One more warm sunny day here, and then the weather’s supposed to get cold again. So I figured it was a good day to burn a vacation day. Things are supposed to really turn to crap on Sunday night as hurricane Sandy hits the area. We won’t have it as bad as wherever it hits the coast (predictions have it hitting anywhere from Mayrland to a direct hit on NYC, which would be a bummer for the folks down there) but they say even we have the potential for 50 mph winds and heavy rain. Then Sandy is supposed to generate a monster Nor’easter that will dump on us on Tuesday or something. Thank goodness it isn’t going to be cold out, or we’d get a couple of feet of snow (which is not a good thing when there are still leaves on the trees, though all this predicted wind might take care of that). Still, they’re trying to scare us into thinking we’re all gonna be sitting around in the dark next week. I guess I should fire up the generator and make sure it works.
So I guess everybody heard that Colin Powell endorsed Obama for Prez (whatever that’s worth). John Sunubaru heard, too. And he says that’s ‘cuz those schwarzes all stick together. Speaking of Johns, John McCain was not one little bit happy about Powell’s endorsement.
Aw, poor Johnny. And pretty soon he won’t even have Joe Lieberman to play with anymore.
Oh well, I guess I’d better go find something to do until the sun comes up.
So…How goes it?
On my end, things aren’t bad.
I withdrew my application to be a TSO. There were too many times people in uniform gave me weird looks and weird gestures. Some woman made the gesture of putting on deodorant across the room while looking directly at me. Not really funny, but it wasn’t as bad as the weird snarls I got in one of the hallways. There seemed to be people following me around while driving too, and people even following me into the bathroom while at work. I guess they really want to know if I’m going number 1 or number 2, or neither.
I seem to be destined for janitorial services at Costco.
I cannot watch the news anymore. It just makes me crazy. The weather channel isn’t much better. It looks like a hurricane is on the way this late in the year and that it may spawn a nor’easter. Doesn’t sound too comforting.
Travis — do they think you are one of them dirty smelly hippy terrorist types :jesus: ?? Be wary of people in uniforms.
Sounds like you are in one of those :crap: y jobs that is just a step along the way. You gotta just live through it and do it until it becomes the past and is a story you tell your kids.
You are strong, you’ll survive. Hang in there! :cat: :pup:
Talk About a Way With Words
By GAIL COLLINS
Rape is a big issue this election season. Not what we were expecting, but, these days, American voters are prepared to deal with pretty much anything.
This week, all eyes turned to a United States Senate debate in Indiana — also something we were not really planning on doing. Richard Mourdock, the Republican candidate, caused a national stir when he defended his across-the-board opposition to abortion by saying that a pregnancy caused by rape “is something that God intended to happen.â€
When it comes to abortion, both Mourdock and his Democratic opponent, Representative Joe Donnelly, are anti-choice. But, unlike Mourdock, Donnelly makes an exception in the case of rape or incest. One of the truly disturbing parts of our current politics is that we have begun to identify people who want to impose their religious beliefs on millions of women who don’t share them as moderates as long as they’re O.K. with the rape exemption.
There are plenty of reasons that a sensible Hoosier would not want to have Mourdock as a senator. He’s a Tea Party favorite who toppled the longtime incumbent, Senator Richard Lugar, in a primary, during which he said that his definition of bipartisanship was “Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.†As state treasurer, he sued to stop the Obama administration’s rescue of Chrysler, a company that is directly or indirectly responsible for about 100,000 jobs in Indiana.
But let’s just talk today about his comment on abortion. Mourdock was basically saying that everything that happens is part of God’s plan. Did that mean God’s plan included evil things like sexual assault? Or just pregnancies as a result of sexual assault? Theologians have been arguing these kinds of questions for more than a thousand years. I don’t think we can expect to work them out in the Indiana Senate debate.
However, Mourdock’s words reminded everyone of Representative Todd Akin, the United States Senate candidate in Missouri. He defended his opposition to abortion under any circumstance by claiming that it was virtually impossible to become pregnant from a “legitimate†rape. (Many Missourians were disturbed by the remark. Recently, Akin skillfully attempted to change the subject by comparing his opponent, Senator Claire McCaskill, to a dog.)
