Want no pain? Vote republican!

It finally dawned on me why the republican and their “tea party” allies did so well at the last mid-term elections, obstruction and brainwashing of white, middle America notwithstanding. You see, these guys have long understood that most American want something for nothing, and above all, feel absolutely no pain at all. From C-section to home-equity loans, sacrifices aren't most Americans' cup of tea. Serving in the military is good for the underclass, and everything will miraculously be solved by the almighty “tax-cut.”

It also helps that our Christian values and support provides some divine "seal of approval" to these voodoo politics that were invented and introduced by the late President Reagan. While in the UK, David Cameron is inflicting suffering on his subjects right now, our US Democrats prefer postponing that pain and passing it on to our kids and grand kids who will only feel the horrendous bite down the road. It's thus pretty understandable that everyone is rallying around the totally painless Republican prescription!

Our true political needs

We all have different views, opinions, philosophies and economic interests to protect. This of course colors our political needs and when faced with two dominant parties, we can only find pieces in their program that will fit our needs. I'm not even talking about the fact that there can be a world of difference between what comes out of the mouth of politicians and what they truly believe and actually fight for. This said, this process of representation isn't working as the product offered to us is merely a gross approximation of our needs. In the consumer products that surrounds us, the match between what's available for us to purchase and our wants and needs has become, in recent times, much closer to our expectations.

Is there a way to get better political representation by forcing politicians to tailor their programs around our real desires instead of their party dogma? I think so, but to achieve that, we need to organize. It's terrible that Apple can create products we fell in love with and that exceed our expectation while the world's second oldest profession is woefully incapable of giving us something remotely closer to what we really need. To get started, try to build your own “program” the way you see it. I'll share mine in a coming blog...

You're sick, that's what you must do...

You go for your annual check-up and while you thought everything was A-Okay, your doc tells you that you have high-blood pressure, too much bad cholesterol and now diabetes. She goes on to prescribe a rather austere and tough regimen. Since you prefer life over death, you reluctantly agree and begin doing it... Now roll back to the beginning of this week, when Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairmen of Barack Obama’s deficit commission, knowing that the “patient” was already in terrible shape, let the country have a peek into their proposal for sweeping tax reforms and spending overhauls to cut the deficit to 2.2% and stabilize the debt at 69% of GDP by 2015.

To me, that news was refreshing and it was the first time that I heard politicians utter something that finally made any good sense, especially after getting an earful of idiotic rhetoric by “tea party” candidates during this mid-term election season. When that information hit the street, the other politicians of all stripes began to shoot holes into the draft proposal. Citizens were also up in arms against the suggestion of doing away with the sacrosanct mortgage interest deductions. Perhaps America carries a secret death wish within itself and would rather be under six-foot than solvent!

My take on Georges Joubert

Early this month, this well-known French ski coach and technician passed away. A controversial figure, he was mostly remembered for “firing” the French ski team in 1973. Alain Lazard, a good friend of mine is writing a story about this incident and has asked me to provide him with some input. Here it is...

It's totally true that back in these days, there was a rift between ski folks raised in the mountains and their urban skiing counterparts, generally more talkative, assertive and a bit more educated. The formers were mostly simple and practical, very to close to nature and tight-lipped. The later wanted to change the world in their own way, shed some enlightenment, show their value and, that way, be finally accepted by the “mountain people.” Jean Vuarnet, Joubert's long-time sidekick was a hybrid as he was partially raised in Morzine, my former stomping ground, but was never fully embraced by the local population that remained suspicious about his “education” and it's only recently that Morzine recognized him when this became a practical promotional opportunity.

Again the “mountaineers” didn't discuss the precepts of the ENSA (École Nationale de Ski et d'Alpinisme,) they religiously applied the principles they were taught and accepted the dogma pushed on to them. Joubert, on the other hand, was too iconoclastic to be accepted by that group, was left out of the tent and only could throw barbs at what was in France the equivalent of the Vatican to the religion of skiing. Of course, it's too bad that the ENSA failed to engage Joubert; skiing as a whole might have all been much richer for it... Joubert, a keen observer of top skiers, began to write books and bring some theory into a world that had remained quite dogmatic, not just in France, but also in Austria, another highly influential ski culture.

There were some good insights in his analysis based on the observation of champions of the time, but there were also some disconnect. The ever evolving equipment was one of them and another was a teaching method that was lacking a lot and remained spotty compared to the ENSA's little booklet, called “memento du ski Français.” In my opinion, Joubert was onto something, but he never dug far enough to totally unearth a seamless method that could be whole. In that aspect, I still think Joubert contributed a lot, brought a much needed alternative viewpoint but that still fell short of being the “definitive one.” I also know that Joubert was instrumental behind the equipment tests published by the french “Ski” magazine, but don't know the contents and methodology behind them to voice any opinion.

As far as the Val d'Isère events were concerned, like most of those who still debate the decision to fire the entire French squad, I wasn't in the room when Joubert, Vuarnet (his associate,) Martel (the president of the federation) and Mazeaud (the sport minister) announced they would throw the baby and the bathwater. The question remain who tipped the scale? Was it a shared consensus between the four participants, did only one, two or three pulled the trigger, we may never know, but suffice to say that it was a knee-jerk reaction that was the by product of frustration on the part of the two coaches who were dealing with highly opinionated athletes to whom they had failed to “sell” their approach to training. Another great lesson in hasty and irrevocable decisions.

One thing is certain, Georges Joubert wasn't alone in that decision-making process. Also, it's helpful to remember that prior to that assignment Jean Vuarnet had worked in some similar, albeit limited advising capacity, with the Italian “Squadra Azzurra” that was becoming the winning national ski team in the early seventies. I think that in fact, Vuarnet helped more organizing the Italian ski pool than telling Gros, Stricker and Thoeni where they should plant their poles.

This said, I believe that the decision to beheading the entire team was made too quickly, was too strong a medicine and did handicap the French team for decades, if not till these days. The group of four should have preferred suspending of some of the athletes, but I guess today, there's no point in replacing the toothpaste back into the tube... At least that's my two-cent.

Inspire me!

Different situations, feelings and people inspire us in various ways. When I used to travel a lot, I got my most cherished thoughts each time I peeked through the window and saw drifting icebergs on the ocean or a sunrise over some continent. However, most of my guidance and desire to look for something greater than me has come from people. Certain friends I was looking up to, some sport champions and even a few rock stars. To go through the drudgery of life, we need a daily and healthy dose of inspiration like we need food, oxygen and water.

Recently, the person that has caused me to be incredibly uplifted is my friend François Feuz. Each time I chat with him he gives me much more than I'm able to provide him in terms of encouragement, it's beyond mind over matter, it's a stream of positive resolve; things can only get better. He's is right, it's just the rest of us who get cynical, distracted and who are reverting back to a negative thought process. A few days ago, I received an extraordinary series of photos of François on a golf course, rediscovering the feeling of holding an iron in his hands, only a few months after his accident. The caption under the photos simply said: “Why not? In life you always need to have a steadfast belief...” He is so right.

The bird in the flue

If there's a room we hardly ever use in our house, it's the “rec room” located downstairs, next to my office. At the moment, I'm using it to finishing a Holiday project, and last Tuesday, we sensed a strange, foul odor emanating from the fireplace area. It's an enclosed fireplace fired with natural gas. For a while we were wondering about what that odor might be, but soon my wife remembered hearing some strange noises coming from that room a few days before.

Since it was a bit too early for the Santa's annual visit, we came to the conclusion that it might have been a bird trapped in the flue and fighting its way out, as she heard a series of noises like constant wing flapping for a good couple of hours. The problem is that, short of tearing everything apart, there is little that can be done to access the main flue and the space surrounding the fireplace insert. Further, the downstairs fireplace seats a good 33 feet from the top of the chimney.

I climbed on the roof and realized that when we had that gas insert placed in the spring of 2005, the installer had made three incisions in a protection grid to hoist some of the equipment down and had never closed them back down, resulting in letting birds and other creatures access the flue and fall into it. I quickly proceeded to close off the openings to thwart more unauthorized flying or climbing animals entries. As of yesterday, the odor has subsided. That bird must be well-cooked now...

Bush, Seifert and Oprah...

Yesterday, some of the news were rather shocking. I first heard on the radio that Michael Seifert, a Nazi prison guard in the Second World War and believed to have been the "Beast of Bolzano," had died in an Italian hospital. Good riddance! Later in the afternoon, the famous Oprah Winfrey had the dubious idea of inviting George Bush on her show to promote his book. You see, the difference between Bush and Seifert is that the former caused the death of hundred thousand of people by declaring war on Iraq from the comfort of the White House, while the awful Seifert personally torturing and killed between 11 and 17 individuals, as a SS corporal. It seems obvious that hundreds or thousands of Iraqis suffered a fate similar to the Bolzano prisoners. Of course, during the interview, Mr. Bush still asserted that invading Iraq was justified. Oprah, how dumb and corrupt can you be to invite such an individual on your show? Shame on you!