August | 2008 | Cynthetics

What better to blog about this week than McCain’s vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin. Is this McCain’s attempt to “change Washington” because everyone knows he has not had enough time in the Senate to do that . . . Maybe he has been too busy campaigning?? Isn’t this Obama’s platform? Well I’m glad we got that straight. Now that everyone wants to change Washington, we have to now decide which dynamic duo is best fit for the job. Like many of us, you probably have not had time to read all the over dramatized crap of the press or the candidates websites. So I bequeath to you a few facts from each of the candidates’ websites and/or news clippings that I felt were legitimate. (It was hard to refrain from Wikipedia, but I did!)

Obama / Biden (The Oreo Feel Good team):

Obama is a young U.S. Senator from Chicago who spent years in the Illinois legislature. His parents are racially mixed, one a student from Kenya and one from middle America, Kansas. Obama was ultimately raised by his mother in Hawaii after his father returned to Kenya. He was an average student until he got involved in politics in college. After college, he worked for Christian churches; and after law school, turned down lucrative offers to work for a small firm and teach Constitutional law. As part of the Illinois legislature, Obama was a strong advocate for women’s issues.

Biden is a senior Senator from Delaware (1972) and was a single parent to his two remaining sons after a car accident took his wife and daughter. And like many parents, Biden was willing to give up his first senate election for his family. He is remarried and had a fourth child with his new wife. He served on the Senate Foreign Affairs committee with Obama and is up for re-election, which makes him available.

McCain / Palin (The Do-it-my-way or no-way Team):
McCain is a senior US Senator who started out as a US Representative in 1982. He is a proud Navy veteran, a POW (probably suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – how could you not!), and has been observed as very angry by President Bush’s former Chief of Staff. Although John McCain has seven children, we never hear about his first wife. Much of his time in the Senate has been spent on reform including lowering taxes and less government.

Now, here here are a few things you should know about Sarah Palin that people are already getting incorrect:

In 1984 she was not Miss Alaska, she was the RUNNER UP;
She is only 44, but yet older than John F. Kennedy when he ran for President;
She was the mayor of Wasilla, AK, population 9,780 according to the US Census in 2007, and was elected as the Governor of Alaska in 2007.
She is currently involved in a legislative investigation over the firing of an Alaskan State Trooper involved in a divorce from Palin’s sister and Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner who was pressured to fire the State Trooper.
She is a member of the NRA
She has 5 children, and some of her fellow countrymen do not think she is ready to lead.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a1uiw5Tqp4EM&refer=home

Well I’m not very insightful this week. I was however experiencing another first by watching the Democratic National Convention. What about you? Have you ever watched a political convention? It brought to mind all of the issues currently facing Americans. Politicos like to phrase it as “waging a war against ______” (you fill in the blank.) We have so many to choose from now. We have the war on terror, the war on drugs, and the latest greatest, the war on obesity. Are we winning any of these wars yet? Let’s face it, do we even care about the war on drugs? It’s a plant, get over it. What about obesity? I have that solution, get off your ass.

Which finally brings me to a point. (Like I said, I am not very insightful this week). I am waging my own personal war and it’s on poison ivy! As some of you know, I am apparently very allergic to poison ivy, and have been battling a horrible reaction to it for 6 weeks!! This has included steroids, acupuncture, herbal concoctions, gels, pastes, more steroids, more acupuncture, gels and paste, and finally a lot of complaining.

And apparently, I am not alone. Just today there was a story in the Dallas Morning News regarding the war on poison ivy. And, always newsworthy is my brother’s opinion, a horticulturist, that poison ivy has become bigger, badder and more pervasive then ever. Because of the risk of someone having a severe allergic reaction not only on the outside but also the inside, it cannot be burned at random. It’s also a weed, but one that has staying power, so spraying it is a short-term solution while putting unknown additives in our drinking water. And let’s not forget the potential cost to eradicate poison ivy. Surely there are more pressing issues, like schools offering tofu instead of refried beans to our overweight students.

So until a solid plan is formulated to win the war on poison ivy is invented, I have two ways to avoid it.

Never drink in an open public park with all of your friends where weeds are not well maintained.

Never, ever let your friends persuade you to urinate in the un-maintained weeds in an open public park when drunk, especially if you are a girl!

Carpe Diem!