Ok. The bastards win. I've tried, but I just can't hang. Ain't no way the Focus can carry all the crap I've accumulated, but the sun ain't setting on me in Minneapolis this evening. Sorry, Hanne, I'll try to catch you on the flip side.
One of the things motivating this desire to motorvate?
But the Castro-worship just fascinates me. Why? Some applaud the way he thumbs his nose at the US, which always strikes a certain crowd as the hallmark of integrity; if you wrap your derision in the big red flag you'll always have a claque of bootlickers eager to excuse whatever you do. (The enemy of my enemy is my President for Life.) The usual gang of collectivists admire the way he organizes society from the top down to the city block, because they love power; they love force; they have a romantic attachment to anyone who uses the cudgel to hasten the arrival of heaven on earth. My favorite defense, though, is "free health care" and "literacy."
Yep, health care is seriously overrated. Why, even the paper Lileks writes for says so:
The number of Americans without health insurance was back on the rise last year as soaring health-care costs and higher unemployment rates reversed two years of gains, according to a Census Bureau report being released today.The number of uninsured reached 41.2 million people, up 1.4 million from 2000. Overall, the share of uninsured Americans grew last year to 14.6 percent, up four-tenths of a percentage point from 2000.
[. . .] Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a health-care consumer group, said the trend "all but guarantees that the number of uninsured people will skyrocket in the next few years." Chief among the causes, he said, are rising health-care costs, state cutbacks in Medicaid, unemployment increases and employer decisions to pass along most costs to workers.
Uninsured rates varied dramatically across the nation. In a three-year average measurement of people lacking health insurance for the entire year, Rhode Island had the lowest rate, at 7.2 percent. New Mexico was highest, at 23.2 percent.
[. . .] Medicaid, the state-federal partnership that provides coverage to many poor people, picked up much of the slack.
But that surge has proved extremely costly to many state budgets, and governors and state assemblies have been moving to limit those losses.
For "limit those losses" read "let people die."
Hard to track, yes -- can you say for sure that someone would have lived if they'd seen a doctor earlier, instead of waiting until the last minute and heading to the emergency room? -- but that's one of the benefits of our system. It's hard to quantify some of the shitty stuff. Convenient, no?
On the other hand, breast augmentation surgery is at an all-time high. See? Our system works for the important things.
And it ain't even worth talking about the Cult of Personality surrounding the unelected frat boy in the White House. How many rounds of "rope-a-dope" is the guy supposed to be willing to take?
Back to Lileks:
Take the second one first. There's no excuse for not being literate in America. Oh, we could impose literacy on the illiterate here, but it wouldn't be pretty. We could make English proficiency a requirement for jobs, institute nationwide standards for graduation that mandated a high degree of literacy - and made the students' fulfillment of those standards a criterion for advancement in the educational establishment.
I'm not sure what to say to that, other than suggesting that maybe, ju-u-u-st maybe, the man should move outside the suburban white middle-class circle he clearly hangs in. After all, that almost sounds like he doesn't think limited English proficiency or illiteracy are problems for people seeking jobs or attending school in this country.
Spare me the jokes about your Chinese calculus TA. Heard 'em, didn't find 'em funny the first time. And isn't there a movement to make English the Official Language? Or did they kill themselves the last time a comet flew by?
I can never keep all them cults straight.
Have to leave what little furniture there is behind, obviously. The futon is the standard, cheap frame and the pad is probably due to be replaced anyway, it's been a little over a year. The kitchen table and chairs are from Ikea, so I'd spend more in gas moving them that it'd be to get another set. . .
Can't we just talk about pop culture instead?
Are you really vacating?
Oh by the way, I give you the end of the world:
www.kaiju.com
Re: relocating
[picture Kermit on The Muppet Show doing an intro]
YeYAHHHHHee! [complete w/arm-waving]
Re: Lileks, esp vs-vs Castro
Is our boy Lileks in denial of his bdsm fascination, or is it just me?
Ugh. Lileks. Smug middle class suburbanite with his sickingly twee little daughter and his oh so fucking hilarious collection of "wacky" 50ties magazine material.
Gods, why waste time "regime changing" Saddam when he's still around.
Aaron, just a few weeks ago you were forbidding me to emigrate, you hypocrite. You are so cruising for a spanking if you're still in town by this weekend. (And if a spanking from me and Heather isn't enough reason to stick around, well, I guess there's no accounting for taste.)
Tornado warning for eastern MN & WI and a Springsteen concert tonight in St. Paul.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; all gods are bastards.
If the sudden desire should hit you to check out all the reasons for frothing left-wing fury in beautiful central Ohio, well . . . we'll always have a nice warm couch open for you, love.
Rita needs a new catslave anyway. The old ones are getting all worn out.
