Happy Second Blogiversary

To Sherry at After the Bridge!!!

One of my best commenters. Many happy returns.

My one thousandth post.

Has gotta have a nun holding a pair of panties. I'm too lazy to photoshop out the cig, too. Thanks BAC at Yikes! for photoshopping out the cig:




And speaking of religiousity stuff I've decided to post most of the religious/personal prayer stuff over at the sister site so if that's you're thang you can go there but if not you can stay here with the panties. Or both. I'll be doing both. I don't think I'm going to allow comments on the religious stuff as it's more personal meditation than an invitation to dialogue. If you want to blog in response send me an email letting me know.

Something I just noticed.

Sex books for women are called something like:

Be Loved for Who You Really Are: How the Differences Between Men and Women Can Be Turned into the Source of the Very Best Romance You'll Ever Know

and show a hand-holding couple in soft focus (which almost doesn't fit on the cover because the title is so fricking long.)

And sex books for men are called:

GREAT SEX: A GUIDE FOR MEN

and feature a naked woman on the cover and are about 300 pages shorter than the women's book. Illustrated.

The great sex book talks about this study, which determined how certain scents increase bloodflow to the male genitals. Not only did they get volunteers to hook up their genitals to bloodflow monitors and get them to smell stuff. First, the scientists hadda use a "non-odorized mask" so they could record a "baseline brachial penile index" for each subject.

Scents that "worked"? Cinnamon buns, baby.

Searching Ted Steven's Underwear Drawer(s)?

Raid it, baby. (h/t Omnipotent Poobah for the pic)

Great News.

Hello all,
This is John Geraghty here, the Irish guy from the first video. I'm living in D.C. at the moment and will start wor soon as a Kucinich intern. My housemate knows Dennis and is working on some things with him at the moment.

I had the good fortune to meet Dennis and Elizabeth today. I told them that I was involved with the 35percenters. They immediately knew who we were and were very thankful for what we were doing. Elizabeth said that she sent the first video to her family in England to see as she found it quite funny.

I'm drinking a beer in celebration. Well done to one and all, let's keep the momentum and ideas going.

All the best,
with great satisfaction,
John Geraghty

Feh. Artists.

Had dinner tonight with Mr. Blue Gal and an artist friend and his wife.

Me to artist: "Thanks for a great dinner. I love your studio."

Artist to me: "I love your mouth."

Okay, we'd had some wine, but I need even more to appreciate that comment. Pffft.

PS: In the artist's defense he DID have a picture of the President taped to the inside of his toilet seat lid. I told him it was bloggable.

Speaking of Motherhood...

I thought mamma walked over because she read my blog but then she kinda snubbed me?



I call this video "tender mercy" because I was anticipating some real pain at this exact moment and then the deer appeared instead, and I was reminded.

Thank God for the reminder. Tender mercies. Tender mercies.

Off topic, I gotta complain that in order to upload a video to youtube I have to use IE because for some reason Firefox isn't doing it for me. As I said to Manila the other day everytime I bring up IE my laptop interrupts the script and begs me for electronic condoms:

Salon tonight but...

I've got a dinner to go to at 6 pacific 9 eastern so I'll try to show up before and after.***


Here's the link.

Try to keep it clean while I'm out.

Some days we just need a little Julie London...

"The Girl Can't Help It" is perfect sixties camp, too.

Motherhood and God on a Sunday.

This is a religious post. Skip it if that's not your thang.



Thinking about motherhood because this morning I went upstairs to the playroom, one part of the house where there is semi-reliable wifi, and it was a disaster area full of toys. Toys scattered everywhere. And there in the middle of this huge mess, one of the girls, I strongly suspect the 3 yo, had turned a box upside down and put down a doll pillow and placed two baby dolls down, heads on the pillow, and covered them with a brand new dishcloth, flat and neat and the baby dolls were tucked in so carefully and lovingly amidst the mess. I thought, she gets that from me.

I remember when my firstborn was two days old. My teenage stepdaughter and a friend visited us in the hospital (I’m a c-section mom so I get three whole days) . The friend held my two day old son and he started to fuss. I said, well, if he’s going to cry I will hold him, no point in your putting up with that, I’m his mother, it’s my job. The instant I held him he stopped fussing. All he wanted was Mom.

