Greetings loyal airmen.  Well, with summer over and the new school year underway, most of us turn our attentions to the events that traditionally make up Fall in America.  Yearly that means the baseball play-offs.  Here we are in the September, the last regular month of the game season.  Come October 1st only the best will be remain to start the race for the World Series Championship.  Whereas every four years we also have a different race to contend with, the political variety.  As of Nov. 4th, Americans will go to the polls and elect a new President.  Now I know writing about politics is always a touchy subject.  Really.  The last time I did so, one of my regular readers was so angered by my position, he wrote me a scathing rebuttal (way beyond civil), pretty much calling me stupid and ignorant for my beliefs.  Needless to say, he doesn't stop here any more.  Anyway, if you too don't like discussing politics, then I would simply suggest you skip over that section of this week's journal.  They will be easy to distinguish.  I'm going to talk baseball first, set up a page break and then go into that “delicate” subject matter.  Then another break and wrap things up.  Fair enough?

One of the real joys of following the Red Sox this year has been in watching shortstop, Dustin Pedroia, play the game.  This 5'7″ player is a non-stop hitting machine like no other in all of baseball today.  There have only ever been a small handful of ball players who were natural hitters.  Trust me, it is a gift and it drives opposing pitchers crazy.  Why?  Because there is no place they can put the ball, Pedroia can't hit!  We have watched him almost go down on one knee many times, swing out his bat as if it were a fly-swatter and connect with a ball that was only two inches off the dirt!  Inside, outside, up or down, it doesn't matter.  Petey (his nickname on the team) simply sees the ball and hits it.  Time after time!  He's leading all of Major League Baseball with his hitting average and let me add his defensive place is nothing to sneeze at either.  As a shortstop, he moves fast and it's all too rare when balls do get past him.  Is it any wonder that we devoted Sox fans see him winning the Most Valuable Player award this year?   And this from a young man who was last year's Rookie of the Year!!  Absolutely amazing.  Dustin Pedroia is one of the most talented ball players on the field today.  No matter had bad things have gotten for this team (and there have been many ups and downs for sure) Petey has always delivered.  He is a joy to watch and as the Red Sox battle their way to the play-offs, you have to know the eyes of Red Sox Nation are on the little guy at shortstop to help propel the team to victory. 

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Back in 2000, Arizona Senator John McCain ran for the Presidency of the United States.  We here in New Hampshire get to know candidates quickly because of our First in the Nation Primaries.  I remember being fascinated and inspired by McCain's story.  He was a real war hero who had endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of his captors during his five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.  Being a Vietnam vet myself, I could sympathize with this brave man who never lost his faith in American and I voted for him.  Sadly New Hamphsire's insight didn't matter to the established Republican party and they opted for a wheeler-dealer in George W.Bush.   Regardless, my interest in McCain didn't wain and one day Valerie came home from shopping and handed me his book, FAITH OF MY FATHERS.  I was delighted  and as expected, thoroughly moved by this no-holds barred look into the man's life.  John McCain's greatest strength is his self-awareness of his own flaws.  He admits to growing up a wild, rebellious youth who only wanted to have fun and enjoy the good things in life.  When fate dropped him into hostile territory with his legs and arms broken, he quickly had that that selfish veneer ripped away.  Stripped of his God-given freedoms, beaten repeatedly to include torture, John McCain mentally matured.  He learned the hard way what life's real priorities are and the value of a free democracy.  He learned the indomitable courage of his fellow POWs and through their abiding friendship and support, he endured horrors few of us can ever imagine.

Upon his return to civilian life, he could have packed it in and gone about his life in the private sector. He's a smart guy, he'd have been successful at anything he tried.  But that wasn't going to happen.  McCain came home a new man, a man who had learned love of country in a new and profound way and knew he had to devote his life to preserving our society.   He went into public service for all the rights reason; to serve his fellow Americans and to protect his country.  That has been his record from day one.  McCain despises corruptions and politicians who cheat and lie, robbing the American taxpayers every chance they can.  And he doesn't care which side of the aisle they sit on, Republicans and Democrats alike.  To McCain, a crook is a crook no matter what his party affiliations are.  And so he's made a lot of enemies.  Surprise, surprise.  Yet, somehow he has once again endured.  And that in itself is amazing considering the politic machinery he has gone up against.

