So I got a whole two hours of sleep, and I am sure grumbling about insomnia will be the topic of another post later on today (really, is there anything more annoying than lying, staring at the ceiling, making deals with an invisible someone for just 2-3 hours sleep?), but now I am watching Morning Joe!, and apparently three of three talking heads state it is over for Hillary, and one of them is a former NFL player (when Tiki Barber switches careers, he switches careers, doesn’t he?). Joe Scarborough is effusive and almost gushing in his praise for Obama, and it is almost unseemly.
At any rate, I feel a profound sense of relief the whole nomination process is finally over. I guess I am just not used to the messy way you all do things here in the Democratic party, but these past few months have been excruciating. The primary, for me at least, was over after March 5th, when she failed to blow him out in the firewall state of Texas, but as a new member of the party I guess I am in the wing where “firewall” and “math” still mean things. So I endured another month of listening to certain wings of a party (that, again, I am a newcomer to) do their best NRO and Weekly Standard impressions and talk about electability, stealth Muslims, lapel pins, patriotism, new new delegate math, Rev. Wright, and whatever else they could dream up.
Whatever. She threw everything she had at him. He weathered the storm. Consider him vetted. Consider Rev. Wright kicked in the junk. Consider me relieved. Now, can we get to the very serious business of dismantling the GOP? I have a very serious axe to grind, and it is deeply, deeply personal for me. There are a bunch of frauds, crooks, and phonies with whom I have a serious grudge that I want to settle. You see, I still have my “Peace Through Strength” button from when I campaigned for Reagan. I believed in limited government, I believed in a strong national defense, I believed in fiscal restraint and balanced budgets and I believed in personal integrity and individual liberty and personal freedom.
I am pissed. I want the frothing nutters, the fraudulent hucksters, the race-baiters, the anti-science frauds, the anti-intellectuals, the gay-bashers, the big-money cheats, the torture fetishists, the religious nuts, the tax and spenders, the xenophobes, and the phonies to pay. I want payback. I want the people who ruined my former party relegated to permanent minority status. I know I am a newly minted Democrat, and, as such, it is ballsy for me to start telling you what I want from the party, but this is my website and you are just going to have to deal with my opinion.
I am under no illusion I will buy into everything Barack Obama puts forward, but I am damned sure convinced he is a decent man who, at the very least, will restore a sense of competence to the national stage. I am willing to meet most Democrats half-way, and I am already doing everything I can to get this man elected. I think Obama will act in good faith for this nation, and I am responding in kind. His policies are not outlandish or crazy or uber-left- they reflect a rational, and I would argue, a decent and progressive way forward out of the mess I helped to create. I won’t like all of them, and I will not agree with all of them, but there is no chance that I will ever be President, so perfect agreement is never a possibility.
And don’t get me wrong- I am not for Obama because of what I am against. I am for Obama because he is a decent man, a break from the past, and really a once in a lifetime opportunity. He has treated us like adults throughout this primary, and it is time to act like adults. There will be times we feel he lets us all down, but we are not electing a diety. We are electing a leader, and Obama is that leader. It is time to get past the bullshit of the last 20 years, the battles I am really tired of fighting, and time to turn our attention to the really important issues of the day- the economy, the budget, our international presence, our crumbling infrastructure, our military, medicare and medicaid and social security, and on and on and on.
If Barack Obama was not your your preferred candidate, I am sorry that person did not win, but it is time to remember that the target is John McCain and the Bush/Cheney way of doing things. If you can not accept that and help move us forward, please at least get out of the way.
cleek
clap clap clappity clap
sparky
Fabulous post.
20 years of sowing disinformation, and 20 years of reaping the whirlwind. I am so happy that this will finally be over.
ranger 3
I’m going back to Iraq. It’ll be my second tour. I should be there by October.
National Guard.
I voted for Obama in the Texas primary, and caucused for him also.
Bedlam
Question from a Brit. When does it become official, and Hills can stop pushing her blather ?
If the S-D’s decide in August then it can still be a long summer cant it ?
arbitrista
Well said!
TR
It’s not official until the convention. (No matter what. McCain’s still the “presumptive nominee” until their convention as well.) But this has been sealed up for a while now, and it’s obviously a foregone conclusion now.
The superdelegates will likely move to Obama soon — to pre-empt a brief boomlet for Hillary in WVa and KY — and that’ll effectively seal it.
TR
Howard Wolfson is on MSNBC desperately trying to spin this thing alive.
You can practically feel the flopsweat over the phone connection.
Krista
John, I think that was your best post ever. It should be required reading for the entire freaking country.
Con Mhac
Dude, you’re fucking scary.
jake
That photo tempts me to make a Monica Lewinsky joke. Good thing I’ve got class and shit.
And not to piss on anyone’s corn flakes but Camp Clinton is raising the battle cry of “Michigan/Florida or Fight!” and scuttling around to the SDs trying to convince them that only Hillary can get the white working class vote and um, oh! A long time ago? Obama said Indiana would be the tie breaker and he can’t bowl* so you gotta pick Hillary.
I don’t think this will be over until the fat lady sits on Hillary.
Ayup. Listening to someone complain about their insomnia every damn week.
Go get your damn thyroid gland checked. /B. Frist
*I made that one up.
MattF
Ambien works too. Take Small Doses. There’s that ‘driving your car in your sleep’ side-effect.
ACK
Excellent post, John.
John Cole
I don’t take drugs for stuff like that. I limit my drugs to sugar, caffeine, scotch, amazing cigars, and the occasional aspirin. When I am desperate I will take prescribed drugs like antibiotics, but I am not getting into the habit of taking sleeping drugs.
If you have homeopathic remedies or other advice, I am all ears.
jake
Sex-crazed girlfriend. STAT.
rob!
the great thing is, Obama is so far ahead that you CAN SEAT FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN AS THEY ARE and he’d still be ahead in the popular and delegate counts.
hillary is now the huckabee of the campaing–a fly buzzing in the ear of the nominee. lets see the MSM start treating her like they did him.
Tom Levenson
RE insomia…Try one benadryl and a boring book for fifteen minutes. Best bit of advice I ever got from a shrink. (Not bad for 2.5 years @ $130/week.
Oh…and the post. Magnificent. I’m a yellow dog Dem with, maybe surprisingly, much the same list of political/philosophical touchstones — seen through the lens of the fact that 300 million people have to find ways to live together, a process which is of necessity filtered through government.
The only question about meeting half way is who buys the first round of which scotch. (I’m flipping between Highland Park and Bowmare 15.
Googootz
The Fat Lady is irrelevant. Even if it’s over for HRC _this time_, there is the next presidential election to plan for. The sabotage will not stop. She has to make sure McCain gets in. Indeed, why do you think all the “Hillis44” moonbats are threatening to jump the ship and join McCain’s Navy?
No, the only way HRC is going to relent is when the village mob, armed with pitchforks and torches, surrounds the blood thirsty fiend with garlic on its collective breath, and drives the wooden stake through its undead thorax.
