Wow, he just makes it so easy!

From today's NYT:

Mr. McCain defended himself from critics who said he had acted impetuously by returning to Washington last week to work on the bailout proposal, which some said had made a deal more difficult.
“Some people have criticized my decision to put my country first, but I will never, ever be a president who sits on the sidelines when this country faces a crisis,’’ said Mr. McCain. And Mr. McCain, who spent this weekend in Washington working the phones, but did not actually return to Capitol Hill , said: “I know that many of you have noticed, but it’s not my style to simply ‘phone it in.’ ”

Pop (corn) goes the eyetooth!

MM lost tooth number 5 today while eating popcorn. He spit out what he thought was an unpopped kernel and found a tooth instead.

On my way to greet the tooth fairy!

Because David Letterman has friends...

Like Jon Stewart.

Things I learned today

When you are a Presidential candidate, slipping in the polls, you really really really do not want to piss off David Letterman.

Really.

Bad idea. Bad.

A simple chart

Is available for viewing at Voted Off the Island. It really says it all.

What do you want for lunch today, MM?

My spinach.

Not your spaghetti?

No. Spinach.

As you wish.

Reason

Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. The end of a series:

"I like your pin. I'm voting for him. No more Republicans for me. I'm telling you, I've been to Viet Nam, Desert Storm, and the present conflict, and 'Nam was well run compared to what we're doing now."

- Army man on Amtrak yesterday.

Iraq. Afganistan. Katrina. Darfur. Wall Street. Mortgage Crises. Remember how they made it tougher for people to get out from under predatory lending and credit cards? Bankruptcies are only available for the rich. Mess after mess after mess. McCain is complicit in every one. So is Wolf. Gilmore had his own issues here in VA.

We need Obama and Biden, Warner and RhymesWithSeder. Obama and Biden KNOW how tough it is out there for families. They've lived it. Warner knows how to take a budget deficit and turn it into a budget surplus. And RhymesWithSeder has a wealth of health care knowledge.

So that's why I'm voting and working and walking and calling for the Blue team. Anything else would be unreasonable.

I met Senator Biden and his wife

They are so nice! And I sat right next to Barbara Mikulski!

It was a great time in this swing county in this swing state.

If any of y'all in a solid state want a place to make a difference in the electoral college, c'mon over here and help us out. We need walkers and callers. We need to turn VA blue!

Also, what Jody said.

Read it.

We interrupt this Pro-Obama program to bring you an Anti-McCain Moment

Did you read Eugene Robinson today?

"John McCain was telling the truth when he said that economics wasn't his strong suit. In response to what many economists have called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Republican nominee has sounded -- and let's be honest here -- totally, embarrassingly and dangerously clueless."

Robinson spells out the ways in which McCain is horribly out-of-touch and sums it up thusly:

"Here's something that really ought to grab everyone's attention: McCain supports George W. Bush's idea of channeling at least some Social Security funds into "personal accounts" that individuals would invest on Wall Street. Some of that money would have been entrusted to firms such as Bear Stearns (failed), Lehman Brothers (failed) and Merrill Lynch (sold at a fire sale). Imagine what this crisis would be like if Americans' Social Security benefits were evaporating along with their housing values and their 401(k) accounts.

This is the man who's going to reform the economy?"

Go read the whole thing.

Reason 7 - Updated!

Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. Part seven of a series:

Domestic Violence

My internship last year was with a local women's shelter. Perhaps you didn't know that Biden is a hero to the people who work with victims of domestic violence?

" Senator Biden wrote the ground-breaking Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the 1990s that set the national agenda on criminalizing violence against women and holding batterers truly accountable. It encouraged states to set up coordinated community responses to domestic violence and rape; was the catalyst for passage of hundreds of state laws prohibiting family violence; and provided resources to set up shelters so battered women abused by husbands and boyfriends had a place to go. The law also established the national hotline that over 1.5 million abused women have called for help. By empowering women to make changes in their lives, and by training police and prosecutors to arrest and convict abusive husbands instead of telling them to take a walk around the block, domestic violence is down 50 percent and rape is down 60 percent nationwide.

