Three completely unrelated points

Typically, the posts on this site contain much more focus — but in the interest of creating one post tonight instead of three, I'm temporarily abandoning that principle. Here goes:

• If you haven't seen this Saturday Night Live serenade of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, you need to watch it. (Pardon the preceding commercial; the video is worth the brief delay.) Classic.
• Today is this blog's second birthday. I know how many people care about that — so I'll move on quickly.
• On Saturday, I'm catching an early morning flight to Chicago to begin my summer vacation. The trip will consist of a quick visit with family and friends around the Windy City, followed by a drive up to northern Michigan, where I'll catch a ferry to get to Beaver Island, the spot in Lake Michigan where my parents have their new summer home. The final component will be a quick jaunt over to Madison, Wis., where I'll join a great group of old friends to partake in the Great Taste of the Midwest — an annual beer festival featuring about 500 different brews and at least 100 different vendors. To say I'm excited about next week would be an understatement.

Given the third point, this blog may sit silent for a bit. Fear not — I'll breathe new life into it as soon as I'm able to find a suitable Internet connection while on my journey (or, worst case scenario, when I return from it). As always, thanks to everyone who stops by.

Nature: Best experienced unadulterated

Rarely does one realize the true, indescribable majesty of creation until it is experienced in its purest form. So I discovered last weekend during an extensive hiking trip I took with a couple of friends. Our destination: the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, just east of Seattle. This vast, remote and fairly inaccessible expanse of land is a roadless, federally protected region of rugged peaks, rushing rivers, old-growth forests, and, hence its name, crystal-clear alpine lakes. Photos of our expedition can be viewed here.

Just reaching the trailhead was a challenge. It involved driving on a back road that wound progressively deeper into the forest and quickly deteriorated into a pothole-ridden, unmaintained gravel path with huge dips and rocks that my car could never have navigated. (Thankfully, one of the guys had a 4-wheel-drive SUV. Still, even his maximum speed was about 15 mph.) When we finally reached the point of embarkment, it was at least an hour hike before we entered the wilderness area.

Our ultimate destination was Hester Lake, one of the secluded alpine lakes for which this region is named — a 12-mile, seven-hour round-trip hike that involved fording rushing creeks, rounding switchbacks, scrambling up steep, rocky slopes, and navigating through marshes and snow patches that were there even in late July. It also involved hiking through old-growth coniferous forests, observing some of the clearest, cleanest water I've ever seen in nature, and enjoying the serenity of encountering not one single other human being.

The trip offered two remarkable points of achievement: reaching this seemingly elusive yet breathtakingly gorgeous lake (which I thought we'd never do) and reaching the car at the end of the day (which, again, I was fearful we'd never do, considering the strenuous nature of the hike and the ease with which one can become hopelessly lost in such a remote place). When I got back to my oh-so-comfortable apartment in civilization, I promptly fell asleep and didn't wake up until late the next morning. The journey was worth every minute.

Two lessons come to mind from this adventure: the need for everyone to experience creation in its purest, most authentic condition to be reminded of the awesome scope of this planet and universe; and the need to continue to preserve and expand these places, not just for our sake, but for the sake of future generations.

Thoughts on marriage

I think 25 should be the minimum age for obtaining a marriage license.

Let it be known up front that this is not a swipe or judgment against those who are married or got married under that age — so please don't take it that way.

Let it be further known that this is my position not simply because I meet that age criterion. Anyone who knows me is aware that I'm nowhere close to marriage — whether I like it or not.

I have a variety of reasons for taking this position. If anyone wants to share thoughts on the matter, I'll respond and share mine.

If not, well, 'nuff said.

At McCain's age, Viagra a touchy subject

A crappy legacy

Voters in San Francisco will have a chance this fall to decide on a ballot measure that would name a sewage treatment plant in that city after the outgoing president, the Associated Press reports. If approved, the name of the facility would be the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

This news came the same day during which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., deemed Bush "a total failure" in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

I'm certainly no huge fan of Nancy Pelosi — I don't know much about her, in fact — and naming a sewage treatment facility after someone is mean by any standard. Regardless, the White House incumbent has done more than his share during the past eight years to warrant these scathing remarks and gestures during his waning months in office. And frankly, the legacy he'll leave behind will make the stench of sewage seem relatively benign by comparison.

Guns on Georgia's mind

This article reports that Gov. Sonny Perdue, Republican of Georgia, has argued that the carrying of concealed firearms should be allowed in public areas of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, one of the nation's busiest.

I have several comments on this matter. Two are slightly unrelated but worthy of mention nevertheless. First of all, any state that elects a governor whose name is "Sonny" doesn't deserve much respect, in my humble opinion. Secondly, that's a picture of him on the right. Doesn't he look just the way you'd expect the governor of Georgia to look? A heavyset, balding old man who probably enjoys huntin' and talking to his grandkids about the Good Book while drinking a glass of sweet tea on a Sunday afternoon?

OK, maybe I'm perpetuating stereotypes just a tad. Forgive me. But any public official who takes such a position is asking for ridicule. Setting aside my overall opinion on guns — which have been known to stir up a hornet's nest — the idea of civilians carrying firearms in airports is questionable. I already feel safer in airports than in almost any other public setting. After all, there are alarms, security cameras, armed police officers, TSA agents, and even air marshals all over the place — even before you pass through security checkpoints. Do like-minded people legitimately feel the need to pack heat for their personal protection in such a place? Or is this more about wanting to carry a gun simply because this is America, and dammit, we can do that if we want to?

