Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Florida GOP Primary and Gainesville Commission Election
Mitt "Not Obama" Romney, formerly Mitt "Not Newt" Romney, formerly Mitt "Not Herman Cain" Romney, formerly Mitt "Not Rick Perry" Romney, may have finally found a name that will "stick" after his lopsided victory in Florida today. But as Romney's overwhelmingly negative ads against Gingrich have affirmed, this man's identity and appeal to Republican voters seems to be that he isn't somebody else they dislike even more. The Republican establishment, however, seems to have come to the conclusion that Mitt Romney is a potential president that they can handle, much like the way George W. Bush was. God help us.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Super Bowl Approaching, Pro Bowl Happily Past
As I earlier had written, of the twelve teams making this season's National Football League playoffs, the Giants were my favorite while the Patriots were my least favorite. So there's no wavering on my part as to which team I'll be pulling for: New York!
Actually, it's kind of sad about New England and me: the only reason I don't support them is that they are divisional rivals to my Miami Dolphins. Otherwise, I probably would have been "on their side" because of the smart and cohesive way this team has consistently played their games over the past eleven years.
The Super Bowl will be played next Sunday. Yesterday we were subjected to the all-star Pro Bowl, a complete joke to watch with its special rules designed to protect the players from injuries (e.g. no blitzing allowed). So the offensive players get to look like the heroes while the defensive players get to look like goats as the touchdowns accumulate, making this annual fiasco's final scores look more like basketball scores than football. If I were an NFL defensive player, I would take "offense" at this...
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tragic Accidents on I-75 in Fog, Fire, Darkness
I first heard of this as I was taking my family to lunch at the Cracker Barrel off Archer Road. The Interstate overpass was clearly visible: nothing but a long stream of standstill traffic. I-75 was closed following the accidents and at this late time may still not be open. The very slow-moving vehicles we saw through the restaurant's dining room window facing the overpass were probably eventually forced off at the next and last exit before the closure.
To compound things, it was reported that this treacherous stretch of I-75 running through Paynes Prairie had been closed by the Florida Highway Patrol earlier in the night due to the very same problem of hindered visibility from the fire, fog, and night conditions. However, somebody with authority made an early morning decision to re-open the road. Soon thereafter the accidents occurred. I would not like to be in that person's shoes...
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Offering Nonexistent Running Race Photos
Why is it that always, in the inevitable e-mails I get from these "pros" hawking their racing photos of me, they just didn't happen to get any pictures of me? It happens race after race after race. Since 2008 I have run many races, many of them supplied with a photographer for hire. But NOT ONCE has ANY of them been able to come up with ONE SINGLE photograph that they could sell me!
It reached the point of absurdity a few days ago when I received an e-mail from the photographer of the recent Ocala Marathon/Half-Marathon telling me my pictures were ready and would I like to view them. One problem, though: I didn't even show up to run the race!
These photographers seriously need to get their act together, especially in this age of convenient digital photography. After all, I could bring my own digital camera (or even my cellphone) and just ask a spectator to please take my picture. Nevertheless, I have entertained the notion of actually buying one of these professional photos of me running. But it's hard to do that when nothing's offered...
Friday, January 27, 2012
The "Newt is Mean" Mantra
Newt Gingrich, no doubt, has a very aggressive, abrasive nature to his speech. He panders to the audience in these debates by verbally dressing down the moderator every chance he gets. In this way, he reminds me, in a very negative way, of the arrogance of an earlier candidate, Herman Cain. But after seeing the monolithic bloc of Republicans in Congress hell-bent on stymieing ANYTHING the Obama administration is trying to do in the country's interests, I appreciate the independent thinking of Mr. Gingrich on various issues.
For one, Newt Gingrich is the only candidate I know who has a vision about America's future in space. He wants bases on the moon. Somehow, that makes him a target for ridicule, but isn't that more in line with our earlier goals (including the previous president George W. Bush)? I like the way Gingrich defends Israel. I like the way he has demonstrated interest in a more reasonable policy toward undocumented immigrants that includes a timetable for eventual amnesty. I like the way he understood the need for both political parties to come together on the issue of climate change. In other words, I appreciate that this candidate seems to have a sense of vision, something that Mr. Romney, with his ledger sheet mentality, is sorely lacking.
