8 hours ago
Friday, November 12, 2004
Board of Directors is Stumped
I attended a meeting of a Board of Directors of the State Bar. It was brought to our attention that Wisconsin will also have a referendum (either this April, or, strategically, when Doyle runs for reelection) on the same sex/civil union issue. It is believed that the 11 states that have already passed measures prohibiting same sex unions have created a momentum and that there is a good chance that Wisconsin may join the pack of blood-thirsty wolverine states.
We were asked for our input on this. It was clear that just about everyone in the room wanted to give a resounding “no!” to the ban. But we are elected representatives within the Bar and so we must weigh all arguments.
Our charge was to come up with ways in which these unions may affect families and in particular, children. The pro (union and/or marriage) side was easy: if you give a legal standing to relationships where children are being raised and cared for, then the couples will have tangible benefits available to them and their children. Moreover, the highest courts in Hawaii, Vermont and Massachusetts have already rejected state arguments that such unions are detrimental to the child’s well being, finding that children are better off living in stable, state-sanctioned family units.
Okay, but what’s on the other side? In what way are children hurt by these unions? Come on, Camic, the directors implored (more formally of course). You teach the stuff, give us some reasons to weigh here. No one, Camic included, could come up with any.
We agreed to have a special meeting where a lawyer from “the other side” will be invited to educate us. Then we will be able to issue a statement acknowledging that we will have fully considered both sides before reaching a decision.
Sadness, one person at a time
Thursday conversation with a guy who was holding something sharp over my head:
So, have people been talking about the elections here?
Not much. People talk about odd things when they get their hair cut.
How about you, did you watch them with your partner?
Yes, we stayed up half the night...
And?
And at the end of it, I called my mother, of all people, and cried, really hard.
So, have people been talking about the elections here?
Not much. People talk about odd things when they get their hair cut.
How about you, did you watch them with your partner?
Yes, we stayed up half the night...
And?
And at the end of it, I called my mother, of all people, and cried, really hard.
The gentler Dells, as seen in November
When I wrote earlier about the pleasures of “escaping” for a while in times of stress, I did not exactly count the little sojourn to the Wisconsin Dells that I had on my calendar for today. But I am glad I came (there is a State Bar meeting at the Kalahari Resort that I have to attend). Not only did I get to see a large formation of geese heading south on my way up, but I also saw something that so reminds me of the Polish countryside in the winter that I had to choke back on nostalgia: hoarfrost. I think that is the correct English word for it. It’s not unique to Poland, I know. But it is something I have woken up to repeatedly, because Poland has moist winters and the freezing layer of wetness creates a beautiful landscape on a snowless winter morning. Picture it: farmsteads, narrow strips of farmland and meadows, a birch forest, a riverbank, all muted by a white veil, to be dispensed with when the sun approaches the eleventh hour. So beautiful.
“They don’t think like we do”
European commentators are scrambling to interpret the American elections. Unfortunately, the sobering reality is that many are skeptical about finding common ground with us in the immediate future. Jonathan Steele (at the Guardian) has this to say about us (emphases are my own]:
In the wake of the huge support given to George Bush last week, it's time we realised how different America's majority culture is, and changed our policies accordingly. ...
American majority's social and moral values differ enormously from those which guide most Europeans.
Its dangerous ignorance of the world, a mixture of intellectual isolationism [ouch!] and imperial intervention abroad, is equally alien. In the United States more people have guns than have passports. Is there one European nation of which the same is true?...
Of course, millions of US citizens do share "European" values. But to believe that this minority amounts to 48% and that America is deeply polarised is incorrect. It encourages the illusion that things may improve when Bush is gone. In fact, most Kerry voters are as conservative as the Bush majority on the issues which worry Europeans. Kerry never came out for US even-handedness on the Israel-Palestine conflict, or for a withdrawal from Iraq.
With this assessment comes a call for an end to NATO:
Many commentators now argue for Europe to distance itself.
We must go all the way, up to the termination of Nato. An alliance which should have wound up when the Soviet Union collapsed now serves almost entirely as a device for giving the US an unfair and unreciprocated droit de regard over European foreign policy.
In fact, a handful of European states never saw the need to join NATO in the first place. Holding themselves out as “neutral” during the Cold War, Austria, Finland, Ireland and Sweden declined the invitation to find security in an alignment with the US. [These countries were also the most lenient toward Poland at a time of tremendous travel restrictions faced by Poles; they permitted visa-less travel even at the height of Communist Party rule. Interestingly, the US continues to refuse even tourist entry to Poles without a visa, a source of great bitterness among many of my friends who refuse to subject themselves to the indignity of begging for permission to visit.] These days many Europeans are wondering why the stronger nations (the troika: France, Germany, Great Britain) continue to keep the pretence of a unified front alive, given the increasing chasm between what is perceived to be the American worldview and the European one. Unfortunately, from their point of view, I have to agree. From ours, here in the States, I can only hope that countries across the ocean will fight and challenge our isolationism. Ours is a dangerous path and we need friends to put as many obstacles in our way as possible.
In the wake of the huge support given to George Bush last week, it's time we realised how different America's majority culture is, and changed our policies accordingly. ...
American majority's social and moral values differ enormously from those which guide most Europeans.
Its dangerous ignorance of the world, a mixture of intellectual isolationism [ouch!] and imperial intervention abroad, is equally alien. In the United States more people have guns than have passports. Is there one European nation of which the same is true?...
Of course, millions of US citizens do share "European" values. But to believe that this minority amounts to 48% and that America is deeply polarised is incorrect. It encourages the illusion that things may improve when Bush is gone. In fact, most Kerry voters are as conservative as the Bush majority on the issues which worry Europeans. Kerry never came out for US even-handedness on the Israel-Palestine conflict, or for a withdrawal from Iraq.
With this assessment comes a call for an end to NATO:
Many commentators now argue for Europe to distance itself.
We must go all the way, up to the termination of Nato. An alliance which should have wound up when the Soviet Union collapsed now serves almost entirely as a device for giving the US an unfair and unreciprocated droit de regard over European foreign policy.
In fact, a handful of European states never saw the need to join NATO in the first place. Holding themselves out as “neutral” during the Cold War, Austria, Finland, Ireland and Sweden declined the invitation to find security in an alignment with the US. [These countries were also the most lenient toward Poland at a time of tremendous travel restrictions faced by Poles; they permitted visa-less travel even at the height of Communist Party rule. Interestingly, the US continues to refuse even tourist entry to Poles without a visa, a source of great bitterness among many of my friends who refuse to subject themselves to the indignity of begging for permission to visit.] These days many Europeans are wondering why the stronger nations (the troika: France, Germany, Great Britain) continue to keep the pretence of a unified front alive, given the increasing chasm between what is perceived to be the American worldview and the European one. Unfortunately, from their point of view, I have to agree. From ours, here in the States, I can only hope that countries across the ocean will fight and challenge our isolationism. Ours is a dangerous path and we need friends to put as many obstacles in our way as possible.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Speaking of politics…
I was at a dinner tonight where early into the election-politics discussion, one of the guests said “I would prefer not to talk about politics.” Now, I am not certain, but I assume that he was a Kerry supporter (one can get some indication by looking at the subject matter of the research, can’t one?). As were the three others. Where then was the glitch?
It is amazing how many topics these days suddenly hinge on the mention of politics and/or the election. The minute someone says “let’s not speak of xx” you right away find that every subject you can bring forth leads you back immediately to xx. Thus, with the imposed restriction, I found myself tongue-tied and incapable of saying anything sensible for the better part of the evening. In my head, I sifted through all possible conversational insiprations and came up with nothing.
I have not become a mouthpiece for political blogs, no I have not. But I do think that now, more than ever, it is impossible to step outside the political box and fein interests in matters that have no connection to the events of the day. We don’t begin, nor do we end the day with a clean slate. I wish we did, but some things have been just too damn difficult to erase.
It is amazing how many topics these days suddenly hinge on the mention of politics and/or the election. The minute someone says “let’s not speak of xx” you right away find that every subject you can bring forth leads you back immediately to xx. Thus, with the imposed restriction, I found myself tongue-tied and incapable of saying anything sensible for the better part of the evening. In my head, I sifted through all possible conversational insiprations and came up with nothing.
I have not become a mouthpiece for political blogs, no I have not. But I do think that now, more than ever, it is impossible to step outside the political box and fein interests in matters that have no connection to the events of the day. We don’t begin, nor do we end the day with a clean slate. I wish we did, but some things have been just too damn difficult to erase.
Overheard, pt.1
Quote of the day:
GWB: “The cost of reforming [social security] is insignificant compared to, err much greater than leaving it…”
Which one now?
GWB: “The cost of reforming [social security] is insignificant compared to, err much greater than leaving it…”
Which one now?
Overheard, pt.2
November 10, 2004 -- SEN. Zell Miller (D- Ga.) laced into New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd yesterday on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show, saying, "The more Maureen Loud [sic] gets on 'Meet the Press' and writes those columns, the redder these states get. I mean, they don't want some high brow hussy from New York City explaining to them that they're idiots and telling them that they're stupid." Miller also suggested "that red-headed woman at the New York Times" should not mock anyone's religion: "You can see horns just sprouting up through that Technicolor hair." Dowd responds: "I'm not a highbrow hussy from New York. I'm a highbrow hussy from Washington. Senator, pistols or swords?"
Word choices
So you’re blogging elsewhere as well?
It’s temporary – maybe for a couple of days or so.
Are you liking it?
You could say that it is like jumping into a steamy bathtub and finding out that sharks are swimming in it, ready to nip at your ankles and work their way up to your derriere.
Steamy bathtub? A curious choice of words.
Don’t you start in on me! On a blog where there are open comments, you are held accountable for every word you utter. It sucks. I can say it sucks here and nothing will happen. On the host blog, I say it sucks and thirty people can be rolling with laughter at my inopportune word selection. On the Internet. Communal glee.
Why don’t you quit then?
Because life is a challenge and I love the challenge writing presents. Besides, I can, at the end of the day, retreat to my safe little Ocean, where the only threat comes not from sharks in the warm, steamy tub, but from a weapon-promoting website pointing its menacing rifles at me. I mean, it’s like coming home! Mmmmmm, I love it here in my own little Ocean.
And while I am at it – thank-yous are again in order. To the Milwaukee reader who wrote that extremely nice email about wit and women writers – so wonderful. To the Republican-voting reader who called a recent post *endearing* – thank you. To those who wrote the *cool* comments to my posts on the other blog, I know you are Ocean loyalists who are helping me out over there –thank you. To those who read this blog regularly and let me know it – thank you. Your words mean a lot to me. Especially now when I am concurrently tredding the perilous waters of another blog.
It’s temporary – maybe for a couple of days or so.
Are you liking it?
You could say that it is like jumping into a steamy bathtub and finding out that sharks are swimming in it, ready to nip at your ankles and work their way up to your derriere.
Steamy bathtub? A curious choice of words.
Don’t you start in on me! On a blog where there are open comments, you are held accountable for every word you utter. It sucks. I can say it sucks here and nothing will happen. On the host blog, I say it sucks and thirty people can be rolling with laughter at my inopportune word selection. On the Internet. Communal glee.
Why don’t you quit then?
Because life is a challenge and I love the challenge writing presents. Besides, I can, at the end of the day, retreat to my safe little Ocean, where the only threat comes not from sharks in the warm, steamy tub, but from a weapon-promoting website pointing its menacing rifles at me. I mean, it’s like coming home! Mmmmmm, I love it here in my own little Ocean.
And while I am at it – thank-yous are again in order. To the Milwaukee reader who wrote that extremely nice email about wit and women writers – so wonderful. To the Republican-voting reader who called a recent post *endearing* – thank you. To those who wrote the *cool* comments to my posts on the other blog, I know you are Ocean loyalists who are helping me out over there –thank you. To those who read this blog regularly and let me know it – thank you. Your words mean a lot to me. Especially now when I am concurrently tredding the perilous waters of another blog.
Why, Madison, why?
Last night, weary and hungry, I revived considerably after a friend suggested we dash out for a quick bite to eat. Big Bowl! I offered. Closed, said he.
Why cannot we sustain a fresh and original Asian eatery in this town – one that wont break the budget and will reliably deliver ingredients in wonderfully simple, crisp and appealing presentations?
I am tired of people responding “what’s wrong with Imperial Gardens?” Plenty, and I’ll say this much here: I have a menu that I picked up (for take-out eating) at Imperial Gardens some twenty years ago. I am going to bet that absolutely nothing has changed on it since then. And the limp broccoli remains limp, and the waiters still have to scribble on the order form “customer requests no MSG.”
Having eaten frequently at Big Bowl off of Rush Street in Chicago, I looked forward for months to its arrival on the restaurant desert that is the west side of Madison. It is no more. Shame on us for flooding turkey eateries with our business and scorning places that offer fresh and healthy alternatives to the standard fare.
Why cannot we sustain a fresh and original Asian eatery in this town – one that wont break the budget and will reliably deliver ingredients in wonderfully simple, crisp and appealing presentations?
I am tired of people responding “what’s wrong with Imperial Gardens?” Plenty, and I’ll say this much here: I have a menu that I picked up (for take-out eating) at Imperial Gardens some twenty years ago. I am going to bet that absolutely nothing has changed on it since then. And the limp broccoli remains limp, and the waiters still have to scribble on the order form “customer requests no MSG.”
Having eaten frequently at Big Bowl off of Rush Street in Chicago, I looked forward for months to its arrival on the restaurant desert that is the west side of Madison. It is no more. Shame on us for flooding turkey eateries with our business and scorning places that offer fresh and healthy alternatives to the standard fare.
