A Blog About Election Results (No question mark)

Well, this long and arduous process known as the American presidential election is finally behind us. Congrats to President-elect Obama; this was a truly historical election and it speaks a lot about our country that so many people came together over our first minority President. Here are some quick thoughts about the election that I have:

1. This is the time, whether you voted for Obama or not, to stand behind him. I did not vote for him (it was a protest vote) but I am now proud to call him my president. He deserves a chance to govern, and hopefully he will do this from the middle. I think it's also important that Republicans do not act like he owes them or has to cater to them now that the election is over. This is how Democrats felt in 2004 and it really annoyed me. You won an election; you get to work on your ideas.

2. The Republican campaign of John McCain failed because it was never about ideas. It was about personalities and attacks. Example: McCain had a genuinely interesting idea about health care. Would it work? Maybe, maybe not. But it was something he needed to explain and debate. Illegal immigration - get out there and talk about the ways in which we can ensure the rights of these workers in our country! Social Security is about to fail in America; it will start drawing from the trust fund it set up in something like 2017, and it won't be long before it is bankrupt. Discuss ways in which we can either fortify this system or move away from it! Instead of talking about "ensuring the right to a private ballot in a union election", talk about ways in which you could amend labor law to negate the extremely unfair advantage given to employers in a union election (I can talk about this in depth if you are interested). These ideas never materialized. Instead, it was "I'll cut taxes for everybody" and "I'm the guy you want in charge of the military". People didn't buy this.

3. One more thing about this: McCain was a bad candidate. The party with the better candidate wins. End of story. For examples, see Al Gore, John Kerry, Michael Dukakis, Bob Dole...and those are just from my lifetime.

4. One thing to watch is the composition of the federal judiciary now that the White House is switching parties. Under Bush, Democrats filibustered many judges. McCain was part of the Republican group that felt this was wrong, and he joined the "gang of 14" - 7 D's and 7 R's - to get votes on the floor for judges. Now that there are only around 41-43 R's in the Senate, it will only take a few of them to join to break a filibuster on judges. Will McCain become the 60th cloture vote? An interesting position for him.

5. Sarah Palin has got to run for Ted Stevens Senate seat in the special election, doesn't she? Imagine her filibustering on the Senate floor! Maybe she'd do her Tina Fey impression?

6. The apparent thing about this contest was that it is way too long. There needs to be a law on the books about how the presidential process works. The money spent on this campaign is disgusting ($5.3 billion!). My proposal: allow candidates to file and start fundraising on Jan. 1 of the election year (2012 in this case). Have a national primary - maybe April 1, or somewhere in there. Allow every state an equal voice in the primary process, which doesn't happen now. After the primary, fundraising and campaigning allowed with restrictions for two months. On June 1st, we swing into full campaign mode. Vice Presidential candidates must be chosen within a 6 week window from June 1 to July 15. Conventions in August. Boom! You've cut at least 10 months out of the process. And I wouldn't have a problem with moving these timelines back.

7. One thing this election crystallized for me is how important the sanctity of life really is to me. I am going to join the Allegheny County chapter of the PA Pro-Life group. They have a chapter in the North Hills, one in the South Hills, and are trying to start one downtown. A quote that they have on their website really symbolized the way I feel about this. It was something to the effect of this: "When a fireman comes to a burning house, I don't care about his tax policy, his stance on Social Security, or whether he wants to deny equal rights to gays. All I care about is that he saves mother and child." We can't worry about anything else if we don't protect the innocent children that are slaughtered selfishly every year. If you are interested in joining me and my mom in this endeavor, let us know!

8. Reports that Rahm Emanuel has been chosen to be Obama's Chief of Staff are a little troubling. He's a fellow Chicagoan (cronyism!) and he has served in the Clinton White House (change??). He's also highly partisan (a uniter??) who once reportedly told Republicans that they could "f--- themselves". It's a bad foot to start on, in my opinion, for this President.

That seems like enough election analysis from me.

A Quick Story

This story is in three stages:

1. Maybe 6 weeks ago, our family went to Cleveland to visit Aunt Joyce. She is great and we try to get out there and visit her as often as the 5 of us can get together. It's an easy trip, it's family bonding...it is a solid endeavor. So, we were going to Cleveland and we took two cars (I can't remember why). Jer, Mom, and I were in my car, and we're driving along, listening to the radio and singing. All of a sudden, a Tom Petty song comes on, with a lot of harmonica parts, and I pulled out my harmonica (out of the glove compartment) and started playing along. For some reason, Mom and Jer lost it, they were laughing very hard.

2. At small group a few weeks later, this story is brought up, and everybody laughs at me. I still don't understand how this is so funny.

3. This weekend, I drove down to Knoxville. Last week I had taken my harmonica out of my car and put it in my pocket to take it into small group. So, I forgot to put it in my car. Then, when I was driving to Knoxville, there were at least 3 times that I reached for the harmonica...only to find that it was not there. Disappointing.

That is all.

Quick Thoughts

Haven't blogged in awhile and don't have much time, so a few quick thoughts:

1. I'm really glad that Election Day is just 6 days away. I haven't posted my endorsement yet (I know, I'll probably be the last major figure in the U.S. to endorse a candidate) but I plan on doing that on Monday. I'm still undecided as of now.

