Category: Politics, Religion & Money

The Great Jun-Nov Waste

How can anybody not already be sure whether they’re voting for McCain or Obama in November? Millions of dollars will go to TV networks and stations, and I think it’s a waste of money, because everything that everybody needs to know to make a decision is already known, and from here on out all there will be are personal attacks.

I’m appalled by the Hillary supporters who are so strident in their refusal to vote for Obama. They’re negligent if they don’t vote, and those who vote for McCain are outright fools, because they’ll be voting against their own interests and further undermining the Democratic Party.

After Hillary’s divisive campaign I don’t want to see her as Obama’s running mate. If I were Obama I’d offer Secretary of State to Hillary and caution her to think before she refuses. And if she balked anyway and insisted on VP, I’d knock the offer down to Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, take it or leave it.

If Hillary does end up on the ticket, then I will think that Obama isn’t perhaps as tough and willing to play hard ball as he should be, but I certainly wouldn’t vote for McCain. I can’t understand why he’s viewed in polls as being better equipped to handle Iraq. With 80% of Americans unhappy with the direction of the country, why vote for somebody who wants to keep things the way they are?

Slippery Slope

I’m interested in hearing what conclusions come from the various panel hearings in Congress, of the effect that speculators are having on the price of oil. Oil being a worldwide commodity, combined with rising demand in China, and the weak dollar, are factors of course. But the rise being so fast and so steep has me concluding that after the Dot Com bubble burst the money went into real estate, and after that collapsed it’s now in oil.

Hajdu, Don’t Make It Bad


Peanuts, June 22, 1952

Comic books, like the movies, were under attack in the 1950’s. Movie people were accused of being communists, and comic book people were accused of causing juvenile delinquency. A book by David Hajdu, called The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, gives some serious thought to what happened and how it influenced later events beyond comic books themselves. Stephen Colbert, who’s obviously a comic book fan, interviewed Hajdu a couple of weeks ago.

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There’s irony in the “TV 14” rating that’s so prominent during Colbert’s introduction. It’s almost like the Comics Code Authority seal that appeared on comic books after the big scare. Oh no! How did that commercial get left at the end of the interview?

EC Comics publisher William Gaines did a lousy job testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1954. His entire testimony is at this link. He should have emphasized that his horror comics were inspired by radio shows such as Inner Sanctum, Lights Out, and The Whistler. But there was probably no defense against the public sentiment of the day. In a way, losing the comic book business was the best thing that could have happened to Gaines, because he was left with MAD Magazine, which was far more subversive and influential anyway, and it ended up being vastly more successful.

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Five Dead In Iowa

Tuesday afternoon I saw my eye doctor, who gave me good news and bad news. Good news is my retina is healing fine from the laser ZAP! last week. The bad news is, it’s still healing, so I can’t go running for at least another two weeks. Running on the road, that is. I can get on a treadmill, so that’s what I’ll do, at the gym at work.

Driving back to work after the appointment, I went over the Zakim Bridge and past whatever Boston Garden is being called these days where, minutes ago, the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship. The last time they did that, 22 years ago, I was living in a one bedroom apartment in Melrose, Massachusetts, and Carol was a couple of months away from moving in with me. That was a very long time ago.

But I want to at least mention Iowa, because I feel so sorry for those people. They have a lot more to worry about now than $4.15 gasoline. What a mess out there. So many lives disrupted, and an entire region’s economy devastated. The Boston Globe has an excellent set of photos of the flooding in Iowa at this link. The first one, of a tornado, is terrifying, and looks as though it could almost be a special effect in a movie.

My buddy Dennis made some noteworthy comments about what’s happening in the midwest.

When bad things happened in New Orleans, those on the religious right proclaimed that it was “God’s Wrath on Sinful New Orleans.” So, what is this? “The Heartland” is facing the same wrath now. Maybe because Iowa voted for Obama? Where is the “They had it coming” and “Well, they built the city below water level” stuff? I’m sure that 50 years ago, most of the land flooded in this disaster was farmland and absorbed the water in time. Today, houses and buildings sit there, awash in a toxic sludge. Would someone say “They had it coming”?

Good question. Why is the flooding of Cedar Rapids and Des Moines different from the punishment that Hurricane Katrina was supposed to be for the sinfulness of New Orleans? I would add the question, why are so many who claim to feel the forgiveness of Christ so full of judgment, and lacking in forgiveness themselves?

Boston’s Run to Remember

Boston\'s Race to Remember 2008

Today I got up bright and early (OK, maybe I wasn’t feeling so bright) and drove to Boston to do the Run to Remember. It’s a half-marathon, 13.1 miles, and it commemorates Massachusetts law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty. With a huge police presence, it’s the most crime-free race going!

I finished in 2:04:31, and that comes out to one minute per mile slower than I did two years ago. I couldn’t run it last year because of my ankle trouble. Between this race and the marathon last month, I’m feeling confident that I can bring myself back up to what I consider to be good shape.

Much of the Run to Remember is along Memorial Drive in Cambridge, going past MIT and down to Harvard and back, but the start and finish go through Boston, which sure looks different than the last time I ran this race. The elevated highway is completely gone now, in post-Big Dig Boston. The total cost for the massive project, known for its mismanagement and corruption, was about $14 billion over 25 years. Compare that to our occupation of Iraq, known for its mismanagement and corruption, which costs about $12 billion per month, with no end in sight, and none promised by John McCain if he becomes President.