The curious definition of torture
A morning would not be complete anymore without at least one story to set you spinning.
In reviewing some of the press clippings on Gonzalez (Bush’s choice for attorney general) it is impossible to bypass references to a memo written by Gonzalez in 2002 where he states that laws prohibiting torture do "not apply to the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants."
But even if we (gulp) had to abide by the Geneva Convention and not resort to the use of torture, not to worry, because it’s a long way, according to Gonzalez, before we cross the line and enter the world of the pain caused by torture. Thus, according to an approved by Gonzalez memo:
pain caused by an interrogation must include "injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions—in order to constitute torture.” (from the NYT and Newsweek, June 2004, via Center for American Progress)
I’m relieved.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Boutique guest blogging
I remember the day Ann was asked to guest-blog for Instapundit. We applauded her success and cheered her on. Posting on such a high-readership blog was a coup.
Me, I run a small little sailboat here on the vast blogger ocean. I think I would look the other way if a big tanker came my way. But I was honored to be invited tonight to do a guest post on JFW (here). True, it was an act of desperation on the part of Jeremy (the author), but one takes these little gigs as they come.
If you haven’t read JFW, do so. You’re not going to find anything as addictive and invigorating as a read through some of his posts within miles of here (yes, like Katy Couric this morning, Jeremy can have a bad hair day, though please don’t mention that I said so, since he is obsessed about his hair or lack thereof). And I might add that being asked to post on JFW is like having your professor ask you to speak in his/her class, since Jeremy’s blog was the impetus for Ocean and then shortly after, Althouse. It makes you sweat, really it does.
Me, I run a small little sailboat here on the vast blogger ocean. I think I would look the other way if a big tanker came my way. But I was honored to be invited tonight to do a guest post on JFW (here). True, it was an act of desperation on the part of Jeremy (the author), but one takes these little gigs as they come.
If you haven’t read JFW, do so. You’re not going to find anything as addictive and invigorating as a read through some of his posts within miles of here (yes, like Katy Couric this morning, Jeremy can have a bad hair day, though please don’t mention that I said so, since he is obsessed about his hair or lack thereof). And I might add that being asked to post on JFW is like having your professor ask you to speak in his/her class, since Jeremy’s blog was the impetus for Ocean and then shortly after, Althouse. It makes you sweat, really it does.
Let them eat Euros
With the ballooning trade deficit, the dollar slumped past the 1.30 mark against the Euro today. Bad news for American travelers abroad. Bad news for Asian economies (which are dependent on the value of foreign reserves, mostly held in dollars). Bad news for European exports. Bad news for those wanting love and respect from our overseas ‘allies.’
A country ripped in two. Wait a minute, who is kicking out whom?
Following the elections, the email and blog worlds became jammed with bitter descriptions of a northern-coastal political unity, split geographically and ideologically from a burning-red south and mountain-state region. I alone must have received a dozen emails with the word secession embedded somewhere in the text. And I played into the dark humor of it as well (with a post of a popular among left-leaning blogs cartoonish map of a country split into a southern Jesusland and a northern US of Canada), as a consequence of which I got placed on the hit list of an assault weapon website (hi, fellas, I know you’re still readin’ – move on already!).
I assumed that the impetus for a breakaway came from the frustrated Kerry supporters who saw no chance EVER of appealing to the Red states with reasoned arguments about social policy issues and economic agendas.
But then I came across the Human Events – a national conservative weekly (via Europhobia.blogspot.com, of all things). The former chairman of the Florida Conservative Union quotes Barry Goldwater --" Sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the eastern seaboard and let it float out to sea," and then has this to say about divisions within the US (emphases are my own):
Instead of wedge issues like slavery, federal subsidies for regional business, and high tariffs, society today is sundered by profound, insoluble Culture War conflicts (such as abortion and gay marriage), and debate about our role abroad (shall we remain the world's leader, or become an unprincipled chump for the cabal of globalist sybarites who play endless word-games inside the United Nations and European Union sanctuaries?).
Can we ever hope for unity? According to the article, not so long as the country has to deal with the likes of these:
As a class, liberals no longer are merely the vigorous opponents of the Right; they are spiteful enemies of civilization's core decency and traditions.
The conclusion?
The truth is, America is not just broken--it is becoming irreparable. … That is why the unthinkable must become thinkable. If the so-called "Red States" (those that voted for George W. Bush) cannot be respected or at least tolerated by the "Blue States" (those that voted for Al Gore and John Kerry), then the most disparate of them must live apart--not by secession of the former (a majority), but by expulsion of the latter.
How do the conservatives view the lay of the land?
The demographics revealed by the two most recent presidential elections are radically different and have resulted in "Two Americas" (but not the simplistic "Two Americas" [one rich, one poor] envisioned by Kerry'sMarxist-tongued running mate, John Edwards):
BUSH USA is predominantly white; devoutly Christian (mostly Protestant); openly, vigorously heterosexual; an open land of single-family homes and ranches; economically sound (except for a few farms), but not drunk with cyberworld business development, and mainly English-speaking, with a predilection for respectfully uttering "yes, ma'am" and "yes, sir."
GORE/KERRY USA is ethnically diverse; multi-religious, irreligious or nastily antireligious; more sexually liberated (if not in actual practice, certainly in attitude); awash with condo canyons and other high-end real estate bordered by sprawling, squalid public housing or neglected private homes, decidedly short of middle-class neighborhoods; both high tech and oddly primitive in its commerce; very artsy, and Babelesque, with abnormally loud speakers.
An interesting perspective. As liberals take heat for casting aspersions on the motivations behind the red vote, some right of the right conservatives are having a fine old time posting their thoughts on where the superior beings reside. Though in truth, if these were at all accurate portrayals, isn't it slam-dunk obvious that the choice place to set your roots in would be Gore/Kerry land? Of course, that's just me and my spiteful liberal take on things.
I assumed that the impetus for a breakaway came from the frustrated Kerry supporters who saw no chance EVER of appealing to the Red states with reasoned arguments about social policy issues and economic agendas.
But then I came across the Human Events – a national conservative weekly (via Europhobia.blogspot.com, of all things). The former chairman of the Florida Conservative Union quotes Barry Goldwater --" Sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the eastern seaboard and let it float out to sea," and then has this to say about divisions within the US (emphases are my own):
Instead of wedge issues like slavery, federal subsidies for regional business, and high tariffs, society today is sundered by profound, insoluble Culture War conflicts (such as abortion and gay marriage), and debate about our role abroad (shall we remain the world's leader, or become an unprincipled chump for the cabal of globalist sybarites who play endless word-games inside the United Nations and European Union sanctuaries?).
Can we ever hope for unity? According to the article, not so long as the country has to deal with the likes of these:
As a class, liberals no longer are merely the vigorous opponents of the Right; they are spiteful enemies of civilization's core decency and traditions.
The conclusion?
The truth is, America is not just broken--it is becoming irreparable. … That is why the unthinkable must become thinkable. If the so-called "Red States" (those that voted for George W. Bush) cannot be respected or at least tolerated by the "Blue States" (those that voted for Al Gore and John Kerry), then the most disparate of them must live apart--not by secession of the former (a majority), but by expulsion of the latter.
How do the conservatives view the lay of the land?
The demographics revealed by the two most recent presidential elections are radically different and have resulted in "Two Americas" (but not the simplistic "Two Americas" [one rich, one poor] envisioned by Kerry'sMarxist-tongued running mate, John Edwards):
BUSH USA is predominantly white; devoutly Christian (mostly Protestant); openly, vigorously heterosexual; an open land of single-family homes and ranches; economically sound (except for a few farms), but not drunk with cyberworld business development, and mainly English-speaking, with a predilection for respectfully uttering "yes, ma'am" and "yes, sir."
GORE/KERRY USA is ethnically diverse; multi-religious, irreligious or nastily antireligious; more sexually liberated (if not in actual practice, certainly in attitude); awash with condo canyons and other high-end real estate bordered by sprawling, squalid public housing or neglected private homes, decidedly short of middle-class neighborhoods; both high tech and oddly primitive in its commerce; very artsy, and Babelesque, with abnormally loud speakers.
An interesting perspective. As liberals take heat for casting aspersions on the motivations behind the red vote, some right of the right conservatives are having a fine old time posting their thoughts on where the superior beings reside. Though in truth, if these were at all accurate portrayals, isn't it slam-dunk obvious that the choice place to set your roots in would be Gore/Kerry land? Of course, that's just me and my spiteful liberal take on things.
Downing the perfect espresso
I read with interest the NYTimes article today about the new coffee machines that are trying to overcome the “home” factor in coffee making. All those fancy espresso makers that have been made available for home use for some time now? Not good enough: they produce coffee that lacks the depth and frothiness of the professionally brewed cup. What’s a cappuccino devotee to do?
To me, trying to bring that cup from the coffee bar to your kitchen misses the point. Here’s what I use (retail price approximately $20; accompanied by a pot of heated milk for an instant caffe latte):
To me, trying to bring that cup from the coffee bar to your kitchen misses the point. Here’s what I use (retail price approximately $20; accompanied by a pot of heated milk for an instant caffe latte):
I’m not an expert on coffee at all so when in doubt as to how to brew at home, I follow the advice of those who really fuss about their java (the Italians and French). Their take on this? The cheap little stove-top espresso takes care of the cup you need to serve up when a visitor knocks, or when you’re house-bound. For all other coffee, there’s this in the morning:
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Can the highest court shut down a political party that becomes too far-right in its beliefs?
It happened in Belgium. BBC reports the following:
Belgium's highest court has ruled that the Flemish far-right Vlaams Blok party is racist.
[Now please, readers, I am not advocating any such measures here, and since I am still getting tons of traffic from the wonderful people from the site that advocates the use of assault weapons, I do not want at at all lead you to believe that I am out there promoting any ban on far-right political agendas. Uh-uh, no way! Free speech and all that, go 2nd Amendment! --or whatever it is that you are seeking to protect.]
Back to the Belgians then: With the ruling comes an end to federal funding and access to TV airtime and so the party has effectively been run out of business. Note that this wasn’t just a fringe movement. The BBC notes that recent opinion polls indicate that the Vlaams Blok party is the most popular party in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders. Where did it run into trouble? In taking a strong position on immigration (toned down recently from advocating the return of immigrants to their home countries, to saying that non-European immigrants can remain in Belgium so long as they adopt Belgian rules and values).
Belgium's highest court has ruled that the Flemish far-right Vlaams Blok party is racist.
[Now please, readers, I am not advocating any such measures here, and since I am still getting tons of traffic from the wonderful people from the site that advocates the use of assault weapons, I do not want at at all lead you to believe that I am out there promoting any ban on far-right political agendas. Uh-uh, no way! Free speech and all that, go 2nd Amendment! --or whatever it is that you are seeking to protect.]
Back to the Belgians then: With the ruling comes an end to federal funding and access to TV airtime and so the party has effectively been run out of business. Note that this wasn’t just a fringe movement. The BBC notes that recent opinion polls indicate that the Vlaams Blok party is the most popular party in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders. Where did it run into trouble? In taking a strong position on immigration (toned down recently from advocating the return of immigrants to their home countries, to saying that non-European immigrants can remain in Belgium so long as they adopt Belgian rules and values).
I’m sorry for every short cut I ever took in teaching law
This afternoon I had to attend a hearing and listen to a lawyer present an argument on behalf of a client. To say that he was a sleazy, crass, lacking in civility to say nothing of intellect – would be an understatement.
How did he ever ascend to the status of “primary litigator” in a local law firm? More importantly, how did he ever make it through law school?
I am determined to get tougher, to tighten-up in the classroom and demand even more of my students at every turn.
Am I scaring my one-L’s yet? Not to worry. Every single one I have right now is already better suited to practice law than the attorney I dealt with this afternoon. Ever try directing questions to a horse’s rear-end? I did, today.
Now, if the Republicans would like to pluck this character out of the ranks of trial attorneys and send him packing, it would be okay by me.
How did he ever ascend to the status of “primary litigator” in a local law firm? More importantly, how did he ever make it through law school?
I am determined to get tougher, to tighten-up in the classroom and demand even more of my students at every turn.
Am I scaring my one-L’s yet? Not to worry. Every single one I have right now is already better suited to practice law than the attorney I dealt with this afternoon. Ever try directing questions to a horse’s rear-end? I did, today.
Now, if the Republicans would like to pluck this character out of the ranks of trial attorneys and send him packing, it would be okay by me.
2 soon 2 B 4-got-10
An elementary school buddy wrote that in my autograph book (so ‘hot’ in the early 60s). She was bad at arithmetic and she made it out to be equation (2+2+4=10) that of course failed to be very convincing.
This morning a WashPost article describes a re-energized Kerry who not only is intending to be a powerful force in the Senate in the next several years, but is currently also assessing the possibility of running again on the Democratic ticket in 2008. Other faces: Howard Dean is considering becoming chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Let’s be honest here. How excited about these developments are we? I myself did not vote for Kerry as merely an anti-Bush statement. Although initially an Edwards supporter, somewhere along the way (try: first debate) I became convinced that this guy was running on a pretty decent platform.
But now I want to say “step aside, fellows. I loved you when you were up (in the polls), I mourn your fall, but I do not want another ‘come up from behind’ election.” It’s not only about electability, but electability is a minimal prerequisite. I have toughened my position here. I don’t want the possibility of success. I want surefire success. The Democrats have lost to the Republicans in 5 out of the last 7 presidential elections. Enough already. Don’t we have a Karl Rove-type among our ranks (cunning, evil, effective)?
