Macy says hello to the Quaedamers

FROM JASON’S GNAW-MARKED SOFA — This little monster is the reason (one of them) that updates have been sparse on the ol’ blag this week.

Many of you will remember that my wife and I adopted Macy, the canine poop factory, a couple of months ago. Well, she’s potty trained now but demands a lot of attention these days because she’s teething and testing the house rules about which objects she may chew to ribbons.

Don’t be fooled: She’s my good little girl. Her head’s resting my lap while I type this. She just needs to learn to channel her energy, and a lot of that puppy trouble will disappear once she loses her baby teeth, the vet tells me. We’ll see, Mister Vet. We’ll see.

Also, I recently sold my house and need to hand over the keys June 4. That means I have been feverishly working to find a newer, nicer house with more room — and I need to find it fast or risk the dreaded double-move. I’ve been touring houses for sale like mad this week, and that’s draining precious blag time.

Anyway, Andrew and I have a shit-ton we want to talk about, including a great (?) new web game we’ve discovered, a recent DS release, how his girlfriend’s musical tastes are clearly superior to his, and a tactical fantasy game that Andrew loves and I won’t play.

It’s all coming, dog-gone-it.

Pew report shows Republicans are fleeing sinking ship

Click to embiggen.

FROM JASON’S BALLOT CARD — After several posts about my indecision, I don’t think I told you all that I voted for Obama in the Ohio primary last month. I was pretty proud. In my pokings around the Intarweb this week, I’m discovering just how not-unique that makes me.

For years, I’ve self-identified as a Republican because I believe markets should be free, government should be small, and that defense should be strong. I’ve disavowed myself in the last few years because under Republican leadership markets have been controlled, government has grown at its fastest rate in 30 years, and we’ve waged another offensive (and expensive) war.

And that’s not even taking into account my distaste for the Republicans’ continuing retreat into the folds of homophobia, xenophobia, and religious zeal.

I’m not the only one drifting. The Pew Research Center released a study March 20 saying that since 2004, six percent fewer people are calling themselves Republicans. And since the start of 2008, 36 percent of those surveyed say they are Democrats while 27 percent say they are Republicans. That’s a 16-year low for the Grand Ol’ Party.

Even swing voters aren’t swinging so far to the right anymore. Four years ago, a roughly equal number of undecideds were leaning toward each party. Now, though, the Dems hold a 14-point advantage among swing voters, Pew said (51 percent are leaning toward voting Democrat while 37 percent are learning toward Republican).

The numbers are pretty clear: In battleground states like Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — where margins were extremely close in the 2004 presidential vote — electors now favor Democrats by enough to be declared blue states in November.

That means the Democratic nominee (it will be Obama) will become president.