Random, etc.

[urbpan]

I haven't posted too much since I've been back from vacation. I'm kind of depressed in general; I think the vacation had the opposite of its intended effect.

Work is sort of a mixed bag: I feel like I'm making some friends and getting better at some aspects of the job, but I've also dropped the ball kind of badly a couple times, and I sometimes wonder how thin the ice really is.

You guys have peer pressured me into joining freecycle. The vegetarian docs are the first thing I'm posting (is Freecycle always done as a yahoo group?) and if that goes well I'll try some more.

Candent: re-send me your mailing address and I'll send you all the paperback books that I'm divesting myself of. Big heavy books are going to the library, along with any dvds I get sick of.

I don't know how they know that the latest Iraq suicide bombers were women with Down Syndrome, but if it's true, those people really suck. It's not enough to blow people up, it's not enough to do it in a crowded pet market so that it's women and kids and animals getting blown up, but they are recruiting the retarded? If you made that up and wrote it, you would be accused of fabricating and exaggerating to spread hate.

The San Francisco Zoo tiger attack debacle gets weirder, with "former zoo authority"-cum-animal rights activists telling the Chronicle that the zoo is outdated, and with the survivors admitting to more and more tiger-goading.

In an article that somehow avoids using the word 'pitbull,' we learn of an American bulldog saving a Staffie from a mountain lion.

I will be repeating the following on Monday and perhaps Tuesday, when it will be more relevant, if not urgent:
Obama has a better chance of beating a Republican opponent than Clinton. THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS. If you are a Democrat who can vote in a Primary next week, I strongly recommend that you vote for Obama. The turning point for me, after Edwards dropped out, was hearing a call on an npr radio show, wherein the caller said "I'm trying to decide between McCain and Obama." I don't know how a person can get to that point in their decision making, but the country is full of people like that. If it comes down to McCain vs. Clinton, McCain will win in a landslide--I am confident of that. And while we CAN'T POSSIBLY HAVE A WORSE PRESIDENT THAN THE ONE WE HAVE, I believe we DESPERATELY need the pendulum to swing hard to the left for us to have a chance to repair the damage. And while I respect McCain on some level: he appears to be against torture, for example, he has more or less promised, if elected, to continue the war in Iraq into perpetuity.

Comments

[droserary.livejournal.com]

At the risk of touching off endless debate, I'm not convinced Obama has a better chance of beating McCain than Clinton. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about either one of them. In fact, I still may vote Edwards in my primary (which hardly matters since it's well after Super Tuesday). Something about Obama unsettles me, and I hate to sound like I'm parrotting the media, but I really don't like the fact that he rarely offers specifics in his plethora of plans. (Perhaps the media is to blame for that fact, since they rarely let them explain their plans, preferring soundbites instead.) He's a great orator, and that's excellent. We need more people that can express themselves like that, passionately. But is there substance to back up the facade?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

At the risk of touching off endless debate,
Always welcome in my journal!
I'm not convinced Obama has a better chance of beating McCain than Clinton.
Why not? Obama is an unknown, which means he hasn't earned the hatred of half the country, the way Clinton has.
Something about Obama unsettles me,
Me too. I wouldn't be supporting him if Edwards hadn't dropped out. I don't like the fact that he's all style, no substance, but I really don't think it matters at this point. I think now he's the Dems only chance to win the presidency back.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Does Obama's website offer any clues to his specific plans? (I'll go there later, but right now have errands to run.)

Does Hillary have more specific plans, or do they all just talk around the substance about the ideals?

I think no one chances talking specifics on the chance that, even if elected, there are so many ways the specific can be derailed by special interest groups, or other party vetoes. So if you say you're going to do X, and you can't, then history says YOU LIED and it's YOUR fault. So if any of them want to run again in future, they probably can't take the chance of how the media -- and just public opinion, based on heaven knows what -- will reframe what they said and didn't do. It's a very fine tightrope to walk.

[droserary.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, if one doesn't state specifics and then tries to push through plans that s/he didn't campaign on, the public or the opposition will rail against it because the candidate didn't specifically state what her/his plan was. Can't win ;-)

[droserary.livejournal.com]

Why not? Obama is an unknown, which means he hasn't earned the hatred of half the country, the way Clinton has.

True, he's relatively unknown. That may or may not work to his advantage. Has that worked in the past? Not really. Clinton, on the other hand, had $7 million of the taxpayer's money used to dig into her past and pick her apart during Bill's impeachment. She's proven. There's very little else that could be brought to light. Could that work to her advantage? I don't know.

I think now he's the Dems only chance to win the presidency back.

Not sure I'll ever be convinced of that and ultimately we'll not know unless Hillary is the nominee and wins. *shrugs* I want a democratic president as much as you and I think a lot of voters share our difficulty choosing, especially those of us who are former Edwards supporters. Perhaps I'll just write in Al Gore.

[seaweedgirle.livejournal.com]

Edwards will be on my ballot on Tuesday. He has my vote.

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

It's sad that they decided the cougar should be put down.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

how about some cool animals?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7213571.stm - giant elephant shrew - it's coming right for us! it's huge! it's alive!

and the other day, i saw a very perky barred owl :)

#

[(Anonymous)]

That elephant shrew is so CUTE! Isn't it cool that people are still discovering new species?

Happy to have played a tiny part in Freecycle peer pressure. When I was moving, it was a godsend!

Hey, I've been depressed too, and it's not because I got back from Antigua. :-) And I'm hitting the wall at work, after a year and a half. I appreciate your candor about it; it strikes a chord with me.

~Flaneuse in DC

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

I'm still not sure why the kids yelling and waving is considered newsworthy. I mean, it's dumb and obnoxious, but an enclosure that's only proof against mellow, happy tigers doesn't seem like much of a tiger enclosure to me.

When good fences make bad neighbours

[frith]

When an impervious barrier, such as a fence, separates two animals, the animals often engage in heightened aggressive demonstrations. Dogs, deer and people all do this fence fighting. ("All dogs bark in their own yards.") In most North American zoos there is a culture of restraint that reduces the number of people who give in to the urge to hoot and holler, an inhibition that was weakened in this case. So apart from the entertainment value of ad revenue from printing the blood and gore there is a use for this news and that use is the message that maybe if you don't show some respect the tiger/bear/baboon will get out and kill you. That (mostly ungrounded) fear will reduce the fence effect.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Vacations ALWAYS have that effect on me: I come back from someplace different, and "better" than the usual, and the usual seems more bleak, mundane and depressing. After England and Scotland, for example, New England seems gray (with the possible exception of leaf peeping season).

After snorkeling in warm clean waters, how can you NOT be depressed coming back to the worst part of NE winter: all dirty black snow.

I'm Obama all the way. I'm registered Independent, but my boyfriend tells me I can vote this Tuesday anyway, don't have to be registered with either party. So I'm THERE. (He's still vacillating between Obama and Clinton because -- are you ready for this? I wasn't! -- he thinks she's more pragmatic and he's "too much the idealist." Sheesh! I've threatened NO SEX FOR HIM until he caves on this one! (And I'm only half joking.)

[artemii.livejournal.com]

i agree with you about mccain vs. obama, but some (such as my mother) think the reverse. i'm still bummed that edwards dropped out though. apparently after he won the last debate he was in (before dropping out) and it got no coverage, he asked staff members if he had to set himself on fire to actually get media attention.

with all the grey and rain and dirty snow and mucky mud, it's no wonder coming back from antigua has been a downer.

[colinftm.livejournal.com]

Super bummed that Edwards dropped out. Didn't find out until recently (spent a week and a half in a cabin far from town)

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

Yea sometimes when I get back from a really good vacay, I feel like that...like you wish you were still there!!! :(
Oh well...
Sorry to hear about work, but I'm sure whatever it is you're doing is NOT as bad as you think...you are a good employee, remember that! :)
The whole tiger thing is just a clusterfuck...it really is...the zoo needs to do so much work, I always knew that...:P
Aw that's good to hear about the dogs...

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

That was essentially the reason that swayed my vote to Obama. A lot of people really hate Hillary. Deservedly or not, that's still baggage Obama's not carrying. Also, I know first hand of at two republicans who voted for Obama in the primary.

Edwards had the best ideas and plans, but he stopped running for president a long time ago and started running for vice president, a position he has a good chance of getting regardless of which democrat wins the nomination.

[hildythenerd.livejournal.com]

Heya! I've been kinda lurking your journal on and off for awhile now. Every once and awhile your old lady will reference something and link here --- And I'd check it out. Then I realized the rest of it is a pretty decent read too.

Mind if I add you?

And on to the reason I chose this entry to comment: I couldn't agree with you more about Obama. If this country wants to see change, then the vote has to go to Obama. He has a way better shot at winning the presedential election than Hillary does, and at this point a vote for Hillary almost seems waisted. Although I've got to admit, that the way things are going I'm starting to fear another republican for 4 more years.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I don't mind at all!

yeah, I'm pretty nervous that McCain will be elected, but as I said, it can't get any worse (or can it...?)

[hildythenerd.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I think it can. :(