This morning a WashPost article describes a re-energized Kerry who not only is intending to be a powerful force in the Senate in the next several years, but is currently also assessing the possibility of running again on the Democratic ticket in 2008. Other faces: Howard Dean is considering becoming chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Let’s be honest here. How excited about these developments are we? I myself did not vote for Kerry as merely an anti-Bush statement. Although initially an Edwards supporter, somewhere along the way (try: first debate) I became convinced that this guy was running on a pretty decent platform.
But now I want to say “step aside, fellows. I loved you when you were up (in the polls), I mourn your fall, but I do not want another ‘come up from behind’ election.” It’s not only about electability, but electability is a minimal prerequisite. I have toughened my position here. I don’t want the possibility of success. I want surefire success. The Democrats have lost to the Republicans in 5 out of the last 7 presidential elections. Enough already. Don’t we have a Karl Rove-type among our ranks (cunning, evil, effective)?
Monday, November 08, 2004
Uhhh, welcome almost all?
Pssst!
What do you do when your blog gets linked to by a site that promotes the sale and use of assault weapons and makes references to prayer and belief in a mission (of sorts)?
And what if that site then generates a flood of readers who come to you because the site author has posted your blog, along with Michael Moore’s as ones deserving of…attention?
Hmmmmm, I’m thinking about the answer to the above.
What do you do when your blog gets linked to by a site that promotes the sale and use of assault weapons and makes references to prayer and belief in a mission (of sorts)?
And what if that site then generates a flood of readers who come to you because the site author has posted your blog, along with Michael Moore’s as ones deserving of…attention?
Hmmmmm, I’m thinking about the answer to the above.
All I need is an ashtray filled with cigarette butts and a plate of sushi and I’d feel complete
Yesterday I spent the day writing a paper that summarizes interviews I had conducted over the years in Japan. Basically that means I sat in front of my computer in flannel pajamas, hair pulled back messily, stacks of papers (did I really take notes once on a napkin? ..how me!) spread in varying degrees of orderliness, and pounded at the keys of my laptop all day long.
Today a friend wrote – Congratulations! The first draft of any paper is always the hardest! Is it just me then who thinks that the first draft is the easiest? It’s almost as fun as doing the interviews and collecting the information. How grand it would be to now retire the whole thing and go on to something new. Spoken like a true scholar.
Still, a celebration of step one is in order. How opportune that a pal, sensing my dismal mood of the week-end had said “we should do sushi soon” and I took her up on it today. I’ve never been to the Muramoto. I’m all about escapes. Japan seems plenty far.
Today a friend wrote – Congratulations! The first draft of any paper is always the hardest! Is it just me then who thinks that the first draft is the easiest? It’s almost as fun as doing the interviews and collecting the information. How grand it would be to now retire the whole thing and go on to something new. Spoken like a true scholar.
Still, a celebration of step one is in order. How opportune that a pal, sensing my dismal mood of the week-end had said “we should do sushi soon” and I took her up on it today. I’ve never been to the Muramoto. I’m all about escapes. Japan seems plenty far.
Afternoon conversation in the faculty lounge
So how’s it going?
It’s been tough. We had a guy from Move On staying with us for over a month before the election. He worked so hard! Fourteen hours a day, every day…
At least he was successful here in Wisconsin.
True; and he said in the next election it will be so much easier because they now have a network in place.
It’s amazing how well-organized the Republicans were though... The right of the right always delivers their busloads right on schedule, from the pulpit to the voting booth.
Do you know what my theory is? I think that Bush’s fundamentalist beliefs are just a brilliant strategy, invented by the conservative Republicans so that they could reach that strategic vote.
You mean you don’t think GWB really is guided by God and prayer?
I think he acts the part well. You see, they knew, they KNEW that in order to keep the GOP viable in the face of an increasingly economically polarized nation, they had to get 100% of the Conservative Christian vote. And so they geared him for it. They had their man – he has very convincing facial expressions and he can speak down to people and talk of God and also get away with his prior record of drinking and carousing…He has, after all, ‘seen the light.’
Do you really believe that?
Uhhh, maybe.
It’s been tough. We had a guy from Move On staying with us for over a month before the election. He worked so hard! Fourteen hours a day, every day…
At least he was successful here in Wisconsin.
True; and he said in the next election it will be so much easier because they now have a network in place.
It’s amazing how well-organized the Republicans were though... The right of the right always delivers their busloads right on schedule, from the pulpit to the voting booth.
Do you know what my theory is? I think that Bush’s fundamentalist beliefs are just a brilliant strategy, invented by the conservative Republicans so that they could reach that strategic vote.
You mean you don’t think GWB really is guided by God and prayer?
I think he acts the part well. You see, they knew, they KNEW that in order to keep the GOP viable in the face of an increasingly economically polarized nation, they had to get 100% of the Conservative Christian vote. And so they geared him for it. They had their man – he has very convincing facial expressions and he can speak down to people and talk of God and also get away with his prior record of drinking and carousing…He has, after all, ‘seen the light.’
Do you really believe that?
Uhhh, maybe.
Another hurricane heading for Florida?
Is it possible that registered Democrats, voting overwhelmingly for Kerry in all states, chose to turn pink and eventually red under the glare of the Florida sun? How could Bush have carried, by large margins no less, these Democratic counties? Is it another instance of our endlessly squabbling over return numbers (that have been turned in and tallied) because they produced a result we cannot accept? Perhaps it is more that we cannot fathom this one.
Tom Bozzo writes this at Marginal Utility:
I can think of some potential explanatory mechanisms -- stale party ID on old registrations, incompetent reporting of the registration data by the State of Florida, more evangelical-leaning Democrats, for instance -- but on the whole, the idea that Democrats largely stuck by Kerry (89 to 11, according to the exit polls; sorry, Ann Althouse) everywhere but Florida takes my credulity and drops it down a wormhole where it emerges in the Gamma Quadrant in no recognizable form.
Interestingly, the issue is with counties using optically-scanned ballots, which is generally considered the most reliable available voting technology. Though as a result, the optical scan jurisdictions would be under much less scrutiny than those using touch-screen voting. At least it should be straightforward, in principle, to validate the vote totals from the original ballots; I fervently hope someone with appropriate legal resources does so (hello, Florida Democrats)!
Tom Bozzo writes this at Marginal Utility:
I can think of some potential explanatory mechanisms -- stale party ID on old registrations, incompetent reporting of the registration data by the State of Florida, more evangelical-leaning Democrats, for instance -- but on the whole, the idea that Democrats largely stuck by Kerry (89 to 11, according to the exit polls; sorry, Ann Althouse) everywhere but Florida takes my credulity and drops it down a wormhole where it emerges in the Gamma Quadrant in no recognizable form.
Interestingly, the issue is with counties using optically-scanned ballots, which is generally considered the most reliable available voting technology. Though as a result, the optical scan jurisdictions would be under much less scrutiny than those using touch-screen voting. At least it should be straightforward, in principle, to validate the vote totals from the original ballots; I fervently hope someone with appropriate legal resources does so (hello, Florida Democrats)!
Emboldened, embedded, embittered
A headline in the NYTimes this morning reads: President Feels Emboldened, Not Accidental, After Victory.
Depending on your fate, you could wake up on this Monday morning and find yourself in a state of one of the three E’s.
If I were to do a documentary-type film of this morning, I would have a three-way montage. In the first frame, there would have to be a CNN-type clip from Iraq with the word Embedded underneath, followed by the words (from CNN.com) “thousands of U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers braced for all-out urban combat;” then in the second, we’d see a refreshed, smiling, raring-to-go image of GWB with the NYT reference to his “Emboldened” state of mind and their words: “re-election has already had a powerful effect on his psyche, his friends and advisers say;” followed, finally, by a clip of me (hey, it’s my film, for my own archives), tossing aside yesterday’s Week in Review with the tables that break down who voted in what way on November 2nd. I’d just stay with the “Embittered” label underneath the last frame.
I’d leave Kerry out of my film. Bad enough that anyone can now park in front of his house (yesterday it was reported that the minute he lost the election, he lost also the security detail that kept his street clear of unwelcome loiterers), he shouldn’t have to also suffer the indignity of being in my short film.
I’d end the documentary (it would only be about ten seconds long because I have only that much energy for it) with a flash to the text of the NYTimes, this time to the passage that picks up on my posted hubris contest from the other day (a not-so-impartial panel of judges decided that the winning entry may well be “megalomaniac”):
"The big danger is one of hubris," said David R. Gergen, a professor of public service at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a veteran of the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton White Houses. "There's a tendency after you win your second term to think you're invulnerable. You're not just king of the mountain, you've mastered the mountain. That can often lead to mistakes of excessive pride."
Depending on your fate, you could wake up on this Monday morning and find yourself in a state of one of the three E’s.
If I were to do a documentary-type film of this morning, I would have a three-way montage. In the first frame, there would have to be a CNN-type clip from Iraq with the word Embedded underneath, followed by the words (from CNN.com) “thousands of U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers braced for all-out urban combat;” then in the second, we’d see a refreshed, smiling, raring-to-go image of GWB with the NYT reference to his “Emboldened” state of mind and their words: “re-election has already had a powerful effect on his psyche, his friends and advisers say;” followed, finally, by a clip of me (hey, it’s my film, for my own archives), tossing aside yesterday’s Week in Review with the tables that break down who voted in what way on November 2nd. I’d just stay with the “Embittered” label underneath the last frame.
I’d leave Kerry out of my film. Bad enough that anyone can now park in front of his house (yesterday it was reported that the minute he lost the election, he lost also the security detail that kept his street clear of unwelcome loiterers), he shouldn’t have to also suffer the indignity of being in my short film.
I’d end the documentary (it would only be about ten seconds long because I have only that much energy for it) with a flash to the text of the NYTimes, this time to the passage that picks up on my posted hubris contest from the other day (a not-so-impartial panel of judges decided that the winning entry may well be “megalomaniac”):
"The big danger is one of hubris," said David R. Gergen, a professor of public service at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a veteran of the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton White Houses. "There's a tendency after you win your second term to think you're invulnerable. You're not just king of the mountain, you've mastered the mountain. That can often lead to mistakes of excessive pride."
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Who says escapes don't cure an ailing spirit?
A friend boarded a plane on November 3rd and flew to Hawaii. Today she really rubbed it in with this message:
Aloha Nina,
Maybe you could use some distance from the political bog to gain some perspective. Here on Hawai'i, we don't even receive the NY Times until a day later. By then, the news is old -- so who cares? Who needs to see photos of the smarmy smirk on Bush's face? We are busy contemplating which umbrella drink to order and which beach chair to choose. Mandate? Our only mandate is to notice the gorgeous view from the hotel room lanai:
Aloha Nina,
Maybe you could use some distance from the political bog to gain some perspective. Here on Hawai'i, we don't even receive the NY Times until a day later. By then, the news is old -- so who cares? Who needs to see photos of the smarmy smirk on Bush's face? We are busy contemplating which umbrella drink to order and which beach chair to choose. Mandate? Our only mandate is to notice the gorgeous view from the hotel room lanai:
Madison: Halloween party town of the Midwest, commiserate now with Prague, where things are a lot worse:
I read European blogs and papers when I think I cannot take another ounce of American political chatter. Today I eventually made my way to the Prague TV site, which is a frequently linked-to source for European bloggers.
The Prague story elicited much cheering around the Czech blogland. “About time we took charge of this!” was the common response.
What’s at issue? In the last year or two, with the introduction of very cheap intra-European airfares, British men have been traveling in hordes to Prague in search of cheap beer and sex. Here are some excerpts:
[Prague] has become the stag capital of Europe. A report, released last week by the Czech tourism office, revealed that the historic capital of the Czech Republic, famed for its beautiful architecture, is now attracting large gangs of rowdy [British] men looking for a good time.
Mr Paroubek [the Czech tourism minister] said that tourism officials were planning an advertising campaign in London that would focus on the culinary experience that Prague could offer. The hope was that it would attract more refined tourists rather than the rowdy crowds."Food here is as good as in London. We don't need nightclubs or prostitutes to attract visitors," Mr Paroubek said. …
A petition of Prague residents was handed in recently at the town hall. … "Prague is a beautiful and romantic city and they are ruining it. We do not need this kind of visitor and the council and government should act."…
[Many] Britons acknowledged that they were in Prague to party, rather than to experience the city's history and culture. Neil Wilson, 39, from Newcastle, said that he had come to Prague for a friend's birthday and had no interest in sightseeing."We've come for a weekend to get drunk. It's not really a culture visit.”
The outpouring of support for the crackdown on the “drunken Brits” has been remarkable. Bloggers, native to Prague, but also to the British Isles, have cheered the efforts to rid the city of its party capital reputation. But a note of realism came through as well in the blog comments of this Czech resident:
I really support any initiative that will rid our streets of this shameful menace but I am not sure that the tourism minister is being entirely realistic when he writes"Food here is as good as in London." I would have thought it's more a question of like the old CSA [Czech Airlines] advert used to say "OK and getting better" !!
Please, no comparison to Polish cuisine at this time. What's been happening with Polish cooking is the subject of a separate (later) post. I do like the "truth in advertising" that the CSA adhered to. I'd like to see some of our airlines take to this more humble approach.
The Prague story elicited much cheering around the Czech blogland. “About time we took charge of this!” was the common response.
