Friday, February 29, 2008
Leap for joy! A short rumination on an extra day.
The presidential election. The Olympics. Leap-year certainly needs the extra day. The only thing I care about is that my monthly, $70 regional bus/train pass is less of a per-day rip-off than it usually is in February.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Not patriotic enough? You must be joking.
I'm still trying to figure out how someone can run for president and be called unpatriotic.
I mean, come on... How can anyone - conservative, liberal, socialist or green - subject themselves to the sleep-depriving rigors and privacy-destroying humiliations of a presidential run and still be accused of not loving the country enough? What a stupid hitjob.
I mean, come on... How can anyone - conservative, liberal, socialist or green - subject themselves to the sleep-depriving rigors and privacy-destroying humiliations of a presidential run and still be accused of not loving the country enough? What a stupid hitjob.
Friday, February 22, 2008
That crazy Latin lady just came by: An experiment in live blogging.
[I decided to leave in the typos. More authentic that way.]
So there's this lady who like to speak in tongues on the Blue Line. In one respect, I can't say I blame her. If there's one place that folks can find religion, it's on the Blue Line. She's a Spanish speaker, but it's still easy to tell she's speaking in tongues. It's kind of crazy.
Everybody knows her and she just sat down next to an older black lady who's not taking any crap. She tells her to get lost.
The crazy lady calls her a criminal and is now calling the train operator. I just heard her speak english, but she's speaking in toongues at the driver!
It donesn't work. “Ma'am? You're talking crazy.” He doesn't say any more. Crazy LAdy is talking to herself now and going to the back of the train.
The black lady says she doesn't mind people praying, but that people shouldn't pray like that. Then she adds this gem: “If she wants to be blessed, I'll bless her.”
And... scene. Good times.
So there's this lady who like to speak in tongues on the Blue Line. In one respect, I can't say I blame her. If there's one place that folks can find religion, it's on the Blue Line. She's a Spanish speaker, but it's still easy to tell she's speaking in tongues. It's kind of crazy.
Everybody knows her and she just sat down next to an older black lady who's not taking any crap. She tells her to get lost.
The crazy lady calls her a criminal and is now calling the train operator. I just heard her speak english, but she's speaking in toongues at the driver!
It donesn't work. “Ma'am? You're talking crazy.” He doesn't say any more. Crazy LAdy is talking to herself now and going to the back of the train.
The black lady says she doesn't mind people praying, but that people shouldn't pray like that. Then she adds this gem: “If she wants to be blessed, I'll bless her.”
And... scene. Good times.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
How about a little fun?
Chris Moore explores government cars, and the cartoon that every blogger will eventually post.
The Cheesehead/Luau Hangover is cheesy/piggy. Or something.
Two more primaries, two more landslides. Obama took another huge bite out of HRC's base, continuing the trend from Virginia and Maryland. I feel really bad for the voters of Texas and Ohio - they're going to see so many commercials, direct mailers and TV interviews in the next two weeks... I'm just glad I've already voted in this primary.
Another thing we're going to see is all of HRC bring the noise. Look out for the new 527s and generalized dirty pool - she's not going down without a fight. The fact that she has to have such huge margins in Texas and Ohio to make it a race again isn't going to help either - that means she's going to have to turn the volume all the way up. It'll be interesting to see if HRC can knock Obama off message.
Speaking of his message, Obama's victory speech was epic, coming in at nearly 50 minutes. People wanted substance to go with the rhetoric? No problem. I didn't listen to all of it. To say I've firmly made up my mind about who should be president is to say that commuting on the Blue Line in the rain is only a tad annoying. (I'm doing that right now (7:13 am) and I have to mention that rain really exacerbates this phenomenon. The train also smells like vomit-garnished wet dog.) I know what it is I disagree with him on. I know what I like. Point is, he's proved that he can get wonky with the best of them.
I think a big story is going to be how much damage the DNC is going to let HRC inflict on the Dems prospects in the general before they say enough is enough. If she has to go too much more negative, John McCain won't have much to do. Maybe that's a straw man, though; the Dems are outdrawing folks to the poll by about 2.5 to 1 or more. I'm trying to see a Repub electorate getting excited for McCain in the face of Obama, though, and I can't do it even if I squint real hard.
