Quote of the moment: Hillary Clinton

This quote about Hillary comes from Matt Taibbi, in his current Rollingstone article "The Battle for Iowa:"

"In person, Hillary sometimes comes across as a caricature of the modern career woman who's had to go too far to prove that she's tough enough to hang."

What do you think; fair or not?

Quote of the day: I hope he's lying

Update: It looks like I'm not the only one to find Bush's insistence of being ignorant on an important matter troubling. Salon.com's War Room blog asks:

What's worse -- the idea that George W. Bush continued to ratchet up his rhetoric on Iran after he was told in August or September that Iran may have halted its nuclear weapon program, or the idea that Bush was told then only that there was some kind of "new information" on Iran and didn't bother asking what that information might be?

The top story in the news today is the Bush administration's acknowledgment that Iran is not actively putting together nuclear weapons and Bush's press conference this morning. The national intelligence estimate (NIE) on Iran had been long delayed, presumably due to internal arguments over it's conclusions.

At the press conference this morning, Bush was asked why he was continuing the war-mongering remarks at Iran just weeks ago, as the NIE was being finalized. His response was he didn't know about the conclusion regarding Iran's not actively seeking nuclear weapons until last week. Another reporter followed up:

Q Mr. President, thank you. Just to follow, I understand what you're saying about when you were informed about the NIE. Are you saying at no point while the rhetoric was escalating, as "World War III" was making it into conversation, at no point nobody from your intelligence team or your administration was saying, maybe you want to back it down a little bit?

THE PRESIDENT: No, nobody ever told me that. Having said -- having laid that out, I still feel strongly that Iran is a danger. Nothing has changed in this NIE that says, okay, why don't we just stop worrying about it. Quite the contrary. I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace. My opinion hasn't changed.

This is a spectacular remark on so many fronts. The continuing insistence in light of evidence from his own administration shouldn't surprise anyone, but troubling all the same.

But what I think is most spectacular is the "No, nobody ever told me that." Huh? I hope and believe that he is lying here. As the intelligence community has been undoubtedly debating the conclusion regarding Iran's lack of a nuclear weapons program for many months, if not years. This isn't some random country we're talking about. This has been one of the big diplomatic focuses of this administration. And he just heard of this conclusion last week?

Certainly, it's not hard to believe that this president would lie to cover up another lie. "No, I really didn't know that the intelligence community is confident Iran hasn't been seeking nuclear weapons for four years when I was saying we were going to get into World War III." It kind of looks bad.

But, couldn't one say it looks worse that our president (and the rest of the administration) was pursuing a key foreign policy track based on incredibly false assumptions? (Hmmm, sounds familiar...) Oh wait, this incredible reversal from the intelligence community doesn't change a thing. He tells us right away, "My opinion hasn't changed." We can't let pesky facts get in our way. Especially when they may interfere with war and the threat of war.

Totalitarianism Today

Today, in the totalitarianism versus democracy match, we have a tie with single victories each.

• Chavez Loses Constitutional Vote - Washington Post, Dec 3, 2007

From the article:

President Hugo Chavez suffered a stinging defeat in a vote on constitutional changes that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely, the chief of National Electoral Council said Monday.

• Russian Voters Turn Out for Putin - Washington Post, Dec 3, 2007

From the article:

"Our result shows that voters gave their support not only to United Russia, but also to the course set by Vladimir Putin," Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the outgoing Duma and the head of United Russia, said on Russian television. "The elections were a referendum on Putin, and we can say he has won the first round."

Although 60 percent represents a major victory, it was still less than some in United Russia had expected and may leave the party with only marginally more seats in the next 450-seat parliament, according to early projections. But that would still be enough to change the constitution at will.

The presidential election will be held March 2, and the candidate Putin endorses is expected to sweep to victory. But the winner's power is likely to be constrained by Putin's enduring influence. Putin is constitutionally barred from serving three consecutive terms, but he could return in 2012, or sooner if the next president were to resign early. He has not said what role he will assume next year or whether he will seek to return to the presidency.

