The Great Cat Debacle of 2009

This all started out with the best of intentions. Honest! Lots of marauding felines were marking our house, so I thought I'd do the right thing. I got a trap, and have been neutering every tomcat I can get my hands on. The San Jose animal shelter has a fabulous feral cat program that fixes (spays or neuters), vaccinates for rabies, and even de-fleas for a whopping sum of $20. At that rate, I can afford to help a whole lot of kitties.

Well, I could have. And then I cleverly left my trap set last Thursday night.

At first, I was thrilled because the cat I caught has been the neighborhood terror for quite awhile. He looked pretty awful, the weather was predicted to get hot, and I was happy to get him off the street for some medical attention. Alas, I had neglected to note that the San Jose shelter does not take ferals on Fridays. No problem! There are low-cost clinics around!

I found a low-cost clinic, but apparently "low cost" means different things to different people. Because the cat was so grouchy and so unwell, he needed sedation so that the vet could draw blood. The vet had some suspicions about FIV, the kitty version of AIDS, which would make him unsuitable for release. I gulped and okayed the charges.

The next day, the blood work came back and was of course positive. No wonder he was so mean-this kitty was in some bad shape. I gave the okay for euthenasia and cremation. I went to the vet to sign the paperwork and pay the bill.

Four hundred dollars later, I'm scratching my head. I don't question her charges-small veterinary practices are businesses and she really did give this cat some tender attention. But wow could we not afford that. This is the month for retiring every last penny of our credit card debt. Massive vet bills weren't really part of that plan. So, tomorrow is the day that I finally clean out the garage and take pictures of stuff to sell. I think I can get half to two-thirds of the bill knocked out, and we will still be able to say we're free of credit card debt by the end of this month.

From here, I'm not sure I want to keep trapping cats. I know that someone needs to, because the animal suffering (not to mention the property damage) will continue as long as there are fertile felines roaming the street. Luckily, there are several local organizations which can help with the trapping and fixing of kitties. I'm happy to do the work, but I'm not so happy to foot the bill.

Who Parents the Parents?

One of my favorite blogs struck a nerve with me this evening, and I tried to post a comment. It ended up being longer than any blog post I've written in months. "Hmmmmmmmm..." So I'm posting it here instead.

For some background on the ramblings that follow, please visit A Reluctant Mom. I'll wait here.

You've read it, right?

That is one crazy playdate. Kids are easy-it's figuring out what the heck to do with their parents that's hard. I know this because I'm a parent and I'm pretty sure I have exasperated a hostess or two in my time. So, from my heart, RYD, here's my response.

*******

RYD, you're too nice.

"I'm sorry, I am not prepared to accommodate more than one friend this afternoon. I'm sure the girls will be disappointed, but if this afternoon is not going to work for you we can certainly reschedule."

"Please don't put shoes on my clean tablecloth!"

This woman sounds like "one of those" who lives in chaos by choice. She probably doesn't even realize she's such a drain on everyone around her. In her past life, she probably wouldn't have put shoes on tables or invited herself for an afternoon.

You may well be one of the few people who sets boundaries with this gal. She was probably not sure what to do with specified start and end times. (Wow, it sure is hard to do playdates at RYD's house-she has rules!) She's found a way around your rules so she can stay in her comfort/chaos zone.

I can't imagine you'll be letting her so much as look at your doorstep any time soon, but if you do, stick to your guns! It's good for you, it's good for her. And if she trash talks you with the other moms, I'll bet you anything they'll all be secretly wishing they had your gumption.

As for the racism, well, words fail.

I was raised in a deliberately colorblind household, which I think was a well-meaning mistake. Imagine my surprise when I moved out of blindingly white Montana to a more normal part of the country. I thought people were people, but the first time I was called a honkey it knocked me back and gave me more existential angst than 3rd grade generally merits.

Fast forward and my kiddo figures kids are kids. But one day she notices that her best friend (recently adopted from Nepal) has darker skin and hair. As does my cousin. My girl tends to be especially fearful of anything in her environment that is different. She was pretty anxious when she first discovered this difference between herself and two of her favorite people in the world.

So we (duh) talk about it. "How do you feel about that, Kiddo?" I asked. Turns out, she was worried that darker skin meant her best friend was seriously ill. And it made her nervous to play with her friend because she didn't know if it was contagious. Dunno about you, but I'd NEVER have guessed that in a gazillion years.

Not one to rest on my laurels, I've been encouraging both the noticing and accepting of racial differences. Our favorite activity? A generic princess coloring book from the dollar store. It is now the most ethnically diverse collection of princesses ever assembled. And we've decided that they are ALL beautiful. I think it's important to keep fun activities like this on hand (or at least in mind). Teachable moments and all of that.

