Survey says… February 24, 2008
Posted by Merujo in history, morons, politics, stupidity, unsafe at any speed.5 comments
Ralph Nader IS still a douche!
I just watched him announce his candidacy for president on “Meet the Press.” Tim Russert pretty much told him he’ll be reviled by Democrats from coast to coast, and then showed the Florida vote numbers from the Bush/Gore fiasco, where Nader’s foolishness cost Gore the election.
Grrrrrr.
This just in… February 22, 2008
Posted by Merujo in blogging, DC, douchebags, history, politics, stupidity, where's real-life alternative history when you need it?.4 comments
…Ralph Nader still considering being a vote-splitting douchebag.
Gahhhhh!
Back in the Dark Ages, I had a blog on another service. To be honest, I’m not even sure if that particular purveyor of blogging space is still active. It was cheesy and limited, and I paid for the pleasure of their cheesy, limited service. (Of course, I have to admit, I wrote a lot of cheesy, limited posts back then. Ahem.) I haven’t had that account for years, now. Regardless, since nothing ever dies on “teh Internets”, I was able to drudge up this entry for you, which I wrote precisely four years ago today. As in, almost to the hour, precisely four years ago today. I was a bit sharper-tongued back then, as you’ll see. Come with me, then, if you will, on a trip courtesy of the Wayback Machine.
Sherman? Mr. Peabody? Let’s go!
“2004-02-22 – 4:52 p.m.
What if Eleanor Roosevelt could have flown like a B-25?
Or, what if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?
Bonus points to you, if you remember that sketch.
Back in 2000, something almost happened to me, just as the curtain was coming down on a most contentious presidential election. While driving through the Dupont Circle area, a pedestrian bolted out into the street in front of my car. He was jaywalking and clearly not watching what he was doing. I had just achieved “urban cruising speed” – plenty high enough to be lethal, especially if the pedestrian is a skinny, aging fart.
I had to slam on my brakes, and I left a nice line of rubber down the block – I could smell my tires and see a nice bit of smoke. I was really shaken up, and I remember rolling down the window and yelling, “What the hell is wrong with you?!?! I almost killed you!!!” The pedestrian barely turned back to look me, the driver who almost smeared him across 18th Street. But it was then that I saw it was Ralph Nader.
Yep. I was within seconds of squishing Ralph Nader just as the election was finishing up. In the weeks that followed, in the middle of the whole Florida hanging frigging chad crap, and throughout the mess we’re mired in today, I have stopped to wonder, every once in a while, where would we be today had I actually creamed Nader?
And now, this stupid putz is running again.
Thanks, f*cker. Split the vote again, a-hole.
If we end up with four more years of Monkey Boy in power because you snarfed up valuable Democratic votes, I will hold you responsible.
Loser. And to think – I’d just had those brakes replaced a week before the near miss. America came this close to a Gore presidency…
Ralph Nader, you suck.”
Guess what? Four years later, he still sucks. People, if Nader decides to run again this time, DON’T WASTE YOUR VOTE ON HIM!!
Okay? Okay.
Thus endeth the rant.
When Hell Freezes Over February 12, 2008
Posted by Merujo in history, North South divide, politics, race, the election, the presidency, weather.7 comments
There’s a ice storm wreaking havoc on the metropolitan DC area this evening. I’m glad I packed my “Get a Grip” treads in my bag today, as I wouldn’t have made it down the hill from my car and back into my apartment without them. A friend and I saw a guy take a header on the sidewalk on M Street this afternoon – he was rescued from his painful-looking face-plant by a man campaigning for Obama just outside the “no electioneering zone” for the local polling place. On a slow, freaky drive through Georgetown, I saw a guy on a bike slide off into the ice – and into a car – just ahead of me. As we crept forward across an icy overpass, I saw him swearing and trying to uncrumple his back fender on a slick sidewalk. I heard there was a 20-car pile-up somewhere, but I haven’t seen the details yet, and now, we have an ice storm warning until 7 a.m. tomorrow. It’s a good night for cocoa, a hot shower, and fuzzy jammies, frankly. I’ll worry about my hobble to work tomorrow when I have to. Mañana, baby. Mañana.
Tonight, I’m watching the local primary news and starting to get organized for a personal project I’m about to undertake. (More on that later.) The polls had indicated Barack Obama would sweep the region, and it sure looks like the polls were right this time. By the way, Obama made a stop at my favorite coffee joint, Mayorga, last night. I would have loved to grab a cuppa joe with the Big B.O.
Wait. That just didn’t sound right. So not a good candidate nickname…
Speaking of the candidates…
As a child of the North, it was somewhat unsettling for me when I realized that my move to Maryland put me south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I know some of my southern friends will roll their eyes or hiss at me for that bit of of leftover snobbery. We’re a few generations removed from the Civil War, yet it echoes for us still. Maryland was a state torn between the Union and the Confederacy, but if you have any doubts about lingering feelings after combat ended, just sneak a peek at the lyrics to the charming lied that is *still* our state song. Here’s one of my favorite lines: “Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!” Ahhh, heartwarming!! Speaking as Northern Scum myself, I’d like to thank the Union Army for winning the war.
Nota bene: my mother’s Civil War-era peeps were from the South, and they fought and died for the Confederacy. Some are even buried in the Union Army’s prison camp cemetery at the Rock Island Arsenal, which adjoins the National Cemetery where my parents are. Imagine my amazement one morning when I saw an African-American children’s choir from Georgia on the Fox Morning News, with an African-American choir director whose surname matched the unusual, distinctly Hessian-deserter family name of my mother’s kin. I had a brief, horrific moment of realization that some of my ancestors were slaveholdin’ suthuhn gentlemuhn. Lovely.
So, here I am today, in my home, south of that bloody line, marveling at the fact that my choices today for the Democratic Party’s candidate for president of the United States are a black man and a white woman. Sure, black men and white women have run for president before, but it’s never before really been a serious possibility that one of them could – and probably will – occupy the Oval Office. That’s amazing to me. And maybe it shouldn’t feel so amazing to me, considering the diversity of this nation. Yet, it is still a marvel.
Hillary has never been my candidate of choice. A loooong time ago – well before anyone had declared their plans to run – I actually wrote a blog entry as an open letter to Hillary, asking her to not run. I catalogued all my reasons why I felt she wasn’t the right candidate, why she was beatable by a solid Republican… but I never posted it. I think she lacks the charisma required of the leader of the free world. (If there is such a thing as the “free world” after the Bush regime. Stupid bastard.) I think she lacks the personality and power to inspire people, inspire confidence, inspire our allies… And, though god knows I liked Bill Clinton as our president, I think I would have more respect for Hillary if she’d dumped his cheatin’ ass.
So, my vote goes to Barack Obama. He’s got the charisma. He’s smart. He’s polished. He doesn’t bring the baggage along that Hillary does. (Yes, Hillary, Bill is a double-edged sword.) And there’s something intangible that gives him the edge.
I wonder what the Marylander who wrote that charming state song would think of a black man as the frontrunner for president of the United States. I have a feeling he who railed at the “Northern scum” back in 1861 might have suggested that Hell would freeze over before that would happen.
Well, kids, I’m looking out my window at an ice-covered hill and a skating rink of a street. Bethesda may not be the very center of Hades, but we’re close enough to the White House to count, I reckon. If what I see tonight is any indication, seems like the Devil needs to wrap up in a few layers. I think we’re gonna have a black president.
Bring. It. On.
Yeah, I cry over the Military History channel January 6, 2008
Posted by Merujo in aviation, documentary, history, mom, pilots, politics, TV, WASP, WWII.7 comments
Flipping channels tonight, I stopped on Military History when I saw they were running a doc on women pilots in combat. These women are the successors to my mother and her friends and colleagues – women flying B1 bombers, women flying off carriers, facing the same dangers the male combat pilots face. Earnest women – I see the same straightforward, common sense determination on their faces, in their voices, that I recall from my mother and from her fellow WASP when I met them at reunions.
The documentary ran a fairly lengthy segment on the WASP. I’m always squinting and scouring footage to see if I catch a glimpse of my mom. But, she was shy and not likely to make herself available for film. I got angry when the narrator spoke of the lousy Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannity-types of the day who castigated the WASP as a joke, unworthy of military status, and even suggested they weren’t “real” pilots. They even showed political cartoons of the era that mocked these amazing, brave women. I hadn’t seen those before – they infuriated me.
But it was when the documentary returned to our day that I fell to pieces – as those earnest women, combat pilots, heirs to my mother’s true estate, spoke of how much they owe the WASP for paving the way to the lives they lead, the careers they cherish.
That was cool. And a little heartbreaking. Wish Mom was here to have heard that.
Yep. I roll my eyes at most chick flicks and don’t own a single pair of heels. But you catch me at the right moment, and I weep like a baby over the Military History channel.
And I watched football tonight.
Do I get an honorary “guy” card?
History rising from the ice June 24, 2007
Posted by Merujo in aviation, cool stuff, history, WWII.1 comment so far
This is so cool. I think one of the best parts of the story is that the last surviving pilot from the mission will fly alongside for the first 100 miles or so. The Lost Squadron flies again!
Just really neat.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age May 11, 2007
Posted by Merujo in England, history, movies.2 comments
Oooooh, I was not aware until just now that Cate Blanchett had reprised her role as Elizabeth I (and Geoffrey Rush as Walsingham) in a new film! I don’t see a release date yet, but production is complete, and you can watch the trailer here.
And Clive Owen is Raleigh.
Nice.
This will be on my must see list.
Church of the Big Sky 