2. My mom, trying to convince me to vote for McCain, says "scissors" any time that I say anything to her about the election. "Scissors" as in the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (or whatever it's called) and how they kill these babies. As in, a vote for Obama is a vote for this act. I'm not going to lie, it's getting annoying.

3. HIPAA - the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - (not HIPPA as so many people think) and specifically the "privacy rule" - has to be the most ill-conceived piece of unimportant legislation maybe in the history of this country. Nobody has any idea what its intent is, but anytime somebody wants to get a hospital, doctor, workplace, or worker in trouble, invariably they shout about supposed (and false) HIPAA violations.

4. Baseball postseason has been a little dull; c'mon, Rays, we need one series to last more than 5 games!

5. I'm still really depressed about the Pitt loss to (sigh) Rutgers.

6. I would be remiss if I didn't welcome into the world my first 2nd cousin on dad's side of the family. Welcome Jacob Michael Burns! Congrats to Grandpa Grubbs who is a first time Great Grandfather (although a longtime great Grandfather - that was way too easy), to Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike on their first grandchild, and specifically to Chad and Charissa. Congrats!

My Love Letter to Kelly Clarkson

Oh Kelly,

You are the one that I want. You are perfect in every way; even perfect in your imperfections. I love you as a blonde, I love you as a brunette. I love you singing r&b, I love you singing harder types of rock. You have a wonderfully snarky sense of humor, on exhibit every time that I've seen you perform. You have the "joie de vivre" that I am searching for.

I am the guy for you. You are successful, and I have no ego, so I will be able to handle that. I will do the things around the house for which you don't have the time. I will accompany on your tours and take care of whatever you need me to do.

In other words, you complete me. If I had just 15 minutes to talk to you, I am sure that I could convince you of this.

Signed,

The Future Mr. Kelly Clarkson

*off to my 5 year college reunion today! Crazy!

A Revelation at Work!

So, I haven't posted about my job. I've been there for just over 5 months now. It's good, sometimes stressful, sometimes frustrating. I work closely with three other people; the four of us have desks in a room together, and we are the union's "resource center".

So anyway, our workload is directly correlated to the number of people calling. Sometimes it gets slow, so we get to talking about stuff. And yesterday, the one male coworker, Chris, said something that I've been saying for years now. Basically, both of us are sick of this whole "breakfast for dinner" movement. Instead, we want "dinner for breakfast".

I never thought I'd meet someone else who wants this. Ask anyone who knows me well and has gone to IHOP or Eat 'n' Park for breakfast with me. I am just as liable to order a grilled cheese sandwich at 7 am as I am a stack of pancakes.

So this was a bonding moment for Chris and I!

Future Wife Trait #14 - Appreciation of Pittsburgh

This is an important one to me. The city of Pittsburgh is such a great place. It is so unique in so many ways. Think about the ways in which it is great. It has such a awe-inspiring natural beauty with the mountains and the rivers. It has great transportations options with all of the riverboats and the inclines, plus more traditional buses and something resembling a subway. It has a multitude of ethnic neighborhoods, each with its own character and personality. The architecture is top-notch, with great downtown skyscrapers like PPG Place and Fifth Avenue Place, and churches like Heinz Chapel in Oakland. Quality of life ranks among the best in the nation. It has a great sporting tradition, with the Steelers, Pirates, Pens, and good college sports. It has many things that anyone would want in their city.

There are some people who "get" this, and some who don't. And to be honest, I think there are many more females who don't get it. There are some things about Pittsburgh that people may have problems with. The weather is variable, and the sun sometimes doesn't come out for days at a time. It's way behind the times; there isn't a post office downtown where you can buy stamps in a machine with a debit card! Even Knoxville has that. Fashions are decidedly 80s. If you are a female who is interested in the latest trends, you won't find them walking down East Carson St.

So, my future wife has to understand "the majesty that is the city of Pittsburgh" (a quote that can be attributed to me, circa 2001). She doesn't have to want to live here forever; I'm not sure I want to either. But she has to inherently "get" this city; if she doesn't, she can take the "T" all the way to South Hills Village as far as I'm concerned.

Future Wife Trait # 92

So I haven't posted in awhile, and I thought I needed to say something, since that's what the people (a.k.a. Beth) want. I thought I'd give you another wife trait, and also let you know that I am prepping a big post on my presidential vote.

Wife trait #92 - The ability to iron clothes

I can't iron for the life of me. I can't even say iron. I'm from Pittsburgh, we don't say it right, we say it "arn". Anyway, I love to do things around the house. I love cooking and baking, especially desserts but I can make dinners with the best of the non-professional chef males. I get on cleaning binges every week, dusting and sweeping and polishing, etc. Doing laundry and dishes gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

The one thing I cannot do is iron clothes. I have tried everything, to no avail. Now I have to resort to getting my clothes out of the dryer immediately when they are finished and hanging them up. This leads to hot buttons that burn when you touch them. I've tried the spray stuff that takes wrinkles out; it doesn't for me. I've tried actually ironing, and I suck at it. Basically, I've gone around my adult life (when I've been away from my mom's help) looking like a rumpled mess. "Nothing stays wrinkled" - this is an axiom relayed by my cousin Frank. Well...it stays wrinkled when I'm wearing it.

So, if you are gonna suggest a girl for me to go out with, take a look at her pants and see if they are wrinkled. If they are...NEXT!