Reading some of the McCain supporters' comments on-line this morning, lamenting the "end of America as we know it" and whinging about how now we'll become some sort of horrible Communist country, I just have to post this. And yes, I'm gloating:



I'll be mature later.
.

I am proud and excited to have cast my vote today for a man whom I find to be an admirable human being, and someone who I honestly WANT as my president. I know he doesn't walk on water - and in fact I fear he won't get a second term after he's unable to make a dent in the stinking pile of corruption that the last eight years have left us with. But he's smart, and intelligent, and shows a depth of understanding, and a willingness to listen to the opposition. I don't agree with everything he says - hell, he's not really liberal enough for my tastes. But I RESPECT him, and I'm grateful to have a potential president whom I honestly respect.

I am also extremely proud to have had the opportunity to cast my vote for president for an African American. I'm just sad that it has taken this long, and that race, gender or religion are still issues that affect people's choice of candidates. But we are taking steps in the right direction - strides, even. And those who continue to use those factors for discrimination will become pathetic pariahs rather than mainstream.

Yes, we can. For once, in a very long time, I actually believe it.
.

This is interesting...

To all my friends frustrated, annoying and disgusted by the campaigns - watch this video. Some lovely levity, and it proves that Barack Obama has class (AND can deliver a joke.)

EDIT: Crap, I'm doing too much at once - posted the wrong video. Here's the good one! And I still think Obama was funnier than McCain.

Too funny not to share... this part of a transcript of Bill Maher's latest "New Rules" rant:

And finally, new rule: a candidate for President should not be judged by the color of his skin. And to…and to anyone who thinks differently, I say please do not reject John McCain just because he’s white. I think the recent news from Wall Street has made us all less tolerant and only reinforce the stereotype that white people are shiftless, thieving welfare queens.

Now, take a look at these pictures. Here are the CEOs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and the Lehman Brothers. I know the first thing that jumps out about these faces is that they all happen to be white, and they all happen to be responsible for stealing. But what you have to understand is that these whites are a product of a society that made them that way. It was the neighborhoods and the schools they went to: Harvard, Yale, the Wharton School of Business. They never learned the value of doing real, actual work and the first step to fixing that is better role models, so kids growing up white today don’t think the only way out of Westchester is corporate crime. Or a government handout or sailing. So I get it, the temptation is to look at McCain and vote against him because you don’t see an individual, you just see another typical welfare whitey.

And it’s true, he’s spent his entire life shuffling from one low-paying government job to another. Well, except those years he spent in prison. Typical! And between you and me, he’s not very articulate. Oh, he may have some street smarts, but he’s not what you call an educated man. He freely admits he’s ignorant about the economy. And apparently the only thing his white running mate knows how to do is crank out one baby after another. And now of course, her teenage daughter is pregnant out of wedlock. Because she learns it at home! But that doesn’t mean we should assume all white people are like that, just because so many of them are. I believe there is hope. I believe even the stoopiest…stupidest, greediest, laziest whites can break the cycle of dependence like this November when we finally move George Bush out of public housing.

I love it when a stereotype bites itself in the ass.
.

The Daily Show just showed a clip of one of those retarded pundits from Fox News saying the following, regarding Sarah Palin:

"But of course she DOES have international experience - she's up there in Alaska, which is right next to Russia!"

*headdesk*

Would someone who plans on voting McCain please explain to me how you can feel comfortable voting for a team where the main guy has had cancer multiple times and is 72, and if he died or became incapacitated the person who would take over from him as the Ruler of The Free World™ has two years of experience as governor of Alaska, and prior to that was on a City Council? I mean, come on. Even if you don't care for the democratic party, can you acknowledge that Obama and Biden are far FAR more qualified?

*headdesk*

Let me e'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

1. I owe my mother an apology - I was supposed to drive with her out to meet up with my sister and her kids in Tennessee on Sunday, and I didn't because I haven't been sleeping well and wanted to sleep in that morning. Turns out she had made a whole gluten-free picnic for the day, which I didn't know about until afterward. So Mutti, I'm very sorry I flaked.

2. On Saturday night I went with notgruntled  and a few other friends to see Tropic Thunder at the drive-in. I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard at any movie, and the drive-in is the perfect venue for a movie that encourages a raucous audience. It was absolutely hilarious. And yes, I've regained a modicum of respect for Tom Cruise. Further, to those people who are protesting because of the fake mentally-handicapped character of "Simple Jack", you clearly have never heard of the following terms: irony, sarcasm, subtext, allegorical.

This is a pet peeve of mine. Because a movie has a sexist or racist character, it doesn't mean that the movie is therefore ALSO racist or sexist. When a movie shows a person doing an offensive portrayal of a character which is clearly MEANT to be over the top and offensive, so as to point out the obtuseness of the person portraying the character in addition to the shallow industry promoting that type of portryal and the easily-emotionally-manipulated mass audiences who often thrive on such characters, the movie is therefore mocking the aforementioned person and groups and NOT the actual offensively portrayed character. Ok?

3. We got a new couch for our upstairs media room - it is bright red and exactly what we've been looking for since we bought the house almost five years ago. Most importantly, the cats approve.

4. I broke down and signed up on Facebook. *sigh* And it's already a soul-sucking timewaster. And I intend to waste more time with after I've gotten my inbox down to 100 emails.  On the plus side, I've already - in the space of a few hours - managed to reconnect with a number of old high school friends with whom I haven't been in touch since I graduated in 1991. I'm also grinning at the number of them who also qualify as ex-boyfriends. I was such a playa.

5. Are you all sure you don't need a fabulous black desk?? Do you know anyone who might??

6. I'm looking forward The Daily Show's take on the DNC convention. Their whole "Best F*cking News Team Ever" gag has been terrific.

7. Fritos make an excellent side to roasted red pepper and tomato soup. (And all gluten-free!)

8. It's clear that McCain is going to take a page from Giuliani's old playbook and replace the overused phrase "9/11" with "POW". Yes, you were in a POW camp, you survived a horrible experience, it's admirable as hell, but it HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MOST OF THE QUESTIONS YOU ARE BEING ASKED. Now please, continue your regularly scheduled program of gaffes, hypocracy and right-wing-ass-kissing.

That's all, folks - have a lovely week!
.</lj>

My new favorite site for e-cards is www.someecards.com. Here's one of their more recent ones (thanks to Crooks and Liars for pointing it out):



I need this as a giant bumper sticker.
.

So one of the other meeting planners hear overheard my cell phone ring, which happens to be Ministry's "Every Day is Halloween" and said, "Hey! Ministry" I was surprised she recognized because she just didn't look like the Ministry type - very well put together and Ann Taylorish, in a young and sassy way. I have a terrible habit of judging books by their covers, and I'm so often wrong - I really need to quit doing that. Anyhow, turns out she knew it because her former step-father was a member of Ministry. So that was kind of cool.

She also arranged a very cool outing last night to a few luxury homes (in the $10 million range) where the owners (one was a dot com millionaire) are never there, so they rent them out for corporate events. These places were absolutely incredible - set on the upper side of a red rock mountain in the desert, with an incredible view, often working the rock into the design, with 12,000 square feet and many MANY flat screened TVs. I try not to be materialistic, but it really wouldn't suck to be that rich.

And turning to politics...

( Sometimes political cartoons hit the nail on the head... )
.

.

It's not the best Doonesbury ever, but I'm going to save this last line and use it when appropriate. Seems the perfect response to "get over it."



I know the press keeps talking about how the press (um, guys? that's you) gives too much positive coverage to Barack, but most of the headlines I see are about specific critiques levied against him by McCain or other GOPers. There may be positive press on Barack's reception by audiences around the world, and that's lovely, but I'd rather see positive press on his ideas and where he stands on issues.

I'm losing faith that he'll win, and it really irritates my husband when I say that - he's staying positive. I hope he's right and I'm wrong.

In other news, I'm headed to Arizona tomorrow on a gig with my old company (the one I was with for five years) where temperatures are expected to reach 107 - and I'll be running around working a meeting on a gigantic property that's spread out like a college campus. Packing extra deodorant.
.

This. This is just... I can't even... *facepalm*... the misspellings... "liberal good ol' boys.".. little Satan and his gay friends... can't decide whether to laugh or cry.

Ah, Oklahoma. The source of so much amusement.
.
EDIT: Link fixed
.

