What Kind of Democracy Awaits Egypt?

As I watch the turmoil transpiring in Egypt from day to day, it leads me to ponder what kind of democracy this great nation would enjoy should the protesters of President Hosni Mubarak's 29-year autocratic rule succeed in overthrowing his regime and replacing it with a freely elected ruler and political party. I hear that Egypt's opposition to Mubarak is very fractured, without a single unifying organization (like South Africa's African National Congress was). If this continues, then I see two possible developments.

A splintered opposition would seem to work in the favor of Mubarak trying to prolong his power. After all, if I were him I might myself ask whether, just because a lot of people were demonstrating against me, that meant that the majority of Egyptians opposed my rule. I wouldn't necessarily automatically assume that my entire country had given up on me.

If Mubarak were to give up the reins of his power soon, then Egypt would be left with an assortment of disparate political factions that would have to work out their relationships with each other during a free electoral process. Ideally, the electoral outcome would resemble other democratic nations like the US, France, or Britain, where the opposing main parties are split enough in popularity among the general population so that one side can be thrown out every few years in favor of the other. Should Mubarak, however, decide to tough it out for as long as he can, then there is the greater probability that a more unified opposition, likely under the banner of a political party, will arise to oust him. If this happens, then I can see a future in a democratic Egypt dominated by one party that stays in power for decades, feeding off of its own corruption. I see examples of this having happened in places like Mexico and Zimbabwe.

What I don't see in Egypt is something like the Iranian Revolution of 1978, when a relatively sophisticated, secular society became dominated by hardline religious extremists. But then again, it is amazing, looking back at history, how such a seemingly rational people as the Germans suddenly allowed themselves to be transformed into a completely totalitarian society with the ascent of Hitler and the Nazis during the early 1930's. But on the other hand, one could argue that it was the combination of an economic catastrophe, national humiliation after a war, and a sense of betrayal leading to a propensity for scapegoating that led to Hitler's rise to power. All elements I am fearful to say may be present among the Egyptian people to varying degrees.

Whatever the case, I wish the best for Egypt. Not because of how this would help American foreign policy, but because I want these people to be able to be free to pursue their own happiness without being under the boot of a tyrant or a totalitarian ideology. To this end, I hope that Hosni Mubarak departs sooner than later.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #2

#2: These Are My Twisted Words by Radiohead

I picked up my #2 song of last year as a free download off of Radiohead's official website. They have been recording material for their upcoming album (and beyond). These Are My Twisted Words impressed me the very first time I heard it, a very rare occurrence in my long personal history of listening to music. A very fast-paced piece, it suits my long-distance running quite well. I almost want to put it on "repeat" and forget the other songs I usually play during my training!

These Are My Twisted Words is more instrumental in nature than most of Radiohead's other songs, with a very long initial buildup of drums, guitar, and string bass (or its electronic equivalent). When Thom Yorke finally breaks in with his singing, it is more of a break from the main part of the song, namely the instrumental "accompaniment".

Since These Are My Twisted Words came out for me in the middle of December last year, it is difficult for me to make it my #1 song of 2010, although it is hands-down my favorite in 2011.

So that leaves me with only the top song of 2010 to write about. Remember, this list I have composed comprises music that I just heard for the first time last year, although some songs may have come out earlier. Number one is a case in point, having been released in 2004. But I'll leave that for another time...

Health Care Reform Law Struck Down

While I am supportive of health care insurance reform, I never was on board with the individual mandate provision that required Americans to buy health insurance from private companies or face stiff fines from the government. The idea that simply being alive makes one fiscally liable to a PRIVATE industry is to me clearly wrong, be it ultimately judged constitutional or not. Well, now Roger Vinson, a federal judge in Florida, has struck down the entire recently enacted "Patient and Affordable Care Act." The next step will be an appeal by the government to the U.S. Supreme Court.

I wouldn't necessarily have had a major problem with the individual mandate to buy health insurance had the originally-designed bill, with a public option, been passed and signed into law. With a public option, such a mandate could be rationalized in much the same way that the old military draft laws were, i.e. as being in the public, national interests. Also, with a public option there would be a more effective mechanism of controlling what could be upward-spiraling prices that could bankrupt people who are only trying to simply comply with the law. The idea that someone is FORCED BY LAW to contribute to a private company's profits, to me, is the epitome of fascism: the marriage of government and private business at the expense of individual liberty.

I have heard the counterargument that motorists are mandated in most states to purchase liability insurance from private companies. But one isn't born a motorist and can choose not to be one if they don't want to. Simply being alive should not make one incur a continual liability to private interests!

The infeasibility of the current bill, at least temporarily struck down in federal court, makes a single-payer system, supported by TAXES (you know, the traditional way we used to fund things), even more attractive to me. But the political climate here in the United States will never allow for such a drastic but necessary change, I'm afraid.

Who knows, perhaps the Supreme Court will overrule Judge Vinson and restore the health care reform act. There are parts of it that I like, most notably the provision prohibiting denial of coverage due to preexisting conditions and the extension to 26 years of age for offspring to be eligible for coverage under their parents' policies. Let's hope that at least these will remain in effect after all of the upcoming legal and legislative wrangling is over.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #3

#3: Man of a Thousand Faces by Regina Spektor

Aside from the facts that Regina Spektor is a gifted piano player, a creative genius, and an exceptional singer, her song Man of a Thousand Faces speaks to me on a personal level that few other songs have ever been able to do. It speaks of a man who has weathered turmoil within his life and finally come to a sense of peace, contentment, and simplicity. He sits in a chair by the window, and "smiles at the moon like he knows her". I dig that line, since I tend to treat the celestial bodies I see at night, be they stars, planets, or the moon, as friends of a sort. Well, I dig the whole song, and hearing Regina singing it doesn't hurt!

As a side note, there is a line in the song that refers to the subject during his past and how he would go his favorite bookstore and tear pages out of books, stashing them in his pocket. When I first heard this I was instantly taken to the second Harry Potter movie (not book) The Chamber of Secrets. In it, Harry's school adversary Draco Malfoy is shown doing just that: ripping a page out of a book in a bookstore and stashing it in his pocket. Making me sometimes refer to Man of a Thousand Faces as "Draco's Song". It doesn't hurt my sense of identification with the song, either, since as I have said before on this blog, I think Draco Malfoy (as flawed as he was...no, because he was as flawed as he was) was one of the more realistically portrayed characters in Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Man of a Thousand Faces is the final track on her latest album, 2009's Far. I wonder when her next album is coming out!

Gainesville and Ocala Marathons Compared

Gainesville and Ocala, two modest-sized north central Florida cities, hold marathon races a month apart. The Ocala Marathon, which I just completed by humbly limping across the finish line with a leg injury, emphasizes a "country" course, dominated by horse farms and large rural estates. Gainesville's LifeSouth Five Points event, which takes place in three weeks (I ran in its half-marathon last year), goes right through the heart of town, an urban experience. Having run in each race, I have my own conclusions as to which course is more wisely designed.

In the first place, it needs to be noted that anyone who is in shape to run a marathon can run their own event by themselves by simply designing their own course. I accomplished this on January 15, using Mapmyrun.com to measure out my distances to cover the needed 26.2 miles (I ran 26.6 then). I began the run in my driveway and ended it there. Pretty convenient, right? For one to run in a public race, there needs to be a different kind of payoff to cover the drawbacks of such a run ($60-100 entry fees, unpredictable weather conditions and personal health issues on race day, travel expenses and complications, getting time off from work, etc). Some runners feel the need to publicly "prove" or verify to others that they indeed have completed a marathon, so just privately doing it (like I did on the 15th) just won't cut it for them. Another factor that can serve as an attraction for participation in a marathon is the "tourist" angle: getting to know different places more intimately by simply running down their streets. It is here that I would like to compare the Gainesville and Ocala marathon events.

The Gainesville Five Points Marathon is, as said, urban in nature. It is designed to go straight down some of the busiest streets in Gainesville as well as passing through some historic districts and the University of Florida campus. The Ocala Marathon, by contrast, promotes its course of scenic rural roads, supposedly away from all of the traffic congestion. But this is a completely false argument: I had MUCH MORE trouble with cars in Ocala than I did in Gainesville. As a matter of fact, runners were told that, for much of the race, they would be "sharing the road" with motorists. Unfortunately, I don't think that many of the motorists there were aware that they were supposed to "share the road" with the runners!

Another advantage that Gainesville had over Ocala was that the course for the former was completely non-repeating, while with the latter there was much "there-and-back" retracing of paths and, for the marathoners, the need to repeat an eight-mile long loop. Besides this repetition making the Ocala course more tedious than Gainesville's, Ocala also had to keep street lanes closed for the runners for much longer than with Gainesville, which could gradually reopen roads as the lagging runners passed different points. The result was relative order in a largely urban race and congestion in a supposedly rural one.

Finally, I don't know about you, but once I've seen two or three horse farms and cow pastures, along with a few wealthy estates sprinkled in, I tend to lose interest in my surroundings. But put me in the heart of a city, even within Ocala for that matter, and there is always something interesting to draw my attention and make the journey more enjoyable.

So I guess you can tell which town I prefer to run a marathon in (or a half-marathon, for that matter). Gainesville rules!

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #4

#4: Reckoner by Radiohead

It's probably an exercise in futility to try to discern whether or not a particular song I hear was inspired by an earlier artist, or perhaps even serving as a tribute. So instead of trying to read the minds of the members of the English band Radiohead regarding their 2007 song Reckoner, I'll just say that it bears to me a great degree of resemblance to the works of the late great American soul artist Marvin Gaye.

