Dubious Selections

I wasn't too impressed by Obama's choice of Joe Biden as a running mate. Of those names being bandied about as possible candidates he was the one I least liked...with the exception of Hillary. As a teacher I don't have much sympathy for repeat plagiarists. Plus, if Obama's running on a change platform, selecting a three decade senator hardly qualifies as outside the beltway thinking. I do like that Biden takes the train back home everyday like millions of us who belong to Orwell's upper-lower middle-class.

As uninspiring as Biden's selection it towers over McCain's ridiculous choice. I like the fact that Palin is pro-life and a Christian...but that's about it. She may be an admirable woman but I'm not a big fan of NRA membership and those who are pro-oil drilling in ANWR since ANWR, according the U.S. government, would only lower gas prices about 2 cents a gallon. But that's a debate for another day. Palin's biggest benefactor in Alaska is Ted Stevens...a senator recently indicted on corruption charges and notoriously in the pocket of big oil. Not good company to keep.

McCain's judgement has always been questionable. From being censured for ethical violations during the Keating Five scandal, to committing adultery, to bragging about his college drinking binges, to seeking out John Hagee's (a man as nutty as Jeramiah Wright) endorsement, to singing "bomb bomb Iran", to supporting the war in Iraq, to questionable dealings with Arizona lobbyists, to considering switching to the Democratic party...twice...McCain's judgement skills are dubious at best. And now he adds another major strike against his judgement.

McCain is 72 years old. He has had four bouts with cancer. And he picks someone who has been a governor of the least populated state in the U.S. for less than two years to be a heartbeat away from the most complex and demanding job on Earth? Two years ago Palin was the mayor of a town of 9,000 residents. And for just 23 months she has governed a state that is basically a subsidized colony of the United States. This is who McCain saw as qualified to run the United States of America in a crisis?

Palin has zero foreign policy experience. And she asked yesterday what experience does a vice-president need. Such a statement displays amazing naivete. Sure, the office of VP may not be worth a warm bucket of spit, as once eloquently stated by John Nance Garner. But when the President is 72 years old...you might want to have a VP who's qualified to step behind the big desk at a moment's notice.

I'm not a big fan of Biden...but the selection of Palin is pure idiocy on McCain's part. Maybe I'll be proven wrong in November. Maybe she'll mobilize a dis-affected conservative base...Dobson's already jumped back on the bandwagon. But I think that once the initial excitement and novelty of the choice wears off people will start to wonder about McCain's sanity.

This choice may go down as bad a Quayle and even Perot's choice of that crazy admiral Stockdale back in 1992.

Weezing

My facebook status says it all...

"David is superfreakingstoked because he just scored tix to Weezer's October Dallas visit."

Yep, Kimberly and I will be Weezing again for a second time. But this time they're playing the Nokia which is a way cooler venue than the Smirnoff where we saw them three years ago.

Booyah!

=w=

Olympic Quick Hits

Quick hits on the Olympics.

1.) The Chinese are obviously using girls under 16 on their gymnastic team. What do you expect from a totalitarian state?

2.) Phelps is Superman.

3.) Usain Bolt could have shattered the world record in the 100 m. Still broke the record despite letting up at the end to celebrate. He looked like a man among boys. It would be great to see how he ran if actually challenged by someone.

4.) Luikin got screwed by a stupid tie-breaking rule. Just another reason why I don't like events that rely on human judging and not on something truly quantifiable like a time or goal score.

5.) Sacramone also got screwed. When the Chinese girl mis-executes and then falls on the landing...and yet still passes Sacramone who didn't make a mistake...another reason to hate the gymnastic system.

6.) Shouldn't be surprised by all the world records falling in swimming. The new Speedo is cutting down resistance by 5%. The Beijing pool is the deepest in Olympic history cutting down on time slowing water turbulence. The Beijing pool has two empty lanes on both sides that also level turbulance and the lane dividers actually are designed to flush water down and not back into the lane. All these innovations were bound to help re-write the record books. Doesn't take anything away from the medalists though.

7.) Strange that the Olympic pool actually has lifeguards on duty.

8.) Would NBC show so much beach volleyball if the women wore less revealing outfits? Those outfits are worse than the average bikini and if I were a hardline feminist I'd be pissed since the guys wear knee lengh shorts and wide band tanks. Now that's exploitation. But back to the point...are there that many Americans interested in beach volleyball that you show it every night? There's dozens of Olympic sports that don't get any coverage at all...couldn't we at least get a synopsis on these other sports rather than replay beachball and water polo over and over again?

9.) Glad to see Mongolia got their first Olympic medal ever. They got it in Judo. Too bad the equesterian events aren't more geared toward the Mongolian skill with horses because they would dominate. You know...an event where you shoot an arrow at a man/target while riding backwards on a horse going 40 mph.

10.) Actually like how the Basketball team is handling itself on and off the court with class. There's no Michael Jordan missing the opening ceremonies and threatening to boycott a medal ceremony because he'd have to wear the Reebok sponsored Olympic windsuit or Charles Barkely elbowing a tiny Angolan off the court during a 40 point blowout. These guys look glad to be here are playing with dignity.

11.) Totalitarian states put on the best cooridinated opening ceremonies.

12.) That Romanian chick who won the marathon should run in the men's event. It wasn't even close. She must have run 10 additional victory laps after crossing the finish line. She could have run two marathons.

13.) U.S.A. boxing is dead.

14.) And I do feel sorry for all those other USA swimming medalists who no one pays attention to because of Phelp's amazing feat.

15.) And lastly...I find it astounding that the same gym in Frisco, Texas has produced two all-around Olympic gold medalists in women's gymnastics in a row. One nation winning two in a row is amazing enough. But two from the same gym...what kind of kool-aid are they drinking over there? My brother and sister-in-law live a few blocks away from this gym and I'd like to drive by sometime just to see a place that has produced two gold medalists in consecutive Olympiads.