But Newt Gingrich nevertheless still stands for the very wealthy over the rest of us when it comes to taxation. He is bellicose when it comes to nations with which we have problems. He is unsympathetic to the plight of the poor. He supports the government legislating morality and intruding on the very personal, private sexual and reproductive matters of its citizens. He is gung-ho about selectively interpreting the Second Amendment on gun rights, like others on this issue ignoring the part about "a well-regulated militia".
I don't want to grow old poor, nor do I want my children and their descendants to have a bleak economic future. I don't want another Republican war, and sadly, I see a distinct possibility of this if either Gingrich or Romney are elected. And I don't want to live in a country where one version of religion has co-opted our government to the point where I have to abide by a new set of laws promoting one narrow interpretation of morality.
So nix to Newt, as far as I'm concerned. But that being said, he deserves more respect and even-handed treatment than he is currently enjoying...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Dude, Where's My Winter?
I have mixed feelings about this. I really, really deeply dislike it when we get around freezing (and below). And I even have a tendency to complain in the morning when it's only down into the 40's. But as the day progresses, I usually become accustomed to the cold and switch from "dislike" to "dig". Forget this year, though, at least so far...
Tomorrow it's supposed to rain a lot and then gradually get cooler. Yeah, I'll believe it when I feel it!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Philbin New Dolphins Head Coach
But just because Miami has a new head coach, that doesn't mean that he has control over which players the Dolphins draft or trade for. So he has to work with what he is dealt by others, although I certainly hope that this franchise's owner and general manager will take his expert opinions into account when they make these crucial decisions. And some of these decisions will come soon, with the looming April college draft and the prospect of possibly even getting the great Peyton Manning from the Colts...
Monday, January 23, 2012
A, B, C, and Facebook
Each of A, B, and C has their own individual Facebook account. A is friends with B and B is friends with C, but A is not friends with C (I certainly wouldn't include C as a "friend" either, although we're on amiable terms). Still, the two know each other mainly from years gone by but are now primarily "connected" due to the fact that B is friends with both. A's social network wouldn't necessarily include B, but sometimes compromises have to be made and B became A's Facebook friend because they are bound together within the same family unit. Also, B's friends generally are not the kind of people that A would want as a Facebook friend...including C. Got all that?
The way Facebook is set up, unless a member takes draconian measures to greatly restrict others' access to their page, parties not considered to be their friends can nevertheless conveniently access their page due to a mutual third party friend, in this case B. This unfortunately allows for a bit of unwelcome snooping, which is probably an unspoken, secret source of appeal for a lot of Facebook users. The imperative "mind your own business" has very few adherents here in this neck of the "Webs".
The other day, A apparently wrote something on A's own Facebook page that C, viewing (or, to put it more accurately, snooping) via B, read and found to be offensive language. C then wrote on A's page a strongly worded, self-righteous rebuke for this. But A wasn't even remotely considering C to be a reader of that message, and C must have known that but decided to butt in anyway. And it's true that C could have accessed A on Facebook via their search engine, but the facts that A and B were family and B was C's friend probably emboldened C to make that post (and made it much more likely that C read A's page in the first place). Keeping up with me? Good, because then you can explain to me what I just said. So...
There are some clear conclusions to be drawn from this. One is that Facebook is a very flawed way to share one's thoughts with others, especially if those thoughts are of an emotional or intimate nature. For unless the user has put major restrictions on access, it must be assumed that, eventually, pretty much anybody will have access. So user beware!
Another pitfall is the use of the designation "friend" to describe someone allowed in another user's personal network. This puts pressure on the user to avoid hurting people's feelings and let them be "friends" when in truth such a title should be handed out with care and good judgement. Also, removing someone from a "friends" list is bound to ruffle some feelings as well, with the implication of personal rejection that it implies. Why not use something neutral, even maybe nonsensical, like "gizmo" or "node" instead of "friend"? After all, I'm not particularly interested in being anyone's "gizmo" to begin with, so ending that relationship wouldn't exactly send me into fits of despair...
Now with this blog of mine being nearly universally accessible on the Internet, you might wonder why I wouldn't want to just transfer it over to Facebook. And you know, I might just try that by deliberately offering links to articles certain to rankle the sensibilities, not necessarily of my small number of Facebook "friends", but rather of the uninvited closet Facebook voyeurs who would access me through others. As a matter of fact, having witnessed Newt Gingrich's feisty performance in that recent GOP debate in South Carolina, I have been inspired: after all, I can do better than some gingry anthropomorphized salamander, for crying out loud!
