The Republicans have finally gotten around to asking the question that Reagan used so effectively in 1980 – Are you doing better than you were four years ago?  I don’t want to gloat for those in different situations, and it’s certainly been a rough four years, but I have to answer yes I am.  Sorry Mitt.

As far as the law practice goes, 2008 and 2012 are looking to have very similar results financially.  2008 saw a late flurry in family law work as old clients were forced to adjust the child support and visitation to deal with the economic collapse; 2012 is seeing a resurgence of transactional work with small businesses and non-profits, and a steady flow of other work.  2010 and 2011 were mostly just devastating, but they’re water under the bridge now, and even at their lowest points self-employment brought it more than retail drone jobs ever would have.  I’ll call work a wash on the better-than / worse-than question.

On the bright side, the crash recreated the concept of affordable real estate in Southern California, something I’d begun to think was just a myth my parents’ generation talked about to tease my generation.  In 2011, my husband and I became homeowners.  The corresponding tax benefits started kicking in this year, and by buying low we may actually have a tiny sliver of equity in Casa.  Even without equity, we have about 50% more usable space for roughly the same monthly outlay as our former apartment in a much better neighborhood.  Of course, we pay for maintenance that our former landlord should have done, but we also don’t have mold in the master bath and have an HOA that actually deals with termites (the July fumigation vacation), instead of someone telling us to ignore them.  Maybe if they felt ignored they’d just leave?  I’m certainly call the housing a positive change.

Nissantruck, my 1994 pickup and a former regular of this blog, went to greener highways in 2008.  It was replaced by a well-used Mercury Tracer on an interim basis, and then Cash For Clunkers brought us into a dealership in 2009.  We upgraded to a 2010 red Toyota Corolla.  Cabernet serves us well to this day and certainly counts as an upgrade over the last four years.

The rest of my day-to-day life hasn’t changed that much.  I’m still happily married, at least according to California if not the federal government; still cancer-free and with coverage and good treatment from Borg Health; and still have too little put away for retirement.

I’ll probably talk more here later about who I’m going to vote for and why, but I’m not ready to go there yet.  As Mitt likes to point out, the economy’s important, but it’s certainly not the only issue in town.

Went through the roof seeing this in the final paragraph in a late press release today from the official No on 8 “leadership”.

We achieve nothing if we isolate the people who did not stand with us in this fight. We only further divide our state if we attempt to blame people of faith, African American voters, rural communities and others for this loss. We know people of all faiths, races and backgrounds stand with us in our fight to end discrimination, and will continue to do so. Now more than ever it is critical that we work together and respect our differences that make us a diverse and unique society.

No. They’re wrong. There must be consequences for those who financed and supported this assault on the rights of thousands of Californians. From not returning to the corner gas station that proudly displayed Yes on 8 signs, to supporting groups like Californians Against Hate and their dishonor roll, fair-minded people should not be spending money with those businesses that will take that same money and use it to mount similar campaigns against others in the future. There may be a time in the future for kumbayas and group hugs, but we aren’t there yet and advocating otherwise puts these so-called leaders in the position of the turtle vis a vis the scorpion. Ignoring the known and demonstrated nature of those who supported Proposition 8 is simply self-destructive delusion.

Happy with the national outcomes, and ecstatic that we’re safe from the prospect of Sarah Palin in the White House for at least four more years.

As for the rest, I’m still happily married to the man I love, I have great friends (some of whom are also clients) and family who’ve gone the extra mile with support and encouragement, the returns looked really good on our new HDTV that was delivered yesterday, and I have a unique opportunity to clean out my Outlook contacts based on cold, hard truths. Sure there’s some disappointment, but that fat lady hasn’t sung yet – she hasn’t even been served.

Win or draw next Tuesday (no loss because I still get to spend the rest of my life with the man I love), we’re planning a short roadtrip for the following weekend. A couple of days with Diego running in the sand and Chuck field testing the new wetsuit should do wonders for morale. This has been one of those elections where you learn who your real friends are, and who just nods and smiles. I’ll be glad to put it behind me. That also means I’m near the end of my run with KPBS too. Been fun, and a learning experience writing for a much broader audience, but I’m ready to put some of that time and energy back into Howling Point and Beachlaw. There’s a dog here that needs to be idolized.

I should be writing, but instead I just keep pushing the refresh button trying to find out where FedEx is hiding my new wetsuit. My schedule is packed between now and Tuesday, mostly with election stuff, but come Wednesday I want to be comfy and warm and not at my desk.

Finally finished marking my ballot this afternoon. There was very little to vote for, and most races boiled down to rejecting the completely unacceptable and acknowledging the palatable. I only voted for two out of eleven initiatives and disgust with a certain political party that seeks my vote while disparaging my family formed the basis for a lot of my other selections. I know there are good Republicans out there, but this year more than most I had a lot of trouble getting past the label. OK, it wasn’t just trouble, more like an insurmountable wall. Why can’t the Libertarians run more sane candidates?

I don’t know if this reflects a change in attitude toward the issue, or just a reflection of how many REALLY BIG news stories are out there today, but half-an-hour after the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, there’s still no major headline at the nytimes, sfgate, or cnn websites. MSNBC does have it as Breaking News though. Regardless, there’s now marriage equality in three states comprising 46 million people and 74 electoral votes. I wonder which candidate will step in it first.

Sure the Bartlett administration was fictional.  Who cares – Martin Sheen (and John Goodman) played the best U.S. president(s) in the last thirty years.

Maureen Dowd has a nice bit in the N.Y. Times with President Bartlett giving some advice to Presidential Wannabe Obama, leading up to this unfortunately fictional tongue-lashing:

BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

I’m not sure I want Obama as President, but I certainly don’t want McCain in the White House.  With this week’s economic meltdown just being the icing on the cake for everything else that’s gone wrong the last eight years in this country, the election should be the Democrat’s to lose, and if he manages to do that Obama will have no one but himself to blame.
 

Stump speaches are nice, and I loves me a good photo op, but in the end acts mean more than words.  So, today is one of those rare opportunities for three of the presidential candidates to show what they’re made of.  The paper – rock – scissors primary if you will. 

• Little Johnny McCain threw down with a rock, voting in the Senate to protect the telecoms from any liability for acts they may or may not have commited against the American people on behalf of the warrantless wiretap program.
• Little Barry Obama slid out some paper, voting in the Senate to let the courts do their job and let the civil rights and privacy laws of the United States be enforced.
• Little Hillary Clinton got confused, thinking elections were more important than actually leading, and kept her hands in her pockets. 

Normally, and to many outside observers, these acts would have led to Barry being victorious, but as is par for the current administration, Johnny had a huge stockpile of rocks and declared victory 67-31.  Some of us know who the winners and losers are though.

As I drink my first cup of coffee and take a peak at server stats, just wondering where the different presidential candidates stand on the death penalty for hot-linkers.  For all his other faults, I’m guessing McCain would let me kill them, even if torture were wrong.