What’s at issue? In the last year or two, with the introduction of very cheap intra-European airfares, British men have been traveling in hordes to Prague in search of cheap beer and sex. Here are some excerpts:
[Prague] has become the stag capital of Europe. A report, released last week by the Czech tourism office, revealed that the historic capital of the Czech Republic, famed for its beautiful architecture, is now attracting large gangs of rowdy [British] men looking for a good time.
Mr Paroubek [the Czech tourism minister] said that tourism officials were planning an advertising campaign in London that would focus on the culinary experience that Prague could offer. The hope was that it would attract more refined tourists rather than the rowdy crowds."Food here is as good as in London. We don't need nightclubs or prostitutes to attract visitors," Mr Paroubek said. …
A petition of Prague residents was handed in recently at the town hall. … "Prague is a beautiful and romantic city and they are ruining it. We do not need this kind of visitor and the council and government should act."…
[Many] Britons acknowledged that they were in Prague to party, rather than to experience the city's history and culture. Neil Wilson, 39, from Newcastle, said that he had come to Prague for a friend's birthday and had no interest in sightseeing."We've come for a weekend to get drunk. It's not really a culture visit.”
The outpouring of support for the crackdown on the “drunken Brits” has been remarkable. Bloggers, native to Prague, but also to the British Isles, have cheered the efforts to rid the city of its party capital reputation. But a note of realism came through as well in the blog comments of this Czech resident:
I really support any initiative that will rid our streets of this shameful menace but I am not sure that the tourism minister is being entirely realistic when he writes"Food here is as good as in London." I would have thought it's more a question of like the old CSA [Czech Airlines] advert used to say "OK and getting better" !!
Please, no comparison to Polish cuisine at this time. What's been happening with Polish cooking is the subject of a separate (later) post. I do like the "truth in advertising" that the CSA adhered to. I'd like to see some of our airlines take to this more humble approach.
It's not like a hang-over, it's more like a hang-in-there
A reader writes about the pressure she feels from conservative victors to “move on,” “get over it,” etc. I, too, have heard my share of comments on this. And I know readers wonder how long Ocean will remain so immersed in postmortem politics.
My answer:
There is no cataclysmic death that we are trying to cope with. There is no sorrow for a loss experienced just on November 2nd. For me, there is no retro-wallowing in a campaign that failed to bring about the desired result. The sadness in not in the event of the election, it is in turning on the news and living with the result of it each and every day. It is the daily coverage of Cabinet Meetings, of the setting of a new policy agenda, of the poor health of Rehnquist, of the loss of life in Iraq, of struggles faced by people who can hardly afford life. That is the playground where feelings of loss are tossed around.
I believed that we could inhabit a better world had Kerry won. I am living in the world that suffers, therefore, a lost opportunity for significant improvement. Yes, the loss of Kerry is a singular event. Indeed, on November 2nd, the air was sucked out of my lung. But now it remains oxygen-deprived. It’s hard to get over that enduring disability because you feel it at every step. Ah well, I suppose I could take one big gulp of air and hold my breath for four years. It would be a Guinness Book of World Records moment, but I could give it a try: ………………………………………no, sorry, I am a mere mortal, good for only about 45 seconds.
My answer:
There is no cataclysmic death that we are trying to cope with. There is no sorrow for a loss experienced just on November 2nd. For me, there is no retro-wallowing in a campaign that failed to bring about the desired result. The sadness in not in the event of the election, it is in turning on the news and living with the result of it each and every day. It is the daily coverage of Cabinet Meetings, of the setting of a new policy agenda, of the poor health of Rehnquist, of the loss of life in Iraq, of struggles faced by people who can hardly afford life. That is the playground where feelings of loss are tossed around.
I believed that we could inhabit a better world had Kerry won. I am living in the world that suffers, therefore, a lost opportunity for significant improvement. Yes, the loss of Kerry is a singular event. Indeed, on November 2nd, the air was sucked out of my lung. But now it remains oxygen-deprived. It’s hard to get over that enduring disability because you feel it at every step. Ah well, I suppose I could take one big gulp of air and hold my breath for four years. It would be a Guinness Book of World Records moment, but I could give it a try: ………………………………………no, sorry, I am a mere mortal, good for only about 45 seconds.
Reading the news: local fame and distant rumblings
Once again Ann makes an Op-Ed appearance, this time in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. She writes about the quest for peace and unity following a pre-election season marked by bitter argument and rancor. Because in the piece she graciously acknowledges Ocean, noting that I blog with still not a small amount of pain and disbelief, I am again getting the email from less sympathetic readers (much of it fueled, I’m sure, by Ann’s reference to the map that I posted that’s been going around the left-leaning blogs – of Jesusland versus the United States of Canada).
Consider this generous soul:
I will pray for your peace of mind...that oughta creep you out big time
Not really. I am more “creeped-out” by news of the day than by someone’s praying for my peace of mind.
But I also read stories that are plain old fascinating accounts of ‘politics as ususal.’ For instance, I have noticed in past days how many Bush supporters are saying that we can again engage in an honest discussion of, say, the war in Iraq, now that the Kerry supporters no longer feel compelled to take a unilateral position against the invasion. Personally, I thought it was honest all along (at least it was on my part). I, of course, say the same thing about the “other side” and I was initially tickled to read the following in the NYTimes today: “The Antiwar Right is Ready to Rumble” with the side-quote: “Conservatives like William F. Buckley Jr have begun questioning the Iraq war.”
At first glance, “questioning the war” resonated with me and I felt a surge of good will toward those who were willing to speak against it from the other side. But as I read further, I became disturbed by the Republicans who were only questioning it because it was becoming a political liability. Here’s a callous comment, quoted in the Times: Mr. Bush now has two years to “solve Iraq” to protect Republican candidates at the midterm elections, [Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform] said. His suggestions: withdrawing United States tropps to safe citadels within Iraq or by “handing Falluja over to the Iraquis and saying, ‘It’s your headache.’”
I am not commenting on the correctness of the Iraq strategy, but I am commenting on how amazing it is to keep learning about how so much of what happens in Iraq is dictated by Republican agendas that have little to do with destroying terrorism or with freedom marches.
Ah well, I did allow myself a chuckle as I looked at the NYT cartoon of Kerry standing in front of a giant heap of smoldering debris, noting: “…and to think, all this could’ve been mine.”
Consider this generous soul:
I will pray for your peace of mind...that oughta creep you out big time
Not really. I am more “creeped-out” by news of the day than by someone’s praying for my peace of mind.
But I also read stories that are plain old fascinating accounts of ‘politics as ususal.’ For instance, I have noticed in past days how many Bush supporters are saying that we can again engage in an honest discussion of, say, the war in Iraq, now that the Kerry supporters no longer feel compelled to take a unilateral position against the invasion. Personally, I thought it was honest all along (at least it was on my part). I, of course, say the same thing about the “other side” and I was initially tickled to read the following in the NYTimes today: “The Antiwar Right is Ready to Rumble” with the side-quote: “Conservatives like William F. Buckley Jr have begun questioning the Iraq war.”
At first glance, “questioning the war” resonated with me and I felt a surge of good will toward those who were willing to speak against it from the other side. But as I read further, I became disturbed by the Republicans who were only questioning it because it was becoming a political liability. Here’s a callous comment, quoted in the Times: Mr. Bush now has two years to “solve Iraq” to protect Republican candidates at the midterm elections, [Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform] said. His suggestions: withdrawing United States tropps to safe citadels within Iraq or by “handing Falluja over to the Iraquis and saying, ‘It’s your headache.’”
I am not commenting on the correctness of the Iraq strategy, but I am commenting on how amazing it is to keep learning about how so much of what happens in Iraq is dictated by Republican agendas that have little to do with destroying terrorism or with freedom marches.
Ah well, I did allow myself a chuckle as I looked at the NYT cartoon of Kerry standing in front of a giant heap of smoldering debris, noting: “…and to think, all this could’ve been mine.”
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Simple arithmetic and mandates, another contest, and the 2008 ticket
You hear it all the time: Bush enters his second term with the largest popular vote ever recorded in presidential elections. Mandate! – says our man of great humility. Mandate! – repeat the pundits (in horror or in joy, depending on their leanings). Okay, but we know who has the second largest number of votes ever:
GWB (04): 59,459,765
Kerry (04): 55, 949,407
Followed by:
Reagan (84): 54,455,075
Gore (00): 50,999,897
GWB (00): 50,456,002
the other Bush (88): 48,882,808
Clinton (96): 47,402,357
Nixon (72): 46,740,323
Clinton (92): 44,908,254
Reagan (80) 43,901,812
Note that in addition to the 55,949,407 Kerry supporters, more than 75,000,000 did not feel compelled to demonstrate their support for a GWB Mandate (meaning, more than 40% of eligible voters did not vote). Thus the *Mandate* effectively comes from about 30% of Americans.
The other interesting statistic is that, aside from the 2000 election (which Bush *won* by just 5 votes in the Electoral College), it was the smallest margin of victory won in the Electoral College since 1916, when Woodrow Wilson beat Charles Evans Hughes by 23 votes, 277 to 254.
Mandate indeed! With this in mind, I’ll post another contest, call it the “Hubris Contest” (it originated in my neighborhood, but people are feeling stumped). Here it is: Come up with a word that would describe the way over-the-top, overarching pride Dubya now has.
Commentators say Edwards is in an excellent position to jump into the race again in 08. And who on the Republican ticket? On the other side of the ocean, where people are trying to understand how we pick our leaders, Jeb and Jenna have both been mentioned.
GWB (04): 59,459,765
Kerry (04): 55, 949,407
Followed by:
Reagan (84): 54,455,075
Gore (00): 50,999,897
GWB (00): 50,456,002
the other Bush (88): 48,882,808
Clinton (96): 47,402,357
Nixon (72): 46,740,323
Clinton (92): 44,908,254
Reagan (80) 43,901,812
Note that in addition to the 55,949,407 Kerry supporters, more than 75,000,000 did not feel compelled to demonstrate their support for a GWB Mandate (meaning, more than 40% of eligible voters did not vote). Thus the *Mandate* effectively comes from about 30% of Americans.
The other interesting statistic is that, aside from the 2000 election (which Bush *won* by just 5 votes in the Electoral College), it was the smallest margin of victory won in the Electoral College since 1916, when Woodrow Wilson beat Charles Evans Hughes by 23 votes, 277 to 254.
Mandate indeed! With this in mind, I’ll post another contest, call it the “Hubris Contest” (it originated in my neighborhood, but people are feeling stumped). Here it is: Come up with a word that would describe the way over-the-top, overarching pride Dubya now has.
Commentators say Edwards is in an excellent position to jump into the race again in 08. And who on the Republican ticket? On the other side of the ocean, where people are trying to understand how we pick our leaders, Jeb and Jenna have both been mentioned.
The otherworldliness of sleep deprivation
Where am I? What time is it? Well might I ask. I know one thing – I’m into the fourth day after the election and I have yet to sleep more than two hours each of the nights. I’ve jotted some notes from when Friday turned into Saturday and I didn’t even notice:
Friday: one hour late for a dinner party (they were on dessert already when I arrived! Hey, these were ravenously starving individuals if you think about it, but still, how rude is that on my part – ONE HOUR LATE!); an hour and a half late for the Torts section party (I’ve lost all awareness of time passing); one broken glass at said party (thank you for pretending it was just some cheap piece of junk you picked up at Sears; I know darn well the Sears does not sell delicate, long-stemmed, tinted-blue wine glasses, but it was nice of you to try to make me feel better); a late start at L’Etoile this morning (when I dragged myself in at 7, the Market was robust, the Café was already opened and Chef O had called twice leaving messages for me); and a late finish at L’Etoile. [More than six hours of picking and lugging vegetables in slo-mo; SIX HOURS! How did I survive? With the help of this:]
Friday: one hour late for a dinner party (they were on dessert already when I arrived! Hey, these were ravenously starving individuals if you think about it, but still, how rude is that on my part – ONE HOUR LATE!); an hour and a half late for the Torts section party (I’ve lost all awareness of time passing); one broken glass at said party (thank you for pretending it was just some cheap piece of junk you picked up at Sears; I know darn well the Sears does not sell delicate, long-stemmed, tinted-blue wine glasses, but it was nice of you to try to make me feel better); a late start at L’Etoile this morning (when I dragged myself in at 7, the Market was robust, the Café was already opened and Chef O had called twice leaving messages for me); and a late finish at L’Etoile. [More than six hours of picking and lugging vegetables in slo-mo; SIX HOURS! How did I survive? With the help of this:]
It may surprise some to learn that today, on the last Outdoor- Market day, I ate my first L’Etoile croissant for the year (I had their pumpkin & chocolate one and it was fantastic!). If you work in a restaurant, you don’t really eat the food that is being prepared there. If you are cooking, you have to taste to adjust for flavors, but that’s all. Just about everyone I know practices this type of abstention. Oh sure, they, like me, will go to dine there now and then, but on days that they are working, there is a real separation of powers between labor and consumption.
While sipping my café au lait and munching on the croissant, I picked up a copy of yesterday’s paper. I found the front-page photo of the first post-election Cabinet Meeting quite entertaining in a sardonic sort of way. Take a look:
While sipping my café au lait and munching on the croissant, I picked up a copy of yesterday’s paper. I found the front-page photo of the first post-election Cabinet Meeting quite entertaining in a sardonic sort of way. Take a look:
Missing is the look of people hard at work. There is not a single rolled-up sleeve at the table, figuratively-speaking or otherwise. And note the guy in the circle because he is on his way out! I have heard rumors from very well-informed sources that if he goes, half the staff at the State Department is going to quit. That, of course, would be awkward or awesome, depending on your perspective. But Donald Rumsfeld seems to feel that we want him to continue to pound his fists at everyone and their shadow overseas. So two more years of him. Two years? Want kind of a commitment is that anyway? He’s already announcing that two more years of this Administration is about as much as he can take? How about the rest of us? We're stuck with four!And aren’t we all happy happy to see that Condoleezza Rice may well be the next Rumsfeld. Such disarming people, the both of them!
