I’m just going to go ahead and lift the entirety of Krugman’s post, because I want you to read the whole thing. What else should we do in these waning days of socialism, right?
So, we’re already getting the expected punditry: Obama needs to end his leftist policies, which consist of … well, there weren’t any, but he should stop them anyway.
What actually happened, of course, was that Obama failed to do enough to boost the economy, plus totally failing to tap into populist outrage at Wall Street. And now we’re in the trap I worried about from the beginning: by failing to do enough when he had political capital, he lost that capital, and now we’re stuck.
But he did have help in getting it wrong: at every stage there was a faction of Democrats standing in the way of strong action, demanding that Obama do less, avoid spending money, and so on. In so doing, they shot themselves in the face: half of the Blue Dogs lost their seats.
And what are those who are left demanding? Why, that Obama move to the center.
One of my favorite quotes involving travel comes from William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, describing a character who has just arrived in London, after a transatlantic flight:
“Her mortal soul is leagues behind her, being reeled in on some ghostly umbilical down the vanished wake of the plane that brought her here. Â Souls can’t move that quickly, and are left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.”
For me, this is the perfect way to to describe that empty and displaced feeling I get when I’ve just made a long flight, feeling very much out of my own time and space. Â Usually alone, often at night, and frequently in a city new to me, I just go for a walk. Â There’s never a particular plan to it. Â Just a wander around, trying to absorb the general sense of a place.
So that’s what I did when, having arrived late at night in Taipei and checked into the Howard, I found myself with the energy to move. Â I did this despite the fact that I’d not slept a bit on the plane, and – in a first for me – found I’d have some company on this walk. Â Niamh and Mark, also in Taiwan for the Cycling Festival, found themselves a bit restless, too. Â So off we went. Â And this is what we found:
It would be foolish, indeed, to think you know a city through a single late night walk. Â But it does start to sketch a map of sorts. Â Not just ordinal, but of expectations. Â Some things you get wrong – I’d soon learn that all those wide bike lanes were going to be filled with buzzing scooters in the morning, with barely a bike to be seen. Â But others turn out quite right – I felt incredibly safe, and there was an easiness to the people around me. Â That’s a theme that – while not particularly related to the purpose of my trip – certainly helped me focus on that purpose. Â Taiwan, despite the challenges of language (and weather), turned out to be a rather easy place.
What is rarely easy, in any place 12 time zones away from your own, is getting yourself keyed into the local rhythms. Â So it was with no small amount of effort that I hauled myself out of bed early the next morning for a second look at Taipei, this time in daylight:
Click here for same slideshow, but bigger and with captions.
After a lovely breakfast, it was off for a bit of quick sight-seeing before heading to the airport for a flight to Taitung (TTT).  This included a stop at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (国立ä¸æ£çºªå¿µå ‚):
I suppose that now is as good a time as any to introduce the cast. Â From left to right: Niamh (of Adventures Abroad), John (our guide/magician/miracle worker), Kate (of GlobalSoulAdventures), Mark (of Bikehugger.com), and Beverly (of Beverly Garrity Design). Â You’ll be seeing more of them later. Â For now, this is their best side.
Other reasons to check out the CKS Memorial:
and
and
It’s an interesting memorial, and undoubtedly could have been the kick-off of many an interesting political discussion (I find Taiwan’s political landscape fascinating, despite possessing just a glancing understanding of it), but this was not to be that kind of trip. Â Rather, it would be the kind of trip where we found things like this hilarious:
Yes, that’s a robot construction flag waver, and for the remainder of the trip, it never failed to excite and make us laugh. Â What can I say? Â We’re a simple people.
On the way to the airport, we saw an advertisement for one of the most useful pieces of Taiwan’s new push for improved cycletouring infrastructure – bike cars on trains:
To get to Taitung (TTT), however, we flew on Uni Air. Â We departed from Taipei’s domestic airport, Songshan (TSA). Â For domestic travel, this is far more convenient to downtown Taipei than TPE. Â The flight was short and uneventful, taking us from this:
to this:
Well, except for one thing. Â This fellow sat directly behind us:
I found it hilarious, though my seatmate was less sanguine. Â Alas, we all got along just fine, and now I’m sitting comfortably at home. Â And that fellow probably isn’t. Â And we were off!
