Parents are writing letters to toy companies asking them to stop targeting ads at kids. According to the AP story (link here to the USA today version),
The letter-writing initiative was launched by the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which says roughly 1,400 of its members and supporters have contacted 24 leading toy […]
I’ve heard some disgusting, appalling things on the news lately, but the story of shoppers trampling a man to death in their rush to get into a store and load up on cheap crap from China surpasses just about all of them. Man’s inhumanity to man I can understand, when the stakes are empires […]
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Posted 29 November 2008
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Economy
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That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the belly to have moist, succulent white meat but possibly to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageously oversalted drippings? Or to take arms against a sea of gravy troubles by roasting a dried-out bird unbrined? Either way, there will be tryptophan enough to […]
It looks like Mario Burgos is going to get his wish. In a post titled, “Obama, please take our governor,” my fellow New Mexican opines that we’d be better off without Mr. Richardson in the governor’s mansion. Maybe so, but will “Judas” Richardson be better off having to watch his back serving in […]
The other day on The View that brilliant analyst of social relations, Joy Behar, said that a lot of homeschooled kids are demented. The gaggle had been talking about the Obama girls going to the pricey Sidwell Friends school, and Joy said wouldn’t it be swell (she didn’t use the word swell, of course) […]
My grandmother, Betty Lou Heintz, nee Brown, would have been 87 years old today. She died nearly 18 years ago, when she was only 69. I realize that in the larger scheme of human history, 69 has more often than not been an impressive age to which to live. I, at 44, […]
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Posted 20 November 2008
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Personal
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Bookmarking stupid New York Times and Santa Fe New Mexican editorials that make me scream and want to write blog posts about, then not having the time to do it.
Trying to organize my desk and all my homeschooling papers. Organization shall set you free – except when you are a truly sick OCD sufferer […]
Before I had children, I had no concept of the power of a mother’s love. Truly, it can overcome almost anything. The example I am about to give is mundane, and many of you will laugh at me, but I’ll risk your ridicule and relate it anyway.
I am not afraid of snakes, or […]
In both senses, literal and figurative.
Literally, I’ve been down with a brutal stomach flu, hence no posts in the last few days. As luck would have it, my husband was out of town, so I was on my own with the kids, and pretty much let the three eldest run wild and trash the […]
Now I’ve seen it all. The New York Times (you know, that paper we right-wing morons are too stupid, closed-minded and bigoted to read) this morning featured an article by Jim Rutenberg entitled “Harsh Words About Obama? Never Mind Now.” His complaint? Those of us on the right who criticized candidate Obama […]
In your acceptance speech last night, Mr. Obama, you said, addressing those of us who did not vote for you, “I will be your president, too.” I was glad to hear you say it, as I had just been thinking to myself, I did not vote for you, but I congratulate you, wish you […]
Obamanos, for those of you outside the Land of Enchantment, has been the battle cry of New Mexico’s Obamanistas. It’s clever, I’ll grant them that. It’s clever; it’s slick; it’s hip — just like Obama himself.
As passionately as I wanted John McCain to win the presidency, I’m feeling remarkably tranquil in the wake […]
As of 8:27 p.m. Mountain Time, CNN.com has Obama and McCain neck and neck in the popular vote count: roughly 28.7 million (50%) for Obama and 27.6 million (49%) for McCain. The electoral count, however, isn’t close at all: 207 for Obama, 135 for McCain.
I well recall the fury of the left […]
Tonight was a long time coming. Seems like this election has been going on forever. Sort of like pregnancy; I always feel like that lasts about a decade and a half too. Maybe now that it’s almost over, I can actually blog about something other than politics.
I remember sitting glued to […]
On the assumption that the polls in 2008 will be more accurate than they were in 2004 or 2000, Paul Krugman writes in a New York Times op-ed piece:
What will defeat do to the Republicans?
You might think, perhaps hope, that Republicans will engage in some soul-searching, that they’ll ask themselves whether and how […]
A couple thousand years ago, give or take, the Romans turned to retired consul Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus when a war with their neighbors the Aequi turned particularly ugly. Cincinnatus, who was plowing his field when the senators found him, washed off the dirt, put on his toga, and returned to Rome. Once the […]
Once upon a time there was a lovely young co-ed called Goldilocks. She almost never read the newspaper because she couldn’t even get all the reading for her classes done, so when was she supposed to read the paper? She never watched TV news because what kind of loser watched the news when […]
and check out my guest blog on Swing State of Mind, the campaign blog of the Santa Fe Reporter. For my out-of-town friends, SFR is about as left-leaning as a newspaper can be, but in the interest of diversity, they asked me to be their token representative of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy in their […]
Why, oh why, can’t John McCain explain the economic facts of life in a way Joe the Voter can understand?
