I'm a moderate and I think the next 61 days are going to be very interesting. A site I really like to look at when thinking about national and stat elections is "On The Issues.Org" What I like about this site is that it gives a really great summary of elected officials voting records and positions on many key issues. Per their analysis they then categorize an elected officials political perspective based on those positions. Here's what they have to say about the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates:
John McCain is a Populist-Leaning Conservative;
Sarah Palin is a Moderate Populist Conservative;
Barack Obama is a Hard-Core Liberal;
Joe Biden is a Populist-Leaning Liberal.
Let the games begin - the pundits are out in force on the tube tonight and I'm sure the Republican Convention will be as Jingoistic as the Democratic Convention this past week was.
Showing posts with label Moderate Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moderate Politics. Show all posts
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Day 3 of the Empty Nest In Bristow
[ED NOTE] This post is a ramble, hopefully not an unorganized stream of consciousness, but at the least a bit of a ramble through all my musings, there isn't any real single defining, centering activity going on here in Bristow this morning and if I wasn't writing this posting I'd be cleaning up the garage and washing a car or two. I'll do both those two tasks after finishing this posting and watching another couple of Sunday Morning news shows. So if you're looking for erudite thoughts on the end of the Washington Caps Development Camp, they aren't here though over at the Red Skate and other blogs there is plenty of that, most of which I agree with - I didn't make it to the last scrimmage yesterday so don't have any original thoughts that are new on that. If you're looking for insightful or humorous commentary on the usual subjects of my musings - well we'll have to see how I do.
It's a lovely day here in Northern Virginia though our house has been much quieter than I thought it would be. I guess that's probably not overly surprising to most people though it is to me. I thought I wanted to get over to see the final scrimmage of Caps Development Camp, however I didn't get much sleep on Friday night so I woke up too late. I was really glad to see the turnout and the excitement only built in the Caps fan base from the couple hundred I saw on Day One to the reported ~2,000 yesterday. I was also happy to see that many folks, who are more knowledgeable than me, felt Karl Alzner was the consensus standout, and that Phil DiSimone had great and good showings, respectively. The Caps need another good D-Man in the pipeline, especially since it appears Brian Pothier will probably be out for most, if not all this coming season. No, I don't have any more insight than any other fan on that matter, I just do the math relative to the Salary Cap and note that it's clear that George McPhee is certainly moving forward in a deliberate manner that treats Pothier as on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR).
Karl Alzner's rapid rise, along with the continued improvement and development of Jeff Schultz, are something the Capitals will need and welcome in their quest to go deeper into the playoffs in 2009 and beyond. Don't get me wrong, I love John Erskine's grit and watching Milan Jurcina lay board rattling hits on opponents. However, as has been well chronicled elsewhere this past season, Erskine and Jurcina's potential at cracking into the Top 4 of any NHL Team's depth chart is limited by their skating ability. A top six blue line depth chart for Defensemen that looks like this: 1) Green; 2) Poti; 3) Morrisson; 4) Schultz; 5) Alzner; 6) Jurcina; and 7) Erskine with Pothier on LTIR might work, assuming Schultz, Alzner and Jurcina all continue to rise to the occassion. The selection of who plays the 5th, and 6th position and who sits will no doubt be situational and based on injury status. This all also depends on Schultz continuing to develop. While "Sarge" takes a lot of heat here in the "blogsphere", and even I routinely shake my head while watching him NOT play physical hockey (how can a guy who is 6'6" and 221# not want to just use that size to crush guys in the corner?), his numbers are pretty good and he doesn't get burned even strength often. I trust his development and confidence will continue and hope that next season we have an entire season of the kind of play he showed fans last December/January. If that occurs the Caps top two defensive pairings (Green/Morrisson & Poti/Schultz or Poti/Alzner) will be the equal or better of any of their opponents in the league. If a third pairing can be grounded by either Schultz, Jurcina or Alzner as a solid defenseman capable of logging ~13 - 15 minutes of ice time a game with respectable, hopefully positive, +/- ratings, then the Caps will indeed be able to go far. With Erskine in DC as the seventh man and Sami Lepisto, Josh Godfrey and Patrick McNeill in Hershey as well as Joe Finley, Eric Mestery, and John Carlson in the pipeline, it's easier too see why the Caps traded Steve Eminger to the Flyers even after the series he had against them. The Caps have a solid young defense and a solid development pipeline at the position.
As for the rest of the team, there may still need to be one more move made among the forwards to deal with the salary cap, depending on what comes out of the Shaone Morrisson arbitration/negotiations between now and the end of the month. That said as has been pointed out by others it sure seems that the Caps will have a solid roster coming into camp in several weeks. it also seems like this team will be well suited to play the game using the system that Jack Adams trophy winner, Coach Bruce Boudreau, put in place when he took the reigns last December. Question marks still center around the health status of Team Captain Chris Clark, as well as the fit and line pairings for Center Michael Nylander. Clark seems committed to doing what it takes to get back into shape and if his 32 year old body cooperates and heals, he will likely again be a key part of the Caps at both even strength and on special teams. Nylander's injuries from last season appear to also be behind him, however whether he will center the first, second, or third line is clearly open to discussion. This situation has NOT been caused by any of the wrong reasons, before his injury, the 35 year old Swede was playing his best hockey of the season. Once Nylander was out for the season, Caps general manager George McPhee (GMGM) went out at the trade deadline and brought in 38 year old center/play maker/3 time Stanley Cup winner, Russian Superstar, Sergei Federov. Federov filled a couple of late season needs the Caps had for a seasoned, star and play maker AND he had excellent chemistry, almost immediately on and off the ice with younger countrymen Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin. The acquisition and retention of Federov, along with the faster than hoped for development of rookie Swede center, Nicklas Backstrom, as well as solid seasons by Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon and David Steckel, mean the Caps have a minor "embarrassment of riches" at center. This situation, as well as the tightness the Caps find themselves against the $56M 2008-2009 salary cap, and the fact that management, coaching staff and the fan base are all talking about how far the Caps might advance into the 2009 playoffs, instead of if they will even make the playoffs, are the real signs the "rebuild" ended at the middle of last season.
It may be local phenomenon fueled by the recent comments by the Caps new goaltender Jose Theodore and the re-signing of Sergei Federov for a fair value contract of $4M, even though he no doubt could have made a lot more in Russia, but it's really nice to think of and hear Washington is becoming a good hockey town. Getting a standing room only crowd of a couple thousand fans to watch a scrimmage at the end of development camp continues to show and fuel the excitement of the fan base here in the DC Metro Area. The next event is an Open House and Autograph session with Caps Defenseman Mike Green on July 24th. Finally even the local mainstream media (MSM) are getting on board with the idea the Caps are worthy of solid coverage both in season and during the off season. While the front pages of today's sports section have little on the Caps, the online edition of the Washington Post's section/web page on the Caps has a lot of excellent coverage; and the Washington Times has a similar set of good articles in it's online edition. As they say, it's all good, hopefully the spirit and sentiment builds as we go through next season and the Caps get a larger, just as dedicated, and knowledgeable fan base as the long term core has been. Can't wait till next season.
What has occupied most of my time these past three days has been work, busy time at ICx Technologies continue, and looking at the USMMA parents page to catch glimpses into what our son Chris is doing , via online postings of pictures of the Class of 2012's "Indoctrination". The four large program pursuits I'm personally involved with all continue to move forward and we are getting going on three more opportunities so my days have been pretty interrupt and event driven these past two weeks. Those things along with the trip to Long island to drop off Chris as well as just getting settled in this next phase of our life as an empty nest couple have been and continue to be the real grounding items in my life. I'm also starting to really try and figure out what I should be thinking about when picking who I'll vote for in November. I watched a few news shows this morning, they were less than helpful, but I am very biased against the media and how they cover politics, nobody is without an agenda - I know "duh".... I want to find a moderate who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and will have the ability to make a budget and policy that is both effective and reflective of those desires and values. i guess that means I'm living in fantasy land - here I sit approaching 50 years old and still somewhat of an idealist, I don't think that's too, too terrible a thing. It's also probably very reflective of the great life we have and the great country we live in. Sue me - I'm a relatively happy and sentimental, patriotic guy. It's hard not to have those feelings stirred when you've just seen 307 great young men and woman begin their journey through life by joining a group and ideal that they all know is something bigger then themselves - even when they don't fully understand what it all is or will be.
ACTA NON VERBA
Can't wait till next season; LETS GO CAPS!!!!!
It's a lovely day here in Northern Virginia though our house has been much quieter than I thought it would be. I guess that's probably not overly surprising to most people though it is to me. I thought I wanted to get over to see the final scrimmage of Caps Development Camp, however I didn't get much sleep on Friday night so I woke up too late. I was really glad to see the turnout and the excitement only built in the Caps fan base from the couple hundred I saw on Day One to the reported ~2,000 yesterday. I was also happy to see that many folks, who are more knowledgeable than me, felt Karl Alzner was the consensus standout, and that Phil DiSimone had great and good showings, respectively. The Caps need another good D-Man in the pipeline, especially since it appears Brian Pothier will probably be out for most, if not all this coming season. No, I don't have any more insight than any other fan on that matter, I just do the math relative to the Salary Cap and note that it's clear that George McPhee is certainly moving forward in a deliberate manner that treats Pothier as on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR).
