If at some point I have a little freak out while writing this post, know that everything is fine. There just happens to be some workers pounding the ceiling over my head. I am waiting for the roof to cave it - which is actually why they are up there. We have been having some leak problems. But you would think, renting property in the rather high-rent area we are in, that this could be done some time other than the middle of the workday. No big deal though. Just wanted to get that out there.

A little update:

So far, to my knowledge, this rider hasn't or will not materialize. I've heard nothing about it for a couple of days and, despite being in the office late for other reasons, have not done much work for it since I last mentioned it. That does not mean that it hasn't, or won't, come up. Just that I haven't heard anything. So stay tuned. UPDATE: This apparently is going to happen today.

At the end of that last paragraph I gave some serious thought to making fun of Alaska (Murkowski's home state), but obviously didn't. What it reminded me of, however, is something I read a couple of days ago, advising Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick on how to select an interim Senator now that the legislature has given him power to do so. It said, do not ignore the upstart, young politician that is looking to get ahead. It will bite you. In December 2002 a governor named Frank Murkowski passed on a little-known mayor from Wasilla, instead appointing his daughter, Lisa, to his own unexpired Senate seat, vacated by his being elected governor. In 2006 it came back to bite him, when that little-known mayor ran against him in his bid for re-election and wiped the floor with him. And thus, Sarah Palin was born.

Some other links for the day:

A quick way to follow what is going on in energy policy.

National Journal also has a "promise audit."

And the NJ's "Play of the Day," poking fun of the fact that all of the world's leaders arrived in massive convoys for a meeting on climate change.

A story garnering quite a bit of press is President Obama basically throwing Gov. Patterson (NY) out the window. Someone was actually quoted as saying, "if you become a probably for Obama, don't stand close to a window."

President Obama will head to Pittsburgh for the G-20.

It appears the previously-mentioned MA Senate seat will go to Paul Kirk, former DNC Chairman and Kennedy advisor.

Libya would like Obama to stay president forever.

Walter Mondale has jumped on the Jimmy Carter train, calling the attacks on Obama racist. Editors note: I am really just not going to get into this; not yet at least. In some ways I very much agree with the way Obama is handling this. While there are serious racial issues and yes I do very much believe there may be some racial tilt to these protests, the president understands that his agenda goes nowhere if he comes out and starts calling people racist. See: the Harvard professor. In addition, some day race has to stop being an excuse for black people, whether it is justified or not. Crazy people are going to say what crazy people are going to say. And yes, Glenn Beck, is crazy. His own town doesn't even want him back (and you have to admit, that crack about the Mount Vernon mayor like George Wallace is clever).

Speaking of racial issues, the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered 147 years ago Tuesday.

And sticking with the "Today in history theme":

I Love Lucy showed its final episode in 1961.
The Mormon church officially renounced polygamy in 1890.
And the first Supreme Court was established in 1789.

A second good morning to you. Went to see if flags were flying at half mast today and the only one I could see was not. Would imagine they are somewhere or will be tomorrow.

All in recognition of news of the saddest kind that broke just after 1 am ET last night. Senator Ted Kennedy, who can only be described as an icon in America and American politics, has died after his lengthy battle with cancer. He was 77.

Not to age some of you who read here, but many will know more of his greatness than I, and that of his brothers as well. In a link I posted yesterday, John McCain spoke fondly of Sen. Kennedy and about how much he is missed during the current session.

Make no mistake - this is a mammoth political loss. However, the current Senate will continue on. It has spent much of the session without Sen. Kennedy already. What is more is the loss of another member of this family of giants. Sen. Kennedy was on of just two remaining children of Joseph Kennedy and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald. He is obviously the last of the boys to pass, the only to survive the 1960's. And Sen. Kennedy becomes the second in his family to die just this month.

He was the man who used his first Senate speech to rally for the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That should seem especially major today considering that it is the 89th anniversary of women receiving the right to vote. He was a vocal, adamant supporter of Barack Obama. He has made healthcare available to more people than it has ever been and yet the "cause of his life" is in the middle of maybe its most important hour.

But now he is home, with maybe America's greatest family. At peace.

-

Right now I am going to stay away from some of Ted Kennedy's other problems. Most of you probably know about the double standards and such, but death precludes those right now. What we will see, however, is the tremendous effect this is going to have on a healthcare fight that seemingly has been in the 12th round for weeks. This is not the knockout punch. But it is a blow. One that seemingly only Ali, or Kennedy, could come back from.

But the fight will go on.

-

Teachers wear so many hats. But this has got to be the scariest one and they deserve to be recognized. Many lives were saved.

The situation with the reality show where a woman was murdered has been big news, but I forgot one crazy part. No one dying is funny. What this is, is more of a sign of the apocalypse type thing. The evolution of modern "medicine".

Missouri is taking a groundbreaking approach at youth rehabilitation in correctional facilities.

I am not going to link to GoTopless day coverage, but those have been happening throughout the week across the country. Women wanting "equal rights" to go topless in public, just like men. Just a guess that many would just assume most men keep their shirts on too...

Almost the entire Politico front page is about Sen. Kennedy.

On how America struggles with talking about depression - Michael Beasley.

Blue Scholars just dropped a new EP.

It is pretty fun that FIU would complain this much about having to play UNC instead of Ohio State. It's going to be at least a 30-point blowout regardless.

