Constitutional discussion

A couple worthy Don Harrold videos below. Don Harrold is a day trader newsletter guy who also comments on politics of the day.

Ron Paul
Federal Reserve

Obama vs McCain

Here's a summary of their positions for those of you unsure of who should get the vote in November:

Privatization of social security:
Obama against
McCain for

Free trade:
McCain mostly for
Obama more against

Private school vouchers
Obama against, would undermine public schools
McCain for

Nuclear power:
Obama for
McCain for

Drilling in ANWAR:
Obama against
McCain against

Universal health care:
Obama for
McCain against - would give families portable tax credit, support state Guaranteed Access Plan

Bear Stearns bailout:
McCain for
Obama no opinion

Net neutrality:
Obama for
McCain for

Estate tax cuts:
Obama against raising the exemption to 5 million
McCain for - up to 10 million exempt

Guest worker program:
Obama for
McCain for (he's 'liberal' here)

Iraq war timetable for withdrawal:
Obama for - 16 months
McCain against - stay until the Iraqis can handle themselves

Afghanistan:
Obama supports sending more troops
McCain supports a larger Army and Marine Corps

Iran:
Obama keeps all options open
McCain keeps all options open

Abortion:
Obama pro-choice, supports Roe v Wade
McCain pro-life, supports abortion in cases of rape. Would repeal Roe v Wade.

Taxes:
McCain against AMT, would get rid of it, general low tax or cut tax strategy, keep capital gains tax cut, etc.
Obama - raise taxes on the wealthy, cut taxes on middle class, voted No on repealing AMT:

Balanced budget:
both candidates economic policies have been predicted to continue budget deficit spending for some or all of their term.
McCain v Obama

Gun control:
Obama: "I think there is an individual right to bear arms, but it's subject to commonsense regulation." Supports all gun control issues/bans.
McCain against gun control, supports 2nd amendment as it is worded.

Death penalty:
Obama mostly for with more controls
McCain for

Stem cell research:
Obama for
McCain against "federal crime for researchers to use cells or fetal tissue from an embryo created for research purposes."

Marijuana:
Obama would decriminalize for small amounts
McCain strict on drugs, more war on drugs

So there's your position summary. We can safely assume that Hilary will fight until there's 0% chance of her winning the nonimation since she cares more about Hilary then about the Democratic party. It will be interesting to see who gets the VP nominations for both parties.

By the way I decided to write this then drive 2 hours for a triathlon.

New Bern Triathlon

I'm debating running down to New Bern on the central NC coast tomorrow morning to race in the New Bern Triathlon, another one in the Trysports Triathlon series. It starts at 8AM and is about 2 hours away. I'm not registered at the moment, which means I'd go last in a time trial swim start. So I wouldn't actually start until closer to 8:30. Which means if I pack the car tonight and set the coffee maker, I could sleep until 5:15. This is part of the series that One Step Beyond is sponsoring this year.

I reserve the right to sleep till 9 then read the paper.

summer days

The summer season is just around the corner, and that's usually around the time I start daydreaming about chucking my office job (ha ha) and heading to the beach to work the beach patrol. Of course, Bri and Tassie would have to go as well. There are plenty of possibilities. We could always retrace my steps and head back to the Ocean City Beach Patrol in New Jersey. But that's a haul, summer rentals are astronomical, and life travels forward, not back. So here are a few local possibilities:
Carolina Beach, NC
Wrightsville Beach, NC
Kill Devil Hills, NC
Corolla, NC
Nags Head, NC
Duck, NC
Lack's Beach guards, Myrtle Beach, SC.

Of course, Bri will remind me that we have a mortgage, she has a full-time job, and the economic realities of such a decision are stacked against us, but those are just details. Don't you think it would be fun to head to the beach for a summer?

broken beer fridge

Can you imagine the horror when I went to get a beer last night and discovered that our one-month old beer and wine fridge is no longer fridgerating? The compressor burned out. We'll see what sort of customer service we get.

May 3 weekend

We had a nice weekend here in NC. I shot down to White Lake on Saturday morning to catch a few of my athletes & friends racing in the White Lake Half. It was windy and hot but people held together well. Then drove the two hours back to Cary, worked a bit, and got ready for the wedding of Aaon Kiefer and Casey Moore. These two are what we in polite society refer to as a "power couple." They are both smart, good-looking, charming, and motivated. They're also very nice folks, which makes the rest of us hate them all the more. :)

We hung out with a variety of folks at the wedding and had a very nice time. I didn't do or say anything embarrassing, which must be some kind of record. I bought a suit for my niece's baptism last month, so wore that again. The pants are already kind of tight, which means my lack of training updates is directly correlated to my lack of training. I am starting to feel a bit re-motivated and am looking to get back into a reasonable routine.

Tentatively planning to run the 50th annual Atlantic City Boardwalk Marathon on October 19 and give a Boston qualifying time a shot. As a 35-39 yr old guy I need to run 3:15.59. I like getting back to the Jersey Shore every once in a while and athletic events are a good excuse.

We'll be hosting a Powerstroke clinic here in Cary on June 28 if anyone is interested in working on their swim form. We're going to record a lot of the session to use as footage in the DVD we're planning to produce. That will be my main 'business' focus for the summer. I'm still planning on racing SOS in September.

Email blogging

So as if being able to write your blog isn't enough, blogger has it set up so that you can fire off an email to your blog and have that posted. That's in case you happen to be at a movie or concert with your friends, and want to be able to tell the fourteen readers who check out your blog, "I'm at a movie with my friends!" Then your readers, three of whom happen to be at the movies with you, can receive that blog update via an RSS feed through their next generation iPhone or 3G Blackberry. Then everyone can talk about how neat technology is and drool on their 2" screens.

Tomorrow I'm off to watch the White Lake Half (Iron-distance) triathlon. I have a few athletes racing and weather should be cooperative. In the PM Bri and I will witness our friends Aaron and Casey tie the knot.

We have primary elections coming up here in NC on May 6. Ron Paul (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/) is still in the race despite receiving zero press in the mainstream media. You've got to wonder why they would fail to mention that he's still on the ballot. I'm not really sure if he still has a chance, or is just selling books and trying to make a point. The real battle here is between Obama and Clinton. North Carolina doesn't have a libertarian party so I'm registered as an independent. I'm not allowed to vote in both primaries so will have to pick one. I do wish Paul had a shot. You've gotta admit that if you think too much about national debt, fuel issues, biodiesel fallout, war, famine, global warming, ocean ice melting, inflation, conflation, stagflation, and general things-not-so-good, it makes ya want to go back to the playground when life and happiness were defined by the length of our recess, not the breadth of our excess. Ooh, that's deep.