As a bonus for link-laden-blog-day, check out this video.

Since I'm only a bit more recovered than I was yesterday, I'm settling for a link-laden blog today.  (Hope y'all don't mind too much!)  I spent the morning going through this week's Newsweek and found several articles I think folks should read.

The first is the cover story, "Only in America."  The article addresses Hillary's argument (and likely McCain's argument if Obama wins the Democratic nomination) that he is somehow "elitist" and out of touch with mainstream Americans.  (Maureen Dowd is quoted parsing Obama's food choices as if she is an oracle gazing at entrails.  I find myself wishing more and more these days that she'd just shut up.)

Mainstream Americans meaning blue-collar, high-school graduates earning around $50,000 per year.  The speculation is that this will be the deciding battleground for the presidency and that McCain is likely to be better at getting such individuals to vote against their economic interests by using his just-folks appeal than Obama will be at getting them to ignore his "otherness."

I'm beginning to see him referred to as "other" more and more often.  It seems dangerously like a code word for "black" to me.  Anyone else seeing this?

The second is a series of essays about Obama's candidacy, kicked off by the (imho) odious Karl Rove who supplies sound advice about Obama's campaign after devoting the first four paragraphs of his column to pigeon-holing Obama as elitist in what might actually be a preview of Republican strategy against him.

Jonathan Alter supplies a succinct summary of the real issue of the candidacies of Obama (Hope) and Clinton/McCain (Fear).

And then there's Fareed Zakaria, one of my favorite global political thinkers, talking about McCain's recent (scary) proclamations about Russia and China.

There.  That should keep each of you busy with a little light reading while I head back to the couch.

I actually did laundry today.  Most of the rest of the day was playing video games and blowing my nose...but I am able to breathe (a bit) and coughing is down to every few minutes instead of every few seconds.

If this trajectory keeps up, I should be mostly recovered by Thursday!

Woohoo.

(And yes, Sally, I did use the nasal bidet.  It was hysterical since I couldn't get the fluid up past the actual nose.)

Is that tmi for a blog??

That's how I feel today (thanks to the miracle of Dayquil).  I felt significantly less human when I awoke, but figured out by about 10:30 am that sometimes drugs are our friends. 

This is one of those times.

It's fitting (given that I'm only 10% human today) that I'm spending the day watching the last two disks of Battlestar Galactica-Season Three.  The show is a dark update of the 1970's campy sci-fi series about a refugee group of humans, fleeing the robot race (Cylons) they created to serve them.

In the updated version, there are "skin jobs"-- cyborgs who appear human and aren't.  One of the cliffhangers from last season (Season 3) was the revelation of the "final five" skin jobs.  I've been waiting since the season ended in early 2007 for the series to begin again.

And yet...

I had deleted the series from my automatic recording list on the DVR.  Today I went to look up some trivia and found out I'm four shows behind on the final season. 

Arghh!!

The good news, SciFi channel is offering the shows for viewing online.  The bad news is that I'd much prefer to download them onto I-Tunes and watch them using my Sonic Impact on the big screen tv.  Alas, no longer available on I-Tunes.

It would be enough to send me back to the couch if I weren't already on my way there.  (Kleenex--check.  Water--check.  Remote--check.)  Here's hoping for 50% Human by tomorrow.

Still down with a sinus infection but the good news is that it appears to be breaking up...and I'm getting LOTS of reading and movie watching done.

We saw a predictable but enjoyable pop-corn romance today, Lucky You with Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana.  Nothing earth shattering but I've been playing a lot of video poker lately, so I enjoyed the plot about a professional poker player who "plays cards the way [he] should lead [his] life" and leads "[his] life like [he] should play cards."  There was one great line, having to do with the difference between competition and relationships that was worth the price of admission.  I can't find it in the movie quotes but it goes something like "Maybe there's more to forgiveness than winning and losing."

I also saw a fairly bad horror film, Silent Hill, which I wouldn't even recommend to horror fans.  Love the actors in it (Rahda Mitchell, Sean Bean).  Hated the film.

