I have the best wife ever. Thanks for fixing the video!

Tony Gwynn and Jeff Passan preview the series that starts tomorrow. Passan picks the Cubs in 5.

Have I ever mentioned that I got to swing Tony Gwynn's bat once? Elizabeth and I went to hear a lecture from a statistician who had written a book trying to prove who was the greatest hitter of all time. His biggest contribution to the debate was that his analysis factored in the amount of foul territory in the parks where the guys played, since more foul territory in play equals more chances of getting out. He argued for instance that Gwynn was a better hitter than Williams because he kept a high average despite playing in a home park with more foul territory.

Anyway, after the book came out, Gwynn invited the guy to hangout with him before a game and gave him one of his bats. He brought it to the lecture and I went down and gave it a swing at the end. It was incredibly, unbelievably heavy.

Cory, Kate, and Matt stopped by last night and had some awesome hamburgers off the grill. It was great to see those guys. I love that they just drop in sometimes. They also brought their new puppy, Porter, with them. Halleigh was in heaven. she would not leave the puppy alone. We got some good video of Kona and her chasing the dog around the house, and as soon as I have time to capture it from the camera, I'll load it here.

Seeing those guys made us miss the other Arkansas Greens too. So it was great this morning to open my email and find pictures of Will waiting for me. Here's one of Will and Sandy. If you want to see more, you can view their Picasa album here.

First, you get up and have some Cheerios

I haven't posted anything about Kona Bean lately (who Halleigh has just recently started calling "Koka"--before that she was simply "doggie"). So here's a picture for all the Kona Bean fans out there.

Thank you, Trimane Goddard!

McCain: it is much less than 7 years ago. holds up his record in supporting changes that have been made to protect against that type of tragedy.

Obama: we are safer in some ways but not in other. need to do more on chemical sites, transit, and ports. Spending on missle defense, but we need to spend more on anti nuke proliferation. and finally we must restore the perception of US abroad.

Both candidates condemn torture.

McCain is making a strong case about the danger of defeat in Iraq and trying to paint Obama's positions as essentially equal to defeat.

Obama brings up the threat that China poses since we are distracted by Iraq and cannot compete with them for influence. Claims that economic decline equals security decline. blames all this on Bush's lack of a broad concept of security.

McCain: does not believe that Obama has the experience or judgement to be president. condemns Bush's stubborness in Iraq, which gets a laugh from Obama!

Obama is addressing the camera and he is now making the emotional appeal to the voter about our loss of standing in the esteem of the world.

McCain continues to address Lehrer, but he finishes by bring back up his war hero image.

Obama: comes down tough on Russia and is very supportive of newly-democratic former Soviet republics. takes anoth cheap shot about McCain looking into Putin's eyes.

McCain: Russia is essentially a KGB-run petro-state. Russia-Georgia conflict is basically an energy issue. Claims Russia is in violation of the cease-fire. Wants to support the Ukraine.

Obama: agrees with McCain and then adds the importance of energy independence to the issue.

McCain thinks it shows experience that he has travelled to these countries. I'm not sure that really matters to me. Thoughts from readers?

McCain: Iran with nukes is an existential threat to Israel. We could and should impose heavy sanctions on Iran. Blames Iran for many terrorist actions in Iraq and abroad.

Obama: Believes some elements of the Iran military are terrorist organizations. believes Iran should not be allowed to get nukes. Believes that we should have direct talks with Iran.

McCain: We cannot have talks without preconditions. Claims that that would legitimize illegal activities of rogue states.

Obama was prepared for that attack and he was ready with a rebuttal citing the widespread agreement among former secs of state that talks should occur. Uses N. Korea as an example of what happens when talks do not happen. Now he takes a cheap shot about McCain's Spain slip-up. That was unnecessary.

McCain is harping on Iran's hate for Israel.

now they're both quibbling over top-level vs low level talks.

By the way, Brian, I've noticed your comments, but I'll have to reply at the end so I can keep up for now. Sorry!

Obama: yes we need more troops and we need to deal with many issues including trade in poppies and Pakistan problems.

McCain: continue to support Pakistan. Employ not only more troops but a different strategy. He is vague on what that strategy would be.

Obama: still trying to boost his own toughness score. at the same time he makes a dig against McCain's hawkish rep.

McCain: toots his own horn for the anti marines-in-lebanon vote. list other votes where he has supported successful military actions. now he's telling stories trying to connect emotionally with voters.

Obama had obviously prepared and had been waiting for McCain's bracelet story. Very effective answer.

McCain: we are winning in Iraq. Defeat in Iraq would have been catastrophic.

Obama: I opposed Iraq from the beginning because (among other reasons) it took our eyes off Afghaistan. terrorists are stronger than before and we are spending too much abroad. Now he is trying to show that he is not afraid to use the army.

McCain makes a great point in that the next president will not have to decide whether to go into Iraq, but how to leave and he points out that Obama was not supportive of the surge.

Obama falls back on the Biden crutch. Lame. Now he is argueing that the president will need to use the judgement that he showed in opposing the war from the beginning.

McCain is trying to paint Obama's position as equal to accepting defeat, which is clearly not the case.

Now they are argueing about who supported the troops more. This is more of a public perception issue than a substantive issue that I care about. Obviously they both care about the troops and it's too simplistic to think otherwise

McCain is talking about nuclear energy expansion creating jobs.

now the moderator is chasing better answers.

Obama says essentially that he is not willing to concede health care for the bail out.

McCain says that he does not support federally controlled health care and cutting spending really is his golden bullet for payin for the bailout.

Now Obama is connecting McCain to Bush again and McCain is trying everything to draw a distinction. I think if McCain allows this to be a referendum on bush, he will lose.

Obama is attacking McCain for tax breaks for oil companies.

on to the next question... Obama says that some things would obviously have to be put off, but instead of telling what he would put off, he is listing what he would not put off, which seems like everything, so basically he has avoided the question.

McCain does not say what he would put off, but instead he says that he would pay for it by cutting costs. He also want fixed-cost contracts for government purchases. That answer seems a little optimistic.

Obama just made what seems to be a big oil concession by listing energy policy as an example of what could be put off.

McCain suggests a spending freeze. That seemed like a hail mary.

Obama dodges the earmark question because he would rather talk about McCain's tax plan.

McCain rightly points out that Obama's treatment of earmarks changed when he began his run for president. He also replys to Obama's tax cut claim by pointing out increased spending.

Obama interrupts McCain and again tries to tie McCain to Bush.

McCain brings up business taxes. phone is ringing. be back soon

Obama's answer as I heard it: this is a defining moment and we must protect taxpayers through 1) oversight 2) recuperation 3) limit exec pay 4) help home owners. this is the result of 8 years of failed policies.

McCain's: this is a great moment of cooperation and this is more about protecting mainstreet than bailing out wall street. we have to create jobs and end our dependency on foreign oil.

now they are discussing for 5 minutes. Obama seems like he is on the attack against the Bush policies and he is hoping that viewers will associate McCain with Bush. McCain is calling for accountability and he's trying to show how his own actions have called for that.

McCain seemed jittery at first but he settled down quickly.

Now we're onto the second question. McCain is railing against the MT Grizzly DNA study. He obviously does not understand the issue there.

Will anyone else be watching the presidential debate tonight? I was thinking of live blogging it. I've never tried that before, but since Brooklynne will be out of town and Halleigh will be asleep, I'll have some time on my hands.

Which brings me to another question. Does anyone else find it hard to get information about the debates? You would think that all the networks and news services would publish the details over and over again, but it took some more-than-casual digging to find the schedule and coverage. The Commission on Presidential Debates (who is hosting the events) doesn't even have the schedule on its website. Very lame.

Anyway.... from www.youdecide2008.com:

1. First Presidential Debate:
Date: September 26 - Site: University of Mississippi - Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security - Moderator: Jim Lehrer - Staging: Podium debate - Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment

2. Vice Presidential Debate
Date: October 2nd - Site: Washington University (St. Louis) - Moderator: Gwen Ifill - Staging/Answer Format: Debate will consist of both foreign and domestic policy questions asked by the moderator. Format will be similar to the presidential debates.

3. Second Presidential Debate
Date: October 7 - Site: Belmont University - Moderator: Tom Brokaw - Staging: Town Hall debate - Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.

4. Third Presidential Debate
Date: October 15 - Site: Hofstra University - Topic: Domestic and Economic Issues - Moderator: Bob Schieffer - Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table - Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate - Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.

