9-1-1 Update...

Don't ask me why they held a continuation of the Board of Selectmen meeting on a Monday at 1pm, but they did, and apparently my fire department finally got the approval to have OUR 911 calls go to OUR dispatch center instead of the Special Service District. It only took the Mayor around 21 months or so to approve it!! But I'm not getting my hopes up yet. The chief and fire district have to make a detail report and give it to the Board, on our dispatch policy, and how things will change, prior to the Mayor signing the piece of paper. What I've been told is that it will take about a week for it to be over with, and an article was posted in the Norwich Bulletin on-line this morning, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The one thing that has me nervous is that around 7pm this evening before work, I was out driving through town running errands and getting ready to go to the fire department for training, when I passed the Putnam Fire Department. Surprisingly, people were there on a Monday night at the end of the month, and from being in Putnam for 14 years, it's not a meeting or training night, and I didn't hear anything on my scanner. Looking at the vehicles, they were all personal vehicles of fire officers, lieutenants, captains, and the assistant chiefs. After talking to a friend, I hear that they were having a "special" officers meeting, ironically on the evening after the Board meeting.

So there's two reasons why I can think they would do this.

1) To possibly update the officers on the situation, advise the few that were causing the problems to refrain from any further activities, and to discuss how they can mend the relationship between the two departments.

or

2) To have a brainstorm to see what other crap they can come up with to cause hate and discontent.

I'm sincerely hoping it's the first one, but if it's reason number two, I'll be finding it hard to keep my mouth shut, and will have to call in to the local radio station talk show when they bring it up.

I know two wrongs don't make a right, but still, I don't see how a city fire department can tell another fire department, let alone a rural/country fire department how they should run their department or do things.

Maybe if I mention to the district citizens, the fact that Putnam does not respond to medicals or car accidents to assist the ambulance or police. Or that they are planning on buying a $500,000-$750,000 heavy rescue, when the rescue they have now runs and looks like it's brand new, and that they only respond to an average of one car accident a year if that, in their district.



They insist that they need a LARGER heavy rescue, yet they use an old, full sized 1966 open cab Seagrave engine for their FORESTRY truck!!! Try driving this truck through the woods or on a narrow dirt path!!!



I don't know about you, but I think they should replace the engine before the heavy resuce!!

Maybe I should go to their budget meetings(like they came to our meetings), and insist that they buy a forestry or their own tanker for West Putnam, which they cover as part of their district, and has no source of water supply! Or better yet, my fire department should insist on Putnam calling us right away, to all of their possible or reported structure fires, when they usually like to "be the Lone Ranger" until they get there and figure out they can't handle it themselves.

What's the cliches, "what's good for the goose, is good for the gander".... or for what 5-10 of their members tried to do to us, "an eye for eye".....

Do I sound vindictive or what?? Believe me, I'm not in anyways like this, but frustration is getting the better 3/4's of me....

New EPFD video...

It's been a long weekend trying to keep Hayleigh entertained, especially with the weather being so miserable, but we had a good time just the same. I really didn't get much sleep last night and was up throughout the day today before coming to work, so I'm having a tough time thinking about a post.

So I thought I'd post the video that two of our members made of my fire department. I think for their first time, they did a great job! I figured I wasn't going to be in it, seeing that I've only been on East Putnam since May of this year, but it was the year in review so far and I was surprised to see me in several shots. I'm hoping to make my own video eventually, when I feel I get enough photos or video clips. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments, positive or negative...

So I've figured out my expenses for the next few months, and if the overtime at work keeps flowing like it has been, and they hold off on hiring a full or part-timer, everything should be paid off with the exception of my car payment, by early spring. So I'm hoping to take my second trip ever, overseas to Scotland again.



This time I'm hoping to be able to rent a car for the trip, and rent a room at my Aunt Sadie's Inn, The Mercat, rather than inconvenience my Aunt Irene and Uncle Stewart. I'm hoping to take a little more time than I did last trip, and spend more quality time with the family, take a trip up to Sterling Castle, and to Loch Sloy and Lomond, where my ancestors Scottish clan came from. I promised myself last time I was there, that I'd take a day and go back to my grandmother's home town, and hike up to Cairn Table.

