Moving On

Thanksgiving is long past, but I can't seem to get out of my holiday mood. Maybe it's all the napping I do? But the days just seem to slip away.

Here's the face I make when I have no excuse.


And here are some hot laundry shots to keep you from asking why I haven't posted in so long!

Big, Bad Energy

Here's a great article from the LA Times about the flood of green advertising coming from Big Oil. This relates specifically to Chevron, but you could replace that with the name of any American oil company (okay, I mean Exxon-Mobil). Here's a taste:

Compared with what it spends producing oil and other environmentally catastrophic fuels in increasingly environmentally catastrophic ways -- scraping through tar sands, burrowing under mountains for oil shale and barreling into the depths of the ocean -- Chevron is spending minuscule amounts on clean alternatives.

The "human energy" ads are designed to get us to believe that when we fill up our tanks at a Chevron station, we're supporting clean energy, an assumption that might discourage us from advocating for new taxes on the oil industry or for cuts in its subsidies -- money that could be used for government investments in alternative energy.

History Rescued

Hallelujah! Voters approved the debt for both the Phase I restoration of Town Hall as well as the design for Phase II, which involves replacing the outdated plumbing, electrical and other systems. In April or thereabouts, the town government will know the total cost of Phase II and then there will likely be a serious brawl at Town Meeting, but for now, the biped has stopped walking around with his shoulders up to his ears and gritting his teeth.


But I'm a small, neurotic dog and can't stop thinking about what has happened to other buildings in town. Right before my small brown eyes, the building at 162 Commercial Street, the home of George Elmer Browne, an important local artist and art teacher in the early 20th century, has been completely dismantled.


First, the structure was damaged when part of it was demolished and it was moved off its foundation.


Then the builders replaced it piece....


by piece....



by piece....the only thing really left are portions of the original sidewalls. The rest is gone into the dumpster.


Fortunately, it's getting too cold for me to spend too much time outside to see this.


I prefer to stay inside and hang out in a pile of laundry fresh from the dryer....


...and dream of Palm Springs. This is where we stayed when we were there in March 2007.



This is the face I make when bipeds hold me up in the air.

Snowshoes

It's Provincetown's first snowfall. Ocean effect snow, they say. I just can't believe it. And it FREEZES my toes! The biped is going to have to break out the peepads because I can't take too much of that.



In other news, it's another election. Seems like there's one every few weeks. Did you know that the name Provincetown is actually an Indian word that means "Place of Many Elections"? This time it's to finance the restoration of Town Hall, something the biped supports but he's not optimistic about it passing at the polls. People in Provincetown seem to hate to spend money, even if the roof is falling in. If you get a chance, run to the Elementary School and VOTE!



This is a shot of me waking up the other morning. Or was it afternoon. I swear I could sleep all day. Especially with the cold that's finally settled in here.



The biped's friend Maria came over the other night. I got so excited I hyperventilated. It's not a pretty sight. But the biped and his friends think it's funny to hold me up in the air. It does stop my hiccups.....cause I'm TERRIFIED!



But Maria did bring me this great gift. A sculpture of me. She says she got it at the CVS, whatever that is. Do you think it looks like me?

Paulson's Party Fund

Hey, how's that bailout going?

"It's a mess," said Eric M. Thorson, the Treasury Department's inspector general, who has been working to oversee the bailout program until the newly created position of special inspector general is filled. "I don't think anyone understands right now how we're going to do proper oversight of this thing."

That's from the Washington Post today--a great and informative article. And also pretty frightening. The fact that this whole carnival sideshow is being run by ex-Goldman superstars says a lot about how the United States ended up in this financial black hole in the first place. And I do mean black hole.

And we've all eased into fall here 30 miles out into the Atlantic. The colors have peaked and last night we had what is referred to as a full beaver moon. I couldn't possibly explain on this blog.

But when I wait in the car for the biped, the sun still warms it up. Though I know I'll have to break out my wool sweaters and winter coats soon.



Even my buddy Gus is shopping for winter flannels.

Poor Alabama

I'm from California, but my heritage is Mexican, so I understand what discrimination can feel like. Being looked down on by everyone is one thing, though, but when racism is such a fundamental part of someone's world view, when it so insidiously infiltrates a person's core that they don't even know how crazy what they're saying sounds, that's when you achieve a level of tragedy that is operatic. And so it is with Alabama. I know, I know. The biped is from there. And I've never even been there, but this New York Times exposé is so priceless, it has to be read to be believed.

The premise is great. Yes, it is wonderful news that the South as a powerful voting bloc may be at an end. I just wonder how it happened in the first place!

By voting so emphatically for Senator John McCain over Mr. Obama — supporting him in some areas in even greater numbers than they did President Bush — voters from Texas to South Carolina and Kentucky may have marginalized their region for some time to come, political experts say.

