cascadian telegrams

presidential debate round 2: the vulcan is winning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dunno... I sat through the whole thing but found it tedious.  I did find this funny/geeky Star Trek analogy via BoingBoing:

Leonard Nimoy approves of Barack Obama’s emotional detachment and logical approach to campaigning.
“He is measured and stable,” said Mr. Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on Star Trek, and who has supported Mr. Obama since they first met about a year and a half ago at a small Los Angeles fund-raiser. “It’s true that he has an intellect that works for him, he handles difficult problems with aplomb. Reliability and stability are very important assets in this race, in these particularly volatile times.”
Mr. Obama, as far as anybody knows, does not greet strangers with a cloven V salute, practice debilitating neck pinches, bleed green or have a constitutional incapacity to fib. But his methodical, unflappable style and otherworldly resistance to overt displays of emotion—not to mention his temperamental inability, or refusal, to connect on a visceral level with working-class voters—makes him, by contemporary candidate standards, downright alien.
That’s usually not a good thing. Yet, with less than a month until Election Day 2008, the Vulcan is winning.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I fantasize about a world where we are rational and logical as Vulcans, but anyone living in the USA in 2008 must know that isn't the world we live in.  Maybe with some luck it will be the world my son lives in, someday.

landscaping and house update

apologies.  Aside from the occasional political rant, I've been dark on this blog for months.  That's because we've been slaving away on landscaping (sod & grass seed, stone walls, fencing/gates etc.) for a few months and between that and a busy work schedule I've been knackered.  Here is my list from the past few months:

 

• 90 + 20 2' field stone wall
• 'open' 4' high fence mixing Ipe (Brazilian Iron Wood), bamboo and fir
• 8' high privacy fence of bamboo and fir
• field stone retaining wall/ planter bed along the back of the house between the house and garage
• around 2000 sq ft of lawn (both rolled sod and grass seed... kind of a science experiment) on 26 yards of dirt and 5 yards of gravel
• 14' x 10' slate patio
• Bamboo trees/plans (still in their pots since last week, alas)

     

We shifted a lot of dirt, gravel, stone, sod and wood the past few months... all the while sweating like pigs and drinking like sailors.  But I must admit it feels great to do all that manual work after years of being a desk jockey.  It is like your body taps you on the shoulder and says:  'hey stupid... this is what you're supposed to be doing... everyday!". 

We could not have got all this done without great effort from my dad who placed most of the long stone wall and framed the front fence... plus he gave me a great design based on our needs.  Thanks dad!

The good news is that we're done, basically, with the house.  The builders have a few very small items left to do, and the city is fighting with me over repair of the alleyway, but really... we're done.

<Big, slow, deep breath/>

And now, on to trees and plants... the fun part.  We've started with some bamboo plants in the back (from Stan the Bamboo Man over in neighboring Greenwood) but we'll have to work on the 'anchor tenants' over the next few months.

a cross to bear

Poor Joe Biden:  A senator with 36 years of experience who is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, nuanced and conversant in all the issues of the day, has to stand on stage with Sarah-the-Mary-Kay-Sales-Lady for 90 minutes and pretend there is a 'debate'.  So sad for the USA.

The VP debate was painful to watch.  I find her infuriating to listen to.  She reminds me of the worst aspects of small-minded people in the midwest, where I lived for 15 years:  self-righteous, simultaneously arrogant and clueless but utterly convinced of her own opinions.  A brow never creased by doubt.  And most infuriating: winking at the camera and trying to be cute, rather than just answering the questions.  Good lord:  If someone did that in a job interview I'd throw them out in a second!

 

Thankfully the polls seem to indicate that viewers saw through that act.  Sullivan:

Biden didn't put the boot in; he didn't come off as sexist; he didn't make any obvious gaffes. Palin didn't collapse and pushed through the debate with enough speed not to wobble. But it felt as if she needed the speed in order not to wobble. Her inexperience showed; her tone worked best at first and then began to grate. I don't think this debate changed the direction of this election campaign, and I think Palin's performance will buck up base Republicans but actually unnerve some independents.

The campaign's trajectory remains unaltered. Palin's inability to answer real questions, her capacity to avoid follow-ups, her slightly manic quality, and her inability to relate to working class voters came across. Biden did not talk too much; he made no sexist gaffes; he didn't appear to be overweening; he seemed like a nice guy. I think she managed to avoid a tailspin; he reassured. It will stem the GOP collapse a little. But it won't change the race.

What we need now is a press conference with Palin. She needs to be forced to answer follow-ups. She needs to be made accessible to the press and thereby the American people.

 

Fat chance that she'll do a press conference now.  Except for staged appearances I'm guessing they will sequester her away until election day.

and I loved this summary (via dkos):

For her part, GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – speaking with the programmed cadence of a GPS navigation system — used forced folksiness to deliver crammed material in the manner of a  high schooler looking to score a good grade on a Spanish test. The kid may escape with a B-minus, but he wouldn’t be able to order a cup of coffee in Spain a week later.

Interestingly, every home on my street seemed to have the debate on their television, and those commuting home were tuned in on their car radios.  I guess it is human nature to watch a high-wire act.  After her disastrous interviews,  people were expecting her to poop her pants onstage or something.  Congratulations for not doing that, governor.