I've just posted a new article at Suite 101; "Republicans Not Evil and Other Astounding Facts!" I hope you like it.

Meanwhile - If you're interested in moving to Silicon Valley, here's a listing for a house in Los Gatos for only $100,000. If I describe it to you, it won't do it justice - Just click and enjoy...

Get 'em while they last! Official Kerry-Edwards shot glasses.

I know I'll be needing this a lot between now and November 2. Although, depending on what happens that day, I may just start drinking my whiskey straight from the bottle...

With G.W. Bush in the lead in all current polls, there's very little incentive for him to face John Kerry face-to-face. And so his campaign is being as weasily as possible when it comes to confirming if/when any debates will be held.

The bi-partisan commission on debates (and they can be a problem too) has proposed three 90-minute sessions, to which Kerry has agreed. Bush has not answered yet, and insiders are now indicating that he may only appear for two 60-minute sessions.

Obviously the Bush camp agrees with me that Kerry will whip his ass in man-to-man confrontation. Of course, it's not just Kerry that loses out, but the American people. But since when has W ever cared about them?

Read full article in the SF Chronicle

Now that Leslie's back to work teaching, I'm realizing how much time I've got on my hands between the little bit of client work that I've got right now. So, I've been getting into promotional mode the last couple of days.

On Friday, I updated my consulting web site and posted a little ad on craigslist. This morning I sent out this email to about 115 people I know professionally:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It has been nearly a year since my departure from CompassPoint, so I thought I would fill you all in on what I've been doing since "going solo" as a consultant.

In Gilroy I am working with the Glen View Alliance: a collaborative of Go Kids, MACSA, Rebekah Children's Services, School-Linked Services, and GUSD. I have facilitated a few of their retreats and have now written grants of approximately $2.3 million for their five-year project.

I have also been serving as Interim Executive Director for ARIS. This assignment started with an organizational assessment that led to my recommending the shutdown of the agency. I've remained IED during the filing of bankruptcy and have managed the sale of all the assets, including a house.

Along with those major projects I've also done some grant writing for Peace-it-Together and the Peninsula Symphony Association and have taught workshops in fundraising and supervision for Montalvo, the Shasta Regional Community Foundation, and (of course) CompassPoint.

As we head into Fall I am ready to pick up a few more projects or interim assignments. If you have any leads or ideas please feel free to pass on my contact information (see below) or give me a call just to catch up!

Best,
...

It's kind of nice to see what I've accomplished over this last odd year. It would be nicer if I had a positive bank balance to go along with it. We'll see if these efforts are able to scare up any business.

Here's something positive you can do to commemorate the third anniversary of 9/11: Help keep assault weapons off our streets.

• Learn more about the issue
  
• Take action!

As I'm sure you've heard by now, last night George W. Bush gave the best speech of his life. It was moderate, yet resolute, demonstrated a commitment to a being strong force internationally, yet held out compassion for those struggling at home, firmly criticized his opponent, yet good-naturedly mocked his own short-comings. In other words, it was full of shit.

The first twenty minutes or so W laid out a domestic agenda of some forty items he would pursue to make life better at home, if he were elected President. It was mighty impressive, with some "compassionate conservative" spins on items right out of the Democratic party platform. My main trouble with it was that it was a great speech for somebody accepting the nomination for the first time. But where have these ideas been the last 3-1/2 years? Why it taken him his entire first term to put together a domestic agenda that can only be accomplished in a second term? Because it's all BS. It's smoke and mirrors designed to appeal to the swing voters who are scared of Bush, but unsure of Kerry.

Then came the meat and potatoes of the speech, and the message of the week; G.W. must be re-elected because 9/11 proved that there are bad guys out there who want to hurt us, and G.W. doesn't care who he has to kill to get at them. Oh, yeah, and he'll protect the rights of the un-born against militant homosexual judges.

I was scared, I tell ya. Not because of what he said, but because of how well he said it. Speaking for over an hour, he barely sweated at all and only had a few minor mispronunciations. If people actually believed 60% of what they heard, he could actually be re-elected.

Then came the Kerry speech in Ohio. Not many stations covered it, and none that I could find had it in its entirety, but those who did see it saw what a real statesman looks and sounds like. It's more than simply pronouncing the words right; it's feeling them too. Yes, he started at the lectern looking at his cards, but then he pulled the microphone out of the stand and wandered around the podium speaking directly to the people, without his notes, and you knew that this was a man who understood what's going in America today, and what to do about it. He wasn't being fed focus group tested catch phrases by his handlers; he was explaining what could be done to get this country back on the right track. I felt much better.

Looking at those two performances, back-to-back like that, I could see how important the debates will be. Yes, Bush has grown as President, and handles himself much better in public speaking situations, but he doesn't hold a candle to Kerry. As long Kerry stays away from the word "lockbox" he should do just fine.

I'll be honest here; I haven't watched very much of the Republican Convention. It's not that I haven't tried. It's just that keep getting disgusted and tuning it out. I've been turning to Chris Mathews and the gang at MSNBC to keep me up on the latest happenings, but I keep missing what I'm told are the highlights.

Here's some of what I've seen so far:

• Laura Bush talking about the great progress that has been made in achieving America's vision of equality, from Lincoln freeing the slaves in the 1860's, to women getting the right to vote early in the last century, but leaving out the Voting Rights Act of 1964. She had to leave that out, because then she'd have to admit that the "party of Lincoln" opposed guaranteeing African-Americans access to the ballot box far more recently than when they did anything positive for blacks.
  
  
• The Bush Twins joking about having joined Dad's campaign because they were looking around for something to do, now that they've graduated college. Hmmm... could they be having trouble finding something to do because THERE'S NO F***ING JOBS?!?!
  
  
• Dick Cheney trying to come across as a nice guy. I couldn't hear what he was saying, however, as Leslie kept shouting obscenities at the screen. Or maybe it was me doing the shouting?
  
  
• Zell Miller giving a tirade on why he's the token turn-coat Democrat to be speaking at the RNC. I think it was something like, "I introduced Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic Convention, and what did I get? Nothing. Not a cabinet post, not an invitation to spend the night in the Lincoln bedroom. As recently as 2001 I was giving speeches praising John Kerry's leadership, and did he pick me to be his VP? Heck no! So I'll show them! W's promised to take me fishing in Crawford if I give this little rant here..."
  
  
• Rudy Giuliani telling a story about 9/11; "I remember at a couple of times during the day, turning to my chief of police, holding his arm, and saying, 'Thank God that George Bush is our president.'" Right. And the chief turned to him and said, "Can you let go of my damn arm? I've got f***ing city on fire I've got to tend to!" Another thing I noticed while Rudy was talking; the audience looked completely bored out of their minds.
  
  
• Stephen Baldwin being interviewed about being the "non-Democrat" (and non-famous actor) in a family of famous liberals. Steve said that he was the RNC, not for political reasons, but for a religious one. He's concerned about how this country has turned away from God in the past 20 years, and he's there to support the candidate who he perceives to "have more faith." Steve claimed that there's no friction in the family because of his stance. An hour later I saw brother Alec being interviewed (on a real network), saying basically the same thing; "There's no friction in the family YET."
  
  
• Speaking of actors being interviewed for no apparent reason, Ron Silver was on a panel on MSNBC and gave one of the few bits of true insight into how W might actually be re-elected. Silver is your basic stereotype New York Jew turned Hollywood Actor; liberal and progressive all the way. But he's supporting Bush. He's not proud of it, but he's doing it because he's scared, and he feels just a little bit safer with a crazy cowboy in the White House. His point was that he feels there are many more Democrats like him, who when talking to friends (or answering to pollsters) say, "Anybody but Bush," but when they get into the voting booth will feel the fear and re-elect the guy they hate.
  
  
• Patrick Guerriero, head of the Log Cabin Republicans (the Gay Republican group) expressing his dissatisfaction with a party platform that has several anti-gay planks in it. He, of course, was not invited to speak from the platform, this interview was only for late-night cable TV viewers. I'd recommend visiting logcabin.org and reading Patrick's statement about the platform.
  
  
• John McCain being interviewed everywhere, steadfastly refusing to say anything nasty about his friend, John Kerry, or distance himself from his President, George W. Bush. Is it too late for him to get the nomination?
  

I accidentally, and thankfully, missed Ahnold's speech. Tonight is W's big one. Ooh. I can hardly wait...