Forever A Fangirl

Nineteenth Amendment Guarantees Women's Suffrage

Lucretia Mott

More Background/Excellent Suffrage Site

Let's not ever forget our history and the women who fought valiantly to better our lives.

Source: NYTimes.com

On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was declared in effect.

Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES

Washington, Aug. 26 -- The half-century struggle for woman suffrage in the United States reached its climax at 8 o'clock this morning, when Bainbridge Colby, as Secretary of State, issued his proclamation announcing that the Nineteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution of the United States.

The signing of the proclamation took place at that hour at Secretary Colby's residence, 1507 K Street Northwest, without ceremony of any kind, and the issuance of the proclamation was unaccompanied by the taking of movies or other pictures, despite the fact that the National Woman's Party, or militant branch of the general suffrage movement, had been anxious to be represented by a delegation of women and to have the historic event filmed for public display and permanent record.

Secretary Colby did not act with undue haste in signing the proclamation, but only after he had given careful study to the packet which arrived by mail during the early morning hours containing the certificate of the Governor of Tennessee that that State's Legislature had ratified the Congressional resolution submitting the amendment to the States for action.

No Suffrage Leaders See Signing

None of the leaders of the woman suffrage movement was present when the proclamation was signed.

"It was quite tragic," declared Mrs. Abby Scott Baker of the National Woman's Party. "This was the final culmination of the women's fight, and, women, irrespective of factions, should have been allowed to be present when the proclamation was signed. However the women of America have fought a big fight and nothing can take from them their triumph."

San Francisco, Open Those Golden Gates...

I'll be gone through next Monday. Going to San Francisco for a meet-up of folks I've known on-line and who have come to be friends. I'm extremely excited (and a bit nervous) but overall, thrilled to be going.

My day. The weather has sucked but since I'm leaving, it's going to turn hot. Heh.
The bright spot? After getting the last of the books shipped, I zipped by the pool and even though the skies had been threatening-looking all day, there was a lifeguard there and I got my swim in. It relaxed me greatly and I think it'll help me sleep.
I think all's good here on the homefront. I arranged a sleepover for my youngest on the one night his dad is working, o/w he'll be on his own for two days for a couple hours after school. I can live with that.

So I suppose I'll bid you all adieu and until next time...
be good!

--Cyn

Renoir: Girl with Watering Can

I can empathize with anyone with feelings of over-work. I happen to be rather hungry atm, too. :P

So work--the book-selling is in an intense period right now because--ta-da--I have/had a ton of new or newish books that could easily be assigned in any number of Sociological/Cultural/Religious, art, etc. college courses.
Hey, I knew getting that Masters would pay off some day. Heh.
It's no big feat to recognize a college textbook or one of the many "adjunct"-type college books--expensive little buggers that are either mandatory to buy in addition to your text or "suggested" (I could never afford to buy the "suggested reading"--I'd try to find it elsewhere). So I've had many student customers of late. Just had an amusing encounter with a Hawaiian student about his getting a chem text in time for class. I think maybe he didn't believe me when I said in my book blurb on Amazon.com that I'd ship it Priority Mail (though I didn't know I'd have to pay for it to go to Hawaii :/ ) for no extra charge. But he received it today and he's happy and I know how to say --in Hawaiian (I think) Mahalo nui loa---thanks very much. 8)

I found a cool oil-on-canvas Monet reproduction at the shop today, "Girl With Watering Can."--not my very favorite but a nice one. Has an ornate gold wood frame-- and it's the size of a poster(!). Reading about it helped me figure out why I sometimes get Renoir and Monet confused. They were best friends who invented the Impressionist art movement. Duh on me. Actually I feel okay about it, Now I think I can keep the two guys--who both did quite well for themselves in the producing excellent work dept. ;)--separate.

The other cool thing today besides a good, long swim ALL BY MYSELF in a pool that was tub-warm, was that I started music tonight.
OMG. We're doing spirituals and folk music and we are so white-sounding. It's got to be hysterical to hear us being coached on how to try to sound like a Baptist church choir. Too funny. Especially with the kid behind me in the tenor section doing it with a Jamaican accent (he's a white dude from the 'burbs).
But it was fun. We're not sure if we have enough people to meet the expenses to hire the conductor and an accompanist--we need both (and I suppose, to give the Park District it's cut--they own the rehearsal space and the historic audtorium that we practice/perform in) so we didn't get to keep our music tonight. Next week shall tell but everyone will be mega-disappointed if we don't come up with 40 peeps to pay up.
But I can't really focus on that atm, as I have S.F. to think about before next Monday night! :) :) :)

So that's about it. I am soooo wiped out--and I have to drive up near Wisconsin tomorrow, so I must pack it in for the night.

Wishing you all (especially Jam in B.C.) a pleasant tomorrow.

--Cyn

About this painting...
Pierre-Auguste Renoir began his artistic career as a porcelain painter and went on to be employed by the Louvre, in Paris, as a copyist: a painter who copied works of the Old Masters. Among the copies he produced were two works by Peter Paul Rubens, whose influence was vital during Renoir's later years when he departed from Impressionism.

The most critical historical event for Renoir was the relationship he formed with fellow artists Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Frederic Bazille. The four artists met in their early twenties, became friends, and founded the basis for what was to become the Impressionist movement...

Blue Nude ~ Matisse

I just read that "The Scream" by Edvard Munch along with his haunting " Madonna," were both stolen today.
I love them both. "The Scream" was one of four versions that Munch painted, I don't know about "Madonna."
EDIT:"Madonna," which shows a mysterious bare-breasted woman with flowing black hair, is one of five such images painted by the artist."
What does Matisse have to do with Munch? Not a whole lot I would guess, but I was browsing art last night and I found the "Blue Nude" and liked her very much. It may even turn into love. What would the world be like without incredible art manifested in myriad forms, that so enriches our lives? I don't ever want to find out.

Today's Email Dispatch From Kerry's People: Not Too Proud To Use McCain

This is an effective ad but I do not like it. McCain being bandied back and forth between the two parties is really not a pretty sight.

View the ad by visiting:

http://www.johnkerry.com/oldtricks

George Bush and his Republican friends have become so desperate that they are returning to their old tricks -- whenever a campaign is going badly, they smear the record of a Vietnam veteran. They did it to John McCain in 2000, to Max Cleland in 2002, and now they are doing it to John Kerry. The question must be asked of President Bush: what do you have against Vietnam veterans?

Our campaign has just released a new Internet ad called "Old Tricks" which shows John McCain asking George Bush to apologize for attacking McCain's own heroic record.

I had no idea that John McCain stammers (at least when upset) and he has a bit of a lisp as well.
I only make mention of this because I happen to have similar vocal "defects."
In this about 45 second snippet of John McCain speaking to "Governor" (I love the sound of that!) Bush, McCain tells Bush that he should apologize for sanctioning "fringe" veterans groups, who were at that time on a search and destroy mission against McCain. The fringe groups that appear most prominent are the ones funded by the GOP, so it isn't that big of a stretch to ask Bush to play nice and stop bashing Vietnam Veterans. Vietnam vets are part of the older end of the Baby Boom generation and between them and the rest of us born between (approx) 1947-1964, we could really kick ass if we acted like we cared on election day and actually voted.

Just by the by, I remember McCain from early-mid seventies coverage of his release after nearly four years in a Vietnamese prison. McCain had the dubious distinction of being among the longest held surviving American prisoners of the Vietnam War. I was very young then and the image of this man and the pride with which he carried himself in the pajama-like clothes he was first pictured in, stood out among that group of POW's and left an indelible image of the cost of war in my mind. The enemy never broke him.

I have a feeling his being used as a poster boy for both the Republican and Democratic parties is going to piss him off. Or maybe not. It would me. If it does annoy him enough for him to make a public statement, it'll be interesting to hear exactly what he says.

Woody Harrelson: Beat Poet

Woody Harrelson's Multi-media (including Flash) Presentation

I read some comments slamming Harrison for this little media piece that he put together. Basically his views were dismissed because he smokes weed.
Guess we shouldn't listen to what other entertainer-pot smokers/formerly heavy pot smokers like Willy Nelson or Paul McCartney have to say, either.
I mean pot just makes you stupid and completely invalidates the words that come out of your mouth, right?

