John McCain in a new light

First it was that I didn't like the man, but then I grew to tolerate him. However it's only very recently that I've gained a new found respect for him and what he is capable of. The man? It's none other than John McCain. Those that really know me should be surprised at that statement and, to be honest, I am surprised myself that I would say I feel he would make a good president.

It is true that I haven't been the fondest of McCain. When the race between him and Obama were in it's earliest stages there was something that lingered about, something that I couldn't put my finger on that shadowed his character. Much of it was that he was coined as being the "Maverick", toeing the party line often. I am all for that maverick nature and not letting established barriers limit you, when it is called for that is. To me, in politics, it would seem like having that reputation would work against you, making you seem too shifty or weak. If you really want to be a maverick in Washington you don't jump the fence to make friends on the other side, you run to the place where no one is at and where no one seemingly wants to go, because that is the place where real change happens.

Still I remember myself saying "I could never vote for McCain." My reservations were still out on Barack Obama though. He seemed like a decent man, and he did capture that youthful fire. I won't deny that he has a talent for inspiration and he does make a great orator. I really wanted to believe that he was for change however I retained a speck of skepticism. I'm cautious of those "political evangelists" who's power is in words alone. I even thought about voting for Hillary Clinton. I saw her speak and she was very inspirational as well.

I soon came too and realized that I could never vote for her and the more I learned about Barack Obama the more I didn't want him in high office. I originally was a Ron Paul supporter unfortunately he didn't get the press to go as far in the election as I would like so I resigned myself to the fact that I probably wasn't going to vote in the Presidential Election. That is until there were some changes made.

The first was the employment of Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential hopeful for the GOP. She was a definite breath of fresh air when she came on the scene. I loved her optimism and that she was a true Washington outsider. When I saw her first major speech I felt like she could really make a difference.

The next change was truly unexpected. It is the suspension of his campaign by John McCain to go back to Washington as a Senator to assist in the current scramble to fix the economic meltdown. Surprising as it was I knew that this was a wise decision. He is still an elected official and he is still working for the people of Arizona. Therefore he has a responsibility to them and to us to continue his duties as such. Why this made such a great impression on me goes back to the widely used axiom that actions speak louder than words. And this decision was steeped in action.

The first action was showing that he has the ability of standing up, going to work and getting his hands dirty. I don't think we see enough of this. It seems, too often at times, that we have a "sidelines government", One that is caught just standing around. More precisely they are a reactive government, very rarely a proactive one. This financial debacle has shown that. However it's good to see someone get off those sidelines and on to the field. McCain believes that this problem is bigger than him and it may be even bigger than the election itself because it may determine the well being of our country. He knows that it has to be solved no matter what even if his campaign may suffer in the short term. What is that compared to the security of our nation? Nothing really. I admire him greatly for taking this stand.

What he showed is that doing is greater than talking. Talk is dead, we are way past deliberation. Now is the time to act, to do, to accomplish. We all know we have a problem, what we need is a drive for a solution, something to keep the train from barreling off the cliff.

This is action personified not, ironically, action that is talked about which is all we've come to expect from Presidential candidates in the past. This has caused me to view McCain in a different light. The action that McCain took has caused me to respect him more than I have ever in this election. Unfortunately we haven't seen such action from Obama.

I watched his statement and was furious. His common theme's in it were 1) we have a problem 2) we need to fix it and 3) the parties need to come together to solve it. This is obvious. His idea was to come up with a joint statement between McCain and himself about the financial crisis. Is this not more talk? This is the very kind of thing that we need less of. I then watched all the criticisms of McCain's suspension. Pundits called it a political stunt, a "hail mary" attempt to grab more points at the polls. I think people are confused in seeing a politician rushing to do a job, a sight rarely seen, and they don't really know what to make of it.

John McCain is far from perfect, were not going to get a perfect candidate, not now at least. What we can have is something that is better than what we have now. I don't think that Barack Obama can bring that but what McCain has shown me is that he has the potential to be the one that can.