Mckinley's Cairn in the foreground, with Cairn Table at the top of the hill


For some reason, I felt a connection to Muirkirk, be it the natural beauty of the hills with purple heather, and thistles

hugging the terrain, or the stories my Grandma told me of her childhood. So I will set aside plenty of time on a nice day, and just go there, hike out to the huge hill and up to the cairn, and just sit there and think.

Cairn Table, way up at the top...

Soak in the scenery, and think about life in general. Then probably walk over to the falls and listen to the cold water spout. Take a stroll over to Tibbie's Brig, and just think of the history of the ancient little bridge.

Tibbie's Brig

Maybe I'll try and make sure that my cousin Stewart will be home from Australia during his professional rugby off-season. Either way, I'm committed to making it back to my most favorite, and loved place on earth...

There's no place I'd rather be than in Bonnie Scotland!!!

Interesting night of TV....

I woke up this evening and just relaxed and watched tv before I came to work tonight. I swear working third shift drains the energy out of you. When I worked day shift, I could stay up till 1130-1200 at night, get 4-5 hours of sleep and still feel wide awake in the morning. But working third shift, I feel the need to sleep when I get home, pass right out, and sleep into the late afternoon, yet still feel exhausted and can't get motivated to do anything till it's time to get ready for work.

Arrrghhh!!! There I go off on a tangent again...

Anyways, I was flipping back and forth tonight between the Mohegan Sun WNBA Playoff Game 3, which is a best of 3 series, and the Red Sox, who with a win could clinch a post season playoff spot.


Svetlana Abrosimova, formerly of Uconn fame, now a member of the Connecticut Sun...Grrrr

Well, I didn't catch the end of the Sun game because I became enthralled with the Red Sox game in which they could have won or at least tied it up three or four times, but ended up losing.



I then threw it over to the TV Guide Channel to see what was on. Now I'm not afraid to say that I'm in touch with my "feminine side", when it comes to watching shows, because I do tend to watch a wide variety of shows that some "manly men" might consider rather odd. I've been known to catch shows such as American Idol, Hells Kitchen, Top Chef, Project Runway, and Survivor. I guess you could say I'm a reality show addict, and tend to somehow relate myself to someone on these shows, typically the underdog, root for them, and become addicted to the show. Well one of my favorite shows had it's season premiere tonight, and thought that it's something to write about considering it's been unbelievably slow tonight at work.

DANCING WITH THE STARS!!!

Now most guys right now would start yelling out the "GAY!!" comments at me, and believe me, I am in NO way gay!! I love women as a whole, enjoy the "va-jay-jay", and consider myself "a lesbian"(LOL), but since this show has come on the air, I'm intrigued with how clumsy athletes, actors, comedians, and celebrities, young and old, can learn how to ballroom dance in front of millions of people on television. I can relate to the male celebrities that have no dance experience and look like a stiff corpse out on the dance floor.


I'm very self-conscious when it comes to dancing at all, as I feel like everyone is staring at me and criticizing my dancing while I'm out on the dance floor.


I don't mind slow dancing, but anything involving a fast tempo, I need plenty of alcohol to not let that effect me.



And I guess mainly because I feel I'd never be able to do myself, much like learning how to play the bagpipes. It's something I've always wanted to learn how to do, but I just don't see how I'd be able to without the experience in music, dancing, or the money and the resources to begin the learning process.OK, I'll admit that I also watch it to see the ladies in the ballroom gowns, dresses, and skirts...LOL


One of my favorite dancers is Julianne Hough, who caught my eye in past seasons, but for some reason, she really stood out to me for some reason tonight. I don't consider myself a typical male when it comes to women. I'm not attracted to a certain type of women, where most men consider themselves a "boob man", "ass man", or prefer blondes, brunettes, or redheads, etc. I like the whole package. No typical body shape, no specific hair color, just as long as I'm attracted to her, and she's got an interesting personality, and an all-around good person, that's sexy to me. I find a woman who is independent, emotionally strong, smart, does not feel the need to wear a ton of makeup all the time, and can rock a set of sweats with her hair up in a baseball cap, incredibly sexy. Someone who doesn't mind going out camping, and doesn't mind getting dirty or sweaty.


