Politics #1:  What is the over under on how many former democratic presidential candidates can get high profile jobs in an Obama administration?  So far they got VP and Secretary of State.  Is this change we can believe in?  I guess experience does count.

Politics #2:  The Inaugural:  Really crazy.  Hotels getting $900 per night plus a 4 night minimum.  Tickets on ebay for thousands.  All to stand outside far away from the speech and catch a glimpse of the Man?  I’ll watch from my warm house in my Bombo.

Economy #1:  Just heard a report on NPR, from kids radio (whatever that is), from a college freshman who reported from the Democratic National Convention for NPR.  Now he might have to drop out because he needs $2,000 to pay tuition and can’t afford it.  LET ME ASK THIS QUESTION, INSTEAD OF EXPLOITING THIS BUDDING JOURNALIST ON THEIR RADIO SHOW, WHY DOESN’T NPR JUST PAY THIS KID’S TUITION???  I mean aren’t there child labor laws?  Really!

TV #1:  Gossip Girl:  Too many episodes have passed to give you an update, but suffice to say..WHAT?  I mean are these characters really in High School and if so, I want to move to NYC and go to school there.   Really!

Politics #3:  Sarah Palin:  Awesome news.  Seems she might really be the up and coming hope of the Republican party for 2012.  Thank goodness.  They have guaranteed another Obama term. 

TV #2:  Watch Top Chef NYC, it really is the only good reality TV show left on television.

That’s it for now.  Enjoy your Thanksgivings.  I’ll update you on mine when I return.  Until then..PEACE

TV #1:  Mad Men:  Holy cow, Don goes to LA with Pete, meets some rich, young honey and ditches Pete to go hang out in Palm Springs with her dad, a “count,” and a whole other band of what appear to be wealthy jet setters.  Meanwhile back in NYC, Peggy wants to go to the Dylan show with that weird german dude who works at the agency…until he announces he’s homosexual, then she asks him why she always picks the wrong men and the guy replies that it’s due to her haircut and he proceeds to cut her hair.  Weird.  In the first LA scene we learn that TWA has lost Don’s luggage and that all of his stuff is gone.  Could this be the most perfect set-up/foreshadow of the fact that he is going to drop off the face of the map again.  Recall that last season Don begs Rachel the department store heiress to run away withhim to…you guessed it…LA.  Then two things happen at the end of the episode, first Don makes a call from Palm Springs to someone unknown, but presumably in California, and says “Hello, this is DICK WHITMAN.”  Are you kidding me, now he’s going back to his old life?!?  Then in the last scene, TWA delivers Don’s bag back to his house in NY, yet when the deliveryman knocks and rings the bell, no one is home and bag gets left outside in front of the door.  Where is Betty?  Gone back to the Main Line withthe kids to be withher dad?  Glad today is Sunday and we’ll hopefully get some answers.  Meanwhile, don’t forget about Roger’s proposal to the 21 year old secretary and Duck Phillips’ attempt to take over the firm.  I know some have said this wasn’t a great episode, but I disagree.  Its just what the show needed at this point in the season.  Weiner’s story arc is, of course, genius.  The only bad Mad Men news this week was that although AMC formally picked up the show for a third season, Weiner is playing hard-to-get and hasn’t yet committed.  Of course he’ll be back and of course its all about the money.

TV #2:  Gossip Girl:  The Yale episode.  Ok I haven’t even applied for pre-school yet and I know that college admissions is nothing like what they showed.  I mean really, Blair writes an essay called something like: “On being Blair.”  Not to stuck-up.  Serena goes to her interview looking like a total Hoochie and Chuck Bass gets kidnapped by Skull & Bones even before he’s admitted and accepted.  Really?!?  Dan is told he needs more references for his applications and the dean tells him to go find an English Prof  on campus to read his stuff and get one of them to write for him, no way.  Finally, back in NYC Lil’ J convinces Rufus to home school her so that she can continue to be exploited child labor on behalf of the fashion industry.  You may think from this synopsis that I can’t stand the show.  To the contrary, I can’t wait for the next episode.

