Can't help myself

Sarah Palin is a like a scab that exists just within the range of my peripheral vision; no matter how I try to ignore it, short of closing my eyes, I can't.

Today she said something so stupid that it actually took a matter of minutes for me to process it.  I can deal with sophistry and illusion, but inanity?  Brothers and Sisters that is a different beast altogether.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Stop.  Read that quote again.  Let it fester, poor grammar, syntax and all... let it seep in.  This is no sophistry my friends, this is no willful dissension from the facts, this quote is the very sad reality of a person who has no fucking idea what she is talking about.  Absolutely NO idea.  

Sarah Palin actually thinks that a media who has been skeptical of her political bullshit represents an attack on her first amendment rights.  Sarah Palin believes that questioning a political leader is a violation of said leader's right of free speech.  

WHAT?  This ass-backwards idiocy would not pass the bar in a 9th grade government class.  The first amendment was establish to protect three general principals: the expression of religion, free speech, and freedom of the press.  But, according to Sarah 'pitbull' Palin the media are endangering the first amendment by using the first amendment!  Like I said before, Palin isn't using sophistry, she simply has no idea what the hell is going on, and no CLUE about our constitutional rights.  What else can we expect from someone who needed to attend 6 different colleges to gain a bachelors degree in sports broadcasting.  

I feel so embarrassed that this woman is the governor of Alaska, but even worse than that I feel deeply insulted that the Republican party actually thinks the American people will accept her. Who the hell do they take us for?  This is a woman who is blatantly incurious, anti-science, anti women's rights, and who wields a supremely juvenile understanding of this country's founding principals.  This woman, if her ticket wins the election, will be a heartbeat away from running the country.  

How did this happen, and why aren't more people mad.  

Unplugged

I recently returned from a trip to Taiwan. While I was there, for 10 days, life in Bellingham felt a year away but now that I’m back it seems like Taiwan is now just a dream within a dream. Strange how the mind works.

I enjoyed unplugging while there; not reading the news, not seeing the political banter, not understanding much of anything, being completely exposed and open. When immersed in an environment that speaks a different language you become an island unto yourself. I like that, always have. My natural inclination to flee from consensus was fed while there, by design. Being a foreigner in a homogeneous society may bother some but goddamn, I loved it.

I’m working on a write-up of the trip that I’ll post later.

Politics 2008

After reading the transcript of last night’s VP debate I concocted a theory: the two major political parties in this country think that the average voter is none too bright. Why? A few reasons:

They go to great lengths trying to state they are no different than us, economically and culturally. “Joe Six-Pack”, “Hockey Mom”, “Home Depot shopper”. They think that we wouldn’t want to vote for someone who was different than us and by different they mean smarter or ‘elite’ as is more common in political-speak.

Unfortunately I think this is an honest assessment. Judging by the amount of passion directed towards either candidate by their supporters whenever they try to establish some vague working-class credentials is pathetic. Are we Americans so narcissistic that we think our politicians must be no different than us? The republicans really play off this character defect by unabashedly demonizing smart intellectual types by calling them elites, as if being smart was a bad character flaw. The democrats, being not so different than the republicans also take this theme and use it too. Obama and Biden don’t miss an opportunity to establish their mediocrity, and every time they do it I cringe.

What is wrong with being an elite? Shouldn’t we want the absolute best and brightest individuals to run our technological society? Instead we have a two party system which fosters a mediocrity feed-back loop. We tell the system we want our politicians dumb, and the system turns around and tells us the same damn thing. I would defy anyone to name a candidate in the past 50 years who possesses the intellectual fortitude of Thomas Jefferson or John Adams. Do such people exist any more? I’d like to think so but a ‘Jefferson’, if he exists, definitely wouldn’t subject himself to a corporate run political system of donors and lobbyists like Obama and McCain certainly have. If you don’t have millions of dollars and friends in high places you aren’t getting anywhere politically these days.

This is why I cannot cast a vote with good conscious. We have two choices before us this November, one of which may be slightly worse than the other but both are still fundamentally unacceptable to me. The attitude of voting for the lesser of two evils, a philosophical compromise of ideals, is exactly what has given us this current mess, a mental compromise which when accepted has no end-game and how can it? Isn't it our duty as citizens on this free nation to call foul when things are not right, to toss off government and leaders who have festered for too long? As long as we accept the lesser of two evils, real change, which can only exist from without the current system, will never happen because the mindset simply does not allow a view outside the box. Accepting compromise in the voting booth is the direct cause of leaders like Bush, Nixon, Carter, Obama and McCain and the absolute reason we don’t have a Jefferson or Adams currently in office.

I’ll vote for the first candidate I can find who possesses the seemingly forgotten qualities of a philosopher statesman, an individual, man or woman, who will firmly affix reason in her seat and call to her tribunal all matters requiring judgment or opinion. A candidate who will categorically disengage with sophistry, half-truths, focus polls, and undue influence from religion or money. Thomas Jefferson once said, when asked about his self esteem, “I never had an opinion in politics or religion which I was afraid to own. A costive reserve on these subjects might have procured me more esteem from some people, but less from myself.” Find me a candidate, possesing the above character qualities and I will show you someone who can earn my vote. Until then I'll retain my disgust and repulsion with the two choices of mediocrity we find ourselves presented with every four years.

Now thats a Beach

Good times, good memories at this place! During my tenure on the island of Hawaii I was able to visit this beach 5 or 6 times via school and work (really, work!) trips. Hapuna beach is truly an easy place to think fondly of.