Tim F.
1) Yoga. It worked amazingly well for my ulcer/insomnia in college; just make sure you find a real teacher and not some new-age tae-bo nitwit.
2) When all else fails, break out Critique of Pure Reason and read it in bed.
MattF
Alternative advice (which is what I do, mostly): Unless there’s a physical cause (apnea, restless legs, whatever), figure out your natural sleep behavior and do it. This means, for me, that I normally go to bed around 8pm, wake up for two hours around 1am, go back to bed at 3am, wake up for good at 5am.
I’m no longer anxious about it– the world is what it is and not some other thing.
dslak
Reading can actually make it harder to sleep. Unless you’re suggesting that Kant’s tortured prose is so powerful that it counters that usual tendency.
PeterJ
Exactly, She would gain 38 delegates in Florida (not counting Ewards 13) and 73 in Michigan (not counting the 55 uncommited).
Thing is, if they would get seated, without a way to fix Michigan, her next talking point would be how small Obama’s lead is.
sashal
bravo,
fabulous post
John Cole
I have argued repeatedly, you do not act magnanimous until Dracula has been properly staked.
When she is out and the supers have all swung his way and those bullshit nonelections are more meaningless than they are now, then you can seat them. Not a minute earlier. They broke the fucking rules.
calipygian
Its only over because Matt Drudge, who rules their world, told all those motherless media sheep that it is over.
He rules their world, you know.
josephdietrich
John, I don’t know your habits, but once I resumed getting regular cardiovascular exercise (road bike, 2-3 hours every other day) my insomnia and “waking up in the middle of the night in a panic” problems went away.
flyerhawk
Great stuff, John.
Hopefully the supers will seal the deal this week.
jack fate
Amen.
Napoleon
Bravo John.
By the way, how is everyone’s morning papers playing it? The Cleveland PD is “Obama wins N. Carolina; Clinton’s options dwindle” then they use Nagourney’s NY Times piece as the main story.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/
http://www.newspaperlinks.com/home.cfm
isit2009yet
If the fat lady hasn’t sung, she’s surely being urged to. It’s time for the general election to begin. McSame has been riding high on bulls**t for months now, and few people have been calling him on any of it.
I’d now like to see months of Rev. Hagee, flip-flops over Iraq, immigration, Bush, torture and whatever else he has reversed positions on. I want to see that “maverick” label pulled off the “Straight Talk Express” and shoot the tires out for good measure. There’s a wealth of material out there, and it’s ready for the taking….
so much for sprinkled doughnuts.
Svensker
Great post, John. I speak as someone who broke with the Repubs in 2002.
Second the benadryl and a boring book — if you can find a history of Sweden, that does the trick for me.
Valerian also works, but it takes a few days for it to have an effect. And it really really stinks, so be warned.
The other trick is to find something to think about that’s interesting but not anxiety inducing. For me, it’s how I’d re-do my garden if I won lotto.
Shygetz
That lady isn’t fat, she’s merely big-boned.
[/p. luk.]
maxbaer (not the original)
I’ve been doing tai chi for a little over a year now and all insomnia problems have gone away. The arthritic hip, not so much, but it is better.
Seanly
Great post, John.
btw, I forgive you for voting for Republicans.
One thing ~ a lot of the stuff you are for, I am for also. I see Democrats as the best chance to arrive at a nation where most Americans can thrive and prosper, where the vagaries of birth & circumstance are lessened while still allowing for individual effort, where we don’t start wars, where each person can choose their course through life.
Georgette Orwell
Spot on.
Shygetz
Tap water = every homeopathic “remedy” every made.
Now if you want an herbal sleep aid, I have had people recommend hops. You can either buy it as a tablet or powder it and drink it as a water infusion. I’ve never used it myself, but I’ve heard positive things.
Fulcanelli
Dude, quite a mea culpa…
We are in agreement on one major point: I want the GOP criminals like Rove, DeLay, Abramoff and especially Cheney hunted down, prosecuted and fucking shot on pay per view to pay down the deficit mess we’re in because if we don’t do it with this pack of thieving butt-pirates, then who would we ever do it with?
Seriously, the criminality of the last eight years makes the Sopranos look like rank amateurs. The fucking Mob has more honor and integrity than these bastards and I should know. My grandfather grew up with and was freinds, until his he passed away, with RI Mob kingpin Raymond Patriarca and his son Raymond “Junior” and I myself met him and a few of his Capos and Soldiers on more than a few occasions and these guys were no doubt brutal and ruthless but they had honor and some class. My wife also from her side had close relatives in “La Familia” and has the same opinion.
You always knew where you stood with them, there was a line you DID NOT cross, and if you kept your word, they kept theirs. (Guess you know where I’m from now.)
These GOP fuckers are nothing more than a tigh-tech, right wing mutant version of Organized Crime, minus any honor and integrity at all. World class con artists, racketeers and thieves bent on creating a culture war, a religious war, a class war and in turn, a World War, and we haven’t even begun to dig into the mess the new President will find next January, this is why it’s imperative that Obama gets in because there’s no fucking way on earth Hillary will go after them.
I have no illusions as to how vicious and stupid it is going to get. The GOP’s demise is going to resemble the scene in one of the Terminator movies at the end where the cyborg sent back to kill ‘Ahnold’ is destroyed. It will redefine ugly. But it is necessary if this country is going to survive as America: A Democracy.
Damn, I can’t wait. Got my torch and pitchfork at the ready.
Good site you got here John, with a pretty savvy crew. There’s no crime in making a mistake, the crime is not learning from it.
TheFountainHead
Most important thing you’ve written here in months, in my opinion. We have to meet Obama’s candidacy and match it for it’s intelligence and maturity, otherwise, what is the point?
Oh yeah, and sex-crazed girlfriend will do the trick every time, but the sleeping pills are probably safer in the long run, with fewer side effect.
bwaage
She should bow out soon, and it really should’ve been over after Texas and Ohio. However, the problem now is that she managed to convince a lot of her followers that this race is a dead heat (not true, she’s been mathematically done for for a long time by any reasonable estimate) and they’re going to feel cheated if it ends before all the primaries finish. What she would need to do if she wanted to put the best interests of the party before her own self interest, which I sincerely doubt will happen, is to work with Obama and the party and find a suitable compromise regarding FL/MI a few days before dropping out. The Clinton dead-enders will continue to feel cheated if those two states are still up in the air before she drops out.
The ball is pretty much in her court now. She could leave gracefully by agreeing to something like a 50/50 delegate split in MI/FL or making the states worth only half as many delegates, concede the race with some dignity and stump hard for Obama for a few weeks. This would really help to heal the divide between the two camps and make it easier for Obama in the general. Or she could keep clinging to the MI/FL cries of disenfranchisement and benefit from that uncertainty and continue to act like the big bad boys club in the media and party are pushing her out when she still has a chance to win. I honestly don’t know which direction she’s gonna go with it.
Mary
I don’t smoke. I never smoked, But damn, do I want a cigarette now.