Happy 12th Birthday, Chris!

Perfect hat!

Happy Birthday from Raven

The family group birthday party.

Six Years Ago Today...

(The new category gives one a clue why that date is significant). August 19, 1998, the day before my son's sixth birthday, I was dying of heart failure. It was brought on by a previously undiagnosed condition of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy which chose me for some unfathomable reason (bad luck? bad Karma? bad-thing-happening-to-a-good-person? It's truly a waste of time to ponder why. I did for about oh, five minutes maximum) as a good candidate to go to work on, and "it" almost got me.
My ejection fraction was down to 10%--kind of the cut-off point for sustainable life. A doctor to whom I will always owe my life, listened to my heart and though he was one of many who had done so over the preceding months as my condition worsened, he was the only one good enough to diagnose me properly. Within seconds, he looked me straight in the eye, and muttered a few words of reassurance as his expression told me that it wasn't good news. I needed to go to the hospital next door--now--he'd call ahead for me. I knew I was dying--I could not breathe without extreme effort and it was getting much worse.
Even so, my son was starting school the following week and if I was going to be sick or worse, I needed to finish his back-to-school shopping. So before going home to grab an overnight bag and a toothbrush, I stopped at Kohl's department store and bought him two pairs of trousers. Unbeknownst to me, my doctor was telephoning the hospital, quite frantically checking to see if I'd been admitted yet. Well, I had to get my kid pants, especially since it may have been the last time I could. After I shopped for about 90 minutes, I went home, threw a few things in my bag, and headed to the hospital and into the frenzy of being a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit patient. What a long road lay ahead of me, but I couldn't have imagined. All I could think of was, If I die now, who will raise my boy?

Balboa Park Lily Pad Pool

The Original

World's Smallest Political Quiz

World's Smallest Political Quiz

Check out this short, fun, and legitimate-sounding quiz. I am so relieved to learn I am not an L-word (Liberal). Just kidding! Hadn't thought of myself as a Libertarian, but their ideals, at least as tidily summed up here, do correspond with my own.

Your Political Philosophy
The red dot on the Chart shows where you fit on the political map
According to your answers, your political philosophy is: libertarian

Libertarian
Libertarians support a great deal of liberty and freedom of choice in both personal and economic matters. They believe government's only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence. They value individual responsibility, and they tolerate economic and social diversity.

Quiz nicked from:Messenger Puppet

They Eat Whales, Don't They?

I remember when the Save the Whales campaign began when I was a child. According to this article, it was very successful overall.
But just as we eat cows, pigs, and even the revered bison, there are folks in this world who have historically, eaten whale meat and who want to resume doing so on a larger scale. The article below seems to present both the anti-whaling and pro-whaling point of view in a thorough fashion. Me? I'd rather just watch 'em.
(I also think it's just a tad hypocritical that nations such as ours whose "harvesting" of farm animals depletes the environment in a such critical way, are so quick to point the finger at other countries who do far less damage to the earth in exploiting natural resources.)

Scientists estimate there are as many as one million sperm whales worldwide, among them this baby, only hours old, and its mother.

SOURCE

By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: August 17, 2004

CAP DE BON DESIR, Quebec, Aug. 11 - A few miles from this spit along the pink granite coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, there is a sheltered cove that has witnessed the full span of the human relationship with whales.

Nearly 500 years ago, fleets of Basque whalers, venturing ever farther from their home waters in Europe's Bay of Biscay, set up camp on the arc of gravelly beach. They had depleted domestic stocks of the right whale, a blubbery species that conveniently floats after it is killed, and found plenty of targets in the 900-foot-deep water just offshore.

They towed the harpooned giants into the shallows on the rising tide. When the water receded, they stripped fat from flesh, boiling it to extract precious lamp and cooking oil. The next high tide carried the carcasses back to sea.

