On the good, the bad, and the Friday Random Ten

Okay, so no comment. No. Effing. Comment.

What's good (for the however many weeks ending 6/13):

- my big brother, who hit 30 last Wednesday but doesn't act a day over 25. All the cool kids celebrated at the Monkey on Saturday; everyone not there was, obviously, not one of the cool kids. Sorry.
- my dad, who is thriving after an ever-so-slightly terrifying bout with heart disease. I wanted to write something at the time, but Doug said it better than I ever could.
- gratitude to God and whatever angels were looking out for my family
- the end of primary season. Good God, it almost--almost--came to the point where I didn't care who the nominee was as long as we had one. I'm glad it didn't quite get to that point.
- crabmeat empanadas at Sol y Luna
- Handbrake. All of my favorite DVDs are now at home on my iPod, and I couldn't be happier. Who's going to be listening to Pride and Prejudice on the way to Tuscaloosa this weekend? This gal.
- inspiration
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, despite a few elements I didn't quite remember from the book. Did C.S. Lewis really have Susan gettin' some play before returning to her world?
- shade on a sunny day
- the end of a massive project

What's bad:

- overwork. And stress. Bad and not healthy.
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I could tell you in two words how bad this movie is, but I'd be giving away the ending. I mean, see it, of course, because it's the first Indiana Jones film in nearly two decades, but don't expect it to be good. Expect to come out of it muttering two words.
- this mess. Between this and her terrorist dap, Michelle Obama just can't get a break. Nice to see the right can stay classy.
- while we're at it, this mess. I didn't actually believe that a black man could run for president without this kind of thing happening, but golly, I sure hoped.

The Ten:

1. Etta James, "At Last"
2. Cornershop, "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"
3. Diana Krall, "Devil May Care"
4. Yaz, "Don't Go"
5. Johnny Cash, "The Night Hank Williams Came to Town"
6. Led Zeppelin, "Kashmir"
7. Athenaeum, "Comfort"
8. Howie Day, "Collide"
9. The Police, "Roxanne"
10. The Perishers, "Trouble Sleeping"


There it is, your TGTBATFRT, fully phoned in. What's good for you this week?

On the good, the bad, and the Friday Random Ten

Okay, so Tom Cruise and his team are up in arms over a new strain of medical marijuana now available in California. The strain is called Tom Cruise Purple, is labeled with a picture of Tom Cruise's manically laughing mug, and is rumored to have hallucinogenic properties.

Wow. They really do know how to cure disease.

Here's my question, though: Most people I know smoke pot for the mellowing properties. If that's what you're going for, are you going to buy weed stamped with a picture of America's most famous hysterically laughing couch-jumper?

What's good (for the week ending 4/3):

- pot roast sandwiches. I know I've done pot roast as "good" in the past, but this is pot roast sandwiches, which is what happens on Day 3 after pot roast and pot roast leftovers.
- fourth dates. Everyone talks about how great first dates are, and butterflies and excitement and meeting someone new and blah blah blah, but I'm strictly "whatevs" on first dates. First dates, to me, are a necessary evil endured only for the sake of getting to second and third dates and, ultimately, Date Number Four. Date Four is the comfortable one where you've hit the bottom of the well on flashy marketing tactics and must resort to being yourself; trading awkward silences for companionable ones is, in my opinion, never a bad thing.
- Hillary Clinton's unique relationship with Barack Obama:

- John Frieda Radiant Red Luminous Color Glaze (if you can find it)
- a piano guy who doesn't charge for the first consultation

What's bad:

- rain on your wedding day. And on your tailgate. If Saturday is a-raining, Bloggerpalooza 2008 is assembling in the North Campus parking deck just before 11 a.m.
- Madonna's latest. The editing on that video gave me seizures. And Madonna, you're pushing 50, you've got a bangin' body... look into pants.

The Ten:

1. Vertical Horizon, "We Are"
2. Deee-Lite, "Groove Is In the Heart"
3. REM, "Why Not Smile"
4. Sade, "Feel No Pain"
5. Pet Shop Boys, "Friendly Fire"
6. Etta James, "I'll Be Seeing You"
7. Cee-Lo, "I'll Be Around"
8. Candice Bergen as Murphy Brown, "You Keep Me Hangin' On"
9. Shirley Bassey, "Just One Of Those Things"
10. John Coltrane, "Cousin Mary"

That list makes me appear far cooler than I actually am. Shame, really.

And a question, apropos of nothing, for my male readers: If medical science advanced to the point that you could get preggo and carry a baby yourself, would you choose to? Your answer, your ten, and anything else you feel like blathering about go in comments.

On the good, the bad, and the Leap-Day Random Ten

Two things that should not be applied to the face.

Okay, so it's Leap Day, and we all know what that means: Happy birthday to motivational weirdo Tony Robbins (12), actor Antonio Sabato, Jr. (9), rapper Ja Rule (8), and Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward (6). It also means that it's the day for women to nut up and make their move; legend tells us that back in 5th-century Ireland, St. Brigit griped to St. Patrick about women having to wait for men to propose and was given a one-day window of opportunity every four years. Legend also tells us that in 1288, Queen Margaret of Scotland established a fine for men who refused Leap Day proposals that included a kiss and enough money to buy a new silk gown, gloves, and shoes.

Dearest male readers of Practically Harmless, we've been together for going four years now, and I've never felt closer to each and every one of you. Would any one of you do me the honor of being my husband? I'm a dress size 8 Tall, shoe size 9, or just send the money to my PayPal account.

What's good (for the week ending 2/29):

- um, getting free stuff on Leap Day. Like, obvy.
- Gilbert and Sullivan. I know I'm outing myself as a complete geek here, but I sat in on dress rehearsals for UAB's production of The Pirates of Penzance the other day, and it was just hilarious. My favorite has to be The Mikado, but I'll take Pirates in a pinch.
- "nutscrub." My brother and I were, for some reason, trying to find a male-based alternative to the classic, offensive-to-some "douchebag," and that's what we came up with. Say it. Say it like you're angry. Pretty satisfying, yes?
- Starburst Sour Fruit Chews
- thing Rick Astley would never do (h/t Amanda at Pandagon)

What's bad:

- Tim Russert. Okay, Tim, we get it; Barack Obama = Louis Farrakan. Thanks for saying it out loud instead of circulating it in an anonymous chain e-mail. You're a for-real journalist. Nutscrub.
- Prince Harry getting outed by the Drudge Report. Willing troops are in short supply in war zones right now (go figure), and now they're going to be O-N-E L-E-S-S because Matt Drudge couldn't keep his mouth shut and put Prince Harry, and his troops, in danger. Why do you hate America, nutscrub?

And I just had to mention:

- whatever the crap Mary Kate Olsen is doing with those sunglasses. Seriously, she looks like a bizarro version of Carrie Donovan. And if you're bizarro-ing the Old Navy Lady, you're bizarre indeed.

The Ten:

1. Cypress Hill, "How I Could Just Kill a Man"
2. Lenny Kravitz, "Bank Robber Man"
3. Pet Shop Boys, "Miserablism"
4. Billy Stewart, "Summertime"
5. Ella Fitzgerald, "Wait Till You See Him (De-Phazz remix)"
6. Marvin Gaye, "Let's Get It On"
7. Oasis, "F***in' in the Bushes"*
8. Wu-Tang Clan, "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F*** Wit"*
9. Goo Goo Dolls, "Iris"
10. Cibo Matto, "King of Silence"

*I'd considered giving up alcohol, swearing, and chocolate for Lent; I ended up going with all three. Mistake. At least I didn't try for caffeine, which I've done in the past; my coworkers protested. Vigorously.

So, what's good for you this week?

