Monday, June 23, 2008
Weekend wrap-up and shocking Monday news
Friday night we went to a favorite Chinese restaurant to celebrate good news concerning my job, then came home and watched a few episodes of Dexter. We're getting it through NetFlix, and we're enjoying it.
I honestly can't recall much about Saturday. We went to lunch somewhere... wait a minute... Oh right! Cafe Deluxe. Nice place, good food. Later, I went to the grocery store with the wife's list. Someone thrust a petition at me in front of the store asking me to sign it so his candidate can be on the ballot. I asked who it was and he said Ralph Nader. I said, "Sorry pal," and handed it back. He called after me, "He's the only one who stands for us!" I bit my tongue so I wouldn't yell, "I blame Ralph Nader for Florida! Because of him we've had eight years of George Bush!" Yep, fair or not, I blame Ralph Nader a lot for our country being in the position it's in.
Then we watched more Dexter. Oh! I also saw an exercise bike at the curb a few blocks down from our house, so I swapped my little Beetle for Laura's roomier hatchback and went back for it, putting it in the garage.
Sunday morning we went to our local farmers market specifically to get local, organic, SAFE tomatoes, and they looked beautiful. Also got fresh basil and mozzarella to make sandwiches.
I did a few miles on the rescued-on-the-side-of-the-road exercise bike, then decided to clean up the garage a bit, since I'd be in there a little more often now. It's spotless now, but was a lot dustier than I imagined the task would be, so I breathed in a lot of nastiness. Since I was already Mr. Active, I went ahead and mowed the lawn, then dragged the last of the brush from the fallen tree to the curb, which took four trips and an additional hour in the 88-degree heat. And that was my sweaty, errand-full weekend.
+ + + + + + + +
Just read the news this morning that George Carlin died in the hospital late last night of heart failure. He was 71. That sucks. We saw him in concert in DC a few years ago, and while much of his later material was sharply focused anger, his earlier stuff will always be classic, like "A Place for My Stuff" and of course "Seven Words You Can never Say on TV," which he got arrested for performing (!) and resulted in a Supreme Court case on the First Amendment and decency.
In honor of George, his seven forbidden words were: Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits. (And I believe "tits" has made it to network shows in prime time now, so I suppose we're down to six.) Read his entire bit here.
Give 'em hell George. RIP.
I honestly can't recall much about Saturday. We went to lunch somewhere... wait a minute... Oh right! Cafe Deluxe. Nice place, good food. Later, I went to the grocery store with the wife's list. Someone thrust a petition at me in front of the store asking me to sign it so his candidate can be on the ballot. I asked who it was and he said Ralph Nader. I said, "Sorry pal," and handed it back. He called after me, "He's the only one who stands for us!" I bit my tongue so I wouldn't yell, "I blame Ralph Nader for Florida! Because of him we've had eight years of George Bush!" Yep, fair or not, I blame Ralph Nader a lot for our country being in the position it's in.
Then we watched more Dexter. Oh! I also saw an exercise bike at the curb a few blocks down from our house, so I swapped my little Beetle for Laura's roomier hatchback and went back for it, putting it in the garage.
Sunday morning we went to our local farmers market specifically to get local, organic, SAFE tomatoes, and they looked beautiful. Also got fresh basil and mozzarella to make sandwiches.
I did a few miles on the rescued-on-the-side-of-the-road exercise bike, then decided to clean up the garage a bit, since I'd be in there a little more often now. It's spotless now, but was a lot dustier than I imagined the task would be, so I breathed in a lot of nastiness. Since I was already Mr. Active, I went ahead and mowed the lawn, then dragged the last of the brush from the fallen tree to the curb, which took four trips and an additional hour in the 88-degree heat. And that was my sweaty, errand-full weekend.
+ + + + + + + +
Just read the news this morning that George Carlin died in the hospital late last night of heart failure. He was 71. That sucks. We saw him in concert in DC a few years ago, and while much of his later material was sharply focused anger, his earlier stuff will always be classic, like "A Place for My Stuff" and of course "Seven Words You Can never Say on TV," which he got arrested for performing (!) and resulted in a Supreme Court case on the First Amendment and decency.
In honor of George, his seven forbidden words were: Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits. (And I believe "tits" has made it to network shows in prime time now, so I suppose we're down to six.) Read his entire bit here.
Give 'em hell George. RIP.
# posted by smacky @ 7:55 AM 
Comments:
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Let me apologize first if I seem a bit pissy about this:
Why do people assume that any vote Nader received in 2000 would have gone to Gore? That year, Al Gore ran about as great a campaign as John Kerry in 2004 and had an awful running mate in the form of Joe "If you don't censor yourselves, we will" Leiberman. I voted for Nader in 2000 because I couldn't stand Gore or Bush and yeah, had the silly notion that I could make an idealistic point that both parties sucked rocks. If the Al Gore of today had been running in 2000, it wouldn't have been an issue (and I seriously doubt he would have picked Joe Lieberman as a running mate).
