Democrats

I think its fairly well established that John McCain will be the nominee on the Republican side and is now only a matter of academics. Since this is incredibly boring, I'm focused more on the Democrats. The delegate count difference is only 70 or so despite Barack Obama winning 10 straight primaries. This is scaring Obama supporters because of the DNC's arcane "superdelegate" model, which in my estimation is going to cause Hillary Clinton to get the nomination in August unless Obama wins Ohio and Texas in two weeks.

Before I continue, I want to say that I think this year's Democratic convention could potentially be as troubling as the 1968 convention because of a clear lack of understanding of how the rules in their own party work. Why is it that liberals never find fault with the system until for some inexplicable reason, their candidate loses or may lose? Its incredible to me how panicky Obama liberals are - it is becoming almost conspiratorial in tone lately... and this is a primary for God's sake! Democrat against Democrat. When Democrats eat their own, as they routinely do, bad things happen.

A lot of liberals are out there who typically do not participate in primaries, and as a result have not considered the rules for their own party. Winning primaries does not get you the nomination - gaining delegates does. This is done differently on a state by state basis - for example in California delegates are broken down by district and are divided proportionally along percentages. In other states the "winner takes all" approach is employed. The bottom line - if you do not lay out a strategic plan to gain as many delegates as possible, you are actively working to lose. Period. End of story. One thing that is blatantly obvious is that Obama and his people are political amateurs in comparison to the Clinton camp, who are loaded down with people that worked in previous Democrat administrations. I should emphasize that I say that with some hesitancy, since you'd expect the Clintons to know better than to let Slick Willy routinely act agitated to potential voters and single handedly torpedo her candidacy. Which brings me the question - could Slick Willy ever play second fiddle to his wife if she won the election?

Republicans

John McCain has all but won the nomination. Mike Huckabee, a Republican I will never vote for, remains in the race. Presumably, he is staying in the race to let the conservatives know that there is another choice more suitable to them. I think he's doing it simply to stick it in McCain's eye - Huckabee has no legitimate shot at the nomination.

To put it plainly, many conservatives are panicking and threatening to separate from the Republican Party because McCain is winning. You've never read a strong criticism of conservatives from me - here we are. I'm angry with conservatives because of their recent petulance - if they don't get their way, they want to pick up their ball and leave the playground. What the fuck? For years the conservative wing has marginalized moderates in the party, myself and my brother included. We were told in 2004 to vote for President Bush, even if we didn't like everything about him, because the alternative was, well.. John F-ing Kerry. Fair enough - I do not want a staunch liberal to ever be the President of the United States, and when push comes to shove, I only support less than a handful of liberal social initiatives. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, look how they are acting... its a god damn pitiful shame. What is good for the moderates is not good for the conservatives. This is what happens when one element of your party is dominant for many years - these people feel entitled to boss the rest around and dictate to their EQUALS how the party should vote. Christine Todd Whitman wrote a book called "Its My Party Too." Conservatives laughed at her and called her a RINO. Now who is laughing?

This is why I've just finished filling out the forms to switch my registration to independent. Thats right - I'm disassociating myself with the party, or any party. I'm deeply unsatisfied, and to be perfectly honest, I don't have a home in any party at the moment. I'm not even sure I have a presidential candidate to support - we'll see how the chips fall over the course of the next eight months or so.

This is the story - conservatism right now is not palatable to Republicans, let alone independents or conservative Democrats. If you ask conservatives who is at fault for their situation they blame moderates. Can you believe that? These are the same people who have always told liberals that if you complain about losing, don't blame the voters or the system; blame your own inability to convince the voters that your ideas are better. Now conservatives are losing the battle of ideas even within their own party and arrogantly refuse to blame themselves. They are wrong and I won't associate myself with them anymore. As of whenever the ECBOE gets my form, I'm now a registered independent.

