My 2000th Post

I love how the Roman numerals for two thousand are MM. As in, mmmmm. It's delicious, innit?

If you'd like to celebrate with me, it is a kind of party. Thanks for tipping a few coins in my tip jar, especially if already did. But that's not as important as the other task at hand. To honor my 2000th post, I'm asking fellow bloggers to:

Go through my blogroll and find a blog you've never read before, and find one you think you'll like reading. You're going to need to find a few links for next week's Blogroll Amnesty Day, anyway, so this is your chance to start that. Write a post linking them, and then link me at this post as a hat tip, so I know to thank you. That's all. This isn't a tagging meme, by the way.

I'm very grateful. And proud of my blog friends. Thank you.

salon tonight and my "next" knitting project.

Blue Gal Salon 1/26 hosted by blue.gal.

Join now

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Chat about what's on your mind. More about public chats.

As you may know by now, Skype announcements are also fiber-related posts. I bought yarn today and here's what I'm gonna make with it.

Alice Starmore's Catherine Parr sweater from Tudor Roses (a knitting book so very out of print). I'll be knitting it in a purple-toned gray with berry accents, slightly finer guage than called for, and of course, knit in the round, because that is the only way I would ever approach a sweater like this. Period.



Original finished sweater (yeah I'm a bit jealous) from WIPinsanity. And remember, you are not cheating on your "finish the UFO's" goal if you merely swatch something new. :)

And I'm going to call this one my "Obama Sweater" because it will probably take me his entire first term to finish it.

NOW I know why I couldn't sleep last night!

I had this bubbly, happy-but-sleepless feeling all night long, that I attributed to "too much fiber." (Not the eating kind, the knitting kind. Don't play with your yarn stash after 8 p.m., is all I'm saying.)

And now I find that it may be because Kristol is no longer at the Times.



I have to confess, due to the delightful surprise factor, I like this one better than the one I made for Bush, but my imaginary boyfriend makes the best Obamaicon evah.

Skype Salon tonight. Hope to see you there.

Dear Rod Blagojevich:

"Eighty percent of success is showing up." - Woody Allen

Oh, nevermind.

It appears that he won't even show up for his own impeachment trial -- because there are no cameras, I suppose. Plus, he really, truly, doesn't know his way around Springfield, Illinois.

PS, Governor. I just realized I coulda saved a down payment if I'd just rented the unused Governor's Mansion from ya. We'd have to clear the dining room table to suit my family's needs, but the table you never eat at looks big enough for glitter glue projects AND macaroni and cheese:



There's a lot of background on Blago and his unpopularity here in Illinois. He really did want to govern like Daley in Chicago, but of course he's not Daley and ahem, Springfield and the state of Illinois is not Chicago, though Blago wants to think it is.

I was gonna go to the trial and all but since the Illinois Senate website is not very forthcoming as to where and how to get in (score one for the Governor, he CAN say he got lost).



I'll probably try having lunch at Augie's or Robbie's and see if I can eavesdrop on any opinions there.

Also, he thinks he's too pretty to go to jail. Really.

No response.

Shoveling snow for an hour gave me time to think about all the things I don't have to respond to.

I don't have to respond to John Boehner about taxes.

I don't have to respond to the email that said:

Dear Adult Content Blogger: We have an exciting NEW way for your readers to access the world of live sex video!

I don't know how they found me, I don't care, and I trust my intelligent, computer-savvy readers to google whatever turns their gears, by themselves.

If you got turned on by the image of someone actually wearing that penguin jockstrap... I have a general rule about "no one is wearing the panties at BG" but really.

I don't have to worry about middle child's creativity. I may have to worry about a teacher who writes "do not draw extra pictures" on a COLORING worksheet. Trust me, I saved that one for parent-teacher time. I am not amused.

I do not have to think about the blogger who is trying to talk her husband in to baby number five. (Whatever.)

________________

4 year old has something to say:

vqvyqbj0v054wu bbbbb n54yyyyyyyyyyehjvuy64hv8by6m-u5555555555553m5j 5jmu73 67uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu4ijbbuj e5o[yu'[etnhpbypnev36jj0b,i6=====h0 6nyum6 eb, bj mg3nvybbvy9 2j7h

Tax cut THAT, John Boehner!

Saturday Song

Dedicated to guys who woke up this morning to a house full of smart women, and my dad, who did that for years.

Now that we've had plenty of time to get to know President Obama....

Love the shirts (and there's a fine post on this same issue) over at Some of Nothing.

Ahem. The honeymoon lasts one. hundred. days. So even PALESTINE is going to get the wait and see treatment, even though (and I love this and her) Nonny Mouse of the Crooks team pointed out regarding liberal impatience:

It's just that when you've been drowning in a huge vat of rancid shit for the past decade, it's hard not to ask the guy pulling you out would he mind doing it just a wee bit bit faster, please.

Or four six plus decades (since at least 1948), in the case of Palestine, but I digress. Please don't let it be the only thing you do this season on behalf of peace and justice, but you are all welcome to join the Valentines for Palestine Facebook group if you are so inclined:

Encourage people you know to divert what they would usually spend on chocolates and roses to humanitarian aid within the Free Gaza movement.

