Book: "I, Alex Cross"

The latest in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. All of these books used to be based on nursery rhymes, such as Along Came a Spider, Jack and Jill, Roses are Red, etc. But I guess Patterson used all these up, so now the novels are all different variations of Cross (the last 4 novels have been Cross, Double Cross, Cross Country this one, with Cross Fire due for release shortly).


Nothing new or earth shattering in this one. As always, Cross is on the hunt for a creepy killer. More or less the same as in other novels, but this one, as is usually the case, is quite good. Although, it might spend a tad too much time on Cross' home life and Nana Mama.

This always had the makings of a great movie or t.v. series, but they botched it when they cast Morgan Freeman in the two movies that were made. Way too old for this character. Never quite sure why they did that. Always figured a Denzel or Wesley would have been the way to go.

Anyway, for an enjoyable, quick (and I mean quick) read, you can never go wrong with James Patterson. He has a couple of other series going. The Women's Murder Club, which has 9 books now. I only read the first one, which was quite good, not sure why I didn't keep going. Also has a series about teens with wings, which always sounded a little weird. Patterson then also churns out random books with other authors that seem to come out monthly. I've read a few of those and there have been some good ones.

Dos Buen Peliculas

I think my Spanish is accurate in that the title of this post means "Two Good Movies." Both are in Spanish and subtitled, but don't let that scare you away. These are very good.

Sin Nombre
This has two story threads. A girl traveling with family members from Guatemala to try and ente the U.S. Evidently, it's common for people to hitch rides on the top of trains en route to the U.S. border. The other thread is a teen trying to escape his gang life, and of course the two meet up. Features a very creepy villain with one of the gang leaders. Puts the immigration issue into a different light. Not everyone trying to cross our southern borders are drug dealers. Some are desperate for the better life they know they can get here.

The Secret in Their Eyes
This won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film last year, and wow, this is a good one. Can't really describe it too much because I don't want to give anything away. The story begins what is in effect 25 years later, as former law office colleagues are reunited. He's retired and is writing a novel, she has become a judge. There's a case from the past that he's now writing about. Thus, the story goes back and forth between the past and present. Don't let the subtitles scare you away, this is a very absorbing movie from start to finish, one of the best foreign films I've ever seen. A word of warning, there is a brief scene of assault early on that is a bit jarring because the movie starts out with a rather meloncholy tone. But I highly recommend this one. Also, I don't usually notice camera techniques, but there is an unbroken shot in a soccer stadium that I'm not quite sure how they filmed it; that is, where exactly the cameraman would have been at.

Election Ramblings

So now instead of wall to wall campaign ads, it's wall to wall analysis of the meaning of the election. The meaning is this: the Democrats received a "shellacking" (Obama's own words). It's a massive repudiation of the last two years, just like 2008 was a massive repudiation of the previous several years, and so on. Wait until 2012, probably more of the same.


My election ramblings as I was up to 1:00 a.m. watching the returns:

• On my Facebook status, I identify myself as a "Right Wing Evangelical Republican Wacko." So yes, I liked the results. I've always identified myself as a Republican and always will. I have cheered many times for what Republicans have done over the years, and cringed just as often. But I'll keep sticking with them. However, I have never voted straight ticket, and never will either. Nor do I embrace the term Independent, which means you don't have to stand for anything and can claim credit for whoever wins.


• How DID Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory so quickly? I mean, flash back to November 2008. The Republicans were exiled to the political wilderness and it seemed like a long, long time before they'd ever be back. It's amazing how it turned so abruptly. I still think it was Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts that started it. Democrats fell asleep on that one and from that point on, Republicans got momentum and a huge boost of confidence and never let it go.
  
• The young voters that propelled Obama to power in 2008 stayed home in rather significant numbers. Older voters that voted Democrat in 2008 made a huge swing to voting Republican this time around. Those changes in voting patterns were very detrimental to the Democrats.
  
• I know you can't stand her, but Democrats, quit underestimating Sarah Palin. Also, don't think we Republicans will embrace her as a candidate for President. Polls clearly show we like her as a campaigner, but absolutely not as a candidate.
  
• Republicans all over have absolutely dreamed of the day when Pelosi has to hand over the gavel (I don't think a lot of Democrats will exactly miss her either).
  
• Hey Meg Whitman, was it worth the $140 million of your own money?
  
• Hey California, Jerry Brown was a little wacky when I lived in California while he was governor, and that was 30+ years ago. You may be in for a ride.


• Laugh at you want at the Tea Party, but they did make a difference, both good and bad (I mean yeah, they probably caused the Senate to stay Democrat). But the voters discerned very well in keeping Angle and O'Donnell out. They had no business there and were poor candidates. Still, gains were made in the Senate anyway with Dan Coats here in Indiana and a huge symbolic victory by taking Obama's former seat in Illinois.


• The only cable channel I get is MSNBC, so it was sometimes painful and oftentimes borderline hilarious watching and listening to Rachel Maddow, Chris Mathews, and Keith Olberman report on the Republican landslide (sorry, tsunami has been used enough).


• The best election night news is NBC. ABC is okay, but CBS should just shut down operations on election night.


• As I expected, Jackie Walorski lost Indiana's 2nd Congressional District in a close contest. The Libertarian got over 9,000 votes, so that could have been a spoiler. His name was Mark Vogel, one of my former student workers. My boss, a Democrat who is on the South Bend City Council, said he has a future in politics, and I would agree. He held his own in the debate with Walorski and Donnelly. Donnelly is a good guy, and he likely got a lot of well deserved Republican votes. But he won in 2008 by about 15,000 v0tes and Tuesday night by just under 3,000, so Jackie put up a very good showing. She says she'll be back in 2012, but who knows, she may decide life outside of politics ain't so bad.
  
• I like the tone John Boehner set in his speech. No balloons, no cheering, kept it subdued, unlike Gingrich in 1994. The only question is if he'll cry when he gets the gavel from Pelosi.
  
• I really like the diverse field of Republicans that won office, such as Nikki Haley and Tim Scott in South Carolina, Susana Martinez in New Mexico, and others. No, it's not widespread diversity, but definintely a change from how it's been in the past and something the party absolutely has to do.

This was not a vote based on anti-incumbent fever. It was clearly a vote against the Democrats, because very few Republican incumbents lost and a slew of new and long-time Democrats went down. However, it also was not necessarily an embrace of the Republican Party. They have been given, extraordinarily, a second chance after an epic squandering of a political opportunity by the other party. But come 2012, they could just as easily be on their way out as power no longer lasts a generation, but a mere 2 years.

So, we'll see what happens . . .

Voting for Jackie

While I am very interested in pretty much all the national races taking place tomorrow, one that has my particular attention is that of Indiana's 2nd Congressional District. This pits incumbent Joe Donnelly against Jackie Walorski, who has served as a State Representative for the past several years.

Jackie at one time was the director of development at IU South Bend, so I knew her as a fellow employee. Her parents at one time attended our church in South Bend. She also married Dean Swihart, a longtime friend and colleague of Dorene's, who is also a music teacher in the Mishawaka school system (he plays a mean saxophone, maybe him and Bill Clinton could have a jam session if he gets to Washington).

But the time I most remember about Jackie was when we heard her speak at a previous church we attended. Her and her husband talked about their missionary work in Romania. This was long before she was even in the political arena. She spoke of their work and it was by far the most inspiring talk I've ever heard about missionary work overseas. They were very committed and very passsionate about their work with Romanian youth. Hey, I was ready to head over there myself after hearing her speak.

I always said she was one of the best speakers I'd ever heard, so when she decided to throw her hat into the political arena, I figured that was a good fit. Sure enough, she ran successfully for the Indiana Statehouse in 2004. One of her most "controversial" moves was when she missed the vote that could have possibly stopped our move to Daylight Savings Times, which for me is still one of the most absurd controversies in the history of Indiana politics, as you would have though we were talking about seceding from the Union. But she got through that and in 2006 when pretty much every other Republican went down in flames, she was reelected. In 2008, when every other Republican statewide and nationwide also went down in flames, her and Mitch Daniels bucked the trend and stayed put.

After a few years in the Indiana State House, I knew she would someday go national, and this year was definitely the time to give it a shot. Do I agree with everything she's done? Absolutely not, but that's okay isn't it? Not sure why we have to expect 100% personal compliance from all our elected officials. She is definitely not a lightweight (paging you Ms. O'Donnell) and deep down Rep. Pat Bauer probably would love for her to be gone.

My gut feeling, however, is that she will NOT win this year, and that's okay. Joe Donnelly is quite moderate and has actually done just fine. He was at IU South Bend once for an appearance and I happened to walk through before it began and he approached my to introduce himself and was very personable. He's not one that you can pinpoint any big missteps during his 4 years in office. The campaign against him is basically that he's tied to Obama and Pelosi, which I don't think will work for this race (and Donnelly, like any politician who's party is seen as vulnerable, has done a lot to try and distance himself from the party and Obama/Pelosi, which may or may not be good strategy).

While I will cast my vote for Jackie, I think it'll be a tight race but she'll come up short. But she'll be back again. Is a good portion of my reasoning to vote for her personal? Yep, it certainly is, and why not? When you have personal attachments to a candidate, kinda makes it easier to cast your vote that way, whether or not you agree with everything they do.