Babylon Station

I wish I was kidding....

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:40:58 GMT

So how are the really crazed righties reacting to thier "devestating victory over the liberals" by winning 2 out of ten races? Well, let's ask Glen Beck:

"Right. And here's what the ‑‑ forget about the Democrats. Here's what the Republicans should learn. The tea party movement, if you think you're going to run people that are going to be, you know, ACORN wannabes and they're just part of the corruption, part of the system, if you're going to run those people, you can expect a tea party guy to come out, and the tea parties, they'll help you lose every single election. Every single election. Because I for one am not ‑‑ if I believe in the Republican, I'll vote for the Republican. But if you're running somebody who's like part of the system, I'm not interested. I'm not interested. And I think that a lot of Americans are like that. So the Republicans have a choice to make. You can either spend a million dollars trying to destroy a third party accountant, or you could say, wow, this accountant probably would come in within three points of beating the Democrat if we combined our efforts, Republicans and Democrats, spent a fortune, had our candidate then drop out and campaign for the Democrats, we might be able to come in with about a 3‑point margin. You might want to just say, "Maybe we should go with the accountants. Maybe we should go with the regular people." And all you politicians who think you're going to ride the wave of this 9/12 movement, hey, if I can pretend I'm like them, I can get elected. Really? You go ahead and try it. You try to continue the same old stuff, and if you do, you better look out, because not only are 9/12ers and tea partygoers willing to take off their shoes, they're willing to take off their boots, and they'll put it where the sun doesn't shine."

This is far more akin to the Stalin-esque purging of those who did not toe the extreme party line than anything out of the current Whitehouse. If this is what the right wing is coming to, it won't be long before some more pull out their guns.

I have to admit, I'm a bit scared. Anyone who says something like this would never have been given a prominent TV slot on a "news" network, nevermind a syndicated radio show, back in the day.

post-elections

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:39:31 GMT

So yesterday was the off-off-year elections....

The GOP won the NJ governorship. I don't know enough about the players there, so I can't say what that might mean for the state.

They also took the VA governorship, along with the lt. gov and attn general offices. Two things that bode poorly for VA voters there, though. First, one big plan to help the state's finances is to sell off the state-owned liquor stores to private interests, raising possibly as much as $100 million. Thing is, this crew has a history of favoring cronies with these sort of deals. Also, that $100 mil is a one time windfall. After that's gone-no more revenue from liquor sales directly to the state. And those profits are what pay for the schools, amongst other things. How are they going to replace that revenue stream without raising taxes? (Which of course no repub would ever do since cutting taxes (at least to the top 10% or so) is the answer to all evils from not pulling in enough tax money to soggy toast)

Also, the new Gov. of VA is a graduate of Pat Robertson's Liberty University, a fundamentalist nut house of "Christian" approved education. {UPDATE: Sorry, Liberty U is the late Falwell's place. I meant Regent U, still nutty, just a different guy running the nuts] His thesis was about how women should be subservient to men in the home, not work, and how heterosexual married folk should be the only ones to get and state/federal benefits as opposed to "gays, cohabitators, and fornicators". Can't wait to see how that works out.

But the hard-core conservative carpetbagger lost in NY's 23rd district, making the 23's representative a democrat for the first time in over 100 years. Sorry Palin, but your attempt to interfere in another state's internal politics has failed. The loser didn't even live in the district and knew nothing about it or its issues!

The real bad news is that once again, voters overturned an existing right already possesed by a minority. Same-sex marriage was voted out in ME yesterday. Since when do we let the majority vote on a minority's civil rights? Or as someone on KOS said,

"The line of bigoted reasoning goes, "You can't be happy because that would make me uncomfortable." That's really just about as low as humans get."

So true, so true.

The plague is here...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:20:17 GMT

Last week, Bekah popped a fever. So she was out of school Thurs and Fri. And I was stuck home all day with her, except for a quick trip to the doctor. Not that that's a problem, but I tend to get a bit stir-crazed. I went to fencing at BVFA just to work on footwork Thurs, just to get out of the house. It looks like I might be getting paid to direct for some local RI/MA highschool tournaments.

Saturday, Alex was ill with a cold, so we all stayed home. Well, Bekah went to an allergist app., and I took Alex to the doctor because we were worried about him and his cough. And then it was all rented movies for the rest of the day.

