Sarah Palin is used to getting flack from the Democrats and liberals; she is counting on it for book sales and TV appearances. But now she's starting to get it from Republicans. First, Joe Scarborough, the former GOP Congressman from Florida and current MSNBC morning show host, told the GOP to, using her own phrase, "man up," and confront the former half-term governor of Alaska about her plans to destroy the GOP.
Palin is not a stupid woman. But like the current president, she still does not know what she does not know. And she does know how to make millions of dollars, even if she embarrasses herself while doing it.
That reality hardly makes Palin unique, but this is one Republican who would prefer that the former half-term governor promote her reality shows and hawk her books without demeaning the reputations of Presidents Reagan and Bush. These great men dedicated their lives to public service and are too good to be fodder for her gaudy circus sideshow.
If Republicans want to embrace Palin as a cultural icon whose anti-intellectualism fulfills a base political need, then have at it. I suppose it’s cheaper than therapy.
But if the party of Ronald Reagan, Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio wants to return to the White House anytime soon, it’s time that Republican leaders started standing up and speaking the truth to Palin.
Now Ed Rollins, a former political adviser to Ronald Reagan and GOP big-wig, is throwing in his two cents and telling Ms. Palin to stop comparing herself to Ronald Reagan.
You're a media star and a great curiosity. You were plucked out of political obscurity because of the whim of presidential contender John McCain, who didn't know you and made you into an overnight sensation. You performed well for three weeks in the campaign, did better than expected against Joe Biden in the debate and then you self-destructed.
You clearly weren't ready for prime time, but neither was your running mate. After the election, you quit your day job as governor of Alaska with 18 months left in the term and went out and made a fortune making speeches and selling a book.
It was certainly your right, and you're not the first one to cash in on fame. Millions of Americans love you, and I am sure millions more hate you. Unfortunately, that's what happens in politics.
You can be a contender for the Republican nomination in 2012, but you're a long way from being the nominee. You're going to have to beat some very formidable candidates with way more experience and far superior knowledge on issues foreign and domestic. And to rate your chances today, I would put them at "possible" but not "probable." It's an all-uphill battle.
Right now, polls indicate you wouldn't carry your home state of Alaska.
[...]
Ms. Palin, serious stuff needs to be accomplished in Washington.
If you want to be a player, go to school and learn the issues. Put smart people around you and listen to them. If you want to be taken seriously, be serious. You've already got your own forum. If you want to be a serious presidential candidate, get to work. If you want to be an imitator of Ronald Reagan, go learn something about him and respect his legacy.
If you want to be a gadfly, just keep doing what you're doing.
Now far be it from me to come to the defense of Sarah Palin as a political contender or possible presidential candidate; she has heretofore shown as much depth of intellectual curiosity and understanding of real world issues as the thickness of a skin on the top of a cup of cafe con leche. But I can't help notice that both Mr. Scarborough and Mr. Rollins are being a just a tad misogynistic in their dismissive tone of Ms. Palin, as if to say "run along, little lady, the menfolk have some serious work to do here." It reinforces the point that the straight white men will not surrender the leadership of their party to someone who isn't just like them. After all, no one on the Republican side of the aisle delivered that sort of patronizing tsk-tsking about George W. Bush, who was as woefully dim about the issues as is Ms. Palin. Not only was his ineptitude not considered a disqualifying factor, but it was reframed as evidence of what a charming "everyman" he is. Mr. Bush became the guy everyone wanted to have a beer with for the same reason that Ms. Palin is told to go back to Alaska.
There are plenty of reasons to be against Sarah Palin on any number of points, but the fact that she's a woman shouldn't be one of them.
Video Description: A short video of us playing tag with Dudley at the dog park. I can only ever tape so much of this because I want to just pocket the camera and PLAY!
As always, still pix of all the behbehs below the fold...
Astronomers have discovered that small, dim stars known as red dwarfs are much more prolific than previously thought—so much so that the total number of stars in the universe is likely three times bigger than realized.
...In addition to boosting the total number of stars in the universe, the discovery also increases the number of planets orbiting those stars, which in turn elevates the number of planets that might harbor life, [Pieter van Dokkum, a Yale University astronomer who led the research] said. In fact, a recently discovered exoplanet that astronomers believe could potentially support life orbits a red dwarf star, called Gliese 581.
"There are possibly trillions of Earths orbiting these stars," van Dokkum said, adding that the red dwarfs they discovered, which are typically more than 10 billion years old, have been around long enough for complex life to evolve. "It's one reason why people are interested in this type of star."
Scientists said Thursday that they had trained a bacterium to eat and grow on a diet of arsenic, in place of phosphorus — one of six elements considered essential for life — opening up the possibility that organisms could exist elsewhere in the universe or even here on Earth using biochemical powers we have not yet dared to dream about.
The bacterium, scraped from the bottom of Mono Lake in California and grown for months in a lab mixture containing arsenic, gradually swapped out atoms of phosphorus in its little body for atoms of arsenic.
...Caleb Scharf, an astrobiologist at Columbia University who was not part of the research, said he was amazed. "It's like if you or I morphed into fully functioning cyborgs after being thrown into a room of electronic scrap with nothing to eat," he said.
...Phosphorus is one of six chemical elements that have long been thought to be essential for all Life As We Know It. The others are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and sulfur.
While nature has been able to engineer substitutes for some of the other elements that exist in trace amounts for specialized purposes — like iron to carry oxygen — until now there has been no substitute for the basic six elements.
"I'm trying to catch my breath so I don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right? But this is nonsense!"—House Republican Leader John Boehner, spittin' mad at House Democrats for pulling a tricksy political gambit to move ahead with a vote on extending tax cuts only for those making $250,000 or less.
Top Chef All-Stars premiered last night, bringing back all our favorite cheftestants, as well as Mike Isabella. I was very excited to see lots of my old favies, especially Carla, who I will allow to sum up my excitement at her return (meta!):
This episode will be thinly sliced and served with spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happened, please pack your knives and go.
$1,049,783,150: "Congressional earmarks have been one of the primary targets of the tea party, representing the nexus of the movement’s arch foes — government spending and Washington influence peddling. ... But it appears that tea party's self-proclaimed representatives in Washington haven't been putting their money where their mouths are. Hotline On Call reports today that members of House Tea Party Caucus, founded by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to 'represent the views of our constituents,' requested over $1 billion in earmarks during the last fiscal year."
What the everloving fuck: "Female staffers at a company in Norway have been told to wear red bracelets when they have their periods – to clue in the boss that this is the reason for more frequent bathroom visits."
It's hard to pick what my favorite passage is from that stinking garbage fart of an article, but I think I'm going to have to give my vote to: "The male ego can be a more fragile thing than the female ego, which is used to a regular battering and has hence developed a sense of humor!" Yikes.
Springfield, IL — Landmark civil unions legislation, giving committed long-term partners important legal protections afforded to other Illinois families, has cleared another hurdle as the Illinois Senate voted Wednesday to pass the bill.
"There is electricity all around," The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) president Jacob Meister told ChicagoPride.com moments after the vote. "Today is a victory for our democracy and the fight for the civil rights of the LGBT community."
The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act (SB 1716) passed to cheers in the Senate by a 32-24-1 vote Wednesday. The bill passed the Illinois House by a 61-52 majority vote on Tuesday. (read full coverage of the House vote) The crucial piece of legislation now moves to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, who made a campaign promise to sign it into law.
The legislation will probably be signed in the city of Chicago before the end of the year. I was watching the local news this morning and there's been a lot of spluttering from "family" organizations, but for the most part, the reaction has been very positive. Yay.
What distinguishes this civil unions bill from others is that it adds visitation rights at hospitals and making end-of-life decisions to the couple.
And, of course:
State Sen. and Rev. James Meeks (D-Chicago), who is running for Chicago Mayor, was the only Democrat to cross party lines to vote against the bill. State Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) is the only senator who voted present.
The players have voted, and the requirement stipulating that members of the the women's professional golf association must be "female at birth" will be removed from the women's tour rules. The change should be final within a few weeks.
The change was prompted by a lawsuit filed by Lana Lawless, a woman who is trans and was disallowed from competing in this year's annual women's long-drive golf championship after the Long Drivers of America adopted the LPGA's transphobic policy. Once the players were asked to revisit the policy, they voted to change it.