Is Obama's clear momentum and growing pledged delegate lead (almost 150 by some counts) going to nudge out some major endorsements? Just unions. High-level individuals? I don't think so. There's still no upside for Al Gore to endorse now that he's a respected man throughout the world. And a John Edwards endorsement is getting problematic. White men that were for John Edwards (white men in general, according to the exit polls) are going to Obama more and more. And Obama is getting the unions on his own. So an Edwards endorsement of Obama might be redundant and Edwards doesn't want to be - and should not be - redundant. On the other hand, if he decided to endorse HRC, all hell might break loose. But that's not likely.
Well... here's to two weeks of nail-biting tedium. Hopefully this thing will wrap itself up on March 4.
Another thing we're going to see is all of HRC bring the noise. Look out for the new 527s and generalized dirty pool - she's not going down without a fight. The fact that she has to have such huge margins in Texas and Ohio to make it a race again isn't going to help either - that means she's going to have to turn the volume all the way up. It'll be interesting to see if HRC can knock Obama off message.
Speaking of his message, Obama's victory speech was epic, coming in at nearly 50 minutes. People wanted substance to go with the rhetoric? No problem. I didn't listen to all of it. To say I've firmly made up my mind about who should be president is to say that commuting on the Blue Line in the rain is only a tad annoying. (I'm doing that right now (7:13 am) and I have to mention that rain really exacerbates this phenomenon. The train also smells like vomit-garnished wet dog.) I know what it is I disagree with him on. I know what I like. Point is, he's proved that he can get wonky with the best of them.
I think a big story is going to be how much damage the DNC is going to let HRC inflict on the Dems prospects in the general before they say enough is enough. If she has to go too much more negative, John McCain won't have much to do. Maybe that's a straw man, though; the Dems are outdrawing folks to the poll by about 2.5 to 1 or more. I'm trying to see a Repub electorate getting excited for McCain in the face of Obama, though, and I can't do it even if I squint real hard.
Is Obama's clear momentum and growing pledged delegate lead (almost 150 by some counts) going to nudge out some major endorsements? Just unions. High-level individuals? I don't think so. There's still no upside for Al Gore to endorse now that he's a respected man throughout the world. And a John Edwards endorsement is getting problematic. White men that were for John Edwards (white men in general, according to the exit polls) are going to Obama more and more. And Obama is getting the unions on his own. So an Edwards endorsement of Obama might be redundant and Edwards doesn't want to be - and should not be - redundant. On the other hand, if he decided to endorse HRC, all hell might break loose. But that's not likely.
Well... here's to two weeks of nail-biting tedium. Hopefully this thing will wrap itself up on March 4.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
That's about enough of that - part 2.
This is gotcha crap has got to stop. Michelle Obama should not have said that, but not because the statement itself is distasteful - I happen to agree with her; I know exactly what she means and how she feels. She shouldn't have said it because she should have known that Obama opponents would swoop in and turn it into flap. But let's identify this bogus rhetorical technique: it's the same when pro-war folks accuse anti-war folks of "not supporting the troops" when we say that we're against the war. It's the same damn argument and should be worth the same. It's nonsense.
I haven't been proud of our county since Bush 43 was elected. This administration's embrace of scientific ignorance, war-mongering, bungling of domestic disasters, beggaring the middle-class and squandering our place in the world by isolating us ideologically... what's to be proud of for a rational person?
I haven't been proud of our county since Bush 43 was elected. This administration's embrace of scientific ignorance, war-mongering, bungling of domestic disasters, beggaring the middle-class and squandering our place in the world by isolating us ideologically... what's to be proud of for a rational person?
Cheesehead/Luau Primary!
