Note to self: Never, EVER play poker with President Obama...

I don't normally gush like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert, but watching Obama in last night's debate was nothing short of inspiring. His self-control at not cock-punching the arrogant bastard that was baying at him all night long was nothing short of miraculous. A lesser man than The Prez would probably be nursing some heavily bruised knuckles this morning but the 'Black Ninja' as Bill Maher tweeted last night was far, far cooler than that...and that brings me to my point.

This is the same guy that was in the midst of the operation that would wind up taking care of Osama Bin Laden, a defining moment in his Presidency, and yet he still went and yucked it up with the gathered presstitutes at the Correspondents Dinner without so much as a hint as to what must have been on his mind....

And then there was last night...his previously cocksure opponent, reeling from a battering the likes of which he has probably never seen yet so thoroughly deserved, thought he had that one moment when he could take down his nemesis with one clean blow to the berries...he was going to get him with the 'act of terror' card...he even baited him, to make the moment that much sweeter...and the only thing the President said was "please proceed Governor"...and then, in super-slo-mo Robme started his punch from waaaaaaaaay downtown...his eyes gleaming with the knowledge that he finally had his adversary right where he wanted him...but then 'Wooooooooosh' his clenched fist missed the target and instead of watching Obama crumple to the floor in a defeated heap,  he was greeted by the moderator's knee as it hit him directly in the balls... "I'm sorry Governor, actually he DID call it an act of terror the next day"...and the President? Well he calmly sat there with a wry grin on his face that said quite clearly "Have you had enough punk? Well, have you?"..

So, for all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments on the left about the first debate, President Obama showed us last night what a true people's champion looks like...and also the reason why I will never, EVER play poker with this man...

Election 2012....this year it's PERSONAL

Dear republican friends:

Unlike the toolbags in D.C. it is possible for you and I to sit down and have a reasoned debate, friendly disagreements, and occasionally find some common ground, but this year's election has changed that. This year the election is more than just Dem vs Rep, Blue vs Red, this year it's personal.

Almost a year ago my best friend in the whole world, my wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She fought it with all of her might and thankfully has beaten back that disease, not without great sacrifice, much worry, and a shit-ton of bills, but she has kicked cancer's ass...but it has left her with something that could be just as dangerous, and no less a threat to her health - a "pre-existing condition".

That three word phrase can mean the difference between having a long, healthy life, and one filled with fear, pain and potential financial ruin.Until the President signed the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) into law my wife would have been shit out of luck if she changed jobs and wanted to get health insurance. Now, thanks to Obamacare, insurers are prohibited from discriminating against her because of that disease. Not only that, but they are forbidden from capping her insurance limits, so that if something else comes along, she won't have to worry about whether she has enough insurance to cover that too. Plus, our kid gets to stay on our insurance until they turn 26.

The republicans have vowed to repeal Obamacare. All of it. Think about that for a second. A major political party in the US wants to take health insurance coverage away from 26 million people, and allow insurance companies once again, to refuse to pay for coverage once you hit their artificial limits, and to make millions of young American adults simply go without healthcare. I can think of no other time in the history of this country when a major political party campaigned on, in actual fact touted, it's desire to deliberately hurt millions of its own citizens.

You might be considering voting republican because you think they'll lower your taxes (they won't). Or because the Democrats are going to take away your guns (they won't). Or because they're tougher in the war on terror (they aren't - ask Bin Laden if you don't believe me). Hell, you might be closed-minded enough even to do it because you don't like the skin colour or religion of one of the candidates, but if you come out of that voting booth having put an 'x' next to the republican party column, you may very well have signed your own death warrant. You see, cancer doesn't care what party you belong to, and it sure as hell doesn't care if you can afford to pay to try and beat it, but the insurance companies will be with you every step of the way, counting every single thing you need, and they will have no problem at all, in fact you will have voted to allow them, to just let you die instead.

A vote for the republican party this year says to every single American citizen that has a "pre-existing condition", including my wife, that you don't give a shit about them as long as you think your taxes are going to go down. And I think you are better than that.

Yes. This year, it's personal. Do the right thing.