Southwest ablaze

Wallow Fire in Arizona and New Mexico

John McCain set off a firestorm recently by blaming out open borders and illegal immigrants on the fires in the southwest.

He has a point. They certainly cannot check into hotels so they do camp and in forests both Arizona and New Mexico have closed because of the very dry conditions. This hurts the economy of locals that depend on tourists this time of year. And this is where are homes are . . . or families and our pets and our friends. We are all on edge and very aware of the restrictions. I, who does not live in the forest but a meadow near its edge, cannot have a barbeque in my yard even or celebrate the 4th with fireworks.

We are all living in terror of illegal campers. And they could be US citizens from another state just unable or unwilling to read the signs warning of new camp fires, no smoking, no fireworks. But, Senator McCain is right, there is a higher possibility they are illegal migrants seeking to stay off of main roads and hide in the woods, set signal fires for others to meet them, etc. There is a piece of privately owned property near the national forest that has been used for years as a "gathering place" by the coyotes.

But to be fair it is not just illegals we are angry with. As our governors seek to ban the sale of fireworks as we approach the 4th of July we know the Indians will continue to sell them on their reservations knowing full well that is not where the buyers will set them off. And state officials of New Mexico and Arizona have no standing on reservation lands. But fireworks can be brought across state lines by visitors.

I think it is long past time that we ban fireworks and their use by anyone other than licensed individuals that set off public displays in closely controlled circumstances. Let's ring bells on the 4th of July instead. I have had enough flash, band and boom. We in the southwest are sitting on the front lines of a battle for our forests and the way of life they provide not just here but to the global climate.

Pacheco Fire in Pecos

I have been watching the smoke from the Pacheco Fire go 30,000 feet into the air. It was started by someone that went into a forest that was closed.

Whether an illegal immigrant or not it was someone doing something illegal but it is us and not them that will pay. And if our governor bans the sale of fireworks it is legal vendors that will lose money while the Indians continue to make it.

The 4th of July used to be about all men being created equal.

My Word for Today - Validation

Now that I have stopped dancing about the election Tuesday, and gotten another day to sleep off the fatigue of working at the polls during this very critical contest for America and the world, and read all the blogs about what it meant for so many on a very personal level let me just I believe Obama's victory was validation for all I have believed since my idealistic youth.

Yes, we can change the direction the world is going. Mom, would have said it was going to Hell in a handbasket. I frankly at times felt more like I was in one of those mining cars in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

So my word for today is validation. Complicated word. It seems to be used by engineers and computer scientists and a whole host of other technical trades. For the complete list of what validation can mean I refer you to Wikipedia. Enjoy. After a quick scan and then more in depth spot reading that was totally off point I found what I wanted:

In psychology and human communication, validation is the reciprocated communication of respect which communicates that the other's opinions are acknowledged, respected, heard, and (regardless whether or not the listener actually agrees with the content), they are being treated with genuine respect as a legitimate expression of their feelings, rather than marginalized or dismissed.

In case you missed it that was what President Elect Obama and Senator McCain did in their respective speeches on Tuesday night. It is what we need to continue to do in the years ahead. GW Bush and his administration contantly marginalized or dismissed the opinions of others. It made us angry then it made us fearful.

I am reminded of the time riding in the passenger seat of my brother's sports car and telling him he was in the wrong lane. The first time I thought he had not heard. But thinking it was important because the lane in question was the parking and unloading lane on a very busy street and their were vehicles parked in it up ahead I said it again.

He told me he was driving and I should shut up. Well, as soon as we slipped the MG under the semi truck trailer ahead I thought that would be a foregone conclusion. Decapitated you cannot talk. So I screamed at him that he needed to get to the left lane or slam on the brakes. He finally saw what I was so excited about and we narrowly avoided an accident. But he had to dis me afterwards by reminding me he was driving. I asked him to stop the car and I got out. I was five miles from home from my house and had to call a cab to pick me up but I never rode as a passenger in his car again.

This is frankly exactly how I have felt the last eight years in the United States. I would have called a cab if I had known just exactly where I wanted it to take me beyond away from here. And I live about as away from here as you can live and still be within the boundries of the United States. This campaign process was my last attempt to get anyone's attention about where we were heading. And I felt so validated when from the podium those running for office acknowledged where we were heading.

I was scared to death of McCain winning because as we neared the back of the economic truck parked before us he did what GW has done for years and said, "The underpinnings of this economy are sound." I am not an economist but I knew that was wrong two years ago.

I think as we move forward (having changed lanes) it is important to not invalidate anyone's opinion. We need to concentrate on " reciprocated communication of respect which communicates that the other's opinions are acknowledged, heard and respected. . . ". We are going to have to work together if we are going to avoid a train wreck the like of which they world has never seen.

Heart and Soul

I have voted already but as the old redneck saying goes I still have a dog in this hunt. I am still very carefully watching the process of this race for the White House.

Barack Obama is in Hawaii this morning with his gravely ill grandmother, and McCain is on the campaign trail running one of the most misleading and dirty campaigns in history.