The Wisconsin polls close in about 25 minutes and I'm almost finished with my first Diet Coke with Splenda. I should be wired up and ready to go. If Obama is going to win, he's going to do it in Clinton's key demographics: white women, blue-collar workers and the less educated. This would mirror his trends in Virginia and to a lesser extent Maryland. And if he can do that, she's in deep cheese fon-doo-doo going into the Ohio primary in a couple of weeks. If HRC wins Obama's home state of Hawai'i, then color me flabbergasted.
Yes, we can!
Update: I forgot about Washington. Sorry, Washington, but you had your shot with those caucuses way back. Nobody's interested in your third nipple of a primary.
Yes, we can!
Update: I forgot about Washington. Sorry, Washington, but you had your shot with those caucuses way back. Nobody's interested in your third nipple of a primary.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Oh, the places you haven't been... But your new computer has.
Okay. I've been to Signal Hill and, of course, Long Beach. But not the others.
Friday, February 15, 2008
That's about enough of that.
I told myself that I wasn't going to blog about politics for a least a few days, but this kind of bogus attack is starting to piss me off. The 'gotcha rhetoric' of Taylor Marsh's 'article' makes me want to break things.
My support for Barack Obama is emotional, yes. But that emotion is driven by a firmly rational look at his abilities, platforms and capacity to break - pragmatically - from the destructive political paradigms of recent years. The fact that he encompass the kinds of qualities I'm rationally looking for in candidate gets me a bit emotional. I'm not - nor do I consider myself to be - a member of a cult or mindless movement. It's not Lisztomania*, for crying out loud. I look at all his attributes as a man and a political force, and I get excited. It's as simple as that.
HRC had a chance to fill this emotional role, but she chose to run as the incumbent, pigeonholing herself as 'status quo' when people are asking for something different. So, yeah, I get a little emotional when people think that HRC is the better candidate for the U.S.A. and the world at this time. There so much that is wrong with a potential HRC presidency... Her tendency towards political expediency is the biggest problem. It lacks authenticity. And for my generation (and younger, I'd wager), nothing quite gets under our skins as someone who is inauthentic, be they politician or our next-door neighbor. In mincing her 2002 vote on the war, she's really missed the boat. Instead of coming out and saying “I did what I thought was needed at the time for this reason, but now I'm against the war” she engaged in double-speak and evasion.
I don't need my candidate to be perfect; in fact I really need my candidate to humanize himself by admitting that there might be problems and setbacks. That's authentic. Reality-based. So don't accuse me of going along with a crowd of delusional automatons. I've done my homework on this. I've even founded my decisions on logic.
On the other hand, this is really just an internecine net battle. Most of the people that are going to read Marsh's piece have done their homework.
*The term "Lisztomania" was coined by the German romantic literary figure Heinrich Heine to describe the massive public response to Liszt's virtuosic piano performances. There were screaming women and concerts were often standing room only. In short - temporary, batshit insanity.
My support for Barack Obama is emotional, yes. But that emotion is driven by a firmly rational look at his abilities, platforms and capacity to break - pragmatically - from the destructive political paradigms of recent years. The fact that he encompass the kinds of qualities I'm rationally looking for in candidate gets me a bit emotional. I'm not - nor do I consider myself to be - a member of a cult or mindless movement. It's not Lisztomania*, for crying out loud. I look at all his attributes as a man and a political force, and I get excited. It's as simple as that.
HRC had a chance to fill this emotional role, but she chose to run as the incumbent, pigeonholing herself as 'status quo' when people are asking for something different. So, yeah, I get a little emotional when people think that HRC is the better candidate for the U.S.A. and the world at this time. There so much that is wrong with a potential HRC presidency... Her tendency towards political expediency is the biggest problem. It lacks authenticity. And for my generation (and younger, I'd wager), nothing quite gets under our skins as someone who is inauthentic, be they politician or our next-door neighbor. In mincing her 2002 vote on the war, she's really missed the boat. Instead of coming out and saying “I did what I thought was needed at the time for this reason, but now I'm against the war” she engaged in double-speak and evasion.
I don't need my candidate to be perfect; in fact I really need my candidate to humanize himself by admitting that there might be problems and setbacks. That's authentic. Reality-based. So don't accuse me of going along with a crowd of delusional automatons. I've done my homework on this. I've even founded my decisions on logic.
