Republicanisms

A good friend forwarded me this list of things you have to believe to be a Republican today. It’s a nice summary of reasons to vote the “Hypocrite-in-Chief” out of office in November.

Jesus loves you and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him,
A bad guy when Bush’s daddy made war on him,
A good guy when Cheney did business with him, and
A bad guy when Bush needed a “we can’t find Bin Laden” diversion.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to the spirit of international harmony.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, but our highest national priority is enforcing the United Nations resolutions against Iraq.

A woman can’t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans’ benefits and combat pay.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescent won’t have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

Global warming and tobacco’s link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is a impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is “solid defense policy.”

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet?????

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you’re a conservative radio host. Then it’s an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

You support states rights, but Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to adopt.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the 70 & 80s is irrelevant.

Mt Thompson

West Ridge of Mt. Thompson
Copyright 2004 - John Bell - All rights reserved

I joined three other climbers on a climb of Mount Thompson this weekend. The first day was a fantastic hike up to Ridge Lake from Snoqualmie Pass. We lounged by the lake telling stories and laughing for hours before going to bed.

A 5 a.m. wakeup call came early and we headed out for the climb. A scramble over Bumblebee pass and six pitches of really fun rock brought us to the top.

Blue Angels

I don’t know what it is about the Blue Angels that gets me so excited. Regardless of the fact that I’m not a particularly big fan of our military actions, I can’t help but get really jazzed when I hear them roar over head and see them fly by in tight formation.

Maybe it’s a nostalgia thing. As a kid my dad took the family to Abbotsford and Paine Field for the annual air shows. We’d spend all day poking in all things fly-able and watching the acrobatic show overhead. Those days were hot - miserably hot - and by the end our ears were numb from the near constant roar of fighter planes. (The Harrier jet was always the loudest.)

I don’t think I ever went enthusiastically, but I learned the value of doing something because someone you care about is interested in it. I also always seemed to leave at the end of the day with an expanded sense of the possible. If people in hunks of metal could fly, imagine the things that I could do.

Summer Detective Novels

You know summer is in full swing when the rapidly diminishing pile of books to read gives you a case of abibliophobia (fear of having nothing to read). Most recently I’ve finished Morality for Beautiful Girls and The Kalahari Typing School for Men, books 3 and 4 in Alexander McCall Smith’s series of detective novels.

If you haven’t discovered these books yet, summer is the perfect time. The main character - Precious Ramotswe - is sort of a fat and jolly version of Miss Marple who lives in Gaborone, Botswana. In the first book - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - she goes against any conventional notion of what an unmarried woman should do, spending the money she got from selling her late father’s cattle to set up a Ladies’ Detective Agency.

Although the books are technically mysteries, plot is not the main thing. Interlocking events provide mild tension and suspense. What keeps you reading is the wonderful writing: pure, economical, funny, utterly lacking in condescension. The evocation of Botswana is often lyrical (its quiet roads, its ubiquitous cattle). Sometimes the stories seem fable-like, as if McCall Smith is telling them around a campfire in the deep African night.

It is one of the many ironies of these wonderful books that Mma Ramotswe and her cohorts, despite their professed yearning for traditional values, are actually the smartest, most progressive people around. Because they are authentic and honest and guided by common sense rather than greed or pride, they make phony modernists look like idiots.

Happy Birthday

My brother turns 26 today. Happy birthday my friend!