Monthly archive: August, 2008

Okay…I’ll take the bait!

Sarah Louise (Heath) Palin was born February 11, 1964. She is the current Governor of the US state of Alaska and is the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee for the 2008 United States presidential election.

Holy cow! If I thought John McCain had gone around the bend before, this proves it beyond the slightest doubt.

I know. I know. There will be people who will say: If you object to the “inexperience tag” when it comes to talking about Barack Obama, then how can you criticize McCain’s choice for VP?

Easy, actually.

Barrack Obama has been out there for the last two years running for a national office and won the popular vote–some 18 million (plus) of them. He won the most delegates, the most caucuses, and was nominated by his party to run for president. Nobody got to do that with Sarah Palin. She just appeared suddenly on the ticket four days before the convention and… poof, all is supposed to be accepted as vetted. This is McCain through and through and I’m pretty sure most Americans won’t feel too safe with someone who makes choices like this after two (count them, TWO) meetings with the person who would be a heartbeat away from being president.

But back to Palin.

Here’s her history in brief: born in Idaho, her parents took her to Alaska as a young child. Okay, so far. She went to Wasilla High School where she met her husband, Todd. Okay. This is fine. She won the Miss Wasilla contest and was runner up for Miss Alaska, instead winning “Miss Congeniality.” (Maybe this is the real reason McCain picked her. He could certainly use some of that on his campaign. A recent spat he had with a Time magazine writer certainly was anything but congenial.)

Reasons I think she was chosen:

She will inoculate John McCain from the tawdry tale of Ted Stevens, Republican senator from Alaska, who is under indictment for corruption.

Because Sarah is governor of Alaska, she might be able to keep a red state that color in the fall. From all I hear, it was up for grabs until yesterday. Plus, you guessed it, she wants to drill ANWAR. Will wonders never cease.

But the most insulting to our intelligence is this: McCain must actually think that all the women who voted for Hillary Clinton will now immediately turn their allegiance to him because he has a woman on the ticket. I wasn’t a Hillary supporter, but I doubt those women are that stupid. Do you know her record?

She is Pro-Life, although she believes in the death penalty. This one always amazes me. It’s like fishing really or perhaps crabbing. If the fish is too small you have to throw it back until it reaches a certain pre-ordained legal limit…THEN you can kill it. Don’t even ask about Roe v Wade…

And speaking of killing, she is a NRA member and hunts with the Big Boys up there in AK, bagging herself a moose before breakfast, we’re told.

She believes in teaching creationism in the public schools and doesn’t think people are contributing to global warming.

She supported Patrick J Buchanan when he ran for president. His website has this as the opening line: Right From the Start. I hardly think that women who supported Clinton would consider supporting Buchanan.

Miss Wasilla? She used the money she won in the “Miss Congeniality” contest to attend University of Idaho. I’m sure her major, communications and journalism, taught her all she will need to know as vice president. Oh, she did minor in political science, so that will be a help should John McCain drop dead while in office. Don’t forget he is 72-years-old and has melanoma.

I am old enough to remember Bess Myerson, who held the dubious honor of being the first Jew to win the Miss America contest. She went on to become a game show panelist for The Name’s the Same, a silly little game that entertained families across America during the 50s and 60s.

A Goodman-Todman production, each featured a contestant had a “famous name”; i.e., their full name was the same as either a famous person, place or thing (with the latter usually taking the first initial “A.”, such as “A. Table”), or occasionally an action (such as “I. Draw”, or “Will Kiss”). The contestant was introduced and referred to throughout the game as “Mr. X” or some variation thereof. A small curtain was opened to the audience, showing a placard with the contestant’s name, along with a drawing depicting the namesake.

We were all amused and Miss Myerson was charming and often quite witty, but she was never considered to be presidential material. I guess post-Bush anything that walks, or in this case wears a dress, can be considered presidential material. It reminds me of Queen for a Day. Maybe we can call it Vice-President for a Day.

But I think the real reason McCain chose her is that none of the Big Boys (Charlie Crist, Mike Huckebee, or Mitt Romney) would take the job. They are afraid he will lose in November and their political futures will hit the skids.

Let us hope so.

Gifu Shouhouji Daibutsu is not a compact car in competition with Daihatsu. Actually, it’s a lot bigger than a Hummer and one of three Great Buddhas in Japan. The other two are in Nara and Kamakura. .

Sam is scheduled for knee surgery the day after I leave Japan and had to go to the hospital for blood-work and pre-admission paperwork. All doctor’s waiting rooms look the same, and Japan’s are no exception, so while he was busy doing his busy work his parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Oba, took me to visit the Buddha, located at the base of Gifu castle in Gifu City.

It was created using a central pillar of Ginkgo wood, six feet in circumference. The framework was then constructed from a latticework of various woods and his body knitted together using many types of material. The surface was then hardened with clay and covered with sheets of Buddhist scripture. Later it was covered with multiple layers of lacquer and gold leaf. The priest in charge of the project, Ichyuu, had a struggle obtaining enough scripture pages and ended up traveling throughout Japan asking for contributions. He spent 25 years working on the Buddha and died in 1815, his project still uncompleted.

Out of respect his successor, the 12th generation head priest, Kohshuu, completed the project 13 years later, taking a total of 38 years to complete.

Height–44.2 feet (13.63 m)
Length of face- 11.91 feet (3.63 m)
Length of ears–6.96 feet (1.31 m)

After our visit we sipped coffee at a small shop across the street. Our only conversation: Japanese on the Oba’s end and English on mine. We don’t know each other very well, but the silence was pleasant enough and when a small infant is present it always becomes the focal point, a bit like a silent TV in a room, but more interesting.

Then it was back to the hospital to pick up Sam and Yuka.

Hospital waiting rooms seem to be universally depressing places. This one was no exception, except the television screens were larger and more plentiful than other hospitals I’ve been in. But then we *are* where Sony and Panasonic originated. We waited and waited and waited for Sam to get finished, and in that time Michael Phelps won yet another gold medal. It has been nice to be in Japan during the Olympics. I get tired of US coverage of the games–we seem to focus only on our participants. Here I have seen mostly Japanese athletes and consequently a lot of Judo and kickboxing.

Lunch today was Unagi– eel. For those of you who have never eaten eel, do so the moment it’s offered to you. Wonderful stuff. This particular restaurant makes their eel a bit crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. A sweet thick sauce, similar to hoisin accompanied the eel and it all lay happily on a bed of rice. I’m not sure how to describe the taste of eel. It’s not fishy but it’s not meaty either. Hmmm… maybe a little like very fresh tuna– try it when you get a chance.

The restaurant was gorgeous; built using old timbers in the form they were found. A central hall, where Hannah spent most of her time, separated individual serving rooms. Very cozy and private.

Sam teaches English in the Japanese school system in Godo and also does private lessons on the side. That night I went back to the hospital with him where he is tutoring four pulmonary physicians. I enjoyed an hour with them, talking about why they want to learn English (so they can converse with other docs at international medical symposiums), what they will be doing with their vacations(one is going to La Paz, Mexico; one is going to the northern islands of Japan; one is staying home), and generally chatting about this and that. I told them the story of my lost wallet in Narita Airport and they were all impressed that I got it back. I assured the gentleman going to La Paz, Mexico that it would never, never happen there. Never. One of the docs was quite fluent and the other three were game to learn.

Tomorrow we are going to Tanigumi, my favorite temple!

Culture clash #2.

Okay, I am now at the Portland, Oregon, airport and waiting for my flight to Japan, so I thought I’d write this up before I forget. I just returned the rent-a-car, boarded the shuttle bus for the terminal, got myself comfortable in the back, and waited for the rest of my fellow passengers.

One of the last to board was a large lady–and I use that term both literally and figuratively. She plopped herself down in the two seats next to me and settled in for the short trip. After everyone was in and the doors locked, we departed. No one was in a chatty mood so the bus was totally silent when the large lady pulled out her cell phone and made a call.

There is a voice we all recognize when the caller is speaking to a message machine and my guess this is what she was doing.

“Hi. Just to let you know that I’m at the airport and everything is okay.” This seemed logical enough. She was letting family know she made it, I thought. But she went on.

“I think the hurt feelings are taken care of and I have no idea what their problem was really. I think it’s just a ‘guy thing’ and maybe it’s because we left them alone for too long. Who knows? But don’t worry about it. I took care of everything and settled all the ruffled feathers. Okay. I’ll talk to you later and have a good day.”

Now I know I am a relatively private person and I never use the cell phone in public unless I can help it, and granted I live a rural life where using a cell phone is a rare event in the first place, but I am not used to people talking on the phone as though no one in their immediate vicinity existed, much less mattered. I noted that the conversation lifted no eyebrows among the other passengers some of whom were male. I tried to make eye contact with someone so we might share the joke, but everyone stared straight ahead.

How is it that people have come to feel they can intrude on your life with their inane conversations on the phone? And why is it we tolerate it? I know. I know. There are worse instances than this one, but I mean really!

My flight leaves at 2:30PM pacific time , headed for more culture clash… Next post from Japan.