monday blues

It is getting cold fast in Spokane. twenties at night, thirties in the day. I was amazed today on a quick trip to CompUSA for a cable. I had been talking to Scott S. the other day, lamenting how few Pintos, K-cars, and Gremlins you see on the road. Not to mention Mustang II's and Mavericks.
Well don't despair Johnny, help is coming! I saw a beautifully ugly baby-crap colored Pinto that restored my faith in really bad American car technology of the seventies.
Today is a day much like any other, work consists of setting up data acquisition for a test of an invention I proposed about six months ago. I am somewhat amazed that it works at all, much less very well. But there you have it. So I guess it's a good day.

it's killing not murder

This is a departure for me, writing something significant that occurs to me down, before I forget the link. It started with hearing this nun on "Now" with Bill Moyers talking about the pro-life movement being the pro-birth movement, and it resonated with me. They support anything and anyone who will prevent the killing of foetus', but vote for candidates that support the elimination of the Department of Education, the elimination of school lunch programs, and the under-funding of "No child left behind". These same candidates support the execution of minors in increasing numbers, the current age being batted around is sixteen. They support the war for oil in Iraq without question. Nevermind that we call it a war for democracy, can the right truly be that shallow? We have made it an essential battleground in the war on terror, by inflaming the youth of muslim nations with the Abu Ghraib debacle. I digress.
Back to the point of the morality of the pro-birth movement. They apparently support the killing of youth, they just have to be old enough for it to be sporting. 19 and 20 year old marines, as well as non-christian Iraqis of any age, are clearly fair game as long as you can dress up the motives sufficiently, i.e. 'Saddam would eventually be a threat anyway', 'We must spread freedom', etc. They support capital punishment, 'an eye for an eye', nearly without exception. So it isn't killing in general that bothers them. As I mentioned earlier, there is a move from the same conservative quarter to reduce the age of capital punishment in a number of states. As the same right-wing groups converge toward zero age in their killing behaviors, they fight ever more vigorously to make the killing of those at age zero the only meaningful point of political debate. When this becomes the only issue of discussion they have won. Game over.

another quiet saturday

Just taking care of Natalie today for the most part, she is nearly two, so this leaves a lot of time for thinking. This is mostly spent wondering why I don't do what I need to be doing, what I really need to be doing, and why I should be doing anything anyway. dharma is a bitch.
I took Natalie and Willow (she is a dog, and at twelve arguably my oldest friend that I still hang out with) to the park for a while, it was very clear and bright and cold today. Couldn't find Natalie's mittens before we left, so her hands got cold repeatedly. I have to confess that it was probably more fun this way, because she would jump off the slide, tell me her hands were cold, and smile as I warmed them up between mine.
I have to go now, and yell at the urchins bouncing a boulder off my house...