September Sighting

When Dave and I traveled to Leola over Labor Day weekend, we had a chance to see some of the sights around Lancaster County. I sneaked this photo of an Amish buggy through the windshield of the car (Amish folks don't like getting their photos taken).

Sports Roundup

This is an update on how some of our family's favorite athletic teams have been playing (click on the pic to see a larger version).



As you can see, in the American League East, the Yankees and the Blue Jays are duking it out for 3rd place. Uh - way to go, guys.

The news gets even worse in the National League East, where the Nationals have a solid lock on last place. We build you a new stadium and this is the thanks we get? Sheez!

All I can say about the current Major League Baseball season is, there's always next year. Moving on to college football, we have some mixed news.

My beloved Iowa Hawkeyes lost to the Pittsburgh Panthers. Fellas, this is not how you get an invitation to play in the Rose Bowl on January 1. Or to play in any other January bowl, for that matter. Get with the program, guys!

Joshua is ecstatic that his LSU Tigers pulled out a last-minute win over the Auburn Tigers. This game was the marching band's road trip, so he saw all the excitement in person. Go, Tigers!

If it happens that the Hawkeyes and the Tigers confront each other in a bowl game this year (a scenario that doesn't look too likely at the moment), I've told Joshua that I'll be cheering for the LSU marching band to play well and for the Hawkeye football team to do likewise.

Now, I'll excuse myself so that I can get my munchies ready for today's game between the Washington Redskins and the Arizona Cardinals. Hail to the Redskins!

The John & Sarah Road Show

Until I read about it in the Washington Post, I didn't realize that John McCain and Sarah Palin held a rally about two miles from my home this past Wednesday. Here's a glimpse of what transpired:

Eight working mothers from the Virginia Run development in Centreville went together to the Palin-McCain rally yesterday because Sarah Palin is "just like us." This is something new. Nobody ever accused Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan of being just like us.

Uh, no, the "just like us" motif isn't new at all. People voted for Bush because they thought he'd be a good beer buddy. In my book, that equates to being "just like us." Something I find interesting is that the WaPo reporter called this event a Palin-McCain rally. I thought the usual convention was to give the presidential nominee top billing? Did the Republicans bill the event in this manner, or has the reporter fallen into the Palin trap?

The crowd, which I counted at 8,000 but which police estimated at 23,000, gathered at Van Dyck Park in Fairfax City represented votes for John McCain but passion for Palin. McCain knew it; he led the audience in a chant of "Sar-ah! Sar-ah!" Still, did the man who might be the next president know that hundreds would start streaming out of the park as soon as Palin finished speaking, leaving a noticeably sparser audience to hear from the top of the ticket?

I'm surprised (and disappointed) that thousands of people showed up to hear these two speak. Perhaps I can take comfort in the thought that the population of Fairfax County is just under a million. Therefore, a relatively small portion of the county was represented at the rally. Is this sound reasoning or wishful thinking? (Be gentle in your responses, dear readers.)

...the governor of Alaska is winning people over with empathy... "She's just as flawed as we are," Tweddle said. "It's not the fact that she's a woman but the way she does it all. And let me tell you: There're more American parents with unwed pregnant teenaged children than American parents with Harvard grads. She's real."

This speaker is clearly an idiot and, in a perfect world, she would be prohibited from voting. I don't want to vote for someone who is just as flawed as I am. If I did, I'd just vote for myself! I want to vote for someone who is more qualified to govern than I am. There's nothing to gain, and an awful lot to lose, by voting for someone who is, at best, as qualified to govern as I am and, at worst, even less qualified to do so than I.

Palin is connecting because, like a reality TV show's most sympathetic contestant, she puts front and center the inexperience, imperfection and pain that most professional politicians work so hard to hide. McCain can't quite tell the story of the pain and sacrifice he experienced as a prisoner of war? No problem. Palin will express the emotions that he can't. That's what mothers do.

I don't want to vote for my mother, either. I love her dearly and respect her immensely, but I don't want her running my country.

Like many at the rally, Victoria Robinson-Worst sees Palin's lack of experience as an asset. "I know people who have experience who are totally incompetent," said Robinson-Worst.... And I know people who have no experience who step in and get it right. I mean, women can do amazing things."

Lack of experience is now an asset. I'll remember that when I apply to be someone's brain surgeon next month. And what is this "women can do amazing things" stuff? Sure, it's true, but isn't it equally true that men can do amazing things? Moreover, Sarah Palin is not running for concertmaster, she's running for second fiddle. Her ability to do amazing things will only matter if the concertmaster dies in an untimely manner. Is Victoria voting for a president or a vice-president? Is Victoria going to allow the Republicans to pull a bait and switch on her? And is John McCain going to stand by quietly while Sarah Palin upstages him? It's supposed to be his campaign. Doesn't the man have any pride at all? Oh, silly me - I forgot - he sold his pride when he sold his soul to the Republican hacks and wackos last year; it was a package deal.

