Out, Standing In Her Field

Lately, I’ve been looking at the ads for former governor, current Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and finding him a scary, scary man. He looks for all the world like a televangelist with his perfect hair and perfect wife and crisp, expensive suits.

However, the thing that really caps it for me is the photograph he uses in his ad when talking about how he’d handled the illegal immigrant problem while Governor of Massachusetts, that he’d given the State Police permission to deal with with them. This one:

It’s all perfectly innocent, well in line with his duties as governor to inspect his troopers.

But, but…

It just makes my skin crawl for some ineffable reason.

Rove says he was not forced to quit - CNN.com

He wants to spend more time with his family…..

Yeah, right. If you believe that, I have a nice bridge in New York City that I can let you have cheap.

Meanwhile, I going to reserve my celebration until after the 2008 election. Rove’s resignation is too little way too late. Chances are, even if Congress gets up the gonads to investigate him, his erstwhile boss will whip out the executive privilege hammer and build a nice stone wall.

Anyway, you’d have to be crazy to think that Karl-Baby won’t jump onto the bandwagon of some Bushite-anointed Republi-con presidential candidate to help rape the Democrats yet again. The Swift-boaters will look like pikers by comparison.

Fasten your seat belts and shoulder harnesses, boys and girls, this is going to be one bumpy ride.

First, it was Scooter Libby’s faulty memory regarding the leakage of security secrets.

Now, it’s Karl Rove and Harriet Meir’s hazy recollections of whether or not they suggested the dismissal of US Attorneys General for political reasons. If these people can’t remember doing and saying things that are at least of moderate importance to the national governance, how can they remember the details of the really important stuff? Will they suddenly forget that they started a war?

Now, I can see where advancing age might impair one’s memory; I’m a frequent victim of what my late mother-in-law called “Senior Moments” myself. However, if it’s something I really need to remember, like doctor’s appointments or unusual ingredients for a special recipe, I generally write them down or note it on my computer calendar.

Of course, if you’re going to do something scandalous and/or illegal, perhaps one would forgo leaving any damning notes or email lying around, but how would you write that juicy memoir to support your lavish lifestyle in your golden years after leaving office? How do you prove to your base that you’re really taking every possible measure to insure that their agenda is being pushed forward?

So, not only are these people self-centered, greedy and just plain “evil,” they’re also suffering from the onset of dementia.

But… you knew that.

Coulter under fire for anti-gay slur - CNN.com

Really? And, they’re just noticing it now? Which gopher hole has CNN had its collective head stuck in lately?

Li’l Orphan Annie says it was just a joke, her usual excuse for saying mean, stupid things. A bit of advice, Annie, honey: leave the comedy to the professionals. Your timing sucks.

I wouldn’t worry about being sent to rehab for using the word “faggot.” At least you won’t be lonely; you can share a room with one of the folks who applauded and laughed at your tasteless “joke.”

I may be forced by the Constitution to defend to the death your right to your opinion (and the right of the media to cover your shenanigans), Ms. Coulter, but nowhere is it written that I have to like or condone it.

Oprahs school for girls opens Tuesday - CNN.com

Oprah Winfrey is so rich, she can do just about anything she wants to — and frequently gets lots of publicity doing so. Her Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa is one of her best ideas yet, and has garnered a great deal of attention. This attention will feed back into more donations and support, and make the school an even bigger success.

Last March, ABC’s Good Morning America did a story on Greg Mortenson and his mission to build schools in the wilds of Central Asia. I haven’t heard a peep about his efforts amidst the brouhaha about Oprah, and I think that’s a sad thing. The Central Asia Institute doesn’t have a big celebrity’s deep pockets behind it, and depends mostly on much smaller donations, many of which come from American school children who do “penny drives” in their communities. This effort is at least as important as Oprah’s, and goes far beyond just educating a few girls. It also goes forth in a part of the world which is notably more dangerous.

