Bill's Notes

Those introductory videos in the convention last night -- the dramatic footage, the lights out with Fred Thompson's voice booming down for the finale. It was creepy propaganda and I don't like it.

Makes me wonder who in the RNC would've thought that was a good idea, and why no one had the good taste to put a stop to it. I think they had videos at the DNC, too, but I didn't watch them, so I can't comment. I'm not against some kind of video introduction -- it's really a question of execution.

BTW, neither campaign is being remotely fair to the other's sides actual positions. Lots of misleading statements and that's getting annoying.

The straightest talk was when McCain confessed the sins of the GOP (see previous entry) and when he spoke about his experience in Vietnam. The American puffery was all fair comment. But I don't believe either side when they characterize the other side's positions.

I'm starting to warm up to John McCain. I thought it was an excellent speech. The best moment for me was when he discussed the failures of the GOP (though he blamed both parties) for expanding the size of government.

Yes, he needed to mention that -- and to run on a bipartisan basis -- because the GOP did not do what we voted them in office to do back in 2000: Reduce the size of government. Or at least keep the growth to a reasonable level. So McCain addressed it directly. Basically, the GOP is asking for another chance.

He had some personal moments near the end, and finished off with a pep rally. An excellent job.

One thing that's happening is after a long period of being glum, the GOP is waking up at the right moment. Only a few points behind in most polls; tied in a couple, too. Bottom line: Good tee shot, but lots of golf left in this hole.

"The American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of 'personal discovery.'" — Sarah Palin, sweetly delivered, summing up in a few words the exact problem with M. Obama, in a speech that resembled a home run derby more than anything. Wow. Just a great night for the GOP.

I suppose I could discuss my outrage at the media and blog coverage of Sarah Palin, her pregnant daughter, and her daughter's boyfriend. But I'm in a pretty good mood today and not feeling terribly outraged about life.

The reason I've logged on IB to post something — I'm thinking about how this guy managed to get his life turned upside down in a week. I mean, you can see how the politician's family can have it turned upside down.

But you're just a guy hanging out in a small town in the nation's most remotest state. The biggest trouble you've gotten into was fishing salmon out of season. You play hockey, you write up a MySpace page, you forget about it ... and near the end of the long dark winter, you knock up your girlfriend. Hey, it happens. You'll deal with it.

Suddenly, you're national news and you're flying to Minnesota and you're shaking hands with John McCain and your MySpace space that you wrote when you were 16 is being gobbled up by the international press. Strangers are writing about you in New York and other gossip magazines. Suddenly, you're news in a presidential election.

And somewhere in the back in your mind, you know that your girlfriend's mom has a good chance of someday having access to nuclear launch codes.

Win or lose, successful marriage or not, this guy's got the ultimate "I knocked up my high school girlfriend" story. It'll be like Bob Beamon's long jump record — not topped for a very long time.

Congrats. I think.

20 years ago, in the spring of 1988, a series of personal crises knocked over my life — and there wasn't too much of it going on at the time. Let's just say that I was suffering pretty badly in every area of my life. Really, nothing was going well. Especially my job and family stuff.

And I was only two years out of college, and I was pretty much convinced that I'd already screwed things up beyond repair. Of course, at age 24, very little is beyond repair if you still have your health, which was about all I had. And that was physical health, not mental health. That was a disaster. For one thing, I didn't exactly have perspective.

Anyway, I can't remember exactly what prodded me, but I began to do two things differently. First, I began a program of serious reading. Literature, poetry, nonfiction. By "program," I mean I carried a book with me everywhere I went, and did my best to read as much as I could. Second, I was forced into an outpatient program for alcoholism recovery. The classes lasted about 16 weeks.

Later that summer, in August IIRC, inspired by reading about Buddhism and novelists like Hermann Hesse, I began to study meditation at a place in Princeton. That was a shocker — mystical experiences started right away, and I began to delve more deeply into that.

In the second week of September 1988, I decided to stop drinking — and started AA. So by the fall, I was meditating and going to AA daily. By November, still sober, I got a new job. It paid less, but it was in my field. Shortly after that, inspired by this little degree of success in a few areas, I decided that I was going to turn my life around.

Somehow, I was going to change. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I was going to do it. I started keeping a journal. I still have several boxes of notes that I wrote over the next seven years or so. In time, everything did change. It's strange, though, that these changes had such a firm starting point. It's not like I did it — it's like I caught a wave or something. Or perhaps I finally responded to grace.

Who knows?

Busy weekend. Now I finally have some time off. 'Bout time. Hope all of you are enjoying your weekend. Cheers.