What I Did On My Summer Vacation: The Confession of a Flip-flopper

I started the month of August with a plan.

Boycott the Olympics in China.

This was going to be tough for me, since the Olympics have always been a favorite of mine. Still, I have never gotten over Tiananmen Square. I have never been able to accept that George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton deliberately and openly gave the Chinese totalitarian government the keys to our economy.

All of our bluster about human rights is just that, wind blowing through the tree tops. It finally occured to me what Paddy Chayefsky was talking about:

"You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations; there are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There is no third world. There is no west. There is only one holistic system of systems; one vast interwoven, interacting, multivariate multinational dominion of dollars. Petrodollars, electrodollars, reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels. It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today."

And while my nuclear family marveled at the opening ceremonies, I sat in another room fueling my anger by immersing myself in the latest Martin Cruz Smith/Arkady Renko novel. Renko would agree with me. We would share some vodka and shake our heads comfortable in our righteousness.

Then the first race began.

For the next 20 days, I watched everything. It was great. The races, the contests of strength, of speed, of agility. It was a great Olympics, and I was thrilled to watch.

Then near the end, the men's marathon was run and in the middle of the race the runners passed Tiananmen Square. The NBC annoucer gave all the history: all the facts and figures about its size, both ancient Chinese as well as Communist names for the buildings. But not a word about 1989.

I waited. "Say something!" Would the Chinese cut the transmission? Had NBC agreed not to mention the event? Did no one remember? As the commentator told us how many football fields would fit into the square, I got sick to my stomach.


I was a sell out. I was the bluster.

I know that this is a temporary dip into self loathing. But I feel guilty.

Maybe the guilt is a good sign.


Before, I felt like Dr. Miles J. Bennell, screaming at the world, unable to get anyone to listen. Then I went to sleep and woke up just like everybody else. "Supporting the athletes," forgetting about all the realities behind the hypocrisy.

Then the marathon and the guilt.

Still, if no one cared about the Chinese, then no one cares about the guilt either.

Moose Droppings: Election, Part II

The election of 1964 was an anomaly. It was a referendum on the assassination of President Kennedy. Lyndon Johnson won 44 states and the District of Columbia (which was voting in its first-ever presidential election.)

Among those 44 states were Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. These eleven states have never again voted for the Democratic candidate for president.

Here is a more in depth look at the voting record of these states. In all cases the 1 represents the election of 1964.

Republican - Democrat

Alaska
1960-2004
12 elections, 11 - 1

Idaho
1952-2004
14 elections, 13 –1

Indiana
1940-2004
17 elections, 16 - 1

Kansas
1940-2004
17 elections, 16 – 1

Nebraska
1940-2004
17 elections, 16 – 1

North Dakota
1940-2004
17 elections, 16 – 1

Oklahoma
1952-2004
14 elections, 13 - 1

South Dakota
1940-2004
17 elections, 16 – 1

Utah
1952-2004
14 elections, 13 – 1

Virginia
1952-2004
14 elections, 13 – 1

Wyoming
1952-2004
14 elections, 13 – 1

If this current election does not have an "outside factor", as so many of the anomaly elections do (1992, 1964, 1948, 1932, 1912), will any of those eleven states break their streak?

It is an odd thing about these six elections I have just listed. Something outside the norm influenced the outcome, and in all cases, a Democrat won.

So the question I would ask the two parties leaders is this: "If all conditions are normal, why would you waste your money campaigning in these states?"

If history is our guide, McCain should win them all without spending a dollar--and Obama will lose them all no matter what he spends.

In the interest of full disclosure, Minnesota and the District of Columbia are lined up on the Democratic side.

Democrat - Republican

Minnesota
1960-2004 12
elections, 11 – 1

District of Columbia
1964-2004
11 elections, 11 -0

Does any of this sound possible in a land of free choice? Is it true that we are so set in our way of thinking that the ground has to shake for a change to occur?

Is either candidate really a man of difference and can people so entrenched in history respond to change?

I know this entry presents many questions, but the time to ask them is before we cast our votes.

Dear Batman...

Dear Batman,

With all due respect, you are not a superhero and you should never been confused with one. You are a crime fighter. Actually, you are a twisted, unhappy, brooding man who uses crime fighting as therapy. And your brand of crime fighting gets people killed. Fortunately for you, they are usually people you care about, and thus the cycle continues.

Thanks but no thanks. See a shrink. You are a billionaire, you can afford wall-to-wall therapists.

I for one am happy with Superman. Happy, friendly, invincible. Adoptive father died from a heart attack. No need to track down a bad guy, or even sulk. Shed a tear, give a donation to the Heart Fund, then try and be the kind of man your father would have been proud to know.

To the creative team of the The Dark Knight: thank you, thank you, and thank you for showing us a Batman with all of his warts on parade. I, for one, certainly prefer this look at the caped crusader-it is much more in line with both my and my Batman obsessed, holiday ruining brother’s understanding of the character.

As the credits started rolling on "The Empire Strikes Back II", I once again thought to myself, “Do I really have to feel sick for two years?” The answer, of course, is yes. 'Cause that’s how franchises get ya.

Signed,

C. Kent

June 1938