Now the same cove is home to a different kind of fleet. Several times a day, fresh assortments of tourists slide into a dozen yellow and red kayaks and paddle away. Their quarry is also whales, but these visitors covet them alive, not dead. Small minkes and giant fin whales spout and feed amid ranks of puffing porpoises and seals.

But even as whales have faded as a resource and cemented their status as an environmental icon, with whale watching now a billion-dollar business, pressure is building to end the 18-year moratorium on commercial whaling.

A small group of countries, led by Japan, Norway and Iceland, says some stocks have recovered sufficiently that they can be both protected and eaten. They say the whales are essentially the marine equivalent of the majestic bison, which was slaughtered nearly to extinction, protected and now is being made into burgers.

It is hard to find a whale biologist who, in terms of numbers alone, disagrees with the contention that some whale stocks are, in theory, harvestable now.

Populations of whales like the 100-foot blue, the largest animal ever to inhabit the planet, remain profoundly depleted decades after intensive hunts ended. But experts say that for certain stocks of sperm, minke and other varieties, the 35-year-old slogan "Save the Whales" no longer applies. They are back.

A decade ago, the International Whaling Commission, created under a 1946 treaty to manage whale harvests, approved management plans with harvesting quotas for some of the more robust populations. A wide array of scientists advising the commission agreed the quotas would not endanger those species.

But most experts say there is a long way between a theoretically safe harvest limit and one that will work in practice. The commission remains divided on how to enact such a plan in a way that prevents cheating, with whaling and anti-whaling countries riven by passion, cultural differences and divergent interpretations of the same data.

Japan and its allies say the moratorium has been transformed by anti-whaling cultures from a strategy for restoring whales to harvestable numbers into an indefinite defense against whaling.

Last month, at the 56th annual meeting of the commission, in Sorrento, Italy, delegates approved a resolution calling for treaty parties to settle on a final management plan and a way to pay for it by their next meeting. Still, for many scientists and most environmental campaigners, there is a "wall of reluctance" to ending the moratorium, said Véronik de la Chenelière, a biologist at the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals in Tadoussac, a whale watching and research hub 12 miles west of this ancient whaling outpost.

Many experts still insist it is premature to resume big-scale hunts, given the lack of information on the dynamics of many whale populations and given how rife whaling has been in the past with false reporting and greed. The cultural and historic rifts over whales are even more intense than the scientific and regulatory debate.

Since 1971, when "Songs of the Humpback Whale" became a hit album and groups like Greenpeace were filming factory-scale whaling up close, western countries have grown to revere the animals as a sort of benevolent alien. The whale songs were even sent out of the solar system on the Voyager spacecraft.

But in countries like Japan, where the only meat in school lunches after World War II was fried whale and parboiled blubber, the right to go whaling has become an issue of national pride.

Love In The Time Of Cholera ~ Blue Pyramid Book Quiz

You're Love in the Time of Cholera!
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Like Odysseus in a work of Homer, you demonstrate undying loyalty by sleeping with as many people as you possibly can. But in your heart you never give consent! This creates a strange quandary of what love really means to you. On the one hand, you've loved the same person your whole life, but on the other, your actions barely speak to this fact. Whatever you do, stick to bottled water. The other stuff could get you killed.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Love In The Time Of Cholera?! I couldn't get past the title, nevermind read the book. Ick! But I do drink only bottled water. Hmm.
Thanks to: Messenger Puppet

Will Ferrell's Bush Ad

Though I applaud any American (or permanent American resident) including the group of high-profile musicians performing this month, for working to remove G.W. Bush from office, I gotta say I really like Will Ferrell's approach. Though not quite as stellar as Dana Carvey's impersonation of George The Elder, Ferrell has gotten quite good at doing a credible Shrub.

Check out this video for a giggle and then consider the rather alarming notion that Will is not doing that much of a parody. In other words, Will-as-prez is not too far removed from the man currently occupying the White House.

Thanks to Countin' Flowers On The Wall

Birthday Cash/Bocce Ball/Wood Fetish

Just got back from the massive birthday party. All went well...kids got a ton of cash . What ever happened to gift-giving?
I played some bocce ball with my spouse's sibs & their spouses in the perfect, partly sunny/70's weather...that was odd, but fun. Also shot a little pool on the most beautiful, ornate carved table...OMG...how the other half lives (my bro-in-law, who hosted, is an optometrist). I don't think I've fessed up ...but I sort of have a wood fetish.