Each time the Senator renewed the Act – in 2000 and 2005 – he pushed for new initiatives. In 2000, the Act was attached to ground-breaking laws on human trafficking – crimes where over 80% of the victims are women. In 2005, the Violence Against Women Act tackled issues like domestic violence in public housing and treating children witnesses of family violence." - from Biden's senate web page.

This is the man Obama has picked to be his VP, a man of principles, courage, and compassion. As opposed to McCain's VP choice, the former mayor of a town that, while she was in charge, billed victims of sexual assaults for rape kits. Yeah. Nice.

Oh! And the AP reports that the McCain camp claims that the REAL reason she fired Monegan was not because he refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law! It was because Monegan was seeking federal funds to fight sexual assaults! (ht to Bitch PhD)

Health Care, Energy, Tax plan, Social Programs, Amtrak, Ethics, Domestic Violence. Seven down. More to come.

Reason 6

Have you noticed that I have 5 reasons up and I haven't even mentioned Iraq?
Or Afganistan?
Or Walter Reed?
Not mentioning it here either.


Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. Part six of a series:

Ethics

Openness (look at his Google for Government initiative) vs. Secrecy ("whoops!").
Honesty vs. Lies (Didja hear? McCain invented the Blackberry!)

More can be found here (ht to Cecily)

Eight years of fatal lies, cover-ups, and a culture of secrecy are enough.

Health Care, Energy, Tax plan, Social Programs, Amtrak, Ethics. Six down, more to come.

Reason 5

Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. Part five of a series:

Amtrak

Or, more specifically, rail infrastructure. Move more people faster for less money. Now, y'all know how much I love Amtrak. What you may not know is how angry I was back in 2001 when Congress was bailing out the airlines and saying that they were going to de-fund Amtrak.

I wrote letters. To my congressman, to both Senators, to the head of the DOT, to the NYT and the Washington Post. I was steamed.

The gist was, did they not remember that Amtrak was the only transportation available to move people over distances when the FAA grounded all the planes? How dare they bail out United -- who let their planes be hijacked! -- and let Amtrak fail? You can't fly trains into skyscrapers, people. A thriving rail system is a matter of national security.

Not to mention that trains (passenger, cargo, commuter) are highly efficient and reduce congestion. Safer, more comfortable, less expensive, and less polluting than cars or planes. Faster than cars (sometimes even faster than planes when you count the time spent in airports going through security, getting delayed on the tarmac, and waiting for your luggage which missed your transfer at Raleigh/Durham).

I want a Veep who believes in the rail system and who has used it to commute to work everyday for the last 30 years.

Health Care, Energy, Tax plan, Social Programs, Amtrak. Five down, more to come.

Reason 4

Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. Part four of a series:

Social Programs

Because we need some REAL compassion in the White House. Not just lip service. Not hand outs for friends and cronies and a punch in the nose for the rest of the country. Compassionate conservatism, my Aunt Fanny. McCain couldn't care less about what most of the country is going through. Today 12,000 people lost their jobs. This past weekend, thousands of people lost their homes. Gas prices are through the roof. Heating costs are going to be brutal this winter. It's going to be a choice between eating and staying warm for many people and there's only one candidate who cares about that.

Obama. For people in poverty, for people with disabilities, for all of us. Education. Access. Jobs. Security. Respect.

“We must build a world free of unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination .... policies must be developed, attitudes must be shaped, and buildings and organizations must be designed to ensure that everyone has a chance to get the education they need and live independently as full citizens in their communities.” - Barack Obama.

Health Care, Energy, Tax plan, Social Programs. Four down, more to come.