At the Market today, farmers were engaged in political speculations (I only buy from Democrats. Honestly. It’s not that I disdain food coming from Red-tainted soil, it’s just that I have yet to MEET a Market farmer who voted for Bush). What now, why, where to... One young guy over at Harmony Valley was explaining to a customer how the only way this country can survive is if we take on seriously the task of providing information to people who are simply not knowledgeable about the crisis facing this country. He is sending his Bush-voting in-laws a subscription to the New York Times. I told him they either wont read it or call it a lefty rag. “No,” he said, “because I am not just a random person out there. I married their daughter. They like me. I can make inroads because they trust me. I tell you, this should be our mssion for the next 4 years: to educate those without access to hard facts. Education is huge!”
There’s a reason why it’s always refreshing to talk to farmers at the Market. They see their crops fail, they deal with droughts and flooded fields. And, if they at all can, they come back to it next year anyway.
Just two photos from the Market today – the post is obscenely long as it is. The first focuses in on the essence of a great Market: stacks of carrots, in the glow of a beautiful, sunny day. The other is more suggestive of things to come. The peppers are still there, but they are strung with seasonal pine cones. Damn. The Market changes, seasons change, but the president and vice president stay the same. Damn.
At the Market today, farmers were engaged in political speculations (I only buy from Democrats. Honestly. It’s not that I disdain food coming from Red-tainted soil, it’s just that I have yet to MEET a Market farmer who voted for Bush). What now, why, where to... One young guy over at Harmony Valley was explaining to a customer how the only way this country can survive is if we take on seriously the task of providing information to people who are simply not knowledgeable about the crisis facing this country. He is sending his Bush-voting in-laws a subscription to the New York Times. I told him they either wont read it or call it a lefty rag. “No,” he said, “because I am not just a random person out there. I married their daughter. They like me. I can make inroads because they trust me. I tell you, this should be our mssion for the next 4 years: to educate those without access to hard facts. Education is huge!”
There’s a reason why it’s always refreshing to talk to farmers at the Market. They see their crops fail, they deal with droughts and flooded fields. And, if they at all can, they come back to it next year anyway.
Just two photos from the Market today – the post is obscenely long as it is. The first focuses in on the essence of a great Market: stacks of carrots, in the glow of a beautiful, sunny day. The other is more suggestive of things to come. The peppers are still there, but they are strung with seasonal pine cones. Damn. The Market changes, seasons change, but the president and vice president stay the same. Damn.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Alabama, I want to get to know you better…
A reader forwarded this story on the referendum that was on the ballot in Alabama. It appears that it failed (thus far, because they are demanding a recount) to eliminate segregationist provisions (to be fair – long-unenforced) from the Alabama Constitution. Close call though, 50% against, 50% in favor. [The problem? The referendum was tied to another provision, the removal of which threatened to raise school taxes.]
I was all ready to get on the Ocean blog and write – you wont get this blogger to venture to Alabama if my sun-deprived self depended on it!
And then I thought to myself: no, Ocean will rise above such sweeping, pernicious and defamatory condemnations. I have written earlier, after all, about the ability of honorable Europeans (even those who are in the Coalition of the Unwilling) to differentiate between Americans and their war-boy antihero. The Other Side of the Ocean should be at least as noble as those on the other side of the ocean.
And so I forced myself, here on Ocean, to make that gesutre. Reach out! Reach out to the heart of Dixie, I said, feeling magnimonious and resisting the temptation to pinch my nose. And what did I come up with? I don’t have county by county data on the Amendment, but take a look at these counties in terms of the Bush – Kerry election (source: CNN):
(overall state numbers: 37% Kerry, 63% Bush)
Macon – 83% Kerry, 17% Bush
Greene – 80% Kerry, 20% Bush
Lowndes – 70% Kerry, 30% Bush
By comparison, us smug Dane County (our little island of idealism in the vast sea of reality) voters have produced only this:
Kerry – 66%
Bush – 33%
Okay, I’m sorry Alabama. I will not make generalizations about the state and (all) its people again. Just get rid of that Amendment.
I was all ready to get on the Ocean blog and write – you wont get this blogger to venture to Alabama if my sun-deprived self depended on it!
And then I thought to myself: no, Ocean will rise above such sweeping, pernicious and defamatory condemnations. I have written earlier, after all, about the ability of honorable Europeans (even those who are in the Coalition of the Unwilling) to differentiate between Americans and their war-boy antihero. The Other Side of the Ocean should be at least as noble as those on the other side of the ocean.
And so I forced myself, here on Ocean, to make that gesutre. Reach out! Reach out to the heart of Dixie, I said, feeling magnimonious and resisting the temptation to pinch my nose. And what did I come up with? I don’t have county by county data on the Amendment, but take a look at these counties in terms of the Bush – Kerry election (source: CNN):
(overall state numbers: 37% Kerry, 63% Bush)
Macon – 83% Kerry, 17% Bush
Greene – 80% Kerry, 20% Bush
Lowndes – 70% Kerry, 30% Bush
By comparison, us smug Dane County (our little island of idealism in the vast sea of reality) voters have produced only this:
Kerry – 66%
Bush – 33%
Okay, I’m sorry Alabama. I will not make generalizations about the state and (all) its people again. Just get rid of that Amendment.
Be real, people!
My words to our neighbors across the Pacific: let’s not hope for the impossible and we will not be disappointed.
I read in the IHT today that the Asahi Shimbun (a Japanese paper) posted this:
The newspaper … appealed to Bush's humility, reminding him that there was still "persistent opposition" to his security policy and saying, "We want him to respect the criticism humbly."
Come, come, have you looked closely at the face of our victor? This is not a man who gulps down humility with his orange juice each morning. Look at these humble servants from the official GOP website:
Japan, you are so UNREAL. You! A member of the Coalition of the Willing! And what’s this with the other Asian countries? I see a reference to a paper from South Korea, another American ally:
Similar sentiments were echoed by newspapers in South Korea. … The JoongAng Ilbo said the United States had "suffered great damage from its unilateral diplomacy over the past four years" and urged it to be more considerate of its allies.
Are you stuck on the old Bush or are you asking this of the current George? Don’t hold your breath, pals.
Hong Kong, at least, steps cautiously:
In Hong Kong, The South China Morning Post characterized Bush's victory as a "victory for divisiveness."
"Great challenges lie ahead," The Post said. "But they will be confronted by a nation that is at odds with itself. History will judge the price his country will have to pay for this most divisive of victories."
But you have to hand it to India, a great beneficiary of American outsourcing. What a sense of humor that country has! (as it cheers – now isn’t that interesting – the November 2nd results):
The Times of India touched on a growing trade issue with the United States by asking, "Should the U.S. outsource its electoral process to India's remarkably efficient election commission?"
I read in the IHT today that the Asahi Shimbun (a Japanese paper) posted this:
The newspaper … appealed to Bush's humility, reminding him that there was still "persistent opposition" to his security policy and saying, "We want him to respect the criticism humbly."
Come, come, have you looked closely at the face of our victor? This is not a man who gulps down humility with his orange juice each morning. Look at these humble servants from the official GOP website:
Japan, you are so UNREAL. You! A member of the Coalition of the Willing! And what’s this with the other Asian countries? I see a reference to a paper from South Korea, another American ally:
Similar sentiments were echoed by newspapers in South Korea. … The JoongAng Ilbo said the United States had "suffered great damage from its unilateral diplomacy over the past four years" and urged it to be more considerate of its allies.
Are you stuck on the old Bush or are you asking this of the current George? Don’t hold your breath, pals.
Hong Kong, at least, steps cautiously:
In Hong Kong, The South China Morning Post characterized Bush's victory as a "victory for divisiveness."
"Great challenges lie ahead," The Post said. "But they will be confronted by a nation that is at odds with itself. History will judge the price his country will have to pay for this most divisive of victories."
But you have to hand it to India, a great beneficiary of American outsourcing. What a sense of humor that country has! (as it cheers – now isn’t that interesting – the November 2nd results):
The Times of India touched on a growing trade issue with the United States by asking, "Should the U.S. outsource its electoral process to India's remarkably efficient election commission?"
A review of day two
(Or: How I got through yesterday on virtually no sleep for two nights in a row)
Was 2 minutes late for first class (never happened before), forgot lecture notes, poured cold water over tea bag, forgot to record exams, locked myself out of my office just before second class and was, therefore, 2 minutes late for that (unbeleivable!), called student by wrong name, fell asleep (visibly) during faculty meeting, was late for coffee meeting, kept complaining about the freezing weather during evening walk (an objectively inaccurate assesmment of the meteorological conditions outside), talked politics at dinner with Ann and remember none of it today, got a parking ticket, dozed off in the middle of writing a blog post.
A special treat for Ocean readers: tomorrow you get to read a post under the heading: How I got through yesterday on virtually no sleep for three nights in a row. It’ll be a doozie.
Was 2 minutes late for first class (never happened before), forgot lecture notes, poured cold water over tea bag, forgot to record exams, locked myself out of my office just before second class and was, therefore, 2 minutes late for that (unbeleivable!), called student by wrong name, fell asleep (visibly) during faculty meeting, was late for coffee meeting, kept complaining about the freezing weather during evening walk (an objectively inaccurate assesmment of the meteorological conditions outside), talked politics at dinner with Ann and remember none of it today, got a parking ticket, dozed off in the middle of writing a blog post.
A special treat for Ocean readers: tomorrow you get to read a post under the heading: How I got through yesterday on virtually no sleep for three nights in a row. It’ll be a doozie.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
You forgot about Poland, redux (long post on building a new life elsewhere)
That one-of-a-kind Jeremy, over at JFW wonders why people are so psyched about moving to Canada now and not choosing to relocate to, say, Poland.
I have always felt myself to be at a cultural disadvantage here. At times (eg November 3rd, a.m.) I have thought – man, I just don’t GET this place! In those moments I have felt inferior, marginalized and confused. But I can take comfort in the fact that every now and then I can rise to the challenge and participate meaningfully in the debate. For instance now: I think I can help you decide -- Poland? Canada? the Caribbean maybe? Read on!
First, why Canada remains a cool choice: it’s because they are not yet ready to bash our brains in, that’s why. They still want to help us out, even though we mock their affected French ways in Quebec and poo poo their pandering to environmentally-correct mammals. Check out this website, which urges Canadians to take on an American bride at our time of great need. here's an excerpt:
Now that George W. Bush has been officially elected, single, sexy, American liberals - already a threatened species - will be desperate to escape.
These lonely, afraid (did we mention really hot?) progressives will need a safe haven.
You can help. Open your heart, and your home. Marry an American. Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism.
And why not Poland?
Here’s someone positing that very question on her (Madison-based) blog, just yesterday. She writes:
Accepting my brother’s offer to work in Poznan (Poland) where he lives with his Polish wife is also not an option. He’s right – I’d make more than the average Pole and the landscape (at least in selected areas) would be much better. But, let’s be honest…I just wouldn’t fit in. I don’t speak Polish, I do yoga (which the Catholic church in Poland seems to regard with some mystical suspicions), I like to run outside (which, judging by my visits to Poland, is not an acceptable outdoor activity and tends to cause alarm), I drink my vodka in cocktails, I like a large supermarket with an expansive and fresh produce section to be within walking distance, I love it that even in Wisconsin I have the opportunity to see live roller-derby, I love rodeos, and a Sleater-Kinney, Le Tigre or White Stripes concert at least once per year is an absolute must. Oh, and I don’t speak Polish.
Now, I do think one shouldn't be quite this intimidated by the puzzled stares of my country-folk. Be bold! Kick the shi(ns) out of anyone who wont let you do yoga! The church is losing its grip on the Polish psyche anyway. Go! Relocate to Poland! (But do learn Polish first.)
In the alternative, a reader (thanks, Christina) brought the following Harper’s article to my attention:
A reader’s guide to expatriating on November 3
So the wrong candidate has won, and you want to leave the country. Let us consider your options.
Renouncing your citizenship
Given how much the United States as a nation professes to value freedom, your freedom to opt out of the nation itself is surprisingly limited. …
The most serious barrier to renouncing your citizenship is that the State Department, which oversees expatriation, is reluctant to allow citizens to go “stateless.” Before allowing expatriation, the department will want you to have obtained citizenship or legal asylum in another country…
Heading to Canada…
In your search for alternate citizenship, you might naturally think first of Canada and Mexico. But despite the generous terms of NAFTA, our neighbors to the north and south are, like us, far more interested in the flow of money than of persons. Canada, in particular, is no longer a paradise awaiting American dissidents... Today it takes an average of twenty-five months to be accepted as a permanent resident, and this is only the first step in what is likely to be a five-year process of becoming a citizen. At that point the gesture of expatriation may already be moot, particularly if a sympathetic political party has since resumed power.
