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September 29, 2008

Obama in The Lead!

Check it out:

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/9/29/94012/0875

I’m running to class, but have very good news that you probably have already read about — wizards whave been saying for over a month that if all goes well, as planned… Even if Obama doesn’t win the general election, he could win the electoral votes needed because of… Co-lorado, Colorado, Colorado… Colorado. Hallelujah, hallelujah… CO-LORADO check it out:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/search/label/colorado

 

gotta run,

Anita Thompson

 

 





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September 28, 2008

Thank You!

Wow. Thanks Peter! What a dazzling birthday mssg. I love you guys. Thanks so much for the sparkling blog and sweet emails. I did indeed have a lovely birthday.

I started my day off early and rebelled in Bikram yoga class with an extra long camel pose (if you’re not familiar, it’s the one you spend the entire sweaty 105 degree hour and 20 minutes preparing to bend in half, backwards.) If done properly, you come out of it high as a kite. I was tripping for a splendid hour after.

It rained all day, so I decided to buy myself an expensive umbrella (the kind that hold ups against gusts of wind, rather than flipping inside out and flinging you onto a taxicab’s hood). I skipped home and spent the rest of the day polishing off Pudd’nhead Wilson. I used to think Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was my favorite, besides Hunter’s books, but Mark Twain has my heart for now.

Yes, I did watch most of the presidential debate. Seems to me it was a draw. Despite the polls, I’m feeling better about November thanks to the electoral predictions. More on that later.

Anyway, back to the books, another book. If you haven’t read The Best and The Brightest, by the late, great David Halberstam (which you probably have, as it’s sold almost 2 million copies since it’s publication in 1969) do. That’s what I’m reading this week for one of my seminars taught by Professor Todd Gitlin. I had no idea how much shadow the McCarthy era cast on politics of Washington leading up to Vietnam. Jesus.

So… back to Mark Twain:

We know all about the habits of the ant, we know all about the habits of the bee, but we know nothing at all about the habits of the oyster. It seems almost certain that we have been choosing the wrong time for studying the oyster. — Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar

Until next time, your friend, who just turned 29 again,

Anita Thompson

p.s. And a Happy Birthday to the lovely Jerri Merritt of Talkleft.com!

p.p.s. Huge condolences to Paul Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward and his family. He left an incredible legacy of generosity through his Newman’s Own foundation that has helped millions of people. You’ll be missed Mr. Newman…





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September 27, 2008

Happy Birthday Anita!

Happy Birthday

-From Everyone at GonzoStore, Owl Farm & The Woody Creeker.





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September 24, 2008

Bull Elk In The Rut

A man on the scent of the White House is rarely rational. He is more like a beast in heat: a bull elk in the rut.

The bull elk is a very crafty animal for about fifty weeks of the year; his senses are so sharp that only an artful stalker can get within a thousand yards of him . . . but when the rut comes on, in the autumn, any geek with the sense to blow an elk-whistle can lure a bull elk right up to his car in ten minutes if he can drive within hearing range.

The dumb bastards lose all control of themselves when the rut comes on. Their eyes glaze over, their ears pack up with hot wax, and their loins get heavy with blood. Anything that sounds like a cow elk in rut will fuse the central nervous systems of every bull on the mountain. They will race through the timber like huge cannonballs, trampling small trees and scraping off bloody chunks of their own hair on the unyielding bark of the big ones. They behave like sharks in a feeding frenzy, attacking each other with all the demented violence of human drug dealers gone mad on their own wares.

A career politician finally smelling the White House is not much different from a bull elk in the rut. He will stop at nothing, trashing anything that gets in his way; and anything he can’t handle personally he will hire out–or, failing that, make a deal. It is a difficult syndrome for most people to understand, because few of us ever come close to the kind of Ultimate Power and Achievement that the White House represents to a career politician. [more]

The presidency is as far as he can go. There is no more. The currency of politics is power, and once you’ve been the Most Powerful Man in the World for four years, everything else is downhill–except four more years on the same trip.

Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72

This makes perfect sense when I read the lead article this morning in one of my favorite newspapers:

‘Boring,’ Hillary Clinton Shouts From Senate Seat

September 24, 2008

 

WASHINGTON— In a blatant show of disgust and indifference toward her senatorial duties, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) repeatedly yelled "boring" from her seat Wednesday, interrupting New Mexico senator Jeff Bingaman’s speech in support of S. 3125, a bill that would extend certain expiring provisions of the Internal Tax Revenue Code of 1986.

