The Republic of California

Greetings, friends,
The last election brought home a certain disconnect between them and us, eh? Feeling bad? Maybe it's time to start bandying the "S" word around more liberally. Here I've found two websites that, admittedly, are something of a joke. But hey, that's more websites than I saw six months ago.
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/california.cfm?CFID=3628940&CFTOKEN=50075737
The Case for California Secession
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14531
And a screwy one,
http://calrepublic.tripod.com/

And this has always been a pet project of mine...ask your friends and see what they say. You'll be surprised...almost everyone I ask seems to think it's a great idea. Legal dope? No federal tax? New Yorkers need a visa? No more military bases, nuclear bomb factories, DEA agents, etc.? It sounds crackpot, but think how wild an independent United States sounded in 1776...13 colonies of the world's greatest military power, largest city Philadephia (pop. 50,000), no navy, no standing army (yet), unfriendly minorities with no single identity (i.e. Scotch-Irish, German, Puritan, Protestant, black), agrarian, no industrial base, hardly a middle class outside of New York, etc. Yet it happened. STOP DREAMING AND START TALKING.

On to something completely different...you may have noticed the new line of "career" Barbie dolls coming out (I didn't). First one was a doctor, the next...an art teacher. (She wears flashy clothes.) The next one will be chosen by a poll, and here are the current results, which are not shocking but interesting to your Weird Librarian:
Parents Kids
Librarian 77% 42%
Architect 11% 24%
Policewoman 11% 33%
If anyone wants to know what I want for Christmas, it's a sexy Barbie with no genitalia, her hair in a bun, sensible shoes, thick glasses, a tweed skirt and a Ken doll dressed like a vagrant, yelling, "WHERE DO I SIGN UP FOR THE INTERNET!"

By the way, as of this Saturday we are no longer signing up patrons for the Internet (we got an automated system), which may not mean much to you, but to me it's a major change in lifestyle.

As to other things, here's some news that is hardly shocking:
'Bushisms' Make Quote Dictionary
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20021114/ap_on_fe_st/britain_bushisms

Good news on the dining front (Henry, it's at Bastide)
Gourmet Pays $35,000 for Truffle
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20021112/od_nm/italy_truffle_dc

Bad news on the gaming front (sorry Miles),
Teen Car Thief Blames Video Game
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20021114/ap_on_re_us/theft_spree

Encouraging news from Germany,
Germany to Return Terrorist's Brain
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20021114/ap_on_re_eu/germany_terrorist_s_brain

News that would not surprise a civil servant like me,
Charity Workers Chat with Dead Woman, Then Leave
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20021114/od_nm/britain_patient_dc

And some more news about Iran,
The U.S. war on terrorism has certainly made some strange bedfellows. In fact, the Bush Administration may have received some help with the passage of the UN Iraq resolution from an evil source. Globalist columnist, Martin Walker, explains.... http://www.theglobalist.com/dbweb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=2848

Take care,