Chaos Lady might be the biggest racist in town, or she might be inept. "Never attribute to malice that which can equally be explained by stupidity," as my hubby's favorite saying goes. If she's wallowing in that chaos and self-manufactured helplessness in the face of small children, chances are she's just never devoted gray matter to values training. She probably doesn't think she can. Or she's a hopeless bigot.

So you can avoid this gal because she's obnoxious. Or, you can avoid her for the reason that really gets at you. She's inept. This is not your problem-it's hers!

This reminds me a lot of playing in band in high school & college. You never want to sit next to the underachiever in your section. Some of their attitude and poor habits rub off no matter what you do. I remember my head getting fuzzy about half-way through, and then irritability and inability to concentrate would set in. There's something about the aggressive underachiever that sucks everyone around them into stupidity. I didn't really get the connection until my best friend explained to me about how that works on married couples. Don't hang out with the ones who have unhealthy relationships-it'll rub off. It's not such a stretch to apply the same principle to parenting. Not that we're all one bad playdate away from shoes on the table or teaching racism in utero, but over time that sort of thing can really muck with a person's sense of normalcy.

Who is Jenny McCarthy, and Why Does Anyone Care?

Up until several months ago, I'd never heard of this gal. Then she wrote a book. I refuse, on principle, to read it. Jenny McCarthy imagines that vaccinations cause Autism. Jenny McCarthy also believes she has a magical cure for Autism. In honor of World Autism Awareness Day, I would like to call attention to the delusions she shares with entirely too many parents. Why do we care? Because McCarthy and people like her are a public health risk. Arm yourself with actual information. And if even one vaccine preventable illness or death is prevented by what you learn here and share with others the world will be a better place.

Autism and Autism spectrum disorders seem to be everywhere. Here in Silicon Valley, we seem to have more than our fair share of people suffering from this. It's a horrible malady, and people are justifiably desperate to find some dadgummed answers.

Many times, this disorder begins to present right around the developmental age at which kids get vaccinations. Worried parents swear everything about their kid was "normal" until the day their kid got protection against measles, mumps rubella, diptheria, pertussis and tetanus. The Autism must've been caused by the vaccines! Just like global warming is the result of declining pirate populations. Just because these things happen at the same time doesn't mean that one causes the other. There's a way of checking for that, using some clever ideas called "science."

Unfortunately, there are some real cretins out there. One guy, one guy I tell you, published a study a good while back in which he made up results to show vaccines causing autism. Thoroughly discredited and even admitting to having his pants afire, this guy's nonsense lives on. And lots of innocent people don't.

A lot of well-meaning parents do "research" on vaccinations and decide that, based on faulty studies and the woo of people like Jenny McCarthy, they just can't "risk" their kids getting autism. So they don't vaccinate their kids. That's right. They have the power to spare their children pain, misery, disfigurement and even death but refuse to do so based on the insane ramblings of fearmongering nutbags. Yeah, it sucks that we don't know how to prevent Autism and to cure the most debilitating aspects of it. Causing a whooping cough epidemic that kills old people and little tiny babies "just in case" is almost Pope-like in its arrogance.

In recent years, there have been increasing numbers of outbreaks of entirely preventable diseases because of falling vaccination rates. This is not based on the superstitions of has-been centerfolds, it is measurable. And it is killing people.

Many others have written about this, and I'd like to point you to them now.
The Bad Astronomer
StopJenny.com
JennyMcCarthyBodyCount.com

So, the next time someone expresses reservations about vaccinating their kids you have the knowledge. You have the power to encourage them to use their brains and not be a public health menace. Use that power for good. Save some lives. And then someday we can all forget about this Jenny McCarthy person.

Dogs in the Tot Lot

I used to like dogs a lot. And I still do. It's their owners who sometimes leave me unhappy. Take, for example, the events of this morning.

We had a fab time at our monthly playgroup at the park today. There was one smallish incident that added some unnecessary excitement, so this is the e-mail I sent to the parks department for clarification. Feel free to comment folks, and even to write your own note to the parks department if you feel so moved.

Hello-
I was at a neighborhood playgroup at the tot lot at Cahill Park this morning, when an issue with a dog arose. A parent had brought his son to play, but he also brought his dog into the fenced tot lot. Always leashed and well-behaved, but still, a dog in an area designated for children. All of the moms who left their dogs at home were surprised at the dog owner's defensive response to their request that he tether his dog to the fence on the outside of the lot.

