2003 In Review

This will have to last through Monday... 1. What did you do in 2003 that you'd never done before? Contributed $$$ to a political campaign. 2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Don't generally make specific resolutions other than to be true to myself. I am resolving to quit (or more likely, drastically cut down on) drinking. It's been 17 days... 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not that I recall, though Frandie announced they're expecting early next year! :-) 4. Did anyone close to you die? No. Knock…

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Are you registered to vote?

An interesting take on politics and the current election for President for those who think voting is a waste of time: How an anarchist came to run the Kucinich campaign in Rhode Island. Part 1. (excerpted from infoshop.org article) Since we’re nowhere near revolution right now, someone is going to be President. To pretend that not voting or not being involved in the political process will make the Presidency disappear is to be more foolish than the libertarians who pretend that by working to make someone else richer your freedom, individuality, dignity, and basic rights should disappear. So as a…

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So they captured Hussein. Congratulations to the soldiers for a job well done but, in the big picture, all I can say is big whoop. The reality is that his capture will have little effect on the ongoing guerilla war in Iraq that has seen 317 American soldiers die since Bush declared an end to major combat back on May 1st. MAY 1st! That's 7 1/2 months of...minor (?) combat following the "war" that apparently lasted only 5 weeks! Fun with semantics, brought to you by the most illiterate President in our history. And all the analysts and pundits that…

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Last cigarette: One week ago. A Newport while at Acentos. Last big car ride: This past June, to VA and back, getting our stuff out of storage. Last kiss: Quick one this morning, better one last night. Last good cry: Not recently enough. Last library book checked out: What's a library? Last one I bought was Prayer for America. Last movie seen: Bones, on DVD. (I feel like I'm wearing dirty underwear on the day I get hit by a car!) Last beverage drank: Coffee! Coffee! Coffee! Coffee! Last food consumed: Jalapeño & Cheddar Bagel w/Cream Cheese. Last crush: My…

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Most of Sunday was just me and the kids and I kept reminding myself that the two-year spread between them will be a good thing when they're a little older. Right now, though, at 3 and 1, they expend enough energy to decrease our dependence on foreign oil tenfold. Forget hydrogen cells and solar power, somebody needs to figure out a way to harness the seemingly boundless energy of toddlers. I totally get the concept behind The Matrix now! Isaac has pretty much gotten over naps and India has cut hers down to two hours tops - and late in…

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Rolling Stone on Kucinich

From the "Maybe there's hope" file, there's a great Kucinich profile/interview in the latest Rolling Stone: Your candidacy seems to be built on the idea that the people are looking for another New Deal-type program. But the New Deal didn't happen until the country was mired in a depression. Do you think things have really gotten that bad now? When you consider that most Americans are maxed out on their credit cards, when you consider that most Americans are no longer guaranteed employment security, when you consider how many pension funds are going belly up, when you look at the…

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In the end, Breath, Eyes, Memory turns out to be one of those disappointing books that is much less than the sum of its parts. I suspect much of the praise it received stemmed more from American fascination with youth and "exotic" cultures than from its modest artistic merits. Danticat is talented, without a doubt, but this book is a short story clumsily stretched into novel-length, barely, full of archetypes and allegories but not nearly enough character development. In the end, you don't really know or care about anybody or anything; what should be an intense and emotionally harrowing story…

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