[bomelia]

I am posting a message I read elsewheres. I think this says a lot.

Sarah Palin is a mirror for each of us. Those who are haters are already spewing hate - "piece of ****" for a mother of five is a new low for this list.

Feel free to do a little research before posting. There are two rumors that are already gospel which just ain't so. With respect to the claim Gov. Palin shoots lions, tigers and bears (and wolves) from helicopters, there is no evidence she herself used or uses them for hunting. Rather, she signed a bill passed by the (democratically elected) legislature that provided 700 permits which permitted people to give it a try, necessary for hunters to even make the (very costly) attempt.

Given the size of Alaska, and that most people (OTHER THAN THOSE ON THIS
LIST) could not hike 100 miles (or risk it) going deep into wolf territory, I can't blame the people of Alaska for voting for representatives who responded to their constituents and passed this legislation.

My personal preference is to turn large areas of the US into wilderness, a la Bruce Sterling's short story "Our Neural Chernobyl" in which wild animals get smarter and can defend themselves. I am saddened by the killing of wild animals. That said, I'm more saddened by a poisoned political dialogue in which anyone running for office is subject to so much slander and libel that only the most callous or ambitious would participate.

I worked for Paul E. Tsongas in the US Senate (D-MA), whom Kerry succeeded. Tsongas had a great reputation as a good, ethical and honorable man, and I was proud to work for him. Then one day he told me the dark side of many of the Senators, the same people I would take bills to get their signature on. I asked him what his dark side was. Among other things, he said that, as an attorney, he never once defended an innocent person, but that he took the money and went for the win so that he could do greater good in political office.

I would think that, on this list of all places, that a person who places themselves in touch with the earth and trees, ice and snow, and can run a 4 hour marathon, haul fish, a la the Deadliest Catch, and is willing to face wolves and bears face to face, is someone who is less likely to fear political pressure to conform, and who is more likely to look out for nature and wilderness if and when she had the chance.

As for the polar bears, her objection was to them being placed on the endangered species list, which, like the Interstate Commerce Commission, is trick or technique used by the federal government to subvert what I (as an amateur Constitutional structuralist) would see as very clearly a STATE, not federal right. The Constitution gives the federal government the right to handle weights and measures, the coinage, defense, and interstate commerce, and explicitly leaves everything else to the states.

Say what you wish about Obama, virtually everything this purported Constitutional scholar promised to shower upon the miserable suffering masses in his speech was, in fact something that the Constitution clearly states is left to the states.

I don't care who you vote for, but I'm on this list for signs that a tribe that runs long distances is smarter (a la the book, SPARK), happier (a la the book THE ATHLETE'S Way), longer lived (a la LORE OF RUNNING), and more flexible and adaptable (my own theory). Sarah Palin is as close to the mean (and I mean that in multiple senses of the word) of this group in terms of being a distance runner and an outdoors person, so I hope that the conversation about her continues, and that at least some of you are capable of taking the dialogue to a level that would give a glimpse of a special, deeper understanding. Perhaps I'm asking too much, but occasional phrases, like Robert Self's transcendent, " The beauty of trail races and ultras (and practice for an ultra) is the unfolding panarama and the natural views
during the run. It would be a shame to run the same course again and
again, to the point where it held no more drama" makes it worth posting and finding the needles of brilliant insight that are on offer from this list.

Then again, if you are interested in spreading hate, then let fly the dogs of war, and go with the juicy rumor that her son screwed her daughter, and the Down's Syndrome baby is actually (a la Bree in Desperate Housewives) her daughter's baby that Palin is pretending is her own. The choice to see her as a kindred spirit runner and embracer of the wonderful world of nature, as most of us are, or as the new Wicked Witch of the North, and to tell the list, will say as much about us as it does about her.