One Heartbeat Away---McCain's Strangest Move

Sarah who? Oh sure, the one who was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. An obvious choice for vice president. How did the national media manage to overlook her when they were analyzing McCain's vice presidential prospects?

This election has transformed from odd to bizarre overnight. I guess McCain was thinking that Hillary's supporters are so dumb that they'll vote for anything female. Hey John---helloooo---I'm no woman but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works.

Some say McCain was worried his support among the religious right needed to be beefed up. Like they were ever going to vote for Obama/Biden.

This is a selection which is downright scary. Let's not pretend that McCain can't be elected. Remember 2004? McCain is 72 years old, and even if he were the healthiest person on earth, that puts his veep one heartbeat away from the presidency. And who would that be? Sarah Palin.

If only she were related to Michael Palin of Monty Python, I'd feel much better. But she's not. Here's her background: age 44, mother of 5 (yup, just gave birth to her 5th child at age 44), served a couple terms on the Wasilla City Council, then was mayor of Wasilla until 2006 when she was elected governor of Alaska. Education: bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. Job experience: tv newscaster in Alaska; helping her husband with his commercial fishing business.

Let's say you own a small business and you're thinking of hiring someone as office manager. Honestly, there's a pretty good chance Sarah wouldn't even get an interview. But McCain is telling us she's the most qualified Republican to serve as Vice President for the United States of America?

As governor, she fired the head of the Alaska's state law enforcement agency and there's considerable evidence she did this because he refused to fire Sarah's sister's ex-husband from his job as a state trooper. Hmmm. Stay tuned to this ethics investigation. I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about this.

Get this---she thinks the Bush administration is too liberal when it comes to environmental policy. Can't understand why Bush would want polar bears to be listed as an endangered species. Thinks we should drill more oil from Alaska, even more than McCain. Seriously.

This would be amusing if it wasn't so real. Undecided voters take heed. If Sarah were president, who knows what might happen (don't forget: one heartbeat away!) I'm afraid she could make W look good by comparison, and I didn't think that was possible.

Let's not forget the absolute capper of this deal. McCain's most blistering criticism of Obama so far, his rallying cry, is that Obama LACKS EXPERIENCE. Well John, what can you tell us about Sarah's experience?

Clinton Contrition

This is what they live for, Bill and Hillary, and they delivered the goods. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver and a huge national television audience, both Clintons delivered moving speeches calculated to unite the Democratic Party and sway undecided voters to back Barack for president. Was that so hard? For them, yes it was. And I fear it will continue to be.

But for now, let's give props to the Clintons. After months of unsubtle swipes at Barack Obama, some decidedly below the belt, the Clintons put on their best face at the final hour when it mattered most.

Stay tuned though. 2012 is never far from Hillary's mind. Bill's too. Let's hope that between now and November, they shelter their ambitions and continue to let the nation believe they truly support the Obama-Biden ticket. But when Bill Clinton stepped on stage on the song "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" was blaring, I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking that it means something very different now than it did in 1992.

When Politicians Turn Bad

This Hillary thing keeps reminding me of when I was a kid. We played baseball a lot in our neighborhood but most of the time, there was only one baseball bat. The kid who had the bat made the rules. If he didn't like how things were going, he'd take his bat and leave. Game over.

As we got older, everyone learned that it's just wrong for the kid with the bat to set the rules. That's not what adults do. Or so we were told.

I often wondered what it was, exactly, that got the kid with the bat to share. I liked to think that he learned something important. That it's better for everyone to share. But maybe he just learned that if he didn't share, he'd get in trouble with his folks or that a group of angry kids might beat the crap out of him. Community interest or self-preservation?

Which leads me to Hillary. So often it seems that she would rather have McCain win than Obama. And we all know why---if McCain wins, she has a better shot at the White House in 2012. From the standpoint of the nation and the world, does she really think a McCain presidency would be best? Of course not. But her level of caring for the nation pales in comparison to how much she cares about herself. This now seems obvious.