Our Future

So, for those of us who follow the political scene how will the next eight months shape up? I predict that we will only know the Democratic nominee when the delegates are counted at the August DNC convention in Denver. I hope I am wrong about that because I really believe that such a situation will bring chaos. I'm also predicting that we will have the least negative general election in decades. If you ask me for one positive that I truly believe will come to fruition it will be this, and to that extent I think voters will punish any candidate that plays dirty. Picking on McCain's age will yield him a victory in the same way that it benefited Reagan 25 years ago. I don't believe Obama would pursue that angle. In fact, I don't know why Obama doesn't copy Reagan and ask the question, "are you better off now than you were 8 years ago?" I won't bother with Hillary - she is hanging in there. She knows how the system works. Everybody knows how the Clintons operate. Nuff said. Because the delegate count is so close, Hillary doesn't have cause to believe her candidacy is over. However, where the momentum lies is obvious. If Obama can win big on March 4, I don't think Hillary will have much of a say in the matter anymore and we can move on. We have two candidates who believe they are the heirs presumptive to the throne, based on puzzling and narcissistic presumptions of having destiny and history on their side. Watch this space.

Last thing. I am picking on Obama supporters for freaking out over the DNC's superdelegate rules, but in all honesty they are right. I've talked with (e:jason) about this many times and we both believe that no voter should even be in the position to have to understand such bizarre rules and regulations. It should all be scrapped - ALL OF IT. Superdelegates, the electoral college, all ridiculous rules both within each party and in general elections. The reason why these rules were created are transparent - aspects of the government (and in the case of the feds, the founding fathers themselves) did not believe that the people have the intelligence or the ability to choose the leader of their own country. Any scenario in which the popular vote loses to the electoral college vote is unacceptable to me and should be unacceptable to all Americans, because in fact a majority of the country (when Bush won in 2004 liberals referred to this as 'mob rule') did not vote for the person who is taking the office. Bottom line - that is not democratic and everybody knows it. So many people missed the point in 2000. Four different independent organizations certified the Florida results, yet to this day many liberals argue that Bush somehow stole the election. The crime wasn't that President Bush won through a flawed system - the crime was that the system was flawed in the first place.

Lately I've been looking into participating in a community supported agriculture program with a local farm, and while doing research I thought it would make for a great journal entry. For $16 a week you can get enough organically grown produce to feed 2-4 people. The best part? You don't even need to pick up your produce at the farm - chances are you can pick up your produce at a close and convenient location. Do you like the idea of buying conveniently picked up organic produce at a more than fair price with enough variety to keep your culinary imagination going, while directly supporting the operation of a local farm? Read on, my run-on sentence loving friends... this may change the way you think about where your food comes from.

CSA - A Primer

Community supported agriculture - Wiki - is essentially a method by which consumers and farmers can forge a mutually beneficial partnership. This not only stabilizes local farmers early on in the growing season when cash can be short, but guarantees you a share in the crop harvest on a weekly basis. You can read the Wiki page if you want more details, but I will briefly overview how it works.

Small family farms are a dying breed, just like the mom and pop stores we used to see prior to the advent of large corporate chain stores. As I alluded to you earlier, CSA is a clever scheme by which small farms that focus on organically/ethically produced foods can mitigate financial risk by approaching consumers directly and asking them to purchase a "share." Typically a "share" costs around $300-$400 per growing season, and many farms offer a variety of options. Want your 22-week season to start in the summer, or do you want a winter citrus package, or maybe you want to participate year round - no problem. As consumers, we outlay this cash to the farms, who then use the money to stabilize their businesses early on. Our return on investment yields a share in the crops - every week for 22 weeks your money buys you a variation of different fruits and veg, depending on what is being grown.

I should stress the mutual risk and reward element of this idea, and the concept of eating seasonally. You eat what the farmers are able to grow - you may still find yourself trailing off to Weg or the Co-op if something you really want isn't grown locally but is shipped from Chile to be sold here. Yield may vary as well, but farmers are incredibly good at knowing how much they will need to grow and how to achieve it. However, the benefits of eating seasonally and sourcing from local, organically focused farms who know what they are doing can yield you some truly amazing, restaurant grade (if not better) produce.