Obviously she's an attractive girl and for some reason she seems to have that cool personality that I find attractive. But then again, it could be all an act in front of the cameras, and she could be a prissy stuck up snob, that freaks if her nail is chipped. Who knows....but I'm glad the show's back on the "boob tube", and I'm not afraid to admit it. ;-}

Good Ole' Redneck Firefighters having a campfire!!

Thought I'd post a funny video that I took last night. The quality isn't that great, as it was around 9:30 at night, around a campfire, taken with my Fuji Digital Camera, but it was hilarious to see in person. Allow me set the stage.


I received a call from my daughter yesterday afternoon saying that she and her mother were coming up to Putnam to see her soon-to-be step-sister in a high school marching band competition that they hold every year. Of course, I couldn't refuse to see my peanut, so we froze our butts off watching a bunch of high school bands do their thing. We hung out till about 8:30 and there were still two more bands to compete, but Hayleigh was getting tired and cold, so my daughter, ex-wife, her fiance, and his son went one way, and I went the other.


My friend Rene had mentioned that he has having a campfire, and a bunch of the guys from the firehouse were going over, so I headed that way. I arrived to find Rene, Abe, Jacko, Squirrel, Turtle, and Archie all sitting by the fire. Needless to say, we all have nicknames in the fire department. Anyways, we just spent the evening relaxing around the campfire, just shooting the breeze, and Rene decided to burn a Dog-loo, a dog house that's shaped like an igloo. It was old and the dog Marlo has a new doghouse, so why not burn it, right? Well that started a chain of events, that lead to the burning of a football, a soccer ball, a cat kennel(UNOCCUPIED THANK YOU), and one of those kiddie cars that they push around like the Fred Flinstone-mobile. Surprisingly, no alcohol was included, and the funniest part of the night.....well, I'll just let you see for yourself!!


This is Abe who started the entertainment off...




Squirrel tried to fit...



Squirrel did NOT fit...



Jacko DID fit...



and decided to go for a leisurely drive... LOL

It was a great time hanging out with my firefighting buddies, more importantly my friends, and I hope you got a laugh or chuckle out of it...


P.S. Here's a pic finally of my tattoo, a week old, and almost healed...

I CANNOT wait till Conan takes over Leno's spot!!

I'm a huge fan of Conan O'Brien, whom I've been watching since he came on the air back around 1995. I used to hang out with my best friend Rene, after we got out of work on second shift at Staples Distribution. We'd drive down to his fire house in Danielson, and we'd throw on Conan, and hang out with a bunch of people playing pitch, or what some may call High, Low, Jack, Game. It was a sad day when Andy Richter left the show. He was much like Johnny Carson's Ed MacMann, or Dave Letterman's Paul Shaefer...

But I've come to love the many characters that they've developed over the years, along with their wacky sense of humor, that reminds me of Monty Python or the Naked Gun movies...



I sincerely hope that when he takes over Jay Leno's spot, that he doesn't change one bit of the show. If he does, I think he'll lose a lot of his fanbase, that's come to know and love the show, and watch it religously. Hopefully, it'll stay the same, and be able to obtain more regular viewers who normally go to bed before 12:30 am.

Hello, 911?..... I think I lost my wallet!!

So what's been going on over the past few days? Well, the East Putnam 911 saga continues with Episode 12, "The Evil Empire begins to crack"(LOL), and I lost my fricken wallet sometime between Tuesday evening and Thursday night!!