Anyway, right now spouse and I are going to watch last week's ep of Six Feet Under, which we missed while in CA.

Our Most Important Neighbours To The North Are Dishonest Pinheads

I love Molly Ivins' sharp wit, tempered with her warm Texas take on the state of things you and I should care about.
And I can't wait to visit my Canadian relatives over the Labour Day holiday and get their take on the dog and pony show that is American election-year politics.
Blame Canada. Pfft!

Tough sledding
Molly Ivins - Creators Syndicate

08.10.04 - KANANASKIS, Alberta -- Make that a big Canadian, "Oh dear." These nice Canadians, whom George W. Bush once managed to triumphantly identify as "our most important neighbors to the north" are famous for their reticence. Canada, Land of the Understatement. I once proposed their national motto should be: "Now, Let's Not Get Excited." Not that I would ever generalize. I attribute their commendable phlegm to being too cold to waste much energy, and also to regular ingestion of oatmeal.

Nice, polite, calm, reserved, chock full of common sense and living next to us -- what a fate. For them, it's like having the Simpsons for next-door neighbors. A few years ago, during the height of our national meltdown over Monica Lewinsky, a host on the Canadian Broadcasting Co.'s evening news program began an interview by gingerly asking me, "So, having another of your little psychodramas down there, eh?"

This year, the American psychodrama, eh, is the election, and Canadians are taking unusual care, even by their standards, to try to phrase their questions delicately. "You couldn't possibly..." they begin, only to break off. "Are you not aware of what..." "Surely you realize how..."

But they can think of no polite way of asking if we are such freaking idiots we haven't noticed the damage that has been done by the Bush administration to the American reputation all over the world.

One tries to explain that, "Who cares what the rest of the world thinks?" is a common American reaction, leaving the poor Canadians to quietly mutter, "Oh dear."

Just FYI, of the many allies the Bush White House managed to gratuitously insult on the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, we miffed the Canadians by blowing off their last-minute attempt to work out a deal for continued inspections under a strict timeframe -- we not only blew it off, we went to the trouble of being rude and arrogant about it. Among its other unpleasant traits, bad manners rank quite high on this administration's list of failings. In addition, some right-wingers weighed in with juvenile taunts along the intellectually brilliant lines of "nyah-nyah-nyah."

The National Review published a cover story headlined "Wimps!" Bill O'Reilly of Fox News got all huffy over something a Toronto columnist wrote and decided to appoint himself our national spokesman. Diplomacy is not O'Reilly's forte (he called Canadians "dishonest pinheads").

Make-up Must Have Taken FOR-ever (!)

An artist symbolizing ancient Greece performs during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 13, 2004. The Games returned to their spiritual home with an opening that brought the myths of Ancient Greece back to life through the magic of 21st century technology. Photo by Jerry Lampen/Reuters

Finally Unpacked!

Time to dry the mop on top of my head (went swimming, natch) and settle in to watch the last of a mini-series, The 4400, that I taped whilst in CA.
I have unpacked the last bag (yay!) and now need to gear up for a monster-size birthday party tomorrow. I married into a large family and several members have birthdays in July/August, plus my youngest and his grandfather share an Aug 20 birthdate (do you know how hard I tried to avoid that? It's a very long, sordid story).
I'm still drained, but my stubbornness in staying up late last night to try and catch up here, on my site, and in the book business is the reason. I really need to get more self-discipline in the sleep dept. I just don't seem to have the time to.

Home Sweet Home

After a sunny California vacation, I come home to record low temps...NOT fair!

California was absolutely magnificent.

Of course Disneyland was fab--four days though, wore everyone out so heading down to San Diego was sweet relief. We managed to find our way to La Jolla Cove and my youngest son and I did some snorkeling--checking out pretty schools of fish amidst the swaying grasses. We overheard another swimmer say that there was a group of sea lions sunning themselves two small coves north of us, so Chris and I swam over there. He got a bit weirded out by the seaweed and other grassy stuff that kinda wraps around ones legs but once we found the sea lions--including some bigger baby sea lions, he said it was worth it. Swimming back against the tide to our point of origin was a bit of a challenge. I was really grateful that I swim year round because Chris tired and I "towed" him quite a bit. We were not in any danger though as there were people within shouting distance at all-times. It was great.
(This is how unbelievably bad parents we are--we were chillin' in our (kinda crummy) San Diego motel room (we weren't expecting the room to be crummy, but life is full of surprises, right?) near :ahem: Dog Beach--there were dogs everywhere. It's our first night in five "off" from Disneyland, and spouse was flipping channels and came across "Jaws," which was into maybe it's first 15 minutes. So we watched it with Chris (age 12 on Aug 20)--we're all in the same room, and he had no objection. All he really thought about it was that the shark looked fake. Considering how far special effects has come in 25 years, yeah, the shark did look fake. The story was still compelling though, plus it's of note because it's Spielberg's first big film.)
I so miss swimming in the Pacific. :sigh:
We only had a few hours to sight-see on the day we departed, so we went to Balboa Park. We were rewarded with free parking(!) many museums with an emphasis on the rich cultural history of San Diego, and some lovely gardens, with the huge desert garden being our favourite. The beauty of nature just takes my breath away and though I loved Disney, I think the next vacation I'll plan more natural stuff and less of the pre-fab.

In Disneyland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad remains closed and Space Mountain is down, as is the Enchanted Tiki Room. I'm looking forward to seeing a polished up, possibly slightly different Tiki Room--always a good place to duck into to get out of the sun. The Indiana Jones ride was broken down more than it functioned. What a disappointment (!) as it is an excellent ride but based on multiple visits this trip and on another vacation, there's got to be a design flaw somewhere...
Though I didn't see Mickey Mouse, Woody the cowboy from Toy Story came up behind me and pulled my ponytail. What a wiseguy.
My son is into flume rides and the only "real" one is at the Disney adjunct, California Adventure. It was very hot during the day, so lines were too long for comfort. We'd pick up some fast passes earlier in the a.m. and actually went mostly in midafternoon through evening--seeing indoor stuff, then heading outside later. The rides clear out at California Adventure near closing time, so Chris ended up going on Grizzly Bear Run 15 times! I went for the last five runs in swimsuit with shorts and was completely soaked on the first run. It's very fun because one does not know when "the geyser" will erupt, literally dumping buckets of water on you and the white water simulation is neat with lots of bashing and splashing about.

I love California Adventure--it's just not Disneyland--and it shouldn't be, IMO.

The new Hollywood Hotel "terror ride" is sufficiently realistic during the pre-ride stages that I ended up feeling less excited about the Haunted Mansion, but the newly redone Pirates of the Caribbean is still as fun as aways, just more modern in places (the ride wasn't terribly PC when made back when Walt was last at the helm).
Disneyland or the Disneyland Resort as it is now called, is evolving--as it should after 50 years, but it retains it's Disney-ness.

One more very important stop was my home of three years (ages 19-22)--Huntington Beach...the Surf City in I think, two Beach Boys songs. Walked the (used-to-be-wood-but-a big-storm-blew-it-down) concrete pier. Ate lunch--a fabulous fresh Cobb salad-- with avocado--yum! at Ruby's restaurant at the end of the pier.
From the look of the empty buckets and the glum expressions of some the people fishing, it seemed like it was a bad fishing day--was hoping to see an interesting "catch" but was not to be. I did "catch" a pretty girl surfer, the only one of two when she was within camera range as they surfed near the pier. It wasn't a great day for the surfers, either. :/ (pics to follow)

I am sooo tired right now. Miracles of miracles, this was the very first time we came home from vacation and the house was NOT wrecked (we got in around 1 a.m. this morning). The fish weren't dead from not being fed, either.
Amazing.

Gone Fishin'

until August 12.
Check out some of the new-ish entries in my photo albums and be sure to come back after the 12th!

