Months have gone buy since I have written to the blog in a real way. I've used it to post pieces or videos on the election. I see I took pictures of my garden as proof that I can keep plants alive. Keeping plants alive in my garden during the summer required wasted too much water that seeps through the bottom of the pots. When the rain came I turned my back on the plants which now languish out on the balcony in wilted or dried or whithered. Next year I think I will plant zen rocks and patio furniture.
I have had a few big stories to tell that now are footnotes.
In August. Michael came back to Amsterdam on a one-way ticket. We bought him a proper Dutch bike the day he got here and within 48 hours he crashed it on the way to dinner, requring us to divert our path away from the Greek restaurant that serves the most delicious lamb chops in town toward the closest emergency room. The ER doc on hand asked Michael if he wanted an anesthetic or if he wanted the seven stiches he received under his chin "Rambo style." Michael contemplated going Rambo but I insisted on the contrary. His uninsured emergency room visit was completed in two hours including wait time and cost us 266 euros, by the way.
Michael and I have been living in separate residences for three years. When he left for Portland to start school, it was horrible. I asked him through many many tears, how are we going to do this? I didn't see him for two weeks. When I was still in Seattle we would see each other every other weekend. Then when I moved to Amsterdam we saw each other every 3-5 months. The goodbyes never got easier. A quiet joy has entered my life knowing that he is not leaving this time. Life has softly and smoothly just gotten better .Michael brings laughter to my life and cups of coffee in the morning and extra hugs before having to get out of bed to start the day. He brings repaired lamps and a knowledge of how to work the TV. He set up the fancy computer within hours of his arrival. He's sitting on a chair right now noodling around on his guitar. I realized last september when my things (my 43 boxes) finally were delivered to this house in Amsterdam, that it isn't the house that makes your home, it is the stuff in it. Michael is the stuff in it and all the stuff that comes with Michael is home too. Those of you who know me best know what I am talking about.
__________________________
I needed a vacation. We decided on Italy. We spent a wonderful day in the Vondelpark on a blanket going over guide books planning our itinierary while drinking wine. We spent two weeks going throiugh the middle: Rome and then Lucca, Pisa, Massa, Viareggio, Florence, and Siena. I had lots to write about but the moment is gone. I didn't enjoy myself. I'm the first person ever to have gone to Tuscany and not really enjoyed herself. I'm not fond of Catholicism, darkened streets, noise pollution, or duomos clogged with tourists .I'm not fond of trains that don't run on time or biting flies or mosquitos. Gelato is not better than ice cream, I know I'm not the only one who thinks this. And the best Italian food you ever had in Chicago or New York is just as wonderful as the best Italian food you could have in Italy. These are the things Lonely Planet and Fodors don't talk about.
In central Tuscany, the men share facial characteristics: Prominent and handsome noses. A thin, broad attractive mouth. In Massa, the men there have more delicate noses with a straight bridge, softer, squarer jaw lines and fuller mouths. They all look like Michael. He noticed it too. Powerful DNA. I also saw quite a few men in Massa that look like Michael's younger brother.
Now we are back and headed into winter. Life has settled into a routine.
______________________________________
Lots of high school classmates have been bubbling up on Facebook over the last few months. Must be a residual effect of everyone coming off their 20th class reunions (which I didn't attend). Cynics might say that social networking sites are just another way to chip away at time you should be using doing something meaningful. But through the site, I have been connected with some really special people from my past that I lost touch with 20 years ago.
A few friends of mine, former Amazon coworkers, started working at Facebook before anyone really knew about it save for the early adopter 18-25 year-old-set. One of them suggested I sign up. I signed up just to see what it was he was working on. I didn't see at first why it was much different than MySpace. Now the difference is obvious of course. I'm really into this site. At first the only people in my "friends" list were former cowokers. But now, almost all my genuine friends, from today and from my childhood, are coming on in droves. It's fascinating to watch this happen as it seems to come through in waves . And I really like observing people expressing their collective experiences....all friends in Seattle complaining en masse about the weather. Everyone showing their support for Obama. I'm a big fan of facebook.
