Are the Classified Furloughs for Oregon Higher Education employees COSTING instead of SAVING the state money?

I think there has been a mistake. A financial one, a bit obscure, but real dollars. In full disclosure, I am a classified state employee and a finance student at Oregon State University.

Quick background, in early fall 2009 the State reached an agreement with the OPEU regarding a contract for OUS employees similar to DAS. In the contract, the Union agreed to a specific number of furlough days in the next two years, and a one year wage freeze. This concession was in order to save the state much needed dollars over that time and prevent layoffs.

This could have in fact saved the University System money… but here is where the mistake came in. Thus far, academic employees and managers, not represented by the Union, haven’t agreed to match these wage reductions or furloughs. Immaterial to the argument except in one specific way: it allowed a mistake in how the furloughs were administered. This is key.

Currently, employees, based on pay levels, are required to take a fixed number of furlough days (days off unpaid) each fiscal year for the next two years. However, they are being allowed to take them WHENEVER THEY WANT. As such, employees are allowed to essentially substitute furlough time for time when they would have taken vacation. Full time employees earn a day of vacation each month, so the lowest and highest paid union employee will earn and typically use more vacation days a year than required furlough days (4 required for the lowest paid full time and 7 for the highest). As such, at the end of the two-year period, at minimum the employee will have an extra 8 vacation days on the books.

This is critical and where the mistake lies: vacation days are a paid benefit. They represent either paid effort not received, or cash back to an employee upon leaving. They do not depreciate as wages increase – 8 hours earned while making $10/hr is still 8 hours years later when making $20/hr. Thus, in essence, vacation time becomes MORE valuable to the employee AND a higher cost to the state.

So, why is this important – by allowing employees to use furlough days instead of vacation days, employees can bank those vacation hours. This is in effect allowing employees to BUY vacation days at current wage cost, i.e. if one makes $15/hr, and loses 4 days wages, they give up that wage for 4 days. However, in a year, they will have four extra days vacation saved, which will then reflect their newer salary.

How does that add up? Lets say a daily wage is $200 ($25/hr). I am required to sacrifice 5 days this next year, or $1000 in savings to the state. However, I use it in place of vacation days, so I now have 5 extra days of vacation (earned at $25/hr). Once the wage freeze is lifted, I will again receive my negotiated step increase of 4.75% a year. So, now my salary, and hence those vacation days are worth 4.75% more than previously. We can ignore inflation, as it affects each group equally as well as OPE (overhead), the state will have to have MADE 4.75% on the investment of my salary savings to break even (given how the state has been doing recently, not likely). Over two years, one employee at this rate will have 10 days set aside, and the state needing to average again 4.75% per year to make the savings worthwhile. Some quick math shows that at the end of two years, that $1000 of vacation time each year is worth $2047.50, and the third year, $2144.75 – as long as they do not reach the top end of their wage scale, these dollars will continue to grow.

Since the state is in the hole, this represents savings on borrowing – which means the state will have ONLY made money if they would have had to borrow money at OVER 4.75%. Considering I can get a 15 yr home loan for about that, I would expect the state sees a better loan rate. Thus, the State of Oregon would have been better off borrowing money to pay for salaries and forgoing furloughs.

This is the mistake – the state has essentially borrowed the money from the employee at 4.75%. It will end up being paid back – in lost effort, or in payments to the employee upon leaving.

The Chancellor’s office can fix this – right now, make the decision to close the University or institute mandatory furlough days… and NOT, though convenient, on days which people would normally take vacation (i.e. not around xmas). By minimizing the effect on operations, OUS has prevented any real savings – and it will cost the State… only swift action can prevent the employee's intention of sacrifice from becoming another boondoggle of government mixup.

My clunker cash...

So... I drive a 2001 Ford Sport Trac. According to the EPA website, http://fueleconomy.gov/ , I get 15 mpg, and therefore qualify for a large rebate if I trade it for a newer more efficient car.

