I just became an official Kerry volunteer.
And read the campaign's blog, blog.johnkerry.com for the first time. According to them he's drawn crowds of 17,000 and 20,000 in major events since the convention ended.
The volunteer page is a trip. By volunteering, I "earned" 25 points (towards what?!) and am ranked 646,496th overall. I guess he's on his way to a million official volunteers, eh?
~ rss this one too?
Study: Fear shapes voters' views
Responses to candidates differ after thinking about tragedy
7/30/2004 www.reuters.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President George W. Bush may be tapping into solid human psychology when he invokes the September 11 attacks while campaigning for the next election, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
Talking about death can raise people's need for psychological security, the researchers report in studies to be published in the December issue of the journal Psychological Science and the September issue of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
"There are people all over who are claiming every time Bush is in trouble he generates fear by declaring an imminent threat," said Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, who worked on the study.
"We are saying this is psychologically useful," said Solomon.
I really think I should say more about Denise. She's gone waaaaay overboard on this dog thing. I met the seven-month-old puppy today and mommy was already doting on this dog. I think Bardsley has her figured out too - cooperate for treats but not for nothing else! We'll see how trainable he really is - peeing twice in the pet store wasn't exactly an auspicious start! I didn't tell her how badly Frankie and Mei-Mei get along (she has a cat too).
Of course, I'm pretty sure she just roped me in to act as a character reference (she's a character alright), and I think her job as a journalist might be bogus. Her paper, the Springfield Union-News, doesn't even have a website - how real can they possibly be? Too bad; I wanted to see how she actually wrote that Girl Scout Reunion story...
Well, Joanna started this whole campaign and she ended it tonight with a flourish. ;-) Thank goodness Li came to help or it would have been just her and I and between the two of us we might have faded or decomposed at some point. (Someone was a no show. Hmmph!) I scored several tupperware containers full of biology experiments from the refrigerator. Snatched a few books for my buddies Raz and Donna. (I already snatched one for Danny last week from Christian's stash.) All I can say is that room was one grimy slime pit and now it's sparkling! I'm not sure listening to the Democratic National Convention was our most inspired source of entertainment, although we did enjoy Al Sharpton's speech. Otherwise I have to say it was background noise. Carolyn said John Edwards "hit a home run" with his speech, the crowd "loved him". Hopefully that translates into actual VOTES come November!
So far, I enjoyed Teresa Heinz-Kerry the most, even though - or perhaps especially? - because the media is bashing her so hard.
The hike last night was fun, despite the initial heat and small size of our ultimate group. We lost Li's family to the heat - although the top of the mountain was at least 15 degrees cooler (very pleasant), and by the time we got back down the temp had gone down considerably (although it was still a bit muggy). Swati had a work obligation come up at the last moment but still met us to contribute the brownies she'd baked (they were yummy!).
So, Bill, Denise, Ingrid and I made the trek. It was half the distance of last week's Bare Mountain hike. Denise and Ingrid jogged part of it (!) to show up me 'n Bill. hmmph! Otherwise we took it at a leisurely pace, nothing like last week's sprint. (See, even *I* can go slow sometimes!)
The view from the top was hazy so we couldn't make out the Seven Sisters (the range that includes Bare Mountain) We were treated to an expose of Springfield's corrupt animal shelter and Denise's dog-training ambitions.
The stroll down was over in a heartbeat (so it seemed) and we went to Bill's for eats. He surprised us with scratch margaritas (!) and we had a yummy grill and more talk - mostly about Springfield politics. Nothing like two natives (more-or-less), a journalist's inside view, and communication analysis to illuminate the institutional aspects of government!
There was other odd talk, here and there, about a wide range of topics, including tribunals and CIA files, for which one could only have been present to appreciate. :-)
Next up - tubing in Deerfield?
Five of us made the hike up Bare Mountain on Saturday. I set a quick pace (wanting exercise), which didn't jive too well with those who were along "for the journey not the destination." Fortunately, I don't think we had any lasting casualties! Once at the top, after a lengthy photo shoot and an impressive scouting mission by George for shade, we settled down to lunch and a "seminar" (as described by the two - shall I say, less enthusiastic? - members of the group). George presented the case for Zen Buddhism mixed with Christianity while Sarbjeet shared his Sikh perspective. We got launched on this after I summarized the critique that Carolyn gave me of the Life of Pi, but the fertile soil must have been laid by the contrast of my frenetic dash up the trail with George's "it's all about the way" meandering pace.
The other night I was (foolishly?) inspired to post some messages on two Dean blogs (Dean Nation; Change for America) about Kerry's vice-presidential choice (as if my last minute personal opinion might actually sway anything!) I included a link to my webblog (which I haven't really tried to publicize very much) and within six hours I'd gotten nine porn comments inserted in various places. Just deleted them all, but wondering, if I did decide to enter more public cyber-conversations....I could spend hours/day just getting rid of the crap! How do other bloggers prevent this?