Barack Obama has heart and McCain (like GW Bush) has none. Obama took time off of the most important race of his life to give Toot a hug and kiss because he doesn't think she will make it to election day.

McCain came back from Vietnam to rejoin his wife that had been in a near fatal automobile accident and was still undergoing serious reconstructive surgery and began a year long, and not very secret, affair with Cindy. He later divorced the first Mrs. McCain because sbe was no longer the tall willowly model he had married.

Why do we call him a hero? He that abandoned his captain in a burning plane and then went AWOL from the Forrestal while it was still in flames. Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned but McCain sat in the ready room watching his ship burn on closed circuit television.

Obama said on Good Morning America: "One of the things I want to make sure of is that I had a chance to sit down with her and talk to her," Obama told Roberts. "She's still alert and she's still got all her faculties. And I want to make sure that I don't miss that opportunity right now."

This man has heart and soul. And McCain has none. He is all naked ambition and has already proved he will sell his soul and his honor to become President of the United States. He is willing to betray everyone including his own ethics (frankly, after reading the Forrestal incident, I doubt he had any) to become President of the United States.

This sounds a great deal like GW Bush, who was willing to lie to the nations of the world in order to invade Iraq. Something he wanted to do since his daddy left Saddam alive when he pulled out of Dessert Storm.

We are entering (the economists now admit) a world wide recession. Who do we need at the helm of the ship of state? Someone with heart and sould that will feel what we are all going through and try to remedy it? Or someone with his own comforts and goals at heart that will be worrying only about his record as president? Sound familiar. McCain is more like Bush than he will ever admit. Vote NO to four more years of the same thing.

Note: Opening photo is of the Heart and Soul Nebulae

I am Totally Confused

Everyday I read the polls. Remember when there used to be just the Gallup Poll? Oh, that it were so easy these days. There must be a hundred different polls out there. And then there are these averages of polls. The New York Times with Really Clear Politics does this and so does CNN with its Poll of Polls.

I too statistics. I know what proper polling technique is and I don't think all of these do it right or there would not be such variance. As if to prove me right I got this poll call yesterday. A national one. Not a state one. I get lots of those. Not as many since the primary is over but being a registered Democrat in a Red State gets me some not always welcome attention. Which is why this national phone call had me scratching my head.

"How sure are you that you will vote in this election?"

"Positive."

"Will you vote early?"

"If I find the gas money and time to drive to the county court house an hour and half from here."

"How sure are you that you will be voting for John McCain?"

"I am absolutely positive that I will not be voting for John McCain.

"You won't be voting for John McCain?

"Correct. I absolutely will not be voting for John McCain."

"Thank you for your time."

After we hung up I wondered why they would call a Democrat in this particular poll which was obviously to boost McCain poll numbers. The questions were not blind and her tone was not unbiased or neutral. I also wonder if they put a check in "will be voting for McCain" just because they didn't have a box for "absolutely positive I will not."

Sometimes it can be fun living in a Red State. Especially one that has just been painted Blue. And today I got called by the Obama Campaign and I am going to be an official Obama Poll Watcher. I am wearing my antique American Flag lapel pin which belonged to my grandmother. It has 48 stars. Sorry Hawaii but I just did not want to wear a star for Alaska. I am so embarrassed by them.

Republicans Split?

Found the following interesting article this morning while browsing the web for political news:

The New York Post's Page Six reports that at a recent gathering of Republicans in mid-town Manhattan the other night, opinions were running almost universally against Sarah Palin:

NEW York Republicans are not too thrilled at the idea of Sarah Palin as their vice presidential candidate. The other night, private equity firm New Mountain Capital held a debate between James Carville and Karl Rove at Stone Rose in the Time Warner Center. When the moderator asked the 200 Republicans in the room how many were comfortable with Palin becoming president if something were to happen to John McCain, "only one man raised his hand," an attendee reports.

But here's the thing: If you convened a similar meeting of Republicans in Manhattan, Kansas, chances are they'd be in favor of Palin by a similar margin.

I believe Mike Murphy was the first to point out that Sarah Palin would be a "polarizing" choice, though he was talking about her impact on the general electorate.

But Palin has obviously ignited a split within a portion of the GOP as well. There are some Republicans - generally speaking, the upper class elites who live in the DC-NYC corridor - who are simply aghast at Palin and see her as a "fatal cancer" on the party.

But it's clear that the rank and file of the Republican party - generally speaking, the middle class folks who live in red states and don't have a problem shopping at Wal Mart - are smitten with Palin (judging by how they've been flocking to the rallies) in part because they see her as one of their own.

It has me wondering with McCain's age and iffy health issues and now Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama if there will not be other Republican defections in the voting booth.

There has been a lot of talk about the Bradley effect and whether people that publicly say they are voting for Obama will will let their secret racism carry the day inside the privacy of the voting booth. But now we have the possible Palin effect. Will a lot of Republicans in the west and east be unable to face putting Palin a heartbeat away from the Presidency? Let's hope so.

