Family Fun Watching the Debate

Ok, Ralphie got me up early (5:30) so I figured I would make my Monday morning run to the grocery store really early and beat the crowds!

(...Or sit here, drink coffee, and make a blog post..) Sigh. Well, life is to be lived, right?

Some families enjoy going to the movies. Others, a rousing game of Monopoly. Us, we watch the republican debates on T.V.

That is the only thing I can yell upstairs to the boys that is coming on TV and they will drop everything and come sit glued to the TV for 2 hours for. (wow, bad grammar, more coffee)

I know most of you are sick of the election and is still a year away. My dh only watched the debate in passing, saying, he is going to vote Republican anyway, so it doesn't matter that much. I begged to differ... these debates seem the best way to get to know these men. The best fast way. And I was very, very happy with how Fox ran the debate last night.

It is a limited format of course. So the goal is to get as much info out of them as you can in an organized fashion and I think Brit Hume and crew did an excellent job.

The best part of the debate, so good that I actually sent an email to Fox telling them!-- was before it even started.

They have a pollster, Frank Luntz, who organized a 'focus group' of 'regular people', about 25 of them. He had them all in a room and asked them questions about what they wanted from this debate, from these hopefuls.

What they said in those few minutes was more articulate, intelligent, honest and to the point than any rhetoric I have heard from the candidates and media pundits to date. In a nutshell:

We want:
leadership
vision
'stand up' for the Republican party and find our mission
honesty
Be like Reagan- have clear vision, clear goals, know where you are going and people (whether they agree with you or not) will know where you stand.

I could have cheered! and he next asked about Sen. Hillary. He had to, it turns out this woman is defining the 2008 elections in both parties. Dems candidate have to beat Mrs. Bill Clinton for the nomination. Reps have to beat her in the election- or so it is looking that way.

When he asked the focus group about her, you could see how much they were disturbed at the prospect of her being elected. One person said she is a socialist. Socialist? How many people here think she is a socialist, Frank asked excitedly.

Most every hand shot up.

There it is... they are honest enough to say this something we know is true but the media is afraid to admit... these people made honest sense and it was refreshing.

(Now if you are reading this and a socialist and are happy with Hillary, that is your right. But we need to think if socialism is really where we want our country to go. Seriously think about it. Read history... see where past countries have gone with socialism. This is real. And those are the roots of Hillary's philosophies.)

Wonderful these people could say what the media won't!

The debate itself, lots of highlights and side topics. We talked about Woodstock and how Senator McCain said he didn't make the concert because he was 'tied up' at the time.... :)--- Mitt Romney's new cool hair style, Rudy's attempt to cozy up to the 'values voters', Ron Paul's Libertarian views and Huckabee's no apologies supporting LIFE in all forms. What a treasure of topics!

The candidates made a good showing (imo) especially compared to past debates and appearances. No, I am not excited about all the rhetoric and campaign stuff. but this is our country. There is an election coming, warts and all. I love our two party system. Everyone has a right to be heard. Debates like these are giving us a chance to find out (in an imperfect fashion) about these imperfect men running.

We need a strong two party system and since the dems have all of the media (except talk radio) on their side the Republicans must get strong, fearless and decide what they believe, get the word out so we actually have a choice.

Last night was a good first step, plus we had lots of family conversation over our Chicken Marsala and pasta.

Fox by far and away does the best job with debates (makes it about the candidates, not the moderators)- and the next debate is in early December if you want to tune in. You can also email in questions for the candidates.. something we meant to do but never got around to.

A Baseball Lesson in the Park

We really like a local columnist here in our Houston Chronicle named Leon Hale.
Just from reading his columns, we figure he's got to be in his eighties... but he writes tight and homespun and honest.. and funny.

I like how he says he will get in his car and drive the loop around Houston once a year. This is the inner loop, with lots of traffic and sights...good and bad... he drives it just to keep in touch. :)


Here is Leon's website.

And here is today's column. I think he is describing Mindful Parenting, but doesn't know it. I loved it. Here also is a link to his columns in the Chronicle if you like this one. Leon's columns ( I think you may need to type in his name in the search box..)

June 7, 2007, 5:05PM
A baseball lesson in the park


By LEON HALE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle



A pleasant muggy afternoon in Memorial Park, where I've stopped on the curve of the three-mile jogging track to see if things have changed.

They have not. Hundreds of walkers and trotters are still bobbing around the circle, shedding flesh and developing knee trouble.

I wonder how many tons of fat have been separated from the bodies that move around this gravelly course?

And what happens to fat when it's lost? Does it ooze out of skin pores and rise in the atmosphere and become an ingredient of Houston's pollution umbrella? Let me know.

This park is one of my regular stops. I come here once a year and meditate, like the aging athlete who returns to the field of play where he once knew glory.

In my case, what I knew here was mostly pain. This is where I left my knees.

Still, I hear a whisper deep inside, urging me to get back out there and join the race.

Notice the fellow going by right now. He's maybe 65? Jogging with a limp. A brace on one knee. I'd like to be out there beside him and run with him and hurt with him. No way.

Think about something else. Watch something else. Watch this chattering covey of four girls, so slender, colorful sneakers flashing, pigtailed hair flying. Their feet seem not to touch the ground. A pleasant sight.

Move along. Ah, here is a scene that disturbs me a bit.

A father hitting fly balls to his young son, age maybe 10. A Little Leaguer. I'm just assum-ing they're father and son.

I know a little something about young boys and catching baseballs, and a common error is being made here. The father apparently believes that if he knocks enough fly balls to this kid, the kid will eventually learn to catch them.

Not so. The boy is afraid of the ball. He's wearing a ridiculous mitt that sticks off the end of his catching hand a full foot. When the ball comes toward him, he runs at it tentatively, thrusts his catching arm out straight, hopes the ball will somehow fall into the mitt without hurting his hand.

I've watched the father hit a dozen flies now, and the kid has not come close to catching one. I suspect he had rather be doing something else.

To begin with, he's wise to be afraid of that baseball, which is rock hard, and if one of those flies hits him in the mouth it can rearrange two rows of teeth.

The father is hitting the ball too hard and too far. The child is not ready for what his father is asking. I'm afraid this will go on until the kid takes one in the face and he'll probably never want to play ball again, if he does now.

In one of my previous lives (I'm now in my fourth), I was a Little League manager, and I taught a lot of little boys how to catch a ball. If this kid in the park was mine, here's what I would do:

First, take him home. Next, gather up the ball and the bat and especially that stupid mitt and hide them in a closet.

Next, I'd find a tennis ball. Or maybe a solid rubber ball about the size of a baseball.

I'd take the ball and the kid into the backyard. Tell him to stand about four feet away from me. Then I'd pitch the rubber ball to him, soft and underhanded.

Show him how to hold his hands to make a nice basket for the ball to fall into. How to squeeze it just enough to keep the ball in the basket. And yes, use both hands. Both hands. Both hands.

When he gets comfortable catching that way, move him farther back, little by little. Then start throwing the ball up higher. Let him start moving under it for a catch. A rubber ball that can't hurt him.

Show him how to get in front of the ball, instead of reaching out and trying to catch it with one hand at arm's length.

Sure, to a lot of kids this comes naturally, but to others it doesn't. They need to be shown how to catch a flying object, to understand what catching means, before they're sent out in center field with a new glove.

Hey, look. While I was giving that lesson, which nobody asked for, the limping jogger with the brace on his knee has gone all the way around this three-mile track.

blogs.chron.com/leonhale

leon.hale@chron.com

LEON HALE
P.O.Box 4260
Houston, TX 77210