A Coffin Nail

I'm blogging again. Which can only mean one of two things. Either Michael Penn has released new music, or...um...er...well, I can't think of the second thing right now. It'll probably come to me in another year or so.

In the meantime, you may have noticed there's a little thing called the "midterm election" coming up soon. It's a special day we Americans like to celebrate with weeks of truth-twisting political ads that insult the intelligence of those of us who like to think we have any. Which I guess would be just about all of us.

On the bright side, the attack ads do give me and my Esteemed Husband something to bitch about on our daily walks around the neighborhood other than critiquing the homeowners' choice of shutter paint. (Okay, that's just me. Choose your beiges carefully folks...and with the dozens of perfectly viable shades of blue exterior latex available at your local Weekend Handyman Superstore, why-oh-why ELECTRIC blue?)

But I digress.

With apologies to Mr. Penn for diluting his message with my own, I am asking for two things.

One: Vote on November 2nd. But vote with reason. Not blindly following some ideology. Not based on us-versus-them. Not swayed by a 30-second spot in a CSI break. Look for the glimmer of truth in that ad and find out how much of it is fact and how much is just twisted. (Check out FactCheck.org, for a start.) Don't let yourself fall for the scare or be courted by the sweet nothings of empty platitudes. Do some research. Make an informed choice.

Two? I ask that you give some consideration to these lyrics from Michael Penn's "Count of Pennsylvania"

A mob is a democracy
that buys a rope
and picks a tree
and clamors with a clamory
and think that makes them free

As usual, Michael Penn says the things I think in a way I wish I could. And grows a beard better than I could ever dream of.