Mitt Romney, I hardly knew ye.

I hadn't been paying attention to Mitt Romney. John Stewart has, and all I can say is, I'm glad Romney's gone. Oh, well, I could say one other thing. Harper's weekly mailing pointed out that Romney's wins in Super Tuesday were limited to states where he owned a home.

Dick Cavett Blogs

I think I mentioned that Dick Cavett blogs?
Now, if the prominent newsman on screen will obey my email asking him to stop pronouncing “pundit” as “pundant,” I will, in my column, give him full credit. Or as he would say, “credant.”

Going Tribal

An interesting thing about the presidential election this year is that the candidates aren't all old white guys. (You probably noticed that, clever folk that you are.)

For the first time we're reading about the implications of candidates drawing from 'their' tribe or losing votes from those not in their tribe.  Will the women stick with Hillary?  As the wife of our first black president, will African Americans stick with her? Or switch to one of their 'own'. Are Latinos antipathetic towards blacks and as such more inclined to vote Clinton over Obama now that Richardson is gone?
Interesting times.

Obama '08

With Edwards out of the race, I'm supporting Barack Obama for president.

It's interesting to me that the dynamics of what qualifies as experience for our Republican friends are so much different now. In 2000 the Republicans embraced a man who had 'run' a baseball team and had been a governor for 5 years. A man who had hardly been out of the country. Somehow that made him qualified to be president.

The people who talk about qualifications, like they're on the interview committee for a senior position at the plant, miss the point. It's not how we vote. (For good or bad). If we did, George Bush (the first) would have beaten Clinton and Al Gore would have beaten George Bush (oh wait, he did. sigh.)

On the Republican side, I hope McCain beats Romney. I like McCain's stand on immigration, for one, and his recent pandering to the religious right pales in comparison to Romney's complete upside down conversion from his actions as Massachuset's governer.

Obama has demonstrated his ability to invigorate an otherwise apathetic electorate. He has laid out policy goals that I have no problem supporting. He promises change within what statasticians wouuld identify as normal, unlike, say Denis Kucinich or Ron Paul who are entertaining, but outside the bell curve.

It seems to me that Obama really is "America." White mother, Black, African, father. Briefly raised in a predominantly Muslim country. He has to understand our diversity. And consequently he isn't going to fear it as others do.

Obama may inspire crowds all day long, but if he can't get legislation through Congress, his impact will be modest. It wasn't Caroline Kennedy's dad who got the Civil Rights Act through Congress, it was Lyndon Johnson, the former Senate Majority Leader.  Between now and November I want to find out who Obama's Rumsfeld and Cheney will be.

Sister Update

The sister's cancer is responding to treatment. We got Petscan results today and she's still carrying around the Big C, but the tumors are smaller and fewer in count. The chemo is trashing her blood counts (we're tracking white and red blood cells and platelets.) She gets booster shots, intended to increase one of the cell types, which makes her bones ache. The bones ache because they're pissed off at the mixed chemical signals they're getting. Shut down, speed up. yeesh.

Anyway, she's had a good week. She was supposed to have another chemo tomorrow (21 day cycle) but the doc is postponing it for a week to let her bone marrow start carrying it's share of the load. So, she gets another week to recover.

The other thing that happened was an application for a disabled parking placard and short-term disability.

Here's my new cause. If you've got cancer and it's bad enough that you can't work, everything you need ought to be free. The sister has a $125 co-pay for prescribed meds intended to give her an appetite. Because you don't really feel like eating in the middle of all this. $125 for a pill (it's liquid, actually) to make her hungry. For crying out loud. I'm volunteering to chip in an extra $50 a year so cancer patients don't have to worry about finances on top of everything else.

My Wallet is Safe.

I got a MacBook about six weeks ago or so. I was slightly anxious buying anything that major that close to Macworld. The last computer lasted about 3 years, and if Apple hadn't made the Intel switch I'd still be using it, so I don't upgrade often. (But the Intel Macs are soooo much faster.)
Anyway, the MacBook Air was rumored then, but the rumored price was higher than a plain MacBook by several hundred dollards (although the rumors I saw said about $1,500, not the $1,800 it came in at.) And it was just a rumor, so I bought when I did.
And I'm glad I did. The MacBook Air is clearly not intended to be a primary computer. (or rather, if it is your primary computer, you don't need a computer.) Limited output options, limited RAM, limited storage. This is a portable executive's machine. Someone who just needs Office, Web, Email, etc. So, good for them.

The iPhone software got revved, but not the hardware. I can sit tight for a while on that one as well. I'm in on round 2.
AppleTV I don't get, still. Frankly, I'm all toyed out on the Home Entertainment section. I gots my TiVo, I gots my DVD player. Finally got an HD TV in August. (The first TV I've had to buy. All the previous ones, including the 15 year old it replaced, came from dad.) AppleTV doesn't scratch any of my itches.
Time Capsule is interesting, but I don't need it.

Corporate Socialism

On yesterday's road trip I listened to this episode of FreshAir.  It's an interview with the author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill).

To summarize, Corporations get more from the tax payers than that Cadillac driving welfare mother ever did.

The most interesting discussion was around GW's ownership of a Texas baseball team. The sale of the team is the primary source of Bush's wealth and the total profit from the sale of the team was less than the government subsidy of the team's stadium. Which leaves us with two points. 1) Bush squandered the subsidy, i.e, he lost money, and 2) he owes his wealth to a taxpayer subsidy.