Lyin' Ryan

Well, there he goes again.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan has been caught in yet another lie, this one acutely personal. Ryan, a fitness buff, had previously claimed his best time in the marathon was around 2 hours and 50 minutes, a very good time for even elite athletes. A little too good for Paul Ryan, as it turns out.

Runner's World magazine did a little poking around, and discovered that Ryan's best time was actually 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds. Oopsie.

As a former athlete -- bicycling, tennis, and volleyball -- I can tell you nobody who cares about competition would make a mistake like that about a world class marathon time. I can also tell you only the worst of athletes lie about their supposed accomplishments.

If this was the only time Paul Ryan confused fantasy and reality, it could be dismissed as merely a braggart boosting his own self-inflated ego. But this falls into a familiar pattern for Ryan. For years, he's been lying about his own positions and those of his political opponents, and this year's election campaign has only served to highlight his mendacity.

For example:

Medicare
Ryan and the Republicans claim President Obama "steals" $716 billion from Medicare recipients. In reality, President Obama's plan for Medicare saves over $700 billion in wasteful payments to hospitals and other providers over the next ten years, but does not reduce care for patients at all. And Ryan's own plan for Medicare starts with the same $700+ billion savings, then cuts more from actual programs, like prescription "donut hole" costs.

Welfare
Ryan and the Republicans claim President Obama is "gutting" the workfare system, an outright lie that has been rebuked by literally every independent arbiter in the business.

Jobs
Ryan spoke movingly about a GM plant in his native Janesville, Wisconsin, being closed despite promises by candidate Obama to keep it open. Couple of problems with that -- Obama gave a speech there in March of 2008 and GM announced in June 2008 it was closing the plant. Obama wasn't even president when GM announced the plant closure!

Speaking of GM
Ryan and ticket-leader Mitt Romney don't seem to mention the auto industry turnaround very often. Perhaps it's because President Obama oversaw the successful salvation of the American auto industry and saved millions of jobs rather than letting the companies go bankrupt, as Romney very publicly advised.

Simpson-Bowles
Much has been said by Paul Ryan about the Simpson-Bowles Commission and its suggestions for ending the deficit impasse in Washington, to wit:

"He [President Obama] created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing."

Ryan leaves out the part about him being on the commission, about him voting against the report, and about him leading the House opposition to its conclusions. Perhaps if Ryan had been more interested in helping the country than his narrow political interests, we might have made more progress on our economic situation.

The Republicans are now pushing the question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" They figure this is their key to winning the election, and they'll do everything they can to convince American voters we're on the road to disaster.

You won't hear the Republicans pointing out that President Obama staunched the bleeding of jobs lost under Republican George W. Bush. When Obama took office, we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs per month. In January 2009, the last month under Bush, we lost more manufacturing jobs than any month since October 1982! Under President Obama, America has added more than 4,000,000 jobs. That's not enough, but it's a beginning of a turnaround from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) has added 30 million or so Americans to the ranks of those covered by health insurance. As time passes, it will help bring down costs while increasing coverage.

Democrats are usually criticized for being soft on national defense, but under President Obama, the leadership of Al Qaeda has been decimated, including the death of Osama bin Laden, public enemy #1. Obama has ended the war in Iraq, and is working to bring home our troops in Afghanistan,. For the record, neither conflict was deemed worth mentioning during Romney's nomination acceptance speech.

America is demonstrably better off now than under George Bush. We're not where we want to be, but we're on the way. We'd be further along if Republicans had not vowed in the first days of President Obama's presidency to oppose everything he attempted, solely to deny him any chance at a second term. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted that on national TV.

At least he wasn't lying...

The end is nigh...

I rode home from work in the dark last night.

That's not really any big deal, as I ride at night all the time. But this is the time of year when the coming of fall, and thus winter, makes itself evident.

Thursday evening, our late night at the dealership, I was heading out the door when I noticed it had gotten almost dark. It was at that dusky stage where the sun has just set but there's still light in the sky. During my 25-mile ride home, it became fully dark, so I actually arrived at my house at night.

And thus draws to a close another summer. I know it's not really gone yet. There are still more hours of daytime than night, the air still shimmers with the warmth of the season (though fortunately not the pavement-melting 100+ temps of mid-summer), and the ice cream stands still have lines at their service windows.

But it's coming. Sure as night follows day, fall and winter will follow summer. Unless... Do you remember the movie Endless Summer? The 1966 film followed a pair of surfers around the world as they pursued perfect surfing conditions no matter the date on the calendar. The basic premise was, if you had enough time and money, you could stay in summer ALL the time.

Few of us have that kind of money, of course. I like to think that, if I did have that kind of money, I'd certainly find the time.

I wouldn't surf, though. I'd ride and ride and ride and ride. In between rides, I'd put my bike on a plane or a ship, and transport it to the next continent on my list. What a journey that would be!

Believe it or not, there are plenty of people doing exactly that. The world is their riding area, and they are making the most of it. Some have retired from a lifetime of work, some have cashed in their 401(k) plans to finance their trip, some are students or recent graduates taking every penny (or Euro or Yen, or whatever) they can scrape together and making the journey of a lifetime. It is possible, though not easy.

Which brings me to Stecoah, North Carolina. I'm quite certain you've never heard of Stecoah, as it barely exists, on or off a map. It's a tiny community set in the shadow of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a place you ride through to get somewhere else.

But not on the weekend of September 7-9, 2012. That weekend, at the Ironhorse Lodge nestled back in a holler, a band of globetrotting motorcyclists will gather for a Horizons Unlimited Travelers Meeting. This bunch of bikers comes from all over the world, with one mission in mind -- to meet fellow travelers (not the 1950s Communist version) who love to meet those of similar interests and exchange information and experiences. That weekend, there will be presentations on trips from North America to India; classes on how to use your GPS to its best capabilities; how to fix that flat tire in the middle of nowhere, and much more.

But mostly, there will be fun. Old friends will reunite, new friends will meet, drinks will be drunk, meals will be shared. Afterwards, the riders will be on their way, either back home to dream and plan or down the road to the next chapter of their adventure.

If you can't actually be on the road living your adventure, you can be planning it, safe and snug in your home. And is there any better place to be -- barring an endless summer, of course -- when cold weather comes?

Game on

So, it's to be Romney-Ryan.

As others have noted, this will at least give voters a clear choice this November. While Romney has been credited by some as making a bold choice, I see this as more a sign of desperation.

This is the kind of selection you make when, even after all the primaries, you still cannot solidify the support of those within your own party who form the base -- in this case, the most conservative elements of the already-conservative Republican party. Taking fire from the right, Romney has once again surrendered and given them what they want. This isn't the bold choice of a leader, this is a weak person trying to get the mean kids to like him. When you're counting on the VP pick to bring charisma to the team, that says something about the top of the ticket.

I suspect this will work for Romney in the short term. The right-wingers and neo-conservatives, eager to grab the levers of power in Washington they held under George W. Bush and sensing they have a candidate they can push around, will now line up behing the double R ticket. But will America? I doubt it.

The folks in the Obama campaign are as happy about this pick as the right wingers. They'd been hoping to wrap Romney in the deeply-flawed Ryan budget plan this fall, and Romney has now done their work for them. What a stroke of luck!

Expect a campaign highlighting the true effects of the Ryan -- er, I mean the Romney -- plan upon the majority of Americans. When voters learn what is really on tap should the Republicans win, the thinking goes, they will be even more inclined to vote Democratic.

Already falling far behind among women and minority voters, it would seem the Romney campaign has now mostly written off any chance of increasing their share of those voting blocks. As an Obama supporter, I'm happy to see them doing that, of course, but I don't think that attitude is best for our country. I'd prefer both campaigns actually try to appeal to the broad majority of our citizens rather than try to put together just enough of various fragments to create a 50.1% whole.