Wrapping all of this up (which is hard to do because I could keeping going on and on), Facebook itself has some pitfalls that can snare users who are not careful with what they put on it. The solution is two-fold: primarily, users need to grow up, grow some common sense, and start taking personal responsibility about how they express themselves. And Facebook either will change its structure or another competitor will eventually displace it as the primary Internet networking site. As it currently exists, I'm not all that keen on Facebook. But then again, I may have the opposite problem than does A: I haven't yet used it to express myself. Once I do, though, I expect a constant stream of rebukes, not just from C, but also from D, E, F, G, H, ...
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Missed Ocala Half-Marathon But Still Running
I don't plan to keep running this length, but rather keep the distance around 4 miles. I think that's a pretty reasonable balance, at least for the immediate future, between the various options that have been presented to me lately. Also, I may be resuming my swimming in the near future: that's almost a sure bet to cause the weather to turn cold in this very unseasonably warm winter!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Firm, Mitt, Cayman, Synchronicity
Part of the story in The Firm involves how the tiny Caribbean island of Grand Cayman is used as a haven for wealthy American tax dodgers to legally avoid paying federal tax on their holdings by depositing their money in one or more of the hundreds of banks set up there just for that one purpose. Several important scenes in the novel take place there (even though it isn't the primary setting). But it is crucial to the story...
Call it coincidence or call it synchronicity (which I personally define, for all practical purposes, to be "useful coincidence"), but this decades-old novel I just happened to pick up recently and read suddenly has relevance in the news of today.
Enter now Mitt Romney and the very recent allegation that he also has large deposits on the Caymans in order to, well, you know...
In The Firm, those who used offshore tax havens like Grand Cayman to avoid paying taxes were depicted as being technically law-abiding, but still shady and slimy characters that perhaps a young, idealistic lawyer like the story's protagonist may not take too kindly to (no worry: he really was O.K. with it, in a fictional sort of way). So I wonder to myself whether our possibly next president fits the description of someone who would take every legal means possible to squirm his way out of paying his due share of taxes? I think that is a more relevant question to ask than for the intimate, personal details of a very private conversation that Newt Gingrich may (or may not) have had with a former wife, don't you? After all, isn't the president, by virtue of his position in office, heavily involved in determining how much tax you and I will be paying?
Friday, January 20, 2012
Running Cut Back for Health Reasons
I hate to sound so cryptic about what's going on with me medically, but for the time being that's all I'll say for now, except that it is congenital in origin and can be surgically corrected. I am not suffering at all and continue to go about my business as usual. Life goes on like before, and so does my running...except that I'm neither entering half-marathons nor training for them.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Wikipedia 24-Hour Protest Blackout
How do I know for sure if some site I link to on this blog contains pirated material or not? So how would closing my site down in any way be justified? And I have surfed the blogosphere many, many times and discovered how much other bloggers make free use of obviously copyright-protected pictures to enhance the visual appeal of their own blogs. Since this is a pervasive phenomenon, would all of these blogs get shut down, too?
Entertainment companies do not own the Internet and should not have the right to cut the flow of free speech based on their desires for profit. I am sure that piracy and copyright infringement are big problems, but there has to be a better way to deal with them other then give big business even more power over individual people. There is already too much of that going on as it is!
Anyway, isn't there already a mechanism for dealing with piracy and copyright infringement? If you think that someone is messing with your proprietary rights in these ways, then take them to court and sue them if notifying them first doesn't do the trick! I'm not all that well versed in law either, but it seems that these bills are an attempt to criminalize activities that traditionally have belonged in civil, not criminal law courts. Not good.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
NFL Conference Championship Games Next
Regardless who wins the upcoming games, this year's Super Bowl matchups will be interesting, with the following possibilities:
New England vs. New York: A rematch of the great Super Bowl four years ago when the Giants scored a come-from-behind touchdown with 35 seconds left in the game to upset the undefeated Patriots.
Baltimore vs. New York: A rematch of the Super Bowl eleven years ago, won convincingly by the then-surging Ravens 34-7. I rooted for Baltimore back then, but if this scenario repeats I will pull for the Giants instead.
