Blue Gal

Women Bloggers for Sarah Palin Ad - FAIL (video mashup)

2009-07-06T01:20:00.002-05:00

When I first saw the actual "I am Sarah Palin" ad I kept saying to myself, "Gosh, I wish they had invited me also too."

I realized this past weekend that not only could technology take me there, but that the shelf life on this project was very short.

Salon tonight.

Early Draft

2009-07-05T11:19:00.002-05:00

Sarah Palin has done nothing this week to move up, down, or off of this chart.

Saturday Song (redux)

2009-07-04T11:57:00.005-05:00

The album version of this song is on the post below. It's a lovely tune and a postcard to Sarah Palin, also too.

UPDATE: So I hit publish to this here post and what happens? Do you think she's going away? Gah!

Well.

2009-07-03T23:15:00.006-05:00

THAT was an unusual day.

Wolfrum (genius): GodWink’s Law: As other stories capture the public interest, the probability of Sarah Palin thrusting herself into the news approaches 1.

If she had come forward to say her special needs child had grown into a toddler, and she was going to spend the next four years doing whatever she could including sacrificing her own promising career, to help him develop verbal language and age-appropriate social skills...

...If she had come forward to say that the toll of publicity was damaging her marriage and her relationship with her family, and she was sacrificing her personal ambition for the sake of her family...

...If she had come forward and said that her Presidential ambitions were interfering with her duties (they never do that) and she was sacrificing THIS job for a better one, and moving to, oh, Iowa.

...but I didn't hear anything about sacrificing, did you?

I heard self-congratulation, followed by a total lack of logic, infused with nervous embarrassment. The timing? After lunch on Friday, July 3? Positively Nixonian.

Maybe she just gave up. I've said it before, there's a bright future for her on the mega-church lecture circuit, and FOX will give her her own show tonight if she wants that, also too.

She'll land on her ~~feet~~ red high heels, you betcha.

Talking Point for the Public Option

2009-07-02T13:31:00.003-05:00

This debate over healthcare makes my brain hurt.

Here's the deal: anytime anyone brings up an argument against the public option, we should treat that argument as a direct attack on Medicare.

By 2050, 21% of the American public will have a "public option" in the form of this over-65 health care coverage. People who argue against a public option need to defend their position based on the public option so many Americans already have, and are violently opposed to losing.

By the way, at least half of the babies born in West Virginia, for instance, are born while on Medicaid, another "public option." The insurance/pharma concerns are sponsoring plain folks ads arguing for "affordable coverage for every American" without a public option. While I sit here and laugh, please-- I'd like to know what Blue Cross, the other big insurers, and Congress think a West Virginian single pregnant woman can "afford." Blue Cross thought I could afford over $900 a month for me and three kids. And three insurance companies rejected me for pre-existing conditions when I attempted to enter the "competitive" market and reduce my costs.

And shut the fuck up about how we'll pay for it. Costs will be reduced dramatically if we ban pharmaceutical advertising and reform executive compensation. Doctors and insurance company executives, bankers and investment analysts, can make 25 times what entry-level employees do. And CEOS can make 50 times what entry level employees do. NOT 821 TIMES.

In 2005, an average Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was paid 821 times as much as a minimum wage earner, who earns just $5.15 per hour. An average CEO earns more before lunchtime on the very first day of work in the year than a minimum wage worker earns all year.

Socialism? Populism? It's like the unregulated capitalism of the nineteenth century. It's like the unregulated capitalism of the 1920's. Once again, over and over, the ownership class is asking for a backlash from the average working person.

The public option in health care is just the beginning, and the corporate health care lobby knows it. They've milked the public by providing at highest possible cost and lowest possible payout, a product most people feel they MUST have. They have priced themselves out of the market unless they can use political corruption to buy Congress and the White House. My brain hurts.

PS. On topic, I've got a very special t-shirt to wear to Joe Lieberman's next "public" appearance:

Happy Birthday July Birthday Bloggers.

2009-07-02T10:08:00.004-05:00

Good God, there's a lot of us.

July 16th is the birthday of both Blue Gal and her sainted mother. And for some possibly astrological reason, (are Cancers especially creative or is it our strong parenting instinct which keeps us feeding these babies?) lots and lots of bloggers celebrate birthdays this month.

My evil twin, AL of Threading Water.