Reason 3

Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. Part three of a series:

Tax Plan

People, our country is in deep deep financial effluvia. Now is not the time to be buying into the trickle-down theory. 'Cause what's trickling down ain't helping. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class are getting poorer.

I like Obama's tax plan. Hopefully, I'll be in the 2% that gets taxed MORE and I still like it.

I like what it does for the folks who need help, I like it a lot.

I like that it rolls back the unconsciencable Bush tax cuts for those who earn more than 250K.

I like it. I want it.

My co-worker whose family grosses more than 250K hates the Obama plan. Because she wants to buy another SUV with the money McCain will save her. Yeah. Nice. What she doesn't understand is that her taxes will probably go up under McCain because he'll tax her health care bennies. Good luck explaining it to her, I've tried.

There are so many with so little and so few with so much. I think that Obama's plan is fair and reasonable. Also, it's fiscally conservative.


Health Care, Energy, Tax Plan. Three down, more to come.

Reason 2

Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. Part two of a series:

Energy

Drill baby drill is not an energy policy. Looking for ways develop and promote renewable energy sources and to conserve what we've got? That's an energy policy.

One of the things that really frosts my cookies about the current administration and the backers thereof is the sheer waste. Particularly the waste of the opportunity given by 9/11 to shake us out of our routines and promote energy independence. Victory gardens in every yard and solar panels on every roof! And instead our bozo-in-chief told us to go shopping. Yeah. Nice.

Imagine what we could do to change our energy landscape if we had a president who cared about anything other than putting more money in his friends' pockets. Imagine investment in public transportation, solar and wind power, geothermal, non-toxic insulation, telecommuting, sidewalks and bike paths. And if all that helps slow down global warming at the same time, that's just icing on the cake!

So. Health care. Energy. Two down. More to come.

Reason 1

Why I'm voting and walking and calling and writing for Obama/Warner/RhymesWithSeder. Part one of a series:

Health Care

We've spent the last few years paying for private insurance. And people, let me tell you, it's expensive. MM and I are on one policy and MS is on another. To keep our payments to a reasonable level, we agreed to $40 co-pays, which shocked the crap out of the receptionists at our GP and Pediatrician's offices.

Here I have to pause to let you know that MS is a bit older than I am. Even with us paying high co-pays and high premiums, getting private insurance for him was nearly impossible. One big benefit of working again is, well, benefits.

Health care coverage shouldn't be a crap shoot. Doctors appointments should not be luxuries available only to the lucky covered few. And there shouldn't be life-time maximums for coverage either. Remember when Annika was in danger of losing her insurance coverage a couple of years ago?

Our country pays more for health care coverage than any other country and we have fewer people covered than any of the other industrialized nations. That is a crime. Why can't we put all that expenditure into something that will cover everybody? Most of us who already pay into an insurance policy would never even notice the difference. It would put our businesses on an equal footing with those in countries with nationalized health care.

Now, there's a woman I work with who disagrees with me. She's voting for McCain because she doesn't feel the need to share more of the over $250K her family earns annually. Why should she carry the burden for the lazy asses who aren't working as hard? She pulled herself up, so can they. Yeah. Nice. I pointed out to her that if the burden were taken off of our employer to insure all of us, we might get paid more. No dice. Sigh. Updated: Kathy A. drew my attention to more McCain shenanigans. I HAVE to tell my coworker about this. Taxing employer benefits and reducing protections for all.

I just feel that I'm willing to pay more to make sure everybody is covered regardless of age or health status. I'm willing to pay more to make sure that no one has to choose between a doctor's visit and a meal, a dentist's visit and rent, a pair of glasses and a pair of shoes. I'm willing to pay more, but I'm also willing to bet that compared to what I was paying insuring myself privately, I'll be paying less.

Walking

For Obama. For Warner. And for RhymesWithSeder (tryin' to keep it semi-anonymous here).

