S A L E

I shall soon be moving into the House of Ben, and we had a superbly successful moving sale Saturday last-- the weather held without rain, and many walkers of the Avenue stopped to look, and to buy. (The photo above shows only a fraction of the myriad what-not 'twas for sale, as I hadn't a chance to snap a photo 'til afternoon.) A busy and fun day-- whirlwind purge of duplicates and extras before the the merging of our two homesteads.

Only a few boxes remained at the end so I have far less to pack than before, and we have a good start on saving money for a new couch, sorely needed.

post script: I'm happy to report that a few thing didn't sell (things which I'd marked pricey on purpose), so I got to keep tham after all. You know, there are some things that, once you see people looking at them like they are worthless, you just don't want to part with, despite trying to pare down.

McCain

*sigh* The RNC: frat party to GOP supporters and oligarchs alike. Whoo hoo!

Not even worth much in the way of typing, but...
(1) [Sen. McCain] "...and get this country back on the road to peace and prosperity."
Really? With Four More Years of same? Who got us into all this mess? The Republicans have, after all, held 20 of the past 28 years in Washington. He has plans to "shake up" Washington DC. If he has problems with the way things have been running, why has he sided with Bush on just about everything? Is he now re-negging on the past 8 years? It simply underscores that the people in that convention hall are the ones who would be there no matter who was nominated; there is no application of reasonable thought. "When he says he will "stop leaving all our country's problems for some unluckier generation," does none of the audience realize he can only be referring their party, especially under GW Bush?
It seems as ever, all a GOP candidate need do, ultimately, is say "Democrats will raise taxes!"

(2) [audience, chanting] "USA! USA! USA!"
Hmmm... Do they mistakenly think that they are at the Olympics, or some other venue in which this country is in competition with others? Do they not realize that both parties are, in fact, of and for the USA?

UGH.

Miserable Palin.

The RNC speeches were baseless, devoid of fact or reason, and generally nausea-inducing. Giuliani is more desperate than ever (and such a tool)! Hard to watch the speeches; embarrassing that so many were there with their hateful BOOs and misplaced applause and cheering. Sadly, the GOP has done very well by appealing to culture-clash points and derision.

I'm pasting the following bullet points on Palin here (courtesy of MoveOn.org), just because they ought to be widespread. Book-burning. Really? So sad. Please let not a single Hillary vote go to the GOP on account of this wretched woman-- er, bulldog.


• Palin recently said that the war in Iraq is "God's task." She's even admitted she hasn't thought about the war much—just last year she was quoted saying, "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

• Palin has actively sought the support of the fringe Alaska Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin told members of the group—who advocate for a vote on secession from the union—to "keep up the good work" and "wished the party luck on what she called its 'inspiring convention.'"

• Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools. She hasn't made clear whether she thinks evolution is a fact.

• Palin doesn't believe that humans contribute to global warming. Speaking about climate change, she said, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being manmade."

• Palin has close ties to Big Oil. Her inauguration was even sponsored by BP.

• Palin is extremely anti-choice. She doesn't even support abortion in the case of rape or incest.

• Palin opposes comprehensive sex-ed in public schools. She's said she will only support abstinence-only approaches.

• As mayor, Palin tried to ban books from the library. Palin asked the library how she might go about banning books because some had inappropriate language in them—shocking the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker. According to Time, "news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor."

• She DID support the Bridge to Nowhere (before she opposed it). Palin claimed that she said "thanks, but no thanks" to the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. But in 2006, Palin supported the project repeatedly, saying that Alaska should take advantage of earmarks "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."