TV #3/Politics #1:  The Last Great Debate:  Are you kidding me.  McCain is like your grumpy old grandpa at Thanksgiving dinner who’s really angry and pissed off at you because you want to follow you heart to a career as an artist.  By the time dessert rolls around he’s probably made some nasty comment about artists and sexual orientation and maybe even called you a fairy.  I mean this guy is clueless, how about just denouncing his supporters at rallies who call for Obama’s death instead of saying that he gets slurred at Obama rallies.  I’m thinking no one has posters of McCain and a noose at Obama rallies.  Then the coup de grace, McCain jumps all over Obama when he says he didn’t support a partial birth abortion ban because it didn’t contain an exception for the life and health of the mother.  McCain then says oh yeah that old “health of the mother thing” that can be stretched into whatever you want so that the exception swallows the rule.  OK Senator McCain, let me get this straight you are against partial birth abortions even if the mother will die or be seriously harmed.  Great way to pick-up some of those undecided Hillary voters. 

TV #4/ Politics #2:  SNL: Attack of Palin:  Alright look, she was loose, in some situations funny, didn’t take herself seriously and played along.  She was generally a good sport.  The material they wrote for her was horrible, but she played along well.  I still don’t think she’s qualified to be VP and I still think putting her on the ticket was a stunt, but SNL ought pick her up as a regular, she could do Weekend Update when Poehler leaves to have her baby.

Sports #1:  The Phillies:  Someone gave me my first Phillies hat, it is too big, but man I’m glad I had it.  During the 9th inning of Game 6 in LA, I turned it inside out, wore it as a rally cap, and Lidge finished off the Dodgers.  Glad I didn’t have to wait 15 years to see them make the Series.  I’ve never seen the Series or a Series and I’m not sure what it is, but people tell me I’m lucky, born in August, get to see my team in the Series in October.  (Don’t tell anyone I’m really a Tigers fan).

Sports #2:  The Red Sox:  I mean really are you kidding me.  I looked it up, they came back last year from being down 3 games to 1 to win the ALCS and then the Series.  Now they are knocking on the door again.  Will experience win out over youth?  We’ll know by tomorrow.

Finally what would a post be without some videos.  I ran out of e*trade baby commercials (note to e*trade: make some more if you have the money), but I did come across this kid imitating Bill O’Reilley from Fox News and he is a riot: 

Here is one more.  I mean seriously this kid is better than Colbert:

That is all for now loyal readers.  Check back this week for some more thoughts from the swing (I seem to be more creative in there, plus I no longer get a bath in the sink, I’m in the shower now and it is A LOT less humiliating and I think better in there).  PEACE!

Alright, so I know you are all waiting for my debate review.  Let me just say this…I watched, it was boring and even though I think Sarah was winking right at me, I’m still not voting for her.  Biden, usual blathering from him, full command of the issues and the English language…both skills I value highly in a VP.  Palin, my God, how about answering a question?  “Governor do you support carbon emission caps?”  “Why yes.  But now I want to talk about hockey moms, joe six-pack (who I think she really believes exists somewhere), and sitting around kitchen tables and oh yea, did I mention I was once in the PTA?”  Nice work Governor, don’t answer any questions and just say what you want unchecked by the media.  The highlight of the night for me?  When asked what she thought she would do as the VP, she responded that she was happy that the framers of the Constitution had made the VP office “flexible” so that she could be in the legislative and executive branches.  HELLO?  NO THEY DIDN’T (my apologies to Dick Cheney and all) but the VP is clearly an executive position, its in Article I of the Constitution which defines the executive branch.  Look she can break a tie in the senate every once and a while, but that’s about it.  Has she even read the Constitution or does she just read the talking points about the Constitution? 

If you missed the debate, go to www.hulu.com and check out the SNL spoof.  It wasn’t so spoofy, in fact many of the questions and answers were almost verbatim from the debate.  (I would have posted the sketch here from youtube, but NBC Universal already took it down from Youtube to drive traffic to Hulu)

That’s enough about the hockey mom, pit bull with lipstick.  How about some random thoughts, not from that prison cell formerly known as the bouncy seat:

TV #1:  I told you all to watch Boston Legal this season because David Kelley was back writing.  So far this season they have taken on big tobacco, big pharma, the age of the right to vote, and privatization of prisons.  I mean, WOW.