Sticks and Stones

I grew up in an era where kids in my neighborhood were not so much bullied physically as verbally abused. We called it teased in those days. For reasons I have never fully understood I was teased mercilessly. I can remember any number of after school chats with one or both parents after coming home in tears. They tried to assure me that kids only teased me because they liked me. Yah!?

But it was a friend that taught me the rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," that helped the most. But words can hurt and do hurt as G.W. Bush proved in his last presidential election with the Swift boating ads, and his constantly calling Kerry a Flip-flopper. It certainly left a very bad taste in my mouth and put me back in those school yards with the verbal bullies. I am firmly convinced they did not like me.

Senator John McCain, perhaps to set himself apart from the Republican administration promised a civil campaign on the issues and then, sorry about this, Flip-flopped. He called in the big guns (Palin has killed moose and advocates killing wolves from airplanes) and went the route of schoolyard bullies everywhere. Even worse is that his nasty and underhanded rhetoric was inciting violence among his followers. He and Sarah were stirring up racial hatreds we all thought long buried. And was a lesson for me. Today if I had used that sticks and stones rhyme I would say it silently so people would not consider it a mandate to check it out.

To McCain's credit he did on at least once occasion try to nullify the hatred he was stirring up. Too little? Too late? Where will these stirred up radicals go or do if McCain loses? And it is beginning to look like he just might. Seems I am not the only independent thinker that was teased as a child. Polls show that the electorate is responding quite negatively to the nasty campaigning of Sarah Palin and John McCain. And they are in increasing numbers disparaged by McCain's choice of Sarah as attack dog.

These are serious times it seems. And the voters, especially those still sitting on the fence, want to hear some serious answers from the presidential candidates. They are abhorred by McCain's about face regarding his campaign, and no other single decision has more aligned him with the president we all love to hate, GW Bush. We don't want more of the same as we have endured the last eight years. And that goes for policies, campaign style, and lack of looking presidential. God, but I am sick of him leaning drunkenly on the podium!

So it seems that John McCain has seen the handwriting on the wall (national polls) and is trying to clean up his act. Tonight he has the opportunity to act like an adult in the debate unlike the little finger pointing brat of the last debate (boy, but it reminded me of my brother and that isn't good). The question is whether it is too little, too late. I hope so.

But I am most concerned about the damage his rhetoric has already done to race issues here in the United States. Once you set the dogs loose it is not that easy to call them back. Will we see a rise in hate crimes here in the US because of those things a schoolyard bully with national coverage said? I certainly hope not. Shame on you John McCain.

McCain's Tragedy at Sea

As McCain continues to lean on his war record as a hero more and more blogs and websites come up with revealing "truth" and official records that counter McCain's glorification of himself.

Because both his father and grandfather were Navy Admirals there is no doubt that McCain was allowed to get away with things like his plane crashes due to foolish stunts that would have gotten other Navy pilots assigned ground duty or swabbing decks. And he admits that his father interceded more than once with his son's commanding officers.

But Truthdig has a very comprehensive and revealing article on the Forrestal incident. I urge all my readers to not merely read this report but e-mail it to your friends. Senator McCain is using lies to bolster his run for President, but McCain's actions immediately following the fire (and while it was still burning) put his line about "knowing what all men on deck means," which he used when canceling his campaign and debate because of the economic crisis.

Is this the man we want at the helm of our ship of state?

Less Than a Heartbeat?

A lot of doctors and interested parties have been calling for a complete release of Senator John McCain's medical records. He claims full disclosure. And sometime back he did hope some 400 or more pages of his medical history to a group of reporters for 45 minutes or less. Of the 22 reporters only two had medical degrees. Would you know where to turn in a medical file to find relevant information?

Or know at a glance what is relevant?

I have a sister who is a nurse and speaks in that medical jargon that at times leaves me dazed. And due to a very serious accident I got to spend a lot of time review a lot of my own medical records. Doctors speak in codes. You need to know the language to understand what you are reading. I spent hours on the Internet looking through sites such as Med Line trying to decode my own records.

Dr. S. Gupta of CNN was one of the doctor/reporters that was present during this "full-disclosure." At the time he said he saw nothing to be of concern but the medical records did not address McCain's mental health. He has since spoken of worrying signs that all is not okay with this aspect of the Republican candidate's health. Dr. Gupta is a neurosurgeon. McCain has crashed five airplanes and been beaten in a POW camp. He has suffered brain trauma.

So maybe the four melanomas coupled with his age is not the only thing to be concerned about. Those two factors put him with a 1 in 6 chance of dying within the next five years on the actuary charts that insurance companies use. This alone puts Sarah Palin uncomfortably close to being president of the United States. She already thinks it is the Palin/McCain ticket.

But perhaps even more worrying is McCain's erratic behavior and mental slips. He has some classics that I am frightfully aware of because of my closed brain trauma (CBT) six years ago. His repeating of a tag line or information multiple times in a speech and not for effect, bad temper when being question, not finishing sentences and substitution of any word that begins with the same letter, and not being able to remember the make of his car or how many homes he owns are not just "senior moments." As posted on Firedog: A McCain Brain Watch site they are indications of failing short term memory and memory of memorized or frequently accessed memory.