We will also be taking Valentine cards directed towards the Palestinian people. Email an image of your card to ValentinesforPalestine@gmail.com or post it here and it may be included in a future book which we plan to publish. The proceeds will also go towards this movement.

Also, if anyone feels there is one humanitarian group that is better suited to our donations than others, please let us know your experience with same in comments. Thanks.

One of these things, doesn't belong here....

I woke up to an email about the Bloggie awards and not only am I burnt out on awards stuff, it's mostly big blogs over there and I don't giveashit. But I did vote for Yarn Harlot for best craft blog because it's knitting & I love her.

Otherwise, if you want to pick the winners on the ballot, might as well vote for whoever Wonkette says to. Jim Newell over there is a genuinely nice guy.

And someone in the pictured category irony-ed my panties. If nominating Eschaton to that category is serious that's just sad. If it's a joke, that's also just sad. And they robbed Six Sentences of a well-deserved nomination. Just sayin'.

PS. Yep, I'm late to this party, and Bill Kristol is still batshit crazy.

By the way, today is also...

NARAL probably didn't email me on this because they know I'm one of those vituperative types who still hasn't forgiven them for endorsing Joe Lieberman over Ned Lamont. AFTER he decided to run as an independent. Way to piss where you eat, ladies.

But I believe in teaching reproductive responsibility (NOT abstinence only, which obviously doesn't work, Bristol) and making available (which means you don't have to drive all the way to an Indian reservation) reproductive choice.

Duh.

h/t Shakesville.

Now that "Woodstock on Ice" is over...

Honestly, that Gail Collins cracks me up.

I need to write a little housekeeping post, kind of "mark your blog calendars" kind of thing....



Tuesday, February 3 is Blogroll Amnesty Day. Old timers know that this holiday has a rather sullen history, but now it is a happy occasion: On February 3, bloggers are invited to post links to five blogs you like, that have smaller traffic than your own. It's a great celebration and a time to discover new blogs and link them and stuff. As I said last year, "not to get all mushy here, but do you know how fucking great it is to be here in the blogosphere? Take a moment. Take it in." Spread some linky love.




Blog against Theocracy is Easter Weekend, April 10-12. Details will follow, it will run pretty much as it did last year, with people sending post links to the main site. There are no guidelines except that we blog about what the separation of church and state means to us. I wouldn't be surprised if many posts this year take on the issue of gay marriage. As always, the website of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State can be a great resource/springboard for posts.




Finally, I want to encourage my fellow lefty bloggers to sign up to host an edition of Carnival of the Liberals. If you have a liberal blog, please do it. No blog is too small to host, and actually, smaller blogs can get some traffic, attention, linky love, and general street cred linking ten blogs of the 23 or so that will be submitted to you. It's not difficult at all.

Here's how:

You sign up for a specific date to run your carnival. Carnivals run every two weeks, usually on Wednesdays but sometimes carnivals are late** due to life interfering with blogging (never happens at MY house but wev).

Starting two weeks before your date you will receive emails with links to posts that people have submitted to the carnival. My understanding is that Leo, the guy coordinating all of this, would like to see more themed or issue oriented carnivals but that is up to you as host. If your blog is about Iraq stuff you could have a peace carnival of the liberals, for instance.

At some point before the date of the carnival you read all these great posts that have been sent to you. The cool part of the carnival is that this carnival thing has a cut and paste post with all the links to all the submissions for you to start with. You have to pick ten posts, and trust me narrowing it down is the hardest part of the whole exercise.

You then cut and paste the post into your post window and customize it, deleting all the links but the ten you selected and prettifying the post, etc. I went whole hog and did a limerick version for COTL 33. I suspect, though I haven't been told, that Carnival of the Liberals is "English Only" so don't try to write it in Messican, we'll put up a wall around you.

I did one in limerick form a while back.

**You actually get bonus points for posting your carnival on time.

Please sign up for a date and do it. And thanks.

Obama's Speech, Hope, and making stuff.

I used to have a shirt with this image on it. The shirt got absolutely tattered with frequent wear. Even now the message is a mantra with me. It's not my office, even though there's a computer and a couple of desks. It's my studio. It's where I make stuff. Sometimes it's knitting, sometimes sewing, occasionally a collage or sketch.

Most of the time, it's a blog post.

I think about this frequently as I hear the word "economy" talked about. The story of the hilariously failed job interview comes to mind, where the young woman, when asked why she wanted the job, said she loved to shop and since the office was close to the shopping district she could do more shopping.

Our economy has outsourced making things. Now we buy things. Proof that there is a problem: the proven-right prediction of a 2007 recession impelled our last President to suggest that we "go shopping".

This President isn't doing that.

What, shopping isn't gonna fix my world? Dang, I have to go SHOPPING for a t-shirt in protest!