Peace,

--Cyn

Bogus Orange Terror Alert Verified

A man passes a heavily armed police officer near the New York Stock Exchange on August 3, 2004. Much of the information obtained by al Qaeda that led the United States to raise terror alerts in New York and Washington was at least three years old and U.S. officials are unsure if the group's surveillance continues, according to reports published on Tuesday. Photo by Peter Morgan/Reuters

Wow! I am really impressed with whomever uncovered what today appears to be "the truth" about the information which led to thousands of people being unnecessarily mildly to very stressed due to orange alerts attached to their workplaces.

To belabour the obvious. Yes, one of these times the White House will be right--there will be be another terrorist attack on American soil. Whether it's a home-grown terrorist like McVeigh or one from abroad, it'll happen and just as sure as the sun will come up tomorrow, the Bush administration will take credit for having "predicted it." Of course, all the bogus alerts that the White House has issued will be ignored.
Oh, what a world we live in.
And how humbling that the United States can no longer stand above much of the rest of it now. We are just as vulnerable--maybe more so, than much of our global family.

RALPH NADER USED TO BE MY NEIGHBOR

Michael Moore and Bill Maher's pleas to Ralph Nader fall on deaf ears.

RALPH NADER USED TO BE MY NEIGHBOR
Okay, almost. We lived in the same small state--Connecticut-- for many years--he, about 25 miles from me.
Those were Ralph's salad days. He's the reason I gotta choke myself with the seatbeat not made for a gal with a D-cup, when I get behind the wheel of the 'stang--he brought the car makers to their knees with his relentless presentation of death statistics from people flying through their windshields and getting tossed from crashed cars.
He and his Nader's Raiders did a ton of things to better the environment, like push for the establishment of car emission standards. He did a bunch of other important stuff, too. Connecticut was proud of Ralph Nader for his pure ideals. (Feel free to look it up, if you are so inclined.) Safe to say, Ralph Nader affected your daily life way before 2000, when it's possible he gave us George Bush.

Nader was always too odd to be president. Wore one suit of clothes all the time, very spartan, not warm and comfortable with people. Never married, no kids. I think he lived with his mother for many years (into his forties, when she died(?) I need a memory pill).

Nowadays, Nader is in the spotlight due to his advanced state of delusionality (That is a word. I made it up).
When I read quotes from interviews with him in places like the NY Times I cringe and I shudder a bit, 'cause he's much odder than he was years ago.

He's a total oddball. Bright maybe, even really smart, but Jeebus, totally not evar going to have a chance in Hades of being prez.
Someone! Quick! Give this man a new cause to champion.

Convictions Intact, Nader Soldiers On>
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: August 2, 2004
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 1 - To Ralph Nader, the Democratic convention in Boston was a hollow charade that made Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, seem more like President Bush than ever. He said it gave him no reason to drop out of the race, even if he costs Mr. Kerry the election in November, as many believe he cost Al Gore in 2000.

"This isn't unity," Mr. Nader scoffed in an interview here on Saturday, referring to the message from the Democratic convention. "This is repressed conformity in order to create the show."

He called the Democrats a "decadent" party and, in a reference to Mr. Gore's populist war cry in 2000, accused Mr. Gore of "taking my language away from me" and "costing me more votes than I cost him." Mr. Kerry, he noted, voted for the war in Iraq, would not put a deadline on withdrawing American troops, voted for the Patriot Act and, he said, "won't touch the bloated, corrupt military budget."

So Mr. Nader, who does not concede that he has little chance of winning the presidency, is preparing for battles ahead - for ballot access in most states (he is on the ballot in six states so far, including Florida), for credentials to the Republican convention this month (he was denied credentials to the Democratic convention), and for a seat at the table in the fall debates, which requires a standing of at least 15 percent in national polls.

Andrew Kohut, the director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, said that Mr. Nader, who won 2.7 percent of the vote in 2000, was polling at about 3 percent in most national polls now but could spell trouble for Mr. Kerry in some swing states.

