when i post to BlueOregon, i hope, of course, for positive feedback. i hope a few people tell me "great post" or "well said" or something like that. and i do get those frequently. now and then, i expect i'll get just the opposite; there are trolls and Rs who hang out in the site, and they get their jollies acting like 7-year-olds (i'm not talking about constructive critiques here; i'm talking the equivalent of "your post sucks liberals suck you suck"). sometimes my posts generate converation, and sometimes only a few people find it worth their time to post a reply. i take each as it comes.

this is what the election was all about last year, the reason above all reasons we could not let bush win. well, they cheated their way to victory again (ohio; i do not believe ohio was the least bit clean), and they won. and now, after putzing around with harriet and roberts, we have the real deal. the Chosen One. the absolute right-winger who will, beyond any doubt, undo every civil liberty the wingnuts can bring before the court.

he cannot be allowed on the court. whatever lies they tell, whatever pressure they place, he cannot be allowed on the court. here in oregon, we have to ensure that wyden holds the line. we have to work on smith, somehow get smith to accept that alito is outside the moderate center of america (he is). we have to get snowe and other moderate republicans to stand with the people of this country and not their alleged president.

i enjoy how easy it is to delete comments & block users. there's someone who thinks s/he can provoke me by posting homophogic comments on the site, but i just go click-click-click and it's all gone. i can get rid of that slime in about a tenth of the time it takes him/her to spew it -- what a loser! i mean, with all there is to do in this world, to waste your time trying to goad someone by demonstrating you are a horse's ass (i apologize to the equine world)? i think i might have been bothered when i was seven or eight; now, i just enjoy being able to blot out their efforts so easily.

This is the most beautiful time of year in Corvallis. The beautiful greens of summer transform into all the various colors of autumn, and I long for the ability to translate the wonder and joy I feel into words. I try to resist the urge to add a chapter to A Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek.

One of the prettiest changes is quite ironic: Trees that assume the exact colors of the University of Oregon. As a former Duck, I enjoy how many of these trees there are in Corvallis. The entire town, including much of the university's campus, is filled with these trees proclaiming in green and yellow the glories of Mighty Oregon. Eventually, of course, the orange of OSU will emerge, but the accompanying black will only be found in dank, matted piles of decaying leaves. Not a pretty sight.

I simply have too much to say. I really do care about what's going on in the world, and I want to be part of the solutions. I try to be part of local solutions, but the thing I most want to do -- fix the world with my writing -- is a lot harder to do. The whole publishing thing is tough enough, getting my completed words to places where people will read them; I'd really like to get paid for writing, but for now, in these nascent stages, I'm happy when I get the chance to be read for free. Just to be read: for me, that's the goal right now. In time, if I keep pushing forward, I'll get paid gigs. Maybe I'll even become a Professional Writer.

I saw TJ downtown today, just a few minutes ago, I was driving up 2nd Street, not really sure where I was going, either Squirrels or Sunnyside-Up, maybe The Beanery. As I drove by the corner, I tried to look into The Beanery, tried to see if it was crowded, specifically the seats by the window, not for the view -- there is no view, not unless cars and pedestrians and whatnot count as view, and for me they do not -- that's where the power points are, the plugs for my laptop, the means for sitting for longer than the Powerbook's battery life of about ninety minutes. But I don't need that much time this afternoon, don't have that time free to sit and drink coffee or beer and Beanery is not my favorite, it was a quick look, a glance with more concern for possibly causing some kind of accident than for a seat by the powered window, glance and then look ahead, drive safe.

David Gelernter, in today's L.A. Times, wrote of the Bush doctrine:

But what about the doctrine's moral coherence? Why are we targeting some evil regimes and ignoring others?

Because our strength is great but not unlimited. The Bush Doctrine doesn't excuse the president from protecting U.S. security and interests first and foremost. So we can't do all the good we would like to, which doesn't absolve us from doing as much as we can. Overthrowing tyrants, in this sense, is like showing charity. We have no power to give to everyone, no right to give to no one. The United States cannot sweep away every tyrant. But if we don't sweep away some, don't do what we can for the tortured peoples of this Earth, what are we doing at the top?

Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. There's no more money to spend. You used up all of that. You can't start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people.

Yeah, listen to your mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out, and no one is speaking to you: mission accomplished! Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or spaceman?!