Obama on Community Organizers

Or, to put it in a more funny way (and apologies to whomever I'm stealing this line from but I can't remember where I read it):

Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor.

CNN: Tucker Bounds On Palin Foreign Policy Experience

Even the McCain campaign itself has a hard time defending their pick with anything but empty rhetoric. These kinds of mistakes aren't the most important thing in the world, but it is frustrating to live in La-La-Land where instead of just answering the questions honestly, owning up to mistakes and then moving on in a new direction, everyone instead spends all this time trying to deny that a mistake ever happened so we get stuck in this stupid news cycle and can't move beyond it to get to the real meaty questions of the day. Please stop pretending that this pick was anything but policial, and that this political decision undercuts your political message of the last few months that our decision on who to vote for should be based on nothing more than who has more military experience. Trying to make it sound like Palin has all this experience that any rational person can tell she doesn't have not only makes you (Tucker) look like an idiot, it also makes Palin look bad because you are trying to cover something up. Stop pretending, and let her be proud of the things she really has to be proud of. In other words, let her stand on her own merits, instead of the phony rhetoric your campaign wants to spin. The American public isn't as stupid as you apparently think, and we can tell the difference.

You must watch this

Jon Stewart is my new boyfriend. Thanks for pointing out the hypocrisy that is currently coming out of an apparently desperate right-wing media. Plus, funny!

I earned my paycheck this weekend

I picked up some more overtime this weekend, working four days in a row. I figured, hey, it is a holiday weekend, so it should be nice and quiet. WRONG! We were lousy with doctors running around writing new orders, which sucked but was also good in many cases because through some weird convergence the patients on the floor were unusually heavy. And by heavy I don't mean fat (although some of them were), but everyone was very sick with lots of stuff going on. One lady was pooping blood, one guy had to get a paracentesis at the bedside to drain 5 liters of fluid out of his abdomen, one guy was rejecting a pancreas transplant so was on an insulin drip that his blood sugar checked every hour, one guy started turning blue and had to be intubated and rushed off to the ICU, it was just non-stop. Oh, and then there was the lady with the ostomy, and some brilliant med student managed to open it up (why? who knows) and dump out the green pre-poop all over her bed. She was so mad at him, as was I, and he was trying to cover up his fear with fake confidence that was a little annoying, but at least he stuck around until it was all cleaned up so I'll give him credit there.

I've been trying to keep up with the blogosphere, where everybody is all talking about Palin. I tried watching her speech, but considering the effort it took for me to pay attention to all 45 minutes of Obama's speech, whom I generally agree with, there was no way I had it in me to suffer through hers. I really hope she doesn't turn out to be the lightweight so many people seem to think she is. I mean, the McCain team has been a disaster at rolling her introduction out, and I do feel sorry for her family. So I do hope she has more to bring to the table than just her creepy evangelical appeal, because I'm uncomfortable watching otherwise nice people fail so publicly. I just can't wait until next week when all this obnoxious convention posturing is over and done with.

Politics are boring, but at least we have Jon Stewart

At this point I'm not feeling the need to comment much on Palin, since everything seems to be in such flux. We'll see what happens tonight.

I was in a patient's room last night when Lieberman spoke. I'm sorry, but political speeches are SO BORING, and I thought his was terrible and even awkward. Anyway, to me he seems much less like the "Independent" he likes to say he is and more like someone who got his feelings hurt from the Democrats picking someone else over him and so he is getting revenge. But whatever.

But reason #1 I could never vote for the current Republican party. Because this is now a party that will never admit that McCain was tortured as a POW. If they admit that what happened to him was torture, they open themselves up to charges as war criminals. So now he was just "beaten". I know, I know, all politicians are tricky with wordplay, and everyone is a hypocrite, and conventions are the time for huge rhetoric. But more than anything else the current administration has done, the one thing I will never, ever forgive them for is making America a country that tortures people and tried to weasel out of it with fancy turns of phrase. McCain can't raise his arms over his head anymore, but hey, that wasn't torture. This is what they've stolen from him, and since he is willing to sell his soul to try to win, he can't even argue it.

Also, isn't it a little bit funny that McCain and Palin both have made such a big deal out of the fact that Palin's teenage daughter made her own choice to keep her (as yet unborn) baby, yet both of them support policies to take away that choice from her?

Update: Hmmm, that was some sloppy word choice. I'm glad the girl made the choice to keep her baby, I have no issue with her at all. It is just the political posturing that annoys me.

VP

Sarah Palin? That was unexpected. Having, you know, never heard of her before, I can't really make any judgments yet, but at first glance I'm encouraged that he picked someone unconventional - it almost reminds me of the McCain I used to like. It does kind of confuse me as McCain's biggest gripe has been inexperience, but I guess we'll see how that plays out.

Ace at the Signature Theatre in Shirlington

Tonight we headed back out to the Signature Theatre to see their new production of "Ace", a new musical about, well, its hard to summarize, but there's a kid who is put in foster care while his mother is in the hospital and he slowly starts learning about who his dead father was. (A fighter pilot, natch.)

The show was good, with some clever lyrics and a good smattering of funny lines. But the best part was the casting. It was a solid cast across the board, with lots of Broadway performers. (George Dvorsky! Florence Lacey! Christiane Noll!) But can I just say how much I love Emily Skinner? She played the foster mom, and while everyone knows she can sing, boy is she just a terrific actress. So lovely. Also terrifically amazing was eleven year old Angelina Kelly. Unlike in movies where you can edit together a child performance, in the theatre lets just say not too many child performances are all that moving. But this girl was hysterical, and quickly won the audience favorite award, even earning several shouted bravos after her solo. Sweet.

As we walked out of the show, I had to sit David down on a couch in the lobby, because I had to give him the bad news. "David", I said, "I'm sorry to have to tell you like this, but I am dumping you for Jill Paice." "And I'm sorry too," he replied, "because I've already dumped you for her."

Jill Paice is crazy awesome! She just got back from playing Scarlett O'Hara in the London musical version of "Gone With The Wind", and watching her here you can totally see why she would get picked for a part like that. I couldn't take my eyes off her when she was on stage, whether she was speaking or not. She is gorgeous, with an amazing voice, and eyes that open up her soul. Sorry, I'm running out of adjectives, but she was so compelling and exciting to watch. That is why I love going to the theatre, to see magic like that. She reminded me a lot of Audra MacDonald in "110 In The Shade", even if this role wasn't nearly as joyous as Audra's was. But she had that same special spark that deserves a Tony.

The story of the show moves along pretty well, though I think there have been some pretty major rewrites from the demo version of the show that I've heard, with just a few last holes that probably need to be cleaned up before they reach their goal of going to Broadway. But thanks to some really great performances, this is probably the best show we've seen since we've been in DC. Yes, "The Visit" had Chita Rivera, but the show itself was a mess. "Ace" might not be the next mega-hit, but it is solid enough, keeps you interested and I left the theatre humming the main theme, always a good sign. But what I will remember most is Jill Paice. Wow.

Next spring they are doing a new musical based on the movie "Giant". I can't wait!

Back to the vacation update

OK, time for some more vacation updates. Because I know you are dying to hear about more Newfoundland.

After Gros Morne, we headed north again up to the land of the Vikings. (More on that later.) Much like the 101 in California, the freeway followed the coast all the way up, so it was gorgeous. We stopped and did a few little hikes along the way to enjoy what was turning into the sunniest day of our entire vacation. We passed cute fishing village after cute fishing village. At least we assumed they were fishing villages, because what else would they be? The photo to the right of the dark scary forest was an unexpected little detour, and you can see David with his hands up in the air - he is gallantly trying to knock down the spiderwebs that are taller than him because I kept complaining when they would hit me in the face. (awwwww!)

I have to admit there weren't very many bugs for us to get excited about. In fact there were hardly any bugs at all. So we were happy to find these monster dragonflies. (Well, we saw even bigger supermonster ones in Taiwan, but still these guys were impressive.) This one decided to make David his friend for a brief rest. I'm not sure what they were eating to get that big though, since we didn't see many other bugs treats flying around.

More on Obama tax cuts

In case you just aren't a graph person, try this website as an alternate way of calculating how much taxes you'll be paying under Obama as opposed to under Bush McCain.

Saturday events

What is it about the marathon that makes it so compelling? We just sat for two hours watching the men this time run around the city. The lead pack went out so fast the commentators kept telling us they would fade, but while they eventually spread out no one else ever caught them. I was totally rooting for the guy from Morocco, who kept falling behind but then somehow always managed to catch up, and then he'd pass another guy, and then another. He ended up winning silver, which was pretty exciting. The American we were told to root for came in tenth, which was still pretty great, although another American came in 9th that for some reason didn't warrant a video package.