I used to admire her tremendously. I hoped she would one day be president. I thought she possessed all the qualities of a great international leader. Not any more. It saddens me to learn that her greed and vanity trumped her interest in serving the greater good.

Then there's Bill. Most scholars give him high marks for his presidential tenure and I think history will uphold this positive view, perhaps even enhance it. And in his first 4 to 6 years as a former president, Bill conducted himself admirably on the world stage using his power for the benefit of many world causes.

Then he lost it. He's like the kid with the baseball bat. And he's pissed. And it shows.

The Clintons have a shot at redemption. It comes at the Democratic National Convention. But it doesn't end there. They need to campaign tirelessly for Barack. If they don't, the world will know that they care only for themselves. In which case I will continue to think "Shame on them". Bill and Hillary, please don't let that happen. Use your power for the greater good and don't pretend you don't know what that means. We're not that stupid.

The Evil Republican Spin Machine

Forgive me. I thought we were a nation that cared about truth. Forgive us. For we are a nation of idiots. I suspect this statement won't enhance my chances for victory if I were to decide to run for public office. On the other hand, the evidence is overwhelming---we ARE a nation of idiots. How else can any rational person explain that a majority of our citizenry accept without question the ridiculous mean-spirited lies the Republican spin machine cranks out?

Have you heard about the new book "Obama Nation"? A Karl Rove-ish Swift Boat redux. The New Republicanism cares only about results and cares nothing about process. The New Republicanism, as a core value, believes that it is justified in telling lies about exceptional citizens, who happen to be Democrats running for executive office. Why? Well, for one thing, they can get away with it. They know that most Americans are not critical thinkers. Collectively, we are dumb and lazy, willing to believe whatever toxic lies the Republican Rovers spew in our general direction.

For another, it gets results! Witness the re-election of W in 2004. W's performance as our president from 2001 to 2004 will go down in history as a disaster, yet our nation of idiots re-elected him. And for us to re-elect W in 2004 proves, once again, they we as a nation are gullible and foolish. Of course, there is also the possibility that both elections were rigged, Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

What amazes me most, though, is the hypocrisy. The Republican's are attempting to marginalize Barack claiming he is an elitist. Let's see, Obama grew up in a household with a single parent, excelled at academics and athletics, and lacked any of the privileges one normally associates with elitists.

McCain, on the other hand, was the son of an admiral and the grandson of an admiral. He didn't deserve to get into the US Naval Academy but strings were pulled and it happened. Never an exceptional student, McCain's chief to notoriety seemed to lie in his ability to survive as a POW in Vietnam. I'm sure this was a miserable time for him, but is the ability to not die while being fed crappy food by Communists really something that qualifies someone to be the Leader of the Free World?

So who's the elitist? Let's not forget that McCain's wife is mega-rich, if not a billionaire, she's close. And despite all this, McCain is asking for Americans to vote for him because Obama, not McCain, is an elitist.

By now, everyone has seen McCain's add comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. This stretch of reasoning is priceless. I think it goes like this: because Barack has become famous, he is like Spears and Hilton. Since Spears and Hilton are dumb, lame celebrities, Barack must be a dumb, lame celebrity. That's called a syllogism. Our nation of idiots doesn't know much about these and falls for the trap. Shame on us. Funny how the person many Republicans say was our greatest president, Ronald Reagan, was a celebrity, and in spite of this disqualifying attribute ("Bedtime for Bonzo"), not to mention his dementia, he managed to do a bang up job as president.

Barack's celebrity world-wide seems to derive from the sense of hope he inspires. Nobody since JFK has inspired hope at home and abroad. The Republicans realize that they can't inspire hope. The stock-in-trade of the Republican Party has been reduced to lies and fear-mongering. Shame on us, the nation of idiots, that this seems to work so well.

