Vintage Hydroplane Racing: Thunder on the Ohio

Third Annual
Wheeling Vintage Hydroplane Regatta
Wheeling WV
August 30-31, 2008


[Click images to enlarge.]


Part of the DBKP Roadtrip #2




Entering Heritage Port on the Ohio River at Wheeling, WV, visitors are greeted by a life-size statue of native son, Walter Reuther, founder of the United Auto Workers and President of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations).




A beautiful day, thunderous boats and a Labor Day weekend: what more could spectators want? How about free admission!




From the south entrance to the port, the Tijuana Taxi was the first hydroplane one sees.




The end of summertime--and the living is easy.




A number of cranes lifted the hydroplanes up, up and away into the awaiting Ohio River.










Thrills, chills and--hopefully--no spills.




In July 2008, Extreme Boats magazine had a feature article in their latest issue about the 2007 Wheeling Vintage Raceboat Regatta.

The Wheeling Vintage Raceboat Regatta was awarded the Vintage Event of the Year from the American Power Boat Association. From Friendly City Regatta Wins Award

Wheeling has lived up to its reputation as the "Friendly City" for a second consecutive year in the eyes of the American Power Boat Association.

The association has declared Wheeling's Annual Vintage Raceboat Regatta the "Vintage Event of the Year" for 2007, an honor that also was awarded for 2006 after the first regatta was held in Wheeling. This is the first time the organization has bestowed the honor upon the same city two years in a row.

"The city's just been wonderful," said Debbie Joseph, the regatta's founder and main organizer.

The rest of the pictures hopefully will give the reader a bit of the "feel" of the Regatta on a Labor Day 2008 weekend in Wheeling, WV.


















































More info and pictures at WHEELING VINTAGE RACEBOAT REGATTA.


by Mondoreb
images: DBKP

Hillary Clinton Vs. Sarah Palin: Compare and Contrast

Hillary Vs Sarah
Nancy Morgan
Right Bias.com

Taking a line from Michelle Obama, for the first time in my life, I'm proud to be a woman.

I'm no feminist and I abhor identity politics, which tend to divide instead of unite. But seeing Sarah Palin yesterday stirred feelings I never knew I had. I couldn't help but contrast her with Hillary.

Consider: Hillary has spent her whole life in the quest for power. She is a political animal through and through, willing to do what ever it takes to obtain the highest office in the world. How galling to see a beautiful young upstart come out of nowhere and grab the acclaim that is rightfully hers. Hillary is finding out that life just isn't fair. Welcome to the real world.

Speaking of the real world, Sarah Palin is a life long member. No power hungry politico, she. Gov. Palin, by all accounts, is a woman who embodies the best of the female species. Experienced in real life, she is the epitome of what America stands for. She exhibits the traits that have made America great. And she does it effortlessly, because that's who she is. A mother of five, a wife, a conservative, a person who has lived life and succeeded at everything she has set out to do. That's what America is.

Unlike Hillary, Gov. Palin has never had the need to 'reinvent' herself. Unlike Obama, her message comes from the heart instead of the teleprompter. Unlike McCain, she is not a career politician. She has a life, and politics is a part of it. Kinda like the citizen legislators our founding fathers favored.

The difference between Hillary and Sarah was glaringly evident yesterday. Gov. Palin graciously acknowledged Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton for paving the way, for breaking the glass ceiling. Hillary, on the other hand, issued a tepid, "Congratulations." Scripted vs from the heart. Classy vs craven. Finally, substance trumps perception. Finally, proven merit trumps vague intentions and scripted sound bites.

Unlike Hillary, Palin has a history of practicing what she preaches. From taking on corruption in her own party and prevailing, to standing up for her principles even thought they weren't politically expedient. She governed Alaska not by polls, but by doing the right thing. Can anyone mention the last time Hillary did the right thing?

The experts opine endlessly on the risk McCain took in naming a relative unknown as his choice for VP. A look into a forum of Hillary supporters, however, indicates that the experts may have it wrong, once again. 99% of comments posted on Hillary Clinton Forum reveal Hillary supporters are already in Palin's corner. Ah, the fickleness of politics.

The barbs already winging Gov. Palin's way all have the word 'inexperience' highlighted. One need only look to Reagan to suspect that Palin's supposed inexperience could be a major advantage. When Reagan was running for Governor of California in 1966, he said, "I am not a professional politician. The man who currently has the job has more political experience than anybody else. That's why I'm running." Just so.

The institutional bias in favor of 'experience' is one of the problems with our current system. Most politicians are lawyers, experienced in working the system. Finally, along comes someone like Palin, who is more interested in making the system work than in working the system. I expect she will pose a genuine threat to the status quo, to say nothing of the 'good old boy' system. Sounds like change to me.

Her experience as an American citizen, mother, wife, Mayor and PTA member mean that all those people in flyover country, the millions of Americans who aren't part of the 'elite' might finally have found a voice inside the beltway.

Most politicians claim to speak for the common man. Sarah Palin IS the common man. And, thank God, she seems more than willing and able to speak for herself. And me.

by Nancy Morgan
images: rodney parsons; dbkp


Nancy Morgan is a columnist and news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina

Article may be reprinted, with attribution

Obama Supporters Protest at PA McCain-Palin Rally

Popular Slogans: "Viagra", "Birth Control", Reproductive Rights"
Steelworkers Protest Palin
Palin's Husband, Todd, is a Steelworker






The road to the John McCain-Sarah Palin rally contained a couple dozen Obama supporters.

McCain-Palin supporters parked in a mall parking lot about a half-mile away and walked up the hill to Consol Energy Field, home of the minor league baseball team, The Wild Things.

On the way, those on their way to the rally trudged past 15-25 protesters: Obama supporters, women's reproductive rights advocates and a few Steelworkers for Obama.




Several of the same organizations protesting supported both Bill Clinton and John Edwards. Both Clinton and Edwards are famous supporters of women's rights.




Running the gamut.





Some of the sign-wavers seemed to be there for the party, including one who apparently confused McCain with 1996 Republican nominee, Bob Dole. Dole was a spokesman for Viagra.















The Steelworkers Union had previously endorsed John Edwards. Like many Edwards' trial lawyer backers and bundlers, they have switched their allegiance to Barack Obama.










Union brotherhood only goes so far: Palin's husband is a member of the United Steelworkers Union. Barack Obama is not a member of any union, although the Rev. Jeramiah Wright, pastor of Obama's Trinity Church, was enrolled at Virginia Union University, in Richmond VA in 1959.










Protect Women's Rights: become an Obama Girl!















A look back at the plucky protesters. One shot that didn't come out: two unnamed young women on their way to the stadium greeting the protesters with the one-fingered salute.





by Mondoreb
images: DBKP

McCain-Palin in PA: Palin a Hit with Everyone but CNN

Palin, McCain a Hit with Crowd
CNN's Story All About "Boos"





John McCain and Sarah Palin appeared in Pennsylvania for the first time as the GOP ticket for November and both were well-received by the overflowing crowd.

Sarah Palin, however, was a hit.

The large and enthusiastic crowd packed Consol Energy Field, located south of Pittsburgh in Washington, PA, and cheer, flags and McCain-Palin "Terrible Towel" knockoffs were the order of the day.

The Alaskan governor spoke after a warm-up by McCain. McCain's enthusiasm for his running mate was evident in his intro: the Arizona senator sounded confident throughout his glowing description of Palin as "the American story".

"She's not part of the American story, she is an American story."





CNN was on the scene, and producer, Peter Hamby, led with "Palin Booed for Mentioning Hillary Clinton".

While that was true, it was the only boos of the afternoon; Palin even got some applause a line earlier when she mentioned Geraldine Ferraro. The 5 seconds of Hillary boos were an anomaly in, what was clearly, a political lovefest.

But what else would CNN have reported? CNN is a flagship of the Mainstream Media and this is one more example of their "unbiased" reporting.

In just her second appearance on the campaign trail with John McCain, newly-minted GOP running mate Sarah Palin was showered with boos on Saturday for attempting to praise Clinton’s trail-blazing bid to become the first female president.

One woman from Penn Hills, holding a "Women for McCain" sign thought Palin was just what McCain needed.

"She's a conservative and she moves the Republicans back to where they need to be."

A brilliantly-sunny afternoon on a Labor Day weekend and an obviously fired-up crowd wouldn't be news for Hamby's regular remaining viewers.






Before the McCain-Palin entourage arrived in the "Straight Talk Express" buses, the crowd was entertained by former Steeler and 2006 PA Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lynn Swann. Swann related about how when he covered the Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska, he was interviewed by Palin, working at the time as a sports reporter for an Alaskan TV station.

Former PA governor and Director of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, introduced McCain to the crowd. Swann made a hasty exit to go see his son play in a pee-wee football game.

A few dozen Obama supporters lined the entrance road to the stadium before the event and urged the crowd to support what they called "real change".

MORE pictures to come later this morning.


by Mondoreb
images: DBKP