July 01, 2003

Dean, sports, and feline harrassment

After Natalie's comment on her contribution
to Howard Dean's campaign, I was curious and checked out his href="http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=about_issues">campaig
n website
.

Wow.

I am very impressed with his
background and almost all of his positions. (I'm a little ambivalent on his
universal health care, because I don't like the idea of the government running
health care, but I haven't read the details yet. And I am willing to believe that
a physician has more insight than I do about how to run a healthcare system. Other
than that, though: Balanced budget? Check. Pro-choice? Check. Equal rights and
opportunities for all? Check. Strongly supporting individual liberties and
opposing the what I now think of as the Ashcroft/Umbridge crackdowns? Check. Gay
rights even including immigration freedoms (an issue no one who has read href="http://conspicuous.diaryland.com">Caroline or href="http://dashenka.diaryland.com">Enka in the past few years can ignore)?
Check. Cpatial punishment in extreme cases but only if applied fairly? Check. And
he has a background to support it as governor of Vermont, he cut state taxes and
even sales taxes, so when he talks about rescinding Bush's "irresponsible tax
cuts" I don't hear echoes of "tax and spend".

Caveat: All of the
above is from the Dean website. Before I spend any money or a vote on him, I will
be watching to see whether independent sources corroborate all of this. And I am
sure managing a country as diverse as this one is a far harder challenge than a
small state with a tradition of civic participation and
education.


We're into the worst workout season now,
the one where you can work up a sweat even at a light and easy paddle. And it will
get worse as the humidity increases, once monsoon season starts. After the next
race, I think I will take a week of from working out. And while I'm off work this
week, I may try to investigate other sports in which the irremediable aspscts of
my body size won't be a major handicap. (I can build muscle but not height.) So
far I'm thinking ballet, yoga, or martial arts. I'm too old for gymnastics, too
sensible to undertake a body-builder's diet, and too crabby to do the fake-smile
bit in those quasi-gymnastic fitness competition thingies.

And I'm
also going to end here because it's too hard to type with a cat sitting on my
mouse, lapping over onto the edge of the keyboard, and hanging his chin onto my
elbow.

Posted by dichroic at July 1, 2003 08:50 AM
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?