Three Days Left

I guess we ought to get in all the campaigning we can before we potentially have to load up the truck and move to Canada. Maybe Mexico would be better than Canada. I think my money would go farther in Mexico, open up a little shop, work in the parking lot. "Subino, build this." Could be nice.

Today I checked my messages and it turned out that Spike Lee had called, again. I guess since he had to leave a message the first time he thought he ought to give it another try. That makes two Spike Lees, a Bill Clinton, and a P. Diddy - oh and Marisa got another P. Diddy on her cell. Would it surprise anyone to find out that this type of direct telemarketing is exempt from the "do not call" list? I don't remember if that is true or not, but I wouldn't be even the least bit surprised.

I tell you one thing though, I would vote for George W. Bush if he would make it illegal to have a machine call you on the phone.

This had never happened to me until I lived in Las Vegas. That was the first time I started getting calls from recordings. It occurred to me then that the best way to make sure I absolutely would not buy your product or vote for your candidate was to have your machine call me. Which ought to suggest to you just how much I want Bush to lose, because even after all these annoying phone calls I am still going to vote Democratic.

Everyone ought to be clear on this point though: telephone calls are not a broadcast media. Someone actually has to answer the phone. Maybe they are in the shower or on the toilet or something or fumbling with their keys outside the door, or driving down the street. What with placards, bumper stickers, billboards, print, radio, TV, email, and people actually knocking on the door you would think that the marketers in this world could give the phones a rest.

Oh yeah, as long as I'm doing election stuff...

Hey "W" put on a tie already. You're the president of the United States. I'm certainly not going to worry about wearing jeans to teach class if this is the standard being set by the head of our government - and I shouldn't wear jeans. So clean up some, we all know you're a businessman - might as well dress the part. You're not fooling anyone.

Katy gets crafty

I got a homemade birthday gift from one of my students:



Its a foam star with Melissa marble pushpins on one side and Marisa marble magnets on the back. I think its cool.

Thanks Katy.

Reader survey

Although Peg gave her unqualified "go David go," it sounds like quite a few readers may think that political posts on this page are "more boring than the normal boring posts."

Now, part of the whole blog thing, I think, is that I can just put whatever I want here. But there is a part of me that does want to give the people what they want. So what do you really think?

Best wishes

and a speedy convalescence to Peg's dad. My thoughts are with you.

More homeowner issues

What happens if you don't rake up the leaves? This was something that never really concerned me in the apartment. Today the procrastination was finally overcome and I got out and got going on the lawn. First off I have to appreciate the size of the lot I grew up on. Today only took me about 90 minutes to do 2/3 of the property. Back in HP, 90 minutes might have been long enough to do maybe 1/6, if that.

I got to talk to our talkative neighbor, Patricia. She had lots of good information for me: no, it's illegal to burn leaves in Forest Hills, yes, they pick up yard waste on 11/1, no, you don't need special bags for leaves but most people just blow their leaves across the ditch in the back anyway.

Tomorrow I may have to go buy a leaf blower.

I think the woman that lives on the other side was checking me out the whole time I was working. I wonder what that was about.

Anyway, 90 minutes later the front and the upper level of the back were clear. I wasn't able to do much with the driveway. Made me really wonder what we're going to do with snow, but that's an angst for another day. Today I need to determine if its worth it to clear the bottom level. This brings me back to the original question: What happens if you just leave the leaves? And if the answer is just that they're there in the spring - I'll take it. I wonder where this is in my homeowner manual.

I'm sure it will wait. Now we have to go get candy together.

I had a dream

a dream about you: Baby.

(I swear, musical theatre has ruined quite a few English phrases for me. Every time I hear someone say "Don't push me" I hear a little dada-dat orchestra sting in my head.)

This morning I had a lovely dream. It was something about being fired from my job because I didn't like Martha Stuart. I was at the track (?) with some unknown friend - I think I may have been in the movie "Let it ride." We'd just moved from our crappy seats into some really nice box seats when my cell rings, except its not my current cell, its my old cell (this I believe has something to do with Marisa dropping her cell into the Allegheny) and the person on the other end says I really ought to get back to work because I am in real trouble. So we leave the races and I go to work, and I am in my bosses office when someone shows me what is supposed to be my cell, and on the screen it says "Martha Sucks." At this time I am informed that I will have to leave my job because Ms. Stuart simply won't stand for that sort of thing.

The phone they are showing me is this impossibly small thing that I have never seen before. So I tell them that its not my phone, that they should call me and they would see that it wouldn't ring, which they do, and it doesn't. Well, actually it does, but its my regular cell and its in my pocket. Then we pull the battery off the tiny phone and call the company to find out who the real Martha hater is - at which time I am restored to my job.

Too bizarre.

Sometimes sleeping through the day can be more entertaining than being awake. I just wish I could have that kind of sleep at night. I never seem to remember these bizarre things except when I am dozing during the day. Something to work on anyway.

Look in his eyes, its all lies

Well...

http://www.gnn.tv/content/eminem_mosh.html

Not really sure what to say. I hope the anger here does manifest in votes and that its not needed after the 2nd.

Bush stuff

I've had this scrap of paper in my bag for like two weeks now. Its a list of things I think people ought to be talking about with regard to the election but just aren't. I realize that the public is more easily energized about current events, but I think that this race ought not to be about flu shots or an Iraqi ammo dump when there are much more significant issues.

Truth be told, in the interim I have heard some of these cracking through. I would be nice if the level of discourse were such that we heard more about this type of thing, but it isn't, and we don't. So if I were a news director (well, more than news director of "There are no bad ideas") here's what we'd be talking about:

1. "Enemy Combatant"
Jeez I wish someone would have asked a question about this at even one of the debates. What on Earth is an "enemy combatant?" I understand POWs, and I understand criminals, and on some level I even understand detainees, but "enemy combatant" as used by this administration really just seems like a way to work in secret and is, to me, a national embarrassment.

2. Civil Rights
Although it comes up from time to time in rhetoric, we haven't heard any real concrete and specific ramifications of the Patriot act. Kerry has said that there are people that want to change it, but he hasn't really said what. I really believe that if given specific examples of the kinds of things that are currently legal under the legislation that there would be an undeniable chilling effect on the election.

3. Labor Bashing
This administration is heir to a lineage that goes back to Reagan and PATCO. I just recently got myself an IATSE Local 1A for Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker. The Bush administration has consistently ridiculed and maneuvered against organized labor, as well as simply slanting workplace rules in favor of employers and against labor - regardless of unions or not. This is the administration that hat sat on minimum wage and that tried to strike down overtime for huge groups or American workers. In general if you are a regular working person, George Bush does not have your best interest in mind.

4. Military Subcontracting
Like no time before in our country's history the Bush administration has structured normal military operations to depend on independent contractors. We have hired an inordinate number of independent security experts (read "mercenary") to undertake military operations overseas. This is bad for so many reasons. One that you hear is that these people are not accountable to chain of command in a normal way - leading to abuses like we saw in the Iraqi and Afghan prisons. An issue that you don't hear much is that if this kind of contract labor is available there is no real incentive for highly skilled, experienced military officers to stay in government service. It actually makes it to their advantage to retire and then take work as a contractor, sapping one of the real strengths of our armed forces. The Bush administration has also awarded millions of dollars in contracts to independent commercial, profit making, companies to provide support roles that have traditionally been provided in house. This creates a profit motive to keep us at war.

5. Corporate Cushiness
What happened to the pre-9/11 corporate scandals and prosecutions? Right under the rug. This administration is way way way too friendly with business. They fostered an environment of win at all costs and then really never followed through with the disgust they portrayed in the media. At the same time they have cut the tax liability of the corporations and their officers, and had officers of corporations write the legislation for their own governance. Just dirty. Did anybody see the Frontline on international lease agreements? This is when US corporations lease subway cars from cities in other countries so that they can deduct the depreciation against their American taxes. Disgusting. Legal, and unchallenged under the Bush administration.

6. Fear Mongering
I'm tired of being told to be afraid and how the world is different since 9/11. The world was exactly the same prior to 9/11, this administration (and many Americans) were simply blissfully unaware. But just like the law, ignorance of a condition isn't an excuse. The world will be just as scary with a republican or democratic administration, to insist otherwise is simply fearmongering. What's worse, religious supporters of Bush have actually been telling their congregations that they will go to hell if they vote for Kerry. That's clearly not the politics of optimism and inclusion.

7. Disingenuous-ness
I have never felt as much like I am getting a sales job than I have from Bush. The whole run up to Iraq felt like a pitch for a series. This group is consistently trying to name things such that people won't pay attention: "Clear Skies Initiative" one of the weakest environmental policies in history. "No child left behind" for a program that actually closes schools rather than fixing them. Its like those right to life groups that pick names that sound pro-choice. What happened to people supporting you because you had the better ideas, not the better sales job.

8. Health Care
We keep arguing about legal reform when what we need is insurance reform. But lawyers are not a deep pocket corporate interest like insurance is. The problem with health care isn't the law, its the money - the profit motive. Some industries, health care and insurance being two, aren't really a good match with making money. Its like my lifetime suspicion of toothpaste makers, its ultimately in their best financial interest to sell you a product that doesn't work. If you are a company that exists to make money that treats people or makes drugs or settles insurance claims, it is quite probably in your best interest to do a bad job, keeps you customers paying more. These are the people this administration values. Why would they do anything that takes money out of their pockets. We need to move the discussion from prescription drugs and doctors to corporations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and insurance providers.

So that's my rant. Please please take this conversation to anyone you know even leaning toward George W. Bush (yes, that's you Mark). Please please find your polling place, bring redundant ID, and go early.

If you can take more of this, today or another day, these people do a better job than me:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041108&s=facts

Another year older and deeper in debt

So my birthday came and went. I am now closer to 40 than to 30. That makes me sound so old. I can remember thinking when people who were in their 30's seemed ancient. Most of the people I work with, the ones that were here when I was a student, they seemed so young then. They must have been as old as I am now. The thing is, I still see them as they were when I was here. I wonder why that is. Part of me still sees myself as I was when I was a student here. I wonder if that's a good thing, a bad thing, or a thing.

This isn't a complaint, but it wasn't a banner year for gifts or celebrations. I did get a lot of good wishes from people around school. That was nice. My parents, as is a family tradition of sorts, went bananas with birthday cards, sending like six cards on six days. The Vegas trip sorta whacked things off balance. Still, I've never been much of a party guy on these occasions.

For like the last 8 years each year has been another year older and LESS deep in debt. This year, for the first time in a long time - with the help of the home purchase - it is the classic another year older and deeper in debt. It always sounded like that was a depressing thing, but being in the position it seems to me to be a positive thing. My dad always said that you look at debt different when you buy a house. That up until that time its a bad thing, but after you buy a house that somehow it switches around to being a good thing. At least for the moment I think I agree with him. Being another year older and deeper in debt doesn't feel all that bad.

Mid-Fall Honor Roll

I figured I would use this space to run my own personal honor roll for my classes. So, as of Mid-semester, fall of 2004, here is the David Honor Roll:

Sylvia Fellin
Taylor Harris
Jennifer Henn
Adam Koch
Ian Schwartz

Congratulations. Keep up the good work.