I am giving up on getting caught up with the backlog of blog entries. Instead, I would rather be dancing in the kitchen and working in my garden, riding my bike, or working for my favorite candidate - Richard Cordray. A little voice in my head keeps saying "keep a diary while you are in Europe," but I have to tell you, passing time away from the computer is a lot more interesting!
I have been racking up great adventures here, and in Cincy over the last few months.
Watching the political events from over here is a lot more interesting than from the US. There is a lot more attention paid to foreign and economic policy information here than I can find whenever I am in the US. The US "news coverage" of the campaign reached a new low yesterday with the "lipstick on a pig" conversation. I feel like I have to comment. First of all, Palin is now in the big leagues -- as a pit bull I think she can handle references to pigs allegedly sent her way --- though of course that's not what happened. And McCain's exact same comment about Hillary's health care plan was not taken as a personal attack, because it wasn't. Of course no one was outraged about HRC being referred to in that manner, but Karl Rove is a master at making a mountain out of thin air.
And let's talk about this crap about "the candidate's family is not allowed to be a campaign issue." That was thrown out in 1998 when the Republicans impeached the president for having an extramarital sexual relationship. Further, if you want to wrap yourself in the bible and abstinence-only-education as something that drives your political decision making process (voting history will bear that claim out) you better be ready for someone to point out that it might not be the foolproof idea in reality? Of course we all have to remember that the ultimate goal of fundamental religious believers salvation and procreation of new believers. So I doubt that a teenage pregnancy was actually all that traumatic. I do wonder how much choice the two teenagers had about getting married, given the circumstances (not the pregnancy, but the pregnancy and the vice presidency).
But what I ask does any of this have to do with the strength of the dollar, efforts to create an infrastructure in the US that will provide jobs to an ever widening disparate group of folks and problems of immigration, health care etc. How many people do you know that have lost their homes, can't find a job, or can't afford to get a medical procedure that they need to prevent further problems. I don't know how either of these two candidates will make the US economy or the world economy (which is strongly dependent on the strength of the US dollar) stronger.
So you might ask am I always preoccupied with this stuff? Nope. I actually don't think about it much at all (okay only a few hours per day), though I am really pretty well up on the details. I have time to read more than the headlines, and more than the out takes, but I stick with the big name magazines and credible sources, as opposed to the blogs.
What am I preoccupied with right now? I would say travel, working out, and I spent most of this summer reading the books written by Laurie King, a mystery writer who writes about Sherlock Holmes in his retirement, with his new partner - a brilliant young woman who is interested in feminism and the bible. Needless to say, that rung the bell for me.
Have you recommended a good book to someone lately? How about to your favorite kids? My Aunt Jane has told me about my very favorite books for my entire life. My absolute favorite was the Trixie Belden series, I think Aunt Jane gave me her copies from her childhood. Aunt Jane's latest recommendation was Three Cups of Tea. Both of these authors are very politically savvy and are telling big stories using a small context, needless to say, I really enjoyed them. Tell me your favorites, and let me know if you read any of these.
In the meantime - get off the computer and go outside. Make a new friend, or dance in your kitchen. Life is too short.