I love this line:
"Health care: supposedly, it’s universal; supposedly, it’s high quality. Egalitarian. (muffled laugh.) Ask yourself this. You’re poor. You have a heart attack. Do you want to be in Havana or New York? Which phone system summons the EMTs faster? Which emergency response team is better equipped? Which hospital is better staffed with highly-paid doctors who have come from all over the world to work here?"
Considering that they are under sanctions by the world's largest economic power (the US), pointing out the relative levels of funding in the hospitals as to why we shouldn't think that the universal health care there is so great is a little bizarre. Work as hard as you can to make sure they're a poor country, and then fault /them/ for it? Another great line of argument brought to you by the right wing.
That bit about doctors from all over the world was really a sore point with some of the folks I knew at U of I, who were from countries that paid for those doctors' educations, not thinking they'd move here instead of staying. Not that you can fault them for doing so, seeing how much more they can make here.
Another thing I envy about the right wing. They never seem to look at both sides of anything. The ignorance sure looks blissful from a certain remove.
Hanne, if I remember right, you were planning to leave the *country*. I'm just getting out of this godsforsaken state before somebody dies. Probably me, and as many of the locals as I can pick off from the clock tower.
Garrity, you're just looking for a replacement babysitter. But thanks.
Aaron - why not SF? At least there are vacancies these days.
Laura, I heard the job market for linguists isn't so great in SF.
No wait, that's the entire planet.
Besides, I'm used to winters in the Midwest. I like the snow. I like the sound of flowers dying.
I'll keep it in mind for when the nice doctors discharge me, though.
Aaron, I would not inflict my child on you. Only my cat. She's really very easy to get along with.
(But either way, the hospitality offer, when made by my husband and me, is serious business. Bring a fork and plan to stay awhile. If you have any doubts, ask Neo about her birthday dinner.)
Neo says nice things about little Alia, but will probably deny this in public, and mutter about trapping and the differnce between a hide and a pelt.
Thanks again.
FINE! Get me in trouble w/my bestest friends in OH! A played a critical role in keepin me in the land of the typing- she must be cherished. The rest...mutter mutter...drums...mutter...
[Sorry- not my fault, my folks always threatened to flay or hide my bro & I as kids- it's a knee-jerk thing now.]
I like Ohio. And I like kitties, and children. And I need a vacation badly. Can I come worship your cat sometime?
Door's wide open, dearie -- just give us 24 hours' notice to evict the crumbs and dustbunnies. Are you swinging through here on the book tour?
Also, Aaron, if you have yet to decide where you're landing, my husband's agency will soon in need of a new network and database person. Email me if Columbus suddenly looks interesting.
Yes, Hanne, please come play.
No, not swinging through Columbus (the brave and mighty!) on the current tour, but with most of my immediate fambly in the Cleveland area and one of my research assistants living in Your Fair City, I do get there periodically.
Hey, isn't there a new feminist sex toy store in Columbus that opened somewhat recently? Perhaps they'd bring me in to do an event...
Management reminds anyone thinking about pouncing on this obvious setup line that this is a family-friendly site.
Stop laughing, damn you.
Hanne, I dunno about a specifically feminist sex shop here -- I may have missed it (Neo, am I without clue *again*?) -- but we do have a couple of newish ones under the same ownership, called The Chamber (BDSM) and The Garden (not so BDSM), down in the Short North.
You've travelled more, so perhaps you might confirm my thoery. Resolved: that the presence of a progressive (rather than exploitive) sex industry in any given town is a sign of its overall livability. Yes? No?
Can't find an ad, but I'm athinkin it's called Chrysalis or some such cuddliness. If it'd get you here, Hanne, fabu, but I'm willing to bet it's run by soft-focus sisters of the woodland- the real sex-positive chicks work @ the Chamber/Garden.
Chrysalis, yes, that's the one I'd been told about -- with surprisingly clits-up reviews, and supposedly not so much the nymphs-and-ecofeminism-and-a-wimmin's-land-in-a-pear-tree kinda vibe, I was surprised to hear. Yeah, I'd vouch for feminist sex-positive shops as being a good benchmark for urban livability. Which damn well leaves Baltimore out of the running, somehow, but we're trying to alleviate that. Time will tell if I just have to give in and move to Columbus...
At least in Baltimore we have my favorite indie bookstore and comix emporium. Which also sells lotsa smut.
... so, pretty much, anywhere within an hour and a half drive of where I live is a barren fucking wasteland.
But I knew this already.
VASpider, I should amend myself; such a thing is ONE sign of a town's livability, but certainly not the only one. Especially since there's goodvibes.com.
Having peeked at your site, I *think* we're from the same piece of territory (I grew up in Ortonville . . .ring any bells?) If so, well, yeah, I agree. Not a lot of progressive doings.
Not really, but there are a thousand tiny little towns around this neck of the woods, and I can't keep them all straight.
No, there's nothing at all progressive going on, here. We're stuck with buggies, for the love of all that is holy -- another problem with this place.