The candidate who was a joke

Until he got elected.

Read this — courtesy of Sis. Gina — for a fascinating (and funny) profile of Iceland’s Jon Gnarr.

I say “hillbilly!” You say “crank!” Hillbilly! Crank! Hillbilly! Crank!

Are any of you heathens planning to see “Winter’s Bone?” And are any of you hillbillies planning to see it? Because I am dying to talk to someone about it, having just seen it.

Why don’t we talk about libraries?

And librarians?

When a recent report showed that some Wisconsin fourth-graders are at the bottom of the reading charts, and then there came an accouncement for Milwaukee district cut-backs, why weren’t the cuts to libraries mentioned?

And thanks, Sis. Sharon, for the link.

Fire the war

Firing Gen. McChrystal isn’t enough. Writes Pierre Tristam at FlagLerlive (linked here at Common Dreams):

Obama took up where Bush left off, added more troops, threw more money at the folly, and called it a new strategy. McChrystal was his cover. Bad choice. McChrystal blew it? Not so: McChrystal was an improvising explosive diva waiting to blow. He did. He would have anyway.

McChrystal’s firing is the latest cover-up of a failure far larger than McChrystal’s, a failure that Obama now owns entire, and that will only increase the number of American and Afghan deaths to no purpose.

Why can’t turtles sign petitions?

That sounds like a set-up for a joke, doesn’t it?

It isn’t. But this one decided to write a letter to BP to protest the Gulf oil disaster.

Getting lost in the translation

Vietnamese-Americans who make their living in the Gulf Coast are battling language barriers, cultural misunderstandings — and the BP oil disaster.

And thanks, Bro. Mike, for the link.

In red states, families form adults.

In blue states, adults form families. And that’s why divorce rates and teenage birth rates are so much lower in blue states.

Discuss. And thanks, Bro. Stan, for the link.

Can we break our oil habit?

NPR tries to answer the question.

Think of how salt was once a strategic commodity, and how now? It isn’t.

And thanks, Sis. Cynical, for the link.

Concerned citizen/conficted felon worries about Planned Parenthood

Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger worried that telemedicine would increase the abortion rate. She complained, and the Iowa Medical Board said they’d investigate Planned Parenthood. (Though from the OR link, evidently the medical board didn’t act quickly/properly/something.)

 Sullenger is Dr. Tiller’s killer’s great friend, and was convicted of conspiring to bomb an abortion clinic, herself — though she’s said she now renounces violence.

And thanks, Sis. Gina, for the link.

Vote for the girl! Any old girl!

I remember when Hillary Clinton was running for president (do you remember that, too?) and I was supporting Barack Obama, and a friend told me that I wasn’t being true to the feminist school by not backing a woman.

I don’t have a hate-on for Clinton. I actually admire her a great deal, but for all kinds of reasons — not any that are interesting enough to go into here — I backed Obama.

Yes, we need more women in office, but not just any ol’ woman.