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November 1—Contrary to popular belief, David Plouffe actually does exist.
Tim Geithner went on Meet the Press today and, when asked if the recession were over yet, said that it was getting better but would take a while to grow out of. Cutting edge reporting, that. Anyway, the stimulus has been undereffective since underemployment is still bad; it will continue to rise before it falls. At least we can look forward to some new jobs in the new year.
Then, more exciting, David Plouffe was on. I was interested to see him since I got a lot of emails from him during the campaign. He said we need to rebuild our relationship with the rest of the world, change how Washington works, and fight for the middle class. That's more or less what the whole campaign was based on. Actually, I remember the campaign mostly talking about education, energy, and infrastructure. That's right on since all three are in desperate need of reform. Compared to those, I'm not too interested in the fixing the cynicism of DC, but I suppose that'll have to happen before anything else can get done.
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November 5—Get out there and donate blood.
Today there was a shooting at Fort Hood, the military base an hour north of where I live. The massacre left twelve dead and another thirty-one people in the hospital, and they need blood. I am relieved that my friend Steve Metze was not there at the time, but the news is sickening all the same. Regrettably, I do not weigh enough to donate blood, so I ask all who read this and are eligible to donate on behalf of those who can't.
The perpetrator, Major Hasan, was due to be deployed to Iraq and had vocally opposed it. Ironically, he was a psychiatrist specializing in PTSD. This was not an act of terrorism, since even though it is terrifying, terrorism is legally defined as working for a terrorist group with a political motive, not to mention technicalities involving the kind of weapons used, etc. Nevertheless, I know many (on the right, for sure) will call it such, and we will likely see an increase in anti-Muslim prejudice.
The whole thing reminds me of something Steve documented in his film Year at Danger. While he was in Iraq, one of the soldiers planted explosives on the base trying to assassinate a superior officer. As the others remarked at the time, it's not bad enough that we have to face Iraqis, now we have to worry about our own fucking soldiers trying to kill us too.
Fort Hood will need support in other ways too; I plan to volunteer in some other way since I can't donate blood.
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