Sunday, both Jen and Bekah were still sick, so, instead of going to the PdF "E" tournament I was registered for, I took Alex to church so he could process with the little kids' choir for the first time.

Yesterday, both kids went to school. And I got sick with a throat cold. You should hear me try to talk.

I hate colds. Actually, we're pretty sure that Bekah had H1N1, but we can't be sure.

Back in the saddle

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:36:11 GMT

Over the last few weeks, I have sent out applications to seven CT school districts along the 395 corridor for a substitute position. You don't need to be certified for that in CT, and it's a good way to get seen and recognized. If they hire me full time, they will assist in the certification process and maybe I can slip sideways into a RI certification by being CT certified.

As of this coming Friday, I will be in the sub pool for four districts; North Stonington, Plainfield, Thompson, and Killingly. All require fingerprinting, done by a central clearinghouse (and Plainfield wanted a drug test for some reason).

And yesterday, I did my first teaching in over five years for Thompson. For fifth graders!

Actually, it was pretty easy, basic babysitting for the missing teacher. But the last period I actually had to teach language arts to her class. The topic? Introduction of the idea of direct object in speech relative to the action verb. I think it went OK.

Strange things....

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:36:08 GMT

Somewhere in my house, there is a dead bat in a ziplock bag.

Strange? Well, not too odd for me. The poor thing was hanging on the side of my shed and must have gotten caught in one of the recent freezes. It was dry and mummy-like. So I brought it in to show the family and Bekah wanted to take it into school, so I put it in a bag and put is somewhere "safe". Now I can't find it. Crap....

The other oddity of the past weekend was my time in a well. There is an unused well just by my porch, attached to a back up pump (which I don't know how to use) and covered over with a nice wooden decorative well cover. One of the nice metal insets went missing recently, and since the wood is getting rotten (the next job for me), we assumed that it had fallen into the well.

So Saturday, with a friend's help, Jen went fishing for it with a strong magnet on a string. That determined that there was only two, two and a half feet of water at the bottom, so with a neighbor's cheap ladder down the side of the shaft, I donned a bathing suit and went down. I had to climb the rock sides the first few feet, but I got down to the bottom without incident.

That water was cold. Really cold. And they had to take the ladder out so I could bend down and feel about for the thing. More cold. Certain parts of my anatomy crawled right up into my armpits in fear. And the metal piece wasn't there. But I got to climb down into a well.

More weird money

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:23 GMT

So today, I cashed another check. And the weird money?

Another Eisenhower bicentennial, a Kennedy bicentennial half dollar, and 16 silver Kennedy halfs!

I am now sure that some kid found their parent's collection in a sock drawer or on the dresser and used it to buy something dumb. And now I have it.

At least until one of my kids does the same to me. There is such balance in nature.

What?!?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:52:03 GMT

Remember when the GOP and the pundits on the right were all about "America First", and if you're not going along with everything the POTUS wants, you're unAmerican?

So what's with the cheering over Chicago not getting the Olympics? Yes, it has never been held in South America before. Yes, Rio is a heck of a town. So I'm not surprised that they got it; but the economic influx to the U.S. would have been good, and I was rooting for my country. As we all should be in cases like this.

But the right sees this as a victory over Obama.

So much for the "pro-America" party. Looks like loyalty for them is only to party and being against the left.

Jackasses....

Wow

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:28:12 GMT

This weekend, Bekah got her ears pierced!

She was nervous, but didn't cry out or weep. So now she's got two blue titanium earings to clean off. The look pretty cute.

My daughter's growing up! *sigh*

Not so bad

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:28:08 GMT

So, having passed the FOC referee exam for foil & sabre, and in need of a practical, I realized I've only fenced sabre twice, dry both times.

So last night at Blackstone Valley Fencing, I took up the sabre seriously for the first time. I actually wasn't as bad, or as hurt, as I expected. Ann told me that it was usually the experienced saberists who got bruised, since newbies tended to make wild slashes, but I was actually well in control and focused. It didn't stop me from losing every bout I had, but I did better than I did when I initially took up the epee.

