public school system may be finding itself in more hot water, following dustups over last fall’s “Myth Of Thanksgiving”, and last summer’s “Exploring White Privilege”. A reliable source has told ORBUSMAX that at least one Obama supporter was caught openly selling Obama for President t-shirts, “on Seattle Public School premises during an official School District Training” for teachers, yesterday and today, at the Aki Kurose Middle school.

The source says they overheard the Obama supporter being told by an attendee of the training on Monday that the table display was inappropriate and may be in violation of school policy, but nonetheless the Obama supporter returned on Tuesday and once again set up the display with the t-shirts for sale. It appears school officials made no attempt to stop or remove the display either day.

The abortion debate took an interesting turn.

Obama has been under fire for a while over his prior votes on abortion so it was obvious that would come up in the Saddleback interview.

When asked when a fetus gains human rights status, Obama took a clear stand:  Ask someone else.  ¹

Obama says pointed abortion query “above his pay grade”

DALLAS - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama side-stepped a pointed query about abortion on Saturday by “mega-pastor” Rick Warren during a televised forum.

Asked at what point a baby gets “human rights,” Obama, who strongly supports abortion rights, said: “… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question  with specificity … is above my pay grade.”

He went on to reiterate his view that it was important to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

He is right in the sense that the root issue of abortion is unwanted pregnancies.  But that does not change the fact that you still need to answer the question and define the nature of life if you want to justify abortion.

Did you?

(obviously this is addressed to Washington State voters, today is our primary) 

We laid our beloved grandmother to rest yesterday.  She died at the age of 99, leaving 12 children, many grandchildren, and even great and great great grandchildren grieving for her loss.

Our family grieves in their own way, as all families do.  Like many we love to celebrate the life the person lived, not simply wail and moan over their death.

Don’t get me wrong.  There were tears a plenty when the notice of her death went out.  At the viewing and the memorial service there were many tears falling.  As two of my cousins sang the song grandmother requested, the tears were there.  As the granddaughters chorus sang another favorite, it was very emotional.

As one of the 8 grandsons asked to be pallbearer, I escorted her to the hearse and then helped carry her to the grave site.  I was mostly fine, really, until my uncle David and cousin Natalie’s husband Corrie played their bagpipes.  I don’t know the name of the first song they piped, but the second was my absolute favorite song on pipes, Amazing Grace.  Even on a good day, Amazing Grace on pipes reduces me to jello, and in this case, the tears flowed freely.