Deficits in these two areas impair your ability to make decisions or to access all the information necessary to make an informed decision especially when stressed or tired. This is critical with that 3 a.m. call on the redphone at the White House.

I can fully relate. For the first few years after my head injury I could come up for appropriate plans to go away for another MRI only by putting each necessary task on a 3 x 5 card and then spreading those cards around my dining room table and trying to put them in the proper order. My CBT has gotten better. And obviously for a period of time so did John McCain's. But I would never subject myself to the stress of running for high office or presume I could be President of the United States. I am fully aware of my limitations. And the prognosis for the future.

CBT puts you at greater risk of stroke, cerebral bleeds, Alzheimers, dementia, and inability to function when stressed or exhausted. It makes you quick tempered when you cannot perform to your expectations of yourself. Coupled with melanoma and his age it is not a pretty picture. But that is assuming the lapses in McCain's memory are due to the CBT and not cancer which has spread into his brain as in the instance of Senator Ted Kennedy.

So maybe it is really a Palin/McCain ticket. It has me worried enough that I have been doing research on what happens if McCain dies before the election, after the election but before the Electorial College vote, after the EC vote but before the confirmation of the vote by the House of Representatives, after that and before the inaugration. Even if I was a Republican (and I have even worked for a Republican Senator in my past) I would be totally unwilling to take the risk of voting for this ticket.

Please Excuse Johnny from School

I, and all the late night comedians, cannot believe that John McCain has canceled his campaign because of the economic crisis. He asked for the meeting with Bush. He also only caused havoc with the bailout plan once he got involved. Currently it looks as if he is willing to deep six a bipartisan agreement in both houses just to prove he is not GW Bush. Or to take credit for the bill that is finally passed?

Or could Johnny just be totally unprepared for the debate? It was suppose to be on foreign policy his strong suit but when he canceled Obama maintained that this was the time Americans needed to see their future leaders. And any future leader ought to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. So why not change the topic of the debate to economics? Something McCain knows little about per his statement but enough he has to run home to Washington to shape the discussion. Or protect his fat cat friends like he did Keating in the Savings and Loan debacle of the previous Bush?

He said he was canceling all campaigning because of this crisis but all his negative smear ads are still running. He canceled Letterman but did an interview with Katy Curic. He wanted Obama and him to make a joint announcement about the suspension and then jumped the gun and did one on his own without waiting for a reply. In that he said he would continue the debate if an agreement was in place by Friday and it could have been. It looked like it yesterday afternoon. McCain screwed the pooch.

If this whole thing is a campaign ploy or trick because of falling poll numbers it is ill conceived and even the Republicans don't understand what he is doing. And risking the world's financial stability because of a few points in the polls sounds very GW Bush. Very egotistic.

But could there be another explanation. Is Johnny sick? Walter Reed Hospital is in the DC area. I imagine his doctors are either there or in Arizona. Going back home during a crisis plays even less well then going to Washington where until he had Bush call the meeting he was not needed and not even wanted.

Given the concerns about his age and health he cannot call the campaign and the debate off just to stay home sick for a couple days. And while Obama can go to DC to meet with he President and leave Biden to his campaign appearances, John cannot let Palin off on her own. So he obviously does not have confidence in her stepping into his shoes on the campaign trail. How can we believe in her to step into the presidency?

And how is Johnny's health? I think not good.

What You Don't Know About Golden Parachutes

There is a lot of talk about Golden Parachutes these days in reference to the government's proposed bailout of the Wall Street Investment firms.

John McCain and others have suggested that to bailout these failed company bonuses should not go to the CEO's that put the companies into Chapter 11. I must wholeheartedly agree. I think what these men make is obscene to begin with and that is without the bonuses and golden parachutes.

Bonuses and golden parachutes are two different things. Bonuses are for doing well and usually given in some relationship to how well the company is doing. It is clear the CEO's did not do well so any bonus or stock dividend should be immediately nixed. But Golden Parachutes are severance packages negotiated at the time of hiring to cushion their transition to another company or retirement to the Bahamas to be close to their off-shore money. They are unfortunately a contractual obligation between the company and its chief executive officers. (yes, there are probably numerous employees in the upper ranks of the flow chart that qualify for this cushy landing.) Can these contracts be broken? Aren't they legally binding documents?

I have not read the fine print in any of these contracts. I sincerely doubt that the head hunters (highly rewarded people that find positions for these elites of industry) which procured these jobs originally for them allowed such language to be put in place. So can we, the US government as new owners, dump the CEO's out of the plane without that parachute? Somehow I doubt it and I think McCain knows that and he is just playing lip service to this concept to hoodwink us commoners that know nothing of such lofty matters.

At least in the Great Depression of the 1930's the CEO's had the grace to commit suicide by jumping out of their penthouse office windows. Without parachutes, golden or otherwise. But they haven't yet. Darn. Nor have we allowed these firms to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy which would allow a renegotiation of all debts and contracts. Through mediation people holding contracts and bills would be asked to take a certain amount less - say 10 cents on the dollar.