Oh, my!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:36:59 GMT

So on this very fine "talk-like-a-pirate day", we went up to Boston to meet a co-worker of Jen's from the main, French company who has just moved to the States from Israel with his wife and three kids (2, 5, and 7). Since they know no one in this country, Jen wisely decided to have us go up to meet them at the Boston Common, welcome them to the North East, and generally have a good time. Did I mention the kids only speak Hebrew at the moment? Well, that doesn't matter to kids, and soon all were having a great time, walking about, riding the swan boats, playing at the playground.

And wouldn't you know it? It was also the Boston Hempfest, celibration of the Lamb's Bread and all-around craziness. And I was there...with my kids. So no craziness or even browsing at the environmental/literature/politics booths for us. But the show was funny. Some people really shouldn't smoke that much if they can't handle it (in public, at least!).

Money!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:11:20 GMT

When I cash a check at the bank, I always ask if they have any "weird" money. Money that you don't see much; $2 bills, dollar coins, half-dollars, stuff like that. Once I got a silver Kennedy half-dollar that way.

Today? I got a $2, some golden dollar coins, some regular half-dollars, and ten Eisenhower (big) dollar coins, nine of which were bicentennials! Looks like some fool, ignorant of the value, turned in someone's collection for paper.

On the Dangers of Being Productive...

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:41:21 GMT

Yesterday, I did a huge amount of stuff around the house. I trimmed the bushes by the driveway, removing the debris. I shifted some unsightly remains of the old trash bin out of sight. Then I removed the three AC window units from the bedrooms back to the basement for the winter. And while making those trips, I did two loads of laundry and carried a full basket upstairs.

I mailed off a request to Trinity for my transcript so I can apply for sub jobs at CT schools and a temp certification here in RI. I also put in a new faucet nozzle in the bathroom downstairs, discovered that the faucet itself was crap, and bought a new one to install today.

And then I tried to fix the squeak in our bed-frame. At which point, trying to lift the mattress and part of the box-spring, I wrenched my shoulder rather badly. Pain. Lots of aching pain.

Luckily for me, a good friend, the mother of one of my godsons, has her doctorate in physical therapy and worked a miracle on me last night. Still sore today, but at least I can move it. So now to see if I can cope with that faucet...

Huh?

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:35:53 GMT

Do you remember a time when thinking and education was prized in this country?

Queen of Cakes

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:34:06 GMT

Bekah has become increasingly interested in cooking lately. Especially cakes. She has become addicted to FoodNetwork shows, Ace of Cakes and the contest shows (like Chopped).

So she and her Mom have been making cakes. Her family/friends party had a cake that looked like a volcano, complete with decorating gel lava pouring down. I wanted them to a add a village (with Monopoly houses, perhaps) and fleeing villagers, but they wouldn't. And for the party at the Natural History Museum in Roger Williams Park (you didn't know that was there, did you?) for her classmates, they produced a cake in the form of a pyramid. It came out great!

Abd don't forget: Saturday the 19th is National Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day!

Appalling!

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:20:54 GMT

When Bush was making speeches, the democrats would jump up and applaud with the rest, even when he was setting up something they were against. It wasn't so much the man, but the office they were showing their respect for.

Last night, that respect for the office was totally lacking on the part of the repubs and even some "blue dog" democrats. The most egregious case was Rep Joe Wilson (R-SC) who shouted "You lie!" when the President said that the health reform bill would not provide coverage for illegal immigrants. (By the way, there is a specific clause in the versions of the bill that denies coverage for "undocumented immigrants", so it was Wilson who was lying) Well, Wilson definitely was pandering to the nutjob base and got his face in the news. At other times the GOP booed, hissed, scoffed, and waved signs. Eric Cantor was even playing on his blackberry, and that after promising that repubs would "pay close attention during the speech."

This is horrible. If the left acted like this at a Bush speech, they would be removed, censured by congress, and we would be hearing calls for their resignation on Fox (which, by the way, completely ignored the outbursts and rudeness while blasting Obama for being overly partisan). What happened to the conservatives' calls for respect and dignified behavior? Is this what the minority party has come to? And when they are back in the majority (which will eventually happen unless they dissolve completely), what will they say if the left does anything like this?