Confessions of a book whore

I am a whore. I am a repulsive, dirty, filthy, sneaky, smutty whore. I sell myself for pleasures untold and pleasures told. I am owned by many and loved by none. I am thoroughly shameless which could be my greatest shame of all. I am a whore of books, a book whore. I am a bibliophile, an obsessively compulsive, mega maniacal collector of all things paper. They say that admittance is the first step to recovery, so here we go.

I just can't stop buying books. It's getting to be a big problem. We'll in this stage of my addiction I would have to say that the only real problem that I face is that I don't have a big enough bookshelf to keep all the volumes that I own. Sometimes I often dream of the bookshelf that I will have; the perfect bookshelf. It would stretch from wall to wall in my living room, ceiling to floor, unobstructed. No TV would have the power to stand in front of this massive monolith of words. Friends and family would quiver beneath its shadow. They would stand in awe of my collection unable to know what to say first, all the while I would calmly and causally say in my most cavalier of voice, "Oh yes, this is my bookshelf. I had to have it custom made. It's from upstate New York. Would anyone care for a hors d'oeuvre?" They would all be powerless against my assumed opinions assuming, of course, that I got them from all the books I read. Pretension would be my sword and I would wield it well. Pulling a rare tome from the shelf as if I were young Arthur drawing Excalibur from the mythic stone, I would read and lay waste to anyone that dared to oppose me.

And then the debate would ensue causing voices to elevate, feelings to get bruised and carne apache to go flying across the room. I'm sure a situation like that is way over the top and could get out of hand pretty easily, but in reality I would pass. What I'm really saying is that I would love to just flaunt my collection at any chance possible, as well as my knowledge about the books I have, providing that I have read them.

But that therein lays the problem. Many of the books that I do own are not currently read. They have been multiplying like rabbits in my room. I have so many "next books" standing in line it's really hard to decide to where to start. There is only so many hours in the day and as much as I hate to admit it, you can only devote a small portion to reading. Still, I will buy a book knowing full well that the likelihood of it getting read is slim, at least in the near future that is. With each book that I take home those chances are pushed farther and farther. As I peruse the thrift store shelves and find and interesting book, simply the thought of reading it makes me desire it. I want to know exactly what is contained within its pages. I will hold it in my hand and flip through it. If it has a cover I'll look at the inside flap or the first page to see what the book is all about. Sometimes if I'm really on the fence I'll just walk around the store with it trying to determine if it's a book I could live with, or live without. Could it be, I ask, if this book in my hands could change my life if only I would let it? If the curiosity is strong enough I will stick it under my arm, claiming it as mine.

However, thinking about this is almost depressing. What kind of fate have I really saved this book from? Instead of being read it's doomed to continue to wait, just on a different shelf in a far less accommodating situation (sitting beside the very loud Black Hawk Down or even worse, the bloodied antisocial, Fight Club. But hey, I do have Stargirl and she is pretty cute maybe it could sit next to her). Will this change my buying habits? Heck no, but it may give me just a little more buyers guilt which is just what I need more of.

Yesterday I had some amazing finds. I bought The Jordan Rules by Sam Smith, a book about Michael Jordan. He is my favorite athlete, I would have to say, but the sole reason I bought it was to have my name blazon in bold print on the hardcover spine as it sits in a prominent spot on my shelf (this one would be eye-level to certain relatives). Also on the list was a Faulkner book with a totally rad title and a very large book of English and American verse. It contained all the greats: Keats, Dickenson, Whitman, Elliot. Really, how could you pass this one up? I'm a bit ashamed to tell what my next pick was so I will just skip to my favorite of the bunch, Nick Hornby's Long Way Down, in hardcover nonetheless. I recently finished High Fidelity which I felt was an outstanding book from and equally great author. It was also purchased from a local thrift store. I can't wait to start this one...eventually.

What made me the most excited of all was that today I was able to complete my collection of the Bourne Series books by Robert Ludlum with the elusive Bourne Supremacy! This feat took about two years of scouring meticulously through dirty thrift shops in more than one state. I find this no short of amazing. I made it a personal quest to get the trilogy directly from thrift stores, partly out of principle and the other part out of book hunter bragging rights. There's nothing more gratifying than completing a book series that was completely second hand. (I've found the entire Asia series by James Clavell in this way as well.) I'm sure twentysomething’s years from now will be doing this with the Harry Potter books or maybe even the Twilight Series.

I also like to get books just for their title. Along with the Bourne Supremacy I found this odd hardcover with the title Pistols for Two. Can this not be the single coolest title for a book ever? Great names like Gone with the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Fountainhead all pale in comparison to Freakin' Pistols for Two!

So what, then, is the point to all of this collecting? I don't know, we all need a hobby and I guess this is mine. Reading for me is special. There is power in words. Ancient civilizations were built on the written word; people have been inspired to a greater cause because of another’s words and hey, at the end of the day books make a great form of entertainment. Do I have a problem? Maybe I do and maybe I don't. According to the addiction recovery model the second step toward recovery is to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to our sanity. I refuse to believe that I am insane so maybe I'm back at square one after all.

hey

A wolf, an elephant and Ralph Nader walk into a bar...

This election is something else, isn't? I mean we have both sides of the political fence just foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs at each other simply barking up a storm. Everyday it's more of the same. One day someones getting accused of wanting to be like Jesus and on the next day the other guy is getting flack because he just put lipstick on a pig. Ridiculous! That's what it is, all of it. I know we go through this every four years and each time we complain about how the candidates keep skirting the issues instead to talk about Vietnam boating trips, or something like that. But this time around it's almost like both candidates have this "come with me if you want to live!" mentality. It's almost like they think there ain't gonna be a next time so buddy, you had better strap up and jump on cause the train to shangri-la is leaving and if your not on it, well tough, cause when were gone the first horseman is gonna nuke your sorry tail and when your lying there in a pile of ash don't come crying to me because I tried to warn you that the other guy didn't have enough experience!

"Vote for me, vote for me, vote for me!" they say. "Only we know how to give someone free pills, we are the only one that can hog tie the country together, Only we know the secret to world peace. It's not that hard to end a war. We know the secret," one says, "because we studied with the great political master in mountains of Saskatchewan. I snatched that stone from his hand, that stone is mine. I waxed on and waxed off till my political skills are notorious. I have to register my politics in any state I go because it is a lethal weapon. I could swiftly end your debate quickly from just ten paces away, I cannot miss."

"Oh yeah?", the other would reply. "Well your party killed my father when I was just a little boy and now it's time to exact my revenge." And then they would fight, ravaging the land with they're mayhem. Style vs. style, discipline vs. discipline, bucking donkey vs. charging elephant. This would go on non stop for several days as they continue to get more bruised and more bloody, neither combatant showing signs of giving in. They would stop to monologue just long enough to give the impression that something sensible was going on. When suddenly Barack Obama would learn that John McCain was his Father. This being a truth to much for the world to take they would agree to finally to form the ultimate dream ticket. They would put their magic rings together and join their forces vanquishing the free world from all evil.

Come on! Who do you take us for? were not stupid! John McRib and Obama Rama might as well join forces because we'd be getting just about the same choice we have now. It's insane what's going on.

Thank goodness for the third party. Ah yes, the awkward friend that's pleased to hang around despite the ridicule and indifference that it endures. It's really sad what the third party has to go through in the name respect. That's why I'm always pleased when the third party strikes out in a victory.

No, I'm not giving breaking news that somehow Bob Barr's numbers somehow jumped miraculously
a thousand percent but it is something almost as satisfying. This last Wednesday Republican outsider Ron Paul and Independent Ralph Nader appeared on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and presented a strong case against the current campaigning process in America.

Here's how it went down:

BLITZER: Let's talk about what's going on right now with third party candidates. Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM is Ron Paul, the congressman himself. And he's here, together with the Independent presidential candidate, Ralph Nader.

Gentlemen, thanks very much for coming in.

REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: You're welcome.

BLITZER: All right. Tell our viewers, Congressman, why you decided to reject your fellow Republican, John McCain.

PAUL: He doesn't represent anything I believe in. You know, I represent -- I believe what Republicans should believe, and I campaigned on that and got a lot of support. But I can't support somebody that virtually disagrees with all my positions.

BLITZER: What about Barack Obama?

PAUL: Well, I don't think he agrees any more. And I don't see any difference between the two candidates.

I know there's a lot. You have to have a horse race going, and you have to talk about something, but really there's no difference.

And that was part of -- we think the system is very biased. Our system doesn't allow alternative candidates, third party candidates. But the debate isn't there either because they pick on little things. And the issues that we picked out, we hardly hear anything from the candidates.

BLITZER: So is it fair to say -- you want a third party candidate to win. Would that candidate be the man sitting next to you right here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Ralph Nader?

PAUL: Ralph is a good friend. But we agree on tactics and what we're doing, and we agree on these very important issues, but quite frankly, he probably won't have joined my campaign and I probably won't join his campaign.

BLITZER: So you won't vote for him?

PAUL: No, I don't plan to. But I plan...

BLITZER: Who do you want to vote for?

PAUL: ... to get as many votes for him as possible because it will take the votes away from Obama. And that's where we have the agreement.

BLITZER: So you want to stop Obama, is that what you're saying?

PAUL: Well, no, I want to change the system. I want Ralph Nader and the third party candidates, all of them, to be in the debate. I mean, that's the only debate.

There's no debate going on. This is a ritual. This is a charade.

BLITZER: Let's bring in Ralph Nader.

What's your goal right now? You're not going to be elected president of the United States. You know that. Ron Paul knows that. What is your goal in aligning yourself, in effect, with Ron Paul?

RALPH NADER (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, if we're in the presidential debates, it might be a Jesse Ventura, a three-way race. But -- and yet today, we put together...

BLITZER: Three presidential debates, but the Presidential Debate Commission has set a bar that's pretty hard for you to overcome.

NADER: Yes, since it's controlled by the two parties, as you know. Today I think it was a historic day because we, Ron Paul and the candidate for the Green Party, the candidate for the Constitution Party, and me and Bob Barr agreed on four major areas: foreign policy, get the soldiers back, end the war in Iraq, stop being imperialistic, privacy, deal with the repeal of the Patriot Act, the revision of FISA, the Military Commissions Act, and, you know, get rid of torture. And a third is the national debt. You know, deficits are now used for reckless government adventurism.

BLITZER: The national debt has nearly doubled over the last eight years.

NADER: Yes. And the Iraq war is financed from deficit spending.

BLITZER: And the fourth issue?

NADER: And the fourth issue is the Federal Reserve is now a government within a government. It is totally out of control. Congress doesn't control it. It's funded by the banks.

And we either have constitutional government or we don't. Because of this, Wolf, here's the question: Is there anything left for the American people to decide about their country?

BLITZER: Here is what the CNN/Opinion Research/"TIME" magazine poll shows in two key battleground states right now. In Michigan, 45 Obama, 42 McCain. Ralph Nader, 6 percent; Bob Barr, 2 percent; Cynthia McKinney 1 percent.

In New Hampshire, another battleground state, Obama, 48; McCain, 43; Nader, 4 percent; Bob Barr, 2 percent.

You know the accusations, Ralph Nader, that were leveled against you in 2000, that you stole the election, in effect, from Al Gore. He would have carried Florida if you had not been a candidate. You got 90,000-plus votes in Florida. He lost by 500 votes.

What do you say to those people who are saying you're just trying to spoil this election right now for Barack Obama?

NADER: I say two things. They're factually wrong about 2000. If you ask Al Gore why he lost, he'll say it was the Electoral College because he won the popular vote and it was stolen in a variety of ways before, during and after Election Day, from Tallahassee to the five politicians on the Supreme Court.

