Finally

More than a year ago in this lowly blog, I wrote that the GOP needed to pick a Veep that was a woman or minority in order to blunt what at first I thought would be a Clinton run then it became clear that Obama would be the choice.

Heck I wrote a letter to Karl Rove (still waiting on him to write back!) way back in 2004 suggesting that he pick somebody else other than Cheney for his 2nd term VP. But Karl never listened to anybody so ...

McCain may have done what nobody believed he could or would do.

I think this is a savvy political move and as long as she doesn't have something hidden in her closet (remember Ted Stevens is from Alaska!) and her husband is also squeeky clean, then I'd say this new team has a good shot at making something happen in November.

Maybe the only thing left for McCain to do is promise to run for only one term (something else I suggested long ago) which sets up Clinton vs. Palin in 2012. Imagine that!

Darned if he does ...

Talking with a co-worker today about Conventions, the Donkeys and the GOP and decided I needed to write this down so everyone can either say how very smart I am (or stupid - only time will tell!)

OK, Obama made his choice and in typical fashion he covered a weak spot. Usually the VP comes from a state with a sizable amount of electoral votes. In this case he is trying to quell some of his critics.

McCain has it much tougher. Rumors about Lieberman. Here's my take on that: If he does it will go down in history as the most unusual pick for a VP ever. But it could be smart strategy on his part and here's why I think that. If he picks Lieberman he'll be saying to some Reagan Democrats and others who may not like Obama and are looking for a reason NOT to vote DEM - "Look, I can work with you people. Come back." He knows that right away he'd be vilified by the Christian right et al for this choice but in his mind he is hoping they'll forgive and forget by November and since few if any of them could ever vote for Obama or any other Democrat, he'll get most of them back anyway. But his losses of staunch rightees will be more than off-set by the democrats he convinces to come to the GOP side again.

The other option? He picks a more traditional person - I have no idea who this might be - but whoever it is is going to be right-of-center to placate and ensure the rightees show up and vote GOP.

A Hobson's choice of sorts. #1 is risky but given the climate might be his only chance of winning the election. #2 is not risky at all but won't win any elections.

Personally I don't like either of them but his people aren't listening to me and reading my earlier blogs about picking a minority for VP.

more odd musings

Reading slowly during lunch breaks, Lord Save us From Your Followers by Dan Merchant. I got this while looking for his movie of the same name. Pretty interesting reading so far. Can't critique the book yet but couple this with something else I read on Relevant Magazine Slices web site about the guy in Florida who's been leading revival and healing meetings in Lakeland - Todd Bentley. Now I can't speak accurately about someone I've never met and I haven't been to one of his services but first read this then go back to the title noted above.

What are we going to do and how are we going to make a difference when these are the people who get all the news and end up as the poster boys for Christianity?

I know it comes from a cynical point of view about religion in general but these lyrics from Don Henley hit home:

"And we pray to our lord, who we know is American
He reigns from on high
He speaks to us through middlemen
And he shepherds his flock
We sing out and praise his name
He supports us in war
He presides over football games
And the right will prevail
All our troubles will be resolved
We hold faith above all
Unless there's money or sex involved

Frail grasp on the big picture
Nobody's calling them for roughing up the kicker
It's a frail grasp on the big picture
Heaven help us"

Frail Grasp of the Big Picture - the Eagles, Don Henley, lyrics 2008

It's those last two lines of the verse "We hold faith above all
Unless there's money or sex involved" that sum it all up it seems.

random thoughts on gas

Mostly other people's thoughts but found them oddly connected. Reading WIRED magazine this morning while in the room down the hall (if you know what I mean!) and came across these:

1 - "I refuse to use bioplastic, which comes from something that people can eat. Scientists agree that we have a real food problem, a famine approaching. It's a crime against humanity to take something you can eat and make a chair - or use it as gas for your SUV." designer Phillipe Starck in response to criticism of his plastic chair design.

