The Thing about Working at B&N...

is that I have to sell people porn, which makes me feel weird; and I have to sell people books on Obama "the criminal", which makes me mad. And I have to keep my mouth shut about it. Damn it.

What He Said

I love you, B. I really do. But Michael Moore has got a point (or several):

Dear President Obama,

How outstanding that you've been recognized today as a man of peace. Your swift, early pronouncements -- you will close Guantanamo, you will bring the troops home from Iraq, you want a nuclear weapon-free world, you admitted to the Iranians that we overthrew their democratically-elected president in 1953, you made that great speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, you've eliminated that useless term "The War on Terror," you've put an end to torture -- these have all made us and the rest of the world feel a bit more safe considering the disaster of the past eight years. In eight months you have done an about face and taken this country in a much more sane direction.

But...

The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of what is quickly becoming your War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone. You are truly at a crossroads now. You can listen to the generals and expand the war (only to result in a far-too-predictable defeat) or you can declare Bush's Wars over, and bring all the troops home. Now. That's what a true man of peace would do.

There is nothing wrong with you doing what the last guy failed to do -- capture the man or men responsible for the mass murder of 3,000 people on 9/11. BUT YOU CANNOT DO THAT WITH TANKS AND TROOPS. You are pursuing a criminal, not an army. You do not use a stick of dynamite to get rid of a mouse.

The Taliban is another matter. That is a problem for the people of Afghanistan to resolve -- just as we did in 1776, the French did in 1789, the Cubans did in 1959, the Nicaraguans did in 1979 and the people of East Berlin did in 1989. One thing is certain through all revolutions by people who wish to be free -- they ultimately have to bring about that freedom themselves. Others can be supportive, but freedom can not be delivered from the front seat of someone else's Humvee.

You have to end our involvement in Afghanistan now. If you don't, you'll have no choice but to return the prize to Oslo.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Your opposition has spent the morning attacking you for bringing such good will to this country. Why do they hate America so much? I get the feeling that if you found the cure for cancer this afternoon they'd be denouncing you for destroying free enterprise because cancer centers would have to close. There are those who say you've done nothing yet to deserve this award. As far as I'm concerned, the very fact that you've offered to walk into the minefield of hate and try to undo the irreparable damage the last president did is not only appreciated by me and millions of others, it is also an act of true bravery. That's why you got the prize. The whole world is depending on the U.S. -- and you -- to literally save this planet. Let's not let them down.

Barack: "I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election."

Oh, how I heart the Prez.


Also, check out Letterman's Top Ten Reasons the President Agreed to Appear on the Late Show.

I Love the Prez

And I love that when he wants Five Guys, he wants it now and he doesn't want to wait for the press. So he doesn't. I love it.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

via HuffPost

I Didn't Even Want to Know One Random Thing About You

I know. I did it, too. I resisted for a bit but then gave in. I listed a bunch of random things about myself. Even as I was doing it, I felt silly. What a weird way for me to update my "friends" from elementary, middle school, wherever. If they wanted to know about my currently unused professional license and my adoration of Dan Savage and Tovah, shouldn't they ask? Well, regardless, I did it.

DespairWair has a great tee for this new random things phenomenon.
The Washington Post and TIME both published articles regarding this trend. Here are a compilation of TIME's 25 Things I Didn't Want to Know about You and 25 More Things I Didn't Want to Know about You. Two of these are specifically for you, Rachel@Canada.

• I have been pooped on by a monkey
• I eat gummy bears by tearing them limb from limb and eating their heads last.
• Two of my best friends are under five feet tall and I have an intense fear of midgets.
• I think yoga is incredibly spiritual. I know the Lord is with me in my downward dog.
• I like to tape my thumbs to my hands to see what it would be like to be a dinosaur.
• Sometimes I think pee smells like Cheerios.
• My friends say that when they shave my back, I purr like a walrus.
• When I die, I want a steaming hot Reuben sandwich shoved in my mouth during the open-casket part of the funeral.
• My friend Brian and I once brought home a dead opossum because we wanted to "stuff" it. We tried to cut off its head with hedge clippers, but it was late fall and the creature was far too frozen.
• I think it's frustrating that ChapStick tastes good when you put it on your lips and lick them, but if you just bite the ChapStick, it tastes like poison.
• On two separate occasions, I have returned to my dorm room drunk, with some form of cheese in my purse.
• When I was little, I pretended my bike was a horse named Satan.
• I find puppets to be one of the most satisfying ways of expressing myself.

And now, folks, a portion of my list with some additions.

