I have talked to many Democrats who say that they are considering voting for McCain. In every case, (including that of the woman on the commercial who said she was a Hilary supportor, but is now for McCain and that "a lot of Democrats will vote for him. It's okay. Really), I've found that they're mistaking this McCain for McCain 1.0

I don't really blame them - everybody respected McCain 1.0, the straight-talking, maverick who always came off as a smart, honorable guy.

This is not McCain 1.0.

McCain 1.0 would NEVER use his time as a P.O.W. for political gain, or to excuse a political gaffe.
This McCain is lapsing into a state where every sentence he speaks consists of three things: a noun, a verb, and a reference to being a P.O.W.

McCain 1.0 called certain members of the "religious" right "agents of intolerance.
This McCain buddies up to those exact same guys.

McCain 1.0 criticized Bush pretty regularly and openly.
This McCain voted with him 90% of the time, and brags on it.

McCain 1.0 drew fire from Republicans for his reasonable take on abortion - circa 2000, he said that if his daughter were to have an abortion, he'd be against it, but it would be her decision in the end.
This McCain makes it VERY clear on his webpage that appointing judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade is one of his top priorities. I particularly wonder if the Hilary supporters who plan to vote for him realize this.

McCain 1.0 was a dynamic, fiery speaker.
This McCain is about as exciting as cheese get moldy.

Our greatest Presidents (Lincoln, the Roosevelts, Washington, etc) have shared a couple of traits. First, they inspired people to look up and make America -and themselves- better than they thought it could be. Inspiring optimism is a trait that can't be underestimated. More importantly, though, the best presidents have had some sense of where the world was heading, and what America needed to become in order to lead the way and be an example for the rest of the world to aspire to. Obama is a candidate who has an idea of where the world is going. McCain admits that he doesn't really even use e-mail - it's impossible for me to imagine that he has any concept for where, say, education, let alone the rest of the country, needs to go in the 21st century.

I think McCain might have made a decent president had he won in 2000 - I wouldn't have voted for him over Gore, but he certainly would have done better than Bush has done. But that was McCain 1.0. His time has passed. In order to get the nomination, he's given up nearly everything that made him so respectable even a few years ago. I hope he enjoys his 30 pieces of silver.

My old nemesis, Bob Barr, is back in the news. He was my congressman when I lived in GA. Here's the information from the fliers I spread around college about him when he was up for re-election in 2000 (which he won, despite my college freshman antics):

• In 1998, Bob Barr was a keynote speaker at a meeting of the Conservative Citizens Council - a white separatist organization which publishes anti-black, anti-latino, and anti-semitic literature. They're known for claiming that interracial marriage is a form of "White Genocide." Barr was photographed embracing the group's leaders.
• Barr has been taken to court twice for failing to pay alimony (he's been married three times). Barr also introduced the anti-gay "Defense of Marriage Act;" he refuses to say which of his marriages he's defending.
• In 1992, Barr was seen licking whipped cream off the chests of two women in bustiers at a benefit for The Leukemia Society. (source: The Washington Post, May 29 and 30, 1996). A few years later, he was among the loudest voices condemning Clinton on moral grounds.
• According to the FEC, Barr took over $55,000 in illegal contributions in 1996.
• Barr has introduced legislature to make certain that people who have been convicted multiple times of beating their children and/or spouse can own all the machine guns that they want. A small wonder, considering how much money Barr has received from the NRA.
• In 1998, Barr impounded the estimated $1.50 it would take to tally a Washington, D.C. vote regarding medical marijuana - in other words, he told the voters of America to shove it.
• In 1999, Barr began a campaign to block Wiccans from practicing their religion on military bases.



One thing that I would have added a year or so later is that after 9/11, Barr was the first to suggest granting Bush "special emergency powers," which, a few months later, was the same way Jar Jar Binks paved the way for the Evil Empire in Attack of the Clones.

So it's quite fascinating to me that the Libertarians believe Barr is one of them, having had some sort of Road to Damascus experience immediately upon leaving office. Everyone has a right to change their mind, but most people familiar with Barr figured out YEARS ago that the guy just says whatever will get his name in the papers.

That's all I'll say against him this year. If he's what the Libertarians want, that's fine - it may put GA into play for Obama. I never did claim to understand what in the world Libertarians were thinking. His nomination supports my belief - which they constantly tell me is wrong - that, at heart, they're really just extreme right-wingers without the religion angle. Barr should be a fine option for people who think McCain is too progressive.

I don't defend my employers very often. Almost never, in fact.

But, anyway, I do merchandising work for Mattel and Fischer Price a few days per year, a job that takes me to the back room of most of the Targets, Toys R Uses and Wal-Marts in the region. You've probably heard about our recent recall woes.

I actually applaud them for going through with the recall - they've brought on a bunch of bad publicity over an issue highly unlikely to actually cause a problem. There are only very small parts of the toys in question that use the lead paint, and, in order to have a problem, some kid would have to get his hands on quite a few of these toys and eat his way through the lot of them. This is a voluntary recall effort on their part, and shows that they do, in fact, give a shit. They are now undertaking a massive testing of all the stuff they make, and expect to recall more of it.