When he launched his new campaign last year, political expert didn't give him a prayer of succeeding.  Hell, the fat cats of his own party didn't want him to win.  Why?  Because McCain will upset their comfy business as usual if he gets into the White House. Have absolutely no doubts about that.  This man is fed up with a do-nothing government and is going make it once again what Lincoln cherished, “..a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

So against all odds, he wins his party's nomination.  Now comes the greatest challenge of all, bringing his case to the American people who are rightly sick and tired of politics as usual, including a Republican Administration that seems to have lost touch with average American family.  The Democrats are preaching change and in a sense they do have the easier road to climb.  The mere fact that should they win, it would be a change.  Right, the change from one party to the other.  But is that all that matters to you?  Please understand, if the Democrats win, they will alter nothing!  Washington will continue to be a sink hole of useless debating which achieves nothing.  Remember, although the Republicans do hold the white house, for the past four years the Democrats have controlled the Congress.  Their record of achievement.  Zero!  They have failed to alleviate any of the many problems facing the American people and their Congress has the worst record since this country was founded.  Change?  Give me a break, please. 

So here we have two men running for office and each claiming to be an agent of change.  So along comes the party conventions and we Americans watch very closely to see how each of these candidates will proceed.  One of the telling moments in the choosing of a running mate is the insights it gives all of us to “how” the candidate thinks?   And since both parties are arguing change, it was a major let down to see the Democratic nominee's choice.  Oh, not that his choice isn't a good man etc.etc.  But come on people, what it was was business as usual.  Where was the change there?   Then last week John McCain set the political world on its butt by going out of the Washington Beltway to find a gutsy, reform minded governor who had battled her own party bigwigs and won.  Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is the true breath of fresh air all of us have been praying for, but never honestly thought we'd get.  In one bold move, McCain proved his words.  He did not pick an established politician, although he had amble choices from those in his party.  Nor did he allow his party leaders to dictate his choice.  Days before the his selection, I watched noted Republicans on television saying they hoped he wouldn't do anything radical.  Ha.  Radical. He broke the mold on radical.  Sarah Palin was a small town mayor.  I can think of no better education into the world of public service then being a mayor.  It's a tough as hell job, every day going out there amongst your neighbors and managing their government so that it is totally responsive to their needs and well-being.  Palin did so perfectly.  Enough so that her supporters knew she was the real answer to the political corruptions that had infested their state and they voted her in as governor to clean things up.  And she did! Going after the crooks in her own party, most of which either then left office in disgrace or were indicted and convicted.  The woman is true and sincere reformer.  She is a mother who wants only the best for her family, and yours.  Her oldest son is in the army and soon to be deployed to Iraq.  Like all mothers, she is scared for him, but at the same time she is proud of his willingness to serve the greatest country in the history of the world.  As John McCain learned in Vietnam, freedom is never free.

So there you have it.  A rebel, a fighter, a maverick and a REAL AMERICAN HERO, wants to be your President.  He has fought and bled for America and he loves her above all else.  He says he's going to change things in Washington and by choosing a gutsy, no-nonsense woman as his running mate, he's already shown the world he is a man of his word.  You want to things to change in Washington? So do I, and the best hope we have for that change is McCain & Palin!

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Okay, loyal airmen, that's the Air Chief's political rant.  There won't be any more this election.  I just hope all of you, regardless of your leanings, will do your homework and get involved with the process. Please, vote!  It is your greatest weapon in preserving all our freedoms.  Never take it for granted.

Finally, Valerie flew off to Colorado this past week to spend time with our son Alan, and his family.  Me and her mom are holding down the fort while she's gone.  It's an interesting pattern that we've established and even though it means we have to be apart, her homecomings are special.  They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and we both attest to that being so true.  

Ron – Over & Out.