Hahn at Home of Blue Ribbon Bloggers

Stephen of Stephen Views the News

Pam of Pam's House Blend

Chet of The Vanity Press

Happy Monkey (Panties for Peace) mais bien sur...

Quaker Dave

Alicia Morgan of Last Left Turn before Hooterville

RevPhat of Unruly Mob/Les Enrages.

Qwerty of Qwerty's Qoncepts.

Uncommon Sense of the blog by the same name.

TODAY is the seventh birthday of my lovely, lovely middle child. So pretty and so smart and such an artist and such a blessing. I love you, sweetheart. Here she is a couple years ago, showing we Cancerian women are all that. I vote her my child most likely to knit AND blog, which should tell you something:

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

Memo to Balloon Juice

2009-07-01T19:52:00.003-05:00

~~Juan!~~ John*! Please! I’m stirrin’ the sauce over here!

As the reigning panties queen of Left Blogsylvania, must say I approve of your post. Just don’t make a habit out of posting disembodied panties, or I’ll hafta sue.

xoxo BG

About a gobzillion of my fans emailed me on this. Thanks you guys I GOT IT.

Dick Whisperer Panties? Honestly. Dana Milbank is EPA tested as a permanent woodkill, isn't he?

*see comments

Fool Running

2009-07-01T18:52:00.006-05:00

She says she can beat Obama in a marathon?

PS Oh you betcha, there's at least two years' worth of photoshoppin' goodness in that Palin gallery at Runner's World. Archive them all now, Boys.

I've seen her naked, TWICE!

2009-07-01T10:22:00.005-05:00

Art Brut - Good Weekend

This blog usually reserves music for Saturdays, but wow, I haven't laughed so much at a song since the B-52's heyday. Thanks to The General for the song, and Connecticut Man for finding the embeddable version, both via Twitter. xo

Governor, I knew Gaius Baltar....

2009-06-30T16:44:00.010-05:00

Honestly, Governor Mark Sanford has been watchin a lil too much BSG. Gaius Baltar is not someone you want to emulate, Sanford. His blind love for his own pee-nee destroyed the entire planet Earth. But Sanford clearly thinks that the season must go on with his own indispensible space soap opera character. Like he can't be cancelled. Or something.

Admitting to more meetings with the Argentinian and then 'clarifying' that there were other women but you didn't go, what, past second base with any of them? Third? Please don't tell me you've told yourself the whole Clinton/Gingrich "sucking isn't sleeping" canard. Women, especially, are really fraking sick of that one.

From the Frakmap:

In possibly the mother of all reversals, Gaius Baltar was but a step from being airlocked when he was miraculously acquitted of crimes against humanity. Set free aboard Galactica (and quite reasonably fearing for his life), Baltar was taken in by a commune of beautiful, nubile, adoring women who saw to his every need (every need) and worshipped him like a Messiah.

Baltar found this arrangement as perplexing as it was delightful, but quickly reinvented himself as a prophet, in order to remain safely under the protection and amorous care of Jeanne, Tracey, Paulla, and many, many others.

Mark? Seriously, Dude. You're Leoben, not Baltar. Ask your very political wife:

RIP Billy Mays

2009-06-30T10:45:00.002-05:00

The folks at Salon last night had me laughing so hard I was outta breath. I think it was Fairlane, who came up with Billy May's casket polisher: $19.95! I had to do this, then.

I'm sorry, Mister Orwell has turned off his pager.

2009-06-29T11:11:00.009-05:00

We need a corrolary to Godwin's Law of Nazi analogies, related to bringing up George Orwell every time some so-called 'journalist' uses language to push a right-wing political agenda.

It's just too cheap and easy for Lefty bloggers to use Animal Farm to write about this stuff, but still, I've had two powerful examples of Right Wing Corporate Media Wackitude thrown at me in the past 24 hours. This morning this new MSNBC Morning Joe followup dickwad Dylan Ratigan, renames President Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 (sorry to be so specific, Dylan).

You have to watch this to believe it. Dylan Ratigan uses his newfound MSNBC podium to rename Affirmative Action, reverse racism. How very Rush of you, Mister Ratigan.

But ahem, I'm impressed that the black guy and the Hispanic woman on your show had training on how to stay civil on the air, I would not have waited 'til almost commercial break to whisper "you're a dick" to your face. Notice they also set you straight on your nomenclature.