New England vs. San Francisco: This would be for bragging rights as the best team spanning many years as each has already won several titles and is looking to add to their totals. San Francisco has never lost a Super Bowl.
Baltimore vs. San Francisco: This game would pit brothers against each other as head coaches: Baltimore's John Harbaugh and San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh.
So we'll see how it all turns out. I have enjoyed this year's playoffs more than those in the past, it seems. And I see both of these games as promising a lot of excitement. Of course, I would rather have seen Miami or one of the other two Florida teams in the Super Bowl, but they were all pretty bad this year: all three of their head coaches were fired!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Tiring Training Run Today
I'll try a couple more of these runs on Wednesday and Friday with the other days either running around the block a couple of times or just not running at all. Hopefully, I will have more energy...
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Gingrich Falters Against Romney
Recently I wrote an article decrying the smear TV ad campaign raging against Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich by shadow groups supporting Mitt Romney. The ads went out of their way to claim that they weren't affiliated with any specific candidate. No, they just happened to come out when Gingrich was riding high in the polls against the only other serious contender. However, I didn't hear any of the other candidates crying foul about the mud being anonymous slung at him and at great expense. But when the former Georgia representative and House Speaker began to run his own anti-Romney ads, it seemed that most of the Republican Party establishment as well as media blabbermouths like Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham vociferously chastised him for this. Gingrich's popularity in the polls plummeted, leaving only theocratic extremist Rick Santorum as the only real challenger left to Romney. And what do you know: now we are seeing stealth ads attacking him as well, of course again without mentioning Mitt Romney as their source.
No fan of Newt Gingrich, I nevertheless feel that I can listen to the guy and at least believe that he is telling me what he is thinking, as slanted and opposed to my values and priorities those opinions may sometimes be. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is a chameleon who sizes up whatever situation he is in and simply delivers what he thinks his audience wants to hear. Can anyone truly say what kind of president he would be if elected? At least, with Gingrich, you have a reasonable idea of what you are going to get.
In the final analysis, I believe Newt Gingrich’s biggest mistake was to direct his ad campaign against Romney based on the latter’s cutthroat business management techniques, when he took over a large corporation and proceeded to make a killing by chopping up companies and laying off workers. By criticizing him for this, Gingrich ran afoul of the true Republican base agenda, which when all of the emotional hot-button issues like guns, Muslims, abortion, and gay rights are factored out, consists of promoting the interests of the rich and powerful. He should have known better, but at least I respect him for this more than I do Mitt Romney.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Full Speed Ahead for Upcoming Ocala Half-Marathon
The Ocala Half-Marathon has a non-repeating course, and I am pretty familiar with it from last year's marathon. In fact, I got to know parts of it TOO well as I slowly walked the race's last seven miles due to an IT-band leg injury that made it too painful to run the full distance. This year, although experiencing different health issues, I seem fit enough to handle the course, at least the half-marathon course, that is.
After the January 1 race, I had toned down my training distances, although I still maintained a daily running regimen. Yesterday I ran seven miles with plenty of energy and a good recovery, giving me much-needed confidence for the January 22 Ocala race. I needed that run when I did it, too, because this race's organizers require registration by this weekend in order to participate in it. Today I'll sign up...
The Ocala Half-Marathon will be the third straight race for me that takes place in a primarily rural setting. Personally, I prefer city races, which are more interesting with their landmarks and interesting sites. Next month, if all goes well in Ocala, I should be running in two such races: Tallahassee on February 5 and Gainesville (Five Points) on February 19. We'll see...
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Code
Ryan is a boisterous, larger than life (both literally and figuratively) person who initially whipped up a lot of enthusiasm, both among the players and the fans, with his loud, opinionated banter. But lately that banter has turned into rancor, with the Coach running down other teams' coaches and even opposing players in the media. Now we hear certain anonymous Jets players following their coach's example as they run down their own starting quarterback Mark Sanchez.
There is a unspoken code governing not just football teams but also just about any organized group that frowns very heavily upon members going public with their grievances. But when one of the leaders is an undisciplined motor-mouth, an example gets set that encourages this type of behavior among the ranks. How different it is in other organizations, say the Green Bay Packers, where respect and discretion prevail from top management to the lowest sub players on the roster!
Wow, I just wrote an entire article about NFL football without mentioning HIS name. At least I THINK I did...
