Has It Been A Whole Week Already?

Item 1: Brazen Hussy has continued to make delicious meals. Last night it was Moroccan chicken. If she keeps this up I'm going to become enormous. Hugely happy, as it were.

Item 2: We watched the first two episodes of Dollhouse last night. We kept hearing that "you just have to get past the first 4 episodes." But I liked what I've seen so far! BH thinks maybe they were a little hard to follow, but I tend to like really intricate stories so maybe they weren't to everybody's taste. In any case, I'm very happy to have something new to watch by Joss Whedon after discovering Firefly years after it had been canceled (after a single season!). Stupid networks.

Item 3: I finished my 6th chapter this morning. Chapters 6 and 7 were the ones I had been really looking forward to (of those I have clear in my mind so far). Now on to the big dramatic conflagration that ends Part I! I know this means nothing to anyone other than myself. Let's just say that I feel like I'm making real progress now. It's taking me about a month per chapter, so expect a depressed post in 6 weeks. I'm not completely sure what happens in Chapter 8 - I'm planning on just letting it happen. Scary.

Item 4: If Barack Obama really thinks that the only thing in Washington that needs to be changed is the party in charge - that our institutions don't need to be fundamentally renovated - then he's in for a very long four years. And only four.

Item 5: On a related note, why do Democrats from moderate or conservative districts think they can survive the failure of health care reform? If health care fails, then Obama's agenda will be dead, hence he will be perceived a failure and Democrats will have nothing to run on in the face of what will be pretty high unemployment next year. It's not the liberals who will lose their seats - it's the morons who are sabotaging Obama's legislation. It's mystifying. One day I hope that Democrats in Congress will realize that their fates are linked to each other. The Republicans know that this - that they're a party, not an aggregation of autonomous officeholders.

Item 6: In case you're curious, one of the reasons that Republican Presidents have an easier time getting things through Congress than Democrats do is because of institutionalized pro-Republican gerrymandering. The Senate overrepresents rural voters, who are typically Republican, and House districts tend to pack minority voters (and hence Democrats) into supermajority districts (because of the Voting Rights Act). Our voters are as efficiently distributed as Republicans are. As a consequence there are always a lot more Democrats in marginal seats than there are Republicans, especially when the Democrats have solid majorities. It's not the only reason, of course, but I think it's one that doesn't get as much attention as it should.

Item 7: Yes, I've broken my week or two break from politics. Not completely, but partially. I'm trying to maintain a bit of emotional distance, though. I'm too old to get wrapped up in legislative minutea.

Item 8: It's Friday. Yaaaay!