Now, I have news for you. The last four major polls, when they poll Obama and McCain, and then they poll Obama, McCain and they put Nader/Gonzalez in the poll, McCain does worse. Does worse.

BLITZER: But you think your presence hurts McCain more than Obama?

NADER: That's what the polls say.

BLITZER: What do you think? BLITZER: And it's explained on our Web site, votenader.org.

PAUL: I have no idea. We have to wait and see. But some people say, well, you're going to hurt McCain. And I'm not hurting anybody. But I expect that they'll be as many votes, maybe they will come from the liberals that will vote for him.

BLITZER: Ron Paul, you and I...

(CROSSTALK)

NADER: It's the two parties that are hurting our country.

BLITZER: I want both of you to answer honestly. And both of you are straight forward, you have nothing to hide. Give me your honest assessment right now.

Who is the lesser of two evils right now, John McCain or Barack Obama?

PAUL: I don't do that. Evil is evil.

If you vote for one that you think is a little less, actually you get tricked into that. You think that you vote for a Republican to balance the budget, and they're worse than the Democrats. That's what the people are sick and tired of. You vote for the Democrats to end the war and they expand the war as much as the Republicans.

BLITZER: I'll rephrase the question for Ralph Nader.

Who is the lesser of two bads right now?

NADER: The lesser of two bads is not good enough for the American people. We need the best.

BLITZER: But you agree -- you've been watching politics all these years -- it's unrealistic to assume a third party candidate is going to be elected president of the United States.

NADER: No, but we can push the two parties to address what's troubling the American people economically, politically, socially for their children and the world.

BLITZER: So your goal is to get these four issues on the agenda. And on these four issues that you're talking about, who is better, which of these two presidential candidates?

NADER: They're both bad on these four issues. The great constitutional questions about who's going to run this country in all kinds of ways, the people, or the domination of the corporations over our government, are off the table for McCain and Obama.

BLITZER: So one final question for Ron Paul.

You say you're not necessarily going to vote for Ralph Nader, but you want a lot of your supporters to vote for Ralph Nader. Will you go out there and do what you so successfully did during the primarily campaign, raise money on the Internet for these third party candidates?

PAUL: Probably not, because it's tough raising money for somebody else. We're doing this for some congressional candidates, and it's not as easy as when you're the candidate himself.

So I don't think I will do that. But I want to be engaged in the issues and try to push this country, but I really want the American people to wake up and challenge the system. You can't get in the debates, you can't get on the ballots, the parties are the same. There's really no choice in the system. We don't have good democratic process here.

We go overseas and fight wars to promote democracy. At the same time, we listen to these glib debates going on that's really irrelevant to these four important issues. That's what our goal is.

NADER: Which our majority support.

BLITZER: And we're going to focus in on those issues, because we want to make sure that we get to the bottom of these critical issues for all of our viewers. Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, thanks for coming in.

NADER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Some might say you're the ultimate odd couple, but I'll leave that for some of the commentators and pundits.

NADER: Talk to the American people.

BLITZER: We'll see what they say.

NADER: Check out constitutional safeguards. That's the key here.

BLITZER: Thanks guys.

NADER: Thank you.

PAUL: All right.

How awesome was that. That is exactly what the mainstream media needs to hear. What more can I say? Here's to you guys, here's to you.

To honor the memory of the victims.

I would like to pay tribute to all those that lost their life on this day seven years ago. I would also like to honor those hero's that made a difference here and abroad. I wish peace on all the families who's loved ones were involved.

To those who are fighting for the cause of freedom, I salute you.

My experimentaion with stream of consciousness free verse

Always.

