faboo mama

That’s why I’m ignoring you.  Well, that and the fact that I couldn’t access a damn self-hosted of MU Wordpress blog for the past week or so.  Craptastic stupidity I tell you!

Anyway, I still don’t have much to blog about.  My sister and family have gone back to France.  I got a new phone. I’m crackdicted to plurk. And I still need to use my plane tickets in the next 3 weeks.

To make it worse, nothing of interest has happened politically in like 3 weeks. Not a damn thing.

I’m bored.

I want these fools to pick their running mates already so that I can start mocking the bad choice.  I think that McCain is going to go with Gov. Crist, just based on his most recent stupid shallow comments on
what his VP should look like.  And now that I’ve found that Gov. Crist has gotten engaged to his beard, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a quick wedding before the end of August.

Other than that it’s all McCain saying something stupid, the media ignoring it, McCain surrogate saying something stupid, media almost ignoring it…Media is obsession on how to cover Obama says a lot more about their inherent ignorance and racism than any of the stupid articles from the spring could have.

So, blah, blah, blah….I’ll probably post some of my silly 12seconds.tv clips out of boredom.

ABC Action News is reporting that 3 Florida Delegates are suing the DNC.

“This litigation addresses the view of Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee that 1.75 million Democrats can be ignored at will,” said Geller. “We believe we’ve found a winning legal strategy that will once and for all force the DNC to not only obey its own rules but to listen to the voices of millions of Democrats in one of the most influential states in the nation.”

My response below:

Or ‘We’re Going Back to the White House One Way or Another’:

In an interview with People Magazine, the former president said he thinks his daughter is a natural campaigner who may one day follow her parents into the family business.

“If you asked me [whether Chelsea would go into politics] before Iowa, I would have said, ‘No way. She is too allergic to anything we do.’ But she is really good at it,” the former president said in the latest edition of the magazine. (Political Ticker)

I have a feeling that Bill would freeze his head and attach it to a machine if that meant he got to get back into the White House.  What we’re looking at is a megalomaniac person who shot his wad way too early and regrets it.

You’ve probably heard that the California Supreme Court has overturned the ban on gay marriage (YAY!) and since it’s an election year, we get to hear what the candidates said. I think that the LGBT community will appreciate Obama’s statement:

Barack Obama has always believed that same-sex couples should enjoy equal rights under the law, and he will continue to fight for civil unions as President. He respects the decision of the California Supreme Court, and continues to believe that states should make their own decisions when it comes to the issue of marriage.

Did you hear it? Ha! It was loud, huh?

Sweet.

Back at the nursing home, McCain babbled something into the speakerbox:

John McCain supports the right of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution sanctioning the union between a man and a woman, just as he did in his home state of Arizona. John McCain doesn’t believe judges should be making these decisions.

Uh…the only problem is is that the CA Surpreme Court was responding to a suit. How the hell can a decision be made in a suit without the judges?

John McCain = nitwit.

NARAL endorsed Sen. Obama today and in bizarro world that made EMILYs List mad.  They went and played the Evan Bayh card:

“I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton — who held up the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade — to not give her the courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process,” said Emily’s List president Ellen Malcolm. “It certainly must be disconcerting for elected leaders who stand up for reproductive rights and expect the choice community will stand with them.”

You got that? Malcom, president of EMILYs List, is mad that NARAL chose to give an endorsement as things are winding down.

<blank stare>

Are you kidding me?

Maybe Ms. Malcom forgot why EMILYs List is around. Their stated goal is to help underfunded and unknown female pro-choice politicians get elected. Besides being female and pro-choice, exactly how was Clinton underfunded and unknown? Did NARAL put out a statement shaming EMILYs List for not living up to their mission statement?

It’s bullshit like this that makes me glad that I stopped donating to EMILYs List.