I hope that as more and more of us lose our jobs and things seem as bleak as they do, that we are able to frame this time as an opportunity to give and make sacrifices, as citizens clearly did during World War II. But as I heard the new President's (yay!) speech yesterday, part of me despaired that we would instead fake ourselves out as we did during the energy crisis of the seventies. Jimmy Carter's "moral equivalence of war" over reducing energy consumption was derided (m.e.o.w. said Safire) but it was Carter who created a Department of Energy and even the concept of "energy policy." And Carter's presidency was a failure, they say.

I worry that we have given up the idea of "making stuff," when manufacturing is STILL such a critical part of our economy. Wouldn't it be nice if Obama was able to arrange for the Big Three auto makers to manufacture wind turbines, rather than WAIT five decades for the CHINESE to catch up with world demand, as we are now? Fuck.

Oh look, Obama's been President for one day, one hour, and forty-two minutes, and I get to say Fuck. Honeymoon's over! Ha ha ha lol!

Allow me to say I don't expect federal grants or bailouts for bloggers. Not in my lifetime. But writing for publication is making stuff, and those of us who do it are worthy of our hire.

In other words, don't ask me to blog for you Arianna, unless you are willing to put FOOD ON MY TABLE. Hit counts don't feed the three kids, Missy.

That said, apparently you're reading the blog of the Arianna Huffington of central Illinois. Blue Gal organized the party last night (and led the toast to the new President yay!) for Drinking Liberally/Move On in Springfield: it was a great turnout and lovely time had by all. And I can't remember another night where I had a third beer, ever. Thanks for coming out (and btw I learned last night that any time a blogger leaves her laptop to meet actual human beings that turns slacktivism not activism. Something Arianna figured out long ago.)

My favorite moment of the Inaugural...

Apart from the QUAKER MUSIC, John Williams...



Was Michelle Obama's wry smile as Rev. Lowery called her daughters "angelic."

This morning my 4yo, who skips into her pre-school giggling every single day, decided to tell me "I hate school." I put my hands on my hips and talked to her as if she were born in Alabama (which she was, ha):

"Girl! Dick Cheney his own self never told a lie that big!"

Mrs. Obama, as one who is also the mother of two daughters, ages 6 and 5-in-a-month, I'm removing the drops of blue nail polish from my living room carpet this afternoon in your honor.

How can someone not be happy today?

Well, of course there are those who aren't. There are a few bloggers grumpy because she's fricking Secretary of State instead of President. I'm all for Alternative Invocation, as well, but I'm not going to be grumpy today. I'm going to pray for my country, have hope for the future, and celebrate.

Not to give the grumpies too much attention, but really, it's obvious who grew up believing too much of this pablum:



And I'm sorry you "people united means action" folks are not disqualified from awards shows, not because of any quality of writing issue, but because that would give you even more to gripe about.

We only wanna see you happy. Once. Even though you're beautiful when you're mad.

________

An invocation? I love what Quaker Oats said:

I felt led to share about how although I'm hopeful about the new administration, I also think we can't just pin our hopes on anyone, even a (hopefully good) president. We as Friends [Quakers] did away with pastors (or in pastoral meetings we did away with a privileged position for pastors) because we don't think it's right to pay someone to do our spiritual work for us. I think the political system is similar. We can't just elect people and expect them to do all the work of bringing justice into the world through love. The government will never do that. That can only happen through the work of the Spirit in the world.

[We can go] about following the still small voice that calls us to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God, even when it feels like what we can do is pitifully small. We just must trust that this is what we are called to do, and do it ourselves with God as our leading light.

That said, today is a wonderful, wonderful day. Enjoy it.

Salon tonight on Skype 9 Eastern

Blue Gal Salon 1/19 hosted by blue.gal.

Join now

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Chat about what's on your mind. More about public chats.

My dear friend Threading Water is video blogging her visit in DC this week. Don't miss it.

So, President Obama...

Will there be time to knit at the inaugural balls?



I won't be knitting orange yarn, no matter what, unless it's for da Bearz.

Skype Salon tonight. Hope to see you there!

PS for my Day of Service, since I have three kids at home today, I'll be (for real) gathering stuff to donate to the Salvation Army store. I like that my kids donate their unwanted stuff, as well as get gently used toys, there.

Here's an option for those of you who can't get out and volunteer today: another blogger needs financial help. If you can do so, please donate to DC Blogger (who actually gets stuff done for single payer healthcare) over at Corrente. I can tell you from experience that little donations, five bucks or so, really add up fast. Thanks.

Pondering Bush's Legacy (Mashup VIDEO)

Saturday Song with Lou Reed and Elvis Costello

One of those songs I wouldn't have given ten seconds to when I was young and stupid. Now my chin rests in my hands and I sigh and sigh through the whole thing.

Hope things are thawing in your world.


PS. THANK YOU to those who contributed to my fundraiser. The small donations added up to where I can pay my car insurance for six months. Even more the kind comments and emails that came in showed real appreciation and support. That means the world to a writer who works daily at this thing. Thank you so much. xo

It's not ideology if you're doin' it right.

