Headed back to the video wall to sweat Indiana, which at this writing is too close to call according to MSNBC. Below, my polling place. And be sure to click here to see Val’s cool voting pix.

I see our country being able to represent those things John McCain and I have both been discussing in making those tough decisions of where we go and even who we target.

Thanks Val and bigcontrarian.]]> http://thenitenote.com/2008/09/29/palinese/feed/ 0 http://thenitenote.com/2008/09/29/wretched-boner-for-boehnar/ http://thenitenote.com/2008/09/29/wretched-boner-for-boehnar/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:57:54 +0000 kate http://www.thenitenote.com/blog/?p=1048 Lazing in bed in our super-cool Portland hotel watching the disgusting House Republicans make excuses for not getting the bail out bill passed. Boehnaer and Blunt — whose job it was to get the house Republicans to pass the bill — on TV whining before the microphones: It was a speech by Pelosi, it is so very hard for Republicans to vote for bail outs, and the best excuse of all — it was the Jews. We all have to be home by sundown! That jewish holiday messed up the clock, made the time frame too short to get their votes on board. Pathetic.

Well shanah tova to you losers. I think John McCain should suspend his campaign permanently — since he did such a good job getting his party’s most fanatical trolls to line up. And, I hope the shit really hits the fan before Nov. 4, so Great American Voter can see clearly that the Republicans have trashed the entire country in the last eight years — and so, kick the bastards clear out.

[Former Wassilla Mayor John] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor. Read more.

More Palin watch: NYT: Account of a Bridge’s Death Slightly Exaggerated Palin video: Iraq a “task from God,” natural gas pipline “God’s Will”

End notes: 1. Tickets will be free. And the DNC will begin giving them out beginning August 12 — when they will be calling or e-mailing me and the 69,999 other people who will make it in. 2. I got this cool protector film for my iPhone screen — and it’s genius! Protects the screen, reduces glare, adds traction — very sweet. You want it.

This is not equivalent to not caring. It’s just that opinions — and all the reaction they stir up — create a lot of drag on consciousness. And, since the nature of everything is impermanence, since conditions are constantly changing, working at developing, maintaining and justifying opinions can take a lot of energy. So, when I get a little patch of time when circumstance and will are in my favor and I can string one quiet day after another without thinking too much about it — like a girl stringing beads on a long summer afternoon — then blogging is the furthest thing from my mind.

But every season turns and the thing is, humans are such discerning monkeys. Something deep in us is convinced that having opinions actually helps keep us alive — and that little idea engine keeps chugging along day and night. So unless you’re a real lama, opinions happen. And then there’s the news. Sometimes things happen that are just newsworthy. What’s an old journo to do?

For instance, since the California Supreme Court affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry, my friends Josh and Adrie are going to be holding their second wedding ceremony in August — they were already married in the Netherlands, where Adrie is a citizen. My opinion=Yay! In and of itself, that is happy news. But there’s more: I will be officiating at the wedding! On August 14th I will be deputized by the State of California to perform weddings — for one day only — and I will represent the state sanction of their union by presiding over their ceremony. That’s right, I’ll be a wedding deputy. My opinion=I am happy for my friends and proud to act as an agent of a state where civil rights are for all its citizens. (At least until November.)

So I guess I am in a news-telling mood again. How’s that for a return to blogging? Something else you missed while I wasn’t blogging? Our water use is down 28% over last year! Woot!

With the air show, my micro-campaign for the new G.I. Bill, the discovery of the cooling-vest charity and Memorial Day, it’s been a strangely military May at the normally not-so-military Cohen household.

To learn how it came to be, you’ll have to read the posts to come this weekend, but for now, get warmed up:

Read the always-sharp Edward Humes’ fact-packed op-ed from this morning’s Los Angeles Times to learn about John McCain’s shameful record of voting against veteran’s benefits, while blowing sunshine up their fatigues. Mendacity alert: if you’re allergic to hypocrisy, the facts on McCain’s voting record may give you an angry rash.

Earlier this month the New GI Bill passed the House and the Senate with broad bi-partisan support. Of course, Bush has vowed to veto. It is so easy to use the White House comment line to let the always-political Bush Administration know that America wants this bill signed. A real human will take your call and ask you what state you’re calling from. Then, one sentence will do the job: “I am calling to urge the President to sign the New G.I. Bill.” After a polite thank you from the operator, it will all be over. Call now, because the legislation is on the way to his desk. 202-456-1111. (This takes literally 90 seconds of your time.) Learn more about the new GI Bill here.

Wondering why you should care? Click here to read a californiaauthors.com excerpt from Ed’s terrific book, Over Here: How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream, and learn about how the first G.I. Bill — the one that paid for my mom to attend college after her father was killed in the Pacific in WWII — created a new American renaissance. And couldn’t we all use a little renaissance now?

More unlikely-source militaria to come.