I love the commentators for gymnastics, mostly because after three Olympics I am just used to their voices and styles of speaking. But my favorite commentator, by far, is Cynthia Potter on diving. Besides the fact that she can see every wiggle of an athletes third toe, she can also describe every tweak of a two-second dive as if it was all happening in slow motion right in front of her. Like in Spiderman when he gets into the fight in the cafeteria and he can see the punches coming at him in slow motion - that is what Cynthia Potter can do. But besides being a savant with superpowers, she also has a totally wicked sense of humor. "That entry was basically a cannonball." "They are going to have to re-fill the pool after that splash." Or, my favorite, "Look out! It's a tsunami!!"

Most of the diving events lacked much excitement, due to the fact that the Chinese were so much better than everyone else that it was a forgone conclusion that they would win. Though, how much splash can you generate when you weigh all of forty pounds? I did feel a little sad for Laura Wilkenson, but she had Sydney so she can't really complain. But they saved the best for last, when Aussie Matthew Mitcham came from behind with a near perfect final dive to win gold. He was the only competitor to show much emotion during the contest, so I was already rooting for him, but watching him be totally overwhelmed when he won was exactly what the Olympics are all about. Best overheard quote ever as a teammate walks up to him and says "Matt Mitcham just won the Olympics" and he starts crying. Also, she said it in an Australian accent which made it even better of course. Come to find out, he is the only openly gay male athlete at the Olympics. Go The Gays! I did feel a little sorry for the Chinese boy though, as this was the only diving event where China didn't win gold. Actually a lot sorry for him, cause he was totally amazing, he just missed one dive but that was enough.

Does volleyball never end? The American women win silver, but seem disappointed. I hate that.

It turns out I only like track if there are Americans competing. I fast forwarded through most of the rest. The women who won the relay were AWESOME.

Tero Pitkamaki, simply put, is dreamy. The javelin was, of course, given scant coverage (like all the cool track events that didn't involve running), and perhaps his bronze win wasn't the most exciting moment of the Olympics. But talk about eye candy. He and Lolo Jones win the gold in the looks department, hands down.

So I just have Sunday's events still to watch. Which I might not finish, because if I have to fast forward through one more commercial for that very stupid looking Christian Slater show, I might throw a shoe through the screen. Can we say overkill? (But then, you all probably aren't watching as much of this as I am, so maybe I'm just getting more than my share.)

Some more Olympic thoughts:

People who run fast can't seem to carry a little stick at the same time. I actually didn't really care, with the exception of Lauren Williams, whom I have a big soft spot for even though I don't really remember why I remember her from Athens, but I LOVE that she ran her leg of the race even though she was already disqualified. More cool were the winners of the women's final, with several countries who had no chance of winning a medal...winning a medal. I love that kind of joy. (Though it totally sucks for Great Britain that Jamaica's mistakes took them out of the race too. Talk about a new rivalry.)

I can't help but to find it funny when the commentators call the synchronized swimmers and rhythmic gymnastics athletes. Don't get me wrong, I loved both events. But to me it is dancing, which is more of an art than a sport. I never considered myself an athlete when I was a dancer. I don't think of the contestants on So You Think You Can Dance as athletes. I know that these competitors are vying for medals and are being judged as a sport, which technically makes them athletes I guess, and again, I mean absolutely no disrespect for them, because they are crazy talented. I loved it when the girl was breakdancing on the water surface using the other swimmers as a "floor", and of course anytime someone can wrap their leg back over their shoulder in front of their head I get weak in the knees.

Thank goodness for all that Olympic basketball, because it gave me something to fast forward through. Team sports at the Olympics are not my cup of tea. (I hate that expression because I hate tea. But what do I drink? Maybe I should say they are not my cup of, uh, water. They are not my chocolate chip oatmeal cookie? They are not my Shawn Johnson winning a gold medal?)

What was up with the Decathalon coverage? I wasn't watching anything besides Sesame Street when Bruce Jenner won his gold medal, yet his win made him so super famous that I know his name 30 years later. And this year Clay won the event so decisively that he basically didn't even compete in the last event his lead was so huge. So what is up with the super truncated coverage? They didn't even show half of the events, and the ones that they did show only featured two or three athletes. How much do we have to sacrifice in order to show every single volleyball match? Actually I thought it was pretty lame that Clay came in last in the final run. Yeah, we know you didn't HAVE to try harder to win, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have. Not very exciting. I'm sure you were exhausted, but so were all the other guys. Still, doesn't his win qualify him as the greatest athlete in the world? Why isn't NBC selling his greatest hits video? MIchael Phelps only competed in eight events, Clay did ten. (snark snark)

Fencing is super weird. I had no idea what was going on. Ever.