Another week

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:18:53 GMT

Bekah turned 9 yesterday! Hard to believe, it has all gone by so quickly. We spent the day at 6-Flags in MA to celebrate, about 5 hours all told. Both kids went on their first coaster rides (small, Catwoman's Whip), along with several other rides. Alex has no fear, but Bekah has some limits. I managed to pop a small blood vessel in one eye on even these "tame" rides, so I think the big coasters may be out of my future.

Last week was the first full school week, and it looks like the kids have some great teachers. Well, we know that with Alex, since he has the same teacher that he had for two years of pre-school! He's done so well under her that I have no qualms about it. Bekah's in fourth grade now. Her first activity was making recycled paper for bookmarks about recycling to be given to the other kids in the school.

I asked last week if the students would be seeing today's "controversial" presidential address to students about the importance of academic effort. They are leaving it to the teacher's discretion. I will be quite upset if neither of my kids get to see the POTUS talk about setting goals and achieving through personal effort. We all know how patriotic that is if a Repub says it, but socialist indoctrination if said by a (black) Democrat.

So many things to do this week. Need to prepare to remove old furniture before delivery of the new tomorrow. Need to finish staining the swing set out back. Need to contact the RI Dept. of Education about a "provisional" certification so I can sub in local schools; contact CT schools about subbing; fill out forms at RIC to actually try to get my MAT... Oh, yeah; I need to paint the porch, too.

Let me get this straight...

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:41:18 GMT

On September 8th, the President will make a speech on TV and on line to the nation's schoolchildren.

During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

So the President of the country wants to appeal directly to the students about the importance of working in school and making effort, and not just letting academics wash over them. That's good, right.

Well, yes. But not to some. The John Birch Society (wow, they still exist) wants every one to to keep their kids home and have a family day.

I wouldn't send my child to school on September 8, unless I had a strong death wish for America. On September 8, President Obama will be broadcasting a prepared speech to every school child, grades K-12, in America. On September 8, Obama the Change Agent begins his takeover of the schools…but not with my child, and hopefully not with yours.

And they're joined by Michelle Malkin, who ties it into the brainwashing of children on issues like gay marriage, immigration, and stale toast. And there are many others saying we need to avoid exposing our children to the magic mind control hypnotism that Obama apparently can send through the screen.

And these people, who are saying keep your kids away from school to avoid hearing encouragement from the President, claim that they are the "true" American patriots. If anyone had suggested this when, say Reagan, or either of the Bushs sent out taped messages to school children, we'd be anti-American traitors. It must be that he's doing it live.

What a bunch of morons. They could have used a bit of educational support, I guess.

More on letters to the editor

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:53:57 GMT

Yesterday, an individual posted a response to my letter about talk radio parity. Here is what the "gentleman" wrote:

"In response to [the] Aug. 20 letter (“No on-air liberals”): The reason there are not that many left-wing talk shows is because there is no market for it. Bad ratings cannot generate enough advertising to keep them on the air.

Who wants to hear all day about how bad America is and how we need more socialism?

It’s called the marketplace. Freedom and free markets are things liberals will never understand or agree with. They want the government to force you to listen to things that are not popular but are destructive of your freedom, just as socialists and communists force you to read, hear or watch their propaganda on their state-run news outlets.

As long as there are free markets, liberal programming will never dominate.

Those who want 24-hour-a-day socialist talk should move to Venezuela."

Lovely.

First, stop telling us to leave the country if we want our different opinions heard. When we say we want liberal talk, we get yelled at for wanting to silence conservative talk, being anti-first amendment, and told to shut up and leave. See the inherent contradiction?

Second, We don't have a true "free market". With mass, national, deregulated corporate ownership of stations, that is just not the case.

In many markets, progressive talk does outrate their conservative rivals. And yet they keep disappearing. Ohio's progressive talk got turned to sports and lost half its listeners. Boston's first progressive talk got converted to spanish music, one of several in that market, and we are to believe there was a bigger need for that? There are plenty of examples.

From the comment thread at the paper, it is obvious that this guy is one of those people who believes fascism is a leftest thing because the nazis called themselves "national socialists". Labels are not history.

The Public Option Explained

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:59:38 GMT

Here is a simple to understand, straight-forward explaination of why the public option, or even single payer is needed, a good idea, and nessasary.

Kennedy, R.I.P.