Would some of the Nader votes have gone to Gore? Sure. However, the notion that every Nader supporter was some granola-crunching, patchouli-wearing, flower-carrying hippy (i.e., one of the many Democrat stereotypes) just isn't true. Many people casting ballots, myself included, were disillusioned with the existing political system.
And despite the last two presidential runs being incredibly minor affairs with very little support (he didn't even get on the ballot in a huge hunk of states), anytime Nader announces he's running (which he has every right to do) gets the mainstream Democrats (or non-Republicans) into a tizzy - "Oh no! He's gonna steal the votes we need." And of course, the media plays it up every time with crap like "Could he darken the race yet again?" despite two elections' worth of evidence showing that he can't.
I guess the bottom line here is, I definitely don't think that assessment is fair.
Why do people assume that any vote Nader received in 2000 would have gone to Gore? That year, Al Gore ran about as great a campaign as John Kerry in 2004 and had an awful running mate in the form of Joe "If you don't censor yourselves, we will" Leiberman. I voted for Nader in 2000 because I couldn't stand Gore or Bush and yeah, had the silly notion that I could make an idealistic point that both parties sucked rocks. If the Al Gore of today had been running in 2000, it wouldn't have been an issue (and I seriously doubt he would have picked Joe Lieberman as a running mate).
Would some of the Nader votes have gone to Gore? Sure. However, the notion that every Nader supporter was some granola-crunching, patchouli-wearing, flower-carrying hippy (i.e., one of the many Democrat stereotypes) just isn't true. Many people casting ballots, myself included, were disillusioned with the existing political system.
And despite the last two presidential runs being incredibly minor affairs with very little support (he didn't even get on the ballot in a huge hunk of states), anytime Nader announces he's running (which he has every right to do) gets the mainstream Democrats (or non-Republicans) into a tizzy - "Oh no! He's gonna steal the votes we need." And of course, the media plays it up every time with crap like "Could he darken the race yet again?" despite two elections' worth of evidence showing that he can't.
I guess the bottom line here is, I definitely don't think that assessment is fair.
I still think the majority of Nader voters would have been more inclined to vote for a democrat. Of the people who are truly disillusioned, many of those simply choose not to vote.
So then we're dealing with a subset of disillusioned voters who still feel the need to vote but want to make a statement by voting for the third-party candidate (which they have the right to do, though I find the gesture somewhat quaint, and I think I feel Nader voters would be more inclined to vote Democrat because the Democratic candidate is the only one who would attempt to sway folks leaning toward Nader. Republican strategists wrote those people off as third-party fringe kooks and catered to the good Christian family folks years ago.)
Even if it seems like a cliche, Republican voters seem more loyal to their party, less likely to be swayed by the words of an outsider.
Did you (or would you have) vote for Ross Perot? Just curious.
And fuck Leiberman. That man became a stooge post 9/11. He was a weak running mate.
So then we're dealing with a subset of disillusioned voters who still feel the need to vote but want to make a statement by voting for the third-party candidate (which they have the right to do, though I find the gesture somewhat quaint, and I think I feel Nader voters would be more inclined to vote Democrat because the Democratic candidate is the only one who would attempt to sway folks leaning toward Nader. Republican strategists wrote those people off as third-party fringe kooks and catered to the good Christian family folks years ago.)
Even if it seems like a cliche, Republican voters seem more loyal to their party, less likely to be swayed by the words of an outsider.
Did you (or would you have) vote for Ross Perot? Just curious.
And fuck Leiberman. That man became a stooge post 9/11. He was a weak running mate.
And you (and anyone else) are of course more than welcome to disagree with me about anything. Except Flash Gordon. You cannot deny the awesomeness of the Flash Gordon movie. Or the music of Queen. You must like at least 80% of the music of Queen. That's just how it is.
;-)
;-)
Only a fool denies the immense power and awe that is Flash Gordon. Combined with Queen, there is no force on Earth capable of stopping it. You might as well try to stop an invasion by Vultan's Hawkmen - it simply cannot be done.
Good lord, I was going to talk about George Carlin here, but maybe I should talk about Nader? I think most of the votes he got in Florida would likely have gone to Gore, and yeah, maybe if he hadn't run Gore would be president, and shitty economy and this war aside, Bush has done some good for this country. Like providing countless hours of entertainment and mockery. Plus, his getting re-elected pretty much doomed the entire Republican party for the next thirty years, and for that, we should give him a high five, or a kick in the balls or something.
George Carlin was awesome. Seriously, piss was on that list? People seem to have lightened up quite a bit, haven't they. The only word on that list that I think you probably can't say without getting dirty looks anymore is cunt. And I hear that at lest fifteen times a day anyway.
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George Carlin was awesome. Seriously, piss was on that list? People seem to have lightened up quite a bit, haven't they. The only word on that list that I think you probably can't say without getting dirty looks anymore is cunt. And I hear that at lest fifteen times a day anyway.
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