It may seem strange that I make this comparison, considering the reputation that Radiohead has for being an innovative alternative rock band, but it might be worthwhile remembering what an innovator Marvin Gaye himself was. Remember What's Going On in 1971? Besides, I dig Marvin Gaye's music with only a very few exceptions.

Reckoner is from the album In Rainbows, noted for its diversity of musical styles. On this track, I like the high-pitched crooning voice of Thom Yorke; it was obviously produced on multiple tracks to allow him to harmonize with himself. And as with Faust Arp, the background symphonic-sounding music cuts in at opportune moments to add a beautiful touch.

I suppose that, with my ever-widening collection of independent/alternative music, I should try listening to a greater variety of acts than this 2010 list of mine indicates. But alas, I tend to get fanatical about a good artist or band and go overboard listening to their songs. So it was last year for me with Regina Spektor and Radiohead. Yes, I think I'll dub 2010 as the Year of Reginahead!

Packer Tie Firing Not an Outrage

The other morning, as I was drinking some coffee and waiting for my daughter to get herself ready for school, I happened to have the TV on ABC's Good Morning America. Besides their news, on this morning they kept running a teaser about some guy who was fired from his job for coming to work wearing a tie that promoted his football team. Sounds pretty outrageous, doesn't it? The visuals showed the tie: the Green Bay Packers was the dude's team. Oh. The mystery was beginning to unravel, and so was the outrage. Then, further information was offered up: this all happened in Chicago, at a car sales lot. The soon-to-be ex-employee was a car salesman coming to work at this high-profile, public job...again, where? Chicago. Oh, by the way, the previous Sunday, Green Bay beat the Chicago Bears in the NFC championship game (held in Chicago) to decide who was going to the Super Bowl. Besides that, Green Bay and Chicago are bitter divisional rivals, not to mention the longest rivals in professional football history.

So we know now that this guy shows up to work for this company as their representative to try to convince Chicago-area residents to buy cars from them. While rubbing in their faces, every time they look at him, the fact that his Packers just beat their Bears in their team's most important game in years. Brilliant. But wait, Good Morning America was going to have the salesman on to present his side of the story. I told my wife that I bet he didn't instantly get fired as the story's buildup implied, but rather was given a chance by his boss to remove the tie. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. According to the ex-salesman's own account, the store's manager told him not once, but twice, to remove his Green Bay Packers tie. He outright refused and by his own admission became angry and argumentative with his boss. Only after that happened was he given his dismissal.

So there is usually another side to any story that has a sensationalist angle to it. It seems, on the surface, a major outrage that wearing a harmless tie promoting one's sports team could make one lose his job. But as it turned out, it was arrogant insubordination, probably in a very public setting, that really caused the salesman to be fired. A supervisor or manager merits at least an outward display of respect from the employees he or she is responsible for. The salesman put his boss on the spot with his refusal. If I were in that manager's shoes, I don't know that I would have insisted that the tie be removed. But if I had given a similar instruction to an employee under my charge and that employee repeatedly and angrily refused to comply, I would have no qualms with sacking them.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #5

#5: Morning Bell by Radiohead

When I was a child in the early 1960's, I had a set bedtime that prevented me from watching much of the prime time television that my parents enjoyed. One of the shows that they liked but deprived me of watching (or so they thought) was Twilight Zone. I would often sneak out of my room and go down the hallway just far enough to see our only TV set, with my parents sitting out-of-view around the corner. I got quite good at this subterfuge over the years, even daring myself at times to climb up the hall's walls with my feet pressed at each side, all the way up to the ceiling. But I digress...

One night I was stealing a look at a particularly interesting Twilight Zone episode. In it, a sister and her little brother discovered that they could dive into their family swimming pool and come out in another reality, full of playful kids in the country and a kindly granny-type woman who looked after everyone. The two children found out later that their parents were getting a divorce and each was given a choice as to which they would want to live with. So there was a distinct possibility that sister and brother would be split up. The swimming pool was the focal point of that episode and dictated how the children would answer their parents. And now I finally come to my #5 pick of 2010: Radiohead's somber Morning Bell.

Morning Bell is a song about an ugly divorce, if I interpreted it correctly. One of the early lines is "You can keep the furniture" and Thom Yorke, apparently assuming the role of one of the splitting parties, cries out "Release me!" throughout the song. The song's last line is the most haunting, though: "Cut the kids in half". And I get taken back to that unforgettable Twilight Zone episode, whose title I discovered years later was The Bewitching Pool.

I love just about everything about Morning Bell: melody, musical arrangement, singing, you name it. What's more is that there are two entirely different versions of the song. On the album Kid A, it appears as a standard band piece that one might hear in a concert. On Amnesiac, it is a lush, multi-layered track with the flavor of experiencing a dream. Both are fantastic!

The Fit Elderly

It was apparent to me from the get-go, before Sunday's Ocala Marathon race even began, that I would be running in special company. All around me were people at least my age or older. Some were much, much older. For the first half of the race, when I was actually mostly running, I had surged ahead of most of them (although a few were clearly very fast, like "Maddog" John Wallace). But as I walked through most of the race's end (due to my intensifying right leg pain, dammit), one by one almost all of the remainder caught up with me and passed me. This repeated experience of observing happy, fit, and often very elderly runners completing a 26.2-mile MARATHON made a deep impression on me. But it wasn't the first time I've seen this sort of thing.

When it's real cold outside and below freezing, my local YMCA's heated swimming pool remains closed. But once the outside temperature gets into the mid-thirties, the tarps are pulled back and the pool is opened for anyone intrepid enough to venture a swim. And just what kind of person would that be? From my safe (and wimpy) position in their exercise room, I have observed elderly person after elderly person (never anyone young) walk out to the pool when it is that cold, in typical "summer" swimwear. Then the young lifeguard would come out of the office to guard them, bundled to the hilt in winter protective clothing, hunched over, and shivering. Then the swimmers would do their seemingly endless laps, showing no discomfort whatsoever from the cold!

When I think of the kids in my age group that I went to school with, I wonder how each of them has turned out by now with their health, and what their prospects are for old age. Cancers and systemic chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease can hit pretty early, often by one's late thirties. For many of those who survive into their sixties and seventies, they are often-as-not saddled with chronic infirmities or disabilities that interfere with their mobility and ability to enjoy life to its fullest. And then there are THESE people I see around me, swimming in the near-freezing cold and running marathons, with no end in sight as to what they can do! Guess which group I want to be a part of??!!

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #6

#6: Faust Arp by Radiohead

Radiohead's last release is an eclectic album titled In Rainbows, released in 2007. In it the group explores various musical styles, as well as seeming to pay tribute to influential acts from the past. In Faust Arp, one of Radiohead's shortest-ever songs, I sense the influence of the Beatles. In fact, the guitar background sounds an awful lot like Dear Prudence, one of John Lennon's contributions to the White Album. The melody and lyrics go off in an entirely different direction though, and what sounds like an orchestral string section (or an electronic representation thereof) cuts in at opportune moments, creating a beautiful effect. So much intensity in such a short and overtly understated piece... Thom Yorke sings Faust Arp straight and without affect, almost as if he were simply speaking his case (one of apparent frustration) at the listener. It works!

Speaking of the Beatles, sometimes I wonder about the direction that the individual members took with their solo careers after the breakup, marveling at how their output tended to suffer in quality without their collaborative and critical influence on each other. Faust Arp is an example of a song that I would have expected from someone like Paul McCartney, instead of some of the drivel that he actually put out (such as Another Day or My Love).

In Rainbows provides one more song on my personal 2010 favorites list, and it also appears to be a tribute to a great act of the past. But I'll leave that one to another day.

Ocala Marathon Completed, With Pain

I completed the Ocala Marathon today, but I had to spend a considerable portion of the race walking because of some pain coming from my right leg near the knee. This pain, which I first noticed as a minor twinge after my first-ever marathon run on January 15, never happens at the beginning of a run, and it didn't with today's. Around the 5-mile mark, I noticed a little aching in that area. It worsened until, by around 10 miles, I had to increase my walking breaks. For the next 9 miles, the walking increased while the running proportionately decreased. Finally, by mile marker #19 the pain while running was too much for me and I had to walk the rest of the way. Although my time was horrendous (a tad over 6 hours), I still received a lovely medal for having completed the 26.2 mile Ocala Marathon.

I'm going to take a needed break from running for at least a couple of weeks (and possibly longer) in order for the injured part of my leg to properly heal. I strongly doubt that I will be running the marathon in Gainesville next month as planned. But the half-marathon? Well, that may be in the works should my leg make a complete recovery.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #7

#7: I Might be Wrong by Radiohead

I Might be Wrong is a relentless, pummeling track from Radiohead's remarkable 2001 Amnesiac album. It is a song tailor-made for becoming a great hit, but it remained on that album as a "deep" track, unreleased as a single. And it makes me wonder why others closer to the music and who are involved in marketing decisions can't seem to realize the treasures that they are passing up. I've seen this with several Radiohead songs, reminding me of the numerous sensational R.E.M. songs that have remained buried deep within their albums, never seeing the light of day on broadcast radio (to use a rather inappropriate metaphor).

Although Thom Yorke charms us throughout I Might be Wrong with his beautiful high-pitched singing voice, here he takes a back seat to the instruments, in particular the drums as they interplay with the guitars. This may well be one of the best percussion pieces I've ever heard. The closing section of the song, following a brief pause, is quite impressive.

Amnesiac is often thought of as being the album full of songs not quite "good" enough to be on Kid A, which was recorded at the same time and released a year earlier. To me, the quality on both is uniformly phenomenal.

NFL Conference Championship Games This Sunday

Well, time for another of my vicarious sports ramblings...

It is once again the weekend for the National Football League conference championship games. The surprises are that teams like New England, Indianapolis, and last year's Super Bowl champion New Orleans are absent this year. Instead, we see the New York Jets on the road, "pitted" against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the American Conference final, while in the National Conference the Green Bay Packers will play in Chicago against the Bears. These will be cold, northern winter games played out in the open in domeless stadiums. Just thinking of that game in Chicago makes me want to shiver!

I like the swagger and showmanship of the Jets, even though they are bitter divisional rivals of "my" team, the eternally-disappointing Miami Dolphins. Couple this with the fact that they are playing the Steelers, a franchise that I have generally loathed since the mid-1970's, and you have in me an ardent New York supporter, at least for this game.

As for Green Bay vs. Chicago, I happen to like both teams. But I REALLY like the Packers with their premium quarterback Aaron Rodgers. It's fun to root for a team every now and then that doesn't act as if it is hellbent on self-destruction every time its offense is out on the field (a dig at the Dolphins' play for the last few years, except for 2008). I also like Jay Cutler, the Bears' quarterback, although he sometimes seems to forget which team he is supposed to throw the ball to!

The sports media pundits are split on who will win the Steelers/Jets game, but they generally agree that the Packers will beat the Bears. Which probably means that the former game, predicted to be close, will be a blowout and that the latter will be won by Chicago!

My Head in the Clouds

It seems as if lately there have been a multitude of problems besieging my little family. The flooring in our house had to be partially redone, our thirteen-year-old dog was suddenly sick and needed to be seen by the veterinarian, assorted health, work, school, and social issues have confronted us to varying degrees, and the weather...yes, that pretty much sucked, too, with it either being too hot, too cold, too humid, too foggy, too windy,...you get the picture.

As a matter of fact, regarding the weather, I tend to sometimes have my "head in the clouds". For example, my wife earlier today told me "When it rains, it pours", in obvious reference to our little pile of problems. To which I gave an answer that Mr. Spock might have said: "Yes, I agree! It seems I'm always waiting for the rain to stop, but it keeps going on in spite of what the forecast says." And to which the family members present (wife and daughter) erupted into howls of laughter.

I suppose I could have later claimed to have made my ridiculous remark with the deliberate aim of lifting everyone's spirits. Well, no, not really, but it worked out that way anyway...my family knows perfectly well what a nut I am about the weather!

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #8

#8: In Limbo by Radiohead

In Limbo is an example, in my opinion, of a song that continually breaks down and then reorganizes itself. The resulting alternating order and chaos is pretty fascinating to me, and the lyrics conveyed by Thom Yorke's trademark doleful singing caps it. It also has a very cool jazzy sound to it as well, quite a different type of Radiohead song.

And why not? In Limbo is from Radiohead's fourth studio album Kid A (2000), an admittedly experimental work in which the band tried out anything and everything that might create a special sound. Kid A is my favorite Radiohead album, followed closely by 2001's Amnesiac. Both works were recorded at the same time and could have been released as a double album. Instead, they came out as two distinct releases. If you want the best from this band, these are the two albums you want to obtain!

And once again, of course, as was the case with Go to Sleep, I came to love In Limbo while on my long training runs, listening to them on my MP3. It has the effect of performing a "reset" in my mind, completely distracting me from anything else that has been going on and allowing me to refocus my thoughts in a more positive, constructive direction. That is ironic since the song's lyrics aren't really all that positive (Thom has "lost his way" in it)!

More on Tucson and Using Guns in Debate

After reading some of the editorial letters and articles recently about the tenor of political debate leading up to and following the Tucson shootings, it may be necessary for me to reiterate my position. Some of the letters I read pick on President Obama, trying to make it sound as if he, of all people, were promoting a climate of political violence. I consider these opinions to be sheer nonsense and dismiss them out of hand. Others emphasize that the perpetrator of the shootings in Tucson was mentally disturbed, not acting with a deliberate, thought-out political agenda against anyone. These people tend to put all of the recent gun-toting and gun-shooting in political rallies and ads into the context of "open and rigorous debate", appealing to their readers' innate sense of freedom of expression. I don't automatically dismiss this argument, because it contains elements worth considering.

I'm all for open and rigorous debate, and it's true that the alleged shooter in Arizona seemed to be mentally unhinged, to put it very mildly. But you can debate people, even getting personally insulting about it, without bringing the implied threat of using guns and violence into the dialogue. As a matter of fact, those who bring firearms into any political discussion, be it symbolically in an advertisement or literally at a rally, have emphatically ENDED the debate, as far as THEY are concerned. They are saying that this is the way they feel, they are not changing their view, and they will back up their position with a gun. Period.

As for the idea that those who have used guns and cross-hairs in their political messages haven't contributed to the problem because it was a mentally ill person who seems to be responsible for the massacre, this doesn't stand up to scrutiny either. For the whole point of the recent criticisms directed against using implied violence in ads or on websites against political opponents is based on the assumption that, while rational people may only just be swayed or offended at viewing them, someone with mental or emotional issues may go over the edge, consequently feeling a sense of justification and legitimacy for violently dealing with their paranoid delusions against the "enemy".

Ever since Obama has been president (and even before), paranoia has abounded in the media regarding his beliefs and intentions. The idea has apparently been to whip up as much irrational fear and hatred against this gentle, decent man who, although possibly carrying a more liberal agenda than many would like to see, is simply trying to do his best to help serve his country.

I would like to see political debate rise to the level where issues and philosophies can be debated rationally and respectfully. There ARE people from both the political left and right, both in the media and public office, who could raise the standards of political debate while maintaining their principles. They need to stand up more forcefully and be heard as clear alternatives to the hatemongers and demagogues who are so active and popular today.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #9

#9: 20 Years of Snow by Regina Spektor

20 Years of Snow, from Regina Spektor's 2006 Begin to Hope album, highlights her virtuosity with the piano. It is an exercise in musical turbulence, quite a trip to listen to. The song's narrative centers around the first twenty years of a woman's life, her father, and her present attitudes (or at least that's how I read it). Like Radiohead's Go to Sleep, it is a very exciting, stirring song, certain to increase the listener's pulse.

As with many songs I like, I imagine my own videos of it. One version has a young woman sweating in the hot Florida summertime while jogging. The scene transforms itself into a winter snowstorm, and she is bundled up struggling against the snow. Flashbacks from her childhood ensue, featuring her relationship with her father. Toward the song's end, its atonal nature and the cynical lyrics about strangers create a dank, dark scene of her moving around among sinister-looking men. And then she is back on the sweltering jogging trail, her outer appearance hiding the "20 years of snow" buried deep within her.

This is the sort of thing that comes from me listening to the same great songs repeatedly while piling up the miles running down roads in the hot, Florida summer: I tend to go off into flights of fantasy. But even if you just listen to the music of 20 Years of Snow for its own sake, this song kicks ass!

Damned Fool Achieves Marathon Milestone

The great comedic actor W.C Fields reportedly once said, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use in being a damned fool about it." I must be a damned fool because today I finally completed a marathon during my training. Unlike with the previous two long 20-mile runs, I encountered no "wall" beyond which I had no energy to continue. Instead, the night before I ate an entire large pizza and then continued eating at home after work. In running jargon, this is called "carb-loading". Often, before different marathon races, the organizers will offer a spaghetti or pancake dinner for the entrants. This carbohydrate loading makes a huge difference, something that I will never again forget to do.

My actual run today was 26.6 miles, well beyond the marathon length (26.2 miles). My finishing time was 4:23:01. At the beginning of my workout, the temperature was 62 with a 35% humidity. At its close, the numbers were 61 degrees and 42%. There was no precipitation and the sky gradually became overcast as the run progressed. An occasionally strong wind blew from the NNE.

My recovery from my training marathon couldn't be better. I feel energetic, my pulse is slowing, and I am only having to deal with some expected soreness in my legs.

Now I just need to sign up for the Ocala Marathon. The upcoming runs I do this week will be around 7-13 miles.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #10

#10: Go to Sleep by Radiohead

Go to Sleep, also from Radiohead's 2003 release Hail to the Thief, is a much more up-tempo piece than Sail to the Moon. From the start, it also conveys a darker, more sinister tone, its almost incomprehensible lyrics notwithstanding.

Go to Sleep is a hard rocker that would have fit in quite well with Gainesville radio's Rock-104 (before it turned country last year, that is). That it never received the airplay it merited is another example, I'm afraid, of a general lack of vision within broadcast radio.

When I had originally compiled my Radiohead collection and transferred it over to my MP3 player, Go to Sleep was just another track. But as I listened to my MP3 while running, this song would come up. I noticed that it had the effect of energizing me and making me more determined. It screams defiance, and that resonates deeply with me!

Go to Sleep is a really short song, but it packs a big punch. If you hear it, I can pretty much guarantee that going to sleep will be just about the last thing you think of! Especially with that intense, off-key repeated guitar riff at the end!

Hail to the Thief has other tracks I like besides There There, Sail to the Moon, and Go to Sleep. Most notable are Scatterbrain, 2 + 2 = 5, and A Punchup at a Wedding (don't you love these titles).

More on My Running

As January 23, the date of the Ocala Marathon, draws nearer and nearer, I find myself still unregistered for it. The reason is simple: I don't want to spend a lot of money registering for a race that I end up not running in. I decided to see how I do on my long run Saturday. Then, in all likelihood I'll sign up and show up for the race, ready or not to complete a grueling 26.2 mile run.

I feel better this week after my runs of Tuesday and earlier today. Unlike with Sunday's run, the day before which I hardly ate anything and miraculously still managed to run 20.75 miles, I had eaten quite well the nights before these two runs (of 8.1 and 13.77 miles). I had enormous energy reserves and cruised through each workout. Tomorrow night I have my plan in place: during my lunch break at work, I am going to eat an entire Little Caesar's large pizza. After work, I'll shovel in some more food. Then we'll see what happens the next day. I predict a new personal distance record.

If it turns out on January 23 that I am not up to a 26.2 mile run, then I'll just walk as much as I have to in order to complete the distance. I just hope it doesn't rain. But then again, I suppose the unpredictable weather is an integral part of the suspense leading up to the race. I wonder whether the Ocala newspaper (whatever it's called) will print the race results the following day.

The Ocala Marathon has its own website showing a map of the race course as well as giving instructions to pick up the necessary racing packet at a local hotel on Saturday, January 22. After I pick up my racing packet, I plan to trace out the course in my car so that it won't be a complete mystery come race day.

Climate of Violence Fomented by Political Gun Nuts

Regarding the recent shooting deaths in Arizona, I partially blame the political and media idiots who have fomented a climate of acceptable violence by using symbolism promoting it in their messages. Sarah Palin's example is the most glaring: cross-hairs over the Democrats whose stances she politically opposes, on a map on her website. Shooting victim Representative Gabrielle Giffords was one whom she targeted. But Palin isn't the only one. West Virginia's Joe Manchin, a Democrat, put out ads during last year's senatorial campaign in which he was shooting at targets that represented liberal values he opposes (to show what a gun toting, good ol' boy he was), just to be elected West Virginia senator over a Tea Party wingnut. Closer to home, Debbie Boyd (another Democrat), apparently having seen Manchin's commercials, decided to copy him to show the local yokels how gun-crazy (and therefore electable) she was (she lost her Florida house race anyway). Then there were those gun nuts carrying their arms openly into political rallies, one even showing up at an Obama event in New Hampshire (and the dude even looked like Lee Harvey Oswald).

I would like to believe that these widespread attempts by some to intimidate their political opponents through the not-so-subtle threat of using armed violence has finally peaked out and will subside.

I sadly don't think these people have learned anything, though, and more tragedies like the Arizona shootings will continue to occur. They are very heavily into self-justification and have convenient media stars (like Beck, Hannity, Coulter, Savage, Levin, and Limbaugh) to prop them up by insisting that the "other side" is just as bad. But I see nothing of the sort happening from the political left that is going on with the paranoid, conspiracy-obsessed extreme right, abetted by the likes of Palin and Beck.

Training Wall Hit Again, Marathon Looms

Sunday I set out on a long run, intending to go as far as I could go, possibly even up to marathon distance (26.2 miles). The weather was conducive (in the low 50's throughout), I had no externally-imposed time limits to my run, and I had just broken in a pair of new, well-cushioned running shoes on Friday. I was determined to break through the 20-mile barrier from my Christmas run, beyond which I was then unable to continue.

Everything went quite well until I reached the same damned point in my run, and WHAM!...I ran smack into the "wall" again. I said to myself, "Self, this isn't going to work, you're just not cut out to run a marathon, just stick with the half-marathons". I changed my course to go directly home, but as I entered the final full block, a loose, ferocious pit bull began to bark at me from down the street and chase me. Before I got any closer, I turned around and ran the other way, marveling at how inconsiderate some neighbors can be and how little they must care about their dogs' welfare to allow them to run loose like that. I managed to detour around the next block and reach home. Although the dog incident at the run's end angered me, the result of it all was that I ended up marginally running my longest distance ever: 20.75 miles, with a time of 3:23:47.

I hadn't registered yet for January 23's Ocala Marathon, so I thought I might just run in the half-marathon event there instead. But Melissa convinced me to hang in there and give it one more try next weekend. I then remembered that I had hardly eaten anything the day before my run and my body's energy reserves were probably very low. Maybe I actually did quite well considering that fact alone. Also, so what if I enter the Ocala Marathon and can't finish it, or maybe have to walk the last few miles back at the end? I'm still gaining the valuable experience of participating in such an event, and the Gainesville Five Points Marathon is still out there to run in on February 20 if I want.

So after giving it some more thought (and realizing that my recovery from Sunday's run was much better than the one I did on Christmas day), I'm sticking with the intention of entering the Ocala Marathon. Even though there's no guarantee that I'll be able to finish it.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #11

#11: Sail to the Moon by Radiohead

Off Radiohead's 2003 Hail to the Thief album, Sail to the Moon is a slow-moving, elegantly mysterious piece that evokes a lot of imagery. I picture myself in a boat out in the ocean, with the rising moon just above the horizon. The waters are relatively peaceful, and it seems that I am indeed "sailing to the moon". The song's actual lyrics are cryptic, although if I wanted I'm sure I could analyze and decipher them. But for me it's the music, featuring Thom Yorke's brilliant high-pitched singing, that makes this song so great.

Ever since Hail to the Thief came out, many have thought (myself included) that it was a political album taking swipes at the Bush administration for "stealing" the 2000 election and invading Iraq in early 2003. But although there seem to be oblique references to politics throughout (Sail to the Moon even contains a reference to "the President"), Radiohead itself has repeatedly denied that this album has a political message to convey. Be that what it may, it is a beautiful work. For years, the only song I heard from it was the single release There There, which I made my favorite song of 2003. But Hail to the Thief, as good as it is, isn't my favorite Radiohead album (by far). That's how good I think they are.

Vicarious Sports Nonsense...and Me

I'm not too happy with the fact that my semi-prediction that none of the NFL Florida teams might make the playoffs was borne out. On the other hand, suppose they had? And suppose one of them made it all the way to the Super Bowl and won it? How would that have made any difference in my life?

I have been vicariously following sports since childhood. I had the experience during my teens of my favorite team, the Miami Dolphins, winning the Super Bowl twice and even going completely undefeated one year. I also have seen three Florida Gators national championships in football and two in basketball. But truth be told, although it was fun to root for them and eventually witness them winning those titles, the experiences had a very minuscule effect on my overall happiness.

One year, when I was thirteen, I sensed this disconnect early on and tried an experiment on myself. I concocted an imaginary league in an imaginary sport. I created eight teams: Columbus, Houston, Memphis, Newark, Rochester, St. Louis, San Antonio, and Washington. I set up a season that comprised 154 games (like the old pre-sixties major league baseball seasons) and had the teams play each other in round-robin fashion (remember, without even specifying the sport). Then, I would shuffle a deck of cards and draw a pair at a time. The higher number would give a victory to the designated team, and I went through an entire season this way, writing down the "standings" as I went along. This game only went on for a few hours sometime during August 1970, but I still remember that completely unreal season to this date!

Washington started out strong and took an early lead over the others. Then Columbus surged and led for most of the middle of the season. About two thirds of the way through, there was a mad scramble for many "weeks" as the teams would jockey for position and the lead. Only Memphis seemed to be having a "bad" season, being in last most of the time. Toward the end, Newark (which I had for some reason decided to root for) surged way ahead in the standings over the rest. But then, unexpectedly, toward the end they went into a slump and Columbus squeaked out ahead and won a very tight finish over Newark and Memphis (who surged at the end). Early leader Washington ended up in last place, but all eight teams finished within six games of each other. The final standings:

1-Columbus (80-74)
2t-Memphis (79-75)
2t-Newark (79-75)
4t-Houston (77-77)
4t-St.Louis (77-77)
7t-Rochester (75-79)
7t-San Antonio (75-79)
8-Washington (74-80)

Remember, none of this really happened, the teams represented no particular sport, and I played this game more than thirty years ago. Yet the season and its outcome means as much to me as do any of the teams and seasons I've followed over the years!

The point to all this is that I think there are two ways one can follow a sport. Either you can enjoy the sport for its own sake, becoming a connoisseur of sorts, or you can become engrossed in the winning/losing/standings part. I noticed that I tend to be in the latter category. For example, sometimes when my favorite NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, is playing and the game is being covered on TV or radio, I will deliberately avoid watching or listening to it because I get too anxious as to how they're doing. I remember their win/loss records over the years, although it ultimately matters little to me whether they do well or not.

Isn't that silly??!!

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #12

#12: Better by Regina Spektor

This song has a most spectacular beginning, building up to a piano,/electric guitar/drum crescendo before Regina cuts in with her sweet voice. Better is a song of assurance and compassion, with Regina asking, "If I kiss you where it hurts, will you feel better?". Don't we all need some help from other now and then in lifting up our spirits? Life can get to be such a grind sometimes. When I hear Better, not only do I feel comforted, but I also feel more conducive toward comforting others with problems...although I may not exactly go down Regina's proposed pathway toward accomplishing that.

Better is one of those songs that has the perfect feel of a Top Ten mainstream hit, but as usual broadcast radio has virtually ignored it. For me the main thing is that I have it on my MP3, which I listen to while running and at work. It helped me get through some grueling, hot summer runs, adding a little "pep in my step" (as my wife Melissa would say). So who needs 5-Hour Energy? I have something Better!

Speaking of radio, I have heard Regina Spektor from time to time on "Starbucks Radio" and at Publix grocery. So the rest of the world isn't entirely devoid of musical taste!

Better is from Regina Spektor's 2006 album Begin to Hope. As I had stated a few days ago, this personal countdown of my favorites of 2010 is based on songs I liked in 2010, regardless when they were released.

House's Constitution Reading

Yesterday I was watching the newly-convened US House of Representatives, now under a Republican majority, on C-Span. Featured was a reading of the United States Constitution, to be split up in a bipartisan fashion among high-ranking members. But before the reading could commence, a few inquiries were raised on the Democratic side regarding which version of the Constitution was to be read.

