Garrison Keillor, my man

“Or as Jesus said, ‘Whatsoever ye do unto the least of these, the same ye do unto me.‘ And so the great test of the state is the state of the public schools and the treatment of the elderly, the ill, the demented, the incarcerated. And so the adoption of torture as American policy, and loosing the darkness of the soul upon some poor manacled taxi driver at Guantánamo who got snatched up six years ago because he had the same last name as somebody on the CIA's list, and some fine young Caltech grad is shoving Ahmad's head into a toilet—this is no small matter.”

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To those who say they'll sit this one out

When I read the news on Salon about Obama’s choice of Joe Biden this morning, I raced through the story to get to the reader’s comments. To me, people’s reactions are the true story.

The comments were mostly positive, except for several bitter posts from those disappointed he didn’t choose Hillary. Most claimed they’ll sit out the election, or vote for McCain. The best arguments I can make for them to reconsider came from this letter, written by a woman named Jen:

Of course folks who campaigned for Hillary may be disappointed that she is not the VP candidate. Though, I can't see how this can come of a surprise. Moreover, as the Clinton campaign memos leaked to the Atlantic made embarrassingly clear, this was hers to loose. And she did, just like Gore in 2000.

I'm not thrilled with Obama or Biden. But to say you'd sit this one out means you've been living in a different country than I have in the past 8 years.

You haven't been living in a country that now is a torturer; or turned its back on its citizens in New Orleans, turning them into refugees; or expanded rampant deregulation that helped fuel the housing crisis that put cash in the pockets of speculators. You apparently aren't living in a country where food banks are running out of supplies and are turning hungry families away. Or killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Or trying to reduce the benefits available to returning veterans.

You are going to sit this one out and potentially allow McCain to be elected who will continue most of the misguided policies of his predecessor?

That's reprehensible.

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Beautiful light

When I saw the light falling on this BB King poster I got from Hatch Show Prints in Nshville I had to snap it. It is lying on a side table in my studio, in a pile of things I intend to deal with in some fashion. This one I would like to frame and place over the piano but that’s low priority.

Finished posting all our photos from Ireland here. Going through them brought the trip back to mind.

Since we’ve been back—a week now—I’ve only been to town twice: to the liquor store on Sunday and last night to see Mama Mia. It was the kind of movie we seldom gravitate to, but I loved Meryl Streep and the surreal color and fantasy of it. But not going to town has been a conscious decision, based on a desire to bask in summer in the woods by the lake. Taking a G&T and getting into the water on a floatie at the end of the day is sublime. I forget about the cares of the day as a gentle tide takes me out to the middle of the small lake. Sounds mostly of wildlife, hardly ever a car passing.

Our garden, such an ambitious undertaking, has had mixed results. Just as we left for Ireland the tomatoes began to ripen, and looked like they’d be abundant and big. Then some horrible caterpillars attacked the leaves of the plants and almost killed them. We did manage to can nine jars of dill pickles today from our cucumbers. But that was almost the entire crop to date. Lots to learn and I’m glad to be doing it. It is a great counterpoint to my mostly online, high-tech career.

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