She's going back in...

Apparently there's a hematoma they need to deal with.

She's OUT!

And she's doing okay!

On my way to bed now, but my thoughts are in Chicago

I hope all is going well.


May all our children outlive us. May we live to see to see our children's children have children. May their lives be as easy and happy as is good for them. May they be useful, and kind, and compassionate. May they be trust-worthy and strong. May they make the world better for having been in it.

Moreena will be up-dating through the night

Here. As of 8:30 PM, things were moving apace.

Go support Moreena, Annika, and the rest of the Tiede family

Annika is getting a new liver

One sock down

One on the needles. I expect to have a pair by the end of the week.

In other news, Virginia seems to have fallen in a vat of indigo, as does Ohio. I am hoping that these trends are real. Keep knocking those doors!

Would you believe????

I totally neglected to bring any knitting gear with me to this conference because I am a dork.

And then, last night, a woman got on the hotel elevator with me, carrying a small pretty shopping bag.

"What did you buy?" I asked.

"Yarn!" she said. "The only yarn store in Roanoke is five minutes away from this hotel! And it just opened TODAY!!!"

It was a sign.

I went. I swooned. It's a great store in a house across the street from the mall near the airport. Really nice inventory of sumptious yarns. I bought the makings of a pair of socks. Local yarn (Blue Ridge Yarns Jubilee in Evening Jewel).

I knitted six inches on it during the two (really excellent) sessions I went to today. It was just lovely.

It's almost 7 PM and so far today

I woke up at 4:30 to leave at 5:30 to drive 4 hours to a place SW of me in my state to attend a conference on my volunteer committee work.

Good conference. Good workshops. Good food at starting luncheon.

My hotel is nice, but not as nice as the conference hotel which is NICE. I wish I were staying there, but it is also EXPENSIVE.

Must go find food for dinner, no restaurant in hotel.

Night all.

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.