(no subject)
Jan. 4th, 2012 01:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Iowa Caucus Results: Mitt Romney and Rick "frothy Residue" Santorum tied with 25% each. Ron Paul third with 21%. Then Newt 13%, Perry 10%, Bachmann 5%, Huntsman 1%. Everyone else less than 1%. Now to watch the drop off. Folks may stick in for New Hampshire and South Carolina or may cut losses now. Odds are, we'll be winnowed down to two or three by February.
* It's been pointed out that the Romney/Paul/Santorum race is a representation of the three wings of the party Reagan pulled together way back when: Romney=pro big business/hawkish mainstream, Paul=Libertarian low tax/small government thread, Santorum=anti-gay evangelicals. This rather makes sense to me as someone who's been watching national politics since the Ford/Carter election. (I remember doing this long thin 1000 piece puzzle of lobster backs in battle formation during one of the debates, and some homework during a different one. I remember my dad talking politics to me in the car on the way to and from school, and playing with the levers on the practice machine, pretending to vote. My age was single digits, but I was a bright little kid in a political household. Remember I still have the book report I wrote on the Hobbit that year, which my first grade teacher was sure I couldn't have read, but I could answer any question she threw at me to try to prove I was faking it. I may not have been tall enough to go on roller coasters, but I was paying attention.)
* I've noticed that some election night pundits are confused as to the difference between Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul's racist positions. Ron Paul is the one who advocated shooting black men. Rand Paul is the one arguing for the return of segregated lunch counters and the like. Yes, it's all disgusting that anyone still holds these opinions in the 21st century, but they are different racist policy positions and we need to keep straight who said what.
* My inner child finds the pundit question, "Will Bachmann support Santorum?" hilarious, especially given her "ex-gay" husband. My inner grown up just finds the whole thing terribly sad. The inherent sexism and misogyny in the evangelical electorate meant she hadn't a chance against any male evangelical candidate in Iowa, be it Perry or Santorum. The very reason they gave her early support is the same reason she hadn't a chance with her base. Her policy positions meant she hadn't a prayer with the non-evangelical reactionaries. On top of this, even though I try not to speculate marriages, everything she has said about hers makes me sad for her, though I suppose she doesn't see it that way.
* That trip was actually worse than I anticipated.
* During the long unpleasant slog, during which I had a whole lot of trouble controlling my legs, I came to a street corner, where, despite the brick and capricious wind, I could smell the armpits of the man who must have stood exactly there waiting for the previous light. Judging from the scent he'd been sweating a lot, had likely over-layered for wherever he was yesterday, and hadn't bathed in a day or two. I say he, as there was quite a bit of testosterone in the sweat, from the amount, I'm guessing he was college age. (I'd be seriously surprised if he were younger than seventeen or older than twenty-five, but 18-22 is my best guess from the smell). There was also lots of anxiety, and a touch of cannabis and incipient depression. I looked all four directions, but there was no one in sight except a couple of people also coming from the bus terminal, so I could not check his scent ghost against his person.
You can smell a lot more at dawn than you can later in the day when there is more exhaust, but contrast that with me standing 10-12 feet downwind from two women exchange students earlier in my trip, where all I could pick out was a relatively innocuous mid-level department store scent. The notes were familiar, but impossible to differentiate because the wind kept whisking it away sporadically just as I started to get a handle.
This, gentle reader, is one of the many reasons why I am not big on huge, close packed crowds (along with not liking strangers touching me). Imagine how confusing the signals are, especially when I'm say, jammed in a crowded elevator with unwashed convention goers or into a tiny, over-crowded panel room. This is why I could never go to ComicCon or DragonCon, even if I had the money. Imagine what, saw, the dealer's room would be like for me. Orycon is about as large as I can cope with, and there, I have the advantage of hiding in the room if the pain or the sensory input gets too overwhelming.
* I can not find my appointment card for the thing I thought was tomorrow, (Normally, I'd have written it right on the calendar, but I hadn't a calendar at the time, and the paper is not where I put it and the other one over a month ago.) nor have they called with the time. I'm thinking it may actually be Thursday. I'm going to have to phone them at too fucking early in the morning and hope it's a Thursday appointment.
* I really need a chiropractor visit and an hour of deep tissue massage, but no way is any of that happening.