One thing that astonished me about new motherhood was how instantly and intensely all of us moms know our baby’s individual cry. At day care or the church nursery there can be five babies and five moms outside the door and if one baby starts to cry one of the five moms instantly knows “that’s mine” and the other four know that it’s not theirs.

I wish I had an elegant way to tie all of this to the Motherhood of God. I like to think of God as a mother in her kitchen, wearing a big apron with pockets full of blessings, but not taking any guff and always ready with a correcting look or even a quick spank to get our attention when we’re really pushing it. Our angry older brother, Richard Dawkins, writes a whole book about how Mother doesn’t really exist and is a delusion and Mother looks over his shoulder and says, that’s very nice dear now eat your breakfast. And when one of us cries she is right on the other side of the door and her ears perk up and she says, that’s mine, I might as well hold her, no point in anyone else putting up with that, I’m the mother, it’s my job. And when life is a complete mess and there seems no order to anything, in the midst of all that, love is there. That’s easy for me to type on a laptop in the middle of a nice park….I’m not lying naked and cold in some Iraqi orphanage. I try, though, to see that awful suffering as a lesson for US rather than for God. A sermon once told me that Jesus’ statement “the poor you always have with you” is an accusation, rather than a resignation.

As far as personal faith is concerned, I think it's like art and pornography. You know it when you see it. And when you're fussy and the world's not right, and all of a sudden it's the divine Mom that's holding you, you know it.

Or maybe pretty soon he's going to a placewhere he will burn for eternity.

"I’m 76 years old, and pretty soon I’m going to a place
where there are no blogs."

Robert Novak (h/t Zaius)

Priority One for Howard Dean:

Getting Lindsay Lohan the help that she needs. Hilarious, Davis. Love on ya.



One of my priorities this week is to get a feed for the 35 Percenters website set up, so we can all add it to our blogrolls.

phundy pharmacists phreeking phuckheads

I'm sitting in a cafe and have this exact article from yesterday's The Seattle Times tree-killer edition sitting next to the laptop.

This is not about women's rights, abortion, professional responsibility, moral values, or religious beliefs.

It's about being stupid.

Suing because you don't want to administer plan B? And you're a pharmacist? Like I have said before, I personally think the correct response is "you're fired," but read this single sentence and tell me what I'm missing:

Some critics consider the pill related to abortion, although it is different from the abortion pill RU-486 and

has no effect on women who already are pregnant.

(Oh, I guess I need to say, emphasis mine.)

Maybe if we let these fundy pharmacists label the pills, "you had sex with the full intention of enjoying yourself rather than making a baby, you naughty naughty girl, here's a painful period to PUNISH you" pill, that would satisfy their "deeply held religious and moral beliefs". I doubt it.

I gotta say this too: as much as I admire a great many feminist blogs, this ain't one. I simply cast my net wider, is all.

Searching this blog for the word "misogynist" brings up a blank. Until now.

You pharmacists are not being anti-abortion. You're being phucking misogynists. Find another profession.

Oh geez, I don't even know where to start.

From a pro-"build the anti-immigration wall" ad running at conservative blogs. Heh.

Blue Gal at the beach.

Neither of these videos is more than two minutes long. I don't believe vlogs should be long-term punishment for my readers.



Joe Lieberman is NOT allowed to use this footage for his next campaign ad. Neither is Mike Gravel, for that matter.

Three little words.

Whatta buncha chickenshits.

GOP frontrunners backing out of the Republican YouTube debates. Yeah I'm linking to Hugh Hewitt because in this case taking the news from that side of the aisle is more to the point.

Good excuse for running some Spamalot music, though:



UPDATE: Bwa ha ha isn't it nice that Howard Dean wants to thank the YouTube community. Pffft.

A question for the gentlemen in the audience....

If you hired a hooker, would she look this much like your wife and have the same first name?

Like a commenter said over at Agitprop (h/t for the idea yeah I did the graphic):

What would Wendy Cotez do that Wendy Vitter wouldn't? My guess is about everything...

