Call it The Palin Problem. It’s huge.

Bob Herbert writes a terrific assessment of The Problem–that she’s only an exclamation mark–in the New York Times op-ed Palin’s Alternate Universe. E. J. Dionne Jr., too, writes about her in a Washington Post op-ed Hockey Mom on Thin Ice, and claims that McCain has lied about seeking advice from her in the past.

My friend DZV says that she’s doing exactly what she is supposed to be doing: distracting attention away from McCain.

I wouldn’t be so concerned if I didn’t think that the McCain-Palin ticket has a chance, but after eight years of George Bush, I have no reason to believe that American voters in general have anything but intellectual dullness on the brain.

That’s the real problem.

Well, folks, I’ve found him. The ultimate schmuck…err…presidential candidate. Really, how can I not vote for anyone who sings on the campaign trail?

It’s been an agonizingly painful wait for President Bush to do something that will leave even a small degree of positive residue on his legacy, but at last he’s taken a high road. Faced with an Olympian’s bikini’d behind waiting for a slap, he back flicked instead.

Good for him, I say–but too little too late. In retrospect, I’m still pleased with myself for not voting for him, although that’s basically no consolation, overall.

It appears that John Edwards hasn’t exercised similar restraint in recent times, very unfortunately. However, his moral digression does not necessarily mean he would not have deserved my vote, had he stayed in the Democratic primary race long enough to get it.

“Really?” you might ask. “You might have voted for an adulterous person?” It’s a good question, and it brings to mind an article I once wrote for my hometown’s newspaper. It was a “dig up some news to write about” piece, an interview with an Anabaptist minister opposed to Bush’s policies following the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

The pastor commented that whereas President Clinton had lacked a strong sense of personal ethics (can you believe that the Lewinsky mess was already ten years ago?) but possessed strong corporate ethics, President Bush, while having strong personal ethics, lacked a strong sense of corporate ethics. (The pastor, a recovering alcoholic, also said that Bush still exemplified behaviors of addicts, namely refusing to accept reality or admit he’s wrong.)

If I had the choice to make, I think I would much prefer a politician who can make wise decisions for the nation in spite of his or her personal weaknesses over one who totally screws up everything but keeps his or her personal life in order.

My voting readers have fulfilled their civic duty–and elected as president Barak Obama. A full 75% of the four votes cast were for Obama. The remaining 25% vote was for “Other,” whoever that might be.

If Hillary Clinton’s plan to drop federal gasoline taxes for the summer driving season is appealing because it will allegedly ease prices at the pump, then that’s shortsighted allure.

The government should stay out of the oil business–or maybe tax it more heavily–so that consumer costs will increase, thereby making the green and sustainable alternatives market blossom and mature. Higher fuel prices may be the only available impetus to effect a retooling and refueling of the U.S. economy so that domestic transportation manufacturers can lead the rest of everyone into a less polluted, quieter, more eco-friendly existence.

What will Clinton’s plan, so similar to John McCain’s, really do? It will let people buy more gas and pollute more with no concern for the environment or our longterm national security.

As you might remember from my earlier posts about house hunting for the perfect property, I’m itching to homestead. After casting about the local waters, we found the perfect place, for probably about $230,00, which is entirely not affordable for us, without a low-cost loan.

Since our bank of choice could only offer us a rate of 6.5%, at which our monthly payments would really put our pennies in quite a pinch, I applied to an online company promising up to five loan offers from competing banks. The best offer, at 5.7%, brought the potential monthly payments down a few hundred dollars, but still way not enough.

In hopes that what my email-happy contact person wrote was true, namely that “the initial offers that you received are not the only offers you qualify for, and there could be loan offers that better fit your situation for lower closing costs,” and that his company wants “to make sure every customer receives 100% customer service and satisfaction,” I replied to him: “I’m afraid we are unable to pursue purchasing a new home at this point…unless you know of a way to get a fixed-rate, 30-year, $230,000 mortgage with monthly payments under $800.”

His response was brief and to the point: “Unfortunately, you would need less than a 2% interest rate to get that. If that is your monthly payment comfort zone, you should be looking to purchase a property around $100,000. Are there any properties around your area at this price?”

Well, no, actually, not ones I’d want.

But his 2% interest figure got me thinking. On March 18, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board lowered its federal funds rate to 2.25%–which would suit me just fine. I emailed a close contact who works for the Board: “Say, what are the odds that the Fed could share the love with us? Home mortgage loans are still up at 5.6%-6.5%, but isn’t the Fed offering loans down at around 2%? I could afford a whole lot more house at that rate! Somehow I’d like to benefit from this recession.”

“I’m on it,” he wrote back. His later conclusion? Become a bank.

Yesterday I caught a glimpse of a newspaper headline, something about the sky falling for the Air Force, whose equipment is aging rapidly. My coworker D said to me, “I just hate it when that happens to our weapons of mass destruction.”

For my birthday I was given a poster, which is now on my classroom wall. It says, “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.”

Time for a bake sale! (Just keep the sweets healthy, for the old bombers’ sakes.)