SARAH PALIN CAMPAIGN

"Button, Button, Who's Got the Button." It's a child game.

Some adult puts a button in the hands of a kid, and he/she is IT.

Everyone's in a circle with their hands pressed together. IT goes around the circle, pressing each kid's hands and surreptitiously passes the button.

Oh boy! Big fun! Nobody knows who's got the button!

Each kid takes a turn, chanting "Button, button --who's got the button?" till the kid with the button is discovered, and becomes IT.

And ON WITH THE GAME !

Who's in the circle? Romney, Jindal, Gingrich, Sarah, and others you'll recognize -- Jeb Bush, Lou Dobbs, Huckabee, Ron Paul etc.

Media folks are asking --"Is Sarah Palin going to run for president?"

C'mon, guys, obviously she is! She's got a huge pile, shiny, ready buttons, all sizes, all colors, oval, square and round. And this ...


Oh my God, this speech -- it's so good, the pauses, the music, the cheering, adoring, motherly women, Palin's tone, timing, bearing -- she's brilliant -- her seemingly oh-so-truthful way of warning them about the "terrible fundamental transformation of America that's going on that we're going to turn around "-- the way Sarah revs them up -- oh yes, ma'am, yes -- you wonderful pink elephants, go-go and stampede!

Yow!

Sarah P for president? It's a nightmare! Please God, don't let us get trampled by the pink elephants!

CREATIVITY

I think I know a lot about creativity. I am sometimes the most creative person I know.

"Creativity in America" is the cover story, a five-page article in a recent Newsweek. I found the article hard to read, jam-packed with overloaded sentences that developed a construct about how important it is to nurture creativity -- a construct that, in my opinion, is NOT constructive.

Back in 1958, E. Paul Torrence, a highly-credited professor, tested a group of 400 kids. In order to evaluate a child's creativity, he created a test that included handing a kid a toy, and asking what would you do to make it more fun to play with? Other tests included half-finished drawings that the kid was asked to finish. The test results were evaluated by trained psychologists.

The professor's colleagues have been tracking these children. Their surveys show that kids who tested high fifty years ago, ended up three times more successful than the kids who tested low.

Torrence and his colleagues define creativity as -- "Production of something original and useful. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas), and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result)."

Tracking what these children accomplished -- inventions they patented, businesses they opened, research they did, grants they received, the books, plays, art, software, hardware, advertisements, music, architecture, public policies they created -- show that children who tested high in creativity became somebodies -- entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, software developers.

The Torrence creativity tests, called the CQ, or creative quotient, show that a child's creative quotient is a more significant predictor of what the child may accomplish in his life, than the child's IQ. Today, the tests are considered "the gold standard" in creativity assessment.

I think the CQ is a life ruiner, part of what I call the number disease -- polls that tell what percent (of those surveyed) disapprove of what Obama said/did yesterday; percentage numbers that tell us and sell us how long we will live, how much we may earn, how much we should weigh, eat, sleep, exercise -- advise us on sex, marriage, divorce, family, what to earn, what to buy, what to expect at what age -- tell, sell us about all of our needs and feelings.

Do you remember the "The Age of Anxiety?" It was an Auden poem, a Leonard Bernstein Symphony, a Jerome Robbins Ballet. Well, I think we are living, right now, in the age of Tell/Sell."

Put on earmuffs, or wear ear plugs! Creativity is making something. Do it, try it, if at first ... try, try again. Or don't. You make your life. You make a day. It is your hour. You make your mood. It can be changed, turned, re directed, rebuilt, undone. stopped, re-started. The numbers -- polls, IQ or CQ -- the knowledge of your statistics stops you. Your probabilities stop you.

Here's the Em Q: Why some people succeed, why some people fail, who wins, who loses is like sweet or sour, spicy or creamy -- what do you enjoy tasting? Do you enjoy scary, risky ventures, or choose safety, security?

Turn off the numbers, polls, percentages, and react. Perceive what you are thinking and feeling. If you aren't sure, mull it over. Or dive -- jump! It's YOUR splash, YOUR air, YOUR floor, YOUR window, your life. You can always re-invent yourself.

I've re-invented myself at least twice. Anyone can do it at any age!

P.S. My intelligence at age 9 was average. I am now sometimes brilliant, sometimes an average, ordinary, impatient person, a rather sloppy-thinking, but intuitive know-it-all.

LOOMING COMPROMISE

Lisa Murkowski, the Republican Senator from Alaska, might vote YES on the Environment & Energy bill, if Obama permits drilling for oil in Alaska's deep water.

DEEP-WATER DRILLING? NO way! How can he permit it?

This is awful!
Is this going to be like Healthcare, like getting benefits extended for the unemployed -- filibustering, debates, attacks on parliamentary procedure that stop Congress from functioning?

Obama needs to get the bill passed -- it sets up stronger restrictions on emissions, and gets money for researching new sources of energy and jobs. Obama told the country jobs, jobs, JOBS -- that's his priority.

Murkowski is adamantly opposed to anything that restricts emissions more than they already are restricted. Loud, and clear, she's said it! She's tooth and nails determined to get deep-water drilling going again in Alaska.

What can Obama do? He imposed a ban on deep-water drilling in May, a moratorium that expires November 30th. For the time being, oil companies cannot get permits to drill in deep water below 500 feet.

I can't forget what the Healthcare bill was supposed to be, and how it had to be compromised in order to get it passed. FILE IT AWAY, EM -- Obama did what he had to do!

There's a mood right now, in the media, in the polls, that's making me wonder if the price we are paying for voting for, electing, and celebrating Obama in the White House is costing us more than we can afford ... FILE IT AWAY EM!

The oil spill in the gulf -- what it killed, murdered and destroyed is still not fully evaluated and the moratorium is what Obama did to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Should the White House negotiate temporary restrictions and find a way to restore Alaska's drilling rights? If a compromise can't be made, does it mean no energy bill? WE NEED IT -- the new sources of energy, the jobs!

The anti-administration guys are saying NO to everything. Whatever they seem to be winning, they are also losing! But they don't care -- they're thinking about the next election, and the next, and the presidential election in 2012!

Writing this helps me make sense of what to think, what to hope for ... It's SIT TIGHT! DON'T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS! Obama is a lawyer, a negotiator with the best advisers, facts at his fingertips. He's doing his job.

He got us the Economic Stimulus package, Credit Card reform, Student Loan reform, the Hate Crimes act -- other stuff, major things -- President Barack Obama will figure out what to do.

BAD STUFF (video)

Emily wants to discuss the unacceptable untruths, the brain-washing commercials, the stuff that's being promoted on television. John has his own list of grievances --the sudden boost of volume --the length of the ads, and their frequency.

And the promises -- you'll live longer -- you'll feel better -- you'll have a better sex life -- you won't be depressed -- always followed by the litany list of symptoms, and the suggestion that if the pills make you sick, immediately call your doctor.