Clinton’s declaration of boredom and the various iterations that followed—including shouts of "Bored," "I’m bored," "This is stupid," "This is boring," and "Oh my God, I’m so bored"—were not reportedly targeted at one person in particular but at the entire assembly. According to those senators present, Clinton delivered her unprompted remarks while she slouched in her chair, rested her head atop the back of her seat, and fixed her eyes on the Senate Chamber’s ceiling.

"Shut up," a visibly exasperated Clinton said in a forceful monotone when Sen. Bingaman attempted to resume his speech. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."

"Stop being boring," Clinton added. "Why can’t we do something fun for a change, like run for president?"

Despite suggestions from nearby legislators that she keep her voice down, Clinton once again interrupted Bingaman before the conclusion of his speech when she began a slow, exaggerated clap for her colleague in an apparent attempt to get him to leave the podium. When Bingaman tried to speak above the clapping, Clinton addressed him with pointed sarcasm, saying, "Great speech, Jeff. Just great. Really brought the house down."

Clinton then reportedly asked the senator seated next to her, "How long do these things go?" and spent the next 45 minutes slowly rubbing her temples. read the whole article here.

Until next time, your friend,

Anita Thompson





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September 16, 2008

Dow Jones Down, Jobs Down, White Privilege Still Up… Polls Down. What??

Hey… I’m back in NYC, out of the convent, into an apartment, almost out my allotted computer time.  Also, out of patience and terrified by yesterday’s Lehmann collapse and the plummeting employment, and even worse, the plummeting polls. Here is a link my good friend David (a privileged white guy) sent today. It’s an excellent read. I’m now just getting to know the work of  Tim Wise:

This is Your Nation on White Privilege 

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll “kick their fuckin’ ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”


[more from Wise]

Click on Tim Wise home page to get comments from readers and more of his insightful Time Wise writing:

This is Your Nation on White Privilege 

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay. 

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll “kick their fuckin’ ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office–since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s–while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do–like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor–and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college–you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”


White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.


And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…


White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Well put Tim…

Your friend,

Anita Thompson





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September 11, 2008

George McGovern and Abraham Lincoln

Good morning. Yes, it’s September 11th in NYC. The sun is out, people are in line at Starbucks, the trains are full, business is running apace, the beautiful Sisters at St. Hilda’s Convent are tending to their affairs, Football season is on (hi to our friend Paul Kelly from down the coast!) and all is well in the City.

George McGovern was in NYC yesterday for a board meeting and also to wrap up his book on Abraham Lincoln. He’s been doing research and writing it with editors for well over a year — and  turned it in at 5:30 yesterday. Congratulations senator! Abraham Lincoln: The American Presidents Series: The 16th President, 1861-1865 is one of the series of books by Time Books that has been publishing titles about past presidents by various living political heroes. Bill Clinton and the George McGovern both wanted to write about Abe. George won this one, and I’m happy to say it will be out in time for Xmas!

The Senator went back to Washington and says hello. He’s doing great.

Also I don’t know if I mentioned that Sam Scinta from Fulcrum Press (the wonderful publisher that George introduced me to write The Gonzo Way) held a private luncheon to honor the the Senator at the Denver Convention. It was indeed a lovely event with Walter Mondale, Kitty Kennedy, Gary Hart, Michael Dukakis, Doug Brinkley and others were there to dine and toast to McGovern. George misses Hunter as much as the rest of us, and I’m sure Hunter was there… right Hunter? 

Anyway, I’ve gotta run to campus. Yes,  Barack Obama and John McCain will be at Columbia today where 15,000 students, including me signed up in a weird computer lottery to go. The computer didn’t pick me,   and press passes are in a pit under the stage behind guard dogs and armed police (as it were).  So instead, I"ll be on a plane flying home to Owl Farm for two days… I won’t deny I do have the best of both worlds. And don’t deny that I like to flee either one at any given time (Thanks to the Celtic Magic of Linda Luke who gave me Buddy Pass access on Frontier airlines). Oaky, talk soon!!

Your friend, Anita Thompson






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September 06, 2008

I Can Cry If I Want To

Good morning! So I woke up at 6am to emails complaining that I’m bashing the Democrats. If it’s true, then maybe it’s true that we do actually bash those we love most. I’m not the only one angry at my party, particularly the super delegates, for letting this happen. Don’t take my word for it, look at the polls.  Hello.

http://www.gallup.com/tag/Gallup%2bDaily.aspx 

Yes, It’s my party and I can cry if I want to…

Anita Thompson

 

Afternoon update: Thanks Kristina for sending some more optimistic polls: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ 

and SF Chronicle article saying everything is going to be okay, thanks to the electoral college.





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September 05, 2008

Curiouser and Curiouser…

This morning I left the convent early to get to campus, and to check my email etc. Whenever I see an email from Ralph, my spirit is lifted, even if it’s a depressing topic. (this one on the current RNC which I have been TRYING to avoid)  

From over here the stakes look weird and unexpected. You wanted Hillary and it looks like, in the most perverse way, that Palin woman could win for McCain- in spite of 8 years of the most hideous presidency in living memory- a stumbling economy and a divisive Foreign Policy for the dumbest and silliest. I wouldn’t have known two weeks ago that you could get to here from there. It is almost like a conjuror’s Illusion and you look twice to see how the transformation took place. Beware the fickle! It’s as though party strategists have kept her ass cool on some floating iceberg up there in Alaska and produced her like a rabbit out of a hat. That’s entertainment and that is exactly the knack she has. It’s a trick but it’s a neat one.

Speaking as a bloke- albeit a Welsh one! I don’t find it hard to imagine armies of heavy-breathing guys from Maine down to Alabama and west across to Sacramento, already shifting their earlier resolve to get the Republicans out once and for all and saying the Hell with it. That’s for me and you can bring the old ‘un along too. He’s got a couple of years left in him and he can teach her as they go. Politics goes straight out the window- or maybe that IS the new politics. Politics and Sex! Just a few thoughts as I watch this Capitol Hill Circus regroup and change the shape of what was, up to last weekend, a ruinous Hurricane. There are still over 50 days to go so even more alarming things can happen. I am so sorry that Hillary and Barack wasted so much time and energy on egos.

Meanwhile, take care and I love you……. RALPHXXXX [more… from anita]

Dearest Ralph:

I’ve been living in the convent, and starting classes, so I try to stay away from the
political disaster right now. But I couldn’t help but check out the RNC and… oh lord,
that’s the perfect analogy, Rabbit out of a Hat!

Remember Bush Senior grabbed Condolezza Rice when she was just a Provost, and molded her
into part of the machine. But maybe it wasn’t so much a trick with Condi, but a long term
strategy? With Palin, a spectacular, yes TRICK, that is a thing of beauty for them if it
works. (would it have worked if Obamba picked Clinton as his running mate?) Who knows.

I had the sick feeling in my heart when Obama was making his over-the top acceptance
speech with fireworks, fcolumns and 86,000 people screaming that McCain "doesn’t get
it." Oh dear, I thought. McCain DOES get it.

It was an honor to see Obama make history as the first African-American to be
nominated for the spot. Could that heal some of our problems? But as the polls were
dropping, it was like watching Nero. As the Christians were  blamed for the fires, maybe Hillary
supporters will be blamed for this debacle too. who knows.

Hunter said it’s time for the Democrats to "go the way of the Whigs," who
managed to have THREE presidents in 2 decades — we’ve had barely TWO.  Teddible
teddible!!!!

Anyway, it is so great to hear from you. I was depressed after the convention, which was
actually a circus/ Fall Collection show with too many people. I didn’t write much, and
just wanted to get the hell out of there, and did. Despite the fact I was with good friends,

I missed Hunter every minute.

I’ve been thinking about you, and am happy to read your take on the situation.
You sound SOUND but very irritated that we could let this happen after 8 years of global
embarrassment, let alone global destruction. You’re waitng for us to do the right thing,
but it ain’t looking good.

On a positive note… you should be receiving a box of Woody Creeker soon. Your cover and
article are FANTASTIC. Everybody is in a tizzy about it. It’s already a collector’s item.
I didn’t pass many out at the convention b/c they were getting lost in the million other
magazines and pamphlets. So now, they’re being snatched up in Aspen by the Music
Festival/ Bob Dylan crowd, and even the obscenely rich crowd.

I’ll bring my laptop to campus tomorrow to open your artwork. I can’t wait to see some
inspiring God-Art! Although I’m a long way away from ever being a good Christian, I LOVE
living at the convent. We don’t have internet, and cellphones are not allowed. Total
silence after 9pm. As you walk by the nuns in the hallways, they smile and say nothing.
Very peaceful, which only makes me love NYC even more when I step out of the nunnery
gates. I guess that is what Hunter would call "balance." But I’ll move into an apartment soon. 

I have a few pieces of your artwork that you’ve emailed in storage to put on the walls. Always
cheers me up to see my brother’s art on the wall.

How are the kids and the baby? Anna must be thrilled to to have a full house, and
hopefully some help too, running the place. Please send everyone my love. Talk soon.

XXXX Sis

 

 

Your Friend in St. Agnus in NYC,

Anita Thompson





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