• I'll drink nearly anything as long as its purported to be "good for me." For instance: raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar; raw, fermented kombucha.
• I just vacuumed my neighbor's Dyson with my Dyson. I wanted to return a clean vacuum.
• I have been a NYS licensed funeral director for three years. It has been nearly a year since I have used the license.
• I like being a funeral director partly because I like to have weird and/or gross funeral director stories. Additionally, of all the macabre and horrifying things I have seen (and smelled), I have never been made physically ill while on the job.
• I was terrified of fire for 20+ years. I had to face my fear when I became a certified cremation operator and began performing human cremations. I am subsequently no longer afraid of fire.
• I love the First Family so much that sometimes it makes me giddy.
• I constantly play Scramble with my Mikus-in-law even though he is considerably better than me and beats me every time.
• It sometimes annoys me that Mikus is signed in to gmail or facebook or whatever but is hidden. I know you're there. Sometimes I have a question or something and emailing and waiting around for a response is wildly inefficient. ::huff::
  
• I have always wanted offspring although there's a good chance I won't have any. I'm convinced I shouldn't since I don't want said offspring to inherit my broken brain.
• I often wish I was married to Tovah.
• I am happily married to my husby, Jesse.
• I still use snr and have spread the snr to Chicago and Philadelphia and maybe further.
• I don't know what I am doing with my life.
• I love every spoken and written word that comes from Dan Savage.
• I love to cook and relish all compliments but I often do not like my own food.
• Spotting the new issue of GOOD magazine makes me jump and click my heels together.
• Tovah used to jump and click her heels together and this impressed me. I practiced and practiced and now I, too, can jump and click my heels together. Thanks, Tovah! And can you/do you still do this?
  
• I have four tattoos. If I had some money, I would have more. I'd like a full sleeve one day. My next tattoos will be in memory of Niki and my paternal grandmother.
• Little Niki has been gone nearly 7 years. Its hard to believe it has been so long. And that I am so old.
• I have a new friend! Her name is Erika and she is so much fun. She has funny stories and she wishes she had a robot to do errands for her while she is at work. Hilarious!
• Although I commuted from Ithaca to Syracuse for school, frequently drove from Ithaca to Endicott to see Jesse when we were still dating, and often took long, solitary road trips that I loved, lately I am annoyed to drive more than 20 minutes from home.
• I wish I could blog professionally.
• I am proud that I learned to ride a bike six months ago. Riding is so much fun that I'm sad I spent so many years resisting.
• I've recently been working on a list of goals I would like to attain while in therapy. The list is long and keeps lengthening. Uh-oh.
  
• When I'm stressed, listening to This American Life calms me almost immediately. Something about Ira's voice just soothes me. And when I'm sad, Reel Big Fish makes me feel better almost instantly. I don't care if its dorky.
  
• I miss Rachel@Canada. And I miss Rachel@Philadelphia. They're both wonderful and special in completely different ways and I need them both for completely different reasons.
• I hate cilantro. It tastes like soap. Why do so many people (you know who you are) want perfectly tasty food to have soapy-ness in it? Yick. I try not to cook with it if I can help it.
• I am totally anti-circumcision. I put this issue into two categories: 1. Just Leave Well Enough Alone and 2. Don't Cut Things off of Your Baby.
  
• This is probably far too many.
  

What He Said

I just can't do it as succinctly and cleverly as Dan Savage. You should just read what he says.

I'd prefer to see President Obama do away the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives—recently renamed the President's Policy Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships—but if this separation-of-church-and-state violatin' office is gonna exist, well, I'm pleased that Obama has appointed a fag to sit on it. Take that, Saddlebackers.

via Slog

The 9 Worst Obama Editorial Cartoons

From Mother Jones:

For the most part, America's editorial cartoonists have gotten better at drawing Obama over the last year. They're no longer depicting him as a generic black guy but as an unique individual with his own distinctive features. (I'm sure there's a dissertation topic in there somewhere about how this somehow mirrored many white Americans' evolving views of candidate Obama.) But there are some still some stragglers, whom I feel obligated to call out—in the name of improving the quality of political satire, of course. Not that good editorial cartoonists have to be good caricaturists: The Washington Post's Tom Toles, who is for my money the most original of the newsprint cartoonists, draws Obama like he has a bow tie stuck behind his head. But at least it kinda, sorta looks like him.

And then, there are the other versions: alien overlord Obama, the late Peter Jennings Obama, the black Vulcan Obama (above). Check them out. They are hilarious.

story and black Vulcan Obama via Mother Jones

Today is a Great Day

Here is one of the many things that truly delighted me today.



screen grab via Slog

The First Day of School for Sasha and Malia

Check out cute Sasha and Malia as they say so long to mum and dad and head to school for their first day. I love new school supplies so much so I'm a little jealous.

via Obama's Flickr

Day One

via TruthDig

Barack, You Really Are Great!

“You have more than earned the puppy that is coming with us to the White House.”

Now, can I have a puppy?


via Slog

The Last Poll

via TruthDig

Rest in Peace, Madelyn Dunham

According to CNN, Barack Obama's beloved grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, 86, died at home in Hawaii shortly before midnight on Sunday.

