Early morning, October 13, 2008. The election is winding down, but the outcome is still, in my mind, unsettled.

The McSame campaign has opened up the door for all that bubbling shit pile of racial bigotry to come oozing out at his campaign rallies. The expectant father worried about the safety of his unborn fetus if Obama is elected due to his sympathy for terrorists. The addled old lady (who we only see from the back so we can all note her rat's nest hair) mouthing the words "....he's an Arab" and watching McSame grab the microphone out of her hand an offering a lame rebuttal that he's a good man and he's not Arab. The yells of "TERRORIST" and the surprisingly fey "OFF WITH HIS HEAD" from the rabid McSame crowd leave a lot of people wondering where this whole thing went wrong.

I actually know where this did go wrong. It's a result of a campaign that has lost all of its moorings, and has no other message to offer. It's a return to the same old shit of impugning the character of your opponent rather than facing down the issues. It also plays to that portion of the populace that is very concerned that Obama is not, wait for it, white. Hell, Para Salin has already dropped the bomb that Sen. Obama is not really like one of us. Who's us, white lady?

For the first time this year, it was actually kind of a necessity to wear a jacket between the dash from the parking structure to our building. It is beautiful. Nice sleeping weather, with daytime highs in the upper 60's to 70's, a day/night swing of about 35 degrees. This is truely the nicest time of the year.

Work has been about the same, some successes but mostly just tedium. It's been extremely helpful to have Beth's income, and this time around, we are not going to squander it. With the uncertainty in the financial markets, we need to make sure we're saving some coin.

OK, onward. I want to spend some time composing a political post and organize some more memoir based posts.

I was flashing on the memory yesterday of standing in my folks' den for Sheri's first marriage. Wow. I was maybe 19 or 20. That was so long ago, and so much has happened, mostly bad, in my sister's life since then. More on that in later posts.

We need to go travel soon. I'm still trying to get out to San Diego so I can see if I still know how to scuba. Joseph will be a very good dive buddy, and it'd be a hoot to go get wet (or dry, depending if I get to use my dry suit).

Peace.