UPDATE: OMG: Vitter addresses his colleagues on "rebranding" the GOP by reclaiming the fiscal conservative mantle.

Hey. Perhaps "whore" is a word we should reserve for members of the US Senate.

Beautiful Day, Late Post, Happy Music

Today was 71 and sunny. Too nice to blog.

But I did want to send some happy music your way. QuakerDave posted earlier this week about how a "lot of socially-conscious "protest music" focuses on what folks don't like, on what they're against." He goes on to share what he calls the " funky, effervescent, infectiously upbeat music" of Young Robert Randolph.

Made me think of the following (sorry for the long intro):



and just discovered these guys (Carbon Leaf) on The Mountain (KMTT Seattle):



This got posted at youtube just a couple days ago. Always wished somebody felt this way about me. Heh. Well yeah, hear the heartbreak in that statement, and I dunno that it falls under "socially conscious protest music", but hey, it IS James Taylor.



Blogging at a cafe this week and they started playing Muskrat Love on the speakers. I left, of course.

Thanks.

Thinking out(ed) loud....

Sorry this post is late today. It’s gorgeous outside.

It’s okay. I’ve been kinda sorta outed.

It hadda happen sometime, especially since I got a new laptop courtesy of some amazing readers, along with a webcam, and then actually started using them.

One of the reasons Manila Ryce worked so hard on the animated Blue Gal was to protect my quasi-anonymity. I call it “quasi” because almost anyone, and particularly fellow bloggers, who wrote to me to say “I like your blog” were given access to my real name right away.

Yesterday Crooks and Liars was kind enough to post the 35 Percenters Kucinich healthcare video. Readers who knew me also knew that I had submitted a question to the Youtube CNN debate, and they intimated at Crooks that this was the real Blue Gal. Everyone was very complimentary and flattering but at least in that comment thread, there went my anonymity.

I’ve been gradually shedding that anonymity for quite a while now, anyway, but maybe it’s time to do it altogether.

One of the reasons I haven’t is that I’ve harbored hopes of attaining a teaching position in Alabama Public Schools. To do this I would definitely have to hide the blog.

Why would I want a job where I have to hide the blog? I love teaching. That’s why.

But two years later and no teaching job even remotely close to my home (I won’t drive for hours, coach girl’s volleyball, or teach in Hell, thanks much) that dream seems permanently deferred.

I saw a counselor this summer who pointed out to me that when I talk about this here blog, my face completely changes, and I become happy, animated, proud, vibrant, and full of some life force that just makes me come alive with passion and energy. He said that if I could bring that kind of face to an interview I would get hired in a snap.

But what if I have to hide the blog to do it?

I’m sick of hiding the blog. It’s me. What if… What if… I could find an employer who said, OMG she’s Blue Gal? Two circles and a snap! Hire that woman!

Yeah and maybe I’ll win the lottery while monkeys fly outta my butt. Except that a number of people have told me it can happen.

AND HEY…

I’ve lived long enough to know that when you make a decision to commit to something regardless of what the world says you SHOULD do or SHOULD want, the world actually steps aside and lets you fulfill your commitment. Facing your fear and doing it anyway is empowering.

I don't want this decision to be based on vanity. Period.

The big fear I have really has nothing to do with what happens to me. It has to do with what happens to this blog. Some readers have said to me rather directly that the mystery of Blue Gal is part of its appeal. I would hate to mess with the “brand” of Blue Gal to the detriment of the blog’s success. And if going public is dependent on how telegenic I am or how much I am willing to pimp myself at the expense of good writing and sharp edged wit, I’m not interested. I’m terrified, actually, of becoming the liberal Pammy Atlas. Even though children on the street tell me I look like Nigella Lawson and one friend compared me favorably to… Claudia Cardinale? (Um, btw, that friend is blind, I tell you. Blind.)

I'll type it again: I don't want this decision to be based on vanity. Period.

So today I throw this out to my readers. What happens to Blue Gal if the woman in this video shows up here from time to time? What other lessons are there to learn from NOT being anonymous? And particularly as a woman blogger, I know from the experience of other women that safety has to be a concern, too.

Please, even if you’ve never commented here before, do this for me. Let me know what you think either way. Thank you very much.

Love,

Blue Gal

Skype Salon tonight

from Toothpaste for Dinner which is always fabulous.


It's not calling it's just typing. It has nothing to do with your hair and everything to do with your mind. If you can read this blog and have Skype installed you are able to attend, you are invited, and you are very welcome.

9 Eastern, 6 Pacific.

We'll probably be reviewing the youtube debates and a MAJOR shout out to our own Davis Fleetwood (see video below he's the guy at the counter) for being chosen as question number 3.

The url for joining us, once you have skype installed, is


http://tinyurl.com/3799zc

See you then!

The latest Kucinich video and a few caveats.

It's awesome. All I did was record what Manila wrote for the video. He and Davis Fleetwood did all the work on this. They're so awesome I can't even type.

We did have one creative difference. I wanted Bubba to get the damn onion rings, making the point that my boyfriend can eat whatever the hell he wants. Cooler heads prevailed upon me to stick with the "healthcare" motif.

I want to make a couple further clarifications for my readers only:

1. I don't smoke pot, so I don't get the munchies, and if I did I wouldn't eat a Grand Slam at Denny's.

2. I have three small children. I don't own any dresses that I would wear in a vicinity where Bill Clinton, or anyone else, could "spill" on them.

3. Whether I felt like dessert or not, I would never make anything easy on Bill Clinton's wallet.

4. Celine Dion is crap. But you knew that.

and while I'm pimping other women's blogs....

Sometimes what looks like a catfight is a big ol' hug.

Alicia at Last Left Turn before Hooterville has a well-written and personal tribute to the late Tammy Faye Bakker.

When I blog-tip, leave comments over there, please.

If you read one blog post today...

...make it this one at Beautiful Day Rule.

ALL OF US should have at least one post on our blog where we AT LEAST say...

I must say, I was kind of disappointed, though, because we did not get arrested.

This here blog is decidedly pro-birth control, by the way.

Loving Seattle Radio

One thing I love about summers in the Pacific Northwest, and there's lots to love, is the radio.

One favorite is KUOW, which of course is the NPR station. Saturday nights they have "The Swing Years and Beyond" which is great for dancing around the kitchen (seeing as out here Garrison Keillor is on at 3). Well worth listening on-line, they stream the show all week, if you've got good internet, which here, I don't.

Off topic, lately I've been doing emails in the front seat of the car out in front of the house to get a good wifi signal. Sigh. Also off topic, I'm not, repeat, NOT, into washboard abs. They're fine for gay men, though.

Second is 103.7 the Mountain. A nice eclectic mix whose only fault is, if I didn't love Dave Matthews Band I might find they played them too much. But I do and they don't. They have livestream here, and they do the whole desert island disc thing with their listeners, so you get to hear some great music suggested by their "I know the band" clientele.

Treat this as an open thread to tell us all which online radio stations you like, what your desert island discs (The Mountain makes you pick only three) would be, and anything else musically oriented you're into or onto this summer. Thanks.

Screenshot/product placement of the day.

Okay it's bad enough that Wapo's style editor has discovered that Hillary has breasts and that her cleavage is not unseemly but is undeniable. (major league hat tip to BAC at Yikes!) Not to sound cynical, but I'm waiting for the denials to roll in anyway, from some DC staffer whose job it is to do that sort of thing no matter what is said.

Then finding the quote led me to Gawker (yeah irony is dead. Undeniable.) which led me to this, and I hadda post it even though I have qualms, real qualms, about naked butts on my blog. Really.

Somehow seeing an ad for happy butt bidets marketed via blog right next to the "Hillary has breasts, no, really" story just made my day.

And sure I clicked the ad, I care about my readers THAT MUCH. Memo to the "clean is happy dot com" people, I really want to know more about the "adjustable cleansing wand" that comes with the Washlet S300, along with yer wireless remote and warm dryer action, too.

My heart belongs to...

If we debate
which candidate
could dine on my fine finnan haddie,
I'd just adore
if it was Al Gore,
but my heart belongs to Dennie.


Is it just because I'm blogging it, or is this the wierdest political summer in the history of the planet? Weirdness presides. William Kristol's dry unsweetened kool-aid snorting, Senators in diapers, McCain's gay sweaters, and now we're asked to obsess over what fish is Al Gore eating? At a RESTAURANT? That's just this PAST WEEK folks.

We all owe Him one...

Manila sent this over and I love it. (2:48) Watch to the end.



Update: Manila also has the best youtube debate question going.

Happy Blogosphere Day

In spite of Al Franken's vain and pathetic attempts to win a Blue Gal endorsement...

I see that a number of great blogs, including my personal fave Crooks and Liars, are celebrating Blogosphere Day to raise money for progressive candidates in upcoming elections. Good for them, and if you are so inclined, give money, even a small amount, to the ActBlue page linked here, or to Al Franken's Midwest Values PAC here. Put the panties down now, Al.

I’ve changed my mind about the blogosphere lately, and am less impressed with the “big” versus “little” blog dichotomy I thought existed a short while ago. I still think it is okay that not all blogs join the netroots. Blogs do not have to advocate for candidates or work to win elections to be valid contributors to this thing called the blogosphere.

We won some elections last November, and I don’t think the problems we are facing now stem from “we didn’t win big enough.” We thought, and we continue to think, that the political process in and of itself is a solution to the world’s problems. It may or may not be part of the solution, but we have had our hearts broke of late by people who were supposed to be on our side. People we voted for with our ballots and cheered in our hearts have let us down in the name of career preservation and insider politics. Oh want a link? Go read Corrente on a regular basis, to start with.

For me, the blogosphere is more than politics. It is what one friend this morning called my lifeline. I need to read the blogs listed on the sidebar. I need to hear from them, and respond to their artistry and writing and passion. I don’t particularly care if they are raising money for a congressional race, or not. If it is about expressing a commitment to making the world a better place, doing so with artistry and humor and passion, it is enough.

Okay, who is most unclear on the concept?

1. Oprah Winfrey's Dad, who apparently thought it would be a good idea to write a tell-all book about how he should have beat her more.

2. The family values Senator who slept with hookers, but whose standards apparently did not run low enough to allow him to support his own state's hooker economy, thereby offending just about everybody.

3. The so-called Christians who tried to shut down an ecumenical prayer in the US Senate because it was not directed at the one true God, Jesus Christ. (a silent tip of the hat to my fellow-Quaker Suzy.)

Larry Flynt being a tease? Yer kidding.

And the idea that any Senator paying a hooker for sex is going to "shock" Larry Flynt...

Larry Flynt's so-called "shock" is about as disingenuous as Tucker Carlson's "involuntarily" crossing his legs...

Well, maybe Barbara Mikulski? That would shock me. But something tells me it ain't her, bless her heart.

Harry Reid's fine line...

...between pain and pleasure?

Because Harry. Every single time you think there are more votes to pull out of your butt in the middle of the night it just turns out the elephant has rolled over to sodomize you. Again. I just don't know if you like it or not.

(thanks for the inspiration as always Mark H.)

It was a great birthday. Thanks everyone.

The salon was great, but we're all going to learn how to quickly take communion and then move on. He's a great blogger, among the best, and I love him dearly. (And as of last night he's a member of the crew which definitely bumps even him even higher.) He's one of us, though, and I'm just as proud of Tengrain, Zaius, Cap'n, Drifty, Mark, PZ, Bad Astronomer, D-Cup, Manila etc etc etc. Left some out there were over twenty there and unless I took off my bra (which being in a cafe wasn't gonna happen) I couldn't count that high.

BTW we're all particularly proud of Bad Astronomer who turned down an interview re NASA with FOX based on their lies and bias. He apparently did not post his letter at his blog but he did post it at salon last night and it kicked ass. Proud as punch, BA.