On that Finding Nemo feeling

Essay portion: These college students are marching for the right to vote. Q1. What year was this picture taken?

Okay, so there's this feeling you get (well, I get) that's kind of happy and sad at the same time. It's the kind of feeling you get watching a family-friendly film where circumstances are really crappy and the underdog endeavors to persevere anyway. It's the reason I cried at Finding Nemo (well, that, and some unexamined daddy issues), and it's the reason I almost teared up to read this:

Unfortunately, it appears that the BRACKETTexas early votingBRACKET system is rigged so that convenient polling places are only available to some people, which changes the demographics of who actually votes. Surprise surprise, one of the targets of such abuse is a historically black university outside of Houston called Prairie View A&M. Their county is only providing two voting machines, and they are located away from the university, so voting is convenient for townies, but not the students. The students, who have been victimized by this sort of disenfranchisement tactic before, decided to stage a protest.

1,000 student voters with 1,000 friends and allies walked the 7 and a half miles from the school to the voting booth and stood in line. And they will vote two at a time this way until they all vote or until the county gives them more machines.

Obviously, it's really inspiring to see students unite like that, especially when I grumble through the two-block meander to my polling place if it's raining out. I can't think of the last time anything impassioned me enough that I would have walked seven miles to make my point, and if ever there was a worthy cause, this one would be it. My heart swells in a Rudy-as-directed-by-Spielberg-and-scored-by-Williams sort of way.

But at the same time, at what point in the twenty-first century should any group of students be compelled to march in order to preserve their right to vote? Sure, they still do have the right to vote, presuming they can find transportation to the distant polling station and the time to stand in line to use the two voting machines available to the entire county. At the library where I vote (remember, the one two blocks from my apartment?), there are four stand-up voting booths and another two roll-in booths for the physically impaired, and I've never, even in the busiest times, had to wait in line at all to use one. I have three times the opportunity to vote just in my district as these people do in their entire county, and then they went and put both machines where only the townies could get to them.



I want to cry because people still believe that racism doesn't exist. I want to cry because it's so freaking unfair. I want to cry because seven miles is a freaking long distance to walk, and you can tell that some of those folks have real shoes on, and that had to have been really uncomfortable. I want to cry because there should have been more than 1,000 friends and allies marching with them. But mostly, I want to cry because a bunch of students marched a cumulative total of 14,000 miles because voting was that important to them and they weren't going to be denied the right to make their voices heard. And that's worthy of a John Williams score.

On the good, the bad, and the double-your-fun Friday Random Ten

Okay, so I went out of town last weekend -- home to visit the family -- and didn't manage to get in a Friday Random Ten. That's why this week, you get a super TGTBATFRT, with double the goodness and the badness and twenty random tracks to choose from! Don't you feel lucky? Pretend you do.

The good (for the two-week period ending 2/15):

- warm weather. On Tuesday, I walked around in a short dress with short sleeves, and I had to dump my sweater at lunchtime because it was just too darn hot. The sun was shining, it was kind of windy, just beautiful.
- cold weather. On Wednesday, the day after Tuesday, I walked to work in the snow. It wasn't enough to stick, but it was enough to see and to feel, and that was kind of awesome, too. I suspect that, since Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and General Beauregard didn't, we're in for a steel-cage weather death match for the next six weeks.
- the grilled cheese and chili special at Becky's
- mark's Self Sanctuary line in White Tea-Vanilla
- single-girl dates (even if not all of you are technically single, Katie)
- International Kilt Day. I had no idea, but I'm all for it.
- TurboTax
- "douchenozzle." If you can't, for whatever reason, say truly, appropriately naughty words, this is a satisfyingly vulgar alternative.
- good listeners
- peanut butter cookies

The bad:

- Valentine's Day. I know it's such a cliche to be single and bitter about V-Day, but come on. There was a couple at Chez Fonfon last night who were feeding each other at the table. Do not try to tell me they think that stuff's acceptable on a regular basis; it's entirely because Hallmark has told them they have to be disgusting every February 14th.
- congressional hearings on steroid use. I will grant you that steroids are a bad thing and that use thereof throws the future history of sports into considerable disarray, but are we really devoting extensive government resources to determine whether or not Barry Bonds really deserves the title of Home-Run King? Seriously?
- downsizing
- nostalgia for the good old days, when rape actually meant something. Really, Doug Henry? Seriously? Are we really going there?

