Goodnight sweet princess

Diamond's gone.

The God Strategy

Op-Ed news has an article on the "God strategy" in campaigning today, by the authors of The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America(Oxford), David Domke and Kevin Coe.

It's basically a review of how the religious right is influencing elections, but lacks any real exploration of why this is happening. What's happening to the religious left or the secular center? Here's a hypothesis I'm not sure anybody has explored: what if this is more about doing what you're told to do, adhering to a standard imposed by an authority, or believing that what you do has significance, than about religion? In other words, what if it's about the fact that the religious right simply goes to the polls in greater number and with stronger conviction that their doing so matters? What if it's simply about the habits of showing up in response to the requirements of a respected authority?

On the Lehrer show last night, Michael Gerson ascribed the success of Huckabee's campaign in Iowa to the understanding that winning votes is not about promoting the candidate, but about understanding the voter. Is anyone trying to understand or speak to the non-voter who could be mobilized to vote, but who no longer feels a sense of duty or purpose or point in voting?

Diamond

I love this video, and it breaks my heart. We know she was in pain, this is the last time she played like this with all four legs, and the next couple of days she wasn't nearly so frisky. But she is so game, such a determined spirit. You can see the limp near the end of the video. And the next day she wanted to strike out on a long walk, and we did two miles.

We got the diagnosis today -- it is osteosarcoma after all. Amputation was our only alternative to letting her go, and I think she wouldn't have lasted much beyond now if we hadn't amputated. The question now is, did we get it soon enough, before it metastasized? All we can do is try to live in the moment with her and hope we did.

Here she is a few days ago, hanging out on the mattress in the study, looking way more relaxed and happy than when she still had that leg and it hurt so much. She's not looking back, at least not while she's awake -- and she's still playing and running with all four legs in her dreams.

Snow and Redpolls

Sooner or later, you learn some things do not improve with time. And living just in the moment doesn't always work. Snow is a great instructor in these things.

45 inches of snow in the month of December 2007 has been a really good instructor. Last year, when we had heavy snow in April followed by pouring rain and plunging temperatures within few hours, I learned it's a good idea to shovel the snow while it's still snow. And when we had two major snowstorms in rapid succession, I learned that shovelling snow in Maine isn't about this snowfall, it's about the next one -- as in, where are you going to put it next time? After 8 snowstorms in December, am I ever glad I learned those lessons last year!

I'm sure there's something profound in these lessons for the New Year, but right now I'm just taking away from them that starting to actually keep a blog on New Year's Day isn't going to happen if I don't start it now, and this one doesn't have to be really profound, because keeping a blog, in many ways, is all about the next entry. I have no idea where this is going or what my theme is, but I suspect it will have something to do with learning things, and the other great teacher of the moment is Diamond our dog (hereafter DD, to differentiate from D, the other half of "our"), so she may appear here soon.

Meanwhile it is snowing again, and the snow we have shovelled off the deck is now starting to peep up over the edge of the deck -- and I'm trying to think creatively about where we go with it next. And winter is only 11 days old.

And the common redpolls we saw for the first time yesterday are reinforcing the lesson about not procrastinating.....