THURSDAY WHATEVER

Just When You Thought

it was just us adults who were getting the vote out and agonizing over the outcome, here comes the Kids Vote poll on Nickelodeon, which (news to me) has been predicting the presidential outcome 100% for the past 4 elections. This should warm the hearts of any fearful Kerry voter because what they predicted is Kerry 57%/Bush 43%. So just for today I’m going to sit back and relax and leave the country in the capable hands of our nation’s children. See Reuter’s article.

Deep Thought: I don’t say that the bird is “good” or the bat is “bad.” But I will say this: at least the bird is less nude.
Today I am grateful for: Those kind of firelogs that clean out your chimney
Guess the Movie: “You think you’re God Almighty, but you know what you are? You’re a cheap, lousy, dirty, stinkin’ mug! And I’m glad what I done to you, ya hear that? I’m glad what I done! ” Answer: On the Waterfront, 1954.
Polls Today: Kerry 271/Bush 257. EVP: “We have 35 new polls today, with updates to the map in 16 states. Wisconsin is the only state that has switched sides as a result of a new Strategic Vision (R) poll showing Bush ahead there 46% to 49%, although this is within the margin of error. Also, Minnesota is now tied according to a new Rasmussen 7-day tracking poll. The changes in the other states do not cause any electoral votes to change.
Survey USA has conducted a poll in 30 states and reported that men are from Bushland and women are from Kerryland. Interestingly enough the state with the biggest gender gap is Georgia, where it is 28%. Those southern belles don’t actually like Kerry (they support Bush by 6%), but the Georgia men prefer Bush by a huge 34%. The gender gap is also very high in Rhode Island, Oregon, Nevada, and Florida. Only in two states, Kansas and North Carolina, does Bush do better among women than among men. Kerry’s advantage with women averages 11%. With the upcoming get-out-the-vote efforts, it won’t be surprising to see the Republicans focusing on men and the Democrats focusing on women.
It is surprising that Bush and Kerry don’t like each other very much. After all they are family: ninth cousins twice removed to be exact. Thanks to politicalwire.com for pointing this out.
End of Day: 8:55 pm
+ = Found a new oil company that is less expensive.
- = Would never have looked if my current oil company hadn’t sent me a computer-generated letter raising my monthly bill by 150% and then when I complained said they keep me at the same rate like it was all a mistake.

WEDNESDAY MOVIE

Super Size Me

There never was a film whose time has not more come. I sat down last weekend and watched this with my two grandchildren who are very familiar with the golden arches, curious to see what the fuss was about and hoping some good information on diet would emerge for subliminal benefit. I was not disappointed. If watching someone kill themselves with food can be fun, this is the role model. Our guy decides to take on McDonald’s by eating all his meals there for 30 days right down to bottled water, sampling everything on the menu, and (reason for title) accepting Super Size every time is it is offered or suggested by the order taker. He gets a physical first and checks out just fine for a young blue collar kind of guy his age. Throughout the month, he is monitored for cholesterol, blood pressure, and all those things that predict trouble. By halfway through, things are deteriorating fast and he is warned against continuing. By close to the end, they have a way set up for him to report to the nearest ER. The whole thing is done with humor, serious information, and a great soundtrack. I won’t spoil the ending. See it for yourself. Just don’t buy takeout first. (P.S. My grandchildren were glued.)(P.P.S. Not long after release of this movie McDonald’s suddenly stopped doing super size and began offering a few healthier options.)

Deep Thought: “I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but listen to yourself! “
Today I am grateful for: Food labeling
Guess the Movie: “Let me tell you something, Mark. You humans, most of you, subscribe to this policy of an eye for an eye, a life for a life, which is known throughout the universe for its… stupidity. Even your Buddha and your Christ had different ideas, but nobody seemed to want to listen to them. Not even the Buddhists or the Christians.” Answer: K-Pax, 2001
Polls Today: Kerry 291/Bush 247. EVP: “Wow! 41 new polls today. Zogby has released new polls conducted in the battleground states Oct. 13-18 and there is good news and bad news for each candidate. For Bush, the good news is that he is now leading in seven of the 16 battleground states (Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia), his best showing ever in the Zogby poll. The bad news is that all of these leads are within the margin of error, so they are statistical ties. For Kerry, the good news is that his leads in Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington are all outside the margin of error, which ranges from 2% to 4%.”
End of Day: 8:24 pm
+ = Got that weird ticking in my furnace fixed.
- = Teresa Heinz-Kerry screws up and disses Laura Bush.

TUESDAY POLITICS

Should Kerry Be Excommunicated for Heresy?

Well, I did have a photo of Balestrieri but Xanga is not letting me upload it this morning, so Kerry will have to do. Marc Balestrieri is the attorney backing this latest desperate move. And of course, Fox News is all over this. See interview with Balestrieri. Now I know we have some liberal Catholics in our midst. What is your take on this ploy? Apparently, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Inquiring minds need to know.

Deep Thought: If aliens from outer space ever come and we show them our civilization and they make fun of it, we should say we were just kidding, that this isn’t really our civilization, but a gag we hoped they would like. Then we tell them to come back in twenty years to see our real civilization. After that, we start a crash program of coming up with an impressive new civilization. Either that, or just shoot down the aliens as they’re waving good-bye.
Today I am grateful for:Two sides to a coin (or more)
Guess the Movie: “I saw…its thoughts. I saw what they’re planning to do. They’re like locusts. They’re moving from planet to planet…their whole civilization. After they’ve consumed every natural resource they move on…and we’re next. Nuke ‘em. Let’s nuke the bastards. Answer: Independence Day, 1996 Winner: A_Letter_Without_Sound
Polls today: Kerry 284/Bush 247 EVP: “Kerry keeps moving up in the electoral college. A new Survey USA poll shows he has now inched ahead of Bush in Florida, although his 1% lead means the state is still a statistical tie. Nevertheless, we now show Kerry with more than the critical 270 votes in the electoral college to win. Perhaps more signficant, though, is the fact that in states where Kerry’s lead is at least 5%, he has 228 electoral votes. In states where Bush’s lead is at least 5%, he has 183 electoral votes. Clearly the race is still wide open.”
End of day: 9:30 pm
+ = Kept my chin up.
- = Seriously stressful day at work.

MONDAY BOOK
Still not ready to return to reviewing Grace and Grit, so instead here’s a poem from an ancient little book that was in my parents’ house when I grew up and now lives on my shelves. Riley-Child Rhymes with Hoosier Pictures by James Whitcomb Riley was published first in 1890 and this particular edition of mine in 1905. I spent many a happy time listening to my father read my personal favorite, The Bear Story, which is too long to print here, and others including this one which is good for Halloween. When was the last time you read a poem aloud to a child?

The Nine Little Goblins

THEY all climbed up on a high board-fence—
    Nine little Goblins, with green-glass eyes—
Nine little Goblins that had no sense,
    And couldn’t tell coppers from cold mince pies;
        And they all climbed up on the fence, and sat—
        And I asked them what they were staring at.
And the first one said, as he scratched his head
    With a queer little arm that reached out of his ear
And rasped its claws in his hair so red—
    ”This is what this little arm is fer!”
        And he scratched and stared, and the next one said,
        ”How on earth do you scratch your head ?”
And he laughed like the screech of a rusty hinge—
    Laughed and laughed till his face grew black;
And when he clicked, with a final twinge
    Of his stifling laughter, he thumped his back
        With a fist that grew on the end of his tail
        Till the breath came back to his lips so pale.
And the third little Goblin leered round at me—
    And there were no lids on his eyes at all—
And he clucked one eye, and he says, says he,
    ”What is the style of your socks this fall ?”
        And he clapped his heels—and I sighed to see
        That he had hands where his feet should be.
Then a bald-faced Goblin, gray and grim,
    Bowed his head, and I saw him slip
His eyebrows off, as I looked at him,
    And paste them over his upper lip;
        And then he moaned in remorseful pain—
        ”Would—Ah, would I’d me brows again!”
And then the whole of the Goblin band
    Rocked on the fence-top to and fro,
And clung, in a long row, hand in hand,
    Singing the songs that they used to know—
        Singing the songs that their grandsires sung
        In the goo-goo days of the Goblin-tongue.
And ever they kept their green-glass eyes
    Fixed on me with a stony stare—
Till my own grew glazed with a dread surmise,
    And my hat whooped up on my lifted hair,
        And I felt the heart in my breast snap to
        As you’ve heard the lid of a snuff-box do.
And they sang “You’re asleep! There is no board-fence,
    And never a Goblin with green-glass eyes!—
“Tis only a vision the mind invents
    After a supper of cold mince-pies,—
And you’re doomed to dream this way,” they said,—
“And you sha’n't wake up till you’re clean plum dead!”

If you’re in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at some guys, throw one of those little baby-type pumpkins. Maybe it’ll make everyone think of how crazy war is, and while they’re thinking, you can throw a real grenade.
Today I am grateful for: Monday Yoga class
Guess the Movie: “I’ll be all around in the dark – I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look – wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be there in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be there in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready, and when people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they built – I’ll be there, too” Answer: Grapes of Wrath, 1940. Winner: merrow_mistral
Polls Today: Kerry 253/Bush 247. EVP: “Kerry is continuing to get a lift from the third debate. He has now overcome Bush’s 5% lead in Wisconsin and moved a hair ahead there, 48% to 47% according to a Rasmussen poll conducted Oct. 14. Kerry is now once again leading in the electoral college, but neither candidate has the required 270 electoral votes because Florida, Iowa, and New Hampshire are exactly tied.”
End of Day:9:08 pm
+ = Two hours of great exercise this morning.
- = My furnace is making a weird ticking noise since the yearly tune-up guy was here.

PEOPLE WHO KNOCK ME OUT

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

Who in their lives hasn’t said at some point some version of, “Well, I’m no einstein but……” And none of us are. He was a one-of-a-kind, not just because he invented E=MCsquared but because he was this little nebbish-looking guy with fly-away white hair who also played the violin, failed early exams, had a hard time getting a teaching job, just up and wrote theoretical physics papers on his own while working menial jobs, and by the time he was 30 was recognized as a leading scientific thinker. He visited the U.S first when he was 42, the same year he got the Nobel Prize for his work on photoelectric effect. On the eve of the Nazis coming to power, he moved to America for good when he was 53 and taught at Princeton from then on. He made many contributions to peace in his life, including a week before his death when he signed a letter to Bertrand Russell saying that his name should go on a manifesto urging all nations to give up nuclear weapons. He was cremated at Trenton, NJ and his ashes scattered at an undisclosed place. It sure makes me wonder what he would say today about the “weapons of mass destruction”. I would hope it would be something really, really brilliant because god knows, “we ain’t no einsteins.”
(If you want to read a little more in depth about him click here.)

Deep Thought: When we would go for a drive in the family car, I used to love to stick my head out the window, until one time we passed an oncoming car and my head knocked off a dog’s head.
Today I am grateful for: Being able to come up with some damn thing to be grateful for day after freaking day
Guess the Movie: “By the way, we had that water brought in especially for you folks. Came from a well in Hinkley. ” Answer: Erin Brockovich, 2000. Winner thenarrator
Polls Today – no change from yesterday. EVP: “Frank Luntz, the top Republican pollster wrote in the Financial Times: “Step by step, debate-by-debate, John Kerry has addressed and removed many remaining doubts among uncommitted voters. My own polling research after each debate suggests a rather bleak outlook for the Bush candidacy: many who still claim to be ‘undecided’ are in fact leaning to Mr. Kerry and are about ready to commit.” In a world where the spinmeisters constantly claim that their horse can not only walk on water, but also trot and gallop on it, having a top GOP strategist with access to real data say his horse is sinking fast is ominous for the Bush campaign.”
And as of today, my Oregon mail-in ballot is in the mail for better or worse.
End of Day: 8:57 pm
+ = Got to eat a great big good-for-me salad out at a restaurant for lunch.
- = It had too much oil in the dressing.

SATURDAY POEM I ADMIRE

If the Owl Calls Again

at dusk
from the island in the river,
and it’s not too cold,

I’ll wait for the moon
to rise,
then take wing and glide
to meet him.

