My new favorite Thanksgiving memory

Thanksgiving Rick-roll baby!

Playing a game of 'Daddy pulls me in the cart by me hanging on to his scarf'.

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Yet another reason I'm glad Holden is a boy

The Worst Day Of Their Lives - Watch more Free Videos

One month until the Christmas Sweater

A couple of random Holden pictures

Holden watching a choo choo with Grandpa. It's amazing how content he is sitting in Grandpa's lap just watching trains. He certainly doesn't have an attention span problem in this area!

Holden hit his head a couple of nights ago. Daddy showed him that a Curious George band-aid makes everything better!

The treatment of Bush and hoping I'm wrong

I've expressed more than my fair share of disappointment in the way President Bush has run things. Particularly because, in my opinion, he hasn't allowed our troops to fight this war to win and for nationalizing more than you'd ever think a free-market supporting president ever would dream of. That said, this article is correct. The partisan politics in this country is out of hand. I truly feel more people voted for Obama because they hate (not dislike - hate) George W. Bush than because they support (or can even name one of) Obama's policies.

Am I happy about the outcome of the election? Absolutely not. I feel we took a wrong turn as a country and have to keep reminding myself that it took four years of Jimmy Carter to get to Ronald Reagan. That said, am I going to let myself become one of the foaming at the mouth, rage filled people that I've watched so many acquaintances on the liberal side become over the last eight years? I'm going to try my best not to.

Congratulations President-elect Obama. Prove me wrong. Hell, Jim Edmonds did it this year and I was about as much against Dempster becoming a starter as you'd find. And, in both cases, it felt really good to be wrong. Let's go for that blissful feeling of being wrong here too.

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
What must our enemies be thinking?
By JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO


Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.

According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.

The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.

It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.

Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.

Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman's low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.

Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Mr. Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.

I voted

Thoughts from voting this morning.

• No line to speak of at all. I spent more time reviewing my ballot than I did waiting for my turn to vote.
• The only real delay I experienced was because some moron ahead of me couldn't get his ballot in to the machine after he filled it out. The 142 year old woman working there asked the 187 year old woman behind the table what to do. They finally hit on the solution of READING THE ERROR MESSAGE and determined that the guy filled out too many circles. Two presidents? Eight soil commissioners? We shall never know.
• Some guy came in right after I did and said he wasn't sure if he was registered to vote. Excuse me? You're not sure if you're registered to vote? Go home.

So I've voted. Now I sit back to watch what happens. I don't have a good feeling about what seems to be on the horizon. I'll first say that I rarely, if ever, take a position blindly. I study the issue, or issues, then try to see both sides before coming to my conclusion. When I do take a position, I'm at peace with myself in the decision I've made. This year? Yikes. If I could have the John McCain who ran for president in 2000, I'd be a lot happier. That said, I don't understand the support Obama. He seems to have been immersed in Marxism for his entire life. A leftist mother, a Communist mentor in Frank Marshall Davis, Marxist professors and pastor. It's no wonder. But this is America. It looks clear that the Fairness Doctrine, Cap and trade, and class warfare are all part of the package with Senator Obama.

I don't want Holden to look at me and ask why my generation sold the freedoms of his grandparents and great-grandparents out. I fear an Obama presidency with a Democrat controlled House and Senate would quite likely do just that.

Changing minds

I received this via e-mail last week.

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.

Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my somewhat unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient needed money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application. I say we try this in the next 10 days and we might be able to change a few minds...