Republican convention -- better late than never

I owe Muriel Crabbs of Hanover, delegate to the Republican National Convention, a big apology.

Yesterday, she was kind enough to e-mail me an account of her experiences in the Twin Cities and a bunch of photos. I never posted them.

My excuse, if you can call it that, is that I was beat after covering Barack Obama's appearance in York County yesterday. I ended up working 13 straight hours on four hours of sleep, and I was just too fried to deal with posting on my blog after that.

In other words, I got my butt kicked after doing FOR A SINGLE DAY what 72-year-old John McCain has been doing for the better part of a year. God, I'm a wuss.

Anyway, here's the stuff that Ms. Crabbs sent me. And I'd like to thank her and alternate delegate Jeff Gay of Springettsbury Township for the astute and insightful observations on the convention they've provided me this week.

Wednsesday morning I attended a prayer breakfast in the warehouse section of Minneapolis featuring former Congressman J.C. Watts, a businessman and minister. We heard the most melodious voice of a Chinese woman, Jeanette Lang who sang "Jesus Loves You" in English and Chinese. J.C. Watts spoke of his time in Washington and how difficult it was to be good. He said he would go to his office and pray, "God give me a way to punch him in the nose and not impact my witness." He reminded us that we are all humanly bent and that when you put your faith in man, you are going to be disappointed.

Later I attended a conference entitled "America's Retirement Crisis" with keynote speaker, Ben Stein, actor, author, economist. (All in attendance recieved a free copy of his book, "Yes, you can still retire comfortably!" The discussion focused on the dire situation this country finds itself in as it relates to social security, medicare, medicaid and prescription drug programs. Congressman Paul Ryan told us that in Washington, politicians are told not to make any waves in an election year and since every other year is an election year, no one is willing to make some good hard proposals on how to address this crisis. He is only in his thirties and fears that his children are going to be saddled with the enormous costs of these programs so he has written a "roadmap" and has a website he invites us to visit. When I have an oppurtunity I expect to delve into this matter in more detail.

Ben Stein was so cute, funny but also very serious about the dumbing down of our children and the failure of Americans to save and prepare for their latter years. The conference was hosted by the insurance industry, executives of which were present and who spoke very highly of annuities. But most importantly, they said, was to find an economic advisor you can trust.

I took pictures of the media horde waiting in Minneapolis for Sarah Palin to emerge from her hotel on her way to the convention. I listened to all of the speeches and watched the votes being tallied for McCain. PA was to have 74 delegates on the floor. I understand that one delegate was asked not to vote for Ron Paul and he abstained. The chairman of our delegation announced that 73 votes were cast for McCain. I know that the alternate was not given access to the floor and since I was not there, I do not know how my vote was cast.