And on a less petty note, I thank you for your assessment of Obama and your willingness to meet the Democrats halfway.
The insomnia: if you’re awake just because your body is bitchslapping you, and not because you’re tormented by worry and regrets and circling thoughts, then you have a variety of options.
1) Exercise OUTDOORS, not indoors. As I said in the other thread, I feel like a hamster in a wheel if I do anything but weight training indoors. Walk, cycle, whatever. If you have to be indoors, do something social, like a martial arts class. Exercise coupled with fresh-ish air, a change of scenery, or interacting with other people is must more refreshing than treadmills and exercise bikes. Exercise should be as much fun as possible, not medicine. And the weather is going to be great for another few months. (I cycle in the morning or evening to avoid going as red-faced as Bill Clinton from heat and sun, so even summer exercise outdoors can be very pleasant.)
2) Get some cool books on tape (CD, mp3, whatever). I highly recommend anything by Terry Pratchett. If you have an eMusic subscription for music, you should know they also have a bookstore with a decent little selection of books. On the nights that you have trouble sleeping, take a benadryl, a soothing non-alcoholic drink of your choice, and just lie in your bed and enjoy relaxing and listening.
If your brain is awake and your body is relaxed, just stay in the moment and enjoy it. You are still getting some rest, and you may be getting more sleep than you think, too. Right now, you are tormenting yourself that if you don’t get to sleep NOW, you’ll be sleepy and miserable the next day. Staying awake when driving or working, being so sleepy but forcing yourself to stay awake, is true torture. Staying awake without being sleepy is not.
chopper
i do that one too. only it’s ‘how would i redo my garden if i had a decent-sized garden’.
i drink hop-based infusions all the time, but i never sleep too well after a lot of it. then again, it’s an alcohol-based infusion.
Fulcanelli
Attention John: Go to your local drugstore or homeopathic/herbal remedy shop and get “Valerian” or “Valerian Root”.
It’s sold in capsules, they kind of smell bad, but it works. Well.
Valerian Root, or better yet the active compound found in it is the root compound used in many of the ‘-azepan or -azepam’ class of drugs such as Atavan, Clonopin, Valium and others.
We’ve been using it for over 15 years since we got turned on to homeopathy. A 180lb. man would want to take about three or four caps about 90 minutes before you want to go to sleep. The first night you might not get knocked out, but take it for three or four nights in a row and you’ll sleep right through with NO hangover and wake up really rested.
It’s how my wife and I have gotten any sleep for the last eight years.
Krista
Um…well…one thing that could make you kind of sleepy afterwards is if you…ahem…take matters into your own hands (or hand — I don’t need to know your technique)…so to speak.
On a serious note, I occasionally have a really hard time falling asleep, ’cause my brain just won’t shut off and I have too much whirring around my mind. So, I get up and write it all down. A to-do list, random thoughts, particular worries, the entire gamut. I then just try to relax my body and focus my mind solely on how incredibly comfortable my bed is. That usually winds up doing the trick.
Elroy's Lunch
Nicely put John. Again.
The MSM message is changing: Obaman “wins”, Hillary “sqeaks by.” Looks like the end is near.
So, now with your new-found passion, have you considered running for office in your local district?
P.S. If you’re having trouble sleeping turn on CSPAN. A spirited hearing on current issues before the Committee on Education and Labor will put ya right out…
jake
Washington Post (online, forgot to take a peek at the neighbor’s paper):
Obama takes N.C., Clinton ekes out win in Indiana.
Followed by:
-Clinton wows to continue
-Clinton aides see uphill battle
FearItself
Mr. Cole,
1) I wish I shared your confidence, too. Unfortunately, I fear the big-boned lady is still warming up in the dressing room. I think Nick Beaudrot’s take on the coming weeks is likely to prove the most accurate.
2) Re: insomnia, I second josephdietrich. Exercise (if you’re not already doing it) might be what’s missing. Find something (running; swimming; even low-weight, high-rep weightlifting) that will get your heart rate up enough to make you sweat, and it’s likely you’ll have an easier time sleeping. If you’re not exercising already, it won’t take very much time on a daily basis to break that sweat.
3) Great photo. Does anybody know who that Junoesque lady is? Just curious. I also love your choice of video clips on the previous post. You’re on a roll, in multimedia terms.
John Cole
No fucking way in hell.
unchis
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.
Thomas
John Cole is SHRILL. We welcome your newfound derangement syndrome.
priscianus jr
Here’s a homeopathic formula for you, Weleda Avena Sativa Compound. I recommend it highly. Used to take it occasionally and found it amazingly effective. As a matter of fact, the directions are to take 10-20 drops, but I found 3-4 drops was enough. (For me, a couple of advils will also do the job. But the Weleda is a lot healthier — come to think of it, I ought to keep some handy myself.) All it has in it is a miniscule amount of oats and caffeine. (Yes, caffeine — that’s how homeopathic formulas work.) I discovered it when I lived in England — seems to be mainly available from UK and Australia.
You can find it here and at many other sites.
http://www.healthstore.uk.com/p95475/WELEDA-Avena-Sativa-CompDrops-25ml.html
timb
If P luk is still reading from yesterday, I would like to crow about my prediction that Limbaugh fans would steal the election here in Indiana. It was 22000 votes and only half the Republicans would voted Dem voted fro Barack. With that half, he would have narrowly won.
As I told my father this morning, “hope you enjoyed it, it’s the last election you’re going to win for awhile.”
dr. bloor
You’re not going to like this, but your drugs of choice may have something to do with disruptions in your sleep cycle. Rather than throwing something allopathic/ homeopathic on top of everything else, trying knocking some of those things out first.
Exercise. Know and respect your sleep cycle. Stop blogging so much and get out of your momma’s basement more. We’ll be fine, really.
T. Scheisskopf
You know what I want, John? I want, post- Jan. 20 2009, a truth and reconciliation commission with subpoena and indictment powers. Not for revenge, but so justice can be served and the nation restored.
Of course, “law and order” repukes would squeal like pigs at the mere thought of such a thing.
p.lukasiak
right.
This “decent man” wins by race-baiting in the African American community, working overtime to cast two of the finest Democrats of our generation as racists, all in the name of “unity.”
Obama lost last night — because last night, he proved he can’t win in November. And last night, he proved he’s going to continue his race-baiting. Remember when Obama was Mr. Democrat for a Day? Well now, he’s telling his supporters that Republicans (read ‘white voters’) tried to stop him by voting for Clinton.
No wonder Cole is so comfortable with Obama. After spending his entire adult life affiliated with the race-baiting of the GOP and its southern strategy, he’s found a democratic candidate that sees race-baiting as the way to win elections.
T. Scheisskopf
Oh and John, regarding everything you want and believe in:
In spite of the legends told by the Republicans, I have never known any Democrat who did not want the exact same things.
Perhaps it is time for the Republicans to get some new story-tellers?
Genine
Wonderful post, John and props for writing it after only a few hours of sleep. Well done! I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep, but I’m pretty perky. By noon, I’ll probably be asleep under my desk but that’s alright.