A woman with whom I’ve been on an e-mail list for years, a woman who describes herself as somewhere between Democrat and Republican, who has been non-political all the 8 years I’ve known her, […]
I almost quit blogging last week. So often I feel pressed for time, unable to find the time to write the kind of thoughtful posts I’d like to write, and unwilling to write too many of the sort of stream-of-consciousness quickie posts I can dash off between diaper changes and dinner prep. Other […]
Without a doubt, Jerome Block, Jr., is my favorite Democrat. Two years ago, Jeff Armijo held that title, but now it’s Block, hands down.
Of all the races for which the Republicans could neglect to nominate a candidate, they had to pick this one. On the other hand, if there was a Republican in […]
Senators McCain and Obama took turns doing stand-up at the Al Smith dinner earlier this evening, and while Senator Obama turned in a perfectly adequate performance, I have to say that McCain positively shone. I thought he did pretty well in the debate last night, but nowhere near as well as he did at […]
When I told people that Portia was sleeping through the night, I had a feeling I might jinx it. Sure enough, she woke up hungry at 3:30 this morning. If that had been the only nocturnal disturbance, it would have been okay, since she’s only three months old, and infants are expected to […]
Dave Maass of the Santa Fe Reporter was kind enough to e-mail me a link to his Swing State of Mind post a few days ago, since he knows I can get preoccupied with domestic disturbances (e.g., a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old in danger of killing each other) and forget to check the political blogs […]
I’ve finally gotten used to my progressive bifocals. At first I felt as though I’m walking in a pit, and they threw my depth perception off. I’m still careful backing out of parking spaces, but I don’t feel as disoriented as I did. Switching back and forth between the regular glasses and […]
Thanks to all who have checked the site looking in vain for new posts. This is the longest I’ve gone without posting since beginning. Multi-tasking is something I’m usually good at, but this week, not so much. Portia is sleeping through the night, God bless her, but I’m still unaccountably tired. It’s been a difficult […]
Naturally the man I hired to come do yardwork today didn’t show up. This happens quite often around here. I call a handyman or road grader or some other tradesman who placed an ad or put up a flyer and arrange to have him come do some work, then the guy doesn’t show. […]
All the talking heads on TV and online have analyzed the debate in all its myriad aspects by now, so what of earth-shttering importance can be added by a tired materfamilias who had to miss bits of the debate here and there because she wasn’t watching it through the DVR because the only way to […]
According to my blog’s stat program, the term “Caribou Barbie” is gaining on (but is still well behind) “I hate Kate Gosselin” and “Kate Gosselin shrew” in the keyword search sweepstakes, and poor old Jerome Block, Jr., is now a sad and distant third, eclipsed by two women other women love to hate. And […]
One reason I haven’t posted (besides the four ever-present reasons to whom I’ve given birth) is because I’m trying to fathom exactly what’s going on economically in our country. This crisis is huge, complicated and difficult to understand. It is so easy to manipulate statistics to paint one party or the other as […]
Some of you may be tired of hearing about Sarah Palin by now. I meant to take a break from writing about her, but when I read something as provocative as Cintra Wilson’s latest piece of character assassination at Salon.com, I just have to respond.
Wilson opens her diatribe “Pissed about Palin” with […]
Julia Goldberg at Swing State of Mind reported yesterday that Ira Gordon, operations manager of the broadcasting group that includes “Radio Free Santa Fe” (KBAC 98.1 FM) is running editorials immediately after every McCain ad the station airs, editorials that basically tell listeners not to believe what they just heard:
His editorial begins by noting that […]
In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook details the ways in which people today are materially so much better off than their grandparents were, and yet are no happier, and in many cases far more dissatisfied with their lives. We really are better off than our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents, and yet at the same […]
An easily offended reader comments on my post linking to a video parody of the Obama campaign imploding over the Palin surge:
That you think comparing Obama to Hitler is funny, even in a bad joke, says all that needs to be said about modern conservatism.