You'll NEVER guess who wrote this:

No longer can the American media be relied upon to bring us fact-based information. The news media has entered the ideology business much like talk radio. This will greatly harm the nation, as unbiased information is critical for an informed citizenry. The collapse of journalistic standards was a huge but largely untold story in 2008.

Bill O'Reilly at Townhall.com. No I am not making that up. Here's the dangerous link if you dare.

This seems to be ideology week amongst the pundits, with EJ Dionne leading the charge that progressives don't need no stinkin' ideology (emphasis mine):

Many of the programs that conservatives have pushed have been based more on faith in their worldview than on empirical tests. How else could conservatives claim that cutting taxes would actually increase government revenue, or that trickle-down economic approaches were working when the evidence of middle-class incomes said otherwise? ...Right now, being empirical is in the progressive interest. Note that data show that the parts of the stimulus package most congenial to liberals (increases in unemployment insurance and food stamps; fiscal aid to the states; government spending on public projects) are also the parts with the most economic bang. In other words, progressives don't need ideology to make their case.

There is only one reason for progressives to hide what is called an ideology: anytime Progressive ideology is mentioned, we're called socialist, anti-American, commie pinkos by the Noise Machine of the Rupert Murdoch media empire (I'm gonna have to stop you there, Blue Gal).

So instead we talk in "practical" terms about empirical solutions, and abandon the thinking and philosophy behind them, because, frankly, Bill O'Reilly has pussy-whipped us.

I do think we liberals are addicted to processing as much as outrage. (Grace the Spot owns processing as a lesbian thing but it's not exclusive to them). That's why we listen to NPR, do online cryptoquotes and get creative with our sexy sides. We spend a lot of time in the realm of the intellect, because it's our happy spot.

Now we have a Democratic President who is also black (read, transformative change) and also intellectual. And our expectations are extraordinarily high, at exactly the time that the world's problems are extraordinarily awful.

My sense is that Obama is attempting, with great calculation, to mute the noise machine that would use name-calling to stop his wonk-oriented governance. His process is bound to drive us commie eggheads a little nuts.

PS. Don't make me try and love you now, Chris Matthews. Good job keeping KO from flame-jumping out of his shorts, though. He makes the point exactly about Bush and ideology at the 2:45 mark:





___________

Today is the last day of my quarterly fundraiser.

It's not a bailout, and it's designed so that no individual has to borrow from the Chinese or the Saudi royal family to give. If you have nine bucks or less to give to the cause of good internet writing and a hard-working advocate for small indy blogs, I thank you.

Free Movies!

If you're frozen in today, do what I'm doing and (between posts) watch a movie online. My picks:

Love is a Ball, featuring the late Ricardo Montelban. I'm a sucker for '60's camp.

Horse Feathers, Marx Brothers mayhem.

And of course, the number one comedy of all time, according to AFI: Some Like It Hot.

I sure wish Fancast was paying me to link them, but since they're not, if you watch a Fancast movie today because of this post, please consider dropping the cost of a big-city movie ticket ($9.00 is what I'm requesting this quarter) in the BG hat. (The BG nine-dollar fundraiser ends tomorrow.)

Reprising a post for Dennis Prager, Love Muffin

I'm kind of late to the whole Dennis "she at least owes me a hand job at the end of a long day" Prager story, so I decided to reprise this post from 2007. Enjoy, and please consider donating nine bucks or less into the tip hat. Four years of writing like this works up an appetite. Ask Dennis. And thank you.

Republic of Dogs (original link was broken, this is their main site and they have written about Craig's list more than once) has been combing the Craig's List personals so I don't have to. Not that I would, but still:

I want a cute petite girl who dont mind moving right in with a man after a few weeks of dating. I hate going out and looking for woman so I figured I would try this.

Yeah, "looking for woman" is such a pain in the butt. They're always out of them at AutoZone.

and this one:

Hi, Matt from Wilmington. Im looking to get a BJ and like twice or three times a week with the same person. I’m clean and disease free so should you. No prostitutes please. I’m just looking for a normal girl who loves roses, who is laid back and up for doing this about 2 or 3 times a week. Thanks Matt.

If your serious, please send a few photos and your stats.

Oh yeah, you had me until you asked for "normal." And not knowing the difference between your and you're is an automatic disqualification, anyway.

I've been reading a few "self-help/relationship" books this year and gotta say there's a real proclivity, even among male Ph.D. authors, to portray men as having absolutely no emotional needs apart from sex. I don't support that, in spite of the above [and Dennis Prager].

I love what commenter Ricky Shambles added to the discussion:

Popular media - especially in the last few years - has been flooding our culture with the horny oaf male archetype, e.g., "Home Improvement," "King of Queens," most Time Warner Cable commercials. This negative stereotype feed[s] the degradation of male behavior towards this lowest common denominator while simultaneously pushing the female role in relation to the husband/boyfriend as more of a caretaker/parent from which he -the child- must seek approval, as opposed to an equal partnership.

