Not an issue in this campaign

I’m not going to raise the issue about family values in this blog. After all, who am I to judge and besides that, this issue is not likely to change my vote anyway. The issue is, what were they thinking?
I’m talking about the McCain campaign here and one other case where the top leadership made themselves vulnerable for a divisive media firestorm. This other case is how a disgruntled football player is causing strife within the Philadelphia Eagles locker room but I will get to that later.
First, U.S. presidential candidate John McCain selects Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as his running mate. Then it gets out that Sarah’s 17-year-old, single daughter is five months pregnant, casting doubt about the Republican candidates’ long-held position as the “family values” ticket. Oh, no, they explain, It’s OK because the Palin family is fully supporting their daughter in parenthood, etc. – it’s all over the news and will be debated throughout the rest of the year.

So this controversy immediately draws attention away from Palin’s legitimacy as qualified leader (if there ever was any) and instead focuses the whole campaign on this one issue. What, is this a smokescreen that’s supposed to divert attention away from the real issues and make the voting public think: Hey, compared to this, Republican’s record on Iraq, the economy and human rights is pretty good?

Obviously not. This is McCain deliberately squandering any chance he has at winning the election. Eight years of lunatics running the asylum was far too many, therefore, he wanted to hand over the popular leadership of the country back to the Democrats, who can then go about the business of righting the ship, for which they are overqualified.

Brilliant strategy and then again, there was really no other choice for the doomed McCain campaign. Of course the conspiracy theorist in me says the Republicans could have selected anyone as McCain’s running mate because they will just steal the election like they have the last two times, but I’m glad I don’t listen to that voice in my head anymore.

Then there’s the case of the Philadelphia Eagles who go out of their way to disenfranchise a player who had the audacity to ask for more money. Of course, things are more convoluted than they seem and you might get a handle on it here http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/BROWN_TAKES_AIM_AT_ROSENHAUS.html

The guy’s name is Lito Sheppard and he was put out of his job earlier this year when the team hired a new player to take his spot once it was known he was upset with his contract and wanted to re-negotiate. The Eagles didn’t trade Sheppard away but decided to let him stew in his own juices on the sidelines. So Sheppard goes out and hires Team Public Enemy No. 2 in an agent known as Drew Rosenhaus. Rosenhaus effectively ignites a locker room controversy that will disrupt the team fabric and will have everyone on the Eagles hating each other by the year’s end.

Again, what was coach Andy Reid thinking? Was it that he and the organization expertly diffused the tension in the locker room the last time Rosenhaus represented an unhappy player? Was this a personal vendetta against somebody who thought he was worth more money even though he was injured for most of the last two seasons? Obviously, Reid invited this firestorm on this Eagles just so events like these would transpire exactly the way they are happening now. This way, Eagles team owner can say, “You’ve lost control of the personnel, we only won three games this season, it’s time to part ways.” That will save coach Reid the indignity of having to resign and admit defeat.

I’m so glad that these leaders have learned to manipulate the media so effectively in order to advance their hidden agendas. In nautical terms, this is what's known a "scuppering" a vessel. It basically goes like this: When a huge storm is approaching and you boat is stuck in a harbor - you strip it and sink it before the storm hits. That way that boat rests on the bottom and avoids getting smashed into piers, pilings, other boats, flotsam, jetsam and the like. When the storm is over, you go back and raise the vessel and the damage will be minimal as compared to those that remained on the surface.

McCain and Reid have scuppered their respective causes because they've given up on them. When all logical possibilities have been eliminated, only the illogical remains.

Who Nose?

I've got this thing in my left nostril that's driving my batty. I can't tell what it is although all afternoon I've been trying to "solve" it, by picking, preening, wetting, cutting, shaving and trimming. No avail, obviously, that's why I'm writing this blog.

Did you ever have one of these weird sensations? It usually forms at the base of the opening, right in that little pocket that goes up against the septum. It feels like a dust or pollen ball got caught up in some nose hair and it wiggles every time I exhale. This is kind of like that sensation you get when you pull the couch back from the wall for the first time in a year and the cloud of dust bunnies conspires to perform an upwards funneling tango into your allergy-prone probiscus.

This sensation could almost be like an errant nose hair getting stuck like a blown-down tree and vibrating furiously on a very sensitive part of the skin at every gust of wind. I've tried to ignore - it keeps coming back to cloud my thoughts.

I try to focus on work. I'm sure research on femto cells or electronic dispersion compensation is not exciting but it could be engaging enough to send my thoughts elsewhere - nope.

I've become an expert at plucking nose hairs but this one evades the fingers, the tweezers, the electric trimmer and the roto-Lorax thingy. I think Dr. Seuss' was as obsessed with nose hairs as much as I am today and he's got a whole book dedicated to it although it is cleverly disguised as a parable.

What I'm wondering is how many man hours per year are wasted at work in the pursuit of errant nasal follicles. How much could we as a civilization accomplished had we not been sidetracked by this highly-annoying diversion? Could we have mapped the human genome 20 years ago? Could we have built a bridge to China, solve world hunger and ended univeral suffering? Maybe we could have brought a decent slice of pizza to California - or maybe not.

Why hasn't man kind solved this perplexing vexation? Or perhaps, that's the point - we sit at our desk some days playing this game. We pretend we're working when really we are writhing in mental anguish over these itchy nasal passages. Nothing gets done, no one questions the lack of progess we're not making and we're all in this sorry mess of a world because of it. Or maybe I'm just overthinking things.