France
… those who opposed the Iraq war might hope to find refuge in France, where a very select few are allowed to “assimilate” each year. Assimilation is reserved for persons of non-French descent who are able to prove that they are more French than American, having mastered the language as well as the philosophy of the French way of life…
The coalition of the willing
Should the other candidate win, war supporters might naturally look to join the coalition of the willing. But you may find a willing and developing nation as difficult to join as an unwilling and developed one. It takes at least five years to become a citizen of Pakistan, for instance, unless one marries into a family, and each applicant for residency in Pakistan is judged on a case-by-case basis. Uzbekistan imposes a five-year wait as well, with an additional twist: the nation does not recognize dual citizenship, and so you will be required to renounce your U.S. citizenship first. Given Uzbekistan’s standard of living (low), unemployment (high), and human-rights record (poor), this would be something of a leap of faith. …
The Caribbean
A more pleasant solution might be found in the Caribbean. Take, for example, the twin-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, which Frommer’s guide praises for its “average year-round temperature of 79°F (26°C), low humidity, white-sand beaches, and unspoiled natural beauty.” Citizenship in this paradise can be purchased outright. Prices start at around $125,000, which includes a $25,000 application fee and a minimum purchase of $100,000 in bonds. Processing time, which includes checks for criminal records and HIV, can take up to three months, but with luck you could be renouncing by Inauguration Day. ..
And, if all else fails, don’t forget about Poland. Start practicing: dziekuje and jak sie masz.
I have always felt myself to be at a cultural disadvantage here. At times (eg November 3rd, a.m.) I have thought – man, I just don’t GET this place! In those moments I have felt inferior, marginalized and confused. But I can take comfort in the fact that every now and then I can rise to the challenge and participate meaningfully in the debate. For instance now: I think I can help you decide -- Poland? Canada? the Caribbean maybe? Read on!
First, why Canada remains a cool choice: it’s because they are not yet ready to bash our brains in, that’s why. They still want to help us out, even though we mock their affected French ways in Quebec and poo poo their pandering to environmentally-correct mammals. Check out this website, which urges Canadians to take on an American bride at our time of great need. here's an excerpt:
Now that George W. Bush has been officially elected, single, sexy, American liberals - already a threatened species - will be desperate to escape.
These lonely, afraid (did we mention really hot?) progressives will need a safe haven.
You can help. Open your heart, and your home. Marry an American. Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism.
And why not Poland?
Here’s someone positing that very question on her (Madison-based) blog, just yesterday. She writes:
Accepting my brother’s offer to work in Poznan (Poland) where he lives with his Polish wife is also not an option. He’s right – I’d make more than the average Pole and the landscape (at least in selected areas) would be much better. But, let’s be honest…I just wouldn’t fit in. I don’t speak Polish, I do yoga (which the Catholic church in Poland seems to regard with some mystical suspicions), I like to run outside (which, judging by my visits to Poland, is not an acceptable outdoor activity and tends to cause alarm), I drink my vodka in cocktails, I like a large supermarket with an expansive and fresh produce section to be within walking distance, I love it that even in Wisconsin I have the opportunity to see live roller-derby, I love rodeos, and a Sleater-Kinney, Le Tigre or White Stripes concert at least once per year is an absolute must. Oh, and I don’t speak Polish.
Now, I do think one shouldn't be quite this intimidated by the puzzled stares of my country-folk. Be bold! Kick the shi(ns) out of anyone who wont let you do yoga! The church is losing its grip on the Polish psyche anyway. Go! Relocate to Poland! (But do learn Polish first.)
In the alternative, a reader (thanks, Christina) brought the following Harper’s article to my attention:
A reader’s guide to expatriating on November 3
So the wrong candidate has won, and you want to leave the country. Let us consider your options.
Renouncing your citizenship
Given how much the United States as a nation professes to value freedom, your freedom to opt out of the nation itself is surprisingly limited. …
The most serious barrier to renouncing your citizenship is that the State Department, which oversees expatriation, is reluctant to allow citizens to go “stateless.” Before allowing expatriation, the department will want you to have obtained citizenship or legal asylum in another country…
Heading to Canada…
In your search for alternate citizenship, you might naturally think first of Canada and Mexico. But despite the generous terms of NAFTA, our neighbors to the north and south are, like us, far more interested in the flow of money than of persons. Canada, in particular, is no longer a paradise awaiting American dissidents... Today it takes an average of twenty-five months to be accepted as a permanent resident, and this is only the first step in what is likely to be a five-year process of becoming a citizen. At that point the gesture of expatriation may already be moot, particularly if a sympathetic political party has since resumed power.
France
… those who opposed the Iraq war might hope to find refuge in France, where a very select few are allowed to “assimilate” each year. Assimilation is reserved for persons of non-French descent who are able to prove that they are more French than American, having mastered the language as well as the philosophy of the French way of life…
The coalition of the willing
Should the other candidate win, war supporters might naturally look to join the coalition of the willing. But you may find a willing and developing nation as difficult to join as an unwilling and developed one. It takes at least five years to become a citizen of Pakistan, for instance, unless one marries into a family, and each applicant for residency in Pakistan is judged on a case-by-case basis. Uzbekistan imposes a five-year wait as well, with an additional twist: the nation does not recognize dual citizenship, and so you will be required to renounce your U.S. citizenship first. Given Uzbekistan’s standard of living (low), unemployment (high), and human-rights record (poor), this would be something of a leap of faith. …
The Caribbean
A more pleasant solution might be found in the Caribbean. Take, for example, the twin-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, which Frommer’s guide praises for its “average year-round temperature of 79°F (26°C), low humidity, white-sand beaches, and unspoiled natural beauty.” Citizenship in this paradise can be purchased outright. Prices start at around $125,000, which includes a $25,000 application fee and a minimum purchase of $100,000 in bonds. Processing time, which includes checks for criminal records and HIV, can take up to three months, but with luck you could be renouncing by Inauguration Day. ..
And, if all else fails, don’t forget about Poland. Start practicing: dziekuje and jak sie masz.
Second Postcript to post below
The European press reacts to the election results (thanks A., via yahoo.com):
The Independent bore the front-page headline "Four more years" on a black page with grim pictures including a hooded Iraqi prisoner and an orange-clad detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
The left-leaning Guardian led its features section with a black page bearing the tiny words, "Oh, God." Inside a story described how Bush's victory "catapaulted liberal Britain into collective depression."
Across Europe, many newspapers expressed dismay at the prospect of another term for Bush, a president often regarded as inflexible and unilateralist.
"Oops — they did it again," Germany's left-leaning Tageszeitung newspaper said in a front-page English headlinectory. The cover of the Swiss newsmagazine Facts called Bush's re-election "Europe's Nightmare." "Victory for the hothead: how far will he go?" asked another Swiss weekly, L'Hebdo.
A few British papers welcomed the U.S. election result. "The world is a safer place with George W. Bush back in the Oval Office," the tabloid Sun said in an editorial.
All agreed the result reflected a sea-change in U.S. politics, a victory for neo-conservatives and the religious right.
"March of the Moral Majority" said the conservative Daily Mail, above a photo of Bush with his wife and daughters. "America's moral majority sweeps Bush back into the White House," The Daily Telegraph said.
The Times said Europe "must come to terms, not only with Mr. Bush, but with the nation that has elected him. This is a president who really can speak for America."
[Oh dear, how embarassing.]
The Independent bore the front-page headline "Four more years" on a black page with grim pictures including a hooded Iraqi prisoner and an orange-clad detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
The left-leaning Guardian led its features section with a black page bearing the tiny words, "Oh, God." Inside a story described how Bush's victory "catapaulted liberal Britain into collective depression."
Across Europe, many newspapers expressed dismay at the prospect of another term for Bush, a president often regarded as inflexible and unilateralist.
"Oops — they did it again," Germany's left-leaning Tageszeitung newspaper said in a front-page English headlinectory. The cover of the Swiss newsmagazine Facts called Bush's re-election "Europe's Nightmare." "Victory for the hothead: how far will he go?" asked another Swiss weekly, L'Hebdo.
A few British papers welcomed the U.S. election result. "The world is a safer place with George W. Bush back in the Oval Office," the tabloid Sun said in an editorial.
All agreed the result reflected a sea-change in U.S. politics, a victory for neo-conservatives and the religious right.
"March of the Moral Majority" said the conservative Daily Mail, above a photo of Bush with his wife and daughters. "America's moral majority sweeps Bush back into the White House," The Daily Telegraph said.
The Times said Europe "must come to terms, not only with Mr. Bush, but with the nation that has elected him. This is a president who really can speak for America."
[Oh dear, how embarassing.]
Postscript to post below
Thanks to C, D, D & J for the stream of pick-me-ups, and especially for the sketch below, which speaks directly to my morning rage at news analyses of what was neglected by the Democrats in the course of the campaign.
Beginning of day two
Oh shut up (my sophisticated response to this morning’s news commentaries on the presidential race).
Democrats, we have to wake up (I hear this yesterday and today). It was all about family values and you, Mr. Kerry missed the boat. No, no, not affordable health care and social security and minimum wage and the right to make reproductive decisions and sending sons and daughters to war. Family VALUES. You know, like faith and gays taking over the institution of marriage (11 states? Are we insane?). Values. Loving Laura -- that guy had it figured out. Brilliant language of immagery! And, btw, Mr. Kerry, why couldn’t you have cried for larger audiences prior to the election? Why did you save that for your concession speech? Half a million votes would have been yours right there (we’re consistent – we told Gore the same thing – what a schelp to save emotion for concession!).
Did I imagine that as recently as a week ago it was All About Keeping Us Safe?
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
The end of day one.
I want to know what kind of sorry state I was in last night to generate such a stream of sympathetic calls and emails today?
Here’s the thing. As I told my walking buddy tonight, I’ve got something that all of you don’t have: I can set in place my hidden PRM (Polish Recovery Mechanism). PRM works really well for brooding Slavs who basically can’t believe there is a tomorrow, because when they actually do wake up to a new day they are pleasantly surprised.
And so then we work work work to put aside whatever was troubling us the night before. If that doesn’t help, by evening we consider downing gallons of vodka. I am happy to report that I am in control and not reaching into the liqour cabinet. Just a little low on leftover Halloween candy and Organic Angel Fluffs.
P.S. Today’s Daily Show is better than vodka. If you missed it, pick it up tomorrow at 6. Unless you’re not ready to laugh yet. I can understand that. I guess.
Here’s the thing. As I told my walking buddy tonight, I’ve got something that all of you don’t have: I can set in place my hidden PRM (Polish Recovery Mechanism). PRM works really well for brooding Slavs who basically can’t believe there is a tomorrow, because when they actually do wake up to a new day they are pleasantly surprised.
And so then we work work work to put aside whatever was troubling us the night before. If that doesn’t help, by evening we consider downing gallons of vodka. I am happy to report that I am in control and not reaching into the liqour cabinet. Just a little low on leftover Halloween candy and Organic Angel Fluffs.
P.S. Today’s Daily Show is better than vodka. If you missed it, pick it up tomorrow at 6. Unless you’re not ready to laugh yet. I can understand that. I guess.
Musing, though not terribly amused, part 2:
Listening to the acceptance speeches:
It’s hard to be gracious while listening to Cheney gloat about the success of the Republican Party. I'll be gracious later, I just can't warm up to this man. Each time he appears on the TV I want to say "remind me again how many times you dropped out of college and grad school? Three? Four was it"
Okay, okay, come on, it’s been a long night -- let this post be just one last lapse into cattiness:
Ha ha, the microphone isn’t working properly, ha ha..
Hmmmm… Bush WANTS to say *thank you for letting me keep my job; I’m not so good at finding new employment. Man, I love my wife, I love my life, I love my routines and hey, I did again something that my dad failed to do!*
Bush’s one nod toward Democrats seems to be that he’s wearing a blue tie.
Prayer has been mentioned many times.
I’m sleepy. It’s like attending a boring lecture. I look at the computer screen and notice that my finger has been slumbering on the “r” key. All those “r”s look menacing!
I must have dozed off… Oh! It’s over! What exactly did he say? I'd make a terrible simul-blogger, I failed. Let me listen to the CNN commentaters and pick up the highlights. Whaaat? They keep going back to Kerry’s speech and his beautiful, emotional acknowledgement of the workers in his campaign! Wait, aren’t we supposed to be talking about the Bush acceptance speech? There we go again, the shot is of Kerry and Edwards on stage.
Oh, now I get to listen to live coverage of the speech made by a disappointed Tony Blair. *Damn,* he’s thinking, *my goose is cooked; now I have to stick by this gent and watch my butt get kicked around back home.* Wow, he appears unenthusiastic! Oh, Blair is slipping away from Bush – he is rejecting ‘military might alone’… he is talking about ‘poverty’ and making the 'Middle East peace process' a priority. 'Europe and America must built an alliance'… Am I hearing him right??? Bush will have none of it, I’m sure. *With us or against us* – those are George words. IS BLAIR EVER SO SUBTLY INCHING AWAY FROM BUSH? The international saga continues...
The speeches are over. Back to work.
It’s hard to be gracious while listening to Cheney gloat about the success of the Republican Party. I'll be gracious later, I just can't warm up to this man. Each time he appears on the TV I want to say "remind me again how many times you dropped out of college and grad school? Three? Four was it"
Okay, okay, come on, it’s been a long night -- let this post be just one last lapse into cattiness:
Ha ha, the microphone isn’t working properly, ha ha..
Hmmmm… Bush WANTS to say *thank you for letting me keep my job; I’m not so good at finding new employment. Man, I love my wife, I love my life, I love my routines and hey, I did again something that my dad failed to do!*
Bush’s one nod toward Democrats seems to be that he’s wearing a blue tie.
Prayer has been mentioned many times.
I’m sleepy. It’s like attending a boring lecture. I look at the computer screen and notice that my finger has been slumbering on the “r” key. All those “r”s look menacing!
