Maggie loves the bumper jumper -- Lazarus never really got into it, but Maggie bounces and twirls and laughs every time I park her in it.


Here's Lazarus, last weekend, and last year:

The camera's still not up to par, at least for indoor shots. But I'll keep clickin' just to catch Laz and Maggie being cute. Here we are at dinner last night -- venison-apple meatloaf for Laz, mashed potatoes for Maggie, and squash for both.





I was right about the storm -- we got a few inches yesterday and we're getting socked in today. When it blows from the east, it's gonna be a long snowy day. I wish I could bring the dogs in but... they're too much, so they'll have to stay in their doghouse. I do take them warm water every few hours, and when the soup is done they'll get some nice ham hocks.

I need to do laundry. Heh.

Breathe

I got some cute pictures of the babies the other day, but the camera didn't do so well -- maybe it needs new batteries. Photoshop helped a bit, I suppose. Anyway, Laz and Maggie are starting to play together, sort of -- Maggie wants to play but Laz still seems a bit ambivalent. I'm not sure if it's jealousy or confusion or what; he does like making her laugh, but he also grabs stuff away from her if he thinks it's his (especially when she starts chewing on it). I'm starting to read books to them both, together, in the evening, which will help them get more used to hanging out with each other. Well, we'll see what unfolds.

We're waiting for a winter storm that could hit us hard or stay north of us -- since the temperature dropped a lot this afternoon, and the dogs keep trying to sneak inside, I'm guessing we'll get some of it. I've got the wood stove going, and both wood boxes are loaded so we'll have dry wood for a few days. I have an urge to make stew and bake bread, too. And keep knitting. I guess if we can't go outside we'll be watching Nemo and Kermit and Pooh a lot this weekend.

I had other stuff to write, but my mind just went blank and the kids will wake up soon from their long, simultaneous naps. So here are the pictures....

Democracy now? My stomach tells me, "No."

I dunno, I'm feeling both sad and queasy about last week's election. Was it rigged -- were there enough subtle irregularities to tilt the critical precincts to Bush? The few people I talk to on any regular basis tell me to let go of the conspiracy theory stuff, but I can't help but wonder -- and feel appalled, really -- when reading stuff about "vote spoilage" and malfunctioning machines. The difference between the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections? The GOP did a much cleaner, more comprehensive job of ensuring that the votes actually counted favored Bush. Computers don't leave hanging chads, they just eat votes for the "wrong" guy and leave no pesky paper trail. And they only record votes from "approved" voters, that is, those not purged from registration lists for minority-targeting reasons or whose registrations weren't somehow lost or corrupted.

-Kerry Won. Greg Palast, Tompaine.com -- Vote "spoilage" overwhelmingly works against Democratic and, hardly by chance, minority voters, including blacks in Ohio and Florida and Hispanics in New Mexico. These are real votes that are cast but not counted, either because the machines "malfunction" or the vote records are deemed "unreadable." Again, most "spoiled" and thus discarded, uncounted votes come from precincts with heavy concentrations of ethnic minorities, according to Harvard University researchers. We're not talking fringe here.

-Voters Unite lists a slew of reported voting machine problems... 271 reports to date. Some of the more egregious errors include the following:
--An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said (CNN story)
--A software glitch in Craven Cty., No. Carolina, gave Bush 11,283 extra votes (New Bern Sun Journal, which also reports on election difficulties in other NC counties, "including nearby Carteret, where 4,530 early votes were irretrievably lost.")
--Voters in Florida and other states had many problems with electronic voting; many errors favored Bush (ABC TV affiliate)

-Global elections monitors find faults with U.S. elections(Int'l Herald Tribune)

-Did Kerry Concede Too Soon? Bob Fitrakis, The Free Press

-Was the Ohio Election Honest and Fair? Institute for Public Accuracy

-Worse Than 2000: Tuesday's Electoral Disaster, William Rivers Pitt,
Truthout

-None Dare Call it Voter Suppression and Fraud, Bob Fitrakis, Free Press

-see more and updated items at http://www.blackboxvoting.com/

Okay, you know what? Now I'm really pissed off.

"Moral values" -- you bought that crap? Suckers.

So the GOP propaganda machine managed to convince enough people that Bush represents "good moral values" that he got elected (apparently for real this time) for a second term. What exactly does that mean -- where's the hard proof, the evidence that one man possesses more "good moral values" than the other? The evidence I've seen to date paints W and friends as greedy, ruthless, power-hungry jackals who flash big shiny smiles and spout faux biblicism at us as they devour this nation's heart and soul, and flesh, and bones.

I think it's just whitewash for a deep-seated racism, a trust in a certain Kind of person who will keep us safe from those Other Kinds. If Kerry had been able to act less like a Rhodes Scholar and more like a small-town preacher, he might well have pulled it off -- the American voters elected Clinton because he's a likable guy who doesn't threaten them. Most Americans can't stand intelligent people, which is why we have a bumbling dumbass with mean friends running our country. Still, despite the burgeoning evidence that he and they have been running it into the ground for the past four years.

So, what now?

I want to share some excellent insight and inspiration from a fellow blogger:

"I hope fervently that after everyone (not just here, everywhere) has a chance to process this and scream and cry and rage....

"...that we don't lose that passion. The passion that we feel today, that we felt yesterday, that we felt for the months coming up to the election. The passion that got people mobilized and out there doing whatever they could in the hopes of changing the vote this year.

"I want to see that passion carried on starting ASAP and not just put on ice until June of 2008. I want to see it next week. I want to see it in the local school boards, village halls, local initiatives, fundraisers, etc. I want to see it in the next state level elections. We can't change the results of last night. But we can work on the little results, the day to day ones, the ones that happen in our neighborhoods and cities. And that will keep the fires burning. That will provide us with victories. That will swell the ranks of people who want change. And that will carry us through the next four years, fight after fight. There won't have to be some big mobilization of forces in 2008 if that happens because that passion will still be there and will have been productive in the meantime."

Thank you for that, gremlin. It'll help me and, I hope, many others focus the disbelief and anger and despair over the next four years into something worthwhile: change for the better.

Moral frickin' values -- we'll show them good moral values, for real. Let's get to work, shall we?