"We're sorry to break into your cartoons like this..."

Back in 1989, I was watching The Real Ghostbusters with my friend Deirdre. It was Saturday, June 3. Real Ghostbusters was on at... oh, I think around 10 AM, possibly 10:30. We were in Deirdre's basement, watching the cartoons and probably playing a board game. I was fifteen, Deirdre fourteen.

The station logo suddenly came on. I think it was NBC, but I forget who ran the cartoon at the time. A man in a grey suit- I want to say Tom Brokaw- appeared on screen, in the usual newsroom. I don't remember his exact words; I know he apologised to the children watching TV for breaking into their cartoons, and that he mentioned that on this day the year before, they'd done the same thing because of breaking developments in the Iran-Contra scandal. This year, though, the reason was different. This year it had to do with things unfolding on the other side of the world.

In Beijing, it was June 4.

This would be an excellent day for those of y'all who've been as upset by post-September 11th developments in the United States to sit back, consider the democratic process, consider the personal and political freedoms we still do have, and take some action to see to it that they don't get squashed. If nothing else, there are still human beings in Congress, there are still human beings in the Republican Party - and on some level there has to be something that they acknowledge as Going Too Far. Or at least something they're not willing to do with the cameras on them; if it takes public pressure and public scrutiny to keep the Constitution from being gutted, then so be it.

There's got to be something that will put some kind of starch in the spines of the Democrats, most of whom aren't worth a bucket of warm spit when it comes to differentiation from the Republicans. There's got to be something that motivates the more indecisive members of Congress to take action to move us back to a country that really does value free speech, public protest, and change for the better. They value their jobs, their positions, their security; they need to know that they keep those three things only so long as they live up to the American name.

Barring that, there's people like Senator Byrd of West Virginia, or Governor Dean of Vermont. Byrd might have enraged people with his comments about the President's landing on the USS Lincoln and the Iraq war in general, but at least he had the guts to speak his mind even though he knew it would make him the target of Republican and other public opprobium. Dr. Dean knew full well that large, vocal sectors of the population of this country would dislike him for his own views on the Iraq war, but he spoke up anyway - and he's got enough of a conscience to see what the Democratic party has become, and wants to steer it back to being a distinct party with a separate point of view from the Big Fscking Money Machine. There's others, I'm sure, but in these days people like them tend to keep their mouths shut for fear of being shouted down and made targets.

That didn't stop a bunch of young people on the other side of the world fourteen years ago. They paid with their lives and their futures. All we have to face is unpopularity and character assassination.

I'd say we have some work to do to live up to their example.

In honor of Democracy Day,

a message for my elected officials:

( It's not about democratic freedoms or the voice of the people per se, but it *is* about the American worker and the current House resolution to give companies the power to offer comp time instead of paying out extra for overtime work. I've sent this to my Representative, and an altered version was sent to President Bush and cc'ed to my Senators. )

If you're going to Buffycon, do me a favour.

Bring a couple of forms of ID and load up on your iron during the week beforehand. Yours truly is running the blood drive - at least, from the fan side - and I'd really appreciate it if you agreed to lie down and bleed.

The Buffycon blood drive is on Saturday, 14 June, from 11 AM to 4 PM. We've got eight people signed up to give so far (including yours truly). I recognise that those of y'all who observe Jewish regs regarding the Sabbath aren't gonna be able to do it, so you Gentiles out there are gonna have to pick up the slack. We'll be taking all the major blood groups, although those of you who're AB+ may want to opt out - you're Universal Receiver, but the only people who can use your blood are other AB+ people. Everyone else, if you're coming, give the blood drive consideration. Just be aware that they'll ask you questions which might result in your deferral. The usual ones involve behavior that might put you at risk of HIV or Hepatitis C infection, but there's a few others:
( Deferral reasons here. )

There's lots of other reasons but people don't always know about those. Figured I'd head it off at the pass.

Anyway, those of you who can honestly say 'no' to the above questions and who have no history of blood, heart, or iron problems - and who aren't barred from doing so by religious law or custom - please, come on down to Buffycon in Saddlebrook, NJ on 14 June. Bring your driver's license. They'll poke you with a needle and cover it up so you don't have to see it, they'll take a pint of your blood, they'll use it for someone who needs it, and you'll get a cookie. Or brownies. Or something - they're pretty good about feeding you afterwards, and if you tell them you've never given before they'll all but stuff the cookies and juice down your throat.

Be aware that I've asked the bloodmobile crew to dress up like vampires for the occasion. This might just be fangs, but hey, you never know, right?

Another way you know you're me:

Your brain, in an effort to entertain itself during your nightly REM sleep, spins up a fantastical tale about thousands of American citizens rising up across the country in response to a pressing national need for which there was no official structure... and it's the U.S. Geological Survey.

That's right, my subconscious mind thinks that downtime is a perfect time to spin alternate histories for bureaus of the bloody Department of the Interior. This happened about a week ago, but a BBC News article about GPS scientists spurred the recollection. All I can say is: the FRELL?