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Afflictions Again
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Cramped, Overcrowded Running Races
As such a solitary runner, I don't need that many accompanying runners to give myself the feeling of participating in a social, group event. For example, the two relatively low-key half-marathons I have recently run in had around 200 runners in each of them. But even with this small number, I found the races' starts to be overly cramped and constricting, even having to wait several seconds before even walking, then running very slowly (so as not to trip over anyone or be trampled), and then finally reaching the starting line. I ran my last half-marathon in well under 1 hour and 56 minutes, but left with the "official" time of 1:56:07, some of that time patiently spent just waiting to get to the starting line! And even after that was accomplished, I spent the first mile or two boxed in by slower runners. So who knows how fast I could have run had the field been much smaller. And the idea of lining up near the front at the race's beginning, which I had done before in earlier 5K races, doesn't work either: many slow runners seem to take a perverse pleasure in maneuvering themselves ahead of others at the beginning, even though they should well know that they are just impeding faster runners.
But having said all that, I still think that these races were worth running. And then I read about an upcoming March 15K (9.3 miles) race in Jacksonville: 10,000 runners are expected! Still, that's nowhere near the 24,000 who "raced" in the Walt Disney World marathon. Why run in such an overwhelmingly crowded event? I pondered about this a little while, and then it hit me...
It's the mob appeal phenomenon that one sees on Times Square at New Years Eve, rock concerts, major sporting events, mass protest demonstrations, etc. It is as if, after a certain threshold has been passed, the appeal of these events is not the nature of the event itself but rather in being in the midst of the gathering of a very large mass of people in close quarters pursuing the same agenda. That's why people will continue to sign up for overcrowded races that are a complete joke to run in.
The only reason I will ever participate in one of those mega-races with its thousands of runners is to play the role of tourist and engage in a lot of sight-seeing during my run. Otherwise, I think that I'll just stick to my more enjoyable (and much less expensive) jaunts around my neighborhood and vicinity...
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Saban's Title Shallow to Me
You shouldn't see a season-ending title game scenario pitting two schools from the same conference, especially the same division within that conference. The teams within that division, in this case the SEC West, spend the entire season playing each other, along with a few teams from the East. That does not automatically establish the ultimate winner as the country's best team. LSU already defeated Alabama in the regular season. Alabama just won a rematch, and convincingly. So kudos to Alabama, the truly best team in the Southeastern Conference (although not its champion).
Oklahoma State, the top-ranked team elsewhere in the United States, should have been picked to play LSU for the national championship. So while Nick Saban added another title to his collection, I don't think it is truly merited. But...
If Mr. Saban, who wrote a book about character a few years ago, is satisfied with his victory, than I have a suggestion for him. He has truly reached the pinnacle of achievement in coaching college football. Why not now return to the pros and the Miami Dolphins, the team he completely abandoned after only two seasons in 2006, and restore his reputation to many as a man of character?
I know, I know, Nick, writing a book about character is one thing, as is demanding integrity and loyalty from everyone else around you. But yourself? Forget it!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Yesterday's NFL Playoff Games
Denver plays at most-reviled (by me) New England next week, while New York travels to good old Green Bay (my #2 favorite NFC playoff team after NY). The other upcoming games feature my AFC non-Florida favorite Baltimore at home against Houston and San Francisco at home against my preferred New Orleans. More offensive fireworks are in store, I'm sure...
...Just one post-scripted comment here about Tebow and his detractors. I am thoroughly beside myself with wonder at the expressed ignorance of the so-called "expert" analysts (especially on ESPN Radio) who continue to run him down because of his relatively low percentage of pass completions. I saw yesterday's performance, in which Tim completed less than half of his passes. But many of those incompletions were thrown away as an deliberate offensive strategy, not at all a reflection on the quarterback's accuracy. I never hear anyone bringing this fact up. But at least some sports media talking heads are finally realizing the value of Tim Tebow's versatility in the pros: you don't know if he's going to pass, pitch back, hand off, run around the end, or run straight ahead. This confusing of the defense went a long, long way toward enabling what was almost universally considered to be a weaker Denver team to pull off the big upset yesterday over last year's conference champions.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Negative Presidential Political Rant
There, I said it: I am not a happy camper regarding our president's record. I think the dude-in-chief has screwed up quite a bit, in fact.