The Ten Twenty:

1. Lenny Kravitz, "Battlefield of Love"
2. Prince, "Raspberry Beret"
3. Carl Orff, "Estuans Interius" from Carmina Burana
4. Pet Shop Boys, "Why Don't We Live Together"
5. Faithless, "If Lovin' You Is Wrong"
6. Howie Day, "Sorry So Sorry" (featuring John Mayer)
7. Abbey Lincoln, "You Made Me Funny" (featuring Stan Getz)
8. Amy Winehouse, "Tears Dry On Their Own"
9. Guster, "Barrel of a Gun"
10. Evanescence, "Lies"
11. Johnny Cash, "I Still Miss Someone"
12. Simon & Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"
13. Gioacchino Rossini, "Gloria in excelsis Deo" from Petite messe solennelle
14. Devo, "Whip It"

Let's just take a minute to savor that juxtaposition. Savoring... and moving on:

15. Public Enemy, "Fear of a Black Planet"
16. Shakira, "Underneath Your Clothes"
17. Serge Gainsbourg, "Bonnie and Clyde" (with Brigitte Bardot)
18. Jet, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
19. Limah, "The Neverending Story"
20. Pet Shop Boys, "New York City Boy"

Random Twenties are always a bit of a nail-biter, because there's twice the chance that something truly embarrassing is going to crop up. I think this one turned out rather well. What's good for you this week?

On being a Boston fan

Okay, so I've always been a bit of a Boston fan. When I was looking at schools, I poked around up there and really liked the town; liked the trees, liked the bars, liked the universities, even liked the accent. A friend of mine is from Boston, and when he's tired or drunk, the accent comes out full force, and I think it's awesome. (Incidentally, his fiancee happens to despise his accent, which I just can't understand. How do you marry a man when the most offensive thing that comes out of his mouth in the morning isn't morning breath? If "Oh, Gad, baby, fastah, hahdah. Oh, Jesus, that's wicked pissah" doesn't turn you on, maybe you shouldn't be marrying a Bostonian.) I like baked beans. I like seafood. I like, on occasion, the Red Sox. I like Matt Damon (a lot). I like Boston cream pies. I like Boston terriers (okay, I love Boston terriers). And now, I like Boston, the band.

And it's not that I have anything against Mike Huckabee personally. Well, that's not entirely true. I haven't made a secret of the fact that I vehemently oppose his concept of a Constitution amended to adhere to Biblical standards and all of the quasi-theocratic rule that would be sure to follow. His views on gay marriage and reproductive freedom run diametrically opposed to my own, and while I try not to take that sort of thing personally, it is just the tiniest bit galling to think that a person would find me incapable of making my own health decisions without the interference of his personal savior. So, yeah, he's not my favorite guy, but not really more or less so than any of the other uber-fundies on the Right.

Still, I got a chuckle at this:

THE founder of the rock band Boston is enraged that Mike Huckabee is using his band's hit "More Than a Feeling" on the campaign trail. He's written a letter to Huckabee demanding the GOP candidate stop using it. "Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for," wrote Tom Scholz. "In fact, although I'm impressed you learned my bass guitar part on 'More Than a Feeling,' I am an Obama supporter."

Sorry, Mikey. I'd still love to hear you rocking out on the bass, though. Maybe you could sit in with these guys.