I suspect the latter. But if anyone is truly concerned about his or her safety at the airport — and I've never visited an airport in the United States where I was — I might suggest the following obvious steps: Stay in well-lit areas in the presence of other people (plenty of spaces like that at airports), avoid displaying valuables, and be aware of your surroundings. This way, maybe we can avoid turning airports into mini-arsenals. Then again, we are talking about Georgia. Maybe that's exactly what the people there want.

Polls: Good for headlines, little else

Last Friday, I saw two polls published by two sources that were presented from two completely different angles. One, posted to CNN's Political Ticker, was billed as "bad news for McCain" and indicated that Obama's "sizeable lead" over the veteran senator from Arizona was "double the margin it was one month ago."

The other, featured prominently on MSNBC, was a Newsweek poll suggesting that the race was now a "dead heat" and that Obama's "glow may be fading." It heavily emphasized the last poll from the same source, which indicated a whopping 15-point lead for the Illinois senator. "What a difference a few weeks can make," the headline read, as though the authors were proud of some stunning revelation they had uncovered. Cue the raised eyebrows.

So, which do we believe? That bad news is in store for John McCain, or that Barack Obama's glow is fading? And perhaps the past few weeks have made a difference — but what difference that is can be anyone's guess, especially with two completely disparate polls released on the very same day.

Perhaps most remarkable is how seriously these polls are taken by their publishers and how extensive of a story can be produced from a news item that's really anything but. Because the Newsweek poll now only shows a 3-point lead for Obama, the accompanying two-page article largely conveys a doom-and-gloom outlook for the Democratic contender. But, lest Newsweek be accused of peddling a pro-McCain message — or, much more likely, in case the next poll tells a completely different story — the piece is also quick to assert that Obama "still shows signs of strength."

The truth is that a month is like a year in the world of politics — and four of them remain before the actual election, whose results I'll trust over the work of some political pundits paid to convey as gospel a poll that is conducted in the interest of selling headlines.

Cloudy weather is the coolest

After a relatively overcast and breezy Fourth of July holiday, with a few sun breaks in the evening before the fireworks, I woke up last Saturday morning to another cool and cloudy day, with temperatures hovering in the low- to mid-60s. I was thrilled.

Call me crazy, but I've always preferred cool and overcast to warm and sunny. A few days with sunshine and temperatures in the 80s is fine — but frankly, I find the sun to be too bright and overwhelming most of the time, especially in this part of the country, where the northern latitude makes the sun quite powerful during the summer months. I'd much rather take a walk or jog on an overcast day and not have to worry about sweating, sunburn, or straining my eyes. Add a cool, crisp breeze, and I'm pretty much on Cloud Nine. Pun intended.

There's also the behavioral implications of cloudy weather. I'm convinced it has a calming effect. People seem to act more aggressively and recklessly when the sun is out. Drivers around Seattle are usually more polite than their counterparts in other big cities, I've noticed — they yield for pedestrians, let each other merge into lanes, and honk horns less frequently. But these traits seem less pronounced when the sun is out. That's when people seem to drive faster and extend less courtesy to other motorists. Of course, this is a purely speculative observation. But it would be interesting to conduct a scientific study on the behavioral effects of climate. For instance, does climate have an impact on crime rates in cities around the world? Do cities with cooler, cloudier weather have lower crime rates than those with warm, sunny weather, and if so, does the weather really have any bearing on this?

Don't get me wrong — I'm not a sun hater. But you won't ever catch me living in Southern California, Arizona, or Florida. I'd probably grow sick of those places in a month. Does that make me completely insane?

Not perfect, but America's best hope

I grimaced a bit this past week over Barack Obama's statement that he would be open to "refining" his policy on Iraq based on what he learns during his upcoming visit there. Not because of his willingness to adapt his views to match changing conditions of reality — there's a certain White House incumbent who has always refused to do that — but because of the opening it presents for his opponents. He'll need to handle this situation very delicately — both to fend off attacks and to alleviate concerns from supporters like myself who refuse to give this war of choice the benefit of the doubt.

His Iraq remarks aside, several other instances have demonstrated unequivocally Obama's imperfection as a candidate. Recent policy statements of his have left a sour taste in my mouth — namely, his newfound support of legal immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with Bush's illegal warrantless wiretapping program, as well as his unwavering and broad support for the death penalty. Pundits have called this an effort on the part of the Illinois senator to cast himself as a member of the so-called "political center." If Obama is indeed trying to make an ideological shift as the general election approaches, then he's placing politics above personal intellect and integrity, and it's disappointing.

Barack Obama is truly a remarkable candidate. If elected, his status as the nation's first African American president would be a historical milestone and a source of national pride. His unprecedented gift for the oratory and an uncanny ability to inspire people both lend credence to his message that he is the candidate of change. In the midst of all this, however, it's easy to forget that he is a human being who likewise contains flaws that become evident in his campaign.

There has never been a candidate or holder of public office who has not in some way disappointed his or her constituents, and this election year is no exception. As such, we should remember to base our political support not on finding the candidate whose positions, strategy, style of governance, and outward presentation perfectly matches our personal preferences. Instead, we should focus on judging which candidate is best equipped to move our country in the direction it needs to go, despite his or her mistakes and shortcomings as a politician and person. I remain convinced that Barack Obama meets that criterion. He's far from perfect, but given America's present circumstances, he is indeed our best hope.