On The Shoulders Of Giants

It is 3 p.m. on a Labor Day Monday. I have been up since around 9, thinking hard about my next move. I had my breakfast/lunch and surfed the web, mostly politics some business, went to a barber to find out it was closed. Actually, I didn’t know it was the Labor Day until a while ago. H got out of her room around 2. She was in the kitchen doing her morning routine and being on and off the phone. H said “Ezra is coming over.” And Ezra did come over and brought us a little gift.

We make tea and sit around in the living room. Meg is on the couch with me. There’s a laser pointer on the coffee table. We invent a game of telling where we are shooting the laser and then turning it on to see how close we are. We go around doing that a couple of times. I tell them a story about laser pointers from when I was seventeen. Ezra talks about a story where somebody shone a laser into an airplane’s cockpit and disturbed the pilots.

I tell them that one of my dreams is to fly an airplane some day. H seconds that. I tell them about my experience of flying in a single-engine plane with a friend who was a licensed pilot. Ezra says he wants to go gliding. Meg is still on the couch with me. H takes a couple of pictures of Meg and me on the couch. I ask Ezra to explain how gliding works and he tells us. Then he gets up and says he has to go. He says goodbye to the three of us and leaves. Meg is still on the couch with me.

If you are thinking big, you have to have your thumb on the pulse of the time and when the moment is right and the stars are aligned, you have to move. I give Barack a lot of credit for having his thumb on the pulse of the time better than anybody else, especially better than the Clintons. Clintons have professionals who have dedicated their lives to taking that pulse and Barack outsmarted them. I guess all the community organizing paid off. Bravo.

When you think of taboos in American media, you think of anything sexual or something along those lines. I have a different opinion on this. I think the biggest taboo in media is to criticize the American people. Here is how it works. Broadcasters show ads to make money. If the media start criticizing people, people are not going to like it and they will tune out and hence no money.

In the past few weeks many in media have asked a question like this “80% of American people think the country is on the wrong track. Why does this election not look like a landslide?” And many political pundits and strategists have to beat around the bush and come up with nonsensical answers. Answers like “People need to get to know Obama more.” or “Obama has to lay out the details of his plans”. I think people have heard more about Obama and his story more than any other candidate and Obama has laid out his plans. Most of it is on his website, if anybody bothers to read. I think the answer is much simpler. Many white Americans would not vote for a black man, period. They would rather have four more disastrous years than have a black president. Racism can be more powerful than slavery. Bob Herbert of New York Times gently explains it.

If Bill and Hillary Clinton would not stop “running rats” into this show as of today, I will have no respect left for them. I will be watching you tonight Hillary Clinton.

So finally Barack made his decision about his vice presidential running mate and all I can say is that I’m very happy with the choice he made. The more I read about Biden, the more I like this guy and have respect for him.

Last Saturday Barack Obama and John McCain appeared at Rick Warren’s church and answered some questions. There is one question that in my mind stands out. They were asked what income level do you consider “rich”? To which Obama responded with $250,000 and McCain responded with $5,000,000. I don’t think there’s anything that exemplifies the difference between these two candidates more than these two numbers. McCain said that he doesn’t want to redistribute wealth. Well, I’ve got some news for you Mr. McCain. Maybe if A is making more than a million dollars a year and there’s a veteran in a wheelchair who can’t go to work, some redistribution of wealth would not only be Ok but would be humane. Jesus, these people are so selfish.

If you would like to read something really spicey, check this out. I give it eight red peppers out of ten.

Check out the political vidoes of The Young Turks. This kid has potential in politics.