On the good, the bad, and the Friday Random Ten

Two worthy causes (and I volunteer to personally help Clive Owen kick the nic, even if that means spending every single day with him)

Okay, so I'm ashamed to admit that I completely forgot that Ash Wednesday, the kickoff to Lent, is next week. If it hadn't been for Doug's reminder, I might have missed it entirely and been condemned to whatever circle of hell hosts Lenten-sacrifice-non-giver-uppers. The fifth circle? Isn't that the one where you have to wax Adnan Ghalib's chin-landing-strip constantly and it keeps growing back? Anyway, since I certainly don't want to end up there, I'll have to get busy coming up with a Lenten sacrifice. In the past, I've given up swearing, alcohol, and/or caffeine; I may choose any or all of those. Just as long as I can keep my cocaine habit.

What's good (for the week ending 2/1):

- speed dating. No, seriously, it's fun. I did the Ronald Single Mingle at the Barking Kudu (benefiting the Ronald McDonald House; great charity, that) last night, and having the opportunity to talk to about twenty different -- very different -- guys for three minutes apiece was a unique and enjoyable experience. I think the trick is to have a friend or three with you and drink more than is generally advisable. And a note to the guy in the Cookie Monster costume: I was #8, in the gray top and jeans, and you need to call me.
- tunics. I'm so glad that tunics have been big this season, because I'm ridiculously, unnaturally long-waisted and I can go months without finding a shirt that doesn't fit like a crop top. Big ups to whichever writer at WWD decided that hip-length tops would be all the rage (in my former life, that writer would have been yours truly).
- Monopoly
- umbrellas. Would have been nice to have one on Tuesday. Or yesterday.
- Dubya's last SOTU ever

What's bad:

- political infighting. Come on, folks, I realize that the primaries are a competition of sorts, but we have to be careful not to slam our primary opponents so hard that, come general-election time, we don't have any electable candidates left in the party.
- cigarette smoke. I'm so allergic, it's not even funny.

The Ten:

1. Kenny Neal, "She Ain't Happy Unless She's Sad"
2. Green Day, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
3. Donny Hathaway, "She Is My Lady"
4. Enya, "Deora Ar Mo Chroi"
5. Kid Rock, "Cowboy"
6. Wolfgang Mozart, "Il Catalogo e Questo" from Don Giovanni
6. The Fugees, "The Score"
7. Pet Shop Boys, "Minimal"
8. Tina Turner, "Steamy Windows"
9. Gioacchino Rossini, "Cum Sancto Spiritu" from Petite Messe Solennelle
10. Johnny Cash, "Ring of Fire"

If this Random Ten is making predictions for the success of the coming weekend, I'm sure it's saying that I should expect a call from Cookie Monster. What was good for you this week?

On Barack Obama (it was bound to come up eventually)

Okay, so outside of the occasional oblique reference in the midst of some political to-do, I haven't really discussed my support for Obama; I've probably devoted more election-related blog inches to Hillary Clinton than I have to Barack Obama. Doug has made several great posts on the subject of late, and I more or less agree with everything he says there; probably a large part of my reticence on the subject so far has been the fact that he just puts it better than I ever could.

But I'm going to be taking my shift (wo)manning the phones at the Birmingham Obama HQ this weekend, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to really gather my thoughts on why I'm an Obama supporter. Most of my friends also support him, and generally for the same reasons, so our conversations generally end up devolving into, "Ohmygod, Obama's so awesome." "Yeah, he's totally cool." "I've got a hetero man-crush on him." "I think I've got a regular one." Fun, certainly, but not terribly likely to sway any undecided voters to our side of the fence.

I think it can be hard to really define the nature of your support for a candidate at the primary stage because most people within the party have basically similar priorities. It's not the general election, where Club Red goes up against Club Blue and the voting public gets to choose between two fairly different political philosophies; it's the intra-party competition where each candidate has to present him- or herself as the best example of the ideals of that philosophy. Which Democrat is more Democrat-y than the other Democrats? Who better embodies the principles of the party?

And I'm not going to pretend that it's a platform issue for me. Something we frequently forget during elections is that the promises the candidate is making now will be limited by the willingness of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the voting public to make them a reality. Running on a platform of rainbows and free puppies doesn't guarantee wet-but-sunny weather or an unlimited supply of cuddly canines. I like Obama's approach to education, but if he'd have to accomplish it through unilateral executive orders, I want no part; I didn't like it with Bush, and I wouldn't like it with a Democrat. The issues listed on Obama's Web site are useful as a rundown of his personal priorities, and that's important to me, but what's more important is his philosophy on leading the country -- where it needs to go and how it needs to get there.

That's a more nebulous subject, and a lot more sensitive than supporting educational success and opposing terrorism in Iraq ("I'm for good things and against bad things! Vote for me!"). Is the job of the president to make life easier for Americans or to make life better? Is it more important to support the efforts of the party whose ideals he represents (which ideals he believes to be the general good) or to unite the entire country in support of the generally accepted good? Is it better to reach your goals by overpowering the opposition or by drawing them over to your side?

And I guess that, in the end, is the difference between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, for me. It's not individual policy points, which we could debate at great length and detail for months; it's leadership and service philosophy. Obama has gotten some criticism within the party for his contention that creating bipartisan consensus should be a priority; there's a feeling that promoting progressive goals is more important than uniting Congress, and by extension the country, behind a common goal. I wonder why he couldn't do both? The Democratic party stands by its platform because of the belief that that kind of progressivism will benefit the country as a whole, not just the blue half. Transcending partisanship doesn't mean abandoning principles and giving in to the Republicans so they'll like us; it means finding the things that we already agree on -- and there are lots of them -- and starting from there. One of my favorite quotes from the short-lived but funny show That's My Bush was from Laura Bush when she said, "Now, maybe you can't unite pro-choice and pro-life activists because, in a way, they're both right." Transcending partisanship just means finding a way to do that anyway, and I don't know exactly how Obama intends to do it, but I'm not going to criticize him for having that goal.

I don't like the way the government runs right now. I don't like the way the members of Congress, within and between parties, interact with each other. I don't like the way business is accomplished. And Clinton is very experienced with that process. She knows it, she probably knows how to game it, and I have no doubt that, as president, she'd be able to get things done within it. But that's not a plus for me, because that means it's still there. It means that your average American isn’t getting proper representation unless he’s got a personal lobbyist; it means that little porky projects are piling up until significant portions of the budget are taken up with projects that don’t benefit the vast majority of the country; it means that our elected representatives spend more time trying to get re-elected than they do trying to represent us; it means that a legislator who believes that something other than the party line might better benefit the country will get shouted down before he has a chance to voice his opinion; and I don’t like those things.

Can Obama change that? I have no idea, honestly. He wants to, though, and that’s one up on Clinton; he recognizes that being able to work within the system is of no benefit to anyone when the system itself is fatally flawed, and he wants to change it. For me, his inexperience is a plus simply because he doesn’t yet know what he can and can’t do. And it’s sappy, I know, but sometimes the greatest things are accomplished when you just haven’t been told that they’re impossible. My sole contribution to the field of philosophy is the concept that it’s better for things to suck differently than for things to suck the same way they were sucking before, and I stand behind it because it’s true. Obama’s inexperience may end up presenting the country with a few problems, but if it does, at least they’ll be different problems than we’ve been facing for the past decade or so.

He wants to hold Americans responsible for contributing to the success of our own country. He wants to give Republicans and Democrats the benefit of the doubt that we can put aside partisan differences and find some common ground in deciding what’s best for the country. That’s where the “hope” thing comes in, and the “change” thing. Is it a naïve pipe dream? Very possibly. But I’m guessing that if you don’t tell him that, he won’t stop trying to get there until he’s pretty damn close. And pretty damn close is a damn sight better than we’ve been doing.

On open theocracy

Okay, so this kind of thing is why this election is so important, and why you just cannot believe the fundies when they claim they respect your right to practice your own religion (when they bother to claim it):

" do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards," Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Despite the fact that Huck doesn't define which god, whose concept of God, or the god of which holy book or series of books is the one whose will is to be enshrined in our nation's constitution, I think it's fairly safe to assume that he means the god of the King James version of the Christian bible as interpreted by the Southern Baptist Convention, also known as his god. Amending the Constitution to those particular standards would mean banning blended fibers (which should improve business for cotton farmers, at least) and shellfish (but not so much for the shrimpers, crabbers, and lobstermen off the coast of New England) and approving slavery and the stoning of insubordinate children. We know for sure it'll involve wifely submission.

If Huck asked me what God's standards are for gay marriage or universal health care or national defense, I daresay he'd get a couple of answers that he'd disagree with. And I daresay he'd go right ahead and push for unitary executive power over my uterus whether I thought God would approve or not. Because we're not talking about God's standards; we're talking about Huck's standards, the ones he's pushing by waving a bible around and invoking the name of a being that between five and ten percent of Americans don't even believe exists. We're talking about Mike Huckabee as the god of the Constitution, and if not him, the fundie wackos behind him, and if not them, some other fundie wacko pursuing the presidency with the same agenda.

What ever happened to John F. Kennedy's take on religion?

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish--where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source--where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials--and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew--or a Quaker--or a Unitarian--or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim--but tomorrow it may be you--until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

[...]

Whatever issue may come before me as President--on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject--I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.

A personal belief system is inevitable, as is the fact that whatever your beliefs happen to be will have some influence over your conscience. That's unavoidable. But a presidential candidate needs to come into the race conscious of that fact and determined to avoid it to the extent that it is possible to do so. Because the president needs to see to the physical, terrestrial interests of the American people and leave their heavenly salvation to whatever higher power they worship or choose not to, as is their right as enshrined in the first amendment of the Constitution on which he's trying to impose the questionable standards of his personal god.

Unless we're talking about the standards of this guy's god. He seems to have it together.

On shit that'll get your arm broken, for serious

Okay, so I know this blog has kind of gone all-Hillary, all the time (which is especially funny considering that I don't even intend to vote for her in the primaries), but beyond being an Obama supporter, I'm a woman, and some shit just pisses me off.

Seriously, I am not a violent person, but any individual, male or female, who intends to come up on me and pinch my cheek like you're my grandmother (and, for the record, none of my elders have ever pinched my cheek, because they all recognize how incredibly demeaning it is) will end up with your wrist in a cast, and it's justifiable, because you touched me first. Why Chris Matthews would think it's appropriate to tweak the cheek of a full-grown adult, sitting Senator, and presidential candidate is beyond me, but I do suspect it has something to do with her matched set of X chromosomes.

It's easy to cry sexism when you've got a candidate who is being attacked and also happens to be a woman; you run into correlation vs. causation issues if you make that call too early. Certainly, not every criticism made about her policies or candidacy is motivated by the fact that she's a woman. But when you see her criticized for something like showing emotion when she's feeling particularly impassioned about the future of her country (for which a comparable man would be lauded as strong, determined, devoted) or treated like someone's adorable niece in a cupcake dress and ruffled diaper cover, I can't ignore the fact that she is being treated differently because of her gender -- and I welcome examples of times when she's made an issue of her gender herself, because I haven't really noticed any, although I'll confess that I haven't been looking.

I'm with Megan Carpenter there. I dee-double-dog dare Chris Matthews to tweak the cheek of every candidate he interviews until the general election. John McCain, I think, has particularly pinchable cheeks, and I know you could get a good handful of Fred Thompson's jowls. But doing that'll be proof to me that you're not actually a patronizing, sexist asshole but merely an smarmy, unprofessional asshole with serious boundary issues.

On tears and a clown: Redux

Okay, so I've loved Tom Toles before I even knew what politics were (was? were?).

Still do.

(Incidentally, Jeff Fecke over at Shakesville suggests that Clinton's New Hampshire victory might be partly due to women being sick and damn tired of pols and press attacking Clinton for being a woman. I think he's got something there. I'm still an Obama supporter, but I get a little more pissed off with every mention of Clinton and her girl-cooties.)

On tears and a clown

Nut up, ya wuss.

Okay, so Hillary Clinton got choked up at a campaign event.

ZOMG!!111!!one!!! Hilery Clinton haz emoshuns! She cant be preznit!!!1!!eleven!!!

We all saw this coming, right? As soon as we knew we had a presidential race with a viable female candidate in it, the questions flew about whether she'd be the wobbly little creampuff that it's always been assumed a female president would be. Because women are emotional and illogical. Because they get their periods and feel sad about things. Because a woman who was president during a threat to national security would probably, say, get all scared and mad and invade a country that wasn't even involved just to look tough. (Well, okay, not that one.)

And so Hillary Clinton got into the race and was... not emotional. Robotic, even, some said. Harsh. Tough. "Stoic and sharp-edged." Ice-queen-esque with her pantsuits and her unemotionality. The same stability and strength that would have any male candidate declared Reaganesque was, on her, ball-busting bitchiness, because she's a woman, and women are supposed to be soft and nurturing.

But God forbid she should actually have emotions, John Edwards:

“I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also tough business,” Edwards told reporters Laconia, New Hampshire.

Now, Amanda reads that as blatantly sexist. I can see where she'd get that, although several commenters on that thread pointed out that the above comment directly followed his stated desire not to comment on Clinton's emotionality. Still, though, it's a shot, one that he may or may not have taken at a male candidate who displayed passion and frustration when talking about his hopes for the country.

Because that's what it was. A lot of people have characterized it as a lot of different things, including calculated histrionics, but watch the video. "You know, I have so many opportunities for this country. I just don't want to see us fall backwards." Isn't that something we want our presidential candidates to care about? "This is very personal for me. It's not just political, it's not just public. I see what's happening, and we have to reverse it. And some people think elections are a game, they think it's like who's up or who's down. It's about our country, it's about our kids' futures, and it's really about all of us together." Yeah, it is, actually. And if she was tired and a little bit frustrated and her voice cracked when she talked about the stuff that's really important to all of us, can you blame her?

Strength isn't about being unemotional, and toughness doesn't mean not having emotions. I don't think that anyone would call armor-plated steamroller fullback Owen Schmitt weak because, during a moment of elevated emotion, he shed a tear. I suspect that few would think our president any less of a cowboy for welling up at his inauguration, and any demands for a stoic solidity in the face of crisis could be answered with his teary photo op in the Oval Office soon after the 9/11 attacks.



But when a man is overcome with emotion and lets a single, crystalline tear roll slowly down his sooty and battle-scarred cheek, it's handsome and admirable. When a woman, exhausted from intense campaigning and frustrated and worried about the idea that our country is backsliding from its ideals, lets her voice break, just a little, watch out; she's probably about to get her period or something.

Obama is my candidate of choice in the primaries. I'm not voting for Senator Clinton because I disagree with her policies and object to some of the more opportunistic stabs she's made in the direction of the squishy moderate. I'm not not-voting for her because she felt a feeling that any emotionally mature and politically aware person is feeling right now, and I'm not castigating her for expressing that feeling a little bit where people could see her in all of her human indignity. Much better a president who can process his or her emotions, express them, and move on than one who has to sublimate them into violence against thousands of innocent people.

On political indecision

Okay, so as we approach Election 2008, are you confused by the issues? Unsure about the stances of the various candidates? Just plain too lazy to make a decision on your own? Try the Select a Candidate Quiz.

Caveat: Results may be... odd.

	Dennis Kucinich Score: 51	Agree Immigration Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Social Security
-- Take the Quiz! --

YMMV.