After the big Board of Directors meeting Monday night at the Middle school, the Mayor finally started to see it from our side! Putnam Fire Department members apparently didn't cause too much of a stir, but the assistant fire marshall/police chief did put up a little stink. Honestly, I have no idea why they are fighting this change, when it will not effect the residents of West Putnam, nor the Special Service District! It will not affect "the City's" dispatch financially or with the State, only just a reduction of phone calls. The only people it's going to effect is the residents and businesses in the East Putnam Fire District, and it will actually speed up the response for EMS, and shorten the time spent on the phone by the caller(unless pre-arrival medical instructions need to be given). But of course, the next morning on the WINY radio talk show, the Mayor was the guest, and certain anonymous people, a.k.a. the 4 people who have the vendetta against my chief called up to try and stir up crap!

Surprisingly, the Mayor shot them down, and stated he was closer to signing the paper, but that he still wasn't 100% ready to sign it.

Then, I get in my truck to go to work Wednesday night, and I notice for some reason my driver's side door is locked. I have one of those vehicles with power locks that close a few seconds after you put the car in drive, and the only way to unlock the doors are to hit the unlock button. Well, usually all my doors are locked with the exception of the driver's door after I shut the car off and get out. I usually don't lock the door, because my neighborhood isn't that bad(or so I thought), and in case there is a fire call, so I don't have to fumble around with my keys to respond.

So I thought, "that's funny, all of my doors are locked, hmmmm?" I needed to get gas so I wanted to grab my wallet that's usually in the middle console, and check on the balance of one of my credit cards, and ARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! NO WALLET.

So it's like 11:45pm, pitch black outside, and I figured it's either someplace in my truck, fell out of my pants in my bedroom while I changed, or possibly in the laundry somewhere. I got out of work Thursday morning, and pretty much tore up my truck, bedroom, and laundry area looking for it to no avail. So I figure I have to report it lost/stolen if I may need paperwork from the PD to cancel credit accounts, etc. I figure I better get a license before I go driving down to the police department, but in order to get a duplicate license, I need two forms of I.D., which were all in my wallet, right?


Fortunately, I remembered I have my passport, so I needed one more form in order to get a duplicate license. Well, I'll just drive down to Norwich to get my birth certificate, but I still needed gas! So I had my mom charge a tank of gas on her account at our local ma n' pa gas station, borrowed some money seeing that I didn't have my ATM or Credit cards, and drove down to Norwich City Hall to get my birth certificate. I then drove over to Norwich DMV to get my license and got served by a very cute girl that just happened to be coming back in from her lunch break. Of course, I'm next in line and she called me over, but my shyness kicked in and I clammed up, so I waited for my license to print out, then limped back to my car like a retreating soldier, and drove back to Putnam so I could stop at my bank and tell them that I lost my ATM card and it might be stolen. Luckily, they just cancelled my ATM card, ordered me a new card with a different number, and I didn't have to change my checking account, direct deposit, or anything like that.

I spent the rest of my day contacting two credit card companies, along with Old Navy, Home Depot, and Kay Jewelers to cancel my accounts and have new cards issued to me.

I got about 4 hours of sleep today, so all I have to say is I'm glad it's a slow night at work tonight, and TGIF! Now I just have to wait about two weeks for all my new cards to come in the mail, and buy a new wallet. What a pain in the behind with this lost wallet thing, but I'd rather be safe than sorry with all this identity theft going on now-a-days!!

Staying busy with work...

So tonight is a big meeting in the town of Putnam. It's the monthly board of selectman meeting in which the 911 call/transfer issue is supposed to be discussed, with State 911 head, George Pohorilak being present to explain the process of switching the calls over to the correct dispatch center. Now Putnam Fire has been stirring up a lot of commotion about a separate issue, and several members plan to be present at this meeting to cause problems. I was planning on attending the meeting to support my chief and department, but I though better of it and decided to take an overtime shift at work, and allow more rational people to discuss the issue. I know if I was to attend, it'd "be on like Donkey Kong", and I'd end up adding fuel to the fire, which I know Putnam Fire would love to get the meeting off the true topic of the meeting. Anyways, I hope they manage to keep the meeting on topic, and limit other issues to another time. I'm sure I'll hear all about it, as several of my friends, along with my supervisor, and manager from work will be attending the meeting in order to answer any "questions", or should I say rumors that are flying around...