Yogi Tea is a brand of tea and they make a formula called Calming Tea. They have a sleep tea as well, but I find the calming knocks me out for the night if I make it strong enough. If you seep the tea for less than five minutes, you’ll still have a restful sleep and very vivid and interesting dreams. So there is a two-fold benefit to my mind.
I also find meditation and hypnosis to be helpful in getting back to sleep, but if one is really wired, the effects can take a while.
John Cole
Oh, fuck off, Lukasiak.
rachel
p.lukasiak:
Shygetz
And the humor begins.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Cleanup in aisle patronizing.luk…
PeterJ
p.lunatic, I remember when the spin from the Clinton Campaign was that only democratic voters should pick the democratic nominee.
Obviously that has changed, now it’s ok for republicans to do it, but I guess only if they choose Clinton and also even if they won’t vote for her in the general election.
When all this is over, Clinton should invent easily moved goalposts. She would make millions from it.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Way to call it John!
I agree – the fat lady is on stage and all that’s left is the final curtain call.
So now that the nomination has been decided, I have a question for you John:
Which “R” are you?
What do you feel more, Relief, or Regret?
TR
I think it’s time to stop treating P.Luk as an object of scorn, and more as an object of genuine pity.
That’s some of the deepest, saddest, most pathetic denial I’ve ever seen in my life.
Original Lee
John, you broke my applause machine again. Excellent, excellent post! Another reformed Republican thanks you.
Re: insomnia. I just had a sleep study done and had the follow-up with my sleep specialist last week. Check out the following websites:
http://www.sleepfoundation.org
http://www.aasm.org
Three things my sleep specialist told me last week may help you:
1) Exercise in the morning if at all possible. The closer to bedtime you exercise, the greater the negative impact on your sleep it will have.
2) Try to go to bed at the same time every night (whatever time that works for you).
3) Eat a snack with protein and carbs (such as a bowl of Cheerios with milk) 30-90 minutes before bed. However, some people cannot eat anything at all after 8PM without it messing up their sleep, so if you try this and it makes things worse, stop.
Good luck.
Genine
Oh. My. God. What world do you live in?? What color is the sky there? Are the people there bi-pedal like we are here? Because your world seems so different than the one the rest of us inhabit.
Most of the time I just see you as very impassioned about your candidate, but some of the things you write are truly insane, especially the last few days.
I don’t think you’re drinking Kool-Aid because I don’t think it exists where you are.
(But, I could be wrong, because I think the company that makes it has an excellent marketing strategy on many levels- but that’s a different tangent.)
grandpajohn
Valerian root in capsule form
greynoldsct00
John, excellent post!! And, as Mary said upthread, I don’t smoke but I could use a cigarette after reading this. As for the sleep aid, you have it already — pour a nice single malt to savor and drift off, and the good news is, as my father says, “wakes up easy”.
orogeny
I just want to offer my congratulations to Obama and his supporters. In my opinion, yesterday’s primaries were the last chance Senator Clinton had to show some real momentum in order to sway the SDs into voting for her, and Obama won decisively in NC and almost eliminated Clinton’s lead in IL. I hope that the remaining uncommitted SDs will come out for Obama in the next few days. IMO, Clinton fought a good fight, but the better campaigner won.
I really think that Clinton will concede soon, although she may wait until after KY and OR on May 20. Her statement saying that we all must “work for the nominee of the Democratic Party, because we must win in November” last night was the first step toward withdrawing. I think the tone of her campaign will change immediately, though.
I agree completely with that statement. I’ll be volunteering for the Obama campaign here in Birmingham. I doubt he’ll win the state (I don’t think any Dem could), but I hope we can keep it close enough that McCain will have to spend some time and money here.
Anticorium
Rush Limbaugh is shocked, shocked that crossover voting is going on in here.
AnneLaurie
… And you expected these fine goals to be respected by a man who took his slogans from 1984?!? Well, okay, I suppose middle schoolers get a pass. Welcome to the real effin’ world, kiddo.
As for the insomnia — and the earaches, and the repeated bouts of creeping crud — have you ever seen an allergist? Do you have a family history of allergies? Allergen-based inflammation of all those tubes & spaces inside one’s skull can make you simultaneously sleepy all day long and incapable of getting to sleep at night. Such inflammation also, of course, lowers your resistance to infections.
If it is allergies, but you don’t want to go through the desensitization-shots routine and you don’t want to take drugs, go buy a big spray bottle of plain saline solution from the cough’n’cold aisle. Flush out your nasal passages every night at bedtime, again in the morning if you wake up congested, and after exposure to your particular triggers (vacuuming, raking leaves, exercising under the lovely blossoming spring trees with their unlovely pollen burdens). If your ear doctor hasn’t warned you against it, you can also buy a bottle of ‘ear wax remover’ (hydrogen peroxide conveniently packaged) and use it per the package instructions. Believe it or not, just rinsing out the worst of the irritants can make an ENORMOUS difference in your ability to get to sleep & stay asleep… once you get past the apparent futility of adding more moisture to your streaming sinus passages, not to mention the whimsey of paying good money for, well, artificial snot.
Neil H
And the evidence is, seriously, that
No I will not read in a non-existent meaning. Stop race-baiting, P-luk.
Xenos
Obama has been doing the race-baiting? He stole those minority votes fair and square, by running as a national politician while B & H were running as douchebags. Clinton had 80% of the minority votes a year ago, and she pissed them away in order to lock in the mouth-breathers in PA, OH, and IN. Obama could not get those votes until after Clinton threw them away – it is 100% her fault.
Bitter, bitter, bitter.
electroglodyte
Longtime lurker here, just wanted to say:
Excellent post!
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Welcome aboard. I, um, apologize for my rude behavior earlier. Sorry, my bad.
Krista
Apologizing for being rude? We’re going to have to revoke your Balloon-Juice membership card, my friend.
Randall
I hope someone catches this on film.
Scrutinizer
Obama cast Al Gore as a racist?
Surely you can’t be talking about the Clintons, who consistently moved away from Democratic positions toward Republican ones in order to maintain power at any cost. Remember “triangulation”? The “Third Way”? p.huk, my dear, the DLC was never anything more than an organization of liberal Republicans.
But be of good cheer, Paul. Last night’s double digit loss in NC, virtual tie in IN, and loss of net pledged delegates for the evening can only mean that Clinton is well on her way to winning the Presidency.
If it just wasn’t for that damned Democratic nomination standing in the way.
les
I heard Rahm(?) Emmanuel on NPR this morning–he put it well, if kinda precious: How the loser loses will determine whether the winner wins. Can the shrill one go out with some grace, and help cast the pubs into the desert? We can only hope.
Great post, John.
Cris
* applause *
I’m a former Reagan Youth who left the party in 1992 and spent the next decade as a disgruntled independent. It took Howard Dean and Brian Schweitzer to get me to face the fact that in a two-party system, I’m going to side with the Democrats nine times out of ten. As you said, we’re adults, let’s act like it. Compromise isn’t just part of the game, it’s the whole point of the game.