I used to think that the past eight years have been humiliating. Now, I'm terrified that, if McCain and Palin win this election, the world will discover that Bush and Cheney were merely the warm-up act.

Joshua's Moment of Fame

Today's LSU football game was re-scheduled due to the continuing clean up of the mess that Hurricane Gustav left in his wake. Joshua reports that the campus is in pretty good shape for electrical power, but about 2/3 of the city of Baton Rouge is still without power. Moreover, there are sections of the surrounding parish (a Louisiana county - strong Catholic heritage) that may not have power restored for several more weeks.

Last week's game was moved ahead by several hours in order to get the spectators in and out of town before they could impede evacuation traffic coming northwest from New Orleans. The photo below shows Joshua marching to the stadium:



That's my boy! (As of yesterday, he's 18.)

The Home Stretch

Hey, boys and girls, we're now about two months away from the American presidential election, about which you've heard bits and pieces for the past two years. By now, you all know that the tickets are:

Democrats: Obama/Biden
Republicans: McCain/Palin

Common wisdom holds that Obama chose Biden as his running mate because of the latter's extensive knowledge of foreign affairs and the inner workings of Congress. As far as McCain's choice of Palin, common wisdom holds that McCain is hoping to capture a) disenchanted Hillary Clinton supporters and b) disenchanted evangelical Christians. It remains to be seen how successful he will be with (a), but he has scored some major points on item (b). Dr. James Dobson said,

“Sen. McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is an outstanding choice that should be extremely reassuring to the conservative base of his party. She is a strong executive who hates corruption and puts principle above politics. After floating the names of Tom Ridge and Sen. Joe Lieberman in recent weeks – selections that would have created consternation among pro-family Republicans – Sen. McCain has chosen a solid conservative who has a reputation for espousing common sense.

“Gov. Palin’s commitment to the sanctity of life is not just a political position. She was advised to abort her fifth and youngest child when it was learned he had Down syndrome. She refused. That’s bravery and integrity in action.

“Gov. Palin’s views align with Sen. McCain’s own stated position that human life is precious and must be protected – and that gives us confidence he will keep his pledges to voters regarding the kinds of justices he would nominate to the Supreme Court and the way he would conduct our nation’s domestic and international affairs. This selection by Sen. McCain is a very encouraging sign for his campaign.”

My question to evangelicals is this: are you going to allow McCain and the Republican party to manipulate you yet again? They just want to win the election by any means they deem necessary, and they'll court your votes to do that. Moreover, they'll laugh behind your backs and snicker about your predictable gullibility all the way to the White House. As far as Hillary supporters, I'm guessing that most of them will see through this ploy and refuse to take the bait. I'm incredibly insulted that McCain expects huge numbers of women to vote for his ticket on the basis of gender rather than issues. Excuse, me, Senator, but women have functioning brains and a lot of us care about issues, such as making substantive progress on addressing women's concerns. We will not reward your obscene use of a woman as a trophy running mate.

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart have been doing some excellent commentaries on Comedy Central over the past couple of weeks. I'll close this post with this bit from Jon Stewart:

Labor Day Reminiscences

Today is Labor Day, the official end of Summer 2008. In addition to its usual function of marking a seasonal transition, Labor Day weekend always reminds me of my father, whom we buried 25 years ago this weekend. As I write on this Labor Day, I'm struck by the knowledge that this Labor Day also marks an eventful season for our family.

As I write today, Joshua is hunkered down in his dorm at LSU, riding out Hurricane Gustav. We received an email message from him this morning informing us that they had just entered lockdown status and the weather was starting to get worse. We will try to contact him via phone this evening for another update. Dave and I are not unduly anxious for him, we know he'll take care of himself and won't do anything stupid, but we are always reassured when we speak on the phone with him or read an email, even a brief one-liner, saying that everything is okay.

It's also been a life-changing summer for my mother and step-father. Paul had spinal surgery earlier this summer and is now living in a nursing home. He's receiving physical therapy and has made some progress over the summer, but he has a long way to go before he reaches his physical goals. In the meantime, my mother is doing what she can to help him and to run the household. My siblings and I, as well as two of Paul's children, have been deeply involved in doing what we can to support both of them. One or the other of the children (all middle-agers ourselves) is with Mom nearly every weekend. It sometimes feels like we can't do much to help, but even assisting with mundane chores is useful. Having spent most of my adult life living very far away from home, I'm glad that I now live less than 150 miles away and can get home on a regular basis.

My final Labor Day reminiscence is that this is the first Labor Day weekend in at least a decade that our family has not gone camping. Now that the family has grown up, what used to be a family tradition has come to an end. Instead of Dave cooking steaks over the campfire tonight, Jonathan and Maggie will be fixing dinner for the four of us. They'd better be careful, lest they find that they've unwittingly started a new tradition.