Watching Dylan Ratigan I initially thought, God, this guy's background must be either former NFL sportscaster or a big bizness fluffer from CNBC. But after a few minutes you could smell his Wall Street smegma-breath through the screen: he's a co-creator of the Dow Industrial Whore House "Fast Money." Nuff said.

-------

The other example is from perhaps the worst article on paper I have ever read. Time Magazine's two-pager on "An Enduring New Deal: A look at how FDR's programs have shaped today's society." I usually wouldn't waste the scroll down space on naming the authors of this travesty, but Eric Dodds and Rebecca Kaplan deserve a piece of Orwell pie with two forks for this utter crapola.

Instead of pointing out that what the New Deal did, germane to, um, TODAY, is regulate unchecked capitalism, this 'article' uses one sentence word salad bites to indicate just how different everything is today. The most glaring example is here:

Social Security Today:

With baby boomers approaching retirement, the Social Security trust fund is running low. Obama's challenge: to maintain an overburdened system without privatizing it.

WITHOUT PRIVATIZING IT?

Somehow I don't think President Obama, or anyone else with the political will to not get bulldozed out of office by every voter over the age of 40, is thinking about the Bush 'privatization of Social Security' model. I can just as easily see Obama suggesting we give the problem to Bernie Madoff so he'll have something to do in prison.

Gee, with journalism like Time Magazine, doncha just wonder why 'journalists' get huffy when bloggers call them on their bullshit?

The religious favoritism thing is not just here. OY!

2009-06-28T15:25:00.004-05:00

I heard from my friend Shunra earlier this week about this mindblowing miscarriage of justice in Israel, but unfortunately all the news stories about it were in Hebrew.

Finally a friend of hers, Ricky B, has blogged about it in English. This is not "a shoplifting rabbi walked out of a store" joke. It really happened:

This religious dude tried to leave [an Israeli] supermarket without paying. Cashier tried to stand in his way even as he got in his car. So he ran her over.

It was ALL captured on security cam.

Open and shut case, right? No. The judge, one Moshe Drori, decided to simply refuse to convict the defendant, because it would “put a blemish on his career”.

Defendant is studying to be a religious lawyer – what they call a rabbinical pleader. Which means an officer of the court, since if you want to be recognized as married in Israel, and can't get married abroad, you gotta go through a religious court. Again: The defendant slo-mo ran over a woman trying to do her job. But she was Ethiopian, and he's religious and maybe connected, so it's ok and nothing he did should impede him from a position of authority.

Kinda puts the whole Sanford read the Bible thing in an equally ridiculous perspective. But hey, at least Sanford didn't try to evade arrest for shoplifting by attempted vehicular assult.

Don't say it can only happen here.

Saturday Song

2009-06-27T07:14:00.000-05:00

Look, Justice Thomas can speak!

2009-06-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

And when he does, surprise! He's a complete dick. The lone dissenter from common sense. Thomas thinks schools should be able to strip-search a thirteen year old female honor student for prescription ibuprofen, (because obviously if the pills aren't in her backpack there's probable cause she's stashed them in her panties). Thomas for the first time in my memory actually said a few words:

"...today’s decision... announces the safest place to secrete contraband in school."

I know, we need to make sure today's rebellious youngsters don't find out about this decision. They might want to soak medications in their underwear before ingesting, just to get back at The Man.

And Clarence: a little free advice. Your lifetime appointment isn't worth much if you disagree publicly with Fat Tony.

For my houseguest.

2009-06-26T12:08:00.002-05:00

I have a girlfriend from Boston visiting me in Illinois this weekend and she's a huge Scott Simon fan. I just finished his novel Windy City this morning, and one of his tweets pointed me to this interview he did with the great Chicago broadcaster John Callaway, who died this week. He starts talking about the book at the 16:20 mark, but I have a feeling houseguest will want to watch the whole interview with "MY Scott Simon", as she calls him.

RIP

2009-06-26T06:41:00.003-05:00

Indebted to my artist mom for this idea. She did a terrific oil painting of Black Panther Huey Newton and Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, who also died the same day (August 22, 1989), touring heaven's bathroom.

Sacrificing my bad boys? Really.

2009-06-25T11:19:00.007-05:00

This post started out as a comment in response to this at the previous post below. It got long and full of links very quickly, so here it is instead. Anonymous said:

Let's end this business of Double, and even Triple Standards for republicans [sic] and Democrats. ...Have the decency to sacrifice your bad boys, as the Republicans have done. There will be a lot more civility if you do.

UM. OKAY. Each of these cases have their unique details, but to summarize:

Clinton - impeached. That is glossed over because he did not leave office and was acquitted by the Senate. But the impeachment of Bill Clinton paralyzed his administration for months on end, which was certainly in part the motivation of those pursuing it. And both Ensign and Sanford were self-righteous components in that effort. I wonder why the Right didn't do more to thank Paula Jones, the original accuser, who ultimately felt she had to pose nude for Penthouse magazine in 2000 to "secure" a future for her children.

Edwards - A total disgrace. I expect he will never run for anything again.

Spitzer - resigned on the spot.

Then...

David Vitter - Did not resign and is running for reelection to the Senate. His campaign website posts a Politico article which states, "The Republican establishment is all behind him." He appears to have saved his ass by becoming a 'leader' in anti-Obama circles, particularly in regard to Tea Party National Holiday referendums. See, and I am not making this up, teaparty.davidvitter.com. Also, he loves that number one old time GOP distract-o-matic, the muddafukkin Flag Amendment.

I hope the porn star beats him. I mean that figuratively, Senator.

Ensign - not resigned, applauded by GOP Senators after he showed 'candor.'

Larry Craig - did not resign, even though he initially promised to. Served out his term as Senator. Was "admonished" by Senate Ethics Committee, which also said they didn't like him spending $200,000 dollars of campaign money on his legal defense but did NOTHING about it.

Sanford - not resigning as yet. Several GOPers in SC said yesterday they would "stand by him and help him" with his "repentance". Yeah.

I HEREBY SACRIFICE "MY" BAD BOYS.

Clinton, Edwards, and Spitzer should have resigned/withdrawn/been removed from positions of elected office not due to their cheating ways, but for lying about it. In the case of Vitter, oh sorry, I mean Spitzer, prostitution is illegal and using the services of one should have just as many consequences for the John as for the prostitute.

Is that good enough for you, Anonymous? Because it isn't nearly good enough for me. In the cases above, I don't see where Republicans have sacrificed a single sweat bead. The jury is still out on Sanford? If we correctly remove his marriage/affair from the debate, HIS "crime" was abandoning his post and leaving the state in Constitutional crisis. The Republican State Legislature of South Carolina seems far too busy tripping over themselves to pray for their Governor to impeach him even for that.

Perhaps that is commendable. It certainly works politically.

There is a religious element to this of sin/perfectibility among fundamentalist Republicans that we're all sinners and the right amount of God talk bandages all sins. Notice that link is to a Bible-quoting guest editorial in the same exact paper that broke the stories of Sanford's actual whereabouts (and the love-your-tan-line hold-your-two-body-parts emails) that apparently led to his confession.

We're all sinners, we're all forgiven if we repent. But of course, this is notably only true for Republicans.

Of course, heavy-handed God talk is less present in the more secular Democratic politics. And maybe that's our fault. If we rose to the rhetoric of Republicans and...

...applauded everytime one of our Senators fucked a staffer and gave her and her family jobs and pay raises...

...knelt down in prayer everytime one of our Governors disappeared overseas to fuck a married woman he pursued on the internet....

...support an entire news network specifically so disgraced criminals like Ralph Reed, Tom Delay, and not to mention, Dick Cheney can resurrect their reputations...

But that would be a monumental FAIL, because while the Christianist GOP wing has all this forgiveness in their hearts for their own, there is also in right wing GOP/FOX discourse, a demonizing of Democrats as defenders of infanticide and as helping terrorists, and a blatant use of anti-sex moralizing to appear better than one's opponents. As much as I often chide Chris Matthews, he was absolutely right yesterday when he pushed hard on his question to Ken Blackwell**:

Blackwell will never say it, but Matthews knows full well that the GOP's core constituency has a very inconsistent, non-forgiving, "good and evil" view of the world when it comes to the other side of the aisle. This allows the right wing of the GOP to run against any Democrat who strays from their marital vows, or promotes choice, or endorses gay marriage or um, goes on record as favoring spending on healthcare. The GOP will throw up against such a Democrat yet another "family values" candidate who has yet to let his sin out of his pants, and particularly in the deeply "religious" deep South, they will win. There seems to be a bottomless trough of ambitious Republican politicians willing to run as holier than thou, knowing that if and likely when the subsequent gained political power becomes too much of an aphrodisiac, they will be forgiven by their political flock. Notice how the GOP forgiveness model is completely acknowledged and bowed to by the most notorious motherfucking hypocrite of them all, Newt Gingrich.

It's a no win situation for Democrats, even without people like Anonymous who are blind to the history that's being made before their very eyes.

**RE the Matthews/Blackwell clip: notice I'm using Crooks and Liars new swanky, free and way-easy-to-use embed code for the video above. Click on the title of ANY post there and a customizable embed code for the video in the post is on the right hand side. You can set the width (mine is 400) and the color of the frame. Shameless plug and gift from the gods. Thanks John Amato and team (especially Heather for videos and Jamie for webmastering) for your everlivin' kindness of always thinking of the small blogs and sharing the love (and bandwidth).

Sanford's real problem - The "Bubble"

2009-06-24T16:44:00.005-05:00

He started off the presser talking about selfishness and sin, but the Governor of South Carolina needs some help further examining his worldview. His formulation that he is "inside a bubble" when he is fulfilling his obligations as a Governor, (nevermind husband and father, that's a personal matter but is germane to any divorce action his wife might take) and it is from that "bubble" that he is entitled to an escape....

Clearly, the bubble that Sanford escaped TO is the one that got him in trouble. An average cheating spouse can use a cell phone and email account to cover his/her affair, anywhere in the world. Sanford did more than travel and cheat. He consciously disappeared. That is a form of hate toward anyone who cared about him or depended upon him, at work or at home.

There is something psychotically narcissistic about a need to disappear from the world in which you have real-life obligations. He should resign for "[mental] health reasons," which is perfectly accurate.

Dear Mrs. Sanford,

2009-06-24T12:10:00.005-05:00

Update: of course now that we all know that startling revelation, nothing below changes one bit. There is an amazing ability for Southern Baptist Republicans to forgive a weakness like this, unless of course, the man's name is Clinton. That's the double standard Sarah Palin never discusses...

I could go on all day telling you what I think of a husband goes on an overseas pleasure trip to get away from the kids and clear his head. Really, I could. All day long.

To his credit, my ex (yeah, there's a hint) always let me know his itinerary. And disappearing Father's Day Weekend to drive along the Argentinian coast? Well that does make your situation an extra special case. Not to mention, my ex would never EVER desert his employer like yours did with the State of South Carolina and its Lieutenant Governor, gubernatorial staff, and legislature. Something tells me there's a line behind you of fellow dope-slappers, but they all want you to go first and take all the time you need.

Regardless of what unfolds in terms of information, one of two things must be true: either he didn't tell you where he was going and when he'd return, or he did and he asked you to lie FOR him. And you've got four kids with this guy. Oh honey.

Good luck.

PS. A year later my kids love their dad and have lots of time with him. I'm glad of that.

PSS. I'm proud of you, Mrs. Sanford, for not doing the loyal wife bit at the press conference. Finally.

Up in heaven, they're having...

2009-06-23T19:30:00.004-05:00

LUNCH! WITH! ED!

VIDEO MASHUP: How to keep your daughters off limits - for Sarah Palin

2009-06-22T12:08:00.001-05:00

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T07:21:00.001-05:00

I'm very grateful that both my parents are alive and well. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

And a special prayer for those who've lost their fathers. Today is a day of remembrance and I hope, gratitude for the good. Especially thinking of dear John Amato of Crooks and Liars. The funeral for his dad was yesterday. xxx

[Photo is me with my dad in 1969.]

A great idea. Million Can March

2009-06-21T07:10:00.000-05:00

I'm already in the process of cleaning out my pantry and getting some food over to the local food bank.

In case you haven't heard the Million Can March is a counter protest to the teabagging protest redux that is supposed to happen on Fourth of July. Good luck wi dat.

The idea is to do something positive in response to the Teabagger business. As the wonderful instigator of this project, Rev. Phat of Les Enrages, points out:

This all started with a vague notion that we should do something more than just have a good laugh at the next round of tea parties scheduled for July 4th. I thought that if teabaggers are so afraid of socialism, maybe we could show 'em socialism on a national scale. And what is more socialistic than sharing our food with others.

And then we can give 'em a sign upgrade!

PS. For those of you who don't want moving images in your posts/sidebar, Tengrain has done a bunch of lovely, embeddable sizes for his version of the Million Can March logo:

Saturday Song

2009-06-20T01:50:00.000-05:00