Quote of the day

This article is not actually that interesting, but it does have this quote, which almost made me spit tea on my monitor:

" 'They say I'm going to confuse milk consumers,' she said. 'How can you get confused between a boob and a bottle of milk from the store? They're two different kind of jugs.' "

I may be slightly behind the eight ball on this one.

But HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Curse you, Amazon, and your quick checkout!

Sign #142 that I am more tired than I think:

I sent my dad's birthday present to my house rather than to his. I live in Minnesota. He lives in Pennsylvania. Sigh.

It should be an undisputed fact that Michelle Bachmann is just an embarrassment to Minnesota.

Case in point.

My favorite bit of the AP article?

"Bachmann predicts that if the U.S. more thoroughly taps its own energy sources, gas prices could be cut in half. Other energy experts have disputed that projection."

OTHER energy experts? Is this meant to imply that Bachmann is any sort of EXPERT? The mind boggles. You know what? I read Cryptonomicon. I am now a code-breaking expert. You shall all listen to my proclamations and bring me logic puzzles! Plus, I have watched ALL THREE Terminator movies. I am now a robot. I AM A CODE-BREAKING ROBOT!

Lest things get too serious around here.

The most important piece in play this election.

""If McCain genuinely thinks it's smart politics to run against the Warren Court in 2008, Obama simply needs to run against the Roberts Court. He must promise to nominate Supreme Court justices who will protect civil liberties, civil rights, and ensure equal access to courts and justice. He needs to talk and talk about these issues not because these are tender, liberal values he wants his judges to share, but because they are values enshrined in the Constitution, values that have been corroded and neglected in recent years.

The future make up of the Supreme Court is the most important outcome of the next election. There are many other important issues, but this is paramount.

Exactly.

From Salon's Broadsheet:

"[R]ather than scolding women for failing to flock to higher-paying careers, perhaps we should be wondering why the fields college-educated women dominate are so devalued in the first place."

Take out "college-educated," and you have the problem in a nutshell. This does not mean that women should not have the opportunity to branch out from more female-dominated fields into the hard sciences, but allowing each person the opportunity to study and work in the field to which they are most drawn should not be a discussion marred by casual dismissal of those other fields.

Wow.

Here is a good run-down of both the things Conservatives are saying about Jesse Helms, and a nice sampling of the kinds of things Jesse Helms said during his lifetime:


" 'Death of a Conservative Great [Mark R. Levin]

I wish the Helms family peace, and I thank Jesse Helms for helping to ensure the election of Ronald Reagan, being a warrior against the Soviet Union and for the release of Soviet Jews and other abused minorities, and being a voice for millions of unborn babies.

I have noticed some of the smears lobbed at William Buckley in other places since his death; Jesse Helms is in for even more of it. Other prominent conservatives will face the same. Unfortunately, such is the nature of these things now.' "

" "Jesse Helms was a kind, decent, and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called "the Miracle of America." So it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the Fourth of July. He was once asked if he had any ambitions beyond the United States Senate. He replied: "The only thing I am running for is the Kingdom of Heaven." Today, Jesse Helms has finished the race, and we pray he finds comfort in the arms of the loving God he strove to serve throughout his life.' "

That second quote is from George W. Bush.

and, just to be clear, here is an example of Helms' behavior:

"'"When Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became the first African-American woman to sit in the Senate, Helms followed Moseley-Braun into an elevator, announcing to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch: "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries."

Then, emphasizing the lines about how "good" things were before the Civil War ended slavery, Helms sang "Dixie."'"

Wow. Leaving aside the racism and misogyny, that story illustrates SO CLEARLY how Helms "strove to serve" a "loving God . . . throughout his life."

I devoutly hope that Helms is getting exactly what he deserves right now.

Lest you think I only refer to the minutiae of my own life.

I am still royally pissed off about telecom immunity and FISA and all of the implications therein. Glenn Greenwald, as usual, has interesting things to say about it:

"It's notable because the political establishment is not only about to pass a patently corrupt bill, but worse, are spouting -- on a very bipartisan basis -- completely deceitful claims to obscure what they're really doing."

He goes on to discuss the fact that those arguing FOR telecom immunity seem to be under the very mistaken impression that the president can order someone to undertake an illegal act, which is a fundamentally un-American idea. Go, read what he says:

"That just isn't how our country works and it never was. We don't have a King who can order people to break the law. I have no doubt that people like Nancy Soderberg are spending the July 4 weekend paying shallow homage to the Founding, all the while being completely ignorant of or indifferent to the principles they pretend to celebrate. Just compare her claim that telecoms were justified, even required, to comply with the President's "order" to break the law with Thomas Paine's view, set forth in his 1776 revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense concerning how our country was supposed to work:

But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other."

I broke the shovel

I had the sort of weekend gardening in which I broke the handle off of my full-sized shovel trying to dig up a (very large) hosta. My shoulders hurt.

Just a blur.

Please note that like the last photo, some of V's limbs are blurred here (just the left hand in this one). This is an accurate representation of her constant movement.

You Know, For Kids!

My hips hurt from too much Wii Fit Hula Hooping.

I am 8 billion years old.

Not a Ham.

Baby clothing is often labeled with helpful words such as "baby," as if one might forget that there is a baby in the clothing, or that the clothing is for a baby, and instead put the clothing on, say, a ham. Matter-Eater Lad and I find this kind of weird, and also funny. This tee-shirt also labels the baby. It says "kid." We like it better than most.