Yet this past Saturday, Palin gave a speech in Calgary where she revealed a piece of her childhood to the Canadian natives. Until Palin was five years-old, she lived in an Alaskan town, Skagway, near the border of the Canadian city, Whitehorse. Palin said, “Believe it or not, we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse… isn’t that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada.”

That has to be one of the dumbest stories she has ever told in her entire life. Palin is utterly opposed to anything having to do with President Barack Obama’s health care bill, yet she received national health care from Canada as a child. Did she think if she told a group of Canadians, she could relate to them in a special way, and Americans would never find out?

Here’s the thing… that all happened in the 1960’s when she was in the care of her parents at a very young age. It would be a totally different story if she said, “My grandson had ’some little kid accident thing’ and we rushed him on a train over to Whitehorse for medical treatment.” The difference is how she was raised and how she lives her life now. Surely at the ripe age of 5 she didn’t have much say in where she received health care. Unless she was a very intuitive 5-year-old who strictly opposed going to Whitehorse because she didn’t believe in public health care (highly doubtful).

Regardless of any reason, call it opportunistic or hypocritical, when Sarah Palin makes a statement like that, she is just setting herself up to be publicly scorned. The reason is simple, she has previously suggested that Canada discontinue its public health care program and said President Obama’s instantaneous demand for American health care is “irresponsible.” The wheels fall off too often for Palin when she speaks publicly. As they do for many people, which only makes her human. But that’s a perfectly good reason for her to not be in office, and same with our President. The “I’m just like every other average American” doesn’t mean anything. I don’t want someone like me in office, then every Joe Schmoe would run for office if that’s the situation. It’s a waste of time, which is a luxury America does not have at this point.

According to the memorandum, an encouraging plan of “optimal coordination” among the federal government, private and non-profit sectors will be established in the next 90 days. Mrs. Obama will lead an aggressive public relations effort to increase awareness of childhood obesity. The epidemic is “one of the most urgent health issues that we face in this country,” he continued, “We think that this has enormous promise in improving the health of our children, in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that oftentimes are very difficult,” President Obama said from the White House.

The growing figures of childhood obesity are overwhelming, where the memo states approximately one-third of children born after 2000 will suffer from a form of diabetes at some stage in their life. Michelle Obama will launch the campaign this afternoon, along with mayors, doctors and sports leaders, as well as members of the President’s cabinet.

The First Lady stated in a speech last month, “We’ve seen the surge in obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis, and it’s threatening our children, it’s threatening our families, and more importantly it’s threatening the future of this nation.” Kicking of the campaign against childhood obesity, Michelle Obama urges families to shut off televisions, drink more water and serve smaller portions. It is “really minor stuff. But these small changes resulted in some really significant improvements,” the First Lady said.

The same day his driving citation was issued, Mr. Woods released a statement regarding the recent events regretting his “transgressions”… err adulterous behaviors which have sparked a media whirlwind. John Daly is stoked because he may have just found himself a new Hooters wing man. Nike and Gatorade have both stated they are too heavily invested in Woods to cut his endorsements, and they are absolutely okay with Woods using their endorsements to pay some home wreckers off to keep their promiscuous mouths shut.

Even though his estimated worth is about a billion dollars, his current situation is reasonably undesirable. But who says money can’t buy love? For Tiger Woods anything has its price. He has reportedly offered his wife a seven digit Christmas present to withstand the union as well as renegotiated their prenuptial agreement. Americans and particularly sports fans are very forgiving to personal short comings and unless the big “D” is in Tiger’s near future the media will soon disperse. Especially when he attains his next victory on the Tour.

It is extremely disappointing for Tiger to be chalked up aside Kobe and the likes. However, with this notch on his belt, Tiger is now eligible to follow a career in politics if desired to do so. So if the intentions of his transgressions were political resume building, this media blitz has been a remarkable success.

While we wont have a massive political campaign that comes to a historic end, we will have the first African American President who will have to perform beyond the hype and Saturday Night Live parodies.

While we will still have an economic crisis in the country, maybe we are coming out of the worst times. The cost of gas continues to drop into the low $1 range and hopefully will not go back up to the $4-5 prices we saw in 2008. Mortgage rates are at all time lows and the car companies are offering incredible deals to stimulate buying. Can the stock market return to the higher levels it once enjoyed?

Speaking of Detroit, will the Detroit Lions ever win a game again? Switching to baseball will the Cubs finally get the championship that has eluded them for so long? This could be the year if anyone actually cares.

Will I finally make enough money to actually pay all of the bills and not live beyond my means? Will we get pregnant and have another baby in 2009? Why does having children have to be based on money and not just wanting to build a family?

