Long. Huh!

[heidi]

Thanks to Sabs for tweaking the image from the American Library Association. Feel free to gack; it's also available to everyone as an avatar on FictionAlley.

I'll have an article about bookbanning, Harry Potter and the insidiousness of it all on The Leaky Cauldron today or tomorrow; stay tuned for it.

Another thing to stay tuned for is an all new FictionAlley, coming next week (and in the 10 days or so after that). vlamidala and smilie117 have been doing an amazing job reconfiguring the front page and the header-page for each house; also, so much love regarding the cover art, which I will not speak about more now, because it has to be a surprise, wheee.

Also, CafePress calendars from FA, coming October 10 or possibly 15th. Whee, again.

One more thing that's coming, sigh, is Hurricane Jeanne. The attitude of the anchors this morning was so different from how they were acting a month ago. To paraphrase, last month, they preempted all the morning news shows are said:

Frances is coming! Board up your house! Flee! Flee now! Aaaaaaaaaaah!

This morning, it was all:

Yeah, yeah, another one's coming. Bring in the plants that could blow around and stuff, and make sure you have water and that you haven't used up all your batteries in kids' toys, and yeah, don't plan on going to the beach on Sunday. What the hell ever, you know the damned drill, it's not like anyone's moved here since the last one two weeks ago except the people who've fled here this week from Haiti, and they know what to expect, poor guys. Now, back to whoever is going to sing on The Today Show, wheeeeeeeeee!

Now, can anyone explain to me why the Republican National Committee sent mailers in West Virginia and Arkansas saying that liberals (read: Democrats, even though, well, not necessarily) plan to ban the Bible if elected? I mean, I guess I know *why* - it's because they wanted to scare people, and I guess they figured they had nothing to lose, and in a way that's probably true, but isn't it a little disgusting that that's probably true?

I'm also hoping that my former professor Frank Luntz is correct in thinking that the citation-free claims by various Republicans that terrorists are hoping for a Kerry win will backfire on said Republicans; what flaberghasts me is that Republicans are saying that Jim McDermott engaged in (to use the Washington Post's language) questionable rhetoric when he said, two years ago, that Bush was misleading the public. Well, duh - of course he was! Now' it's debatable as to whether he knew he was misleading the public or whether he was just passing on "guess"es from the CIA as if they were fact, but his statements were inaccurate, and thus tended to be misleading. How is that quesitonable rhetoric? How is that as insidious and baseless as the recent claims by some Republicans?

And does the President really find it funny that a large percentage of Americans think the country is on the wrong track? In a press conference yesterday, he said, "I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. (Laughter.)"

What does he find funny? The fact that half the people in this country (per a Zogby poll last week) think American is heading in the wrong direction? Or the fact that 49% of the people in Iraq (per a poll by the International Republican Institute) think Iraq is heading in the wrong direction? I don't think either stat is jokeworthy, but then again, I watch The Daily Show, so what do I know?

---

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, so I will be afk all day, starting around 4pm tonight. I'm not fasting this year, because of the whole pregnancy thing, so I am responsible for some break-the-fast stuff, assuming we have it with Jeanne coming. Or not. The Rabbis here in South Florida have recommended that people turn on a television or radio before the holiday starts, and leave it on through the day, to keep up to date on what's going on with the hurricane. Normally, conservatives and Orthodox Jews don't drive on Yom Kippur, but in Judaism, life is more sacred than a holiday, even this holiest day of the year, so if an evacuation order is issued for one's home, one is allowed to drive to evacuate.

Comments

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

Have a blessed and safe holiday, Heidi.

*HUGS*

[selinakyle47.livejournal.com]

Coming from a President who thinks the search for WMD's was worthy of a joke, it's really not surprising behavior (sad to say).

Saw below that your husband is a Ford and you're a Swat? Well then, greetings from a Mawrter! :)

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm a fighting quaker ;) but yes, Aaron was Haverford '88. When were you at Bryn Mawr?

[selinakyle47.livejournal.com]

*thwap on the head*

So sorry for that! I graduated in '97. :)

[(Anonymous)]

What are you- conservative, orthodox?

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Definitely pikuach nefesh. You should eat and you should drive if necessary. (But I do hope it won't be.)

[viola-dreamwalk.livejournal.com]

Re: the Bible-banning. That's just... wow. Unbelievable. (I posted a link to this, just so you know.)

wishing all an easy fast

[amoeba-j.livejournal.com]

and L'shanah tovah tikatevu v'techatemu (or however you wish to transliterate it -- I think it looks better in Hebrew myself ;)

Glad to hear that you're taking care of yourself and the little one by not fasting. One of my friends tried to fast while pregnant a few years ago, even against the advice of our rabbi. I hope the weather holds off (indefinitely) for you, and you can have a calm break-the-fast :) I really like the idea of rabbis encouraging leaving the radio/tv on for weather news -- kind of the same concept of leaving your oven on during Shabbos but taken to a different level.

*snerks at your impression of local news warnings about plants and stuff*

I just can't even bring myself to go to your bible-banning link since it's so close to Kol Nidre...maybe after the weekend?

btw, what exactly does "afk" mean? away from komputer?

[verstehen.livejournal.com]

What amazes me is that Bush's advisors, you know, let him see the poll 'cause it might upset his poor fragile ego and show 'em he'd been doing a bad job. :D

[(Anonymous)]

what flaberghasts me is that Republicans are saying that Jim McDermott engaged in (to use the Washington Post's language) questionable rhetoric when he said, two years ago, that Bush was misleading the public. Well, duh - of course he was! Now' it's debatable as to whether he knew he was misleading the public or whether he was just passing on "guess"es from the CIA as if they were fact, but his statements were inaccurate, and thus tended to be misleading. How is that quesitonable rhetoric?

Mainly because McDermott said this, not in the US, but while in Iraq. It earned him the nickname "Baghdad Jim." He added something to the effect that Saddam was more trustworthy than Bush. This was considered "questionable rhetoric" because it was spoken while on enemy soil.

Not a troll... just answering your question.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a WV native - it's because WV, which has always gone Democratic, went to Bush the last time in a surprising upset in part because the Republicans sent out literature that Gore was going to take away everyone's gun - and the Democrats didn't make a peep to deny it. But my mom, who is volunteering with the WV DNC, says this year WV - a sudden battleground state - isn't being left unnoticed by either party.

[cadey.livejournal.com]

Hope you have a good holiday! :) And stay safe with another wind maker coming!