---

All four debates will begin at 9pm ET, 6pm PT and last for 90 minutes. Both campaigns also agreed to accept the CPD's participation rules for third-party candidate participation. Third-party candidates will be included if they poll 15% or above in at least 5 national polls.

Each debate will be broadcast on the major broadcast networks, including CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX. They will also be aired on cable news channels such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and C-SPAN.

Brooklynne scooped me (again) with pictures, but here are some of my own. There are a few more after the jump.

Michael Clayton

R, 120 mins

Critics: A-

Miles: B

This is a pretty good movie, but it is very slow moving and although Clayton is a complex character, the movie only digs skin deep.

Made of Honor

PG-13, 101 mins.

Critics: C

Miles: C

Classic, predictable chic flick that is mildly entertaining, but not enough to keep me from playing with Halleigh during key moments instead of paying attention. The 2 main characters got above par performances from the actors.

Definately, Maybe

PG-13, 111 mins.

Critics: B-

Miles: C

See the review for Made of Honor above, minus the good acting comments. It does get some bonus points for its funny take on campaign nerds.

What Happens in Vegas

PG-13, 98 mins.

Critics: C

Miles: B-

This was funnier than expected. I've gotten tired of the really stupid movies that are more ridiculous than clever, and this one was borderline, but maybe a little smarter than some others.

Star Trek Nemisis

PG-13, 117 mins.

Critics: B-

Miles: B-

I like the good Star Treks, but this one was incredibly average. It could have done alot more with the evil clone plot, but instead, the movie was like a really long television episode.

The Dodgers gave up another game in the standings and will have to wait until at least Wednesday to clinch.

The Steelers looked weak, giving up 9 sacks in a loss to the Eagles.

And finally, the Tar Heels dominated VaTech for 2 1/2 quarters before handing the Hokies 4 first downs on penalties (for 121 yards), 2 fumbles deep in our own territory, and an interception in the red zone to end a solid drive. While VaTech moved the ball pretty well in the 4th quarter, and Paulus (who replaced our injured starting QB) looked like he was still playing on a high school level, really we should have won the game if we had cut down the penalties and held on to the ball.

Elizabeth and I were laughing the other day about an old text adventure game we used to play on the Apple II called Sherwood Forest.

Well, if you know the type of game I'm talking about and if at some point in your childhood, you thought they were fun, then you will  probably get a kick out of this (warning: a small amount of offensive language ahead). It is obviously dated, since the troop surge and Sons of Iraq developments have brought the president to the point of setting a timetable for withdrawal. All the same, you have to chuckle about the intersection of politics and our early childhood computer experiences. A generation ago, this humor would have been incomprehensible to anyone.

If you want to try your hand at another tongue-in-cheek text adventure, Peasant Quest is strangely addicting.

Last night at small group, Brooklynne talked about her experience coming to know Christ. I am well acqainted with the story, as I have heard it many times (and have actually lived through parts of it), but every time she tells it, I'm struck by how incrediblly God works through bad situations and broken relationships to bring about something beautiful.

Brooklynne, thanks for being such a reflection of Christ in this world.

I don't know if the spam filter will work better now that I tweaked it, but we'll give it a try. Please excuse any inappropriate content that appears briefly over the next couple days.

As many of my veteran readers know, I'm fundamentally against challenge-and-response validation as well as visiter registration, so as far as spam goes, I have to rely on good old fashioned content filters. Up until the recent upgrade, the Akismet service had reduced my comment spam from 5-10 per day to 4 or 5 per year. However, Akismet apparently doesn't get along nearly as well with MT4.21 as it did with MT3.x.

We had a couple Babar books at home when I was little, and honestly I don't remember reading them too much, but I do have a warm spot in my heart for the gentle beast. I guess I assumed there must be some "west is best" attitude hidden more or less in the story, but I never thought very deeply about it. This article challenges me to reconsider the character and the meaning of his tales. Then, when Halleigh is old enough to enjoy the books, I can be a more informed daddy reader.

Comments are still down, but if you have thoughts, email thenm to me and I'll post them.

The Montana grizzly bear population is on the rise. When we lived in Montana, about once every couple of months, you would hear about some rancher who was bent out of shape because a grizzly or a wolf had killed a goat or cow. While they probably hate the predator population growing, I'm sure they wouldn't mind going out and blasting a wayward bear if they got the chance. I hope this does not lead to lifting protections. As much as I try to stick up for Palin, I'm a little scared of her wildlife management positions.

