I've been kind of just trudging through since returning from New Orleans. I've had a cold, although it has thankfully stayed mild and (knock wood) its duration quite short, both of which I attribute to Zicam. I'm no stranger to situational depression and am way too skilled in stress management techniques for my own good, sometimes thinking that better stress management techniques simply allow us to tolerate more stress, when we might be better off with fewer/worse stress management techniques so that we can get to the point that it all hurts so much, we change something.
Change was a big theme in ABC's Presidential Debate broadcast live last night. It was interesting to have the Republicans and the Democrats back to back on the same stage; and seeing them greet each other on stage when the Dems arrived as the Repubs left was worth the price of admission: One Saturday Night. Having gone out with friends the night before and ODed on football a while ago, I watched the whole thing and took a few notes:
- Using a convoluted formula only slightly less obtuse than the BCS selection process, they managed to exclude Dennis Kucinich but not Ron Paul, who seemed tired and repetitive. Paul suggested that there might be fewer people who wanted to wage guerrilla war against the U.S. if we didn't occupy so many countries and prop up so many totalitarian governments (I'm paraphrasing) and the other candidates laughed at him.
- Charles Gibson is the hardest working man in TV news.
- New Orleans was never mentioned.
- Huckabee misquoted the Declaration of Independence and no one called him on it. He started alright, with "We hold these truths..." but sputtered a bit before muttering without segue, "inalienable rights...life, liberty..." throwing in a quick "created equal" as an afterthought at the end. If you don't know it cold, don't try.
- Everybody ganged up on Romney and he just kept smiling.
- Gibson, not the candidates, mentioned that "We're the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn't insure all of our citizens."
- Both Edwards and Obama aimed at Clinton, asserting themselves as the candidates of change. Obama has managed to claim the mantle, but it seems to me that Edwards represents more, bolder. While all the Democratic candidates agree that our health care system needs changing, Edwards dares to suggest that this will not come easy and will require doing some battle with both the insurance and the pharmaceutical industries. I think declining lobbyist and PAC money and promising to keep all lobbyists out of his White House is brave. I can't help but agree with him that our middle class is being eroded by unabated corporate greed. If he's still around when I get my turn, he has my vote.
- I love Bill Richardson and think he'd make a really fine Vice President, but he's a train wreck, a Saturday Night Live skit waiting to happen (maybe it has?). Even skipping the hairpiece and extra pounds (like I can give somebody a hard time for a few extra pounds), he's reciting his resume every time he opens his mouth: "As Governor of New Mexico...," "When I was Secretary of Energy...," When I was going head-to-head with the North Koreans...," "During fourteen years in Congress...," "I've been in hostage negotiations more civil than this." I was just waiting for Horatio Sanz (I know he's gone, but wouldn't he be perfect?) to take it one step further with, "As I discovered the New World...," "When I found the cure for cancer...," "When I became the first bald, portly, politician to fly to the moon, unassisted...." He's right. He does have the most experience, but he also has the weakest delivery.
- They all seemed very tired, particularly the Democrats.
- I just hope that our next President doesn't have a personality disorder. That just hasn't worked.
Big in the news around here has been the sad story of the young woman who disappeared hiking in the N. GA mountains New Year's Day. I don't want to become searchable for her name out of respect for her family but the "Person of Interest " who's been arrested was hanging out in my neighborhood for the last few years. He was taken into custody where I buy my gas, trying to rid his van of evidence in the very spot where I put air in my tires last Saturday in anticipation of last Sunday's drive. Even more frightening, when Middle Son, The Youngest and their gang (if you can call wussie private school boys a "gang") would encounter him while they hung out at Murphey Candler Park after school, they called him "Dogman" and thought he was creepy strange. Such evil has been right here, moving in the same small world in which we've moved at the same time, living out of his van (for years) in this upscale suburban neighborhood, blending in, getting sicker and sicker without any notice, until this. Very sad.
So, it's a new week and I'm glad to be still standing, still employed, still insured (the mother of insured children), even if I am surrounded by extreme dysfunction with no real plan for escape. I keep telling myself that if I just keep working hard and try to do what's right, it will all turn out okay. I might be a little bummed, but I'm just going to try to sit with that, experience it, pay attention to it and see where that takes me.
Peace, out, y'all.
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