I didn't know there were different versions of the Constitution, did you? Apparently, there are some parts of the original document that have in subsequent years been rendered "null and void" by amendments. The most notable are the stipulations as to how slave-holding states were to be allotted representatives, with the infamous "three fifths of a man" as the stated standard for counting slaves. Obviously, those who practically worship the Constitution as almost a religious document and plan to use it in the upcoming session to further their own political agenda did not want those embarrassing sections read, so they had it "white"-washed, so to speak. Only one problem with that, as I see it.

The body of the Constitution is still there, with nothing deleted (not even those sections sanctioning slavery). The sections superseded by amendments (most notably the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th) are still there and would be restored should those amendments ever be repealed. You can't erase the core body of the Constitution, but you can repeal amendments. I say this because there is a move afoot to change the 14th Amendment, which was originally intended to give black former slaves citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law. One of this amendment's clauses bestows American citizenship on anyone born on US soil, and many undocumented immigrants in recent years have gained such citizenship for their children as they were born in this country. Legislators with a hard-line approach to the immigration issue, like South Carolina's Lindsey Graham (who has regrettably backtracked on his previous commitment to a more reasonable and comprehensive immigration reform policy), want the 14th Amendment modified or least reinterpreted to exclude these children from citizenship.

So the amendments don't automatically supersede the main body of the Constitution. Instead, it is how the courts (and the legislators and presidents who place them in their positions) who determine how the amendments are interpreted. It is ironic that the 14th Amendment seems to currently be up for attack since beginning soon after its enactment in 1868, a very anti-civil-rights and pro-corporate Supreme Court for decades refused to apply it to protect blacks from discrimination and instead abused it to give corporations special legal status as "persons".

It was legitimate for lawmakers to raise an issue over the Constitution's reading yesterday. They weren't trying to stop the document from being read, but rather were trying to educate the public about its true nature and how subject it is to different interpretations, and even at times abuse.

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #13

#13: Arnika by Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens, whose existence I was completely unaware of before February 2009, has released a flurry of material over the past year after a hiatus of three years between releases. For some artists this type of gap isn't that big of a deal; for Stevens, who gained a reputation as a prolific, creative musician, it was causing a bit of concern among his fans.

Late 2009 saw the release of a CD/DVD package of his completely instrumental The BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), a venture into a more classical genre. Then this past fall, within a span of a few weeks, he suddenly announced the release of first an EP, All Delighted People, and then a full LP, The Age of Adz.

I procured all three releases and feel pretty good about them. With The BQE I saw the difficulty about trying to relate a symphonic work to an old, dirty, and overcongested highway, so I instead just decided to appreciate the music for its own value. It fits along with other similar works from other artists over the ages. All Delighted People and The Age of Adz, though, represent a substantive change with Stevens from his previous three vocal albums, which dealt with states (namely Michigan and Illinois) as themes and as points of departure for folk, autobiographical and disguised spiritual songs. Stevens is no longer "doing the states". These two most recent releases are, in my opinion, quite emotionally unbalanced, seeming to reflect the efforts of an artist who has undergone a good amount of pain in his life over the last couple of years.

It's tough to have a neurological condition that can't seem to be specifically diagnosed; about fourteen years ago I suddenly developed numbness over various parts of my body without a definitive diagnosis, and it was troublesome to me. Stevens apparently came down with something more debilitating but still equally unidentifiable. Add to that other personal issues and you have someone with a lot of grief to pour out. And that seems to be what he did on All Delighted People and The Age of Adz.

I generally don't like the songs of Sufjan Stevens' latest releases as much as the ones he put out earlier. He sounds over-the-edge with his emotions, and I'm not too keen on repeatedly hearing his voice breaking as if he is about to haul off and have a major crying fit. But in the middle of this, on his less-publicized EP All Delighted People, is a beautiful song: Arnika.

Arnika epitomizes anguish and expresses the sentiments of someone who feels that, although chronologically still young, he is already "tired of life". The music hearkens back to songs like Pittsfield (from The Avalanche) and Romanus (from Greetings from Michigan). Personally, I think Stevens would have been better off just expressing his problems through this song and then trying to pick things up a bit with the others. Instead, personal grief pervades both albums (with occasional disguised Christian-themed tracks such as Vesuvius and Djohariah).

Arnika, although sad, has stuck with me as being one of the classic (albeit almost completely unknown) Sufjan Stevens songs. I like this artist and appreciate his efforts. I'm looking forward to his future works with interest and anticipation.

Oh, and I hope he's feeling better now!

My Running Lately

My running has picked up since the start of the new year. On Sunday I ran 13.77 miles and yesterday I covered 16.12 miles. Yesterday's run was encouraging in that I did well despite the humidity and had plenty of energy still left at the end. It was time constraints that kept me from seeing how far I could go.

The last two "long" runs I've done (Christmas' 20.68 and yesterday's 16.12) were originally planned to be around 10-13 miles each. But I allowed myself at various points of each run to extend the course here and there according to how I felt at the time. I feel that this is good mental training for the upcoming marathon I plan to enter. My body is probably already as prepared as it will be to run the marathon. Now it's up to me to train my mind to withstand the fatigue, aches, and "wall" that hits during those long runs when 20 miles is passed.

I've also extended my course to go far west of where I live. By doing so, I am committing myself to a long run, placing pressure on my mind to help get me through on often a tough day.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Today's editorial in the Gainesville Sun discusses Florida's new Tea Party Republican governor, Rick Scott. Having opposed him in the campaign (as I also did), the article's writer naturally points out a number of questionable items on the Governor-Elect's agenda.

For example, it is noted that Scott wants to shrink government. But the editorial writer counters that "Florida already has the leanest state workforce in America." The incoming governor wants to cut taxes in the face of unprecedented impending shortfalls in revenue. And his pro-school voucher stance may violate the state's constitution in two areas.

After bringing forth all of the preceding valid points (among others), the editorial then questions whether Scott's business-model approach to state government will help or hurt Florida in the years to come.

All fine for an editorial, right? But then the writer incredibly states, "In any case, today is not a day to second-guess our new governor but to wish him well at the beginning of a new term that is sure to bring with it a steep learning curve."

What? WHAT?? If today isn't the day for second-guessing, then what do you call what you're doing for most of the editorial? To top off the hypocrisy, the writer closes the editorial with the statement, "Campaign promises are a dime a dozen, but the damages done by decisions based soled on the immediate fiscal and political bottom-line can be incalculable."

I actually tend to agree with all of the criticisms that the editorial makes of Rick Scott and his agenda. But it is disingenuous to me, in the midst of this criticism, to insert a high-and-holy pronouncement (apparently directed for the reader to follow) against "second-guessing".

My Favorite Songs of 2010: #14

#14: I'm a Pilot by Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo is a Swedish/British indie band founded, according to Wikipedia, in 2006. They have had only one album, Reservoir, which came out in 2009. The first track, I'm a Pilot, turns out to be the best on it, as far as I'm concerned. The entire album is quite listenable and I am looking forward to more music from them.

I'm not quite sure what the composer of I'm a Pilot meant with the "pilot" theme, but as I listen to this song I get the message, intended or not, that being a pilot means being in charge of one's own destiny and responsible for one's own life and decisions. It's important for me to feel that way about my life; the temptation is to avoid personal responsibility and treat myself as the product of others' actions. And why not? Many of the people I run across continually spin this type of passive personal narrative. For me, I opt for a proactive view of life, where I can steer my destiny like a pilot steers a plane or boat.

I never heard anything by Fanfarlo on broadcast radio; it was AOL Radio's indie channel that introduced me to them. I remember the eclectic nature of radio music in my youth (Dean Martin and Ray Charles played alongside the Beatles) and think that I'm a Pilot would have mixed in quite well with the playlist back then. How ironic that I can now only get access to it via a highly-specialized web-radio channel!

Personal Top 15 Songs of 2010: #15

I thought I would try something different this year and go through my top fifteen favorite songs of the past year, one at a time, from #15 to #1.

A few of words of "warning" here: if you're not into Regina Specktor or Radiohead, this list probably won't carry much meaning for you as they are responsible for the overwhelming number of songs on it. Also, these are MY top favorite songs of 2010: almost all of them actually came out in previous years (although I at least managed to keep them within this century). Finally, the "countdown" may be spread out on this blog with other articles interspersed. Eventually, I'll get to Number One, though (hopefully before 2011 is over).

So here goes...

#15: Folding Chair by Regina Spektor

This is such a positive, sweet little song that listening to it forces me to smile regardless how I happen to be feeling at the time. Regina is sitting on the beach and invites you, the listener, to open up your folding chair next to her. Having spent much of my leisure time on the beach over the years, this resonates with me considerably. There's something distinctively peaceful about sitting (or standing) facing the ocean as the waves repeatedly crash down and the water ebbs and flows from the sand on the shore. Intellectually, I don't know why this is so: for me, a land-dweller, the sea is really a vast impassable desert boundary and by all stretches of the imagination should be seen a stark barrier. Instead, though, it seems like "freedom" somehow. Is there some deeply hidden "fish" encoding within my genes evoking this irrational response? Who knows, but Folding Chair totally captures the essence of just unwinding on the beach, and in the company of a sweet, compelling personality (with a terrific voice).

Folding Chair is from Regina Spektor's 2009 album Far.

Happy New Year

I am entering the new year with a lot of optimism about my life and those close to me. I wouldn't exactly say that I have made up New Year's resolutions for myself; they are more like long-term goals for self-improvement, as well as for attaining certain milestones over the course of the year. So the concept of "breaking resolutions" early in January doesn't apply to me.

"A man's got to know his own limitations" was the mantra of Clint Eastwood's tough-cop character Harry Callahan in the movie Magnum Force. And when setting goals for myself, I need to be realistic regarding my own limitations. After all, I wasn't born yesterday and am passing through my mid-fifties. I have all kinds of constraints on my life, and many of them deal with my valuable role in society and family as a responsible, mature, and caring adult. It is within these recognized boundaries that I want to make improvements.

I also see good things happening around me in the world. The economy seems to be picking up and there is a hope (albeit slight) that the government will resume functioning as a collaborative effort among its members for the public good. But maybe I'm just fantasizing here. I am one of those poor fools who actually believes that politicians should compromise and be pragmatic. Oh well, maybe on SOME issues that will happen. After all, a man's got to know his [politicians'] limitations!

One Full Day Left for Jupiter to Explode

.......according to the late Sir A.C.C.

Every Seat Taken

This morning I slept in, instead of running as I had planned. Er... actually, I had planned to run yesterday, but well, I just didn't feel like it. But you know, I probably needed the sleep anyway. But having slept and eventually woken up late in the morning on a work day (reporting time 2:30 pm), I also missed out on my early morning Starbucks session, where I tend to focus my brain on what I want to do during the day (and even occasionally compose a blog article). That opportunity having been shot to hell along with another missed running day, I decided to try to salvage something out of my dwindling pre-work freedom. I dragged myself around the house in a half-stupor eventually cleaning, dressing, and finally getting the hell out of the house. My goal: sit in a Starbucks and concentrate my thoughts on my day and what I had left to salvage out of it. I went to the closest Starbucks, at the Hunters Crossing shopping center: every seat was taken, and I quickly walked back out. Then to my old dependable Magnolia Parke Starbucks, where, ditto. Then I drove past the 441/16th Avenue Starbucks: "drove past" since every parking slot was taken. Down to the Archer Road Starbucks and the neighboring Panera's (both packed to the hilt). Then it dawned on me: just go to McDonald's! The seats were plentiful and the coffee was cheaper and better tasting!

Ran On Christmas Anyway, Covered 20.68 Miles

You could probably tell by the tone of yesterday's article that I had wanted to go running and was disappointed at the outside haze. But by early afternoon, it turned out that the haze had dissipated and, although the temperature had risen to 70, I decided to go out on a run. I initially decided to run just for continuity's sake, not trying to cover any appreciable distance. But as I ran, I decided at each step to cover each section of my personally-designed marathon course. I was feeling pretty good for most of the run, and after 13 miles was sore but still had plenty of energy and muscle coordination. The sky was overcast for almost the entire run, and this contributed to a premature nightfall as I found my way back into my home subdivision. I was pretty tired by then, but already had the repeated experience of "gutting it out" during previous runs and thought that I had a chance to complete a full-length marathon (26.2 miles) on this run. I also realized that, to do this, I would be finishing under very dark, night conditions. I was still on target with this goal until around the 19-mile mark, when I "ran" into a figurative wall: my energy level plummeted and I suddenly felt like a feeble old man, with my feet hitting the pavement hard instead of springing with elasticity and balance. At that point I realized that going another 7 miles just wouldn't happen today, and I valiantly struggled to finish my course, albeit curtailed a bit at the end. My final distance was 20.68 miles, a personal record length, with a time of 3:23:56.

Ten minutes after I hobbled back into my house around 5:40, the rain began to fall and didn't let up until late at night. So I was spared a thorough soaking, which would have happened had I run any further. Still, my recovery from this run was pretty rough. I had made the mistake of quickly downing a couple of 20-oz. bottles of G2 (Gatorade "lite") after the run, consequently inducing severe abdominal cramping and pain for about a half-hour. My legs were also very sore and ached badly for a while. It wasn't until after midnight when I finally began to feel a sense of relaxation. Yes, the recovery was rather brutal; the run itself was a piece of cake in comparison. But here I am the next morning, sitting here and feeling good in my good old dependable Magnolia Parke Starbucks, thinking about when I'll once again set out to conquer a personal distance record!

I look back on yesterday's run and feel that I had made some substantial progress with my endurance training. It is within that painful struggle at the end, which is actually more mental than physical, that I grow and approach eventual marathon-level capability. It had been a while since I had pushed myself this far, but it was how I had successfully prepared myself to run the half-marathon at the beginning of this year. I'm taking today off from running, for recovery's sake. I wonder how I will run on Monday!

Christmas Haze Fits the Occasion For Me

Today I stepped out of my front door, to go out on another long run as planned, when I took a whiff of the air: smoky haze. Apparently, the winds shifted and were blowing this stinking haze through Gainesville from a woods fire somewhere in the vicinity. No, I wouldn't run outside in these conditions (although I saw others running). Instead, I'll wait until tomorrow and see what the weather brings. I'd rather run under just about any conditions other than smoke. I mean, if I wanted to poison myself this way, I could just go down to the store, buy a carton of cigarettes, and chain smoke for a couple of hours!

Yes, by the way, it's Christmas today. I am frankly not a fan of Christmas; in fact, I actually may detest it to an extent. For someone like myself, who tries to live an ordered life, this holiday "season" throws everything around me in turmoil, not the least of which is the whipping up of unbridled greed among the population, along with the stress of an imposed deadline on supplying the "goods" for the "greedies". Yuck. Thankfully, I have some gracious, mature intimates in my life who have helped to shield me from this crap. But there is no completely avoiding it.

And then there is this pretense of "respecting" the holiday by closing practically every business in town, starting in the evening on Christmas Eve and going through the following day. But wait, come Christmas Day + One, the greed comes blowing back with a vengeance (post-Christmas sales). Whoopee, I can hardly wait.

Still, there is still a smidgen of rationality remaining as my favorite Starbucks happens to be open this Christmas morning (where and when I am writing this instead of choking on the haze outside). Now that is at least something to help my life get back in order!

Weather Forecast Disconnect

I'm a little bit curious about the disconnect between my newspaper (Gainesville Sun) weather forecast and that on my cable TV weather station. On TV it says that tomorrow's weather will bring partly cloudy skies and just a slight possibility of rain. Then on Sunday there will be a lot of rain, with the temperatures staying in the forties all day. But according to the paper, it will rain tomorrow in the afternoon, intensifying in the evening. By Sunday, it will clear up (in this alternate universe).

So which will it be on Christmas day tomorrow? Since I'm planning on a long outdoors run, it matters to me a little more than usual. Of course, it might actually turn out better if it rained a little during my run. After all, in the marathons I plan to run during the next two months, there is no telling what the weather will be like then and it might be helpful to get in a little "rain-running" experience. I remember seeing the photos of last year's Knoxville, Tennessee Marathon with all of the rain-soaked runners, so although we are technically in the "dry" season here in northern Florida, rain still happens!

What kills me is that on some weather sites they have something called a "100 Day Outlook". And they can't even get it right within 24 hours! Shoot, why don't I just buy the Farmer's Almanac and consult it instead?!

Back to Long Runs

Earlier today I once again ran a "long" run (15 miles or longer): 16.18 miles to be exact. I had decided to skip one more day to further my recovery from my sinusitis, and then decided to see how far I could go. Alas, due to the chronic restraints of time in my life, that wasn't entirely possible, but I was able to squeeze in a good run anyway. My time was 2:26:32.

The next logical opportunity for a long run should be two days from now on Christmas (Saturday). I wouldn't have any time restraints on my run, either. But the weather station I have been watching is predicting a lot of rain and stormy weather that day. But...maybe this could be a fun adventure, running in a storm. After all, I remember that beach run earlier this year in a raging lightning storm!

Back to Running

I am looking forward in the next few weeks to my special adventure in running: training up to marathon distance (26.2 miles) and then participating in at least two races: the Ocala Marathon on January 23 and the Gainesville Five Points Marathon on February 20. Monday I ran 7.18 miles as I recovered from my sinus infection after taking a few days off from running. Tomorrow I will see if I can't get the distance back up to around 14 miles. And then, bit by bit I will try to attain the marathon distance during one of my training runs.

Busy As Usual At Work in December

December is definitely by far the busiest month of the year for me, a postal worker. And even more so, since I work in the section that processes parcels. I have been working my off days and even overtime on top of that as the volume of mail has skyrocketed. Today was possibly the peak volume day. The company man within me says, "Hurray, keep going with the USPS, we deliver, go team go!" But the rest of me emphatically says, "Bah humbug!"

Senate Repeals Don't Ask Don't Tell

One of the unexpected, albeit probably temporary, benefits of the recent bipartisan agreement between the President and the Republican side of the congressional aisle regarding tax cuts and unemployment compensation may have come with yesterday's Senate vote to repeal the onerous "don't ask don't tell" policy in the U.S. military. This policy, in effect since the Clinton administration in the '90's, has had the effect of persecuting gays by denying them their right to reveal their own sexual orientation while in service to the country. I was surprised that several Republican senators crossed over to support the repeal, especially Nevada's John Ensign, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, and North Carolina's Richard Burr. Cool. I wonder whether, after Murkowski's encounter with the reactionary Tea Party during her recent Senate reelection campaign, she won't "go rogue" on occasions against her own party. Not that the Republicans are always wrong: I am just tired of this party-line block voting and would like for our elected representatives in government to vote according to their own personal and professional convictions and not just the way their hack party leaders order them to.

On the down side, I am dismayed to observe the continuing slide into a reactionary worldview by John McCain, who led the opposition to the repeal. McCain, for whom I initially was delighted in 2008 when he won the GOP nomination for president, used to really be a maverick at times against his own party's often overly conservative stances on social issues. Now he seems like a very bitter, angry old man every time I see him get up on the Senate floor to talk.

The repeal of "don't ask don't tell" was important, but still is only one step toward gays finally being accorded the basic human rights that straights enjoy in our society. In other areas, such as gay marriage, the struggle for progress goes on. Still, this vote was something to give me some hope for the future.

Under the Weather, But Recovering

For the past three days, I have been suffering from a sinus infection. While running 14 miles on Wednesday, I noticed aches that normally didn't exist. Later that day, I could sense the process of inflammation in various parts of my body as well as headache, stuffed sinuses, and sore throat. I went to my nearest urgent care center and was able to obtain a prescription for an antibiotic, which I have been faithfully taking and am happy to report that I am recuperating (gradually).

I remember a time about thirty years ago when I suffered an infection on one of my fingers and consequently endured a flu-like malaise for a couple of weeks before I finally had the precipitating problem taken care of. It's important, at the first sign of infection, to see a doctor and get it treated before it spreads. Also, the inflammation that is caused by the body's response to the infection can present its own hazards. So I have been laying off the running or any other form of strenuous exercise until this sinus infection clears up.

I have also read that running in an arid environment, which presents itself more often here in northern Florida during the wintertime, can dry up the sinuses and make sinus infections more likely. So I'll have to keep that in mind as well, although the running continues! Maybe a nice, long, hot, steamy shower after a workout would fix that problem!

One of the problems I experienced with sinus infections has been their insidious nature. Sinusitis with me first manifests itself as something resembling a light cold, but after a few days the cold doesn't subside, a threshold is passed, and the symptoms become full-blown. I need to take greater care in the future to pay attention to the warning signs my body is giving me that a sinus infection is beginning to occur.

Muschamp Replaces Meyer As UF Coach

Will Muschamp has been hired to be the new University of Florida head football coach, replacing retiring two-time national champion coach Urban Meyer. Thirty-nine year old Muschamp, although without experience as a head coach, does have an extensive resume as an assistant coach, and with some great teams (like LSU and Texas). Hopefully, Gator fans will show some patience with him as he establishes himself in his new position and works to build a formidable, winning team.

But it is not considered to be a very wise thing to try to fill in the shoes of a legend. After Steve Spurrier left UF to coach professional football, his replacement, Ron Zook, had difficulty gaining acceptance from the Florida faithful. Muschamp may experience some similar skepticism, although the rather disappointing last season (7-5) that Meyer coached should give him a break, at least as far as expectations for next year are concerned. I just hope that he turns out to be a coach who runs a clean program and who doesn't take himself too seriously (as Meyer did).

After all, football is a game, a form of entertainment. It's good to be rooting for a winner, but having a winner to root for means more when the fan has the experience sometimes of rooting for a loser!

Marathon Race Outlook (For Me)

I am looking at my marathon calendar to see what's ahead. It appears highly unlikely that I will be participating in the Jacksonville Bank Marathon this Sunday morning unless my boss unexpectedly offers me Saturday off at the height of the heavy Christmas season where I work. Besides, the weather forecasts indicate rain for that day. The Florida Marathon in Clermont (a few miles west of Orlando), scheduled for January 1, has been canceled. I had thought about entering it as my first marathon, but decided against it because of the very hilly, challenging terrain. I need to focus first on just covering the 26.2 miles! But that decision is moot, anyway, since that race has been wiped off the slate.

The Disney World Marathon on January 9 was something I had been considering, but I read some accounts of participants in previous years and decided against it. I don't see the point in trying to run in a group of 24,000 runners, and the convoluted way in which Disney World herded the participants around in the wee hours of the morning before the race didn't seem very appealing, either. So what's left with marathons around where I live?

On January 23, the Ocala Marathon will be held, about forty miles from Gainesville. This event will be easy to travel to and from. If I am in shape, I will run in it. On February 20, LifeSouth will once again stage its Five Points of Life Marathon in Gainesville. Last year I ran the half-marathon; this year it will be the full distance.

If all works out well for me with the Ocala Marathon (meaning that (1) I complete it and (2) I make a complete recovery) I may apply for some time off in early March to compete in the Snickers Marathon in Albany, Georgia.

And then the marathon season once again goes northward. Seeing that I have a job, a budget, and other obligations, I am not in a position to go flying willy-nilly around the country running various marathon events. But it would be cool, once I have the experience of actually completing a marathon, to pick out some remote, obscure place (like in North Dakota or Wyoming) and run one more marathon there. Then I'll reevaluate where I'm going with my running: I will either continue with the marathons or taper down my distance a bit.

The Aviator at Wild Adventures

I miss the enjoyment of sitting through simple theme park rides like this one, The Aviator, at Valdosta, Georgia's Wild Adventures. This park is slightly less than a hundred-mile drive from Gainesville and is the closest theme park with roller coasters and other thrill rides. Perhaps later this month I'll see if I can't steal some time away from the elements in my life that are stealing it from me and go there for a few hours of fun.

Cold, Windy Morning in Gainesville

Once again it dipped below freezing this morning in Gainesville. But unlike up north, the air is very dry with not a hint of any kind of precipitation. But there is a very, very strong wind from the northwest at a sustained 25 mph. The question I have to pose myself is how much of a wimp am I going to be to excuse myself from running this morning because of the weather?

Later today.....I did wimp out on running in the very strong, cold wind, but I didn't cop out on my training: I went to the YMCA instead and ran ten "miles" on the treadmill there. Treadmill running isn't something I want to do regularly, but it does come in handy, like on this extreme weather day.

A Little Difficulty with China

I'm having just a little difficulty with China these days. I keep hearing how capitalistic it has become, with the free market dominating its economy. Many Chinese come to the U.S. for study and employment, and then return to their beloved homeland. I don't see here the extremism of the Cold War Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, where citizens of socialist "paradises" were shot trying to escape into supposedly evil, decadent capitalist nations across their borders. As a matter of fact, there is still one of these Cold War holdovers adjacent to China: North Korea (whose border is closed to China).

When I last went to Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, I visited the Chinese pavilion there. There was a large gift shop which contained "things Chinese". I saw a lot of traditional stuff, but strangely not a thing about socialism, communism, or the "revolution". Not a single picture of their bigshot revolutionary hero and leader Mao Zedong was to be found there. Yet, whenever the Chinese government comes out with anything, it is still clouded with all sorts of references to this clearly outmoded system that essentially collapsed on itself in the mid-1970's. So why...

Why is it a crime for a Chinese citizen like Liu Xiaobo to publicly advocate for a peaceful transition to a pluralistic, representative democracy that more appropriately reflects its newly found economic freedoms? Why is the Chinese government so uptight about Liu, who is in jail serving an eleven-year sentence, being picked for this year's Nobel Peace Prize...even to the point of pressuring other sovereign nations to boycott the ceremony?

The extent to which the Chinese authorities are going to quash any dissent or push for democratic reform tells me one thing: that like the repressive Iron Curtain regimes, their authority is built upon a "house of cards". No one believes in the Marxist-Leninist theory that the State still officially sanctions; it's just that for anyone serving within that government to condemn or even criticize it is taboo, a sure-fire formula for losing one's job or even freedom. But once the door gets jarred open a little and more and more people openly push for reform, an irreversible threshold may be passed and the ensuing torrent of freedom will be difficult for the repressive regime to withstand.

Unpleasant Friday Run

Yesterday I set out to run another 14 miles as I had previously established as a minimum training distance. I had run 14.03 miles Wednesday, or so I thought. But no, as I began running yesterday, the thought occurred to me that I had inadvertently skipped a .1 mile segment of my course, finishing instead at 13.93 miles. Dammit! Still, I did run 14 miles, for all practical purposes: especially when considering the distance accrued from the times I crossed streets back and forth for various reasons. That alone would have put me over the 14-mile mark.

I wasn't too happy seeing Friday morning's humidity at 70%. Regardless whether it is cold or hot, a high humidity usually leads to a more taxing run for me. This is one of the main reasons I have avoided night running, since the nighttime is usually marked by an upward spike in humidity. As it turned out, at the run's start it was 45 degrees. I first felt uncomfortable with a tee shirt, as opposed to some heavier clothing over my upper body, but within a mile of running I was glad of my decision.

It's funny how others seem to relish the high humidity: the roads and paths were full of joggers. Most of them were heavily clad; I wondered how they would survive the sweltering heat they were building up under their clothing. But to each his-or-her own, I suppose.

My run went pretty well, given the unwelcome moisture in the air (it actually broke out into a light misty rain a few times). But I had to curtail it at 10.48 miles because my bladder was overloaded. I suppose that, in retrospect, I could have gone back out and finished the 14 miles after relieving myself. But it simply was not an enjoyable run. And as I have stated before in another article, I seem to always have a time limit hanging over me anyway, with other areas of my life making their demands on me.

Urban Meyer Retires

After six seasons of coaching the University of Florida football team, Urban Meyer is retiring, citing his family's interests as his primary reason. Meyer, who led the Gators to national championships in 2006 and 2008, has also struggled with his health during the last year. I appreciate his efforts and contributions to giving UF not only such a successful football program in terms of winning, but also in terms of maintaining high ethical standards for the players and staff. He will be missed.

During the next few weeks, UF athletic director Jeremy Foley will face the task of finding a suitable replacement for Meyer. Several names are already floating around in the media, among them Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen (who used to be offensive coordinator at Florida under Meyer). Oklahoma's coach Bob Stoops is also on the long list of possibilities.

Regardless who gets the job, Florida's very demanding fan base needs to give him some initial latitude in setting things up the way he wants it. This almost certainly will entail a different emphasis on each aspect of the game. Florida's current players also need to work with whomever the new coach is and not automatically assume that transferring to a different school or opting out early for a professional football career is the best route (although I think that anyone who feels capable of getting one of those high-paying NFL jobs should jump at the chance whether or not Meyer had stayed on).

