The Final Debate: Pre-Game Show

Once again, the lucky NY Giants hat and pack of Camel Crush cigarettes are at the ready.  Once again, I’m DVRing the entire debate (and watching it live as well) on MSNBC starting with Matthews at 7, Olbermann at 8, The Debate Itself plus analysis, Olbermann again at 11, and Matthews rapping things up at midnight.  Once again, I got the butterflies in my belly…but Senator Obama is keeping cool for me.  Better get that cell phone or text message in quick, because he turns his cell phone off 3 hours before the debate.

Given the fact that the Market took yet another nose-dive, the retail sales numbers (which make up 2/3 of our Economy) are down 1.2%, or almost TWICE what analysts predicted; McCain would be a fool to even think of bringing up Ayers or any other dirty tricks he may have up his sleeve.  Then again, this guy has been known to take big risks (see: Palin, Sarah) and be willing to have them not pay off (see: Palin, Sarah).

In an irony, the town where the debate is being held is Hempstead, NY…the last stop on the Long Island Rail Road line that bears its name.  Let’s just it’s the last stop for John McCain’s campaign.

See you with a post after the debate (quick or detailed analysis remains to be seen).

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Statistics Are An Interesting Thing

OK…first off, I took an extra day off from blogging…I needed the rest and I needed to put the focus on my family for a few days instead of being this middle-aged, chain smoking, hard core Pepsi drinking madman writer locked in his office.  I got some new perspective on things, I took a break (as much as I could) away from politics (at my oldest daughter’s urging) and just chilled with some sports and movies on TV.  I also took some time to look at my blog statistics, and I began to notice a pattern:

You guys REALLY like my writing when its angry and sarcastic, don’t you?

Perhaps it’s the topic I wrote about that day, or maybe it’s the way I used my words; but I get more hits on this site when you can practically feel the venom spitting forth from the computer screen on some of my posts.  Don’t get me wrong, I truly appreciate the hits and I am glad you’re enjoying that type of writing when I choose to do it.  That’s very much like me in real life too: extremely sarcastic, armed with a quip or a one liner for everything, and occasionally a very angry man…but I’m usually justified in the latter, particularly when it comes to fairness and justice.  I always related to the character of Hawkeye on M.A.S.H. very much, because I was watching myself on that television screen; and like that character, I also have a very serious and philosophical side as well.

I think that one of the best pieces I wrote was “For Absent Friends, In Memories Burning Brighly”, about the closing of Yankee Stadium.  I poured my heart into that piece, and I can’t tell you how many times I broke down while writing it.  That hasn’t happened to me before, when I could put so much emotion and feeling into a piece that I was literally drained afterward, but ultimately satisfied with the result.  Likewise, “Memories Of Two Towers Struck Down” was another piece that I am very proud of, unfortunately it came at a very bad time in my life (my 9/11 experience related and written two days after the event); but ultimately it got it’s point across because that’s obviously what got the most hits (and still continues to do so) since I started “Intersections…”.

Then there are those pieces where I tear John McCain and Sarah Palin to shreds, and I pretty much reflect the angry part of this electorate that is fed up with the past eight years of corruption and destruction of this Administration.  Those particular pieces have FAR outweighed the two pieces I mention in terms of hits on the site.  Are they more topical?  Is it because I’m reflecting YOUR anger as well as mine?  Maybe a little slice of sarcastic wit to go with it?  I don’t know…it just makes me wonder.

Yeah, I’m still going to have my nuclear meltdown moments; they are inevitable…and so will the posts be that reflect them.  I also have a great deal to say on a philosophical level, folks; and I’ve barely even touched on that part of things, mainly because this Election is too damned important to concentrate on anything else.  With any luck, McCain and Palin will be a footnote in history and a blip on my radar after November 4th.  Perhaps then, I’ll be able to start writing more pieces of a philosophical and humanities nature…which is REALLY what I want to do, and what more of this blog should be about.  Of course, it’s not going to be that all the time, but I think I’d like to get to more balance if the Universe does indeed smile and Barack Obama and Joe Biden are elected.

Otherwise, you’re going to be reading a lot of sarcastic, angry political posts for the next four years.

“The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.” – Harlan Ellison

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Mr. Ellison is my favorite writer of all time.  I cannot even begin to tell you the joy his works have given me, nor can I even begin to state the influence of this man on my writing style.  He is indeed one of the Universe’s most unique treasures.