Ummagumma

Note: This is part two of my four-part review of Hunter S. Thompson's book on the 1972 presidential campaign. With the nomination almost miraculously sewn up thanks to his campaign's "mind-bending coalition," McGovern proceeded to the Democratic convention assured of winning on the first ballot.  But this is precisely when things started to come unraveled for his candidacy.  There is no better example of this than the ridiculous lack of control McGovern exercised on the proceedings.  While he had chosen Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri as his vice-presidential running mate, many other names were nevertheless allowed to be placed in nomination with long-winded, self-serving speeches of pure hubris.  This ultimately meant that McGovern's acceptance speech (which I have previously blogged about here ) was given at a ludicrous early-morning hour of 3 AM Eastern Time. “But these brainless bastards persisted, nonetheless, using up half the night and all the prim

Note: This is the first of a four-part review of Hunter S. Thompson's great book on the 1972 presidential campaign. “It was just before midnight when I left Cambridge and headed north on U.S. 93 toward Manchester – driving one of those big green rented Auto/Stick Cougars that gets rubber for about twenty-nine seconds in Drive, and spits hot black divots all over the road in First or Second…a terrible screeching and fishtailing through the outskirts of Boston headed north to New Hampshire, back on the Campaign Trail…running late, as usual: left hand on the wheel and the other on the radio dial, seeking music, and a glass of iced Wild Turkey spilling into my crotch on every turn.” ( page 58 ) This is not what you'd typically expect to read in a book about politics.  But 1972 was no typical election and the man covering it for Rolling Stone Magazine, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (HST), was no typical journalist.  As head of the self-proclaimed "National Affairs Desk" for

We enjoyed beautiful blue skies under our blue beach umbrellas.  Jennifer shot this photo with her iPhone. We caught the sunset on the beach every evening. The week after Labor Day was the first time in many years we have been able to vacation in Destin in the off-season.  Our family tradition is to stay in the same, simple condo complex there since Avery was a toddler.  Generally, we have visited during the summer to accommodate her school schedule. Summer's are great in Destin, the beach and gulf waters are usually wonderfully clear and beautiful as I have blogged about in the past (see here , here , here , and here ).   But summers have become increasingly crowded as ever more commercial development has led to high-rise condo complexes up and down the ocean front.  The restaurants and amusements are packed, the traffic on Highway 98 is heavily congested. It is fun but also not as relaxed since everything is so inundated with tourists. I am not a big fan of crowds. It