This morning, I woke up still pissed at the farce that happened in Philadelphia last night. As I mentioned in my previous post, there was nothing of substance touched on in the two hour commercial laden gang up on Sen. Obama last night. I see Clinton supporters who whined when Obama and Edwards “ganged” up on Clinton in New Hampshire, actually say that last night’s debates were fair and refreshing. Yeah…for the GOP. The comments on ABCNews website has reached over 14000 and most of them were negative. The blogosphere is abuzz with the Disaster in Philadelphia and even the MSM is collectively shaking its head.

Over at Booman Tribune, StevenD did the hard work I was just starting; going through the transcripts to summarize last night’s quesions:

1. Will you offer loser the VP - Gibson (G)
2. Obama’s “bitter” comment - G
3. Can Obama beat McCain (to Clinton) – Stephanopoulus (S)
4. Can Clinton win (to Obama) – S
5. Wright question (to Obama) – G
6. Wright question (to Clinton) – G
7. Several Wright questions (to Obama) – S
8. Why don’t people trust you/ Tuzla question (to Clinton) – S
9. Has Clinton been truthful (to Obama) – S
10. Flag question/patriotism (to Obama) – G
11. Flag question/patriotism/Ayers (to Obama) – S
12. Questions on Plan to get out of Iraq (to both) – G
13. Iran questions re attack on Israel (to both) – S
14. Economy questions (Will you raise taxes?) (to both) - S
15. Raise Capital Gains Tax questions (to both) – G
16. Soc. Sec. Taxes (to Obama) – G
17. Guns/2nd Amend. Questions (to both) – G
18. Affirmative Action question (to both) –S
19. Gas Prices/Energy policy questions (to both) – G
20. How would you use Dubya as advisor/other role (to both) – G
21. Undecided Superdelegate question (to both) – G

Do you see anything of any importance to the average American there? It wasn’t until about maybe 90 minutes into the 2 hour debate that George Stephanopolous said:

Let me turn to the economy. That is the No. 1 issue on Americans’ minds right now.

Then it was about taxes and we got to learn that Charles Gibson who proved his cluelessness on income levels of professors back in January, told us that people making $200K a year were middle class. We were also subjected to Gibson’s elitism that the average American cares or will be affected by captial gains tax. Gibson acts as if these debates were his personal interview with the candidates and screw the rest of us, he spent an inordinate amount of time debated Obama, while letting Clinton’s answers slide. He failed, once again, as a moderator.
Charles Gibson, also decided that editorializing was fair game. In a question regarding guns directed toward Sen. Clinton he said:

GIBSON: Well, with all due respect, I’m not sure I got an answer from Senator Obama, but do you still favor licensing and registration of handguns?

This was minutes after Obama had, in fact, answered the question and Clinton and Stephanopolous had a back and forth. It could be that Gibson’s inherent and obvious dislike of Obama denied him the ability to hear anything the Senator said. Maybe it’s the simple fact that when you keep interrupting a person when they’re trying to answer you, it proves that you’re not really listening.

I mentioned in my previous post that this debate was such a joke that it had me agreeing with Jonah Goldberg. No one makes me agree with Goldberg without reprecussions. Last night, Tom Shales posted on Washington Post an article titled: In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC. I recommend you read the entire article, but let me share you some snippets:

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.

snip

Obama was right on the money when he complained about the campaign being bogged down in media-driven inanities and obsessiveness over any misstatement a candidate might make along the way, whether in a speech or while being eavesdropped upon by the opposition. The tactic has been to “take one statement and beat it to death,” he said.

No sooner was that said than Gibson brought up, yet again, the controversial ravings of the pastor at a church attended by Obama. “Charlie, I’ve discussed this,” he said, and indeed he has, ad infinitum. If he tried to avoid repeating himself when clarifying his position, the networks would accuse him of changing his story, or changing his tune, or some other baloney.

snip

To this observer, ABC’s coverage seemed slanted against Obama. The director cut several times to reaction shots of such Clinton supporters as her daughter, Chelsea, who sat in the audience at the Kimmel Theater in Philly’s National Constitution Center. Obama supporters did not get equal screen time, giving the impression that there weren’t any in the hall. The director also clumsily chose to pan the audience at the very start of the debate, when the candidates made their opening statements, so Obama and Clinton were barely seen before the first commercial break.