I must have dozed off… Oh! It’s over! What exactly did he say? I'd make a terrible simul-blogger, I failed. Let me listen to the CNN commentaters and pick up the highlights. Whaaat? They keep going back to Kerry’s speech and his beautiful, emotional acknowledgement of the workers in his campaign! Wait, aren’t we supposed to be talking about the Bush acceptance speech? There we go again, the shot is of Kerry and Edwards on stage.
Oh, now I get to listen to live coverage of the speech made by a disappointed Tony Blair. *Damn,* he’s thinking, *my goose is cooked; now I have to stick by this gent and watch my butt get kicked around back home.* Wow, he appears unenthusiastic! Oh, Blair is slipping away from Bush – he is rejecting ‘military might alone’… he is talking about ‘poverty’ and making the 'Middle East peace process' a priority. 'Europe and America must built an alliance'… Am I hearing him right??? Bush will have none of it, I’m sure. *With us or against us* – those are George words. IS BLAIR EVER SO SUBTLY INCHING AWAY FROM BUSH? The international saga continues...
The speeches are over. Back to work.
Musing, though not terribly amused:
We have never thrown out a sitting president at wartime.
Do you suppose Hillary is suddenly hopeful?
You are not allowed to tell me what Kerry should have done differently.
The election results immediately translate into corporate profit and the impoverishment of the middle class: I have decided to keep cable so that I can laugh, at the close of each day, with Jon Stewart. Charter – thank George for my business.
I am scheduled to soon travel to France. I know I will be regarded separately from an administration that squeaked its way into office by the slimmest of margins. I hear people fretting about how “they hate us” and I know how inaccurate that is. They hate the Bush administration. There’s a difference. However, I wish they’d start making pins that say “I never voted for him.”
Tom reminds us of the magnificence of our Constitution. Especially the 22nd Amendment, Section 1: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.
Do you suppose Hillary is suddenly hopeful?
You are not allowed to tell me what Kerry should have done differently.
The election results immediately translate into corporate profit and the impoverishment of the middle class: I have decided to keep cable so that I can laugh, at the close of each day, with Jon Stewart. Charter – thank George for my business.
I am scheduled to soon travel to France. I know I will be regarded separately from an administration that squeaked its way into office by the slimmest of margins. I hear people fretting about how “they hate us” and I know how inaccurate that is. They hate the Bush administration. There’s a difference. However, I wish they’d start making pins that say “I never voted for him.”
Tom reminds us of the magnificence of our Constitution. Especially the 22nd Amendment, Section 1: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.
Concession speech
I want to thank all Ocean readers who also cared deeply about the elections.
So how to deal with failure? Well, it places a burden on us, doesn’t it? A burden to be even better at life: even kinder, more empathetic to those who are immediately affected, less self-centered in our unhappiness, more outwardly-focused in our lives.
As bloggers, we, too, have a responsibility: to be even more skillful at story-telling, more rigorous and precise in our writing, sharper, more intelligent, funnier, honing in on the topics that interest and inspire us.
It would have been deeply satisfying to wake up to a different result. It was not to be.
So how to deal with failure? Well, it places a burden on us, doesn’t it? A burden to be even better at life: even kinder, more empathetic to those who are immediately affected, less self-centered in our unhappiness, more outwardly-focused in our lives.
As bloggers, we, too, have a responsibility: to be even more skillful at story-telling, more rigorous and precise in our writing, sharper, more intelligent, funnier, honing in on the topics that interest and inspire us.
It would have been deeply satisfying to wake up to a different result. It was not to be.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
First street pre-election diary,* part 4
Okay, okay, I voted, I did not forget.
This is only my fifth presidential election. [I became a citizen just before the 1988 elections, so there I was, casting my vote against Bush. Deja-vu!! Things that I liked about that election: Dukakis carried Wisconsin. Things that I did not like about that election: Dukakis carried hardly any other state.] My daughters, having visited DC earlier in the fall, were extremely enthused about the election. Here’s a fragment of a photo from that year:
This is only my fifth presidential election. [I became a citizen just before the 1988 elections, so there I was, casting my vote against Bush. Deja-vu!! Things that I liked about that election: Dukakis carried Wisconsin. Things that I did not like about that election: Dukakis carried hardly any other state.] My daughters, having visited DC earlier in the fall, were extremely enthused about the election. Here’s a fragment of a photo from that year:
And this year? What are the things that I liked?
+ Hearing minutes ago on NPR that in northern counties of Wisconsin voter turn-out is expected to hit a record 90% (breaking the 2000 record of 86%; note that Gore carried these – eg Superior – 2:1 back in 2000).
+ Drawing a near-perfect straight line:
+ Hearing minutes ago on NPR that in northern counties of Wisconsin voter turn-out is expected to hit a record 90% (breaking the 2000 record of 86%; note that Gore carried these – eg Superior – 2:1 back in 2000).
+ Drawing a near-perfect straight line:
+ Meeting teachers at the elementary school (my voting place) who used to teach my girls (both grown-up and living elsewhere now, but still registered to vote in Wisconsin). One, who remembered a composition my daughter wrote while in 2nd grade, especially caused me to blink back tears. I also liked her button: VOTE! -- it said. But if you lifted the paper covering the button you saw the familiar face of Kerry.
+ Having the two election officials look up my name on the computer printout and seeing that the three other residents, who voted from this address with absentee ballots, have been checked off already. Cool!
+ This cartoon, forwarded by my neighbor:
+ Having the two election officials look up my name on the computer printout and seeing that the three other residents, who voted from this address with absentee ballots, have been checked off already. Cool!
+ This cartoon, forwarded by my neighbor:
First street pre-election diary,* part 3
Will I smile with sad remembrance at the moment when I looked at the very first exit polls from swinging states (here, thanks Tom)?
AZ CO LA PA OH FL MI NM MN WI IA NH
45 48 42 60 52 51 51 50 58 52 49 57 Kerry
55 51 57 40 48 48 47 48 40 43 49 41 Bush
I know, I know, margin or error, exit polls suck, bla bla bla. Say what you will, there is a certain wonderful consistency in these numbers (the first three are hardly a surprise).
[A second reminder just came from a concerned daughter who read the post below and said a tad more forcefully that I should vote already. So I'm going to vote already.]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
AZ CO LA PA OH FL MI NM MN WI IA NH
45 48 42 60 52 51 51 50 58 52 49 57 Kerry
55 51 57 40 48 48 47 48 40 43 49 41 Bush
I know, I know, margin or error, exit polls suck, bla bla bla. Say what you will, there is a certain wonderful consistency in these numbers (the first three are hardly a surprise).
[A second reminder just came from a concerned daughter who read the post below and said a tad more forcefully that I should vote already. So I'm going to vote already.]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
First street pre-election diary,* part 2: A day doesn’t get any longer than this
Manifestations of paranoia and neurosis in a person thrown into deep uncertainty:
+ In passing Midvale and University Avenue I saw the usual Wisconsin 'hardy' types (I'm borrowing a label used by Kerry yesterday to describe Wisconsinites; the man appears to have great faith in our 'constitution') standing, waving signs to honk for Kerry. A sea of traffic passed. I toot-toot-tooted a good number of times, but I was the only one. What does this mean??
+ I watched NBC this morning and I noted that Katy Couric interviewed Laura Bush. Katy!! What are you doing?? Why do I have to listen to Laura rhapsodize about her husband on the morning of the election?? And btw, for those who have long told me that they like Laura alright even as they hate George, let me just remark that she seemed barely sensible. Sharp would not be a word I would use to characterize her early morning conversation. Not that it matters, but I am feeling hostile toward that whole Laura-thing this morning, especially as I juxtapose it with memories of punches levied against Hillary, to say nothing of Teresa.
+ In my office, the lines are evenly drawn – and I am referring only to the Democrats (yes, we have diversity here among the faculty and staff, lots of political diversity; but just so you know, our traditionally most conservative professor emeritus told me that he is voting for Kerry – he cannot stand the current administration): there were the optimists and the pessimists. I want to say that there are more of the former than the latter, but it’s not true. Moreover, the optimists tell me that they are somewhat skewing their own perspective because they just want Kerry to win so very much.
+ I have not voted yet. I am reaching a point of deep paralysis. I want to spend the next four hours polling more colleagues, reading more reports and commentaries. One of my daughters gently said earlier today “please don’t forget to vote” and I laughed at the time, but could it be that I may be so lost in my neurotically fragmented world that I may, indeed, forget to vote???
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
+ In passing Midvale and University Avenue I saw the usual Wisconsin 'hardy' types (I'm borrowing a label used by Kerry yesterday to describe Wisconsinites; the man appears to have great faith in our 'constitution') standing, waving signs to honk for Kerry. A sea of traffic passed. I toot-toot-tooted a good number of times, but I was the only one. What does this mean??
+ I watched NBC this morning and I noted that Katy Couric interviewed Laura Bush. Katy!! What are you doing?? Why do I have to listen to Laura rhapsodize about her husband on the morning of the election?? And btw, for those who have long told me that they like Laura alright even as they hate George, let me just remark that she seemed barely sensible. Sharp would not be a word I would use to characterize her early morning conversation. Not that it matters, but I am feeling hostile toward that whole Laura-thing this morning, especially as I juxtapose it with memories of punches levied against Hillary, to say nothing of Teresa.
+ In my office, the lines are evenly drawn – and I am referring only to the Democrats (yes, we have diversity here among the faculty and staff, lots of political diversity; but just so you know, our traditionally most conservative professor emeritus told me that he is voting for Kerry – he cannot stand the current administration): there were the optimists and the pessimists. I want to say that there are more of the former than the latter, but it’s not true. Moreover, the optimists tell me that they are somewhat skewing their own perspective because they just want Kerry to win so very much.
+ I have not voted yet. I am reaching a point of deep paralysis. I want to spend the next four hours polling more colleagues, reading more reports and commentaries. One of my daughters gently said earlier today “please don’t forget to vote” and I laughed at the time, but could it be that I may be so lost in my neurotically fragmented world that I may, indeed, forget to vote???
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Day one.
One
1
1
1
Jeden (Polish)
One
One
One
I get up and immediately I hear from two people – one whom I would, without hesitation, label as unabashedly optimistic (a neighbor hosting an election party which I will be attending) and the other – well, let me just say he keeps realism firmly tucked into his shirt pocket and when he reaches inside, often what comes out is despair.
So what do these two tell me? They are thinking that Kerry is going to pull it off! Move over Brokaw & Rather -- you heard it here, I am going to throw my chips into the blaze of victory. I am elated! (I am also easily swayed, so if ten people suddenly call me with contrary spirits, I may buckle under. Stay away, nay sayers, let this day begin!)
I have been writing about the campaign and my pre-election trepidations for 42 days now. In doing so, I have stuck to the blue- red description, happily handing New York and California over to the blue Democrats along with the rest of the commentators. Today in the WashPost (here) I read how quickly we have fallen into ascribing blue and red traits to states that we have identified with one camp or the other:
A "red state" bespeaks not just a Republican majority but an entire geography (rectangular borders in the country's midsection), an iconography (Bush in a cowboy hat), and a series of cultural cliches (churches and NASCAR). "Blue states" suggest something on, and of, the coastal extremes, urban and latte-drinking. Red states -- to reduce the stereotypes to an even more vulgar level -- are a little bit country, blues are a little more rock-and-roll.
We are reminded that this chromatic dichotomy is fairly recent, that not too long ago (I remember this!) the painting of the parties was inconsistent and often times red was reserved for the Democrats, which was perhaps ideologically more sensible given that, across the ocean at least, red is associated with the labor movement. But in the 2000 elections the labels converged and Texas began its life as perpetually red, leaving the coastal states awash in blue. The WashPost notes the superficial nature of these labels:
Is it really accurate, after all, to describe New Mexico as a "blue" state when Gore won it by just 366 votes in 2000? In California -- a state so blue that neither of the two leading candidates bothered campaigning much there this year -- voters have in recent years approved initiatives repealing racial preferences and bilingual education, and have ousted a Democratic governor in favor of a Republican. Ohio -- historically a red state -- is close enough that Kerry might eke out a narrow victory, but it is also poised to pass overwhelmingly a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Okay, okay, it’s more subtle, more multi-hued, more differentiated, less consistent than the blue-red map would have us believe. But tonight I’m paying attention to blue. I’m wearing blue, eating blue (berry muffin), and watching for blue to sweep over the map.
Ocean is proud to endorse and support the color blue. How could it be otherwise?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
One
1
1
1
Jeden (Polish)
One
One
One
I get up and immediately I hear from two people – one whom I would, without hesitation, label as unabashedly optimistic (a neighbor hosting an election party which I will be attending) and the other – well, let me just say he keeps realism firmly tucked into his shirt pocket and when he reaches inside, often what comes out is despair.
So what do these two tell me? They are thinking that Kerry is going to pull it off! Move over Brokaw & Rather -- you heard it here, I am going to throw my chips into the blaze of victory. I am elated! (I am also easily swayed, so if ten people suddenly call me with contrary spirits, I may buckle under. Stay away, nay sayers, let this day begin!)
I have been writing about the campaign and my pre-election trepidations for 42 days now. In doing so, I have stuck to the blue- red description, happily handing New York and California over to the blue Democrats along with the rest of the commentators. Today in the WashPost (here) I read how quickly we have fallen into ascribing blue and red traits to states that we have identified with one camp or the other:
A "red state" bespeaks not just a Republican majority but an entire geography (rectangular borders in the country's midsection), an iconography (Bush in a cowboy hat), and a series of cultural cliches (churches and NASCAR). "Blue states" suggest something on, and of, the coastal extremes, urban and latte-drinking. Red states -- to reduce the stereotypes to an even more vulgar level -- are a little bit country, blues are a little more rock-and-roll.