My dear friend whose wife is pregnant just mentioned that her employer, the state of Massachusetts, only offers two weeks for maternity leave.

Two weeks? Two fucking weeks?

Meanwhile, in the UK, they just upped maternity leave by law to a year (if desired.) A year. And my friend gets TWO WEEKS?

I'm appalled and thoroughly baffled that this is even legal. Why aren't the "family values" politicians up in arms about this? Is it because they don't think the women should be working in the first place? And where are the women's rights activists? Shouldn't this be something on which change should be immediately forced?

Once again we're far behind the rest of the Western (and much of the Eastern) world.

*head desk*
.

Last night I went looking for web forums for people on gluten-free diets to see how they handled them, particularly when traveling and when trying to do Weight Watchers (I'm sure I gained 10 lbs in London - I indulged in Fish and Chips quite a bit). The answer seemed to be that it's very hard when traveling, especially abroad (well, duh - I'm fairly sure I won't be able to keep it up in Budapest) and that Weight Watchers doesn't work with a gluten-free diet.

Here's fun fact #1 about going gluten-free for health problems: it's an all or nothing thing. If you eat ANY gluten once you've emptied your system, the problems comes completely back and you have to start all over again.

Here's fun fact #2: just about everyone on the forums I was reading said that they gained 10 - 20 lbs when they went gluten-free. My goal will be to stick to lean meats and veggies, and hopefully that will negate a big weight gain - but we'll see.

And here's a question for everyone - how do you feel about the New Yorker's cover illustration of Barack and Michelle Obama? My own feeling is that I get what they were trying to do - it's supposed to satirize the myths about them - but it's an epic fail. I think there have been too many interviews with average citizens who believe those myths, and thus it's not going to be received in the spirit intended by your average citizen. Perhaps after an Obama victory, when he would have proved himself against those myths, THEN it would have been clever to run the cover. But right now it's a sore sticking point, and the cover just emphasizes that in an unpleasant way.

Thoughts?

I've gone through various periods of liking and disliking Andrew Sullivan over the years. But with this blog post I have a whole new level of respect for someone who is most definitely a conservative (by his own admission, a "Reaganite and Thatcherite") in his general politics - and who supported the Iraq War in the beginning, but is intelligent and principled enough to admit when he's wrong. And sadly, I agree completely with this quote:

"What the war has done to what is left of Iraq -- the lives lost, the families destroyed, the bodies tortured, the civilization trashed -- was bad enough. But what was done to America -- and the meaning of America -- was unforgivable. And for that I will not and should not forgive myself either."

His whole text is worth reading. If only more initial supporters of the war had come to these realizations sooner, and had spoken out.

I can only hope that this sentiment is strong enough to keep John "We Can Stay in Iraq Another Hundred Years And Also The War Is Going Swimmingly And I Heart Torture When We're The Ones Doing It" McCain out of office.
.

I'm sitting in the Jury Duty room at the Dekalb County Courthouse in Decatur - they have wifi, but I'm not able to get internet access on it for some reason, so I'm using my Blackberry's modem functionality. Not too shabby, as long as I don't have to download any emails with attachments greater than 2 MB.

So - weekend update!

1. Last Thursday the Husband and I went to the Tabernacle to see Flogging Molly, a fabulous punk Irish band, whom I have now added to my very short list of Bands I Will Actually Bother Seeing Live. They had two great opening acts, one of which was just hilarious and weird:

The band is called The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, and it's made up of a guy on a series of vintage guitars who is an AMAZING plucker (check out his wiki entry for a pretty cool story on that), his slightly scary looking but wholly entertaining wife playing a washboard (yes, a washboard) hooked up to an amp, and his brother on drums. They look like a bunch of redneck hillbillys, and their music is basically a punk version of 20's and 30's bluegrass. For some reason baldsug, I totally thought of you  - I think you'd really get a kick out of them. They sang songs that included such fabulous titles as "Your Cousin's On Cops" and "Mama's Fried Potaters."

2. Went to the neighbors house on Friday night to watch the latest installment of Lost, eat dinner, and drink too much wine followed by a little sipping Tequila. Lost has been fantastic this season - very gripping, very interesting, eliciting a disappointed "Nooooooo!" whenever we realize the episode is over.