Will Blagojevich please go away and proceed directly to jail already? Do not pass go, just go to jail.

Will this finally be the year that American Idol looses it’s mass appeal and exits from the TV landscape?

Which politician will be 2009’s “Eliot Spitzer”? Undoubtedly someone will cheat on their wife and get caught.

Will Tiger Woods come back and win again? The decades greatest athlete faces his biggest challenge to date.

With no Olympics or Michael Phelps, what will captivate our entire nation in 2009 and bring us together like the amazing summer of 2008?

Will the war finally end FOR REAL in 2009 and our troops start coming home in mass? Where will terrorists strike again? How bad will hurricane season be? How many states will flood? How many acres will burn in forest fires? And finally is this the year a big earthquake will hit our country?

Will this blog increase its subscribers and daily readers to new highs?  I hope so. There are so many mysteries ahead of us in 2009.

Bailout For Dummies, by Danny Thornton.
When I look at all the talk that concerns bailouts and failing companies, it really makes my stomach turn. For me to sit back and accept that the tax payers are going to be footing the bill for all these companies that can not stay afloat does more than makes me sick; it pisses me off. Now, if you are not ready to hear this point of view, then you might want to stop reading now. I am not going to hold back this morning as it is time that someone speaks up. Here it is in a nutshell.

The first and foremost thing that hurts our country is failing businesses. Lately, they are quick to stick out their hand and ask for a bailout. The issue is simple; either we help or they go out of business and then what are to do? This puts more people out on the street without a job. Then they end up dropping their kids off, taking advantage of the new safe haven law. Then they neglect their pets. Then they lose their home. Soon, the nation spins out of control. A little extreme you say? Well, that is BS because that is what is happening today. The bad thing is, we buy into it.

What baffles me is the fact that all of these companies that are begging for bailouts have people leading those same companies that are not wanting for anything. If you take a look at the top 500 companies, collectively, their CEOs have not taken a pay cut since 2002. When you put all of their salaries together, these people make $6.4 billion a year. Wonder how many companies we can bail out with that? What makes it worse is that in 2006, they took a collective 38% raise.

Now we are talking about bailing out the 3 big car companies? The first question I ask is why? Cut the top 10 salaries in the companies in half and then maybe you can make a profit. Or, better yet, put a product out that people actually want to buy? Or, and this I think is a novel idea, why not go ask for a loan from all the oil and gas companies? Maybe Exxon, Mobile, and BP can fork over this bailout. Since these three companies seem to keep raking in the dough and discouraging the develpment of hybrids, maybe they can help keep our country afloat.

Putting the debt back on a group of people that are struggling to keep their head above water is not what we need. We need to look at strong fiscal plans that make our country economically powerful. To do that, maybe we need to start trimming the fat. I think back to my early days of being a salesman. If i wanted to make a lot of money I had to push and push. I might have a small salary, but the bulk of my juice came from my sales. Maybe these top CEOs need to have an incentive filled contract instead of a salary filled contract.

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For me I am incredibly happy that the incredibly long two year odyssey that was the Presidential campaign is finally OVER. I could not take one more second of the boring debates, attack ads, and questions about Sarah Palin, and the word “maverick”.

So now the hard stuff begins for Obama. After all they hype and rock-star like big crowds have disappeared, he still is going to have to actually do the work to fix the country. I hope all of us who voted for him do not have false impression that he will be sworn in as President in January and magically the economy will be fixed and the war ended overnight. Both of these major issues will take years to be resolved. The tax breaks and cuts that were discussed endlessly, will not be passed and become reality without months (or years) of debate in the government. There is also always the chance that they will never be passed.

So tonight when McCain says goodbye and good luck, and Obama says hello and we win, take a deep breath and remember that it will takes years to address and start to fix the mess our country is currently in.

McCain, Obama put politics aside to mark Sept. 11. NEW YORK (AP) — Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama made ground zero their common ground for one rare day, free of politics and infused with memory. Putting their partisan contest on a respectful hold, they walked together Thursday into the great pit where the World Trade Center once stood and, as one, honored the dead from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

They walked down a long ramp flanked with the flags of countries, chatting at times, silent other times, and sharing a quick laugh at one point. Right behind them, Cindy McCain clutched Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s arm — Michelle Obama was with her daughters in Chicago.

At the bottom of the ramp, the two rivals stopped to talk with a small group of family members of the attacks’ victims of seven years ago. They laid flowers at the pit’s commemorative reflecting pool — a pink rose from Obama, a yellow rose from McCain — bowed their heads and walked off to speak with fire and police personnel. There were no speeches.

“Thanks, we’ll see ya,” McCain told Obama as the Democrat patted the Republican’s back and they shook hands and parted.

