A choice that was intended to shake up the race did so with more ferocity than McCain ever intended. The mother of five — with one pregnant teenage daughter and an infant son with Down syndrome — has joined a parade of personalities from Anita Hill to O.J. Simpson to Monica Lewinsky to become a cultural flash point.

Um….yeah. I watched the convention last night with an intensity that I’ve never felt about any campaign before. I have never joined a party, but last night, I was ready to go join the Republican party. I know it was stagecraft, but the fact that they were trying to portray themselves as a party that is for small businesspeople and for the right of individuals to make what they want of themselves is very appealing.

THAT is what I want in a government.

So back to Palin. I’ve been researching her like mad. I am delving deep into the online archives of the Anchorage Daily News and searching blog comments just to see what people are bringing up against her.

I’ve been watching TV and listening to the radio, both sides of the middle, to see what people are saying.  There are a lot of accusations and allegations.

But what also amazes me is how wrong people are getting it. I have a good memory for weird facts sometimes. When I’m paying attention (and sometimes even when I’m not) I remember exact figures. And these reporters….getting it wrong…

For example: NO ONE has reported the same number (even rounded) for the total population of the town of Wasilla in the last week. 6,000 and 9,000 and 10,000 are all numbers I’ve heard. Get it right! How hard is that?  Wikipedia  can give you a number.

And then there is all that sexism. Wow. WOW.

I’m off the media.

The current negative rumors I know about Palin:

1. She is a member of the Alaska Independence Party (video)

2. She tried to ban books from the Wasilla Library

3. She really always has been for the Bridge to Nowhere

4. Her baby Trig is really the child of her eldest daughter

5.  She demanded that her sister’s ex-husband  be fired from his State Trooper position, and when that didn’t happen she fired the official who wouldn’t fire the trooper

6. She had an affair with her husband’s business partner (real post)

 Now, that’s what I know so far. The media seems to be rabid about consuming this fresh female meat. There will probably be more things coming out.

Thing is, I’ve looked into these things and made my peace with them. Some of them seem more serious than others. But the fact is, I have come to realize that the people who volunteer to do the hard job of holding political office are people too. And they make mistakes.

I have to be okay with that. It’s juvenile to expect perfection.

I’m still totally inspired by this woman. Not just politically, but for so many things. She gets up in teh morning and lives her life like she has a purpose.

I’d like to be more like her, and when my daughter is born, I can point to Sarh Palin as a role model.

Another topic of conversation during the super-smart-and-successful employed girls of the girls night was the state of health care.

Someone was mortified that our civilized country would allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise. She contended that they were already the most profitable industry ever.

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Yes it is!” she said. She had read several books about it.

A smart and successful approach to the problem is to read books about it. And it is more than the casual interest, quite obviously, because it takes work to read it.

but it also takes work to write such a book. And I am suspicious of that…I hear in the distance the sound of an axe grinding.

So, I want to research which companies are the most profitable. Fortune magazine gives a list.

Johnson&Johnson are at #11…but I think they are more focussed on shampoo than finding the new viagra…Pfizer is #15…that’s a drug company for sure.

I wonder what criteria those books use? Here’s a site that says they are the most profitable. He cites 2001…When my link above cites 2005.

2001 was a bad year for many many companies…Maybe not the best year to pick for judging profitability across the board. Then again, it depends on what you are trying to prove. Maybe if you want to say they are the most profitable, then it is the best year to pick. 2001 is the year you would be RIGHT!

Profitability is tricky. I mean, Enron looked extremely profitable, until it didn’t.

What’s the deal here? Do we want to be right, or do we want to solve a problem? I personally don’t care to be right, I care to be better off.

The people i know that work in the pharmaceutical industry tell me that the research and development of new drugs all get paid for out of american pockets. That the r&d wouldn’t happen if they didn’t get the money back from the USA.

is that true? they are insiders, but might be skewed to favor their viewpoint too.

As far as I know, all the big companies are international. Wikipedia has a list. They seem to indicate that all the comopanies are based in some nationality.

But trade being what it is, surely they all sell to america. The word on the street that the USA pays for the R&D could be true.

And maybe that’s not fair. The EU and Canada should shoulder their part! All the rich nations should be penalized equally!

then again, maybe they are penalized by not getting the good pills. I don’t know. It is most intriguing.