2 - I have to summarize before I quote. Tom Friedman - NY Times columnist and author of The World is Flat, is talking about energy which of course must lead to petroleum. He starts with "The stone age didn't end when we ran out of stone." He is asking and looking for a solution to our energy problems and suggests: "We need 100,000 people in 100,000 garages trying 100,000 things - in the hope that five of them break through. He feels current efforts are hopeless and that it will take a top-down systems approach to fix this. And the quote I've been leading up to? "Without a systems approach, what do you end up with? Corn ethanol in Iowa."

So here you have two very different people bit who agree on at least one thing: we have energy (and food) problems and ethanol is not the way to go.

I've written before on ethanol and with as little as I know now, it does not seem to be the way we can get out of this crisis. I am happy though for gas that seems to be moving downward toward $3/gallon. If in July of 2006 when I filled up for $1.99/gallon you'd have told me 1) I'd be paying $3.35/gallon and 2) I'd be happy about it; I'd have thought you were crazy!

We have friends in Rogersville whose lives and livelihoods may be affected by the construction and operation of an Ethanol plant almost literally in their backyard. There's a major hearing on this case that is going to happen on the MSU campus in September. If I can get off work that day I'd like to sit in for personal education and to lend moral support to my friends.

The boys next door

Today I spent about 5 hours working with a couple of co-workers building some shelves at a group home that is part of what is called ARC of the Ozarks. I guess some years back they started using the acronym ARC instead of the Association for Retarded Citizens. This nice clean house in a less-than middle class neighborhood in Springfield houses 8 men in varying stages of physical or mental challenge or both.

I was reminded of the TV movie some years ago, The Boys Next Door with Nathan Lane. A sweet movie about several men of varying disabilities and their social worker.

I always enjoy this type of project and today we got to do something hands-on and even though it was just a set of shelves, we did a really nice job and we got it finished. There's something about a challenge like that - none of our team of three are carpenters - and getting it done and having it look pretty darn good for some chipboard and some 2X4s.

I have always had a soft spot for folks with some mental challenges. I have no idea what to do for any of them except pray when I see someone struggling with things they didn't have a say in. Probably all these men were born (or acquired through injury etc.) their disability. I am reminded of the time (John Chap. 9) when someone asked Jesus if a blind man had sinned or if it was his parents. Jesus replied; "Neither, ... but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Then Jesus proceeded to heal him in a most unusual way by spitting in the dirt and making clay to put on the man's eyes. Then he tells him to go wash (I assume to wash the muddy spit out of his eyes) and the man came back seeing.

I guess my hope and prayer for these 8 men and many many more like them is that they too someday see and feel the glory of God made manifest in their lives.

What will they think of next?

Olympic Balladeer’s Voice Was Dubbed

By JIM YARDLEY (New York Times)
Published: August 12, 2008

BEIJING — Pigtailed and smiling, Lin Miaoke, age 9, stood in a red dress and white shoes during last Friday’s Olympic opening ceremonies and performed “Ode to the Motherland” in what would become one of the evening’s most indelible images: a lone child, fireworks blazing overhead, singing a patriotic ballad before an estimated one billion viewers.

Except that she was not really singing.

The article goes on to say that the Chinese authorities found a cute girl who could not sing well enough and a good singer who was not cute enough so ...

What will they think of next?

08-08-08

If I knew how, I planned on posting this at 8:08 a.m. also but I’ll be at a meeting during that time-frame so this will have to do.

More on the Olympics.

I don’t put this on equal footing with the war in Iraq but there are some similarities.

I never thought going into Iraq was such a good idea in the first place. But – and I don’t think this is hypocritical – I am concerned for all the young men and women who are risking their lives and for the families of those who have already lost their lives. I heard today we reached a 500-casualty milestone in Afghanistan. Most of them probably never asked to be sent there but they are loyal and brave and so they go. Some don’t come back. Some don’t come back the way they left – either mentally or physically or both.

I never thought letting China host the Olympics was such a great idea. It seems only to reward the largest human rights abuser in the world. Arguably the most prolific polluter. And for what? So numerous American companies can make money. I realize few in the U.S. had anything to do with the IOC’s decision to award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing. But I didn’t hear a chorus of boos from corporate America when the selection was made either.