However, this is what disappoints me - this program is NOT about getting cars off the road. Its about stimulating sales. If it was about getting gas guzzlers off the road, it would allow me to buy a 90's era junker, and trade it in for a reasonable amount ($2k or so). Instead, I need to have owned and insured the car - meaning, they want my still fairly drivable truck. Those junkers which seem to pass from hand to hand, will end up being lost after some schmoe who doesn't buy new cars gets his third DUII, or wrecked and abandoned after years more of nasty pollution. This program will buy about 250,000 junkers total. So, probably less than a quarter of the junkers just in LA alone, for example. And it will receive no financial payback for the junked vehicles.

I bought a hybrid last year, I have done my part - and yet, in looking for a new sedan, I am forced to trade in my reasonable vehicle - which I upkeep regularly, while a gas guzzling jeep sits a block a way for sale for $500. No incentive for me... and frankly, from what I have seen those folks trading in, all we are doing is taking away the next generation's 'teen inheritance' cars off the road, while the nasty junkers remain.

So, I'll keep my truck. Its worth the few extra dollars I'd have to pay - and now instead I can buy a new Charger. It gets 19 mpg. This program blew it both ways.

My suggestion: take $1 Billion, and buy junkers and scrap them. I'd bet dollars to donuts that with that kind of initial capital investment, you could 'make' money recycling old parts, and metal from them.

A Death, a Doctor, and a Divide

There are few issues in this nation which divide us like abortion. For some, it is the slaughter of innocent lives, for others, an argument of choice and freedom.

In today's CNN.com, the lead story was of a late term abortion doctor being gunned down in front of his church. The irony here abounds.

Abortion is distasteful. I think no right minded person would disagree with this. It is okay to think it is wrong, to say it is wrong, and to choose not to get one yourself - or, for us men, to encourage our respective partners to not get one. Freedom allows this line of thought and personal choice.

However, this is not a perfect world - and frankly, these are not our bodies. Western philosophy preaches the values of the individual, but frequently our heroes on TV or the movies are the ones who act not in preservation of the individual but of society. There is likely someone living on the street in hunger within 20 miles of where you sit reading this right now. Life isn't perfect. There is suffering. There is pain. There is a worse world than we understand in our day to day lives... We choose not to see everything.

I think abortion is wrong. I would prefer is doesn't exist, but the hallmark of freedom is to understand that in having freedom we must allow those things, that we dislike, to happen. To listen to speech that you would spend the rest of your life shouting against, to watch a symbol of everything you love burnt as a statement of protest, to tolerate the intolerable idea.

So, abortion exists. Rational minded folks understand this freedom, this choice (in my personal view, a choice for only the mother to make) and that the understandable argument must be 'only' on what ethical limits we must place. Be it length of term, conditional age, parental notification, these are legitimate debates of serious ethical and moral issues. Debates which are not easily dismissed just because the right of choice exists.

We can work to create an environment which minimizes the desire to choose to terminate; but it is incumbent on us to not do so through intimidation, threat or backhanded coercion. Freedom entitles us to both protest and debate - but not prevent. 

Today a man was shot... a man who took an oath to do no harm, a man who served his community in his own way, a man who made a ethical choice as to where harm lay in his field. He will be morned. I, while not grieving as I have no real connection to him, feel that his death should be avenged - I do believe in the death penalty, and frankly, his murderer deserves to die. 

But before we condemn the guilty, let me say this and only this - the shooter was pro-life. One of the few pro-life people I have ever heard of. I have a four year old daughter, and if I knew of a physician who was killing four year olds down at a clinic, heaven and earth would not prevent me from casting my heart and arms against such a place. This person followed their belief, followed as so many do not. While I can justifiable end his life, I do not see him as evil. 