Know where your UFOs are

If some half-inebriated yahoo sees lights in the sky and has Internet access, you can find out here: UFO Maps

Quote of the day: "the most arrogant, incompetent administrations"

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is retiring next year and is feeling free with what he can say.

Though, he's always been independent-minded, he's still a Republican.

Honey Bunny Funnybunny and Skippyjon Jones

It should be no surprise that there is just as much variety in quality in kids books and movies as adults. There are definitely books and movies that I find annoying or objectionable. Veggie Tales for instance...

This week, Meredith brought home one such book. It's one of those "I can read it all by myself" Beginner Books (with the Cat in the Hat picture in the corner). It's called Honey Bunny Funnybunny* and is written by Marilyn Sadler.

The book follows the familiar theme of sibling rivalry. Honey Bunny Funnybunny has a big brother, named P. J., who is always picking on her. The narrator catalogs the transgressions:*

Every morning,
P. J. pulled the covers
off Honey Bunny's bed.

Sometimes he poured orange juice
on her cornflakes.
He liked to tie knots
in the sleeves of her pretty dresses.
He poured blue paint
in her yellow paint jar.
And yellow paint
in her blue paint jar.

He even switched the heads
on her dolls.

And every night at the dinner table
P. J. smashed mashed carrots
on poor Honey Bunny's head!

After dinner, he put
her favorite fuzzy bunny blanket
in the freezer.
At bedtime, he hid under her bed
and yelled, "Boo!"

The only place she feels safe is her room, but then he sneaks in the middle of the night and paints her face bright green. She tells on him.

Mr. Funnybunny was very angry.
He sent P. J. to his room.
"You are a very bad bunny!"
Mrs. Funnybunny said.

After that, things were different
at the Funnybunny house.

She's now able to eat her cereal with milk, not orange juice and her dolls keep there own heads, etc. She's happy at first, but sad that she doesn't have her brother's attention. She waits for all the opportunties he has to play pranks on her, but he doesn't do anything to her and she is "as sad as sad can be."

The next morning she wakes up and tells her mom that "P.J. doesn't love me anymore." Her mom assures her that her brother does love her and proceeds to lift Honey Bunny in front of the mirror where she sees that "her face was painted blue with yellow polka dots!"

"P. J. loves me!" she cried"
Honey Bunny Funnybunny
was very happy.

She ends the book by hugging her brother.

I have a few responses to this book. First and foremost, is this modeling healthy relationships? Kids that are younger take things quite literally. The only kind of attention that is possible is negative attention. The idea of an alternative is ignored, having the effect of denying its very existence. Add the fact that the victim is a girl just makes the potential message to girls that much clearer.

Like lots of books written in the 60s and 70s, there are political/social/gender messages that aren't squarely where I'd like them. With the reference of dolls' heads being switched, I figured this was written in 1967 or something like that. I was surprised to discover the book was actually first published in 1997. So the author thinks today's dolls and stuffed animals have detachable heads. She thinks that beginning readers understand irony, or she has some pretty messed up notions of what an acceptable relationship is.

The way that P. J. is admonished is another surprise in a book written within the last 10 years. "You are a very bad bunny!" his mother tells him. Today's parents get to hear from source after source that the more effective and less abusive message is "what you did was bad" or "you did a bad thing" versus "you are bad." A demand for an apology is usually more effective than punishment in the room. But, I for one, think a time-out in the room can be very effective.

Now, I don't get so riled up with these books that I don't read the them. I read them with enthusiasm. But maybe I roll my eyes and grit my teeth a little; and gently suggest alternative books. It's the same thing with Skippyjon Jones. (What's with these dumb, silly name books?) That book features a cat pretending to be a chijuajua fighting bean hording bandits in Mexico. The Spanglish-inspired book includes a lot of bean references and other Mexican food references. His alter-ego, "Skipito," makes words Spanish by adding Os to the end.

It's not that the book is offensive. (Though I am troubled that Skippyjon's mother resorts to name-calling when she's frustrated with him.) It's just that a four year-old will take this message to heart and think they can speak Spanish the same way, by adding Os. I know sometimes this might be effective, but you don't want to do it indiscriminately. Meredith is taking Spanish class. She's probably more likely to remember the lessons of this silly book than stuff from her daily class.

A post script. Apparently, First Lady wannabee, Michelle Obama, got to read Skippyjon Jones to a group of Iowa kids recently for the first time. Salon.com's Rebecca Traister humorously describes the scene in her recent article Michelle Obama gets real.

* Honey Bunny Funnybunny is copyright 1997 by Marilyn Sadler. It is partially quoted here for the sole purpose of providing a review.

Go Packers!

Thursday night is the big NFL game featuring the Green Bay Packers against the Dallas Cowboys. The game will be played in Texas.

The Cowboys are favored to win by 6 points. It should be a competitive and key game.

Not only is a potentially key game for the two best teams in the conference, but an opportunity for the Packers and Brett Favre to beat the Cowboys in their own stadium. Something that hasn't been done in 10 odd games in the last decade. In the 90s when the Packers were losing to the Cowboys over and over again, I thought the Cowboys played kind of dirty. That was through the eyes of an objective resident of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

At least they don't spy on opponents' coaching staff...


Showing some green and gold spirit!


A self portrait.

Quote of the Day: Rush

After reading Al Franken's Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot, I got my dose of the stupidity of what this blowhard says. What I find most distressing about Limbaugh is that it's so obvious he's not a true believer. He's in it for the money. He knows that this is something he's good at. I'd probably be less bothered if it was clear he actually thinks this stuff or had any sort of consistency.

Of course, what this ignores is the depressing fact that regardless of what he himself believes, millions of Americans listen to Rush every day. I try to not let that get me down.

One tries to ignore the crazy nonsense he spouts. But every once in a while he puts out a good one. Today, courtesy of Salon.com's War Room blog, is this doozy:

Rush Limbaugh declared Monday that Democrats are "unqualified to lead the nation" because they've been "proven wrong about the war in Iraq." "We cannot allow them off the hook on this," Limbaugh said. "We cannot allow history to be rewritten. "

Who needs the government for double-speak when guys like Limbaugh do it for free? I don't think Orwell even foresaw this.

Be nice to the missus, or pay up!

The Washington Post carries a story about the state of marriages in Japan and how new pension regulations may be leading to a dramatic increase in divorce. I have no knowledge on how marriages in Japan work, or whether the picture painted in this article is accurate, but it has a few eyebrow-raising quotes.

From a 60-something married woman:

"Up until my 60th birthday, he had not given me anything at all. But on my 60th, he sent me 60 flowers."

"There was only one time he said he loved me. And that time, he was standing behind me."

Learn to Be Nice to Your Wife, or Pay the Price

Mr. Lott retires

Former Republican Senate majority and minority leader, and currently number 2 in the Senate GOP caucus, announced today his retirement. It is effective by the end of the year.

Much has been made of the comments five years ago at Strom Thurmond's birthday that got him booted from the leadership by his former and eventual friends George Bush and Bill Frist.

What I think is more noteworthy is Lott's past in the Clinton impeachment mess and his ties to white supremacist groups throughout his career, into the 1990s. In 1998, there was a lot of attention paid to his ties to the Council of Conservative Citizens, which has been described by some as a successor to the KKK or also the "uptown KKK." Unfortunately, most of the media and public's attention was on Bill Clinton's personal flaws for the entire year.

The Southern Poverty Law Center documented Lott's and other Republican ties to the CCC in 1999. FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) documented Lott's career in race relations in 2006 when he returned to the Republican leadership.

Lott has reportedly been frustrated with the Bush administration's continuing boggling of the Katrina aftermath. (He lost his own home on the Gulf Coast.) But he claims they're all good friends and he is departing 1 year into his 6 year term because it is simply time.

Quote of the day: Fools

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

Douglas Adams

Website of the day

If you're looking to order some beautiful notecards, check out this site. It's a college friend of mine who does wonderfully-detailed, nature inspired work. It's different from anything else I've seen. Contact her accordingly to order the cards.

• Abigail Woods Anderson

Her site is under construction. You can see more of her work at MNArtists.org.