Taitung County (the county/state/province surrounding Taitung, the city) was completely different than Taipei. Â Green, spacious, green, gorgeous, and green, we’d clearly arrived in a very different part of Taiwan, despite the sub-60 minute flight. Â From there, we headed north for another bit of tourism – an aboriginal demonstration site that offered traditional rafting. Â A picture of tranquility, I think:
And it looks simple enough:
So off we went, anticipating a bit of lazy time on the water:
Just look that. Â Beautiful, no?
Well. Â Just to the right of this photo? Â Is the rock I decided to land on, and make an ironic colonial claim. Â Joke was on me, though, as the rock tossed me off, camera in pocket, for a swim in the water. Â Which was really quite pleasant, until I’d been treading water for a minute or so and realized that the camera was, in fact, in pocket. Â So I’m a little short of photos for this day, after this. Â We ended up at the Hotel Royal Chihpen, where I obtained a magic bag of rice that made much of what follows possible . . .
Tomorrow: The 2010 Taiwan Cycling Festival kicks off! Â Also: Taitung International Triathlon, with a guest appearance from the Taiwan Air Force.
Has anyone even heard of Stephen Yelverton’s (write-in) candidacy for Virginia’s 8th District before this week? Â I’m just back from my polling station (where I voted for Rep. Jim Moran), and was rather surprised to see three people wearing t-shirts promoting the write-in candidacy of a Stephen Thomas Yelverton. Â Until a few days ago, I’d never seen that name in Arlington, nevermind any campaign coverage. Â No debates, no campaigning – nothing. Â Yet there were three people working the poll, with printed t-shirts, and scads of quality yard signs. Â All for an out-of-nowhere candidate? Â So I had to look a few things up:
His website. Â See it for yourself. Â Convincing? Â Not particularly. Â The URL was registered in March 2010.
Contributions. Â According to Open Secrets, he’s an exclusively Republican giver. Â Mostly the RNC and George W. Bush until the mid 00s (and folks like Lauch Faircloth and Jesse Helms in the 90s).
Finances. Â I’m a bit hesitant to mention this, but 1) he’s running for Congress (apparently) and 2) it’s one of the few relevant results that come up when you search his name, but this guy is still dealing with a personal bankruptcy. Â The proceedings appear to involve substantial amounts, but you have to wonder where he’s getting the money to pay poll workers and print t-shirts/signs. Â His candidate site says that he only accepts contributions from individuals of less than $200 (mere coincidence that that’s the reporting threshold, I’m sure), so we don’t have any fundraising records available.
So I called the contact number on his website, which turns out to connect me to his cellphone. Â Apparently catching him on his way out of the Metro and heading into court. Â He tells me that he’s a genuine candidate and self-funding. Â He also said that he’s been advertising for the past couple of weeks, but has been “laying the groundwork for 6 months.” Â He gave me the short pitch on his positions (reform Congress, transparency, etc.), but I told him that I was mostly interested in verifying whether he was a genuine candidate, and not someone just designed to peel off votes. Â He responded by telling me that yes, he was a real candidate, and that he was running against both the Republican and Democratic candidates. Â He also told me that he’s never been particularly involved in Arlington or Alexandria politics. Â He then said that he had to head into the courthouse, suggested that I call back in the afternoon if I’d like, and we concluded the call.
He was polite enough, and I don’t have any personal reason to doubt the man. Â Yet, in light of the circumstances, I’m still wondering if it’s a bid to peel off enough voters to give Murray (the GOP candidate) a shot. Â Now, I could very well be wrong – the 8th District race isn’t interesting to me, and I’ve not kept my ear to the ground for every detail. Â Jim Moran’s imperfect, but he’s orders of magnitude better than Murray (who thinks a winning strategy in the 8th is going on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show, or accusing his GOP primary opponent of supporting gay marriage (horrors)). As a result, I’m confident Jim Moran is going to beat Murray handily. Â But this whole thing gives me a nagging feeling that maybe someone, somewhere, thinks that – with a write-in candidate who can peel off the votes of those who are tired of Jim Moran, but won’t vote GOP (a group which includes a fair number of Democrats) – Murray just might have a shot. Â And maybe they’re betting on it.
Update: The Sun-Gazette did have a brief note late last week on Yelverton’s self-announced entrance into the race, and I’ve been told that he’s also placed some advertising in the Falls Church News Press. Â It’s also my understanding that he tried – and failed – to secure enough signatures to qualify for the ballot as an independent earlier this year. Â That helps tilt the balance in favor of an actual, if still ill-executed, candidacy.
