Scoreboard: Sarah Palin 0, Sphagnum Moss 1

Ye gods … Katie Couric must have some magical power which strips away the thin veneer.

You know, the one that until recently painted over Gov. Sarah Palin’s incalculable stupidity.

It’s not that I didn’t have enough reasons to despise this woman already. Anyone who talks of being able to see Russia from Alaska, claims it as foreign-policy experience, and expects to be taken seriously, has lawfully earned all the mockery the universe can send her way.

(And never mind that she’s never even visited that part of Alaska. And never mind that, by her standards, I could qualify circles around her – starting with the fact that I’ve actually been to Russia.)

But just today I got sent to this bit of video from the Couric interview, in which she offers her excuse for never having traveled or gotten a passport until last year. (The quote below pops out of her mouth about 1′10″ in.) Behold:

“I”m not one of those who came from… a background of … you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and … their parents give ‘em a passport and give ‘em a backpack and say “Go off and see the world… Nooooooooo, I’ve worked all my life, in fact I’ve usually had two jobs all my life, until I had kids – I was not, uh part of, I guess, uh, uh … that culture.”

Funny, Sarah, neither was I. I seem to remember buying my own damned backpack and passport. Not to mention working two jobs myself (neither of which involved any beauty contests, nor politics) to pay for my first trip to Europe. Nor to mention that I’ve spent this last six years abroad working … but let’s allow her to carry on the irony-fest:

“The way that I have understood the world [!?!? - D.] is, uh, through education, through books, through, uh, mediums that have provided me, uh, a lot of perspective on the world.”

Uh-huh … this from a woman a mere four years older than me, a young-earth creationist who thinks dinosaurs and humans coexisted.

Now, I could point up the extreme irony of claiming to “understand the world” while declining to go out and see any of it. I could mention the undesirability of parading one’s provincial ignorance as a virtue, let alone a desirable quality for leadership of a global superpower. I could add (in fact I will) that all of my fellow English teachers here are taking this remark as an insult.

But maybe I should just let Miss Wasilla speak for herself.

I never in my wildest dreams imagined that anyone could make me nostalgic for Dan Quayle. What a waste it is to lose one’s mind, indeed.

Vote how?

And to think I stayed up until 2:00am for this crap … trying to track down the absentee ballot I was supposed to get. Back in late August, I downloaded an absentee ballot request form (from Vote From Abroad,  registered as an independent) filled it out and sent it in.

And waited.

Since then … nothing.

So just now, I placed a call to the USA and the County Auditor’s office back home, trying to find out what gave. They had me on file alright, but no record of receiving my application.

Okay, so send it to my US address, Mom and Dad will forward it. Swell … only they don’t go out until October 16. Suggested I go back to the State website and change my mailing address.

Which I’ve done, but that still doesn’t address the time issue. Normally mail between Korea and the US takes about a week, so it’s a bit disturbing that the thing hasn’t even gotten there.

If worse comes to worst, I still have my write-in absentee form … but that doesn’t give me much confidence. Great. The most crucial presidential election in my memory, and not only am I an ocean away from the action (DOH!) … who knows whether my vote will even count? So much for the miracle of modern communication … arrgh.