Also, don’t buy herbs in capsules. Buy fresh plant tinctures, where fewer active ingredients are lost to the drying process. When I have to get up early, I do a cocktail of Valerian, Skullcap, and Passionflower.
orogeny
No problem. I apologize for all the horrible things I thought about some of ya’ll, but never actually posted. ;-)
Hopefully now we can get past all that and concentrate on generating a landslide win over McCain.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Both Obama and Clinton moved me last night: Now is the time for reconciliation, we’re all on this bus together. We have a Straight Talk McMaverick to defeat.
(Offer not valid if you’re still pounding maps in the bunker like patronizing.luk.)
mark
How quaint. you do realize that since the end of the civil war, american government has been of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations, don’t you? Everything else is just distractions for the rubes.
I hope things change under obama, but I’m not optimistic.
merrinc
I’ve suffered from insomnia off and on my entire life too and also eschew pharmaceuticals. Valerin does nothing for me and while I enjoy various herbal teas, none of them make me sleep. I’ve had better results with melatonin.
Happy to report that the MUP trounced HRC 70% to 29% here in Mecklenburg county. Above the fold headlines in the Charlotte Observer were unremarkable but the local columnists were spot on.
Mary Curtis: “NC Embraces New Significance”
And I loved how Tommy Tomlinson summed up the Big Dog’s utter ineffectiveness: Bill Clinton spent more time here than a Chapel Hill student on the seven-year plan. If your town had a stoplight and a place to plug in a microphone, Bill was there.
Billy K
Another vote for Valerian root. It works not just to put you to sleep, but to make your sleep more restful. Side note: People have been known to have unusually vivid dreams while taking Valerian root. As someone who never remembers his dreams, it kinda freaked me out when I used it.
Throwin Stones
speaking only for me, spot on
orogeny
I hope the more strident Obama supporters will now realize that continuing to rag on the Clintons is counterproductive. If you’re interested in getting Clinton supporters (many of whom felt as strongly about their candidate as you did about Obama) to vote for and work for the Obama campaign, I think a little bit of graciousness in in order. You’ve won, people, resist the urge to gloat.
rafael
DAMN, Can we get John to introduce Obama at the convention? Or at least to introduce him at every public event in West Virginia and the South?
ThymeZone
Watching Bill Clinton’s face last night, standing behind the Beast, as she spoke, made the whole last two months worthwhile. The man looked totally defeated and confused.
Yay. Really, just yay.
ThymeZone
I can’t understand why David Broder would pick a handle like “orogeny.” It’s way too creative for the old fart of a concern troll.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Now that’s some serious class. Welcome aboard orgogeny!
I notice that Obama often uses the pronouns “we” and “our” rather than “I” and “mine” when talking about the camppaign, especially in speeches. He did it again last night. I don’t think he is using the royal “we” when he does this. It is a verbal tick reflecting the idea that this campaign is less about Obama and more about us, taking back our country – he is the vehicle, but we are the motor.
filkertom
Yeah, pretty damn much. Very well said, Mr. Cole. I am so glad you are with us.
ThymeZone
It’s in the bag. I still have a large bet with DougJ that I will be happy to lose by a slim margin: McCain gets 35% or less of the popular vote.
Dems have been so focussed on David vs. Goliathina that they forgot to notice that the GOP has put up a corpse for a candidate. A guy with no ideas, a guy who still thinks he is fighting the Vietnam war, who thinks the Sunnis are a cartoon show on PBS, who can’t remember what he had for breakfast, talks in circles, and looks like an undertaker having a bad day.
Relax.
ThymeZone
Kudos. I hope that you are pleasantly surprised at how good a candidate you are ending up with.
merrinc
orogeny: I will start being gracious when a) I’ve had time to get over having every Clinton in every corner of North Carolina for the last damn month consistently insulting my intelligence and ripping into my candidate and b) those who have invested so much time and effort into trying to destroy the party show that they are willing to start healing it.
Screw Bill Clinton. I’m one of those who defended him in the 90’s only to watch him slink around and make one hateful, divisive remark after another so that he could have another shot at the White House. Ineffective is about the nicest thing I have to say about the SOB right now.
Did you work on either campaign in NC? Do you know how nasty the Hillary supporters made it? No? Then kindly presume to stop lecturing those of us who were on the ground. I worked my ass off for my guy and we helped deliver a resounding victory and I will by god gloat for a few days. In the meantime, why don’t you take aim at some of the “more strident” HRC supporters like the very inestimable p luk.
orogeny
Thymezone,
Why are you such a bitter old man?
“Concern troll”??? All I’m interested in is that the Democratic candidate wins in the fall. I realize that you’re one of those folks on the Web who somehow thinks that lots of curse words and a phony tough-guy attitude somehow makes you look cool, but if you really had any interest in your candidate winning the election you’d want to make the effort to bring the Clinton supporters over to the Obama camp. But, I suppose that your macho posturing is all you’ve got.
BTW, my handle on the Web has been orogeny since about 1990. I was a geochemist in a past life (I guess I still am, but I don’t work in that field any more) and thought it was an interesting username.
ThymeZone
lukasiak, I see, is still working in cahoots with pie vendors.
Thank heavens these dedicated pie purveyors will still have some demand for their tasty wares!
ThymeZone
I dunno, probably the mistreatment here at the nursing home.
Well that, and the fact that I don’t like your totally assholish support of a horrible candidate the last recent while.
But, perhaps you can put that behind you. I see you are trying to make a start today. I hope you succeed.
orogeny
You’re right, merrinc…rub it in. Gloat all you want to. See how many of the potential Obama supporters you can convince either to vote for McCain or not to vote at all. I’ve spent a fair amount of time on this site defending my candidate, but I don’t think you can come up with a post where I ever “ripped into” Obama. I’ve never called him a liar or slimy or a psychopath or a bitch or a bigot any of the other insults that I have read here applied to Senator Clinton. If you want to keep the fight going and the wounds open, that’s your prerogative, but IMO it’s a mistake to do so.
A the proprietor of this blog just said, “it is time to remember that the target is John McCain and the Bush/Cheney way of doing things. If you can not accept that and help move us forward, please at least get out of the way.”
Teak111
JC, great post, from the heart and I agree whole heatedly. I too was a republican, a Richard Riordan republican. He was major of LA after Tom Bradley. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Riordan
But Richard got bushwhacked in his own primary by GOP uber-conservatives who put up Bill Simon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Simon), a biz man with little experience but with all the correct wack-job credentials in place. The article explains just what folly Simon’s campaign was.
At that point, I knew something was wrong with the GOP. It had a disease, a cancer, which I think started in 92 with the Clinton election and has metastasized for years. Now, it need to be cut out the hard way, with no pain killers.
Maybe that can happen with the upcoming election, although I’m not counting my chickens yet.
Egilsson
Melatonin is a common homeopathic remedy. Some people say it works great.
For me, insomnia became such a problem that I threw in the towel and tried a prescribed sleeping aid. Best sleep I’ve had in ages. Not sleeping over long periods of time is just a killer.
We have modern medicine; use it.
Yes, I know I may have a weaning period when I try to get off it, but until then, I’m sleeping and functioning better.
Great post.
The other thing I groused about was the part you said about, ” I still have my “Peace Through Strength” button from when I campaigned for Reagan. I believed in limited government, I believed in a strong national defense, I believed in fiscal restraint and balanced budgets and I believed in personal integrity and individual liberty and personal freedom.”
Those were the reasons why I voted AGAINST Reagan in 1980 and 1984. Reagan was a disaster, and far more corrupt than people seem to recall these days. It was a frustrating time being a democrat back then (and still is). Republicans have been getting away with saying outrageous BS for years.
orogeny
In your eyes, ANY support of Hillary Clinton is horrible. In my posts, I’ve tried to debate the issues. I never made any ad hominum attacks on Obama. You’re the one who feels that it is necessary to spray the world with your spittle every time someone dares to disagree with you.
ThymeZone
I have little patience for people who come to a food fight …. for the food.
If you can’t stand the mashed potatoes in your hair, stay out of the dining room.
Heh. I just made that up.
b. hussein canuckistani
Or a bit fat placebo! It’s all the same crap!
/Farnsworth
b. hussein canuckistani
D’oh. s/bit/big
Seriously, take up astronomy as a hobby. Spend an hour before bed looking at Saturn, and you will relax like an opium fiend.
ThymeZone
Well, that’s an absurd statement on several levels, and typical of the quality of your assholish arguments.
And failed, despite the generous use of lies, distoritions and intelletual pretzel-making to do it.
Really? The fact is you know nothing about me, at all. I’m a persona, you idiot. And you are a target.
As for the style, it is effective, appropriate, and fun, and if you aren’t careful, I will take off the gloves and give you the full treatment. I am much better at this than you are and I dislike you tremendously, so just keep that in mind as you go forward.
Tsulagi
If you haven’t before, try melatonin. It’s produced naturally in the body when you’re outdoors in the sun and helps provide good sleep. The SO uses it during the winter when she sometimes has a problem sleeping. I can sleep anytime, anywhere, but I’ve used melatonin on long flights as it gives me a deeper sleep.
You can find melatonin in just about any drugstore, supplement place, and usually even supermarkets. Cheap, about $5 for a bottle. Take two pills about a half hour to an hour before you want to sleep. Use at least 6mg. Sometimes the wife uses up to 10mg.
Of the other well-meaning remedies, I whole-heartedly endorse this one…
Way, WAY better than this one…
tess
Well, it’s not quite homeopathic – but it is over-the-counter.
Suggestion for insomnia: over-the counter, dramamine.
(obviously don’t get the non-sleepy version — get the original one.)
It’s a very mild sedative.
orogeny
I’m terrified…
mrmobi
There is nothing to gloat about. We’ve had a very competitive election, and we now have an apparent winner. I continue to have great respect for both of these candidates. Hillary’s presence in this race has made Obama a better, stronger candidate.
Last night was great, it appears Obama has this all but locked up, but there does remain the matter of Florida and Michigan. As I understand it, at this point Obama could probably accept the results of both of those invalid elections and still be ahead in the delegate count and the popular vote. (not that the popular vote really means anything in a race to get as many delegates as possible.) But why should he do that? Are the people of Florida (which Democrats won’t win) and Michigan (which they will) up in arms about this? I don’t think so.
For me, the bottom line is, you don’t change the rules of the game after everyone has accepted them. What we’re going to find out now is, will the Democratic Party let Hillary do that.
orogeny
Sorry you feel that way, TZ. I find you to be quite entertaining.
Original Lee
Talking to people I know in Michigan over the last couple of weeks, they were so relieved to have a decision made so that the press would leave them alone that I don’t think very many of them would be demanding a solution anytime soon. They are tired of the media circus, and one friend was actually sobbing on the phone to me last night because so many pundits were babbling about Michigan. I believe that the vast majority of Democrat Michiganders have become accustomed to the idea of not having a say in this election and are now in the “yeah, whatever, dude” camp.
Thelonius
John, you just wrote the post that I’m going to link to every time my Mississippi relatives ask me why I’m voting for (and contributing to) Obama. There’s just 50 different kinds of awesome in that rant.
Cain
I wouldn’t worry about TZ, orogeny. He’s just a 70 year old woman. Don’t hold him against you is all I’m saying.
I found you to be fair. You seem to have a higher threshold of tolerance in your choice of candidate. I don’t think I would tolerate that kind of crap she’s done from the MUP.
If you want to reform the system, you can’t do it from someone who is part of the system, and takes advantage of the system. I want to reform the system, we’ve getting it up the ass for the past 12 years. Hillary could have been that candidate.
Hillary could have won if she had the right set of advisors to advise her. Bill screwed it up for her by bringing his choice of clowns. Outclassed, outmanned, out spent and out manuevered from a campaign that had no expectations about winning other than knowing how to organize.
Hillary should be doing some serious post-mortem analysis of her campaign to find out what went wrong. In fact, she should have done that after super tuesday independent of her campaign advisors.
Anyways, welcome aboard!
cain
You
So I was thinking last night as the results came in….what job could Hillary have in the White House, what job could Barack give her that would befit her status and it occurred to me.
Cook and Chambermaid.
Perfect!
orogeny
Cain,
I have to agree with you on Clinton’s campaign. Penn is an ass and made some serious mistakes in the direction he took the campaign. Obama, on the other hand, ran a near-perfect campaign. Plouffe and Axelrod will be making some really big bucks over the next decade or so, based on their performance in this primary.
Maybe my tolerance is high…25 years of Alabama politics will do that to you, I guess. I still don’t think that a lot of the supposedly horrible things that Clinton and her surrogates said during the campaign were that bad. Certainly not anywhere near the level of a typical Republican presidential campaign.
ThymeZone
I find you to be a damned fool.
You are a guy who apparently thinks it’s okay to frown up a little and support — without reservation — the suggestion that an entire country be obliterated — obliterated — is acceptable language for a presidential candidate.
The complete destruction of an entire country of people, generations, families, women and children, innocent bystanders included, for the sins of their idiotic government, tossed into a campaign speech like a promise to clean up the sidewalks …
… and then sit here and bitch that I am too rude to you on a fucking blog.
Sorry, that’s a level of cognitive dissonance that can’t be fixed with any amount of phony “gracious” talk and wanting to be one of the cool kids after your asshole, your disaster, your complete self-serving shitheel of a candidate has finally lost.
Like I said yesterday, go fuck yourself. Nobody who puts out the crap you do is going to lecture me about anything. Keep it up, and I will hang that Obliterate Iran gaffe around your neck for the next six months every time you post here.
ThymeZone
That’s where you get the idea that obliteration of countries is a legitimate campaign promise?
Fuck Alambama, if it were up to me I’d kick you out of the Union.
Soylent Green
Insomnia advice:
Buy some of those sound effects CDs of ocean surf, or gentle rain, or a babbling brook, your choice. Make sure they are the long uninterrupted recordings from one location only, not the ones that keep shifting from one sampling location to another, also that they contain absolutely no dippy new age music layered in. Play softly on a loop and visualize being in that place.
John, someday you may have a reformed GOP to go home to, one that is home to moderates and true conservatives rather than the current batch of lunatics, jingoists, bigots, and kleptocrats. If so you will have earned it.
Oregeny, I am not gloating, but it’s hard not to be rankled by the gall of Hillary supporters loudly claiming they are switching to McCain. Do you think that’s a blog echo chamber thing that gives a false impression about how many Clinton backers will actually cross over, or is this a widespread sentiment? Also disturbing is how many people want Hillary to blow up the convention. So I will be pissed until persuaded otherwise.
OniHanzo
I dunno. at least orogeny is capable of coming to terms with the reality of things. I think we’re all too accustomed to the batshit troll insanity that usually gets coughed up by p.luk and myegox2. They’ve done such a fantastic job performing the Clinton Loving Dumbass Theater that it’s all too easy to categorize all Clinton supporters with the same brush.
Not all of them want to pout and vote McCain because their girl didn’t win it.
ThymeZone
Oh yeah, the guy who talks easily about obliterating countries on a blog will now feign a stoic attitude.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but my candidate will pimp obliteration of countries the day before a big primary vote and I am okay with that.
Quite an act, pal, Really.
ThymeZone
He’s a liar. The threads are still out there, you can verify it for yourself.
But don’t call him one, he will whine that you are being rude to him.
Soylent Green
TZ, give it a rest. I want the remainder of the party on board. Of course they took a lot of stupid pills. In time the effects will wear off, except in people who were insane to begin with.
I don’t need Hill’s people to crawl on their bellies, just to own up to the facts (as Orogeny has done), pledge to support the nominee, and learn the words to Kumbaya. We are all in this together.
Wonk
John, I’ve been lurking here for about 3 years, and I have to say, this place has turned into my favorite political website.
And you have the best commenters on the intertubes.
This is gonna be a long day. Curse you, Indiana!
orogeny
Golly, Thymezone, that one just tore the fabric of my being. When you “take off the gloves” you’re really a force to be reckoned with. Maybe in your next post you could say something bad about my mom.
Cris
You’re going to lose that bet. Bob Dole got more than 35% in 1996. George H.W. Bush got more than 35% (barely) in 1992. Both of them were up against a very serious third-party challenge from Perot.
I’d love it if you were right. You won’t be.
ImJohnGalt
I’m all for giving the Clintonistas time to mourn their loss, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to kiss their ass and prostate myself before them so they’ll vote for Obama.
More Obamanites said they were going to vote for Hillary if she won than Clintonites said they were going to vote for Obama if he won. Who cares more about the party and things like, oh, say, Supreme Court appointments?
If you think threatening to vote for McCain or stay home is a way of making Obama-supporters forgive and forget, I’d have to disagree (see how I turned that around?).
So go ahead – vote for McCain, and cheer when Roe v. Wade gets overturned and we have a 3-(or more)-front war, and fantastically wealthy people become galactically wealthy while fewer people than ever have health insurance.
Won’t it be worth it, just so you can taste a salty tear from an Obama supporter that might’ve said something mean (or not been sufficiently supplicant) once the primary was finished.
ThymeZone
Is your mom another goddam fool who thinks “obliterate Iran” is an acceptable campaign promise?
Then to hell with your mom. And to hell with the idea of phony unity. I am not having “unity” with someone who pimps war, death and destruction as a desperation campaign tactic.
Our party doesn’t need that kind of crap, and it doesn’t need you.
Napoleon
I know we are 6 months out, but if I had to bet I think McCain will come in around 47%, which is still blow out territory. He will win almost all of the south, Utah and maybe a couple of other interior western states.
Tax Analyst
A spot-on post, John. And I’ve shared that “Once-in-a-lifetime” feeling now for the past several months…that’s why I loosened up the wallet and made my first-ever campaign contributions this year – with more to come. One fight now is to pull the party together and the other is to dispel all the ugly crap we will surely see from the Republican’s in the GE. Our biggest enemies are now Fear & Ignorance. They’ve been in charge the past 7 years and they will not give up easily.
I remember when you finally had enough and jumped ship. I thought, “You know, maybe we CAN somehow take our country back. Reasonable people CAN and DO see what Bush, et al, have been doing to us”.
Thanks.
ThymeZone
Preciseamente.
If those buttheads want unity, then let them earn it.
They seem to think that after weeks of acting like complete shitheads, they can wipe the slate clean with a declaration that they are joining the team.
Sorry, but complete intellectual, moral and ethical prostitution can’t be put aside quite that quickly. We have seen what a few years of government by people like that can do to us. Enough is enough.
ThymeZone
My hunch is that he will beat Goldwater’s excellent record of being crushed like a maggot. I want McCain to be the new Arizona champ of dismal failure as a presidential candidate. Goldwater was at least a likeable idiot, McCain is not even that tolerable.
Buck B.
John Cole might be the best ranter in the whole of the Internets.
nightjar
The theme of this thread seems to be how do we kiss and makeup with Hillary Supporters, so I’ll give my two cents worth. I see no reason to go out of my way to denigrate hillbots for their support to their candidate. Even if some of that support was to try and destroy Obama’s chances in the GE. However, I don’t think HC ran a good campaign, or any way near an honorable one and I have zero patience for converts to continue to sing her praise with the fetid horse manure we’ve become accustomed to. If Her supporters want to jump on the Obama wagon sincerely, I say welcome aboard. Yet, I have no desire to “court” their support or sweet talk them in any way. They can support Obama or not, I could care less. If they do, I say welcome and if not then fuck you very much is my response. Maybe I’ll soften up later on, but not right now.
Tax Analyst
But think what a great campaign billboard that would make:
“John Cole – No fucking way in hell”.
You might pick up some backlash vote with that, and at any rate you probably wouldn’t get much under the 25% any other Democrat would get in a WV election.
ThymeZone
We’ll see. Arizona is considered safe McCain territory, and it probably is. Utah is just Mars, we have to write them off.
But I think a new electoral map will be fashioned. I think McCain will reveal his incredible ineptitude in the debates, I think that if the GOP thinks it can ride Wright, Ayers and Bitterosity into the White House, they are sadly mistaken. In fact, I don’t think even the GOP thinks that, I think they just don’t have anything else, and they know it.
I think Obama learns fast, and will be ready. I think his speech last night proves it. I think after 3 months of speeches like that, and fumble-bum nonsense from McCain, the American people are going to turn out in droves to vote for this new guy and put a stake into the politics of Bush-Clinton era once and for all.
ThymeZone
And, what nightjar said, pretty much.