With any luck, this will carry over to Congressional elections, as well. Democrats, who had hoped to pick up a few seats in the House and hold their own in the Senate, now think they may have an unexpected edge in a number of contests. We can only hope.

Game Change, a book written by esteemed journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, documented the decision by John McCain to select Sarah Palin as his choice for Vice President. They talked about how the McCain campaign hoped her selection would change the dynamics of the race and, for a time, it did. Eventually, however, the truth about Sarah Palin came out, and she was seen as one of the worst choices ever for a national ticket. We shall see what the selection of Paul Ryan means in the end.

Insert clever title here...

Writer's block is a funny thing, or some I'm told by actual writers.

I don't claim to be much of a writer, though I've worked as a writer and editor. I can write, but I don't have to write. I don't live to write and that, to me, is the difference. I know how to put words together, how to arrange sentences, how to tell a story. But I'm not an artist. Even when I was a professional photographer, I knew I was more of a craftsman than an artist.

I've known a lot of artists through the years, and I'm not sure I'd want to be one. While I sometimes envy the single-minded dedication to their art, I think I prefer a more balanced and less stressful existence than what I witnessed with my friends. But it would be nice to create some art, just once.

It's been a while since I've written a blog entry. Most of the summer, actually. It's not that I haven't had ideas. The way the presidential campaign is going, I'd have to be unconscious not to come up with something. My Washington Nationals are still in first place in the National League East, which is truly amazing and certainly exciting, and my motorcycle travels have given me some interesting topics to explore.

So, I'm back at the keyboard and ready to get back to boring you with my non-artistic ramblings. Don't say I didn't warn you.

A Washington Renaissance?

The future may, indeed, be here in Washington. I'm not talking about politics, or diplomacy, or economics. I'm talking sports.

The Washington Nationals, consistent cellar-dwellers in the national League East, have been in first place since the beginning of the season. As I write this, they have beaten the defending NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies seven times straight. They've also won eight of nine series this year, losing only to the best-in-baseball LA Dodgers.

The Washington Capitals are tied in their Stanley Cup second round playoff series against the NY Rangers after dispatching the defending champion Boston Bruins in the first round.

The Washington Redskins, mired in mediocre season after season, have just drafted perhaps the best quarterback in the country, reigniting fan interest and hope for the years ahead.

The Washington Wizards, perennially one of the worst teams in the NBA, are still one of the worst teams in the NBA. You can't have everything.

Perhaps the Nationals are the best story so far. The Capitals are always decent, and they get into the playoffs pretty frequently. The Redskins have had promising off-seasons before, and we won't know the results of their draft selections until the fall.

But the Nats are showing big promise day after day, game after game, and they have some young players making a big difference in the team's prospects. Stephen Strasburg, one of the most gifted pitchers in a generation, continues playing well after surgery on his arm. His record this year does not reflect his pitching; too often, the team has saved its run scoring until the late innings, after he's been relieved.

The big story of the Nats' year may be Bryce Harper, a 19 year-old phenom outfielder. He's shown real batting chops, getting key hits and also being patient enough to work the count to a walk in critical situations. On base is on base. Better to get to first via a walk than to strike out on close pitches most young players would attack.

 Bryce Harper doubles home the winning run against the Diamondbacks.

Harper's arm is a real stunner, though. In his first-ever major league game, against the aforementioned Dodgers, he caught a long fly ball near the warning track in left field. The runner on third tagged and sprinted towards home. Harper uncorked a perfect strike to the catcher, who tagged the runner just before he reached home plate. The umpire called the runner safe, but replays showed Harper had actually thrown him out. You don't always get the call, but the camera doesn't lie. That was the kind of major league throw most pro outfielders could never make, and Harper did it on his first play. He's made similar throws since, and consistently shows a maturity beyond his years. He's a joy to watch in a game.

I'm hoping the teams of Washington will play well enough this year to generate fan interest throughout the area. Anything to relieve the drone of partisanship we're sure to face 'til November and beyond...