While Mr. Nader digs in his heels, the Democrats are trying to sideline him. The party has enlisted Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, who has declared an "extraordinary emergency" to stomp out Nader votes. And some former associates of Mr. Nader are organizing an extensive, well-financed national campaign against him. Organizers include Toby Moffett, a former congressman from Connecticut and onetime "Nader Raider," who lost a close race for the Senate in 1982 after his former boss endorsed his opponent.

Mr. Moffett, now a lobbyist in Washington, worked against Mr. Nader in six states in 2000, an informal effort that he now calls amateurish. With that experience under his belt, he said, "we're vowing not to let it happen again."

Mr. Moffett and others from labor and feminist organizations spent their time at the Democratic convention coordinating six or eight anti-Nader groups. Calling themselves United Progressives for Victory, they are raising money through an independent political committee known as a 527, named for the section of the I.R.S. code that governs it, and are working with other 527's that are already identifying sympathetic voters. (By law, such committees can raise unlimited amounts of money but cannot coordinate with the Kerry campaign.)

The group is armed with a poll conducted by Stanley Greenberg, who was President Bill Clinton's pollster. The group includes Roy Neel, a former Gore associate who worked for Mr. Dean and is now preparing the computer model for finding the 2.8 million people who voted for Mr. Nader in 2000 and might vote for him again.

Mr. Moffett said there was no chance that Mr. Nader would drop out, so the only way to stop him from throwing the election to Mr. Bush is to discourage his supporters.

Mr. Nader's determination to stay in the contest was evident on Friday night in Los Angeles, when Michael Moore, the filmmaker, who backed Mr. Nader in 2000, appeared with him on the HBO program "Real Time with Bill Maher." Mr. Moore and Mr. Maher dropped to their knees to beg Mr. Nader to drop out, with the audience cheering them on.

Mr. Nader was unmoved, saying only, "We're going to help defeat George W. Bush" and dashing off the set at his first opportunity.

Nader supporters, Mr. Greenberg's polling shows, are generally older and angrier than other voters. They are fiercely against globalization and corporate dominance, and they are largely indifferent to social issues like abortion and gay marriage.

They are also hard to find, and the Moffett group is debating how to track them down and shape and deliver a message that will reach them.

OMG, We're At High Alert!!!

EDIT: Just some very large financial institutions have to be very cautious and vigilant, apparently. The rest of us remain on yellow alert (!?) and stay away from big banks. The White House urges folks working in those humongous institutions to go about as if life were "normal," I guess like the UK, Israel, etc.,... have done for years.

The Sky Is Falling!

Americans must accept their nation is a target and get on with business as usual, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Monday after raising the threat levels in Washington and New York to high. More...

Code Orange! Code Orange! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Sorry fellas, keeping Americans in fear will not win you the election.
And Tom Ridge? The man has yet to utter a word that had any relevant meaning for me.
The poor man is a puppet and looks perpetually befuddled.

Chicago Yacht Club At Night

07.17.04

Ooh, would I love a boat ride on Lake Michigan--right now!
(photo by my spouse)

Elizabeth Edwards's Weight: WHY DO YOU CARE?!

EDITED ON 8/3

Sadly, I called this one a few days ago when I first saw Elizabeth Edwards--full length--at the Democratic National Conventions. Many people it seems, cannot think of anything intelligent to discuss about the upcoming U.S. Presidential election, so they make ugly jokes and do search inquiries into her weight.
Someone in the search query above wants to know her height--perhaps a kinder-hearted soul who suspects Elizabeth is very short and doesn't carry her weight well.

Elizabeth Edwards is fat.

So WHAT???

Most likely she is smarter and richer than you. She's been highly successful and respected lawyering out of the State's Attorney's Office, doing tons of charity work, and running the foundations established in her deceased child's memory. She suffered through the accidental death of her 16 year- old- son Wade, and though Wade's younger (by about 2 yrs., I guess) sister survives, Elizabeth later went on to give birth to a child in her late forties, and again at age fifty, "in order to bring joy back" into the Edwards's family life. She also appears to be a very supportive spouse in a loving marriage (as one of my blogger friends pointed out in his comment following this post).
If she, after the insanity of campaigning, settles in and loses weight, will you like her then?
'Cos she'll still be smarter, richer, and probably nicer than you.