Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Said my conservie friend to this map when I sent it to him in an email, "Map updated to reflect the constitutionally valid majority vote of AMERICA!!! The constitution sucks when it works against you, doesn't it?"
I thought more that it shows that a majority does not smart make....
Good looking man hours. God there is nothing like watching professional man hours at work especially when the man hours are hunks. Our 'minimalist' garden required about three man hours's worth of intensive leaf blowing, pruning, raking, debris removal, and winterizing. From that standpoint the $200-plus it will likely cost for services rendered are well worth it given my calculations that it would have taken hubby and me three days to do the same (we have one rake between us and that's about it). The garden looks gorgeous. Our backs are saved. Probably our marriage as well had we had to spend 72 hours working in the garden together. Three hour view of working brawn outside? Priceless.
Electronic back-up of a time and world long gone. The mother in San Francisco came across a faded letter recently, dated June 29th, 1962. It was a letter my father had written to his sister in New York asking if she would take care of me should anything happen to them. I would have been two-and-a-half at the time. My father would die about a year later in an automobile accident just outside of San Francisco. Bear with me as I transpose this letter to its electronic safe keeping place. The italics are mine.
29 June, 1962
Dear Joan,
I am enclosing a notarized statement regarding the legal guardianship of Anna in the unlikely event of the death of both parents and her survival. We hope you will be willing and able to take care of her upbringing. If not, please let us know and we will find someone else. Please note, confidentially, that we specifically do not want her raised by either grandparents. [interesting...] We both thought you would enjoy rearing her without spoiling her, but might be wrong. Anyway it's probably all very remote but we thought we'd take the precaution anyway in view of the amount of air traveling we do etc.
Just returned from a five day holiday on the English "Riviera." Some English friends made their trailer by the sea available to us and we had a fine time. The weather was favorable. We bought past cards but as usual never got around to mailing them. We still aim to see something of Scotland and Wales before taking off for our new assignment in Tripoli (Libya). As you may know, this base and of course the school, is being closed down and it was necessary to accept a new assignment. I'll have the Junior High School at Wheelus Air Base and we'll have living accommodations on the Mediterranean Sea. It also permits us to return to the States each summer during the hot spell. We are looking forward to it but there is still a chance that we may return to the States permanently instead of taking another assignment. If so, would probably settle in the San Francisco area. Can't see raising children in NYC.
Anna is growing fast and talking a whole lot now. She knows all her colors and can recognize small groups of things. She has a tremendous memory and continually surprises me with it. [this must have been shortly before Anna Bloviation's got Alzheimer's at the age of four...]. She loves books and magazines but of course can't read. Nancy is fine and except for the miserable winter we had has enjoyed her stay in England. It will be quite a change if we end up in Tripoli. [we did end up in Tripoli and I remember sitting on the porch swatting flies in the brutally hot son. I remember the sand storms. We had a German Shepard guard dog named Juno].
.......[a who-visited-whom boring family part]............... In case I don't write for awhile, happy 34th birthday (good grief). I refuse to patronize that silly-assed greeting card industry any longer so please don't feel offended when you don't get a card. The same goes for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, Valentine's Day, the birth of your baby and any other appropriate occasion that might come along. No cards. [what an amazing genetic illumination of how Anna Bloviation's became Anna Bloviation's].
School has closed but I'm still on duty -- have to send all equipment, textbooks, etc. to various bases in Europe. Have to work or take leave until it's time to report to my next duty station so I'm in no particularly hurry.
We'll see you next June unless you can manage to get abroad. Hope all goes well with you.
Love, Buzz, Nancy, Anna
Electronic back-up of a time and world long gone. The mother in San Francisco came across a faded letter recently, dated June 29th, 1962. It was a letter my father had written to his sister in New York asking if she would take care of me should anything happen to them. I would have been two-and-a-half at the time. My father would die about a year later in an automobile accident just outside of San Francisco. Bear with me as I transpose this letter to its electronic safe keeping place. The italics are mine.