TV #2:  Gossip Girl:  Finally, what we all were waiting for, S tells Queen B to go eff herself if she can’t be her true friend.  Lil J quits high school to go work in a sweat shop for Queen B’s mom and in the process tells her dad that he wasn’t that talented of a 90′s musician and was basically a 1 hit wonder.  Oh yeah, she also tells him that she has more talent in her little finger then he ever will.  Nice.  Good luck with that GED Lil J, or is it a spinoff you’re looking for?

Sports #1:  Cubs lose?  Yeah the team with the best record in the NL goes down hard to Torre’s Dodgers.  Guess it’ll be another off season with Cub fans scratching their heads and wondering what if?

Sports #2:  Eagles:  Some over at ESPN.com had picked this team as the sleeper pick for the super bowl.   Oh, they’re sleeping alright.  Hey Andy Reid – How about some goal line offense?

Politics #1:  The Washington Post reported today that McCain is going to have to go negative and personal against Obama now.  Really?  Because they haven’t been negative and personal until now?!?  Guess that’s why Palin said yesterday that Obama pals around with terrorists (Bill Ayers).

Finance #1:  Now that the bailout has passed and is signed, I’m still taking my investing advice from the e*trade baby, I mean he’s older and more experienced then me, and says that there are some good bargains out there:

Thats it for this week.  And to all my baby friends out there, remember fight the power of the bouncy seat!  PEACE!

While McCain was doing his best to try to look engaged in the debate and not looked shocked that it was Obama he had to debate, his vice-presidential running mate was at a debate watching event.  Not unusual, right?  Not really, except when you consider the venue, the Irish Pub in Philadelphia.  A Philadelphia institution to be sure, but really, is this very vice-presidential?   I mean the place was closed to the public and only invitees were allowed in.  There was enough press and secret service to keep the public out of reach.  So guess what, she got to hoist a pint not with the average young Philadelphian, the kind of person who usually populates the Pub on a Friday night — the ones who do not support her — but with her own hand picked crowd.  What a populist woman of the people she is.  [LATE UPDATE:  Apparently according to CNN Palin was still in Philadelphia on Saturday night and went to South Philly to get a cheese steak, the only question the press could muster was how do you think McCain did to which she responded “Awesome.”  Nice job Sarahbaracuda.  Then a Temple Student who was there asked her what she was going to do about Pakistan, particularly what has been going on with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Waziristan, to which she responded that she agreed that if we had to, we should support military incursions into Pakistan from Afghanistan.  Guess she agreed with Obama’s ideas at the debate after all, since McCain said he didn’t think that was such a good idea).

Unfortunately, Palin isn’t the only VP nominee who likes to speak her mind and get herself in trouble.  Biden did his part this week also.  He was against the AIG bailout before he was for it, but perhaps the worst gaffe was when he talked about FDR’s television address to the American people after the stock market crash in 1929.  Of course there are 2 problems with that, FDR wasn’t the president in ’29 and television wasn’t in widespread use until 1945 right around the time FDR passed away.  YIKES! 

Can’t wait for the VP debate.

Some random thoughts from the bouncy seat:

Sports #1:  Mets lose NL East again, this year on the 2nd to last day of the season.

TV #1:  Boston Legal:  This week was the season premiere of the 5th and final season.  It was good.  Kelly is back writing and D’Ellia is back directing.  YOU SHOULD WATCH.  Eli Stone is crap.

TV#2:  Californication premiere is tonight.  Figure out how to watch that and Mad Men at the same time.

TV#3:  Stop watching Olbermann.  He’s drank enough Obama Kool-Aid he looks like the Kool-Aid guy pitcher in the commercials.  What is this guy going to complain about if Obama wins?  John Boehner and other congressional republicans.

Alright I gotta go eat and figure out this bouncy seat situation.  I may actually switch to the swing this week…stay tuned.

Politics #1:  The debate has become so shrill, I can’t even stand it anymore.  Everyone says anything just to get elected.  The press does its best to try to truth squad, but even they have an agenda.  What’s a baby voter to do?  I’m still voting for Obama, but check out my favorite “journalist?” Jon Stewart:

TV#1:  No Mad Men Tonight:  I haven’t previously commented on this show, but can there be any better show on television right now?  Forget the story lines (which are great) the look and the feel of the show are stupendous, makes me want to wear a grey suit and smoke Luckys (whatever Luckys are).

