A Public Service Message

Here in Middle Earth, the election results came in on Thursday morning, and the numbness didn't wear off until . . . well, I'm not sure it's worn off yet. But, I still live with Ali and first thing Saturday morning we rented a car to FINISH THE FURNITURE SHOPPING. We dropped off the car early this afternoon, totally exhausted, but mission accomplished. (He wouldn't go for my idea of a lime green sofa/butterscotch yellow chairs/oxblood red ottoman combo. No guts, no glory, I said. But the sofa we ordered is dark brown, the chairs tan: think Kraft's carmel and fudge squares, in a kind of round-armed retro design. Pretty nice, although not as, um, unique as the lime green would have been.) And the car accident was really minor, and totally the other guy's fault. (We were rear-ended by someone who just couldn't wait for the light to actually change to green. No one was injured, although the rental car's fiberglass bumper will never be the same.)

Anyway, after we got back from all the shopping, I checked the news, and that idiot-savant cowboy is still president. How could 59+ million people be so dumb??? I read a few weeks ago that 42% of the US self-identifies as born-again or evangelical Christian, and thought it had to be a mistake. But maybe not. (Quote on the front page of today's NZ Herald, from US Colonel Gary Brandl: " The enemy has got a face. He's called Satan. He's in Fallujah and we're going to destroy him." Note to Rummy: This is NOT making the US Army look particularly better than the fundamentalist military organizations it's fighting.) At any rate, when I think about the future this Adminstration will be ushering in (how many Supreme Court appointments will he get to appoint?), I'm kinda scared - for the whole world. And while I really do admire the folks who want to stand and fight, as a public service, I'm including a few choice links:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/ - check out the points indicator to see if you, too, can qualify for an invitation to become a denizen of Middle Earth;

"Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism." MarryAnAmerican.ca; and

For a good laugh, check out "God Puts His Tool Back Into Office" and "National Museum of the Middle Class Opens" (as well as other stories) in The Onion.

Cheers,
Sandie