But with all that having been said, I still think that Barack Obama is on the right track in general with both our domestic economic policy and with our foreign policy. Some of the problems he has had in office have come from the absolute refusal of the Republicans to even present an appearance of working with him to achieve a reasonable policy.
I don't think I have ever been so dismayed by the deteriorating level of politics within our government. Of those currently running for president on the GOP side (as well as the couple who have recently dropped out), I would say that they are all pathetic, lame jokes, except for the possibility that one of them may actually end up as our next president!
Scary stuff, scary stuff...
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Blog Thoughts
It is a sad fact of human nature that people in general often invest too much emotion into preciously held notions and prejudices. Many of these people I personally know and would like to maintain a modicum of goodwill with them. And since I write about sensitive topics like religion, politics, and social issues, expressing in no uncertain terms how I really feel about these topics, I am sure to deeply offend some, if not many of these small-minded folks. So I avoid Facebook. If any of them happen to stumble across this blog, well, let the reader beware!
I follow Twitter not because of its reading value, but rather because the terse notes expressed on it often serve as quick flashes of interesting items that I can then research further. As far as Facebook is concerned, I have "friends" whom I have rarely or even never met putting up messages about their personal lives that I really don't care to read. Would they consider me rude if I were to "break" our "face" friendship? And for those I do know, I am put off very often by the degree with which some of them express their personal goings-on and sentiments.
I have been rather selective in revealing to various people I personally know about the existence of this blog, which will be five years old in April. Yet of the ones I have told about it, very few have taken even a few short minutes to read it. You might think that they would at least have the courtesy to read something from it every now and then, especially since I obviously put much of myself into writing it and made an issue of telling them about it. Instead, my readers tend to be strangers who come up on my "WMI Blog" through searches of topics that I discuss in articles therein. I like their readership, but I would also like for there to be a larger number of regular readers scattered around the U.S. and the world: people who check up on my blog from time to time just to see how I'm doing and what I'm thinking...
I suppose, though, that the most likely regular readers of this blog would be bloggers themselves. If I value others reading my articles, then I should read theirs as well, leaving constructive and pertinent comments on them.
I sincerely hope that the concept of a free, widely available blogosphere will always be with us. Having a blog like this has done much to increase my confidence with writing, and it has further enhanced my ability to effectively express my thoughts to others in spoken form. In fact, I often find myself, in the midst of conversations, almost verbatim repeating sections of articles I've written.
I plan to keep this blog going on as long as possible. (Non-spam) comments are always welcome!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Underhanded Smear Ad Against Gingrich
I already knew of Newt Gingrich's tarnished past, but apparently many Republican voters needed to be reminded of it in a widely-shown ad claiming that Obama wants Gingrich to be the GOP nominee because he'll be easy to beat. The ad's disclaimer at the end states that no candidate authorized it. Just some concerned citizens wanting to spend a "bucket"-load of money to enlighten the electorate with altruistic zeal, right? And smiling, sparkling "Max Headroom" Mitt had absolutely NOTHING to do with it. Yeah, sure. Here we go again...
I am already pretty sure as to how I will be voting for president this November, regardless which Republican candidate survives the absurd TV reality show titled "The GOP Campaign", with its cast of deeply flawed characters taking turns being in the lead and then falling back because, well, they are discovered to be human after all, apparently a disqualifying trait for a Republican nominee. The truth is that I have become very deeply disillusioned with how the political opposition has dealt with Barack Obama ever since he stepped into the White House in January, 2009. It is one thing to carry on a spirited public debate with your political opposite; it is another thing entirely to treat that opposite as an enemy to the nation who must be countered at every turn with no room for the necessary give and take on that our political process in Washington traditionally functions with. In spite of the fact, though, that the Republican Party leadership decided to stonewall practically everything that the duly elected Democratic president has proposed, the fickle and memory-impaired American electorate will quite possibly reward them this November for such callous irresponsibility with both the Presidency and control of both houses of Congress. Unbelievable.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Colmes, Santorum, and the Death Taboo
From what I have been able to gather, Mr. Santorum took the dead baby home for the sake of showing his other children that they had a little brother at one time. He "played" with it for a short period, and then it was over. That's all. Maybe I'm a little bit weird, but his reaction to me was completely understandable and compelling. Maybe it's those who seem put off by his behavior who bother me much, much more...
Death happens, people. We like to be surrounded by the living and would like to see those who are gone to be REALLY gone. But it is a simple fact of "life and death" that when one dies, the body usually is still there to be dealt with. I think Rick Santorum's way of dealing with his grief over his loss is more in line with not only how other cultures deal with this issue, but even other animal species. Let's not be so quick to try to demean this individual before we take an honest, hard appraisal about how much we ourselves are under the "spell" of this taboo against handling the dead...
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
My Preferences in This Year's NFL Playoffs
1 New York Giants...I still appreciate them beating undefeated New England in the Super Bowl four years ago, I like the location (NY), I like their coach Tom Coughlin, QB Eli Manning, and offensive standouts Victor Cruz and Ahmad Bradshaw. Plus, even when they play badly, they still seem to function as a team.
2 Baltimore Ravens...I've rooted for them since back in 2000 during their playoff surge, powered by their incredible defense headed by Ray Lewis, that brought them their one Super Bowl win. They still impress me. Besides, they are in the same division as the Steelers, a team near the bottom of this list.
3 Green Bay Packers...Now that they are no longer a threat to go the entire season undefeated (thanks to QB Kyle Orton and the Kansas City Chiefs defense), Miami can breathe a sigh of relief (their 1972 unblemished record is still unrivaled). So now I can once again sit back and enjoy this offense, powered by its talented QB Aaron Rodgers.
4 New Orleans Saints...They're "kind of" close to Gainesville. And Drew Brees rivals GB's Rodgers with his talent.
5 Cincinnati Bengals...Just because they, like the Ravens, are a divisional rival to Pittsburgh.
6 Atlanta Falcons...Atlanta is another regional pick, relatively close to Gainesville.
7 Denver Broncos...I am not a Tebow fanatic, but he's got "spunk" and the team is fun to watch (sometimes). Plus, their first (and probably only) playoff game is against those doggone Pittsburgh Steelers.
8 Houston Texans...I couldn't care less about this team, one way or another. Whether I root for them or against them hinges completely on which team they are playing.
9 Detroit Lions...I would have them higher on this list, but they seem to have some serious issues with unsportsmanlike conduct. Can their coach control his players' antics?
10 San Francisco 49ers...With SF, it's the coach Jim Harbaugh and his arrogance, not the players, who is the problem, at least as far as I am concerned. However, I do like QB Alex Smith, unfairly maligned from last year.
11 Pittsburgh Steelers...I'm still harboring a decades-old resentment about the Steelers stealing the Dolphins' thunder with their "dynasty" of Super Bowl championships in the Seventies. There's only one way I'll root for them, and that's if they end up playing:
12 New England Patriots...All of Miami's AFC East rivals are anathema to me, since, after all, I am a Dolphins fan. However, I have been recently known to root for the spirited New York Jets for the last couple of years in the playoffs after Miami abysmally failed to qualify for the post-season. But New England or Buffalo? NEVER!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Brief, Intense Cold Spell Here
It's funny, and a little sad at the same time: for most of the year, I complain about how hot it is. Then, the cold hits and I almost instantly wax nostalgic for the heat. Still, this cold spell does help me in that it keeps allergens out of the air, something that I unfortunately am susceptible to.
Not to mention the fact that it keeps the grass stunted in my lawn!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Tomorrow's Iowa GOP Caucuses
Tomorrow is the long-anticipated day of the Republican Iowa Caucuses, an event that supposedly will help to establish the eventual party nominee for president. Like it did back in 2008, when Mike Huckabee won it. Wait, he didn't win the nomination, did he? Oh, I see...
The winner of the Iowa Caucuses doesn't necessarily get the nomination. It's one's own prime time Fox News Channel show that is the prize for victory (that's what Huckabee got). And the runners up? They will probably be recruited as Fox Political Analysts, assuming that they aren't the one actually getting the nomination in the end.
The problem with the Iowa Caucuses, as I see it, is three-fold. One, it is just that: an open-hall statewide caucus, held at one special time in the various precincts, not a legitimate, secret ballot election spread out over the day to give voters more time to get to the polls. Although the Republicans have adopted a secret ballot system of voting, in practice this has not always been followed, nor is it legally mandated. As a result, participants will tend to be more ideologically-driven and fanaticial, not representative of the typical voter who actually has a life aside from politics or preciously-held hot-button emotional issues. Two, every candidate has their own excuses for not doing well in Iowa, should that happen. Some have played the double game of downplaying the significance of the caucuses while spending money and time there. The fact that true primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida are coming up soon thereafter will quickly diminish the significance of the Iowa winner anyway. Three, with almost instant nationwide polling and seemingly endless nationally televised debates, the focus on the campaign isn't as intense on individual states in the early campaign like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina as it has been in the past. This is especially true with the current theory that the 2012 election will hinge on a very small number of key states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan. So while the Florida Primary may be important in revealing a candidate that has Republican voter appeal there, Iowa won't because it isn't really a primary and New Hampshire and South Carolina are too regional in character to make a deep nationwide impression.
Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are the leaders in this Republican run for the 2012 nomination. Maybe the most significant result of the Iowa Caucuses will be to convince some of the other candidates to drop out of the race, especially with financial resources drying up. But since they are almost all media-seeking egomaniacs with plenty of opportunities in nationally-televised debates and powder-puff interviews on FoxNews to keep their sense of importance hyperinflated, I don't see this dropping-out process beginning until after the true primary season has been underway...
Sunday, January 1, 2012
My 2012 De Leon Springs Half-Marathon Experience
De Leon Springs is a rather small community in western Volusia county, Florida (most widely known for Daytona Beach). It is about 100 miles of a drive from Gainesville. There is a pancake restaurant called the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant nearby in a state park. Other than that, there is really nothing attractive to me about this place. But for some reason, going on 28 years now, this insignificant and relatively remote community has seen fit to offer a half-marathon race. Seeing an opportunity to run in an event a good three weeks from my long-planned Ocala Half-Marathon on January 22, I signed up yesterday and ran it this morning. The conditions were not hospitable: there was intense fog throughout the drive from Gainesville to De Leon Springs, and the fog and humidity made the race not enjoyable at all. Although the temperature was in the low 50's at race's start at 8 AM, by the end it had warmed to an unpleasant level. And then again, there was the race course itself...
The De Leon Springs Half-Marathon runs mostly down one street and back: County Road Three. The view is monotonous, to say the least: straight and flat, with trees, trees, and more trees. Add that to the fact that the race wasn't closed to motorized traffic and you have a frustrating situation. Still, no place is perfect and I approached this New Year's Day adventure with a positive attitude.
At the race's beginning I got a good-looking red, long-sleeved tee-shirt with De Leon Springs Half-Marathon on it. At the end I got a medallion (picturing that aforementioned sugar mill) to hang around my neck and show that I actually finished the 13.1 mile race. Other than that, I got very little...
There were a couple of spots along the race where Gatorade was offered; other spots just carried water. After the race was over, no Gatorade was to be found. I later saw some other runners walking to their cars carrying some fruit that was apparently being offered somewhere (but I didn't see any). But that's all O.K. because...
Running 13.1 miles is in itself a pretty grueling activity. To get all steamed up over the lack of creature comforts is to miss the point. In truth, there was enough rehydration offered to the runners, although it may not have been exactly what some of them wanted. I did have a beef with the shortage of toilet facilities but, having anticipated this possibility, I took care of "business" before I got to the race site.
I mentioned that I didn't really enjoy the run, for the various reasons given. Late in the race, although I was generally passing the runners in front of me with only one "competitor" passing me, I felt weak and sore. But much to my astonishment, as I crossed the finish line, I discovered that I had completely wiped out my previous half-marathon personal record time by more than two and a half minutes, officially finishing at 1 hour 56 minutes 07 seconds (here is the race results website). So go figure. It seems that lately, some part of me pushes me harder than I had intended. The result has been faster runs without the fun I am used to having.
I think, all of this event's shortcomings notwithstanding, that it is pretty dang cool that such a tiny town as De Leon Springs would hold such an event. Kudos to them! I suppose, though, that they would do a lot better with the runners' opinions of them were they to provide more toilet stations, not just at the starting and finishing points, but also at intervals along the race course (I saw none along the run). I have read a couple of very negative reviews about this race from 2011 and it seems that this scarcity of facilities was a very big deal to those individuals.
So now I go back to shorter training runs in preparation for the Ocala Half-Marathon. I wonder what the weather will be like on that race day morning three weeks from now. Last year it was around 26 degrees when the race began...