TV#2:  The Emmys:  Mad Med made the decision not to be on tonight because of the Emmys.  I’ll be routing for the show and also watching to see the red carpet pre shows.  I mean, I have to see what everybody is wearing.  Since I’m still wearing onsies, I ‘m excited to see other clothes.

Economy #1:  My boy the e*trade baby got out of the market 10 days ago, so he wasn’t hurt by any of this crazy market turmoil.  He gave me the heads up and I dumped all that crappy AIG and Lehman stock just in time.  Plus I’ll get to write off those capital losses.  Anyway, I think me and my boy should be the new Secretary of the Treasury and Fed Chair in any new administration.  I mean we couldn’t do any worse!

That’s it for now, but check back for updates or subscribe by email.  Next week may bring the break-up of Brad and Angelina if the tabs are to be trusted.  If that happens, I renew my invitation to Jolie-Pitt kids to come hang out with me.  They can crash at my place while their parents sort out all of that adult stuff.

I am taking the day off from politics.  Finally the MSM (main stream media) has called McPalin out for lying (recall I did it in my post on Wednesday, Krugman of the Times didn’t get it until Friday, I am so ahead of the curve).  Plus today the Times finally called Mrs. Palin out for book banning…again I did that on Wednesday.  Unfortunately the Nobama campaign refuses to seize on any this, instead making ads about how great his ideas are.  Hey Nobama, guess what?!?  No one cares!  Hit McPalin back.  The Press isn’t going to win this one for you like they did in the primary.  Plus does anyone go to Nobama rallies anymore?  It seems he speaks to crowds of about 100 in schools and libraries.  Shades of Gore and Kerry.  YIKES!

So now I’m going to randomly shift gears and talk about some baby stuff that you guys think we like, but we really question:

Bob the Builder v. Handy Manny:  Here is my question: why does the white guy (Bob) have an engineering degree and can build whatever needs to be done but the Hispanic guy (Manny, presumably short for Manuel) is merely a handyman?  I mean you guys make this up.  Can someone please explain it to me?… like I’m a 5 week old.

WARNING: DETOUR FROM BABY LAND:  Movies:  Michael Clayton:  Saw it for the first time last night.  Clooney, superb.  Great script and direction by Tony Gilroy (also did the last 2 Bourne movies and appears in Clayton as the cab driver in the last scene).  The most important thing to me?  Clayton’s son in the movie named…you guessed it…Henry!

Teletubbies:  What the eff are these guys…gay or straight?  Who cares!  They are downright weird…I mean what is that language they speak.  I mean I can’t speak English, but at least I can read and write it.  The creator of that show must have been on some crack smokin, E induced mushroom haze to have come up with that.  Imagine all these guys at the pitch meeting for PBS sitting around a table making those crazy noises and showing artwork of ling-ling or whatever that purple bastard’s name is!

More TV:  Sprout Channel:  Don’t get me started.  Like Teletubbies on ‘roids.  Remember boys and girls, just say no to performance enhancing HGH.

Finally:  CLOWNS!!!!  Why do you guys thing we like this and aren’t actually, completely and utterly terrified by them.  First of all they are fully grown adults wearing weird ass make-up, stupid hair, funny shoes and a bulbus nose.  They make us CRY!  They don’t really speak, some have horns…which again are scary and they make weird balloon sculptures.  I mean these creatures are really really creepy.  Yet you guys in your zeal to impress us hire these weirdos to entertain at our parties and then wonder why we all go into some crazy crying tizzy fit.  Yet by continually hiring them, you are helping to support and maintain the clown economy.  I think my friend over at e*trade said it best:

That’s all for now.  I have to go watch my man Brett go beat up on the Brady-less Pats.  GO JETS!

“I fired the governor’s executive chef” (and her kids were allegedly sad about that)…LIE…she eliminated the position of executive chef, but then simply called the chef something else and had her keep on cooking.

“I told congress thanks, but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere.”  REALLY REALLY BIG LIE.  She was quoted in 06 as being for it, said so in the debates, and only vetoed it when Congress deauthorized the project because it was such a boondoggle.  Notwithstanding, she still took the twenty some odd million dollars which had already been “earmarked” and appropriated and spent it on other projects, including a road that leads right to the water’s edge where the bridge was to start.  A road to nowhere?

