I saw this coming years ago.

 Ten cities including four from Ohio are listed on Forbes.com list of America's fastest dying cities. My hometown of Cleveland was on the list (for many reasons) but the town I live at and call home now Dayton is on there too. Youngstown and Canton are there as well.

 The rest of the cities: Detroit and Flint, Michigan, Springfield, Mass, Scranton, Pa, Buffalo, NY, Charleston, West Virginia. I've been through Detroit and Buffalo and I can tell you it looks like the Grim Reaper himself visited these towns. Go up the road to Pontiac and it is a different story. The money coursing out of those cities is frightening.

 Guess all of my concerns and warnings I made to city officials and in the media makes me look like the Lorax. My only question: Will it be time to pick up my tail and head off into the sky loosing all hope of ever seeing greener pastures again?

  Update: In one of his last official trips overseas, President George Bush took time out of his schedule to head to London and visit Diagon Alley in hopes of repairs to his magic wand at the famed wand maker: Olivanders. The 393 year-old shop and its shopkeeper, Mr. Olivander, offered to fix Bush's wand following worries conveyed to the nation at Tuesday's news conference of trying to conjure a spell to rid the United States of high gas prices, economic issues, and the current downtrend on the financial market.

  Mr. Olivander declined to comment on the visit, but said, in a statement, he is honored to "help the leader of the free world on his personalized wand given by the Minster of Magic as a token of good will between our worlds. Any questions on how the wand is used should be referred to the Minister on matters of the state."

 And to think I wanted to be just like them.

 I wanted to be like Carl Bernstein and Bob Wooodward; I wanted to be like Max Robinson and David Brinkley. Instead, all I've seen the past few months (years) are pretenders and fake prompt readers who couldn't investigate a story if it bit them in the behind. I used to think I was something if I read the New York Times on a daily basis or check out Time and Newsweek; I used to think watching PBS made me smarter if I caught the McLaughlin Group every so often to shore up my knowledge.

 These days I keep waiting for the punchline and realize I don't have cable or satellite anymore and the folks posing as news reporters are actually news reporters and not John Stewart or Stephen Colbert. So I am silently making my own private MSM protest by reading the blogs and checking out credible outlets overseas and independent journalistic sites.

  I picked up the Sunday Dayton Daily News today before pumping $25 of a $3.99 a gallon tab. I took a minute to look at the front page for a bit. Along with the stories about trade and how it has hurt this ecconomy and a side note on the country's mood regarding the current situation we all face was a very interesting piece: "Precinct is wary about its choices"
You can read here

Then the sub-story shows how the people of New Lebanon is torn between both candidates.

"I'm not really thrilled with McCain. We're back to the lesser of two evils, I guess."

More of it here too
  Lesser of two evils?

 The ecconomy is going in the tank and this is the best way to view this years election: the lesser of two evils??

  The following diary takes place between 10:30p.m. and 11 p.m.

  As much as the Fox TV show "24" is labeled as a conservative show making the case for torture and treatment of the terrorist threat in the 21st century it is a good show to suspend the imagination (at least for a while) that one man can save the world in a day. One tag I see on my Cleveland Browns fan site says it best about 24: "If people listen to Jack Bauer 24 would be reduced to 12."

 Maybe that's why I think the writers of the series must be sitting back thinking they may have helped along history by casting Dennis Haysbert (currently of CBS "The Unit") as the presidential candidate, and later POTUS. The couldn't see by doing this casting back then would help the nation ease into the possibility of someone of color (or gender) to be the leader of the free world.

 We all felt it.

  All of us hungry and trying to find something in the refrigerator or cupboards to  cook or whip up to keep us from starving. Thankfully we had enough to get something for Wendy's but then there's tomorrow...and the next day...and pay day. Payday is spoken for because we'll have to use most of my money to cover for groceries and already the prices are getting outrageous. Eggo Waffles are twice the price as they were a few weeks ago.

  I told my girls to brace for a very rough few months, but I also made a promise I will do everything I can (provided the steady hours I am getting now at work hold up) to keep food on the table while mom catches up on the bills. Tonight (thank the Lord) we didn't go to bed hungry tonight. Tommorow? Well, take one day at a time.

 FISA is such a hot topic as of late and for good reason. The idea of our government giving immunity to the telecommunication  companies is disturbing and I'm not going to be one to try and  make any excuses over this one. Nor will I sugar coat Obama's decision to support such a precedent. But instead of frying the democratic nominee maybe we need to remember this week of bad legislation, remember there is still a lot of work needed to right this ship regarding FISA and restoring such policies back to pre-9/11 levels it will take WE the people.

  This week reminds us that for all the good stuff the Democratic party stands for there is still a lot of work to be done. But it won't be us leaving it to the party leaders and officials to do; it will take each of us to build coalitions and build blocs to make our voices heard. Knowing Obama is leading (for now) in the polls I would feel better to have him in the White House than McCain. At least in an Obama administration he'd at least listen enough to give our voices a chance.

 But we are the change, not Washington or their insiders.

"The Saudis are concerned that sustained high oil prices will eventually slacken the world's appetite for oil, affecting them in the long run."

  That line alone from a Yahoo story today speaks volumes about how we need to ween ourselves from the need finally break from the OPEC cartel and start to look for ways to live beyond the need for oil.

