Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Somewhere Else
Greetings from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I find myself on business, and where summer, which never actually came to Wisconsin, is still in full swing down here. (It occurred to me this afternoon that now that I can buy an assault rifle if I want one, it would probably be easier to get one here than at home in Wisconsin. I don't know what makes me say that, except maybe distasteful Yankee prejudice.) I'll be here all week--and here are some random observations on the trip so far.
I didn't fly on an airplane until I was 30 years old--so I think that's why flying doesn't really seem like traveling to me. I don't get the sense of having made a journey that I get from driving. Traveling by air is not that much different from going to the dentist's office, really--you endure a period in an uncomfortable chair doing something you wish would get over. The only difference is that when you're done flying, you get out of the chair and you're somewhere else.
As soon as you get out of the airport, many of the same signs that tell you you're home tell you you're not. Like exit signs on the interstate that point to places like Muskogee and Broken Arrow. Like billboards for private investigators or something called "Painless Divorce." And storefront or strip-mall churches every three blocks.
Speaking of signs (stuck in yards and otherwise), they're having a U.S. Senate race down here, which I hadn't paid much attention to before now. So I set a challenge for myself to try and figure out which candidate was which, just based on evidence I saw--and I was completely wrong. The telegenic one who's got the big fundraising advantage, Brad Carson, is actually the Democrat, while the guy running as a compassionate physician, Tom Coburn, is the Republican. Which makes the "Republicans for Carson" yard sign I saw this afternoon kind of interesting--although I learned from the web this afternoon that Coburn is also courting Democratic votes and claims to have gotten them in the past. Carson is currently serving in Congress; Coburn came in with the Contract on America Class of 1994, and honored his pledge (not honored by his entire class) to step down after three terms. While I've been running through airports, Salon has been reporting on Coburn, who espouses, as the Daily Kos put it, pure wingnuttery. Carson has reportedly caught Coburn in the polls within the last week for the first time all summer. As Kos says, with Bush's ridiculous lead here in Oklahoma, it's a miracle that the race is even competitive. To take away a seat from the Repugs here (currently held by the retiring Don Nickles) would go a long way toward helping the Democrats reclaim the Senate--and that could be helpful in saving the Republic if Bush gets reelected.
Continue to talk amongst yourselves . . . .
Greetings from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I find myself on business, and where summer, which never actually came to Wisconsin, is still in full swing down here. (It occurred to me this afternoon that now that I can buy an assault rifle if I want one, it would probably be easier to get one here than at home in Wisconsin. I don't know what makes me say that, except maybe distasteful Yankee prejudice.) I'll be here all week--and here are some random observations on the trip so far.
I didn't fly on an airplane until I was 30 years old--so I think that's why flying doesn't really seem like traveling to me. I don't get the sense of having made a journey that I get from driving. Traveling by air is not that much different from going to the dentist's office, really--you endure a period in an uncomfortable chair doing something you wish would get over. The only difference is that when you're done flying, you get out of the chair and you're somewhere else.
As soon as you get out of the airport, many of the same signs that tell you you're home tell you you're not. Like exit signs on the interstate that point to places like Muskogee and Broken Arrow. Like billboards for private investigators or something called "Painless Divorce." And storefront or strip-mall churches every three blocks.
Speaking of signs (stuck in yards and otherwise), they're having a U.S. Senate race down here, which I hadn't paid much attention to before now. So I set a challenge for myself to try and figure out which candidate was which, just based on evidence I saw--and I was completely wrong. The telegenic one who's got the big fundraising advantage, Brad Carson, is actually the Democrat, while the guy running as a compassionate physician, Tom Coburn, is the Republican. Which makes the "Republicans for Carson" yard sign I saw this afternoon kind of interesting--although I learned from the web this afternoon that Coburn is also courting Democratic votes and claims to have gotten them in the past. Carson is currently serving in Congress; Coburn came in with the Contract on America Class of 1994, and honored his pledge (not honored by his entire class) to step down after three terms. While I've been running through airports, Salon has been reporting on Coburn, who espouses, as the Daily Kos put it, pure wingnuttery. Carson has reportedly caught Coburn in the polls within the last week for the first time all summer. As Kos says, with Bush's ridiculous lead here in Oklahoma, it's a miracle that the race is even competitive. To take away a seat from the Repugs here (currently held by the retiring Don Nickles) would go a long way toward helping the Democrats reclaim the Senate--and that could be helpful in saving the Republic if Bush gets reelected.
Continue to talk amongst yourselves . . . .