Beijing----Where Freedom Doesn't Ring

Today the curtain rises on the Beijing Olympics. Weirdness is guaranteed. Sports fans, the kind who tolerate gymnastics and water polo and wrestling and crew and weightlifting in small doses once every four years, will be mildly entertained. NBC will bludgeon us with "up close and personal" profiles. Advertisers will advertise. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Actually, since the US Track and Field Trials were in Eugene, I'm anxious to watch Olympic Track and Field. How often do you get to see people you know from your home town compete in the Olympics? Can't help but wonder how much that nasty Beijing air will impair performance though. Running hard, especially at long distances, is a painful experience. Having run plenty of marathons, I know this based on harsh experience. I can't imagine how much the pain will be compounded by the unavailability of decent quality air to breath.

But the strangest thing of all will be the whole Chinese spectacle. The Communist Chinese government broke their piggy bank, at enormous sacrifice to the people they govern so cruelly, to put on a show to dazzle the world. The newly constructed Olympic facilities are architectural marvels---kudos to the Chinese for that, I guess. But nice buildings and well-choreographed ceremonies cannot conceal China's colossal shortcomings, from human rights to environmental Armageddon.

Let's just hope that this Olympics is free of terrorism and that the games unfold without tragic mishaps. The Chinese have set the bar at world record height. I'll be happy if we somehow manage to get through unscathed.

2008 Rogue Adventure: Highs and Lows

This wasn't how the trip was supposed to begin. The night before our group of 9 was set to launch our rafts on the Rogue River, we learned that a woman drowned on Blossom Bar earlier that day. Our collective mood was already apprehensive because Blossom had claimed another life four weeks earlier.

We didn't commit to this trip because we wanted to tempt fate. This trip was about re-connecting with old friends over a few days of whitewater and a few nights around the campfire. Sure, we knew the Rogue was dangerous and that mishaps are commonplace. In years past, each of us had perilous encounters---flipping rafts or kayaks, adrift in wild waters struggling to reach a point of safety. Such events take place almost daily on the Rogue.

But never before had Blossom Bar claimed two lives in such a short time period. Was it because the water levels were 50% higher than normal for the summer? Was it merely goulish coincidence? Unable to purge such worries, but determined to proceed with the trip as planned, we committed ourselves to safety and caution. Not that we were especially reckless in earlier trips, but this time, we did things a little differently.

The Rogue trip takes four days. In the past, we tended to drink plenty of beer during the calm stretches on hot afternoons and we often removed our life jackets after passing through dangerous rapids. Not this time. In earlier trips, there was always a point in the trip, usually after passing through Blossom Bar, when we lowered our guard, figuring that since the biggest hazards were behind us, we were somehow immune from the dangers that still remained. Inevitably, this is when most of our mishaps occurred.

This year, our concentration remained high throughout the entire trip. The result---no screw-ups, no scary moments, everyone home safely. But there was one especially unsettling moment. When we arrived at Blossom Bar, just as we were tying up our rafts to scout the life-threatening rapids, a helicopter came in close. Was it there to attempt to remove the body? Was it there to get footage of another rafting party's flirt with death?

Turns out that unlike the earlier drowning victim whose body was unable to be removed from the rapids for over two weeks, the second victim's family was fortunate to recover her body within a day or two. Still, it was weird and ominous that a helicopter would arrive at Blossom Bar at the same time we did. We didn't like it.

Apart from our worries, the trip went like a dream. There's nothing quite like spending time on an outdoor adventure with your best friends. Everyone stayed up late singing, partying and laughing. As expected, my fingertips nearly bled from the many hours of hard guitar playing. We had a ridiculous encounter with a complete asshole who we nicknamed "Pajama Man"---a territorial guy who refused to share a much larger campsite than his party needed---but the result of Pajama Man's ugly behavior was that we met a couple guys who became good friends and joined our party for the last two days of our trip. Mathew and Kelly (who looks like Owen Wilson but with a better nose) became welcome additions to our group.

We're already planning next year's trip. Our hearts feel so badly for the friends and family of those who died on the Rogue. We like to think that we honor their memory by continuing to raft the Rogue's dangerous waters.