Very Superstitious

I'm getting superstitious about the election, and it's making me not want to blog about it in case I tempt the Fates or anger the leprechauns or whatever. Especially after listening about voter suppression on NPR, where the specter of voter disenfranchisement was made real. The GOP is making much of ACORN and the false voter registrations turned in by lazy workers (John McCain said in the debate that they were perpetrating the "worst fraud" in American history), but according to all of the studies and experts who follow our electoral process, the actual incidence of voter fraud is--and always has been--extremely low. Rather, voter suppression has been more the rule in America. Either by outright voter roll purging of eligible voters or by more oblique methods, such as having 4 or more hour waits to vote in poor areas of the country(four hours; think about that), or by organizations sending out fliers telling Democrats to vote on November 5th. So it appears that the real danger this year is not massive voter fraud (since Mickey Mouse cannot, in fact, vote even if he is on the rolls; nor can thousands of people across the country credibly-and in unison-get 54 fake IDs under the names of the Dallas starting lineup and go from polling place to polling place voting); the real danger is voter disenfranchisement, as some states (New Jersey, Ohio, etc) have been purging qualified voters from their lists. But you can be sure that if Obama wins, the Right--having already successfully ginned up the Voter Fraud Myth--will attribute it to that rather than to their candidate being perhaps the worst since Bob Dole thought it was HIS turn to be President.

Anyhoo. Like I said, I'm getting nervous, so posts on politics will be getting thin. Because, as you know, what I say on this blog has the power to change an entire nation's future. ;) Riiight.

So let's talk Bambina The Contrarian. She loves John McCain. Says she's voting for him because she loves mean people. So we got her a John McCain fridge magnet to go with our Obama one. Then I gave her, as a special gift, my old Bush magnet that had his "I believe the human being and fish can coexist peacefully" quote. She's pretty delighted. She also "loves the Yankees!" This is breaking the BBDD's heart, but he's seeing the humor in it. You know. As long as she doesn't Bring One Home, right? So pretty much everything we like she finds it humorous to like the opposite. On a good day, I call it independent thinking. On days where all I'm getting is pushback worthy of Russert, I call it Time For a Time Out.

But it's a dilemma, letting her have her own opinions and interests, even though it probably shouldn't be. Yesterday her swim teacher told me that she has "the best form" he's ever seen in a kid her age, that she straight-leg kicks almost innately, and that blah blah, I'm not sure of the swimming terminology. Point being, he thinks she could be a fantastic swimmer, tiny wee person that she is. Her take? No EFFING WAY MAMA. Well, more like, "Mama, I don't want to go in the pool ever again, okay?!" So here we have a situation where my kid might be talented at something she completely hates. Do we encourage her to do it more or let her be as a hater? I did tell her that she needed to continue swim lessons till she wasn't afraid of the water and until I could know that she would be able to not drown in a body of water. She accepted that, thankfully. But the evil wheels of stage parenthood were turning in my head when he said she was "a natural," even though I added, "Yeah, except for the whining for a full day before we get here, and the terror-stricken wailing as you get her in the water, right?" Point being, I have stage mother tendencies, which frightens me more than a McCain-Palin Administration.