Gymno

succumbing to peer pressure

Friday, September 26, 2008

Bald kitty update - one week later

From some angles you can hardly tell


Though still funny-looking, at least she looks less like an alien

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

I miss the West Wing

I know it's ridiculous and preaching to the choir and idealistic and exaggerated, but damnit, with a socio-political climate like this one, some days I just need to wrap myself up in Aaron Sorkin's world. The other side has Fox News, I have WW (even if the first link is via Dowd).

One in five children live in the most abject, dangerous, hopeless, backbreaking, gut wrenching, poverty, one in five, and they're children. If fidelity to freedom and democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely, the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says 'We shall give our children better than we ourselves had.' I voted against the bill 'cause I didn't want it to be hard for people to buy milk. I stopped some money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, I suggest you vote for somebody else.

This point can't be made strongly enough. People are constantly questioning just how much influence a president really has on an individual's daily life. Certainly, the answer to that question depends very much on the person, but in general, a president has numerous opportunities to make decisions that may greatly affect you.


Not included here, but one of my key points in an election cycle, is that a president also gets to nominate supreme court justices. Supreme court decisions have the potential to shape your life for decades. It does matter who the president is. It should matter to you.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Hey, I know that guy!

So I went to high school with a guy named Conor Knighton (he graduated the year after me). He was a talented kid in high school, and I knew he made a blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearance in this episode of Gilmore Girls, and hosted 'Google Current,' but I didn't get whatever cable channel that was on, so that was the extent of my knowledge. But he was invited back this spring to give the commencement address at our high school (GW always asks an alum to do the honors, which is why Jennifer Gardner gave the speech at my graduation) and Mom just recently passed the news story on to me, so I was nosing around on teh internets and am now sort of in love with InfoMania. It's kind of a The Soup or The Best Week Ever for a mishmash of pop culture and politics and technology news and I guess whatever else is entertaining the writers that week. Conor is clearly channeling Joel McHale, and while he isn't quite as awesome, it's a good goal to set. If you're a feministing reader you've probably already seen Sarah Haskins do her "Target Women" bit, which is pretty much always the highlight of InfoMania. Anyway, apparently hosting InfoMania gets you gigs on the Chelsea Lately Show and Showbiz Tonight. Way to go Conor!