So Long, Sarah!

Actually, she will be around for a while longer. And she will be getting A LOT of attention next week when Joe McGinnis's book comes out. It looks like it will be a pretty hard-hitting treatment from the author and brief next-door-neighbor of the Palin's. However annoying it may have been to have him next door, it was Sarah who insinuated that he was a sex pervert. This from the same mother grizzly who frequently hides behind her children.

And I will read the book. (It's on order from Amazon). Some of you may wonder why when I am such a moderate and fair guy and wouldn't touch Cheney's book with a ten-foot pole. Am I being fair and objective? Not really. I find Palin appalling for reasons I have set out. And thanks to McGinnis, I think there will be more to come. I want to understand better. This book will be far more controversial and interesting than Cheney's book could ever be. It will likely be a significant historic and cultural event in and of itself.

Ponzi Perry's Pity Party

Rick Perry almost won me over today when he expressed surprise at the reaction from some in the crowd at the tea party Republican debate last night who cheered about people in comas without insurance being left to die. But then I remembered that ya gotta dance with the one that brung ya. And Perry as much as anybody is responsible for stirring up tea party conservative extremism.

One thing you can say is that he is stubborn enough not to flip-flop on most things. He's sticking to his guns (I don't know if they're the blanks or laser-targeted ones) on the Ponzi nature of Social Security. The reason why he is wrong on this even if it makes libertarian sense (watch me do my Jedi lawyer tricks) is that it is not a Ponzi scheme because it is legal. Congress made it so. Of course it is not sustaining itself financially through payroll deductions. It didn't do so in the beginning either. It was only created that way as a "legal fiction" to help sell it politically at passage and continuing over the years so we would take responsibility for it - as President Reagan and Tip O'Neill did in the 1980s. It was fixed then and can be fixed now. All it takes is political will and responsibility. And if you want to challenge the constitutionality, I think the statute of limitations has run on that. Actually, there is no technical limitation on Constitutional Law except that the arc of history generally bends forward - unless, of course, you're entertaining the crowds at tea party events.

Tea Party Republican Debate

We'll make another attempt to live-blog. However, I may get drawn away for family night activities. . . .

This debate could be entertaining if they actually let real tea party people ask real questions. We'll see. . . .

The big news is that T-Paw endorsed Mitt. Kenneth the Page (Gov. Jindal) endorsed Rick Perry. That about evens things up.

And Secretary of State Clinton fails to take Uncle Dick's bait to entertain a challenge to President Obama. Yeah, right, Dick. Just because you thought you could manipulate or bully Secretaries Powell and Rice, doesn't mean Hillary will even give you the time of day.

My Tribute to Something Better

Sure, as an eternal optimist, I get awfully discouraged. 9/11 about did me in in a psychological sense even if my life was not directly threatened. I often wonder what effect I can have to improve the world in a positive way. I certainly can't  prevent that kind of horror. I have a job with the federal government. I try to do some good in the world. I volunteer at church with young men (well, not entirely voluntarily). I write a blog. I have a few dozen people who read me now and then. I get discouraged.

There's a movie that I very much admire on my themes of idealism and good intentions in the face of life's horror. Maybe you can catch a TV version where the worst language and a very graphic scene of violence are toned down because I don't like recommending movies of certain ratings. The movie is The Fisher King. Yep - a modern version of Holy Grail mythology. Jeff Bridges is a radio shock-jock who falls drunken into gutters and near violent death after his irresponsible remark on the radio sends a guy over the edge to commit a mass slaughter. Bridges's character "Jack" is redeemed by taking on the quest of an insane and severely wounded "Parry" played by Robin Williams. The grail is obtained in a very odd way, and the Fisher King is healed. And all that in New York City.

9/11 Ten Years Gone

The horror of September 11, 2001 came over me slowly. The first reports were from the rock station playing on the car radio. Thinking it was somebody’s bad joke I switched to an all-news AM station where the disaster was confirmed. The fragmented news reported a car bomb at the State Department and smoke behind the White House, perhaps the old Executive Office Building. The Interior Department sits between the two.  I became very concerned about my co-workers and friends at Main Interior.

I was on my way to Gallup to meet with the Navajo Regional Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on an archaeology contract with the Navajo Nation. Switching my private vehicle for a government car at the Southern Pueblos Agency at Indian School and Twelfth Street, I drove west on I-40. The news reports clarified that the smoke in D.C. was coming from the Pentagon. I realized then that this was not just a horrible New York disaster but an attack on the United States.


Nine Mile Hill was sunny as I crested into the valley of the Rio Puerco. I pulled off the Interstate where the “Grapes of Wrath” bridge is preserved as a monument to old Route 66. Finding a pay phone, I called on my government card to Gallup, then my office, then on my personal card to home. After a few rounds of calls it became clear that the meetings in Gallup were canceled for being utterly pointless under the circumstances and I was needed back in my office as supervisor because the government was going into emergency mode.

Who Put the "Vice" in President?

Weird. Just weird. Well, and very disturbing.

Leaving Clinton aside for the most part, I'm actually addressing Vice Presidents, or candidates for such. Our present one is relatively harmless in spite of his big mouth which sometimes even has a "potty" component. But, certainly harmless when compared to Uncle Dick.

What prompted this is the realization of how bad some of the candidates for Vice President have been in recent years. The Right is finally realizing that with 2/3-Governor Palin. And those of us who never liked her and saw right through the pageant queen of the McCain roll-out are biting our tongues so we don't say, "We told you so." (oops. I slipped).

"I am the tailor's face and hands"

A couple of my boys are here but my wife is out of town this week and it's lonely. A song has been haunting me that, of course, popped up on shuffle play this morning. I really like this odd and hard-to-interpret song of Paul Simon's that, while clearly about a liberated woman of the 60's, sure sounds like my dear wife:

When she goes, she's gone. 
If she stays, she stays here. 
The girl does what she wants to do. 
She knows what she wants to do. 
And I know I'm fakin' it,
I'm not really makin' it.