My version of randomivity....

I know Mags has a regular post of randomivity, but certian things happenned over the weekend that made me think...hmmmm.

1) If the US depends mostly on foriegn oil, then why do the gas prices go up when the US oil drilling platforms in the gulf "get hit"? (That's not foriegn!!)

2) And who actually goes out to these platforms to check the damage? Or do they just take the word of the oil tycoons to be the truth? "There's damage? Oh, OK."

3) Why is it called MTV, when they don't play music videos on it anymore?

4) Why is it okay for a city fire department to tell a rural fire department what to do, but the rural department can't tell the city what to do?

5) Why do all the cars vs. houses only seem to happen on my shift? LOL

6) Why would a lady call 911 from the projects, asking for the State police to give her more gas money, when a trooper already put gas in her car earlier in the evening, to get her off the highway?

My first tattoo....on 9/11 + 7 years...

So this morning I got out of work and didn't go to bed like I normally do. I stayed up and then left for Montville around 12:15 to get my first ever tattoo. I was lucky enough to have an acquaintance who works in another dispatch center, who's sister is an apprentice tattoo artist, and offered to do my first tattoo for free, with a tip of course, cause I'd feel guilty to get it done for free. So when I was planning this tattoo several weeks ago, it never dawned on me that it was scheduled on September 11th. I really wanted my first tattoo to be my Scottish clan crest as a full shoulder piece, but she suggested something a little bit smaller, around 3" in size. So I picked what I wanted on my other shoulder, which was a memorial tattoo in honor of "The Worcester 6."





During the shift last night, it occured to me that I was getting my first tattoo on 9/11 rather than "Thursday" which I didn't coincide(third shift will do that to ya). Unfortunately, it was already planned out to be the Worcester 6 tattoo, and I didn't want to go and change things up on her all of a sudden. So I went ahead with the planned tattoo, and I'm planning on getting my FDNY 9/11 tattoo next year on 9/11. You can check out what my tat looks like by clicking on the post title above...

Anyways, I digress. After my three hour event of self-torture and pain(really it wasn't that bad), I came home to finally take a nap for an hour or two, and then awoke to watch a show that I had planned on watching for the past week and a half. The History Channel had shown previews of "102 Minutes of 9/11", and I had to watch it. Now, I own the Naudet Brothers documentary and several other 9/11 memorial DVD's, but this show was a non-narrated documentary of video clips, combined from personal home videos of people that were there, along with professional videographers that happened to catch this crazy, horrible, outrageous, yet brave turn of events on that beautiful September morning.



To this day, September 11th, 2001 feels like it was just yesterday. I remember going to NJ every year when I was a kid to visit my Aunt and Uncle. And every year, we'd take a day to go to the city. My favorite thing out of the trip every year, was to go to the WTC, take the express elevator up to the observatory, and find one of those empty benches that you'd step down to a lowered section of the floor near the windows. I used to love to lean over, put the top of my head against the window, and look down. You couldn't see the bottom of the building, it was like an optical illusion, like the building was leaning severely to which ever way you were leaning. The vehicles looked like miniature matchbox cars the size of ants, and people looked like little specks walking around. I even had a few chances to get up to the roof deck observatory. I absolutely loved the buildings. I could have sat there for hours, just watching life go by.



Back to tonight, I though the show was perfectly edited, with 911 calls, news footage, FDNY radio transmissions, and the videos of 9 people who documented the event. Amazing now matter how many times I see footage of 9/11, I'm always captivated by it, can't take my eyes off the tv screen, have the FDNY audio tapes saved on my computer and i-pod, and I can't help but think about what the people who perished, went through. There were several events during the show that got to me emotionally. Mainly it was when a battalion chief called dispatch for a run down of what he was getting for the 3rd alarm assignment. The dispatcher read the list, as it went on for what seemed like 5 minutes. Also, when they had audio tape of a crew from Ladder 15(cued with a video shot of the building), talking to another officer who had located several pockets of fire, and casualties/fatalities on the 78th floor of the south tower, just prior to it's collapse.