Newsday writes:

The morning after the latest Democratic debate, the talk doesn’t seem to be about which candidate — New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Illinois Sen. Barack Obama — would make a more-formidable foe to run against Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.

The talk seems to be about which of the two ABC News moderators — Charles Gibson or George Stephanopoulos — did the worst job, which one was sillier in Philadelphia.

Will Bunch wrote an open letter to the two hosts of last night’s debacle:

With your performance tonight — your focus on issues that were at best trivial wastes of valuable airtime and at worst restatements of right-wing falsehoods, punctuated by inane “issue” questions that in no way resembled the real world concerns of American voters — you disgraced my profession of journalism, and, by association, me and a lot of hard-working colleagues who do still try to ferret out the truth, rather than worry about who can give us the best deal on our capital gains taxes. But it’s even worse than that. By so badly botching arguably the most critical debate of such an important election, in a time of both war and economic misery, you disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself. Indeed, if I were a citizen of one of those nations where America is seeking to “export democracy,” and I had watched the debate, I probably would have said, “no thank you.” Because that was no way to promote democracy.

And that’s just a small sampling. You know it’s bad when USAToday, the tabloid that seems to focus of the news of 8 months ago, has a current roundup of criticisms on their pages.

You’ll note the recurrent themes. The candidates themselves were mere props on the stage. To ask who won or lost last night’s “debates” is to ask the wrong question. Neither candidate shined, though the focus group said that Clinton one. Odd one that, since the only time they responded really postively toward her was when she told a joke that didn’t sound scripted. Naturally, the Clinton’s are using that clip as a promo piece. Otherwise, a simple scanning of the transcripts show that Obama’s answers to the most inane questions were intelligent and clear. The focus group responded overwhelming positive to his answers, so it was curious that only 5 of the 22 people thought he won the debate.

It has been estimated that over 10M watched last night’s debates, making it the most watched debate this season. 10 million Americans who care what the next President of the United States has to say and as StevenD mentioned, they didn’t touch on any of the important questions:

Global Warming, New Orleans Reconstruction, Health Care, Veterans Benefits (New GI Bill or Health Benefits), Defense Spending, National Debt, Trade Issues, Environmental issues (not about global warming), Regulatory Agency scandals and problems, Financial markets, Worldwide Food Crisis, Darfur, Pakistan, Somalia, North Korea, NATO, Russia, China, Nigeria, Venezuela, Drugs, Unemployment, Mortgage crisis, Bush administration Crimes and Scandals, Torture, Guantanamo Bay and other detention facilities, Loss of Civil Rights (Electronic surveillance, FISA, Habeas Corpus), Infrastructure issues, Gay Rights, Race (except as it came up re: Reverend Wright), Immigration

Last night’s debate forces us the understand how vested the powers that be are in keeping us uninformed. They say that Americans are turned off of politics, it was the disgusting behaviors of the two “moderators” that turn us off, not necessarily the candidates themselves. ABC, once again, put on a show for the corporate masters and the rest of us could only watch from the cheap seats.

I took a day to rearrange some things on my blog (did ya notice?) and all kinds of political stuff happens; passports, McCain says something wrong about Iraq, Sen. Clinton only has $3m cash-on-hand vs. Obama’s $30m…Bill-flippin’-Richardson endorsed Obama, the Clinton’s campaign immediately calls him ‘insignificant’…

Man…I don’t even know where to start.  To make it even worse, Chris-freakin’-Wallace of all people take his Fox buddies to take for bashing Obama  AND Mark-friggin’-Halperin actually listed facts about the Clinton campaign in post today.  What’s up with that?  I’m scared to poke around more in case Bill O’Reilly actually said something today that made sense.

At the rally on Sunday, some lady stole the sign that was for my daughter.  My kid was pretty upset.  I was at my coffeeshop this morning and some Obama volunteers came in to pick up coffee.  I asked for a sign and they gave me this one.