I will always compose my life in short prose until I see myself in passive alliance to double backing along the road I will never let myself go back I can't let myself go back so any mistakes I make I make with mood and any mistakes I find define the answers why there is no period only truth can you see the line because I can only see the design that leads me to the open wide where I can finally see inside myself and see outside myself to see past myself to others that need my help but help is where the heart is and righteousness was never bliss but science says the answer is that god could never father kids but all of this continues to happen could it be just a mere distraction a cause without a reaction a fire without a passion but passion continues to hate and animals will always mate and governments will always raise the stakes till the stakes are laid that our stake in life is made in our following are own kind but who is this who we can follow when no one is on the road and who is this who we can follow when no one is home and who is this where can we turn to when we are cold blood boiling in the snow falling crystals individual yet dull but I declare singleness and self aware that these signs that always stare down from the rooftops were never theirs so we should take them down burn them down and make them fail and take back whats ours and pull these darts from the hearts of wars till I can finally feel that kiss that I desire that kiss on my cheek even higher that kiss on my forehead till I expire and fall farther into your arms and mire in the only thing that makes me more but where can I turn and where can I find why must it be this elusive it never was this conclusive but conclusions made this super man will waste the day never finding saving grace yet always striving for saving face how long can I go let me ask you how big is your ego is it more powerful than eagles stealing breezes from east wind seagulls singing songs of better people and dreams the drops from tall wood steeples this is life this is courage this is everything and everywhere till no one is aware that the heart they wear and what God gave them is theirs.

I do not need a politican to be cool.

I do not need a politician to be cool. I have friends for that. I have myself for that. I don't want to hang out with my elected official. Why would I? If he were he wouldn't be doing what I elected him to do: his job.

One moment, one single moment.

I was driving around in my car, today, listing to the music of Ornette Coleman more particularly his debut album Something Else!!!!  I enjoy his music very much but it's on the basis of trying to understand it.  Every so often I pop in the disc just to see if maybe a little more has sunk in.  I concentrate on his saxophone as it weaves a web of complex scales and patters.  I wonder about the notes that pop in and out of structure.  I try to emulate that trademark syncopated cymbal beat on my steering wheel.  But in earnest it's simply to ask why?  I don't know how many jazz listeners out there that ask this question, It's a pretty smug scene.  They must all be in on the joke.

This particular listen I started from the back of the album.  I let my my mind wander as those rhythms surrounded me as I drove.  What surprised me is that for a second, for a brief second I got it.  All that musical mumbo jumbo came smack into context and I understood.  It was magical but it was short.  Just as soon as I realized this moment, the moment was gone.  It was almost zen-like.  For you to be truly enlightened you must get past yourself, ignore your mind and live in the present.  To quote a favorite saying that I know, "your mind is a phantom that lives in the past or future.  It's only purpose is draw your attention away from the present."  You will never reach Nirvana if you are looking for it.

It's similar to a dream.  You can have this rich, wonderful dream only to wake up when you realize that you are dreaming.  How can we then hold on to it?  Maybe the secret of enlightenment is knowing that it soon will pass.  Maybe the truly enlightened know that this precious moment stay is short and rarely comes.  Let it flow and then let it go.  Let the moment pass to someone else.

So what does this mean?  Does it mean that Ornette Coleman's music is Nirvana and that Nirvana is a dream?  I don't know.  What I do know is that I'm still going to keep listening.  

In Honor

Yesterday a legend has passed away. While he will pass relatively unrecognized his life has effected nearly everyone, or at least everyone that's seen a movie in the last 20 years. The man? Don LaFontaine. For those that don't know the name might know him as "The movie voice guy." His voice was simply iconic and he could build suspense almost better than some movies. I must admit his work I'm only partly familiar with I was still a fan. I did, and still do admire him and for this I will mourn his passing. So long and far well Don, you will be missed.

I can no longer wear white!

So I think working on Labor day is one of life's biggest ironies. Isn't this holiday about not working and giving our workforce a "thank you" and refrain from purchasing nickel folders and 1 gig micro SD cards? I guess I can't complain too much. I didn't work that long and it was all during the first part of the day. It's just the precedent that stores don't need to be open every single day of the year. Just close the doors for once!