Anne Lamott on The Colbert Report

She was on last night. Pretty sweet.

Gas Tax

You may have caught McCain or Clinton criticizing Obama for not supporting the summer holiday from the gas tax. McCain thinks it is a legit way to ease the burden of a poor economy and expensive gas on the American family. Clinton is joining the fray to present a united front with McCain which is another one of her cheap tricks to win more support.

The idea sounds great until you do any amount of research on it and find stuff like this...

It's [the gax tax] 18.4 cents per gallon. The average consumer will save about $30 over the entire summer if we scrap the tax. ... Clinton and McCain aren't challenging the existence of the tax: They are implicitly saying it's a good tax that we should all relish paying in the non-summer months. Clinton is doing this and arguing that higher taxes on energy companies should be part of the bargain. It's phony populism in the service of a "tax cut" that would fund one meal for two at Applebees, which may or may not include dessert.

How You Find My Blog

I've recently noticed a spike in traffic to my blog. No, it is not because my daily readership is growing. No, it is not because more people are linking to my blog.

People find my blog because they search for the "goonies sequel". My post a while back on the subject is consistently in the top five results.

You search for "Qdoba hours" and you get this post on why Clinton is like Qdoba.

Maybe you are trying to find out if Starbucks has Italian sodas. If you google it, you'll find my page.

A lot of people must have questions about airplane exit-row seating. They find the rules here.

And a curious number google "McDonalds soda sizes" and find my page.

The rest of you link to my blog via one of the blogs on the right and some other blogs. If that's not you, then it is a direct link, mostly meaning, you actually are a regular. Thanks.

Enger's Return

Breezing through the book reviews in the Sunday paper a name drew my attention. It wasn't a book review, rather an article about Leif Enger writing his new book. Enger wrote Peace Like A River, one of my favorites, and his new book is So Brave, Young, and Handsome. And it is already out. How did I not know this?

He will be in Milwaukee on May 8th to read from his new book. I'll be there.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Asked the central philosophy that underscores his fiction, asked if he was religious, Enger said, "I would say that, ah, I value faith a lot. Faith is important to me. Religion--I associate the world with ritual and I'm not very ritualistic. My world-view is a Christian one, so it follows that the things I value in my stories would have to do with sacrifice and atonement and goodness and joy. Particularly joy. I love books that seem as if they were joyfully written. Certainly they would include failure and despair and sadness, but I never feel that those things by themselves are the whole story."

Diminishing Returns

Once again, the hope I hold for Obama reaching the White House is dwindling.

Another primary has passed where Hillary won by just enough (in her mind) to justify staying in the race. By the way, the final margin between the two candidates in Pennsylvania was 9.2%.

The longer Hillary stays in, the longer she will attack the true front runner in her party, thus giving Republican focus groups more fodder for attack ads and more material for Limbaugh, Hannity, and O’Reilly. I used to love O’Reilly, but I tuned in last night and couldn’t even bring myself to watch more than one minute of the man as he railed on Obama for the issues that don’t matter—Wright, the Weather Underground, Obama’s bitter comments, etc. And then these people on TV go on to talk about how Obama is not vetted. They must be kidding. I truly can’t remember the last time I heard a criticism of Obama on FOX, CNN, and MSNBC that was related to one of his policies.

I guess I see the machine really picking up speed now and it makes me feel hopeless. It is a machine determined to not let Obama become the POTUS. I don’t know all of the fuel that the machine runs on, but it is clear it is partly made up of paranoia of the black man, the aversion of Obama (a man with the middle name Hussein), Islamophobia, and the simple thought of a Democratic White House.

It is one big machine. And we need to stare it down.

For what it is worth, I am trying to. One of the only ways I know how to is by writing here, but soon I might know one other way because I recently applied to be a full-time volunteer for the Obama campaign this summer.

A Spike Lee Joint

In the absense of Kate (she is at Purdue until tomorrow) I decided to hit up the documentaries at the library and I found a goodie.

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

The documentary looks into the lives of New Orleans residents prior to, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. A worth while documentary always educates. That is what I love about them, and Spike Lee brings it in this one. There are countless interviews of residents and professionals working in the aftermath of Katrina. Their stories are horrific, touching, and sad. I found myself laughing at people throwing out all political correctness. My jaw dropped at the site of the floating dead in the storm surge. And I cried watching footage of people returning, for the first time, to their homes of 50+ years only to find ruin and heartbreak where there once was so much hope and pride.

This documentary was originally a TV mini-series on HBO, but is now available in a 3-disc set at your local libary. So check it out.

A & F

Okay, a number of things about this video of Obama's speech last night from Indiana.

First, I am posting this because I wanted to make note of the Abercrombie and Fitch advertisement behind Obama. I don't know if anyone else on the blogs has already mentioned this. I wouldn't be surprised. It can't be a coincidence that the three gentlemen directly behind Obama are all wearing A & F shirts. On the YouTube video it is a little hard to read the third guy's shirt, but trust me, it is A & F.

Second, Obama does something Hillary never does when she loses. He congratulates his opponent and he thanks the voters in Pennsylvania who voted for him. Hillary can never bring herself to congratulate Obama and if you voted for her, but didn't win the state for her, she would rather care less. Looks like she is the one that is bitter.

Here She Comes

"The road to 1600 Pennsylvania runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania." - Hillary Clinton's opening line of tonight's victory speech. It made me laugh. Hillary really has turned into a comedian. She went on to say, "We can only keep winning." I can't agree anymore because she is going to have to take over 80% of the remaining votes to even have a legit reason to be in the race and that is not going to happen. Is she trying to make it sound like winning is a habit of hers? Hillary, remember 11 states in a row?

Oh my gosh. She did not just say, "The tide is turning." I hope the stage collapses, or she falls off the front end of it. Please pull a Dole.

The tide turned a long time ago, Hillary, and you are just holding onto these scattered victories because it makes you feel good. Your supporters argue that these victories show you are the stronger candidate and that you deserve the nomination despite being behind in delegates, pledged delegates, and popular vote count. We are told that if you really did make a habit of winning, and if you really were in the lead, and Obama was behind, that leaders in the Democratic party would not be calling for Obama to drop out. That isn't believable for one moment. If Obama was losing to the Clintons as badly as you are losing to him, Hillary, it would be much more of a done deal. Clinton is still a stronger brand in the democratic party. He wouldn't stand a chance and you don't either. Pennsylvania....whoopdee-freaking-do.

And, I might add, Obama would have dropped out by now.

PA Primary Eve

In the last six weeks I have done a below average job on writing non-political posts. I got some ones in there that might not have found their way to the blog if there were primaries throughout that time, but I gave up on completely abandoning any talk about the candidates and the race for the White House after I took a spin through the archives. According to the archives, this blog covered politics long before I remember ever writing about politics. And so, after a pseudo-break from political blogging I return today with some very casual thoughts on the next primary because tomorrow, voting is back on the menu.

Clinton is set to win Pennsylvania. All the major polls out there show her lead to be anywhere from 6 to 14 percentage points. Andrew Sullivan is of the opinion that without a double-digit Clinton victory in Pennsylvania, Clinton doesn’t have a legitimate reason to stay in the race. I definitely subscribe to this, but do I think Clinton will go on even if she just wins by two points? Of course. I think most of us do.

Since the ABC debate and bittergate, the networks have really been hitting Obama hard for hitting back at Hillary. I don’t know what the media expects of Obama. Yes, he is classy, but classy people need to defend themselves and I think that is all he has done since being triple teamed by Gibson, Stephanopoulos, and Clinton last week.

The best case scenario for Obama is a narrow defeat tomorrow and victory in the remaining primaries followed by a Clinton concession speech. The latter determining factor being the most unlikely, but if this did happen it would be a boon to the Democrats chances in November because they wouldn’t have to wait until August to solidify a nomination.

The worst case scenario for Obama and everyone that doesn’t want McCain in the White House will be if Clinton stays in the race until the convention like she vowed to do several weeks ago in the Washington Post. If she takes this to the convention I will be very skeptical about an Obama victory in November. Remember the good old days when Clinton voters said they would support Obama if he won the nomination and vice versa? Well, that dream has died. Each day that this battle rages on polarizes the democrats even more. I used to think a Giuliani/Clinton match-up was the worst possible. That was before Clinton decided to stay in the race even though it is mathematically impossible for her to win with numbers of delegates, states won, and popular vote.

Honestly, I think Obama will definitely win the nomination, but that hasn’t kept me from having nightmares about voting for Clinton or McCain. I think I would pass altogether.

Heads Up

Obama is going to be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight. I think it might just be a split-screen conversation, but it would be nice to have him in studio.

Clinton, Edwards, and Obama

Colbert really pulled out all the stops last night in his last broadcast from Philadelphia. Clinton, Edwards, and Obama made appearances on the show and Obama put distractions on notice. Oh, snap.

Another Tour

This picture from Sunday's paper made me stop what I was doing. Without reading the caption I assumed it was related to the Iraq War. Sure enough, dad just left for a second tour. One of the saddest pictures ever.

Small World

A customer came into the store yesterday carrying her own cup for us to make her drink in. I was on bar so I stepped over to grab her cup. I looked down at the cup and saw "Caffe Luna Longmont, Colorado" on the side. No freaking way. Her family just moved out to Milwaukee after living in Longmont for seven years. We had a nice chat. I introduced myself and said, "I never thought I'd be in Milwaukee serving a Starbucks latte in a Caffe Luna travel mug."

Live-blogging the debate

I missed most of it. That's no big deal because it sounds like I didn't miss much, but I got my updates on some blogs.

Sullivan:

8.33 pm. So far, neither Gibson nor Stephanopoulos have asked a single policy-related question. They seem utterly uninterested in foreign or domestic policy. After the past eight years, we have had half an hour with nothing but process questions. Gibson and Stephanopoulos are clearly part of the problem in this election and part of what has to be reformed.

