Three-way Thursday.
I got off on a political, navel-gazing, almost pointless tirade and halfway through it, I found myself writing down a note to remember to erase the whole mess. Glad I did. I still have it on the computer, someplace, but I’m not interested in debate, I’m interested in making money these days. Moon’s moved out of Cancer, away from the point where a reckoning has occurred, and we’ve all cast our lots, for good or for ill. No point in rehashing what’s happened.
I took a friend to the airport so she could go off and watch NASCAR races. Cool. Since I like to reduce vehicular traffic as much as possible, I swung by the grocery warehouse on the way home from the airport, got stuck in traffic, and remembered why I spend more time walking because I was probably moving faster, if I was on foot.
I think I was busy until almost ten, and then I stepped out for the evening. I was headed towards the Alamo downtown, via the post office, so, in reality, I was still tending to business, as I had one more package to mail. I had a few minutes to kill, to so I stopped for a little espresso, and the Capricorn behind the counter noted that I usually had my hair in a ponytail. It’s been cool enough to let it down, these days.
The movie was late getting started; the Alamo was booked for some event. So I asked the ticket taker if he had a cigarette. He paused then jumped up to fetch his coat. He (Gemini) offered me a package of Bugler. I demurred so he rolled me up a smoke. I wandered out into the cold night, puffing away. Eventually, I found myself at Little City, fetching another espresso. “So what’s your birthday?”
“I think you did my chart – about five years ago.”
Aquarius. You’d think I’d remember, and I was surprised I didn’t.
“I’ve changed. A lot.”
Must be it.
I was going to mention the homeless person asleep in a doorway, under a commercial “space for lease” sign. And a late night skateboard guy, checking his cell phone as he coasted down the hill.
And I coasted back into the Alamo, to see a film, a film written by Quentin Tarantino, True Romance. I’ve seen it before, and I thought it was part of the “bad films at midnight on Wednesday for free” series – I couldn’t recall much of the film, other than I thought it was good the first time I saw it. On the big screen? Even better. Way funny. Over-the-top. Stellar, and I mean, stellar cast. I hadn’t realized so many stars were in the film.
It was cold out, walking home. The little stars overhead, remarkably easy to pick out the winter constellations, twinkling in the night’s air.
cut
In his book, Starship Troopers, RAH posited a theory – via fiction – that in his future world, anyone who wanted to vote had to earn the right. In more than one system, I’m thinking Mormon and Israeli, two years of service is required. Usually between high school and college. The point I got, and maybe I read it wrong, or maybe I’m just remembering what I want to remember, was that a “citizen” with full voting rights, a say in the government, had to perform two years of service. Didn’t have to be military service, all though, it’s a good way fill army barracks, the service could be akin to Peace Corps, or some similar kind of work. Building roads, doing something to serve the community as a whole.
Personally, I think it’s a good system.
Electing to leave?
Nice article about options for those who talked about leaving.
“The people of Oklahoma will continue to vote dry and drink wet as long as they can stagger to the polls.” (from Will Rogers, via a history book)
“What the Republicans did was to get new voters and to give them a reason to get out there and vote,” said Corey Robin, a political science professor at Brooklyn College. “These issues around gay rights and marriage were clearly extremely motivating factors.”
While the Democrats also registered new voters, they focused too much on spreading the anti-Bush message, which didn’t get their people to the polls, Robin said.
(via Newday)
When I write a horoscope that’s “negative” with no positive spin to it, no solution to a problem, I usually receive a torrential downpour of mail. I’ve also been at this kind of work long enough to be prepared for the blame and flame. I just attempt to chronicle what I see as important.
Bitter was the title. I liked the closing comments, “Is this how people become Republicans?”
(Mental note: erase this all before you post it.)
Anyway, thinking on paper, I’m reminded of a buddy of mine, rather a wise fellow. I’ve probably got his homily all wrong, but it serves my purposes.
“A liberal sees a guy 100 yards off shore, drowning. The liberal gets 200 yards of rope, and throws it all out to the drowning person. A conservative gets 100 yards of rope, uses 25 yards to secure one end of the rope to the shore, then tosses the remaining rope out towards the drowning guy.”
> In 421, turnout was 69.57%. It broke down to 77.64% Kerry, 19.75%
> Bush. Precinct 422 turnout was 64.25% with 82.85% Kerry, 13.81% Bush.
> The results by precinct are here.
