Saturday Night

The Bink paces in the entryway to our apartment, a small white rectangle of tile. Every few minutes he goes to the foot of the stairs and peers down, mournfully, into the yawning darkness.
“Why isn’t she here?”
“She’s in Washington, Bink. She’s not coming back till tomorrow.”
“Washington? What’s that?”
“It’s a city. It’s far away.”
“Why would she go there?”
“It’s part of her work.”
He sniffs, disbelieving.  "Work" for Bink consists mostly of tearing large pieces of cardboard into still smaller pieces of cardboard, shredding those with his claws, and then eating what remains.  It's no wonder he can't conceive how it could involve cross-country flight.  
“Doesn’t she know that I’m here? I’m not in Washingon. I’m here.”
“She knows.”
He looks down the stairwell again. “And when is she coming home?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“That’s too long.”
“I agree.”

Does McCain Still Have A Chance?

This piece in the Times explains how and why he still might win.

Life and Times of Someone

I apologize for the relative of paucity of posts of late. Things should pick back up next week, when my zydeco band gets done recording our new album. ("Zydeco For Industrialists"). In the meantime, here's a clip from the new HBO show "The Life and Times of Tim." I've only seen two episodes (not this one) but both made me laugh out loud, which is something that doesn't happen to me much anymore, since the operation. Enjoy:

Let's Be Honest

McCain has been bad. Bad on content (such as there is) and bad on delivery. He's shown poor, or at least cynical judgement. He's repeatedly failed to make a coherent argument as to why he deserves to be President. Obama has real weaknesses, ideological and practical. In both debates he's been asked some version of, "What cuts in your proposed spending programs will you make, should you be elected, in light of the recent financial difficulties question?" Both times his answer, essentially, has been: none at all. Instead, he talks about all the things he's going to do. Government-funded health care. Better schools. Energy independence in ten years. A free iPhone for everyone over the age of six. New cars! And, we'll all be able to fly! And turn sunlight into energy! And breathe underwater! It's totally absurd; saying we'll be energy independent in ten years--without any real proposals as to how we'll do that--is NOT like saying we'll go to the moon in ten years (an analogy Obama drew in his last debate). It's like saying we'll go to Pluto. And colonize it. And there breed an army of sentient bacteria who will be able to recite Paradise Lost on command. This is not to say that it's not a great goal. It is. But so is immortality.

But does McCain ever call him on this or any other of the many GAPING CHASMS in his platform? (Example: he'll save the taxpayers billions by 'closing loopholes in the current law." So easy. Kind of makes you wonder why no one else in office has had the same idea.) He does not. Instead, he recites the same old same old. He's a maverick. He's not Mr. Congeniality (Is that supposed to be make us want to vote for him?) Wall Street is rife with "greed and corruption." (Does he have a plan to ban greed? I thought the Republican Party is predicated on the assumption that greed is what drives the economy.)

And Palin... sigh. Has there ever been ANYONE less qualified to be the President of the United States? I spend no more than thirty minutes a day following current affairs. I know next to nothing about, for example, the mechanisms of the global economy. I am very murky on, to name just one topic off the top of my head, the timeline of Israel's various 20th Century conflicts. At no time in the last week (that I remember) have I closeted myself with a phalanx of policy experts and forced myself to cram for a nationally televised debate. And yet, despite all that, I could have a done a better job debating Joe Biden if I were high, drunk, and prohibited by the rules of the debate from using any word containing the letter "a."

In other words, I'm going Obama. I guess.