And the other was at the end of the documentary, when they interviewed the 9 videographers, and one of them talked about when he was walking away from the WTC while he captured a group of firefighters walking towards the scene. It was 19 firefighters from Engine 228 out of Queens. You see, fire engines normally only fit 4-6 firefighters on the truck, but 19 guys piled onto the truck when the call came in during their shift change, in order to "take the box in." All 19 firefighters perished in the WTC collapses, it's the last known footage of them all alive...



I can keep going and going about 9/11, but I'll spare you the eye cramps from reading, and just suggest to you, that if you ever get the chance to watch the documentary, do it. It gives a raw look at what it was like to be there, how that day changed world history, and it will remind you of what you felt that beautiful September day....

A day of two extremes....

So I had an interesting day today....or should I say yesterday, seeing that it's 0115am in the morning and I'm at work. Yeah!!! LOL, Yesterday(Tuesday), will now be referred to as today in this post, even though it's tomorrow...LOL



I "started" the day out Monday afternoon when I woke up, stayed up all through the evening and the night while at work, and then got out this morning @ 0830am. I got out of work and went right to my friend Rene's house, who had been having a problematic tooth over the past week or two, and I took him to his dentist as he wasn't sure how he was going to feel(and drive) after getting it pulled. I ended up dozing off in the reception area and woke myself up with a snore, as it was nice and toasty in there, and I was exhausted. We left the dentist office with me driving and Rene talking like Marlon Brando, except with a slight drool from the Novocain.



We then drove from Webster, MA back to Putnam so I could hit the ATM to grab some money for the Main Event this evening, and for Rene to borrow a few bucks so he could fill out his pain reliever prescription, as he didn't have any cash on him. We then drive to his parents house in Danielson to pick up his son Matt, and then returned back to the Bates homestead so they could go do their thing, and I could stumble over to my Durango to go home to bed.



I swung by Putnam Hallmark to pick up a card, and my phone rings. It's Rene, and apparently some friends that I have in the Putnam Fire Department had taken out a two page ad in the Shopper's Guide(a local publication much like a classified section) berating my new fire department, the chief, and my place of employment with falsely construed "facts". Of course, if you've been reading my blog you know that this has been getting to me for quite a while, so when I get home, you guessed it, I can't sleep because now all I can think about is just what does this advertisement say??!! The mail finally comes around 4:30pm and my gut starts to feel like a huge ulcer just opened up. I thought these people were our friends, and I could tell they put their personal vendettas ahead of the facts. I could rebut every single claim that they have, and have stuff that I can fling out about my former fire department to the town, but I'm sick of dealing with this crap. The more and more I think about it, the more I want to move out of town and towards work.



So next, we move on the enjoyable part of the evening. It was my ole' dispatching partner, and blogger extraordinaire, Linda's birthday today, which she had planned a little get-together with friends to celebrate at a local pub.

So I drive down to Norwich all stressed out, and end up seeing some old friends and coworkers, along with meeting new acquaintances. I got to see Drew, Kyle, Dennis, and Stephanie, with whom I worked with throughout my 6 years at American Ambulance. I also got to meet a few people for the first time, like JM, whom Linda speaks highly of, and ended up being the entertainment of the night. The guy is hilarious, and I only wish I had the self-confidence and the quick-wit that allows him to not hold back the sick/funny humor. I'm way to shy for any of that!

Then there was Mags, the tall, gorgeous CT transplant/turned Bostonian blogger and kick ass cook, and Claire, the British bombshell blogger/hiker from Northern England... Both have extremely cool personalities, very beautiful, and both had me intrigued throughout the evening with great conversations. Sorry Mags, but I have Claire one up on you, with that accent of her's..LOL

Anyways, a stressful, tiring day turned into a great night with good beer(Guinness of course), good laughs, and good friends.

