Lowest Common Denominator

Sarah Palin.  How in the world have we ended up with this person as the Republican VP candidate?  How could McCain pass over the truly qualified Republican women such as Kay Bailey Hutchison, Olympia Snowe, Condoleezza Rice, Liddy Dole for a woman who, as my friend told me yesterday, is a governor of a state that has fewer people than New Orleans AFTER Katrina?  Does he think that all women are interchangeable?  When she invoked Hillary Clinton in her first speech, I was speechless.  The only thing she shares with Hillary Clinton is gender, but that isn't a reason to vote for anyone.  

Our world is a dangerous place.  It isn't the world of 1949.  No amount of wanting it to be will make it so.  We need the best, the brightest, the most educated as our leader.  We don't need the lowest common denominator as President of the United States, which means the VP can't be the lowest common denominator.  John McCain has endangered all of us with his choice of Sarah Palin.  

On top of it all, she has a 4 MONTH old infant with Down Syndrome.  What is she thinking?  So much for Republican "family values."  Although she is against a woman's right to choose, she has chosen to leave her infant to go on the most grueling campaign trail in the world.  Fathers can certainly take care of babies and I assume Mr. Palin will be taking care of baby Palin.  That's great.  That isn't my point though.  As a mother, although my sons are grown, I can't imagine leaving them when they were infants to go on the road for three months, not when either of them were 4 months old.

This isn't a job where you can work late hours, but come home.  This is leaving home and family behind.   In my opinion this is not a responsible choice and it reflects the narcissism of the person making it. 

Olympic Fever

How have I stayed away from writing with so much going on in the world and my life?  I guess I have just answered the question.  The Beijing Olympics kept us glued to the television set for what seemed like a month.  I never thought I would be riveted by a big swim meet, but who knew those races could be so, so exciting.  China was just a great big stereotypical picture postcard thanks to NBC.  Nothing about Darfur, no repercussions for underage gymnasts (wasn't one missing a baby tooth???), and forget about them telling a little 7 year old girl that she wasn't pretty enough to be on stage, but her voice was.  That pretty much did it for me.  The real gold medals should go to the architects of the "water cube" and "the bird's nest."  I have no idea whether the structures worked for the participants/attendees, but they were beautiful on the television screen and left me wondering why all stadia are as fabulous looking.  Hmmm...maybe it takes a lot of virtually slave labor?

Mamma Mia

So, up until now I have avoided going to see the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!  I sort of looked down my nose at the whole idea.  Tonight I went to see the movie and loved every silly second of it.  Here's what I say to all those snooty movie reviewers:  This isn't some deep intellectual film. When you have lived a real life and are middle-aged, you might get it.  Until then just shut up and go review deep angst ridden movies.  Meryl Streep and the rest of the cast clearly were having a lot of fun and the audience I was sitting in was too.  I haven't laughed or felt happy in a long time and this made me bounce my way out of the theatre.  

Oh, and one more thing:  Pierce Brosnan sang just fine.  This isn't opera (and I know opera).  He carried his tunes and did the speak-sing thing a few times and it worked. 

I'm glad I went.