So, I encourage all my readers to make even a small donation to the Central Asia Institute again this year. It certainly wouldn’t hurt, and it would probably do some good.

Like I said, Christmas arrived today, unabated. That being so, it’s given me pause to think about the alleged “War on Christmas.”

Now, it seems to me that the birth of Jesus is the foundation of all this uproar, and He had quite a bit to say about peace, loving one’s neighbor, and looking out for the less fortunate. So, it’s confusing to me why these Christmas Warriors (like Falwell, Robertson and O’Reilly, etc.) get so all exercised about whether or not employees at Wal-Mart say “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.”

Modern Christmas involves a great deal of buying and selling, as Scrooge observed to the Ghost of Christmas Present. The Good Christians^tm noted above moan about how commercialized Christmas has become.

However, it seems that there is good money to be had defending Christmas from the secular liberals who (allegedly) want to destroy the holiday. It has created quite a jackpot for those who want everyone to share their religion with us whether we want to or not.

If they want to demonstrate how wonderful their religion is and spread Jesus’ philosophy of goodwill towards all, you’d think the Fundies would be all over charitable works rather than worrying about whether or not the Temples of Conspicuous Consumption put banners reading “Merry Christmas!” in their adverts for their latest 50% Off Sale.

Do you suppose it’s a case of “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”?

…A word from our sponsors.

Okay, so I installed a Google AdSense banner. I figured, even a couple of clicks a month will help pay for the site.

However, since the spiders haven’t crawled the site yet, some of the ads newly installed ads are a bit odd — like the one for John McCain’s Presidential Exploratory Committee.

I guess they can’t tell I’m a Democrat; all they see are the references to the Republicons.

This week just keeps getting better and better: George drop-kicks RummyI guess Rummy didn’t want to hang around for the inevitable flock of subpoenas which will now be flying around Washington.

Ah, the newsies are agog: New Hampshire is going strongly Democratic for only the second time since 1911.As I mentioned, Charlie Bass (R-NH2) had been sweating bullets during this campaign. He conceded the race to Paul Hodes about an hour ago. Just now, Jeb Bradley (R-NH1) conceded that race to Carol Shea-Porter. Our Democratic Governor, John Lynch handily beat his opponent, the State Senate and House seem to have gain a large number of Democrats, and even the Executive Council has seen a change.

The thing that surprises (but pleases) me is the large number of women who have won tonight.

Whence the Old Boy’s Club? Talk about people wanting a change!

(Should we be looking for other signs of an imminent apocalypse?)

Speaking of negative campaign ads, the one that annoys me the most, but which is illustrative of the RNCC’s hypocrisy, is the one they’re currently running in support of Charlie Bass (R-NH2). That is to say, the one they’re running against Bass’ opponent, Paul Hodes.

This is Mr. Hodes’ second try at unseating Mr. Bass, so it isn’t like he doesn’t have known opinions on various policies, but how can anyone say where he will actually vote if he gets into office? I’ve looked at Mr. Hodes’s 2004 NPAT profile on Project Vote Smart, and it seems Mr. Hodes is unlikely to vote in lockstep with his party’s line, unlike some Republicans I could name.

So, one of the items with which the RNCC finds fault with Mr. Hodes is his alleged support for a single-payer health system.

The Republicans think that a national health system automatically means “government bureaucrats making [your] medical decisions.” So, how is this worse than having some insurance company’s bureaucrats making one’s medical decisions?

(Oh, wait! It means that the insurance companies will be making less money, and, therefore, won’t be able to contribute as much money to Republican lawmaker’s campaigns. How silly of me!)

Anyway, the Republicans don?t seem to have any trouble allowing government bureaucrats to make decisions regarding women’s reproductive health care.

Pot. Kettle, Black.

If you’re going to put negative ads on the air (to annoy the voters into ennui), at least get your facts straight, and don’t find fault with the opposition on policies you support yourself.