We will not speak,
but hooded against the frost
soar above
the alder flats, searching
with tawny eyes.

And then we’ll sit
in the shadowy spruce
and pick the bones
of careless mice,

while the long moon drifts
toward Asia
and the river mutters
in its icy bed.

And when the morning climbs
the limbs
we’ll part without a sound,

fulfilled, floating
homeward as
the cold world awakens.
John Haines, 1993

Haines is now 80 and wrote this poem at 69. He was a Navy brat who did art school and then moved to Alaska at age 23 where he homesteaded for 20 years and still divides his time between Alaska and Montana. He’s one of those who made a successful life of freelance writing and teaching and has published and won many prizes.

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Deep Thought: When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Ya-hoo! We’re rich! But it turned out to be something different.
Today I am grateful for: Cats enjoying snoozing all morning so they don’t bug me while I’m writing
Guess the Movie: “Well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That’s my policy.” Answer: Dirty Harry, 1972 Winner: FlakCat
Polls Today: Kerry 243/Bush 257. EVP: The race is starting to tighten as the effects of the third debate are now kicking in. Kerry has regained his lead in New Jersey albeit by only 2% according to a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. More important, we now have Florida as an exact tie. A strategic Vision (R) poll taken Oct. 12-14, puts Bush ahead by 4%, 49% to 45%. But an Insider Advantage poll, also taken Oct 12-14 puts Kerry ahead by 4%, 48% to 44%. I guess we could use the Oct. 4-10 Washington Post poll of Florida to break the tie, but unfortunately it says Florida is 47% to 47%. It will probably be a real squeaker again in Florida. The results could depend on the turnout and in which counties the most voting machines fail.
End of Day 9:03 pm
+ = Had a nice day with my grandkids. We watched Super Size Me – frabjous (review later).
- = Down to pennies till payday next Friday.

FRIDAY FIVE

1. What is something that you used to believe, but are glad you don’t believe anymore?
Well, the first thing that popped into my mind, shallow as it may seem, is that when I was a flower child in the Haight-Ashbury I kind of believed in things like astrology, the I Ching, tarot, etc. in the sense that I actually allowed life decisions to be based on them. Today I just think of those things as creative, charming, childlike coping mechanisms.
2. Is there something you wish you still believed? What?
I wish I still believed that if you are good to the world it will be good to you. Or if you give love, you will automatically receive it back. It sounds good, and it should be right – but it isn’t. Only thing you can count on getting back is peace of mind, only person you can count on is you.
3. What experience or person taught you the most about life?
My parents, who stuck together for 50+ years, who raged against the machine, who cared about peace, who paid their bills, who read books, and stood by me unconditionally through all my craziness.
4. What area of life would you like to know or understand more about?
Friendship. I can think of a million reasons why someone doesn’t qualify to be my intimate friend. I need to narrow it to 1000.
5. What is your most valuable lesson about life so far?
Slow down and be of use to the earth and your fellow creatures.

Deep Thought: If I come back as an animal in my next lifetime, I hope it’s some type of parasite, because this is the part where I take it easy!
Today I am grateful for: Giftwrap
Guess the Movie: “Gort! Klaatu barada nikto! ” Answer: The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1957. Winner: merrow_mistral
Polls Today: Kerry 228/Bush 284. EVP: “
Survey USA ran polls in 14 states and 21 cities to see who won the third debate. Kerry won in NY, NJ, ME, CA, OR,WA, IL, AR, PA, and CO. Bush won in TX, KY, and OK. Florida, as usual, was a tie. Among cities, Kerry won in 8 and Bush won in 12. When we look at cities in swing states, the mix is Kerry won St. Louis, Detroit, Las Vegas, Tucson, and Cleveland. Bush won Phoenix, Cincinnati, Des Moines, and Grand Rapids. When broken down by party, in all 35 areas, the Democrats thought Kerry won and the Republicans thought Bush won.
End of Day 8:41 pm
+ = Bill O’Reilly is finally getting a little of his own medicine.
- = Gloom has descended over PDX and we’re headed into at least a week of falling water.