Hawaii

Market tanks, dumb and dumber running for the top office in the country, family medical problems... can't take it right now so I thought I would post something to lighten the mood (well, my mood anyway).

The first hotel, Ala Moana. BEAUTIFUL property. Our room was an ocean view on the 28th floor:


It was wonderful... my beau literally took me. I didn't pay for air, hotel, sights... first time in my adult life this happened and he hit a home run (and raised the bar for my turn).

One of the first places he took me was someplace I always wanted to see, the USS Arizona Memorial:




Our activites included climbing Diamond Head (even have a certificate to prove it * grin *). This is a shot from the top of the mount looking back towards the hotel area:



We changed hotels to the Waikiki Grand Hotel literally across the street from the beach. This was a cool little hotel, recently remodeled and we got a nice little suite with again an ocean view. Here is the view from across the street from the hotel:



This place was really the "surfer side" of the hotel strip:



After the move we spent a day at the north shore. Here I am during our hike of Waimea Valley Park headed to the water fall:



Then there was the day we spent snorkling and relaxing at Hanauma Bay. This is a pick from the trail leading down to the beach area:



The time with my beau was magical, near perfect and far too short. But God willing we'll back back.

Aloha!

Obama Is Just Another Politician

I am still amazed at the people who seem to view Senator Obama as the second coming of the Messiah (though at the Democratic National Convention he looked more like Apollo with that silly backdrop). With all the financial mess going on what does Obama do? He distorts McCain's record and McCain's words on the matter. Since he has little to no record of his own to tout he twists what McCain says to try to make himself look better and play off the fears of the masses. On a recent speech (the one thing that Obama has proven capable of doing) in New Mexico he says of McCain:

He has consistently opposed the sorts of common-sense regulations that might have lessened the current crisis. When I was warning about the danger ahead on Wall Street months ago because of the lack of oversight, Senator McCain was telling the Wall Street Journal — and I quote — 'I'm always for less regulation.'

What McCain actually said was:

I'm always for less regulation. But I am aware of the view that there is a need for government oversight. I think we found this in the subprime lending crisis — that there are people that game the system and if not outright broke the law, they certainly engaged in unethical conduct which made this problem worse. So I do believe that there is role for oversight... I'd like to see a lot of the unnecessary government regulations eliminated, not just a moratorium.

Compare the two... Obama comes off like a typical, old-time, slandering, word-twisting politician (which he is). Now McCain's people aren't really any better when it comes to Obama's words or record (what there is of it), but McCain's isn't setting himself up like Obama. When it comes to the two, Obama was the one who set himself up to the higher standard... and he is the one who falls hardest into the mud.

Speaking in Florida, Obama the fearmonger also said that the drop the market experienced recently would have affected the retirement benefits of today's retirees. Absolute nonsense. The private account plan suggested by President Bush and backed by McCain would not have applied to anyone born before 1950 which, if my math is right, wouldn't even touch those taking early retirement at age 62 this year! Let's ignore the fact that the entire thing is voluntary, Obama is just flat out lying about its impact to the good folks in Florida.

Again, this does not sound like a new type of politician. I'm almost as old as Obama and it sounds like the same type of crap I hear every four years so I am curious just why Obama thinks he is different.

Back in San Diego

Just a brief note to say we're back. Once I have rested up I'll give you the skinny on the trip.

Hawaii - First Full Day

Agenda:

Visit Pearl Harbor Memorial

Hike Diamond Head

Spend time on Waikiki Beach

Continue search for best Mai Tai in Hawaii

Details to come later...

Another "Funny But True" Cartoon

Taking My Father's Advice

When it comes to politics I tend to think like my father... that lawyers should not be allowed into politics. I find it interesting that the top of the Democrat ticket has two lawyers and the top of the Republican ticket has no lawyers. Hmmmm...

Mayor Versus Community Organizer

So much has been made about Governor Palin's jib at Obama's experience that I thought I would take a few moments to address it. Just for the record, she said the following in her acceptance speech:

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

I have a few questions about the left's reaction to the statement:

First, what is wrong with it? As a mayor you do have stated, defined responsibilities in your city charter. You have a constituency that put you there, people have real needs that they expect you as the figurehead of local government to do something about their problems, keep the city safe, etc. What about a community organizer? Obama doesn't really tell us much about it other than the fact that he was one. What he does tell us is the following:

Despite some meaningful victories, the work of Obama--and hundreds of other organizers--did not transform the South Side or restore lost industries. But it did change the young man who became the junior senator from Illinois in 2004, and it provides clues to his worldview as he bids for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I can't say we didn't make mistakes, that I knew what I was doing," Obama recalled three years ago to a boisterous convention of the still-active DCP. "Sometimes I called a meeting, and nobody showed up. Sometimes preachers said, 'Why should I listen to you?' Sometimes we tried to hold politicians accountable, and they didn't show up. I couldn't tell whether I got more out of it than this neighborhood."

This quote can be found in an Obama-friendly article from The Nation. Not much else seems to be found out about his community organizer works other than the fact that Obama comes from the Saul Alinksky school of community and labor organization. If you have read his "Rules For Radicals" book and have any knowledge of how community organizers often (though admittedly not always) worked you wouldn't find much to quibble with over Giuliani's statement either.

Being a community organizer is nothing to be ashamed of and rallying people to a common cause and purpose can be a great thing to accomplish in one's life, but I still don't understand why people were upset at Palin's comparison.

Second, the Democrats seems to say that McCain's call for people to community service as a contradiction to what they heard from Palin and Giuliani. Well, if you are honest and look at the list of things McCain said about becoming involved in your community (be a teacher, a fireman, a minister, a nurse or doctor, etc) there are differences. Just stop and think about what a community organizer does and what the duties (often defined and measured) of those jobs are. They are not gender specific, they are not race specific, they are not politically inclined, they are hired often for defined skill sets, they have to meet goals and requirements (usually). How does that compare with the activities of a "community organizer"? And let us not overlook the fact that Palin herself can be considered a "community organizer" as she was head of the local PTA. I haven't heard much of that time from her, but I wonder if her activities as a "community organizer" were more successful that Obama's self-admitted mixed record was, which leads me to my next question...

Third, OK, so she was the mayor of a small town and he was a "community organizer". I don't really care so much as to what they did but more interested in who was effective at doing their job. Obama's own words in the Nation article seem to indicate mixed results at best and we don't have any firm details on what he accomplished. Even the New York Times (in a mixed review of Palin's Mayoral tenure) stated:

In Wasilla, Ms. Palin is widely praised for following through on campaign promises by cutting property taxes while improving roads and sewers and strengthening the Police Department... She is largely viewed as having had her hometown’s best interests at heart when she pursued big projects or an overhaul of city taxes. By the time she ran for re-election in 1999 — again facing Mr. Stein — things had smoothed out. She was returned to office by a large margin, 826 votes to 255.

Granted there were headaches, many of them caused by the fact that she ran against the "old boys'" network and some of the due to her heartfelt conservatism and even a few I would question, but overall she seemed to accomplish what she set out to do and the overall view of her in her town seems to be quite positive.

So again I don't understand the problem, but even Obama seems to take this as a thorn in his side. In a recent interview with Anderson Cooper Obama still seems to consider her only experience as that of a mayor:

“My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wassilla, has I think 50 employees. We've got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe 12 million dollars a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month,” Obama responded.

What is missing in this response is that Cooper asked about her experience as Governor of Alaska and mayor of Wasilla. I find it rather interesting that Obama ignores her being governor. He mentions bills he sponsored for New Orleans post-Katrina but if you search the actual record you find two he sponsored, four he co-sponsored with about a 50% success rate of passing. Not the greatest of accomplishments but he can be credited with trying, but for someone who claims the ability to work in a bipartisan manner this is not the greatest track record. He seems to be trying to compare every facet of his political career with that of Palin's time as mayor. What was his budget and staff during his "community organizer" years since that is the latest comparison with the second on the GOP ticket?

Honestly, I think Obama and Biden need to tread very carefully here. Palin may not have a fat resume but she does have some very strong positive accomplishments. Also Obama is so focused on Palin that he is leaving himself open to McCain. As former President Bill Clinton asked... suppose you have two candidates, one whom you only agree with half the time but they can deliver on those things and one you agree with all the time but you don't think they can deliver on any of them... whom would you vote for? But of course, he wasn't talking about this :-)

McCain Ad Foreshadows My Next Post

Sorry, been busy the last couple of days with work, homework, and taking my next wine certification exam so nothing remotely original at this point, but this ad gives you a thumbnail sketch of what I will be writing about in the next couple of posts.

Not Laboring On Labor Day

What started out not so great turned out to be a fine weekend. Though my beau and I were separated in the early part, we were able to spend Sunday and Monday together. Sunday we met with our friend Sarah and headed to the Del Mar Racetrack (Sarah had purchased tickets through the UC-San Diego Retirement Association) and we spent about 4 hours having fun losing money (seems that we had to balance last year's winnings, but since none of us are big betters the losses were small). It was fun just spending time with a friend and getting caught up on life's events. We continued the camaraderie by heading to dinner and sharing more talks and laughs over pasta and Chianti. Monday was slow and lazy... sleep in late (almost 8 AM!), walk down to Shade's for breakfast, take in an early movie, and just be together. Spending such time with the one you love makes the reality of having to part all the more difficult, yet it fires the anticipation of our next time together.