3. Was very excited about going to supergoober's birthday party (happy birthday!!) and campaign launch on Saturday night, but by 2 PM my head felt like a cannon ball and my sinuses had drained into my throat to the point where the pain was such that I couldn't talk. *I* couldn't talk. Those of you who don't know me in RL may not realize how devastating and bizarre it is for me not to talk. Anyhow, spent the rest of the weekend drinking tea (ginger and lemon tea is my salvation), juice (orange mixed with pomegranate - absolute yum) and soup (chicken with wild rice.) Husband took good care of me as I snuffled and croaked my way through the rest of the weekend. Now I'm snuffling my way through jury duty (note to the people sitting around me: sorry about that.)

4. So most of you know about my Crazy Sister Who Lives in a Yurt - well after reading this, I've decided she may be crazy (no, my mother's alleged disapproval of the midwife process did NOT cause you to have a caesarean, you nut) but she also may not be stupid. She and her husband carry around jugs of water from their own well, and avoid having their kids drink public water at all costs. As this study points out, we just don't know the long-term effects of all the pharmaceuticals in the water, and it's probably a lot safer not to find out.

And speaking of my sister: she, her husband, and their four children will actually be coming to visit the first weekend in April. Most of them will stay at my mother's house (where my sister has chosen to never visit, in the 10+ years my mother has lived there) but we're thinking maybe two of the kids will stay at our house. Since I have virtually no contact with my nieces and nephews, I'm very happy about this.

5. You know that awful, fear-mongering "who will answer the phone while your kids are sleeping and bad things are happening" campaign commercial from Hillary Clinton? Turns out the little girl in the stock footage is now 18 years old and an active Obama campaigner in her high school. I'm thinking Hillary's reaction to this was probably, "you are fucking kidding me."

6. Husband and I are making another attempt at organized sport - after having a blast a few weekends ago playing kickball, we've joined the kickball league and will be playing on Wednesday evenings. WooHoo!

Have a lovely week, all, and please keep your fingers crossed that I'll be dismissed and not put on a jury. I leave on Thursday for a 1,000 person conference in Las Vegas and I'm just a teensy weensy bit busy trying to prepare.
.

I've become a huge fan of "Bill in Portland Maine"'s Cheers and Jeers blog on the Dailykos site - it's become regular daily reading for me. Today he posted this excerpt from the book "How to Win a Fight with a Conservative" by Dan Kurtzman. I admit I don't have permission to post it here, but if it's any consolation to the author, I plan on buying the book - plus a few copies for friends.

This is why I'm a proud liberal:


Right on.

In cat news, Ariel absolutely hates Luna, Luna is getting depressed about it, and Husband thinks the solution is to get a third cat, Luna's age and approximate size (she's twice the size of Ariel) so she can have a friend. I'm not thrilled at the prospect of that much cat litter to deal with. What say you, oh multiple-cat owners?

I'm off to San Antonio at the buttcrack of dawn tomorrow morning. Alas, I'll be working, so I'll miss the Oscars with my beloved Jon Stewart hosting - thank goodness for TiVo (and I can fast forward through the tacky dance routines and overly long retrospectives). Next Wednesday I head straight from there to Miami to testify against the Asshat Company who owes my old company money. At least I'll get to hang out a bit with my old boss and some coworkers, whom I adore.

In politics, I'm thrilled to see Obama's campaign picking up speed. Newsweek has a great article about Michelle Obama, and she's a refreshingly REAL person. I'd like to see both of them in the White House.

And finally, Husband and I have been invited to a three-day Sikh wedding in London, in July. For those of you who have seen Bend it Like Beckham, yes, apparently it will be just like that. If I have to cash in every frequent flyer mile, every hotel point, and every other reward point I have, we are so going to this. Oh - whyvette and supergoober, I need Indian garb to wear! And so does my husband! Wanna help?

Have a lovely week, all.
.

Swiped from Crooks and Liars, a quote from James Dobson:

“I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are. He has at times sounded more like a member of the other party….

“I cannot, and I will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience…. Should John McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime. I certainly can’t vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama based on the virulently anti-family policy positions. If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life.”

