"You can only help one of your luckless brothers
By trampling down a dozen others."

Bertold Brecht, the good woman of setzuan

no, they're not racists and homophobes. why do you ask?

every once and a while i get a nice jolt that reminds me why i work for progressive left democrats. specifically, we don't hate and blame nearly as much as the reeps.

you've seen it before (prop 187, maybe; george bush, certainly): when times get a little tough, the reeps start looking around for someone other than themselves to blame and vilify.

and if you doubted it, here are the numbers, from the new poll at the Public Policy Institute of California:

BLAME

"When asked in February 2000 whether immigrants are a benefit or a burden to the state, 59 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of Republicans said they were a benefit, compared to 61 percent and 32 percent, respectively, today."

VILIFY

today, lawsuits were filed to prevent S.F. from continuing to grant marriage certificates to same-sex couples. the reason for opposing marriage, according to one attorney interviewed on day-to-day, was "there are no moral or public health risks to traditional marriage, while gay marriage is morally offensive and sodomy has significant public health risks."

hey, why not just quarantine them, like Larouche wanted to do in 1985 with his AIDS concentration camp initiative?

i'm sure they were saying the same things about the miscegenation laws.

economy in the shitter? neo-colonialist expeditionary war not going well? daddy pulling strings to get you into (and keep you in) the NG so you can avoid precisely what you are sending today's kids to do becoming a problem?

don't look here! those immigrants are stealing valuable nanny and strawberry picking jobs! and those two men that have been together for 20 years and love each other are trying to get married! quick! stop it!

assholes.


let's just end with a quote from chris hattaway, who, although working for al gore in 2000, is right this time:

"One of the things that Democrats can't stand about Republicans is their tendency to play politics with people's lives and make scapegoats of a group of Americans."

A Dog's Day Valentines

work is insane at this point. as i've written before, the real crunch time for consultants is two to three weeks out, because if it ain't in motion by then it ain't happening.

so when you have a march 2 primary, getting out of the office for valentine's day can be a real bitch, especially if the entire day consists of a series of body blows and seemingly endless strings of fuck-ups and ball-drops by your campaigns and vendors.

sometimes it is just so hard not screaming at somebody.

so it is difficult coming home to the lovingly prepared dinner and meticulously prepared ambience when you are nearly weeping.

but the stress melts a little after i open the wine and pour a glass for k and me, and she sets the appetizers on the coffee table, a lovely presentation of foie gras and campagne pate, midnite moon and reggiano parmesan cheeses and prosciutto di parma.

a deep breath, a hug, and a fucking dog eating the apps!

the hound, a good dog by most accounts, a well trained and well disciplined animal, has gone insane in his old age.

by the time i ran the three strides to the coffee table and knocked the parmesan out of his mouth, the yellow devil had eaten all the foie gras and prosciutto.

he's never touched food on the table, or even on the floor. he isn't fed anything other than dog food.

but, as my mom, an apologist without grandchildren, pointed out: it was his birthday month, and, in absence of a gift from me he was taking his present.

damn old men can get away with anything.