Date

A Picture's worth . . .

susan — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:19:00 -0600

Gone Doorknockin' Back soon.

I know this photo's been going round the web, but it says what so many of us feel. The more I think about what an insult McCain's choice of Palin is to the women's movement, the more my blood burbles over.
The latest New Yorker (sorry, no time to add the link, but it has the four candidates fighting on the cover) has a short (for the New Yorker) story on how Sarah Palin came to be selected, and it's pretty telling. More.

Vote, baby, vote!!

barbara — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:36:20 -0600

barbara writes

Greetings from Never-Never-Land. ‘Tis a strange world, personally and nationally. It’s the place where the love of my life recently died and was memorialized. It is the place where, immediately following all of that, my lovely brother for whom I am guardian was admitted to the hospital with a serious illness. It’s the place where he remains hospitalized. It’s the place where barbara occasionally comes up for air. And each time she does, she discovers that even the air beyond NNLand has been fouled. Crikey!

It's been very strange to watch from the sidelines as this whole general election has unfolded. I’m usually more involved. But this year, all y’all have been the ones out there, writing profusely and profoundly, knocking on doors, making phone calls, beating the bushes (yes!!!) for voters and otherwise kicking butt. I can see that you’ve got Obama’s back and that has made a humongous impact on this surreal election cycle. (((applauds your efforts)))

What follows is my outsider's summary of how this whole election cycle has unfolded:

Lookin' like a landslide!

susan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:16:09 -0600

Not sayin', but Barack just got Pennsylvania. As of 8:10, MN time, Barack's ahead with 174 to 76.
In MN, we're going to have a long night waiting for Al, but we're hopeful.
As I filled in my little oval for Barack Obama, I stopped to savor what I was doing. And it made me cry. What a night. Off to celebrate with my peeps.

Yes, he did!!

barbara — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:43:34 -0600

barbara writes

It's raining in Minnesota. Even so, the sun is shining. It's a whole new day!!

Give this gorgeous song a listen!

Record tight Franken-Coleman race heads for a recount

susan — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:15:03 -0600

My my, what a surreal two days it's been. The ether is just starting to wear off, the weather is finally doing the grey thing it does in Minnesota November (but gratefully held off until 80% of us had voted, once again leading the nation in voter turnout), the world has given up its tension in one collective exhale -- and Al Franken's senate race has gone into a recount. Read about it here.

Coleman's lead over Franken drops to 230 votes!

susan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:00:54 -0600

And the recount hasn't even begun. Yes we can!

My friend Terry Gydesen is a photographer/filmmaker who once upon a time followed behind Paul and Sheila Wellstone, documenting Paul's improbable rise to the US senate. Many of the photos of Paul and Sheila that you've seen over the years are Terry's. The University of Minnesota Press published a book of her photos, Twelve Years and Thirteen Days: Remembering Paul and Sheila Wellstone.
Recently she's been following the Franken campaign. The photo above is one of hers, taken from her blog, Terrygydesen.com.
There are differences between the two men, but many similarities as well -- including a passion for fighting for the little guy (and gal) and a fierce love for their wives and children. Like Paul and Sheila, Al and Franni are rarely apart. Read more for the link to Terry's photo du jour.

Dancin' in the streets. A view of Obama's victory from the upper west side of NYC.

susan — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:19:21 -0600

Photo courtesy of Utne.com

We've all read accounts of the amazing outpouring of elation all over the world after Obama's Tuesday night victory. I couldn't help thinking that it was like the Munchkins dancing after the wicked witch was dead.

Here's another view of that night. My sister DKNY emailed me what she saw and heard from her 9th floor apartment on the upper west side, near 106th and Broadway.
Read it here.

Calling Joe the Plumber: Sewage troubles in Fallujah

susan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:58:07 -0600

Firebombed street in Fallujah. Okay, so I guess we owe them a sewage plant. But does it have to work?

****
With all the dung the former Maverick and his sidekick were tossing around the country in the last few weeks, you might have missed the latest poop on Iraq, the forgotten stepchild of this b'zillion dollar election.

The Special Inspector for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent federal office led by Stewart W. Bowen (who has consistently released damning reports on the lost billions and failed projects in Iraq that go virtually unnoticed by most Americans), reported that a sewage treatment plant being constructed in Fallujah, with American dollars and know-how, is three times over budget, three years behind schedule, and may never be used. Read on, it just gets better.

Post-election let down

susan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:12:18 -0600

So personally, I'm in withdrawal. Thank god for Al Franken's recount and the Martin/Chambliss run-off in Georgia. As I write this, Mark Begich has just declared victory over convicted felon Ted Stevens, so that's 58 senate seats, two to go. Thank god we can draw this out. A bit more here.

Thanksgiving in Baghdad -- and at home

susan — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:01:57 -0600

What an odd season it is. Our emotions swing like the stock market -- the high of Obama's election to the low of the three tone-deaf auto CEO's, begging for dollars from we-the-people because they couldn't sell their you-the-dope gas hogs. If they couldn't read the public mood enough to know that showing up in three separate corporate jets to beg for a bailout wasn't an effective PR strategy, is it any wonder they failed to notice that the foreign auto makers were thumpin' their buttery leather bums with smaller fuel-efficient cars? (To add to their very bad no good day, their octogenarian water boy, the hide-bound Rep. John Dingell, also took a thumpin' and lost his post as chair of the House Energy and Commerce committee, replaced by Henry Waxman, one of the few Dems with a zest for digging deep and a proponent of controls on auto emissions to help curb global warming.)
Gobble ahead for more.

Thanksgiving, here and now

barbara — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:15:30 -0600

Chickadeebarbara writes

~~A funny thing happened to me on the way to the keyboard….~~
~~Ummm, long time no see!~~
~~So, uh, cold enough for ya?~~

Crikey! It’s been so long since I’ve been here, I don’t remember how to think or write. (Okay, you’re rolling your eyes and saying, “And this is new how?”, right?)

I did make a cameo appearance on election day or thereabouts. Otherwise, it’s been up to Susan to keep the clothesline from drooping into the frosted-over leaves out back.

The clothes poles never did get painted this summer. The shed is even more ramshackle than last year at this time. The pears and apples and plums I couldn’t reach from the ground froze on their high-hanging branches. There will be no jam, no applesauce this year. Friends gathered to cut back David’s gardens for me. I took care of the tea roses and the butterfly bush myself. The pond is covered with the Styrofoam form David crafted to insulate it, and over that lies a brand new slab of plywood a friend brought to replace the rotting OSB that’s done the job for one too many years. There’s firewood on the patio for David’s pet wood stove, and the new doors he wanted have all been installed.

And so, here we are in the place between. Not quite finished with autumn, not yet fully winter. Brother Garry has recovered again from abdominal surgery, but is not quite ready to leave here for his own home. Everyone seems to be second-guessing a man who’s won’t be president until January. There’s a kind of breath-taking thing going on with free-falling investments that have just caught a momentary updraft before they tank again. And so it goes. Click here for more.