Hobnobing with Howard Dean

Howard Dean was in Portland, Oregon today, and called. He did a conference call with our (Obama) campaign headquarters in Oregon City. 

Unfortunatly, no screams. :) However he is all fired up over the election. He expects a large Republican voter supression effort, as in the last election where African American neighborhoods were targeted with flyers under windshield wipers warning about the dire consequences of voting. Since we are a vote by mail state, there is no one single day they have to pull such "stunts."

Howard gave strong support to Merkley for Senate, saying that the 40 Republicans now in the Senate had only one agenda: don't let the Democrats look good. He also predicted Smith's ads would get a lot nastier than they are now. Ug!

Anyway, it was great to hear from the head of the Democratic Party. He should come to Oregon more often.

Memorial

Colbert and Lord British in Space!

Lord British (AKA Richard Garriott) is taking Steven Cobert's DNA into space to the International Space Station. Garriott is responsible for UO, or Ultima Online, the first graphic MMO with a large audience. 

Cobert says "I am thrilled to have my DNA shot into space, as this brings me one step closer to my lifelong dream of being the baby at the end of 2001"

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/09/09/ultima-creator-garriott-will-carry-stephen-colbert039s-dna-space

Obama's Bipartisanship: Republicans Confused

When Obama talks about his bipartisan record, the national Republicans clain it never happened.

When I turn on my TV (Portland, Oregon TV stations), REPUBLICAN GORDAN SMITH is running ads boasting of his bipartisan work with Senator Obama. This is meant to show me how bipartisan Gordan Smith is.

To see one of these ads, go to Senator Smith's website, and select the video "TV AD: ENERGY TRUTH"

http://www.gordonsmith.com/multimedia/

Who's telling lies? 

No Maverick

Book Review: "The Child Goddess"

The Child Goddess by Louise Marley

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was predisposed to hate this book. Both the title and the cover screamed "Preachy New Age." I'm so glad I'm in a reading group, and we chose it, for this is one great read.

The story and characters are much better than the background. This is science fiction without the science. The most important hydrogen refueling planet is an earth type water world, with active volcanoes and no moon. Why extracting hydrogen from water is cheaper than skimming gas giants is never explained, or how a moonless world stays habitable (the Carbon Cycle should be broken and all oxygen should get locked up). And how you would have star-flight and still have humans, un-enhanced, very mortal, with our same life expectancy.

The story, however, blew me away. A child is found on the refueling world, and returned to Earth against her will. The protagonist is a woman Catholic priest (why the cover art didn't include a collar is beyond me) and anthropologist sent to be her guardian. The company that owns the refueling operation wants the child for something else, something medical, and isn't sharing that information with the protagonist. Very early in the story you get mystery, tension, and powerful emotion.

One relationship did bother me. That of the corporate CEO and one if its doctors. The doctor seemed outclassed by the rest of the main characters, I never did figure out why he was allowed to stay on the job when the CEO should have had better talent at her beck and call.

However, each mystery that is resolved leads to a further and more profound one. By the time the book is wrapping up, the reader has followed these characters though many intense changes.

I recommend this book to all but the most hard-core, hard-science fiction readers.  


View all my reviews.

A Week in the Campaign -- History up Close

I survived my first week working (volunteering) with the Obama campaign. I'm working at the Oregon City office, you can find me there every afternoon. Well, not today, as I'm at the beach, but most afternoons. 

One day a new volunteer came in. Tall, older guy (70), wearing a black leather biker vest and a leather bandana over his head. We shook hands and I explained how to work the phones.

"This is the first campaign I've worked on in a long time," he said.

"How long," I asked.

"Since John F. Kennedy's campaign."

It sent shivers down my spine. History is happening here, and we are part of it.