And a special thanks for my favorite evil twin, AL of Threading Water, who was actually here live and in person for my birthday. She gave me the hand-sewn work of art postcard shown above. AL, did you know my Dad made mail-art for many years? This one she made says, "little do they know evil twins are real." And the envelope describes me among other things as

blogger, teacher, mom, writer, knitter (and my favorite)

champion of small voices

Thank you for that.

I'm reading Miranda July's "No One Belongs Here More Than You." and OMG you have to read it.

I posted a link to her website about the book and OMG you have to see that too if you haven't. Keep clicking the arrows and watch what an artist can do. And her stories remind me of Nathaniel West's Miss Lonelyhearts...they're that funny and that sad and take your breath away. Just like that.

And then my Auntie Em sent me for my bday a DVD of July's movie "Me and You and Everyone You Know" and I sat this morning in Akabini's living room knitting and watching that movie with AL. Closest I've been to heaven in days and days.

And I swept up the plate I threw/smashed across the kitchen BEFORE I went over there to knit. So maybe I'll get some clarity for a late bday present. Looking forward to it.

More political stuff later this week. Thanks again, everybody.

Birthday Party Invitation

Okay panties boy hadda come down. But here's a couple shots from my non-flickrd webcam photoset. Nigella Lawson eat your ever fun so lovin' heart out. Geesh I really do look like her. Scary.


Leaving this post at the top (ahem) until Monday night. My 44th birthday is Monday and that's also skype salon night, so get ready, tell your posslq or pssslq you're busy, set your frickin' TiVo, whatever you have to do to BE there. We'll be celebrating (and by celebrating, I mean ignoring) my mid-life crisis for an hour

Monday, July 16, from 9-10 Eastern.

If you haven't been there before this is a perfect first time. Download skype here and then search for username

blue.gal

Or better yet, the url for the birthday party is:

http://tinyurl.com/36rt6j

You don't need skype headsets or anything. It's just a chat room. Typing the words "happy birthday Blue Gal" is pretty much all that's required. See you there!!!

That's funny Ralph, we were just talking about you...

...and nobody here wants you to run. Just saying.

Please step aside and let Katherine Harris be the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks.

I have to assume this is William Kristol's idea of an early birthday present.

Otherwise, seriously, there aren't enough synonyms for "big," even at thesaurus.com, even in Drifty's head, to measure the term "big lie" for that "on the bright side" opinion piece.

Incidentally, the panties on your head are just a bit of "harmless ridicule," Billy.

I request, nay, DEMAND, Civil Unionsfor John McCain's Sweaters

Thank the good lord Princess Sparklepony has an interview. And if one more blogger says "not that there's anything wrong with that" I'm gonna spew.

Caption this photo.

Thanks to Quaker Dave for the tip. Have a great cruise and we'll save you a piece of cake.

Let's all caption this one, shall we?

Can't decide which is the worst thing to say about this...

A. That these two are leaders.
B. That they think this is a proper way to handle a campaign.
C. That they didn't have enough sense to know the FOX mics were still on.

From Manila Ryce of Largest Minority:

I can understand why mainstream Democrats fight against the very idea of democracy by cockblocking any truly liberal candidate who fights against injustice, but why bloggers toe the line is beyond me. Why we actually believe that the lesser of two evils can be good runs contrary to our own interests. Do you want universal healthcare, clean energy, peace in the Middle East? Well, you could've had it all by now if Kucinich was elected in 2004. Continue to vote for Corporate America if you wish, but don't cry about your interests not being represented afterwards. The Democrats do not listen to the Left. It's a sad reality which ought to be obvious to everyone by now.

How many decades has it been since the Democrats actually worked for the people instead of for big business? After Reagan, the Democratic Party stopped being liberal, and they have no reason to be as long as we keep voting for their front runners. With each election, the party grows more and more conservative, and they know the Left has nowhere else to go, no one else to vote for. Kucinich is the only exception in this campaign. Any high school student with a basic understanding of politics can look at where everyone else stands on the issues and see that Kucinich is the only true liberal. And anyone who declares themselves a liberal ought to at least recognize as much.

So what would happen if we actually voted for a good candidate rather than the lesser of two evils? What would happen if we actually stopped parroting what we hear on television? What would happen if we bloggers thought for ourselves, and used this new form of media to empower the people? In 2000, Nader said there wasn't much difference between the Democrats and Republicans. They denounced him, but spent the last 7 years proving him right. Instead of being pissed off at people like Nader or Kucinich who point out the hypocrisy in the Democratic Party, how about being pissed off at the party itself for having those faults? Unless you'd like to continue voting for the continuation of Reagan's policies, Kucinich IS the only sane choice.

It's nice, it's my style, BUT

...anyone buys me a birthday gift that promises to increase fertility gets their ass kicked. Just saying.

The price is right...

By now you've heard the catch phrase IOKIYAR, it's okay if you're a Republican. I'd like to propose TPIRIYAD. The price is right if you're a Democrat. Take a look:

Blowjobs.

If you're a Democrat, okay, it might almost cost you the Presidency and your marriage, but in the end it was free.

Republican: Beg some undercover cop to give you 20 dollars so you can do it to him.


Adult Diapers

Democrat: About 13 bucks for fifteen at Costco.

Republican: When it comes out that wearing diapers is your thang, and you're willing to pay a hooker to put one on you, it will cost you your career, your immortal soul, and your wife might just castrate you.

Slow News Week in the Blogosphere

Democrat: With the exact same thirteen bucks you didn't spend on adult diapers, you can log-off, go down to the pub, buy you and your honey a beer, and then go home and blow each other for free.

Republican: Pretty damn expensive.

Rarely does a mere T-shirt

...say so much. But the shirts at T-shirt Hell often do. (no affiliation, dammit.)

If the McCain Campaign were a car...

It would not be a wicked cool restored red Karmann Ghia.

But it would perform like this one:



h/t QD, who I discovered through Jess was, in a past life, a red Karmann Ghia with no performance issues whatsoevah. And kudos to Tengrain for parking at an angle.

Wait one goddamn minute.

What the fuck is Tucker Carlson doing calling ANYONE wuss and wimpy?

Finally...

from xkcd

Jess Wundrun finally has her own blog. Go visit and leave a comment at her first post.

Oops. Somebody replaced the low-fat hummus at the National Review Party with...

Vaseline. Smile, everybody!



You guys know I don't usually link to her but Pammy. Anyone with your marketing background ought to know that if you want to sell a calendar, you might actually want to know how to spell "calendar." And any product that you advertise with

"Gorgeous Calender with Atlas, Bolton, Cheney, Newt, Kaufman, SWIMSUITS too."

I just don't think I could turn the page from one month to the next.


hat tip: Instaputz (yeah they went with the obvious exclamation and it fits) via Blogenfreude.

important question discussed at salon last night

Rank these according to intelligence, highest to lowest:

Hell. But only because Alternet brought it up.


toast.

Wait. No jelly.

Wait. No butter.


Slab of concrete.

Fred Thompson.

Special thanks to Bob Geiger for clarifying the toast issue and to Drifty because I love watching him wiggle his pencil.

I wasn't gonna have salon tonight...

but everybody's over there anyway so what the hell.

http://tinyurl.com/3bpptt

.

OH SHIT.

I was kidding, kidding, kidding, about the Eschaton blogroll.

Welcome to MY party, Duncan, honey. I rarely put anyone on my blogroll who has more than 70 subscribers at Bloglines. You've got eleven thousand. I don't even fudge the math that much in my checkbook.

Love on ya anyway and here's a pair of panties for your "collection"....



UPDATE: DOH! Turns out it was Avedon, not Duncan. Nevermind.

And while we're on the subject of Birthdays...

July is a great month for bloggers.

Today is the birthday of both Quaker Dave (as shown below) and Alicia Morgan of Last Left Turn before Hooterville

RevPhat of Unruly Mob/Les Enrages had hers yesterday.

AL of Threading Water has hers tomorrow.

BG her own self is the 16th. Ooh, that's salon night too. Paaarty!

Qwerty of Qwerty's Qoncepts is the 23rd.

Paul -V- of Brainshrub is the 28th.

If you know of any other blogger July bdays, let us know in comments. And happy birthday.

