More tidbits

Workout notes 2000 yard swim, then yoga. I am getting closer to doing a backbend from standing. Soreness is down, but fatigue remains from this weekend’s long walk. By the way, the 33 mile race results are here. I finished 50 out of 51, with 4 more DNF’s. Yes, I know, I was walking in a running race, but usually I can beat a few runners. Not this time.

Problem: my legs are weak; that hurt me with the hills and dipsey-doodles. So, I need to undertake a leg strengthening program, probably involving the bike, the stair stepper, hill repeats and squats. Again, I need to start small and work up.

Politics Democratic staffers were instructed to get immunized prior to visiting some health facilities near a NASCAR site. That sounds reasonable to me; I know that I am going to get a flu shot. But of course, the Republic Party is making a big deal out of it; never mind that President Bush uses hand sanitizer after shaking hands (which I think is smart, if non-pc)

It got the GOP’s engines revving — a Democratic official suggesting staffers get immunized for several diseases before heading south from Washington and into the Red State wilds of NASCAR country to conduct research at a pair of races.

The reaction on both sides illustrates just how valuable candidates for elected office consider the votes of NASCAR fans who pack grandstands by the thousands every weekend and the donations of business leaders who spend millions to sponsor the sport.

It started last month, when an official with the House Committee on Homeland Security suggested that staff aides get immunizations before visiting health facilities at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway and North Carolina’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where the Bank of America 500 was run Saturday.

In an e-mail, a Democratic staffer who works for committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson noted an “unusual need for whomever attending to be vaccinated against hepatitis A and B,” as well as “the more normal things — tetanus, diphtheria, and of course, seasonal influenza.”

The note didn’t explain why the committee saw such concern. It didn’t mention NASCAR or the races at the tracks at all. But the implication was enough to draw a snarky complaint from Republican Rep. Robin Hayes, whose district includes Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

“I have never heard of immunizations for domestic travel, and … I feel compelled to ask why the heck the committee feels that immunizations are needed to travel to my hometown,” wrote Hayes.

Thompson responded to Hayes that such immunizations are “are recommended for public safety professionals working in areas such as hospitals, holding areas and similar locations.” But the staffers were only scheduled to visit a few health care facilities — not work at them.

“What do they know about NASCAR that we don’t?” said Dr. David Weber, a professor of medicine and public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Weber said everyone should be up to date on standard vaccinations, he but saw no need for special vaccinations to visit a health care facility or a NASCAR event. Debbie Crane, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said such shots are recommended for “general health” for all adults — but not for any specific circumstance. [...]

A video, posted at redstate.org:

My take: heck, I would have recommended that people wear a gas mask (to filter out cigarette smoke) as well!

Hey, the stereotypical NASCAR fan doesn’t like me, and I don’t like them. I wouldn’t have it any other way. That is why I am not in politics.

Our top candidates (Edwards, Clinton and Obama) like people of all kinds, including NASCAR types. That is one reason that I admire them. I am not at that level.

(note: of course, I should put forth the usual disclaimer, noting that given how many NASCAR fans there are, there are probably a few who are progressive atheistic evolutionists who just love ultramarathons and Barack Obama, just as there are academics who are creationist wing-nuts who couldn’t walk 50 feet, much less 50 km).