TBWAIN - AKA Jeff Svare's Blog

On October 26th, one week before the mid-term elections, in a radio interview with Rev. Al Sharpton, the President said, "Anybody who is concerned about the direction of the country has to understand that this election is as important as 2008." Here's the part of the interview I really like: "At another point, Sharpton asked the president: 'So even though your name isn't on the ballot, this is about your agenda and about the progress we've seen you begin to make over the past 20-odd months?' 'Absolutely,' Obama said." So Barry's point is that this election is all about his agenda and the "progress" he's made. Evidently the American voters aren't all that crazy about his agenda and his "progress" thus far. After the elections, Barry said that frustrated voters dictated the Republican takeover. "As president I take responsibility." "I think people started looking at all this, and it felt as i...

In a radio interview with Eddie Sotelo, as reported on MSNBC , President Obama provided us with this BGO™ (Big Glimpse of the Obvious): "If the Latino community decides to sit out this election, there will be fewer votes." Duh, Barry. You could say the same thing if Americans with German ancestry didn't vote in this election. Which, according to Wikipedia , is about 51 million people. Yup, that would make for fewer votes.

But are we surprised? Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said, "If we are going to get anything done, Republican cooperation, which has been all but non-existent recently, will be necessary." Really Harry? Why is that? You didn't need Republican cooperation to push the health-care reform and economic stimulus through. You just want a scapegoat in case this doesn't scheme work. Future headline: "Harry Reid Blames Republicans For Bad Economy" AP said that President Obama says "Republicans have opposed everything he has done to strengthen the economy." Yep, fer shure. It's the Republicans fault that unemployment continues to rise (remember how his plan was going to prevent the loss of jobs?), the housing market is still in the toilet, and consumer prices continue to rise. I'm not an economist, nor do I play one on tv, but my personal economic situation is the worst it's ever been. None of this administrations policie...

Dumb things that have happened to me on this trip. The flight from SLC was delayed because the plane had mechanical problems in Baltimore. The flight from Atlanta was delayed because the air conditioning wasn't working. When I printed my boarding passes it also printed out an emergency contact form for me to complete. In Salt Lake they told me they would take it when I boarded in Atlanta. In Atlanta they said they didn't know what it was and didn't want it. When I asked about an upgrade at the gate to Business class, I was told I needed to do it on line 48 hours in advance. So they lost the sale of at least one of the three open seats they had. It was OK thought, there was no one in the seat next to me, so I had plenty of room. When I checked in on line for my flight from Copenhagen to Stockholm, I couldn't have access to a printer for my boarding pass, The website said I could print it at the airport. When I got to the airport I found I couldn't print my boa...

Today it was 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 Celsius) in Salt Lake City. And they were starting to put the Christmas lights up on the trees. I see it happen every year, and every year I think it can't be happening yet. But it is. "And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath." Acts 2:19

From the Associated Press - "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says it would be 'deeply irresponsible' for the Obama administration to support a wholesale extension of the Bush era tax cuts, including breaks for the wealthy." When was the last time you heard a politican say that it would be "deeply irresponsible" to raise the national debt to over 13 trillion dollars? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Sounds cool, doesn't it? Who couldn't imagine themselves wailing away with David Gilmour on Comfortably Numb ? You could make it a reality. You can vote for Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zeppelin, or U2 at this site set up by Harmonix. Vote now! Vote often! Vote Pink Floyd! Oh, yeah, I'd buy this.

I could start this with a lame Star Trek fanboy lead-in, "Jean-Luc Picard gets a Knighthood!" But I won't, 'cuz it would be lame. The 2010 Honours List is out, and the classically-trained (and just bloody amazing) actor, Patrick Stewart is on it . He has been made an OBE for services to drama. He will now be properly addressed as Sir Patrick, but Trek fans across the world will still call him, "Jean-Luc!" Make it so.