Happy Birthday Quaker Dave

And he was quite jealous when I sang the "happy birthday song" for David Stephenson. So that means...

revenge.

Get this widget | Share | Track details

You can leave birthday wishes here.

And don't think my blog would forget your present, QD. From my blog to yours, "plain" boxers. (Revenge, indeed.)

Blog Against Theocracy: Reproductive Freedom

This post originally appeared at BG on December 20, 2006 - BG


And I've set aside my ban on live models because it's a bathing suit and the head scarf makes it so demure. Yeah.

I've blogged many times on issues of contraception, abortion, gender politics, not to mention sex.

So you can go back and read what I've wrote on these issues, but two points, I think bear repeating:

I think NARAL is using Roe v. Wade as a self-perpetuating cash cow, just like the religious right does. I do not forgive them for endorsing Lieberman, either.

It is regrettable that the heavy lifting in smaller cases, like when some pharmacist won't sell birth control because said pharmacist would rather prescribe their own sexual morality than prescriptions (I think "you're fired" is a good response)...anyway, the heavy lifting in these cases goes to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the ACLU. (Check out some recent cases here.) These smaller cases threaten to gradually erode reproductive health for Americans in general, and American women in particular.

Secondly, I find it fascinating that some of the best web info on reproduction and contraception can be found at Walgreens.com. The marketplace can't afford to be inaccurate or preachy. The marketplace, in this instance, has decided to tell the truth. It isn't preaching, by the way, to indicate that abstinence is the best way to avoid STD's, pregnancy, and AIDS. Duh. But it is responsible to point out that "abstinence is not always a practical or desirable option." Double duh.

For more on the First Freedom First campaign for reproductive health, click here.

transforced to see this movie?

A friend emailed to say that while he didn't want to sound like Bill Bennett, it really irritated him that the Transformers movie was rated PG-13, when all the marketing for the film is clearly directed at younger kids.

Turns out the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (and good luck with that) feels the same way.

"A review by CCFC found more than one hundred Transformers’ toys for children under six; Transformer promotions by Kraft and Burger King clearly aimed at young children; and advertisements for the movie on children’s television programming rated appropriate for kids as young as two.

“It is extremely disappointing that Hasbro and DreamWorks would choose to promote a film to preschool children that the industry deems inappropriate for anyone under the age of thirteen,” said CCFC’s Dr. Susan Linn, author of Consuming Kids. “In their cynical attempt to wring every last dollar from one of this summer’s blockbusters, these companies have shown little regard for children’s well-being or parents’ desires to limit their children’s exposure to violent entertainment.”

Speaking as a parent, we're really used to this. It's really more disappointing that the film industry wants its Burger King toys and box office, too. If I were in that 15-17 boys demographic that moviemakers seem to find so essential, I don't think I'd want to see a movie that had been pushed to little kids.

What I'm doing this weekend...

AL of Threading Water is coming for a visit next week so I'm finally getting off my tush about her wonderful Mother's Day Project. A great many of us are embroidering the names of fallen women soldiers, who died in the Iraq War. It's a shame the US doesn't list names of the civilian casualties so we could embroider them too.



This is Sharon T. Swartworth. She was killed when her helicopter went down just a few days after she arrived in Iraq.

I know AL was overwhelmed by the number of people who wanted to participate in this project and chose the names at random. That she chose a woman who died just short of her 44th birthday and who had an 8 year old son and who was good with computers...not mere coincidence, if you ask me.

I'm not military. I don't go for all this "support the troops" yellow magnet jingo BS in this god-awful war. But Sharon T. Swartworth was a human being. And because of the lies told by the powerful to amass power in the hands of the few, she and a great many others, military and civilian and women and children, are gone.

I'll stitch her name this weekend. Thanks for this opportunity, AL.

"Once" -- Blue Gal highly recommended

It's hard to pick a favorite song from this movie. Here's one.

Aw jeez, Duncan!

This means I have to think about people in Washington DC having sex.

And speaking of "geez, Duncan," one of the great advantages of having your own blog is, you don't have to wade in a 245 comment-long thread. Those things always go up past my panties, if ya know what I mean.

(thx Blogenfreude)