Apparently Rush Limbaugh, Tom deLay and Rick Santorum are all agreeing with him. If enough of the Religious RightWrong fall in line with them, that gives me more hope for a Democratic win. (Oh thank you McCain, for being so divisive in your own party!)

Naturally I have to take issue with the "anti-family policy" statement. Oh get over yourself, Dobson. They're not the least bit anti-family. And as conservatives you should be against amendments that involve the government over-controlling your personal life - like who you can marry and how or when to have children. I've never understood that hypocrisy.
.

Dear People Who Are Voting for Huckabee:

Hi there. I'm pretty sure we have absolutely nothing at all in common, and most definitely do not want the same things for this country. It's just not working out, and I think we should split up.  There are too many of you for me to just ignore, so how about you pick a few states and just take those over. Please be so kind as to secede. We promise not to stop you this time.

'preciate it,

Muse
.

Does anyone else just cringe and hesitate when they see the DIEBOLD label on the voting machine? How are these still remotely legal?

I was good - I walked the 1.2 miles to my voting place (Forrest Hills Elementary School - and for those of you who don't live in Atlanta, it's a big deal to walk anywhere besides your next door neighbor's house.) My husband's response: "So you 'walked' the vote?"

I want Obama to win. And I want Obama to win the main election. And I want certain LJ friends of mine to be proven wrong about racism in America and for the American people to restore just a touch of my faith by showing that they ARE capable of voting for the most intelligent, most moral candidate, regardless of race.

So I'm crossing my fingers and holding my breath. Which makes it hard to work.
.

I'm catching up on my Daily Show episodes from this week. That's *A* Daily Show, as it's been renamed, not *THE* Daily Show - the distinction being marked by the former's lack of writers due to the Writers' Guild of America strike.

I'm impressed. His first show sans writers was rocky and awkward, and he acknowledged as such.

His second show was good. It was sharp, it was funny and insightful. Granted, it would have been better WITH writers, but I give kudos to Jon for what he's doing. What I don't understand is HOW he's doing this. Clearly there's preparation, evidenced by the news clips and graphics. But it's allegedly with no writing, evidenced by the lack of script in his hand (making him clearly uncomfortable - he's used it as a prop for the last 10 years) and no teleprompter. Is it all adlibbing? How much preparation is acceptable until it becomes strike-breaking actual writing?

In the third episode he actually tells the audience that what he's doing is an "MSTK" type thing - he picks out media clips that he's seen recently or know exist, has them played, and then riffs on them, semi-off the cuff. And it's pretty damn good. His strength is insight into the theatre of the macabre that is our news media, and that's where he pulls the best (and most frightening) humor. Granted, it's sprinkled with inane silliness, but let's give the man a break - he's doing the show without writers.

He does a particularly good bit mocking the media's coverage of Hillary "crying" - and follows it up with an excellent montage of presidents and politicians sobbing over the years. Apparently if a male politician (Bush Sr.) cries, it's moving and inspired. If a female politician looks remotely tearful, it's emotional manipulation. (Bill Kristol can bite me.)

Jon's a little more cantankerous with his guests - not bitchy, exactly, and not rude, but definitely more willing to argue and mock their causes. He's less politely deferential then he has been in the past. When talking to David Frum, who is advising Giuliani's campaign, he couldn't resist some pretty harsh (and deserved) digs on Mr. 9/11 himself. And I feel for the pollster to whom Jon says "polling doesn't matter." He does get the guy to admit that polling is basically a big crapshoot and wholly unscientific. He even has the pollster laughing as Jon says "I was expecting a bigger fight here!"

Fourth episode. Ouch. Starts it off with the report that "NBC expects to make a billion dollars this year in digital revenue." But of course those WGA writers are just greedy asking for a piece of that billion dollar pie. And after all, who needs writers.... Also some good digs at Bush's relationship with Israel (watching the Israeli PM extolling Bush's virtues, Jon muses, "I wonder if George Bush's ass is kosher?"

What these episodes do make clear is the truth of the fact that Jon Stewart is not just an "actor" on this show - he's a satirical analyst. He actually watches the news. He actually watches the media coverage. And he actually formulates intelligent points on various issues, albeit in a satirical fashion. In some ways I'm finding this better - there's actually LESS sophomoric humor, and more sharp humor.
.