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We're Official!

Ben and I got our Colorado driver licenses and registered to vote yesterday.

The only thing that remains to complete the transition from Arizona to Colorado is to get the car registered.  I have 90 days to do that.

I also finally got the aquarium back up and running yesterday.  No more staring at the empty tank, the constant remember that this place wasn't yet "home."

I bought gravel on the commute back from work on Wednesday. Thursday morning I set the tank up and then let it just sit—as recommended—for 24 hours.  Since it is for all intents, a new setup and the nitrogen cycle hasn't yet been established, I had to be kind of conservative with my initial critter selection. Surprisingly, the fish recommended by the store owner were ones I would've wanted to get eventually anyway: 3 black skirts, 5 red-eyes, and 5 serape tetras.  I haven't selected a bottom feeder yet; I'm hoping to find the same species of plecastomous that I had in Phoenix, but can't remember what type it was:

Hopefully one of my aquarist readers can identify it, because its looking very unlikely that my sister is going to be willing to give him back. After about two and a half years he'd only grown to about three inches in length, the maximum size the store initially told me and perfect for this relatively small (29 gallon) aquarium.

Ultimately I'd like to get several Clown Loaches (my sister isn't willing to part with them either), some Neons, maybe some Micky Mouse Platys, and a couple Glass Cats or Pearl Gouramis…

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Obama-Clinton 2012?

The Wall Street Journal speculates:

Paul Starr, co-editor of The American Prospect, a liberal-left magazine, has observed that 45 percent of the people who disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance view Mrs. Clinton favorably. It is fair to say that Mrs. Clinton's addition to the ticket would be a substantial gain for President Obama that he badly needs next November, since she is, as Mr. Starr notes, a member of the part of his administration that has the highest approval rating, and more important she has not at all been a part of the disastrous economic policies that have caused the Obama drop in popularity.

Even better for Election Day, she would gain support among older white voters, who did not support Mr. Obama very much in 2008. Mr. Starr also cites a Suffolk University Florida poll that shows that Mrs. Clinton on the Obama ticket would win Florida for the two of them, even if Sen. Marco Rubio is the Republican's vice presidential candidate. One more advantage: With Mrs. Clinton comes her husband, who would very much want to get his wife elected, and also might be interested in a position in the Obama-Clinton administration.

Put me down as a "Yes!"

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Happy Karen Black Friday

At least now we know why he was in such an awful mood!

(There is a huge backstory to this picture, but I'll save it for another time in the interest of protecting the [not so] innocent.)

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Dear Governor Douchebag…

It's called free speech. If you don't like it, perhaps renouncing your American citizenship and accepting a position with the Chinese government might better suit you.

I'll bet if you peeled its skin back you'd find one of these underneath.

Why is it always the fucking Republicans who have no concept of—and utter contempt for—the principles upon which this country was founded?!?

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Quote of the Day

"Can we just ask EVERY voter, "Do you watch Fox news?" If they say yes, have someone jangle a key ring in front of their face and lead them out the back door… they will think they've voted… no harm, no foul. Right?" – comment at Talking Points Memo

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Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

I have a theory, and may the FSM help us all if it turns out to be right.

Pretty much everyone you speak to agrees that every member of the current crop of Republican wannabe Presidential contenders is unelectable, if not certifiably insane.

The GOP base may be dumber than a box of rocks, but let's face it: the Republican leadership is anything but. They're shrewd, underhanded, and as we have seen time and again, downright fucking evil.  They hate Obama and the ideals of our democracy with a burning passion, and aren't going to put anyone up against him who doesn't have a reasonable chance of winning the presidency in 2012, and none of members of the Republican Clown Car has a chance in hell of pulling that off.

My theory is that they're going to pull an "August Surprise" next year. They're going to roll out their true anointed one during the national convention, someone as ignorant and as malleable as their base, but with an outwardly agreeable personality that will appeal to the masses; someone  guaranteed of giving Obama a real run for his money.

Two names immediately come to mind, and both scare the living crap out of me: Sarah Palin and Jeb Bush. Yeah, yeah, neither one is supposedly interested in the job, but that doesn't mean shit. Remember Republicans lie. That's all they know how to do. So you can safely ignore what we're seeing now. It's nothing more than a diversion, a freak-filled circus sideshow existing only to make the chosen one all the more appealing to "mainstream" Republican and Independent voters when the time comes.

I hope I'm not right about this, because if it happens, our nation—already teetering on the edge of the the corporate/fascist abyss—will go right over. Hitler didn't have the technology or resources to succeed at this and Orwell's 1984 was 30 years premature. If we end up with another Republican president and Congress, you can kiss everything this country has supposedly stood for over the last 200 years goodbye.