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:21:10 GMT

As everyone on the industrialized parts of the planet probably know by now, Ted Kennedy, liberal lion of the Senate, died late Tuesday night at 77 years old, finishing 47 years in the Senate.

He was the third longest serving Senator, put his name to so much legislation it boggles the mind, and, though rich and privileged, spent his career trying to better the lot of the little guy. He was grounded in his liberalism, but was more than capable of reaching across the aisle and even becoming good friends with conservatives.

Yes, there were bad spots. The drinking, certainly. And the whole Chappaquiddick incident, of course. But he spent his whole life trying to make up for it.

None of this info is new, or even anything you might need to know after the media barrage. No, true to my liberal self, I wondered what the rightwing response would be. Not the politicians, the talkers.

As I have stated once before, we have four conservative talk stations on the AM here in tiny RI, and my dread was fully justified based on the thirty seconds I spent listening to each one this morning. One tidbit from each of the four...

One: Why is he receiving a Catholic burial? After all, anyone involved in performing an abortion is automatically excommunicated! He deserves no Christian service due to all the unborn he's responsible for terminating.

Two: Endless rehashing of the Chappaquiddick incident. This included the assertion that an air pocket existed in the car, so Mary Jo could have been saved if Ted had been less evil and selfish.

Three: "I'm so sick of hearing the left talking about how great he was; he destroyed Massachusetts, he brought MA homosexual and lesbian marriage, destroying the traditional family! (Comment: I have yet to understand how. No one will explain it to me, especially after I point out MA has the lowest divorce rate in the U.S.) Think of all the dead babies he's responsible for! And now they're saying we must pass socialist health care in his name! Not if I can stop it!" That was a caller to a show that claimed they were keeping it "respectful".

And my favorite,

Four: This woman caller must be a birther. She pointed out that Obama was vacationing on Chappaquiddick a few days before, instead of his usual vacation to Hawai'i (A-ha!) Ted died at 1AM Tuesday morning. (Comment: he died just before midnight Tuesday night. You know this won't be rational) Obama got a call around 2AM. So where were Dr. Kevorkian or Michael Jackson's Doc? (If this makes any sense to anyone, please help!) She then said she was glad, because the last time he was driving up this way, Kennedy's ambulance and motorcade passed her, causing an hour backup of traffic. The host's response to this? "Well, you won't have that problem again."

So there you are, the local wingnut response to the death of Kennedy. There may have been more respectful callers/commentary, but I couldn't stand listening any more. Imagine how the right would react if Reagan's death had been met with this sort of nasty.

Crossposted over at DailyKos

Increased CO2 and my least favorite plant

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:46:16 GMT

Several groups have suggested that the predicted increase of CO2 levels will actually be a good thing for plant growth. This is part of the denial of any oncoming climate change danger. Many say there is no increase of CO2 levels that matter, and those that admit the levels are going up pull out this bit about better for farmers.

Well, not so much.

After a three year effort; "Writing in the journal Science, researchers concluded that elevated atmospheric CO2 actually reduces plant growth when combined with other likely consequences of climate change – namely, higher temperatures, increased precipitation or increased nitrogen deposits in the soil. "

So not so good.

But even worse, poison ivy is one of the plants that will benefit. As CO2 goes up, is grows faster, bigger, and even more toxic.

Have you noticed the level of poison ivy growth this year? It's huge. And it shows that the CO2 effects are already there. And will only get worse.

Making my point for me....

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:12:59 GMT

A few days ago, I sent a letter to the main newspaper here in RI, the Providence Journal. The letter was a call for liberal talk radio parity. In it, I pointed out that I could get four conservative talk stations on AM, hear Luimbaugh live on three (two AM and one FM), but the nearest progressive talk was out of Boston. I also pointed out that liberal talk out performs their conservative rivals in many of the 10% of the U.S. market that they are in, and yet still gets shut down to provide the umpteenth sports/religious talk station in that market.

Now, when you submit a letter to the editor, you need to put your name, address, and daytime phone "in case of substantive questions" on the part of the editorial staff.

So imagine my joy when I got back yesterday and found the following message on my machine:

"Sir,um, I'd like to give you an intelligent answer to why there's no on air liberals. It's been tried with Air America, Al Franken, Sean Penn(?), the whole bunch, and if you listen to the clips; they were extremely boring, offered nothing, and the advertisers wouldn't advertise with them. Period. That's about it. Thank you sir, and you have a wonderful day."

