Ohio is once again at the center of election controversy. People haven't even had a chance to vote, but some Republicans, quickly seeing the writing on the wall, are trying to get hundreds of thousands of voters tossed from the rolls:
More than 200,000 registered Ohio voters may be blocked from casting regular ballots on Election Day because of a federal appeals court decision on Tuesday requiring the disclosure of lists of voters whose names did not match those on government databases, state election officials and voting experts said.
On the one hand, I'm kind of psyched that the Republicans have pushed the panic button so early - the internal numbers they are seeing in their polling have clearly shown them they need to do something drastic to get out of the hole they dug themselves. It's too bad that they are disenfranchising people to do it, especially in Ohio. If there is any state that has felt the hurt of the Bush Administration's policies, it's Ohio. Talk about salt in the wounds - with this kind of behavior, Republicans are basically saying "we've helped eliminate the businesses and jobs that you depend on for your modest living, we refuse to provide any kind of job training or incentives to business to replace those jobs, and now we want to make sure you have no say in changing things". This is your Republican America.
One of the best persuasion discussions of Obama and race that you'll see this cycle (thank goodness). There is a sizable chunk of working-class whites who can't wrap their heads around a black president. They have to. Their futures depend on it.
For a (very) brief moment, I considered going to Cornell to study Urban Planning. I'm still a bit of geek about development and how cities and towns can be built in better ways. The environmental strains and logistical difficulties of building and maintaining a successful city are particularly obvious in Washington, DC. There are limits on building heights, historical preservation concerns, and a generally stable economy that lends itself to ongoing development, and all contribute to the difficulties. Oh, and all the people, too. DC is unique in the number of people who converge on the city on daily basis for work and then hightail it back to their suburban sprawl - and they all apparently MUST drive. Ugh. I have a car that I use to visit my family (my brother's family is nearby, as is my mother, but neither is convenient by public transportation). My car is, no lie, 17 years old, and I keep it safe and running, but prefer to walk or use public transportation whenever possible.
I wasn't always into the bus or Metro - I was one of the suburban idiots who turned my nose up at the bus, and found the train inconvenient. Once I moved into the city, it was really dumb to continue to be that stupid, so I changed my ways.
DC is one of the most walkable cities in the country - in college, I would come out to visit my brother, and would spend the day exploring the city on foot, occasionally hopping the train when it was convenient and made sense. $20 would get me anywhere I wanted all day, cover any fees for getting into special exhibits, and still leave me some dough for a half-smoke and coke. I'm pondering getting a new(er) car, and I'm struggling. I think I'll do it, but part of me feels like it is kind of dumb. We'll see.
Anyway, one of the best sites to read about issues w/r/t development, traffic, sprawl, and "people movement" is Greater Greater Washington. It's smart, very current, topical, and on the nose about the importance of changing our mindsets on how we get around and make the city better overall.
Since all of the real versons of "I Want I That Way" are disbled for embedding, I am using a different (some might say better) version. I kind of hope the NKOTB reunion gives them the chance to have this kind of hit - it's sublime. Great, memorable pop songs are tough to come by, and this one definitely goes in the canon.
I love them both for different reasons (okay, I sometimes get annoyed by Beyonce, but only because she has taken over the universe - she's still totally bangin'). Love the fall music season - great stuff, and they both look amazing:
I have a lot of geeky, embarassing quirks. Ooh, look, here's one now!
Guess who's baaaaaack?
Woo-hoo!
Judge me all you want. A warning, though: Britney's new video for "Womanizer" has to be dropping soon, and I will be adding to the torture when it does.
My friend Erin, a rock for me since midway through high school, is inspiring me to try harder with this blogging thing. Her blog is funny and interesting and smart, and I aspire to be more like her with this blog. She's naturally much funnier than I am, and without the sarcastic edge I tend to use to slice through life. Read her blog.
This post isn't going to be funny, however, but I mention Erin because she wrote a post that got to the heart of my biggest frustration with Sara Palin. I have a number of issues with her on the merits, but the biggest is how underwheliming her brand of "leadership" is. I don't want some "average, Joe six pack, soccer mom with lipstick on her pitbull" running our country. I know, I know, she's "only" running for VP. But can't we find two big thinkers out of the millions and millions of people who are in this country? She's carrying on the Bush tradition of relishing her own lack of vision and celebrating the very ordinariness (not a word, but whateva) of her being. I want GREATNESS, I want VISION, I want someone who thinks bigger and better and smarter, and who may not always hit the mark but is throwing him- or herself at the wall trying.
I don't generally think of myself as patriotic, mainly because the notion has been co-opted to mean that I have to drive a pick-up, have a flag pin, and drink shitty beer. I am, though, in the sense that I love this country and all of the possibilities that we celebrate every day. The fact that there are so many idiots on TV running their mouths and so many morons in Congress that I disagree with is a testament to what is so great about this place: there are possibilites to make a difference everywhere, no matter your abilities or beliefs. There are a lot of caveats and complications to this of course, but for the purposes of this discussion, it's true. There is no country on earth like America, and there is nowhere in the world I could have the life I have now, and I am thankful every single day.
When I really became interested in politics, I was about 13 years old, and my interest grew from an intense belief in social justice and the possibilities that exist if we all work together to make things better. I still have that belief, and a drive to make things better. This, despite working in professional politics for years and growing increasely jaded and disgusted with how our dear "leaders" behave. Even the ones that gross me out are generally there because they want to DO something and change things, an absolute imperative if America is to continue to be the great great place that it is.
Back to Lipstick Lady. Her race to the bottom of the bell curve is disturbing, but I'm even more bothered by how it is being embraced. I'm also disturbed by how the media is giving her a pass on her nonsensical verbiage and answers totally lacking in logic, reason, or depth. Enough. We have a great legacy of brilliance in this country: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony - all people who saw beyond what was to what could be and worked their asses off to get there and to get the rest of us to see it, too. America is not average, and our leaders shouldn't be either.
Seriously?:
SERIOUSLY? Watch just a few minutes of this, and listen for any kind of vision or aspirational thought:
