At long last...

WHOO-HOO! The Milwaukee Brewers make the Playoffs for the first time since I was in Junior High School. I won't claim that we'll go far. But at least we're in the post-season mix once again.

Contrary to earlier reports, this blog is not officially suspended.

I know, I know - I surely picked a loaded week of newsiness to not add anything to the mix. Sometimes even the most self-convinced among us take a few days off to thoughtfully consider just what's hit the country in the face like a flock of junebugs while hurtling along at 100 miles an hour on a motorcycle. I'll make it quick on a variety of points.

Last night's debate was a draw. Obama was calm and measured, to a possible fault. But McCain looked like the grumpy ol' cuss that we all know he truly is not so far beneath the surface. I take that back - McCain lost. Expect him to get all touchy-feelie next time out. Which will creep people out even more.

Sarah Palin's star has fallen. Incredibly so. Her interview this week with Katie Couric was the turning point, although I expect the zeitgeist had seen her as a mistake much earlier. The best evidence that she's no longer trusted by the McCain camp to open her mouth on camera? She didn't do a single interview after the debate last night. I think Biden was everywhere but on the Home Shopping Network. I imagine her in a missile silo in North Dakota right about now.

The Wall Street bailout is a turd wrapped in another far more expensive turd. Since I know as much as any other moron, I expect a complex mess to be passed in the middle of the week after World markets flop like a 40-pound catfish after a few days of doomsaying.

I also predict that McCain's next Hail Mary will be to vote against whatever form the bailout takes for final passage. That and getting Sarah Palin to appear in a "Maxim"-quality photoshoot sitting on his lap in the Oval Office. Oh wait, is that sexist. Sure. But she is truly only cosmetic and I couldn't care less about that charge anymore.

The Milwaukee Brewers now control their own destiny with two games remaining for both them and the Mets in the regular season. The Brew Crew's won 5 in a row. Ben Sheets is pitching hurt today. CC Sabathia is prepped to pitch on short rest tomorrow if need be. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Maya's been teaching us what's she's learned about the upcoming Rosh Hashanah holiday on Monday ("it's the New Year, Daddy"). Auntie Becca's in town for a weekender visit to also benefit from the education. Can't really say that I've got a shofar to blow. Whatever that means. But we're learning.

Hope your own teams don't inappropiately "blow the shofar" early this weekend. Go Brewers. Rock on.

"Welcome to the Puyallup Fair. I will be your impossibly cute greeter today."

"Welcome to the Puyallup Fair! I will your impossibly cute greeter today."
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Every kid loves a fair. Maya's no exception, although today was her first introduction to the culture. The Puyallup Fair south of Seattle serves the purpose of Washington's state fair. Great event. Cloudy day. Fun folks all around, nonetheless. A teacher with a school group even gave me one of her extra free gate adult tickets. All kids under 5 are free. We spent some time with the animals, but Maya was much more interested in the rides. A few snippets follow. Call if you want more voluminous details. Fun stuff.

It's not exactly Walleye on a Stick from the Minnesota State Fair, but a Krups Pup in Puyallup is still pretty tasty, doncha know.

It's not exactly Walleye on a Stick from the Minnesota State Fair, but this legendary Krusty Pup certainly was tasty, doncha know.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Maya and carnival rides - the new chocolate and peanut butter.

Maya and carnival rides - the new chocolate and peanut butter.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Maya chose the Sarah Palin car with no prompting whatsoever.

Maya chose the Sarah Palin car with no prompting whatsoever.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

"Does anyone listen to anything but Bon Jovi here?"

"Does anyone listen to anything but Bon Jovi here?"
Originally uploaded by emaggie

The obligatory merry-go-round shot. Done right.

The obligatory merry-go-round shot. Done right.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Palin pales as the banks fail?

As the markets burn and the Bushies throw bailouts hither and yon, I'm certainly not alone in thinking the real short-term impact is on the race for Prezidunt. McCain's faltering at every opportunity. Palin's nowhere to be seen (I'd check the nearest Valentino store where I expect she'll be looking to return that slightly used $2500 blouse thingie she bought for her Convention speech). Obama's on the attack. Biden, too. And the polls, for what they're worth, are showing the margin shifting away from McCain/Palin. The first debate is next Friday. Six days after that, Palin and Biden go at it. I expect that countless opinionmeisters with a soapbox to use will begin to seriously doubt the wisdom of choosing an untested Governor from Alaska just prior to this upheaval. Nonetheless, I'm waiting for some GOP hacks to start saying that the Dems somehow manufactured this meltdown in our Nation's financial sector. Because if you're going to throw every imaginable mudpie at the wall to see what sticks, you might as well mix in a few more up-to-the-moment conspiracy theories.