Delayed Congrats to Jesse Baum, who is writing full-time for a newspaper in Lewiston. Yep, that's in Idaho folks. He'll be alright though.

And lastly, my brother turns 13 today. Yes, he made it to the teenage years.

More later

Morning y'all from the town that got the outstretches of a hurricane on Saturday. First time I've done an extended day of basketball, which in my growing age is about 2.5 hours. But we did it outside over in NE which is pretty ghetto. It was horribly humid and just difficult to move. Between the four of us we drank at least three gallons of water while we were playing and probably lost more than that to sweat. And it was right as we were finishing that the rains came.

And they didn't stop until Sunday morning. The the storm actually started Friday afternoon and we had about a 36 hour lightning storm with a small break from the rain on Saturday morning. It was nice to have rain back and get the air cleared out. Yesterday was just amazing. Clear and mid-80's.

Alright, enough about the weather. I possibly have real things to talk about.

(This is an interjection. It occurred to me that I didn't actually write anything about the Yankees. Well, they beat Boston. Again. sixth time in seven games. And they hit five homers off Josh Beckett. And their awesome. See grandpa, we don't disagree on everything. However, the Raiders? Well, let's just say - actually let's not.).

-

Okay wow. I had to add a gap there. Now, I knew today was going to be busy. I started the blog post before I left this morning because I knew this and I'm liking the trend of two-a-day (as long as content keeps up, which I know hasn't quite been the case - sorry). I already had plans for the second blog that I hashed out on the bus this morning. On the DC public school system. Some interesting stuff that hopefully I will visit tomorrow. But instead of being able to finish it off, here I am at 9:36 pm finishing, trying frantically to get done because I have work to do as well.

Oh, Monday. The day always feels short because we have a staff meeting and often times other meetings throughout. Even though the big meeting only takes about 30 minutes, it is at 11 am so it feels like it just cuts the day in half. I also don't like to leave projects undone so that really bugs me. That would be a normal Monday, though. On this Monday I had all the normal stuff to do, as well as a couple of blog posts to write, updating the Heat Is On (HIO) site (which hasn't been done yet) and a couple more meetings to sit. Oh yeah, and one more thing: the Sarah Palin project.

I cannot really reveal the details yet because the entire project is not completed, but as soon as it is, look for a link. One of the requirements was to just find something ridiculous that Palin has said. Obviously this isn't hard. However, it needed to be an audio or video clip (not just text) and it needed to be in the context of energy. Even if it was about energy, as long as she was talking about energy and then just said something like "my foreign policy experience is great because Russia is my neighbor," that would've been find. Now that is harder than you think. Hard to the tune of, wait for it, SIX HOURS of listening to Sarah Palin speeches, interviews, town halls, ropeline discussions, fishing tips, you name it. If I have to hear the words maverick, drill, baby, gosh, well, or her voice again I might jump off the Washington Monument. Six hours of her high-pitched squeaky voice in which she can never string a series of words together into that thing some of us call a sentence. I watched her last speech at the Governor's picnic (her last day in office) three times. That is when she tells the press to stop making things up, in honor of the military. WHAT?! I remember when I first heard the on the day she gave it, telling someone it was a "train wreck" and that person responding to me, "those are the exact words someone else used to describe it." At least I'm not alone. At one point I actually got up, walked down the hall to my boss'as office and said rather matter-of-factly, "I bet you could walk down Crenshaw and hear better English." That is not racist, it's the truth. Period. Still, at some point in the near future, this final video should be hilarious.

That right there was six of my 9.5 hours physically in my office today. Not including before I left or now. Which could very well stretch into the night. Hard to tell you more about today than that, honestly.

So here are some links for you to check out:

First a quote that is moving around the internet today, attributed to Kirk Herstreit, even though he didn't really say it:

“Ducks are the college football version of Paris Hilton… they’re famous for no reason, they look pretty and they got a rich daddy.” - Again, sorry grandfather. Truer words have rarely been spoken.

Continuing with sports first:

Pete Rose should have been inducted into the Hall of Fame 17 years ago this month.




This has only happened twice in history. And only the fourth time since 1950 that a team has done it and hit an inside-the-park homerun in the same game.

Edge is a Hawk.

Social media is taking over the world, as evidenced by UW Athletics having a YouTube page (to go along with Twitter, Facebook, you name it). LCV actually has multiple YouTube pages, as well. Unfortunately it is too new to have any video content that I was involved it, but here's something I will really miss.



That Jon Brockman was special huh?

-

If this is even remotely true then it only heaps more sadness on an already sad tale. Regardless of your feelings for the man, Michael Jackson was one of the most talented musicians in history.

Only in SoCal.

Boycotting Whisky? That might be taking it a little too far. However, Scotland screw this one up, big time.

I've already shared this on my Facebook, but Glenn Beck is from Mount Vernon, Wash.

I honestly really do like the pre-Presidential politics John McCain. Nice words about Ted Kennedy.

As always you should check out Act Green. But on this day story about Southwest was written by me. It is actually pretty cool.

I'd like to make a habit of highlighting something that a friend, new or old, of mine is doing on a regular basis. Today I have nothing. However, I will point out that I have just started ready The Ragin Cajun himself, James Carville's new book, 40 More Years. I'll let you know how it goes.

As always, thank you for reading. Stay Classy.