lolbird

Come on, admit it, you laughed.

We've Been Talking Too Much About Politics Recently, Haven't We?

Here, have a funny cat video:



So sad...and yet I can't stop snickering. Life is so hard.

Endorsements

Oh NYT, it's so hot when you read my mind like this. Or like this. Shall we retire to the coat closet?

"It’s all that immigrant fish. We’re not controlling our borders."

Ahahahahaha.

“Unlike other candidates, I have been saying since 2002 that we were headed down a disastrous road with our sushi policy,” Senator Barack Obama said. “But what we need now is a president who will not use this crisis just to scare up votes.”

“We need a president who can get past the tired, old partisan divisions that pit one kind of fish against another,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s fine to get the mercury out of tuna. But all fish are in this together. We can’t rest until we have safe sushi of all types, all across this great land. To those who say we aim too high, we say, ‘Yes, we can.’ ”

And also:

Former Senator John Edwards said that the sushi menace underlined the widening gulf between rich and poor. “We have to stand up for the millions of impoverished Americans who go to bed every night unable even to dream about tuna sushi,” he said. “This is the other America, not the fat cats plunking down $400 at places like Masa in New York.”

“We need to speak up for the little guy,” Mr. Edwards said, “the guy who gets mercury poisoning and then sits for hours in a hospital emergency room because he can’t afford health insurance.”

And of course:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton warned against “false hopes” that the sushi menace would soon be over. She declined to pledge that, if elected, she would have all mercury out of tuna within four years. “But I can promise,” Mrs. Clinton said, “that on Day One, I will be ready for action.

“Experience counts, and I’ve been eating sushi almost since that transforming day when I heard Martin Luther King speak in person.”

You should go read it for the Republicans and, of course, President Clinton.

How Romantic

"New York Times to endorse Hillary Clinton for president."

It's a good thing I agree or I'd have to break up the the NYT. The last time I broke up with the NYT was my senior year of college, roughly four years ago. I don't remember why we broke up (maybe it was Times Select?) but I do remember inflicting my misery on my friends for a whole week and half before allowing the paper to grovel its way back into my heart.

If Times Select (or whatever) was the equivalent of a minor indiscretion, this endorsement is a really kick ass Valentine's Day gift: dinner, champagne, and maybe a tasteful piece of jewelry. Someone's getting lucky this weekend, let me tell you.

And Now I Want One More Than Ever (And I Don't Even Play Guitar)

iPhone Guitar Hero - Watch more free videos

It Has Been Far Too Long Since I Last Horrified You With My Political Leanings

I found myself nodding a lot as I read this post. (Um, why I was on the blog in the first place is a long story. Although I like this woman! She seems cool.)

So in doing the research (and I swear I was totally objective and journalistic) here's what I found on each of the Republican candidates' websites regarding women and families and children:

Nothing.

Not a thing.

Unless you count fetuses which are apparently a very big deal.

There's no Supporting Parents and Caring for Children category laid out with like 8 zillion super specific proposals as there is on Clinton's site. There's no comprehensive Working Families category as on Edwards' site. Heck, Obama has a simple, all-encompassing category entitled Families. You'd think Romney, McCain, Guiliani, Huckabee, or Paul could manage that.

Good point, not that I'm surprised. I also think this is very well articulated:

After really tearing into all of their websites, Senator Clinton absolutely blew me away with the comprehensiveness of her proposals, the detail of her plans, and her thorough understanding of the issues and how they play out within the political machine, and exactly how each plan could be paid for. Blew me away. Just read her agenda for working families if nothing else.

When she says she's ready to hit the ground running, she's not kidding.

That is something I feel very strongly about, actually, and a point I think is being overlooked by the general public.

Go read the whole post: it's worth it. Most people reading this don't have families yet, but we all will someday. Heck, maybe while the winner of this election is still president, if he/she is a two-termer.* It should be important anyway, but it's going to be very personally important sometime soon.

* I think that is the first time I've resorted to the 'he/she' style while talking about the presidential race. SO GREAT. I love it.

Straddling the Line Between "Sad" and "Awesome"

I'm packing for my weekend in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois. There's not much to pack for three days: the vast majority of my bag is being taken up by wine and books. I keep running my packing list through my brain, however, because that's what you do before you leave for a trip. Toothbrush, clean underwear, something to sleep in...passport! I forgot my passport! Wait, I'm not even leaving the state. Okay: sweater, make up, lotion...passport, shit!

Never leave home without it, I guess. Hey, I could spontaneously fly to, uh, Jakarta if I wanted. 'Cause that's just how I roll.

That's...Pretty True, Actually

In the words of that Clinton adviser: "If you have a social need, you're with Hillary. If you want Obama to be your imaginary hip black friend and you're young and you have no social needs, then he's cool."

Link here.

On a side note, this article (well, blog post) puts the dilemma in very simple and clear terms. I favor Clinton for reasons other than the fact that she's a woman*, but I wonder how much of my conviction is a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that she's a woman, damn it, and we deserve this.

Personally? One day I want the gender of a candidate to be irrelevant, but the reality is that today it's not, and that matters to me. So maybe a good chunk of it is the fuck you, I want to see a woman in that office. Is that...bad? People vote the way they do for all sorts of reasons--don't even try to tell me that Obama's attractiveness isn't giving him a boost--so why not this one?



* Personal to Obama: the message of change is great and all, but have you considered substance? Because I haven't heard anything that's impressed me. No wonder Kerry endorsed you: you're the younger, prettier version of his not-Bush candidacy.

Fantastic

Autofill defines my life: if you go to YouTube on my computer and type the letter "o" into the search field, my autofill recommends "obama dancing" or "orgazmo unicorn."

Who knew I was so simple?

Jealous: Totally Jealous

Long story short, I was looking at the wikipedia entry for Helena Bonham Carter and found this paragraph:

Bonham Carter was in a relationship with actor Kenneth Branagh (with whom she appeared in several films) from 1994 to the summer of 1999. She then briefly dated actors Rufus Sewell and Steve Martin.[11] In October 2001, she began her current relationship with director Tim Burton, whom she met while filming Planet of the Apes. She has appeared in all of his subsequent films. They live in adjoining houses with a connecting hallway. The home was built when Helena became pregnant with the couple's first child, son Billy Ray Burton, who was born on 4 October 2003. At age 41, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter, on 15 December 2007 in Central London, though the baby's name has not yet been released.[12]

Okay, I'm so jealous that I have to resort to a list in order to accurately express my jealousy:

1. Best. Dating. Life. Ever. Srsly.
2. Rufus Sewell!
3. Steve Martin!
4. Tim Burton!!!
5. "They live in adjoining houses with a connecting hallway." Oh. My. God. That is the most amazing thing ever. Ever! I am awash in jealousy. AWASH.

I'm sorry, I can't go on: I have to go wail and gnash my teeth and mourn the fact that I forgot to be Helena Bonham Carter in this life. God damn it.

Best Campaign Ad Yet

Seriously, you're going to vote for him now, right?

PS: Nooooo! Mahmoud is not a madman! You can tell from his blog! (Go to the pictures section; you won't regret it!)

Sucks To Be Him

New favorite wikipedia entry: "He also started to believe that some higher power was trying to kill him..."

Wouldn't you? That's insane.

Hi. I missed you. (Not really, but it sounds good, doesn't it?)