So, I guess we’re Latino for the day.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHEO_fG3mm4&rel=1&border=1]

This was done by will.i.am after he was inspired by Sen. Obama’s NH concession speech.

How could I blog on a day like today? It was in the mid-70s with clear blue skies and the Doo Dah Parade was on! If my photo album is any indication, the last time we went to the Doo Dah parade I was 3 months pregnant with my oldest. So, when I found out that the cancelled Doo Dah parade was back on, I knew that Jan. 20th where I would be.

It’s been so long since I’ve gone to a parade that I forgot the main rule: Bring a chair. Ack! We got to Old Town around 11am and the parade was set to start around 11:30. I usually watch from the beginning, but since we parked near the end of the route, we went for something new. The first thing that alerted Alton to the fact that this wasn’t just a regular day was the requisite fighter planes flying over the parade route:

That got their attention. The planes flew over the route doing tricks probably 4 or 5 times. The kids thought it was cool. I was waiting for plane bits to rain down on my head. Speaking of the kids:

Too cute! Oh, before I get into this, you can see more of my photos in my Doo Dah Parade set. My blog loads too slow already, so I’m not going to load this down with too many photos.

The Doo Dah Parade is in Pasadena, which seems to be synonymous with “liberal” to many people, I’d have to agree. In fact, I always thought “liberal white guilt” was some stupid right wing phrase before I actually hung out in Pasadena. Those Boomers…wow! Anyway, it is pretty liberal and the politics do come out in the parade. The parade opened with lots and lots of people on bikes:

One of the first entries is the Los Angeles French Quarter Synchronized Baguette Brigade. It was pretty funny, they all had bread, drawn on moustaches and unlit cigarettes:

Soon we saw presidential candidate Frank Tambanelli:

Reverend Billy and Savitri D of The Church of Stop Shopping were co-Grand Marshalls of the parade.

Sigh…yes, that’s Code Pink behind him. Code Pink was repped hard in the parade. They were everywhere.

So, we’re sitting on our corner and nothing is happening, though you could just hear lots of cheers. Curiosity took hold and this is what I saw:

Standing ovations all around! It was insane. They had the Chain Gang with them, which always a crowd pleaser:

Not a crowd pleaser:

His sign says, Demoncracy is my kinda goverment.

Now, what’s funny is that this guy and Lady Liberty got into a scuffle over the Constitution. He snatched it from her and started to pretend to stomp on it. I started yelling at him to leave my civil liberties alone and people were cheering on Lady Liberty. A few minutes after this photo was taken, Lady Liberty ran back over to me and gave me gift:

I told Lady Liberty, that I’m raising my kids to defend their rights and to defend The Consititution. She took off before I could get a photo of her with the kids.

Then the Wild Bunch of Hollywood came along and got more cheers:

I’m so bummed this came out blurry, my camera battery was slowly dying. But 4 guys dressed as old ladies in motor wheel chairs were there:

Each guy represented a letter in the word ‘VOTE’ and each had poster with 2 sayings on it like, “A vote is a terrible thing to waste” or “‘Tis better to have voted and lost, than not to vote at all.”

There were more social commentary in some of the entries, but I won’t post photos. The best were these zombies who had things like laptops, Xbox’s, iPod’s or widescreen TV boxes chained to them. They all had signs that looked like Visa’s logo with pretty clever sayings on it. I told one lady, “Don’t worry, Bush wants to give you $800 so you can go shopping again!” And everyone started laughing and talking about how incredibly stupid our president thinks we are.

Oh…duh! So, I’m all into politics and crap, but I was with the parade by myself with the two kids. I say this as an explanation of why I was unable to get good shots of the Kucinich and Obama entries. Oh and there was this bitch in a wheelchair and some dick in a brown jacket who kept standing right in front of us. The best I got was this:

The sign says: Kucinich is 4 U, Are you 4 Him?

And this one:

The Obama entry is behind the bees.

So that’s that and I’m a liar, because this is picture heavy and long. Oh well. You’ll live.

Thanks for looking!