I noticed this yesterday as well. And while it's not a BIG ISSUE I don't see why everyone here has their panties in a twist over this blog post. There is plenty of meaty stuff here and elsewhere to keep you all occupied. Maybe y'all need to lighten up a little bit.

I also agree that some gray hair will not be a bad thing for him. Keeping up their grueling campaign has got to age you. And certainly presidents come out looking a whole lot more aged than 4 or 8 years should age some one. Look at how haggard and wrinkly Bush is now compared to 8 years ago. All that stress has to take a toll.

I think it is nice that he can get all of these people together. Sort of a Clinton Global Initiative type crowd. But then what? Is the purpose for them to give him ideas on policy? With so much diversity is there likely to be much consensus about anything? Are they all sitting around a giant table? Two hours isn't enough time for most of them to get to say anything? Is Obama laying out his plan to these people or is it more of a listening opportunity for him? Obviously the Bushies HATE Paul O'Niell, so having him there isn't probably much of an outreach across the aisle.

But anything that keeps McCain on the back foot and off balance is a good thing.

I suppose the right wingers will say that these are a bunch of elitists just like Obama getting together to figure out how they are going to rule the world and take more money from the working class and give it to the Chinese...or something like that.

As a VA resident I am frankly baffled by the apparent enthusiasm for Kaine as VP. He has been a fairly ineffective governor in a state with a very weak governorship in the first place. Part of the problem is that the GOP controls all of the other statewide offices and the legislature. And the governors here are not allowed to run for re-election. Mark Warner got a lot more done than Kaine has been able to do. He has been fairly low-key and low-profile. Perhaps that fits with Obama being the star of the show, but it seems like the second banana should at least bring SOMETHING to the table. Kaine seems like a nice guy who is big on social justice and I think he speaks fluent Spanish from his time doing missionary work in central America. But there's no foreign policy chops. No real economic issues where he has been a leader. Just because he is the governor here doesn't really mean all that much as far as I can tell with helping Obama win VA. If NoVA turns out Obama should be in pretty good shape anyway since the bulk of the state's population is here.

If we have learned anything from the last couple of elections it's that the truth doesn't matter. It's perception that matters. And defining your opponent is how perceptions take root. McCain hired the leaders from Rove's shop to run his campaign. Why does anyone expect them to tell the truth about anything?

If Obama is smart they will start talking about that more directly rather then the oblique new ad he has running responding to the McCain ad about gas prices.

Just one more reason to not shop at WalMart

The one thing all of this crap has managed to do is get way more free media exposure than McCain ever could have dreamed of buying. And it manages to keep the media distracted from any real, substantive issue. And it has managed to distract Obama's campaign from other things I am sure they would much rather be focused on.

I like the idea of an ad showing McCain speaking to no one though. That could be very funny. But all of his cronies in media would complain about making fun of their guy.

The things she says about taking control of your life and making sure you have an estate plan are good.

But my own financial planner thinks her advice to people to take their money out of the market and essentially hide it under the mattress is very poor...and will make her viewers very poor as well. For sure everyone's situation is different and depending on your time horizons you should do different things. But selling low and putting the money in a place where it gains no interest or a less than inflation level percentage interest is not good advice. If you have 20 years until retirement it makes more sense to invest now on a regular basis in a balanced portfolio. Historically the stock market makes these dips every so often. And eventually it rises some more before dipping again. If you have pressing needs for the money then you do what you have to do and if that means taking a loss by selling low after buying high then that's what you have to do. But if you have an emergency fund in place and a good budget and don't need your investment money right away it makes more sense to leave it alone. Invest for the long term.

I think Jerry was a Mets fan. So his statue belongs at their new stadium not Yankee stadium. George's statue would go to the Yanks.