I prefer my life in Europe over my life in America. Tonight, which I guess is now well into this morning, I watched, hoped for, and celebrated the victory of Barack Obama in a nightclub packed with members of Democrats Abroad from the Netherlands chapter. The room was mostly Americans, but there was also a healthy contingent of Dutch people there too. This morning (in Amsterdam) we watched Obama give his speech in Grant Park, a park I have spent a lot of time in during my many visits to Chicago, my city of reference growing up in southwest Michigan. I cried and cheered on the people who were there and who were so moved and ecstatic, yet also compelled into captivated silence by the somberness of Obama's speech. I found myself, as always, wishing I could join the party at ground zero, but still having no doubt in my mind that where I am supposed to be right now is the Netherlands.
Over the last several hours I have received and exchanged about a dozen text messages, emails, and facebook notes from friends, both American and European, all expressing their excitement, relief, and joy. I continue to be amazed at how technology has given us the opportunity to connect with each other all over the world, and it became clear to me that the world shares in this victory in real time through a virtual, digital universe that has no borders.
There is a well known ham-fisted expression regarding American patriotism: "Love it or Leave it." It is mostly republicans who like to say that. It's not so easy to leave the United States and go somewhere else without a hell of a lot of hassle. I didn't love living in the US and it took me two years to leave it, but that was a personal choice. My decision did come with a large degree of disenfranchisement and at times even disgust with the American Way of Life and the direction the country had taken. A large part of it had to do with how I just couldn't understand how Americans could have voted Dubja into office twice. Over the last couple of months I had to remind myself that he barely won. But mostly it had to do with the fact that life in Europe suits me better than any life I could live in the US. That may change but it hasn't yet.
At times I wondered if I abandoned a situation that I should have fought to improve. But as it turns out, you can work to improve it from anywhere in the world. I felt, witnessed, and participated in that tonight in this room full of Americans who are at home living in another country.
The United States as we know it today was populated by people who came from somewhere else. And People Who Come From Somewhere Else support Obama over McCain almost without exception. We all celebrate in this victory in electing a brilliant man who is a racial minority and someone who will truly approach his new job from an open perspective that only a person from his background could have. (It is another grand achievement of the American People from an historical perspective, but really, what is so exceptional about collectively wanting someone to run the US who has unbridled intelligence, character, passion, and charisma? Shouldn't that be a given?) American people also still very much celebrate and preserve their heritage and customs from their ancestors who Came From Somewhere Else. People's surnames index the power of diversity. Obama is different from his presidential predecessors in that he is the only candidate who reflects the best of what America is today, and not the worst and not the middle. His victory is also the climax, or as the NY Times calls it, a catharsis, to a desperate desire for relief.
When Bush was voted into office in his first term, I would look at him standing behind the podium and think "I just can't believe this man is the president of the United States of America." Tonight, when I saw Obama standing behind the podium I thought, "I just can't believe this man is the president of the United States of America." This is the first of better days ahead. I am so happy.
Love this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html?em
Aaron Sorkin Conjures a Meeting of Obama and Bartlet
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By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: September 20, 2008
Now that he’s finally fired up on the soup-line economy, Barack Obama knows he can’t fade out again. He was eager to talk privately to a Democratic ex-president who could offer more fatherly wisdom — not to mention a surreptitious smoke — and less fraternal rivalry. I called the “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin (yes, truly) to get a read-out of the meeting. This is what he wrote:
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Maureen Dowd
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Jason Polan
BARACK OBAMA knocks on the front door of a 300-year-old New Hampshire farmhouse while his Secret Service detail waits in the driveway. The door opens and OBAMA is standing face to face with former President JED BARTLET.
BARTLET Senator.
OBAMA Mr. President.
BARTLET You seem startled.
OBAMA I didn’t expect you to answer the door yourself.
