Lying around with a sore back watching the Dems

The whackopractor has done absolutely nothing to make me alter my low expectations and opinion of the profession. I've had four sessions with this guy, and if anything, I'm in more pain now than before I let him "adjust" my spine and manipulate my hip. When I first went in I had some pain in my lower back that was migrating to my left hip because of the limp I was developing to ease the pain in my back. Now I have the worst of both worlds; the original pain in my lower back, and new sharper pains in my hip. Instead of concentrating on the source of the pain, he concentrated on the secondary pain. I questioned him about this, but he did not have any good answers. I have one more session with him tomorrow, but barring some dramatic developments, the experiment is over. I start physical therapy next Tuesday.

The Democratic Party convention has been OK so far. Michelle Obama gave a great speech on Monday. I'm always amazed that the Republicans can paint the Obamas as "elitist." Michelle and Barack are the embodiment of the American dream with their rise from less than ideal circumstances to Ivy League educations to the height of American power. And this was all done without any of the cronyism and family connections so common on the right. Tuesday was Hillary's night, and I think she did what she had to do. Her best lines occurred when she asked her supporters whether they were in it for her or for what they believed. I must admit that I have developed a grudging admiration for her even though I still think she is a shrill, manipulative, and power-hungry woman.

Last night was a pretty good night. Bill (my opinion of him is at or below my opinion of his wife) did what he had to do, but the highlights came with John Kerry, Beau Biden, and Joe Biden. If John Kerry had shown the passion he showed last night four years ago, he might have won and spared us the last four years of Bush. He came up with a pretty good line when he listed McCain's flip-flops and then said that McCain was against these things before he was for them. Another good line came from someone who modified the line about Bush One from the '88 convention. In that convention someone said that Bush was born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple. In this convention one of the speakers said that W. was born on third base and stole second!

Joe's son Beau gave a loving and moving introduction to his dad, and Joe himself did a pretty good job. Before the convention I had no idea that Biden's first wife and daughter were killed in a car wreck right after Biden was first elected to the Senate. I also didn't know his net worth is only $150,000. Maybe that figure is missing a zero, but even so, no one can accuse him of cashing in on his 35 years in the Senate.

My biggest complaint is that every time someone gets up to attack McCain and the Republicans, the attacks are always prefaced by a tribute to McCain's POW time and his service as senator. Somehow I don't think that the Republicans' attacks next week on Obama will be prefaced by a tribute to Obama's rise from a single parent family to the heights of academic and political success.