What I want to see in the next four years

Expectations of Barack Obama are outrageously high. And he has inherited the odd mess from his predecessor. Some quick thoughts of things I want him to do.

• Fight earmarks and pork in congress. I'm really worried about this one, and I expect Obama to utterly fail here.
• Leave in a responsible fashion from Iraq. And continue to support their government as needed. We shouldn't repeat the mistakes of our exits from Iran and Vietnam.
• Beef up NASA and/or provide more incentives for the commercial exploration of space. The US space budget is an embarrassing pittance and that needs to change.
• Push alternatives to oil and coal. That does not include use of Ethanol (fertilizer and third world destruction of jungles will soar) but rather methods like solar, wind, and even safe nuclear.
• Cut back on the military in the right way. There are any number of really pricey programs over budget that are already obsolescent. For example, why are we still dumping money into the manned JSF when UAVs are clearly the way to go?!?
• Put money into Education, and make damned sure the money goes to teacher salaries.
• Find a way to get colleges/universities to drop their increasing rates of tuition.
  

Barack Obama versus John McCain

Lets get down to it, a real comparison between Barack Obama and John McCain. A physical comparison!

Last election year (2004) I called the election by comparing Bush and Kerry, and Bush won out because he was an avid exerciser, lifting weights, running, and cycling. Both lost out to Putin, who because of his Judo and Sambo skills could kick both their butts, and so will remain in charge of Russia forever.

John McCain starts out strong. He served for over 20 years in the US Navy as a combat pilot, being wounded several times and surviving as a prisoner of war. He's got a temper that probably lets him clobber anyone in his path. Unfortunately for this candidate he's 72 years old and therein lies his weakness. So I'll give him the edge in combat experience and willingness to follow through on a proper beatdown, but take him to task on his ability to take punishment and last the distance.

Barack Obama has seen no violence outside that of being a politician from the Chicago area. He does seem fit and trim, and supposedly stays that way through a combination of diet and playing basketball. His lack of combat skills and experience hurt him. So I'll give him the physical edge especially with his youth, but take him to task for his ability to really hurt his opponent.

Again Vladimir Putin of Russia wins on his Judo and Sambo skills, and the plain fact that Vladimir is a cool name. Maybe he should get into American politics?

Hu Jintao of China? Well, he excelled in dancing during high school. He stays trim somehow, but its unclear what his methods might be. He is a completely unknown contender, but his slightly awkward posture suggests no relevant physical skills.

Pesach and tradition

My family calls it Passover, which is odd for us Jews. But as my Uncle Jeff put it so well, 'Our family tradition is a tradition of breaking traditions.' This certainly sums up things about my family when it comes to certain traditional things.

On the other side of things, my family, when it comes to politics and culture, is very traditional when it comes to being involved in the fundamentals of enlightened society. We have a 60+ year tradition of being involved in civil rights, advocating for peace, and trying to be the nice guy. Nice tradition, eh?

On the other hand, being a Libertarian one thing that grates on me when it comes to the socially progressive is how traditionally patronistic they can be to race X or culture Y or religion Z. For example, recently I was annoyed when someone I know advocated for protesting against over consumption of gasoline, except for Hispanic people. His excuse was that to them overly large vehicles were a sign of 'making it'. To me, this is bigotry, albeit not motivated by malice but rather subtle contempt. Hispanic people are more than able to educate themselves, work great jobs, and have the same successes and failures as the rest of us.

Fortunately, I can't imagine my family getting involved in this sort of crap. They offer equal opportunity to everyone regardless of race, religion, creed, or sexual preference. As far as I understand it, a helping hand is given during youth or in emergencies but then people need to stand on their own.

So Pesach was a blast. I met my cousin's little boy (18 months), reconnected with family, ate great food, enjoyed a beautiful day, and felt thanks for another year of being a Jew in a relatively free country.

Jave, may you rest in peace. We miss you little guy

Memorial Mass for my Uncle

Yesterday I went with my father to a memorial mass at Georgetown University in order to pick up my Uncle Alex's ashes (he'll be interned in Arlington Cemetary in June in a funeral done in the traditional Jewish manner). My uncle had his body used in anatomy classes for medical students. My uncle was very much a teacher and wanted to keep teaching even when his life ended.

I barely knew my uncle. By the time I could understand what he did for a living, I was the black sheep of the family. By the time I repaired my family relationships, I was getting married and had a kid. I'm still not good at doing the whole family (or friend) thing, so I never talked with him or spent much time with him until he died.

So today I asked my Dad a bunch of questions about my Uncle Alex. He was appointed the Delaware US Attorney by JFK. He worked for the New York Times as a libel attorney and checked their sources. He worked for US News and World Report as the same job. He taught law at Duke and Columbia and UMCP. He also consulted to authors for non-fiction books to protect them from possible litigation.

During my uncle's tenure at both news sources, neither paper was in trouble for slander or libel issues. Considering the issues caused by the Jayson Blair scandal of 2003 and the recent questionable and near sourceless article about John McCain, my guess is that the NYT could use a principled resource like my Uncle Alex right about now. When even McCain's opposition camp (Barack's team) calls foul, you wonder where the NYT has gone. Maybe to the same level as the Enquirer?

In any case, I realized I share a few traits with my late Uncle Alex. When I do a white paper or any kind of research I am fanatical about correct sourcing and dead-on accuracy. I wish I was like that in the rest of my life, this insistence on truth, but I'll take whatever positive attribute I can find.