BARTLET I didn’t expect you to be getting beat by John McCain and a Lancôme rep who thinks “The Flintstones” was based on a true story, so let’s call it even.
OBAMA Yes, sir.
BARTLET Come on in.
BARTLET leads OBAMA into his study.
BARTLET That was a hell of a convention.
OBAMA Thank you, I was proud of it.
BARTLET I meant the Republicans. The Us versus Them-a-thon. As a Democrat I was surprised to learn that I don’t like small towns, God, people with jobs or America. I’ve been a little out of touch but is there a mandate that the vice president be skilled at field dressing a moose —
OBAMA Look —
BARTLET — and selling Air Force Two on eBay?
OBAMA Joke all you want, Mr. President, but it worked.
BARTLET Imagine my surprise. What can I do for you, kid?
OBAMA I’m interested in your advice.
BARTLET I can’t give it to you.
OBAMA Why not?
BARTLET I’m supporting McCain.
OBAMA Why?
BARTLET He’s promised to eradicate evil and that was always on my “to do” list.
OBAMA O.K. —
BARTLET And he’s surrounded himself, I think, with the best possible team to get us out of an economic crisis. Why, Sarah Palin just said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had “gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.” Can you spot the error in that statement?
OBAMA Yes, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aren’t funded by taxpayers.
BARTLET Well, at least they are now. Kind of reminds you of the time Bush said that Social Security wasn’t a government program. He was only off by a little — Social Security is the largest government program.
OBAMA I appreciate your sense of humor, sir, but I really could use your advice.
BARTLET Well, it seems to me your problem is a lot like the problem I had twice.
OBAMA Which was?
BARTLET A huge number of Americans thought I thought I was superior to them.
OBAMA And?
BARTLET I was.
OBAMA I mean, how did you overcome that?
BARTLET I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage.
OBAMA What do you mean?
BARTLET I’m a fictional president. You’re dreaming right now, Senator.
OBAMA I’m asleep?
BARTLET Yes, and you’re losing a ton of white women.
OBAMA Yes, sir.
BARTLET I mean tons.
OBAMA I understand.
BARTLET I didn’t even think there were that many white women.
OBAMA I see the numbers, sir. What do they want from me?
BARTLET I’ve been married to a white woman for 40 years and I still don’t know what she wants from me.
OBAMA How did you do it?
BARTLET Well, I say I’m sorry a lot.
OBAMA I don’t mean your marriage, sir. I mean how did you get America on your side?
BARTLET There again, I didn’t have to be president of America, I just had to be president of the people who watched “The West Wing.”
OBAMA That would make it easier.
BARTLET You’d do very well on NBC. Thursday nights in the old “ER” time slot with “30 Rock” as your lead-in, you’d get seven, seven-five in the demo with a 20, 22 share — you’d be selling $450,000 minutes.
OBAMA What the hell does that mean?
BARTLET TV talk. I thought you’d be interested.
OBAMA I’m not. They pivoted off the argument that I was inexperienced to the criticism that I’m — wait for it — the Messiah, who, by the way, was a community organizer. When I speak I try to lead with inspiration and aptitude. How is that a liability?
BARTLET Because the idea of American exceptionalism doesn’t extend to Americans being exceptional. If you excelled academically and are able to casually use 690 SAT words then you might as well have the press shoot video of you giving the finger to the Statue of Liberty while the Dixie Chicks sing the University of the Taliban fight song. The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it.
OBAMA You’re saying race doesn’t have anything to do with it?
BARTLET I wouldn’t go that far. Brains made me look arrogant but they make you look uppity. Plus, if you had a black daughter —
OBAMA I have two.
BARTLET — who was 17 and pregnant and unmarried and the father was a teenager hoping to launch a rap career with “Thug Life” inked across his chest, you’d come in fifth behind Bob Barr, Ralph Nader and a ficus.
OBAMA You’re not cheering me up.
BARTLET Is that what you came here for?
OBAMA No, but it wouldn’t kill you.