But no, in the infinite wisdom of our government that never learns from its mistakes (see the savings and loan rescue of the previous Bush), to avoid a recession which would dearly hurt us little people we are going to bail them out before they sink (I think maybe that bailout is the name given to a Golden Parachute for an entire company) and bring down the world economy.

The truth is either way we (back to the little people here) are in deep dodo as we say. Because the price of this bailout in conjunction with the price we are paying for a war based on lies means any tax cuts or incentives to keep spending, any rescue from foreclosures on fraudulent mortgages, any hopes of universal health care, repair and replacement of our aging infrastructure system, or a comprehensive incentive plan for an ever greener country are down the drain regardless of who gets elected president.

So the bottom line here. Is that the GW Bush that has ruined the US economy (not to mention our faith in government) for the last eight years gets to do it for the foreseeable future.

What I Know about Lies

Actually I know a lot more about lying than I do about economics except in the current situation where lying may have been a key element of the economic collapse.

In Cider House Rules, John Irving advances the theory that orphans lie because it is the only control they have over their lives. As an Air Force brat I found that children of military people also lied and so when I read this it hit home. Lying was a means of reshaping reality in families where you were moved sometimes three or four times in a school year.

However, there are some major problems about lying. One is that you never want it generally known that you are lying. Lying depends on being believed. This is particularly true for financial organizations and politicians. Once it is known that you have been lying about your assets or your liabilities or both you are not a good investment risk. Get caught lying about your mistresses and you are not electable. Lying is not good for home mortgages and loans. Lie about your net worth and you risk qualifying for a loan you really cannot afford.

Two it has been my experience that lies work best when you are the only one telling them. When everyone is lying you get on very shaky ground very fast. It is my opinion all investment banks were built on a tissue of lies they tell to each other.

Three is that lying is very stressful. You have to remember your lies and who you told them too. You can only keep this up for a limited amount of time. When my father got out of the military I suddenly realized two years had gone by and we had not moved, I went to my parents and asked when we were moving and they said we weren't. "But we have to move," I pleaded to no avail. "I cannot remember who I told what to." The worst part of this was that only a percentage of my friends were military because I was no longer in base schools and these civilians would not understand. My military brat kids understood. (Did you know that McCain was a military brat raised by a military brat? So he comes from a long line of liars.)

Four is that it is difficult to lie with your entire body. We have tells. Like in the interview where John McCain is asked if Palin is ready to be president and he says definitely yes with his mouth while shaking his head no. You have to believe your lies with every fiber of your being.

Five is that lies seldom work about things that are truly important. Oh, it is easy to lie about how beautiful that new shocking pink hair color looks on your aging aunt because she wants to believe that lie. And who is hurt by it.

Six you cannot lie for long when all evidence is to the contrary. They have to be believable lies. Bush tried to tell us the economy was essentially sound and we knew that was not true. We were broke. We in the middle class, used to lying about how well off we were to impress our neighbors, had begun to not believe our lies, so we definitely did not believe Bush. And knowing that he was lying so very obviously made us nervous. (See previous blog on economics and nervousness.)

Seven is probably the worst. It eventually becomes easier to lie than tell the truth. You lie when the truth would be so simple. You start forgetting which is the lie and which is the truth. Nixon never told the truth in my estimation. And I have doubts about GW Bush. I definitely do not believe the investment banks or the oil companies.

Derailments

Derailments seem to be in the news lately. Like the commuter train in Los Angeles that hit the freight train. They are now looking at engineer inattention due to text messaging.

And the pick of Senator McCain for his VP of Sarah Palin seems to have derailed the campaigns of both him and Obama. McCain said he was going to run an honest and serious campaign with no lies and swift-boating but that has changed. Obama seems to be walking the thin rail between defending himself against those lies and not taking advantage of a woman that is dissing him every chance she gets.

Meanwhile us voters, who are facing financial crisis after financial crisis, would like some discussion of the issues of the economy. And definitely no more Bush policies on any level. We are paying billions monthly for our efforts in Iraq and now that country is making a deal to sell its oil to China instead of paying us back. Yeah, GW lied and this war was about oil and not WMD but seems he gets derailed on that too.

And it hits me yesterday that even this blog has been derailed. On an immediate level it has been turned from its focus on politics to becoming a forum on religious bias. But I derailed it when I opened my blogs to politics at all. It was suppose to be about my art and my poetry and link to my business website. And my first blogs are that. Then I decided to post some blogs about the primary process which is confusing.

For a while I considered hijacking my blog back but I began to enjoy myself here discussing the politics of the season and can see in the future that I might want to continue in a like vein on issues and bills and the actions of politicians (i.e. I don't think they are public service oriented anymore but professionals after money and glory). So I found myself missing the blog that this one used to be before it was derailed by me. Yeah, I was probably text messaging when the red light flashed and I passed the point of no return.

So I have opened a new blog here: Creative Journey. It will definitely be about art and poetry and the creative process. I am going to make every effort to avoid derailment even though it is fair to say artists hardly have a one track mind. But I have three blogs now (my first was Yahoo! 360 ) and that should allow enough diversity for any eccentric thinker.

Okay, that's it!

For those of you that have not read my Y!360 blog I am reposting this.

I ran across this little tidbit about Governor Palin of Alaska while surfing the net for the latest news. And in my opinion this one issue over-rides all other considerations that might arise. This entirely puts quit to the issue of who I will vote for this election. I confess to being a bleeding heart liberal when it comes to the treatment of our animal friends.

I am not against humane hunting. But I also believe in a natural balance. This is not natural. Besides it is just not wolves. I think she has stated that she does not believe Polar Bears are endangered. So what's next? She approves aerial shooting of baby bears? If she is elected vice-president she gets to set national policy about this sort of thing.




Oh, by the way other states in the past have put bounties on animals. It never works. A neighboring state of New Mexico did it with coyotes once back before animal rights organizations could check ranchers on issues. And it was a pair of ears you brought in to some state official to receive your check for $15. They were so successful at eliminating this "hunter of baby lambs" for the ranchers that there really weren't any. In the next couple of years the population of rabbits bloomed as it were. And their grazing eliminated the grass the sheep eat.

State officials contacted New Mexico to see if we would give them some coyotes. We sold them some which at the time was for about $150 each. It was a costly program for the state and ranchers but especially for coyotes and sheep.

What state you ask? Why McCain's state. Given his age he may have even been senator then.

Would you trust this Woman?

To be the coach of your child's soccer team? Never mind President of the United States. And if you elect John McCain that is what she could be in a heart beat.

The even more pivotal question here is do you trust the man that picked her? Do you trust him to pick other really key players in the running of our government like Secretary of State. Maybe Brittney Spears? Madonna for Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare? Paris Hilton for Homeland Security?

I definitely don't trust McCain's vetting staff. They missed a pregnant and unmarried 17 year old family member. And they are suppose to be the party of family values. Remember they want to eliminate most forms of birth control, all abortions, and have kids be celibate until married. Well, Bristol Palin failed that one. An Mummy clearly cannot manage five kids. She is going to keep our country safe from terrorists?

And how compassionate is she to accept this nomination that has thrust her 17 year old daughter, 5 mouths pregnant and unmarried, into the national spotlight. Or leaving the care of a 4 1/2 month old child to a pregnant teenager while on the campaign trail.

So do we really want this woman as Vice-President of the United States: A heart beat away from leader of the free world? John McCain in 72 years old and with a history of health issues. And let us not forget he was a prisoner of war. Yes, he has a distinguished service history, but on the whole prisoners of war don't live as long as people that were never imprisoned, starved, tortured, deprived of exercise. And there is the melanoma. But I don't think he is thinking straight.

This is what I would expect of Groucho Marx not someone that is running for president of the United States. Maybe he is just grooming his third wife? But the really, really, really scary part of this whole Palin business is nobody in his staff could talk him out of it. Richard Nixon was a loose cannon that did what he wanted even when it smacked of the Third Reich. And GW Bush has invaded any country he has wanted to (though in all fairness I think some of his key staff wanted that too - did they think they were playing a war game). Are we going from cowboy diplomacy to playboy diplomacy?

Should the worst happen and we lose a president to assassination or natural causes I would much rather Joe Biden than Dick Cheney or Sarah Palin. You?

Keep the Promise Alive

I give you the next president of the United States.

"With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest -- a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours -- Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night."

As I watched last night's historic speech I could not help but be struck by the difference in what I have seen in the last eight years. One, he was standing up and not leaning on the podium. He was smiling when appropriate (not sneering at inside jokes), he was clearly sober, and he spoke eloquently. And with words correctly pronounced. Did I mention he was wearing a tie?

But as a viewer there were a lot of difference for me. First, I was watching it on the live feed from ABC news via Internet on my computer. I got rid of satellite TV because of their Hitler attitude on packaging, the endless "take this drug" advertising, and the cost.

I have spent the last few months as gasoline prices rose paring down expenses and cutting down any trips in the car. I have the telephone to the bare minimum, no television, and very few trips to the big box stores to save on necessities. I had my retirement planned but that plan does not work with the current economy brought to you by GW Bush and promised to continue with John McCain and his seven houses. Or is it eight.

Another difference that struck me is that Obama had not only spoken well but staged it all spectacularly. It was the sort of event we have come to expect from the Republicans with all the flag waving and implications that to be an American against terror you have to be one of them. GW Bush and his party made me feel like a traitor because I was against the war in Iraq and his lying to get us there. But Barack said:

"The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America."

I think I want first and most as we face the next 62 days that we can sit aside the partisan playbook and actually be given a chance to pick our next leader on the basis of policy and not rhetoric or swift-boating campaigns.

As Barack said last night "the times are too serious" and the Republicans don't seem to realize just how serious they are. McCain thinks we are whiners and that our economy is basically sound and that we can drill ourselves out of this dependence on oil. (That last is like a compulsive gambler thinking he is only one big win from being healed.)

Like most Americans, especially older ones, I hate change. I fight it. But I look at the change the same old policies have caused in my life and I know that things have got to change for the better or the promise of America is dead. It is time for a major shift. We have to start thinking out of our nice and insulated envelopes. Winter is coming with the heating bills that no amount of economizing is going to be adequate. The middle class is slipping into poverty at an alarming rate.

And you cannot have a healthy democracy or representative republic without a viable and growing middle class. Wake up. Turn off the mind numbing sitcoms and pay attention. Our time to save the United States is now.

"America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore."

For the transcript of his entire speech: Real Clear Politics.

That's It I'm Out of Here

"In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday."

I currently see absolutely no reason to identify myself as a citizen of the United States. There is nothing about the current political situation that I can in anyway embrace or identify with. And because of "swift boat" politics it seems that we are in for eight more years of the same thing. My goal is to now do all the necessary upgrades on my house so if and when the housing market turns around I can put it on the market and make plans to out-migrate to another country. Canada is making it very difficult because there are too many of us that want to go there. My pick would be Italy but the dollar is not doing very good against the Euro.

I will do all in my power to get Obama elected but failing that I am out of here. I think I find it hardest to see myself as a citizen of this country when they express the desire to vote for someone that is going to give us just more of the same thing. Who are these people? How can they think four more years of Bush politics will do us any good?

Every woman that votes for McCain ought to get her head examined. She is clearly a Stepford wife to some man telling her how to vote. He wants to turn us into baby machines. Or Barbie Dolls to stand beside our men. If you doubt that you merely have to look at his pick for a wife. And he believes life begins at conception. Does anyone get that that statement is not just pro life but anti contraception. The birth control pill and the IUD do not prevent conception but attachment of the fertilized egg to the wall of the uterus so it can develop. i.e. they are on a par with the day after pill or in Republican parlance an abortion.

I think there was a plot. First you get no child left behind in and make everyone stupid. Then you reduce politics down to name calling and everyone that is illiterate because they dropped out of school will not check the facts. The Republicans have built the perfect "Brave New World" population. We don't even question that Bush cheated his way into office twice. Or that McCain is on his way to cheating himself into office.

Any decent country would have a revolution.

A Herd of Cattle

I must admit to spending more of my attention on art of late than politics. But I have been following Obama's international tour. I bet McCain wished he had never suggested his opponent actually go visit Iraq. Obama has been looking very presidential. Definitely more presidential than GW ever looked. He has not leaned on a podium once.

Meanwhile McCain has been back stateside trying to make bitter little snips at the Democratic candidate. So imagine my surprise today when I caught a CNN video with the latest poll of polls. Seems that McCain is gaining on Obama and that currently they are separated by only three points. Course the margin of error on most polls is plus or minus three points, but I had figured that McCain would be lagging further and further behind. Not gaining.

I worked at one time in Washington, DC for Senator Charles Goodall who had been appointed to take the seat vacated by the murdered Robert Kennedy. Since he was one of the authors of the amendment to end the war in Vietnam President Nixon pulled out the big guns to defeat him when he ran for the Senate seat. We did a poll on polls. And it seems there is a polling factor. Or factors actually.

First any population that is studied has this tendency to start behaving strangely because of the attention given it. i.e. it is not odd to find people who have been called more than once to start giving strange answers to just see what the result might be.

Second people start following the leader. I could as an example get published a poll which said that the majority of the United States Citizens would prefer a dictatorship with Vice President Cheney as the leader. And people would start heading that direction in their opinions. It would appear that we are after all just a herd of cattle and will follow any leader whether they are heading for the slaughter house or not.

And we do not deviate from habitual behavior easily. We hate change. Rather like this herd of cattle pictured above. They had recently been in a small field where they were dropped bales of hay and grain. Load them in a truck and transport them to green grass heaven and what do they do? Head to the random two legged stranger that pulled up to take their picture. They assume I am going to give them hay; fodder for their opinions as it were.

In short we prefer the monster we know over the unknown behind the closet door. McCain we know. He is just like George Bush. Everything he says, even the bitter snipes, sound like GW. Obama on the other had is promising us change; a whole field of new spring grass to munch. But we could get lost. Better to stay by the fence and wait for the pickup with hay.

All this herd got from me is their picture taken, and isn't that what a poll is? A snap shot of the herd's behavior at this point in time. Is it valid? For the moment it is taken. It is out of date by the time it is published even in this fast track digital world. Give these four footed beasts in the picture above another week and they will totally ignore the opportunity for a free meal from a truck. Well, until the nights get cold and the grass starts to die. About the end of October here in the high country. This group will be walking into a cattle truck for a trip to the slaughter house. A couple weeks later voters in this country will be walking into polling booths. Are we going for the slaughter we know or an opportunity to change things?