29 June, 1962
Dear Joan,
I am enclosing a notarized statement regarding the legal guardianship of Anna in the unlikely event of the death of both parents and her survival. We hope you will be willing and able to take care of her upbringing. If not, please let us know and we will find someone else. Please note, confidentially, that we specifically do not want her raised by either grandparents. [interesting...] We both thought you would enjoy rearing her without spoiling her, but might be wrong. Anyway it's probably all very remote but we thought we'd take the precaution anyway in view of the amount of air traveling we do etc.
Just returned from a five day holiday on the English "Riviera." Some English friends made their trailer by the sea available to us and we had a fine time. The weather was favorable. We bought past cards but as usual never got around to mailing them. We still aim to see something of Scotland and Wales before taking off for our new assignment in Tripoli (Libya). As you may know, this base and of course the school, is being closed down and it was necessary to accept a new assignment. I'll have the Junior High School at Wheelus Air Base and we'll have living accommodations on the Mediterranean Sea. It also permits us to return to the States each summer during the hot spell. We are looking forward to it but there is still a chance that we may return to the States permanently instead of taking another assignment. If so, would probably settle in the San Francisco area. Can't see raising children in NYC.
Anna is growing fast and talking a whole lot now. She knows all her colors and can recognize small groups of things. She has a tremendous memory and continually surprises me with it. [this must have been shortly before Anna Bloviation's got Alzheimer's at the age of four...]. She loves books and magazines but of course can't read. Nancy is fine and except for the miserable winter we had has enjoyed her stay in England. It will be quite a change if we end up in Tripoli. [we did end up in Tripoli and I remember sitting on the porch swatting flies in the brutally hot son. I remember the sand storms. We had a German Shepard guard dog named Juno].
.......[a who-visited-whom boring family part]............... In case I don't write for awhile, happy 34th birthday (good grief). I refuse to patronize that silly-assed greeting card industry any longer so please don't feel offended when you don't get a card. The same goes for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, Valentine's Day, the birth of your baby and any other appropriate occasion that might come along. No cards. [what an amazing genetic illumination of how Anna Bloviation's became Anna Bloviation's].
School has closed but I'm still on duty -- have to send all equipment, textbooks, etc. to various bases in Europe. Have to work or take leave until it's time to report to my next duty station so I'm in no particularly hurry.
We'll see you next June unless you can manage to get abroad. Hope all goes well with you.
Love, Buzz, Nancy, Anna
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Numbers vs. Words. We could talk about the numbers but that's when eyes usually start glazing over... Suffice to say that November 2004 has already turned into the second deadliest month for American military forces since the start of the invasion in March 2003. 1,200 plus total dead. Nearly 9,000 total wounded (half injured so severly that they are unable to return to duty). Eyes glazed over yet?
Better Perspective. Go to the following Pentagon link and scroll through the names of the U.S. soldiers who have been killed. It puts the number 1,200 into a whole different perspective... I'm sure if we could see all the names of the estimated 100,000 innocent Iraqis who have been killed since the start of Iraqi Freedom it might just give us pause again. Or maybe not. It's hard to take pause when you're loading up the holiday shopping cart at Walmart....
Better Perspective. Go to the following Pentagon link and scroll through the names of the U.S. soldiers who have been killed. It puts the number 1,200 into a whole different perspective... I'm sure if we could see all the names of the estimated 100,000 innocent Iraqis who have been killed since the start of Iraqi Freedom it might just give us pause again. Or maybe not. It's hard to take pause when you're loading up the holiday shopping cart at Walmart....
Thursday, November 25, 2004
College son's dirty laundry brought from Washington D.C. to Boston Thanksgiving eve.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
With so much chaos at Terminal B on Thanksgiving eve, it took over half an hour for Anna Bloviation's to find the son. To find a son who regally stands in one spot without moving his ass to see if the mother is perhaps parked farther up is not easy when one doesn't have a cell phone. OK so these are the moments when not having a cell phone is a tad inconvenient but that's why they invented nice people. One simply goes up to a complete stranger, smiles wearily, and asks to use the god damn phone. I mean who would be so mean on Thanksgiving eve to say no?