Soylent Green
It will be close. It always is. Ninety percent of the electorate holds to their lifetime party loyalties, no matter who is running. This time around the defectors writing in Clinton, Paul, or Huck’s names will be numerous, but their net effect will be a wash. When all the votes are counted, McCain will score the usual GOP core, say 43 to 45%, while Obama will win the popular vote with 48 to 50. The difference in the EC will be uncomfortably close, and we will biting our nails watching OH and PA.
Napoleon
I think all of that is true, and if we had the electorate we had in 64, or even 72 or 88, I think he would be crushed by the margins you suggest, but I think this is a really differant country from the one I grew up in and really believe it is almost impossible for the Rep to get less the 45%, regardless of who it is and the circumstances. I really think partisian lines have hardened that much over the last 16 years, and I don’t think that the economy is currently bad enough (even though it is pretty bad) to break down those partisian lines. I hope I am wrong and you are right though. Personally I think everyone in the middle is going to swing solidly to the Dems for sometime to come and combined with the fact that the 45% I mention is disproportiatly in the south I think you will see the results in elections be much differant in the 2008-2026 period then you saw in the 1980 through 2004 period.
Napoleon
A PS to what I wrote, I suspect by the way that if I am right about the 45% and if the Republicans that remain practice the same scorched earth tactics they did with the last congress I suspect you may see a serious push to do away with the filibuster rule.
Gregory
Bravo, sir.
KXB
I’ve been having to do something similar – how is it that I, a lifelong Republican, can support Obama> For me, my short argument was that, yeah, Republicans are pricks, but they are competent pricks. Or used to be. Reagan helped restore America’s standing, Bush I managed the ending of the Cold War and Gulf War I with astonishing professionalism (see the recent American Experience doc on PBS), and Bush II pissed it all away. He let a bunch of frat boys run the gov’t. I’m a patient and forgiving guy – hell, I voted for Dubya. But enough is enough.
Ted
If you don’t like him, don’t vote for him in the general election.
Now shut up and go away.
Z
Welcome aboard, Orogeny! Pick any spot on the Unity Pony, except next to TZ. Even though TZ knows he is, theoretically, on the UNITY Pony, he still can’t help hopping up and down, screaming, ‘Get off MY LAWN!’
Michael D.
Melatonin can work very well. You should not use the pill form though. Go for the liquid stuff. It comes with an eye dropper and you can just put a few drops under your tongue.
Personally, I like Rozerem. It’s non-habit forming and has few, if any, side effects.
Soylent Green
Nailed it!
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
I have to echo that. Jeez, TZ, this should be a victory party, dammit! Stop trying to ruin the mood with your “I want my pound of flesh and pint of blood” attitude.
I feel the same way, but I’m making a big distinction between Clintonista operatives and ordinary Clinton voters. Save your guillotine for the former and roll out the carpet for the latter. McCain is not going to be nearly as easy to defeat as you seem to think – home state critics often don’t have a very good perspective on these things, because they can’t see how important the MSM narrative is going to be for most folks from out of state who are less familiar with your local refuse than you are. In case you haven’t noticed, the donuts-for-St-John brigade still have their kneepads on.
Orogeny made a commitment to volunteer for Obama’s campaign in a state that is a steep uphill climb. Give it a rest already. Don’t you have any house plants you can yell at? WWPD (What Would the Pony Do)?
jj
The utter BS that the Clinton camp has been spewing since it got a huge “Mackeral slap in the face”, aka Super Tuesday, has not put me in the most forgiving mood.
In fact, her entire campaign has been an insult to:
– the intelligence of the voters (35 years of “experience”? My ass.)
– the African-American electorate – a demographic that has always come out for Dems and that she had in her corner until she felt the need to simultaneously denigrate the value of their votes, whilst courting the racist wing of the white working class (and to what end? They voted republican in 5 out of 7 of the past generals anyway – not a reliable constituency)
– Basic human decency. Cavalierly threatening to “obliterate” 66 million people for the sole purpose of scoring brownie points with the troglodyte demographic is beyond the pale. It’s evil, stupid, racist (yeah I said it) and it’s where I draw the line.
Fuck her and everyone who thinks as she does – that her patrician, priviledged circumstance entitles her to the most powerful office on the planet and if she has pledge to nuke a few million towelheads to get it, meh. No big deal.
It IS a big deal and I will not be gracious towards a political movement that tosses this kind of blood soaked currency around as though they were TiddlyWinks(TM)
rant off.
t4toby
Well said, John.
Julie
Delurking to say… Ignoring any slight Frist-iness in the diagnosis method, this is actually really good advice. I suffered through almost a year of >3 hours of sleep per night, until my doctor finally did a basic blood test and said, “Oh hey, that’s weird…” 18 months on meds and it all vanished into a nice, semi-permanent remission.
(I don’t comment very often, but I read this blog everyday. It’s my head-and-shoulders favorite of political blogs.)
Dr Richard Blackmoor
That was the best comment on this whole Presidential race from anyone yet.
I have been reading posts at various sites for over 6 hours and they all left me feeling deflated but your rational, yrt emotional comments have revived me.
Thank You, from
A Freedom loving American and Independent turned Democrat.
Julie
This is not giving frat boys nearly enough credit. Even the shroom-addled hackey-sack players at the TKE house managed to budget their social fund for enough beer and HRD vodka each semester without having to borrow against every future pledge class for the next fifty years. I’m just saying.
Kewalo
OMG John, this post exemplifies why I read your blog day after day. Thank you.
breadnbeer
I’m certainly not a doctor or insomnia expert, but I’d second some of the suggestions you’ve already been given above about reading and exercise (sex isn’t bad too). Like Mary said above, it depends on whether your mind keeps running and running or whether your body is bugging you… If you actually read all the comments you get here, damn, that may be part of it.
I don’t know about boring yourself to sleep with highbrow writing (that only works for me in waiting rooms and airplanes) and it may only add to the problem or just agitate you.
When my mind is restless, stressed/panicked and I can’t sleep, I pick up ‘comfort reading’: books (fiction) I’ve read before and enjoyed and will put me in a good state of mind and help me forget whatever is bothering me or help me tire myself out reading in the middle of the night. Whatever escape-ist brain-candy is to your taste: Harry Potter, Tolkien, Patrick O’Brian, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens – whoever and whatever it takes to help you settle and sleep.
Sometimes just getting up and taking a shower helps settle you down too (going to bed clean, as the Japanese do, is good).
Good luck. And good work here.
oh really
I guess nobody checked with the next president of the United States. She certainly hasn’t gotten the message that it’s over.
I’m reduced to hoping for an alien abduction.
Sasha
Bach’s Rescue Resume.
Lavender essential oil (aromatherapy)
Chamomille tea.
Nancy
You always seem to have the perfect words, John. Great post.
Johnny Pez
“This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let’s not bicker and argue about who killed who!”
Richard Bottoms
For me, my short argument was that,yeah, Republicans are pricks, but they are competent pricks. Or used to be.Fixed. Okay Barrack, now go kick McCain’s ass.
susan
very nice John!