Paul Theroux on Sarah Palin and Moose Hunting

In the Guardian, here.

Palin-Nation

Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court and appointed Jeane Kirkpatrick as U.S. representative to the United Nations. Bill Clinton made Madeline Albright Secretary of State, nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the supreme court, and made Janet Reno attorney general. George Bush appointed Condoleezza Rice as his National Security Advisor and hired as White House legal counsel Harriet Miers, whom he also (perhaps regrettably) nominated to the Supreme Court . Shirley Temple Black served in various capacities under presidents Nixon, Ford, and George. H. W. Bush (the dad). The English elected Margaret Thatcher, another conservative.

Here's a list of some other "Notable Women in U.S. Government."

In other words, there are plenty of qualified women, many of them conservative, who have been out there working in various high-profile positions for a lifetime.

But the best qualified woman McCain could find to nominate as Vice President is Sarah Palin. That speaks volumes about his judgment.

Given more years in state government, perhaps a term or two as a U.S. Senator, she could have developed into a mature politican worthy of respect and of the vice presidency. Today, however, her experience consists solely of a brief stint as governor of Alaska, whose entire population is less than that of Memphis, Tennessee -- the eighteenth largest city in the U. S. Before that, she served as mayor of Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage incorporated as a "city" (a term the media are using rather loosely, in my opinion) way back in 1974 whose population, according to the town's web page, is just over 7000.

Neither the town of Wasilla, nor the city of Anchorage, nor the state of Alaska bears much resemblance to the geographic and ethnic diversity of the rest of the nation: Anchorage, the largest city, has fewer than 300,000 inhabitants, and the state's population is just over 3 percent each Hispanic and African-American.

Palin can boast of being a bear hunter and a hockey mom, but really, how relevant are those things to international diplomacy? Or even to the majority of Americans, at least 75 percent of whom live in urban areas?

There's no dearth of commentary out there. But one of the best pieces is Judith Warner's New York Times commentary, "The Mirrored Ceiling."

Staycation Jet Lag

I'm not a morning person.

Before Child, I saw 5 a.m. fairly regularly, but it was because I was still up from the night before. (I'm a workaholic, not a party animal.) When my son came along, let's just say I tried hard to appreciate the many sunrises to which I was exposed. As he's grown, we've tried to adjust his bedtime so he doesn't wake up too early in the morning, but he generally leaps out of bed, fairly early, ready to face the day.

Some months ago, we adopted a dog. The dog wakes up at the crack of dawn, if not a little earlier. We try to keep him up late too, try to make sure he gets lots of running during the day, but it doesn't do much good.

Thank god the fish isn't a morning person.

Tooth Fairy

The Offspring lost his first tooth at breakfast this morning, then went off to school and swimming lesson, so he got home only in time for dinner. And at the dinner table, it occurred to him to wonder if the tooth fairy had already left something under his pillow. I explained that the tooth fairy comes at night so nobody will see her. Maybe, he thought, she came while Daddy and Mommy were out doing something. Nope, we were home all day.

Oh, Mommy, is the tooth fairy nocturnal?

Yup.

Another Reason to Bring My Own Lunch

When I buy lunch, there's a whole heck of a lot of waste, and it's not just the dollars trickling out of my wallet. I bring my own cup for water and coffee, and I keep a fork in my desk so I don't have to throw away another fork every time I eat a meal, but still: I always end up with a whole lot of unrecyclable plastic whose trip from the refinery to the factory to the landfill is interrupted only briefly by a few moments of useful life.

Not In the US Media....

... but the BBC reports that "a spokesman for Mrs Palin had also confirmed that her husband had been arrested for driving under the influence in 1986."

Okay, he was in his 20s, and a lot of people make dumb mistakes when they're young (see: Mrs. Palin's daughter). But a lot of people don't get arrested for drunk driving, even when they're young.

This and That

People whose names I envy: Francine Prose, Sarah Vowell.

Favorite element from the Periodic Table: Dysprosium.