Excerpt from this page, by Howard Dean: "It is a Bush Doctrine of domestic division, and I want to be the President who tears that doctrine up, too. I want to restore a sense of community in this country – where it’s not enough to worry whether your own kids have health care, but whether your neighbors’ kids have health care. I want to go to the South and talk about race. White southerners have been flocking to the Republican Party in recent years, but I want to offer them hope that their children will benefit from better schools and affordable health care, too.

"The Republican Party has done nothing for working people, black or white, and we need to remind Southern white folks that the only hope for better schools, and better job opportunities, and health care that is affordable is a Democratic President."

This morning my idle brain turns toward the multi-part question of a) whether microwave ovens cause changes in food which can cause cancer and if so, 1) how much nuked food you have to eat before you are inviting trouble and 2) is it worth avoiding a potential source of cancer that causes such convenience, given the myriad exposures of carcinogens in my daily life ("One word: plastics!") online article about microwaving by a dietician and a book to scare yourself with. I haven't read it and I'm not sure I want to. I have plenty of other silly worries right now.

Good morning, everyone! Ah, it's so nice to see sunlight outside for a change. I saw X-Men 2 last night with a bunch of good friends, and it was a wild ride indeed. I actually can't say that I liked it more or less than the first one, because to me it seemed like a continuation of the first one. Both were really splendid.

My office is a ghost town today -- I think I just saw a tumbleweed -- because all but 3 of us are out. I strongly considered bringing my dog to the office today (which I've never done before, but there are 2 other dogs in other offices in the building that show up regularly) and I think my co-workers would have accepted it but I didn't want to be a pest. I just felt badly about not seeing Bailey the border collie for very long yesterday. She's a sensitive pooch.

.... hey... is my blog turning into a political blog? Oh well, I guess I am what I am.

AND THEY'RE OFF
South Carolina got a big taste of the Democrats this weekend. And I was in Nashville! My favorite quote from this article is from Al Sharpton: "I am going to slap the donkey! I'm going to slap the donkey until the donkey kicks George Bush out of the White House!"
DUDE, I just checked and slapthedonkey.com is AVAILABLE. What a kickass (ha ha) title for a Democratic resurrection web site...

I think The Propaganda Remix Project is a wonderful way to express what "Homeland Security" is turning into. This guy has done a GREAT job. According to his site, he is an ex-Army Ranger and a combat veteran, so he's no coward. I am gonna order his book.

South Carolina - It's not crazy anymore.  By David Plotz
A 2000 Slate article about South Carolina, claiming we are not as bad as the nation thinks we are.

Wow. Now if I can only persuade approximately 110,000 South Carolinians to switch their presidential votes to Democratic or 221,000 NEW voters to vote Democratic, maybe we'll really have something to brag about down here. At least we consistently elect the wonderful John Spratt to the House of Representatives.

There is a scene in 200 Cigarettes in which Martha Plimpton's character Monica (thank you, IMDB) is bemoaning the fact that no one has shown up for her party. She has gone to all the trouble to prepare food, a festive atmosphere, and invite all her friends, and nobody has come.

I have this same problem. I throw parties and then become miserable when no one arrives in the first thirty minutes. People always do come, but there is that moment of despair in which I feel that I must be the most boring and despised person alive. I have to fight the effort to drink all the wine and eat all the cheese I've provided for my ungrateful friends.

Then they show up and we have a great time.

I had a great idea for a party recently -- I think it would be fun to ask each invited guest to bring their best single friend of the opposite sex. Even if you are married, you still have single friends that you think would be a fun date for someone else, and that way you would not end up with only one or two single people at your party, or even worse, a swordfight or a gaggle of single girls who don't know each other.
I did a search and found that a couple of other people had had this same idea. One called it BYOB (Bring Your Own Bachelor/Bachelorette).

Hedwig Tribute album? File this under "Cool Idea, If It Ever Actually Takes Off. I found Hedwig and the Angry Inch to be very entertaining, funny and sad, and singable in the extreme. "I look back on where I'm from, look at the woman I've become, and the strangest things seem suddenly routine..."

Me, Mary, host of show, Amy

I saw the show! It hasn't really hit me that I was on national TV yet. I mean I only saw it on one TV set, which is exactly like watching a videotape of yourself. But the fact that commercials featuring me or my sisters could come on the Discovery Channel at any given moment of the day is a strange thought.

Now I'm waiting to find out if my friend was able to record the show on DVD. Anyway, this is a boring post but the upshot is that making the show was one of the most fun things I've ever done, and having it air on television is just gravy.

Surprise By Design This is the link for today. My sisters, my friend Suzanne and I were in this TV show. I'm about to see it for the first time at noon today. My sister was very skeptical when she saw the bright colors they were using in her bedroom. The result is completely wild. Anyway, naturally I can't wait to see it. It comes on in 45 minutes so I don't have time to really say much. I'll log my reaction after.