Is that your final answer?

Thanks to Anne for suggesting this funny web app, which generates absurd garbled interview responses based on Sarah Palin's actual interview answers.

If you haven't caught either of the Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Tina Fey doing a dead-on parody of Palin, you are truly missing out. The first features Fey and Amy Poehler as Palin and Hillary Clinton. The second piece is Fey and Poehler as Palin and Katie Couric doing a CBS Evening News interview.

And lest you think SNL went too far in this last bit, you should know that much of Fey's dialogue consists of direct quotes from the actual interview.

Suffering Sufragettes

Thanks to Kim for sharing Women Against Sarah Palin, a collection of women's responses to the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee. I've not gotten terribly far in reading the hundreds of individual replies, but it didn't take more than a few to generate a big smile on my face. I don't necessarily agree with all the opinions shared, but I love the passion, the freedom exercised, and the variety of viewpoints. Here's one fairly typical response:

By selecting someone as inexperienced, incompetent, and intolerant as Sarah Palin, John McCain shows that he has no true concern for his nation or its citizens. He’s older and not in the best health, yet he doesn’t care if his choice means that America stands a good chance of being governed by such an inappropriate and flatly frightening person. Ladies, gentlemen: We’re not voting for someone like ourselves, who drives to soccer games or likes a beer with the guys. We’re voting for the most intelligent, able person we can find. Those people are not John McCain or Sarah Palin. One more thought: I’m tired of people who are actually anti-choice being called pro-life. No one is truly pro-life who enjoys shooting defenseless timber wolves from an airplane and draping her office couch with a huge bear skin.
-Anne B., 61, Arlington, VA

Now the beginning is a bit over the top, but the closing is fabulous. I too question the legitimacy of those who oppose abortion being given the label "pro life," which would seem to imply that those of us who support a woman's right to an abortion are "anti life". I also whole heartedly agree that someone being like one of us, able to hunt, or an involved parent does not inherently qualify them for the Vice Presidency. It's just not that simple, and to infer such things in campaign speeches is insulting to the voting public (who may occasionally deserve it, but still, I'd rather vote for someone who appeals to my higher tendencies than lower ones).

• Aside # 1: The wacky connotations occasionally attached to the term "pro choice" are why I tend to prefer the bumper stickers that say "Pro Family - Pro Child - Pro Choice" to those simply proclaiming support for choice.
• Aside #1-A: Check out Urban Conservative's alternate view of the above bumper sticker. I like Adam's reply in the comments section. Hear hear.
• Aside #2: In high school a friend and I used to jokingly refer to ourselves as "pro abortion" after a classmate used the term during debate class to describe those who are in favor of choice. "Abort 'em all!" we'd cry, tongues firmly planted in cheeks. Clearly I've mellowed with age.

The responses on Women Against Sarah Palin come from avowed liberals and conservatives, young and old, Republicans, Democrats, and others. There are a number of common themes in the responses. Many hold the same opinion I do, that being relatable does not qualify one for high office, and many more respondents are frustrated that the selection and verbiage used to introduce it suggested in some ways that women are interchangeable (sad that this must be clarified) or even universal in their interests. There are lots more personal, passionate and thought provoking arguments against the selection of Sarah Palin. I appreciate that the majority of letters are attacking the cavalier or cynical selection process rather than the woman herself. (My $0.02 is that Palin should not be blamed for accepting the nomination, or for the party choosing her for political reasons in the first place; she would be silly NOT to take up such a grand opportunity. I don't think she's a dummy.) Anyway, the website makes fascinating reading, and I recommend it.

Jib Jab

Apparently my nephew has gotten hooked on watching JibJab videos online. I like that there's humor out there which appeals to 6 year olds and 37 year olds alike (although we might be taking different things from the experience). Anyway, check out JibJab's latest election animation short, Time for Some Campaignin', for a quick laugh.

Fiscal Incompetence

Today's Fresh Air featured a thoughtful and amusing take on the current financial crises facing banking giants and the economy as a whole. I highly recommend a listen.

Have I mentioned how frustrated I am by the fact that California does not yet have an approved state budget? The tenth largest economy in the world is over 2 months overdue on figuring out how to pay the bills for the next year! Argh.

And the United States deficit continues to grow. And we continue to import heaps of stupid (and some not so stupid) stuff and borrow money from foreign governments and exercise funky public reporting practices to ignore/avoid dealing with this growing problem. All the while infrastructure crumbles, imbalances in wealth increase, and we focus our attentions on how potential Presidents/Vice Presidents promise the moon without thinking about who else is not only useful but required in lassoing it. Double argh.

UPDATE
Lots of people blame California budget delays on the fact that the state (namely, its voters) requires a two-thirds majority in the legislature to pass each year's budget. Others get frustrated with career politicians who can't seem to think outside the box (or their district). I agree that these are part of the difficulty. But a much bigger portion of blame goes to the voters of the Golden State who continue to pass boneheaded (or well intentioned but ill conceived) ballot initiatives that tie the legislature's hands when it comes to how the budget is divvied up. See Comment section for more grievance-airing on this subject.

I've mentioned previously my love of letters to the editor. Today's San Jose Mercury News had a bunch of good examples to keep my love affair going. And one just happens to make a perfect addition to this blog posting. The following is San Jose reader Chris Bencher's (tongue-in-cheek) take on how California can get out of its financial messes just like big financial firms do:

Maybe feds can bail out California
How about this? Let California take extra withholdings from our paychecks, which will be settled up when we do our income taxes next year. It's effectively an "interest-free loan" to the government. Then, if California does not pay us back by April 15, 2009, we impose a 12 percent interest rate. Then we'll call this a "sub-prime" loan from the people to the state.

Then, the people can have the option to sell those sub-prime loans to companies like Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers. The federal government will bail them out when Californai defaults, and voila! We just passed the California budget problem to a federal budget problem. A perfect solution.

By the way, the paycheck withholding part of the above deal is attached to the actual proposed budget for California. The legislature proposes the state withhold $1.6 billion this year from state worker paychecks, thereby giving the state coffers a $1.6 billion influx of cash. Then California would refund the full amount next year in state tax returns. All I'll say in response is, please go listen to Michael Greenberger's observations about shady financing (yesterday's Fresh Air).

UPDATE #2
Check out David's take on the government bailouts of financial firms. You go, David.

UPDATE #3
The credit crunch and California's slow movement to a budget have converged. Now the state is asking the US government for a $7 billion loan because its usual source of short term loans has dried up with the credit crisis (read the NY Times story). As if our existing bond-debt and fiscal short sightedness weren't sufficiently burdensome. ACKK!!!

Justifying crankiness

Not that you asked, but I've been feeling a bit cranky this past week. Instead of going through all the reasons I ought to get over it, I thought I'd take this opportunity to go through possible root causes of my crankiness.

1. 24-hour heat. Last week here in NorCal it didn't cool down until the wee hours of the morning each night. I am not well equipped to be warm most hours of the day. I'm born and bred a Californian, acclimated to warmth during the day and coolness at night. When I first moved to Texas I did not sleep restfully for several weeks. After my general crankiness and malaise caught David's eye, he decided to crank up the A/C (normally it was set to 78 degrees, and he lowered it to, like, 70 or something--wow, huh?). A few evenings of anti-environmental indulgence and I was back to my usually cheery form (sad, but true). I do not have that option now at my place in California. Thus I have been a bit overheated and cranky as a result.

2. 24-hour election coverage. We're two months from election day and the media are already making daily predictions about the Presidential race (monthly and weekly were frustratingly pointless; daily just puts my TV in jeopardy). I saw the CNN guy doing his electoral college math this morning, placing one state in a red column and another in blue (but wait, if we switch this and this then we get yet another hypothetical result). Fox News predictably reported on the big bump in polls the Republican ticket received after Palin selection (never mind margins of error, sample size, or other statistical relevance). Enough already! Can't we just let people watch debates, read substantive issue statements, and think for themselves before voting. I know, I live in political fantasyland (which is very citizen friendly and well managed, operating under a balanced, compassionate budget, by the way). And lest you tell me to just turn the TV off, I will point out I watched none of these items directly but instead overheard them as my housemate watched.

3. 24-hour hurricane coverage. Okay, natural disasters are terrible things, wreaking havoc in mere hours or minutes. It's sad that people die or have their livelihoods destroyed by the whims of nature. And looking at real devastation after the fact has a way of reaffirming life, which does have its value. Nature is awe inspiring, and we do well not to forget that. But we do not need to spend hours and days imagining all the terrible things that could be coming, even those events that threaten us sooner rather than later. If you want to play the odds, then it's usually a safe gamble to not worry about natural disaster, as relatively few will befall any of us directly in our lifetimes. And when something bad does occur, having worried over it will not have helped get us through it. Being practical and organized and action-oriented will help a lot, on the other hand. I am tired of hearing about how horrible things could be along the Gulf Coast with each impending tropical system. Having lived there (and through a few of them), I know that residents of the area are well aware of the risks. I am okay with allowing regional authorities to work through their preparations (and hopefully learn from experience) as they see fit. I am also okay with outsiders contributing to such preparations. I am not okay with doom-and-gloom reporting about events that may or may not occur and over which I have absolutely no control. (This last item ties to one of my easiest crankiness-triggers: complaint without action. You shouldn't complain if you aren't doing something about the underlying problem.)

4. Nothing to root for? My long-admired presidential candidate has been pandering more than I'd like recently, and the election has gotten to that superficial, do-what-it-takes-to-get-our-party-in-power stage. The Republican convention speakers seemed to rely on negativity, sarcasm, and put downs, which so do not inspire me. I know all of this is what typically happens and sort of expected it, but still I feel let down. The fall television season has presented no appealing new programming (apart from that Hole in the Wall gameshow which is fun for 10 minutes then I feel a bit dirty having laughed so hard at it, so I know the appeal won't last). I've got hours of programs that have languished, unviewed and unenticing, for months on my Tivo (apart from Mad Men and Project Runway, which are a few bright spots in my tv/film viewing these days). Sports usually entertain me, but there I've experienced disappointment too. My baseball team is winding down a rather abysmal season, and my fantasy team never got out of the middle of the pack. My football team, after an encouraging preseason, started the regular season with a disappointing loss yesterday. And my dreams and ideals about our home have turned to reality and a whole lot of work. We still face future remodeling of kitchen and bathroom, with many of the requisite details to be chosen. And even then i'ts not like we're creating our dream home. *sigh*

I long for something or someone to be cheery about, something meaningful and lasting to look forward to. Maybe some private aspiration that even once it's accomplished is sort of interestingly self perpetuating. Hey, I've got the perfect solution: I'll have a baby! ;)

Wendell Berry

As I watch the presidential conventions muddle along, I find myself yearning for thoughtful, significant observations on the needs of our modern society and ideas for how best to take care of our country and people. The following final remarks in Wendell Berry's 2001 essay "Thoughts in the Presence of Fear" soothed me. I love how his prescribed worldview combines sustainability, interconnectedness, and simplicity.

XXI. What leads to peace is not violence but peaceableness, which is not passivity, but an alert, informed, practiced, and active state of being. We should recognize that while we have extravagantly subsidized the means of war, we have almost totally neglected the ways of peaceableness. We have, for example, several national military academies, but not one peace academy. We have ignored the teachings and the examples of Christ, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other peaceable leaders. And here we have an inescapable duty to notice also that war is profitable, whereas the means of peaceableness, being cheap or free, make no money.

XXII. The key to peaceableness is continuous practice. It is wrong to suppose that we can exploit and impoverish the poorer countries, while arming them and instructing them in the newest means of war, and then reasonably expect them to be peaceable.

XXIII. We must not again allow public emotion or the public media to caricature our enemies. If our enemies are now to be some nations of Islam, then we should undertake to know those enemies. Our schools should begin to teach the histories, cultures, arts, and language of the Islamic nations. And our leaders should have the humility and the wisdom to ask the reasons some of those people have for hating us.

XXIV. Starting with the economies of food and farming, we should promote at home, and encourage abroad, the ideal of local self-sufficiency. We should recognize that this is the surest, the safest, and the cheapest way for the world to live. We should not countenance the loss or destruction of any local capacity to produce necessary goods

XXV. We should reconsider and renew and extend our efforts to protect the natural foundations of the human economy: soil, water, and air. We should protect every intact ecosystem and watershed that we have left, and begin restoration of those that have been damaged.

XXVI. The complexity of our present trouble suggests as never before that we need to change our present concept of education. Education is not properly an industry, and its proper use is not to serve industries, either by job-training or by industry-subsidized research. It's proper use is to enable citizens to live lives that are economically, politically, socially, and culturally responsible. This cannot be done by gathering or "accessing" what we now call "information" - which is to say facts without context and therefore without priority. A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first.

XXVII. The first thing we must begin to teach our children (and learn ourselves) is that we cannot spend and consume endlessly. We have got to learn to save and conserve. We do need a "new economy", but one that is founded on thrift and care, on saving and conserving, not on excess and waste. An economy based on waste is inherently and hopelessly violent, and war is its inevitable by-product. We need a peaceable economy.

If you'd like to read more by Berry then I heartily recommend his collection of essays Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community. There you'll find he is strongly in favor of family, marriage, and community. He never hides his feelings about the need to emphasize local business and agrarian economies over any sort of global trade or industrialization. He's rather strongly against computers and other currently popular technologies (he is very concerned about easy access to information out of context). And he's a content Christian pacifist from Kentucky who embraces rather than runs from learning about other places and philosophies. A pretty cool guy, I think.