Thievery

Eryn absconded with this from outside the Eagan Chipotle yesterday after lunch with Scooter and friends from work:



I told her it's just a perfectly ordinary rock, but she keeps pointing at it and insisting "Beans! Beans!" I take it that because it used to live at Chipotle, it is responsible for the black beans she eats there, and she expects that now that she is its keeper and master, it will produce an endless supply on her command.

I don't think I can manage to watch the debate on Thursday

Oh, unless someone has been given the job of poking Bush with a sharp stick every time he says Iraq is moving in the right direction (or, you know, anything related to that). Maybe Kerry could poke him with a stick, too, like when he says his tax cuts to the most bloatedly wealthy are really attempts to help the middle class. Yeah, John should poke George with a stick every time he says that. He'd make a pretty light fixture afterward.

Don't tell my insurance company

...but I'm considering an alternative to the chemical stripper and power washer technique of stripping my deck in preparation for restaining it. After three hours of working on the bloody thing only to achieve a partial stripping of the stairs and railing, I began wondering whether it would be more efficient to spray lighter fluid all over the deck and strike a match, then quickly extinguish the flames. I think if I did that and then sprayed the whole thing down, it might just work better than what I'm doing.

YES, him!

I recently asked my friend who tends to vote Green Party or Independent whether she's voting for Kerry in November. None of my business, right? I asked anyway. She said she is voting for Kerry, but that she doesn't particularly like him. When I asked her why not, she noted that his supporters have focused much more on the "anybody but Bush" sentiment than on anything Kerry does or is. I explained my reasoning for voting for anyone the Democrats put on the ballot for President and how the "Anybody but Bush" movement comes from an intense disgust for the man and the disaster he's created here, and in Iraq (and of our reputation as a country). She agreed he's disgusting and said that's why she'd also vote for anyone the Democrats offered, but I take note of what she said about the negatively stated support for Kerry. Anybody but Bush is a little too inclusive. I wouldn't vote for Pat Robertson.

The fact is, I do like John Kerry. Someone close to me who is likely to vote Bush (though I have a hard time accepting and truly believing that) asked me "Yeah, but would you pick him out of a lineup?" Yes, I would. I don't know what sort of President he'll be, precisely, but if he behaves in office the way he claims he will--if he acts on the things he says he will--then we will be much better off than we are now.

Anyway, I rescind my earlier statement that I'm returning to my "Anybody But Bush" sticker. I don't want to give anyone who normally votes Independent or Green Party any reason not to Vote Kerry...to get Kerry in, and yes, to get W. out.

Isn't this small-scale domestic terrorism?

Apparently very gung-ho W. supporters in Louisiana have for the second time vandalized (read: burned) Kerry-Edwards signs on the steps of the local Democratic headquarters and written pro-W. propaganda on the door.

Hm. Perhaps Bush will have to call out the National Guard in some places to keep his rabid supporters from demolishing anything with the name John on it? Oh, wait...the Guard is busy keeping the peace in Iraq.

Damn the gay vote, anyway

I'm sure God will make sure W. wins the election, even without the LCR or the "gay vote."

AMERICAblog quotes Reuters:

Privately, one Bush-Cheney official said the campaign hoped the gay issue would mobilize religious conservatives who did not show up as strongly as some expected in 2000.


"Say you lose a thousand voters over the gay issue, you could be possibly mobilizing hundreds of thousands of voters by staying strong on this issue," the national campaign official said.

You GO, John!

Yeah, what he said!

Don't Mess With The Texas Lottery

If you want to keep your method of entrance into the Texas Air National Guard hush-hush.

One Reason TV Is Good For Toddlers

Blue's Clues is infinitely more enticing than the "Eryn stain" Mommy is trying to steam vac out of the carpet.

Scott, we gotta lay off the spicy saugage and beans for this kid!

Perhaps dolphins or angels will save W.

I guess the Republicans didn't have enough of these people on their team. Peggy Noonan signed up last week.

From World O' Crap:

Peggy Noonan is indeed a Republican (and urban) legend. I mean, just the story of the supernatural dolphins alone assures her a place in the Big Book of Republican Myths.

Sleepy + Elmo

This is what happens when you put a sleepy child in front of an Elmo DVD.

Now I have to clean the basement

In Science News:

"But human urine has its limitations: It decays rapidly if not kept refrigerated and must be frozen when shipped. It can smell, and it foams. Donors must be screened carefully for drug use or disease. Also, different body chemistry guarantees that no two people's urine is exactly alike, an irritation for researchers who rely on consistency. "

Damn it, what am I supposed to do with all the jars I've been saving in the basement?! (Sorry, Scott, I've been meaning to talk to you about the bottom shelf of your "Man Fridge.")

Please, not HIM

I just got a new Kerry-Edwards sticker for my car (which is inside the rear windshield, as I was taught young that actually affixing bumper stickers to one’s bumper is inherently evil), but I think I need to switch back to my original political sticker. It’s funnier, and it gets me into conversations with other people (in parking lots, at gas stations, at the veterinarian’s office) that give me some hope I won’t have to take my husband and daughter and move to Canada because that lying sack of stupid actually won an election (this time). I like to show my support specifically for Kerry and Edwards, but it seems more potent to express my utter disdain toward and fear of W.

I must admit, I'm tempted to step it up and go with this one.

Serious Writing

No ghosts here

From the American Progress Action Fund:

RUMSFELD DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE: In at least one case,
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "has acknowledged...he ordered
military officials in Iraq in November to hold a man...at Camp Cropper, a
high-level detention center, but not to register him." The Bush administration has later since acknowledged that Rumsfeld's conduct "violated international law."

So, Rumsfeld will be prosecuted...right?

Well, if not, at least he'll lose his job.

No? Certainly he'll be told not to break the law again. Ever. I'm sure of it. Bush won't have any lawbreaking or other sorts of misconduct among his co-conspirato--ahem--workers.

Elmo lives in my garage

I thought it was genius: I bought Eryn the DVD Elmo: The Great Outdoors today. I thought, Hey, $10, she gets a new DVD to watch (and I get a break from The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland), PLUS there's a CD included. I popped the CD in as we drove home, and she lit up. Score! Then we got home. I shut off the car, and she started crying, pointing at the radio, and yelling "El! El!" It got worse as we walked into the house. I put in the DVD, as I had promised I would, and she stared at the television with rapt attention. When it started, she threw herself backwards and wailed. It wasn't Grouchland.

Now, she sits happily watching Grouchland, clutching the case for the new, unwatched DVD.

Out of Kerry signs

So I went to Northern Sun (East Lake Street) to find a Kerry-Edwards sign for our lawn (we have a John Kerry sign from before Edwards was on the ticket, but wanted an updated version), and I couldn't get one because they were all sold out. I can't decide if that's a good sign that the Kerry campaign is doing well, or if it's a function of the neighborhood in which Northern Sun resides. One way or the other, at least there are more and more Kerry signs popping up all the time. Huh, Scott noticed that Bush-Cheney signs began appearing right after the RNC. What, do GOP supporters need to be reminded? I didn't notice an upsurge in Kerry signs after the DNC.

Note to Ming: Northern Sun has the fish you wanted for your car with "N Chips" inside it. I'd have gotten you one while I was there, but I saw it after I'd already paid for my stuff, and Eryn was hollering. Sorry.