Notable changes for son: He has lost his freshman fifteen and is noticeably more buff. The hair is metro-sexual shoulder length. He gives great hugs. He still doesn't not bring all of his dirty laundry from D.C. up to Boston to have mom wash...
Notable changes for the daughter (who arrived on an earlier flight before Logan got backed up with delays): she has finally made peace with her curly hair and it sparkles healthily with the knowledge it won't be attacked each day with a hot blow dryer and straightening iron. The shoes are all pointy. This prompts a smile when I recall our trip to London together and she turned up her nose at the suggestion she get a pair. "They are so ugly...," she said. She gives great hugs. She doesn't bring her dirty laundry from D.C. up to Boston to have mom wash...
The Thanksgiving feast ironically has always fallen to me in spite of my minimal cooking abilities. I have to thank Martha Stewart this year. I'm going to try a few of the recipes I found on her website yesterday. I'm glad to hear she is "healthy and fit" in jail. Happy Thanksgiving Martha. And to the troops in Iraq a Happy Thanksgiving as well. I hope those poor soldiers do better this year than when Bush presented them with that fake turkey last year during another one of the president's "mission accomplished" photo-ops...
Notable changes for son: He has lost his freshman fifteen and is noticeably more buff. The hair is metro-sexual shoulder length. He gives great hugs. He still doesn't not bring all of his dirty laundry from D.C. up to Boston to have mom wash...
Notable changes for the daughter (who arrived on an earlier flight before Logan got backed up with delays): she has finally made peace with her curly hair and it sparkles healthily with the knowledge it won't be attacked each day with a hot blow dryer and straightening iron. The shoes are all pointy. This prompts a smile when I recall our trip to London together and she turned up her nose at the suggestion she get a pair. "They are so ugly...," she said. She gives great hugs. She doesn't bring her dirty laundry from D.C. up to Boston to have mom wash...
The Thanksgiving feast ironically has always fallen to me in spite of my minimal cooking abilities. I have to thank Martha Stewart this year. I'm going to try a few of the recipes I found on her website yesterday. I'm glad to hear she is "healthy and fit" in jail. Happy Thanksgiving Martha. And to the troops in Iraq a Happy Thanksgiving as well. I hope those poor soldiers do better this year than when Bush presented them with that fake turkey last year during another one of the president's "mission accomplished" photo-ops...
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Wine chilling in the fridge at 6 p.m.
Monday, November 22, 2004
We have staggered out of our weekend-long wine vinaigrette marinade intact, albeit with probably a million or so fewer brain cells than last Thursday I wrote and a decidedly more pickled feeling.. Saturday came in-town neighbors we've known going on sixteen years -- six bottles down for the four of us. Sunday came a hungover day of preparation for the big hitters: the CEO boss and his beautiful wife. Also the millionaire retired 52-year-old and his highly successful art gallery owner/ long-time girlfriend. And an evening of endlessly streaming wine.
Normally I never shut up. But on this big-hitter night my vocabulary stayed stuck to my still groggy tongue like a summer's-worth of flies to tack paper. Which was just fine because Mz. Art Gallery Owner and Mr. CEO are loquacious ones. With abandon that only comes with a deep sense of shared common ground, they swapped stories of wealth to make one's head spin. Did Mr. CEO want to go in $400K for a part-time share in a villa in Italy? They spoke of New England real estate ventures. Upgrades to the summer home in Chatham. Upgrades to the already upgraded luxury apartment in Brookline. The trips. The boats. The wine. The art. The $X-thousand dollar painting she had for him in her car that he musn't forget.
Then came the Bush-bashing. The voting conspiracies. The war. The Let's-Join-Canada. The economic implications of Greenspan's comments and whether to pull out one's money from the market. The that's- why-we're-thinking-of-moving-to-Italy-and-building-a-house-there. Well isn't that nice I thought.... To be able to afford to be a bleeding heart liberal.