If we as feminists seek equality, we need to call out that kind of crap against men, even, and especially, when they try to play it. When I read Prager's article, I kept thinking of him sitting in a high chair demanding Gerber carrots in a jar. His "I'm entitled to sex waah" argument is more than sexist, it's infantile. And it makes Dennis Prager, I have no doubt, a lousy lay. Yes, I'm talking to you, Dennis Prager. (Googles his own name? Betcha.) Grow up.

By the way, you two Craig's List guys: "proclivity" is not a sapphic or even gynocentric term--oh nevermind.

Who did Barack Obama have dinner with last night?

Kristol, Harvard.
Will, Oxford and Princeton
Brooks, University of Chicago
Krauthammer, Harvard Medical School, McGill, and Oxford

And if this Harvard graduate had been cooking, I would have served this list a nice plate of crow:



But I digress. Folks, this is NOT "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." This is, perhaps, a mirrored, inverted version of The Grand Illusion, where instead of two aristocratic enemies recognizing that the war will destroy their class privilege, a group of class-privilege-ists agree that the "war against intellect" is over and it's time to sit down and reinstate the privilege to which they have become accustomed. I don't think anyone has any illusions, however, that all of the columnists in attendance sacrificed truth in the service of ideology.

Queue Red Buttons at a Dean Martin Roast: Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity never got a dinner.

UPDATE. Aw hell. Driftglass says it's Casablanca. Nevermind.

A Chicago Pol Worth Supporting

First of all, thank you so much for those who have responded to my fundraiser.

"Thanks to you, we've raised $70,000 and over fifty people signed up to volunteer. We hope to raise $500,000 before the primary."***

Oh, wait, that's not me, that's Illinois 5th Congressional District (Rahm's old seat) candidate (and domestic terrorist, obviously) Tom Geoghegan. I was (for real) on a blogger commie conference call with Geoghegan last night. That he's happily talking to vituperative bloggers of the Left tells you where he is on the political spectrum, and yeah, you should give him votes and dollars if you can spare them.

Geoghegan prounounces his name gay-gun which would make red state heads explode if Tom's policies didn't already. Two words, my friends: Labor. Lawyer.

Mr. Geoghegan is absolutely correct on lots of things, and I like him. He's humble and realistic enough to say that getting a left-wing progressive elected to this seat at this point in time is more important than anything he'll be able to do as a rookie congressman. And he introduced me to a reframing of the healthcare debate that I consider a big plate of awesome:


If businesses want a bailout, let the government take healthcare off their hands, by creating a single payer system. That's yer Wall Street/Main Street Win-Win bailout right there.

He said stuff along the same lines re: pensions. It was then that my four-year-old, who, when Geoghegan said "pensions are being cut to the bone", thought he said "penchant for annoying mommy-on-the-phone," and proceeded to demonstrate. Sorry I hadda hang up on you, Tom honey. I'm your newest Facebook friend.

...

***But like Geoghegan, I'm fundraising this week, and unlike the Congressional candidate, during my quarterly fundraiser I'm only asking for nine dollar donations, and I won't save your email addy to hit you up for more. So for what Geoghegan is paying for, oh, three seconds of ad-time in the Chicago media market, you can say you paid your share for three months of Blue Gal. (Sucha bargain!)

Thank you.

Duncan Black takes my advice...

I guess there's benefits to being put in a bigger blog weight class or something, because Atrios finally took my writing advice.

And now I'm writing like him? Interesting.

[Longer post this afternoon, ma hunnies, I got a school conference to attend.]

The Joy of Not Winning...

I started my day way too early this morning in an attempt to resume writing morning pages a la The Artist's Way. I recommend Artist's Way to people who feel creatively stuck, but I have to confess that for me, in less than sixteen LINES I was writing this post. Longhand. Julia Cameron? I got your morning pages right here. - BG



Well, I didn't exactly come in dead last in the Weblog Awards prize for best liberal blog, and I'm astonished and humbled by every single vote, and especially by those bloggers who took time and post-space to mention me. Some even wrote me emails like this one:

You're not losing. By any measurement you're kicking ass. Every one of your fans is giving you non-automaton real human love.

Exactly.

And so many of you voted for Driftglass. His award (yay!) is so richly deserved. I don't know another blogger who combines amazing photoshopping with blow-you-away writing. And while he remains somewhat aloof in the blog world, he has found time to participate in the blogswarms Spartacus (which was his idea), Zappadan, and Blog Against Theocracy. He also helped me greatly during my last quarterly fundraiser, so any wee help I was in getting him some votes? Feh.

Speaking of blogswarms and fundraisers...

My next big project is Blog Against Theocracy, April 10-12. I'll be cleaning up my blogroll and email lists in the coming days, so don't be surprised, small bloggers, if you hear from me. It's like the President-elect said to me right after voting for Drifty on his Blackberry:



If my community organizing (in addition to the funny video agitprop and sometimes pretty good writing) are worth something to you, I'm asking for this quarterly fundraiser that you drop nine dollars or less into the BG hat. The "nine" is to celebrate that we don't have a ninth year of George W. Bush in office, and that times are tough. Come to think of it, I pay a buck more than that for one hour of babysitting, which I can't afford.

If I've learned one thing from blogging, it's this:

It's amazing what we can do, as bloggers, thinkers, citizens, etc. when we turn off the fear in our heads and listen to what our hearts tell us our small contribution is worth.

Thank you.

If you're not a regular reader, but you feel sorry for me about the Weblog awards (yes, that would be you, Wonkette) you especially need to drop nine bucks in the hat. And thanks.

Happy Birthday, Sherry!

cupcake
Originally uploaded by emmmylizzzy

At After the Bridge. Her birthday was yesterday, my bad.

She's one of my most devoted readers and I adore her.

Go say hi and wish her the best!

Salon tonight on Skype 9 Eastern

Blue Gal's Salon 1/12 hosted by blue.gal.

Join now

---

Chat about what's on your mind. More about public chats.

It's nice to use the bottom of these skype posts to write about fiber stuff. I thought about doing something with last week's inspiration, and wound up actually going on an Artists' Date to the fabric store, where I picked up a 99 cent fat quarter:



Clearly those browns, reds, and blues are in my head for something.

A video response to Sarah Palin

I updated this video a bit at 2:25 central.

Some color for Sunday

Getting back to knitting is part of my plan to stay sane during these amazing and difficult times. To that end I decided this weekend that I need to finish some projects before I start new ones, and to THAT end I cataloged six of them at my until-now-unused Ravelry account. (They're also at my Flikr account if you can't get into the Ravelry site.)

I realized while making this composite picture, that the difference between a wip (work in progress) and a ufo (unfinished object) is that wip's have optimism attached to them. The knitting projects shown are all wip's.

Driftglass has been endorsed by the wonderful big blogs Wonkette and Sadly, No!. Thanks to everyone for voting, keep going until it all ends tomorrow!

Also BG recommended: Best UK Blog Created in Birmingham, still in a very close race as of this writing. I'm not doing any more links at this late date where the vote is not close. If you think my small, yet dedicated, readership can make a difference in a race, point it out in comments.

I expect to knit today. Please vote for Driftglass and Created in Birmingham, and then have a calm, lovely Sunday.

Driftglass is ONLY 347 votes down

Considering that yesterday morning we needed a thousand plus votes, that's like, Chicago turnaround, my friends. So go vote, early and often, the Chicago way.

And here's your Saturday song...

Update.

I tried to do a "reply all" to a David Plouffe email so I could let the whole universe know to vote for Driftglass, but I don't think it worked.

I love Melissa McEwan.

And if you have an account at Big Orange (Kos), could you please recommend this diary? Thanks.

I dreamed I gave Michelle Obama a peanut butter sandwich in my Maidenform bra...

True, except for the bra part.

I gotta get out of the house today.

Email from one of my stepdaughter's friends in England says vote for Created in Birmingham for best UK blog. The competition is Thatcherite, she tells me. I voted and dang that's a very close race, so close my small dose of readers could actually make a difference....CiB is losing by 51 votes. So if you want to do something nice today, there ya go.

Vote for Driftglass, too, of course. He's more fierce than nice, but we need that in a blogger. I just sent a dare to Wonkette...can they move one thousand votes in one day? I double dog dare them.

PS. Dear Mister President Elect: Talking to Hamas is the very least you can do.

Help us, Obi-Wonkette, you're our only hope!

Not only is Wonkette, which I have to admit is a funny and well-written blog, beating me as best liberal blog by a factor of oh, 700 billion to one, they appear to be kingmakers when it comes to other categories. When you have the ability to choose who will win the silver in your own race, that's power to respect, my friends.

So I hearby concede my crown to Wonkette and will treasure my Miss Congeniality ribbon on my own time.

I call on my readers to pester encourage Wonkette to endorse Driftglass. Otherwise, the winner of "best individual blogger" will be the person who posted this on November 19 of last year. Linky? I don't think so:

President Bush was right to keep America out of the Kyoto treaty...Bush...was effective on the environment in ways you never heard about in the mainstream media....Bush was also right about Gitmo...Bush was also right - and courageous - about the surge in Iraq.

I hate to be negative, but I think Driftglass is the best writer in the blog world, and I don't particularly like that batshit crazy nun-wannabe. If you haven't voted for Driftglass in the past 24 hours, please go now. And email Wonkette, she's our only hope.

tips@wonkette.com

To do? Dismantle the Reagan Myth

Any lefty blogger wondering "what to do" now that the election is over?

Around the same time I posted "Anti-gay is just so, Reagan," on my video in support of Alternative Invocation, I found out about Will Bunch's upcoming book, Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts our Future.

Reagan's "success" as President is, like all Hollywood stories, made of smoke and mirrors and invented fictions. The real legacy of Reagan is union-busting, corporate welfare, Iran-Contra, and the complete travesty of Reaganomics:



I hope the message of Will Bunch's book gets wide release. Our job as bloggers is not only to define issues and advocate for what's right. We've got an opportunity to tell the truth about American history, so we don't get fooled again.

Inaugural Party at my place...