Let's just sit back and enjoy Florida's final game under Meyer: New Year's Day at Tampa's Outback Bowl against Penn State.

Running Upped to 14 Miles

Today I ran 14.03 miles (time span: 2:12:31), marking a change in my training pattern. For the previous eight workouts, I had run between ten and eleven miles apiece. I had established ten as the base mileage for a run. Now, as the time for running a marathon nears, I am raising the bar and establishing fourteen as my base mileage. I have a great course to run, and all I have to do is just step outside of my house...and return after 14+ miles! Today I could have run much further, with temperatures in the upper forties and the humidity dipping to 22%. But alas, I do have a life, and with that life there are time limits to what I can do. But 14 miles rocks!

I read that Mr. John Wallace, the sexagenarian marathoner with his Maddog Marathon site, recently ran the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa. I wonder what his future Florida marathon plans are. If I ever run into the dude, I'd like to shake his hand! He is an inspiration, although I think I would be wiser to listen to his advice about generating personal wealth than about running marathons! Wallace likes to refer to fellow competitors he thinks might be in his age category as "old farts". I'd be sure to let him know that, all visual evidence to the contrary, this "old fart" isn't in his age group!

Florida's NFL Teams So Far This Year

It looks as if there is a real possibility that all three Floridian National Football League franchises, the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Jacksonville Jaguars may miss the playoffs this year despite all three having pretty good teams.

The Dolphins are 6-6 but in the most competitive division: the AFC East with perennial power New England ahead at 10-2, closely followed by the much-improved New York Jets at 9-3. Miami has games against each team, but they lost both of their first contests with them earlier this year. The Dolphins don't have much of a chance to catch up with them, so these games to me just seem now like very difficult obstacles to surmount. Their only real hope of reaching the playoffs would be to win their remaining four games and hope that someone else stumbles.

Tampa Bay, likewise, is in a very competitive division, the NFC South. Atlanta and New Orleans are ahead of them in the standings. At 7-5 the Bucs are also behind in the race to make it as a wild card team. Still they are much improved from their 3-13 season last year.

Jacksonville probably has the best chance of getting into the playoffs. Picked by many to finish last in the AFC South, the Jaguars have managed to get themselves, with a 7-5 record, into a one-game lead over surprisingly disappointing Indianapolis with four games to go. The Jaguars still have a remaining game against the Peyton Manning-led Colts, whom they beat earlier this year. Should Jacksonville win again against them, they would be in a strong position to make the playoffs as division champion. If they lose, I doubt that they would make it even though they would still be in the running.

I like seeing Florida's NFL teams doing relatively well, but it has been a while since any of them has enjoyed a banner season. One or more of them, though, could well do just that next year.

Temperatures Falling in North Florida

One of the funny things about living in Florida, even the northern part as I do, is discussing the winter weather when it gets cold. The cold temperatures here have been long in coming, which you know if you've been following this blog. Now that they are finally here, I am beginning to wax nostalgic about the summer!

For the last three mornings, the temperatures plummeted below freezing, lows being around 30. But for the rest of the week, starting tomorrow morning, we are expecting record lows, dipping down into the low 20's. The highs shouldn't pierce the 60 degree mark until the end of the week.

Meanwhile, I just heard that New York City got four feet of snow. Relatives living in Kentucky are sending pictures showing snowman construction zones. And I'm harping about the weather here, which incidentally is exceedingly dry, no precipitation of any sort forecast in the foreseeable future.

This past February, I was dismayed on the morning of the LifeSouth Half Marathon when at the 7:00 start of the race it was 28 degrees. I wore a sweatshirt (the same one I'm wearing right now in Starbucks writing this) and long training pants to run the race. It heated up during the run, though, resting in the early 40's when I finished sweating like crazy under the insulation. So my current training strategy is simple: wait until temperatures climb up to the 40's and then go running in my usual tee shirt and shorts.

No, I WILL make an effort to revel in this coldness and even thrive in it! After all, down here I don't have to concern myself with snowdrifts and icy roads!

Birthday Celebration Propriety

Someone at work recently celebrated her birthday, and some of her co-workers organized a small celebration with a cake and mini-party. Then they decided to meet after work at a local late-night restaurant to continue the festivities. Everyone was invited to celebrate the fact that this individual had been born. I for one was very glad that she was born and had a birthday to celebrate. But being the obnoxious curmudgeon that I am, I have a problem with certain people being singled out in a social environment for this honor while others are virtually ignored. Does the converse hold here: if some are publicly shown appreciation for having been born, then does it follow that for those so ignored, their lives then don't add up to a hill of beans for these people? That may be the unintended message that is conveyed.

In a family, it would be catastrophic for parents to celebrate one of their children's birthdays while ignoring the other's. Within a circle of tight, close friends, whether or not someone gets the birthday "treatment" can be seen as an indication of their acceptance by the others (unless of course the circle isn't one to celebrate birthdays at all among any of its members).

Now come to place like a school classroom or the workplace. There are also tight social circles here and birthday celebrations abound in these areas. But in my opinion, they should be confined to a more private setting and not imposed on everyone. Especially on those whose own birthdays are clearly ignored by the same ones bestowing special honors on their personal buddies. I understand this and don't feel slighted about having my birthday passed over while another with whom I closely work is doted upon. I am not into the "birthday" thing anyway, at least outside my immediate family. I couldn't care less when anyone else was born. Why can't we all just get together and openly express happiness that we're ALL alive? But I have seen it happen in the past when a colleague, wanting to have her own upcoming birthday remembered after seeing others so recognized, slipped obvious hints around that her birthday should be publicly celebrated as well. She was ignored, her birthday passed by, and this obviously fostered some bad feelings that lingered long thereafter.

The Chinese had traditionally solved this birthday problem by the simple concept of having everyone's birthday offically recognized on the same day, regardless when they were actually born (a tradition probably long gone by now). But in our oh-so-narcissistic Western society, forget it! It's ME-ME-ME-ME!

My Running and Swimming Lately

For each of my past seven training runs, I have covered ten miles. This seems to be settling into a pattern, making ten miles my minimum, base distance. Considering that I intend to enter and complete at least one 26.2 mile marathon race between now and March, this is probably a pretty good strategy. I don't think that anything shorter is going to do me all that much good in trying to build up my distance.

I don't run every day, usually (but not always) leaving a day set aside for recovery. Often I take these occasions to go down to my local YMCA pool and practice my swimming. I am currently reteaching myself to swim freestyle, as well as the backstroke and the breaststroke for the first time. I am following swimming instructor Terry Laughlin's precepts on working to achieve and maintain balance in the water while swimming, a difficult but crucial step in becoming able to swim long and efficiently. I've begun to swim pool laps, which are about 25 yards in length. The first lap is usually a breeze, but by the fourth I am very tired and lose my sense of "balance", beginning to lunge and flounder about in the water more. It's funny that my running endurance doesn't seem to automatically transfer over to swimming! Still, I see swimming as a good long-term activity to carry over into old age (along with walking and bicycling).

Although I want to run long-distance for a few more years, I am also aware of the relatively high injury rate with this activity. My plan there is to accomplish my marathon(s) this year, maybe repeat for another year, and then taper down to half-marathons and 10-15K races. From then I'll see what I want to do. It is interesting, though, that with all of the support for swimming given by the medical establishment as a worthwhile athletic activity, there are no publicly-available swimming competitions (other than as a part of triathlons) as there are with running (at least in my area). Maybe this will change, hopefully. Not that I would aspire to do anything in a swimming race other than not finishing last!

Senate Standoff Over Extending Tax Cuts

It looks like a standoff in Congress during this lame duck session. The Senate Republicans, under the leadership of Mitch McConnell, have lined up all 42 of their senators behind the idea of holding up any legislation until the Bush tax cuts are extended in their entirety. These cuts, which the nation as a whole has grown accustomed to being the regular rates, are technically temporary in nature. They are due to expire on January 1 next year, creating a massive de facto tax increase. President Obama and the Democrats want to extend the cuts for the lower and (what they call) middle classes, but want them to expire for those making at least $250,000 per year. It is this arbitrary line that the Democrats have drawn that, in my opinion, is causing the division between the two parties on this issue.

I know that the wealthy can afford to pay more taxes; they won't have to make difficult and even sacrificial personal choices affecting their health care, transportation, energy, or any other areas pertaining to their standard of living. On the other hand, I think that including those making $250,000 as the "wealthy" is stretching things to the point of class warfare. Warfare against the middle class!

I'm afraid that some on the political left hold a stereotypical view of large businesses and small businesses. To them, with the big corporations they see some arrogant cigar-smoking tycoon sitting back in his ritzy penthouse office with his feet on his desk, planning how to exploit the needy for his company's aims and to fatten his own wallet. And on the other end of the spectrum, a small business is typically seen as a little family-owned shop or diner. But while many small businesses are of the mom-and-pop variety, there are others who are larger in scope and whose owners operate their businesses on margins of profit, which they plow back into them. It is with these medium-sized businesses, which employ an enormous number of people nationwide, that dramatically raising taxes will cause hardship to be passed on to "average" people by keeping those affected business owners from hiring new workers.

So I'm holding my nose on this tax dispute and for once siding with the Republicans. We are still in recovery from what the Obama administration itself calls the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and to which it responded in 2009 with a Draconian stimulus bill. This is not the time to let the Bush cuts expire, for although Democrats can talk until their faces are blue about how they aren't really raising taxes, in fact the sudden rises will be traumatic for EVERYONE. I don't like the way the GOP has conducted itself during the last two years, especially in the Senate, by adopting an obstructionist strategy. This one time, though, that strategy may actually be in the national interest. For a change.