Hello, everybody. I don't know if I felt like doing this blog today because there is a death in my family down in North Carolina, but I had to.

As you already know by now, all of Alaska on Friday woke up to what was probably the most joyous news since...well the indictment of Ted Stevens a few weeks ago: John McCain picking Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. And today, we woke up again to banner headlines in both the "Fairbanks Daily News-Miner" ("GOP shines on Sarah Palin") and of course the "Anchorage Daily News" ("McCain picks Palin" followed by a full-page photo of the two in Dayton, Ohio with a special section inside).

By the way, news of this were kept hush-hush till the last minute, as Palin flew in secrecy from Anchorage to Arizona to meet with McCain aides, then her children were on a plane to Ohio late Thursday night. According to sources, the Palins checked into a Dayton hotel as the "Uptons."

Of course the media wasted no time digging up more interesting info about Palin. Born Sarah Heath in Idaho in 1964, she was captain of her high school basketball team in Wasilla; they won the state championship in 1982. Sarah was also Miss Wasilla and later first runner-up for Miss Alaska in 1984. She married Todd Palin in 1988; around that time, she was a sports reporter at two Anchorage TV stations.

In 1992, she went into politics by serving two terms in the Wasilla City Council before being elected its first female mayor for two more terms in 1996. And of course, she shocked everyone by winning the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2006, voting Frank Murkowski out of office. In the end, we elected her Alaska's top job that November; I covered the historic inauguration when they had it here in Fairbanks.

And now, Sarah Heath Palin is John McCain's choice for Vice President. But perhaps the big question now is: WILL IT HAPPEN??? Absolutely not; I already told you yesterday about Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 when she became America's first V.P. running mate. Of course, we loved what President Reagan was doing and he literally repeated in a landslide. I love Sarah Palin, but not as future Vice President and possibly President if McCain at 72 happens to croak. It may be a cutthroat battle for the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this fall, but she's better off running this state instead. I wonder of Lorne Michaels still has Tina Fey on his speed dial...

Anyway...while today's editions of the Anchorage and Fairbanks papers were put to bed with this story, I was awoken with a phone call this morning and the news for me immediately went from happy to sad: my grandmother Mildred has died. At first I thought it was a joke, but hours later we got ahold of my cousin in North Carolina for the official word. Mildred passed away early Saturday morning at a Winston-Salem hospital from pneumonia (which took Bernie Mac's life a few weeks ago); she was in her mid-80's. And now it would be my sad duty to fly down to her funeral -- which is believed to be next week -- for my final goodbye.

Mildred of course was the matriach of the Allen family; I of course visited her for what was the last time three years ago when she was living in an apartment building for seniors. She has suffered diabetes and a stroke over the last few years, but pneumonia would be the final chapter. I may be deeply saddened on the inside, but on the outside I am happy that she lived a long life till the end. So long and stay strong.

John McCain picks Sarah Palin as running mate!

Hello, everybody. This morning, John McCain made his pick for Vice Presidential running mate, and it came to us by surprise: It's Alaska governor Sarah Palin! The two made it official in Dayton, Ohio.

For most of you not in the know, Palin at 44 is the youngest and first female governor of our state; she and husband Todd have four children including Trig, who was given birth to a few months ago. Palin may be the first Republican female V.P. candidate, but she's second in general behind Geraldine Ferraro, who ran alongside Walter Mondale on the Democratic side in 1984.

Now, this all comes after Barack Obama accepted his nomination in front of over 80,000 last night when the Democratic National Convention concluded at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos. Of course he wasn't the first to give a convention speech outdoors; some generations remember John F. Kennedy at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1960 while most of that convention was at the L.A. Sports Arena. If it worked for JFK 48 years ago, it could do so for Obama which came just 45 years after Martin Luther King's historic "I Have A Dream" speech.

Of course, the celebrities descended to the Mile High City over week for the convention; among them, Chevy Chase, Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, Ben Affleck, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Hayden Panettiere. Who knows who'll pop up next week when the Republicans convene in Minneapolis.

Whichever way goes, there is history riding in this election. I was young enough to remember 1984, but my gut instinct tells me we could be seeing deja vu. We'll see what happens this fall, so so long and stay strong.

Hello, everybody. Well, NBC can go back to being their crappy little selves again now that the Games of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing are over. The United States may have taken the most haul with 110 medals, but in terms of golds, it was host country China who had the advantage with 51. And as expected, the "redeem team" stood true to their word when they trounced Spain in the men's basketball final.

Now that the flame has been extinguished for another Olympic games, it's now on to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, where I know both the U.S. and of course Canada will do extremely well. NBC will televise those games, and just like Salt Lake City, they will have no problem in covering the marquee events like figure skating live in primetime. We'll find out in over 500 days.

And now...

TEN YEARS AGO...

Ten years ago today on Monday, August 24, 1998, "The Allen Report" was born. The very first story in what was "The Daily Dose" was "Blade" being the #1 movie, but things were very slow as I was covering entertainment/celebrity news.

That changed when "Daily Dose" became "NewsBeat" that November and I would cover the serious news first with the entertainment stuff last. In the summer of 1999, the site took a break; thanks to some much-needed software, it returned with a whole new look in the fall. At the turn of the century, "The Allen Report" would become one of the most popular websites thanks to my usual commentaries in "The Plain Truth", which I'll get to later.

Along the way, "NewsBeat" would grow and prosper with many features ("Closer To Home", "News Brief", "Dollars and Deals", "Health Beat", "Last But Not Least", "Feature Story", "NewsBeat Sports", "Covering The Coverage") being added, with the entertainment/celebrity stories remaining in the back as "The Last Page" and later "Page Three." We had short-lived sections like "Question of the Week", "NewsBeat Extra" (in-depth looks at the big stories); and when she was really, really big and is well on her way to being so again, "Britneywatch" with an accompanying "Babblin' Bout Britney" in "Plain Truth."

The annual "Year in Review", also started in '98, was so boring that the following year I decided to add in an element: Web polls to decide the year's sexiest celebrities.

And last but not least...there's "The Plain Truth" (originally "A Few Paragraphs from Jonathan Allen" and later "The Bottom Line"). It was one of the reasons the Allen Report was a huge success, mostly because I always had something to say about the week's news and other everyday matters.

"The Allen Report" ended its nice 5 3/4 year run on Wednesday, May 12, 2004; I ended that day's "NewsBeat" by saying "See you tomorrow"...only that there was no tomorrow. I would continue posting on Usenet newsgroups and I still did the 2004 Year In Review on another server.

Finally, in the summer of 2005, I said to myself "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"...the ever exploding blogosphere, that is! "The Allen Report" returned as "The AllenBlog", picking up where the old site left off. And as always, I was never afraid to speak my mind.

And now a decade later, here we are. I thank you very much for ten years of continued success; here's to ten more. And like I've said almost every time since 2005...so long and stay strong!

Breaking News:
Joe Biden chosen as Obama's V.P. running mate

The Associated Press has just reported that Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware has been chosen as Barack Obama's running mate for vice president; an official announcement is set for tomorrow. This news comes as the delegates are making their pilgrimage to Denver for the Democratic National Convention next week.

In the meantime, the Olympics in Beijing are beginning to wind down as the United States have reached the 100 medals mark, with 31 of them gold compared to China's 47. The big story from these games may be Michael Phelps, but there were others including the Jamacian track and field team; the "Redeem Team" on their way to right the wrong from Athens four years ago; Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson earning individual golds; and what is perhaps the surprising story of all: Bahrain claiming their first ever Olympic medal -- gold, to be exact -- in the Men's 1500-meter (Rashid Ramzi)!

Two events that made their Olympic debut were open-water swimming and...BMX bike racing?!?!?! Add in motocross racing and skateboarding and we could be seeing the Olympic games become the X Games!

The Games of the 29th Olympiad have proven to be yet another successful one, and the stage will be set for what will transpire for the 30th games in London in 2012. Will Michael Phelps continue his dominance at the old age of 27, or is he calling it a career? Will the U.S. track and field team reclaim all the glory lost by those Jamiacans? And who will be the next gymnastics darling after Shawn and Nastia? After the cauldron is extinguished at the Bird's Nest in Beijing, we'll find out. And with that to go along with this breaking story...so long and stay strong.

Oh yeah...before I go, this Sunday is a big day around here, as it'll be the tenth anniversary of the Allen Report/AllenBlog! Check back here then for a very special blog; now, so long and stay strong!

Hello, everybody. There has been a lot happening over in Beijing and the Olympics, so let's get to it.