Well, not at my place... There's an inauguration party in Springfield, Illinois and I'll be there. If you live in the greater Springfield area, sign up to join us!

Update: we'll be watching the inaugural at Robbies starting at 10:30 am.

Best. Panties. Ever.

USA! USA! USA!

From the storefront of my latest blogroll addition Evil Slutopia, written by the Evil Slut Clique, who, like the tribe who knew there was one missing, found me. Their FAQ made me laugh out loud and feel right at home, all at the same time.

I particularly like their recent year-end book post also too. :)

Memo to Evil Slut Clique: you can turn off comment moderation now. You've arrived.

Quote of the Day...

I can't decide which makes me more flabbergasted: the commenter at this thread who thinks the Palestinians are suffering because of bad karma, or the blogger currently beating Driftglass for best individual blogger (The Anchoress) who said:

"I. Love. Boosh. Deal with it. I think we’ll miss him, in many ways, when he departs and even you folks on the left should be somewhat impressed (if you can be at all generous) at the predictably classy, gentlemanly way he is having his administration assist in the transition to Obama."

I gotta give it to the commenter. If I hit your family with a phosphorus bomb, then tell you to your face that you are suffering because you and your people have bad karma...

Dang, I'm breaking my prayer and fasting resolution again. Sorry.

I don't pretend that voting one way or the other in the silly Weblog Awards will bring karma to anyone, good or bad. But it makes me feel good to think we can defeat Bush lovers again like we did in November. Vote for Driftglass (and to those who support Lindsey Beyerstein good on you...but Drifty is coming in a strong second in this race. FYI.)

I'm no longer campaigning for my Weblog award. If I beat out Taylor Marsh for eleventh place (woo hoo!), I'm satisfied.

PS Another way to help Driftglass if you're on big orange is to recommend this diary. It may make a difference. Thanks.

For those of you who need to be told how to live a liberal lifestyle.

Wow, did any of you hear about the brand new book from the Nation? They're selling a book. But wait, it's more than a book. It's a, wait for it...

lifestyle guide for liberals.

No, really.

Part Whole Earth Catalog, part 1000 Places to See Before You Die, and part Zagat Guide...

What, no motherfuckin' Moosewood Cookbook? Those of us who remember when Foxfire meant more than Firefox are feeling dissed, here.

THE NATION GUIDE TO THE NATION is the essential lifestyle guide for liberals across the land...

Okay there are two words in that fragment that almost sit well with me: "the" and "for".

...and will be published this January just in time for the inauguration of President Obama,

An implied endorsement? Tell me your marketing people checked to see about placement in the "election award ceremony" goodie bags.

and the ushering in of a new era of liberal culture.

Because the real problem is, Democratic boomers have felt left out of the whole "center of the goddamn universe" thing under Bush.

Edited by The Nation’s own Richard Lingeman, and with an introduction by Publisher Emeritus Victor Navasky and current Editor and Publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel,

Sorry Katrina, being the thinking man's Arianna Huffington means you never, ever write a forward. I oughta know.

THE NATION GUIDE is a one stop shop for liberals and progressives all over America.

And Super Walmart sells organic produce for the same exact reason.

Inside THE NATION GUIDE TO THE NATION:
...
• Where to find a customized hemp wedding dress

Wear it once, smoke it on your honeymoon! It's earth-friendly!

• Summer camps to foster liberal ideals in your children

What, MY kids? The same kids who fight over who is going to wear Mommy's "I obey the Geneva Convention" organic cotton t-shirt to bed? Too late.

• Where to tune in to liberal talk radio in Utah

They only have liberal talk radio in Utah so they know who to shun.

• Blogs, museums, bookstores, think tanks, churches, spas, and more

Hey, I'll blog more about your book after my progressive "think tank" interview. Now I gotta dash to the spa, and then drop my museum coffeetable independent bookstore purchase off at church. Let's sew/smoke some hemp later! Rock on....

Salon tonight on Skype 9 Eastern

Blue Gal Salon 1/5 hosted by blue.gal.

Join now

---

Chat about what's on your mind. More about public chats.

If you've made a New Year's Resolution to Skype more, here's your chance. (ha!)

I've made a resolution to get back to myself as a knitter/seamstress this year. Saw this silk coverlet (yeah my kid laden house is so not the silk coverlet locale) and I'm gonna do something with it as inspiration. Not sure what yet. (You fiberlicious types can click the image for larger.)



Also, I'm going to use these skype linky posts to post some kind of fiber inspiration or project each week, to keep me going.

A Peek at My Weblog Awards Ballot.

The Weblog Awards voting starts later today. Here's how I'm voting. I don't choose to vote in all categories.

Best New Blog: Grace the Spot. It's an LGBT blog, and I don't mean to overlook the two nominated Dem/prog blogs, Democrashield and swimming freestyle, I just like Grace. Nicely written with lots of original content. They're blogrolled, too.

That said, I'm sorry group blogs get lumped in some categories with single shingles. It's hard to do this everyday by yourself.

