Billary

I have nothing to say about this photo...I just saw it and really, really wanted to post it somewhere.

The Groucho Letters

The best thing to happen to me in the last 24 hours was coming home to a lovely little Valentine's package in the mail from my, well, valentine. In it were many wonderful things, including the book, THE GROUCHO LETTERS. I first heard about this book from my friend Jackie's blog, A Felid Influence, and have fantasized about thumbing its pages ever since. Now that I've got my own copy I can whole-heartedly exclaim that it is indeed the best bound ink and paper I've come across in a long time. There are so many excerpts worth sharing; here's just two of the many:

To his son, Arthur...

...We received your wire at eight Thursday morning and read that you were in a hotel at Seabright, swollen up with mumps...According to your wire, you are resting well and are being taken care of by a nurse. I hope she is beautiful and that she has red hair. I don't know why, but whenever I dream of a nurse she always has red hair. Red hair makes a man want to recover his health quickly, so that he can get on his feet and the nurse off hers.

Love,
Padre

Dear Katie and Arthur:

Your announcement that your daughter Jane is marrying an obscure quack named Heimlich on June 3rd saddened me considerably. I've had my eye on Jane for a long time and always hoped that some day you would wind up as my in-laws. Well, she made her choice--one that, I believe, she will ultimately regret. With me, each day would have been 24 hours of gaiety and laughter; with Heimlich she will have a life of viruses, vaccines, surgical instruments and rubber gloves. Only time can decide whether she made the right decision. Even though I am a bitter, disappointed and disillusioned man I send them both my heartiest congratulations.

Best,

Groucho

So while I'm off to enjoy the rest of this wonderful book, here's an even more wonderful clip of Groucho and the rest of the crew in The Cocoanuts:

Saturday Night Lineup

Getting to know your Chicago neighborhoods, Part 2.

My First Caucus

When I arrived at my caucus location at the National Guard Armory at 200 N. Iowa around 6:20pm I got in line and waited with hundreds of other excited Democrats. It was cold and drizzling rain and the ground was soup.



I happened to run into our former KJHK General Manager Andy Dierks while waiting to get in. He was the only person I recognized there...most of my friends were attending the madness and mayhem at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds, which was the caucus site for all the neighborhoods around the KU campus.



There were lots of kids there, which I think is great. I'm in my mid-20s and have never stepped foot inside any sort of primary or caucus...these kids were witnessing the process in between their coloring activities. Good for them.



There were impassioned Obama supporters taking up the majority of the space:



And dedicated Hillary fans in their own corner:



But, best of all, there was a KUCINICH TRAIN weaving in and out of everyone!



I made it through the madness!



Afterwards, I met up with my fellow OBAMA MAMAS for some Super Tuesday margaritas and watched the returns on the television in the restaurant:



Lastly, here's Melissa's brother, Chris, making his Ron Paul face:

Twitter Tuesday

This is amazing...Google Maps has teamed up with Twitter and TwitterVision for the day to make a Super Tuesday map.

Twitter is a site that acts like the status updates you can do on Facebook or MySpace. Basically, as people send in their status updates, it pops up on the map and Google has put a filter in to catch only caucus/primary-related entries. So we can read what's going on at voting locations all over the country in real time. Amazing!



Here's a few entries that I spied while at work (KS caucus doesn't start til 7pm. Need something to do!)

alecsarkas in Pittsburgh, PA: "Hillary said she was true blue today after being asked her party affiliation by a poll worker! I love it!"

musicbizkid in Nashville, TN: "Beautiful day in Nashville, and my polling station was empty as it could be. Voted at 10am local, but it was empty at lunchtime, too."

smartgoat in Yukon, OK: "Heading out to vote for Obama. Looking forward to doing it again in Nov."

mari_posa in Oakland, CA: "The elderly poll worker gave me the thumbs up and said, "GOOD JOB!" when I put my ballot in the box...voting's fun!"

SOOPER DOOPER TOOSDAY!

Turns out I might be able to get out of work after all and go caucus here in Lawrence!



If you live in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, or Utah...get out and vote!

I believe him

Well, Groundhog's Day is here and that hot betch Punxsutawney Phil says there's going to be 6 more weeks of winter. Maybe I'm pessimistic or perhaps I don't like to get my hopes up...but I believe him. No way is this terrible winter going to let up any time soon.

Actually as I type this, the weather is predicted to be 58 degrees in the KC-area on Monday. But still!

You're so right, P.P. I'm with you, dhog.

Yo MTV Flats

If you're moving to Chicago, make sure you get to know the neighborhoods.

The Baby Primary

Came across this adorable interview on APM's Weekend America (and accompanying article on Slate.com) of New Hampshire resident Darren Garnick's attempt to get his 5-month-old daughter, Dahlia, photographed with every Presidential candidate visiting his home state during the primary earlier this month.

This little gal might be the Punxsutawney Phil of the Presidential race. Her reactions are very telling:

"The baby is only 7 weeks old at this point, and Obama notices. 'Ooooh, a new one!' he exclaims with an enthusiasm that seems genuine. I hand Dahlia across the yellow police tape and remember that Obama has two young daughters. He knows what he's doing."


"Rudy declares that 'Dahlia is a real doll,' and within seconds she starts to squirm and screech in his arms. I ask for one more photo, but Rudy's done. He's panicky. He obviously doesn't want the crying baby to become a metaphor for the world he is about to take over."


"Dahlia is extremely comfortable in Sen. McCain's arms and stares up at him in adoration. For two seconds. Following the same pattern as her meeting with Giuliani, Dahlia starts to cry. McCain is unfazed, however. 'There goes another vote!' he jokes."


"...she does have some of the nicest, warmest volunteers. One guy even offered his sport jacket as an extra blanket for the baby. Dahlia was already cozy in her fleece coat, but this is the kind of chivalry missing from the Giuliani camp. During a pleasant exchange with Hillary from across the Secret Service barricades, I notice that the baby's tush is slightly damp. The fact that Hillary doesn't mention it suggests that she's either diplomatic or has no control over her senses. I hope she uses Purell."


"Mitt foolishly declares he can't tell if Dahlia's a boy or a girl. I agree that her bald head might throw you off the gender trail, but would any self-respecting dad put his boy in socks like [those]? Upon verification of her Double-X chromosomes, Mitt declares she's a 'sweetie.' I can't tell if Dahlia is charmed or not, but I don't have the heart to tell her that Romney says that to all the 5-month-old girls."


"Before melodramatically telling the audience that he used to live in a car, Kucinich seemed flattered to pose for a picture. Even though I'm personally right-of-center, consider me a reluctant fan."

I love McCain's reaction...nice quick comeback to Dahlia's crying, and the look on his face is priceless. Giuliani could possibly be Satan himself, so kudos to the baby for her terrific gut instincts. Speaking of Satan, Mitt Romney's plastic face scares the crap out of me; I'm surprised Dahlia didn't mistake it for a teething toy. Hillary looks natural, of course, and the baby looks calmed by seeing a woman's face (you know, politics aside, you do have to admit that for 60, Hillary's really not all that bad looking. I know there are goofy pictures of her floating around the internet, but most of us would consider ourselves lucky to age as well as she has.) Kucinich's smile is cute...perhaps he should spend his new-found free time making babies with his hot mama of a wife.

But Barack, oh, Barack! Look at how beautifully he cradles that baby in his arms! Even though Dahlia's father, the author of the article, claims to be Republican, how can you not be completely swooned by that?? I'm in love.

Anyway, I couldn't find much historic info as to where the whole "politician kisses baby" thing comes from, except for the obvious answer that it shows a sensitive side to the potential leader and assures us that they care about the future generation. According to Wikipedia, it originated during the Jacksonian democracy.

Whatever the case, I'll hold faith in a toddler before I'll ever hold faith in a politician.

Eeny-meeny miney mo...!

With Super Tuesday approaching, I realize I need to make a decision on this whole nomination parade quick. Hillary or Obama, Hillary or Obama, Hillary or Obama?

These are the platform issues that I am most passionate about, in no particular order:

• getting out of the war in Iraq
• expanding gay rights to include, at least, civil unions
• creating a universal health care system
• protecting women's right of pro-choice

Here's a brief summarization of each candidate's stance that I found at ontheissues.org:

Iraq
Obama: Hopes to remove all troops from Iraq by 2013, but no pledge. (Sep 2007)
Clinton: Push Pentagon to start planning for Iraq withdrawal. (Aug 2007)

Gay Rights
Obama: Voted NO on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
Clinton: Positive about civil unions, with full equality of benefits. (Aug 2007)

Health care
Obama: Believes health care is a right, not a privilege for the few. (Sep 2004)
Clinton: "I want to be the health care president." (Sep 2007)

Abortion
Obama: Supports Roe v. Wade. (Jul 1998)
Clinton: "Keep abortion safe, legal and rare." (Jan 1999)

They're pretty much the same on each of these issues, which is why this is such a tough choice for me. I don't really like Hillary's personality so much and how she's using dirty tactics and low blows to attack Obama, and also a history of things like this is a concern. But I do like her experience level as a politician and her enthusiasm for universal healthcare and ending the war quickly.

I think Obama is very charming, smart, passionate, and will be a new and refreshing type of leader. I like that he was a civil rights lawyer and he's very persistent on how ridiculous it is to deny gays equal rights. I worry that he's not experienced enough, and I've watched Hillary make him look like a little boy during the debates...if he can't stand up to her, how will he stand up to rest of the world?

In the end though, my stepmother, DEMOCRAT EXTRAORDINAIRE, actually said that if Hillary wins the nomination, she will be voting Republican this year. The image of that is seriously unfathomable to me. Not to say I can't stand up to the influences of others, but if you knew how hardcore my stepmother is about the Democratic party, you'd be nervous about voting for Hillary too.

I'm declaring BARACK OBAMA as my choice for the Democratic nomination...but if Hillary wins it, I'll still vote for her too.

Etch-a-sketch portraits from Etchasketchist's photostream on Flickr. Pretty amazing stuff, check him out.