“I sold the state/governor’s jet on e-bay”  No, not really.  She put it on ebay but couldn’t get the minimum bid.  Instead she sold it through an aviation broker at a loss.  TREMENDOUS.

My final comment in this rant is not really a lie on her part, but certainly shading the truth.  It seems she contacted the Wasilia librarian about the procedure the Mayor would have to take to …wait for it….BAN BOOKS??!!??  When labeled a book banner, the McPalin people shot back that no actual books were banned and the Mayor/Governor/Liar was just trying to educate herself on the ”procedure” one would take to ban books.  I guess armed with that knowledge the moose hunter was going to what….order some more copies of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species?  

For those of you who wonder how a lying, right wingnut, moose hunting, book banning, pork-barrel loving, 19 month Governor of Alaska got named to this ticket, I thing the following video explains it all: 

Anyway here are some more thoughts from my bouncy seat:

TV #1:  VMA’s:  Horrible.  Britney, horrible.  Didn’t even have the chance to be a train wreck.  Then she gets 3 sympathy Moon Men for good measure.

Sports #1:  Lance Armstrong:  Coming back.  Don’t.  You won 7 in a row, went out on top.  Don’t spoil that.

Sports #2:  Brady v. Favre:  Oh well Pats fans, guess you’ll have to focus on the Celtics this year.  Brett rolled on Sunday with the Jets?!?

TV #2:  Gossip Girl:  OMFG!  Just watch.

Just finished digesting the RNC.  Jeez, first we had the three horsemen of the Apocalypse, Thompson, Huckabee, and Giuliani.  I think Thompson said Palin was the only republican nominee who could field dress a moose, he Freddy what about Teddy Roosevelt?  Maybe he should go back to Hollywood?  Next Huckabee proclaimed that she got more votes for mayor of Wasilia then Biden got for President in 08.  Hey Huckleberry, don’t think so: in one run she got 600 odd votes in another like 400 and some, Biden got more than that in NJ alone and totaled something like 80,000 before he dropped out.  Then came Rudy, ahhh Rudy.  The guy who is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, married three times, marched in the gay pride parade and former multi-term mayor of the Republican’s modern day Sodom and Gomorrah…New York City.  Criticized Obama for being to elitist, said Obama had no respect for Palin because the town she was mayor of, wasn’t cosmopolitan enough.  Are you kidding me?  This guy was the mayor of NEW YORK?

Next up the tag team of the pit bull with lipstick and her great grandfather…I mean the republican nominee.  Look this guy is old, I mean really old, dusty old.  By the way, did you know he was a POW in Vietnam?  Neither did I!  I don’t even know where Vietnam is, because I’m only almost 4 weeks old.  Anyway, they both promised to bring change and reform to Washington.  Really?  Their party has been in control of all of the branches of government for 7 out of the last 8 years and have had the congress, the presidency or both for something like 26 out of the last 28 years.  How much change can they really bring?  McCain says he’s not going to put up with the fat cats who put themselves first and country second.  HMMM…what about the Keating 5, who combined brought down the entire S&L industry…and guess what?…those were his pals….  As for her, she claims she stood up against wasteful spending and points to her veto of the bridge to nowhere as living proof of her reform mindedness.  If you google the actual veto and actually read it, you’ll see she apologized for the veto and said she did it because she couldn’t get enough federal money in the EARMARK and so the bridge was going to cost Alaska more money and she didn’t want that.  Who did she hire as a lobbyist to try and help get the money?  Some guy who used to work with Jack Abramoff and with now under investigation Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.  Yeah change we can use and lets not forget reform and country first…I could go on, but my diaper actually needs to be changed after all of this digesting of the RNC.

Some more thoughts from my bouncy seat:

RNC #1: McCain’s Speech:  Nice green screen dude.  When you essentially sit on the floor and look up at the TV, seeing that guy’s head in front of what turns out to be green grass, makes it look like a scene out of invasion of the body snatchers.