That's it. Nothing about how they actually perform. Never mind that Al Franken had so little to offer he got elected as one of his state's senators. And what about Rachel Maddow? So boring she has a TV show now. As does Ed Shultz. And if you think Stephanie Miller is in any way boring, then you have never listened to her. Never mind Randi Rhodes, who was fired twice for things that FauxNoise people would consider mild. And it's not all about Air America. Miller and Rhodes are not produced by Air America.

But what really pisses me off is that this guy didn't leave a name, was condescending & dismissive, ignored the actual point of the letter, and there was no contact info on the message or caller ID. And abused my contact info to slap me without fear of comeback.

And this is why I laugh in sorrow every time I see the letters page with all the conservatives claiming that the Journal is too liberal and obviously in the tank for the left. Never mind the actuall content, they're part of the media so they must be liberal.

(Am I wrong for being proud that I just posted a version of this as a diary on DailyKos?)

UPDATE: It seems that my letter was published by the paper yesterday (Thurs 8/20), so it could have been any fool who used my name and town and a computer to do a search. He's still a coward, though.

To arms!

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:24:19 GMT

The right wing noise machine is declaring victory over the leftists in the healthcare debate. After lying about "death panels" and loss of insurance and government take-overs, they are claiming that the public is totally opposed to Obama's plan and declaring success.

And they killed Kenny. (Those bastards!)

But 70% of those polled are in favor of the public option as an alternative to paying the company man who can dump you at the first sign of real illness. Explain what's in the Obama's plan, the majority favor it. Ask if they approve of Obama's plan, most say no. Why the difference? Lies about Obama's plan without explaining what's really in it. And who actually reads these things (I do, actually...it took 10 minutes to find the truth behind the "death panel" lie) instead of depending on a pundit to tell you how to think?

Call to show your support of the public option! Let them know that the "townhallers", screaming everyone else down, are not the voice of the people.

White House: 1-202-456-1111
Your rep can be found at this site: http://www.house.gov/
Senate folk can be found at this site: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Call them. Mail/email them. Let them know.

Don't let the screamers take over the popular voice.

Worried...

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:16:50 GMT

As I once posted, I have a red shirt with the old soviet hammer & sickle symbol. Not because I'm a communist (I'm not), but because it's fun to see the visceral reaction people have to it.

It has been sitting in my drawer more than usual lately, and last week I realized why. I am actually more scared to wear it in public now than I was under Bush43. And that is because of the cranking up of the anger and hate we have seen in the last few weeks at townhalls and on the airwaves. The "helpful fools" on the right have gotten out of control, calling those on the left or even the center fascists, socialists, communists, and all sorts of names. And they're getting away with it. Examples? Sure.

In 2004, MoveOn.org hosted a video contest for an anti-Bush ad. Two of the 1500 submissions used Nazi images, and so the entire left was bad because they compared Bush to Hitler. MoveOn apologized. But when Rush Limbaugh directly compares Obama to Hitler, crickets from the media.

Anti-war protesters, like Code Pink, were trying to shut down debate and were unAmerican and all the rest. Anti-health care reform folks, shouting out and disrupting town hall meetings on a play book sent out by conservative groups are just using their first amendment rights.

And now, some of these "patriots" are bringing guns to the meetings, including Obama's. Never mind all the posters of Obama in Nazi gear, the swastikas, the open threats...

And then there is the swastika painted on a Rep's office sign down in GA. And the MD rep hung in effigy by some proud, smiling moron outside his office.

And the lies, like how they're about to kill off the elderly (they're not, read the bill, morons!). Or how it pays for abortion (it doesn't, they took that out, but it would still pay for viagra). Or how the genius Steven Hawking would have been allowed to die under the "socialist" British healthcare because his disease would have caused them to "deem him worthless". (Hawking, of course, was born and has lived in Britain all his life.)

So that is why I am actually more worried about wearing that soviet shirt. Actually, I wore it to fencing last week, knowing how conservative Michael Olsen is, and his response was friendly, but what I can expect. "Wow, you really are a Democrat!" He was being funny (we are amused by our opposing political views), but not everyone would be. And some of them are armed and angry. And scared. A bad combination.