So - you help local farms sustain themselves, and in return you get to pick up a load of fabulous produce every week for 18-22 weeks. For less than $20 a week all the thinking you need to do (with the possible exception of making a substitution in your share because you hate radish) about your produce is that you need to go pick it up. I'm thinking about doing this for the summer. There is a farm that allegedly does pickups at (e:drew)'s church but I cannot confirm that, and I need to do some more research before I'd make a recommendation. I'd prefer to just have a list of local farms that have a program such as this and allow you to choose for yourselves.

EDIT: Buffalo Rising article from Sept.

And since I wouldn't endorse visiting links from their site -

Porter Farms -

Native Offerings -

I am not informed enough to suggest one or the other - check out the different options, pricing, etc. and see what is best for you. Sure, $350 up front (or more if you want the larger share) may seem like a lot, but in the context of your entire summer food budget is it really that bad?

I just got this 404 message on a website I frequent - and no, it doesn't happen to be from a porn site.

Once upon a midnight dreary while I pr0n surfed, weak and weary,
Over a many a strange and spurious pr0nsite of hot XXX galore;
While I clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning,
And my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour.
"'Tis not possible!" I muttered, "give me back my free hardcore!"

Quoth the server,
404

If you didn't get the Poe reference... I don't think I can talk to you anymore.

Today while flying home from JFK airport I watched the announcement from New Mexico concerning who won on the Democrat side. The Democratic Party representative making the announcement noted that people from the Bull Moose Party voted, and he had no idea what the Bull Moose Party was.

I really wish I took his name down. Note to anonymous sir -

You've never heard of the Bull Moose Party and you claim to be a leading Democrat in your state? Have you ever heard of Teddy fucking Roosevelt, or the fact that the Bull Moose Party was simply a popular name for what was (and still is) formally known as the Progressive Party? Have you ever taken an American history course in your life? Hang your head in shame, sir. You are no politico.

Highly recommended. I just visited there after my commute home and was thoroughly impressed with their selection. They have a wide variety of various beers that I've never seen before, including various Japanese beers (one of which is coming - a red rice beer that will sell for $24 a growler) and other things. They also allow you to walk into their cooler, and they also carry what I dare say will be the best variety of draft stuff available anywhere in the area, by a LONG shot. Get a growler and try something new - expect to pay about a tenner but depending on what you get it may be a little higher- the Dogfishhead stuff is notoriously expensive.

The prices are generally higher - I'd say a buck or so higher than Consumer's. The sixers ranged in price from $8 to $20. We are talking about a selection that carries some hard to find things and/or relatively rare things - I wasn't exactly outraged by some of the prices but be forewarned of impending sticker shock on some stuff. I don't freak out about pricier beers because, frankly, I am in it to enjoy it and I'd rather spend more and drink something nice at home than bar hop, spend far more money and not enjoy any of the alcohol at all. Not everybody is the same though, so I wanted to give you fair warning if you are accustomed to spending no more than $7 for a six-pack.

I bought a bottle of Schneider Weisse (suggested as an alternative to my much desired but hard to find locally Hacker-Pshorr Weisse), a bottle of Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout and a six-pack of Smuttynose Old Dog Brown Ale. I'll let you all know the sloppy results later!

They are not just about beer - they also have a general store that carries specialty/upscale items as well as a small deli. It is a generally upscale store, with dim lighting, reddish hues and smart decor. The guys that work there are cool and know their beer. For someone who rejects gentrification like a baby spitting up involuntarily, I say that this store is a most welcome addition to our community. I would recommend it to anybody in the mood to check out a nice store with high quality beers, knowledgeable staff and a small but neat general store. Well done Village Beer Merchant - we'll be back.