March 11, 2008
Yikes!
I read this article (with video) about a “high heel race” and I don’t understand how these women can sprint in high heels. I can barely walk in them. I’m sure it gets easier with practice, but still, sprinting?
I remembered reading that Olympic athlete Jackie Joyner Kersee said she grew up running in high heels. I was looking for a link about that, and I found all these other videos of high heel races in European cities. All sponsored by Glamour. Just … odd.
Then I found this awesome video of the D.C. Annual High Heel Race. There’s something about drag queens that makes me feel incredibly freaking happy to be a woman. I wish I had a tenth the sassiness of a drag queen. They should run workshops.
March 10, 2008
OK, so Eliot Spitzer was a hero to me. I actually had a massive crush on him. And now, of course (of course) it turns out he has feet of clay.
So OK, I briefly railed and mourned, and now I’ve moved on. I don’t have much respect for him as a person now, but I still respect his fearless pursuit of financial bad actors – predatory lenders, fraudsters, etc. Ah well. News flash: people are flawed.
On one forum, one furious supporter essentially said the betrayal to his supporters was worse than to his family. (As if there’s any point in playing who-was-more-betrayed.) Don’t worry, furious lady, I’m sure someone out there feels just as bad for you as a betrayed supporter as they do for his family. There, there, you’re the bigger victim, shhh.
March 10, 2008
It’s kind of amazing that, vague as Obama is, with all the We Are the Ones We Hope We Can Change talk, he still manages to contradict himself.
March 8, 2008
March 8, 2008
Obama: We’ll be out of Iraq in 16 months.
Senior campaign advisor: He doesn’t actually mean 16 months.
No, seriously. What does that mean?
The problem is that Obama is not telling people the “hard truths.” He’s telling people exactly what they want to hear. But as demonstrated by the NAFTA embarassment and now the “out in 16 months” thing, he actually has no intention of being held to the pretty promises he’s making as a candidate. If he’s elected, he will be practical – as he has no choice but to be.
This is why I don’t give much weight to people who are all like, “With his rhetorical gifts, he’s going to change the game. He’s going to empower people. He’ll be the one to get people to finally see their own economic interest and advocate for themselves!” Gee. How’s he gonna do that, when he’s promising the public one thing, and quietly assuring the powers that be, don’t worry, he doesn’t actually mean it?
Nah. From everything I’ve seen of him so far, he’ll say one thing in public, do the opposite in private, then use his “rhetorical gifts” to convince that he hasn’t actually sold us down the river.
Empty promises, false hope.
March 4, 2008
Goolsbee “was frank in saying that the primary campaign has been necessarily domestically focused, particularly in the Midwest, and that much of the rhetoric that may be perceived to be protectionist is more reflective of political maneuvering than policy,” the memo’s introduction said.
The Obama campaign response:
Obama: He never met with them. Oh … he did…? Oh. Then he didn’t say what they said he said.
Campaign spokesman: The senior campaign advisor who met with the Canadian consulate did not represent the Obama campaign.
Senior campaign advisor: I didn’t say what the consulate officials said I did. That’s crazy.
Well, I think that about covers the possibilities for denial. A+ for comprehensiveness, F for logical consistency.
Update: Canada backpeddles on the memo. Obama says: “This notion that Senator Clinton is peddling that somehow there’s contradictions or winks and nods has been disputed by all parties involved.”
“This notion that Senator Clinton is peddling?” There wouldn’t be the appearance of winks and nods if Obama hadn’t reflexively denied that the meeting ever took place, and Obama’s spokesman reflexively stated that the campaign official’s statements didn’t represent the official Obama position. Doesn’t tend to inspire trust, when the candidate and campaign seem pretty well-practiced in the deny-dispute-minimize maneuver. You can’t put that on your opponent.
I mean seriously. Obama’s reason for why he initially denied the meeting ever took place? “That was the information I had at the time.” Oh. So Goolsbee told Obama he never met with the Canadian consulate? Then Goolsbee should be fired, because he’s a dumbass.
If, as is more likely, Obama just did not know that Goolsbee had, in fact, attended the meeting, the proper denial is “I have no knowledge of such a meeting.” Saying there was no such meeting simply because he personally had no knowledge of the meeting is not “the information I had at the time.” It’s a false statement of fact. If I remember my MPRE correctly, even a lawyer knows a false statement of fact is called a “lie.”
I’m so tired of Obama. Or, more precisely, I’m tired of people acting like he walks on water, when he’s just another politician. You don’t worship politicians. You scrutinize them, and applaud them when they do the right thing.
I support Hillary – conditionally. I’m not infatuated with her. I admire her spirit, I believe her good intentions, and I think she has potential to achieve good results. But I don’t think she’s something she’s not, and I don’t think she’ll never do anything unsavory or underhanded. Because politics requires being underhanded sometimes. So I don’t worship her.
March 3, 2008
I love this ad.
March 1, 2008
I like this fellow’s summary of Wikipedia’s appeal:
They were drawn because for a work of reference Wikipedia seemed unusually humble. It asked for help, and when it did, it used a particularly affecting word: “stub.” At the bottom of a short article about something, it would say, “This article about X is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.” And you’d think: That poor sad stub: I will help. Not right now, because I’m writing a book, but someday, yes, I will try to help.
let\'s talk about spaceships 