It was a good walk: first-floor-entry town homes and 3-story apartment buildings, not too challenging for the tootsies. The first door was a Strong Obama Voter. She'll probably volunteer. Then there were a bunch of not homes, about 30 in a row. There were a couple of Leaning Obamas who had never heard of the other two. One "No Thank You." One Leaning Republican (according to his wife). One "Not interested, go away." One "they don't live here anymore." (I asked that one if he'd registered since moving in!) A couple of realtor key boxes.

I knocked on 64 doors in less than 3 hours. Left lit at most. It was a good day.

XXL

Had to buy new shirts because the ones I bought back in the Spring shrank in the wash and are gapping (at least, I'm pretty sure it's shrinkage...though what with the ever-expanding nature of my rack, who knows?)

I bought 'em in XXL, on the theory that if they shrink they'll still be big enough.

Poll

What do you think should get priority in a school system?

Your choices are:

a) Large High School campuses with room for football and soccer fields*
b) Lots of technology including interactive white boards in every classroom
c) Full-day Kindergarten system-wide

Pick two.

*For extra-curricular team sports ONLY. These fields are not, repeat NOT, for use during recess. Recess not included in HS anyway. Nor are they for use by kids not involved in team sports as places to play, say, Ultimate Frisbee or capture the flag or what not outside of school hours.

Just another day

Like last year

Adventures in brown bagging - Uh oh Spaghetti-Os edition

It's hard to eat the same lunch at the same time when one of said lunchers has asked for crappy food.

MM was disappointed to hear that I, his mama, would be eating a different lunch, albeit at the same time. "But...but...mama, don't you like Spaghetti-Os?"

No, my little man. I Do Not Like Spaghetti-Os. Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Beef Ravioli, yes. Spaghetti-Os, no.

"So what are YOU bringing for lunch today?"

I have a lovely veal cutlet sandwich made with leftovers from last night (Wegman's hormone-free, pen-free veal).

"But...but...mama. That's not what I'm having."

I know. You, you my little man, are having exactly what you asked for. (shudder) Spaghetti-Os with meatballs. Enjoy them.

"(Big sigh) Alright. But you don't know what you're missing."

Security Blanket Sweatshirt

When I brought MM to his new school last week to meet his teacher and see his classroom, I also bought him a hooded pocket sweatshirt with the name and mascot of his school in the school colors across the front.

He loves that sweatshirt.

The first day of school, he wore it and felt confident and part of things.
The second day of school, he wore it and felt confident and part of things.
The third day of school we couldn't find it.

Oh No! Mommy! I don't want to go! Come with me!

Last night, MS found it (in the cabinet of MM's new desk...yeah, that's where I would have put a beloved sweatshirt too. Sheesh).

Today, he wore it and felt confident and part of things.

I have a feeling that come June that sweatshirt will have been loved to pieces. Perhaps I should buy a few spares.

Adventures in brown-bagging

Today MM and I both brought our lunch.

MM has a Salami/Bologna/Swiss Cheese sandwich on white. No mayo. No mustard. Cut into two triangles. No crusts. He also has a side of Fritos, 2 chocolate chip cookies, and a fruit punch. I also sent a cloth napkin to make up for the juice pouch.

I have a Salami and Swiss on white cut into squares with mayo AND mustard. Crusts left on. Leftover guacamole and some corn chips. I have a cloth napkin to make up for the bottled water I'm going to buy.

MM is totally excited that we're going to be eating practically the same lunch! It's almost like eating lunch together! Woot!

My job so far has involved a lot of paperwork. I love my commute. Love. It.

What he likes best

1. Eating his lunch that he brought from home in the cafeteria.
   He's never brought lunch from home OR eaten in a school cafeteria before. He LOVED it. Today he brought lunch again, but he's going to BUY ice cream. He's totally into it.
2. Walking to class BY HIMSELF after getting off the bus.
   That's new, too. Never happened in a place where there weren't bedrooms before.
3. Taking the bus. He really liked that alot.
4. Everything.