Category Archives: current events

Wow.

Posted on August 9, 2008 | Comments Off on Wow.

I don’t know about y’all, but I thought the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony was PHENOMENAL. I’m a sucker for large-scale spectacle in general, so I always watch the opening ceremonies – plus they’re so interesting to analyze from a theatrical and political perspective – but I have to say, the Beijing show was maybe the best I’ve seen. Really amazing use of the human body to build a superhuman event. The globe at the end, in particular, was just mind-blowing. I could make a snarky comment right now about how it only makes sense that a militaristic communist country would be good at the grandiose nationalist displays, but I’m gonna keep it positive: it was a beautiful, artful, uplifting show. The Big Picture (via Q.)has a wonderful set of photos from the event if you missed it (or even if you didn’t).

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Posted in current events, Pop Culture

Posted on July 11, 2008 | Comments Off on

What a dickwad.

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Posted in current events, outrage, politics

Civic mucous

Posted on February 6, 2008 | Comments Off on Civic mucous

Christ, I forgot what it was like to REALLY have a cold. I’ve had some mini-colds this year, some colds-manqué, if you will, but this is my first kick-you-in-the-ass cold in a while, and it SUCKS. I’m slowly recovering, but yesterday I pretty much felt like I was going to die all day long, and you know what’s AWESOME when you feel like death warmed over? Watching a toddler! No, I kid: it really is no fun whatsoever. Fortunately (?) she’s sick, too, so we were both pretty low key. By which I mean we spent a shocking percentage of the day slumped over on the sofa watching Elmo’s World and Teletubbies. Well: the Hatchling watched them and I kind of dozed. Qualitee parenting is my watchword!

Today I felt semi-human, so at 6:30 pm I trekked on over to my polling place and holy CRAP were there a lot of people there! It was pretty cool standing in line with this array of races, classes, ages, backgrounds (I live in a very diverse district), many of whom were caucusing for the first time. Everyone seemed excited to be there, to be participating. The people running the caucus were completely unprepared for the numbers that showed up – they ran out of ballots and had to hand people slips of torn-off paper; they had people signing in on notebooks; they had to quickly move the caucus itself to a larger room to accommodate the crowds. Over 500 people showed up at my caucusing place, and overwhelmingly voted for Obama. (I voted for Clinton, but will very happily vote for Obama in the national election should that be my option.) About 100 people stuck around for the actual caucus, where it was nice (but not too surprising) to see that I live in a pretty progressive district: we passed resolutions in favor of universal health care, increased funding for education, civil unions for gay couples, and abolishing the electoral college (!). All in all, a very satisfying experience in civic duty.

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Posted in current events, politics, updates

Disappointing

Posted on February 1, 2008 | Comments Off on Disappointing

This may have just convinced me to vote for Hillary.

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Posted in current events, politics

Local Alert

Posted on January 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Local Alert

For those of you who are interested in such things, and live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, John Edwards is in town tonight:

Event with John Edwards
Jan 29, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Carpenters Union Hall
710 Olive St.
St. Paul, Minn.
http://www.johnedwards.com/events/rsvp/20080129-stpaul

If we didn’t have ECFE tonight, I’d probably go. I’m still waffling on whom to caucus for come Tuesday, and Edwards has long been my favorite. If any of my readers go, post a review in comments, will ya? Anyone seen Edwards live before?

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Posted in current events, MN, politics

It’s a good thing I’m hard-headed

Posted on January 24, 2008 | Comments Off on It’s a good thing I’m hard-headed

You know how sometimes, when your mom has taken a whole week off from her extremely busy career to watch your kid just so you can have some dedicated writing time and jumpstart the massive revisions you need to do on your dissertation and you aren’t sleeping well because that’s how your stupid, self-defeating brain handles stress and when you sit down in front of your computer you have one of those sessions where you write four sentences and then delete them because they’re crap and then write four different sentences and then delete them because they’re also crap and that’s kind of the pattern of your day?

Yeah. That was yesterday. Kind of like beating your head against a brick wall. Today is going a little better.

Other things that might make you feel like you’re beating your head against a brick wall:

1. Harry Reid – who is, let’s remember, a Democrat – who’s been giving Repubbbs a total pass on anything they say they’re going to filibuster, has decided that his fellow Democrats don’t deserve the same treatment. WTF, Harry?

2. Did you know that Hillary Clinton is a CUNT? Isn’t that, like, the most hilarious observation you’ve ever heard, like, in your ENTIRE LIFE? Also brilliant? Christ. As Shakes says, personally, I’d consider it a compliment (if I didn’t know the source).

3. You know what’s even funnier than calling Clinton a cunt? Making fun of Heath Ledger for dying! Especially if you can do it while gay-bashing! Whoo, that’s hilarious.

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Posted in current events, outrage, politics, writing

Hill pulls it off

Posted on January 9, 2008 | Comments Off on Hill pulls it off

Hillary takes New Hampshire, sayeth just about everyone. I feel like it would have been a bigger deal for Clinton to lose this than for Obama to win it, so this just evens it out on the Dem side. Though it seems that Edwards is well and truly done. Which I’d feel pretty crappy about, except I’m still pissed at him for his sexist remarks about Clinton’s tearing up. (Why you gotta play me like that, John?)

It’s gonna be a wild ride, y’all.

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Posted in current events, politics

Primary Decisions

Posted on November 28, 2007 | Comments Off on Primary Decisions

Well. This may just have solidified my decision as to whom I’ll vote for in the upcoming primaries. (I admit I was leaning in that direction, anyway.) Check it:

Manchester, NH – Today, Senator John Edwards outlined his bold policies for a more family-friendly America with universal paid family and medical leave, universal pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds, more affordable care for other children and job benefits for independent workers. Among the most significant policy proposals of the Edwards plan is for at least eight weeks of paid family and medical leave that will help American workers balance their jobs and their families.

If you can stand the PR-speak, check out the whole press release. Universal paid leave and Pre-K + subsidized childcare = music to my ears. And should be music to everyone’s ears, of course, since those little rugrats will one day be deciding how nice your nursing home care is. Among other things. I’m not super confident that Edwards will get the nod, but policies like this make it pretty easy for me to give him my vote.

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Posted in current events

Sigh.

Posted on September 13, 2007 | Comments Off on Sigh.

She’s so right. (As usual.)

Oh, it’s not selling unsafe toys to American kids that’s so shameful. What’s fucking shameful is that we–and I include myself–only give a shit about the American kids whose rooms are stuffed to the gills with cheap-ass toys made in sweatshops in China, whose workers are often not much older than children and who not only handle the lead paint or other toxins that we don’t want our kids to have even minimal contact with, but do so for 12 hours or more a day, for a few cents per week, while living in cities where the air is polluted by the same industrial toxins that we’re suddenly so concerned about.

Gah. It cannot be denied. What’s to be done? I will say, all the toy recalls *have* made me rethink what I buy for the Hatchling, both for safety reasons and for the reasons Bitch cites above. I mean, hell, she already has more crap than she knows what to do with, and often her favorite toys are things like my measuring spoons or toilet paper tubes. And when I stop and think about it, I mean DUH, of course I’d rather buy her one or two really top notch toys than nine or ten shitty cheap ones. But then we get to Target, and her eyes light up at some plastic geegaw, and it’s only $5.99, and, and, and … And gross. Feh. I gotta stop that. Mass consumption on that scale is good for exactly nobody’s children. Next time we’re at the store I pledge to take the time to remember that what I’m buying affects more kids than just my own. Who’s with me?

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Posted in current events, outrage

Shaken, but OK

Posted on August 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Shaken, but OK

Just wanted to post a short message to let everyone know that we weren’t on the I-35W bridge last night, though it’s a route we’ve taken many, many times. We’re all present and accounted for in the Squab family. Still shaken by the gruesome pictures of the bridge carnage, though. It seems crazy that a bridge can just collapse like that. I hope none of my readers were personally affected. Bless the rescue and recovery workers. It’s more than I could do.

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Posted in current events, updates