Society tells us that ideas are noble pursuits to be debated in civilized fashion. Bloodshed is labeled barbaric, violence abhorrent, torture unconscionable. But... (hopefully)maybe one day, not now however. We are not far from the savage beasts beating our chests and beating each other to death with stone and stick over a fresh kill. We have clothed ourselves, taught ourselves, and housed ourselves in the protective glow of intellectuality, but we are still those beasts. Those essences of nature's slippery progress in evolution. 

All too often we give lip service to our ideals. We frequently act only as it does not inconvenience ourselves. Because of the artificial constrains of society, we limit our response to that which is acceptable. To us the shooter was a cold blooded killer. However, if we abstractly place ourselves within the killer's mind, we see reflected the hundreds of late term abortions which now won't take place (at least not as easily). By every rational measure, more lives will come out of this death than were lost. Can you not truly imagine another scenarios in which one's sacrificing for the potential for many would not be a hero to some... to most?

It is a conflict. It is a war to some. Lines have been drawn, much as they are drawn for a hundred other issues... issues which effect lives, happiness, and freedom. You can stand on either side. I am a moderate Republican, a party who has made their feelings known, and yet I stand on the side of Pro-choice, on the side that will condemn this shooter to die for his cold blooded murder. But do not get me wrong - I am not sure I am in the right. I am not sure, if a deity exists, they are on my side in this. Probably not - do I sacrifice my eternal life for this cause? Yet this is my side. My choice. That misguided shooter may have a net gain of lives, but that is not what he took away. He took choice... the potential for a different than expected outcome. That 'freedom of choice' is all we have in the end to bring us away from our early ancestral selves.

I choose this side because I believe in freedom more than I believe in life... 

... as freedom has always had this ironic price. 

Album lists and memories...

This is one of those 25 things lists floating around, but this one I felt I had a lot to reminisce about, thus I am spending a lunch hour avoiding getting yummy but unhealthy Panang Curry...

Albums through the years (these are pivotal pieces, I listened to a heck of a lot more, but these are the ones which invoke memories - they are by no means necessarily my favorite, though most are):  

Thriller (Michael Jackson) - first album I can remember wanting. There was, of course, earlier music; but this is the first album I bought which I can remember.  

The Wall (Pink Floyd) - High school, listening to it freshman year and awakening to a new world of classical rock. I remember I bought it cause this girl Clair I had a crush on mentioned it. Used to fall asleep listening to my walkman. 'Comfortably Numb' remains my favorite song of all time.

Hysteria (Def Leppard) - Middle of HS, this album seemed to be involved in all sorts of hijinks and other trouble I got into as my brother got his first car around then. I remember listening to 'Love Bites' with my first real girlfriend Tonya. Vividly.  

Led Zeppelin IV - Again HS, I had this tie-dye shirt, and knew virtually nothing about them other than I liked this album. Poser. I kept singing parts of the stupid thing randomly in class. Only later did I discover the depth of the other Zeppelin offerings.  

Appetite for Destruction - (Guns and Roses) my first very individualized choice in music. I owned this about a year before 'Sweet Child' came out big... For quite a while my favorite band. Thought I could sing like Axl Rose... I could not, and I think Kacey damned near killed me she got so sick of me trying.  

Use Your Illusion I & II (Guns and Roses) - The summer before leaving for college I was in hormonal lust with a girl named Sarah, and this album came out. Then in college I remember listening to it again and again. And again. Not as good now as I remember it then, but what is...

The Black Album (Metallica) - I remember listing to them in HS, but when I hear this album I think of hanging out with my roommate Darren after freshman year playing Zelda on the SNES and not doing anything else productive. That was a great summer... and yes, UO does have tunnels. :-)

Multiple Sarcasm - Not only did I really love their only CD release, but the aforementioned roommate was the drummer (which probably was good then that I liked his music). No album more reminds me of Eugene, and the good times I had during those years than this music. I still have their demo tape floating around somewhere after I made Mp3s of it.