On the other hand, this is really just an internecine net battle. Most of the people that are going to read Marsh's piece have done their homework.
*The term "Lisztomania" was coined by the German romantic literary figure Heinrich Heine to describe the massive public response to Liszt's virtuosic piano performances. There were screaming women and concerts were often standing room only. In short - temporary, batshit insanity.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Stop... Novel time. (Cue the music.)
The new computer is way fun, but I need to start doing what I got it for. Man, it's hard. There are still so many distracting things about the darned thing, I could just play with it for hours without performing one single action that could be construed as productive. I keep finding myself going “Oooh, that's neat” and getting really sidetracked for about 30 minutes. For example - I transferred all of the pictures from the digital camera. I'd been hoarding them until I got this machine (plus I can't figure out how to erase the memory card). Now I have about 1800 pics to label and organize. That's going to take some time. Fortunately I've got this thingimabob to keep me on task.
What I really need to be doing if finishing one of these damn books that I've started. I've got 4-5 in process and that's kind of useless. I've decided to finish the one that I estimate is the furthest along. It's a chaotic little romp I'm calling Departmental. My Big Hairy Audacious Goal - or B-HAG, if you will - is to get it done, edited by me and a committee of interested parties and self-published through Amazon's CreateSpace by the end of June. That's right... I said June. [NB - Someone on the train smells like the Platonic idea of unwashed ass right now. My eyes are going to start watering. I hope my new MacBook doesn't melt. That would piss me right off.] I'll have to get that big writer's book and start looking for agents/publishers. Sound good? Thought so. (BTW - my first step in getting back into the noveling business is creating likeness of my characters with my Nintendo Wii.)
This means the blog might get spotty. I say 'might' only because since I started this year on such a blogging tear, I now think in blog form, and I don't know if I can stop myself. This blog thing has been liberating. Maybe I could just write all the time. That's probably a better idea.
I should take this moment to shill for the sweet web-service Netvibes. I wouldn't be able to keep up with the primary news without it. I really love it. I also like that they name their releases after spices. The current public release is called Coriander, which I like to put in my guacamole. I was lucky enough to nose into a small private beta test for the upcoming release - Ginger. This is another favorite spice. I could eat barrels of pickled ginger. Anyway, check it out.
Well, I've got to get my 4 gigs of new RAM installed. Good times.
What I really need to be doing if finishing one of these damn books that I've started. I've got 4-5 in process and that's kind of useless. I've decided to finish the one that I estimate is the furthest along. It's a chaotic little romp I'm calling Departmental. My Big Hairy Audacious Goal - or B-HAG, if you will - is to get it done, edited by me and a committee of interested parties and self-published through Amazon's CreateSpace by the end of June. That's right... I said June. [NB - Someone on the train smells like the Platonic idea of unwashed ass right now. My eyes are going to start watering. I hope my new MacBook doesn't melt. That would piss me right off.] I'll have to get that big writer's book and start looking for agents/publishers. Sound good? Thought so. (BTW - my first step in getting back into the noveling business is creating likeness of my characters with my Nintendo Wii.)
This means the blog might get spotty. I say 'might' only because since I started this year on such a blogging tear, I now think in blog form, and I don't know if I can stop myself. This blog thing has been liberating. Maybe I could just write all the time. That's probably a better idea.
I should take this moment to shill for the sweet web-service Netvibes. I wouldn't be able to keep up with the primary news without it. I really love it. I also like that they name their releases after spices. The current public release is called Coriander, which I like to put in my guacamole. I was lucky enough to nose into a small private beta test for the upcoming release - Ginger. This is another favorite spice. I could eat barrels of pickled ginger. Anyway, check it out.
Well, I've got to get my 4 gigs of new RAM installed. Good times.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
What's the weird, fishy smell? Ah, yes... Crabcake Hangover.
My new computer distracted the hell out of me, so I'm glad that there was little to no mystery or drama in the Crabcake Primary.
What a night! What margins! Landslide! Pledged delegate lead and overall delegate lead! Obama really is doing all the things that juggernauts do. HRC is going to have a hard time coming back — especially if she's going to use the highly reliable Guliani method for campaigning non-success. Hopefully Texas and Ohio think enough of themselves that they are not going to want a month-long loser for the Dem nomination. For its part, Ohio has failed in recent years - see the narrow Kerry defeat in Ohio circa November 2004.
It's hard to see how HRC can turn this around. If she's forced to go negative (she has) or lose more campaign staff (that too), that might give her campaign a bad flavor. Like crab, maybe (I'm not really a fan). This late in the game, it's going to be hard for her turn the Titanic around, especially if she's miles away from the battle, using her well-honed bureaucratic skills to rearrange the deck chairs on the Hindenburg with that perfect feng shui touch. And if you followed that metaphor, I'll be really surprised.
Obama looks like a winner, sounds like a winner and, I suspect given the circumstantial evidence of looking and sounding like a winner, that he smells like a winner as well (i.e., crabcakes). McCain is not bothering to attack HRC, that's for sure. He and Obama are sparring like it's late October.
On another note, my early protestations that I had nothing personal against HRC are looking to be suspect at this point. My criticisms haven't been subtle. I think I should go on record as noting plainly: I just can't like her anymore. If she hadn't run as a quasi-, de facto-incumbent, it might have been different. But her distasteful assumption of entitlement turned me off and now it's killing her campaign.
Alright. No primaries until next Tuesday.
What a night! What margins! Landslide! Pledged delegate lead and overall delegate lead! Obama really is doing all the things that juggernauts do. HRC is going to have a hard time coming back — especially if she's going to use the highly reliable Guliani method for campaigning non-success. Hopefully Texas and Ohio think enough of themselves that they are not going to want a month-long loser for the Dem nomination. For its part, Ohio has failed in recent years - see the narrow Kerry defeat in Ohio circa November 2004.
It's hard to see how HRC can turn this around. If she's forced to go negative (she has) or lose more campaign staff (that too), that might give her campaign a bad flavor. Like crab, maybe (I'm not really a fan). This late in the game, it's going to be hard for her turn the Titanic around, especially if she's miles away from the battle, using her well-honed bureaucratic skills to rearrange the deck chairs on the Hindenburg with that perfect feng shui touch. And if you followed that metaphor, I'll be really surprised.
Obama looks like a winner, sounds like a winner and, I suspect given the circumstantial evidence of looking and sounding like a winner, that he smells like a winner as well (i.e., crabcakes). McCain is not bothering to attack HRC, that's for sure. He and Obama are sparring like it's late October.
On another note, my early protestations that I had nothing personal against HRC are looking to be suspect at this point. My criticisms haven't been subtle. I think I should go on record as noting plainly: I just can't like her anymore. If she hadn't run as a quasi-, de facto-incumbent, it might have been different. But her distasteful assumption of entitlement turned me off and now it's killing her campaign.
Alright. No primaries until next Tuesday.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Uh-oh. New computer is here.
I'll be in the frightening forest of file transfers and compatibility issues. Going from oldie-but-goody to state-of-the-art is fraught with peril and the path is far from clear. So I'm going to pack my bread crumbs along with backup hard drive. Upshot: the Potomac Hangover may be late.
Disenfranchisement in LA County.
This is not good for democracy. Please click, read and sign the petition to get all votes counted. And I'm talking to all three of my readers. Don't shirk.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Juggernaut?
If I weren't such a skeptic at heart, I'd say that Obama is now as unstoppable as Gen. William T. Sherman's march to primo beach-front property in Savannah, GA. But despite the rah-rah tone of this blog lately, I am a skeptic at heart; never more so than when my team is up 17 with a buck-thirty left to go in the fourth quarter. Next metaphor, please.
So he swept all the weekend contests by surprising margins. So he's getting his message across more and more effectively. So HRC's campaign seems to be going through some pain, both in money and leadership. So people are beginning to understand that Obama is not only style, but substance. So what? Napoleon's Achilles heel: Waterloo. Obama's might be working-class folks of Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Might.
Tomorrow's contests in D. C., Virginia and Maryland all favor Obama. No one expects an upset by HRC here despite her heavy campaigning in Virginia. And judging by the comparative joy of their supporters and the Jackson-Jefferson event the other night, HRC is certainly in big trouble in the short-term. I guess the real question is whether or not she can regain any momentum before those big March contests.
Most of the punditocracy and the number crunchers think that HRC is going to have a hard time overcoming the BHO-mentum, but as they say: that's why they play the games. [What is with me and these crappy metaphors, BTW? It's like I've been taken over by a pre-adolescent Dennis Miller or something.]
I think that time heals all wounds so to speak, and time has been Obama's friend. The more time passes, the more people get to know him, the more they see him as a viable alternative to HRC, 'the name they know'. It helps that his policies are logical and well-founded and pragmatic. My generation, at least, finds pragmatism very appealing - especially in the face of political gridlock.
Let's bring on a few more crushing defeats, if we can though. That's what a juggernaut would do...
(PS - Yes, we can.)
So he swept all the weekend contests by surprising margins. So he's getting his message across more and more effectively. So HRC's campaign seems to be going through some pain, both in money and leadership. So people are beginning to understand that Obama is not only style, but substance. So what? Napoleon's Achilles heel: Waterloo. Obama's might be working-class folks of Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Might.
Tomorrow's contests in D. C., Virginia and Maryland all favor Obama. No one expects an upset by HRC here despite her heavy campaigning in Virginia. And judging by the comparative joy of their supporters and the Jackson-Jefferson event the other night, HRC is certainly in big trouble in the short-term. I guess the real question is whether or not she can regain any momentum before those big March contests.
Most of the punditocracy and the number crunchers think that HRC is going to have a hard time overcoming the BHO-mentum, but as they say: that's why they play the games. [What is with me and these crappy metaphors, BTW? It's like I've been taken over by a pre-adolescent Dennis Miller or something.]
I think that time heals all wounds so to speak, and time has been Obama's friend. The more time passes, the more people get to know him, the more they see him as a viable alternative to HRC, 'the name they know'. It helps that his policies are logical and well-founded and pragmatic. My generation, at least, finds pragmatism very appealing - especially in the face of political gridlock.
Let's bring on a few more crushing defeats, if we can though. That's what a juggernaut would do...
(PS - Yes, we can.)
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Lunch Links: Rush to the rescue?
Not for McCain. Not for the now-departed Romney. A fundraiser for HRC. What have I been saying? Repubs want HRC. They can beat her.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Dirty, dirty money. Only it's clean.
Super Tuesday? Super Hangover. (Everything is relative.)
Oy. Where to start?
The Dem race goes on and after everything, I'm still optimistic. By some counts, Obama is within a few delegates, even including the (disgustingly oligarchical) Super-delegates. Now, for Feb. 12, he'll have to shine as he did in Iowa, S. C. and the other early states. He kicks butt when he gets to introduce himself to the locals over a period. It allows people to see not only his truly inspirational persona, but that he has the substance on issues that many HRC voters seem to think he lacks. (Really - do they think Obama's running for POTUS with no well-thought out plan in mind? They must think he spends his time spinning in circles, laughing and saying “Gee, a substantive plan on policy? [smacks side of head] Why didn't I think of that”? Come on - even Ron Paul has policy answers for everything - crazy and potentially amoral as they might be.)
I learned something about myself as I watched the crazy national returns come in: as fun as it's been to get behind a great candidate and blog about it, I don't have the stomach for this politics stuff long-term. When Dem voters failed to meet my own (admittedly outrageous) expectations for them (i.e., they didn't vote more heavily for Obama), I headed to the kitchen to do the dishes. FYI and FWIW and BTW - I friggin' hate doing dishes. But on the bright side, since the dishes are now done, I'll have more time for video games and other important matters. What was I saying? Oh, yeah. I think over the long hall, I'd rather use this blog to talk about philosophy and scientific philosophy. And of course those pithy anecdotes about life on the Blue Line; like yesterday, when a homeless guy refused food because he said he didn't eat meat. Never again let it be said that beggars can't be choosers. See? That was better than politics, right?
Anyway. This morning, on NPR, they were running some interviews with Dem voters in the hotly contested state of Missouri. The bad logic and willful ignorance on display was breathtaking. This is where I heard a woman - I think she was a scientist or lawyer - voting for HRC because she wanted to see a woman in the White House. This is a terrible reason to vote for a candidate for POTUS. I didn't vote for Barack because he's a black man. I didn't vote for him in spite of his being a black man. I'm voting for him because I believe that he'll be transformative and substantive both here and abroad. I'm not a single-issue voter, but neither do I expect or require him to hit all my buttons. That's not possible (because of infinity, but that's another blog). Another man - union - basically said that HRC was the more experienced candidate. I think he said that that 'old lady' had been around forever and had experience. So did Bush. For me, the experience argument fails to play. McCain is old and has a bunch of experience, but I don't want him to be POTUS. Within reason, it's a bad criteria. Obama has plenty of experience and the mental faculties to delegate properly and inspire his designees to great heights of achievement. Name recognition is a terrible criteria, too.
I get that most people are looking for the easy way out when they vote. That doesn't mean it's not irritating for those of us who put in the time.
Wow. I think I've rambled enough. I'll try and locate my coherency later.
The Dem race goes on and after everything, I'm still optimistic. By some counts, Obama is within a few delegates, even including the (disgustingly oligarchical) Super-delegates. Now, for Feb. 12, he'll have to shine as he did in Iowa, S. C. and the other early states. He kicks butt when he gets to introduce himself to the locals over a period. It allows people to see not only his truly inspirational persona, but that he has the substance on issues that many HRC voters seem to think he lacks. (Really - do they think Obama's running for POTUS with no well-thought out plan in mind? They must think he spends his time spinning in circles, laughing and saying “Gee, a substantive plan on policy? [smacks side of head] Why didn't I think of that”? Come on - even Ron Paul has policy answers for everything - crazy and potentially amoral as they might be.)
I learned something about myself as I watched the crazy national returns come in: as fun as it's been to get behind a great candidate and blog about it, I don't have the stomach for this politics stuff long-term. When Dem voters failed to meet my own (admittedly outrageous) expectations for them (i.e., they didn't vote more heavily for Obama), I headed to the kitchen to do the dishes. FYI and FWIW and BTW - I friggin' hate doing dishes. But on the bright side, since the dishes are now done, I'll have more time for video games and other important matters. What was I saying? Oh, yeah. I think over the long hall, I'd rather use this blog to talk about philosophy and scientific philosophy. And of course those pithy anecdotes about life on the Blue Line; like yesterday, when a homeless guy refused food because he said he didn't eat meat. Never again let it be said that beggars can't be choosers. See? That was better than politics, right?
Anyway. This morning, on NPR, they were running some interviews with Dem voters in the hotly contested state of Missouri. The bad logic and willful ignorance on display was breathtaking. This is where I heard a woman - I think she was a scientist or lawyer - voting for HRC because she wanted to see a woman in the White House. This is a terrible reason to vote for a candidate for POTUS. I didn't vote for Barack because he's a black man. I didn't vote for him in spite of his being a black man. I'm voting for him because I believe that he'll be transformative and substantive both here and abroad. I'm not a single-issue voter, but neither do I expect or require him to hit all my buttons. That's not possible (because of infinity, but that's another blog). Another man - union - basically said that HRC was the more experienced candidate. I think he said that that 'old lady' had been around forever and had experience. So did Bush. For me, the experience argument fails to play. McCain is old and has a bunch of experience, but I don't want him to be POTUS. Within reason, it's a bad criteria. Obama has plenty of experience and the mental faculties to delegate properly and inspire his designees to great heights of achievement. Name recognition is a terrible criteria, too.
I get that most people are looking for the easy way out when they vote. That doesn't mean it's not irritating for those of us who put in the time.
Wow. I think I've rambled enough. I'll try and locate my coherency later.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Whaaaa...?
Now I really don't know what to say. The Hangover is going to take some time to develop. I have to figure out what the hell is going on...
Help... me...
I drank some Airborne, and I'm feeling a lot better now - except that my little brain is getting crushed by all the info that's being vomited into my apartment by my TV.
I ended up choosing CNN. Wolf's way too busy to be annoying. I'm not sure what to say, yet. Early on, things look good for Obama. Where he's losing, he's losing reasonably close. That momentum he had seems to be helping. But I'm betting that we won't really see any surprises tonight...
I ended up choosing CNN. Wolf's way too busy to be annoying. I'm not sure what to say, yet. Early on, things look good for Obama. Where he's losing, he's losing reasonably close. That momentum he had seems to be helping. But I'm betting that we won't really see any surprises tonight...
Stupor Tuesday.
I know a lot of you have written in, wondering if I'm okay. I know I haven't blogged about the primaries recently, but life's been busy. Here we are though: I'm home from work, just voted for Barack (and voted 'No' on a crapload of Ballot Props), I feel like I'm getting a cold and I have one important decision to make - MSNBC or CNN? Chris 'Barack Hussein Obama' Matthews or Wolf 'Silver-Haired Bastard' Blitzer? Not my most important vote of the day...
I'll post on and off tonight. Right after I order a new computer!
I'll post on and off tonight. Right after I order a new computer!
Friday, February 01, 2008
The most important endorsement of all.
One of our generation's greatest authors makes his heart-felt choice.
The Clumping of the Morons: An Informal Study in Non-strategic Thinking.
I type up a lot of stuff on the train. Blogs, essays, the book I'm working on, so I've developed a carefully vetted strategy to get the seats that are conducive to using a laptop. I won't bore you with the details. So you might think that the following might be unfair, but I don't care. The Blue Line tried its best to kill me recently, and naturally, I'm still bitter.
A Blue Line train is comprised of three cars with four evenly-spaced doors apiece. The platforms are pretty long and at most stations, they can only be entered at the ends. This causes an annoying phenomenon I like to call “The Clumping of the Morons.” See for some reason, some people - more than enough of them to make this post necessary - can't be bothered to move to the middle of the platform to get into the comparatively empty middle car. They walk onto the platform, and, apparently worn out from the effort, stand there, unable to proceed to an area of the platform that will enable them to get a seat. They then act surprised when they get on an end car and find that there are no seats. Even controlling for the 2-5 people per stop that run hard to catch the train and are forced to enter the first door they get to, that's a lot of morons that may or may not be lazy as well.
So now there are clumps of people just inside every door of the end cars, slowing everything down because people can't get their asses (a high percentage of which are spectacularly enormous) on and off the train fast enough. Some of the drivers get irritated and remind people that there are in fact 12 total doors on the train and would they mind using them all, pretty please? That just causes the people on the outside to push a bit harder to get in. I'd probably be less irritated if they'd also deign to stop bumping my laptop and reading over my shoulder. Morons.
A Blue Line train is comprised of three cars with four evenly-spaced doors apiece. The platforms are pretty long and at most stations, they can only be entered at the ends. This causes an annoying phenomenon I like to call “The Clumping of the Morons.” See for some reason, some people - more than enough of them to make this post necessary - can't be bothered to move to the middle of the platform to get into the comparatively empty middle car. They walk onto the platform, and, apparently worn out from the effort, stand there, unable to proceed to an area of the platform that will enable them to get a seat. They then act surprised when they get on an end car and find that there are no seats. Even controlling for the 2-5 people per stop that run hard to catch the train and are forced to enter the first door they get to, that's a lot of morons that may or may not be lazy as well.
So now there are clumps of people just inside every door of the end cars, slowing everything down because people can't get their asses (a high percentage of which are spectacularly enormous) on and off the train fast enough. Some of the drivers get irritated and remind people that there are in fact 12 total doors on the train and would they mind using them all, pretty please? That just causes the people on the outside to push a bit harder to get in. I'd probably be less irritated if they'd also deign to stop bumping my laptop and reading over my shoulder. Morons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)