Big-name Republicans who had distanced themselves from Akin were once again shocked — shocked! — by the appearance of another anti-choice candidate whose use of language was so clumsy as to make it clear how really radical the entire party’s position on women’s reproductive rights has become. Senator Kelly Ayotte canceled a visit to Indiana. John McCain said he’d withdraw his support unless Mourdock apologized, then withdrew the withdrawal when Mourdock said despicable media minds had misinterpreted his words.
What about Mitt Romney? Mourdock is the only Senate candidate for whom Romney has appeared in a TV ad, although there are lots of beleaguered Republicans who could use his help: the guy in Montana who had a fire on his property and then sued the local fire department that worked to put it out; the guy in Florida who used to do promotional work for “Hootersâ€; the woman who’s running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York. She’s against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, but, so far, very few New Yorkers know it because they have yet to learn more basic information, such as her name.
If Republicans lose Lugar’s seat, it will totally quash their hopes of winning control of the Senate. So a Romney spokesman simply said Mitt “disagrees†with Mourdock’s statement and let it go at that.
The real moral of the Mourdock flap isn’t about giving rape victims special dispensation, or whether it’s offensive to say that you believe even sexual assaults are part of God’s plan. It’s the one President Obama came up with: “This is exactly why you don’t want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about women’s health care.†(It’s amazing, at this stage, that the president can say something this pointed, given the way he’s been run ragged through the swing states. Have you looked at the man lately? He resembles a losing contestant in “The Hunger Games.â€)
The idea of banning abortion except for rape and incest cases makes anti-choice politicians sound more evenhanded, but it doesn’t actually make much sense. If you believe life begins at conception, then that’s a life, and you should try to convince women not to terminate any pregnancy, no matter what the cause. Our difference of opinion is over whether you can impose your beliefs with the threat of cops and penitentiaries.
And if rape victims deserve exemptions because their situation is dire, what about other women with unwanted pregnancies and terrible stories? The real crime of people like Mourdock and Akin is that their inartful language throws a sudden stark light on a stance that sounds so unthreatening when a candidate simply says: “I’m pro-life.â€
Gail had a good one on Linda McMahon the other day. I know CT is of limited interest but it is good that LIEberman is leaving, disastrous if this creep buys his seat. I had some business dealings with the WW
FE and those people were pretty odious.Gail Collins: Linda McMahon’s Connecticut smackdown
Here’s some McMahon family values. It will probably disappear. The McMahons are being very aggressive scrubbing the Internets of all damaging video from their oeuvre.
Batten down those hatches up there!
Thanks for posting that Vern. I had read it and I meant to post it but I got involved doing household stuff and forgot. I notice it was printed in the Mercury News. Do you need to pay for access to that or can you read it free? It would be nice if there were an alternative to the NY Times 10 free stories per month plan.
I’m not sure if she is there on a regular basis but I used it for the reason you said. I do not think they have any pay structure at this time. It is actually the best paper around here.
We are awaiting the hurricane/nor’easter/whatever in Brooklyn. Although the city considers us in the redrawn floodzone in which all the lines are straight and match the streets and elevation makes no difference, we are not. But we are still very near the water and a deluge of rain usually will find a way to seep in. I still have a couple of sandbags from Hurricane Irene that hopefully will do the trick. Mike, who has always lived near the water and has been through many storms, is not worried. I who have always lived near the water and been through many storms am worried. I hope I’m being silly.
It seems that PJ and RG also have reason to worry about this storm. I hope they are OK.
At least Sandy the Storm has stopped some of the blithering about the election.
We have duct taped, stuffed plastic bags and sandbagged everywhere we could. I guess we are as prepared as we are going to be. My neighbors, who evacuated during Irene, are staying this time. A reporter from the NY Post came to ask if we were evacuating. And some where some Republican is scheming to blame whatever happens on unions.