Big Dick gave the wrong URL in the debate last night. It should have been factcheck.org, sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
factcheck.org is a great site, however, and I am thinking of sponsoring it from this end for the duration of the pre-election shenanigans.
In unrelated news, for the first time since 1909, Chicago police reported no gunshot wounds or deaths yesterday. I doubt the same can be said for New Orleans, however.
I promised I wouldn’t talk about the debate, but it’s too tempting not to stay quiet.
From Annie in Spain, “I heard on the radio this morning that (according to the commentator I was listening to) Kerry ‘won’ the debate last night. Did you see it? I need to go turn on CNN, I am curious to see how stupid Bush looked this time.”
Bush could not conceal his anger and kept reverting to a rehearsed and more refined method of name-calling. What a sneak – relying on the emotional weaknesses of the American people and getting them to turn off the rational part of their brains. If the country votes for him again, it’s their loss. This is what I tell non-voters: maybe you don’t like the choice of candidates, but one can definitely wreak more harm than the other in the course of 4 years. A vote in this country, while not completely democratic, definitely makes a difference.
Annie again: “Is it sounding like you are going to vote for Kerry after all? Last time I asked, you were still leaning toward Nader. PLEASE vote for Kerry!!!!! With an election this close, a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush — like it or not.”
No, a vote for Nader is not a vote for Bush. It’s a vote for Nader. However, Nader and his mission are getting old, i.e. he is running out of spite for the two-party system as opposed to any earth-shattering and positive changes he has to contribute. I abhor the two-party system but I cannot vote for an equally insipid third party because I am angry. Therefore, I probably will end up voting for Kerry, if only to put Bush’s ancient cronies back in cold storage and hope they die of old age before they can be revived to unleash their version of trickle-down havoc again.
Give me my money back,
Give me my money back, you bitch!
— Ben Folds Five, Song For The Dumped
Guess I owe everyone an explanation of the Hurricane Ivan fallout. Well, two anxiety attacks and panicked packing and storing later, D and I raced to Houston with our Important Belongings (in the little Honda, after dropping my mother off at the airport). Yes, we took the CPUs and expensive electronics instead of the art – we’re tech geeks, what do you expect? It took us 10.5 hours to get there and, oh, only 9.5 to get back, even on the back roads. On the bright side, we spent a few dry, lovely and allergy-filled days with Rolf, Tim and The Farm, not to mention a pilgrimage to Rudz. I’d never have known that DeQuincy, Louisiana exists but for this storm.
Anti-climactic moment of the decade: On our return to NO 6 days later, we found that the city, being on the west side of the counterclockwise-swirling hurricane, suffered a severe drought during our absence, and that all the little houseplants wilted, instead of landing on a rooftop 5 miles away. Our philodendron fell over and landed in the stinky pond that is yet to be dredged out one of these years. And, Machelle called to inform that she was alright: the only hurricane damage she suffered was a leaf that fell off her brand spanking new banana plant. Not being wholly insensitive, we held the poor leaf a wake. Or was it to celebrate our homes being intact, I don’t remember …
On a more somber note: Never will I forget the way I felt preparing for the evacuation. Even back in 1990, when I had a feeling that I might never again see my home in Kuwait, I didn’t know this level of apprehension and confusion. It’s a horrible feeling to realize, so suddenly and so violently, that you feel exactly the way your parents felt when they left their home up to the whimsy of the gods. Or Iraqi invaders and local pillaging, in their case. That even this earthly semi-permanence cannot be conquered in the face of something as awesome as a hurricane is a very cleansing and terrifying experience. I hope you never have to go through evacuation, and then, I do.
Hurricane Ivan has us New Orleanians really, really nervous. Here are a few National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration images and animations that help foment anxiety attacks:
Western Atlantic Water Vapor Image Loop
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