Are Bill and Hillary Clinton the Energizer Rabbit of Politics, but the perverse version? Instead of "going and going and going" like the famed Rabbit, these two just keeping giving and giving and giving. And what is that? A legacy of lies and excuses and setting a framework that makes it perfectly fine for a politician to be able to use various different tools, especially language, to obfuscate serious errors.
Of course I refer to John Edwards' confession of his affair today. ABC News has got to be in hog heaven landing this exclusive. Now maybe they have hopes of at least showing up on the television ratings since they are going up against the Beijing Olympics' Opening Ceremonies tonight.
What can you say about Edwards? Mountains of descriptives come to mind but most are obvious - starting with hypocrite and moving on down. What is just so, so repulsive about this is how he has trotted his DYING wife, Elizabeth, out on countless occasions to talk about the strength of their relationship. When she was faced with a death sentence when her cancer came out of remission, by all accounts, she urged that he continue his campaign. And yet, he decides that having an affair was the way to go. His repulsive behavior is not exclusive, unfortunately, to the Democrats - plenty of pols on both sides of the party lines have behaved in a like manner. But you do have to look at his quotes in the news today to see that he tore a big ol' page out of the Clinton play book.
Edwards describes the affair as a "serious error in judgement." Really? As I see it, a serious error in judgement is more like running a yellow light in front of a police officer. Having an affair while your wife, who has stood by you through the death of one of your children, is riddled with cancer, goes way, WAY beyond a bad judgement call. And then he calls it a "liason." What a pansy....be a man and own up to what you did. This is pure Clinton speak....why am I hearing "It depends on what your definition of 'is' is?" all over again. Here's the thing, you can put makeup on a pig to pretty it up, but it's still a pig. Even NPR, NPR of all things liberal, is calling Edwards' political career dead in the water.
So let's see what's next for Edwards...perhaps an hour at the redemptive couch of Oprah? A weeping interview with Barbara Walters? Hopefully, he'll just go away. But since he's torn a page from the Clinton playbook, Edwards will most certainly soon appear on the lecture circuit, pulling down six figures speaking to audiences about his experiences. Fantastic...diefying yet another philandering liar. Gotta love the legacy of the Clintons...I don't think so.
08 August 2008
05 August 2008
Physicals After 40
Today was a day that most people don't get all kinds of excited about for a host of reasons. However, when you are a man in your 40's (welcome to my world), this day takes on its own special kind of dread. Of course, I refer to the day you have to get your physical. Note that I did not mention "annual" physical. As best we can surmise, my last physical was about five, maybe four, years ago when we were still living in SoCal.
Had I any sense, I would have scheduled this little medical dream date in January when I decided to embark on my "Weight Loss Adventure '08." However, I didn't and so I found myself in the offices of Dr. Dorsey-Johnson at the Dupage Medical Group today.
Let me first say that my doctor rocks. This was the first time I saw her as a patient, although since she treats everyone in our family. I had met her during Shari's gall bladder purging fiesta last year as well as for various Parker visits - those who know the Boy know that said visits need no further explanation. Anyway, Dr. Dorsey-Johnson is great. She's got a wicked busy practice but she takes the time to listen, answer questions, and she's thorough. She tells you exactly what she's doing as she does it. So if you ever move to Chicagoland and need a good doctor, she is aces in our book.
Without going into agonizing detail, I got a clean bill of health. I'll be curious to see what the blood tests show though. There were a couple of key learnings and I feel I compelled to share them. First of all the EKG. See the picture below:
I, too, got all wired up just like this man today, including the leads on the ankles. There was one key difference and if you look at him lying comfortably on the gurney, you'll see that he is missing something that I am not. What is that? That would be chest hair. Although the nurse assured me it would be ok and that she'd get the leads where it wouldn't be so bad, umm...it was, well, a little rough when those leads got torn off. Key learning - I should have mowed a little of the grass as it were to make that a little less traumatizing. No wonder my BP was a little high on the second take! Now, the second key learning, when you are a male over 40 and presenting in good health, guess what sweet words you hear from your doctor...that's right, no need for the dreaded, dreaded exam until you are 50! And you know of what exam I speak. If you still don't, see the picture below for a reference:
Why is that the nurse looks so pleased to be snapping on those gloves?
Anyway, although they waited until the very last minute to deliver that heaping helping of good news and I still had to suffer a measure of rubber glove torture, I could not have been more pleased with how the appointment went. So based on my past pattern, I won't be in there for another four years. Works for me!
Had I any sense, I would have scheduled this little medical dream date in January when I decided to embark on my "Weight Loss Adventure '08." However, I didn't and so I found myself in the offices of Dr. Dorsey-Johnson at the Dupage Medical Group today.
Let me first say that my doctor rocks. This was the first time I saw her as a patient, although since she treats everyone in our family. I had met her during Shari's gall bladder purging fiesta last year as well as for various Parker visits - those who know the Boy know that said visits need no further explanation. Anyway, Dr. Dorsey-Johnson is great. She's got a wicked busy practice but she takes the time to listen, answer questions, and she's thorough. She tells you exactly what she's doing as she does it. So if you ever move to Chicagoland and need a good doctor, she is aces in our book.
Without going into agonizing detail, I got a clean bill of health. I'll be curious to see what the blood tests show though. There were a couple of key learnings and I feel I compelled to share them. First of all the EKG. See the picture below:
I, too, got all wired up just like this man today, including the leads on the ankles. There was one key difference and if you look at him lying comfortably on the gurney, you'll see that he is missing something that I am not. What is that? That would be chest hair. Although the nurse assured me it would be ok and that she'd get the leads where it wouldn't be so bad, umm...it was, well, a little rough when those leads got torn off. Key learning - I should have mowed a little of the grass as it were to make that a little less traumatizing. No wonder my BP was a little high on the second take! Now, the second key learning, when you are a male over 40 and presenting in good health, guess what sweet words you hear from your doctor...that's right, no need for the dreaded, dreaded exam until you are 50! And you know of what exam I speak. If you still don't, see the picture below for a reference:
Why is that the nurse looks so pleased to be snapping on those gloves?
Anyway, although they waited until the very last minute to deliver that heaping helping of good news and I still had to suffer a measure of rubber glove torture, I could not have been more pleased with how the appointment went. So based on my past pattern, I won't be in there for another four years. Works for me!
04 August 2008
Buckle Up, Dorothy!
We are getting absolutely hammered tonight by a wicked, wicked thunder and lightning storm. The city of Chicago is under a tornado warning and it's all kinds of mayhem here. Kudos to the Cubs fans at Wrigley tonight who refused to leave the stands when the tornado sirens went off...Cubs fans are die-hards in every single sense of the word. So what does mi familia choose to do? First, sit out on our front porch playing a new game - "Where is the lightning going to strike?" This genius activity was then followed by the next smart move - let's get in the car and go drive to Panera for a little dessert. All this was led by me - somehow I don't think I'm getting Father of The Year...I wanted to upload a picture of the storm debacle but stupid Vista is not cooperating...note my shock.
02 August 2008
Catching Up
It's only the 2nd of August and I already wish this month was nearly done - the lovely Shari and I leave for Sydney in 20 days (but, really, who's counting?).
So it's time to get caught up...as many of you know, in addition to my day job, I serve as Vice President of the National Business Travel Association and we just held our 40th conference - this time in Los Angeles. This has morphed into a global exposition and it really is an amazing thing. This year we had more than 6,400 people in attendance. I had to be "on" the entire time. Lots of smiling and hand-shaking. It was great to get reconnected, albeit briefly, with business partners and friends. While the leadership and board of the association is volunteer, we would be dead in the agua, as it were, without our full-time staff out of Washington DC. They did another INCREDIBLE job with this year's conference. They worked very closely with the good people of Los Angeles, Inc., to make it a great event. LA Inc was kind enough to host a pre-opening night meet and greet with the evening's talent last Sunday, Cindy Lauper. I was able to be a part of that event. It was fun to meet her. She's a delight in person - that speaking voice is the real deal - and puts on a very good show. We were in the NOKIA Theatre in the new LA Live area in downtown for her show and it's a cool venue.
Other highlights from the conference - a great Moroccan-themed dinner at the Hotel Figueroa; Craig Ferguson - a riot (watch the Late, Late Show!) I got the chance to speak in front of several thousand people, working the teleprompters for the first time. Kind of daunting, but got easier fairly quickly. I was backstage for that day with Alec Baldwin - an interesting cat. And that was the same day of the lovely earthquake - a nice 5.4 on the Richter scale to make the day interesting. You've never seen people haul out of a convention center like when it started rocking on Tuesday. I was in a meeting with some folks from Argentina and Brazil and I had to convince everyone not to high-tail it out of the place in Spanish and the little Portuguese that I could recall. Once things settled down, we had to convince a lot of people that it was cool to come back in, but we got it done. So it was quite the week for us.
I raced home Wednesday afternoon, arriving wicked late and was in meetings all day Thursday and then Friday it was out to Oregon, IL, to meet Parker for his last day at Boy Scout Camp. He'd been there for six days. When I got there, he was no worse for wear but was clearly ready to call it a week. The six boys in his troop are great boys and had had a really good week. My buddy, Jeff, is an outstanding Scoutmaster and I am really grateful for people like him that have it in them to do this. I don't - end of story. It was a cool night and we packed up first thing this morning and got the boys home by 1015AM. Now, let's talk about the sheer volume of dirty laundry. I am CERTAIN that based on the amount of mildew and stench that these boys are growing, dare I say culturing, a cure for cancer in their filthy socks alone. Parker's two bags full of laundry were nothing short of HazMat Level 4 toxic-see Shari below fully prepped to start going through the bags:
And the poor Odyssey...I brought all six boys home. Suffice to say, Shari's car was RANK by the time we got back to Chicagoland, so it was off to the car wash as soon as we got home and dumped Parker's toxic load o'stuff. With the Odyssey fully restored, we were able to press forward with our Saturday.
Courtney's back from Girl's Camp, Parker's back from Scout Camp, I'm back from LA, and Shari's one-week solo stint at home is over. It's good to have everyone back. It better be a quiet night.
So it's time to get caught up...as many of you know, in addition to my day job, I serve as Vice President of the National Business Travel Association and we just held our 40th conference - this time in Los Angeles. This has morphed into a global exposition and it really is an amazing thing. This year we had more than 6,400 people in attendance. I had to be "on" the entire time. Lots of smiling and hand-shaking. It was great to get reconnected, albeit briefly, with business partners and friends. While the leadership and board of the association is volunteer, we would be dead in the agua, as it were, without our full-time staff out of Washington DC. They did another INCREDIBLE job with this year's conference. They worked very closely with the good people of Los Angeles, Inc., to make it a great event. LA Inc was kind enough to host a pre-opening night meet and greet with the evening's talent last Sunday, Cindy Lauper. I was able to be a part of that event. It was fun to meet her. She's a delight in person - that speaking voice is the real deal - and puts on a very good show. We were in the NOKIA Theatre in the new LA Live area in downtown for her show and it's a cool venue.
Other highlights from the conference - a great Moroccan-themed dinner at the Hotel Figueroa; Craig Ferguson - a riot (watch the Late, Late Show!) I got the chance to speak in front of several thousand people, working the teleprompters for the first time. Kind of daunting, but got easier fairly quickly. I was backstage for that day with Alec Baldwin - an interesting cat. And that was the same day of the lovely earthquake - a nice 5.4 on the Richter scale to make the day interesting. You've never seen people haul out of a convention center like when it started rocking on Tuesday. I was in a meeting with some folks from Argentina and Brazil and I had to convince everyone not to high-tail it out of the place in Spanish and the little Portuguese that I could recall. Once things settled down, we had to convince a lot of people that it was cool to come back in, but we got it done. So it was quite the week for us.
I raced home Wednesday afternoon, arriving wicked late and was in meetings all day Thursday and then Friday it was out to Oregon, IL, to meet Parker for his last day at Boy Scout Camp. He'd been there for six days. When I got there, he was no worse for wear but was clearly ready to call it a week. The six boys in his troop are great boys and had had a really good week. My buddy, Jeff, is an outstanding Scoutmaster and I am really grateful for people like him that have it in them to do this. I don't - end of story. It was a cool night and we packed up first thing this morning and got the boys home by 1015AM. Now, let's talk about the sheer volume of dirty laundry. I am CERTAIN that based on the amount of mildew and stench that these boys are growing, dare I say culturing, a cure for cancer in their filthy socks alone. Parker's two bags full of laundry were nothing short of HazMat Level 4 toxic-see Shari below fully prepped to start going through the bags:
And the poor Odyssey...I brought all six boys home. Suffice to say, Shari's car was RANK by the time we got back to Chicagoland, so it was off to the car wash as soon as we got home and dumped Parker's toxic load o'stuff. With the Odyssey fully restored, we were able to press forward with our Saturday.
Courtney's back from Girl's Camp, Parker's back from Scout Camp, I'm back from LA, and Shari's one-week solo stint at home is over. It's good to have everyone back. It better be a quiet night.
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