Crucify (Tori Amos) - 'Little Earthquakes' the album could just as easily be here, but Tori is a piano goddess. Listening to 'Thank You' coming off of those haunting Ivories will always be a vivid memory. I have seen her many times, but only the show in Eugene will remain burned in my memory as her best. She reinforced my firm belief in the awesomeness of redheads.

120 Days of Genitorture (Genitorturers) - I must admit, I bought this mainly for the picture of Gen on the front, but fell in love with 'Velvet Dreams', one of my top five songs of all time. I would later see them many many times in Orlando while in the Navy, and would occasionally run into this amazing blonde around town. Wish I would have said 'Hi' cause Gwen Stefani has nothing on Gen...

Undertow (Tool) - the video for 'Sober' still remains the coolest video I have ever seen. I was living in a quad at the time and I remember watching Beavis and Butthead, and waiting for Mtv's 'Headbanger's ball' to see this video again. This is probably the band I have seen most live after Sarcasm and the Genitorturers.

Promised Land (Queensryche) - I remember getting this with Darren on some late night trip, and we listened to it while driving... not sure where or why, just listening to the sound of it while the dark road passed behind. Later I saw them, and it remains one of the best concerts I ever have seen.

Chum (Seven Mary Three) - the original music before they hit it big, when I was in Orlando, 'Cumbersome' was the crunchy goodness of FM radio. It got castrated in a more publicly available later recording, and I still regret losing my copy of it, as it was 7M3 in their prime.

No Need to Argue (The Cranberries) - I have distinct memories of my friend Vince yelling at me as I sang 'Zombie' loudly as we studied electronics at Orlando's Naval Nuclear Power Training Command. I don't sing very well... but I love to anyways, much to others horror. I would crank this song as I tooled around Florida in my little jeep with the top down.

The Musicals - Sweeney Todd, Les Miserables, Phantom, Sunday in the Park - during al of this time, it would be a rare day when I didn't have a tune from one of these running through my head. From watching Sweeney late at night with Matt and Tonya, to seeing Les Mis the first time in wonder, to driving like a madman around San Fran looking for the damned theatre for Phantom five minutes before it started, to my huge mancrush on Mandy Patinkin's voice.

While i am sure I am missing some albums, I got bored with bands and albums after a while. Seriously, for some reason, my musical tastes stopped evolving; and while I really enjoy some new bands or artists, nothing ever held the same sway, the same staying power for me after the Navy years. It had been such a huge part of my life until then, and I went to a couple concerts to be sure afterwards, but even now have stopped attending those as the crowds piss me off more than the music satisfies me. SONGs would produce a much more vivid list spanning these and following years, but I have run out of time... and songs revel a much more intimate part of us all I think, one I am no keen to share.

I will say however, that the song to which I danced with Camie for the first time at our wedding was the theme to the 'Godfather'. No more beautiful love waltz exists.

Leaving DC...

So, I am packing up after a great trip to the nation's capitol to see the inauguration. Words can't describe how cool this was... oh, wait, yes they can: Cold. Seriously, momentous and all, but cold as hell. 

That is not to detract from the moment, the people, and the absolute crowds of enthusiasm given voice. From the opening concert, to shuffling around on Tuesday to see the speeches, it was a amazing experience. One I will only say, you must come have. Seriously, this happens every four years... now in this case, it was a unique moment, but a portion of that amazement still happens every four years and it is worth taking a moment out of one's life to spend in DC for that brief period of time.

For me, I am always blown away by this city. Everyone is driven, everyone is dedicated, everyone is the tops of the top. This is where those nerds who work their ass off come to finally be among those of their peers. In the bars you don't hear debates about sports, but about recent constitutional questions. It never feels crowded... even after the Mall, people seem to slip away on the metro leaving the area I am staying near the Mall sparse and comfortable. Within walking is the White House and all those touristy destinations, the GW campus, and the Metro taking one to the entirety of the rest of DC. In just two blocks there are amazing restaurants, great drinks, and every convenience one could need.

I will miss this city. I am not worthy of her yet. I hope to be one day... after law school, after MBA school, after some hard work and some dedicated efforts, I hope to be back. To bring my family to this wonder, and to let them see how amazing it is to live here, if even for a moment.

REE 2008: the program (day 1-3)

So... I just returned from Stanford where I attended the 2008 REE Fellow program through the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. This blog will be a bit of a play by play, giving details about the daily events - hopefully, a few folks from next year will read and see the good and the bad.

Day 0: The Drive there...

I chose to drive down from Oregon instead of fly - many of my compatriots were flying from much greater distances but since I was coming from the next state over AND was bringing a bunch of Oregon products I figured driving would be a good way to go. 

Yes and no. The problem with driving from Oregon is that Palo Alto is just near enough to do in one day. One long day. One very long day. I had five stops at various vineyards and creameries to make along the day, so I got in to the SLAC (stanford guest house located at the linear accelerator) around 0100. However, the hotel receptionist was pleasant, awake, and quickly got me in a room. I would say more about driving through Oregon's wine country and the amazing beauty of King Estate Winery but I will leave it at a recommendation that if you get a chance, this is a place not to be missed. To be fair, I got wine from many wineries which I will mention in another blog, but this place was amazing.

Day 1: Welcome...

Advice: So here is my first piece of advice, get to SLAC early the welcome day. Get settled. It will make a difference.

Woke early morning and took a ride down to Stanford to scout the campus and the faculty club area. Beautiful campus which suffers from an extreme lack of parking, which apparently is intentional. The campus bookstore, like so many others, is overpriced; don't buy now... in a few days you will have a better feel for what type of memento you'd like. 

Back at SLAC, to the event you take a wonderful free shuttle bus called the Marguerite. Get used to it, as it's free, comes right to SLAC, and runs into campus and to Palo Alto. You'll also walk a lot, though more on that later. 

We met around 1500 for 'high tea' at the faculty club. Don't dress up, it's not formal. However, this is the first time you really meet a lot of your peers, though some you will have met at SLAC earlier if you are fortunate. We got to decorate name tags... kinda silly, but you have to live with them for days, so it's worth a minute or two of effort. Our host Belen handed out tshirts as well, which was nice (see, I told you not to buy one at the bookstore.)

Advice: Appetizers are served here... kinda nice ones. EAT them. Never assume dinner will be all that good... or available for that matter. Food was hit or miss.

We then walked over to a large lecture hall, where we saw William McDonough speak. An interesting talk - our hosts were quite enamored with his every word; but he was all over the place, failed to take into account the full ecological footprint of his ideas, and when confronted with a real question regarding population displacement for these 'green communities' he passed the buck. Overall the same type of 'save the world by being green' stuff I see everywhere nowadays, but lacking real science behind it which is too bad. I expected more substance from a Stanford lecture. This leads to my first lesson:

Lesson: Just because it is Stanford, do not expect rigor. This is not a class, and the REE is intentionally a bit light due to the many different backgrounds. (I'll blog about that too at some point).

We then went to the treehouse for dinner, and our first real chance to sit and socialize with no timeline afterwards. 

Advice: Notice the lack of schedule... this will be a recurring theme. REE expects independence, and frequently that results in a "what now" feeling. Get used to it, and make sure you know the shuttle's last run, as cabs are $15 from campus. 

The Treehouse is a good example of Stanford in many ways, but the food was pretty blase. I ate light, and used the time to meet the different Fellows. It will take all week to make any real connections as 50 people are hard to get to know quickly. Importantly, these connections will quickly lead to differing activities. 

We caught the shuttle home before 2000. It was packed, and not large enough for the entire group, so some had to be picked up later. Stanford is a bit confusing at first, so we walked many blocks to a shuttle stop a block from where we started. This would not be the last time this occurred.

Back at the SLAC, we broke into some beverages I had brought, and had a few drinks to well into the morning. Safeway is nearby if no one has libations. Widmer Hefeweizen was pretty popular. This was the highlight of the day, as you'll meet some pretty cool people.

Advice: This schedule would repeat itself many many times, so I would come to REE rested, as you will not get a lot of sleep unless you desire to miss some of the socializing. 

Day 2: Greetings redux

It would seem that day two would be the day things really got going, but honestly, not really. Our schedule was basically a tour of Stanford at 1000 (could have skipped, in fact, I accidently merged with the second tour group which was ahead by 10 minutes when I got a phone call - didn't miss much). After lunch I spent MUCH more time wandering around campus, which proved a far better use of my time in seeing the school. And i'll put this here as I am not sure where else to mention it, but Stanford seemed almost deserted much of the time. OSU is packed with 20,000, but Stanford seemed much like a ghost town. Even at the hours, when normally students would be pouring out of buildings did Stanford feel empty. A week later, only once did I not get this same impression.

The meet and greet lunch as one of the highlights of the food... a nice buffet at the faculty club, kinda upscale foods. Got a table outside, and it was quite nice. The team building activities left a lot to be desired though. Kinda trivial stuff done many times before. This sadly too becomes a recurring theme. My friend Noah does informational organization work, and I would have rather someone like him got us thinking how to organize the info instead of just how to create it. But I digress... all in all a nice lunch, but we were done by 1400, and that was it for the day, at least for the program (more on that in a second). 

Wandered around campus a bit that afternoon - great chance to really see Stanford during the week, and you have essentially the rest of the day unfettered. 

However, I had other plans. Back in my room I had 60 bottles of Oregon Wine, 13 cases of Oregon Microbrews and a bunch if foods from various Oregon vendors. So, in the bottom of SLAC, around 1800 I threw an Oregon Foods party. Folks also had brought some small items, but REE dinner was a single piece of sushi each, so most people dug into the brought foods hardcore. This was a ton of fun (like I said, I'll go into more detail in another post). Utterly outside of REE, this was where we really started to make connections and again things lasted well into the night. This social networking would turn into one of the most valuable assets of the trip.

Day 3: Highschool?

So, day three was a real disappointment. I had hurt my back the night before, so that didn't help either, but essentially it was catching the shuttle down to Stanford to meet with Tina and Ed in the D school area.

You can always tell a program which is not well funded, as they turn their lack of infrastructure into a 'flexible organic workspace'. I get the impression that this will change soon, as Tina's work is not trivial, but it comes across now as somewhat an afterthought for Stanford - no matter how creatively you dress it up. 

None the less, the morning was spent essentially discussing rules for brainstorming and then some brainstorming exercises which seemed to be geared at reinforcing these lessons. If I heard 'think outside the box' again, I might have actually killed someone. People are good at brainstorming, this is not the issue. Where people have problems is organizing the ideas into a coherent plan of action or theme. This was readily evident, and not at all addressed. Essentially the program was geared at the HS level, and since I was but one of the few undergrads (most folks were grad students), it was not all that well received. This would not be the first time that people verbally complained when out of reach of the hosts - it got worse as the week went on. 

Ed then did some exercise before lunch on 'back of the envelope' budget analysis. I have a finance background, so it was trivial but for some this wasn't bad. Unfortunately I got the impression Ed didn't have a finance background either, as some pretty pivotal analysis was left off. Oh well, the idea came across.

Afterwards, lunch again - box lunches from Whole Foods, and then by 1330, done for the day. This was when folks, busy folks who had given up time during the term, started to get a bit annoyed at how the program was running. To be fair, we did have a team project which i will mention in a bit, to work on; but I met with my team, we had a solid idea, and that just left dinner. Tonight, we all went out to Palo Alto, and after $9 beer at Andale ended up drinking at Nola's til late in the evening. I drove down, so while I had to stop drinking a couple hours before we left, it saved a bunch on cab fare.

Advice: Palo Alto is expensive. Be prepared to shell out a lot for food and transportation. If you have three people with you, cab fare is much cheaper obviously.

