I was constantly distracted by two things: the shockingly choppy editing, and Gibson’s profoundly inquisitorial demeanor.
It wasn’t just his game face, and the peering over the eyeglasses (he gave new meaning to the expression “looked down his nose at her”). It was his remarkable condescension: “I got lost in a blizzard of words…” That crack sounded more like one side of a couple’s quarrel overheard in a restaurant than the statement of a neutral interviewer. Continue reading →
Why do we have to choose? I vote both.
I hadn’t been following the women’s movement all that closely since its relatively sedate days of “equal pay for equal work.” Yes, I knew that at some point rather long ago it had been taken over by a radical fringe on the Left with some zany ideas that had turned off the vast majority of women—and men—and had given the movement a bad name. But I had no idea.
Repeat, shouting: I HAD NO IDEA!
The nomination of Sarah Palin has acted as a sort of plaque discloser for the display of a fulminating rage which until now I had assumed was directed by these activists solely (and all too often inappropriately) towards the men they felt had oppressed, assaulted, and otherwise done them wrong. Continue reading →
It’s been seven years since 9-11.
Seven years, a Biblical number. I’m not sure whether they were seven lean years or seven fat ones on the whole. But one thing I do know is that they’ve been seven astonishing and gripping ones.
Things I never imagined back on September 11, 2001:
—That we would not be attacked again within the next seven years.
—That a mere seven years later, the attacks would seem as though they happened a very long time ago.
—That I would end up admiring a great deal about George Bush.
—The growth of the blogosphere, and my place in it.
—The widening and increasingly bitter divisions in our country.
—A war that would open up the wounds of the Vietnam era and teach me to reconsider things I thought I already knew.
—That I’d ever vote for a Republican President, and even volunteer to help elect one.
—So many readers who would enrich my life immeasurably.
[This is a slightly edited version of a piece first published two years ago.]
Does it seem as though seven years have passed since that dreadful day of the stunningly blue sky, the orange flames, the plumes of grey-black smoke? Continue reading →
It turns out that having a Walmart in the neighborhood is associated with a slight weight loss in the surrounding population.
Researchers are at a loss (pun intended) to determine the reason this might be. But their guess is that a Walmart frees up part of the income of people who are pressed for money, allowing them to buy more fruits and vegetable and other healthful items.
I beg to differ. Even though the study reports that a Walmart leads to decreased exercise, I still think exercise might be the key. My theory is that whatever the decrease in other exercise reported in the study (and I assume activity level was not measured, but was based on self-report), it left out one extremely important factor: the exercise involved in shopping in a Walmart itself.
Think about it—have you been in one lately? I have. Those babies are huge.
To score any item usually involves a hike that amounts to more exercise than many people in America get in an average day. And that doesn’t even count the getting lost part, which is practically obligatory in a Walmart.
Remember that Saturday Night Live sketch about the size of Walmarts? I rest my case:
Greeter #1: Hi! Welcome to Wal-Mart!
Greeter #2: I know I say this to you every day.. but I still can’t get over how big this Wal-Mart is!
Greeter #1: I knowwwww! It’s too big!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: I knowww!
Greeter #2: I knowww! The whole town is this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: I knowww! It has too many things!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: This store has to be at least eight city blocks! I mean, that is about 500 miles of store!
Greeter #2: I know! This Wal-Mart is as big as 250 Rite-Aids!
Greeter #1: I knowww! Thank God we work near the door! Otherwise, we’d never be able to get out! Continue reading →
In all the verbiage about McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin versus Obama’s rejection of Hillary, one especially important point is what it says about the judgment of both candidates.
On the face of it, Obama’s choice of Biden seemed “safe.” That was the word bandied about when it was announced. John McCain’s selection of Palin was “risky.” This would seem to indicate that Obama has better judgment, right?
But that’s not the way it’s been playing so far. Continue reading →
An election is a snapshot, a single poll taken on a particular day. Opinions, on the other hand, are in flux.
Part of Obama’s good luck so far has been his timing. Continue reading →
Obama recently compared his own executive experience favorably to Palin’s. He’s run a big campaign, he said, and she was mayor of a small town.
This conveniently leaves out a few details—that he has a campaign manager, and that her most recent job description was actually governor. But let’s just take him at his word for a moment and see how that campaign of his is actually going right now. Continue reading →
And here we were thinking it was actually a trash-talking, spectacle-wearing, pregnancy-concealing, former beauty queen/sportcaster pistol-packin mama named Sarah Palin.
But no; it’s really George Bush [see link’s last paragraph for the revelation].
To be more precise, John McCain’s running mate is actually George Bush hidden in a Trojan Moose [see title of above link].
Perhaps this one?:
Or is it this one?
[See also this. Since this particular tempest is about economics, I’ll not weigh in myself.]
Cries that the Democrats have engaged in sexism towards Palin are not misplaced. Palin is also hated for her social conservatism—even by feminists, who acknowledge she’s a woman, but a woman from the wrong side of the issues.
But perhaps even more important to many liberals is that she’s a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. Or at least, that’s the way she’s been perceived. Continue reading →