From this morning's New York Times:

His world is awash in powerful, conflicting emotions: the realization, presumably, that he may be about to become president; the huge optimism that he has unleashed, evident in the crowds he is drawing (and something he has told aides worries him a bit, given the expectations set for him); the weighty thinking he is gradually giving to how he would staff a government and deal with a transition in such a difficult time. All of this is taking place as a woman who played a large role in raising him, his grandmother, is approaching death.

Doug Mill's stunning photograph (above) accompanied the NYT article.


via Slog

Its No Secret That I Love the Obamas

But, damn, I kind of hate how constantly photogenic they are. Sheesh.

From The Huffington Post:
The Obamas' Greatest PDA Moments and The Obama Anniversary Album

From Time magazine, Callie Shell's gorgeous, thoughtful collection of Obama candids.

Please notice her notes and comments on each image. The photographs of Obama enjoying a solitary moment are particularly poignant.

Powell Endorses Obama

From The NYT:

WASHINGTON—Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president on Sunday morning as a candidate who was reaching out in a “more diverse and inclusive way across our society” and offering a “calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach” to the nation’s problems.

The endorsement, on the NBC public affairs program “Meet the Press,” was a major blow to Senator John McCain, who has been a good friend of Mr. Powell for decades. Mr. Powell, a Republican, has advised Mr. McCain in the past on foreign policy....

Powell, like many others, is concerned by the McCain/Palin supporters:

Mr. Powell, who is of the pragmatist camp and has been critical of the Bush administration’s conduct of the war, was said by friends in recent months to be disturbed by some of the neoconservatives who have surrounded Mr. McCain as foreign policy advisers in his presidential campaign.

This is great news for Obama. We're rapidly nearing the end of the campaign and there's no question that anything that comes from McCain at this point will be increasingly absurd and far fetched. Powell's endorsement will no doubt only boost Obama's already sizable lead.

The "Libertarian Conservative" has Successfully Reserved a Special Place in Hell for Himself

From Dan Savage, Slog:

Conservative blogger “”The Libertarian Conservative” created the above ad ..., and he says he’s only “doing exactly what the left is doing to Sarah Palin.” Yeah—remember how we lynched Sarah Palin? Good times. The bigoted blogger adds…

We’re at war folks, and I intend to fight this war until my dying breath. We’re at war against terrorists that want to destroy this country and everything it stands for and we are war against godless liberals who hate the very values and freedoms that this Nation was founded upon.

Well, the bigot blogger showed some restraint—he called lynching Obama “The Fucking Solution,” and not “The Final Solution.” Wouldn’t want to alienate those Jewish voters that McCain is gonna need in Florida.

Sure, McCain doesn't directly have anything to do with this hateful, disgusting, racist shit; but he sure isn't doing much to discourage it. This is utterly distressing.

image via Slog

Where are You, McCains?

Well, he is not in Montana. And he isn't on Capitol Hill. According to the WSJ, he is nowhere to be found:

Sen. Barack Obama, his running mate and his wife have appeared at twice as many events in swing states as their Republican counterparts, which may help explain the Democrat’s lead in many battleground-state polls.

In the five weeks since the fall campaign officially began, Sen. Obama, his wife, Michelle, and vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden have appeared at a total of 95 separate events in states that both sides are contesting.

Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have appeared at 55 events in those areas, with Cindy McCain, the nominee’s wife, adding only one more to the total, according to a Wall Street Journal tally based on schedules provided by the campaigns.

What He Said

Is anyone else experiencing some mild to moderate trepidation?

From The New Yorker's George Packer (emphasis is mine):

A number of people are afraid that the ugly tactics of the McCain-Palin campaign are going to incite violence, maybe assassination. Joe Klein, Andrew Sullivan, McCain’s former adviser John Weaver—even the ultimate sober-sided moderate David Gergen last night on CNN. I hope they’re wrong. It’s a big leap from hateful talking points and shouted epithets to vigilantism and the lone gunman. What’s undeniably true is that Republican rallies and the incendiary language of party leaders are stirring up the darker, destructive mob passions that have a long history in American politics. At the very least, the Republican ticket is making sure that, if Obama wins, he’ll be regarded as an illegitimate and dangerous President by thirty or forty per cent of the country.

Palin is too shallow to understand the weapon she’s playing with; she’s just thrilled to be the birthday girl and the object of so much semi-erotic devotion. But McCain knows better....

via Slog

Furthermore, not only does he know better, McCain is now attempting to control the wild, blood-thirsty beast he has created.

also via Slog

The Right-Wing Reacts to the Debate (Also, in Classic Nelson Muntz fashion: "Ha ha. Ha ha!")

Via Slog, the right-wing reaction to the debate, via The National Review:

Well I have gone outside and pulled up my Mcain/Palin sign. This election is over. I will vote for Mcain but I know that come Nov. 5 Obama will be our president-elect.

I feel sorry for Sarah Palin. A once promising career will be permanently connected to the landside loss of John McCain.

I weep for my children and their families.

The McCain-Obama Post-Debate "Handshake"

via Slog