Hello, Uranus? Got Any Room? / Must. Move. Away. Cannot endure more Bush. Soul about to implode. Right? Not so fast

And here's a decent response to the idea of just fleeing the country to get away from the Bush Occupation...

The Associated Press: "Police: Woman Drank Dead Boyfriend's Beer
PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) -- A woman has been arrested for digging up her dead boyfriend's ashes from a cemetery more than 10 years ago and drinking the beer that was buried with him, possibly out of spite for his family, authorities say."

Now that's what I call holding a grudge...

Outpost Gallifrey

Ooh! Photos of the new, slightly redesigned Daleks from the new Doctor Who series. (Again, I point out at how excited and anxious folks seemed to be to see how Golum and other Lord of the Rings characters would appear on the big screen; now it's your turn to indulge my passions.)

Sci Fi Wire -- The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel: "Pride Goes On Hiatus "

I know whenever something like this happens, I'm supposed to throw up my arms and cry, "Why won't the networks support any kind of programming that deviates from the standard and mundane fare we usually get?" But it's hard to muster any outrage when the show is, well, crap.

Still not able to really write about the election. It's coming...

In the meantime, check this out:

Wallow In Chaos, And Laugh / A pro-Bush outcome and one enormous bitter pill and you without your vodka

The last time I checked, Bush was in the lead. It's like I've woken up on the frelling Planet of the Apes or something.

Oh, look. The post I wrote last Saturday (I think) and posted via email finally turned up.

Anyway, I spent the day knocking on doors, to generally no avail. Had one or two rude people to deal with, but mostly it was just a lot of work for no reward. The last hour or so was fun, though: I was joined by another volunteer who had driven out from California, and we went racing through the neighborhood like barnstormers. We'd stop, jump out, hit a couple of houses apiece from my list, jump back in the truck, and off to the next street. And no matter what I did, I feel like I could have done more. I didn't need to walk from one house to another when I could have run. I didn't need to talk slower; people needed to listen faster. Maybe we didn't need to stop at all; perhaps we should have just shouted at people's houses as we drove past.


And I can't watch the election coverage, because I've had enough of all that. I don't want to watch the slow, inexorable progress, particularly since so far, things are tilted in Bush's favor, and I'll just get upset watching that. I just want to know who wins when all is said and done.

Finished writing for now. Too unfocused to do much else besides try to watch tonight's episode of Gilmore Girls. (And even that keeps getting put on pause so I can reinstall my upgraded antivirus software...)

So, for the past week, I have been volunteering to help get the vote out for John Kerry.  I've been going out and canvassing, knocking on doors of potential Kerry supporters and encouraging them to get out and vote on Tuesday.  Then I'm supposed to call them again and remind them, arrange for them to get rides, whatever it takes to get them to get out and vote.

 

Now, I've talked before about how I hate to leave the house and how I hate to talk to people, and that may have been viewed as hyperbole.  Believe me, it isn't.  This takes me so far outside my comfort zone, when I get done for the day, I literally have the shakes.  However, having committed to doing this, I'm equally uncomfortable making the decision not to keep going out.  I feel like, if I don't go out and knock on doors whenever I have the chance, and come Tuesday, the Criminal Bush continues his criminal reign, I'll be partially responsible. 

 

So, no matter what I do, I get upset, because I hate the idea of going out and talking to strangers about voting, and I hate the idea that there's more I should be doing, but am not.  End result: complete stress.  I've been antsy and upset and on edge all week, and this weekend is the last big push before election day.  And then I'm volunteering on election day, because I'm just that big of a sucker.  Because if I could, and don't, and the Criminal Bush wins... well, I'm repeating myself.

 

So, this is why entries have been sparse for the past week or more: even when I have time to write something for the blog without feeling like I should be out talking to more people, I'm still so wound up that I can't focus.  This will persist until after Tuesday, so bear with me.

 

Oh, and doing this has helped me realize why my interest in superhero comics is fading.  But that's a story for another day, probably.  Because I gots more stuff to do today.

So tomorrow is the Big Day, Election 2004, and I'm terrified for any number of reasons. Bush and Kerry are still inexplicably pretty close in the polls, and I just don't get it. Obviously, the election is the hot topic right now, and here's a couple of bits I found online that say things better than I can.

From author Caitlin Kiernan's journal:

"This presidential thing is looking grim. Bush is leading in the polls again. What, exactly, does it take for the people of America to notice that they're being vigourously ass-fucked by a bunch of hateful old men with a hard-on for nothing but money and military expansionism? Let's see...it takes more than getting us all stuck in an unjust, unwinnable war. It takes more than learning that the hateful old men lied to get us to let them go to war. It takes more than a disregard for education, fair taxes, and the poor. It takes more than seeing that an administration is willing to wipe its ass with the Bill of Rights. It takes more than an impending draft, deemed necessary to keep the aforementioned unjust, unwinnable war stocked with cannon fodder. Maybe it takes just a little bit more apocalypse and ass-fuckery than we've seen so far.

"Maybe I'm just impatient.

"And I'm growing cynical, again.

"This is it, folks. Like it or not, we're the most powerful nation on earth. Right or wrong, our will shall most likely determine the fate of this particular civilization and, perhaps, the fate of the planet, as well. You take a thing just so goddamn far, and maybe you don't get more than fourteen or fifteen second chances."

And Mark Morford's column was also pretty inspiring, but I'm not going to quote it here.

For me, this is the biggest concern that I have, beyond specific issues and problems with the Bush administration (of which there are many): If America reelects George W. Bush tomorrow, in the face of everything that he's done, all the lies, all the corruption, all the bad decisions and deaths, it's like America is coming out and admitting that we, as a people, embrace willful ignorance. We approve of bullying, of thuggery, of lies and corruption, and that above all, might makes right. We don't care about things like reason, or compassion, or truth or honesty, or personal rights or any of the things that we pretend to stand for, and now we're finally coming out and admitting that. And that's the message that reelecting George Bush sends, and I'm not at all comfortable with the knowledge that a large number of Americans may be okay with that. It's a continuum, ranging from declaring an unjustified war on another country in the face of international disapproval just because we can, all the way down to some jerk in an SUV making a left turn from the right-hand lane just because he's got the bigger car, but it's all of a piece. And that's not the America I believe in.

Fortunately, I think most other people don't believe in that America either. The trick is getting them out and voting. So I'm still volunteering to get the vote out. I'm spending all day tomorrow (polls are open for 12 hours here) knocking on doors and trying to get people in my neighborhood to the polls. And I'm so intimidated by the enormity of that task, I get panicky just thinking about it. (Panicky? I am freaked right the fuck out, make no mistake.) But it's either do this, or make the choice not to. And quite honestly, while I'm running around trying to drag people to the polls, I'm know I'm going to be feeling like I'm not reaching enough people. And if--God forbid--things don't work out tomorrow, I'm still going to feel awful, no matter how much of my all I give.

So, if I'm going to do this, than at least everyone reading this can get out and vote. Vote for Kerry, vote for Bush, whatever (but mostly, vote for Kerry, obviously), but let's make sure that America makes this decision, not just some of it.

A friend sent me these Rodney Dangerfield one-liners:

A few quotes from the king of the one-liners:

· I was so poor growing up...If I wasn't born a boy....I'd have nothing to play with.

· A girl phoned me the other day and said .... "Come on over, there's nobody home." I went over. Nobody was home.

· During sex, my girlfriend always wants to talk to me. Just the other night she called me from a hotel.

· One day as I came home early from work ..... I saw a guy jogging naked. I said to the guy .... "Hey buddy, why are you doing that?" He said, "Because you came home early."

· Its been a rough day. I got up this morning .... put on a shirt and a button fell off. I picked up my briefcase, and the handle came off. I'm afraid to go to the bathroom.

· I was such an ugly kid........When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up.

· I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

· I was such an ugly baby...My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.

· I'm so ugly...My father carries around the picture of the kid who came with his wallet.

· When I was born .... the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father........ I'm very sorry....... We did everything we could......But he pulled through.

· I'm so ugly...My mother had morning sickness....... AFTER I was born.

· I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof.

· Once when I was lost..... I saw a policeman, and asked him to help me find my parents. I said to him . "Do you think we'll ever find them?" He said. "I don't know, kid . there are so many places they can hide."

· My wife made me join a bridge club. I jump off next Tuesday.

· I'm so ugly...I worked in a pet shop, and people kept asking how big I'd get.

· I went to see my doctor. "Doctor, every morning when I get up and look in the mirror... I feel like throwing up; What's wrong with me?" He said..."I don't know but your eyesight is perfect."

· I went to the doctor because I'd swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. My doctor told me to have a few drinks and get some rest.