Another reader, a blogger who doesn’t want me to quote her […]
This is the tag line on the commercials Republican Steve Pearce is running in his race against Democrat Tom Udall for the U.S. Senate seat here in New Mexico. My favorite is the one on energy, where Pearce affirms that he is in favor of alternative energy sources (wind, solar, etc.) as well as […]
When I read this morning’s editorial in the Santa Fe New Mexican, I was treated yet again to a tirade about the Axis of Evil currently occupying the White House. This morning’s dose of Bush-bashing concerned oil:
Bogus baying about “ending dependence on foreign oil” is about all the politically bankrupt party of the president […]
First I laughed, and then I felt depressed when I read in the New Mexican this morning the story of a pair of fifty-something morons from New Mexico who were arrested in New Jersey on Tuesday for possession of three pounds of marijuana. I couldn’t find the story online at the New Mexican, but […]
I still haven’t ascertained who coined the nickname Caribou Barbie for Sarah Palin, but it’s spreading through the cyberworld like wildfire. Already on Sept. 3 Wonkette was using the term as though it was nothing new, though I haven’t found any earlier occurrences. The name is actually quite clever. Sexist and demeaning, but clever. […]
Finally, a non-political post. What finally dragged my attention away from the most riveting presidential race in decades? Those little bugs that swarm around overripe bananas, that’s what. I don’t know what you call them. I’m sure a web search for “those little bugs that swarm around overripe bananas” would tell me, but I’m trying really […]
I’m used to having my intelligence insulted when reading the morning paper, but this morning’s assault was not of the garden variety. In the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s stunning convention speech, the opposition has gone nuclear.
Rosa Brooks, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, writes in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles […]
A friend e-mailed me with the following comment on one of my recent posts about Sarah Palin:
I don’t want to post a comment because I don’t want to appear that I’m against the McCain/Palin ticket, which I’m not. I think Sarah Palin is great, and I don’t think she’s a bad mother because her […]
When I wrote the other day that I wished we Republicans had someone who could pack a Reaganite rhetorical punch, who could charm a crowd the way Bill Clinton does for the other side, I didn’t realize my prayer was about to be answered.
When I advocated a McCain-Palin ticket back when people thought I was […]
This comment was posted to my most recent blog entry:
Reading the exchange you and Slackonomics author Lisa Chamberlain had about the challenges of parenting (and noting that you haven’t had much time to blog because of the needs of your own children), I’m curious what you think about Gov. Palin campaigning for - and possibly […]
I’ve been dying to blog for days, but family matters have prevented it. As it is I’m supposed to be out the door with all my kids in half an hour, and I’m probably not going to make it — at least not with everybody’s hair fixed.
I try to keep a balance on this […]
Is it just me, or does it seem like Bill Clinton is the only one having a really good time at the Democratic National Convention? He was cheerful as all get-out before Hillary’s speech, leaning in close to the good-looking redhead sitting next to him, chatting her up and giving her both barrels […]
When I mentioned the other day that I wouldn’t want to see McCain choose Condoleeza Rice as as his running mate, it was because she says the kind of thing she’s been saying a lot since the Russians invaded Georgia. My initial reaction to all the the Secretary of State’s “Russia must withdraw from […]
It has become a commonplace in American political discourse to lament the number of people who do not vote, and to see increased voter participation as a panacea for our political problems. I beg to differ. There are already enough ignorant, ill-informed people voting as it is. We need more like we […]
Google “Sarah Palin Vice President” and you’ll be amazed at the number of links the search generates. Those of you who are hard-core political blog junkies already know this, but those of my readers who visit Moralia for my non-political posts may not know much about this young (for a politician) woman who is […]
I was absolutely blown away by the number of hits this blog got after I posted my “Lazy shrew and breeder pig” post. I had no idea how many people Google the Duggars and the Gosselins. Especially the Gosselins. Especially Kate Gosselin, whom people (mainly women, from what I can see) apparently […]
Last week’s installment of Tantri Wija’s weekly column in the food section of the New Mexican, “Bacon is the New Black,” was particularly clever, skewering the food-trendiness of recent decades “with chefs stacking tiny little squares of shaved daikon radish and beef carpaccio atop one another in artistic towers that look like hats from Fellini […]