Full album of pics

Home, 5:44AM

Herman looks around, 8:30AM

Back alley

Heading out around 9AM…notice the snowman at the intersection of Green and Onslow

Duke East Campus, heading West on Markham

Ninth Street

Durham Freeway, headed North toward I-85 South

Accident on I-85 South in Hillsborough; conditions began to improve shortly thereafter, for me, at least (not sure about the driver of the truck)

(also a victim if sucking for many years)

The Durham Fuddruckers off MLK…

You cannot walk from Point A to Point B without bumping into something or someone.

I remember, years ago, you’d walk into Whole Foods and smell flowers and other pleasant aromas. It was a relaxing experience to shop at Whole Foods, even the small Broad Street location.

Now, it’s like a crowded subway station. You can’t stop anywhere. You’ll hear “excuse me” non-stop. The shopping experience, from beginning to end, is one of constant stress.

If you want some pasta salad from the salad bar, good luck…

I wish there was a convenient alternative. I can’t say I’m going to boycott the store. But I’d certainly buy more there if I weren’t constantly trying to get exactly what I came for and get the hell out of there. And then there have been plenty of times when I have walked in, seen the madness, and walked right out.

It’s clear I’m in the minority here, because business appears to be booming. I don’t know how people can stand it.

P.S. – And now they’ve got the Thanksgiving order table, too, just smack in the middle of everything.

1. The economy / 9.5% unemployment (what Obama and good Democratic Party soldiers like Nancy Pelosi say)

2. Obama and the Democrats were too liberal, “carved out” too large a role for government

3. Obama and the Democrats didn’t fight for liberal/progressive policies; they compromised too often

As should be obvious by now, I fall into the camp that subscribes to the last reason. Surely, #1 played some role, whether you subscribe to #2 or #3. I will not completely dismiss #2. It is true that had Obama sat back and done literally NOTHING over the past two years, Democrats might have lost fewer elections. However, overall, doing SOME stimulus was better for the nation than doing nothing, as was doing SOME healthcare reform as opposed to none, although both of these were bad politically from both right and the left.

Anyway, I’m motivated to make a brief post now because I just had an interesting conversation with a local Democratic party worker (staffer or volunteer, I’m not sure). He had come to buy my old coffee table, and he had worked hard on canvassing locally and statewide on behalf of Democratic candidates. In particular, he worked hard on the GOTV effort for David Price, who hung on to beat the Republican challenger B.J. Lawson, who has now lost to Price in two consecutive elections. However, whereas Price won by 26 points in 2008, Lawson lost by a margin of just 14 points, or 37,000 votes.

My coffee-table-buyer stressed that, had there not had been a massive GOTV effort, Price could have easily been a victim of the Republican wave, since Lawson’s campaign had a huge financial and messaging advantage. Moreover, while it seemed like the Democratic Party just rolled over in the 2010 elections, there was a great deal of work that went into getting core voters to get out and vote, and that work made the difference between the Democratics losing 60 or so seats and potentially losing 90-100 seats.

The Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives now has a higher concentration of progressives than it did before, since conservative Blue Dogs lost at a much higher rate than did progressives. I think this the case because a lot of progressive party die-hards fought on despite the national mood. So, I am grateful to them, and this makes me feel a little bit better about the election results.

2010 was not a repudiation of liberalism.

By the way, did you that Zach Galifianakis’s uncle Nick represented N.C.’s 4th district between 1967 and 1973?

I know David Price isn’t the most charismatic guy in the world. He votes a progressive agenda and generally has done a good job of representing the Triangle, but…hmmm…maybe he’s been in D.C. too long… Who’s this young, chipper guy B.J. Lawson who runs every two years? He can’t be that bad. (After all, his wife looks like Tipper Gore.) A Republican running in this district has to be moderate, right?


Well, here’s Lawson on reproductive rights:

We can either be a pro-life culture or a pro-death culture. I choose life. Only in extreme cases should abortion be considered and only as a medical decision where the health and life of the mother are in jeopardy. In cases of rape or incest, I believe there is a difference between emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy versus termination of a known and viable pregnancy. In any case, I believe the federal government should define life as beginning at conception, and leave strategies for reducing abortions to state governments.

I know I’ve got friends who will vote for Lawson, in some part of large part, because of this position. But I’m betting the majority of the people I know and who will vote find this position to be at least bit disturbing.

In any event, I think we can all agree that 2/3 of B.J. Lawson’s platform is B.S.:
Less Government…really?
More Freedom…uh, huh.

If you would like to hear from the candidates, Bull City Rising is co-sponsoring a debate this Friday evening. It was this BCR post that pointed me to Lawson’s positions. If you lean left, as I do, or don’t tend to lean in any particular direction, I hope you’ll realize that it really is in our best interest to keep David Price in the House representing us.

…

On a related note, it sure is uncomfortable blogging about such a sensitive subject. I want to add a note to those people I know who are “pro-life” (I really do hate both the labels “pro-life” and “pro-choice”). One can think abortion is horrible and believe that one would never have one or condone a partner having one or condone anyone they know having one and still believe the government should not determine when and under which circumstances women can have the procedure. Some people are firm in being at the absolute ends of the spectrum of this debate. I don’t care to state for the record exactly where I stand. But I do know that this candidate’s position, and I do respect that he has a very specific, on-the-record position, scares the hell out of me.

I would be happy to bless your animals.

- Renowned biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins to his audience at Duke University today. He was responding to a comment following his lecture that the upcoming Q & A with the audience would end at 3:30 sharp since the Chapel Quad was hosting the annual Blessing of the Animals at 4:00.

That lousy cell phone photo is illustrating what I think was the very poor etiquette of two Duke students who clearly didn’t care much to be at this event. They must have been getting class credit or something. Like cell phones in a movie theater, laptop screens at this lecture, particularly screens that kept flashing between baseball scores, Facebook, and a variety of websites, are really friggin distracting if you’re sitting right behind them.

Now that the weather is cooler, I leave the windows open some, and so I hear Jade barking. She has been in her pen since late June 2007. Durham County’s landmark anti-tethering ordinance (which also requires dogs to be placed in adequately-sized enclosures) has been in full-effect since July 1. Or has it?

No, I’m not moving back to Raleigh.

Herman, Aremid, and Zellouisa don’t agree on much, but they are unanimous in praising Bull City Pet Sitting for providing the best, funnest, most loving care when daddy has to go somewhere. Heather and Jen treat them all like their own. Herman needs belly rubs, Aremid needs lap sessions, and Zellouisa needs head-butts, and they all get plenty of TLC from Bull City Pet Sitting. Aremid and Zellouisa have both had special medication and food needs over the years. Herman has special needs just in his social ineptness around other canines. Heather and Jen always do a tremendous job with my critters. I’ve been using them for nearly six years, and I recommend them whole-heartedly to the pet-owners of Durham!