The situation degenerated into a group confrontation, and an angry denial by the dog owner that there should be any restriction on his dog being in the tot lot. His kid was there playing, his dog likes to play on the equipment too, he keeps the dog leashed and always picks up poop so he reasoned that he had been unfairly singled out by moms bent on making their own rules regarding playground use. I felt badly that this parent chose to leave rather than simply keep his dog outside of the gate. Given the perpetual issue of out-of-control off-leash dogs in the grass at this park, it doesn't seem an unreasonable request to have one dog-free place at the park for children to play.

It is my understanding that dogs are not permitted inside the gates of fenced tot-lots, but I don't see this posted on the parks website so now I'm wondering just exactly what the policy is. I walk from a bit of a distance for my child to use this beautiful playground, but it's not worth it for me if it is a dog playground too. Thank you in advance for your time and attention to my question.

Sincerely,
Heather Steingruebl

The thing that killed me about this whole interaction was that it started out friendly, and only got ugly when the dog-owner decided to make it so. Our little playgroup loves meeting new folks and so the folks who bring snacks share with everyone and people make a point to introduce themselves to anyone they haven't met before. This guy was welcomed even with his dog in tow, but the rest of the people in the rather crowded play lot asked him-nicely I thought-to keep his dog outside the fence. The huffy, "is it a rule or is it an ordinance" questioning was just belligerent and he was probably right to split after behaving that way.

My feeling on this is that the guy loves his dog (a very nice one by the way) and is a bit blinded by that love. He knows he is at the very least pushing the limits of social acceptability by letting his dog run up and down the slides, and didn't want to be called on it. A lot of his bluster seemed to be him trying to convince the universe at large to be the way he wanted it. Probably a losing proposition, but for today it just made him look like a jerk.

All Good Things...

...eventually look much better for having come after something unspeakably horrible.

Take the incoming Obama administration. We've got high hopes for him and all, but really, when all is said and done, we're all going to be relieved if we get a President who's not a blithering incompetent. Smothered in pure evil with a pacemaker. If Obama only takes 100 vacation days per year of his presidency, he'd be breaking with a cherished tradition dating back to the dawn of the milennium. We'd like to see better things from our leaders, but recent experience has taught us that even our most basic expectations canbe thwarted spectacularly.

I have a hard time believing that Dubya has all of his faculties. Joking about his stupid is akin to shooting fish in a barrel. It's hard watching someone who isn't well fail spectacularly, and I think that's what we've seen with Bush. Talking with my dad the other day, he mentioned that Bush looks to him like a consumate alcoholic. That made sense to me, and it turns out I'm not the only one for whom this offers a reasonable explanation of the madness. Take a look at this article and tell me what you think!

Quote of the Day

This is not likely to be a regular feature, but I just had to share this one. You know, in time for Thanksgiving and all.

So here it is, courtesy of a media relations tool at AIG.

"Let me know if you are interested in engaging. If so, we can establish some rules that are amenable for both of us."

This one has a delicious back story. Read it if you dare! And then bear in mind that this was sent by someone hired to do media relations for this appalling excuse of an insurance company.

Read it? Good. My comment: No wonder the place is a federal disaster area*. It's idiots all the way down!

How is AIG exempt from ridicule when the company as a whole has failed so spectacularly? I'd say some armchair management tips are par for the course when you've just begged and received $150 BILLION in handouts. After all, you've got all the money any of us might ever collectively hope to have, and all we have left is our snark. Leave us our snark. Or at the very least rob us of that too by hiring a mildly clueful media relations doobie.

But by all means keep sending vague messages of strong-armishness to Wonkette. Because I am amenable to more entertainment value for my $150billion.


*Well, almost. AIG only gets half of the money that we're spending to get Katrina's victims sort of back to some semblance of normal.

A Modest Proposition

It seems that everywhere I look, someone has an opinion about California's "Prop 8." For those living under rocks, it's a proposal to change the state constitution to make sure homosexual couples will never, ever be legally married in this state. Since I'm an actual Californian who will actually be voting on this actual ballot initiative, I would like to weigh in on this thing myself.

Let me begin by saying that I detest ballot initiatives. I think they're a weak-kneed, cowardly device for an electorate that mostly can't be bothered to pay attention to what their elected representatives are up to. Here in California, we distrust 'em so much that we impose term limits and are never surprised when they can't manage to get anything done. I'm sure that some well-meaning person somewhere will tell me that it gets people more involved, but I think it's a major turnoff to sensible voters. This year's Voter Guide and attending Supplemental are enormous, and I resent being asked to do homework that should have been done by the elected representatives whose salaries we all pay. Stupid and busted. I hate ballot initiatives.

Which leads me right on to Prop 8. It's a sop to the "Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" crowd. Not only that, but this thing has been funded right along by groups that are largely based outside of CA. As a skirmish in the great "culture war," this looks a lot like James Dobson and his ilk counting coup. If Prop 8 passes, the hippiedippie Californians have been forced to behave for a change. If it fails, well, we all knew that California was home of wicked treehuggers and now can be hated with impunity.

In case it's not clear by this point, I think Prop 8 is hateful and disgusting. It's been 10 years since Matthew Sheppard was horrifically beaten and left to die on a fencepost in Wyoming. I can't believe that people still don't have anything better to do than imagine in detail what's going on in their neighbors' bedrooms. Who has time for that? Many of the people who seem most frightened of GAY MARRIAGE (booga booga!) seem to confuse homosexuality for pedophilia. Homosexual doesn't mean extra kinky, assaults precious snowflakes and is out to steal your husband or wife. It means human being who is sexually attracted to another human being of the same gender. Period.

As a society, we value individuals who come together for a common good. Think of our tax code. We give non-profits a tax break. We even give churches the benefit of the doubt and don't tax them, either. And, we tax-incent married people. As far as I'm concerned, a committed couple is a committed couple. It's not like better marriages get a better tax rate than crappy ones. I haven't liked some of the people that various friends have married over time. Their lives, their commitment.

This culture of fear we have here in the US is alive and well, and one has only to look at the expressions on the faces of the people in Prop 8 commercials. Parents heartbroken that their kid's teacher mentioned that sometimes men marry men, and women marry women. That's right kids, we want you thinking and asking questions in class, unless the very existence of something (or in this case, someone) makes us uncomfortable. There is also some convoluted nonsense about this being a free-speech issue, but it makes my head hurt so feel free to imagine what a homophobe couldn't possibly say if any gay person anywhere ever had rights equal to their own. Make it juicy, because it most likely would be. If Prop 8 fails, you will miss out on a lot of creative vitriol. Oh the humanity.

If you put lipstick on a bigot, they're still a bigot.

We've gotta have someone in the "out"group, otherwise I won't have any tasteless jokes to tell at public gatherings! First we couldn't make fun of black people, then they took away the respectability of hateful jokes about any brown people (yay 9/11-we got Arabs, Persians, Muslims and vaguely Middle-Easterney people back!), the handicapped are also off limits. I mean really, what else is there to talk about?!*

I suspect there exists the mistaken hope that a constitutional ban on marital equality will "cure" all of the world's homosexuals. All I can say is, given that national ban on drinking didn't rid our great country of alcoholics, I'm not holding my breath.

We here at Steingruebl World Enterprises value ALL families, and will therefore be doing our part to see that Prop 8 goes down in flames. Big, sparkly rainbow ones. Rest of the nation that wishes it were here, you're welcome.

*I made this up, but admit it, you were thinking of how to find out who said it so you could make fun of them, you Elitist Bastard you!

What's there to Debate?

We watched Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. He was nice enough to stand there and not laugh at her which I think deserved extra-credit points. I can say that if this version of Sarah Palin had been on my high school debate team, I'd have been the coach's favorite in spite of the fact that I skipped meets for family funerals and the occasional band performance.

A few people have pointed me to an absolutely brilliant flow chart of this particular debate. Head over to The Daily Kos to see it in all of its original glory!

And then bear in mind that as much as this lady might be good at a number of things, she's not vice presidential material. And FSM forbid McCain kicks the bucket (what with running for president being his bucket list and all) and leaves her minding the store. George the clueless clown puppet has nothing on what Palin could be. By all means respect her as a human being, but my oh my don't imagine for a minute she'd be anything other than a disaster as VP.

Decade of Decadence

A lot of us, myself included, poked fun at Nader during his presidential run because of our perception of him as an old crank. He may well be an old crank, but he had it right while others had it wrong, at least with regard to scandalous banking.

Alert reader Jon sent me this article which is worth a moment (or two!) of your time. For those of you who aren't link-clickers, Nader rather eerily described the events we've been watching unfold. The final paragraph of the piece suggests a scheme for keeping regulators accountable, and I'd love to know if that ever came to pass. If these goons managed to do this much damage in spite of that, well, they are even less scrupulous than I thought.

Nader was wrong about one thing back in 1999, though. He thought we'd look back and wonder how we could have all been so asleep through this disastrous deregulation. Hardly anybody is wondering. We're just busily believing President Panic that we need to cough up lots of money to make it all better. This, my friends, is what happens when "regular" people refuse to take any interest whatsoever in yucky old politics. No government oversight, except by people we label as cranks and then ignore. Is coughing up $700 billion really less distasteful than paying attention every now and then?

My feelings on this bailout are the same as yesterday. Many thanks to my bro for pointing me to the perfect (tasteless, crass, morbid) picture to help me summarize:

Jump!

Posted on Natuba

Of Homesteads and Houses

Due to my desire to procrastinate on the housework, I'd like to take a moment to make a wild historical comparison between irresponsibly regulated financial institutions and irresponsible railroad expansion. I'd love to hear your perspective, dear reader, as to whether or not my comparison is valid.

Back in the olden days, we here in the US were looking to populate the continent from coast to coast. The Homestead Act helped achieve this goal, and homesteaders claimed lands (often from indigenous peoples) at a tremendous rate. When railroads got to be big, more of the countryside became reachable than ever before. (Huzzah! USA! USA! USA!) But, the railroads needed refueling and water stations all along the way in order to operate. How do we give more people a chance to farm, industry an opportunity to expand, and make our country great? Hmmm...

The Homestead Act. Originally signed into law by Abe Lincoln, it could be "improved" upon to convince people to move to the real hinterlands. All of the best arable farmland was taken, but there was dry land that needed train tracks through it to get us from coast to coast. As a result, you could get as much as 640 acres of land (as opposed to 160 acres for a regular homesteader) as a bonus for taking a risk on this new kind of farming. Procedures for farming (read:destroying) semi-arid land were developed and demonstrated to wide-eyed dreamers. My great-grandfather was one of those, and he had the misfortune to see an impressive example of what was possible in a very wet year. He, and and many, many others headed west.

Montana's population more than tripled in less than 20 years as a result of this expansion of the Homestead Act. For some very good perspective on this, I recommend this article. Go ahead and read it-this page will be waiting for you when you get back.

******

Fascinating, eh? The unusually rainy years came to an end when my grandfather was born. People lost their homes. They starved. Gramps told stories of families too poor to afford a stamp to write to family back east for help. Sixty thousand people left Montana in the 1920s. What began as a seemingly reasonable plan to achieve something great failed dramatically. Real people suffered in earnest, and the railroads carried on.

It's ridiculous to compare homesteaders to people who borrow beyond their means, but I think the legislative and regulatory situations are very similar. In an attempt to stimulate growth, we relaxed regulation on major industry and incented lots and lots of people to take major risks to bolster that growth. Whether it's railroads or the housing industry, Americans have invested heavily. In the case of the dry land homesteaders, they simply failed and moved on to deal with the effects of poverty and disappointed dreams for generations. Today's honyocker (a term used to describe those short-lived dryland homesteaders) has too much house that's been foreclosed AND gets to pay for a loan (and interest on that loan) back to the people who sold it to them in the first place. At least this time people aren't starving to death and the costs are being shared. Small consolation.

One of the figures I've heard floating around is that this bailout is the equivalent of $10,000 for each household in the nation. Me, I'd rather have the $10k myself. The investment bankers can go build railroads.

Investment Banking Wall of Shame

With all of the house cleaning/unpacking that needs doing here at Steingruebl World Enterprises, I've had a lot of time to listen to radio coverage of this whole "save the planet by throwing money at investment bankers" mess. It is an understatement to say that I'm angry. Livid. The de-regulators, the greedy investors, the greedy bankers, the irresponsible mortgage peddlers and the overreaching mortgage acquirers. Why is this my problem? How is stuffing the front end of this ridiculous gravy train going to help the rest of us? Yeah, I'm mad.

Let's start with the de-regulators. The initial goal was to make money cheaper so that more people could afford to buy their own homes. Admirable, I suppose. But did we need to make it so easy as to encourage irresponsible borrowing? Not likely. Astute readers will recognize a lot of the names in this fabulous article about our deregulating deregulators.

Next, I would like to point out a few CEOs who, along with their impressive salaries, should be held personally and publically responsible for some of this. I've linked to articles with pictures of each of these goofballs. Not just the guys currently in charge, but also their predecessors who ran their companies into the ground before bailing. Feel free to memorize each of their faces so you can shun them if you get the chance.

Stan O'Neal, Merrill Lynch CEO emeritus
John Thain, Merrill Lynch
Martin Sullivan, AIG CEO emeritus
Robert Willumstad, AIG (refuses his golden parachute)
Dick Fuld, Lehman Brothers
James Cayne, Bear Stearns CEO emeritus
Alan Schwartz, Bear Stearns

And, a shout out to mortgage brokers. Fannie and Freddy, Countrywide, and others. For shame. All the creeps making money off lending more than they knew people could reasonably afford. Just because there is no risk to you doesn't mean it's right. A guy from Countrywide pre-approved us for a ginormous mortgage several years ago, but it looked too financially risky so we stayed renting. A talk with another, independent, mortgage broker confirmed the wisdom of our choice. Not everyone was lending irresponsibly. It's not an excuse. Shame on you.

Finally, I would like to stamp my foot and point my finger at people who who borrowed and bought beyond their means. You knew how much money you made. You knew the terms of your mortgage. You bankrupted yourself and blighted your neighborhood. The fact that "everyone was doing it" is no excuse. Not everyone was doing it. Some of us have showed restraint and for our trouble we get to live with your mess. Once you're done feeling like a victim in this $700 billion crisis, go ahead and feel a little personal responsibility.

I would like to point out that all of this crazy cheap money lying around is largely to blame for the cost of housing. If massive mortgages weren't so readily available, so many people wouldn't be paying so much for so many houses. (Duh!) Now that prices are artificially high and money isn't cheap (or even available) we're in a mess. It's not just these junky securities that need a write-down in value, it's everyone's houses. We're not as rich as we think we are. And because nobody has done anything Wrong, we're all poorer. Capitalism isn't necessarily a synonym for social irresponsibility, we just manage to interpret it that way. Ironically, we let the unscrupulous prosper and then socialize the risk. And the results.

So there you have it. My finger-pointing on the mess for which I'm going to spend the rest of my life (as will my descendents) paying. Not amused.

You've Got to Be Kidding

I promise that this will not turn into an all politics, all the time blog. Really. But golly, I take a day away from the interwebs to pack and I return only to learn that a nominee for Vice President thinks she's the current VP. In other words, she's not cooperating with a government investigation because she doesn't wanna, so there.

Can this possibly be real?! I had mostly discounted Obama's "more of the same" catchphrase as simply that-a catchphrase. But it's starting to ring a little too true. Theramin style. And it scares the bejeebus out of me.

Help.

Not Amused

I was going to try to ignore Sarah Palin. And, I still maintain that we all should. But that appears to be impossible, so I'd like to share a few items that I think are essential for any voter who might be temporarily insane enough to consider casting a vote for a ticket that includes this person.

First, there are plenty of letters purportedly by Wasilla residents. Check out Snopes for help sorting the wheat from the chaff. After you're done there and maybe feeling a little humor impaired, head for Palinfacts. If she can make up stuff in her convention speech, you should at least get to play along.

What with the sun rising in the east and all, I found the Washington Post piece about Palin's family politics particularly informative. I will also point out that Britney Spears was widely criticized for not putting her kid in a carseat, but small-town values Palin got to fire the only person who warned her about the same thing. And that's the least worrying of the "oversights" detailed in the article. No wonder they won't let her give real interviews.

I tend to steer clear of leftist media for the same reason I steer clear of the rightists because of the proud disavowal of objectivity. It hurts my brain. So, take what you will from this Mother Jones article. Cheney gets away with this crap because he's downright scary. I defy anyone to let Palin get away with it just because she's a girl.

And, just in case you aren't utterly sick of every government scandal being known as some sort of "gate" (I want more attention to fences. I hear they make for good neighbors...), Troopergate is coming to a political theater near you. Unless the investigation is quietly derailed. We just report the news-you decide.

Because I am an uppity elitist and, like, value education and thinking and stuff, I will now point out that George W. makes Sarah P look like a Rhodes Scholar. Snark snark snark. I'm not impressed, but somebody out there please explain to me why I should be and I'll attempt to mend my ways.

Just in case anyone stumbles across this blog while googling for the Painted Pitbull, I'd like to point out that I'm not anti-Palin. I'm just anti-SARAH Palin. If you must give your support to a Palin, go for the one with the best qualifications:

Culture Wars

I've been wasting a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what's going on with the McCain*Palin ticket. After a flurry of stupidity from both Democrats and Republicans, I think I've got a handle on this thing.

It's the culture war. Stupid.

Listening to the various convention speakers tonight, I thought they started with sane (if Republican) speakers and ended up in wingnut land. That ex-mayor of NYC has his very own version of reality. The speakers went from professional to folksy. I think Giuliani was a deliberate set-up for Palin. An unknown, they wanted to make sure that no matter how she performed she'd look good. She has a great, folksy delivery. She also has an interesting grasp of reality.

I think that the down-hominess will get the social conservatives to pipe up again. And if anyone argues with the folksy "wisdom" of homespun "facts" they are a misogynist. While we're at it, nobody has a moral compass like the the good "Christians" who revile homosexual human beings, ban library books, give their kids sub-par sex education, and are too cool for school when it comes to biology class. I hate this crap with a passion, and can't believe I live in a country where this circus not only takes place but is also taken seriously. Dude, at this rate we're all going to be envious of Malaysia.

Because we have two gigantic political parties that try to unite bizarre constituencies in order to get votes where they need 'em, it is possible to watch the convention of your party of choice with your own personal bias and never hear a word with which you disagree. It's all about the subtext. Every interested constituency has its own code words and phrases that kinda blend in. It's easier for me to spot the looney when I watch the Republicans.

For me (and my personal bias) Palin is about the most horrifying VP candidate imaginable in this election. Obama came to wide attention because of his insistence on cooperation in service of common interest. Palin is a star because she calls bullshit on that and tells the (in my opinion) frightened and small that they can turn back even our limited social discourse until it is "safe" and devoid of substance. This us v them nonsense is a distractor from intelligent debate and virtually guarantees ill-conceived social and foreign policy regardless of who "wins" the presidency.

I'm sick of it. While it is clearly fun for an awful(ly) big group of people to treat public policy as a competitive team sport, it's stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. My temptation is to crawl under a rock and hide, but that doesn't accomplish anything. Wars are depressing. And our nation's ongoing culture war is really getting to me. Do I have to join in to keep the "other side" from "winning?" Dunno. Yuck.

Space Bags

Where have you been all my life, Space Bags? How do I love thee? Let me save the space. I've been at a loss as to how to pack linens, fabric & yarn stockpiles, and especially the ginormous mattress topper we have for the aero bed to make it guest-worthy.

So, I just crammed all this stuff into a big, crinkly plastic bag, zipped it up, and then grabbed the vacuum. The giant sucking sound is positively thrilling. An entire closet full of linens and such is now in one liiiiittle corner of said closet. I am so in love.

I have a horrible prejudice against exciting products as seen on TV. What else am I missing out on?! Luckily, my friend Danielle turned me on to this one. I'm considering mailing the space bag people to ask if they have a mega sized bag into which I can just toss all of our stuff and shrink it down.

Yay, Space Bags!

"American" Airlines

Well, I guess I can't complain about air travel any more. (I can't complain about it any less, either. yuk yuk yuk.)

The new "pay for your own luggage" scam is, at least, an equal-opportunity annoyer. American Airlines wins the prize for most obnoxious, at least in my estimation.

By all means, protest the ridiculous notion that military action in Iraq will rid the world of terrorism. And obviously, American Airlines is well positioned to do so. But come on, guys. Take it up with the leadership, not the soldiers on their way to do the job your government has decided you want them to do.

The Levitation Administration

What kind of party game is this, anyway? It is a game played by idiots, inciting boundless fury and signifying nothing good for our democracy.

I'd say that Mukasey must be crazy except that this sort of thing is now par for the course under the corrupt Bush regime. Apparently, the Justice Department is now free to decide which laws its employees don't have to follow. Don't get me wrong-I, too, have trouble paying attention to a lot of the crap Congress spews these days. But I think I do a bang-up job of keeping up with what's wildly, blatantly, illegal.

Combine this with the nonsense about optional Endangered Species Act compliance for federally funded projects, and we see a surprisingly busy week in the shrubbery. I now find myself grateful that Bush has taken so much vacation time over the years. Imagine the mayhem if he had made it in to the office more often! Yet another achievement for this president: the re-branding of sloth as a virtue.

Put down your bongs and listen up, party animals. You're not above the law. This levitation thing is just a cheap party trick. An illusion that is real only in your own addled minds. It's clear that the cops aren't going to break this thing up early, but it's gotta end sometime. I don't envy you the aftermath. Oh, and forget about an afterparty. Nobody's gonna come.

Strange Bedfellows

With lots of other stuff to write about and little time to write, I am taking a moment to mention our Constitution, our law breaking executives, and something positive to do about it all.

Most anyone who has been paying attention is shocked that the new and "improved" FISA bill passed. Obama's vote for that mess made me so angry I could spit. McCain's chicken**** skipping out on the vote was at least as cowardly.

The bottom line is that we are living in an era in which it is okay for our government to check up on us quietly and without our permission. There are laws against this kind of thing. I have a little thingie at the bottom of my blog that gives you a daily dose of the Constitution should you wish to stay on familiar terms with it. For those who think it can't be that bad to have your government spying on you, I'd like to recommend the movie Lives of Others.

Rather than raging impotently, I'd like to do something about this criminal activity initiated by the Executive and facilitated by the Legislative branch of our government. I say our government because it is that, but only if we actually exercise even the teeeeeensiest bit of oversight.

So, please check out Strange Bedfellows. If you're so inclined, please pledge and donate by August 8th. Your country thanks you.

War Criminals

As the Bush Regime enters the home stretch of its direct assault on, well, everything that matters, it's time for all of us to think about the future we envision for the bastards. Clearly, Dennis "Crazypants" Kucinich hasn't managed to share his nothing to lose/can-do spirit with enough of his colleagues to hand the president the impeachment he so richly deserves. It is clearly not going to happen as long as Bush is "in power" (read: signing off on every hair-brained, immoral, unconstitutional thing anyone in his administration can imagine with the full permission of a feckless Congress) so we need to get over that outrage and start thinking ahead.

War criminals should be prosecuted. These guys may not want to recognize the International Criminal Court, but it's a safe bet the ICC recognizes them for what they are. The Red Cross does. And, since we can't seem to get any of our elected officials to demand any sort of accountability here at home, what do we have left? We here at Steingruebl World Enterprises were discussing this over breakfast today, and we're hopeful that actual leaders around the planet might detain some of our high-profile war criminals as part of an investigation into all of those extraordinary renditions. It's about time we collectively acknowledge to the rest of the world that we've dug ourselves a deep hole and we now most sorely need their help to find our way back to such things as human rights and the rule of law. "Watch out! We've lost control of the horses and the wagon's headed for the river! Help!" Maybe someone will take pity and come to the rescue? One thing is certain-we're not yelling loud enough yet.

And that doesn't even begin to address the crimes they've committed here at home. At some point, we get so far past shameful that it doesn't mean anything anymore. Illegal needs to mean something again.

I'm looking for good ways to amplify my voice. So far, I think they have the right idea over at En Tequila Es Verdad. If nothing else, the birthplace of the Carnival of Elitist Bastards deserves some attention. I've got the passion, I've got the vitriol, now I need to channel it productively. Please use the comments to share your favorite organizations for protecting human rights, the US Constitution, unicorns etc. What positive action are you taking? Can I come too?

************UPDATE*************
It appears that some New Zealanders take pity on us, and have offered a reward for a Condi Rice citizen's arrest. Hey wait! I know someone who works at that very university! Superhero opportunity. Looks like the $5K is for students only, but surely some organizing can be done...

High Density Housing

I'm mostly in favor of high density housing. It makes possible such things as walkable neighborhoods and auto-less lifestyles. There are a few downsides.

1. Neighborhoods are only as good as the neighbors. If closely-packed inflexible people have wildly different social habits and expectations, there will be friction. Differences are noticed most along economic and ethnic boundaries, whether they exist there more or not.

2. Noise. You get a lot of people in one place, it won't ever be really quiet. Some people like that, but I don't know anyone (yet) who likes it all of the time.

3. Smoke. Thanks to building codes and such, high density means hard-wired smoke and fire alarms that are loud enough to rock most of the complex. And then, there are the people who like to smoke outside of their own homes (so as to keep the stink to a minimum) and end up sharing with anyone who has an open window.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Do you have any to add? Are there some really great things you'd like to mention about high density housing? Please feel free to add all and sundry to the comments below.

So, what inspired this entry?

1. Our current neighborhood seems to be fairly well mixed, income-wise. Every now and then, an outlier moves in and there's trouble. Toward the "working class" end, we get dramatically more shouting and loud music. Toward the "elite" end, we get sticks-in-the mud who hide behind the HOA to visit a thousand little cuts on their less worthy neighbors. We haven't been targeted by the busybody set (yet) but they annoy me on principle. Why call the HOA when your problem is right outside your kitchen window and you can discuss your differences from there? Tattletales. Me, I prefer the noise.

2. I had no idea that all of the little exhaust fans and air conditioners and garage door openers and moving cars and early morning newspaper deliveries could combine to be greater than the sum of their parts. There is a nonstop buzzing in my ears from this place that I'm not going to miss much when we move in a few months.

3. When we first moved in, we had neighbors across from our front window who were smokers and always sat out on their front step to talk in loud voices until late into the night while they puffed away. Given the airflow here, their smoke made a beeline for the front windows of all of their neighbors and we were all forced to keep our windows closed. It would be silly to make rules about NOT smoking on their own doorsteps (and I think there'd be a revolt), so we mostly just put up with it and stupidly didn't ever say anything about it to them.

Tonight, I've closed the kitchen windows because the pot smoke from the neighbor's garage was overpowering. Rather than being silent and stupid, this time around I'll politely mention in passing that the smoke really travels. And just for kicks I'll point out whose windows should not be open when they light up if they don't want harassing letters from the HOA...