The yard area being redone in front (for the record). Basically all of this is going to be changed.
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Went to the big annual shindig at the Denver Zoo last night — our biggest crew yet (and to a sell-out crowd). Margie and I, Stan, Doyce & Kate, and Jackie. Lots of good beer, lots of good food, lots of good company — and enjoyed Angie Stevens live on stage, too. The weather was cool, but the rain I’d worried about earlier in the day never showed up, huzzah.
The event was bigger than in past years, too, and it had the feel of being run by someone different. Some comments, good and bad.
Good:
Not-So-Good:
Still, those are mostly refinements. Overall, it was a fine time, glad we went … look forward to going next year …
(And many thanks to Jackie for being the Designated Driver. You rock, Jacks!)
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Christy Romano, who I’ve known for years as the title voice of Kim Possible, is going to joining the Broadway cast of Avenue Q in the role of Kate Monster / Lucy.
Okay, it’s not world-shattering news, but it’s kind of fun news joining two “shows” I very much enjoy.
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HOA-permitting (so to speak), we are a go for the landscaping job to start on Monday the 15th. We have a deposit with Mile High Landscaping, and are finishing up with some final decisions and prep.
We do still have to get HOA permission, of course. The application (and the drawing) are with them now, and we’re waiting to hear back.
We are still pondering the flagstone — we’re probably avoiding the standard Arizona Buff in favor of a Colorado Red. We still also haven’t decided about the Great Boulder Question, either. But next week one afternoon we’ll be going with the contractor dude to some rockyards to … pick our own flagstone. How cool is that? And they have boulders there for us to be tempted by, too.
We also have to decide on trees. Waiting for an email from the contractor on that with some suggestions.
Meanwhile, this weekend, we start prep work.
This weekend:
Next weekend:
Easy-peasy!
And now for our Special, Limited-Time Offer! We have more iris rhizomes (once we pull things out) than we can currently justify replanting. So we’d like to share the wealth. If you’re in the area, and want some irises … let us know.
Getting excited …!
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The JibJab guys are at it again —- now with a special guest star.
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The NY Times editorial nails it:
Thursday night, Americans mainly saw the old John McCain. He spoke in a moving way about the horrors he endured in Vietnam. He talked with quiet civility about fighting corruption. He said the Republicans “had lost the trust” of the American people and promised to regain it. He decried “the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving” problems.
But there were also chilling glimpses of the new John McCain, who questioned the patriotism of his opponents as the “me first, country second” crowd and threw out a list of false claims about Barack Obama’s record, saying, for example, that Mr. Obama opposed nuclear power. There was no mention of immigration reform or global warming, Mr. McCain’s signature issues before he decided to veer right to win the nomination.
In the end, we couldn’t explain the huge difference between the John McCain of Thursday night and the one who ran such an angry and derisive campaign and convention — other than to conclude that he has decided he can have it both ways. He can talk loftily of bipartisanship and allow his team to savage his opponent.
What makes that so vexing — and so cynical — is that this is precisely how Mr. Bush destroyed Mr. McCain’s candidacy in the 2000 primaries, with the help of the Karl Rovian team that now runs Mr. McCain’s campaign.
The parts that were good were really pretty good, and it showed why McCain has attracted such a following in the past. In those places, he came across as sincere and dedicated.
But the occasional, awkward slams at Obama spoiled the mood, and the lack of policy particulars (“cleaning up Washington” is not a full policy) was irritating.
The depressing (or at least sad) aspect of the speech, and the convention, was the sense that McCain was not nowhere near in control of his party or the event. Compared to Obama, who was clearly the key person and coordinator of the message in Denver (Clinton drama notwithstanding), McCain’s claims to bipartisanship and reach-out to all people who love their country was drowned out in the speeches of the previous nights, most of which seemed to focus on bashing, mocking, and villifying Obama and the Democrats.
Indeed, McCain was in the difficult position of being less popular with the crowd, based on reaction, than his VP pick, and the way the audience reacted to his bipartisan, clean-up-Washington, here’s-how-we’ve-failed efforts (polite clapping with straight faces) showed an attitude that was more “Yeah, yeah, John, we get it, but tell us again how community organizers are busywork goofballs and Obama’s a baby-killer and Sarah Palin is hawt!” That was the convention that the attendees had enjoyed to date and what they wanted more of.
It was, in short, a gathering devoted almost entirely to the culture war refined by Mr. Rove in Mr. Bush’s two campaigns.
On Thursday, Mr. McCain said he would reach out to “any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again.” Mr. Bush, too, promised the same bipartisanship in his campaigns, and then governed in the most divisive, partisan way.
Americans have a right to ask which John McCain would be president. We hope Mr. McCain starts to answer that by halting the attacks on Mr. Obama’s patriotism and beginning a serious, civil debate.
And not just his own, but his proxies and supporters. To the extent he can do that, we can see not only what he’s really all about, but how much of a leader he can be.
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“So who are you going to vote for between McCain and Obama?” Katherine asks us.
I always try to be careful about dealing with ideology and my daughter. Yes, on the religious side of ideology, we all go to church and pray and all that — but whenever questions of other religions, denominations, faiths (or lack thereof) come up, I am always very careful not to say anything that assert without any more basis than my gut hunch that what I (or even “we”) believe is Obviously and Manifestly True, whilst those who think otherwise are Godless Heathen Destined to the Fiery Furnace Unless They Repent. “Some people,” I will say, “think X. Mommy and Daddy (or even just Daddy if it’s not something that the two of us agree on) believe Y. But what’s important is that you try to figure out the truth yourself.”
I labor under no illusions that Katherine is liable to set off on a bold course all her own, religiously or politically, at age 8. As I recall my own youth, my own political opinions were a direct reflection of what my parents believed (I could mimic their assertions as to the major presidential candidates to the letter, though I had no idea what I was talking about). Ditto for religion, which was even more of an unchallenged constant than politics. Listening to kids echoing political talking points to each other is both fascinating and sad, as it’s all right what they’ve been told, or heard, at home.
But that’s kids. Parents are all-wise (except where they aren’t in certain, oppressive ways), and so what they believe and articulate they do so as the Font of All Wisdom. Plus, parents are the only ones whose ideological beliefs, as adults, are actively and regularly to them, most often just as background dialog in the household.
So when Katherine asks us who we are voting for, the impulse to say, “Why, Barack Obama, of course, as any intelligent, compassionate, patriotic American would” is quickly forced down. I don’t want her taking my political opinions as some Absolute Received Truth. I’m not that egotistical … and she’s hardly a worthwhile rhetorical conquest. And if she were to just start echoing that statement, without comprehending and engaging with the reasons why, she’d be no more informed than too many of the electorate around us.
We were driving to karate when this came up, so Margie and I talked with her a bit about elections — and how you vote is actually a private thing, and not something you can insist on others telling you about (and why that’s a good thing). And, that said, we asked if she wanted to tell us how she would vote, and why. She opined she’d vote for Obama, because of the war and not wanting people to die. Which, as an eight-year-old, is at least as sophisticated a response as 85% of the populace (of either party).
So, since she’s told her choice, we told ours. We said (individually) we were both going to probably vote for Obama, but we wouldn’t know for certain until Election Day. But we could also respect people who disagreed with that choice, and that the important thing was not how Mommy and Daddy were going to vote, or who struck her as a nicer person or anything like that, but how she thought that a candidate would act as a leader, how he or she would make decisions and what sort of decisions they were likely to make, based on what they said and what they’d done in the past.
To be honest, it matters far less to me that Katherine grows up to believe exactly as I do, than that she believes based on her own reasoning and examination of the issues. She shouldn’t rely on us — or anyone else — to tell her where she should place her faith (political or otherwise), but on herself. Guided by my own sage counsel, perhaps, but ultimately taking responsibility to make a stand.
That would make me very happy about the job I’ve done as a parent.
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Because, sooner or later, I have to stop talking about her.
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It may seem I’ve been on a Holy Warpath re the GOP, etc., the last few days. Well, I sort of have been. But I can appreciate humorous criticism of all political ideologies. To wit, this, via Randy (who commented, “Heh. Ouch.”): Whatever: I Hate Your Politics
No, I don’t know what they are. And no, I probably don’t know who you are, either. Really, those two points are immaterial (no offense). As it turns out about, about 46% of you are liberal, 46% of you are conservative, and the rest of you just want your guns, drugs and brothels (here in the US, we call them folks “libertarians”).
Each of you carries baggage from your political affiliation, and all of that baggage has a punky smell to it, like one of your larger species of rodent crawled in and expired in your folded underwear. Listening to any of you yammer on about the geopolitical situation is enough to make one want to melt down one’s dental fillings with a beeswax candle and then jam an ice pick into the freshly-exposed nerve, just to have something else to think about. It’s not so much that politics brings out the worst in people than it is that the worst in people goes looking for something to do, and that usually ends up being politics. It’s either that or setting fires in trashcans.
In the spirit of fairness, and of completeness, let me go down the list and tell you what I hate about each major branch of political thinking.
Followed by a very amusing dissection of Liberals, Conservatives, and Libertarians. Worth reading in these troubled times.
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Normally I would pay zero attention to anything that the National Enquirer prints, it being a notoroius vendor of the improbable, scandalous, and generally unbelievable — the love child (so to speak) of Weekly World News and People (though surviving the former and predating the latter).
But we, and the media, were soundly chastised a month or two ago by the GOP and the Conservative Right. The Enquirer had been touting that John Edwards had had an affair, and the mainstream media had not run with it as a fact, choosing to investigate and “sit” on the story until they could verify it. That showed a wild liberal bias by the MSM, the conservatives claimed, lending the Enquirer significant credibility and pointing out such a story of major political figure’s marital infidelity should have been fearlessly and loudly trumpeted to the four winds as soon as it came to light in that trusted journal, the National Enquirer.
Which is why the conservative and GOP response to this story is so freaking funny.
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[I came in a few minutes late, but I think I caught most of it.]
John’s not a very good speaker. He does best when he’s chatting. He does worse when trying to be a “speech-making” guy. He does much worse when trying to be snarky.
John didn’t learn (from Colbert) the danger of having a blue or green screen behind him.
The crowd went wild whenever he talked about safe stuff - war, guns, America, apple pie. The crowd was much more subdued when he talked about socking it to big business, to ear marks, to actually cleaning up Washington, to bipartisanship, to anything that smacked of progressive politics or “maverick” stuff.
But they were more than happy to boo whenever he referred critically (and awkwardly) to Obama.
Though, overall, the crowd’s enthusiasm did seem to die down the more policy-minded he got, even though he was fairly short on specifics.
His grin looks … really uncomfortably odd. He only flashes it when slamming Obama, almost shame-facedly.
The cameras are (unfairly, but it’s still real) lots of people who are … slumping in their chairs. Using their Blackberries. Sitting with their eyes closed.
Front row folks clapping mechanically, unsmiling.
Oh, thank heavens, I was afraid we’d go through a speech without hearing about his POW experience.
It’s a bit odd, but moving, to hear McCain say, “My country saved me … and I will fight for her as long as I have breath, so help me God.” Really. That he then broke into one of those cheap grins.
“THE MAVRICK!” shouts one sign [sic].
There was some really good stuff he said. Even inspiring. If he was just giving a speech, that would be fine. But everything he said except for those inspiring, earnest items was awkard, flabby, dull, short on details and just unconvincing.
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As revealed at “Curriculum Night” at Kitten’s school.
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Downtown Denver, 18th Street.
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Okay, I wasn’t expecting this. I’m sure Karl Rove, et al., really weren’t expecting it.
St. Paul delegates are giddy with Sarah Palin’s speech. The mood is buoyant, enlivened, energized. It’s a party. There are revelers. The faces shine with joy and pleasure at a convention finally fully underway. Their VP nominee did it – she hit it out of the park. There is joy in Mudville, here on the ground.
And it worked wonders – for the Dems.
In the past several hours, Dems I’ve spoken with and who’ve flooded my inbox are energized. A woman friend and Democrat who had not worked for Obama’s campaign: “I am volunteering tomorrow.” An Obama organizer who was operating on fumes five months ago: “They are not getting away with this. 10 hours of call time tomorrow.” A shorter read of the mood: “Let’s get it on.”
What? But the Dems were supposed to be depressed, angsty, and ashamed after Gov Palin’s Most Brilliantest Speech Evah!
The mockery went too far. They played the “Obama doesn’t love America, just himself” card, over and over and over. For people already inclined to believe that (i.e., the hardcore Republican base), the speech was a smashing success. Maybe they will work a little harder, volunteer a few more hours, dig a little deeper into their pockets. But so will partisan Dems, who are far more plugged into watching the election coverage.
So my reaction: St. Paul loved this speech… and so did Chicago. Palin swung for the fences, mocking the very notion of community organizing. So did Giuliani. This was the day after “Service” was the theme, and Republicans fell all over themselves praising their party’s commitment to give back to the community. Jarring.
Now is all that “energized Democrats” stuff just a lot of talking? Yeah … a lot of money talking.
An Obama aide confirms to Ben Smith that Sen. Barack Obama has raised about $8 million from more than 130,000 donors since Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech last night — and is on pace to raise $10 million by the time McCain reaches the stage tonight.
Update: The Republican National Committee tells Jonathan Martin that they raised “more than $1 million” since Palin’s speech.
I am a proud part of the $8MM.
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Is it too soon for me to start obsessing over polling and electoral maps?
Everything looks pretty good (for my candidates), but I keep feeling it’s way too early to be happy about it.
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That’s how Margie summarized this one. The Chinese, of course, faked elements of the Olympics opening ceremonies to make them more impressive — computer enhanced firework displays and lip-syncing by a cute little Chinese girl included.
Now comes work the RNC played a similar game during its opening ceremonies: Fake Soldiers Used In RNC Video, Patriotic Montage Shown At RNC Featured Actors Hired For One Day Shoot, Not Military - CBS News
It was a video that was supposed to elicit soaring patriotism and real emotions about the Pledge of Allegiance. But to do that, it used fake soldiers and a staged military funeral instead of the real thing.
On Tuesday night, 15-year-old Victoria Blackstone, a sophomore at the St. Agnes School in St. Paul, led the crowd at the Xcel Energy Center in the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience heard her 434-word essay, “Pledging myself to the Flag of the United States of America,” an essay she’d entered it in the “Wave the Stars & Stripes” essay contest and won. The RNC turned that essay into a three and a half minute video, a visually stirring montage rolling over Victoria’s words about sharing the Pledge with Americans who have stood at important moments in history.
There’s the Continental Congress…A real WWII vet…Photos of workers at Ground Zero. A close-up of a folded flag presented to a grieving widow at a military funeral… profiles of soldiers swelling with pride in slo-motion.
But CBS News found that the footage of the ‘funeral’ and soldiers is what is called ‘stock’ footage. The soldiers were actors and the funeral scene was from a one-day film shoot, produced in June. No real soldiers were used during production.
I guess patriotism is easier when you can stage it.
For the record:
After a Web search of videos played at the Democratic National Convention last week, CBS News found no obvious use of stock footage.
The RNC did not respond to CBS News’ request for a comment.
Of course not! That’s sooooo last Tuesday!
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I post a fair number of pictures in my blog entries. Most are surrounded by a div element (for the drop shadow — thanks again, Ginny), which seems to work just fine.
But in Google Reader, strange things happen with the feed of my entries:
The original pages show up okay (with images) in just the plain old browser.
Flickr objects, inside those same div elements, display fine. The feed from my Blog of Heroes blog, which doesn’t use those divs, displays images fine.
So … anyone have any idea of what’s broken?
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Yeah, I know, obsessive a bit. But …
And, for something a bit lighter and entertaining: YouTube - GOP Vetting Emporium
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Lovely. Just … brilliantly … lovely. Karl Rove on the respectability of small state governors and former mayors running for office; Bill O’Reilly on the private family crisis of teen pregnancy; Dick Morris, Nancy Pfotenhauer, and a Special Guest Star on how insultingly sexist the media has been toward a certain candidate. After … and before. Just … brilliant.
I love you, Daily Show.
(via Les)
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Some conservative Christians are so enamored of Palin, they not only now want McCain to win, they want him to win and then quickly die.
Antiabortion militant and all-round theocratic activist Jay Rogers of Florida, whose blog is called The Forerunner, writes:
Pray for John McCain’s salvation and speedy death. (Google The Forerunner’s articles on Imprecatory Prayer if you think this is harsh.)And then there is this guy, a self-described Christian Reconstructionist whose blog handle is Ixion, and is apparently from Tennessee:
McCain’s VP choice, Sarah Palin, suddenly made me want to vote for him, as long as the LORD smites him while he’s in office. She’s consistently conservative on all the issues, and if she’s good enough for The Forerunner, she’s good enough for me. The Forerunner agrees with me that McCain must be smitten, as well, so I’m obviously not alone in my viewpoints.
And more similar, awful sentiments follow that.
Now, these folks are obviously (I hope obviously) on the lunatic fringe of Christianity (your opinion of the size of that fringe may vary). As someone who wears a Christian hat on his head, I find this reprehensible, irreconcilable with Christ’s teaching, and disgusting. I’ll even call it evil.
That said, and the “Power of Imprecatory Prayer” aside (is God going to listen to your Imprecatory Prayer more than he listens to the folks praying for or against any other candidate or candidate’s health this season? If so, why?), this calls up once again the specter of how important the VP selection is this year. That’s true for both candidates — between McCain’s age/health and the number of racist lunatics with guns who might come after Obama, the odds of either man fulfilling a four year term are lower than at any recent time I can think of.
So it’s not beyond the pale to consider what such a succession would mean, or even decide that if, God forbid, something were to happen, the successor is someone whom you’d like to see in the Oval Office even more than the guy on the presidential side of the ticket. I suspect most conservative Christians who are swooning over Palin have given that at least a little thought; it’s a bit morbid, but it’s human nature.
I’m not a huge Joe Biden fan, but I think he would do a decent job as President (at least given the last 8 years as a comparision). That said, even if I really thought Obama were a clod, I would never dream of hoping (let alone praying) he would die so that Biden could step in. That’s just plain wrong in my book.
I will say that if McCain/Palin wins, I’ll be praying for McCain’s good health for a looooong time. Though my hopes are I won’t have to (I won’t say my prayers because I think praying for a political outcome is not much better than praying for a sporting event — it doesn’t fit either of the Great Commandments in my book).
(via Les)
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Les points to this article by Ted Anthony:
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