Jenna v. Elizabeth

I'm watching a documentary on the Windsors on PBS. It's a glowing portrait with nary a negative word -- one of those classic admiration fests. But still I was struck during the footage on WWII that then Princess Elizabeth volunteered for the Ambulance Corps. She may not have done much beyond attempt to change a tire for the benefit of the cameras, but she donned the scratchy uniform and gave the feeling that they were all in the fray together -- from the palace to the trenches.

It made me wonder why we'd never seen a Bush daughter doing something similar during our many years fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States has lost a sense of common purpose and sacrifice for the greater good. It was both dishonest and dishonorable for President Bush to have taken the nation to war without asking everyone to sacrifce. While bullets flew in the desert it was tax cuts on the home front. IEDs ripped through Humvees while Americans cruised happily to the mall in their SUVs.

We have been a divided nation for too long. While the war should never have been started, once the tanks were rolling there should have been a concerted effort to bring people together through sacrifice. It is yet another opportunity missed by this administration.

Free Christopher Buckley!

I'm fascinated by the ouster of Christopher Buckley from the National Review. I know Christopher a bit and he's a smart, funny guy. He certainly is capable of making up his own mind and is more than articulate.

The part that amazes/outrages me is that he had to offer his resignation, and that it was accepted, because he expressed his own opinion. He looked at two candidates and picked one. Isn't that what America is all about?

Granted, the first amendment was an amendment. It's a bit like the leather package you pick for a car -- it wasn't on the original spec sheet but you chose it and it came with the car. Freedom of speech means that speaking your mind shouldn't get you pushed out the door.

Peggy Noonan was also in the firing line after her "Failin' Palin" column in the Wall Street Journal. Peggy didn't go so far as to endorse Obama but said that Palin had yet to make a sufficient case for herself. When I went to offer my comments, the other commenters were vociferous in calling for her to be tossed off the pages of the WSJ. I tried to offer come to her defense, it's the least a gentleman can do, but comments were closed.

The Republican party of Bush/Cheney/Rove reminds me of the Communists under Mao when ideology trumped all. Smelt iron in the backyard to give power to the people even though the iron was lousy. Make the farms communal even though food production plummets. Clamp down on any press that doesn't agree with you.

And so we are back in 2008. Buckley, Noonan, who else? What kind of country have we become when you can't say what you think without consequences?

The Spin Cycle -- RNC style

I didn't watch as much of the RNC as I did the DNC -- a bit of convention fatigue plus the abbreviated schedule -- but I did catch the speeches by both Sarah Palin and John McCain. I give Palin credit for the excellent delivery of a ho-hum speech and McCain demerits for the mediocre delivery of a better speech.

Palin certainly knows how to charm a room. She pauses naturally for the laugh and applause lines, knows when to wink or smile to reinforce a point, and chums the water with base bait like a pro (then again, she once was a commercial fisherwoman). She did smile too much, as did McCain though in her case I chalk that up to those years of beauty pageant training. When you are making a serious case, you need a serious face.

When she spoke about her own story, she was compelling. When she launched into distortions of Obama's stated positions and other partisan mud-slinging, she lost me entirely. I heard the "red meat" but had to ask: Where's the beef? The speech was extraordinarily light on concrete policy recommendations or other substantive material.

McCain is not a natural speech maker and it shows. His speech was well-crafted -- especially when he took his own party to task in order to reburnish his credentials as a maverick. But for too much of the speech, he would deliver a line and then smile like a kid who had made it successfully through a difficult fingering exercise on the piano.

When he spoke about his past and about his desire to change Washington, he was compelling. The blatant pandering to the party base and his distortions of Obama's positions were also awkward and off-putting. He didn't feel comfortable in his own skin while he was doing it.

Of course so much of the conventions is about spin and counterspin. It matters less what the candidates say than how it is interpretted by the pundits afterwards. Palin's selection had several Republican spokespeople spinning in reverse as you'll see in this brilliant video montage from The Daily Show.

Words Can Move

I am in awe at the level of oratory in evidence at the Democratic National Convention this past week. At a time when media is fragmented and attention spans are even more so, when ear buds seal out the outside world, when we're all Facebooking, blogging, and twittering, it was wonderful to have four evenings of well-crafted, superbly delivered speeches.

From Kennedy, to both Clintons, both Obamas, Gore, Biden, and more, we heard words that informed and inspired. You might not agree with the politics but you have to admire the level of public discourse. These speeches both preached to the choir and challenged the opposition. They set forth lofty goals and practical policy direction. They started conversations, at least in my circle, and brought focus to the importance of the election ahead.

I am grateful for the break from the attack ads and blathering pundits. Words still have power. Oratory is alive. Let's hope the Republicans can keep the level high.

How Much is That Puppy in the Window?

The last time I got a dog, it was easy. Then again, I was young and naive. It was a simple trip to the shelter at 92nd and York, picked out a pooch, and headed home. Sure, choosing a border collie/spaniel mix was a bit nuts given that I lived in a studio apartment in Manhattan. But he was such a cutie.

He was also a triple reject and came with claims that he couldn't be housebroken. With a little love and structure, he was easily housebroken. In fact, he was curb trained. There was a learning curve, sure, but we wound up having 12 great years together.

This time around couldn't have been more different. There were many more considerations about breed: small enough for the city, mellow enough to live with a persnickety cat, and non-shedding. That led us to seek out Cockapoo breeders.

The nearest one didn't return our outreach calls. The next one required that we clear our schedules for at least four months and not leave the pup alone for more than two hours (and that commitment was just the first step in the approval process). The third required a four page application that was similar in depth to the vetting for a spot as candidate for Vice President.

Finally, the fourth (the farthest, the most expensive) had pups available and made it no more difficult (and only slightly less expensive) than buying a Porsche. Truth be told, the breeder was a great help. She set us up with lots of supplies and answered all of our questions.

Once we had our little guy (and he is a cutie), things got even more complicated. Which vet to choose? Which trainer to engage? Which puppy socialization group to join? To crate train or not? What about doggy day care? The questions cascade like a spilled bag of kibble.

The vet and breeder told us to keep contact with other dogs to a minimum until he had had all of his shots (16 weeks). Then the trainer said that weeks 12 - 14 are critical to his socialization. Screw this up and we'll need to engage a doggie therapist later on. We decided to take our chances and he's enjoying his canine companions.

We've engaged, I'm almost afraid to admit, a Zen dog trainer. Grasshopper, when you can snatch this training treat from my hand... She's great, but I do feel like we've crept a bit too far up Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

The search for doggie day care keeps me up nights. Friends have conflicting recommendations and the online reviews for each provider seem to range from "they make my little darling feel like a king" to "my little darling came home with a gaping chest wound that no one at XXX seemed to notice." There's even a puppy prep school.

I am going out to buy several pair of cargo pants as each walk requires paper for picking up droppings, treats to reward the dropping process, a flashlight after dark, and occassionally the puppy training manual for last minute reference in the field. We've even found a doggie water bottle that flips down for easy Fido sipping and that clips onto my belt.

I wouldn't trade this dog for anything, but I miss the days when a dog was just a dog.

An Energy Policy, Please

Thank you to the New York Times for today's "Energy Fictions" op-ed piece. Both McCain and Obama are doing disservice to the energy issues before us. The blathering about thumbs up or down on offshore drilling, proposed windfall profits taxes, proper tire pressure, and the rest just nibble at the edges. These are tactics when what we should be talking about is an energy policy. We need to move the focus off of the price of gas this week or next and talk about what we're going be doing for the next 10 to 20 years.

It's sad when Paris Hilton offers the most coherent take on an energy policy.


First, we don't need energy independence. We don't have food independence or clothing independence. What we need is strategic interdepedence. We don't need to stop importing oil from Canada or Mexico -- they are our friends and neighbors. We need a broad, unbiased look at all of our energy options from solar to nuclear. We need investment in basic science that can help fuel the growth of a world-class alternative energy industry. We need a President who will craft and implement an energy policy that panders neither to Big Oil or the most strident environmentalists.

We're going to have to blend energy sources to meet our needs. We consume a lot of energy and we have increasing competition for fossil fuel resources from China, India, and other emerging economies. We need to get as serious as Finland (yes, Finland) in facing this critical challenge that will have such impact on individuals and businesses across the country.

Boycotting Olympic Ceremonies

I am boycotting the Olympic opening ceremonies in support of the people of Tibet, a free press, and a free Internet in China. I will watch the Games themselves in support of the Olympic ideal of peace and productive engagement through athletic competition as well as of the athletes themselves.

This boycott is highly symbolic as I'm just not watching TV. However, symbolic action by ordinary citizens is important if we are to make concrete progress on human rights, freedom of expression and protest, and democracy.

China's model is a dangerous one: free markets without protections for speech, religion, the right to vote, or other basic rights we enjoy in the West. People are too easily seduced by rising standards of living to fight for the rights that will give them greater control over their lives and their government. That's the bet that the ruling powers in Beijing are making.

Unfortunately, its not much different than the bet made by the Bush administration after 9/11. When Bush told the nation to "go shopping" he was urging them to indulge in material comfort rather than worry about the draconian measures being taken to reign in rights under the guise of the war on terror. The lack of greater protests in the streets over the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, the abuse at Abu Graib, and other outrages can be attributed, in part, to the generally good economy up until 18 months ago or so. So long as you could still fill up your cart at Wal-Mart (or Gucci), why worry?

Might that be the ultimate trump card of authoritarians? Let the people shop and they won't care about much else. Religion may have been the opiate of the people in Marx's time but consumer goods seem to have taken its place in the 21st century.

So, as much as it may be a small tree falling deep in the forest, I am boycotting the opening ceremonies tomorrow night. I won't see the commercials of the sponsors. I won't help the network make its numbers. Consider joining me.