My constituent "Joe the Pig" has no such luxury. Just out of jail, no one will hire him. He needs housing. He needs medical attention. Not that these friends didn't vote for a presidential candidate they thought was most likely to help the "Joe the Pigs" of the world. And yes I can make a few calls to our contacts on his behalf. But at the end of the day, I have a glass of wine chilling in my brand new fridge of my just re-done kitchen. And I can turn him off like any news story I don't want to follow when I'm not in the mood. Six months out of the year in Connemara wouldn't be bad either. Sigh...
Normally I never shut up. But on this big-hitter night my vocabulary stayed stuck to my still groggy tongue like a summer's-worth of flies to tack paper. Which was just fine because Mz. Art Gallery Owner and Mr. CEO are loquacious ones. With abandon that only comes with a deep sense of shared common ground, they swapped stories of wealth to make one's head spin. Did Mr. CEO want to go in $400K for a part-time share in a villa in Italy? They spoke of New England real estate ventures. Upgrades to the summer home in Chatham. Upgrades to the already upgraded luxury apartment in Brookline. The trips. The boats. The wine. The art. The $X-thousand dollar painting she had for him in her car that he musn't forget.
Then came the Bush-bashing. The voting conspiracies. The war. The Let's-Join-Canada. The economic implications of Greenspan's comments and whether to pull out one's money from the market. The that's- why-we're-thinking-of-moving-to-Italy-and-building-a-house-there. Well isn't that nice I thought.... To be able to afford to be a bleeding heart liberal.
My constituent "Joe the Pig" has no such luxury. Just out of jail, no one will hire him. He needs housing. He needs medical attention. Not that these friends didn't vote for a presidential candidate they thought was most likely to help the "Joe the Pigs" of the world. And yes I can make a few calls to our contacts on his behalf. But at the end of the day, I have a glass of wine chilling in my brand new fridge of my just re-done kitchen. And I can turn him off like any news story I don't want to follow when I'm not in the mood. Six months out of the year in Connemara wouldn't be bad either. Sigh...
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor looked smashing in her retro-avocado green two-piece suit this morning. Really. But she should do something different with her hair. How boring is it to have the blonde highlight thing going? And lose those sensible pumps woman i.e. have the guts to be intelligent AND wear sexy pointy shoes. Nothing too flashy of course.
You can tell she has done a lot of these dog-and-pony shows. She is adept at making sure 1) every sentence she utters makes Mitt look good 2) her entourage of lackeys has supplied her with lots of stats and facts, and 3) she mispronounces the bill sponsor's name after having stolen his quote and leaving him with just about nothing to say because she read off of his (my) press release.
Next comes my Rep up to the podium. His Irish ears turn beet red whilst he fumbles, stumbles, and stutters his thank you's and blah, blah, blahs. Then comes the ride back to the State House whereby insecure, constantly-needs-stroking Rep asks one hundred times how he did. "You were OK," I say. "The best speech came from the Executive Director of the Mass. Chiefs of Police. He was good."
"Was I really bad?"
"You were ok. Healy really put you in an akward position by not leaving anything for you to talk about (and you don't want to leave a guy who has trouble speaking in general with nothing to talk about I thought...). You did the right thing by trying to address your comments to the students in the school auditorium but you talked so fast that I think it all kind of went over their poor little heads."
"Anna do you always have to be so honest?"
"Sorry Rep..." (God I hope the job I just applied for gets a response I think to myself...)
You can tell she has done a lot of these dog-and-pony shows. She is adept at making sure 1) every sentence she utters makes Mitt look good 2) her entourage of lackeys has supplied her with lots of stats and facts, and 3) she mispronounces the bill sponsor's name after having stolen his quote and leaving him with just about nothing to say because she read off of his (my) press release.
