OK, so here’s my thought. I’m going to dedicate a category in my blog to my family tree. With individual entries for different members of my family, I’ll use my blog both as a means to keep online notes for those individuals, and hopefully increase the chance that others might find them in their own online searches and add information. Sound like a plan? OK then, we’re off. I’ll start with my Great Grandfather, Michael Casey. Stay tuned…
The Program on International Policy Attitudes has released a report titled, The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters that demonstrates something that many thinking people already know, that Bush supporters are seriously misinformed and hold beliefs that just don’t match reality.
– 75% believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.
– 74% believe Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in agreements on trade.
– 72% believe Iraq had WMD or a program to develop them.
– 72% believe Bush supports the treaty banning landmines.
– 69% believe Bush supports the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
– 61% believe if Bush knew there were no WMD he would not have gone to war.
– 60% believe most experts believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.
– 58% believe the Duelfer report concluded that Iraq had either WMD or a major program to develop them.
– 57% believe that the majority of people in the world would prefer to see Bush reelected.
– 56% believe most experts think Iraq had WMD.
– 55% believe the 9/11 report concluded Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.
– 51% believe Bush supports the Kyoto treaty.
– 20% believe Iraq was directly involved in 9/11.
Maybe not surprising considering the number of people, who like Bush himself, accept a belief that he is God’s choice for President. It’s the magic of pure faith… facts and knowledge to the contrary, you need not be shaken from your firmly held beliefs.
I’m not sure what’s scarier. An idiot with his finger on the button who thinks he’s fulfulling a holy mission, or the hordes who will follow him like lemmings over a cliff. It’s enough to make an agnostic like myself say, “Heaven help us!”
A new category, Genealogy! I never figured my latest hobby and my passion for politics would cross like this, but look at this one (thanks to Political Wire)
I don’t figure they cross paths at too many family reunions, but George Bush and John Kerry ARE family (ninth cousins twice removed).
As it turns out, George has closer cousins who don’t support him either… Bush Relatives for Kerry.
“Hello, is this Chris Casey?”, the voice on the phone asked me. “Yes it is”, I answered, as I usually do to that question. “This is Joan Dangerfield calling,”… long pause awaits some recognition from me that’s not coming, “as in, Rodney Dangerfield’s wife.”
It was 1996, and sure, I knew who Rodney Dangerfield was, but why would his wife be calling me?
“Did you write a book called The Hill on the Net?”, Joan asked. In fact I had, and it had only just been published. “I have a flier here about your book that someone gave to me. Why is it bad news that Rodney is #95?”
Aha, now I’m starting to get it. In 1996 there were many new Internet magazines trying to become THE must-read of the hoardes who were rushing online. One of them, Websight magazine, had in their April issue published an article titled The 100 Most Influential People on the World Wide Web. And I’m still flattered that I came in at #96 for my efforts to promote use of the Internet on Capitol Hill.
My publisher, seeing an opportunity to capitolize on the honor, created a flyer plugging my book. It noted my position at #96 and added, “Good News… Bill Gates is #100! Bad News… Rodney Dangerfield is #95!”
Again Joan asked, “Why is it bad news that Rodney is #95?”.
“It’s a joke Mrs. Dangerfield. If I’m #96 to Rodney’s 95, it means I get even less respect than he does.”
“Oh… ha ha ha. That’s funny. Thank you then, goodbye”.
By the next year, Rodney had climbed Websight’s list with a bullet, and was on the cover of their Websight 100 issue. I had begun the slide to my present obscurity (if there was a ranking now, I expect I’d be in the upper ten millions), and Joan hasn’t called me since.
Rodney Dangerfield dead at 82
CNN, 10/5/2004
Rodney Dangerfield, Beating Troubles To the Punch Line
Washington Post, 10/7/04
Like one is six other Americans, I live in a community that is governed by a property owner’s association. My association’s rules explicitly prohibit the display of political yard signs on private property within the community, and that’s just wrong. So with the help and support of some like minded neighbors, we have taken the debate online in an effort to inform our community about this unjust rule, and hopefully help bring about its demise. Check us out online at http://freemontclair.us
How to start your day with a positive attitude
1.) Create a “new folder” on your computer.
2.) Name it “George W. Bush”
3.) Send it to the trash
4.) Empty the trash
5.) Your computer will ask you: “Do you really want to get rid of George
W. Bush?”
6.) Answer — calmly — “yes” and press the mouse button firmly.
Enjoy your day!!
My Mac doesn’t go second-guessing me like this when I move a folder to the trash, but for the Windows majority out there, I can see why this would be a nice start to any of the remaining 55 days until election day
Thanks to Mathew Gross for the original posting where I saw this…
http://mathewgross.com/blog/archives/000610.html
I’ve long believed that the low voter turnouts in the United States are our great National shame. For Americans, who hold themselves out the the world as THE example of Democracy, to show such disregard for the simple act of voting is just embarresing. We have forgotten the importance and value of our vote. We have forgotten about the price paid by others to protect that right.
But this is America, and perhaps another approach is needed. If voting was a lottery, would you vote then? Would you register to vote for the chance to win $100,000? Go for it then, maybe you (or I for referring you) might win. Then rememer to actually vote, then we all win. And while you’re at it, does it make sense then to also sleep only with Voters?
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He was born in Central Illinois, we got him from a friend of my mother-in-law. Our new dog Cody caught a flight home with us to Virginia in 1988.
As a puppy, he once accidentally ripped my nose open, sending me to the emergency room and putting himself under quarantine by animal control officers. We were playing on the floor, Cody fighting me over an old rag (ok, an old pair of underwear), and he accidentally caught my nose with a sharp puppy tooth. We yanked different directions, he yelped, and my nose started spewing blood. So we missed the end of Michael Dukakis’ acceptance speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, and headed to the hospital. Maybe it was a bad omen for that Election, but our fun didn’t always end in the hospital.Cody did tricks too. He could shake hands/paws, roll over, stand on his hind legs, or patiently resist the temptation of snatching a dog bone placed right in front of him until given the secret go-ahead code word, “OK”. He understood English, and was fluent in begging for food.
He was our first child, and in many of our oldest photos of him Cody is happily perched on someone’s lap. But soon we had a human baby, and then another, and another. And Cody was a protective big brother to each of them, and a happy floor cleaner beneath their high-chairs.
Outdoors, he had an interesting habit of only snarling at dogs that were many times his size. Perhaps he knew he could outrun them, or maybe if we’d have ever let him try, he really could have kicked their butts. We never had him fixed, though we know we should have, maybe his bravado was in his balls. He knocked up an understanding neighbor’s ugly pug twice, so there are some Cody progeny out there somewhere.
As kids got older, he got a bit slower, but he was still always the first to meet me at the door when returning from work. He hated fleas, but they loved him. And what he lost in sight and hearing ability, he gained in his ability to create new smells.
He saw other pets come and go; lizards, hamsters, a hermit crab. And this year he enjoyed the company of the four kittens one of our cats had. Our two adult cats basically ignored him, but the kittens loved Cody, and he followed them around with a curiosity he hadn’t had in anything for years.
For months we’ve seen signs of his age, especially in his hesitation and difficulty in climbing steps, but he always soldiered on. Until last week, when we found him no longer able to stand up. A vet visit offered small hope for improvement, and when there was none we were left to face the fact that Cody’s time had come. He was an important member of our family for 16 years..
Goodbye Cody, we miss you already.
80 More Days! To help remind myself that the end is fast approaching, and to urge myself to take some action every day between now and Election Day, I created a ‘George Bush Retirement Countdown Calendar’ which I’m making available here to anyone else who might want one to hang on your refridgerator door. (PDF Format)
 August |
 September |
 October |
 November |
Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law.
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens
Dissenting Opinion, Bush v. Gore, December 12, 2000
An now only 80 days remain until American’s can either step up and re-claim their vote and role in our Democracy, or we can say what happened in 2000 was OK and let the Court’s appointment stand for another four years.
So ask yourself, what have you done today to take your country back? And what will you do tomorrow?