Karl Alzner's rapid rise, along with the continued improvement and development of Jeff Schultz, are something the Capitals will need and welcome in their quest to go deeper into the playoffs in 2009 and beyond. Don't get me wrong, I love John Erskine's grit and watching Milan Jurcina lay board rattling hits on opponents. However, as has been well chronicled elsewhere this past season, Erskine and Jurcina's potential at cracking into the Top 4 of any NHL Team's depth chart is limited by their skating ability. A top six blue line depth chart for Defensemen that looks like this: 1) Green; 2) Poti; 3) Morrisson; 4) Schultz; 5) Alzner; 6) Jurcina; and 7) Erskine with Pothier on LTIR might work, assuming Schultz, Alzner and Jurcina all continue to rise to the occassion. The selection of who plays the 5th, and 6th position and who sits will no doubt be situational and based on injury status. This all also depends on Schultz continuing to develop. While "Sarge" takes a lot of heat here in the "blogsphere", and even I routinely shake my head while watching him NOT play physical hockey (how can a guy who is 6'6" and 221# not want to just use that size to crush guys in the corner?), his numbers are pretty good and he doesn't get burned even strength often. I trust his development and confidence will continue and hope that next season we have an entire season of the kind of play he showed fans last December/January. If that occurs the Caps top two defensive pairings (Green/Morrisson & Poti/Schultz or Poti/Alzner) will be the equal or better of any of their opponents in the league. If a third pairing can be grounded by either Schultz, Jurcina or Alzner as a solid defenseman capable of logging ~13 - 15 minutes of ice time a game with respectable, hopefully positive, +/- ratings, then the Caps will indeed be able to go far. With Erskine in DC as the seventh man and Sami Lepisto, Josh Godfrey and Patrick McNeill in Hershey as well as Joe Finley, Eric Mestery, and John Carlson in the pipeline, it's easier too see why the Caps traded Steve Eminger to the Flyers even after the series he had against them. The Caps have a solid young defense and a solid development pipeline at the position.
As for the rest of the team, there may still need to be one more move made among the forwards to deal with the salary cap, depending on what comes out of the Shaone Morrisson arbitration/negotiations between now and the end of the month. That said as has been pointed out by others it sure seems that the Caps will have a solid roster coming into camp in several weeks. it also seems like this team will be well suited to play the game using the system that Jack Adams trophy winner, Coach Bruce Boudreau, put in place when he took the reigns last December. Question marks still center around the health status of Team Captain Chris Clark, as well as the fit and line pairings for Center Michael Nylander. Clark seems committed to doing what it takes to get back into shape and if his 32 year old body cooperates and heals, he will likely again be a key part of the Caps at both even strength and on special teams. Nylander's injuries from last season appear to also be behind him, however whether he will center the first, second, or third line is clearly open to discussion. This situation has NOT been caused by any of the wrong reasons, before his injury, the 35 year old Swede was playing his best hockey of the season. Once Nylander was out for the season, Caps general manager George McPhee (GMGM) went out at the trade deadline and brought in 38 year old center/play maker/3 time Stanley Cup winner, Russian Superstar, Sergei Federov. Federov filled a couple of late season needs the Caps had for a seasoned, star and play maker AND he had excellent chemistry, almost immediately on and off the ice with younger countrymen Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin. The acquisition and retention of Federov, along with the faster than hoped for development of rookie Swede center, Nicklas Backstrom, as well as solid seasons by Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon and David Steckel, mean the Caps have a minor "embarrassment of riches" at center. This situation, as well as the tightness the Caps find themselves against the $56M 2008-2009 salary cap, and the fact that management, coaching staff and the fan base are all talking about how far the Caps might advance into the 2009 playoffs, instead of if they will even make the playoffs, are the real signs the "rebuild" ended at the middle of last season.
It may be local phenomenon fueled by the recent comments by the Caps new goaltender Jose Theodore and the re-signing of Sergei Federov for a fair value contract of $4M, even though he no doubt could have made a lot more in Russia, but it's really nice to think of and hear Washington is becoming a good hockey town. Getting a standing room only crowd of a couple thousand fans to watch a scrimmage at the end of development camp continues to show and fuel the excitement of the fan base here in the DC Metro Area. The next event is an Open House and Autograph session with Caps Defenseman Mike Green on July 24th. Finally even the local mainstream media (MSM) are getting on board with the idea the Caps are worthy of solid coverage both in season and during the off season. While the front pages of today's sports section have little on the Caps, the online edition of the Washington Post's section/web page on the Caps has a lot of excellent coverage; and the Washington Times has a similar set of good articles in it's online edition. As they say, it's all good, hopefully the spirit and sentiment builds as we go through next season and the Caps get a larger, just as dedicated, and knowledgeable fan base as the long term core has been. Can't wait till next season.