First up...the men's swimming events at these games has become The Michael Phelps Show, and for good reason: Early Friday morning (Thursday evening here in the States), he's now 6-for-6 in terms of both gold medals and shattering world records when he claimed the 200-meter individual medley. Overall, he has now earned more golds than anybody else in the history of the Olympic Games, Summer or Winter: 12 right now, with two more to go before he overtakes Mark Spitz. But...can anybody stop him??? Probably not.

After Beijing, he'll most likely retire from the sport at the ripe old age of 23. I have an open message to the Wheaties people: get those boxes printed up right now!

Another person who we might see on the Wheaties box is Nastia Luikin, who beat fellow U.S. teammate and world champion Shawn Johnson for the gold in the women's gymnastics all-around also on Friday. Meanwhile, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are out in their tennis matches (the former thanks to American James Blake); the "Redeem Team" are still coming on strong in basketball; and former UAF rifler Matt Emmons took silver this time in the 50-meter prone.

Here's where we stand in the medal count: United States still leads with 43 overall medals; but on the gold side, China still has the advantage with 22. But the track and field events are already underway, and we may be closing in on China within the next week.

The former Soviet republic of Georgia has earned three medals so far, but the big non-Olympics story this week was that country's invasion by Russia. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili tomorrow hoping for an end to this conflict.

Now the country of Georgia and the U.S. State of Georgia are not one of the same; speaking of the latter...when I made a pit stop in Atlanta during my two-week vacation in the South three years ago, I saw the Olympic cauldron from the 1996 games still standing outside Turner Field. Centennial Olympic Park, also built for those games, is still there; it recently got minor damage from a unexpected tornado that hit Atlanta.

After the Beijing games are over, you can assure that their cauldron will still be there as a reminder that they've hosted the biggest sporting event that transpires once every four years, which reminds me...have any of their Winter Games venues kept their cauldrons?

And last but not least: With the hurting economy, the cost of living is higher than ever, especially food. And here in Alaska, it's the rural areas that are feeling the pinch even further.

While we in Fairbanks and Anchorage pay about $3.00 for a gallon of milk, residents of Barrow have to fork over a whopping $10. It gets more explicit than that: $6.00 for a loaf of bread; $6.79 for a dozen eggs; even $15 for a ten-pound bag of potatoes! Because of that, rural residents have been turning to the big stores like Fred Meyer and Safeway where they've been taking those kinds of orders for years.

We may be getting free money from the state as usual with the Permanent Fund Dividend this fall, but it may not be enough to help stimulate the economy. Then again, I'm glad to be paying the right prices for groceries instead of shelling out monstrous amounts like the rurals do. So long and stay strong.

Hello, everybody. Well...is the United States kicking butt in Beijing so far or what? The big story coming out of the first weekend of the Olympics so far was Michael Phelps continuing on his quest for eight golds and breaking Mark Spitz' record by shattering his own world record Saturday in the 400-meter individual medley; tonight, it continued with the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. In the women's relay, Natalie Coughlin, 42-year-old Dara Torres, and others got silver, which is a very nice start so far the the latter.

Another story was the men's basketball team (the "Redeem Team") on a roll, trouncing host country China and Yao Ming 101-70. The U.S. still maintains their medal count lead with 10; but in terms of golds, China leads with six followed by Korea with three. And Great Britain got their first golds in these games with the Women's 400-meter freestyle and the Women's Cycling road race.

Now Phelps' second gold came just a few hours ago, despite the 15-hour time gap between Beijing and Alaska. In fact, almost all the marquee events like swimming and track and field are happening in the morning in Beijing and aired live in primetime back in the States...which is either making NBC happy of irate viewers flocking across the border for better coverage of the games.

Over the years on the "Allen Report" and on this blog, I have bitched and moaned about how so many of us who were tired of NBC's bias and are living in border cities like Seattle, Detroit, and Vancouver have been the luckiest souls on Earth by tuning out Bob Costas and company and tuning in the CBC for their Olympic fix. The Beijing games are CBC's last, because the Canadian Olympic broadcasting rights after this one will be handed over to rival CTV in time for the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver. NBC's rights end after 2012 in London, and ABC/ESPN is about to hatch a game plan to get the rights back and hopefully reclaim their Olympic legacy left behind by the late Jim McKay. Of course, we would be seeing ultimate coverage on not just ABC, but ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com, and maybe ABC Family.