Tired but still kicking after some overtime

OK, I have so much blogging to catch up on, including more Canadian awesomeness (never imagined I'd say that, heh) and we are still slugging through the last two days of Olympics, but now that it is officially over I find I'm running out of steam. Some things are meant to be enjoyed in real time. But, briefly, what is up with rhythmic gymnastics replacing the ball with a stupid rope? Obviously the ribbon is the best, but ball was second over hoop and the stupid clubs. But the rope is even lamer than the clubs. If I promise not to complain about the total mystery that is rhythmic gymnastics judging, why do you mock me with your lame rope routines?

However, I have to make a brief comment on the chatter over the Democratic Convention this week. I only saw snippets of Michelle Obama and Hillary's speeches as I was walking in and out of patient rooms, and haven't paid attention to much else. Because, in general, convention = boring. However, I find it funny that all the pundits and commentators and even many of the bloggers I otherwise admire are all taking Obama to task for maintaining his message of hope and calm insight. They want him (and his surrogates) to come out swinging against McCain. But, guys, I know that would make better television, but you are missing the point that the fact that this is a primary reason why I'm so excited about his campaign in the first place. If all I'd wanted was a fighter, I'd have voted for Hillary. I don't think politics has to be the schoolyard fight that it has become. McCain has fallen into the Rove trap already, simultaneously farting out his mouth that it was hypocritical for Obama to choose Biden for his VP since Biden had previously been critical of Obama during the primaries, while also complaining that the only reason that Obama didn't pick Hillary is that she was...critical of Obama during the primaries. What exactly does Obama have to say? McCain is destroying his image all by himself.

So I could care less if the media tries to paint Obama as weak for not lowering himself to McCain's level. That isn't weakness. It takes true strength to hold yourself to a higher standard and then actually walk the talk.

John McCain wants to raise your taxes!

Now this is interesting. Take a look at this graphic comparing the results of the tax policies of each candidate.

John McCain, not yet rich enough apparently, wants to give himself a tax break almost big enough to pay his maids. Obama on the other hand, is willing to pay an additional $700,000 in taxes in order to pay for running our country. (Hey, its all in the rhetoric, right?) Of more concern to me, is that under Obama's plan I pay considerably less, a perk I hadn't expected. Me likey. I wonder if my dad's head is exploding at the idea that voting Republican means higher taxes. ::nudge:: (Note: It isn't, because he won't believe it.)

PS - I love to give my parents grief, (and especially in my Dad's case, who as he grows more and more senile actually enjoys Fox News) but fortunately they are ideologically more Libertarian than Republican, so we don't clash nearly as often as you might think.

My favorite Obama gag yet

America, you've just been Rickrolled.

Now who is the pampered elite again?

This has little to do with deciding who would be the best president or anything, but John McCain doesn't know how many homes he owns? I mean, who can keep track after the first five or six I guess. I can't tell from the coverage if any of the homes are rental properties, which might be more defensible I suppose, but it hardly seems like John McCain is the landlord type. When asked about it, he actually said "I'll have to check with my staff". Like he has a staff member whose job it is to research how many homes he owns.

Again, I don't think knowing how many homes you own is a prerequisite for becoming president. (Or remembering when the last time you pumped your own gas was.) It's just kind of funny. (Though I am still a big wigged out by the fact that someone who wants to be President can't/won't/doesn't think it is important to learn how to "get online".)

Update: It seems that of the count of seven homes the Obama camp is using, one house is indeed a rental property, which I think is more of an investment rather than a home per se, and one is a $700,000 "loft" the McCain's bought for their daughter as a graduation present. Dang, my graduation present was a camera. Mom, dad, you sure missed the boat on that one. ::grin::

Second Update: The McCain's spent $273,000 last year on "household help". That is over a quarter of a million dollars just paying the maids. Holy crap they are rich.

Third Update: This story just isn't going away. But here's a statistic for you - if your annual income was as much as what the McCain's spent on their maids, you'd be richer than 95% of American families. No wonder he wants to keep taxes for rich people low. But then, it must be weird to live in a world where you choose to take a nine-car motorcade to grab a cappuccino at Starbucks.