What has occupied most of my time these past three days has been work, busy time at ICx Technologies continue, and looking at the USMMA parents page to catch glimpses into what our son Chris is doing , via online postings of pictures of the Class of 2012's "Indoctrination". The four large program pursuits I'm personally involved with all continue to move forward and we are getting going on three more opportunities so my days have been pretty interrupt and event driven these past two weeks. Those things along with the trip to Long island to drop off Chris as well as just getting settled in this next phase of our life as an empty nest couple have been and continue to be the real grounding items in my life. I'm also starting to really try and figure out what I should be thinking about when picking who I'll vote for in November. I watched a few news shows this morning, they were less than helpful, but I am very biased against the media and how they cover politics, nobody is without an agenda - I know "duh".... I want to find a moderate who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and will have the ability to make a budget and policy that is both effective and reflective of those desires and values. i guess that means I'm living in fantasy land - here I sit approaching 50 years old and still somewhat of an idealist, I don't think that's too, too terrible a thing. It's also probably very reflective of the great life we have and the great country we live in. Sue me - I'm a relatively happy and sentimental, patriotic guy. It's hard not to have those feelings stirred when you've just seen 307 great young men and woman begin their journey through life by joining a group and ideal that they all know is something bigger then themselves - even when they don't fully understand what it all is or will be.
ACTA NON VERBA
Can't wait till next season; LETS GO CAPS!!!!!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Musings on a Chilly Sunday
The Caps are 8-3 so far this month (January) and now everyone is talking playoffs. From what I can see they are on the right track but talking about the playoffs is premature. The Caps have 32 regular season games to go, 16 home games and 16 away games. The schedule includes a stretch of 6 straight away games between March 18th and March 29th. They finish the season with three straight home games against Southeast Division rivals, in fact the last 6 games of the season will be against SE division opponents. There are no guarantees, except if the Caps keep playing like they have since Thanksgiving, it'll be fun to watch. LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!
In politics, the presidential primaries, have been a lot like the Caps season or maybe it's more like the NCAA football season. No clear front runners - at least not for long. If anyone had predicted that coming out of Super Tuesday, it'll be far more likely the Republican nomination would be clearer than the Democratic nominee, even around Thanksgiving would anything have happened except laughter? I doubt it. At the time the Republicans had seven (8) "serious candidates" and five (6) (Guiliani, Huckebee, McCain, Paul, Romney, and Thompson) who have/had hardcore base constituencies and relatively solid funding. On the Democratic side, while in November there were also eight (8) "serious candidates", conventional wisdom was that only three (3) or four (4) of them (Clinton, Edwards, Obama, and Richardson) had the drive, constituency and funding to go the distance.
It now appears entirely possible that after Tuesday's Florida primary where the Republicans will be a neck in neck horse race between Romney and McCain, despite a last ditch effort by Gulliani to save his campaign, McCain could be a clear front runner. Senator McCain has also surged nationally in polls of Republicans, a situation that bodes well for him going into "Super Tuesday" - February 5th -with it's many "winner take all" states. If Senator McCain can show well in or better yet win in Florida (a tough thing given he is neck and neck with Governor Romney and fighting for many of the same votes that Mayor Guilliani is courting) he will go into Super Tuesday well poised. If after Florida, Mayor Gulliani decides that his likely third place showing isn't good enough to continue, a clear possibility given the state of his campaign's dwindling cash on hand going into Super Tuesday and the precipitous erosion of his national support may drive him to retire from the field, support for McCain is likely to swell. For that reason it appears on the Republican side, Super Tuesday will likely be a battle between Romney and McCain, with Congressman Paul's hardcore 5-7% staying true to the paragon of true constitutionalism.
Although, clearly Governor Huckebee is a Super Tuesday wild card, particularly in states with conservative Republican bases like Utah, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, Tennessee, and Georgia. Further complicating things, for the Republicans, are the "winner take all states" Florida this Tuesday (a winner take all by Congressional District) and New York, Missouri, Arizona, New Jersey, Utah, Connecticut, Montana, and Delaware on Super Tuesday. It seems based on the polls that Huckebee would need a couple of major upsets to stay relevant in the race. Between now and February 6th, four hundred and twenty (420) delegates will be designated in winner take all primaries on the Republican side of the battle for the presidency. After Super Tuesday the only other states with winner take all republican primaries are: Virginia (63 delegates on 2/12) and Vermont (17 delegates on 3/4). Given the current polls it's hard to see Guliani going far without winning a significant amount of delegates in California, regardless of whether he wins Florida or not, but a win in Florida, though unlikely at present, would likely propel him to capture New York's 101 winner take all delegates; however at present Guiliani trails McCain in the polls even there in his home state. The way things are going it's hard to see how the Republicans won't have a clearer picture than the Democrats, or at least a two candidate race, after the dust from Super Tuesday clears.
On the other hand, if the Democratic primaries continue the way they've been going the Clinton - Obama battle could go all the way to the convention. Perhaps that's why John Edwards stays in the race, is he looking to be the "king-maker"?
Well Tuesday evening will be really interesting, the Caps return to action in Montreal against the Canadeans and I can watch the primary results come in from Florida. What could be better than hockey from it's largest cathedral the sport has - the Bell Center home of the 24 time Stanley Cup Champion Canadeans and election results the great State of Florida - home of the "hanging chad"?
In politics, the presidential primaries, have been a lot like the Caps season or maybe it's more like the NCAA football season. No clear front runners - at least not for long. If anyone had predicted that coming out of Super Tuesday, it'll be far more likely the Republican nomination would be clearer than the Democratic nominee, even around Thanksgiving would anything have happened except laughter? I doubt it. At the time the Republicans had seven (8) "serious candidates" and five (6) (Guiliani, Huckebee, McCain, Paul, Romney, and Thompson) who have/had hardcore base constituencies and relatively solid funding. On the Democratic side, while in November there were also eight (8) "serious candidates", conventional wisdom was that only three (3) or four (4) of them (Clinton, Edwards, Obama, and Richardson) had the drive, constituency and funding to go the distance.
It now appears entirely possible that after Tuesday's Florida primary where the Republicans will be a neck in neck horse race between Romney and McCain, despite a last ditch effort by Gulliani to save his campaign, McCain could be a clear front runner. Senator McCain has also surged nationally in polls of Republicans, a situation that bodes well for him going into "Super Tuesday" - February 5th -with it's many "winner take all" states. If Senator McCain can show well in or better yet win in Florida (a tough thing given he is neck and neck with Governor Romney and fighting for many of the same votes that Mayor Guilliani is courting) he will go into Super Tuesday well poised. If after Florida, Mayor Gulliani decides that his likely third place showing isn't good enough to continue, a clear possibility given the state of his campaign's dwindling cash on hand going into Super Tuesday and the precipitous erosion of his national support may drive him to retire from the field, support for McCain is likely to swell. For that reason it appears on the Republican side, Super Tuesday will likely be a battle between Romney and McCain, with Congressman Paul's hardcore 5-7% staying true to the paragon of true constitutionalism.
Although, clearly Governor Huckebee is a Super Tuesday wild card, particularly in states with conservative Republican bases like Utah, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, Tennessee, and Georgia. Further complicating things, for the Republicans, are the "winner take all states" Florida this Tuesday (a winner take all by Congressional District) and New York, Missouri, Arizona, New Jersey, Utah, Connecticut, Montana, and Delaware on Super Tuesday. It seems based on the polls that Huckebee would need a couple of major upsets to stay relevant in the race. Between now and February 6th, four hundred and twenty (420) delegates will be designated in winner take all primaries on the Republican side of the battle for the presidency. After Super Tuesday the only other states with winner take all republican primaries are: Virginia (63 delegates on 2/12) and Vermont (17 delegates on 3/4). Given the current polls it's hard to see Guliani going far without winning a significant amount of delegates in California, regardless of whether he wins Florida or not, but a win in Florida, though unlikely at present, would likely propel him to capture New York's 101 winner take all delegates; however at present Guiliani trails McCain in the polls even there in his home state. The way things are going it's hard to see how the Republicans won't have a clearer picture than the Democrats, or at least a two candidate race, after the dust from Super Tuesday clears.
On the other hand, if the Democratic primaries continue the way they've been going the Clinton - Obama battle could go all the way to the convention. Perhaps that's why John Edwards stays in the race, is he looking to be the "king-maker"?
Well Tuesday evening will be really interesting, the Caps return to action in Montreal against the Canadeans and I can watch the primary results come in from Florida. What could be better than hockey from it's largest cathedral the sport has - the Bell Center home of the 24 time Stanley Cup Champion Canadeans and election results the great State of Florida - home of the "hanging chad"?
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