But here's the most important point: it's Wal-Mart's fault. The reason Mattel and FP are having toys built cheaply in China is that Wal-Mart dictates what price they'll pay for product, and that price is ridiculously low. When Mattel told them they couldn't afford to do things as cheaply as Wal-Mart dictated, Wal-Mart quite bluntly told them to shut down their U.S. factories and go to China. They've told this to countless retailers, all of whom are stuck with the decision either to cut every possible corner (including quality and safety) or not be sold at Wal-Mart.

The sheer notion, the very IDEA, that Wal-Mart's "Kid Connection" brand of toys is made under better conditions than the Mattel stuff is absurd. Despite the "American Made" sign outside of Wal-Mart stores, you'd be AWFULLY hard pressed to find something in there that isn't made overseas. Toy inspectors (there are very few in the country) are woefully overworked, and I imagine Wal-Mart goes to great lengths to slip things under their noses. I'd lay very good odds that there are parts on those Kid Connection toys that use just as much lead paint as the stuff that's been recalled. In fact, under the standards Mattel is holding itself to, I'd be awfully surprised if ANYTHING in the Kid Connection line ought to be on the shelves. Wal-Mart's low prices aren't coming out of the goodness of their heart - they're the result of a lot of underhanded deals, cut corners, and bullying. Frankly, you might just as well buy your stuff out of the trunk of Sneaky Petey's car. The end does not justify the means.

Despite having been in the back room of all of the major retailers, I have no real qualms about buying stuff from Target or Toys R Us or most of the other places the job brings me. But I don't buy anything, not even a candy bar, at Wal-Mart. I'd actually feel better about shoplifting from them. Of course, it's not hard for me to avoid them. I realize that in many areas, people don't have a choice but to shop at Wal-Mart, and I don't begrudge them for doing so. I'm lucky enough to live in an area where Wal-Mart is a very, very minor presence. I'd much rather point to the example of my mother, who works for Mattel full time in Georgia, where Wal-Mart intends to have a supercenter every three miles. She calls on something like 20 of them (compared to the 2 we call in in the chicago and suburbs district), spends untold amounts of time dealing with them, but never gives them a dime.

This is not to say that Mattel is not at fault, since they aren't taking the crucial step: they need to band together with the other major retailers and tell Wal-Mart where to stick it.

I've spent the morning combing through the candidates' official webpages, finding the links to their Facebook and Myspace sites. I think it's fun that they all have them - it's an excuse to put something personal into the campaign without clogging up the official site. Unfortunately, most of them are just full of campaign rhetoric. Who knew so many people's interests (including, in some cases, their favorite music) included things like "Ensuring American's future," "protecting our values," and blah blah blah?

But there are some interesting nuggest in terms of musical taste, if you root around:


HILARY CLINTON:
Her facebook leaves the music park blank, but another site has her listing Carly Simon, Aretha Franklin, U2, and the Rolling Stones. Nothing too surprising here, except that she's apparently on the Stones side of the "Stones Vs. Beatles" debate. She IS pretty tough, I guess.

JOHN EDWARDS
Alone among the candidates, Edwards lists specific songs - "The River," by Bruce Springsteen - one of the better songs ever written about the struggles of the working class. It's not preachy, doesn't try to make the narrator into a working class hero - just a basic Springsteen song (except that the narrator never QUITE drives away from town with his baby sitting in the front seat and the radio on - though he comes damn close). The other two songs listed are "The Shirt" - a Mary Chapin Carpenter song that is, in fact, about a shirt - a very nice nostalgic song about how the shirt has affected the singer's life (similar to the way the river affects the narrator in the Springsteen song). Most interesting among the three he lists is "Hymn of Promise," a 1986 hymn by Natalie Sleeth. I haven't heard it, but the lyrics call to mind a Unitarian sort of hymn.
So Edwards stays on message: Working class values, material things, and God.

BARACK OBAMA
Now, if this were a contest based on taste, Obama would run away with it. His facebook lists his favorite music as: "Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Bach (cello suites), Stevie Wonder and The Fugees." The man has impeccable taste, to be sure - the first three show that he's sophisticated, but not stuffy or pretentious, the Bach shows that he's intellectual, Stevie Wonder shows his funky side, and the Fugees show that he's not a music snob, and is, in fact "black enough." The good taste continues into his "favorite books" section, which lists Moby Dick, Shakespeare's Tragedies, and the writings of Abraham Lincoln.

DENNIS KUCINICH
Kucinich lists Willie Nelson. He's certainly not the only one to indicate a fondness for a musician with drug problems (heck, practically everyone on Obama's list was a user at one point or another), but Kucinich is also about the only guy where I don't suspect that he his choices for what to put here had much to do with building an "image."

BILL RICHARDSON
Nothing about music here - just the usual campaign rhetoric.

Meanwhile, over on the GOP side, few people are listing much to do with music at all - it's mostly just plain rhetoric. BUT....

JOHN MCCAIN
If you click on the myspace link on his page, it takes you directly to a "confirm that you want to add this user as a friend" page, not to his profile. Is he really so desperate for support that he's having to trick people into being his friend?
His facebook doesn't list his favorite music, but his favorite book is by Hemingway, and one of his favorite TV shows is "24." This doesn't do much to keep me from thinking that he's just ITCHING to push the big red button.

MITT ROMNEY
Lists the most extensive music of anyone - he seems to be being very careful not to leaving any country act out. On his facebook, he lists "Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Brooks and Dunn, George Strait, Clint Black and Garth Brooks" along with The Beatles (the only candidate I've seen listing them), The Eagles, Roy Orbison, and (now here's the one I didn't see coming) - The Kingston Trio.

RUDY GUILIANNI
Doesn't have any sort of official myspace that I can find, and I couldn't find a facebook link for him, either - one site indicated that he has one, but it's set to private.


Last time around, there was a much more extensive survey asking the candidates their favorite album, song, concert, dance tune, etc. Wesley Clark's was especially amusing - he enjoyed dancing to Journey, and said that his favorite album was "Yellow Submarine," half of which is composed of George Martin instrumentals. Edwards listed "The River" then, too, so at least he's consistent.

1. Host, PoFolks, Snellville, GA, 1997

I hadn't been in the south long when I took this job; this place was my true introduction to serious hicks. My customers had a strong tendency to be both rather dumb and exceptionally mean, and there was no real way to do a good job - if I got people sat rapidly, they servers couldn't keep up. If I made them wait, the hicks would really let me have it. One of my other hosts was an older woman with an IQ of about 1, but who considered herself my boss. She did not "sit someone in Brenda's section," she "done set Brender." I think the reason that many customers were so insistent that I spelled their name correctly was that it was the only word they knew how to spell. On Sunday afternoons, when the Southern Baptists arrived from the church across the street (which had a few thousand more members than the town had citizens), things got especially terrifying. I'm not sure who was dumber: the restaurant for giving out forest scene coloring sheets but didn't give out brown crayons, or the customers who thought coming to complain to me about this would make their life any better.

2. GSR (Guest Service Relations; ie, designated complaint-receiver) Fuddruckers, Snellville, GA, 1997

The customers here got a little rough here, too, but the manager and the other employees were the bad ones - everyone else was part of the marching band at my school's rival school (the closest I got to school spirit was hating our rival school), and they resented that I was breaking up the cartel. In my first week, the manager had me working the entire floor, which was supposed to be a four person job - and when we ran out of french fries, the natives got restless and took it out on me. Things came to a head when rumors went around among the employees that having curly hair meant that I was a gay satanist. Starting getting threats and harrassment. The manager said he liked me because "he could see a lot of himself in me." I've spent years wishing he would take that back.

3. barista, Starbucks, Decatur, GA, 2004

I worked at a few different Starbucks over the years - one was actually a very good job, but as they've veered away from "coffee skills" into "leadership skills," things have gotten worse. This particular one wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the damned drive-through window. Never got to know my customers, since I couldn't really talk to them with a headset buzzing in my ear. On the plus side, only one of the many managers had a problem with me asking people if they'd like fries with that. The one at which I worked in the loop might have been just as bad, due to poor management, but I wasn't there long enough to tell.

4. bagboy, Publix, Snellville, GA, 1997-98

The real problem here was just that I hated bagging groceries. A place has a lot of nerve to pay minimum wage and still put up signs that say "no tipping." My boss once told me I should be working so hard that I was sweating. I told him straight up that A: nobody wants the bagboy to sweat on their food, and B: I didn't sweat for what they were paying me. This is probably tied with the bagboy job I had in Urbandale, Iowa, in 94-95, but at least that store was better. Much nicer breakroom, and, since I was 14, my hours weren't so bad.

5. server, Bubba Gump Shrimp, Chicago, 2005

I never want to see "Forrest Gump" again. This job had me wearing trucker hats and forced to give Forrest Gump trivia to every table. The hours were long and very hot, and our customers were about 98% tourists - we got some cool people, but also probably more than our share of whiny jerks. To top it off, the manager communicated by shouting at people. You couldn't really take it personally when you got shouted at - that was just how she communicated. She once had me working in the pouring rain, then shouted at me for being wet.


So, yes. I'm really pissed off that the GOP kept the minimum wage increase from passing the other day - it's the same today as it was when I was at PoFolks. I'm very, very glad not to be working a job like this at the moment, but the people who do deserve (and need) more than $5.15 an hour. Congress has had a 30k raise since then - why is that only the people who DO make enough to live on deserve cost of living increases? I know, I know, a raise on minimum wage could make other costs go up, but that's going to happen anyway. Surely they don't think the price of gas tripling since minimum wage last went up hasn't hurt the workers?

Well, heck! I hadn't opened my copy of the New York Times today - it's just been sitting on my couch. Now, I finally look inside, and there's my letter to the editor, right there on page A26! Edited a bit from my copy, and not necessarily exactly how I would have done it, but no major changes or anything.

see it here