SARAH PALIN: You Say Trainwreck, I Say Disaster

I am not a brain genius, but I can tell you at least one newspaper or news source I read for my news. I am not a Rhodes Scholar, but I can offer a basic outline of the Bush Doctrine. I am not running for the second highest position in American politics, but I can tell you more about world history and the current issues than Sarah Palin.

The emergence of Sarah Palin to the mainstream American political arena has created a very interesting diversion from the two presidential candidates in the race, which for media and entertainment purposes may be a blessing. Barring any remarkable ongoings in the days leading up to the election the existence of Sarah Palin will be the one persistent memory we have of the 08′ elections. In 1992 it was the emergence of a short, jabbering Texan presidential candidate named Ross Perot. In 1988 it was Dan Quayle instructing a small boy to spell potato with an ‘e’ at the end during a spelling bee photo op. This year it is Sarah Palin and her deer-skinning humor and sugar-coated charm.

Sarah Palin has her admirable points.  She’s popular enough to win the governorship of Alaska and she’s certainly a capable mother and markswoman.   But then, through all the American flag bunting and the sugary “you betcha”s we get that sobering reminder that Sarah Palin could be the leader of our country in a short while.  That is scary on many fronts.

Sarah Palin is remarkably unfit to run our country.  Her knowledge of the issues, beyond what she is spoon fed at cram sessions with McCain’s people prior to public speaking events, is laughable.  She uses the desolate far eastern coast of Russia and its proximity to Alaska as her international affairs experience, which at the height of the Red Scare might have made a nervous Joe McCarthy perhaps raise an eyebrow, but then again in his warped mind the Boston Red Sox were a undercover Communist institution disguised as a hapless baseball team.

Palin emerged in Minneapolis for the Republican convention and sounded fairly articulate and energized the fledgling Republicans.  She spoke about bulldogs and lipstick and the need for change in the person of John McCain.  During the debates she sounded like a person who was carefully instructed to dodge the questions and instead perform a diatribe on the issue that the question entailed.  It reminded me of someone who was told to “remember your health care speech. Now when it comes time for energy here’s what you say…”  She doesn’t know the issues and she’s new to the game so that is what you do.  Fair enough.  We have witnessed that before.

Now, as for one on one interviews that she has done, the true Sarah Palin and her vast insufficient knowledge of the global affairs was on display.  You can say that the interviews were liberal media attacks all you want but interviews are also far more genuine conversation in which you do not have a script to recall or henchmen telling you what to say, as in speeches and debates.  You are on your own, answering questions to the best of your ability.  Governor Palin’s performance genuinely answering questions only highlights her complete lack of knowledge about some of the most imoortant issues in our country and around the globe.

What is so aggressive or out of line about asking someone about their foreign affairs record?  Then, when that person make up vague and seemingly baseless connections about Alaskan-Russian affairs and the host asks her for specifics–is that attacking?  Is it too offensive to ask a vice presidential candidate who nobody south of Ketchikan has ever heard of where she gets her national and global affairs information?  And then when this vice presidential hopeful cannot name one newspaper that she reads for her information and then revises her answer to “all of them”, perhaps the interviewer wants some clarification–is that too aggressive?  Wow, all of them?  Really?  So, that means they ship up to Alaska the Omaha Reader and The Oklahoman?

Now, people will say that you don’t need to be able to name one newspaper that they read to be a leader.  You can say that someone doesn’t need to be able to list more than only one supreme court case that they do not agree with.  You can argue (I suppose) that to be president or vice president that you do not need to know the basic tenets of the doctrine of the previous president.  But it is now blatantly obvious to people who want a well informed leader who has a sound concept of national and global affairs that Sarah Palin, down home cooking and all, is thoroughly ill qualified for the vice president position.

STATE DEEMS PLAYGROUND AT RUMFORD DAYCARE “PRETTY MUCH WAY TOO DANGEROUS”

The daycare will also be scrapping it’s Get-Free-Scratch-Ticket-For-Each-Child program as well as it’s popular but controversial Kiddie Kasino.

The Dinner Guest

The other night I walked into the wood stove room (pictured above) to find one of the kittens eating dinner along side a skunk. The skunk came in through the cat door and started eating the cat food. Somehow the thing didn’t spray which would have caused me to sell or burn my house down. After taking photos of the skunk Amity took our aerosol air horn (usually used for kitten discipline) and blasted our visitor until it got annoyed and waddled outside.

Luckily, cats and skunks are soul brothers of sorts and after some curious sniffing they settled into a nice dinner. My friend Owen used to live with me along with his two dogs, one a rambunctious Lab/Dane mix and that would have spelled disaster in this case.

The air horn is a very loud but effective kitty trainer. Initially, they freeze wide-eyed and then run around the kitchen like wild, depraved maniacs. But, they stay off the counter.  The skunk reacted with surprising calmness. He finished chewing his mouthful and slowly headed for the door and out into the night. Lessons learned: skunks will come in through cat doors and air horns, for a plethora of reasons are awesome.

COMMON GROUND FAIR: Fun From Nader All The Way to Reagan

It was a great day. A sunny Saturday with warm, pleasant air and to top it off we had secured use of the parents minivan to make the trip over to Unity for the annual Common Ground Fair. Possibly my favorite Maine event (besides of course demolition derby), the Common Ground Country Fair is an organic, community organized event that draws Maine farmers, crafts-people, artisans, and assorted vendors to a rural setting for a three day celebration of what makes our state awesome. Call it the Anti-Strip Mall Fair. Sorry, New Jersey and Massachusetts and Connecticut, but this just isn’t your kind of party.

In my opinion, the best part of the fair is how each year the fair offers a cross section of the state’s population from ultra-liberal to far right and everyone is smiling. The only thing that would make it a more all encompassing representation of the people of Maine would be to create an organic race track for racing  enthusiasts (which would require a beer tent to both lure and keep them there). You could also make a case that lobstering is not represented, but given the centralized location far from the coast that would take some careful and possibly heroic planning.

The fair has the reputation of being a hippie event because the theme is sustainable living and leading an organic existence, but each year there there’s enough BUSH/CHENEY stickers in the parking lot to necessitate the use more than two hands full of fingers to count them. There’s a strong showing of down home country conservatism present as well as green liberals. It is a great example of how Maine is a violet state politically; sometimes red-violet sometimes more blue-violet.

I found this pumpkin on a bale of hay across the path from the Obama pumpkin.  Right next to the McCain pumpkin was a smaller, less intelligent pumpkin who knows alarmingly little about the issues named “Palin”.

Amity and I, our friends Dids, Amanda, and Owen piled into the minivan and marveled at its creature comforts. We laughed at how as teenagers we thought of minivans as dorky, grocery getters that we wouldn’t want to be seen driving. Then conversation turned to what our mood would have been like had we stuffed five of us into one of our cars for the hour long ride. In the van we had leather seats, solid music, and plenty of space.  The van was also equipped with gadgets and dazzling lights and automatic functions that made the vehicle seem as though it were suppose to take off into flight if we pushed it over 65. Maybe I am getting older because I now feel that minivans are both excellent and fun.

(To be fair, I already kind of knew that from my teenage years. We made several trips to concerts in minivans and had a great time each trip.  The major difference is now I don’t pretend that vans are dorky even while using them. Now I am proud to be driving a minivan full of friends–maybe I am stepping out of some vehicular closet.)

Every year it is the same, and every year it is different, which I think makes for a great fair. It is the same scene, but each year brings different experiences, new art, different food, new vintage tractors, more animals and so on. There are 5 elements of the fair that I really get into and this is a small part of the whole, i realize, but these are items five that I enjoy the most:

1. THE FOOD: I would dare to say that anyone who does not list food as number one on their Common Ground Fair Awesomeness List is not being totally honest with themselves and others. Just like any fair in Maine the fair is rife with food vendors, but here the food is organic and diverse.  Among the countries I visited food-wise at the fair were Greece, India, and Jamaica if you count the Rasta Juice people as Jamaican (and for the sake of this blog, I will). I allocate about 80-85% of my Common Ground Fair funds to food each visit.

A smoothie from the Rasta Juice People is a treat on a sunny day.  They manage to squeeze $9.50 worth of fruit and ice into an 8 oz. plastic cup.   Amazing.

2. THE ART: Naturally, I like to stroll through the art tent.  The Maine artists present in the big white art tent are very diverse in terms of products with jewelry, photography, pottery, and textiles.  It tends to be mostly out of my price range (I always seem to go there after the Rasta Juice stand), but there are some artists that offer a nice range of pieces.

The art of Blue Moon Clay Carvers tends to draw me in each year, in part because they are good friends of mine but also because the art is very original and well-rendered.  The owners, Roger and Sue Bisaillon run a steady business throughout the weekend with their unique, never-dull clay sculptures.  They show their work over New England and New York and have just opened a new and improved gallery near Farmington.  I generally check out their booth last because after visiting them the rest of the pottery seems a bit dull in comparison.  It’s kind of like going on the biggest, fastest roller coaster first at a theme park–the rest of the day all the other rides just won’t do it for you.

3.  THE ANIMALS: There might not be a Zipper or a Gravitron (sadly) like at Farmington Fair, but they have animals in good amount.  It is cool to walk through the various barns and stalls full of animals lounging and biding their time until they are corralled into big trucks and brought home.  It has never been a desire of mine to own farm animals but I do admire those who do and they are fun to watch and are good subjects for photographs.

Wait til’ next year!

“Nah, Ol’ Bessie never attacks.  Just don’t eva’ reach through the pen and startle her.”

A local farmer picks up two points for this hold during the sheep wrestling exhibit.

4.  THE THINGS THAT GROW OUT OF DIRT: Fruits.  Vegetables.  Plants.  Another facet of the fair that helps the wallet lose weight are all the great organic vendors.  Each year I buy a chili pepper plant from the fair, partly because I like spicy food and partly because I can’t resist how cool they look.

My other favorite organic stand is the people selling banzai trees.  Imagine a tent full of little trees you’d see in a Dr. Seuss book.  There were dozens of trees, each with its own base consisting of a garden of dirt and rocks that made the while thing look like a miniature version of bigger trees out in nature.  Seeing them, I imagined myself shrunken down hanging out in the tree and the rocks.  And it was then that I came to the realization that if I bought one of these trees it could not be in any room that I expected to get any work done.

5.  THE PEOPLE: As stated earlier, the crowd is what makes this fair so special.  People come from all corners of Maine for this weekend.  People watching is never a boring activity at the Common Ground Fair:

A local farmer hones his bongo drumming skills before the community drum circle.

The Bush/Cheney crowd was steadily entertained by the “Whack Things with Big Hammers” exhibit.

Owen and Amanda, a friend of theirs, and Jerry Garcia talk about how being a hippie is way different nowadays.

We left the fair, not seeing everything of course, but feeling fulfilled nonetheless.  It was time to pile back into the minivan for the afternoon flight back home.  We were even treated to this moment of Zen as we waited in traffic on our way out of the fair: