Inspired by Ro’s participation in NaBloPoMo, I have decided to return to daily posting. I’ve really been neglecting this blog, so this seems like as good of a time as any to rise to the challenge.

I plan to post an entry to this blog each day for the next 30 days. Regular features like the Shakespeare Anagram and the Thursday Morning Riddle count, as they do require quite a bit of effort from me. However, simply posting a video without comment just doesn’t do justice to the dignity and honor of NaBloPoMo.

So, in addition to my regular features, I’ll now be writing about the election, activities that I’m up to, responses to items I see in the news and other blogs, and maybe, just maybe, I might slip in something about teaching Shakespeare. As always, comments are welcome.

Happy Halloween!

I’m a place in the mall to buy burgers or soup;
When I’m Kangaroo, crooked; or ‘roos in a group;
To go after a date or show up on her stoop;
And a place to play sports with a net or a hoop.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Brian. See comments for answer.

I’m what Yogi the Bear calls his number one prize;
I’m a place for used paper and other supplies;
A collection of goods that show prices can rise;
And I’ll hold all your eggs, though it may not be wise.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Bronx Richie. See comments for answer.

From Henry VIII:

[H]ow may I deserve it
That am a poor and humble subject to you?

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

What did Obama say to Joe the Plumber?

“You have income. Trust.”

I can tackle a task; I can often be brute;
I drop balls you release and launch bullets you shoot;
When a runner in baseball must follow his route;
I’m the cops on the beat; I’m the troops with the chute.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Annalisa. See comments for answer.

From Macbeth:

If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

Who will win the hard race for the high honor of President of our United States: Obama or McCain?

Anyway, I know I’ll forgo any wonky eleventh-hour guess.

Tie?

I’m a picnic locale on the grass by the lake;
You can maintain your bike with the tools that I make;
I am stopping your car and applying the brake;
And when South, a cartoon that can really look fake.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Kimi. See comments for answer.

With just a month left until the election, polls indicate that Barack Obama has a healthy lead in both the popular vote and electoral college projections, and the Democrats in Congress are looking strong as well.

After 2004’s disappointment, I don’t want to put too much faith in the polls, but I am feeling cautiously optimistic.

But this week’s question isn’t about predicting the election. Let’s suppose hypothetically that Barack Obama does win next month. Let’s say that the election maintains a Democratic majority in the House, and Democrats wind up with 60 seats in the Senate (enough to block a filibuster).

This would basically put the Democrats in control of the agenda for at least two years, longer if the voters are pleased with the results.

So, the two questions I pose to my mostly liberal readership (but also my few conservative and moderate readers as well) is this:

If the Democrats were to take control, what would you like to see happen? What would you expect would actually happen?

From Henry IV, Part Two:

Come hither, Harry: sit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
That ever I shall breathe. God knows, my son,
By what by-paths and indirect crook’d ways
I met this crown; and I myself know well
How troublesome it sat upon my head:
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;
For all the soil of the achievement goes
With me into the earth.

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

Two weeks back, Ms. Christiane Amanpour hobnobbed live with five former secretaries of state.

They told her why their instinct is for the new president to talk to both allies and enemies.

They told her in synch why we must both close Guantanamo and end torture.

They told her why it is time to move on climate change.

They told her why they think Iraq’s a hot potato.

Dumb liberal bile!

You can read a transcript of the interview here.