My Name Isn't "Hillary," But I Play Her on TV

So you're Hillary Clinton.  Which is probably pretty awesome a fair amount of the time.

But what do you make of the fact that there is a TV show (some would argue there have been two) about you running for/being president?  You gotta like the caliber of actor playing you: what lady doesn't like the idea of the lady who was Ripley playing her?

And maybe the spin on Political Animals is that it isn't about Hillary, per se.  But...

That's Not Funny Update

An update on the That's Not Funny post...

Mandi found this piece - and I think it's really worth the read (there is profanity throughout the piece, if that bothers you) - by a male Austin-area comic, to the Tosh rape joke fiasco.  The whole thing is powerful, but here is my favorite quote (profanity omitted by me):

Offended hasn't got anything to do with it, moron. 

People have wounds, and those wounds are painful. That doesn't have s--- to do with the weak concept of "taking offense." If someone talks about Texas being a s----- state, I might "take offense" at that. Fine, whatever. All of us who like comedy are generally in agreement with the idea that "taking offense" is lame, and a comedian should be willing to "offend" whenever he or she wants to. 

But causing pain is quite a different f------ matter. Your job as a comedian is to take us through pain, transcend pain, transform pain. And if you don't get that, you are a f------ bully, and I've got zero time for bullies.

Boo-Urns! -Friday Edition

Here it is again, by popular demand, Mitt Romney getting booed at the NAACP convention when he promises to repeal Obamacare.  You can almost see his circuitry stop at certain points...

Just to have a contrast, here is Vice President Biden, speaking at the same convention...

Get it?

Just My Baby’s Daddy

Ok, I couldn’t resist throwing in a reference to that extremely terrible song.  But lately the issue of  “preglimony” has been in the news, thanks to the musings of one Shari Motro, who argues that in the era of  safe, inexpensive, minimally invasive paternity testing available even in the embryonic stage, men should be obligated to help pay for pregnancy or abortion related expenses.  

That's Not Funny

Yep.  Hours after reading it.  Still mad.

The Fiscal Cliff

The so-called “fiscal cliff” is coming, looming just ahead, and if we aren’t careful, the entire country may fall off of it.  What is the fiscal cliff, you may be asking? 

Electricity

So my house went without power for a week.

This happened partially because there was a very bad storm in my area, and partially because the reigning utility (PEPCO) is way more invested in its shareholders' happiness than its customers' happiness. That's not really opinion.

Now, it may be that private utilities are more responsive, more efficient, or better for society in some way than public utilities are.

Game of Thrones Political Ads

Someone at Mother Jones decided to have a bit of fun during election season, and re-imagined what modern-day attack ads would like like if they were applied to the HBO Game of  Thrones characters. Here they are, with mild spoilers:

I especially like the Rob Stark "celebrity" ad, which I think is pitch perfect.

Happy Birthday, America!

Mandi's right, we need infrastructure - if for no other reason than it allows us to blog.  And after going-on 5 days without their home (because of a pretty lame utility and a prolonged lack of electricity), my family is frazzled.

That said, a very Happy Birthday to America.  236.  You hardly look 200, baby.

As I may have mentioned once or twice in the past, America is - and hopefully always will be - a work in progress.  And so, as should befit YBGP, we will celebrate the time that America's men decided to allow us girls to vote.  It was a good decision, gentlemen.

Infrastructure-We Need It

So the DC area was hit with some brief, yet powerful storms last Friday night.  If you can read this post, count yourself as one of the lucky ones.  There were about 2 million people without power at the height of the storm, and there are still about a million without power, days later.  Many people are being told that it will take up to a full week for their power to be restored, during the middle of record high temperatures topping out at 110F. 

Observing all the pandemonium, I can't help but think, can't we do better than this?  If one storm manages to knock out power for more than a week for residents of the capital of the United States, then we have absolutely no hope during a terrorist plot.    While my husband and I have refined our emergency procedures since Friday, I wonder what our local and national goverments have learned from these errant storms?  Not only was the power out, but cell phone, water, and the 911 networks were down, right at the time that people needed them the most.  I am still under a "boil water before drinking" advisory, several days after the storm has passed.

Billions and billions have been spent on anti-terrorism and preparedness, but where did all of it go?  The DC area has lots of mature trees, so one of the easiest and obvious solutions is to bury our power lines, so a crashing tree won't take our electricity and stop lights.  While I know it isn't the sexiest uses of anti-terrorism money, it seems like one of the most useful when and if the time comes.  It's disturbing to think how vunerable we all are if something were to ever happen, and how little our local and national governments seem to be doing to address the realities of the threat.

The Decision...

So it’s day one after The Decision.  And the political fallout has yet to be seen.  When I first heard about the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (aka the health care act, or Obamacare), I’ll admit that my first reaction was one of giddiness and glee.  I totally thrust my fist into the air, and with the kind of satisfaction that can only come from a mixture of relief and schadenfraude, I thought to myself, 'na na na nah boo boo, stick your head in doo doo', which, I’ll freely acknowledge, was not the most mature reaction I could have had.

SCOTUS: Chewbacca Is a Wookie.

I don't want to be a downer or anything, because in some ways the Court and the Nation will be better for what was decided in the Obamacare case (NFIB v. Sebelius).  More people will have health care, and health care will be a bit better.  That's good.  CJ Roberts also proved that he is not simply a mouthpiece for whatever argument Fox News is giving on the law, but is a CJ with the strategic genius so many have claimed he has.

It took a great deal of finesse to write this opinion, and to manage to move jurisprudence to the right, generally, while seeming to be a centrist or pragmatist, specifically.

BUT there are two pretty bad parts of the decision, from a policy standpoint.

Dewey Defeats Truman

Wowsers. Title borrowed from witty husband. -

http://www.scotusblog.com/cover-it-live/

- He said it bc CNN said "Mandate Struck Down" before they got it right...

Girl Talk

So this graphic and study have been making the rounds for awhile now, and I've been meaning to talk about them.

Stupid Voters, Getting in the Way of Voting Rights

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Mandi, you have to see this video.



This is beyond ridiculous.