CATCHING UP

Where did the first half of November go?  It’s been quite the ride
for me.  Days of great productivity followed by days when various
ailments slowed me to a crawl.  Concern for friends and strangers
caught in the wake of Sandy.  The tensions of the 2012 elections.
The victories.  The defeats.  Projects that had to be finished and
projects I wanted to start but which I had to push to the remotest
corners of my mind.  Crazy times.

My friends came through Sandy pretty well.  Others didn’t.  I made
a few donations and will make more.  I was pleased to see Governor
Chris Christie of New Jersey come down from Bullshit Mountain and
work with President Barack Obama.  That sort of thing should become
the model for Christie and his fellow Republicans.

About that election...

I’d be lying if I denied my heart didn’t sing when I saw Karl Rove
melt down on realizing how many hundreds of millions of dollars
creeps like him and his supporters flushed away trying to buy the
Presidency and other offices.  That must be what it feels like to
be bitch-slapped by God.

President Obama and Senator Sherrod Brown were my candidates from
the get-go.  So, sure, I was happy they were reelected.  I stand by
my belief that the Romney/Ryan ticket was a disaster and would’ve
been a bigger disaster if it won.

But most of the other local and state races didn’t go my way. Jim
Renacci beat Betty Sutton for my district’s House of Representative
seat.  The game was rigged.  The district was drawn with his input
and drawn to include the most Republican parts of my Medina County.
Those parts were the difference for him.

A state issue to remove restricting from the control of the party
in charge was defeated.  It wasn’t a perfect fix, but it would’ve
been a good start.

Nationally, I was pleased to see support for equal marriage growing
across our country.  It’s the right thing to do.

Also nationally, I was dismayed at the raw racism displayed by many
right-wingers after the Obama victory.  The Republicans have a lot
of work to do to convince me that racism isn’t a key part of what
they have put forward in recent years.

A great many people are devoting a copious number of words to the
subject of what the Republicans did wrong and what they have to do
right in the future.  Me, I hope they keep doing the cruel stupid
things they have been doing.  Because it works so well for them and
because they don’t deserve to win until they purge their party of
the extreme right-wing whack jobs they keep electing and listening
to.  Party on, GOP!

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Before the election, I posted that no matter who won there would be
a lot of hard work to do.  That has become more evident than ever.
What reminds to be seen is how many politicians hold their oaths of
office in higher regard than their ridiculous pledges to the odious
Grover Norquist.  I’m not optimistic. 

Mitch McConnell’s comments after the President’s reelection were,
plain and simple, dick-ish. Obama has as much of a mandate as his
predecessor did and more than GOP pundits claimed Romney
would have had if he’d won fewer electoral votes than the President
did.  And, of course, John Boehner’s constant opposition to asking
the wealthy to pay even a little bit more in taxes shows that he,
too, doesn’t understand what happened in this election.

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I wrote about obnoxious lawn signs last week.  Most of the ones I
saw in Medina were taken down...except for an Obama/Biden sign on
the other side of our street.  I don’t know the resident, so there
is no diplomatic way for me to tell him to take it down.  Yeah, it
may be his right to have the sign on his lawn, but leaving it up is
still a dick move.

Driving down Route 18, I was dismayed to see how many Romney/Ryan
and Josh Mandel signs were still up.  Dozens of them on lands not
currently occupied.  Win or lose, we have an obligation to remove
such signs.

I was driving down Route 18 on my way to the Akron Comicon, though
my first stop would be to pick up my old friend Dave Barrington and
his service dog.  As bad as Route 18 was, the back roads of Akron
and nearby towns were even worse.  More signs and more obnoxiously
huge signs were still up.  Sigh.

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The Akron Comicon took place last Saturday at the University of
Akron Student Union.  The organizers did a terrific job, which is
nothing short of amazing when you consider this was the first such
event they had ever done. 

Here’s what I posted on my Facebook page:

The Akron Comicon was great. For a first time event, the convention
runners knocked it out of the park. Sure, there were a few bumps in
the road, but they were inconsequential.

Lots of fans. Lots of great guests. Lots of fine retailers. Lots of
local groups. You can't ask for more than that and an event putting
all that together the first time out is amazing.

The only downside for me was that, due to illness, I left the show
around 3 pm. I would have loved to stay for the whole day, but that
wasn't in the cards.

To make up for this, I'm going to find a nearby venue for a program
showing my 1000 Comic Books You Must Read slide show, answering
questions, and signing stuff. I'll keep you posted.

Akron Comicon will be back next year and I'll be there!

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The vintage comic-book covers and reviews of comics and other stuff
will be back soon.  But there’s a lot of other things and topics to
discuss as well.  The next few bloggy things should be interesting.

As a closing note, kudos to the cast of Bones for “The Patriot in
Purgatory” - which aired Monday - and especially to writer Stephen
Nathan for that memorable episode.  Dr. Brennan brings together five
of her “squints” (interns) and set them to identifying thousands of
remains.  It turns into a true team-building endeavor as the whole
crew work to identify a homeless man found in an alley days after
the 9/11 attacks.  It’s a powerful episode with wonderful character
bits and a valuable message for its viewers.  Shows like Bones get
overlooked by the various entertainment industry awards, but this
episode deserves to be noticed and honored.

I’ll be back here tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella