It's Quiet, Too Quiet

Last night, as every night lately, we were watching the weather report on TV inside, and listening to the legato rhythm of the falling rain outside.
Jackie Purcell talked about reports of snowfall coming in from around town and we suddenly realized we could no longer hear the rain.

Full Value

Because I don't seem able to stop talking about how awful Romney is, and because even I get bored listening to me complain, I've added a link to the blogs of note list over there (I'm pointing to the right) called What If... It answers questions of the "what if..." variety. So check that out, and then later, come back and I'll have some other things to say, probably about Romney.

Red Letter Edition: David Brooks And John of Patmos Criticize Romney

I was going to try and explain all this, but the strength of the internet is that with a few links, I can aggregate good writing, without having to do any.
So, here's David Brooks explaining how Mammon has taken over the Republican Party.
Here's John of Patmos explaining why Mormons are deluded.
So, a question arises, why are Christians  considering voting against an avowed Christian for an unrepentant cult member who believes wrongly that the market can be trusted for everything, even things that used to be considered issues of morality, not trade?
"Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them."

Why My iPhone Is Better Than Real Life

I'm trying out Apple's new "Do Not Disturb" function for iPhones. When it's enabled, the phone won't ring, and alerts won't sound. It's a great way to keep the phone by my bed for alarm clock/flashlight purposes, but not have to hear if email or Words With Friends moves come in during the night. So when Ellie, the dog,  jumped on my chest in the middle of the night, I didn't fully awaken, I just said, "I said 'do not disturb.'" When I opened my mouth to say that, though, Ellie stuck her tongue in there, something my iPhone has never done.
Also in real life, I get that some people won't agree with me about politics, and they might vote for people I don't agree with, but in talking about Romney I get so frustrated with people who don't agree with him, but that are going to vote for him anyway because whatever he said this week about their single issue is what they strongly feel. But he will say anything, to anybody. And isn't it frightening that although he is behind right now in the polls, he's barely behind, in spite of running what even Republicans are calling a rolling calamity of a campaign?

Too Late

Too late to start a start-up, or have a career, I rushed home for lunch to start a meme, but it turns out, I was too late for that, too.

Oh Besides All The Political Stuff

Lately we have had storm after storm, storm within storm and then more storms. The municipality came out to my route after the first storm and cut down a huge cottonwood tree that was laying, or perhaps lying on a light pole. Too bad, in a way, because that cleared the path for the next tree in line to come bowling in and knock it all the way over. We've had so many emergency broadcast alerts for high winds and flooding, that it's been like watching Chris Rock on network TV.

What's That Thing Paul Harvey Used To Say?

I think it was "closed circuit", as in closed circuit to that lady on my route getting an iPhone 4, consider this first. It's funny because it's true.

Politically Arrested Development

Lucille Bluth channels Mitt Romney.

Ich Bin Ein 47%

Click Here For A Cute Graphic: Ich Bin Ein 47%
And Here For An Explanation, "It was a raw deal – but Romney's threat to loot his own firm had left the government with no other choice..."

Foreign Policy Commentariat: Who Got It Rightest?

Paula Pell or
Andy Borowitz

I Never Got Why It's Called The Onion

Because sometimes it makes you tear up.

Talk Is Cheap, Let's Have Lots

Every single thing that every single person has said to me today has been irritating and somehow that makes me the bad guy.

Well, That's Rich

Does it strike you as unseemly that a quarter billionaire, born rich and made richer by pioneering outsourcing, should criticize "greedy" teacher's union members? Teachers that almost certainly make less than he wrote off for dressage horse expenses on the one tax return he deigned to release.
It's kind of galling that two years ago, even Alaskans that sort of agreed with Joe Miller refused to vote for him after it was clear that he held them in such contempt that he would just lie and lie and lie, but now Romney might not only carry Alaska, but the nation.

This Is Not A Test

If you were going to be in Anchorage for about 8 hours, what would you want to see, do, or eat?
I need to know right away.

Matters Of Faith

If you don't live in Anchorage, you may not have heard that we had an early winter storm last week. It was pretty severe and since it was an early winter storm, that came in the early fall, it did a lot more damage than you might have expected. For example, the giant flagpole on our parkstrip came crashing down.   Normally, a winter storm comes after the leaves (which are in essence sails) have fallen and after the bitter cold (which we always complain about) has frozen tree roots into the soil. As it was, with trees flying like birds, our power went off just after we went to bed and was off all night. Luckily, it doesn't take a lot of electricity to sleep, so we weren't too inconvenienced, but as of this morning, there were still a few hundred people without power.
Being without power was the theme, or at least an opening salvo, in the sermon at church today. The pastor, who we'd never seen before (possibly because we aren't exactly regular churchgoers any more) stressed the power of praying always.
After church, I strapped some tools and a ladder with balloons tied on the end for safety, onto my bike trailer and rode across town to help a friend replace his carport roof, the original roof having decamped during the storm. The trailer was pretty heavy and the trailer hitch was attached poorly, so when it pulled loose, it pulled the rear wheel off my bike. This happened just as I arrived at Rich's house, which you could ascribe to Providence, if I'd been praying. As it was, as likely to have been HealthSouth.
Finally, this thought came to me on the ride; maybe Mitt Romney should have spent as much time doing oppo research on Joseph Smith as he has on Barack Obama.

Ryan Claims To Have Run A Sub-Three Hour Marathon

He didn't. He didn't even run a sub-four hour marathon.  He is lying so fast now, that it's hard to keep up. But Mitt is trying. Remember during the convention he said ", for the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future."?

Except, according to the person that designed that poll question, "the truth is just the opposite of what Romney claimed."