So shame on the IOC for picking it. Shame on NBC for tempering their news coverage so as not to offend corporate sponsors and those affiliated with their parent GE while they televise hundreds of hours of coverage. OK I heard this on that bastion of fair and balanced coverage – NPR, so it may need some qualifying.

But for the athletes – all the best. I wouldn’t want to deny some of these kids what might be their only shot at Olympic glory. Even just the honor of participating. So for them – good luck. Swim, run, throw, jump well and make American proud.

Reverse Racism

My daughter (the hippie-chick-one) has an Obama bumper sticker planted on her car. I can be happy about one part of that and slightly less happy about another aspect of the bumper-sticker politicking.

I’d like to think that she is truly as color-blind as anyone can be – considering she spent her formative years in the south where rebel flags are flown without shame (a house less than a mile from me now, still has one flying from the front porch!) An aside – I’ve actually begun praying for the man who lives there. I saw him sitting on his porch one morning and he didn’t look happy. I can’t imagine carrying so much anger or hate that you’d want to fly a rebel flag. So I simply ask God to bless him when I pass his house.

I was NOT raised in a racism-free home. I don’t think my father had any overt animosity towards African-Americans; he was raised during a time when they “knew their place”. My mother would occasionally use the “N” word. My father preferred the term “colored.” Somehow I came away from that upbringing with about as neutral a feeling as I guess is possible.

We raised our children with the idea that race was not an issue. I know it is and can be but we didn’t know how else to teach them except that, color doesn’t matter.
So bless her, I’d like to think at least part of my daughter’s blithely accepting Obama as a candidate is based on that.

I wonder how many other well-meaning liberals will be doing the same thing in a form of reverse racism. They will look past his politics, his lack of high-level experience and vote for him simply because he is black. Thinking that somehow this symbolic gesture will undo generations of racism and racial guilt and show everybody how open and progressive they really are. “I voted for a black man. See what an open-minded person I am!”

In much the same way as pollsters often find out – people say one thing about their votes but often do something else. I think this whole thing will balance or cancel itself out; i.e. some people will say they voted for Obama but really won’t or can’t and others will say they voted for the other guy but when they punched their very own little hanging chad, it was for Obama.

As for me I’m undecided. Not in the way you might think though. As long as Obama maintains certain positions, I could not bring myself to vote for him. But on the other hand, I'm not ready to pull the lever or punch the chad for McCain. I think he is going to lose and in the process may hurt the GOP for a long time.

Politics and the Olympics

Yesterday I heard that Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek was denied a visa to attend the games in Beijing. I mistakenly thought he would be competing (oops he skates in the Winter Games!) but I guess he was going to protest. Still in their on-going effort to stifle dissent, the Chinese government revoked his visa. His crime? A group called Team Darfur which among other things calls attention to China's involvement and support of the Sudanese government and their continued oppression, genocide - pick a word that means horrible treatment of your own citizens - of the distressingly poor, destitute etc. in Darfur which for the uninformed is an area in western Sudan. Not to be confused with the portion of southern Sudan that for so many years was the site of a civil war where the government of Sudan (sounding familiar?) was attempting to purge anything non-Islamic from that portion of their country. I realize that nothing, no one, nobody, no how - is truly God-forsaken, but Sudan must be pretty darn close.

My title is Politics and the Olympics and prompted mostly by the inane comments of an IOC spokesperson yesterday saying basically that the IOC does not get involved in matters relating to the host country or some such drivel.

I guess maybe from a purely technical point of view they (certainly not at this late date) don't have any authority over what Beijing does or does not do. What are they going to do - threaten them? "No more Olympics in China until at least 2024!"

A quick look at Olympic history shows politics playing a major role in many Olympic games going back to 1936 when much to his dismay, Hitler had to watch as Jesse Owens took Gold Medals in track. In Mexico in 1968 Black Power rose again but in the form of a two gloved fists. We remember the massacre in Munich in 1972 but may forget this act was carried out by Palestinian terrorists against the Israeli team. 1980 saw us boycott the Olympics in Moscow and of course Russia did the same for our coming out party in LA in 1984. The list goes on and on.

It will be interesting to see how the next two weeks play out.

No Country or Anyplace else for that matter!

Just finished watching No Country for Old Men. And before I talk about the movie I must share a personal piece of trivia. About a year ago I heard Tess Harper (Tommy Lee Jones' wife in No Country) would be in town to speak at a Writer's Luncheon/Award thing. For some odd reason I thought she'd make an interesting, albeit, different guest for a show we were taping with our Mayor. Most of our guests were the usual suspects and I thought this might move him and our show out of our comfort zone a little so I tried to make contact with her. It took a few days but I succeeded in reaching her and she accepted my invitation. The show went well, our Mayor rose to the challenge and took my notes and questions and added some personal interest. She was cordial but I was surprised by two things - she came dressed for jogging and smoking a cigarette. Back to the movie...

I guess anything by the Coen brothers will be surprising. Overall I liked the movie but was disappointed with the ending. I read No Country years ago but I confess I don't recall how it ends. But somehow I wanted the satisfaction of seeing Chigurh blown away or something - oops spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet.

Anything with Tommy Lee Jones is worth watching and that's the only reason my wife stuck it out to the end. She was put off by the violence pretty early but I guess she got numb to it as the movie went along. I've never seen Josh Brolin in anything before but thought he was convincing and good in his role. And of course now Javier Bardem's picture must be next to the word sociopath in the dictionary.

My wife wondered though why or if Tommy Lee's character ever connected the dots between the cattle-killing air powered thing and his own story about the guy who shot himself while trying to kill a steer.

Cormac McCarthy didn't write a follow-up but the Coen's left the door open for Tommy Lee to continue to hunt for Chigurh. At times watching this I felt like I was in one of Tony Hillerman's novels in the southwest - miles and miles of desert, isolation, etc. And the lead characters seem similar - world-weary, smart detective-types searching for killers.

Mia Farrow, Sudan and China

I wonder how and why celebrities get such a big soap-box from which to voice their opinions but then again all of us should be free (we are) to do the same. We just don't get a large and immediate audience for our collective ramblings.

Today I listened to a live phone interview with Mia Farrow from a refugee camp in Chad - near the border of Sudan. She is there symbolically speaking out against China's involvement in supporting the government of Sudan - mostly by buying their oil. She has been vocal in calling for people to boycott or protest or something against the Olympics being held in Beijing. I'll give her credit.

It must be 110 on a cool day there; it is dangerous, not pretty, un-glamourous etc. but she is there making her point. She doesn't draw the attention of Ms. Jolie but she could be at home in her Park or 5th Avenue penthouse spending Frank's, Andre's or Woody's money but she's walking the talk, so to speak.

I can't go to Chad or Sudan but I'll be starting up my Olympic boycott on 08/08/08 by not watching any of the Olympics this year.

democracy

Today is an election day in our state and county and city. I now proudly wear my "I voted" sticker. I say proudly but maybe not. I was the 31st voter in my dinky little rural county. Even though they handed me a big piece of paper and an uncapped felt-tipped pen, I voted for a whopping two people. I have never voted for people I don't know anything about - even if running unopposed. So I left most of the spaces blank.

I consider myself fairly well-read; especially in the political realm. But today I didn't know diddly about almost everybody on the ballot. Who's fault is that? In one newscast I can see half-a-dozen ads for the major state-wide offices. But as Tip O'Neill used to say; "All politics is local." Where are/were all these people in the weeks running up to today's vote? I don't expect, nor should they buy TV time.

A friend and former co-worker is running for a state office. I can't vote for him because he doesn't represent my area but his main tactic was going door-to-door. He alloted something like 30-45 minutes everyday to walk the district and meet people. I'll bet he gets lots of votes from people who may or may not know where he stands on all the issues.

While I have some strong personal feelings about a lot of issues, I don't think most of them matter at the local levels. I'd probably have voted for somebody if they'd taken the time to drive around and meet people in their district. I can tell you some of their names because I pass their signs everyday. But that doesn't tell me how hard they will work to deal with issues and problems in our county. If someone is willing to get out and burn up a little shoe leather (or gas!), I'm much more likely to pay attention to them and perhaps support them with my vote.