halloweenies

Well, Saturday, we went to Jenn's parents' house to celebrate her dad's birthday. That was fun. lots of family and burgers and things. Norm took this pic, further solidifying that my kid is way cuter than yours. Just accept it.
We thought we might be able to go out that night to some Halloween stuff or maybe go see Larkin, but that didn't work out. We ended up coming home and falling asleep on the couch. Jenn during the new Hellboy cartoon, and me during the credits for The Grudge, a terribly disappointing horror movie, even though Ted Raimi and Clea DuVall were both in it. It was just a bunch of jump-out-of-the-closet crap involving human versions of manga characters.
Sunday was the really fun day. We did a bunch of Halloween stuff. We made cookies, carved pumpkins, and watched a bunch of cheesy horror on TV. Cody "snake"* Dopps came by to chat for a while, and that was awesome. It was nice to have a day to ourselves.

So here is a weird bit about how stupid local politics are: Before Oklahomans passed a measure allowing the lottery here, there were a bunch of opposition from the conservatives. Their point, keeping with their Reaganesque ideals that government should get off our backs**, was that gambling is bad. The pro side said that Oklahoma was behind the times and missing out on a great means of revenue which were previously going to border states. Since each state can decide on their own where that revenue is spent, and the OK public education system was in the shitter, that's where they decided to put the money should it pass. Projected estimates were in the $200 million range BEFORE operating costs, installation of machines, training, and the like. Also on the ballot that year was a new tobacco tax that was projected to draw in $100 million. They liked that one, because smoking is bad too.
So now, after the projected revenue on both were way below expectations ($59 mil from the lottery and $30 mil from the tobacco tax), the Republicans and conservatives are blaming Scott Meacham, the treasurer for the $211 mil "shortfall", and want him out of office for it.
Here is what I think is so stupid:
1) Conservatives think smoking and gambling is bad and that Oklahomans shouldn't do it. The shortfall proves that they aren't. Shouldn't they be happy about that?
2) $59 mil and $30 mill are both more than zero, which is what it was at before.

To my mind, the choice between the two parties comes down to a simple distinction: Republicans want everybody to look out for themselves. Democrats want everybody to look out for each other. In every other way, they can seem totally indistinguishable. I for one want to live in a world where somebody's got my back.







*Cody thinks "cookie" is too effeminate.

**unless you are foreign, gay, unborn, or enjoy having fun.