The region’s absence from Mr. Obama’s winning formula means it “is becoming distinctly less important,” said Wayne Parent, a political scientist at Louisiana State University. “The South has moved from being the center of the political universe to being an outside player in presidential politics.”

And then they start talking about Alabama....

“Race continues to play a major role in the state,” said Glenn Feldman, a historian at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “Alabama, unfortunately, continues to remain shackled to the bonds of yesterday.”

David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, pointed out that the 18 percent share of whites that voted for Senator John Kerry in 2004 was almost cut in half for Mr. Obama.

“There’s no other explanation than race,” he said.

And then they start quoting some of them! I want to shake them by the shoulders and cry out, "Stop it! Stop it! They're printing this in the paper!!"

One white woman said she feared that blacks would now become more “aggressive,” while another volunteered that she was bothered by the idea of a black man “over me” in the White House.

And this....

“I think any time you have someone elected president of the United States with a Muslim name, whether they are white or black, there are some very unsettling things,” George W. Newman, a director at a local bank and the former owner of a trucking business, said over lunch at Yellow Creek Fish and Steak.

Don Dollar, the administrative assistant at City Hall, said bitterly that anyone not upset with Mr. Obama’s victory should seek religious forgiveness.

“This is a community that’s supposed to be filled with a bunch of Christian folks,” he said. “If they’re not disappointed, they need to be at the altar.”

Customers of Bill Pennington, a barber whose downtown shop is decorated with hunting and fishing trophies, were “scared because they heard he had a Muslim background,” Mr. Pennington said over the country music on the radio. “Over and over again I heard that.”

And this...dear God...why don't they stop talking?

“I am concerned,” Gail McDaniel, who owns a cosmetics business, said in the parking lot of the Shop and Save. “The abortion thing bothers me. Same-sex marriage.”

“I think there are going to be outbreaks from blacks,” she added. “From where I’m from, this is going to give them the right to be more aggressive.”

And why? Why did Virginia and North Carolina vote with Obama? The reason is obvious.

Those states have experienced an influx of better educated and more prosperous voters in recent years, pointing them in a different political direction than states farther west, like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and Appalachian sections of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Ignorance and poverty. And these people should be afraid. Because with Obama, there could be real change--improvements in the education system, economic progress, development, equality. With the Republicans, they could count on social stagnation and the status quo. Very Southern.

Clothes, Clams and Collins

Did anyone see what Michelle Obama was wearing? I think she looked sensational. Like a super-model. A huge triumph after that unfortunate dress on election night. And poor Laura. She can't help that she looks like she's wearing a gunnysack. Especially standing next to the Amazon-like Michelle.

The fall weather has been more like Indian summer. It's been so mild and the leaves are still beautiful.




Clamming season has begun and the clamdiggers of 1938--I mean 2008--are out in force.




The biped is still euphoric over the election. He showed me Gail Collins column from a few days ago--I just got around to reading it. It's funny as always and covers all the bases. Particularly when she compares Joe Lieberman to a squirrel breaking into someone's house and setting the living room on fire. It's a metaphor. And I hate squirrels anyway. Read it.

Highs and Lows

I have to say, I've been a little under the weather. I haven't been eating and I've been a little sluggish, but the biped is making me fresh chicken and rice now and things are getting better. Although the biped running around shouting and dancing on his toes isn't helping. He's all excited about Barack Obama and I have to say so am I. It's fun watching the new White House take shape before my eyes. You know with Rahm Emanuel as chief-of-staff things are going to get done.

As usual, Gail Collins gives great perspective on the election. Here's my favorite part:

Congratulations to Senator Susan Collins on her re-election. The entire moderate Republican caucus in the Senate may now wind up consisting of women from Maine. As Maine goes, so go the Supreme Court nominations.

To celebrate the Democratic sweep, the biped and I took a walk yesterday. The first time I've been out of the house in days. I'm amazed for November that flowers are still blooming on the street.



The red on these trees along Mechanic Street is beautiful.



These mums looked better when I took the picture. Maybe it's time to change them.



This is how I like to hold my ears sometimes.

Gobama! Gobama! Gobama!

It's a big day, even for chihuahuas. I am voting Yes on Proposition 3 and the rest I don't care about. Oh, except for the presidentials. But I've been a yellow dog Democrat since the day I was born!



The biped is counting votes tonight and I thought I would do a count of my own. Of local pumpkins. Here are a few.

Fall Color

Halloween has come and gone. And I've been cooped up in this tiny apartment while the biped has run amok on Commercial Street. I don't know what happened Friday night, all I have is the photographic evidence....

The biped's friend Jon.


The biped.


Steve.


Tom and Dave.


Greg and Frank.


Stephen and Frank.


I don't know.


Jamie.


John and Maria.


Dana and Jon.


Mark and a teddy bear.


Jon said it was the most fun he's ever had of any night he's ever been in Provincetown. The biped is still taking Advil.