Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Disarming

Hello again.

Suzy gave me a marvelous back rub the other day (we're married, so its okay, and not mushy). Her hands always get tired, so she started to use her feet. Unfortunately, I was still sitting looking forward on the couch when she leaned back on the other arm of the couch. Thus she was mostly just pushing me in the ribs. Then I turned my back to her feet, and it was great!

I realized that this was a solution for all the armless unemployed female massuesi (plural of masseuse).

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Sarah Palin

I think it's interesting how our perception of events is changed over time, so I wanted to record some of my impressions at the time of Sarah Palin's first introduction as John McCain's VP.

First, it was very interesting to see the media frenzy that ensued just after she was announced. She was denounced by the feminists on the left very firmly for her "Pro-Life" ways. Here's an example from " Palin: wrong woman, wrong message" By Gloria Steinemin the LA Times. "Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. (Interesting isn't it how she terms Pro-Life) She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions;"
This is just one representation of the type of attacks she faced. The media attacked her for not being a "stay at home mom" (she won't be able to take care of her kids who are still at home). They found out that her daughter was pregnant and the sharks gathered on that as well. Apparently the family is no longer off limits in these types of attacks. They also tried to accuse her of shielding her daughter by saying the down syndrome baby she had was hers instead of her daughters (it really was hers).

Second, I was very impressed with her speech. She was comfortable, charismatic and competent in speaking to a large live, and even larger televised audience.

Third, I was favorably impressed with her positions. She supports teaching both creationism and Darwinism in public schools. She supports gun rights, responsible drilling, is against abortion, says she's for smaller government.

Fourth, she seems to be pretty down to earth and realizes when some things work and when some things don't.

We'll see how it all plays out in the end, but those were my first impressions. I'm still going to probably not vote for McCain, but we'll see now.