Missed McCain...

... sorry. Actually, not sorry. Went to the Bowl instead. The Hollywood Bowl. Sat with friends. Drank champagne and a good Spanish burgundy. Noshed on hummus, stuffed grape leaves, Saint Andre and sharp Cheddar cheese. Listened to Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff. "Under the stars." Forgot about politics. All in all, a lovely evening. So, not sorry at all.

To judge from subsequent reports, however, it's clear by now that we have two very different John McCains to choose from: the one who prides himself on being his own man, who promises to "reform" his own party, who speaks quietly and the appearance of reason; and the other who kowtows to the extreme right wing of that party and stands by with tacit approval, as their anointed leader, while they yell out the same, tired old lies about the other party's policies and serve up the familiar Rovian political venom in the place of actual ideas. The pieces of the convention that I watched--along with everything I heard--added up to a depressing spectacle of poisonous mockery and mindless hoots and jeers, all in the name of "Country First." "U.S.A! U.S.A!"

Please. Isn't it time for us all to become adult enough to see ourselves in the context of a threatened planet, where millions starve and nationalist and resource wars already abound; where the very future of the planet is at stake--thanks, in part, to our own country's insatiable and self-indulgent consumption? And isn't it time for us to take a hard look in the mirror, instead of charging blindly on into a morass of debt and social chaos? Do we really know who we are? Do we actually know how to think, or are we to allow ourselves to be merely driven by advertisement and hype?

I'm probably way behind you all in stumbling into this wickedly intelligent satirical site, How Insane Is John McCain. I know, I know, it's probably not Right Speech. But it IS funny, and it skewers the Republican ticket with merciless precision.