No idea whether this chart is genuine, or accurate, or whether a statistician would find it significant, but some other people think it shows that whenever Bush’s approval ratings drop, another terror warning is issued, causing the approval rating to improve a little. Not sure if those little blips are statistically significant. What I find interesting is the fact that his approval rating is now down below what it was prior to 11 September 2001, which if you’re into conspiracy theories, or just generally wacko, or cynical could lead you to conclude we’re late for another major terrorist strike.

Paper trail? We don’t need no steenking paper trail.
On the other hand, the OSCE is going to monitor the presidential elections in the US this November. It’s so cool the way Bush is turning the US into a third world banana republic.

Tourist helicopters and limousines.
Every time I watch people eat, or shop for food, I wonder how secure the chain of food production, processing, packaging and delivery is.

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Not sure about the rest of me, but my skin made it through the generations from my original cave-dwelling, nocturnal Irish ancestors unchanged: pale as hell. In summer, I go from lily-white to burn straight to carcinoma, skipping the tanning phase entirely. So when I actually acquired a little color this summer vacation from all the time spent outside in all the wonderful weather we got, I was quite happy and even proud.
Which frame of mind resulted in this conversation when I returned to work and a plump and saucy young co-worker welcomed me back to work.
PASYCW: Weren’t you on vacation?
Me: Yeah. [??]
PASYCW: But… I thought you’d go somewhere south or something.
Me: [??] Huh?
PASYCW: Cause your skin… you’re not very brown. [Note: she is Asian, and therefore tans quite easily and deeply]
Me: Are you kidding? This is the brownest I’ve ever been. [Hold out arm, pointing out contrast between white sleeve and sort of tan arm]
PASYCW: [Raises eyebrows skeptically]
Me: BTW, I had a dream about you.
PASYCW: Really? What did I do?
Me: [Oops] Eh, nothing really.
PASYCW: How interesting. [Cute smile]
Me: I mean, not much was going on.
PASYCW: Uh huh.
Me: It was just, you had fat legs in the dream. [Elephantine, actually, in the dream.]
PASYCW: Really. [Looks down at her own legs]
Me: Heh! Only in the dream, heh. It was just a dream!
PASYCW: Fat legs.
Me: Just in the dream! You have really nice legs. Not fat.
PASYCW: Well, I’d better distribute these documents.
Me: Sexy legs. Not fat. Bye!

All of us went to the mountains. My family, my sister’s family. We stayed in these apartments we stay in when we go skiing. We went swimming and hiking. We had fun. Down the road from where we lived was a Gasthaus, this inn, where we had dinner sometimes. The first time, walking back in the dark after (a chaotic) dinner, we saw fireflies for the first time. My wife’s family had seen them before, as my brother-in-law spent several years in Pennsylvania and they still visit relatives there. Later he told us stories about seeing thousands – the firefly is the Pennsylvania State Insect (what is the New Jersey State Insect, I wonder? What is your state insect?). All we saw that night were several dozens, but they were magical.

It was pitch dark and we were walking up this gravel road we knew from memory, a nice warm evening walking through the trees when we see all these little soft green stars. Some were stationary (the females) and some were hovering around, moving in slow lazy arcs (the males). If you want to know exactly which sort of stars they resembled most, go to the tenderloin and touch a Hell’s Angel’s bike (thanks Jessica) – fireflies are the stars you see when someone punches you in the head with a certain vigor.

That’s what I think now, anyway, sitting here in my office in bright sunshine. At the time, we watched in silence as they moved, also silent. Just light, no buzzing. Just cool green bioluminescence employed to spread around that Photinus Pyralsis DNA.

What would a conservative do? Why, with all that Bush and those around him have botched, are they still in control of public discourse? Democratic convention? Economy tanking? Environmental degradation? Civil liberties under attack? Here, have another vague warning instead.

Today, the metamorphosism public discourse domination award goes to those spotlighting Kerry’s real military service while managing to avoid any discussion whatsoever of the complete evasion by our “War” “President” Bush of any combat service, and most likely his evasion of any real military service whatsoever.

Another thing: let’s have a betting pool (void where prohibited by law) on what pre-election scary things are going to happen, and when; both warnings of scary things and actual scary things, as well as suspected scary things that may have happened, or may not have happened but were narrowly prevented, and scary things that have not happened yet but still might we just don’t know when although we’re working on it night and day.

And another thing: I want a campaign button-type-thing with a picture of the current “President” and “Vice-President” on it together with the slogan, “Go fuck yourself, who cares what you think.”

If same-sex marriages ever become legal in Washington State, I will be very tempted to marry my brother-in-law.

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