Category: General

I sent the following to Earl Blumenauer, my representative from Oregon CD-03, regarding my previous post and my donation to educate voters about the dangerous FISA rewrite and telecom amnesty:

This is just a short note, but I wanted to mention to Congressman Blumenauer that I, along with a couple thousand others, have donated to a fund to raise money for a campaign to educate voters about House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s efforts to thwart accountability for the telecom corporations for assisting the Bush Administrations’ illegal surveillance (and thus, thwart any accountability for the Bush Administration itself).

I blogged about it, briefly, here:

https://bamoon.com/2008/06/politics.php

More and more evidence comes out every day about the crimes of the Bush Administration. Our Congressional representatives, and especially the leadership, needs to understand that giving away our rights is not seen as a strength. Giving the Bush Administration and Republicans what they want is not “bipartisanship”, it’s weakness. Allowing crimes to go un-acknowledged is cowardice. And trying to play games by granting a “get out of jail free” card but calling it something else is a transparent power grab.

And voters notice these things.

Tell your caucus leader and Speaker Pelosi that there is more to gain by opposing White House demands, than by playing political games and giving them what they want.

I’m wearing one of my Barack Obama t-shirts today. Yes, at work. I’m pretty sure I get to do that. If anyone complains I’ll double-check.

My t-shirt says (on the front), “I’m fired up” and (on the back) “He’s ready to go” with a picture of the White House. It’s red, which I find a bit ironic, since “red state” has come to mean a state that tends to go Republican, rather than Democratic. Prior to the mid-1990s, there was no “standard” method of color-coding maps, with different networks using opposing color schemes, some coding Democratic states in blue and Republican ones in red, and other networks or news outlets coding them in opposite colors.

But since the 2000 election, people have pretty much standardized on blue meaning Democratic, and red meaning Republican. So, again, irony (or conscious decision) for Obama’s campaign to sell shirts in red, white, blue, and even green.

I think electing a progressive President is important, but more important, I think, is getting more and better Democrats in at all levels of government. Especially Congress. I read Glenn Greenwald’s column yesterday about the calculations that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer appears to be pulling with the Bush Administration’s push for letting the telecoms off the hook for caving in on illegal surveillance. If you don’t know much about the topic, you really should read Greenwald’s article, above. I’ve been following it for a while and the fact that the Democratic leadership in Congress appears to be so scared of being seen as “soft” on “national security” that they would subvert the rule of law and allow the telecom companies (and, by direct extension, the Bush Administration) to get off without even a slap on the hand is infuriating.

Sadly, Obama seems to be against the proposed bill granting the billion-dollar corporations and the billion-dollar war criminals amnesty… but so far it’s just words.

After you’ve read Greenwald’s latest take, you may feel compelled, as I did, to drop some money towards an ad campaign (via ActBlue) to educate and warn people about this dangerous bill. When I gave yesterday afternoon, they had raised around $101,000 – as I write this, it stands at $154,758, with 2,699 contributors. That shows that there are people paying attention. But I don’t think it’s enough. So I’m asking my 300-400 readers to contribute, if they can, whatever they can. Even if it’s $5.

And if I have any conservative or Republican readers (doubtful but possible), let me point out a couple of things. One, the ad that Greenwald et. al. is raising money to buy will be running in Steny Hoyer’s district. Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer. Democrats police their own; we don’t try to make excuses when our leadership is acting against the interests of the country.

And, two, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s a Democratic president or a Republican president that has unaccountable power. Neither one is good. No one is above the law, and I (and other Democrats) don’t put the party above the country. But, still speaking to my conservative/libertarian/Republican readers, since it’s a foregone conclusion that control of the House and the Senate will be remaining in Democratic hands, and I believe that the White House will be occupied by a Democratic president next year… Is this the kind of power you want in the hands of the opposing party? Give some money to help stop it, then, if the answer is “no”.

I’m pretty sure I won’t be voting for the white guy this year… but then again, I just might… If…

Third in a series.

• One man may or may not be able to make a difference. But one man can make a statement of opposition, draw a line in the sand, and put down a marker for the future to say “at least I was paying attention.”
• I really like the idea of selling boiled/filtered water to physicians in the Middle Ages. Y’know, if I ever find myself transported back in time.
• John McCain does not “get” the internet.
• As if I needed a reason to love Scarlett Johanssen or Barack Obama more, here’s one more.
• There are days when it seems the best thing for Democrats is for Republicans to be honest.
• Always ride my bike within the law, or be prepared to be Tasered.
• There are some Christians who either take their religion too seriously, or aren’t quite up to speed on this whole “parody” thing. It’s too difficult to tell sometimes. Seriously? Not just worrying about who will take care of your pets post-Rapture… but coming up with a formula to help decide? No, seriously? That has to be humor. And yet, I just can’t tell.
• Kim Kardashian’s butt is nearly perfect.

My New Bike
Originally uploaded by mooninthehouse

I took the long way home today from the shop.

Brand-new 2008 Kona Smoke 2-9.

It’s much lighter and more nimble than my old bike.

My favorite part of this is how Penn basically gives up on pronouncing Oregon correctly and chooses “Wisconsin” instead… and then realizes how little oceanfront there is in Wisconsin… and settles on our fine neighbor to the north, Washington.

[crackle src=/p/Penn_Says/Penn_Says-_Dead_Sea_Lions.swf&fv=id%3D2307424%26mu%3D0%26ap%3D0%26ml%3Dfc%253D52%2526fp%253D1%2526fx%253D]

“Nation, there are seven Eskimo words for ‘snow’ and all of them also mean ‘opportunity.'” – Steven Colbert

Lisa Simpson: “The Chinese use the same word for crisis as they do for opportunity!”
Homer Simpson: “Yes! Crisitunity!“

In case anyone’s wondering, yes, I will likely be buying an iPhone 3G.

I mean, within minutes of the end of the keynote yesterday, I was already asking my friends and family if they wanted to buy my current iPhone. I knew I was getting one even before I knew that the 3G data plan would cost me $10 more a month, and that there were more restrictions on purchase and activation, and that the amount I could sell my old iPhone for would drop to nearly nothing. Of course I would be upgrading. Duh.

But now that the effects of the reality distortion field started to wane, I realized that I could hold off a bit. I need to find out for certain if the lower cost of the iPhone 3G was going to work the way the regular subsidies worked; in other words, is the lower price only available to new contracts, not existing customers? I’d like to see what real-world battery life was like. I’d like to see if 3G speeds were really worth it.

So I will likely wait until later this summer to make my purchase. I won’t be an early adopter just yet.

But holy fuck I am so getting one.

I realized late in the day that six years ago today my mother died. Lung cancer.

Closing comments because I’m not asking for sympathy. Just noting it in case anyone wonders why I’m out of sorts.

It’s just a low-level, back of the mind kind of nagging sorrow. I really think I’m over it, and yet, here I am, still reminded of it and worrying if it’s causing me to be slightly more depressed than usual.

I mean, I already feel depressed; there’s very little that brings me joy lately, and I rarely have the energy to undertake any new project, and the projects I do work on (like my diet) just grind on and on and show no sign of improvement or gain, and most often I just want to sit in my house and surf or watch mindless teevee. But then, on top of my normal sadness, which is probably caused by the cold rainy weather this whole entire year, is layered a seasonal feeling of loss that I am apparently fated to feel in every June for the rest of my life.

Cary Tennis, an advice columnist to whom I grant the status of genius, often says that “it will take longer than you think, always.” It will take longer than you think to complete the grieving process, to learn to move on after a divorce or bad breakup, to heal your mental wounds from abuse or mental illness. Always, he says.

I understand that, but, c’mon. Six years? Really?

OK. I just know I’m feeling stressed, and sad, and in more of a mind to hide, lately. Where by “lately” I mean “for the past year or so”. I’ll keep on keepin’ on, but, y’know. Fuck this shit.

I’m kinda out of words lately.

Sorry. They’ll come back.

You can’t force the muse, after all.