Next comes my Rep up to the podium. His Irish ears turn beet red whilst he fumbles, stumbles, and stutters his thank you's and blah, blah, blahs. Then comes the ride back to the State House whereby insecure, constantly-needs-stroking Rep asks one hundred times how he did. "You were OK," I say. "The best speech came from the Executive Director of the Mass. Chiefs of Police. He was good."
"Was I really bad?"
"You were ok. Healy really put you in an akward position by not leaving anything for you to talk about (and you don't want to leave a guy who has trouble speaking in general with nothing to talk about I thought...). You did the right thing by trying to address your comments to the students in the school auditorium but you talked so fast that I think it all kind of went over their poor little heads."
"Anna do you always have to be so honest?"
"Sorry Rep..." (God I hope the job I just applied for gets a response I think to myself...)
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
'Little Dig' Scandal. Well you've all heard of Boston's Big Dig scandal, right? It's chock full of leaks, cost overruns, and a Massachusetts Turnpike Chairman Matthew Amorello who doesn't seem to think he is at all accountable for the mess (Sorry Matt but I'm siding with the Republican Governor on this one. Bye, bye....) But stay tuned for a soon-to-be announced 'Little Dig' Scandal you'll be hearing about as well. I don't have much in the way of gritty details yet but apparently a long stretch of gas pipe off the coastline of Nahant (just north of Boston) was done shoddily at best. Instead of putting the gas pipe fifteen feet below the sea bottom as required, engineers cut corners and only put it down five feet. Now discovered, it isn't so easy to rectify as it turns out i.e. you can't simply dump sediment on top to make up the ten feet difference as it would disrupt the migratory patterns of shellfish and fish alike. Sure you can bury the pipe another ten feet... But at what cost baby. At what cost? And why the hell wasn't it done in the first place? Just as why the hell weren't the I-93 leaks addressed when they should have been?
Tomorrow are photographs with the Lieutenant Governor and Anna Bloviation's (Anna will be standing behind the good Representative even though I did most of the work). A new law to be enacted tomorrow is about to make Christmas a whole lot shittier for youngsters under the age of sixteen. Sorry little ones. We wanted to keep you safer so that you might live to see your sixteenth birthday. I don't know why really. After sixteen you want to half the time kill the little bastards...
Tomorrow are photographs with the Lieutenant Governor and Anna Bloviation's (Anna will be standing behind the good Representative even though I did most of the work). A new law to be enacted tomorrow is about to make Christmas a whole lot shittier for youngsters under the age of sixteen. Sorry little ones. We wanted to keep you safer so that you might live to see your sixteenth birthday. I don't know why really. After sixteen you want to half the time kill the little bastards...
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Dumb Stats are just so much fun sometimes. According to the Atlantic Monthly, the world's top ten most bibulous countries are (drum roll):
1) Luxembourg -- Annual intake of pure alcohol per person: 3.14 gallons
2) Hungary -- 2.93 gallons
3) Czech Republic -- 2.85 gallons
4) Ireland -- 2.85 gallons
5) Germany -- 2.75 gallons
6) France -- 2.72 gallons
7) Portugal -- 2.56 gallons
8) Spain -- 2.54 gallons
9) Great Britain -- 2.54 gallons
10) Denmark -- 2.51 gallons
The U.S. ranks just twenty-sixth among forty-five countries in per capita alcohol consumption. Yeah but we've got Prozac!
1) Luxembourg -- Annual intake of pure alcohol per person: 3.14 gallons
2) Hungary -- 2.93 gallons
3) Czech Republic -- 2.85 gallons
4) Ireland -- 2.85 gallons
5) Germany -- 2.75 gallons
6) France -- 2.72 gallons
7) Portugal -- 2.56 gallons
8) Spain -- 2.54 gallons
9) Great Britain -- 2.54 gallons
10) Denmark -- 2.51 gallons
The U.S. ranks just twenty-sixth among forty-five countries in per capita alcohol consumption. Yeah but we've got Prozac!
Monday, November 15, 2004
Making Them Shake. Oh I so missed my calling and am the born contractor. The plumber stopped by on his own volition to adjust the dishwasher he had put in crooked and to make sure our new gas burner was behaving properly. The painter didn't show up today however given that he called my VP of Marketing hubby of big company on his cell phone this morning to let him know he was having car troubles rather than risk the wrath of Anna Bloviation's says a lot doesn't it? 'Cause I know he has my number....
Baby Showers 2004. My expectant friend received a lot of stuff on Sunday i.e. I bet she'll be able to get through two months without ever having to wash a baby bib. I wouldn't say that today's baby shower is any more excessive than twenty years ago when first-born son opened his baby blue eyes to the planet. But then again I didn't have a baby shower. So it's hard to say whether I would have scored the shear volume of gifts my friend did. I will say that the list has gotten markedly more complex as to what is considered 'essential' compared to when I made my appearance on the planet. I don't know what to say guys. My first year was spent in cloth diapers in the jump seat of a VW beetle bopping through Europe accompanied by cigarette-smoking, oft intoxicated parents at the wheel. But that's another story. Today's purported prerequisites:
Rear-facing infant car seat
Infant-toddler car seat portable crib
Playard Sling or soft carrier Stroller
Safety Monitor Safety Gate
Diapers
Diaper Bag Pail and Liners
Rash ointment and Powder
Absorbent bibs
Booties or socks
Gowns or stretchies
Hats
Homecoming outfit/One-piece, footed rompers
Shirts and one pieces
Receiving blankets
t-shirts and kimonos
Changing pads
Changing table/crib
Bassinet crib
Crib bedding/blankets
Crib mattress dresser/armoire fitted sheets
Fleece blanket
Glider and ottoman or rocker hamper mattress pad
Mobile waterproof crib liner
Brush and Comb
First Aid supplies/Nail Clippers/Thermometer/Humidifier/Vaporizer
Bouncer Seat/Stroller/crib/ or Car-seat Toys
Swing
Rattles and Teethers
Developmental ToysGym or PlaymateJumper
Bottles
Breast Pads/shields and cream
Burp Cloths
Breast Pump
High Chair
Infant Spoons
Nursing Pillow Spill-proof cups
Highchair
Bottle Sterilizer
Baby Lotion
Bathtub
Gentle Shampoo
Body Wash
Hooded Terry Cloth Towels
Washcloths
Books, Music, and More
Shopping Cart Liner
Thing-a-ma-bob you put between mommy and daddy so that neither rolls over on baby when baby is in bed with mommy and daddy
Kate Spade diaper bag
Etc.
Baby Showers 2004. My expectant friend received a lot of stuff on Sunday i.e. I bet she'll be able to get through two months without ever having to wash a baby bib. I wouldn't say that today's baby shower is any more excessive than twenty years ago when first-born son opened his baby blue eyes to the planet. But then again I didn't have a baby shower. So it's hard to say whether I would have scored the shear volume of gifts my friend did. I will say that the list has gotten markedly more complex as to what is considered 'essential' compared to when I made my appearance on the planet. I don't know what to say guys. My first year was spent in cloth diapers in the jump seat of a VW beetle bopping through Europe accompanied by cigarette-smoking, oft intoxicated parents at the wheel. But that's another story. Today's purported prerequisites:
Rear-facing infant car seat
Infant-toddler car seat portable crib
Playard Sling or soft carrier Stroller
Safety Monitor Safety Gate
Diapers
Diaper Bag Pail and Liners
Rash ointment and Powder
Absorbent bibs
Booties or socks
Gowns or stretchies
Hats
Homecoming outfit/One-piece, footed rompers
Shirts and one pieces
Receiving blankets
t-shirts and kimonos
Changing pads
Changing table/crib
Bassinet crib
Crib bedding/blankets
Crib mattress dresser/armoire fitted sheets
Fleece blanket
Glider and ottoman or rocker hamper mattress pad
Mobile waterproof crib liner
Brush and Comb
First Aid supplies/Nail Clippers/Thermometer/Humidifier/Vaporizer
Bouncer Seat/Stroller/crib/ or Car-seat Toys
Swing
Rattles and Teethers
Developmental ToysGym or PlaymateJumper
Bottles
Breast Pads/shields and cream
Burp Cloths
Breast Pump
High Chair
Infant Spoons
Nursing Pillow Spill-proof cups
Highchair
Bottle Sterilizer
Baby Lotion
Bathtub
Gentle Shampoo
Body Wash
Hooded Terry Cloth Towels
Washcloths
Books, Music, and More
Shopping Cart Liner
Thing-a-ma-bob you put between mommy and daddy so that neither rolls over on baby when baby is in bed with mommy and daddy
Kate Spade diaper bag
Etc.
Friday, November 12, 2004
The Arctic Melting Thang: the northern coast of Norway in 1922 and today...
I got going on the Arctic Melting Thing with my physicist friend yesterday and he gently reminded me of what he always gently reminds me -- that the passage of time does not necessarily denote progress. The passage of time is just that. The passage of time. Here one day and underwater the next -- taken over by genetically engineered tuna and pollution-thriving algae. It isn't good or bad. It just is. Of course it would be a lot easier to embrace this way of thinking if I didn't have progeny on the planet.
Today my Stanford-educated, news-savvy friend gave me hope for the future. Because? Because in spite of all the information out there that should have thwarted the idea (including Anna Bloviation's many rantings), she went out and leased a Chili-pepper-red Toyota Highlander a.k.a. S.U.V. I just have to admire her unwavering optimism that mankind will right the consequences of our planet-damaging choices. In which case it's ok to buy a vehicle so blatantly at odds with planet sustainablity. Then again she is a mother-to-be. So it may in fact be her maternal instinct in the driver's seat more than anything else right now. She is hormonally hard-wired to do everything possible to protect her child. Global warming? Perhaps still too intangible a concept. But keeping her baby safer on Boston's roads? That's tangible. And if truth be told about Massachusetts drivers? Not entirely unreasonable at all.
Today my Stanford-educated, news-savvy friend gave me hope for the future. Because? Because in spite of all the information out there that should have thwarted the idea (including Anna Bloviation's many rantings), she went out and leased a Chili-pepper-red Toyota Highlander a.k.a. S.U.V. I just have to admire her unwavering optimism that mankind will right the consequences of our planet-damaging choices. In which case it's ok to buy a vehicle so blatantly at odds with planet sustainablity. Then again she is a mother-to-be. So it may in fact be her maternal instinct in the driver's seat more than anything else right now. She is hormonally hard-wired to do everything possible to protect her child. Global warming? Perhaps still too intangible a concept. But keeping her baby safer on Boston's roads? That's tangible. And if truth be told about Massachusetts drivers? Not entirely unreasonable at all.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Having completely misread the outcome of the presidential election, I guess I shouldn't be overly surprised that there are actually those who are looking forward to a little Arctic melting. Bangladesh and Florida might be underwater soon but there is potential for shortcut shipping routes to get plastic flip-flops faster to their destination points! OK let me try my hand at seeing the bright side of the environment these days. Hmmm. Thinking, thinking.... OK here goes: I'm glad our new house sits up on a hill. We may yet end up with the ocean front property we've always wanted!
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
This could work....
Monday, November 08, 2004
OK so this is fake... But a real headline I saw upon landing in London the day after the election did read: "oh my god..." Really.
Well I've looked high and low on the internet but there are simply no surgeons who will perform a reversible lobotomy. I thought that if there were such an operation available it might get me through the next four years of Bush... I've also scratched the idea of moving to London for refuge even so hubby has a satellite office there. It's just too damn expensive a city. $24 for two drinks in the theater district? Please. Over $6,000 to rent a posh little apartment a stone's throw from Harrod's? Double please. Hubby likes choice three much better anyway. "Honey, could you please just fuck my brains out. Please!"
