Together With McGovern

I am very saddened to hear that Senator George McGovern is nearing the end of his life and may be gone by the time I write this. I have always been a great admirer of his. I had lived through the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy (two of my childhood heroes) in the 1960s, and realized the height of ugliness that politics and power spawns. I opposed the VietNam war and wondered if there was any chance that reason and sanity would ever prevail in this country.

Back in 1972, when I was a young woman/girl I still had idealism and hope when it came to politics. McGovern was intelligent, was not born privileged, and had such a big heart too. He wanted to help the poor and hungry, and wanted to end the war. He was a true liberal.

I was living in southern Illinois at the time, in the college town of Carbondale, and because of the student population there, McGovern was quite popular. I volunteered to help with his campaign, which meant all manner of things, but mostly just calling lists of people on the phone to make a pitch for him and get out the vote. The part of it that was really fun was the comraderie of the group, and the fact that he made a campaign stop in a little, tiny airport in that area. We all got to meet him and get handshakes and autographs. The part of it that was not fun was when they put us on a bus and sent us 80 miles to the west, to Belleville, so that we could call people up there. I know this is hard to imagine now, but that's the only way it could be done with our landline phones to avoid long-distance charges. What a wake-up call it was for me. Belleville was a more typical small midwestern town, very unlike Carbondale. It was actually pretty conservative, and the constant flow of telephone rejection I experienced was unbelievable.

On election night, McGovern was badly defeated by President Richard Nixon, the people chose Nixon, who resigned in disgrace and scandal a couple of years later.

I was soured on politics after that experience. I seriously doubt that a liberal can be elected to President of the United States, or even be the nominee (sorry Kucinich). The Democrats don't want another ass-whupping ala 1972. Obama is not a liberal, never was, and never claimed to be (neither was Hillary, for that matter). He is a solid moderate. I am voting for him and supporting him - not because I agree with all his views or actions, some I do and some I don't - but mainly because voting for Obama is the ONLY way to prevent President Romney (and Vice President Ryan) from becoming the new leaders of the free world. Embrace that little nightmare for a moment or two. It could happen, it really could. President Romney... soak it in...

Everybody please VOTE in November. Vote your conscience, your heart, your head, your attitude... just do it... even if the Presidential candidates don't grab you, vote for your legislators, your school board, propositions, bonds, judges, the dogcatcher. I don't call people on the phone to canvass or campaign, but I put signs in the yard, stickers on my car, and I go to the polls every time there's something to be voted on.

George McGovern wikipedia

Vincent

In the spirit of the time of year, here's a delightful little short from Tim Burton, narrated by Vincent Price, on the topic of Edgar Allen Poe. Perfect.

I've seen this one before, but it's worth another view. Or two.

They are missed.

There has been a rash of missing kitties in my neighborhood... a few dogs here and there must mostly cats. It's normal to see a flyer or two, always, but I have been shocked at the number of them. This is not even all of the various flyers, there is at least one more within these few blocks that I didn't photograph, and most have cropped up in the last 2 months.

I was afraid it might be a human killer (and there is no proof that it isn't), but MrB was riding his bike the other morning and saw a healthy coyote. This is very likely what is going on. [Coyotes and cats]

I am thinking of making a flyer of my own saying "COYOTES HAVE BEEN SEEN. PLEASE KEEP SMALL PETS INDOORS."

Raaaid!!

On Sunday, when driving home from shopping I saw some cop cars with flashing lights parked on the opposite side of the road. As I got closer I saw that they were all getting out of their cars and running towards the someone's back gate with guns drawn. Then they were all there at the gate, ready to shoot if necessary. One was pointing a rifle [UPDATE: or more likely it was a shotgun, I am told]. My head was spinning at the sight of this, thinking I don't really want to be anywhere close by there for whatever happens next, so I pushed down on the gas a little more.

Now you might be picturing a city scene here, bricks, sidewalks, the most common visual we have for police raids thanks to TV and movies, but this was a nice, quiet suburban street and the alley behind the house was more of a greenspace... and neatly mowed too. The backyard was enclosed in a typical Texas cedar plank fence. It was a stark contrast to the pointed guns and it's hard to get the image of it out of my head now.

I figured this would eventually be in the news, but so far I have seen no mention of it. False call? Maybe. Probably.