Player Christine Kerr commented: "We certainly don't want to discriminate against anybody, that's not what the LPGA is about. And if she can qualify, she'll be able to play. We're like, the last sports organization to do it, it's just we've never really had to look at it before."
Quite obviously, the policy should have never been there in the first place, but it was, and inclusion moving forward is a great outcome.
[TW for non-consensual gender assignment] As an aside, "female at birth" rules are truly inane. What does it even mean to be "female at birth," really? It says "female" on my birth certificate, but I could be intersex and not even know it. It used to be routine (and still is, in many places) to assign infants as female after botched circumcisions or surgeries to "fix" atypical genitalia. Many (most?) people to whom this happens go through life never knowing about it. Nor would the LPGA, or anyone else who has "female at birth" rules. The idea that "female at birth" is protecting a sport (or whatever organization) from any women with an alleged (nope) advantage (nope) is predicated on disappearing all the women who are "female at birth" by virtue of a doctor's hand or the natural concealment of bits that might indicate otherwise to a culture who can't see intersex woman as a singular concept and not two mutually exclusive ones.
Point is, "female at birth" rules are pointless.
[H/Ts to Shakers cynical1 and koach. Commenting Guidelines: "B-b-but trans women have an unfair advantage!" and "Men will say they're trans just to compete against women!" will not be debated in this thread. Don't even go there.]
Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes, and thank you to everyone who kicked a little extra into the kitty this month. I can't even tell you how appreciative I am for the support and encouragement. Also my thanks to Kenny Blogginz, who drove with me this afternoon in case my car died and I needed a ride home.
I managed to get the car started and over to our mechanic's, only for them to tell me they can't figure out what needs fixed without looking at the car while it's having the problem. So. Iain and I have to make some decisions tonight about whether to leave the car there (provided it's willing to start again) and rent a car in the interim, or just keep driving it and pay for a tow when it dies again. Neither one is a particularly appealing option, lolsob.
Kind of a craptacular scenario really, the not knowing. But there it is. I wish I had more concrete news to share.
In any case, I'll probably be back tomorrow in some capacity. Now I have to go attend to Dudley, who managed to cut his leg on something (not seriously) and is bleeding on the couch. Raining...pouring!
Our car died this morning, and we have only the one car in a town with no public transportation, so that's a pretty big deal for us. Which means I'm going to be trying to sort out getting the car to the mechanic and hopefully getting it fixed today.
In the last few months, we've had to replace our water heater, our refrigerator, and our oven—and our kitchen faucet is currently leaking and needs to be replaced. This couldn't have come at a worse time. Fucking hell, I'm so ready for this year to be over.
As we’ve stated previously, we all have issues. And yes, that includes the womenfolk. Even though we feel that women may be more open to tackling the emotional obstacles that cripple them, there are still a lot of ladies out there rolling around in wheelchairs or soliciting a man to push them.
Ami will admit that throughout much of her 20s she used an emotional wheelchair to help her get around. But she made it her mission to get up and walk again. And that she did with quite a bit of time and effort. She doesn’t walk perfectly ... but she’s moving. And just to be clear, perfection is not the goal. It’s our responsibility as mature women to be aware of our emotional obstacles and to manage them. We may never totally eradicate them but we must do what is necessary to stay healthy and keep on walking (or at least limping) through life.
Wow. And that doesn't even begin to get into the actual profiles of the "Female Emotional Cripples."
Video Description: I needed a new pair of boots, which arrived last night. The box was, naturally, the Greatest Thing Ever as far as the cats were concerned, who spent the entire evening hopping in and out of the box. Plus some Dudz in the background. Set to Billy Joel's "Root Beer Rag."
Also last night, Sophie, who has been desperate to cuddle with Dudley since he first arrived, hopped up on the sofa with him and gave it a go:
Video Description: Sophie hops up on the couch and curls up next to Dudley's snout. And then, as if realizing, "Holy shit, I am the same size as this beast's head! Erm, maybe this was a bad idea." she has second thoughts and hops down into the aforementioned box, where she regards him contemplatively from a distance. And within the safety of her cardboard fortress.
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