Farewell to a Statesman

Senator Ted Stevens, 86, of Alaska, was killed in a plane crash in southwestern Alaska last night.

In a way, I'm speechless. He was the type of man I expected to live forever. He served in the US Senate from 1968 until 2008 when a very public fraud trial forced his loss in the senate election. He was convicted, but the conviction was later vacated because of prosecutorial misconduct, whatever that means.

Senator Stevens was in a plane crash before, in 1978. His first wife Ann died in that crash. Even before that, he expressed the belief that he would some day die in a plane crash.

For those who grew up being represented by this Senator, it is no surprise that he cheated a slow, pedestrian death. He lived his life in big Alaskan fashion, and he died that way, too.

A Lot of Hot Air

Our government has had some stupid ideas over the years, but this one might top them all.

The EPA has proposed a cow tax on the notoriously flatulent beasts because of their carbon emissions. Are they kidding?

Are cows causing global warming?

I can just imagine where this could lead. You start taxing cows and you kills the dairy industry and the beef industry. Those food production projects go overseas, like to China, where safety regulations are much less strict.

If all the cows go to China, do they emit less carbon? Do Chinese cows have fewer digestive problems?

Is it just me, or would said cows still be emitting carbon into the air, only on the other side of the world? And what of the fossil fuels we'd be burning to import our beef and milk and cheese?

I know we have a lot of things to worry about, but I honestly don't see how taxing cow farts and burps makes us better off as a country or as a global society.

Strike Out!

You've probably heard by now. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has conceded the race. With the highest seniority among Republican senators, Stevens was and is a mainstay in Alaskan politics. Honestly, I can't imagine him not being in Washington D.C.

I predicted he'd be acquitted of fraud charges.

He was convicted.

I thought he'd step down from running for reelection.

He ran.

I said he'd be reelected.

He wasn't.

A swing and a miss. A prophet I am not.

Just as well. The senate was set to kick him out if he was reelected. Rough week for him. Happy birthday, anyway, Senator Stevens.

What are You Doing Tonight?

*artwork by B and J

Pride Cometh

Ted Stevens, republican Senator from Alaska, has been in office my whole life. He was already a senior Senate member when I met him in 1985. This week, he may take the stand in his own defense in his trial over corruption charges. He's up for election next month. I'm predicting he'll be acquitted and re-elected. It'll be interesting...

This one you might not know. He's Frank Murkowski, junior senator from Alaska at the time (1986). He's probably best known right now for being the republican governor that was beaten in Alaska's most recent election by Sarah Palin.

And this one... I'm tempted to let you guess. Here's a hint - this photo was taken BEFORE another famous picture of him in May 1987.

Mea Culpa and the Comeback Kids

I promise you I am not going to turn political, but as I make observations on the news, politics has to creep in once in a while, especially during an election year. Here are a handful of observations from the New Hampshire primaries:

1. Despite all the polls, the pundits, the media, the commentators, it's the American public that gets to elect a president.

2. Both John McCain and Hillary Clinton referred to their "comeback." Is the election already decided? I thought we were at the beginning of the race, not in the sprint to the finish line.

3. I appreciated Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News owning up to making wrong predictions. Here's what he said on his blog.

We in the media will beat ourselves (and deservedly so) for reaching conclusions before the voters have spoken. A further prediction? Give us a few weeks — we will promptly forget the lessons of this debacle in polling, predictions and primary politics. We will all live to screw up another day, though our performance in New Hampshire will be hard to beat.

4. I think we're all apt to forget lessons we should have learned long ago. I know I am. Still, I look forward to seeing if the major news outlets can stand to bite their tongues for at least the Michigan primary.

confession is good for the goal

At what point did politicians start assuming that we're all a bunch of blithering idiots? Since when is it okay to make a confession just so you can do whatever you want?

I think it started, this week at least, with the news that Obama had paid off his outstanding parking tickets before announcing his candidacy. Perhaps we all chuckled a bit and thought, what a good idea to clear the slate before someone else finds those pesky parking tickets and brings them up. Better to start things off clean than to be outed and embarrassed on down the line. Because, of course, presidents can be made or broken by one mistake or one wrong word.

(Take, for example, Senator Joe Biden, who killed his candidacy the first day with these words: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man.")

Parking tickets are one thing, but Newt Gingrich? That's a whole 'nother story. It's not the fact that he's had affairs. Lots of politicians (and for that matter, lots of ordinary folks) have. It's not even that he was having an affair while pursuing Bill Clinton's impeachment for having an affair and lying about it.

No, for me, the idiocy of Gingrich's plan lies in his assumption that the public has a short memory. If Obama can pay off his parking tickets and remain a political rock star, why can't Gingrich confess a few little things, clean the slate of past mistakes, and return to his old Man Of The Year status?

Does he think we can't discern the motives for his confession? Is there any way he would have confessed if he wasn't testing the waters for his chances for presidency? Are we ready for a year and a half of campaign promises and muddy waters?

Oh, but I'm sorry. I heard he wasn't running.

"I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen."

Good start.