Last night was fun to watch. Honestly, I think Rutgers played worse than we played good, but let's give the boys some credit--they didn't make any glaring errors, and they held Rutgers to 0-9 on third down conversions. In my game-by-game predictions, I picked us to go 6-6, but according to my Rutgers game rubric, we should go 7-5. I'm hoping for the latter.

In other news, I stumbled on a greatest books list today, which came with a game for all you readers out there. Apparently, The Big Read estimates that the average adult has read 6 books on the list. It is posted after the cut and here are the rules:

1. Look at the list and bold those you have read at least part of.
2. Italicise those you hope to read.
3. Underline the books you LOVE.
4. Put a # beside the ones you hate.
5. Put a * beside the ones you did not finish.
6. If you've read it more than once, put the number in ().
7. Add 5 of your own favorites to the end.

(Obviously, take out my marks before you do your own, and I don't know where this list came from, so don't complain about why one book is higher than another or ask me why some books seem to be on the list twice, like The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe and Hamlet.) 

Tonight is UNC's first televised game of the season, so I will finally get to see the guys play and get a feel for how the season may go.

In the past when I have wanted to read about the upcoming games, I've relied almost entirely on Tarheelblue.com for information, but I get tired of the pro-unc angle, the constant optimism, and the repetitive type of coverage provided by the site.

Here is an alternative for all the fans that feel the same way: Tarheeltimes.com. Tarheel times does not offer it's own coverage, but instead it compiles articles from various other news sources and offers a greater range of coverage. Very refreshing.

Here's the obligatory reminder--please observe the ground rules.

Also, obviously, there's less easily-varifiable info on Palin's positions, so the next page may be a little thin.

Palin puts a fresh face on the GOP

What at first seemed to be a mystifying choice by McCain has turned out to be the best move of the campaign so far. Palin adds a younger, fresher, more stylish face to the campaign, and although Obama supporters like to claim she's inexperienced, her new-comer status is probably more helpful to a 70-some-year-old, 22-year congressional veteran, who is trying to avoid the Washington insider label.

Another thing that seems to bother people about Palin is how she seems to have shifted significantly on her position regarding earmarks. But good for her! If there is a system in place that made federal dollars available to small towns, then I would expect my elected officials to fight hard to get as big a share as possible. But if Palin is elected VP she is no longer a representative of one small town--she would become a representative of the entire nation and if would become her duty to help stop unfair spending and make sure federal money was spent with prudence and intent. Those two positions are only inconsistent if you don't account for the difference in duty.

Conflicts with McCain on:

1. Drilling in the ANWR

Potential Scandals Brewing:

1. Connections to indicted Congressman Ted Stevens.

Things you never knew about Sarah

1. During her time as mayor, she brought in more than $3,000 per town resident in congressional earmarks.
2. In the election to determine her successor as mayor, she endorsed a cousin, who was running against her stepmother-in-law.
3. She is apparently afraid of some cats.
4. During her time as mayor, she reduced her own salary, and as governor, she got rid of the office's personal chef. 
5. Originally baptized Catholic.

Bonus Points: Demonstrated record of cutting wasteful spending in her own budgets and excersizing good, practical judgement.

Minus Points: Heavy-handed executive style.

Most interesting links I found:

1. Palin indentified as "post-denominational."

I'm happy so far. It seems like the platform works a little more quickly. There are also a few changes that help with managing the blogs with fewer key strokes/clicks. Six Apart has also offers a new version called Movable Type Pro, which offers several additional features like forums, etc., and I might try that out in the next few weeks, but one step at a time, right?

In the meantime, keep me posted if you experience any glitches or oddities.

First of all, the NFL season is now underway, so it's time for the annual Jeff Saturday update. Unfortunately, Jeff torn his MCL in the last pre-season game, so he will probably be out 6-11 weeks, depending on whether he opts for surgery. You can read the details here.

In other news, Roland Martin validates my concern over Guiliani's condescension toward community organizers.

And, do these stadiums look alike to you?

Well, the one on the left is Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke, where a couple of skydivers delivered a game ball, and the one on the right is Kenan Stadium at UNC, where the same skydivers were supposed to deliver the game ball. Pretty funny stuff.

Here's the podcast of PTI, in which Wilbon and Kornheiser discuss the incident. If you don't have time to listen to the whole thing, right-click and save the target to your computer, then open the file and jump ahead to the 8 minute mark.

While I have to agree with their assessment of Wallace Wade, I can also understand how you could mess up if you were in a hurry (weather concerns) and if you were not familiar with the area (VA-based company).

Penn Jillette says maybe we need a dumb president instead. Interesting thought. This is slightly related to why I think we should never allow the same party to control Congress and the White House at the same time.

In other news, last night, Palin made a strong claim that Obama wanted to saddle Americans with huge tax raises. That confused me a little, because I was sure that Obama was advocating a tax cut for 95% of Americans (although, he admits that he would pay for this by raising taxes on the wealthiest 5%). So either Palin was concerned with the plight of the rich, or someone is fudging the numbers here.

I decided to take a look. I would summarize it like this: Obama's plan is as I described it above--cuts for 95% and raises for the other 5%--and McCain offers cuts across the board as long as you buy moderately-priced health insurance and have dependents, plus some additional cuts for the wealthy (who do pay most all of the taxes anyway). McCain's tax cuts would be bigger, but affect fewer people, while Obama's would directly help more people, but would also adversely affect some. Here are a couple links, both from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center:

tax-summary.pdf

side-by-side comparison

I enjoyed watching the Republican National Convention last night. I caught the tail end of Huckabee, all of Guiliani, and all of Palin. Brooklynne and I laughed about how Huckabee concluded with a story that we got in a chain email months ago. I always assumed those emails were mostly fabricated, but I hope Huckabee confirmed the story before he included a forwarded email in his speech.

Guiliani's speech was probably good from an overall GOP perspective, but to me, it came off as extremely condescending. We can all agree that being a community organizer alone does not qualify a person to be president, but don't make fun of or belittle community organizers!!! That is extremely insulting and I hope the GOP speech writers did not intend to imply that community organizers don't deserve the same respect and admiration we give to other community-level public servants such as teachers, doctors at free clinics, pro-bono attorneys, volunteer firemen, etc. I was highly involved with a large number of community organizers during my time as a School-Year Internship Coordinator for APPLES, and believe me, they have tough, often thankless jobs, that contribute greatly to the improvement of their cities/neighborhoods. I resent the condescending attitude of laughing at Obama's time as a community organizer.

Now that I got that off my chest, let's talk about Sarah Palin. I liked her (besides that she also poked fun of Obama's service as a community organizer). I haven't started her VP report card, and I suspect I'll have some major differences with her on the issues, but I thought she seemed warm, poised, and confident, intelligent, genuine, and tough, which gives her the qualities I want to see presented in a president. Brooklynne and I agreed that we would be glad for her to be a role model for Halleigh.

Plus her subtle upper-northwest twang was fun to listen for, don-cha-know? How bout that, eh?

Did anyone else watch last night? What did you think?

It has been a while, so please remember to respect the report card ground rules.

Joe Biden: regular guy or Washington insider?

Biden is supposed to be the friend of the every-day kind of guy, but he's also been in Washington for a long time. Personally I was hoping for a younger face who could carry the torch into the future. We'll have to see whether Biden affects the ticket based on his experience or his entrenchment. 

Conflicts with Obama on:

1. Drivers' licenses for undocumented persons (opposes)
2. Ban on partial-birth abortion (supports)

Potential scandals brewing:

1. Two previous instances of possible plagiarism (both have been determined to be careless errors)

Things you never knew about Joe

1. He was named one of Time magazine's 200 Faces for the Future... in 1974.
2. He is the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Delaware history.
3. In the 1980s, he underwent life-saving brain surgery.
4. He also ran for president in the 1988 election.
5. According to Wikipedia, he's considered one of the least wealthy members of the Senate (less than $400,000 net worth).
6. He once lobbied for a Kerry-McCain ticket in 2004.
7. He teaches constitutional law on the side.
8. He is still running for reelection to the Senate, despite accepting the VP nomination.

Bonus Points: Compelling story of personal resilience.

Minus Points: Possibly too old and too connected to the old school to help carry on the changes promised by an Obama administration.

The moblog should have worked, but for some reason, my cell will not send picture messages. So while the blog was ready to receive, unfortunately the camping trip went unblogged for the weekend. I’m going to Verizon today, so hopefully I’ll get a few pictures posted later. Also on tap for this week: VP report cards, two Halleigh Shows, and more random links.