Advice: Get some construction paper, glue sticks and scissors. The rest is just printed out for the project. 

(more to come)...

Evangelical Hypocrisy

I am of the opinion that Gov. Palin daughter's pregnancy is off limits. 

However, if evangelicals are going to be the utter hypocrites they are at the moment, then fine, let's discuss this.

This is not an example of how Gov. Palin's family is 'human'. Presumably, they are not from Mars anyway, so it is a somewhat facetious statement. What this is an example of is that Gov. Palin cannot convince her own family to practice what SHE preaches. Abstinence, Christian values of chastity before marriage, no sex education in schools. Who cares... this is a reality of being a parent. Not a huge reflection on Palin's ability to lead honestly. Family and the 101st Airborne are two entirely different things.

Now as well, no problem with Bristol getting knocked up. It happens, and frankly, the poor kid doesn't need the entire country knowing details about it. 

But for Christian Rights groups to circle their wagons around Palin at this time, to defend her with the same mouths that have condemned the same in liberals is hypocrisy. In fact, it does not take much effort searching Google to uncover numerous evangelical sites claiming that 'Teen Pregnancy' is a direct result of failed liberal value systems. Uh, okay. Pot calling kettle... come in kettle. 

Evangelicals are claiming this is an example of how Palin lives as she preaches... ahh, not really. This is an example of how 'Bristol' has decided to live her life. Had her mother still been a city councilor of a town smaller than OSU's student body by half, I wonder honestly whether Bristol might not have considered other options. I mean, it is clear that by having sex, she was already ostensibly not listening to her mother's wishes. So, lets not ascribe any major victory for Gov. Palin here, other than maybe peer pressure. 

The campaign brought it up - so clearly they thought it was an issue. They also hold the smallest Palin child in the limelight as an example of how Palin believes in Pro-Life: okay, then questions about how she is going to handle the raising the child are fair game. Every time I hear a woman screaming sexism in the question, I want to shout at the TV "Then why did McCain's campaign bring up the issue!" The GOP wants to use Palin's family as an example of how she can lead, then the family's future is fair game. Honestly, the response is "my husband will be taking care of the children". End of discussion. Because, let's be honest here - either the kids are raised by nannies, or dad - cause the VP is not a position with a lot of free time. 

Why don't guys get asked the same thing? Well, maybe because we are not projected as 'father of 5 kids' in campaign ads. There is an implication in McCain's pick that some of her appeal is that she is a mom. So, you can't get the plus without the minus. If it is a pro, its also a con. Find me a single dad running for president, and damned if he won't get this question too. The McCain-Palin camp should be deferring to the father as the caregiver.

In my opinion, the fact the campaign has not answered this way only proves that they still are unwilling to accept a father in a primary care role. How is this not sexism itself?

Every time I see this stuff, I wonder how I can remain a member of this party. I mean, McCain certainly did not have the best interests of the country at hand by picking Palin - she is NOT presidential material yet. Sorry, but I expect my president to be someone who could run circles around the common person in affairs of the world, of state, of country. Frankly, half the mess the country is in right now is because our current President can't hold a candle to the intellect of his father. Intelligence DOES count for something. Depth DOES count for something. Just having good intentions, or tenacity is not enough. The complexity of say 'the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty' is significant. Fine strokes, not broad are needed. 

So many very qualified, very worldly and very respectable women are in the GOP. People I would have the confidence to run the country - or at least the background to know where to ask for help. I mentioned Condelezza Rice the other day, but also Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. I mean really, how is Palin even close to comparing to these fine women in terms of experience. And these are just politicians. Many execs could easily fill the VP shoes. 

Gov. Palin needs to withdraw. If she is the person I think she is, even she knows that her continued participation is a body blow to the GOP. She shouldn't have accepted - it was ego on her part, and strategy on McCain's. The desperation move to contest the election in a time of change.