The best news here is that both films were free with my Cox cable On Demand/DVR.  One was on HBO (which we pay for and thus get free HBO movies on demand).  The other was on the mystery channel. 

Still, I'm looking forward to getting off the couch in the next few days.  Free mediocre movies are okay for sick time...but there's nothing like being healthy and paying to see mediocre movies in a theatre.

I came down with (another) sinus infection whilst at my Mom's (celebrating her birthday with a movie and dinner).  So our trip to New Orleans for the Jazz Festival has been cancelled and I'm spending time on the couch.

The enforced coach potato position has given me time to prowl through some movies that were out a while ago but that I never got to see.  I recommend them both to you, along with one Dan and I saw in a hotel last week.

Stranger Than Fiction had been recommended to me quite some time ago by my brother-in-law, Ken.  It's a quirky but compelling film with comedian Will Ferrell in a perfectly modulated straight(ish) role.  The story is about a tax guy who finds himself hearing a voice narrating his life.  Literally.  And it also works as a metaphor.  Wonderful performances also by Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Maggie Gyllenhaal and the superb Emma Thompson.

The movie is especially fun for writers (lots of inside jokes about character, plot, perspective, etc.) but also has a great deal to say about philosophy, religion, but most importantly about life and just living it.

Gone, Baby, Gone is a mystery set in Boston.  The movie is a decent adaptation of a much more complex novel by the same guy who wrote Mystic River, Dennis Lehane.  The more I read this guy's books, the better I like him.  The movie stars Casey Affleck (and is directed by Ben Affleck).  But don't let the nepotism steer you away from it. 

The film captures the underside of Boston in a way I am sure LeHane approved of, thanks to an amazing cinematic debut by Director Affleck.  Casey does a decent job with the main character, Patrick Kenzie.  Unfortunately for the movie, Kenzie's lover and partner-private-eye, Angie Genarro (played by Michelle Monaghan) is underwritten.  What could have been an "A" movie turns out to be just a "B" as a result.  But it's well-worth watching just for the way it captures Boston's underclass--and the way Amy Ryan captures a drug-addicted, down on her luck (aren't all addicts down on their luck?) mother.  She was nominated for an Academy Award for this performance and the nomination was well-deserved.

As for the hotel flick, I cannot recommend Charlie Wilson's War highly enough.  Great performances.  Excellent script.  And a chilling history lesson about how the end of the Cold War paved the road for 9/11.

That's it.  I'm out of energy and still have links to build.  So I'll sign off now and take a well-deserved nap.

Since today is Earth Day, you are likely to be bludgeoned by various media (including blogs) about environmental issues.  In my own net-prowling this morning, I've seen at least a dozen articles on the environment and just yesterday picked up Time Magazine's Green issue.

I wonder, in part, if the hoopla is helping.  We still have people like Rush Limbaugh on the air claiming that the idea of global warming is a vast left-wing, nut-job conspiracy (although he's never quite clear on the goal of said conspiracy...maybe it's to give him something to rant about?).

We still have folks merrily loading up their SUV's with plastic water bottles, bagged in plastic bags.  (Hello, woman behind me!)  Diet trends (100 calorie packs!) compete with green trends (buy in bulk!) and in either case, it appears our waistlines and the earth are both the worse for wear.

So what's the key?

I have a saying on my computer courtesy of my sister-in-law, Cindy.  "Some action is almost always better than no action."  It helps me not to get discouraged when it seems like the actions I take are too little ro too few, like I'm taking up arms against a "sea of troubles" with no hope of ending them.

I won't, by myself.  But I'm not alone.  There is a growing awareness of the actions we can take and the complexity of the issues we face.  So my Earth Day question to you is this:

What gift of changed habits will you commit to future generations this day? 

Will you change your light bulbs?

Reduce your watering schedule by one day per week?

Commit to a beef-free diet?

Buy some reusable grocery bags?

Wash your laundry in cold water?