I have heard it said that the problem with Big Pharma’s profitabiliyt expecations is with the regulations required to get the goods on the market. That the FDA is so darn picky, and can change teh requirements at any time, meaning that Big Pharma might have to undergo big expensive changes to their testing causing delays. That means that they must build into their pricing very high profit levels, on the chance that they might have to do that kind of silly thing.

Of course, the source of this “de regulate!” message is awfully libertarian. So maybe they are skewing the facts to support their beliefs.

The R&D for drugs is not a sure thing. There are all kidns of experiments that are dead ends. That’s what it takes to find the good stuff. Try, try and expensive try again.

In the same way that the scientists must look around to find the cure for cancer or aids or MS, shouldn’t we be scientific and open minded about finding the cure for our not-optimal health-care system?

let’s look at the situation, and poke at it in various ways without assuming the answer pre-poke. it’s a large complicated system. who knows what might be the right action?

So, other people are thinking about being eco-friendly for the holidays.

It occurs to me, Al Gore set an example for how to handle the good credits I am accruing by using the bus. After all, it would be acceptable for me to take my car to work. I don’t though! I am taking the bus, and taking it a LOT. This means I am accruing carbon credits.

And my dear husband has worked for years to create and sustain a business that he can do from home. He does not go out and greedily consume energy by driving places. He stays at home, and also accrues carbon credits.

I am thinking of giving these carbon credits to loved ones for Christmas. I can find a lump of coal, and affix a card to it:

Merry Christmas! Because of eco-friendly steps (literally) taken by Chris and Murphy Daley, this lump of coal avoids incineration. This is your carbon credit, to use against whatever wasteful habit you wish to pursue guilt-free. Peace on earth, and ecological equality for all!

Damn, i have so many of these credits accrued, I could even sell them. I wonder if Ebay would give me a good price.

So while looking for new podcasts to listen to, I found some great speeches…JFK’s inaugural address.

It was very stirring.

“…The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary belief, for which our forbears fought, are still at issue around the globe: the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the states, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.

Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this centruy, tempered by war, discplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.”

I can’t help but wonder what those JFK and those people applauding his speech would say about the current sentiment of cut-your-losses in Iraq.

This speech is so full of strength and action. It is something to inspire before a battle, not to cover the shame of a retreat.

I always assumed that the people who held the peace placards were fans of Kennedy. But I have been hearing what JFK was about second-hard.

Makes me think

So, I’m watching CNN today as I am eating my banana and morning coffee. CNN is always on around here, because we have to have a source of video and audio to test with at any moment.

I think we watch CNN because we can’t seem like we’re having fun. CNN is boring, and when it’s not boring it’s horrifying. I half-seriously suggested we chip in our own money and get Animal Planet, because at least that is cheerful. Or maybe Home and Garden TV! We could decoupage the desks.

the suggestion was not recieved well.

Anyway, this morning, I was watching the recap of the sex scandal and then some blonde woman got up and was doing a press conference. I made a snarky comment “I guess Miss New Hampshire has to do something afterwards…”

I looked again and decided she was too skinny. “No, she’s the runner up.”

My co-worker said, “I thought they all became trophy wives.”

“NO! They all get together and form a coalition to start world peace.”

He gave me a look.

But the woman on the screen had started to interest me. She was not taking any garbage from the reporters.

I had to google her: Fran Townsend.

It turns out she rocks. She is in charge of the council on homeland security. And she deserves it! She had to work her way through school, and became a lawyer and then an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn and the got into Intelligence work for the Coast Gaurd. I added things up and figured out that she’s only 46!

How impressive.
“Fragos? That’s a horrible middle name to live down.”

Then I went to wikipedia.

“Wait no…That’s her maiden name. Her dad was Greek.”

So you know what else? She Orthodox like me! I love this lady.

So I looked up at the screen again and watched her in action. I couldn’t really hear what she was saying, but I could see she was in control of the room.

And then I saw it. She had not one, not two, but THREE earrings dangling from her ear! Oh yes, she did live through the 80s.

I’m a fan now. I hope she goes far.

This is how I feel when reading any newspaper but the wall street journal.

I am so sick of today’s journalists. ALL of them.

Well, except the WSJ.

In the WSJ, front page, there is an article about Siemens getting caught in bribery scandal.

SCANDAL!

A good portion of the world uses bribery as a matter of course. We, the “western democratic” countries, say that’s bad and we can have no part of it.

Shame on Seimens! Don’t they know, they are supposed to hire an intermediary company that does the bribery for them? Then the intermediary can disband before they get caught, re-form as a different company, and do the whole thing over again.

Hypocrisy makes the world go round. How many times has the world changed because someone wagged a finger at it and said “Shame! Shame!”

I have long thought that any MBA that includes international business should have a Bribery 101 class.

This week, I read an article about General Eikenberry’s plans to get Afghanistan on track. He wants money, not men.

Eikenberry is in charge of the occupation of Afghanistan, and he has to figure out a way to do that. His proposal is to build a highway system. As I recal from the WSJ article, he says “where the roads end, the Taliban begin.” He believes that having a roads to the different Afghan cities will make it easier to get to them, and therefore eaiser to rout the Taliban from them.

ALSO: the roads would be built by Afghani people. That means that instead of taking up arms to fight americans troops, the young men could be building a better afghanistan by making roads that will allow communication and commerce. They could have some money in their pocket and the satisfaction of a hard day’s work.

This is GENIUS.

Remember the movie A Bridge on the River Kwai ? I’ll never forget the part where the guy in charge say, “If there wasn’t a bridge we’d have to invent one.” He was saying that the troops needed something to DO, to keep up their morale and stay sharp.

Unemployement for young men…for anybody, really…is a terrible thing. People were meant to have something to do. And we are happiest when we are doing something we are proud of.

The ideological call (in the form of religious extremism) toward war and destruction will be a lot quieter if there is another voice in the room. The voice that says ‘Get up and get to work!’

I don’t know that much about Islam, but I’ve spent a little time thinking about destructive ideological extremism. Do you know that about a hundred years ago, the Western world was terrified about terrorist extremists too? They were suicidal too.

At that time they were known as Anarchists, and eventually Communists. And they were no joke! One of them even assasinated President McKinley.

Think about that. What would be the reaction in America if our President were killed by the current brand of terrorist? In my way of thinking, it is comparable to the 9/11 attack.

so…what was the response to the terrorist threat of the anarchists? Reading Marx and the people who were revolutionized by the message of anarchy, I see that they weren’t kidding about attacking the foundations of power. In fact, they were ruthless in their assesment of who was evil and deserved to die.

They had their eye on King Humbert of Italy.

Humbert was a nice guy. He was a decent king. In them minds of the left-wing Anarchists of the time, he was all the more dangerous for that very reason. They felt that any kind of monarchy was evil, and the fact that he made monarchy look okay made him the more reprehensible.

They assasinated him.

[the reason I learned of Humbert is because he is obliquely referenced in Nabokov’s Lolita. Humbert Humbert is the main character. Nabokov being from Russia and active in leftist circles, he couldn’t resist this jab]

Well, back to the reaction of this extremely dangerous ideological movement. What should be done about them? What did America do in reaction to these murderous extremists?

History tells us. It’s been more than a hundred years. We lived through the Pinkerton oppresion of the unions (a leftist-anarchist movement!).

And then the McCarthyism HUAC: “Are you now and have you ever been a member of the communist party?”

and, most overarching…The cold war

Have we not already been living in an ideological war for decades and decades? Didn’t we use the methods of capitalist colonialism to further our ideology?

My parents tell me of living in Tanzania during the 60s…They saw the battle of american democracy vs. socialism on the ground.

Kingsolver tells the story so well in The Poisonwood Bible.

We did that. America did that, in some kind of tussle with the ideology that began with the anarchists. Ideology is not a light thing. The footprints of the steps taken seem to deepen as the history accumulates.

and there is a tendency towards overweening despair when I look at it.

But let’s not get too excited. We are where we are. We stand on the ground. What does our hand find to do?

Exactly. What can we do? What can everyone do?

get to work. Build a road.

I am quite familiar with the problems of thinking too hard. And the best remedy for that abyss is a project. Hard work.

Gives you something else to think about.

Go Eikenberry Go. That’s a brilliant Idea. I really hope that he gets to do it.