All of this focus on losing a few trillion dollars has certainly taken the Nation's eye off another big story - the shocking demise of the Milwaukee Brewers. They fired their manager, Ned Yost, in the most uncivil fashion with just 12 games left in the regular season. They are no longer in the lead for the Wild Card slot in the playoffs. They may have lost pitcher Ben Sheets for the remainder of the season last night. Sure, they've got Robin Yount back in the dugout as the replacement Bench Coach. But at this point I think he's only good for mustache grooming tips. I'm not giving up - they did win last night in Chicago after needing to use 7 relief pitchers after Sheets had to leave the game. Interim Manager Dale "Yes, My Name is Spelled Correctly" Sveum got a beer shower after his first victory in that role. But I'm beginning to think about getting that tattoo removed if they miss the post-season again this year...

Hope your own markets are fully stocked with loads of organic veggies today. Rock on.

The 15th Anniversary? - Steel

I'll share something of a secret with y'all. Which makes it no longer anything of a secret at all. Nonetheless, 15 years ago this upcoming Monday, I arrived in Seattle for the first time. If ever there was a future worldly goofus just off the turnip truck even after years of being barely exposed to the world at large, it was this here fella arriving in GrungeCity the week prior to starting grad school at U-Dub. I distinctly remember spending the night of September 14th at an especially crappy Motel 6 in Boise, Idaho after a day's drive post-stay with a college friend in Colorado. After what tasted like a horse "burger" and a jigger of spit mixed with my "Scotch and soda" at a nearby "restaurant", I settled in to that poetic late night hotel room TV glow and watched the premiere of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". The next day, I arrived in Seattle in the late afternoon and went to the campus office for especially bleak campus housing (6 post-undergrad guys in an apartment, unshared locks on every cabinet, despair unshared before nearby Happy Hours, blah blah blah). Maybe I'm sounding too vague and self-involved. Sorry. Just wanted to share.

Hope your own location provides insight today. Rock on.

"Soccer - it's a kick."

"Soccer - it's a kick."
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Suggested retort #273 - Apply lipstick judiciously if you intend to actually speak to others.

Last night we had a neighborhood block party. Nice folks, typically well-informed (this is Seattle, after all), armed with all manner of kids and smiles and interesting retorts. I guess I'm just an elitist since I believe that whenever I get into a head-shaking conversation about politics out here the discussion of "tactics" and "spin" becomes a lament that could be equally shared over the beer keg back in my childhood home in Northern Wisconsin. When the out of context attacks come out in a campaign of this magnitude, all bets are off. So I offer a new level of outrage today when it comes to how the McCain campaign is trying to swift boat Barack Obama. "Lipstick on a pig" is now sexist? Not when McCain said the same thing about front-running Hillary Clinton in October (!) of last year, or the times since? The wheels are coming off this thing. Time for the gloves to do so, too.

Sarah Palin has the ultimate glass jaw. She won't take questions. Attacks work and that's all we're getting from McCain's brain trust for the foreseeable future. If the egocentric journalists that pride themselves on access do nothing to bemoan how Palin is barricaded from questioning with less than two months until the election...well, they are abject failures that discredit their profession. Pressure obviously needs to come from somewhere else. Herein is the best argument for a grassroots movement I've seen in my lifetime. Cut the crap. Answer some questions. Period.

Hope your own attack ads are at least as much fun as something for Grand Theft Auto today. Rock on.

And maybe throw in a "please, God, give someone - anyone besides Charlie Gibson - the chance to ask Sarah Palin a question before time runs out"

First up - sports. The Green Bay Packers won a big opener last nite against the Minnesota Vikings. There was plenty of sloppy play, but Aaron Rodgers certainly performed better than I expected. Which means that NFL fans across the Nation will continue to debate the soap opera that is Brett Favre's breakup with the Pack. Because, in case you were in a cave all weekend and didn't see the highlights, Favre had an equally great first game as a New York Jet. Tom Brady's out for the year, the Chargers got spanked harder than Jessica Simpson after a Cowboys rout, the Colts look as old as a Sarah Palin-free John McCain rally in a diner, and everyone else still has hope since it's only the first week of the Season. Ah, football. Smells like America without a Bush in the White House.

Secondly in the same vein - the Brewers are swooning. They still lead the National League Wild Card race by 3 games over the Phillies. Less than 20 games left in the Season for everyone. If you've got a few dollars left after contributing everything you can to Barack Obama, please buy a bratwurst and say a prayer for Milwaukee. Not one of those "pray away the gay" prayers from Sarah Palin's church. A prayer that may actually do something. If you believe in that cut of jib.

Hope your own home teams have plenty of good seats miraculously available. Rock on.

"Governor, do you believe that Russia constitutes a threat? And if so, what have you commanded the Alaskan National Guard to do about it?"

Suddenly, everyone loves Sarah Palin. She can deliver prepared text! She can belittle Barack Obama's resume! She can make a joke without including either a liberal or a rabbi in the setup! Fine - I'll grant you that she performed well last night. Here's where I diverge from the fawning, shallow praise. Answer a question, Governor. Just one. To start. Then another. They hid you for a few days to prep and weather questions that might distract you from last night's speech. But over the next 60 days you'll need to answer a whole bunch of queries to fill in the gargantuan gaps in your public exposure on the issues you seem to believe we shouldn't be able to know your views on. Like how a woman who got a passport just last year so she could go visit Alaskan National Guard troops in Kuwait has anything to say about the two wars we're currently stuck in or the multitude of landmines we're trying to avoid worldwide. Or how a woman that slashed funding for teen pregnancy support agencies feels about that decision given her daughter's Senior Year date with destiny. Or how the City Manager in Wasilla actually controlled the budget and the Mayor (her "executive" position) was a part-time gig. Or how she intends to bring a federal budget back into balance given her experience running a state budget surplus almost entirely supported by oil and gas revenue kickbacks. Or...well, let's just say that the list of questions will expand as the days go on. Attacks are okey-fine if you're speaking to a crowd that already drank the Kool Aid. In the broader debate of what's unquestionably one of our Nation's broadest debating seasons in history, you don't get a pass because you can make a joke about hockey. What's the real difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Hockey moms think they deserve to be on the ice, cross-checking with reckless abandon those on the other team without possibility of penalty time. Pitbulls are just dogs.

Hope your own convention bounce has something remotely to do with substance today. Rock on.

Hurricane Bristol hits the radar

There's literally no way for me to understate how bad a pick I believe Sarah Palin is/was/will be in retrospect. Because I guarantee each and every one of you that she is out. The question I expect John McCain to hear re-spun at every turn until the Palins are thrown under the bus on the way back to Alaska is obviously as follows:

"Did you know that your pick for Vice President had an unmarried 17-year-old daughter who was 5 months pregnant when you introduced them to the Nation last Friday?"

Good luck with that whole "every child is a miracle" spin. Any teen pregnancy is an unfortunate turn of events. Unless, of course, you're a member of a barren royal family living prior to the 19th Century. Or a member of a polygamist sect trying to repopulate rural Texas. Seriously people - this is the Governor/mother/woman you want a heartbeat away from the most powerful job on the planet? She was willing to put her 17-year-old daughter through this inevitable onslaught of coverage? Or maybe she thought the world wouldn't figure it out (wink, wink)? Unbelievable. One thing's for sure, though. Dan Quayle's karmic stock rose more today than any time since 1992. Not. The. Worst. Pick. Ever...Anymore.

One quick review - Sarah and I saw "Tropic Thunder" last night. I'm always skeptical when it comes to parody. I've seen a wide range of reviews. But here's what you need to know - it's hilarious. Tom Cruise's extended cameo steals the show (if you don't laugh watching him dance over the closing credits, you have no soul). Robert Downey Jr. is hugely entertaining. The "full retard" joke that got some groups all steamed is one of the funniest conceits in recent years. Yes, yes - I get the whole "Hollywood satirizing itself is soooo over" meme. My rating is nonetheless a rare A-minus. Check your ability to be offended at the door. And soak up the silliness.

Hope your own barren ranch is within an hour of your overly-hyped disaster planning bunker today. Rock on.