The point isn't that we each have to do all of these things.  But that we all need to do some of these (or other) things to live reasonably, sustainably and well on the earth.  So let me hear about your change(s).  Because we're all in this fight together, aren't we?

To be quite honest, I'm procrastinating on doing my comparison of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton vis a vis their economic plans.  Tomorrow is the primary in Pennsylvania and maybe there won't be a need for a comparison after the ballots are counted--so it seems a potentially futile discussion.

So instead, I'll share a snippet of conversation from an undisclosed Starbucks location this weekend.  We were seated next to an older couple (70ish) and couldn't help but overhear as one of their cronies buttonholed them and starting talking about the Democrats Primary campaign.

The buttonholer, let's call him Hank, brought the couple up to date on Obama's latest endorsements.  Hank siad darkly that most of these folks endorsing Obama had likely been promised cabinet positions in exchange for their endorsement. 

It occured to me and the older man, let's call him Stew, at about the same time that Hillary was probably making promises to folks about cabinet positions as well.  Stew put it a bit more diplomatically than I would have.  "I think they all do that, don't they?"

I might have said, "What's your point?  The most sinister spin you can put on these endorsements is he's more persuasive when making promises than Hillary is.  Sheesh!  Everybody knows that already!"

Hank went on to say he didn't think things could get any better for the Republicans than running against Obama or Clinton, "unless they bring Gore in and try to elect him."

It took every ounce of my willpower not to lean over and ever-so-gently correct Hank.  "You mean re-elect Gore, don't you?" 

After Hank left, Stew's wife (we'll call her Lois) leaned over and said she hoped we hadn't paid attention to him.  Lois said they tried to hide from him because "he does this all the time."

Maybe I should have said something, if nothing else for Hank and Lois's sake.  But I was grumpy and on my way to visit a friend in prison...so Hank and Lois will just have to fend for themselves.  Or find a better hiding spot.

Since we're in the middle of a well-earned pajama day, I cannot promise much more from this blog than a somewhat rambling collection of disjointed thoughts.

Composed in my pajamas.

At 2:30 in the afternoon.

Isn't life great?

We had a good visit with our friend in prison over Friday and Saturday.  It's likely that Friday visiting will go away due to budget cuts needed in all California government entities...but we're enjoying them now.  Fewer people in line.  Fewer people in the visiting area.  Friendlier and less stressed guards.  Lower key, altogether more enjoyable visits.  (Although there was dirt on my vending machine purchased celery sticks...the downside to Friday visits being less than fresh food selection.  Not a tragedy by any means.)

Saturday, we joined our good friend, Erik, for the visit.  Time seems to go more quickly when there are more folks visiting.  Conversation flows more freely and the walls, gates, guards and prison noises fade into a background murmur.

We left at noon so we could meet a friend for dinner last night.  Gloria is a dear woman, in her early 80's, spunky and charming.  She's recovering from shoulder surgery so she's not getting out for her weekly round of golf, but she's champing at the bit to start pitching and putting again (the doctor says it will be a month more before she can lift her club).  She chided me for using hybrids instead of fairway woods, saying I'm strong enough not to "cheat."  Dan explained hybrids to her in more detail, trying to convince her that it's not really a cheat...but I'm not sure she bought it entirely.

We had a delightful dinner at a new local restaurant, enjoying good food, attentive staff, outdoor heaters and the pleasure of good company.  We met Gloria years ago at golf school, became friends with her there and won over her husband, Ron, by winning a member-guest tournament as their invited guests.

Ron died in 2003.  We spent the last portion of the evening reminiscing over good times passed together and conjuring him into the present with stories of past glories and foibles.

So that's what we've been up to...what's new with you?

Had a wonderful visit with our god-children and their kids.  How much fun to see them parent and love these two little boys (Revin and William...aka Bruiser and Bubba).  And how great it was to hold and love them, to gather over a good meal, to enjoy time as family.

Of course, now we're exhausted from baby wrangling, so we're going to turn in.  Nothing like a pair of 1 year olds to make you feel old!  But what a way to go, eh?