Broadsword calling Danny Boy: FSU - Miami post-mortem; Farnell Remembers: page XXXVII | Eastern North Carolina Now

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    Growin' up, you don't see the writing on the wall
    Passin' by, movin' straight ahead, you knew it all
    But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
    You'll find you're all alone, everything has changed

    Play the game, you know you can't quit until it's won
    Soldier on, only you can do what must be done
    You know in some way you're a lot like me
    You're just a prisoner and you're tryin' to break free     - John Parr


The Correspondent, The "King" of Albania, and the Congressman celebrate their UCK triumph in liberating Kosovo province, June, 1999, Tirana, Albania: Above.     Click image to enlarge.
    Farnell Remembers: page XXXVII

    When I was about nine years old, I accompanied my father to the funeral of a friend of his, someone who I didn't even know.

    When we got there, I stayed in a corner waiting for the time to pass.

    Then a man approached me and said, 'Enjoy life kid, be happy because time flies. Look at me now, I didn't enjoy it.'

    Then he passed his hand over my head and left.

    My father, before leaving, forced me to say goodbye to the dead person.

    When I looked in the coffin, I was horrified to see that the man in the coffin was the same man who had spoken to me.

    ********

    I was so traumatized I couldn't sleep properly.

    I had terrible nightmares. I was terrified of being alone.

    I couldn't sleep without a night light for many years.

    I saw many psychologists, endured much turmoil throughout my adolescent years.

    It got better as I aged, but I would still occasionally wake up screaming in fear.

    Years later, I discovered something incredible that changed my life.

    The dead guy had an identical twin...

    ********

    Wow. Classic example of worrying about nothing. Then again that Farnell guy has been seeing spirits for many years they say. He mentioned at the vote the other day of seeing someone in the Food Lion parking lot wearing a Beasley shirt -- "the ghost of her campaign in the county."

    The 2008 General Election saw the forces of Barack Obama change how the Democrat party "walking around money" was administered in North Carolina. More centralized control of these funds resulted in their becoming more "senate-centric", if you will. With Beasley stalled in the red zone late, her upstream campaign funding has been diverted to Pennsylvania and other trouble spots.

    This means several thousand veteran-Democrat ground-elements can't/won't be paid Monday night (for Tuesday) -- and if not paid, they ain't showing 6.30 am to roll through the day. You will recognize this change if you are a same-day voter in larger urban centres of the state -- it will be less observable, but even more impacting in terms of local races in rural areas.

    Unpaid GOP volunteers, coached up bigly at the local level, will be swarming the polls then. They will make a difference in close county races as their enthusiasm can't be bought with currency -- only superior candidates, with conservative core values, motivate these Republican shock troops to run through brick walls like they will Tuesday.

    Budd has run a terrible race and is not in the clear yet, but should squeak by. The difference there is the Black vote not being delivered so far. Should it be activated in the major urban centres Tuesday, Beasley has a narrow window to pull the upset. However these calls of Budd carrying anything past about 51.5 are based on that dynamic continuing; while likely, via trend analysis, it is not assured.

    The utter disinterest the Black community now showing for the big local race speaks volumes far beyond our limited ability to discern River Town and county tea leaves. Suffice it to say, when people of good will -- of all parties -- agree in principle which electoral direction is best, this binary package an effective lever in either of the on/off positions.

    Campaign tip for newbies: Don't disrespect our veterans; they've been around -- ya know?

    ************

    Miami stunk it up almost as bad as OK State and we drop to 1-2. We can't play mediocre teams in November and expect to hit 54 percent winners. Our eyes got big with the touchdown plus in the rivalry game and we overlooked the trending form. FSU completely dominated the game and thus we head back to the drawing board and think about getting good value with a good team.

    A good team -- not a mediocre one getting points at home. We need better defence for the picks -- as the weather turns, the importance of defence is heightened -- so we will start there as we seek to return to the path of victory.

    In the meantime, prepare accordingly for the historic GOP tsunami approaching at flank speed. As they say on the TV: "Gonna be a new Sheriff in town."