Amen. From what I have read and from the 30 second clips I have seen, Gibson and Stephanopoulos should be ashamed of the debate they conducted. Gibson was booed by the audience, for crying out loud.

The Choice Part

The two best bits of commentary on Obama's "bitter" quote I have found are from an emailer on a blog and Jon Stewart.

The emailer:

Thank God for Obama's speech. I live in rural Kentucky and yes, many, many people here have nothing: no job, no money, and no future. Ironically, people on the coasts call him elitist for saying something that most here agree with. Maybe that's why nobody is talking about it around here--old news.

And I paraphrase Jon Stewart. He made a point of all the elite criticism by reminding us that elite means good. He went on to say that he wants the president to be much smarter than him. I think he makes an excellent point and very accurately makes fun of the way the MSM and politicians throw the word around.

I don't want dumb in The White House. I don't want average in The White House. If Obama is elite, I want elite in The White House.


Side note: Stephen Colbert has been broadcasting from Philadelphia all week and so far the shows have been off the hook. You should really try to catch one on the tube or right here. Last night Michelle Obama was on.

Health - The Statistics

A couple of weeks ago I set out to do this post on my health. I ended up with a colossal post, but one that covered too broad a spectrum. I ended up with chapters instead of paragraphs.

So, the first installment of a new series of posts on my health debacle is going to feature mostly numbers. Here are the stats:

1 - Average number of doctor appointments in a six-month period, prior to this sickness

23 – Appointments I had from October 10, 2007 to March 6, 2008. The actual number of appointments is probably higher because some days I would go in for a routine visit and then have the doctor schedule another appointment later in the day…mostly blood work.

10 – Different doctors that I saw

7 – Vials of blood drawn

1 – CT Scan

2 – MRIs – One without contrast, one with contrast

4 – X-rays

1 – Echocardiogram

6 – Drugs

1 – Hearing test

0 – Diagnoses

The last number really is my favorite. After all that, what I can’t tell you is what made me sick. Instead of trimming the list of possible diagnoses, each appointment seemed to broaden the many ways I could experience pain, suffering, and death.

Throughout, I have gone back to October 8^th—the beginning. I’ve ran through the events of that day and that weekend countless times trying to pin down a possible culprit of this scary and expensive adventure. Like I said not too long ago, I believe it might have been Lyme disease because of all my matching symptoms, but we will never know for sure. I was also in a heavily forested area the day before my headache set in and I could have easily picked up a tick. I was tested for the Lyme antibody earlier this year and it was negative. However, prior to having that round of blood work done, I was told that the test for the Lyme antibody is often inconclusive, meaning it can be negative but still the patient can show symptoms of Lyme disease.

Coming soon:

Thoughts on the health care I received, faith, death, finances, and my miraculous comeback from a disease that took me to the precipice of eternity and back again.

That last part was a joke, but really, I am doing much better and am very healthy by all accounts.

This Unbelievable

From last week's NY Times Book Review of Michael Kinsley's new book Please Don't Remain Calm: Provocations and Commentaries:


Kinsley deserves special credit for exposing the curious syntactical tic that has made television news abolish all forms of the verb "to be," including "'is,' 'are,' 'am,' even 'were' and 'was.'" He quotes Lou Dobbs on CNN: " 'Top government officials today adding their voices to the call for Americans to remain vigilant.' (I not kidding: These his opening words on that evening's program.)"

The Masters

I was just sitting here thinking how corny the names of the golf holes at Augusta are when Nick Faldo told me that it was a writer, a famous one at that, who came up with "Amen Corner" for holes 11, 12, and 13 (I believe). Well, I still think the name of that corner and other holes at this course are just ridiculous. They even have names for the bridges, ex. Hogan Bridge. Pretty much everything about golf is very respectable, but giving names like "Tea Olive", "Flowering Crab Apple" and "Pampas" to golf holes is a little hokey.

Sorry, Rachel.

Happy Birthday, Six Hours On Sunday

I had no clue what I was getting into when I wrote this three years ago. I knew little about what a blog was exactly when I started my own. I was only vaguely aware of the blogosphere and the web of the millions of bloggers out there sharing stories and opinions and lives.

Three years ago, I started this blog because I was hopeful that it would force me to practice the art I love so much. I was right. Without this tiny little place in the blogosphere, where I can self-publish anything I want any day I want, I would not be where I am today.

So, this site started as a writing experiment. It has turned into so much more. Now, I see this blog as a door. At first I was very apprehensive about cracking it open and letting the outside world in on my little secrets, but with a comment left on my blog there, a conversation about my blog here, my reluctance has been whittled away.

I think within the last year I kicked that door open. A huge reason the door remains open is because of you. You come back every day. Without an audience this platform would be much different. Maybe there wouldn’t be a platform at all. I owe this to all of you and an innocent decision I made exactly three years ago that has become a huge part of me.

Thank you.

An Onion Headline in real life

Parents Fight Over Which Gang Toddler Should Join
Police: Mother a crip, Father a Westside Baller

Via email from Kate.