Early Voting Is Awesome

I have just freed myself of having to do heroic commuting contortions on election day! Contrary to rumors, the line wasn't bad at all (for the suburban voters; the city voters were another story; I guess it was sort of like reverse commuting to hit Chicago's polling place rather than Bungalowville city hall).

And the touch screen voting was ridiculously easy. I know, I can hear you all groaning about the reliability of these things, but demonstrating the fine wisdom of the state of Illinois, there was actually a paper receipt that you could verify to make sure your vote got recorded correctly. Still, my friend A is convinced that the cylinders of paper will disappear to parts unknown after the Republicans steal the election.

I guess my comfort in missing the Obama rally is that I won't have to worry about getting to my polling place by 7 [imagine me melodramatically, in woe-is-me fashion, putting my hand to my forehead]. Heh.

I Didn't Know John McCain Smoked

Also, Joe Biden is much shorter in tights.

Oh, Jesus Christ

Just got a match request from a dude who listed, under his things most thankful for, "Rush Limbaugh, because the older I get, the more he makes sense."

I think I may have to add to my personal info the fact that I am a feminazi.

So Much for Being Part of History

From the Obama website:

*** THIS IS NOT A TICKET. ***

Thanks for signing up for the wait list for the Election Night event in Chicago.

If tickets become available, you will receive an email with further ticketing information.

If you do not receive further information, you will not have a ticket and will not be admitted to the event.

Thanks,

The Democratic Party

In Case You Were Wondering on the Verdict for My Story of Genius

My "loosest" piece yet, particularly at the beginning, but it gets choppy at the end. Given that it was a free-form experiment, I see what he means. Also, I didn't really finish it, so much as stop writing. I think I spend too much energy trying to make things profoundy.

And the other thing I thought I had finished needs an ending. Plus, we apparently "discussed" which long form piece I was going to do (the one he remarked worked well, conceptually, but on which he didn't comment further). Of course, I spent the weekend working on another that isn't working so well conceptually. I knew I should have gotten clarification. Sigh.

There will be class conferences next week, so, presumably, I can grill on exactly what it all means.

The Boots of Evil Were Made for Walking

The Tick, animated version, season 2: it's out on DVD and on its way to my mailbox.

This Is Most Excellent

Intergenerational, interracial terrorist fist jabs and the Wall Street Journal!

I have also unearthed another one of those strange species of "Undecided"/"Pox on Both Those Parties" voters (this person's particular subspecies, "Faux Ponderous Libertarian"). I think David Sedaris puts this thinking in its proper framework:

I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

Things That Please Me on a Weekend

New shoes, specifically these:
You can never have too many pairs of black shoes (or, in this case, "gunmetal").

In a related vein, my friend M believes that we both need to sign up for a shoe study that she found out about. Seriously, people in graduate school do sociological studies on stuff like this. It's brilliant.

Et Tu, Base?

For 2012, Republican voters would prefer, well, not Palin:

Check out this question asked of Republicans, looking ahead to the 2012 election:

If John McCain is not elected president, which one of the following three possible candidates would you be most likely to support for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012?

Mitt Romney 35%
Mike Huckabee 26%
Sarah Palin 20%

Romney?? Seriously?

Well, This Is Distressing.

One of the people forming the main front against impending insanity is leaving town for greener pastures. I am pleased for him but bereft for myself.

I've Come Up with a Revolutionary Concept

Hey, Republicans: A thought. Instead of spending so much energy trying to shut down early voting in key Democratic-leaning parts of Indiana and having to spread yourselves so thin to suppress, suppress, suppress the vote, how about just persuading people to vote for you? Come up with some ideas, draft a few proposals, give it the old college try.

The McCain campaign's highest paid staffer? Palin's makeup artist. I think this says everything you need to know about what they propose to offer our great nation.

It's rainy. My ipod feels I need an adrenaline injection and helpfully provides.

1. tropical bells, olivia tremor control
2. chicken wire, pernice brothers
3. teeth in the grass, iron & wine
4. chump change, new pornographers
5. wilderness, sleater-kinney
6. rise above, black flag
7. wonderland, xtc
8. the promise, the cure
9. warsaw, joy division
10. like eating glass, bloc party

And I was just thinking this morning how I was in a Bloc Party kind of mood.

This Is the Buzz Among My Peeps

Obama's election-night party: Grant Park.

On the one hand, it would be so historic and exciting to be part of what will likely be an enormous crowd that will gather for this. On the other hand, as a friend remarked, how much would it suck to not get the bad news should he lose, and to be in the back of the crowd, cheering and oblivious?

It's a class night, so I'll be downtown. So I'm wondering if we'll get let out early to join the throngs. It's not like we'll be getting home in a timely manner via car, right?

Dude, I'm Losing the Thread

I can't keep these match guys straight. Is that bad?

Also, fun fact: One of these guys is originally from the U.K., experienced punk at its inception, and saw a bunch of these bands live. And I can only watch documentaries.

Your Health-Care Related Stressor for the Day

Here's an article on the nightmare otherwise known as the individual healthcare market. I point this out in the interest of elaborating on my previous post about the consequences of McCain's horrible health care plan.

Also, I wish someone would explain to me the hand wringing about Obama being off the campaign trail for a couple of days (!!!!) seeing his ill grandmother. A friend of mine just expressed concern about the prospect, and I have to say I'm befuddled. Obama hasn't actually been campaigning every day (and McCain's been spending all of his weekends at home; but you see where it gets him in the polls). In addition to which: there are planes! I think we'll muster through while he says his final goodbyes to the woman who raised him.

And related to me and completely off topic, I spent last night furiously writing on something that I thought was just goddamned brillliant--authentic, emotional, raw, innovative. I'm a genius! So enraptured was I that I typed it up for class and turned it in tonight and fantasized about my classmates' rapt attention when it was read in class.

Of course, in the cold light of day and without the even minimal wine involved, I'm now convinced it's actually obvious, gimmicky, and not at all clever. I hate that. It may be best to have simple expectations: wanting to tell an engaging yarn rather than reaching for ART. You need, not the sledgehammer I seem to inadvertently be grabbing for every occasion but the velvet glove, you know? It's a process best begun when one is a teenager, this writing of the pretentious stuff.

Serenity Now!

Annals of the surreal: I just had a protracted, multi-email exchange with one of our more useless office denizens. Imagine, if you will, technophobic administrative support in an era of the personal computer, and the hijinks that might result from that scenario. Said denizen is also a awe-inspiring master of that skill of window-dressing busywork to cloak the absolute stillness that comprises a normal day.

Window dressing requirements have led this person to pretend to create a bunch of useful forms in a central location, notwithstanding the existence of most forms in said location for many years. I myself have done many, if not most, because I refuse to write when I can type. Ergo Acrobat has long been my friend.

First, we discussed me teaching the creation of these things called "fill-in pdfs," because all the kids are doing it (again, as before, for years). Having better and more important things to do, I declined to provide the much-belated tutorial on handy office-support functions, and somehow some other poor soul got enlisted for this thankless task.

Anyhow, the technophobe office support denizen and I just had a protracted conversation revolving around the naming of my long-existent form and her attempts to "rename" (the illuminating clarity of "new office form" over "office form new" I presume you'll find self evident) when all she was doing was copying. Thus following this exchange were officious office-wide announcements, as though she were creating all of these things and providing valuable work flow.

In my grownup world, I think: how sad is it when your demonstrations of accomplishment involve taking credit for other people's whisked-off admin tasks, done 3 years ago?

Heroes: Family Grudge Match

I'm liking it, I'm liking it.

1. Claire, doing her thing, being heroic! Good for her.
2. Gruesomeness of the patriarch ripping out his feeding tube and his tracheotomy, then instantly healing. I appreciate it, how sick is that?
3. Sylar, trying to be good!
4. Peter, having that whole parental dilemma.
5. Some of us called it on Hiro's wilyness.

More please.

The Weather and My Mood Demand It

Another reason I love these guys: referencing (in a different song, but still) one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems.

To Update the Curious

I don't doubt that there is much interest in the ongoing online dating process among some quarters, particularly since it seems to have been chugging along for quite a while now, no? Apologies for the lack of information.

Alas, it is a complex, multistage, screened process, so while I am "communicating" with 6-8 potential suitors at any given time, I actually haven't spoken to anyone directly yet. The odds get handicapped as new information gets revealed about each potential candidate. I am not, as will be no surprise, expecting a great meeting of likes with the motorcycle enthusiast in Montana.

Honestly, if and when there is something to report of consequence, I will no doubt be sharing stories. I just can't promise that there will be anything consequential, given the variables (see above re: Montana). The net is wide, I rule out no one except the obvious hostiles and loons, but as it stands, only 2 of these guys actually live in Chicago. So, barring some fabulous long-distance connection or a good hit off with one of the local guys (potential for one, the other I don't see so much), the optimistic culmination of this process may just be a single face-to-face date. It's possible too that I would have a less oddball sample if I had opened it up to the dudes with kids under 18. I may do that.

So, we'll see. The gears of compatibility screening move slowly. Also, interesting tidbit: the number-one "Can't Stand" among this admittedly unrepresentative sample is "excessive overweight."

Yup, in a Nutshell

And very well put, even if I say so as one who feels there aren't enough Spinal Tap references in this sad sad world:

It's an oversimplification to say that the Republican party exists for the sole purpose of redistributing as much of the nation's wealth as possible into the hands of the richest one-tenth of one percent of the population, and that everything else -- the cultural wars over abortion and gay rights and the death penalty and drugs and crime and the terrorists -- is just a dry-ice machine at a rock concert, obscuring the descent of a severely undersized Stonehenge monolith onto the stage of American political life.

Barely.

We Were Just Wondering if These People Still Existed

I've actually discovered someone who, post-2000, actually thinks both political parties are pretty much equivalent. All I can say is, dude, can I come live in your country? Because it sounds awesome and a bit like the nineties to me. I liked the nineties.

In other news, this weekend I write on my latest, completely original (!), story. My friend M continues to be a fount of inspiration into the sadder side of Smalltown, U.S.A.

The Heroic Conclusion to Another Week

It seemed like a lot more work than it needed to be. The good news for me is that I got my interim title change, on the way to director status! Next up: taking over the world. Also, I will be pleased when this weather-related sinus stuff has moved along.

1. flags, sons & daughters
2. never learn to cry, rogers sisters
3. let me ride, bloodstone
4. sunday, bloc party
5. sunndal song, apples in stereo
6. no fun, sex pistols
7. she's a sensation, the ramones
8. mr. clean, the jam
9. sovay, andrew bird
10. we must have been out of our minds, george jones with melba montgomery
bonus 11: my superman, santogold

Twitchy, and What's with the Thumb?

McCain, still looking petulant at the last and final debate, and not owning up to the, um, death threats at his rallys (but . . . but . . . there are t-shirts at the Obama rallies!!!!!!!).

The Ayers smackdown and ACORN!!!!!! McCain can't wait to sputter that out, answering the challenge. Just look at Obama laughing.

This man is so pathetic.

Why You Don't Want to Be John McCain Right Now

Strange times, people. Results from a Republican-conducted focus group testing whether an aggressive ad was effective against Obama:

Reagan Dems and Independents. Call them blue-collar plus. Slightly more Target than Walmart.

Yes, the spot worked. Yes, they believed the charges against Obama. Yes, they actually think he's too liberal, consorts with bad people and WON'T BE A GOOD PRESIDENT...but they STILL don't give a f***. They said right out, "He won't do anything better than McCain" but they're STILL voting for Obama.

The two most unreal moments of my professional life of watching focus groups:

54 year-old white male, voted Kerry '04, Bush '00, Dole '96, hunter, NASCAR fan...hard for Obama said: "I'm gonna hate him the minute I vote for him. He's gonna be a bad president. But I won't ever vote for another god-damn Republican. I want the government to take over all of Wall Street and bankers and the car companies and Wal-Mart run this county like we used to when Reagan was President."

The next was a woman, late 50s, Democrat but strongly pro-life. Loved B. and H. Clinton, loved Bush in 2000. "Well, I don't know much about this terrorist group Barack used to be in with that Weather guy but I'm sick of paying for health insurance at work and that's why I'm supporting Barack."

I felt like I was taking crazy pills. I sat on the other side of the glass and realized...this really is the Apocalypse. The Seventh Seal is broken and its time for eight years of pure, delicious crazy....

Catnip Is a Universal Right! Down with the Evil Vet-Care Providers!

I always thought the cat was kind of lazy, but it turns out she's really been hitting the pavement during the day when I'm not around.

This Is Just Sad

Boy, someone's going to feel pretty stupid at school, just like poor little Hubert Muskie Humphrey did.

A new father has secretly named his baby girl Sarah McCain Palin after the Republican ticket for president and vice president.

Mark Ciptak of Elizabethton put that name on the documents for the girl's birth certificate, ignoring the name Ava Grace, which he and his wife had picked earlier.

"I don't think she believes me yet," he told the Kingsport Times-News for a story to be published Tuesday. "It's going to take some more convincing."

Heroes, Up Is Down, Good Is Bad!

I'm back to enjoying the unpredictability of it all. Mohinder is turning into a spider! Puppet guy, creep city. Ando!!!!!!!!!! I know there's something we're not seeing here. Parkman's dad is back, as is the Petrelli patriarch. We're seeing the mechanisms behind the future "good guys" right?

Bring Us Your Tired, Your Hungry, Your Poorly Coiffed

I am nearly about to cut my own hair with a butter knife. My friend M suggests a very precise array of bangs in spike formation. She is correct that I wish not to look matronly, but rather funky; however, I think she underestimates the extent to which I have Ken Burns hair.

I'm open to suggestions.

What Happens When the Subtext Becomes the Text

A current feature of my workplace these days is that we frequently pop into each other's offices to discuss the state of the presidential race. Did someone miss a poll somewhere (Obama's up in Virginia!)? Has something happened in the last forty-five minutes that someone who didn't have the foresight to sign up for news alerts needs to be filled in on?

Today, for instance, our topic was the lynch mob that the average McCain/Palin rally has turned into (although it seems like there may be a bit of at least perfunctory dialing back, ads notwithstanding). Specifically, what in the world are they trying accomplish with this "he's a traitor, a terrorist, a Muslim, a foreign interloper" tack? Who in the world, except for the ignorant, the angry, the racist--the already converted, in other words--is buying this? And how in the world are you going to move the polls by alienating everyone else? Good questions, indeed.

My view goes back to a conversation I had a couple of months ago. My friend A tends to be pessimistic about everything this campaign, mostly because he's still feeling shell-shocked that the rest of the bozos in our country would vote for Bush twice. I remember talking to him when Palin was picked, and he was concerned that people would really warm to her in personal terms. I thought it was a catastrophic error on McCain's part, because he just lost his moderate facade.