Those network television maps during the elections were amazing weren't they? There is only a pencil-thin line of blue along the coasts for liberals to suck in any neocon-free air anymore. The rest of the country is one big Republican bloodstain. If that red swath were smart, it would start charging Democrats and the French a fly-over tax to get from coast to coast. Of course then NY, MA, and CA could then threaten to cede from the US and then where would the economy be?
For those beneficiaries of the Bush tax cut who can afford a week in London, go see the Jerry Springer Opera while there. It's bloody crack. Especially when Jerry has Jesus, Satan, and God on the show to air their many grievances. Via profane opera. It's really very funny.
Those network television maps during the elections were amazing weren't they? There is only a pencil-thin line of blue along the coasts for liberals to suck in any neocon-free air anymore. The rest of the country is one big Republican bloodstain. If that red swath were smart, it would start charging Democrats and the French a fly-over tax to get from coast to coast. Of course then NY, MA, and CA could then threaten to cede from the US and then where would the economy be?
For those beneficiaries of the Bush tax cut who can afford a week in London, go see the Jerry Springer Opera while there. It's bloody crack. Especially when Jerry has Jesus, Satan, and God on the show to air their many grievances. Via profane opera. It's really very funny.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE TODAY FOR SENATOR JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THANK YOU.
SINCERELY,
ANNA BLOVIATIONS
SINCERELY,
ANNA BLOVIATIONS
Monday, November 01, 2004
You've all no doubt seen those bright yellow Live Strong bands on everyone's wrists these days -- the brain child of Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. By wearing one of these bracelets, you are showing support for cancer victims and cancer research. I don't mean to be a party pooper here but why don't people just send in a $10 check to cancer research instead? Just the expended energy to produce these bracelets (not to mention whatever toxic substances and dyes that go into making them) is probably more carcinogenic than anything cancer research could come up with to off-set the disease.
First you've got miserably paid laborers stirring cauldrons of toxic yellow goo in dank, hot sweat shops across China. And as if we didn't have enough plastic already, the molded Lance Armstrong Live Strong bracelets then get packaged in even more plastic -- soon to be placed on diesel-spewing tankers en route to ports of destination around the world -- soon to be trucked by diesel-spewing trucks to people seemingly obsessed with belonging to the 13 million-and-growing group of yellow-banded bracelet wearers. Is the plastic recyclable? Or are these trendy bracelets of support one more thing to be tossed onto a landfill to never rot forever. If you wear these bracelets 'forever,' do toxic remnants rub onto your skin and ultimately end up in your blood stream? Stranger things have happened...
I have similar complaints with the Support Our Troops magnetic ribbons everyone has on the back of his/her SUV these days. If people really wanted to support the troops they would stop driving SUV's so that we could reduce our dependence on oil and hence not have to be in Iraq under the pretense of bringing the people liberation when really our ulterior motive is oil. These same people could also vote for Senator John Kerry for President November 1st. Because voting for four more years of delusions that all is going great in Iraq isn't going to support our troops one iota.
First you've got miserably paid laborers stirring cauldrons of toxic yellow goo in dank, hot sweat shops across China. And as if we didn't have enough plastic already, the molded Lance Armstrong Live Strong bracelets then get packaged in even more plastic -- soon to be placed on diesel-spewing tankers en route to ports of destination around the world -- soon to be trucked by diesel-spewing trucks to people seemingly obsessed with belonging to the 13 million-and-growing group of yellow-banded bracelet wearers. Is the plastic recyclable? Or are these trendy bracelets of support one more thing to be tossed onto a landfill to never rot forever. If you wear these bracelets 'forever,' do toxic remnants rub onto your skin and ultimately end up in your blood stream? Stranger things have happened...
I have similar complaints with the Support Our Troops magnetic ribbons everyone has on the back of his/her SUV these days. If people really wanted to support the troops they would stop driving SUV's so that we could reduce our dependence on oil and hence not have to be in Iraq under the pretense of bringing the people liberation when really our ulterior motive is oil. These same people could also vote for Senator John Kerry for President November 1st. Because voting for four more years of delusions that all is going great in Iraq isn't going to support our troops one iota.
