Palin - Crap

I have never (since 1992 as that's as long as I've been eligible to vote) voted for a Republican for President - so I have a .500 batting average, 2 winners and 2 losers. I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary (catching a whole lot of flak from my friends and colleagues in the process). Last night I was one of the Hillaryites (who knows where the media gets these names) who was wooed by Obama. And then McCain this morning announces Palin.

My husband says she's very conservative. He says, don't worry, in Utah it's not like your vote will matter in the Electoral College.

But here's the thing - she's a woman and I feel pretty powerfully that it's important to have women in these positions so that young girls feel like political leadership is an identity they could have. And after 220 years of white men (save the very rare or very non-viable exceptions), a woman in the vice presidency that's not in a movie is very appealing to me. My grandfather once told me that it was ridiculous to vote based on identity and that you should always vote on issues (except he's a white, anglo-saxon Protestant male whose ancestors founded the nation - and I pointed out to him that if everyone who ran for office looked like me too then maybe I could have that principled position - he told me to move to Mexico - not one of our better exchanges). And I do think we should vote on policies - but I am powerfully tempted here to vote for the evil old man who hates women (apparently in Arizona he referred to his wife as a pretty bad c-word) because of the role model effect.

And - she's a mother of five who went back to work 3 days after she had her last baby. She has a degree in journalism and political science and was a sportscaster for a while before she went into politics. Does that sound familiar?

Crap!

Ummm Okay

Welll - I'm in. Hook, line and sinker. I will vote for Obama and advocate for him and all sorts of the fun stuff for him. I sat here and watched his speech and I cried.

You know the thing is, I am a Democrat because I think it is too easy to be a Republican - I think they take all the easy positions - and I think we are better than that. That we need to appeal to our better natures and we need to earn this. And here's this guy who says, we're better than this.

So I'm in. My state won't be (as my previous post demonstrates quite clearly) but I will be.

God willing we can get rid of these greedy bastards...

History Proves Utah Wrong

I have heard, on any number of occasions in any number of venues, that Utah used to be a bipartisan state back before the evil Democrats switched their position on Abortion in 1980 or before they fell in love with Reagan in 1980 - anyway, I keep hearing that 1980 was the turning point.

Really? Below is the history of Utah's voting for Republicans for president. Um - when exactly was Utah Democratic? Before Reagan they voted well above a close race for Nixon and Ford. They ranked first in the nation for FORD! This is after there was a coup attempt by Utah Republicans to get Reagan on the ticket instead of Ford. So you see, even in the year that Utahns didn't really even like the Republican candidate, no other state voted for him more than Utah.

Please - just stop pretending you used to be good people who became Republicans because of the abortion issue - the Nixon election happened before abortion was even an issue and before the Equal Rights Amendment issue - you all are just Republicans. Acknowledge it. Own it. Just say - we love wealthy people better than poor people and there is no moral reason for it.

Jeesh!

1968: 57% for Nixon; rank of 3 for Republican
1972: 68% for Nixon, rank of 14 for Rep
1976: 62% for Ford, rank of 1 for Rep
1980: 73% for Reagan, rank of 1 for Rep
1984: 75% for Reagan, rank of 1 for Rep
1988: 66% for Bush, rank of 1 for Rep
1992: 43% for Bush, rank of 8 for Rep (Clinton vote was 50 rank)
1996: 54% for Dole, rank of 1 for Rep
2000: 67% for Bush, rank of 3 for Rep
2004: 72% for Bush, rank of 1 for Rep

My Baby

So today I was getting ready in the morning and it hit me that I'm a mom - like a role model of a mom. Not that it shouldn't have hit me much earlier - but there I was, getting dressed for work and putting on my make up and Lily was sitting right next to me with her hand on my knee watching every stroke of my make up brushes. I was thinking - kind of sadly - of how many times in the future we'll do this and when she'll want to use my make up and then she'll show me some new ways of applying it.

I love being the mom of a baby girl!

My Beautiful Puppy

Here is my Hobbes who is in his tenth year - you'll see the gray at his mouth and he has gray around his temple. He is very good with the Princess and she loves loves loves him.

Day at the Pool

Here we are - my family visiting my Utah family at their pool. Don't we look like a movie star family set against this backdrop of blue??

Juno

Okay - I've been a parent for a year, so shoot me for not having seen this movie yet. But holy shit, this was a good flick. Jennifer Garner was so understated and Jason Bateman was fabulous and the theme that she didn't want a baby but couldn't kill something that had finger nails.

Excellent soundtrack!

The Bronx

For all my friends in Utah who think the whole state of New York looks like a Sex and the City episode (or Manhattan) - here's a photo of the Bronx. Notice - trees. We're driving on the Major Deagon Expressway through the Bronx.

Smile - wink Mr. Eris