Earlier, McCain spoke briefly at a simple ceremony in remote, rural western Pennsylvania, held on a large hilly field close to where United Airlines Flight 93, the third of four airliners commandeered by terrorists, crashed. Investigators believe some of the 40 passengers and crew rushed the cockpit and thwarted terrorists’ plans to use that plane as a weapon like the ones that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. All aboard all planes died.

The Arizona senator said those on the flight might have saved his own life, as some believe the terrorists wanted to slam that plane into the U.S. Capitol. He said the only way to thank those who died on the flight is to “be as good an American as they were.”

“We might fall well short of their standard, but there’s honor in the effort,” McCain said.

Obama, in a statement, said that on Sept. 11, 2001, “Americans across our great country came together to stand with the families of the victims, to donate blood, to give to charity, and to say a prayer for our country. Let us renew that.”

The Illinois senator added: “Let us remember that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large, and must be brought to justice.”

Left unstated by both was their sharp disagreement over the Iraq war, which McCain supported and Obama opposed as a distraction from the Afghanistan war and broader fight against terrorism.

It was not a day for spelling out differences but rather a respectful time out in a campaign with 54 days to go. Both agreed to suspend TV ads critical of each other.

In Pennsylvania, grieving family members and a few dignitaries sat in front of a chain-link fence adorned with flags and mementos that serves as a temporary memorial while a permanent one is built. Bells were rung as the name of each victim was read. McCain and others laid wreaths at the foot of two flagpoles and a large wooden cross.

The political truce was evident in remarks thanking McCain for traveling to Shanksville by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who occasionally speaks against the Republican nominee as an Obama campaign surrogate. “It’s an honor to have him here, not just as a presidential candidate but as a great American patriot,” Rendell said.

Obama and McCain were intersecting again later, at a Columbia University forum on public service in the evening. Their sessions at the forum were separate.

At the Twin Towers site, Bloomberg told them time was running out to touch the bedrock at the base of the pit. “This is the last year because the ramp goes…READ THE REST AT The Associated Press: McCain, Obama put politics aside to mark Sept. 11

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So we have been doing everything and anything to save money. This includes reevaluating everything in our lives where we spend even one penny. No more going out to eat multiple times per week. Less spending money on clothing or extra shoes until absolutely necessary. Carpooling whenever possible. Switching health clubs to one that is closer to home (less gas) and cheaper per month.

We also took a hard look at all of the costs associated with our home, including our home insurance. Any and all landscaping is being done by us personally. Construction work to the property we had planned has been put on hold for the foreseeable future. We started looking hard at where our thermostat was set to each day and not running the AC or Heat all the time. We investigated all available refinancing options for our mortgages. The reality was clear to us that if we did not do these things we just would not have enough money to survive and pay for the basic things like food and daycare.

During the process I realized that we had never looked at our home insurance cost since the day we had purchased the house over three years ago. We just kept renewing it year after year without even comparing alternative prices that might be available. After doing our research I suggest checking out companies like HomeownersInsurance.com where you can compare prices and get free quotes.

Finally, this year’s election will be about the war and our troops. It will be about the environment and the cost of gas. It will be about jobs, foreign relations, protecting our borders and a bunch of other really important things to some people. But in the end the most important thing to me personally is having more actual money in my bank so I can live my life comfortably and not always be stressed about how I am going to feed my family.

JOHN MC CAIN:
My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON:
When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure — right from Day One! — that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me…….

DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on ‘THIS’ side of the road before it goes after the problem on the ‘OTHER SIDE’ of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his ‘CURRENT’ problems before adding ‘NEW’ problems.

OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road…

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

NANCY GRACE:
That chicken crossed the road because he’s GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer’s Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I’ve not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.

JERRY FALWELL:
Because the chicken was gay! Can’t you people see the plain truth? That’s why they call it the ‘other side.’ Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like ‘the other side’. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It’s as plain and as simple as that.

GRANDPA:
In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra…#@&&^(C% ……… reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE:
I invented the chicken!

COLONEL SANDERS:
Did I miss one?

DICK CHENEY:
Where’s my gun?

AL SHARPTON:
Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens!

WHAT HAS TAKEN SO LONG? 2974 dead people would be screaming the same thing…if they were alive.

The slower then slow legal process in this case is beyond maddening. This is not some small town local legal department doing the research! It is EVERY agency of the United States government (and the rest of the planet) doing the fact finding and proving evidence to convict these murderers.

The fact they have remained detained at Guantanamo Bay for almost 7 years without being charged just makes no sense at all to me. If convicted they face the death penalty. It could not come quick enough for me. i guess the question for me is simple - what is taking so long?