wherespalin

here is a new game... where's palin? as one who peruses the news every day looking for items of political interest, i find it interesting that sarah palin has recently become invisible. after a few weeks of photo-ops and one (ONE) seriously edited interview, she has dropped off the radar. a side note in today's NY Times tells us why. the press, CNN included apparently, are so sick of only being allowed the most superficial of access to palin that they have pulled their coverage. (i confess. i did not check in with fox news or limbaugh. i am sure that they are still running full coverage of every bat of her beaded lashes. ) very little in this campaign has made me laugh out loud, but the thought that the mccain campaign has so committed themselves to this political pig in a poke (ooo, there's that pig reference again!) that they are going to have to spend the rest of the campaign hiding her from the press while simultaneously convincing the american public that she is "ready on day one" tickled the daylights out of me! considering mr. mccain's unsteady health, it is entirely possible that a palin vice-presidency could become a palin presidency. and they can't even let her do an unscripted interview! okay, so maybe that should have scared the daylights out of me... but i refuse to believe that my fellow americans are stupid or racist enough to elect a man who believes that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong," or a woman who can't be trusted with the national press corps!
call me naive.
just don't forget to vote.

toolate

dang. i wish i had the power to edit everything i have ever said in public. especially if i had said it on national tv! sarah palin does. if you go to the abc website to watch the sarah palin interview with charlie gibson, you can no longer see the potential veep-er tell charlie gibson that she is "ready from day one" on foreign policy because "you can see russia from parts of alaska. it's right over there, charlie." and saddest of all, she no longer has to worry about not knowing what "the bush doctrine" is. we don't even get to hear her call mr. gibson "charlie" twice in every sentence. so... anyone still in a knot over a so-called "liberal media" can rest their collective sphincters. the interview has been white-washed. she still looks like a vapid twit, but the really good parts have been removed. the bits about holy war, and other little foibles that would illustrate what a dangerous nut we are being offered.
i must say that i am disappointed. the last thing we as a country need to do politically is buy a pig in a poke. even if she is wearing lipstick.
and yes. i did just call sarah palin a pig. obama didn't.
update: conservatives are squealing across the board that the interview was edited to make her look stupid by excerpting parts that make her look like she has a grip. maybe we'll get to see the whole interview and can make up our minds.

brief

MASSIVE OUTRAGE...
in a back page story in the NY Times today, i learned that there is a bill in the senate offering the republicans, i mean the oil companies, an offshore drilling package. it would allow drilling 50 miles off shore in states that embrace it, and 100 miles off the coast of ANY state in the US. excuse me for a moment... WHAT? oil companies and republicans are insisting that it is just an election year token. democrats are surrendering what is a MASSIVE issue for a great deal of their base... how the hell will that help them in the election? first "clean coal" and now off shore drilling. why would we do this when we know that there will be no benefits for a decade? rrr. i am mad as hell and i'm not going to take it any more.
repeat with me:
what do we want?
renewable energy
when do we want it?
NOW!
lovepeace
heather

calltoaction

dear nation,
it occurs to me that we need a champion in our media. we need a high-profile, notably non-partisan anchor-type who will take it upon him/herself to keep track of the daily BS of the campaign trail. we need a tough, intelligent person with the juevos to publicly call out both candidates and say, "there IS NO clean coal. despite the fact that they hugely subsidized the DNC and RNC, you simply have to admit that coal is destructive and filthy." or to step up to john mccain and tell him that palin was only "command in chief" of the alaska national guard while they were actually in the state, and that they were the smallest brigade in the nation. and that alaska's proximity to russia does not give her "foreign policy" experience. hmmm. we need someone who will compare tax programs, social programs, and energy policies. i confess, i long for such a brave soul not because i fear that bad ol' barack will tar and feather poor oooooooold mr. mccain, but because the republican smear machine is so good at the politics of divisiveness and flat out lying. and i DO want the obama-biden ticket slapped when they make mistakes or LIE. we need honest leaders with transparent funding sources. let the closed door remain the legacy of the bush administration. to that end, please brainstorm with me over who would make a decent defender of the nation. as good as they are, stewart and colbert are seldom taken seriously. i had hopes of lehrer, but as he is moderating the debates, i doubt he'd take the job. think with me, friends, and let us together appoint a champion of Truth, Justice, and the American Way. (where is clark kent when you need him?!?)
lovepeace
heather

palinausea

it did not take me long to figure out why sara palin makes my skin creep. it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that she looks like skipper barbie. i even made an outline to make sure that i wasn't just having a knee-jerk reaction in election time.
these are some of the points that seemed most pertinent. first... i have the same issue with her that i have with so many "pro-lifers," which is: now that you have a new life, who is going to be responsible for it for its entire life? why is life more important before birth than when you are, say...19 and in the national guard? or afghani? or iraqi? or 48 and on death row? or on the other end of one of those guns that she likes so much? what about a little infrastructure for the little bundle of joy? her party has gutted the education department and nearly every department in the child welfare administration. hmmm. (do you know why you have never seen a t-shirt saying, "pro-life and pro-gun?" because it would explode from sheer hypocricy. ) if you look at her own family, there seems to be a little bit of a disconnect from i think of as "family values." good on her for keeping the most recent baby. that said, down's syndrome babies take a hell of a lot of resources to raise. they need a stable, loving, attentive environment to thrive. studies show that breast-feeding positively affects the development of a new-born baby's brain. i can only imagine that it is even more crucial in a special needs child. three days is not enough. and where is trig palin now, while mama canvasses the country? no, i would never dream of suggesting that a father cannot be a primary care-giver. i am privileged to know several. but none of them have off-site jobs, 5 kids, or a special needs infant. how can someone run on a family values ticket when their family has no primary care giver?
and what in the name of heaven was palin thinking when she OUTED her pregnant 17 year old? yes, teen pregnancies happen; especially in areas where "abstinence only" health education is the standard. yes, "abstinence only" works great as birth control. it's keeping teens from screwing that is the problem. as for their decision to keep the baby, again, good on them. but... it is a private matter. her mother should have had the common decency to turn down mccain's offer to spare her child international scrutiny. and what is worse, MARRIAGE?! what? she is 17! they are handing their daughter off into a teen marriage and motherhood?! and people are lauding this as noble? WHAT? what is wrong with a party that elevates teen-aged marriage and excoriates consenting adults of the same sex who want a legal life-time commitment?
sigh. it is going to be a long few months. listening to this woman and her presidential candidate cast the obama-biden ticket as elitist and against the common citizen while slurping at the corporate/ defense industry trough and violating the very family values they laud is going to be difficult. but i will. and i will vote.
and so must you.
read. listen. think. and vote.

louisiana1927

What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds rolled in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away all right
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

CHORUS
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man, isn't it a shame what the river has
done
To this poor crackers land."

Randy Newman "Louisiana 1927"
photo credit: Tyler Hicks, NY Times