Basketball
I have been playing a lot of basketball since I got here, mostly to get out and meet some people. Chinese basketball has some special characteristics. Defense is strictly optional. For anyone shooting from beyond 15 feet, it is automatically assumed that he will miss the shot. Even if he has made the last 4 shots from beyond 15 feet, he therefore should miss this one. The result is that the team that starts with the ball generally goes up 3-o before a turnover.

Extra points are earned by making fancy behind the back and no look passes, particularly if you're in the paint (not really, but maybe). People pass the ball over their shoulders, between their legs, and anywhere else that looks cool. And because most people can't shoot (see note above), at any given moment there are 5 or 6 players within 8 feet of the hoop. It's crazy, but it's pretty fun, too.

Common Sense to America
I generally don't write about things like politics. But I feel like these are some thoughts worth airing. Feel free to disagree with me, that's the beauty of America.

As of three weeks ago, I was a legitimately undecided voter. Then the national conventions came. Senator Obama selected a veteran foreign policy expert that fills one of his needs (I couldn't care less about Biden's ability to mouth off). Senator McCain selected Sarah Palin. A freshly minted governor with virtually no experience for three main reasons: she's a woman, she's extremely conservative, she's young. None of those relate to governing a country effectively.

McCain failed to vet this person. Since being announced as his running mate, she has come under fire for supporting wasteful projects in Alaska, pursuing personal political vendettas, hiring her friends, and tax problems. All of this information can be found here. McCain believed, or led us that he believed, that she is a reformer. In reality, Ms. Palin's biggest draws are that she firmly opposes abortion, and the fuzy idea that she can relate to you and me. McCain displayed awful politcal judgement.

Or did he? Since announcing Ms. Palin, McCain has surged in polls to the point that he is in the national lead. Perhaps conservative Americans (and I consider myself one) should think about this: religion and abortion are not the critical issue. A Democrat will not close down the churches. Even if abortion were fully illegal, women would have it done on the streets. Finally, the fact that Pain is a down to earth hockey mom does not make her a good politician.

Being President has nothing to with any of that. We shouldn't elect someone we'd like to have coffee with. Or go to church with. We should elect someone smarter than we are, who sees more clearly than we do, with an actual plan for the future. I would be mortified the day that Sarah Palin became the vice president (God forbid President) because she is none of those things. And America should be mortified as well.

Instead, the McCain- Palin ticket surges onward. Grow up, America.