Matt's Excellent Keystone Adventure

A Good Reason to Vote Red and/or Green

Talk about a relapse! A day after swearing off any more Palin tidbits, here I go again.

Letter to the editor in the Philly Inquirer today:

Of course Philadelphia fans booed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin...We booed Santa Claus, and he is more qualified to be president than Palin. Don't forget, the North Pole shares a border with Russia. -- Adam Schwartz, Merion Station

Santa Claus might be good for Homeland Security Secretary as well. He does have a list of everybody! He knows what you've been doing and whether you've been bad or good!

The Difference Between Issues Voters and Character Voters

I was reminded of this by a friend who sent us a note explaining how her five year old, when being told about debates, suggested they just give the job to whoever had the most money. She seems to have caught on about how elections work quite young.

I was explaining elections to Duncan two years ago when I was off working at the poll and Mommy was home taking care of him instead that day. I explained how if you voted for something, it was like getting to make a choice, but you could only have one thing. (He was 2 yrs 9 months at the time, mind you.)

"Say I gave you a choice of apple juice or orange juice. You could vote for either apple juice or orange juice. Which one would you vote for?"

"I vote for...apple juice AND orange juice!"

"Voting is like being able to choose only one. If you could choose only one between apple juice or orange juice, which one would you vote for?"

"Apple juice...AND orange juice....and buttered toast...and broccoli stew!" [he is quoting from a Boynton book.]

"OK, so if you had to choose between buttered toast and broccoli stew, you would vote for ONE. Which one would you vote for?"

"Buttered toast...broccolli stew..." (pause just long enough for effect) "...AND A COOKIE!!!!"

Daddy, trying a new tack:

"Let's try this: would you vote for Daddy, or would you vote for Mommy?"

Duncan, without any hesitation:

"I VOTE FOR MOMMY!"

Superhero

Mika got back from a trip to DC yesterday, and for a present, brought Duncan a Barack Obama action figure. Duncan was so excited, first he had Obama "fly like Superman!" through the air, and then, he found the Superman figure he'd rescued from a geocache this weekend, and had Obama fly through the house with Superman in tow. I suggested maybe Superman could be Obama's running mate and would become Vice President, at which Duncan started chanting, "Obama 44! Superman 45!" So...congratulations, Joe Biden!

He then proceeded to pull out his Presidents of the United States of America place mat, which conveniently has two spaces in the last row. He laid the Obama figurine over one of the blank spots, and said, "Obama goes here...and my picture goes HERE!" indicating the other blank spot. Mika's comment: uh-oh, now when he's in a debate, they're going to bring up the fact he had an ambition to be President dating back to pre-school.

(Click on the picture above to see a bigger version of my two Superheros.)

Palin hasn't seen Russia, but Palin has

OK, this is pretty hilarious: apparently Sarah Palin has never visited the spot in Alaska where you can see Russia, but Michael Palin has. Insert your own favorite Pythonesque quotation or observation in the comments.

I have a weak spot for good travel writing, so I am hoping to take a little inspiration from Palin -- the latter, not the former (I don't think Sarah Palin had ever even been to Pennsylvania before last week) on my sojourn.

I'm posting from my phone!

I can see Russia from my house!