The Republican Party's Faustian deal with the Religious Right is that they fall behind their candidate and work fiercely to turn out the base. At the same time, they also keep a low profile to allow the candidate to make gestures of moderation to woo the moderates and independents. Hence, crucial to this set up is that they trust that the candidate is sympathetic to their agenda and/or they receive assurances in the form of coded language and dog whistles; remember the baffling (to the rest of us) G. W. Bush Dred Scott reference? It's a delicate balance requiring trust, the proper language, and a bit of plausible deniability.

Enter John McCain. He isn't a true believer like Dubya. And he has had the bad taste to, for example, blame the Religious Right for the 2000 smear campaign against him in South Carolina. Remember the Huckabee surge in the primary? In short, there was no way that McCain was going to be able to consolidate their support with subtle gestures, so he was forced to make some major concessions to get them onboard. Thus, Sarah Palin. The base was mollified, and more so, ecstatic; however, the moderate mask that would allow McCain to get to the crucial 50+1 was dropped. He didn't have much choice, and there was always the hope that people would be so dazzled by Palin's personality and "authenticity" that they would assume that she couldn't possibly be extremist, or just not care that she is, because she seems so gosh darn nice (given precedent, it wasn't an unreasonable hope).

But since Palin's favorables are dropping like a stone, McCain's in a pickle. If he tries to dust off his moderate maverickyness, he alienates the base, which he just sold his soul to placate. If he embraces full wingnut mode to rile up the base, he alienates the moderates. Since the base is the larger, more reliable chunk, with some grassroots and fundraising machinery he desperately needs, his only hope is to cast his lot with them, maximize turnout on his side, tamp down turnout on Obama's side (One of the benefits of a nasty, negative campaign for Republicans is that it drives down turnout; they do best in low-turnout elections because their base votes reliably), suppress the vote, and hope for the best. It won't be enough, but McCain is nothing if not one to gamble with long odds.

The incitement to violence at the rallies then becomes incidental to the mission and has the added feature of planting seeds of Obama's illegitimate presidency. The troops need to be rallied to another impeachment fiasco! God help us, and let's hope some wackos don't try violence against Obama or minority voters at the polls.

Related to the Conversation About ACORN

This bit was very helpful to me in putting the story in context. I guess I wasn't alone in misunderstanding how ACORN is actually run:

ACORN registers lots of lower income and/or minority voters. They operate all across the country and do a lot of things beside voter registration. What's key to understand is their method. By and large they do not rely on volunteers. They hire people -- often people with low incomes or even the unemployed. This has the dual effect of not only registering people but also providing some work and income for people who are out of work. But because a lot of these people are doing it for the money, inevitably, a few of them cut corners or even cheat. So, inevitably someone will end up filling out cards for nonexistent names and some of those slip through ACORN's own efforts to catch errors. It's important to note that in many of the recent ACORN cases that have gotten the most attention it's ACORN itself that has turned the people in who did the fake registrations. These reports start buzzing through the right-wing media every two years and every time the anecdotal reports of 'thousands' of fraudulent registrations turns out, on closer inspection, to be either totally bogus themselves or wildly exaggerated. So thousands of phoney registrations ends up being, like, twelve.

And, further, the point about the feasibility of accomplishing fraudulent voting this way:

I've always had questions about whether this is a good way to do voter registration. And Democratic campaigns usually keep their distance. But here's the key. This is fraud against ACORN. They end up paying people for more registering people then they eventually signed up. If you register me three times to vote, the registrar will see two new registrations of an already registered person and the ones won't count. If I successfully register Mickey Mouse to vote, on election day, Mickey Mouse will still be a cartoon character who cannot go to the local voting station and vote. Logically speaking there's very little way a few phony names on the voting rolls could be used to commit vote fraud. And much more importantly, numerous studies and investigations have shown no evidence of anything more than a handful of isolated casing of actual instances of vote fraud.

So assuming the workers who are forging the voter registrations are self-sabotaging Democratic partisans (or Republican plants, for that matter) misinterprets things. The important thing here is the very coordinated reaction to and framing of ACORN's defrauding:

What you're hearing right now from Fox News, the New York Post, John Fund and the rest of the right-wing bamboozlement chorus is a just another effort to exploit, confuse and lie in an effort to put more severe restrictions on legitimate voting and lay the groundwork to steal elections.

It's that simple.

If Not for the Vexation of Vandalism, I Would Have Been Able to Save My Nice Wine for the Weekend

My friends, here's to a good weekend for each and every one of you. I will be writing up a storm (I think I've worked out the arc of the latest writing assignment, a murder-mystery-type affair). In addition to which, I'm suddenly inspired to clean up my yard so that it doesn't look derelict. It kills me that the house next door, where no one lives, has fewer weeds than I do when I clean up every week. It's a conspiracy all around.

The soundtrack to my pre-weekend:

1. we travel the spaceways, sun ra
2. take your carriage clock and shove it, belle & sebastian
3. rudie can't fail, the clash
4. who's gonna save my soul, gnarls barkley [this one goes out to John McCain, my friends]
5. she heightened everything, pernice brothers
6. spring succeeds, olivia tremor control
7. typical girls, the slits
8. pretty words, elvis costello and the attractions
9. profiles, the mystery meat
10. starshine, gorillaz

bonus, just because I feel like it: i really got the feeling, dolly parton

Somewhere, Dick Cheney Is Smiling

It's good to be king, or queen, as the case may be:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - On the eve of a report on a legislative panel's abuse-of-power investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report clearing her of any wrongdoing.

In other breaking news, I've looked into the matter and declared myself innocent of all office-supply borrowing charges.

Teenagers Suck

Let me tell you about my evening. After I got home from work, I fed the cat, then--recalling I had to run out to cat sit--trundled out to the garage. I had to take out trash on the way, meaning that I had to go out into the alley proper. Alas, I discovered to my dismay that my garage had been tagged. (Mine wasn't the only one, I saw as I was driving through the alley. There were about 3 or 4 others.)

I was so pissed that I immediately set to scrubbing it off, in my skirt and high heels. Two dudes came up, though, while I was doing this to tell me that (1) they were next-door neighbors who lived across the alley, (2) that the graffiti had happened a few days ago (no, I don't usually drive, why do you ask?), (3) they had already called the city's vandalism number to take care of it, and (4) dude 1 was a former cop and our block captain. Yay! In addition to which, my kindly newly found neighborhood block caption, after relating how the city's one dude with a power washer was a bit slow, offered to power wash my garage with his own washer tomorrow. Yay, again!

They seemed pretty sure, for some reason, that it was just a single obnoxious kid making a pest of himself. Maybe the dog-walking gives one special insight into the alley goings-on. Whatever. I'm seriously fantasizing about moving to an island somewhere with an agrarian economy.

I Saw Someone Wearing These This Morning

For a second, I looked around for Marilyn McCoo, because I just knew the rest of the Solid Gold dancers would be busting a move shortly.

Grandpa McCain's Debate Smackdown!

I wish I could offer some astute thoughts (or mockery), but since I was at class, I missed it. I heard that it was dull and didn't promise to be a game changer for McCain, who really needed it to be one. I was hoping, at any rate, for some Ayers-related testiness. What's was up with the "that one" dismissiveness? Did it sound as much like the cranky lady complaining about the kids next door as it sounds? Did I miss anything notable? Is Obama really a secret Muslim infiltrator?

In lieu of piercing political analysis, I offer up some of the output from my writing class last night:

Doesn't it seem like a creepy parody of a ghost story to you?

Cranklicious

I seem to be having a McCain kind of evening. I think I will blame it on the rain, which seeped into my brain and prevented me from being able to construct a sentence in my class that began with "There"--it took me three times to get the right spelling.

Plus, I find it depressing that my eharmony contact requests thus far are of the old-dude types (to whom I'm a comparative whippersnapper! So call that a silver lining). I mostly don't care at all about getting older. We all get there if we're lucky, and so far I love the wisdom and general refusal to put up with nonsense that comes with it--plus I plan on going all European, sexy sophisticated, aesthetically speaking. Catherine Deneuve, rather than Cindy McCain, if you catch my drift. But dealing with the dating pool in an abstract manner like this (as opposed to meeting people in other contexts one-on-one and getting to know them as individuals) really brings out the trends. I.e., the dudes my age want the younger women, the older guys feel it's perfectly appropriate for them to be similarly hunting for women who are not their contemporaries. I have a friend who's about ten years older than I am, gorgeous, blonde, and we went to a fast dater singles thing a couple of years ago--I think one guy out of the 20 we met chose her, and a good chunk of them were her age or older.

This is not to say that age gaps don't work (absolutely, they do!), but, again, I'm speaking about general attitudes rather than about individual. When you're dealing with the aggregate, it tends to reinforce one's perceptions of women having a sell-by date, even if you're not someone who buys into that.

Yes, it's irrational to care one way or the other, particularly if you really are dealing with anyone who feels that women are unattractive/not good for birthin' past a certain age. Jerks! Who cares what they think! But, you know. Everyone single person must adore me, even the assholes I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.

Hey, I Do Know a McCain Supporter!

I got an e-mail forward today on Obama "fact-checking" (less incendiary than some and more along the lines of "your tax plans weren't all fabulous like you think, Obama!") from my kindergarten best friend, whom I haven't talked to, beyond exchanging Christmas cards, in at least 10 years. She's a very very religious home-schooling mom of four who believes the man is the head of the household, and so forth. She hasn't experienced my cursing, atheistic, wine-drinking, hedonistic, feminist, citified self up front and in person, it's true, but I thought it was implied. My reply to her ("Tell me how things are with you! Please take me off your McCain list!") got bounced back, otherwise I'd sincerely like to quiz her down. She's very smart, and I'm curious how she perceives things.

Very odd.

YIKES, LET ME AMEND: I didn't do more than skim past the first couple. His name is ARA-bic! He's not really Christian! Dear god.

Heroes: Still Not Feeling the Love

I think my expectations are too high, because I'm just bored. Am I misguided? Thoughts?

This Is Outrageous

I can't describe how angry this makes me, how irresponsible it is:

So we have McCain today getting his crowd riled up asking who Barack Obama is and then apparently giving a wink and a nod when one member of the crowd screams out "terrorist."

And later we have Sarah Palin with the same mob racket, getting members of the crowd to yell out "kill him", though it's not clear whether the call for murder was for Bill Ayers or Barack Obama. It didn't seem to matter.

I'm Already Overwhelmed

I signed up for eharmony, in accordance with a certain deal. I set parameters rather broad, geographically speaking (what if my ideal dude is in, say, Hawaii???). Perhaps too broadly, I fear, as I'm now inundated with "ideal" matches. Gah. I can't process all of this information. Someone get me some seasonal pumpkin ale, stat.

Related to Below

Possibly because of the weather change or alternatively because adjustments need to be made to medication to rein in her zoominess quotient, I slept very poorly last night on account of cat interference. It was most irritating, because in addition, she managed through repeated efforts--much like monkeys typing toward Shakespeare--to somehow trigger the snooze alarm before the clock went off. Kudos to her for this milestone, I guess.

Also, We're at Approximately Fifty Degrees

Music Musings of a Sunday Afternoon

I bought new music (and have ordered more: yay!) last weekend, but I haven't had a chance to really listen to it. My desktop computer, which houses my iTunes library, has been inexplicably sans internet for a couple of weeks. You know what a pain it is to rip music when you can't look up track info? Alas, rebooting didn't do the trick, so stronger measures, such as untangling cords and double-checking connections, were in order. But because my guest room, where said computer sits, has no overhead lighting at the moment--the light bulb having burned out about a week or two ago, requiring fetching the ladder out of the garage to change--I haven't been able to do the heroic troubleshooting to fix my computer because I need the light to see what I'm doing, etc. etc. You see how these difficulties compound.

Today, at last, I changed the light bulb, allowing me to see my computer desk and Byzantine cord set up, allowing me to pull things apart and figure out what the hell was wrong with my internet, allowing me to finally load my new music.

So, all of this is to say that I really really like the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Further, I love Cave's embrace of the cheesey mustache and long hair, which makes him look like Burt Reynolds circa 1975 or like a seventies porn star. That is some excellent retaining of the cool while aging.

I'm Going to Come Down Strongly Against This

Why must web ads now be laden with images of animal cruelty and factory farming?? I recognize the alleged benefits of emotional appeals, but this is like being assaulted on street corners with placards depicting bloody fetuses. You know what it does? Speaking for myself, it (1) upsets me and (2) pisses me off.

Crap

This is not good.

So we are now facing:

- a silent run on the huge mass of uninsured deposits of the banking system and even a run on some insured deposits are small depositors are scared;

- a run on most of the shadow banking system: over 300 non bank mortgage lenders are now bust; the SIVs and conduits are now all bust; the five major brokers dealers are now bust (Bear and Lehman) or still under severe stress even after they have been converted into banks (Merrill, Morgan, Goldman); a run on money market funds restrained only by a blanket government guarantee; a serious run on hedge funds; a looming refinancing crisis for private equity firms and LBOs);

- a run on the short term liabilities of the corporate sector as the commercial paper market has totally frozen (and experiencing a roll-off) while access to medium terms and long term financings for corporations is frozen at a time when hundreds of billions of dollars of maturing debts need to be rolled over;

- a total seizure of the interbank and money markets.

This is indeed a cardiac arrest for the shadow and non-shadow banking system and for the system of financing of the corporate sector. The shutdown of financing for the corporate system is particularly scary: solvent but illiquid corporations that cannot roll over their maturing debt may now face massive defaults due to this illiquidity. And if the financing of the corporate sectors shuts down and remains shut down the risk of an economic collapse similar to the Great Depression becomes highly likely.

And Ms. C Foolishly Thought She Was in on the Ground Floor

Cats for Obama. Although Ms. Thing was pained during the Palin nonsense, she would find this a tacky display.

Also, in a completely unrelated announcement, I have a new favorite happy hour bar, which features some retro seventies style and awesome tapas. And why hasn't anyone told me how delicious guava can be? I am now determined to try to make this Cuban pastry (as a result of being a regular at a recently opened Cuban sandwich, deli, and pastry shop, I scored some free sweets from the owner).

Funny Because It's True

Corruption and Greed on Wall Street

That's tonight's catch phrase. Spread the word.

Hmmm. Palin appears to be under the impression that she's running for governor of Alaska and that she's stumping to bring some more oil drillin' back to the peops.

Have we learned nothing from Gore?! Yo, Biden: stop with the sighing.

Oh my god. She just winked. Tina Fey, ladies and gentlemen, let's give her a big round of applause! She had us all going there for a bit, didn't she?

My friend who's been Rip-Van-Winkling through the campaign since the conventions and thus missed the unfolding Palin media debacle just called to report that Palin is an idiot. I'm sending her youtube clips.

Odious Little Toad, Part II

If you have some free time, you might check out this looooong but very worthwhile profile of McCain in Rolling Stone. John McCain--George W. Bush plus Faustian levels of ambition.

And a friend just passed this along, saying it made his day (when you're obsessed with the campaign news, it helps to have fellow junkies to commiserate with, although I can do without the harranguing over my aversion to watching youtube clips of Sarah Palin). I think we have those tireless Michigan Obama campaign volunteers to thank. Now let's all bus to Indiana!

This Is What Happens with Us v. Them

So my friend who was recently railing about the fat cats on Wall Street in this bailout approvingly sent me the latest Michael Moore missive on same, sedately titled "It's a Right-Wing Coup!":

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the real deal is.

The smoking gun here being that lobbyists for Wall Street were trying to maximize their benefits in the bailout. Which is absolutely craven and disgraceful, I agree. But is it surprising? Interests have long been able to influence legislation, which is how we got in this mess to begin with. Of course they're going to send in their minions to increase their advantage when it all tanks! This is why we set up systems with oversight and the correct incentives and don't rely on people to be good for its own sake. It's just human nature.

But I guess it's predictable that once we pit Them against Us, we're going to be suspicious that They can operate under any semblance of good faith. We've been duped before, haven't we? We got duped into war, so why wouldn't they be similarly lying about this too? The Bush administration thus reaps the rewards of years of ineptitude, political opportunism, and kleptocracy; they've manipulated us for so long, there's no way we're going to take them at face value for anything anymore.

At the same time, we've bought into the frames that have defined our polarized times: it all boils down to opinion, there's no objective reality, no common set of facts. There's merely what They say and what We say. The ones who profess to know, the "elites," are just pushing an ideological agenda and are not to be trusted.

The bad part of all of this is that while we settle down into our entrenched battle positions and attempt to stick it back to the people who have stuck it to us, we're not really looking at our own long-term best interests. Just because the Bush administration has wrecked its own credibility doesn't mean that it is necessarily lying about this financial crisis. In fact, there's a pretty broad consensus about how this came about. The sticking point seems to be the best course of action to minimize the impacts to the overall economy. Since no one is omniscient, people of good will can argue about what the government should or shouldn't do next. But as I am not wedded to the purity of the markets nor energized by a good cleansing economic meltdown and hopeful resultant New Deal-style liberal initiatives, I favor the prudent course of doing something if it seems like it could prevent worse impacts. It just seems so much more sensible than doing nothing, out of spite.

I'm Just Hoping This Doesn't Happen to Me on Election Day

Your Public-Service Announcement

New TV on the Radio.

Heroes, Vision Quest

My verdict: a snooze. I think you guys have planted the seeds of doubt, because now I'm rolling my eyes at the Byzantine plot twists and contradictions, when once I used to just let it flow. I feel somewhat bereft. I hope it comes back.

Queries:
1. Another guy who paints the future?
2. This isn't a query, but I said, in unison and with the exact same inflection (you know what I'm talking about if you saw it): "I made you." That's never a good sign of your show's suspense bona fides.
3. Again, not a query, but I remember that it's somewhat irritating that there are so many characters to be juggled that there are storylines you don't get back to for weeks at a time. That's a drag.
4. Evil Claire?
5. Why do we care about Parkman?

Wherein I Find I Am Not, In Fact, a True Believer

Reading up on the economic crisis and the subsequent failed rescue plan, I've been pretty stunned to see the grave dancing by people I normally agree with. One of my coworkers, for example, a hardcore Democrat, told me that he was "supportive" of the balky house Republicans who voted against the bailout because he was pissed about having any of his money going to Wall Street. And apparently other Democrats are yearning for the "salutary" effects of a depression and hoping to leverage the moment to institute some New Deal action. On the other side of the aisle, some symmetry of the zealots:

According to one GOP lawmaker, some House Republicans are saying privately that they’d rather “let the markets crash” than sign on to a massive bailout.

“For the sake of the altar of the free market system, do you accept a Great Depression?” the member asked.

Somehow, I think it's easier to be a purist when you're insulated enough, for a while at least, from the consequences. But you know it's never the big guys who suffer, right? They may lose some yachts and have to scale back on the vacation homes, but it's the rest of us that will be in a world of hurt when the unemployment rates increase and credit freezes up. Which is not to say that I don't share boiling rage at the captains of industry and their political tools (*cough* Phil Gramm *cough*) for what they've wrought.

But I'm a pragmatist who listens to people who know what they're talking about and who are actual economists and everything. The way I see it, it's a big sucky mess that lax regulation and a lot of greedy people got us into. So you do what you can to keep the economy going, elect the dude who will be more likely to fix the structural problems, then fix the structural problems. But that's just me.

The Challenge Has Been Answered

Refusing to be cowed by my bluster, Ms. Nikki has signed up for her art class. So now, in good faith, I must commit to an online dating do-dad of some sort. I've got my maximally flattering photo picked out and everything. Given that my worst date ever (New Years 2006, a night that will live in infamy) was as a result of a friend setup, I'm pretty sanguine that it can't be that bad to go completely blind. I'll keep you apprised of any good stories.

I'd ask for suggestions on sites, but all of you monogamously ensconced people are likely to be no help whatsoever.

Okay, That Was Really Weird.

At 9:30 this very evening, my doorbell rang, fiercely. At my door was my next-door neighbor kids (I think, it was dark, hair was styled differently, boy child was wearing glasses and a ponytail), asking if I had a computer they could use.

After picturing them either sitting in the living room with the laptop or picking through the mess in my spare room to use the desktop one, I told them sorry. I smell! I haven't showered! I'm watching Frasier reruns! I don't want teenagers I barely know surfing the web on my couch.

It was exceedingly odd, and I feel like a curmudgeon to boot, because who doesn't have a computer?

What Will McCain's Next Hail Mary Attempt to Move the Polls Be?

Let it here be recorded that I think there's no way in hell this vice-presidential debate goes forward this week. I'm still pondering what the intervening emergency might be. Oil pipeline disaster in Alaska? Bristol miscarries? Baby Trig has the croup?

More generally, we can speculate, can we not, about some of the grander gestures on the McCain campaign horizon? Some ideas to get your brain turning:

1. Returns to Vietnam and jails himself.
2. Offers the post of "vice vice president" to Warren Buffett.
3. Challenges Obama to suspend campaign so they both can go and personally drill for oil offshore.
4. Learns to use computer.
5. Does bombing run over Taliban-controlled tribal areas of Pakistan.
6. Offers to forgo salary, sell one house.
7. Sex-change operation.
8. Suspends campaign until Nov. 4, offers to start being president right now.
9. Sells Alaska to Russia for $700 billion.
10. Pledges to serve only one term. OK, half a term.

Neurosis?

I'm now convinced I have an ulcer. WebMD is not our friend.

To prevent what appears to be my descent into Pamela territory, I'm going to turn my focus to writing my latest story, just as soon as I finish what I plan to patent and market as Feline Applied Heat, Pressure, and Gentle Vibration Therapy.

Is It Possible for a Person to Be a Preening Toad?

I waffle on this, but it's my perception that McCain is indeed an amphibian who preens.

I'm obviously not impartial, but I thought that Obama did well by staying focused and calm. He also did a great job of distilling his points to the simplest takeaway message, particularly when he was rebutting a misrepresentation. I seem to be in the minority, but I thought his "agreeing" with McCain was a nice touch that made him seem statesmanlike and, dare I say, presidential? I like that cordiality before the twisting of the knife, though. Also, McCain was single-minded: pork! waste and fraud! Surge surge surge! I know lots of leaders, listen to me pronounce their names! I guess if you're scoring on consistency or "themes," he would get points, but that's a metric that I don't personally subscribe to. I realize I'm not your swing voter, though.

Now we'll spend the next week or so waiting for the conventional wisdom to gel: who was sighing, who was checking their watch, who had the best sound byte, etc.

They Really Weren't Kidding on that Road to Nowhere

It's really unfortunate that they didn't get to build the bridge, but they did get to the road part to the bridge. And it only cost $26 million, so call it a steal!

But back to me (and isn't everything about me?), I think what I'm going to find tonight is that the really awful part about driving somewhere to watch the debate is that it doesn't make it easy for one to drink in order to get through said debate. I should have thought of that and planned accordingly.

To Debate or Not to Debate, That Is the Question

Will there be one? Will McCain swoop in at the last moment after heroically and single-handedly saving the bailout legislation? Or will Obama entertain us alone, perhaps with a bit of Shakespearean monologue? There are so many possibilities, and the only thing that could make it even better would be for Palin to show up in McCain's place and wow us all with some foreign policy chops, perhaps invoking vivid images in all our minds of Vladimir Putin with an exceedingly long, retractable neck, which he uses to thrust his head, Fastastic-Four-like, into space.

My morning random listening, alas, offers no clues about the future shape of events.

1. problems, sex pistols
2. i should have known better, she & him
3. loose [take 2], the stooges
4. tell me what you want, the pipettes
5. something changed, pulp
6. baby baby, the vibrators
7. water ban, pernice brothers
8. love song no. 7, clap your hands say yeah
9. trombone dixie, the beach boys
10. the queen is dead (take me back to dear old blighty), the smiths

Your Mustache-Related Interlude

I Would Argue That Mine, Having Been in the Trenches of Finance and Tax Policy, Warned You All About This Crisis First

Yikes. May I Suggest Note Cards?

I got one minute in. I actually feel sorry for her.

So Much for That Debate-Watching Party I Was Thinking of Going To

These dudes are desperate:

McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.

More time for cramming! I hereby propose that my teacher put off my next lengthy writing assignment so that I can more fully focus on the reading. And after that, the dog I don't own will eat my homework.

BY WHICH I MEAN TO SAY: Palin's cramming. I understand that they're a wee bit concerned about her readiness for prime time. The really amazing thing to me are the people who are watching this stuff and still supporting McCain.

When I Get All Cranky and Down on the Writing

Remind me that I had a good class last night, okay?

We finally started reading student work in class, and my own smashing postmodern parody of a satire was one of the first ones chosen. The idea on the process is that you get feedback (are people dozing off? do they look rapt?) and also become familiar with each person's style and voice--by the end of the semester, it gets pretty easy to identify people's work.

So after selections of mine were read, and we had to guess the writer, there was a baffled silence. One girl guessed me because, "the best stuff usually comes from the quiet ones in class." Aww. Then, when we were discussing all the works we read and the things that worked in them, two kids sitting next to me piped up to sincerely extoll the virtues about how I handled the details and moved things along. It was, in short, awesomely bolstering of the ego, which you need every now and then in addition to the constructive criticism.

I'm definitely a bigger fish in this pond, which completely mystifies me after my last class and the one I took as an undergrad. So I'm pretty glad I took off the hairshirt and stuck it out for the next round.

Hamlet Wonders If He Should Continue to Exist. Or Not.

Hamlet (facebook newsfeed edition).

Oh My God, Heroes Season Premiere Is Tonight! Squeee!

I had no idea, which tells you how much I've had the tv on. It's been such a long, hard slog since the writer's strike, I barely remember how it ended, although I believe I was distraught over the fate of Nathan. Also, I recall that Peter needed to stop being stupid and that the Irish girl needed to be permanently lost in the future.

Queue it up, people. I'm going to need to hash this out later.

AFTER VIEWING: Whoa. That was awesome x 2.

Since I Already Have a Sinus Headache and Must Conserve What Functioning Brain Cells I Have for Homework

I've avoided thinking about the travesty that is the $700 million, strings-free, oversight-free, reform-free Wall Street bailout. For starters, I can't quite wrap my feeble post-cold mind around that sum: three-quarters of a trillion in taxpayer dollars. And, second, in terms of sheer hubris, it's like they're cranking the outrage meter up to Nigel Tufnel's 11, again, which is starting to do permanent damage to my psyche. I have, however, been wondering how Obama would respond to this proposal, given the almost-universal expert condemnation of it. I am pleased:

As of now, the Bush Administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan. Even if the U.S. Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects the basic principles of transparency, fairness, and reform.

First, there must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money.

Second, taxpayers shouldn’t be spending a dime to reward CEOs on Wall Street.

Third, taxpayers should be protected and should be able to recoup this investment.

Fourth, this plan has to help homeowners stay in their homes.

Fifth, this is a global crisis, and the United States must insist that other nations join us in helping secure the financial markets.

Sixth, we need to start putting in place the rules of the road I’ve been calling for for years to prevent this from ever happening again.

And finally, this plan can’t just be a plan for Wall Street, it has to be a plan for Main Street. We have to come together, as Democrats and Republicans, to pass a stimulus plan that will put money in the pockets of working families, save jobs, and prevent painful budget cuts and tax hikes in our states.

Another Thing to Worry About When Considering a Palin Vice Presidency

John McCain hasn't released his medical records. Did you know that? And based on what we know about the melanoma he's already been treated for and what we can reasonably infer from it, we're not left with a reassuring picture of his longer term prospects:

Last week, when I got the letter from Robert Greenwald talking about John McCain's refusal to release his medical records to fair scrutiny, the fact that there are 1,000 pages of them (I create medical records for a living, 1,000 pages is EXTREME), and the news that he has had malignant melanoma, deep primaries with removal of lymph nodes, my immediate thought was "Then he's dying." If he were to be elected, he'd have an almost 2 out of 3 chance of having a recurrence if he doesn't have one already. This is not the kind of cancer you count on escaping from. This is not Stage II, as it has been reported: Stage II by definition does not have lymph node involvement. By definition, it must be either Stage III or Stage IV.

I don't want to speculate more darkly on McCain's motivations here, but this is extremely worrisome. Actuarially speaking, he's already got a one and four chance of dying in his first term based solely on his age. Even assuming he were in perfect health, the transparently political way he chose such an ill-prepared successor as Palin gives us a good look at his though process and priorities. To say the least, it doesn't reflect well on him.

You can sign a petition at the first link.

Ill-Informed, Glib List of Books Not to Read before You Die

Lists are so much fun:

9: Lord of the Rings – J R R Tolkien

The best I can say about this book is that it was a very useful tool at school for helping to choose your friends. Carrying a copy of Tolkien’s monstrous tome was the equivalent of a leper’s bell: ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ I knew I would have nothing in common with anyone who had read it. Their taste in music, clothes, television, everything was predetermined by their devotion to Gandalf. Without a shadow of a doubt, in a few years, these people would be going to Peter Gabriel gigs and reading Dune.

Heh. Of course, I'm fond of LoTR, but I didn't read it in my formative years.

I tell you what made me feel a thousand times better in my fiction-writing class, though: one of my classmates cited The Five People You Meet in Heaven as one of her favorite books.

LATER: And how could I forget, one kid touted Ayn Rand as his favorite author.

Felled Again

Feel free to come do this for me.

Here's an Interesting Tidbit

More people dislike Sarah Palin than like her.

This Is My New Favorite Product of All Time

Until your animal is able to self medicate, might I recommend one of these? Pop a pill in a pouch, put it on top of your kibble, and voila, dinner at 6 with pre-dinner meds, whether you're there or not.

We'll see how long it takes her to jimmy the lid. She's MENSA material, this one. She's still trying to figure out how to smack the alarm clock just so in order to make it go off.

Evidence of the lost flu weekend and the couch we never left.

If, For No Other Reason, I'm Going Condo to Get Closer to the Train

I remind myself that I used to do this every day in the halcyon Philadelphia days, but I am over this "being a thirty-minute walk to the train" thing. The three-day downpour and resulting floods have somehow meant that my usual bus route has turned into gridlock for a straight mile and a half for the last two days. So I've been walking to the train in the morning, and walking from the train in the evening.

I have class tonight, and my poor friend with whom I'm taking this class and with whom I usually get a ride home, is coming in although she did not work today and is flu beset. And a part of me is glad! Because, good lord, there's just no way I can drag my sorry ass home like that tonight. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Gooble Gobble, One of Us

While I noodle around the edges of voter motivation and Republican manipulation of same, others contextualize it in its true culture-war narrative. Nixonland, still, Nixonland forever! And they ask the burning questions.

For instance:

Will anyone notice that Palin is simply a debased female version of Bush? Will the fact that she is obviously unqualified to be president mean anything? Will voters be enraged that by picking Palin, McCain has turned American politics into a sitcom, a cheap farce? Or will the culture war still be a winner for the GOP?

It depends on whether eight disastrous years have revived the reality-based community -- or whether the same time-tested right-wing culture-war tactics will work even when the ideas and policies behind them have abjectly failed.

There are some hopeful signs to go along with the torrent of bad news for Democrats. A Newsweek poll that came out late Friday found that 22 percent of people say she makes them less likely to vote for McCain -- the highest percentage of a V.P. pick in recent history. Palin's dreadful performance in her Gibson interviews could be responsible for this. But it's too early to say.

So far, McCain has benefited from the fight that has erupted over Palin, because it is part of the culture war that is insidiously connected to a politics of emotional identification, narcissism and resentment. The Democrats always lose when the battle is fought on this terrain, the terrain of impulse and the id. If they can change the battleground to issues and reality, they can win.

And this is a really good analysis comparing the tribalism cultivated by GOP stoking of white working-class resentment with the demogoguery of Marion Barry and what that wrought for D.C.--D.C. being a microcosm of what happens when we allow our resentments and tribal loyalties outweigh all other considerations:

The thing is, we deserve to know exactly what manner of country we are living in. Are we living in a place where people think claiming to be offended is actually a qualifier for national office? Does our citizenry actually think that Obama is a Muslim, and worse, that being a Muslim is a disqualifier? Do we actually believe that a presidential candidate of a major party would endorse sex ed for Kindergarten? At this critical moment, are these the issues that sway us? In the 1960s, Baldwin warned us of integrating into a burning house. I need to know precisely what manner of house we've entered.

I Need to Extract Myself from Official Election Coverage Before My Head Explodes

When you're waking up in a cold sweat with such thoughts as "Oh my god! The polls are showing a fundamental change in the race!" it is time to vacation in the land of reality TV shows or Law and Order reruns. I haven't felt this stressed about our political climate since the run up to the Iraq war.

I've come to the conclusion that the majority of Americans no longer even know how to evaluate candidates for office in any sort of systematic, substantive way. We're conditioned to follow the prescribed (by Republicans!) short cuts of how said candidate make us feel (that McCain's just so old, he must know what he's doing), what the "brand" stands for (good for the troops!), what the media sound bytes say (flip flopper!), and that's the beginning and end of the thought process for most people.

This morning, for example, I heard a random sampling of New Hampshire voters interviewed on NPR. The Obama supporter cited "change" as his reason. I'll bet if you asked him what, in particular, he found compelling about Obama's policy proposals, he would not have been able to say. And when they interviewed the obligatory "undecided" voter, she declared herself to be without health insurance and most concerned about the economy and health care. I wanted to smack my head against the wall (or her head against a wall). Obviously she'd sought out no information about what these two candidates were offering on her stated preferred issues, because, to put it mildly, the options are pretty stark. You either feel strongly that laissez faire and everyone on their own is the way to go, or you feel a bit of a safety net is in order. Option A or option B.

Similarly, when people declare that they just "don't know" what Obama stands for, it's not as though there's no answer to this question, found at myriad sources. It seems to come down to a short-cut answer that sounds like you're cogitating about it, but you're just repeating something that other people have said.

I don't wonder if this is all tied to the general disdain that Republicans have for logic, reason, empirical knowledge, and general "intellectualness." We're not really encouraged to think for ourselves, so why should we know how? It's all a matter of opinion, anyway. It's how consumers choose inexpensive disposable products (because most of us do a wee bit of research for big-ticket items like cars and at least suss out the features). We're nothing if not a consumer nation.

In other, more local, news, the editorial power struggle continues. I am weary of power vacuums and, as my career coach termed it, "avoidance of hard decisions." Amen, sister. You said it.

This Really Warms My Heart

When I get cynical about our collective stupidity as a country and want to rip my hair out over current polls, I find that reading things like this reminds me that there are people paying attention. Alaskan women demonstrated against Palin:

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn’t happen here.

Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn’t be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.

So, if you’ve been doing the math… Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin’s rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around (links are appreciated) to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say.

It's worth noting that before Palin was picked for V.P., polls in Alaska were trending in Obama's direction. I think this says something about the public's views on the Republican culture of corruption in this traditionally very red state.

It's a Rainy Day, in Which One Contemplates Leaving the House, if the Rain Ever Lets Up Susbstantially

Meantime, I'm finding it's a fabulous opportunity to crank on what, one hopes, will become a sufficiently ass-kicking parody of this story. Although a parody of a satire is a little bizarre and meta for my tastes, it's really quite a fun idea to play around with; choose the right scenario, and it nearly writes itself.

More important, I'm at an accelerated rate for meeting my page counts, being as I am 2/5's of the way to where I need to be by the end of the semester. Woo!

You Need More Reasons to Fear a McCain Presidency, Right?

Think about health care. What's the conservative view on what's wrong with the current system? Well, we selfish, pampered Americans have too much health care, sillies. If only we were responsible for more costs, we would stop having those extravagant regular check ups, pap smears, and preventive health care.

So, McCain's proposal: Increase taxes on employer-provided health insurance! End result: fewer businesses offering the now-more-expensive health coverage, forcing more people into the individual market, where we rugged individuals can direct our own care. But we'd get a tax credit as we shop for that individual plan, so it's all good:

He wants to replace those benefits with an insufficient tax credit--$2500 for individuals and $5000 for families (the average cost per family for health insurance is $12000).

Just as long as you have no preexisting conditions, expensive chronic diseases, or the like, you should be golden. Oh, wait, he's got an ineffective plan for those people too! I'm sure it won't cost too much to get coverage.

And in case you're of the thought that Sarah Palin, Just Like Us as she is, would be attuned to the tribulations of the regular folk in this case, perish the thought:

The centerpiece of Sen. McCain’s plan to “help” those with chronic conditions to get health insurance is the creation of high risk pools in every state.

But, McCain has also said that he would ask the nation’s governors how to create these pools (with about 30 states having one today). Since Alaska is one of the states with a high risk pool, it might be interesting to get a sense of how Governor Palin might advise McCain on the creation of these pools.

Based on the high risk pool in her state, Palin’s advice would clearly be to create a high risk pool that: offers very expensive coverage, puts as much burden on individuals as possible, excludes preexisting conditions, and limits benefits as much as possible.

You know, a close friend of a friend of mine recently died. She had no health insurance and suffered from an array of chronic health conditions, for which she was unable to get consistent treatment. This kind of shit isn't theoretical, except to people who think that lettuce pickers make $50 an hour.

But, how silly of me to be off on a fluffy, weightless tangent. Best I should stick to the issues, like how insulting it is to women to use the phrase "lipstick on a pig." (I always preferred the "perfume on a pig" variation, but I'm weird like that).

This Follows on a Conversation We Had on the Family Weekend about Porn Star Names

According to the Sarah Palin baby name generator, if I had had the good fortune to be born to Sarah Palin, my name would be: Hook Tuneup Palin.

Still Home, But Call It Progress

I am so pleased to be sitting upright without nausea! Praise be. When I found myself contemplating the plot turns of my latest writing assignment, I knew it was a good sign.

If, like me, you missed the Palin interview, here's some more frightening food for thought (frightening, that is, if you're not an evangelical Christian who views all current events and political developments and leaders through that lens).

Did she hesitate, Charlie Gibson asked, when McCain asked her to be his running mate, did she wonder whether she had enough experience to be, potentially, commander in chief? Palin said, "I didn't hesitate, no . . . . I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink. So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate."

Many evangelicals are talking about Palin being like the biblical Queen Esther, who saved the Jews from the genocidal Haman, and believe that Palin has come, like Esther did, "for a time such as this." (The same narrative built around George W. Bush when he was running.) My charismatic source added, "The beauty queen hidden away until an appointed time. The newscaster training, her rise in service, etc. But I just think her authenticity resonates with believers. They feel like she is real. I believe many feel she has been hidden for this time in accordance with God's plan. At least that is their hope."

Shades of George W. Bush again. Here's a reason why I don't really care if Obama (or any given Democratic nominee, really) is sufficiently left for my tastes. I'm longing for some good old-fashioned competence. Hell, I would even settle for a non-corrupt centrist Republican who actually cared about governing. Quite obviously, these feelings of mine are not universal.

I Dream One Day of Eating Something

I spent time with my family, so naturally I am now sick.

Is It That Time Again? Seems Like Just Yesterday We Were Purging Voter Rolls in Florida

In Macomb County, Michigan, the Republican Party will be using foreclosure records to challenge the eligibility of voters. The targeted voters are, it goes without saying, African Americans.

Back it the day, it was just straight up poll taxes and such, but these days, you have to really apply some ingenuity to suppress the vote. I trust the geniuses who came up with this plan are up-and-comers in the party.

And this isn't really related, but I've thought of this project I want to do. I would take something fuzzy and cuddly--possibly a sock puppet or a stuffed animal, maybe a kitten or a puppy--and set it on a stand, behind which would be a video backdrop looping a sunny, morning-in-America speech by Reagan or similar, the crowd cheering in the background. Or maybe I'd splice the fuzzy directly into the video. I can't quite put my finger on the inspiration, but this may have had something to do with it.


I don't think it can be questioned that this wholesome Puppy-American represents the values of heartland America. Unlike those latte-sipping liberals, she knows what it's like to hunt squirrels and pee on trees. Americans can relate to her, or they want to cuddle her. Either way, she embodies more authenticity than the other guy could dream of having.

Hunting for Evidence to Support the Narrative

Poll shows big shift to McCain among white women!!!!!

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has gained huge support among white women since naming Sarah Palin as his running mate and now leads Democrat Barack Obama among those voters, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

To quantify, a twenty-point shift, in exactly one poll. Can you say outlier? But we know what the real story here has got to be, don't we?

Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, defeated rival Hillary Clinton in the battle for the Democratic nomination, a long and bitter struggle that left many of the former first lady's supporters disaffected and angry.

Many of her backers were further angered when Obama ignored her in picking a vice president, choosing instead long-time Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. A key question for the Obama campaign has been whether he would be able to maintain the support of Clinton's supporters.

Hell hath no fury like a Clinton voter scorned.

My mother, who's been doing yeoman's work trying to persuade people in her very important swing state to vote for Obama, has passed along this website, which helpfully explains how awful for women a McCain/Palin administration would be. Read it, and spread the word to all your fence-sitting acquaintances and relatives.

Weekend Scenes

The swinging of the tot at the zoo.


Look! His name is Erik, too!

Oh my god, I'm rhyming. I'm Dr. Seuss.

Please Let This Be Ephemeral . . . Please Let This Be Ephemeral

McCain got a big convention bounce in the polls.

I admit, I'm kind of stunned he got this kind of response, being as he is an uncharismatic speaker with nothing to offer in the way of solutions, who apparently chose his running mate--a right-wing, abortion-opposing Christian who touts her foreign policy cred by explaining Alaska's proximity to Russia and her administrative skills by citing her work on the PTA--with all the care and deliberation I might apply to choosing my socks for the day. Or probably less, since I put a lot of thought into my fashion impact, plus I just really like socks.

I want to think we don't have the collective memory and intellectual capacity of goldfish, but perhaps you really can't underestimate people's willingness to be manipulated. We have after all been conditioned for forty years to choose leaders based on whether he or she is a sneech with stars on thars versus being one of those sneeches who are insufficiently patriotic and thus look down their noses at the god-fearing sneeches who wear their stars with pride.

What is incompetence, outlawing of abortion, fiscal meltdown, economic misery, and eight years of mismanagement and corruption and someone who promises you more of the same? The important metric here is whether he was a brave POW. And let's not forget that the other guy is somehow . . . untrustworthy. Up is down, black is white, Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

I'm going to curl up in a corner somewhere, fetal-like. Later I will possibly scout locations--what did we say, Canada? Australia?--for the family compound.

The Summer 2008 Houseguest Season Draws to a Close

Some of the creative output from the weekend. "Maddie" was drawn by Aunt Laura, with precise direction by the piece's subject. The unidentified figure with the large hands is Aunt Laura. And "Cricket" was done by the artist with assistance on the body by her mom and spelling help by Aunt Laura.

A good time was had by all who participated in the family odyssey to Chicago. We zoo-ed, we shopped, we sloshed through fountains, we ate, we drank, and we generally partook of all that Chicago in the summer has to offer.

Anyway, I'm exhausted and must do homework.

Big Kids Ride Buses!

First day of school, and I rated the pre-bus phone call from my favorite girl munchkin. I forgot to ask her what stylin' outfit she settled on for the occasion. This is why we have skype, right?

Cue Sinister Music

In a mere thirty-five minutes, I begin a creative-writing class, a follow-up to the one I took last summer. Percy Bysshe Shelley (no, not that one, this one) has his reason for being, since I got him too late to really be useful for couch composing/napping.

I'm hoping to get help with structure, because I find it supremely unhelpful to be told that only I know how to tell my story. Hmmm, possibly a nonfiction course would have been a better deal...

Anyway, wish me luck among the whippersnappers! I only hope the dinner roll I'm toting (stomach upset) and ginger ale (same) don't mark me as a freak--akin to someone who might pull out a pickle and a bottle of ketchup for a snack.

Should We Get a Pool Going?

These guys vetted Palin, so McCain didn't have to, until now, I guess. Better late than never.

My guess is that McCain shares that steely-eyed Bush trait of never admitting a mistake. And the fundamentalist Christian base is so enthralled with Palin, they're finally showing him the cash love. So I expect them to damn the torpedoes.

Gustav

Watching the weather updates and fervently hoping that the Gulf Coast, particularly New Orleans, is left unharmed. I understand that the levees haven't been completely rebuilt since Katrina, that many people are still in FEMA trailers, and that many of the homes that have been built are below sea level. My thoughts are with the people.

Meanwhile, McCain and Palin swung into action by heading to the Gulf in an attempt to appear presidential, or something. He may give his convention acceptance speech from there via satellite. These guys don't miss an opportunity for a photo op on top of a pile of rubble, do they? I had an image of McCain tethered to a tree and screaming into a microphone through gale force winds, but someone else took my joke.