* I think this exchange is really important. Perspective, history, and conrtext matter when it comes to sex and feminism also: http://uryel.tumblr.com/post/15181491162/soy-dulce-de-leche-only-women-will-ever-give-u-some
* Word: http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/15110565766
* Colbert on Santorum: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/405038/january-03-2012/indecision-2012---iowa-caucus
* It's been pointed out that the Romney/Paul/Santorum race is a representation of the three wings of the party Reagan pulled together way back when: Romney=pro big business/hawkish mainstream, Paul=Libertarian low tax/small government thread, Santorum=anti-gay evangelicals. This rather makes sense to me as someone who's been watching national politics since the Ford/Carter election. (I remember doing this long thin 1000 piece puzzle of lobster backs in battle formation during one of the debates, and some homework during a different one. I remember my dad talking politics to me in the car on the way to and from school, and playing with the levers on the practice machine, pretending to vote. My age was single digits, but I was a bright little kid in a political household. Remember I still have the book report I wrote on the Hobbit that year, which my first grade teacher was sure I couldn't have read, but I could answer any question she threw at me to try to prove I was faking it. I may not have been tall enough to go on roller coasters, but I was paying attention.)
* I've noticed that some election night pundits are confused as to the difference between Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul's racist positions. Ron Paul is the one who advocated shooting black men. Rand Paul is the one arguing for the return of segregated lunch counters and the like. Yes, it's all disgusting that anyone still holds these opinions in the 21st century, but they are different racist policy positions and we need to keep straight who said what.
* My inner child finds the pundit question, "Will Bachmann support Santorum?" hilarious, especially given her "ex-gay" husband. My inner grown up just finds the whole thing terribly sad. The inherent sexism and misogyny in the evangelical electorate meant she hadn't a chance against any male evangelical candidate in Iowa, be it Perry or Santorum. The very reason they gave her early support is the same reason she hadn't a chance with her base. Her policy positions meant she hadn't a prayer with the non-evangelical reactionaries. On top of this, even though I try not to speculate marriages, everything she has said about hers makes me sad for her, though I suppose she doesn't see it that way.
* That trip was actually worse than I anticipated.
* During the long unpleasant slog, during which I had a whole lot of trouble controlling my legs, I came to a street corner, where, despite the brick and capricious wind, I could smell the armpits of the man who must have stood exactly there waiting for the previous light. Judging from the scent he'd been sweating a lot, had likely over-layered for wherever he was yesterday, and hadn't bathed in a day or two. I say he, as there was quite a bit of testosterone in the sweat, from the amount, I'm guessing he was college age. (I'd be seriously surprised if he were younger than seventeen or older than twenty-five, but 18-22 is my best guess from the smell). There was also lots of anxiety, and a touch of cannabis and incipient depression. I looked all four directions, but there was no one in sight except a couple of people also coming from the bus terminal, so I could not check his scent ghost against his person.
You can smell a lot more at dawn than you can later in the day when there is more exhaust, but contrast that with me standing 10-12 feet downwind from two women exchange students earlier in my trip, where all I could pick out was a relatively innocuous mid-level department store scent. The notes were familiar, but impossible to differentiate because the wind kept whisking it away sporadically just as I started to get a handle.
This, gentle reader, is one of the many reasons why I am not big on huge, close packed crowds (along with not liking strangers touching me). Imagine how confusing the signals are, especially when I'm say, jammed in a crowded elevator with unwashed convention goers or into a tiny, over-crowded panel room. This is why I could never go to ComicCon or DragonCon, even if I had the money. Imagine what, saw, the dealer's room would be like for me. Orycon is about as large as I can cope with, and there, I have the advantage of hiding in the room if the pain or the sensory input gets too overwhelming.
* I can not find my appointment card for the thing I thought was tomorrow, (Normally, I'd have written it right on the calendar, but I hadn't a calendar at the time, and the paper is not where I put it and the other one over a month ago.) nor have they called with the time. I'm thinking it may actually be Thursday. I'm going to have to phone them at too fucking early in the morning and hope it's a Thursday appointment.
* I really need a chiropractor visit and an hour of deep tissue massage, but no way is any of that happening.
* I think this exchange is really important. Perspective, history, and conrtext matter when it comes to sex and feminism also: http://uryel.tumblr.com/post/15181491162/soy-dulce-de-leche-only-women-will-ever-give-u-some
* Word: http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/15110565766
* Colbert on Santorum: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/405038/january-03-2012/indecision-2012---iowa-caucus
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive