What's with Maria Cantwell???

I busted my virtual buns this weekend faxing all the Democratic Senators, asking them to filibuster Alito. Although we lost that one, it was a miracle that as many DID vote for it. 25 is a lot better than NONE, which Roberts got.

BUT, what's with Maria Cantwell?? She was totally unresponsive, and despite the flood of mail and faxes, and despite the vote of the state Democratic central committee, and Clark County's as well, she voted with the Republicans.

25 Dems with backbone is better than none, but what's with Cantwell??? She seems to think that she'll be more appealing to eastern WA conservatives if she stood apart from the more liberal Dems. Weasel. If it weren't for the fact that she has no viable primary challenger and the Repb. McGavick is scary, I'd dump her.

Precinct Officer Training

This morning I went to the Democratic PCO training. My first time doing this. A good PCO knows his/her precinct neighbors and makes an effort to meet and talk with them not just the week before the election but all year long.

Mine is a big and failry dense precinct - more than a thousand potentially Democratic households. The more rural precincts are very hard to manage even though there are many fewer households. They're more difficult to walk because the houses are spread out, and there are fewer progressive voters.

The Democrats, God love us, are thoughtful, smart, well-intentioned, hard-working folks. But as a group, those of us who show up at District and Central Committee meetings are mostly over the hill. We need the kind of well-funded active Young Democrats club/mechanism that the Republicans have but we just haven't built such an infrastructure.

I hope the party wises up before the old yellow dogs die off or quit from exhaustion. We need YOUNG BLOOD.

Paper victories. Really.

I mean a victory OVER paper. The paper that rules my life.

Paper paper paper. I LOVE paper. I love paper with writing on it, paper with pretty pictures on it, paper with tempting ads on it. Paper with lists and paper with notes from loved ones. Paper with undecipherable Notes from Self and paper that is totally blank. All kinds of paper.

My problem is that it collects on most surfaces and accumulates faster than I can wade thru it. BUT I have a new solution - actually a PAPER solution. A new kind of notebook with easily moveable pages - so I can jot or tape all those notes in there in random order, rearrange the pages alphabetically by topic, then toss out the detritus. I can already see bare wood on my desk!!

Levenger makes this notebook and it's not cheap, but I think it is the answer to my pulp prayers.

My friend Patrice calls organizing materials that have become an obsession "productivity porn" (or "parn" so spam filters will allow discussion of it through...) I think organization is a particular attraction for us creative types who see IDEAS EVERYWHERE....

Bad mood - is it the rain or is it Washington, DC?

I'm in the heart of rain country, and it's been raining for weeks, or so it seems. I'm feeling as bleak as the skies. Do I need a light box or do I just need a change of the guard in our nation's capitol?

Probably both. But the NYTimes today seems to indicate that the Dems have rolled over and let the Repuglican pro-Alito campaign flatten them. They just let him equivocate and mis-remember and weasel -- despite all indications that he favors an imperial presidency and disdains women's rights, among other noxious personal views that I believe will color his rulings. And do we want yet another strong Catholic on the bench?

What happened to the notion we need a woman? We haven't even heard from Laura Bush since Harriet Myers went up in smoke. 7 white Christian men, 1 white Jewish woman and 1 black Christian conservative idiot - no Asian, no Latina/o, certainly no Muslim!!

It's enough to make me want to take another nap.

Closing out 2005 -

Personally, this was not a bad year at all, but politically it was a sad sad time to be an American. Bush is not only an embarassment to any thinking person, but his whole administration is a lying, greedy, corrupt abomination. I cannot wait for all the scandals swirling around the Republicans to finally combust, engulfing the whole nasty group in flames.

It was a horrible year in Nature too. Tsunami, hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes - and global warming is real.

Today I just wanted to create more order in my small and insignificant corner of the universe. So I undecorated the Christmas tree. But instead of just shoving everything back into the six funky cardboard boxes higgeldly piggeldy as we usually do, I decided to sort it - all of it.

For starters, I only use about half the stuff I have, if that - so there was a lot to go through, once I got the extra crap out of my closet. I tossed all the balls that were funky or ugly or outsized. If an ornament lacked charm or a personal connection, out it went. Amazingly, when it was sorted and organized it went into just three smallish plastic containers I got at Freddy's on sale yesterday. They're clear, so you can see exactly what's inside, but for good measure, I labeled each carton so there will be no doubt where to find what, and where to put it back. All the funky boxes are now collapsed and ready to recycle.

Martin helped me go through all the strands of lights (we had at least a dozen! and I don't even do the outside lights that my neighbors are addicted to). He took some, and fixed several that wouldn't light because of bad bulbs. Now each strand is in its own baggie, and all the baggies are in a laundry basket out in the garage, ready to go next year.

Finally, and most satifsyingly, I got out ALL the wrapping paper and ribbon - which was in three large shopping bags, in a drawer, and in tubes in a wastebasket. I tossed stuff that was too ugly or tattered, then I sorted the paper (Xmas, Birthday, Wedding, other) into tidy piles. I went through the ribbons and did the same thing - putting the Christmas ribbons and cards into one clear box and the rest in another.

I ended up with ONE large bag of papers, 2 small containers of ribbons, and the wastebasket which are now in my workroom closet - easily accessible at last. I will not need to buy wrapping stuff for several years, I swear!

For good measure, I washed and ironed my grandmother's red and green damask tablecloth - which I believe was old when she got it from her friend, Mrs. Dean, an antique dealer. I bet it's at least a hundred years old - and has obviously been well-used and well-loved. There are four mended holes that would correspond with the corners of a rectangular table.

Tonight I feel very pleased with myself. Ready for the new year. And ready for the Democrats to bring the country back to rights.