Serious Pandering

Senator John McCain, of all people, should know better than to say something like this. From an article on the The Hill.

It would have been a serious mistake to have read the suspect in the attempted Times Square car bombing his Miranda rights, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday.

McCain, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a longtime leading Republican on national security issues, said he expected the suspect in the case could face charges that might warrant a death sentence if convicted.

"Obviously that would be a serious mistake...at least until we find out as much information we have," McCain said during an appearance on "Imus in the Morning" when asked whether the suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan.

"Don't give this guy his Miranda rights until we find out what it's all about," McCain added during an appearance on the Imus show, which is broadcast by the Fox Business Network.

Having personally suffered at the hands of a country that set the rule book aside, you'd think his belief in protecting rights would supercede his desire to get re-elected. You'd think.

Happy Independence Day

It turns out Rhode Island--actual official name is The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations--was the first of the original colonies to declare its independence from British rule (May 4, 1776) and the last to ratify the U.S. Constitution. What did I do to celebrate? I spent the day listening to various presenters read their Powerpoint slides to me.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And I went for a run and had a beer with dinner.

I'm at a hotel next door to the state capitol building. Atop the fourth-largest self standing dome is the statue of Independant Man. Cool!

A Fun Place In St Louis

The St Louis City Museum got a writeup in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, mainly about the lawsuits stemming from injuries incurred within.

"We like to be the devil's advocate for society," says Bob Cassilly, the museum's 60-year-old founder, a self-described "idiot savant" with wild gray hair. "When you have millions of people do something, something's going to happen no matter what you do."

The City Museum, housed in 10-story brick building, shows none of the restraint or quiet typical of museums. A cross between a playground and a theme park, it recycles St. Louis' industrial past into such attractions as slides made from assembly-line rollers. Just about everything can be touched or climbed, including dozens of Mr. Cassilly's sculptures, among them a walk-through whale on the first floor.

Despite the whiff of danger, or perhaps because of it, the City Museum is one of St. Louis's most popular attractions. Its 700,000 annual attendance is roughly twice the population of St. Louis and dwarfs the turnout at refined destinations such as the St. Louis Art Museum.

We've been there twice and it's a blast for kids and for grownups who remain kids at heart. So, yes, I had fun. It's definitely a place to go to if you're ever in St Louis. There's a hint of danger as well, but it wouldn't be fun without it.

Barefoot Running - Final Post

A little over a year ago I made my first post about barefoot running. The title was "Sorry Runner's Soul", insinuating I'll never buy running shoes again. Since then I've posted quite a bit about my barefoot running experiences. And today this experiment culminated with my running Bloomsday sans shoes with a goal of finishing under sixty minutes.

I wore my aqua sox to the start and put them away just before it was our time was go. Kathy and I were in the yellow group but we got there quite late so we were in the back of the pack. Consequently, the first three miles were very crowded making it difficult for me to be on pace. The first mile took 8:15. I didn't see the second mile marker. At three miles I was at 25:05. Well, I needed to be at 24:00 if I was going to keep an 8-minute-mile pace. I did not like the idea of making up time so I stopped looking at my watch and focused on running the entire race with my aqua sox staying in my fanny pack. The crowding eased up and I just relaxed and ran.

Since my longest distance to date was 5 miles, I knew my feet would be pretty sore at the end of 7.46. Here's a tip. Run on the center lines. The painted stripes are smoother than the pavement. After reaching the five mile marker at the top of Doomsday Hill I checked my watch and saw I did miles four and five in 16 minutes. Nice!

Pressing on through the West Central neighborhood I was feeling very relaxed. And then turning onto Broadway I entered hell. The surface of that road is absolutely the worst I have ever run on. The parking stripes and center lines helped, but it was a very painful mile. The dash down Monroe was a breeze and it felt good to open up and fly downhill. Crossing the finish line my watch said 1:00:00.39. Boy was I surprised. But I'll find out for sure when the official time is released.


As you would expect, a number of people reacted to seeing me running barefoot. All comments were positive. A couple people even chatted with me about it. The best quote came after I passed two guys just before hitting Meenach Bridge:

Guy 1: "Hey, that guy's not wearing any shoes."

Guy 2: "Yeah. And he's kicking your ass."

Too funny. I have to admit that my soles are sore. That's a long way to run barefoot. But in the plus column, I didn't get a single blister.

Anyway, the experiment is over and I'm done posting about barefoot running. I'm not buying any more running shoes, but I'm sure other customers will take up the slack for me. I'll either be barefoot or wearing minimal shoes like aqua sox because it works for me. But most importantly, it makes running fun for me. Fun is a necessary ingredient in life.

*** Update ***

Bad sign. This morning I can look up everyone's results--except mine.

Congrats To The Mead Track Teams

Both the boys and the girls teams won in the Centennial Invitational held at Centennial High School in Gresham, Oregon yesterday.

      Men - Team Rankings - 15 Events Scored
============================================================
    1) Mead                        84     
    2) Barlow                      52   
    3) Skyview                     42    
    4) Gresham                     36   
    5) Benson                      31     
    6) South Salem                 29   
    7) Henry Jackson               26    
    8) Jesuit                      24   
    9) Aloha                       21    
    10) Putnam                     17.50

    Women - Team Rankings - 16 Events Scored
=============================================================
    1) Mead                        59    
    2) South Salem                 43   
    2) Benson                      43     
    4) Skyview                     32   
    4) Lake Oswego                 32     
    4) Heritage                    32   
    7) Centennial                  30.50  
    8) Sunset                      27   
    8) Mountain View               27    
    10) West Linn                  25.50

Josh has been on fire. On Thursday he set a PR in the 1600 at 4:24, taking eight seconds off his best time. Yesterday he set a PR in the 1500 at a pace that equates to roughly 4:19 in the 1600.

Event 4  Boys 1500 Meter Run
         
    Name             Year School         Finals 
==========================================================
  1 Daniel Winn      12 Cleveland        4:01.70  
  2 Chase Horrocks   12 Skyview          4:03.22  
  3 Josh Greer       12 Mead             4:03.43  

Tea Party Bait

Cathy McMorris Rodgers doesn't want the International Monetary Fund to help Greece during its severely depressed financial status. More specifically, she doesn't want America's contribution to the IMF to be used.

As the Greek Debt Crisis continues, President Obama needs to stand firm: American tax dollars should not be used to bail out Greece – or any country – that engages in reckless government spending and deficits. And yet, a bailout paid for by U.S. taxpayers remains a real possibility.

Sorry, they embed a commercial before you can watch the interview.
I've never watched the Kudlow Report before, but everything this guy said played right into our congresswoman's position. First of all, much of what they go on about is conjecture. All the "could be's" and "may very well be's" and adding on that "obviously we'll be asked to bail out Spain and Portugal" make it sound like we're already halfway down the abyss.

I especially love how McMorris Rodgers blames Europe's financial situation on "generous social programs" followed immediately by Kudlow's characterization of "that crazy European entitlement state that has completely broken down". As if we're a model for spending our money wisely by invading a country that posed no threat.

Kudlow and McMorris Rodgers admit they don't know what numbers are involved--anywhere from $20 billion to $150 billion to $160 billion--but doesn't stop them from trying to create a controversy using "bail out" and "taxpayer" keywords.

The description of this report, "Discussing the taxpayer revolt against the IMF bailout, with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers" says it all. There is no taxpayer revolt, but she's working on creating one.

There will be more. After all, it is an election year.