And you wonder why He Whose Name Shall Not Be Written's name shall not be written?

The guy can't get out of his own way!

Screws up the economy, in large part because he screwed up a war, and actually gets bipartisan support for an emergency measure and it gets shot down -- with his own party doing most of the shooting.

And the market plummets.

I used to be embarrassed I was the only Jew in America who didn't understand the market and/or own any stock.

Who's laughing now?

It's about time the presidential candidates come clean.
We know all about their platforms and about what they would do -- or try to do -- if elected.
It's what we don't know that scares me?
And it's more important than a campaign promise.
Starting with the debate tonight, I want them to start naming names.
I want to know who they are planning to surround themselves.
I want to know who their advisers are going to be and I want to with whom they are going to build their cabinet.
Secretary of Defense. Secretary of State. Chief of Staff.
We can play guessing games and come close, but it's not play time.
We know, from the laughable administration about to end, how important these people in high posts can be in our quest to remain a solvent nation.
And I want to know who they are now, not later -- after the fact.
I'll go so far as to say that if John McCain supplies a list -- and the list is a virtual dream team -- I may consider switching sides.
This issue is that important to me.
Just like a football coach is only as good as his offensive and defensive coordinators, a president is only as good as the people around him.
And I want a good president for a change.

If you weren't there, you didn't miss much.

The semi-annual softball game Saturday morning, which was part of a larger event to celebrate the passing of summer into fall, ended with The Times Herald staff on the short end of a 33-15 final.

If you were there, you are probably saying the scoreboard said something different. I believe it was 33-21, but someone was being generous by giving us extra runs here and there.

No thanks.

I can't speak for anyone else on the paper's team, but I don't want charity. What I do want is a level playing field at Latshaw/McCarthy or any other place they set us up like bowling pins to knock us down.

The game pitted The Times Herald against ... Norristown. That meant a team of firefighters. And police officers. And anyone who works for Norristown Rec. And anyone who works for Norristown, period.

Why not throw in the Norristown Agents from the Perkiomen Valley Twilight League and the varsity baseball and softball teams from Norristown Area High School?

Maybe they could have also called in any and all local members of the U.S. National Guard who happened to be home from fighting in a needless, senseless and costly war.

What should be done is this: Make it a daylong tournament of, maybe, four teams. For the sake of time and sore limbs, the opening round could be five-inning games and the final game -- as well as the consolation contest -- could be seven. Have a big picnic in the middle of the day (it's always about the food).

But it makes too much sense and, since this is Norristown, it probably won't happen.

If they remember to have a game next year -- in 2007, following the tightest game of the series the previous year -- they conviniently "forgot" to invite us to play.

But we'll be back -- and swingin' -- for the next massacre.

I guess, at this point, I'll throw in that I was 3-for-3 with two RBI (it would be three, but a snail of a teammate was thrown out at the plate). Two of the hits came with two outs to keep "rallies" going and two of the three may have been doubles had I not had an uninspired baserunner in front of me.

Stan Huskey, who took it upon himself to manage us into the ground (after my managerial skills kept us close in 2006), left me stranded at first all three times.

However, the joke is on me. My back was so sore Sunday that I couldn't even move for what is really important in life -- watching the Eagles win a big game!

As expected, obligatory homage was paid to Ronnie Ray-gun at the nauseating RNC with a video segment trying to continue the worn-out myth that he was a president to mentioned the same breath as George Washington, Abe Lincoln and FDR.

If you read my column last week, you know i found it ... huh ... ironic that a similar bit of ridiculousness surrounding loooooongtime senator Ted Kennedy portrayed him as a simple man of the sea when the most defining moment of his life was the whole Chappaquiddick incident. I wondered if the loved ones of the woman he more or less killed that night, Mary Jo Kopechne, were watching.

The Republicans should have left well enough alone, but they never met a fact they couldn't dismiss or subvert. So, they gave us this gem about Reagan: "He never forgot who he was."

Never forgot? Really?

Did they forget that he had Alzheimer's Disease during much of his term in his office, meaning the country was pretty much run by his self-serving henchmen (and Nancy Reagan's astrologer)?

You gotta love conventions.