Under the shoulder pads

Be prepared for a petty blog. Yes, there are some weighty issues out there on the political landscape at the moment and maybe this whole blog is silly but just where are John McCain's shoulders?

I get that since Richard Nixon went on television with five o'clock shadow to debate John Kennedy that making up your candidate to look good on television is a prime objective of any support team. And they clearly failed on covering the age spots on the back of his hand during his Viagra moment.

But for me the whole shoulder pad thing has been carried to the extreme and he is beginning to look like Tammy Faye minus the false eyelashes.

He doesn't have a neck to begin with and he already has the beginning of a stoop (early sign of prostrate cancer or just age), and I understand that he has issues with his arms because of what was done during his imprisonment as a POW. But he has big enough shoulder pads to serve as flotation devices should his plane go down over water. They are so big and stiff that it hinders natural movement. On a recent video of him in a town hall meeting predicting an up turn in terror attacks before the November elections (prediction or promise?) he looked like a robot in a suit of armor.

We are told he is very fit, but where are all the standard political campaign images of the candidates jogging past the capital building? We have Obama playing basketball. And blowing it on bowling but I want to see McCain in gym shorts. Does his workout suit have the same shoulder pads? I have seen women jogging outfits with shoulder pads. I imagine his campaign can rig up some for their candidate speed walking around the mall before the stores open.

Fibbing to the public about the health of our presidents is an old story. FDR made it a point to never appear in a wheel chair or even with crutches though he was severely crippled. We were kept from the truth about the severity of JFK's back issues. It was years after he left office that we discovered he had not drawn a sober breath for his last 13 months in office. And what is the truth about GW falling off the couch? Do you believe the pretzel story?

I am not looking for any national security information to be revealed here. I just want to know what is under that suit of iron he wears? Does he have shoulders at all? And how much bigger are those shoulder pads going to get as the campaign moves forward?

Who was that masked man?

As Senator John McCain sashshays to the left to distance himself from Bush and Obama sidles up to the religious right to emphasis that he has the right moral values it is getting more and more difficult to tell the cat from the raccoons. Or this election from any other.

Wasn't this one suppose to be about change? Didn't us Democrats vote for Obama over Hillary because he was for change and she seemed a bit like the old guard? Wasn't this year the Democratic party was at last going to give us some hope?

Well, I'm not feeling it. In fact I have not blogged here for several days because I was just too stunned at what I was watching happen to all that hope for change. Now McCain is talking about change. But then he was so wonderfully positioned in Columbia when at last the hostages were rescued. Not unlike Bush reading to a kindergarten group during 9/11?

OK, I am a cynic. Seems like I have seen this same song and dance before. But now it seems this may well be our last dance. Because if something does not change one of two things may well happen: 1) we get taken over by another country after we crumble or 2) we finally wake up and riot in the streets.

Any opinions out there on that? Or are we all suddenly silent because we cannot believe what is happening yet again. Well, if it gets down to only a choice between age and beauty I am going for beauty. Got to feel good about something.

Just a Horse Race

My father always said it was the difference of opinion which made horse racing possible. I would think how boring it would be without horses. And horse races. Or contests of any kind. It only seems in politics that I am inclined to think, "How stupid are you to think your candidate is better than mine?"

I believe this thinking first was evident during the campaign of Richard M. Nixon. I recognized in him a certain insanity that seemed reflected in the people that fell into what I have come to think of as "mad dog" supporters. Those individuals who will absolutely no listen to reason or hear a single bad think about their candidate. It was shortly after he resigned from office and was pardoned that I fell into voting for the lessor of two evils. I have always voted. But I will admit I seem to vote for losers. Even with horses I might add.

I voted for Gore and for Kerry. I worked on McGovern's staff. Was clean for Gene. Frequently the candidate I most like is eliminated in the primaries like Biden or Richardson. Since I liked him I just knew Obama was going to lose the fight with Hillary. I was rather shocked that he didn't. So having learned something with age I didn't break up marriages or relationships or kiss off friendships over this primary. I have a few friends that are Hillary supporters. Fewer that believe in McCain. I admit I fall back to the, "How can you be so stupid?" gut reaction with avid McCainites.

A Hillary supporter friend of mine was half apologetic following Hillary's non-concession speech on June 3rd. I think she thought I would rub her nose in it. No, that was one horse race. Now we are on to the second horse race. Who do you like in his field? I am finding this rather refreshing actually. Because during the ten year campaign of G. W. Bush it was hostile and all about make wrong. After 9/11 you were either for the dictator or a traitor. We started whispering in corners. And by his second stolen election we were sure we were going to be burned at the stake or hung from the yardarm. I had anti-war friends during the Nixon years that vanished from the face of the earth. I fully expected it again.

So we have run a long and difficult horse race and we are all still here. Nobody has died or vanished yet. When you live through JFK, RFK and Martin Luther assassinations you start expecting the worst routinely. So far it is just a horse race. And that is good. Now on to the second horse race. Wouldn't it be nice if there was no bloodshed, no cheating, no name calling, nobody dying? Just a race for President of the free world. Wouldn't it be nice if the world was really free.