I've got a new piece up at The Guardian's Comment is free America about the McCain-Palin campaign's $150,000 spending spree, which Pet mentioned earlier:
The McCain-Palin campaign's governing principle is easily and succinctly précised as "What would Joe Sixpack do?" One guesses he wouldn't spend a cool $150k at Bloomie's. Even if Joe Sixpack had that kind of money to spend these days, the small towns in "Real America" populated by Clans Sixpack and Plumber, about which Palin gushingly enthuses on the campaign trail, generally trend less toward Saks and more toward Marts: Wal and K to be precise.
And so, predictably, the scheme has failed miserably with their base. Marc Ambinder reports, "Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures."
Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt tried valiantly to spin the complaints: "With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses." The point, you have missed it. It's remarkable that with all the important issues facing the country right now – economic morass, homelessness increasing, the majority of states now in recession – you're spending three times the US median household income on pantsuits and blouses, and didn't have the foresight to consider the average American might find that objectionable.
Read the whole thing here. (And if you're tempted to argue that spending money on clothes is a campaign necessity, make sure you read the whole piece first.)
2.5 cups grated (peeled & cored) apple 2 cups raisins 1.5 cups boiling water 3 tablespoons oil 1 cup + 2 tablespoons honey 1.5 tsp. cinnamon 1.5 tsp. allspice 1.5 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 3 cups whole-wheat flour 1.5 tsp. baking soda 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Place apples and raisins in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Pour oil on top and allow to soak for 10 minutes. Add honey, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and cloves and allow to cool. In another bowl, sift together flour and baking soda. Combine with fruit mixture and stir in walnuts. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for approximately one hour.
Have I mentioned I love cool weather and all the warm, delicious foods it brings?
If you'd like to participate in Shaker Gourmet, email me (include a blog link!) at: shakergourmet (at) gmail.com
Following up on Melissa's QOTD about non-political rants...
I am one of those people who gets annoyed when someone in a movie or TV show makes a factual error that most people wouldn't notice... like when they put a front license plate on a car in Florida (Florida only issues a rear license plate) or something like that. C'mon, who cares? But when they get something really wrong, that's more than annoying.
Case in point: last night I was watching The Mentalist, which is a new series on CBS starring Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, an investigator who uses his brain instead of a gun to solve the mystery. In last night's episode, one of the suspects in a murder has an alibi for the time of the murder: she was at a concert with her daughter listening to Peter and the Wolf. At one point Mr. Jane asks the suspect, "I can never remember; in Peter and the Wolf, is the duck the flute or the bassoon?" and the suspect replied, "It's the bassoon." At the end, when the suspect is arrested for the murder, Mr. Jane said that he knew she was lying because, as he said, "the duck is the oboe; the wolf is the bassoon." Wrong, Mr. Jane! The grandfather is the bassoon; the wolf is played by the French horns.
Yeah, I know; big deal. But when you pin the entire plot on that little point, you had better get it completely right. And give the horn players their due; from what I hear, the French horn is one of the toughest instruments to play.
Note to priests, pastors and padres everywhere: Stay away from the hardcore porn while using rectory computers. Nevermind that what you're doing may be considered immoral and probably sinful by your particular sect, which, if discovered, might make you look like a hypocritical doucheface, but you run the risk of infecting your computer with a nasty virus.
And if that computer happens to be on the church's network, a virus like that could spread to the rest of the computers on said network, which could then turn the whole shebang to salt, so to speak. Then no one will have access to Mrs. Gustavsson's Frito pie recipe on the church website. Oh, and yeah, the pastor in question will likely have to resign. And maybe get defrocked.
By the way, just as an aside, "defrocked" is probably one of my top ten favorite words of all time.
So, if you're a man of the cloth and your web surfing can be described as "thousands of visits" to "very unpleasant" "extreme pornography" sites, it may be wise to snitch a few bucks out of the poor box and get Norton AntiVirus. Or risk a defrocking.
First of all, I love how there's a world record for anything now. Highest stack of pots on your head! Longest time dancing the jitterbug in clown shoes! Mole most closely resembling W.C. Fields on left buttock! Amazing!
So anytime I see that someone's broken some zany record—and not just set a record in some goofyass new category they just invented for themselves, but actually broken an existing record in an existing goofyass category—I've got to read about it.
You can imagine my delight when I saw that a 9-year-old girl had broken the existing record for "Most snails on your face at once."
[Do not continue if pictures of snails will gross you out...]
I warned you, molluscophobes!
A nine-year-old Cheshire schoolgirl has broken the world record for having the most snails on her face at once.
Tiana Walton allowed 25 of the slimy creatures to cover her eyes, nose and mouth - beating the previous record of 15 held by Australian Liam Kenny.
Before her record breaking attempt, now in the Guinness Book of World Records, Tiana's previous personal best was just nine.
She had just one minute to put the snails on her face and then had to tip her head forward for 10 seconds. Any snails that fell off during that period were not counted.
Tiana said: "I am not squeamish. It is relaxing but it feels a bit cold. They are quite smelly and you can see their big long eyes."
