YES WE CAN

Try it yourself here.

Round-up

Odds and ends on many topics we have covered here before:

FIRST ITEM: RAPTORS

The Raptors are .500. Cup half full, Jermaine O'Neal is coming into form nicely and if Bargnani keeps it up he could end up playing in a Three Big Line-up with Bosh and O'Neal, as the only 7ft small forward in the league.

Cup half empty, the three spot is either a guy who won't play his role (Moon), or a slow guy who can't defend (Kapono). The difference is, Moon doesn't know he can't shoot, Kapono knows he can't defend. Trade Moon and some of the bench to get a legit three. Plus, Calderon got hurt last night. Here's hoping four days is enough to help him recover.

I've seen parts of all of the first eight games. My goal is to watch all 82 this year, but life gets in the way of that sometimes. Thanks God for "Raptors Game in an Hour" on Raptors TV. They cut out the timeouts and some of the free throws and squeeze the game into a one hour block.

I've also managed to turn my partner into a basketball fan. The best way to do this is to watch the same team over and over again, until the person you are trying to hook gets to know what to expect from the players.

She also thinks Sam is cute when he makes his "I can't believe Moon took another three" face. To each their own.

NEXT ITEM: POLITICS

Go read these articles from Newsweek. They had reporters behind the scenes on both US Presidential campaigns. The deal was, no reporting until after the election. Fascinating stuff. I learned that Obama slid in a Jay-Z reference that the crowd got and the national press missed, and that he curses in private. Makes me like him more.

FINAL ITEM: THE FUNNY

The Boy made a video for YouTube. He usually just watches mash-ups of Kriby and Mario, but he wanted to put up something himself. So enjoy "The Ian Funny I", with many more to follow, as he has a limitless supply of those moves:

A political endorsement

Although no one will care, and it will not make a difference as I am

1 - Canadian
2 - As far away from America as you can get and still be in Canada
3 - Not a voter



I am officially endorsing Barack Obama in his bid to become President of our neighbours to the far south. What did Senator Obama have to do to become the officially endorsed candidate of yours truly....

Wasn't much really, he just had to not be the other guy...



Do not let his kindly old man schtick fool you. This man is the Devil. Not like in the Satan kind of way, but in the way that The Waterboy's Mom called everyone the Devil.... Dick Clark for example.



I was frightened enough by his belief that the war in Iraq could go on 100 years, but this is what really made me think. Move On.org (hardly unbiased, but they do have John Cusack) put out this list. Click here for footnotes.

Here are 10 things you likely didn't know about John McCain (with footnotes):



1 - John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

Why do we never see photos of Dr. King smiling by the way.... I bet he did a lot.



2 -According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2

Buchanan worked for Nixon.... he would know.



His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

You'd think that getting beaten half to death and suffering in Vietnam would give a guy some empathy...



McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4

Here is a hint... NEVER search Roe Vs Wade on Google Images.



The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5

Kids with guns, another Google Image no no no.



He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6



Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7

These people who sit with Ted Kennedy, day after day, getting a chill over someone's temper.



McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8



McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9



He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10

There you go. Vote for Barack Obama my American friends, he isn't the other guy.

I also endorse Arrowroot Cookies, Battlestar Galactica and Grover of the Muppets.

Imitation is

... the most sincere form of flattery. Barack Obama has been tossing out compliments left and right.

First, the allegations that the Senator from Illinois had lifted parts of speeches by friends and used them as his own.

As someone who has been paid to write, that one isn't a big problem for me, I've even had my own stuff used by friends when it absolutely fits.... perfect example, the lead line "It happens." to describe a sewer truck spill. The person who used it sent me a note to tell me they had used it, and I thought that was great.



So, no big problem with Obama using some nice turns of phrase from colleagues, coleagues who said on TV they didn't mind.

Now here is where I get into Barack Obama's crime against children everywhere. He stole a famous line froma beloved children's character, so obvious that his lovely young daughters could have told him he was stealing.

"Yes we can."

You can hear that chant at every Obama rally.
"Yes we can
Yes we can!
YES WE CAN!"

Guess who said it first?


That's right, Bob the Builder.

"Can we build it?
YES WE CAN!"

Bob the Builder predates Obama's "Yes we cans" by years. He better offer Bob a job with FEMA if elected. He owes that round little optimist a debt of gratitude, and a damn fine line.