Mags- Hope your trip home was a safe one, great cupcakes, and GO OBAMA!!!!Theo does seem like a cocky ass to me, but hey, The Sox gotta have at least one blemish, right??!! LOL

Claire- I hope you have a great time on the rest of your holiday. And make sure you try a Fenway Park Sausage!! Hopefully we can meet up for a few pints the next time I'm over the pond! LOL

and for the birthday girl,

Linda- Thank you so much for inviting me to your birthday get-together. You look great, and it was nice to spend time with you outside of the stressed work environment that we endured for several years. I sincerely appreciate it, and I hope you had a great birthday, with many, many more to come! I hope all you ladies have a blast at the beach, and thanks again for including me on your special day!

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but it was awesome none the less...

Another funny Mark Day video....Sarah Palin

Bash Barack time I guess.... RNC

Okay, so I told myself I wasn't going to watch any of the RNC, cause I figured that all it would be was a bash Obama "concert", and that they wouldn't have anything to argue against the "need for change." I figured it was going to be a "take the focus off the past 8 years of Republican debocary", and let's attack Obama with whatever we can think of. So I watched my Ghost Hunters marathon and new season premier on the Sci-fi channel until around 10:30pm when I knew Sarah Palin would be making her speech. Now I knew it would be an all out attack on Obama and Biden, because I feel the American people are so ready for a change, there's really nothing the Republicans can use against them with the way things have gone over the past 8 years of Bush-ism. So I started hitting the previous channel button on the remote during commercial breaks to head over to C-Span, and just as I had expected, Rudy Giuliani was pulling feces out of his behind and throwing it like a pissed off monkey at a zoo..



So back to Ghost Hunters I went to deal with the commercial breaks until 11 o'clock and the local news, right? WRONG!! Of course all of the major stations were covering Palin's speech so I figured, what the heck, I'll see if they talk about the issues instead of playing the usual negative political attacks that normally infest elections. I figured the DNC speeches were more geared towards change, new politics and plans, and the "Oh-so great job" Bush has done. How everyone respects and praises McCain for his service to the country, but feels it'll be more of the same politics. Hell, Barack even praised McCain on his choice of Palin, and vowed that family and personal matters would not be brought into the elections(even though I feel her attempt to have her ex-brother in-law fired from the State Police is kinda fishy).



But just as I thought, whoever the RNC hired as speech writers to assist her, continued the politics as usual with sarcastic and unprovoked attacks on Obama, Biden, their views, ideas, and the work they've done in the past. How we're SO much in danger, and that we need to be tough and fight evil countries, rather than talk things out first or let our allies take a lead for once. It seriously reminded me of a basketball game, where it's late in the fourth quarter, it's a blow out but the losing team keeps fouling the winning team to send them to the free-throw line in a futile attempt to get the ball back and throw up some 3's to try and catch up. Now, I'm not sure how the Obama/Biden campaign is going to handle these attacks, and I hope they show that they're the better person by not stooping down to this level, because I will honestly be disgusted with politics if Obama doesn't win.

As I've pointed out in previous posts, I've had enough of Bush and the Republican politics over the past 8 years. I'm tired of us hardworking citizens having to struggle with everything from the fuel crisis, to the economy, to housing, to foreign relations. I think it's time our politicians fight for the little guy, and stop giving the extremely rich people breaks. I was a little disappointed that Cowboy Troy, John Rich from Big and Rich, and Gretchen Wilson was there, and I hope that since they were asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner they couldn't refuse. Anyways, I think 98% of the country didn't know who Sarah Palin was, and quite frankly I feel McCain picked her to try and swing female votes his way, but what do I know. I do know one thing....





For a mother of five kids, she's definitely a "Cougar", and as Mark Day puts it below, she'd be a definite VP-ILF if McCain wins... (I just don't think there's enough time left on the game clock for them to catch up)