North Face knock-offs and momos

These are the principle delights of Kathmandu, in my humble opinion. I mean, I could mention the innumerable scooters, motorcycles and dirt bikes that whiz through every street, sidewalk, and alleyway around and have nearly de-nose-itated me a few times already, or the crash course in buddhism that i'm receiving, but that's just not fun.

However, if you wander down the streets of the Thamel district, as I've done for the last 2 nights, you can find the retail outlets for Mountain Hardware, North Face, Vaude, and Marmot. Which is pretty amazing. But you can also see about 1245 small shops selling the fake versions of everything, from sleeping bags to gore-tex gloves, and those fancy Sigg metal water bottles to ice axes. Personally, if my life were depending on an ice axe, I'd want an authentic one.

Luckily, I don't need an axe for this adventure. So, instead, I bought some Nepali gaiters, and things made from yak wool. Hey - if they stay warm up there, surely I will too.

Up where, you may ask. Well. Let me tell you. The Solo-Khumbu region of Nepal, which is home to Sagarmatha/Chomolungma/Mt. Everest Yup. That's where I'm headed.

But before I go there, I'll eat some more momos. They are mighty tasty.

Born again democracy

Four years ago, with a sentiment that was more anti-Bush rather than pro-Kerry, the democratic party prided itself on its grassroots get out the vote campaign.  It did not work, because the republican movement was stronger. Is it possible that this year, with a republican candidate struggling to distance himself from a wholly unpopular president, an impending recession, increasing unemployment, and the 6th year of a war that was started based upon falsehoods, we have the perfect storm?  

I was listening yesterday to reports of voter fraud around the country, of people being purged from electoral rolls, and of campaigns of mis-information which caused college students to rescind their voter registration.  Has it become necessary for us to invite international observers to our elections?  Has it become time for national ID cards, so that multiple systems of identification are not used, and we can tell the difference between citizens and non-citizens, ex-convicts and others at the polls?  It is ludicrous that discussions around the elections in the United States of America, a world champion of the right to vote, free and fair elections, a free press and racial equality remind me of:

• Voter intimidation in India
  
• Suspended elections in Bangladesh until everyone gets a national ID card
  
• People dipping their thumbs in that purple ink in Iraq so that it is apparent they already voted
• Guttural, irrational fear of black people clouding the judgement of voters in South Africa

Where are we?

If we are champions of democracy, then why do we have such low voter turnout rates? Why do so many people feel disenfranchised, when their forefathers gave their lives for the right to vote?

I do not believe that either of the men on the ballot represent THE great hope for our country. But I do believe that if John McCain is elected, we will have lost our country's greatness. Barack Obama's candidacy has re-invigorated American democracy. Voter registration has shot up, web 2.0 is buzzing with opinions, and people feel invested. They care. And, for a country as apathetic as ours, that is an achievement in and of itself.

The first time I ever wrote an editorial, it was published. 2 weeks ago, angered by the tunnel vision of the White House, I chose to put my money where my mouth is and say something. And I can tell you that I will do it again. Because it made me feel powerful. And that feeling is a formidable motivator. I hope that the Obama presidency (**cross your fingers**) will retain the energy and saavy that his candidacy has had.  I hope that it will allow citizens to feel as though their opinions are heard, and that they matter.

And I hope that I will continue to hope.

And that you will too.

oh. the french.

Ah - les francais.

On sait bien qu'ils sont un peu...eh, beh...un peu comme ca. Mais ce recit est vraiment fou.

Je presente:

L'histoire des gnomes disparu


[don't worry. The article is in english. And it will have you rolling!]

thanks to my office mate for showing me this madness

My friends...and Tommy

My friends - I have been around the block. Many times. I am an old, grizzled veteran. Did I mention that I was in Vietnam? And when I knew Herbert Hoover, I was against his tax increases at the start of the depression. But we forget that the free market system that we know today was unknown in Herbie's time. And that guy, the one who doesn't look like me, he wants to increase your taxes. He voted 84.24 times in his 2.35 years in the US senate for tax increases.

Tommy - I won't go over the time you want me to. I'll just talk to my friends a little longer. I like to make bad jokes about needing hair transplants.

MANDATE: A new bad word that mavericks don't use.

Can someone please explain why Maverick McCain needs to keep telling us that we are great? It kind of sounds like telling a middle schooler who is upset over his bad grades that he really is smart, and that he is just going through a bad time.

ok- after 55 minutes of this nonsense, I can't handle any more. I welcome your comments and cynical remarks.

Dagnabbit!

Soccer moms.
Piano moms.
Football moms.

Stand up and be heard. You are not second class citizens to hockey moms. Your minivan guzzles just as much foreign oil as theirs does. You need energy independence gained from drilling within sight of your beach vacation spots. You need to make sure that when your taxes go down because you are forever stuck in the middle class, you can go out and buy that Hummer on credit, and fill it with fuel that comes from places where the people like us. Gosh darn it. When your husband, Joe Six Pack, complains about the fact that he just doesn't have gas in his tank anymore, you can rest assured that someone is out there, making sure that we are ramping up, heating up, and creating jobs. Bless their hearts, but the evil people over there in "Eye" "Ran" are so busy making Nuc U Lar weaponry that they don't have time to sell us oil. So we just have to roll up our sleeves, pull on our muckrackers, and go north to that energy producing state of Alaska, where climate change is melting the permafrost, making it that much easier to get at the oil underneath.

So it doesn't matter that your children are perfectly healthy.
Don't feel bad that you live in the American heartland, where there is no oil.
Because there is an outsider who wants to come to Washington.
She'll be bringing her first dude, her 5 kids, and her 17 year old daughter's baby daddy with her.
Because she is a maverick.

Doggonit.