RNC#2:  That Picture:  Turns out that picture with all the nice grass is actually the lawn in front of the North Holywood Middle School called, Walter Reed Middle School.  Yes, some Republican tech geek screwed up and put that up instead of the Walter Reed Army Hospital.  Before all you readers comment (especially VRWC) on the fact that McCain issued a statement saying they meant to do that, google Rick Davis’ (McCain Campaign Chief’s) comments about how it was all some ad man named Fred Davis’ fault.  P.S. That’s the same school Sorkin used in the West Wing as a backdrop for Jimmy Smits a/k/a Matt Santos to announce his run for President.

TV #1:  The Daily Show:  TDS and Jon Stewart were consistently the best coverage of this social conservative love fest, especially Samatha Bee’s attempt to interview delegates about Bristol’s “choice” to keep the baby.  Seems everyone agreed that she made the right “decision,” but no one would agree that it was nice that she had the “choice” to do so.

TV #2:  Keith Olbermann:  Look, I’ve grown to love this guy over my brief 4 weeks, but then read something on Gawker and elsewhere about why he didn’t show up in Minneapolis and anchored from NYC.  Seems that he didn’t like the outdoor studio in Denver, didn’t want to be shouted at and was afraid…wait for it….that he might be ASSASINATED by some wingnuts.  Keith I love you man, but really you’re just not that important.  I mean everyone else was there and why wouldn’t the wing nuts target Matthews, Maddow, O’Donnell or Robinson?  They were all there.  C’mon Keith you came up a little short on this one.

Alright time for change, a diaper change.  Now that is change that I can believe in!  Check back for more thoughts and observations from the bouncy seat and maybe even an actual photo of the seat.

So here’s my offer if they’re reading:  Fly me out to LA, we’ll hang, do some playdates, maybe find two other kids and field an NL baseball team.  Maybe they could introduce me to their parents’ agents and help me get a movie deal for this blog (I’m already working on a screenplay).  If not, they could fly out here (with their parents’ Black Card), we’ll get a suite at the Ritz or Four Seasons, get massages, hang at all the trendy spots, and drink some good wine.  I mean doesn’t Angelina deserve a break?

So here are some more observations from my bouncy seat (while I realize that blog posts are supposed to be “snarky” if Obama is “post-racial,” I’m “post-snarky.”   I just speak truth to power):

TV #1 – The Season Premiere:  Gossip Girl:  Good not great.  I mean Jay McInerney’s cameo, horrible.  How does a writter who is mentoring a student fire him from an internship because the kid has writer’s block.  Dan and Serena get back together in the first episode, really?

TV#2 – The Season Finale: No Reservations: Just boring.  Bourdain what did you do?  Took us to some trumped up labor day barbeque where you pretend grill and then just serve us up clips of shows from the past 4 seasons, come on.  I’d rather watch a re-run of the one when you went to Paris, drank Absinthe and then passed out in the hotel room where Oscar Wilde died.

Politics #1 – Bristol Palin: Way to easy.  Check out Perez, Gawker, NY Daily News or any other media outlet.  Don’t forget to check out her fiance’s my space page…priceless.

Politics #2 – McCain/Palin ’08:  I thought, mistakenly, that the Republican party was the party that was always prepared.  The vet job on Palin must have Nixon and Reagan spinning in their graves.  I mean Nixon hired people to break into the Watergate to get info, McCain didn’t even bother to have anyone ask her any questions.  Ready to lead on day 1? Absolutely!

That’s enough for now, I have to get ready for the RNC coverage for tonight, I mean the President will speaking live…via satellite, what a presence!  Also I’m getting a bath in the sink, when will the humiliation end?  Check back for more posts and maybe even a picture of the bouncy seat.

As for today’s post I just wanted to introduce myself and give you some random observations from my bouncy seat:

Since I was born during the Olympics and couldn’t sleep at night I saw a lot of gymnastics coverage.  Let me just say, the Chinese women’s team…way younger than me , no doubt.

President Bush in Texas helping out with Gustav planning…still doesn’t make up for the debacle that was Katrina.  And I wasn’t even around in 05.

I’ll be voting for Obama if they reduce the voting age to 3 months, otherwise I’ll be out lit dropping.

Alright enough for the first post, I’ve got to get ready to watch the season premiere of Gossip Girl.