Asked whether she thought her new record would be beaten, she added: "I don't think many people will be bothered about putting snails on their face!"
I'm going into snail-face training immediately! Forty snails or bust!
Fun with Site Meter: I just had a glance at the most popular search terms bringing people to Shakesville at the moment, and the top four are currently:
Shakesville. McCain Antichrist. Shakespeare's Sister. Boobs. That sounds about right.
(By the way, the highest-ranked return for "boobs" at Shakesville yielded by a Google search is this post. lol your thwarted porn search.)
...and how a Southern California Republican group used it as a fund raiser and then claimed they didn't know it was loaded with racially-tinged images?
"It’s horrible and funny at the same time" the anonymous blogger told Turenne. "I feel bad for the poor lady who did this, but how stupid do you have to be not to see the racial aspects?"
Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately. [audience boos] And, you know, I couldn't agree with them more. [audience WTFs] I couldn't disagree with you— I couldn't agree with you more than the fact that— Western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic...
After two presidential elections that were won (or not, as the case may be *cough*) by nailbitingly close margins, it's absolutely surreal to see Obama leading by 10 points in the new NBC/WSJ poll and 14 points (zuh?!) in the new Pew poll.
The best thing about these results (bearing in mind that they're not predictors of who will win) is that they make election-stealing a very difficult proposition indeed for the sad sack who's double-digits back.
Shenanigans happen between razor thin margins of possibility, not in canyons of improbability.
Suggested by Shaker Ezekiel: What was your childhood 'comfort' object? (Blanket, toy, pet rock, etc.) And do you still have it? Or have you adopted a new comfort object for your adulthood?
My childhood comfort object was a pale yellow blanket with one dark butterfly stitched onto it. I called it my "nap." (I'm sure Mama Shakes can produce about 70 gazillion pictures of me with my nap, since I dragged it around the house everywhere with me until I was like 8.) I still have it somewhere, although I couldn't tell you where off the top of my head…
I don't really have a comfort object now, although there are various afghans and comforters and throws all over the house. I've always enjoyed snuggling into a blanket when I watch a movie or settle in to read a book.
I won't link to the site whence they came; I'm sure you can find it if you are so inclined. You'll also find Terry tackling an effeminate man who says he isn't going to vote, which is just hilarious. Ahem.
I don't know that I'd find this amusing no matter who the target was, but I really don't find it amusing given that the target is a woman. Naturally, the defense will be, as it always is, that it's not Palin isn't being attacked as a woman, but as a politician—a defense that takes on a whole new level of absurdity when the attack is literal, and we're all watching a female politician (or, an effigy of a female politician) getting tackled by a man.
Let me just repeat myself, with topical minor edits: Ultimately, if one wishes to physically attack Sarah Palin, or use the illusion of a physical attack on her as the butt of a "joke," because of her political ideology, that's one's prerogative, but one ought to at least have the integrity to own it wholly, which means owning the entire context: Irrespctive of whether it's specifically because she's a woman, the desire to physically attack a woman necessarily carries with it particular cultural baggage, including, for example, that women are disproportionately victimized by domestic violence. That's the context of womanhood.
It's something of which I must be conscious, too—I am reluctant to use violent imagery generally, but extremely averse to using it when discussing women I don't like. Despite the distinct unlikelihood that anyone would mistake misogyny as my motivation, even a (metaphorical) attack within a culture in which women—particularly strong, opinionated women—have historically been silenced with threatened or actual violence borrows and legitimizes misogynist strategies. I don't have to like Sarah Palin's policies (and, for the record, I don't), and neither does anyone else—but, regardless of intent, representing her likeness as the victim of violence to shut her up summons an ugly history of physically silencing uppity women. And, no, the same "joke" directed at a man doesn't work quite the same way—care of the double standard brought to you daily by The PatriarchyTM.
(I feel pretty confident that I can safely say, on behalf of feminist women everywhere, we'll happily give up the disparity between threats to hit men and women in exchange for full equality. Just FYI, for any dudez who might be feeling the harrumph of unfairness.)
Here's the thing: Sarah Palin can't escape the context of womanhood by wishing it away, and we can't wish it away, either. She can't wave a magic wand and erase it to her benefit, and we can't declare it irrelevant while discussing how we want to pummel her—or making videos that look like we are. One doesn't get to pretend that's not the reality in which we live to declare one is assaulting "Sarah Palin the politician," not "Sarah Palin the woman."
Consider what it means, just for a moment, that we are still meant to regard those as mutually exclusive concepts.
(Thanks to Shaker Miss Led for the heads-up. Someone else sent it, too, and now I can't remember who; if you remind me, I'll update—sorry.)
Livsy was just standing on my (very cluttered) desk, swinging her aforementioned giant rope tail in my face, so I grabbed a couple seconds of it. The video quality's shit, but you can see what I mean.
After last Friday's debate with his opponent, Jim Himes, Shays was approached by a constituent who lost his job, lost value in his 401(k), and has a mortgage that he needs to pay. Instead of engaging in a conversation to talk about what the individual's options are, or to even lend some kind of sympathy to the matter, Shays insists on pointing to a pamphlet which shows his record on housing assistance. At one point, he just tells the individual that there's nothing he can do and lets his staff run with the rest of it. Unfortunately, I can't find a transcript for the entire thing, but the key points of the dialogue are captioned in the video.
