Final Thoughts on Boise…

Sitting at the airport waiting to fly out of the dessert, I watch a teen rocker flip through a book and a bearded traveler eat McDonalds. When it comes to airports, once at the gate they all feel the same no matter what size: same obnoxious support beam in the sitting area, same chairs bolted together with never enough armrest, and same tacky carpet with grey patterns behind light blue background.

But that is the airport. Boise is a good town. It holds itself well. The additions of Californians moving in the 1990s have yet to take over. The West is alive out here; without the need to remind you of it every five minutes whether in store name, street sign or souvenir store. It is an authentic Denver. It is Denver maybe thirty years ago.

That is what makes this town fun. It is true to itself. Unlike so many American cities, it does struggle to be what it is not. It does not try to be a competitor to bigger cities; nor does it try to revert to its rural roots.

Not a top tier tourist spot, like Los Angeles or Miami. Not an economic powerhouse like Chicago or New York. Not a political hotbed, like Austin or Boston. It is what it is. And that is just fine with the locals.

Dispatch from the Homefront Issue 1: The First Democratic Debate…

The long march to November 08 continues. The race began months ago moves with force and media attention never seen so early. The Democratic side of the storm settled in on South Carolina State University for the first debate among all eight contenders. Anyone expecting to see a person pull away was greatly disappointed. The time was too short and the rules strict that the gap threat was suppressed no need mention the knock-out personality.

Going in Hillary Clinton was the front-runner. She did little to loose the title and no one stole the crown. Yet, she did little to impress. Her answers were a shining example of talking out of both sides of the mouth. During one response, she both praised and admonished Wal-Mart. Her status remains safe, not because of her skill, but because she has yet to endure direct attacks by Democrats who need to challenge her support before the general least they learn the support is soft during a Republican attack more mainstream than Rush.

JRE remains a debate mystery. A lawyer, an articulate stump speaker, yet when the debate lights cone on he pulls punches. He did it with Cheney; he did it tonight. He remains cautious when he should open up. He lies back instead of being an assertive self he is on the sump. He still has many chances to move up in debate competition. Though, he did no real damage to himself, he did not convert anyone.

Obama performed the best of all the top tier. Like a championship boxer, his answers contained tight powerful combinations. While each answer was complex, it was short enough that it was not weighed down by verbal baggage like Sen. Kerry. He came out ahead and will be declared the winner. But the winner without knocking out anyone or claiming the crown of the presumed nominee.

Biden is worth mentioning, because of his one word, “yes” in assuring the population his mouth would not get him in trouble.

Richardson was the most forceful in saying he would use the military to strike back against a terrorist attack too bad that was not what the question was about.

Dodd faded into the background.

Kucinich only looked sane because of Gravel who at least is a comedian.

It is a long fight yet. No clear winner. The Democrats can get a rest of debating and enjoy watching the GOP beat up on one another next week.

Working in Boise…

Drove through a desert thunderstorm yesterday, huge raindrops crashed into my windshield leaving small puddles to be swept away.

The storm lasted only a few minutes, heading at top speed in the opposite direction of my car. Dust from the previous days ran down the sides of the car and left streaks of brown down the car.

It is another day, another dollar in Boise. Making visits and pondering tonight’s debate between Democratic Presidential hopefuls in South Carolina, I keep trucking. Praise the good Lord, L’s test came back that the tumor in her neck is benign.

It is sunny, now. L is in good health. No thunderstorms on the horizon in Boise, it is time to get back to work. Truth be told, I would rather spend the rest of the day in this coffee shop reading and writing. It is just that mood.

It is morning in the desert...

The man demands that Fox News stays on while we eat breakfast. He must know how the liberals are destroying America this time. (His excuse for the TV to be on is he wants to watch stock, but not on MSNBC the financial network.)

His wife talks loudly into her phone about how she can not wait to visit her kid and get some lunch with them.

A man in a suit and I bend our heads toward breakfast. Business has brought us here. We want to eat and get out as soon as possible.

A young lady, working the breakfast, looks at my mapquest map and directs me the quickest way to the main road.

All of this is watched over by the manager behind the desk glaring, hoping for some reason to speak up.

Lika a Rolling Stone...

Flew into Boise, Idaho today, drove to Twin Falls, crossed into the desert and now am held up in a Holiday Inn Express. As I drove to this dry land, the radio blared Bob Dylan. He mocked an Andy Warhol’s model/movie star, and I pushed further into the American wilderness.

Here this land easily went for Bush, but now it is confused. The war drags down the whole country, even here people are asking ‘what is happening/is America going to loose yet another war?’. And Bob Dylan wails on.

Sacrifice is well-known here whether while working the cattle or going into battle. They are the doomed that Hunter S. Thompson asked Richard Nixon. They are the men and women who build the country only to watch their hard work either be misused in an Iraqi oilfield or be bought up by a dot-com millionaire from California.

Let us hope we do not as Nixon advised, “fuck the doom,” but learn from and take on some of their better qualities.

Born Jerks...

Are people born jerks or do they become one after years of practice and self-loathing? It is the eternal question of nature vs. nurture. In this case, between having a heart and depreciating anyone in your radius.

I pondered these thoughts while in Wenatchee, WA sitting down to lunch next to two couples of aging Boomers. Middle fifties and still moaning about what the world owed them: a Barnes and Noble, a Target or something to do in this tiny Washington town. The town they thought of as quaint when they moved, but now owed them more, because it needed to be small, but fulfill every desire. They are overgrown, overpaid, over fulfilled teenagers.

One man boasted to the other that his wife now worked for the doctor that treated her cancer. She responded how nice and a little odd it was to be working for the man who saved her life.

The husband smiled and bragged that, “when people call in and complain and moan (in a mocking voice) ‘you don’t know what I’m going through’ she can be like yes I do.”

Way to show those cancer patients whose boss-after all, if it wasn’t for jerks like this guy how would we know how not to behave.

Lack of posting

Sorry, I have been rather bad at posting recently. I have been working like mad and have not been in the writing mood, which I need to break.

Currently, I am in Seattle on a Saturday going to drop by a few more donors and then head to the airport and get home. Here is a picture from Seattle, ya'll can enjoy.