We are reminded that this chromatic dichotomy is fairly recent, that not too long ago (I remember this!) the painting of the parties was inconsistent and often times red was reserved for the Democrats, which was perhaps ideologically more sensible given that, across the ocean at least, red is associated with the labor movement. But in the 2000 elections the labels converged and Texas began its life as perpetually red, leaving the coastal states awash in blue. The WashPost notes the superficial nature of these labels:
Is it really accurate, after all, to describe New Mexico as a "blue" state when Gore won it by just 366 votes in 2000? In California -- a state so blue that neither of the two leading candidates bothered campaigning much there this year -- voters have in recent years approved initiatives repealing racial preferences and bilingual education, and have ousted a Democratic governor in favor of a Republican. Ohio -- historically a red state -- is close enough that Kerry might eke out a narrow victory, but it is also poised to pass overwhelmingly a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Okay, okay, it’s more subtle, more multi-hued, more differentiated, less consistent than the blue-red map would have us believe. But tonight I’m paying attention to blue. I’m wearing blue, eating blue (berry muffin), and watching for blue to sweep over the map.
Ocean is proud to endorse and support the color blue. How could it be otherwise?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Monday, November 01, 2004
Second street pre-election diary,* part 2
One day more..
One day more! Another day, another destiny…
I could do an entire page of lyric runs that would speak to the maddening nature of this day. Why is it thus? Because its minutes are trickling away and so are the moments where one could nurse and sustain hope without facing tomorrow’s reality of actual numbers.
For instance, I can be buoyed at the reported early returns in Iowa and Florida (they appear to be significantly favoring Kerry) without worrying a great deal about whether this is at all an important development, or whether it is one of those insignificant blimps, in the same way that the polling of diners at a vegetarian restaurant on the popularity of steak is a tiny bit unreliable.
I can ignore the outlier CNN poll that makes Wisconsin look like in the last days it sold its soul to the red claws and I don’t mean the la-dee-da lobster claws. But I can take great joy in hearing on NBC that for those under 30, 54% favor Kerry and 37% favor George (those numbers were nowhere near so Democrat-driven in 2000). Isn’t this fun??
Here’s a prediction that I can agree with: there will be fewer babies in July, 2005. Today, not surprisingly perhaps, I noticed myself taking time out to read with great care the article in the New York Magazine on election-related anxiety disorders (here). Sure enough, many of us are on the edge right now and will remain there for…. indefinitely. There is no relief in sight! Consider this excerpt, for example:
Nor will the post-election world (whenever it begins) necessarily bring Klonopin-like relief. “I’ll be elated if Kerry wins,” says Joe, another patient. “But I fear that the damage caused by Bush may be insurmountable. I believe we’ll be attacked again. I travel to Europe and Asia for business, and I’ve never felt such a groundswell of hatred for Americans. And if this country reelects him, the rest of the world will think we’re just like him.”
Aaaaaargh! Even if, even if there is a favorable outcome, we may have passed the point of damage reversibility. We are DOOMED! According to the article, some have become so paralyzed by the news of the wild maneuvers of GWB, that they have even grow to fear sushi! Read this:
Joe [seeking therapy in NY] has also become obsessed with his son’s sushi habit. “My son loves sushi. Every Tuesday is sushi night. But I just finished Robert Kennedy’s book about what the Bush administration has done to the environment. It’s unsafe for my kid to eat fish. He has to get his mercury levels checked. ”
Joe has been discussing all this with his psychiatrist, Alan Manevitz, who believes that the nation’s polariza- tion is fraying already-fragile psyches.
Oh God, not death to sushi! And other seafood? I am eating shrimp at the moment. Forget it. Throw it out, throw it out, it’s probably CONTAMINATED! Not even Whole Foods is safe anymore, there are RED DEVILS everywhere!
[Hey, wait a minute, am I writing on the night before an election, or am I commenting on the Red Scare of the 1950s? Indeed, am I reliving now the slogan ‘better dead than red’ where I am now on the other side of both the ocean and the issue?? Goodbye communist threat, hello GOP fear!]
As for the babies? Again, I am reading the New York Magazine article (no personal stories here and for Pete’s sake, I hardly want to place myself in the baby-making demographic!) and I see this (emphases are my own):
Dr. Elliot Wineburg, an assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai [says] “Some people are so concerned, their sexual activity is not proceeding the way it should,” he says, though he declines to quantify the size of this burgeoning group, noting only that it is “significant.”
“Their libido is going down. During the blackout in the late seventies, we saw the birth rate go up nine months later. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the opposite happens this time.”
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
One day more! Another day, another destiny…
I could do an entire page of lyric runs that would speak to the maddening nature of this day. Why is it thus? Because its minutes are trickling away and so are the moments where one could nurse and sustain hope without facing tomorrow’s reality of actual numbers.
For instance, I can be buoyed at the reported early returns in Iowa and Florida (they appear to be significantly favoring Kerry) without worrying a great deal about whether this is at all an important development, or whether it is one of those insignificant blimps, in the same way that the polling of diners at a vegetarian restaurant on the popularity of steak is a tiny bit unreliable.
I can ignore the outlier CNN poll that makes Wisconsin look like in the last days it sold its soul to the red claws and I don’t mean the la-dee-da lobster claws. But I can take great joy in hearing on NBC that for those under 30, 54% favor Kerry and 37% favor George (those numbers were nowhere near so Democrat-driven in 2000). Isn’t this fun??
Here’s a prediction that I can agree with: there will be fewer babies in July, 2005. Today, not surprisingly perhaps, I noticed myself taking time out to read with great care the article in the New York Magazine on election-related anxiety disorders (here). Sure enough, many of us are on the edge right now and will remain there for…. indefinitely. There is no relief in sight! Consider this excerpt, for example:
Nor will the post-election world (whenever it begins) necessarily bring Klonopin-like relief. “I’ll be elated if Kerry wins,” says Joe, another patient. “But I fear that the damage caused by Bush may be insurmountable. I believe we’ll be attacked again. I travel to Europe and Asia for business, and I’ve never felt such a groundswell of hatred for Americans. And if this country reelects him, the rest of the world will think we’re just like him.”
Aaaaaargh! Even if, even if there is a favorable outcome, we may have passed the point of damage reversibility. We are DOOMED! According to the article, some have become so paralyzed by the news of the wild maneuvers of GWB, that they have even grow to fear sushi! Read this:
Joe [seeking therapy in NY] has also become obsessed with his son’s sushi habit. “My son loves sushi. Every Tuesday is sushi night. But I just finished Robert Kennedy’s book about what the Bush administration has done to the environment. It’s unsafe for my kid to eat fish. He has to get his mercury levels checked. ”
Joe has been discussing all this with his psychiatrist, Alan Manevitz, who believes that the nation’s polariza- tion is fraying already-fragile psyches.
Oh God, not death to sushi! And other seafood? I am eating shrimp at the moment. Forget it. Throw it out, throw it out, it’s probably CONTAMINATED! Not even Whole Foods is safe anymore, there are RED DEVILS everywhere!
[Hey, wait a minute, am I writing on the night before an election, or am I commenting on the Red Scare of the 1950s? Indeed, am I reliving now the slogan ‘better dead than red’ where I am now on the other side of both the ocean and the issue?? Goodbye communist threat, hello GOP fear!]
As for the babies? Again, I am reading the New York Magazine article (no personal stories here and for Pete’s sake, I hardly want to place myself in the baby-making demographic!) and I see this (emphases are my own):
Dr. Elliot Wineburg, an assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai [says] “Some people are so concerned, their sexual activity is not proceeding the way it should,” he says, though he declines to quantify the size of this burgeoning group, noting only that it is “significant.”
“Their libido is going down. During the blackout in the late seventies, we saw the birth rate go up nine months later. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the opposite happens this time.”
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
An Ocean that’s *deeply* grateful
If I had a sidebar of favorite blogs I would certainly include on it the following people whose blogs I read daily and whose comments I value greatly (there are many more, but I am especially appreciative of the past week’s links to Ocean and so my thanks today run to these):
The Columnist Manifesto – a law school guy whose comments tickle and make you think;
Marginal Utility – I like to think of it as a “Wisconsin idea” blog: it’s got good photos, good politics and notes on a growing family. It’s always a lovely, happy place to visit.
Life As Is – another law school guy with kindred commentary (!) and a side link to Sosy, his child; also with drop-dead gorgeous photos (scroll down to the one where Sosy is bathed in sunlight looking at his shoe).
Tired and Wired – There is something about this blog that made me read to its beginning. In a September 10 post, she said this about remembering 9/11 (she’d been in NY during the attacks):
When I traveled to Poland and visited the Warsaw history museum, though, the burden of my [9/11] memories and the sheer trauma I experienced lessened. Looking at the pictures of that achingly magnificent city destroyed, razed to rubble, and then looking at pictures of people lining up across the city to care for the sick, passing water and food, rebuilding in the face of complete devastation -- it was the most 9/11 "healing" experience I've had.
And you wonder why I have a blogadiction!
The Columnist Manifesto – a law school guy whose comments tickle and make you think;
Marginal Utility – I like to think of it as a “Wisconsin idea” blog: it’s got good photos, good politics and notes on a growing family. It’s always a lovely, happy place to visit.
Life As Is – another law school guy with kindred commentary (!) and a side link to Sosy, his child; also with drop-dead gorgeous photos (scroll down to the one where Sosy is bathed in sunlight looking at his shoe).
Tired and Wired – There is something about this blog that made me read to its beginning. In a September 10 post, she said this about remembering 9/11 (she’d been in NY during the attacks):
When I traveled to Poland and visited the Warsaw history museum, though, the burden of my [9/11] memories and the sheer trauma I experienced lessened. Looking at the pictures of that achingly magnificent city destroyed, razed to rubble, and then looking at pictures of people lining up across the city to care for the sick, passing water and food, rebuilding in the face of complete devastation -- it was the most 9/11 "healing" experience I've had.
And you wonder why I have a blogadiction!
Sweet news: I, like so many others, are looking for sweet stuff to hit the news channels tomorrow.
Wisconsin is nicely turning out to be leaning in a terrifically sweet direction. And that’s the kind of delicious place this is. Here’s yet another example of it: yesterday, friends invited me to sample their 24 year old bottle of red Bordeaux. [They were uncorking a 1970 vintage that they’d been saving for a long, long time; to clarify --I love the fact that others can be so patient, even if the only really old bottle of wine that I myself have managed to preserve is a $5 version of some dessert atrocity that, for one reason or another, I forgot to throw away.] Cool. Yes, of course…..oh! but it’s Halloween, how can I abandon the 300 children that come through this block? I bargained for a slight delay so that I could at least take care of the littlest devils that ring the doorbell. It’s an awfully long path for small feet to climb. But at 7 pm I finally closed the door, leaving a monsterously big sign outside with this message:
Happy Halloween!
Take ONE piece!
[I’m watching! If you take
More than your share,
The GOBLINS WILL
HAUNT YOU TONIGHT!]
Boo!
I left a big container of assorted candy bars and left. Family and friends scoffed. The first batch of kids will empty things out. Don’t even bother. Etc.
Oh, the cynics of this world, how wrong you can be! I came home after 10 p.m. and there were 6 candy bars left. (Over a hundred had been removed – which is about the number of kids that I would expect to come after 7.) Sweet.
Is it more of a challenge to find the sweet side of New York, especially around such intersections as 2nd and 2nd or 1st and 1st? The neighborhood begins to look more worn and tattered. If Giuliani (of “it’s the troops’ fault!” fame) cleaned up the streets of NY, he forgot about these blocks.
But it’s never too hard in New York to stumble upon treats such as these:
Wisconsin is nicely turning out to be leaning in a terrifically sweet direction. And that’s the kind of delicious place this is. Here’s yet another example of it: yesterday, friends invited me to sample their 24 year old bottle of red Bordeaux. [They were uncorking a 1970 vintage that they’d been saving for a long, long time; to clarify --I love the fact that others can be so patient, even if the only really old bottle of wine that I myself have managed to preserve is a $5 version of some dessert atrocity that, for one reason or another, I forgot to throw away.] Cool. Yes, of course…..oh! but it’s Halloween, how can I abandon the 300 children that come through this block? I bargained for a slight delay so that I could at least take care of the littlest devils that ring the doorbell. It’s an awfully long path for small feet to climb. But at 7 pm I finally closed the door, leaving a monsterously big sign outside with this message:
Happy Halloween!
Take ONE piece!
[I’m watching! If you take
More than your share,
The GOBLINS WILL
HAUNT YOU TONIGHT!]
Boo!
I left a big container of assorted candy bars and left. Family and friends scoffed. The first batch of kids will empty things out. Don’t even bother. Etc.
Oh, the cynics of this world, how wrong you can be! I came home after 10 p.m. and there were 6 candy bars left. (Over a hundred had been removed – which is about the number of kids that I would expect to come after 7.) Sweet.
Is it more of a challenge to find the sweet side of New York, especially around such intersections as 2nd and 2nd or 1st and 1st? The neighborhood begins to look more worn and tattered. If Giuliani (of “it’s the troops’ fault!” fame) cleaned up the streets of NY, he forgot about these blocks.
But it’s never too hard in New York to stumble upon treats such as these:
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