Best Individual Blogger: Driftglass. There is nothing more to say. He's the best writer in the blogosphere, period. If you need to read more about how much I admire Driftglass, you can read this. And this. And this.

Best Humor Blog: Jon Swift. If only for his community building end of the year post, but wait, there's more: this post is one for the ages.

Best Liberal Blog: I'm voting for myself, but this year bloggers can embed the poll at their own sites, which means I'm screwed, since I have the smallest traffic of all the nominees. Again, it is an honor to be ranked with those with much more traffic, and good will come of this, I'm sure.

Best LGBT Blog: Susie Bright's Journal. She's just so fab. Amazing writing and a sense of humor about sex and life and love. I just love her.

Best Diarist: Blue Girl in a Red State (Blue State). She's been "the other one", or I have, for a while now. This FOBG gets a nod and a big congrats.

Best Very Large Blog: Jesus General. Again, nothing more to say. There is only one General.

Best Large Blog: I love love love Fafblog, but they don't post often enough. You have to be committed to this to get my vote. I'm voting for Skippy.

Best Midsize Blog: Susie at Suburban Guerrilla is a new colleague at Crooks and Liars. It's a shame I can't vote for Amato or David Neiwert as best liberal blogger, too, ha.

Best Small Blog: Wow, that looks like the guest list for a Hugh Hewitt cruise, except for Black Women Blow the Trumpet! and Rumproast. I wish Betty Cracker had been nominated, but she writes for Rumproast, so I'll vote there.

PS. If you're a political blogger, and I can't tell from the frontpage of your blog, or I have to look at your blogroll, to see whose side you're on? That's a fail. Blogging is for advocacy. Start again.

Best Science Blog: Choose between Pharyngula and Bad Astro? Honey, I'm too pretty to die.

Silent on Gaza?

My response to the situation in Gaza: I am getting quiet. That does not mean I have no human concern, outrage, worry, or sense of what is right and wrong. Hardly. Specifically, I want the one side that has dominated our foreign policy for over half a century to stop doing so. I sense with real anguish that things much get much worse for that to happen.

The awful violence in the Middle East is being reflected in the tiny insignificant mirror of certain blog comment threads. Lots of typists screaming and name-calling with no consciousness of their own addiction to outrage, self-righteousness, and moral superiority.

Incidentally, the entire Bush Administration has been a real meth lab for those addictions.

I'm waking up to a sense that all the noise has to stop, at least here in my own head. That's the place I can at least try to control.

A couple of resources I'm finding helpful: J. Brent Bill's Holy Silence (Quaker perspective), and David Cooper's Silence, Simplicity, and Solitude (Buddhist perspective).

Along these same lines, I have no interest in arguing with those who feel prayer and meditation are "doing nothing."

Saturday Song

BossHoss from Germany. Cracked me up.

Sisters? Make sure he's worth the broken glass (unlikely), before you throw his stuff out the window. Plus, if he's a cowboy AND a musician, why the hell is he keeping stuff at your place anyhow? Geez.

On the other hand, I'm told cowboy musicians find it difficult to take an angry woman wearing nothing but undies seriously, 'specially before he's had some coffee. Just sayin'.

It IS an honor to be nominated

But when you look at the competition in terms of overall stats, it's pretty obvious I'm the little gal in this competition for "best liberal blogger".



The blog you're reading right now (thank you) is that blue line hovering at the "zero" mark. This chart only allows me to select five blogs at a time, so it shows the biggest blogs with which I'm nominated.

I think the organizers of the Weblog Awards figured that putting my blog in an audience size category, which I won in 2006, would be unfair to the competition. So they ranked me with the big boys, which is a real honor. I'll hang out here happily knowing that the bling will likely go to those with bigger traffic.

My blog has never had a business model and I have no interest in spending time I could be writing working on driving up traffic. I'm also impressed that there are some very big liberal blogs out there that were not nominated. I take the nomination as a tremendous compliment and testimony to the quality of this blog and its writing, and I'm very grateful.

I may give the big boys a run for their bling anyway, if the small bloggers I've helped over the past four years show their support at their places. That's already started and it really touches me. Thanks again.

And if I go home empty-handed this year, I can be like Jim Morrison after they screamed at him for misbehaving at the Ed Sullivan Show, and told him he'd never be on Ed Sullivan again. "We did Ed Sullivan." I've won a weblog award. Ha.

Don't Sugarcoat It Award for January 2

This is an easy one. The beloved Doctor Zaius wins today's Don't Sugarcoat It Award for putting into pictures what so many of us have put into words.

Love on ya, Doctor Z.

For those of you new to this blog: The Don't Sugarcoat It Award is something I give out when I come across a blog post that says it like it is, sometimes with profanity, but that's not essential. You can't be nominated, it's my whim and my blog surfing that determines the winner.

As usual with Don't Sugarcoat It's, leave your comments at the winner's blog. Thanks.

Video for Alternative Invocation - No thanks, Rick Warren!

See Alternative Invocation for blogswarm info. If you grab this video, which is fine by me, please link to Alternative Invocation. Thanks.