A Santorum of Our Own

James, in the mold of Santorum - Picture courtesy of ESPN

by blogSpotter
Today’s blog is a mix of things – have a been a little too busy to carefully research something like my previous entry on Stephen Foster. I’ll do this like a Ouija Board and see where my typing fingers take me…

ROBERT, THE EXERCISE FREAK

I was at a 12-step meeting last week. We had an unremarkable speaker, but one thing impressed me in her talk. This short, squat, 45ish pear-shaped woman said that she was into “extreme sports” and liked to run marathons. The thin wisp of a middle-aged woman who introduced her vouched that they “walk around White Rock Lake every day”. I’m not the world’s most agist or sexist person but had trouble thinking of these two as track stars. I decided that today – a beautiful, sunny 63 degree late February day – would be perfect for me to see how and if my 54-year old self could trek around the lake. Yea, verily I did it in exactly 3 hours. I thought it was 6 miles – in fact it’s 9.3 miles. Here are some (fairly sad) details about the achievement…

o I had to use every port-a-potty along the way – to get rid of a giant carafe of breakfast coffee I drank.
o I started having severe allergy attacks off the bat, and all the way around. Spring-like weather is a mixed blessing for me.
o As I thought would be the case, I was worn out at the halfway mark (7-11) and contemplated calling a cab to take me the rest of the way… (I resisted!)
o Every bone, muscle and sinew in my body was aching – my back was in pain. I started developing two blisters on my toes, to accompany the rock that was tumbling around in my shoe.
o Observed that walking is as exhausting as running, when done in the extreme.

Will I do it again – Good Lord, no! Not any time soon. My fatigue has fatigue as I type this. Does the pear-shaped woman do this daily? Maybe so – my 30-year old cousin Jessica runs half marathons every other day. Mine is not to question why, mine is to avoid doing it again lest I die. I do feel like I accomplished something and can always point to that day when I “walked the whole lake”. I’ll see the Bath House in the far distance and know full well that my feet could get me there in 90 minutes.

But ENOUGH of my personal fitness drama, let's proceed and look at Texas' political drama ...

CRAIG JAMES, REVEALED

I was vexed and perplexed when I read that Texas Senatorial candidate Craig James was making blatantly homophobic remarks last week. He took Tom Leppert to task for riding in Dallas’ Alan Ross gay pride parade. Mr. James further elaborated that sex preference is a choice and one that the “Lord will judge gays for it in the hereafter”. Leppart defended himself as best he could, saying that as mayor he wanted to represent all his constituents. Mr. James is most impressive – he seems to know the mind of God. He knows who will be punished for what and when; heck, he’s almost taken it upon himself to do God’s work.

Imagine how interesting it was when I read in today’s paper that James is disliked by many heterosexuals in his former sports circle. Craig, an ex-ESPN sportscaster and SMU football player is apparently the “stage dad from Hell”…. When his son Adam was sidelined at Texas Tech for lack-luster football performance, Craig accused Coach Mike Leach of tormenting his son (who was nursing a concussion) -- sending him to a dark, convalescing room. James turned this mole hill into a mountain and got Coach Leach fired. The reverberations and bad vibes of this are still playing out in the sports world – very fittingly it spills into Craig James’ senatorial bid. Karma after all. I don’t know what God has in mind for any of us later, but he has something in mind for Mr. James’ reputation right now.

And so it goes – I’ve rambled for too long here at Starbucks. While I typed this, a little girl was trying to show me where her American Doll injured her leg. I can relate to that doll’s injury – my legs are still recovering from White Rock. I’ll sign off now and probably go soak in the tub. I won’t walk around the lake anytime right away; I won’t vote for Craig James ever. I can’t say what my Bush-loving Texas brethren might do but that’s a topic for another blog.

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