More from AP/Yahoo

  I wanted to throw something in the van, but it's hard to throw something while traveling 65 m.p.h. Needless to say listening to NPR's Day to Day program didn't help the fact that I am utterly befuddled by how ANY Clinton supporter would even consider giving their vote to John McCain come November.

 On the night Sen. Barack Obama acknowledge to the world that he is the presumptive nominee for the President of the United States it raged outside out house with lightning and thunder. Rain poured down on our home here in Dayton, Ohio and there was hail hitting the roof and window. At times, I sat amazed how our power was still on so. Thankfully I could watch Obama give his extraordinary speech in Minnesota.

 Through the howling winds, the rain, through the many inches of snow accumulating on our house just two months ago the sign on my front lawn stayed upright proclaiming to my little street our support to the next POTUS.

 One little political sign (my first) told me more about who Obama is than any speech he's given or any accolades anyone showered on him. It shows someone who can weather any storm faced; it shows that like the person it can overcome anything thrown at their way only to come out as strong as it was when we first posted the sign back in February.

 I plan to post this again WHEN Sen. Obama is sworn in as our next President of the United States. Until then, I will post the lyrics to (what some call) "the black national anthem".

 This song encompasses the struggle of our ancestors up to today in the 21st century of the road we came from. Today, Obama's story is our story; Obama's story is your story. These words today are everyone's words of the struggle to get to this point. Tonight is historic! Tonight, the dream is slowly becoming real. There is a lot of work to be done heading to Election Day and the ending of the general election, but until that time read (or sing if you know the tune) the song Lift Every Voice And Sing. I know no fitting way to pay tribute to this night than to share this song with you all.

  Back in 1997 I made a prophecy the Moraine GM plant (Moraine is a suburb just south of Dayton, Ohio) would close and would send a ripple effect to the area. We thought this would happen but not in our lifetime nor would it happen without a fight.

  Today, oil body slammed the SUV and force former leading automaker GM to shut down four of its plants in North America. Good news that GM decided to scrap it's former business plan; bad news to an area already hurt by news of Lexis Nexis moving jobs to India and Delphi struggling to survive in this area. I made the prediction industry would dry up in this area and 20th century business would dry up.

 I hate being right about things like this.

 There is so much information, so much outrage, so much news, so much...my head is about to explode!!!

  I was going to follow up on a poorly written diary from yesterday when I heard the president (that term loosely, by the way) say what he did in Israel...in the Knesset...slamming Democrats (particularly Sen. Obama) by comparing ANY negotiation to what Neville Chamberlin did with the Nazis...to a radio hack coming on Hardball thinking he can continue to spout the same garbage to Chris Mathews...to McCain questioning Obama's capability to protect as a future commander in chief...I'm telling you my head is spinning and I am about to blow a gasket!!

 The G.O.P, neo-cons, conservatives, whatever you want to brand them they have gone to far! This "hack in chief" has gone to far! These actions from this "president" and his cabal is sowing the seeds for a summer of discontent the likes Washington D.C. has never seen before.

  This isn't so much a diary entry to set the world on fire, but a sincere question to the Democrats who came into the voting booth Tuesday, voted for Clinton, and set in your minds you will rather go through four more years of the same ole same because a black man could take the highest office in the land. I don't know what to think really. I mean, I've been through West Virginia and always thought it was one of the more amazing states to go through. I also thought the people of W. Virginia were not based on sterotype, but a deeply caring, hard working type of folk.

  So when I heard an interview from Good Morning America with the same talking points about Obama (i.e., "he's Muslum, he'll put whites into slavery, etc.) I am both stunned and amazed. These are our fellow Democrats? These are the representatives of the party of change? I'm VERY scared especially with this campaign. My one question I have to those in the state is one which can't get out of my head:

"Is this what you think of us?"

From MSNBC:
"In a letter to the editor published in a local paper, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball explained his support of Hillary Clinton this way: "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him.

"No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office."

  This is from a Democratic member and it makes me wonder how many others--on both political spectrums--hold such a view about Senator Barack Obama? This is a sample of an amazing report from ground troops for the Obama campaign and some of the racially charged words and responses whites have given when people from all shades of sking stump for Obama.

 "Because John McCain always says 'I am not going to run that kind of politics,' and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his."

  "I've said it's a terrorist organization and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don't need name calling in this debate."

 Bearings

1. the manner in which one bears or comports oneself. —From Miriam-Webster’s dictionary.

  I don’t know how to take this, but if this is the attitude of the Clinton "inner circle" I really wonder what their idea of a "winning attitude" is all about. I read this blip on The Huffington Post tonight about former New York City mayor, and Clinton supporter, Ed Koch basically saying if Sen. (Barack) Obama would meet defeat in November.

"I believe Obama probably will win [the Democratic nomination], although in politics you never ever can count anybody out," said former New York Mayor Ed Koch. "I think Hillary is doing a magnificent job and is a great candidate and if anybody can pull it out, she can. But my honest opinion is, it probably won't happen. And that he will be the candidate and that he will lose."

Great attitude Mayor! Way to rally the troops! NOT!

Mayor Koch's comments here

  Hey I got a joke for you about the time the Federal Communication Commission stated that the Christian Broadcasting Network ONLY program "The 700 Club" was actually a news program? How about the one about TMZ--the tabloid show--where they said the same for this program? Are you laughing?

Don't.

 It's true folks.