lab stuff

In a few hours, I can try purifying my plasmids. I forgot to leave the caps off the tubes. Arrg. J. checked them this morning and he took off the caps. He said they're probably OK. In my defense, he also forgot that the tubes had to be open. Anyway, if we can't get enough DNA out of these, we still have the plates so we can grow up more colonies if we have to.

Until then, I don't have a whole lot to do.

...hey, today's the 29th. There's that party/rally for Kerry at the Cantina. Dangit, am I ever going to get this comic started?

I expect I'm going to get flamed for this

But somebody had to say it. I've encountered too many people who are strongly anti-Bush but who say they aren't going to vote for Kerry because he isn't liberal enough for them. As if somehow, magically, the result a lot of people not voting for Kerry is going to be anything other than Bush having a second term.
X-posted in feminist_rage, in response to a comment criticizing the Kerrys, in which the poster said she wouldn't vote for Kerry.

While I agree with a lot of what you said, let's face the harsh reality here: if we don't vote for Kerry then Bush is going to get in again. We can sit back and complain about the tyrany of a two party system while Bush continues to gouge at abortion rights and gay rights, invades Iran and lets the economy go even further down the toilet or we can do something about it. I'm starting to get tired of hearing people saying they're not going to vote because they don't want to choose between the lesser of two evils. By not voting, you're just letting the MUCH GREATER evil win. Nobody's going to care that anyone's refusal to vote is some kind of self-important anti-establishment statement. Effectively, it's no different from all the people who don't vote because they're too lazy and apathetic.

I know there's a hell of a lot wrong with the Democratic party. That's why I'm a Green. But this year, we don't have much choice. As much as we'd like things to change overnight, it's not going to happen. Getting Kerry into the White House is a step in the right direction. Failing to get Kerry into the White House would be a huge step backward. We have to choose one or the other.

This kind of divisiveness between far-left-wing liberals and more moderate liberals is exactly what the conservatives count on to stay in power. The liberal position makes more sense than theirs; the only thing they've got going for them is that they're a lot more organized than we are. We have to stop rolling over and handing them our country.

Whether we like it or not, our choices this year are Bush or Kerry. Not Nader. Not a woman. Failing to vote isn't going to change anything.

Added for clarification: part of the response from the author: ps - it's nice to see you entered this into your personal journal - my words are not there just my description as "not voting for kerry" - I tend not to have a lot to say to people who have already decided who I am and what I stand for.
So here is the entire paragraph that led me to believe she wasn't going to vote for Kerry (my emphasis added):
I remain an american who can not vote for John Kerry. This does not make me a Nader voter (although I have not ruled that out as I would still like to have something to do on election day other then digesting my own stomach). Now while my vote is a individual matter - I feel I need to say some things because of the conversations I have in my daily life due to my stance.

I apologize if my interpretation that the author is saying she does not intend to vote for Kerry was mistaken. You can see the entire post here.