Neology

I forwarded this nonsensical response by Governor Palin earlier this week.



Note that she gave awful responses to other questions posed by Couric, but while those answers generally demonstrated facile understanding of various issues (indeed, apparently Henry Kissinger is beyond naive on how to engage Iran), the clip I've provided is truly babble, a cacophony of spoon-fed Republican domestic talking points all thrown together in a mishmash.

Later, it dawned on me that her response made about as much sense as it would have if she had given it completely backwards. And it was then that I realized that we needed a new word for such a presentation -- Palindrone.

I'm a Constitution Voter

So many political things I could say (and so many posts I've started to write but never finished, let alone posted), but here I just want to say that I've signed up on the ACLU's "I'm a Constitution Voter" page (and added a link on my sidebar). It isn't directly election-related, but I think it's important to help send a message to whoever is elected in November that many people find the Bush administration's disregard for the constitution, as well as Congress' unwillingness to confront the administration on this matter, unacceptable.

Swing

A swing in the country looks so inviting. The entire scene could be from a postcard -- the swing is just a chain that hangs from a tree, with a board at the bottom of the loop held in place by two holes. It's a warm sunny day, no wind, one of those beautiful days that seem to appear right after a big storm, and the stream that runs underneath looks so tranquil.

"Emelia should get on it."

"She can't hold on by herself."

"I'll go on with her."

"No, I'll do it."

I sit down and put Emelia on my left hip, keeping my left arm on her. I hold the right side of the chain, Emelia takes the left and holds me with her right hand. I gently push off the ground and swing out over the stream. Back and forth and in circles we swing, never very far or fast, just for the sake of motion. The camera is out trying to capture both of us, but Emelia is frequently looking in the wrong direction. She's enjoying herself, looking back at the tree, the bank of the stream, Kathy smiling at her. An occasional hand comes out and pushes us, but it's never a hard push.

In an instant the board flips to vertical, and down we go into the stream. There's no time to react, it's all instinct keeping the grip with my left hand on Emelia. She never touches the ground, just remains aloft while my other three limbs are in the mud. Emelia starts to cry, but she's physically fine -- she has a couple of red marks from where I hold her tight, but they're gone by the next morning. She's scared, but she gets over it before too long. Soon enough, she's more worried about Daddy, and that he's ok. I reassure her that I'm fine despite my muddy legs. I get a few abrasions and my pinkie's a bit banged up, but she doesn't notice those (and I'm certainly not going to point them out).

We head back, ready to enjoy the rest of the day engaged in safer activities.

I Don't Believe in God

...but if I did, I'd have to feel comforted by the fact that after fundamentalist Christians had prayed for "rain of biblical proportions" to spoil Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the DNC, Hurricane Gustav has wreaked havoc on the RNC.*

* - By no means do I wish to suggest that I'm happy about Hurricane Gustav or the damage it's caused, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate irony.