smush bush

smush bush
Originally uploaded by allihead.

Observing the Recount

So, after I turn in my grades tomorrow, I will be traveling all over Southwest Ohio to be a recount observer for the Green party. I went to a training session Saturday morning on how to be an observer and it was really well-attended. People obviously have different ideas about how to proceed with this effort: some have a short fuse and are minutes away from storming the Bastille; some still want us to introduce ourselves and share first; and most of us fall somewhere in between. Surprisingly, I say with sarcasm, the two poles don't seem to gel that well.

I'm not sure I learned much, other than the legal team's hotline number and that I am NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH ANYTHING. Oh yeah, and I am to use profanity under no circumstances. Instead of giving me hope, the info session made me feel a little overwhelmed. I was glad to meet two other thirty-somethingish college teacher chicks: Denice from Miami and Kim who teaches at DAAP. Kim is teaching a history of photography class in the Spring that I'm dying to take.

If you haven't seen Lazyboy's "Underwear Goes Inside the Pants" video, go to their site and watch it or if you have i-tunes, have a look in the music store, where the quality is better.

Has anyone seen the movie "Searching for Angela Shelton"? I really want to see it, but you have to buy the DVD from her for $24.95. If you haven't heard of this movie, check out her movie's site. It's pretty cool. And then check out her personal site, if you wanna feel like a total slouch. The woman does everything.

Women's Day or Sisterhood Is Powerful

Spent the day wid 2 of my favorite lefty chicks--I'm on the Mac, so I can't do my links I wanted to talk about Bobo J-Lo, Shabby Chic, and midgets shouting "Welcome to Amsterdam!!!" I'll do it tomorrow I reckon, in between grading a gazillion student papers.

John Conyers Is a Bad-Ass Mother

If you haven't seen the Keith Olbermann "Countdown" segment about voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida, it's available here. Even with a DSL connection, it takes a long time to download, because it's over eleven minutes of actual reporting and interviewing by KO. While you're waiting like it's 1999 for the download, have a look at William Rivers Pitt's blog he's filing while watching the hearing organized by John Conyers (D-MI). You'll probably recognize Congressman Conyers from his shocking revelation in Farenheit 9/11 that begins "Sit down, my son" when he breaks the news to Michael Moore that most bills (like the Patriot Act) never get read by Congress before they come before legislators for a vote.

I post these because I was listening to Air America Radio's "Unfiltered" (a bit of an addiction--I'll admit it), when they started a live (well, 5 second-delayed) broadcast of Jesse Jackson's speech before the hearing committee. Then my feed shut down and subsequent attempts to re-establish connection met with "Please tune back during programming hours." It doesn't take much to raise the paranoid hackles these days.

Also, since I haven't mentioned it already, I'm reading "True Lies" (not the screenplay for the movie starring the governor of California). It's great. And terrifying. Read it. I think I'm going to give it to my mom for Xmas.

And, in case you haven't guessed, I figured out how to do hyperlinks. WOOOOHOOOO!!

General Jorge Bush

General Jorge Bush
Originally uploaded by allihead.

Por favor, Senor!! No mas! No mas!

It's cute. It's a cute blog.

Well it's Tuesday, which means that we were at Brainstormer Pub Trivia down at the Dubliner, where we are most every Tuesday night and have been for the last four years. That of course doesn't mean my mother doesn't call me every Tuesday night asking where I am. We were in first place until the music round, where we really scewed the pooch. Of course, it's George W. Bush's fault we lost.

Megan would like me to codify my quirks:
a) space is boring/ unimpressive
b) birds are overrated
c) soup is my favorite food
d) monuments, landmarks, midgets, and mormons frighten me.

I'm hoping that mid-season show "Medium" is good, but I know it's going to suck.

Taking It to the Greenwich

So tonight, thanks to my friend Chip, I heard about this reading of Tony Kushner's "A Bright Room Called Day" at the Geenwich Jazz Club. I went and it was scary how relevant the play, written in protest of Reagan's ignoring the AIDS crisis, is in our current political climate. Of course, by drawing parallels between Right Wing Mayhem in the US and Nazi Germany, Kushner makes leaving the country seem like a viable and even honorable option. So I got some problems with the actual text. But I respect the hell out of Elizabeth Cobbe and all the fine actors who participated for putting the production together. Brava.

After the reading, there was "the last chance to cry in our beers about Nov. 2." Hmmm. Some people brought up the recount. Some voiced the need for a more sustained mobilizing effort. Some lamented that the 49/51 divide couldn't really be bridged with the lack of funding and energy the liberal left seems to suffer from. I'm a little tired of post-mortems. I, for one, believe that there was election fraud. But more than anything, I think that liberalism's problem is not that we can't tailor our message for, as Howard Dean puts it, the guys driving pickups with Confederate flags on the back window. It runs a bit deeper than that.

I'm not a sociologist. I didn't even minor in psychology, but I think smart cool people and democracy will be unsuited for one another until we disabuse ourselves of the notion that we (if I may lump myself in with the smart and cool) are one of a kind.

With liberals'/cultural creatives' (whatever) two kinds of people theory (abjectly oversimplified), there's everybody else and then there's you. Republicans, conformists, red staters, whatever you want to call them have been raised on a steady diet of common think, not standing out, espousing the norm, the median, the mode. Progressives, more often than not have been told “you're exemplary!” “do your own thing!” Their parents appreciate the avant garde. We valorize diversity. Their (our) identity is in part predicated on the notion that "there is no one else like me." So of course we all keep our liberal (and thus exceptional) beliefs to ourselves. And then those stupid motherfuckers who think 51% is a mandate run roughshod all over us. And we fucking let them. I think this is due in part because risking the reality that there are other people "like me" threatens us more than Bible thumpers, because at least we get to complain and belittle them.

I dunno. There are plenty of theories; I have at least 40.

Diversions, Diversions

Okay, I know I am turning into the world's biggest skeptic, but how is it that 70 people died in Iraq this weekend and the biggest news story is steroid use by major league baseball players?? Is Barry Bonds's undoubtedly shrunken penis and 'roid rage the most important thing Americans have to worry about now?

And here's how I learn about it: my husband's watching the "Today" show. I guess the Today show is the best of the morning "news" shows, but seriously, how do you start the broadcast with the pompous and circumstancial NBC News music and Katie or Matt delivering some somber news piece then segue into the "Best Christmas Gifts for Your Dog" piece?

At least on the local news segment there was FINALLY something about the lawsuits that have been filed in Ohio challenging the integrity of the vote process here, particularly in African American precincts and the vote count discrepencies in 13 counties (Butler and Warren spring to mind).

Picks and Pans

Just spent the day doing the massive piles of laundry strewn about our bedroom then went out for a date with my favorite (favourite) Brit. We went to Abuelo's up in Mason and I have to say it was definitely worth the trip. The margarita I had is made from their orange-infused tequila and was probably the best I've ever tasted. If you know me, you know that's saying something. The chips and salsa were amazing. The entrees were also delicious. If you're not afraid of a daytrip to Bush-cheneyland, go!

Speaking of Bush-cheneyland, it's a little scary up there: McMansions galore and streets named after apostles.

Then we went to see the movie "Closer" at the Springdale 18. They have a bar in this cineplex. And two theaters with leather seats and reserve seating in which all seats are $11.50 a ticket instead of the usual $9.They say that soon you'll be able to order your food/concessions/lap dances and have them brought to you, but right now I think you're paying the extra $2.50 to be teenager-free.

The jury's still out on the movie itself. We thought we were in the wrong theater because the previews were really juvenile and there was a family eating a full meal in front of us with a six year old kid. Then the movie started and for once I was hoping the child was actually a midget, because the entire movie is about sex and loneliness and the fickle, fickle human heart. I don't know what these people were thinking bringing that kid in there, but the birds and bees talk that starts "when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much" isn't going to cut it in their car ride home.

Now the man wants his props

my handsome spouse
Originally uploaded by allihead.

Back off, bee-otches.

The Projects for a New American Century

lets rolle
Originally uploaded by allihead.

This is the only Florida I like. You better believe Florida Evans wouldn't let Jeb Bush manipulate her. She'd get Bookman (aka "Buffalo Butt") to sit on him.

Count Every Vote, Dammit!

Alli Town

I rode up to Columbus this morning with my new friend Pam in her Saturn Activismobile, packed with all the Sharpie markers and placards and subversive bumper stickers a disgruntled voter could want. We went to the CASE Ohio Investigate All 88 Rally in front of the state house. It was cold. My windburned face is now as purple as Ohio.

The best protest sign was definitely "Live Free Or Diebold." One dude was wearing a sequined ski mask ala Mankind from the wrasslin' and held a sign that said "Capitalism Kills." Amen, brotha. Especially during the holiday shopping season where Honda Odysseys play chicken for parking spaces.

big buttery jesus

big buttery jesus
Originally uploaded by allihead.

Holy Crap! Is Ohio cool or what? You can see this 42 foot monstrocity on I-75 North from your car window. Or from the moon.

me and juicy

me and juicy
Originally uploaded by allihead.

I tell my husband he's my best pal, but Juicy's got seniority...

You Wanna Be Startin Somethin'

So this is it. The first posting on my blog.

I see this blog as part egotistical indulgence, part outlet for my rage. In an effort to salvage my marriage and friendships which have, of late, been tinged by my sublimated and not-so-sublimated bitterness over the 2004 presidental (s)election and other issues involving Big Jesus (Big Tobacco's sneakier corporate cousin) I had to find a place to bitch that does not involve alienating friends, pets, and family or having strangers call 5-0 on me.

I wanted to start Monday morning when I ate cheese grits with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, but instead I'm starting tonight after a few too many beers, before I head off to Columbus to demand Ken Blackwell's recusal.