CBS and Fox don't have enough outlets, but when CBS had the Winter Olympics from 1992 to 1998, they shared their coverage with TNT. It's all about a "wait and see" approach to find out who'll make their move.

And last but not least, more sad news: A day after Bernie Mac's passing came Isaac Hayes', who died today at 65 in his Memphis home from natural causes. Ironically enough, he and Mac have recently finished shooting the movie "Soul Men."

Hayes may have been best known for his Oscar-winning theme to "Shaft", but he earned a new generation of fans thanks to his Chef character on "South Park." Now two great black entertainers are gone, but their legacies will remain for all times. So long and stay strong.

Let the (smoggy) games begin!

Hello, everybody. Before we get to the Olympics, some sad news: Actor and comedian Bernie Mac, whose credits included "The Bernie Mac Show", "Mr. 3000", "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle", and the "Ocean's Eleven" movies with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, died this morning from complications of pneumonia at a Chicago hospital; he was 50. He will be sorely missed.

Now then...the Games of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing may be a day old (kicked off by a spectacular opening ceremony), but they wasted no time handing out the hardware. Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic got the first gold of these games in Women's 10-meter Air Rifle, and here's the real kicker: her husband is former Alaska Nanook Matt Emmons, who got gold himself at the last Olympics in Athens and is hoping to add two more this time in the 50-meter prone and the 50-meter three position.

Host country China got their first golds in Men's 10-meter Air Pistol and Women's 48-kilogram Weightlifting, while the United States' first medals were all in Women's Individual Sabre fencing. As a result, we lead the medal count with three followed by China and Korea with two apiece.

Of course, the one factor that's facing the Olympics has to be the pollution. Beijing is known to have the worst kind of air quality this side of Los Angeles (or Fairbanks when the weather is 30 to 40 below), and for the athletes and others getting around the area that's a big concern.

We don't know what scandals have been brewing this time, but both the summer and winter Olympics have had several. One of them was "Skategate" at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, which I commented on in a February 16-17, 2002 "Plain Truth." Here it is again from the Allen Report archives:

Well, well, well...After four days of controversy, "Skategate" during the Winter Olympics came to an end on Friday when the Canadian figure skating pair of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier finally got what they should've got Monday...gold to go along with the silver they already have. The culprit was despite the Canadians giving a flawless performance that should've won them the gold, the French judge didn't give a damn and ruined Sale's and Pellitier's dreams. They and the rest of the skating community were crying "foul!"

Now for decades, the Olympics have been known for incidents like these; all going back to 1980. That's when months after the "Miracle on Ice" in Lake Placid, the United States boycotted the summer games which were held in Moscow. NBC at the time paid big money for broadcast rights, but because of the boycott the network's coverage only consisted of late-night updates. I guess that boycott definitely cost Jimmy Carter the presidency.

Then four years later, the games returned to America, this time in Los Angeles. We took part; the Soviets didn't. As far as Canada was concerned, we all remember Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul games. But when Johnson tested positive for steroids, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal and it was given to American Carl Lewis who finished second.

Let's flash forward to 1994, and the historic Nancy vs. Tonya feud in Lillehammer that resulted into one of the most-watched events in television history. All the magazine shows (Hard Copy, Inside Edition, A Current Affair, Entertainment Tonight) were working overtime on this, but in the end Kerrigan prevailed by copping silver. Let's not get to this whole "corny" stuff we overheard her saying at Disney World.

And now, it's Sale and Pelletier, as they're going to get their second medal this weekend; the French judge meanwhile has been suspended for misconduct. Let's hope the judges doesn't screw up Michelle Kwan's chances for a gold next week.

Major slips by Michelle Kwan have cost her the gold twice, first to Tara Lipinski in 1998 and Sarah Hughes in 2002. Kwan withdrew from the 2006 games in Turin, leaving America's chance at that elusive gold in the hands of Sasha Cohen; she fell and it ended up around the neck of Japan's Shizuka Arkawa. Sasha's second chance is coming up in 2010 in Vancouver, when the Olympics return to North America.

By the way...it was also at the Turin games that a new scoring system for figure skating was implemented because of what happened in Salt Lake City. No more scores of 4's, 5's, or 6's from different judges, there is now one overall score.

Anyway, we've only got 13 more days to go in Beijing, and you can bet Team USA will clear the air as only they can. So long and stay strong!