BARTLET Have you tried doing a two-hour special or a really good Christmas show?
OBAMA Sir —
BARTLET Hang on. Home run. Right here. Is there any chance you could get Michelle pregnant before the fall sweeps?
OBAMA The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?
BARTLET Well ... let me think. ...We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know ... I’m a little angry.
OBAMA What would you do?
BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!
OBAMA Good to get that off your chest?
BARTLET Am I keeping you from something?
OBAMA Well, it’s not as if I didn’t know all of that and it took you like 20 minutes to say.
BARTLET I know, I have a problem, but admitting it is the first step.
OBAMA What’s the second step?
BARTLET I don’t care.
OBAMA So what about hope? Chuck it for outrage and put-downs?
BARTLET No. You’re elite, you can do both. Four weeks ago you had the best week of your campaign, followed — granted, inexplicably — by the worst week of your campaign. And you’re still in a statistical dead heat. You’re a 47-year-old black man with a foreign-sounding name who went to Harvard and thinks devotion to your country and lapel pins aren’t the same thing and you’re in a statistical tie with a war hero and a Cinemax heroine. To these aged eyes, Senator, that’s what progress looks like. You guys got four debates. Get out of my house and go back to work.
OBAMA Wait, what is it you always used to say? When you hit a bump on the show and your people were down and frustrated? You’d give them a pep talk and then you’d always end it with something. What was it ...?
BARTLET “Break’s over.”
Palin from the perspective of an insider.
Subject: Letter from Alaska native Anne Kilkenny, who knows Sarah Palin well
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, September 5, 2008, 3:26 PM
This is from my first cousin "Anne" in Wasilla , Alaska . It should give us pause.
Siddiq
Siddiq Kilkenny
Arcata , California
--- On Thu, 9/4/08, Anne Kilkenny> wrote:
From: Anne Kilkenny
Subject: RE: a step from the most powerful position in the world
To:
Date: Thursday, September 4, 2008, 3:34 AM
Siddiq,
My letter below has "gone viral" because in spite of my request to
not post it on the web, within about 6 hrs somebody had done exactly that. Now
it must be on 50 places.
Yesterday I was interviewed by the SF Chronicle, and NY & LA Times.
Today (Wed) I was interviewed & videoed by NBC & ABC, Der Spegiel, Paris
Express, the Guardian, Anchorage Daily News, and was on Pacific Radio for 20
min. I was also on the front page of the NY Times ABOVE THE FOLD! (HA!) and
tomorrow (Thurs) starts with some calls at 6am, cnn @ 10, and probably another
600 emails!
This is amazing. My email is running about 800 positive to 25 negative. 0
vulgar. 0 threatening. No crank calls yet.
Anne
So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Plain in the last 2
days that I decided to write something up . . .
You may distribute it to your friends/Emil list with my name and Emil address
attached, but I'm NOT willing to have it posted on a webpage with my name
and email address attached (there's too many kooks out there!)
Bottomline: the only thing Sarah Palin has in common with Hillary Clinton is
her gender.
Anne
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla , Alaska . I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone
here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis.
Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's
favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents
and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her
administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in
middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for
her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a
"babe".
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her
most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.
She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a baby with Down
syndrome . There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion
snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of
the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for
salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the
imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever
been anything like that of native Alaskans.
Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She's smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the
time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000
residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small
city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this
administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some
trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years
as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During
those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%.
This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive
property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The
tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more
than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't
enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed,
too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over
$22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was
it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant
that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for
construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on
a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The
sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit,
not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for
$5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any
borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated
more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in
Alaska . Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy
independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of
this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended
that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed
distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for
needs.
She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or
compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her
staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who
proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City
Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library
some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of
the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so
Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her
attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor,
so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired
most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she
hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally
dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal
to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has
acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see
below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated"
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska 's top cop
has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had
every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important
factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her
sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of
power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between
her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire
her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she
knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public
furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The
City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to
voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first
targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City
Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this
ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly
about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the
best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few
jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil &
gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she
was criticizing her pay as too high in the press . I was told that she hated
that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a
member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly
cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one
fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as
the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys'
club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for
which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted
Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly
humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became
clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then
made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork.
Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these
projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their
importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as
"anti-pork".
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate
her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of
the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call
her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory
ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around
town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school
basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of
the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse
her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of
legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the
beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She
campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiative that would have
either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in
the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has
pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to
list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and
experienced than she.
However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT
."Hockey mom": true for a few years
."PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school,
not since
."NRA supporter": absolutely true
.social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that
would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did
this because it was unconstitutional).
.pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote
it.
."Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT
declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
."Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska . No
legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or
managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about
5,000.
.political maverick: not at all
.gutsy: absolutely!
.open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining
actions.
.has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
."a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and
disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
.fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
.pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without
a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th
century standards.
.pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
.pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in
Wasilla's history.
.pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make
her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is
pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am
a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools.
If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska ), you will find references to my
participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few
have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I
don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she
is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in
the future: that's life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so
people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at
censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say
anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending
& taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from
information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla , and I
can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for
population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get
any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The
day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current
population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used
about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing
rapidly in the mid-90's.
While looking up, out of curiosity, the age of consent in the Netherlands (16), I came across this Age of Consent graph:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Age_of_Consent.png
Note how in the country of Yemen the age of consent is 9, but you must also be married to have sex with out risk of prosecution.
Millions of Americans live abroad and we all still have the right to vote. Please watch this video including Gweneth Paltrow. *Millions* of voices can be heard through their votes, and almost all of them are Democrats. Vote Abroad. Vote for Obama.
Sophia...Sophialaan 55. Be forewarned.
I have read about this place for some time--famed for its bar and artful cocktails. It has a marble bar. Huge and beautiful. Tonight, a Thursday night. Empty. Bad sign. I arrive ahead of my friend Giles. I sit at the empty bar alone save for this one man who is doing nothing at the bar except for stare at me. I am ignored for a good 15 minutes by the staff. Finally the maitre d' or or whatever he was says to me at a distance "Kan ik u hulpen?"
"Can I help you?"
"Can I help you" has a decidedly different implication than "May I offer you a drink?":
"May I offer you a drink?" implies "Welcome to our beautiful restaurant. We hope we can help you relax and enjoy yourself while you are waiting for your companion(s)."
"Can I help you" implies only one thing "Get out of our bar now you filthy hooker."
Giles and I are seated and we decide to go for the 8 course meal. I have had meals like this before. Tiny plates of decadence served up one methodically after another. My best experience dining this way was at Rover's in Seattle. by the 4th course it was a miserable marathon to the end but I loved every minute of being surprisingly overstuffed.
With trepidation we ordered the 8 course experience but were told it would be served in only 6 presentations. Hm. Ok. Let's see how this pans out. I was starving and prepared to pace myself.
The pace was taken care of by the restaurant. Between each niveau morsel served up was copious amounts of time to digest. Way too much time. The only generous portion we were served was the slimy and gamey goose liver...not fois gras mind you...goose liver the size of half of my palm. It was inedible and Giles and I asked that our servings be removed from our sight. It was done so with an unadulterated sarcastic and snide comment from our waitress.
I found myself becoming hungrier as the meal continued. The menu indicated there would be two dessert courses. When our first arrived...a raspberry puree dolloped in the middle with an "egg white foam" (hello Holland. every one got super bored with foams a minimum of 10 years ago and it is all the finer restaurants in all of holland seem obsessed now with whipping them out, pardon the pun), accompanied by a block of spongy and stale green tea sorbet clearly augmented with gelatin...we were waiting for our second dessert course.
Our fatal mistake was not reading the menu closely enough. When the head waiter was informed by Giles that we were waiting for our second dessert course, he promptly repopulatd our table with dessert cutlery, disappeared into the kitchen, and then with an efficiency that would never be replicated during actual dining service, removed our silverware and chided us: "you have already had dessert!!"
When Giles pointed out the second course the waiter informed us that it was a combination of two dessert dishes of which we had already consumed.
At first I thought his appalling behavior was funny and now I find myself enraged.
This is the first time ever I have welcomed, if not craved, the after-dinner espresso not for its expediting effect on the digestive system for for its power as an appetite suppressant. We left the restaurant in haste. Our presence was no longer welcome and we were dying to get out of there. What a horrible restaurant.
So, should you and your beloved ever desire a 6 course meal indulging in horror, disappointment, anger, embarrassment, scorn, and hostility, you will find no finer place than Sophia. Enjoy.
Maurice from Intratuin garden center spent hours last year setting up my balcony with a variety of flora, and the balcony was beautiful until flowers died, turns out, from neglect. This year, when we were planning out what to do, he taught me that you have to water plants to keep them alive.
I have rosemary and lavender, an eggplant plant, tomatoes, strawberries and a small apple tree. Happy to report that all are doing well.
Yours from the front, bearing a well manicured green thumb.
B
In January 2006 I quit my job and rented an apartment in Amsterdam for three of the coldest and darkest months of the year just to be sure I really did want to move here.
When I returned to Seattle, disoriented and aimless, the first thing I did to initiate myself back into my "normal" life was visit my regular mani/pedi joint in lower Queen Anne. For about 25 bucks you get to sit in a big chair that will shiatsu massage your back while the pleasant Vietnamese girls attend to your hands and feet. There are hundreds of these places all up and down the West coast. My girlfriends and I always went to this particular one because they gave you a box with your name on it containing your own private gear. This way you knew you weren't sharing nail files and clippers with the lady next to you who has yet to discover she has Hepatitis C.
The mani/pedi is a steady part of my monthly routine. It is inexpensive, feels great, always a relaxing and social experience, and there is something about having your hands and feet tended to that makes you feel "done."
When I moved to Amsterdam for good, I was really lamenting the absence of this aspect of my routine. I have had several manicures and pedicures throughout the city at some of the better salons. They are practically medical procedures. Some dimwitted, thick breasted young girl takes a Black 'n' Decker sander (this is the truth) to your callouses and extracts your cuticles with a dinner knife (this is an exaggeration). I have been cut and bruised during dutch manicures. And forget about aesthetics or pleasure. Dutch pedi/manis inexplicably, do not include nail polish and a massage or salt scrub is not a guarantee. So for all this disinterested, clinical service, most pedicures alone run between 60 and 80 euros. Appalling.
You've read in an earlier post my overwhelming joy upon the opening of Marqt, the specialty grocery store a few blocks up my street.
A few months ago, a mani/pedi placed fashioned exactly like my place on Queen Anne opened up on the same block as Marqt. A young man named Long (as in "Long like Long Beach" he will tell you) is the proprietor. He's young and ambitious. Really serious about starting his own business. He speaks at least five languages, many of which are spoken in the salon among his relatives that stop in or his multi-national clients. He gave me the best treatment about a million times over that I have received here in Holland. He is attentive and takes his time. He remembered my name and that I have very tickish reflexes in my feet and that my cuticles tear easily so he is extra gentle. He remembered that I like to have the music playing when I am there. I've been to him three times already. The second time I went in there another American woman was finishing up. She said, "This is the best salon in Amsterdam!" I could feel in her proclamation the same sense of relief that I had felt upon its opening.
Long's shop is austere and clean but not luxurious in ambience. However, he understands the concept so many people in the service industry in holland are completely lost on: and that is, well, service. We are buddies now and I told him I would do everything I could to promote his business simply for selfish reasons: I need this kid to stay in business. My hands need him. My feet need him.
Long's shop is called "Adorable" and it is located on Overtoom 95. For 50 bucks you can get the best manicure and pedicure Amsterdam has to offer at any price.
Please meet Long: