Attention John McCain and Sarah Palin:

I've been hearing a lot from you about Real America^TM--the people and communities that you seem to believe represent true American values (as opposed to the millions of people who live in concentrated areas like New York City or San Francisco).

I would like to tell you about where I come from.

I was born and raised in Nebraska, and spent my formative years in a town of less than 25,000 people.

My father grew up on a farm, and some of my relatives still carry on that family tradition.

As I was growing up I spent my summers working for local farmers, ridding their soy bean fields of weeds.

My midwestern parents instilled in me a value for hard work and for helping out those who need it.

I was raised in a Christian church and from about the time I was able to read, I was reading the bible.

I left Nebraska to live in Missouri, in a town of 17,000. It's the largest town for 90 miles. I teach special education in a public school. Most of my students come from rural, low-income, or uneducated families.

My meager teacher's salary supports my wife and two children. We don't have many fancy things, but we are happy.

By any standards you may choose, I think I qualify as a Real American^TM.

I believe in universal health care. I believe that health care is a right, and in a nation as prosperous as ours there is no excuse for any citizen to not have access to adequate health care.

I believe that people who have been blessed with plenty should be called on to help those who have been blessed with little. I don't care if you call this Socialism or class warfare--where I come from people help people who are less fortunate than themselves.

I'm opposed to war for too many reasons to explain here. I think that our soldiers have fought too long for a cause that was unjust to begin with, and it's long past time for them to come home.

I oppose abortion. I also recognize that if the practice is outlawed (which is unlikely even if we continue to elect Republican presidents), abortions will continue to happen. I believe the most effective way to stop abortion is to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

I also believe there are is no Real America^TM. Whether we were born in the Midwest, the East Coast, the West Coast, or in the Panama Canal Zone, so long as we pledge allegiance to the United States we are all equally real Americans, who faithfully carry on the values instilled in us by our parents, regardless of point of origin.

If you claim to represent only a portion of our nation, then you will represent none of it.

On the 4th day of our journeys, we got to have a bit of what Leena called a "lie-in", which only means that we got to sleep an hour later than the day before, so breakfast was at 7 (more cereal, toast, and eggs). We loaded up the bus and noticed it was a rather nice day outside. We traveled away from the weather the majority of the time on our trip, and today was no exception. There were mostly blue skies and only some cool winds in the shady places.

Today's outing was a day trip to Edinburgh. On the way out of Glasgow, we hit a bit of traffic, and had time to notice things, such as sheep who were given a little higher marks of dye than usual, which ended up turning all of their wool pink:

We made it to Edinburgh and our local guide, Bob, jumped on the bus to give us a driving tour. Bob was very friendly and funny, and he was wearing the military tartan, but not a kilt. He explained that not all clans wore kilts. In fact, kilts were only worn by highlanders, and Edinburgh is not highlander country. So, he wore pants and a vest with the plaid, but said he had never worn a kilt. Good to know! We traveled around the old and new parts of the town and learned all about the town's history and character. We saw Candle Shop Row, the famous place where a dog had been buried in a church cemetery (there's a story about a loyal dog who slept on his master's grave for many years, so they buried him near his master), the home of Robert Louis Stevenson, the medical school where many pioneers in medical science were educated, tons of beautiful buildings, a palace, a castle, and Holyrood House (where we got out to take photos):

We learned about how Edinburgh was once built with very light colored stones, but this area was coal country back in the day, and all of the smoke from coal-burning fires turned the porous stones very dark. Apparently, some places have tried to clean the stones, but discovered that the cleaning removed a protective layer in the stones, and the damp weather led to some greenish growth on the buildings. Bob preferred the dirty stones. To get an idea of how many chimney one sees around these parts, here's a quick picture from the bus:

Once we were fully debriefed on this pleasant little city, we were set free to do as we like for the day. Ric and I headed for the records building to get their website info so Ric can do more heritage research. We then crossed the North Bridge into old town Edinburgh and walked up the street to see St. Giles, the church of John Knox (leader of the protestant reformation). Went inside and had a nice chat with the lady we paid for photography privileges, then roamed around the church and admired all of the stories on its stained glass windows. Here's the church from the outside:

We continued on, doing a little bit of shopping along the way for family gifts. I saw a shop that said one could see tartans being weaved inside. It looked small, but when we walked in, it turned out that we were in a giant store, and several stairways later, we saw life-sized dioramas of how weaving developed, and eventually got to see the machines in action:

The store was amazing, having every souvenir, china, jewelry, clothing, accessories, food, and even an opportunity to pose in traditional Scottish outfits. I think it would have been funny if we had done this, but time and money weren't to be wasted. We had a quick lunch upstairs in the cafe; Ric ate his staple fish and chips, and I had a tomato-mozzarella panini. The shop was right near Edinburgh Castle, which was our actual destination. We waited in a long line to pay, then got to wander around. It was too big for the amount of time we had, but we managed to see a lot while we were there, the highlights being the extensive maze of rooms filled with life-sized dioramas depicting the history of the royal honors (crown, scepter, and sword) and the actual honors themselves (which couldn't be photographed), a really fascinating and touching hall filled with memorials to Scottish people who died in WWI (I wish I had photos, but they weren't allowed) that contained many stained glass windows with images of battle scenes and hospitals, and the great hall that was filled with a variety of weapons (where we heard a talk about what fighting was like at the time of Robert Bruce from a very thickly accented and lively guy). Here's one of the parts of that great hall:

We were running low on time, so we headed downhill and took a bridge down towards the newer part of town, and I was searching for a place to get a good view of Edinburgh Castle, because I loved its structure so much. We eventually found a decent spot (I wish the photo got it better, but I love how it's hard to tell where the volcanic rock ends and the castle begins):

Finally, it was time to bid Edinburgh farewell, which I believe most of us did very reluctantly. Our bus drove us into downtown Scotland, where we had a driving view of the city and had a chance to pop into the luxurious city hall. Unfortunately, it was starting to rain a bit, so our group opted to go back to the hotel, where we had dinner at the restaurant, and Ric and I sat with the same Canadian couple. For dinner, there was the hottest soup I've ever been served, some fish served with vegetables, and dessert was a chocolate fondant, which was basically like a hollowed out muffin filled with a rich chocolate pudding. It was so incredibly rich that I had a sugar crash while we were sitting around talking, and almost felt like I had been drinking alcohol.

We decided to shake off the sleepiness and go for a walk so we could actually see a bit more of Glasgow. We walked over to the river Clyde and admired the arch that ran across the bridge there, walked along the river for a while, and went by the visitor's center (I think that's what it was), which looks inspired by the Sydney opera house. It was a nice, crisp walk, and it felt good to be outside at night, since most of our nights were spent inside thus far. Here's a shot of the bridge:

Back at the hotel, I showered and then tried to journal for a while while watching The Full Monty, and eventually decided that I needed to go to bed early for once (10:30), since we had an early morning the next day.

Robert Reich on the government bailing out financial institutions and (possibly) General Motors:

Pardon me for asking, but if a company is too big to fail, maybe -- just maybe -- it's too big, period.

We used to have public policies to prevent companies from getting too big. Does anyone remember antitrust laws? Somewhere along the line policymakers decided that antitrust would only be used where there was evidence a company had so much market power it could keep prices higher than otherwise.

We seem to have forgotten that the original purpose of antitrust law was also to prevent companies from becoming too powerful. Too powerful in that so many other companies depended on them, so many jobs turned on them and so many consumers or investors or depositors needed them, that the economy as a whole would be endangered if they failed. Too powerful in that they could wield inordinate political influence of a sort that might gain them extra favors from Washington.