At a McCain rally, the New York Observer filed this report on what Hayes had to say to the crowd:
“It’s like black and white,” someone in the crowd at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center yelled out, laughing. McHenry let the remark pass and finished his speech. He yielded the microphone to Representative Robin Hayes, who prefaced his comments by saying it was important to “make sure we don’t say something stupid, make sure we don’t say something we don’t mean.” Republicans, he reminded the crowd, were kind people. Plus, he added, the liberal media had shown itself eager to distort such remarks. With the crowd duly chastened and put on best behavior, he accused Obama of “inciting class warfare” and said that “liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God.”
Yes, you read that correctly. He said not to say something stupid prior to his saying something blindingly fucking stupid.
In response to the story, Hayes' spinmeister tried to clean up his mess:
Hayes spokeswoman, Amanda Little says that Hayes absolutely denies making the comments that appear in the Observer article. She noted that other national reporters were at the event and didn't pick up on what the Observer reported.
The Hayes camp didn't have enough of their shit together that in 2008, someone's speech can be very easily captured and placed on something we call the Internet.
Only after this obvious proof was presented did Hayes finally concede to having made the statement which he completely denied. Of course, his concession made even less sense:
I genuinely did not recall making the statement and, after reading it, there is no doubt that it came out completely the wrong way. I actually was trying to work to keep the crowd as respectful as possible, so this is definitely not what I intended.
It's great that someone who would have the temerity to say something so ridiculous wouldn't have an ounce of courage to stand behind it.
"I am considering driving it around Austin town just like this until election day as a political statement."—Burnt Orange Report's Wagwa, whose car was trashed Sunday night.
My "Obama 08" bumper sticker was torn off the right rear bumper, a 20-lb rock was dropped through the back window, 2 stolen Obama yard signs were shoved through the gaping hole in the window, and a cryptic almost "OBAHA" (or something...) was scrawled in orange spray-paint on the drivers side front and back doors and windows.
During the October 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage said, "Do you think Colin Powell came out for BO [Sen. Barack Obama] because of his race? Duh." He later added: "[F]orgive me for being so blunt -- but it seems to Michael Savage that the only people who don't seem to vote based on race are white people of European origin."
Uhh. Okay. Really?
"I'm afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He's not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?"
"When you got a Negra running for president, you need a first stringer. He's definitely a second stringer."
"He seems like a sheep - or a wolf in sheep's clothing to be honest with you. And I believe Palin - she's filled with the Holy Spirit, and I believe she's gonna bring honesty and integrity to the White House."
"He's related to a known terrorist, for one."
"He is friends with a terrorist of this country!"
"He must support terrorists! You know, uh, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. And that to me is Obama."
"Just the whole, Muslim thing, and everything, and everybody's still kinda - a lot of people have forgotten about 9/11, but… I dunno, it's just kinda… a little unnerving."
"Obama and his wife, I'm concerned that they could be anti-white. That he might hide that."
"I don't like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash… because we’re not!"
But none of that is voting based on race.
'Cause, you know, it's white folks doing it.
"Negra." Jumpin' Jebus.
lol your tortured logic
Update: And by the way, let's just put this shit to rest, because I'm sick of fucking hearing it. No one, I repeat:
NO ONE
Has "forgotten" 9/11.
Go out and find me one. I'm serious. If you can find an American that has actually "forgotten" 9/11, I'll eat my hat. With HP sauce. I'll put it on fucking youtube.
[A public service performed at the request of Space Cowboy, Overlord of Cute, who was wondering how America's babies were voting this year. For the record, those are the only pictures of McCain I could find with babies.]
I actually did vote today, thanks to how our voting system works here. When we first moved here, I registered to vote and expected it to be like it was in Ohio where you hunt down what info you can and go to the polls on election day. So imagine my surprise when my first election here came around and I got a big book in the mail (pics are of items related to this election, though):
These books come about a week before you are sent your ballot (which is sent about two weeks before the election--ours came yesterday). Everyone votes by a mail-in ballot here--though you don't have to mail it, you can drop it off in a designated drop box on election day by 8 pm PST. So, anyway, the books. My surprise when I first got one changed to delight--they're great to have:
Introducing the measure. Objectively explains what a 'yes' or 'no' vote will mean and gives a summary
Gives an "Explanation of Estimate of Financial Impact" (when applicable) and also gives the full text of the measure in question
Also gives an Explanatory Statement
Citizens and groups can pay to publish For/Against statements
They cover all issues, local and state, in the books. Candidates are listed with brief statements (submitted by the campaigns). However, if for some reason you didn't get the books, this comes in the mail in the same envelope as your ballot:
Which briefly explains everything as well
I adore this system--it's so informative. Also, you can get the info and read it over several times before you vote and have it all sitting with you as you fill out your ballot.
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Heyyy! Everybody! Ivotedtoday! Woooo! 
