ivylore

Where does the day go?????????????

Powell endorses Obama.

This makes me happy. I've always really admired and respected him. In this clip, he says something that makes me feel very guilty (in the defense of Obama as 'not a Muslim'); no one is stopping to say that, It's okay to be a Muslim. This is America. Why can't a seven year old boy who is a Muslim dream of being president one day?  Then he mentioned a decorated soldier who died in Iraq and was a Muslim. He's right. We hear denials of Obama being a Muslim from both parties, but never, 'and if he was, why should it matter in America? And I've never even stopped to think about it once....
I bummed this image from scalzi.com today. John  has a brief but succinct post entitled 'who is American.'

Edit: It's very sad to see so many commenters (at Fox news and other conservative news sites) saying it's just because Colin Powell is black.

Obama savages McCain's on health care.

I'm just posting to this article because I have a question related to it. I think everyone knows my stance on this issue - that health care is a right, just like education. I also consider myself very lucky to live in Canada.

My question pertains to this comment.

McCain insists his health care plan would generate more competition and drive down costs, and that Obama's plan would deprive voters of their choice of doctor through creating a "vast new bureaucracy" run by the government.

Okay, my question is this:  Is there a single, solitary example of a country where the privatization of health care has been successful and meant better health care for the majority of said country's citizens? 

Seeing that I can't find one, I don't understand why, after a century of privatized health care not working, people want to keep slugging away at a dead horse and insist it can work, save for clinging to certain philosophical ideals about government and business, many of which are sound in theory but abject failures in practice. At this point, a 'new bureaucracy' is the only alternative to a failing system. And for the record, since I live in a country with universal health care, I should point out that I have complete freedom when it comes to selecting my own doctor (which from what I've read is not the case with so many HMOs.)

The food item we can be eternally grateful did not make it into the Star Wars films.


Bum-bum extract

• Bum-bum extract was a food served to Luke Starkiller by his aunt, Beru Lars, at the Lars homestead on Utapau. Her version of the dish was mild in flavor.
• The extract does not appear in subsequent drafts, for unknown reasons.

I can't imagine why it was cut? 

Edwards admits to affair.

D'oh! There's always been something slimy about him. In my experience, it's always the men who profess to love their wives the most, the ones who jump first on the moral high ground,  that are the first ones to cheat. I don't know why that is? A coworker with a two month old daughter had a full blown affair last summer within weeks of coming up north - and he was one of the guys who threatened to leave our company two years ago when my boss began having an affair, and always went on and on about his wife and how much he loved her ad nauseum.

In other news, that horrid group that does not deserve to be named is planning to picket Tim McLean's funeral. The Canadian border guards were under orders to turn them away, but apparently a group made it in. FYI: hate crime speech laws are much stricter in Canada. The group would be arrested for using their regular hate language on their signs in most municipalities. Tim McLean was the kid killed on the Greyhound bus last week.

This is offensive on too many levels...



Snippets from scalzi.com/whatever/

Back in the day – you know, when presidential candidates were respectably white – news organizations called potential First Ladies “wives.” But now that black folks are running, we can get all funky fresh with the lingo, yo. So it’s basically fine for Fox News to use “Baby Mama” for Michelle Obama, slang that implies a married 44-year-old Princeton-educated lawyer is, to use an Urban Dictionary definition of the term, “some chick you knocked up on accident during a fling who you can’t stand but you have to tolerate cuz she got your baby now.” Because the Obamas are black! And the blacks, they’re all relaxed about that shit, yo. Word up. And anyway, as the caption clearly indicates, it’s not Fox News that’s calling Michelle Obama “Baby Mama,” it’s outraged liberals. Fox News is just telling you what those outraged liberals are saying. They didn’t want to use the term “Baby Mama.” But clearly they had no choice.


Calling Michelle Obama a “baby mama” isn’t just Fox News have a happy casual larf; it’s using urban slang to a) remind you the Obamas are black, b) belittle a woman of considerable personal accomplishment, and c) frame Barack Obama’s relationship to his wife and children in a way that insults him, minimizes his love for and commitment to his family, and reinforces stereotypes about black men. Someone at Fox News just ought to call Barack Obama “boy” at some point so we can have all the cards right out there on the table.


In other news, I'm headed for another fly-in a few hours. We'll be out in two weeks.

The toilet on the space station is broken!

I find this amusing and kind of horrible.

You'd think I would have clued in to the fact that it was April Fool's late last night when I read that Harrison Ford had agreed to play Han Solo again in a movie based on a script written by Carrie Fisher.

But no.

It took following a link to the season premier of BSG (woohoo!) which turned out to be a Rick Astley video before it dawned on me.

I'm just not going to trust any of you today.

Tonight I realised that I am prejudiced. The current season of Dancing with the Stars (combined with paparazzi shots of Nicole Kidman and ads for tonights CSI Miami featuring Elizabeth Berkley) have helped me to realise this.

My prejudice is this: I cannot stand to look at actresses who have had extensive plastic surgery, botox injections, or *youth-keeping* secrets I don't know about but that don't look natural. It weirds me out, in a bad car accident kind of way - I keep looking and feeling increasingly uncomfortable and horrified - but I keep looking.

So yes, I want Priscilla Presley voted off so I don't have to look at her.

I thought Greta Van Susteran looked far better and more beautiful before.

*cringes*

And speaking of Dancing, what is wrong with Mark Ballas' mouth????????? He must stop doing that guppy thing!!!!! How could the judges say nothing?

I made split pea soup because I have been thinking about it. I have something of a green legume fetish - lentil, lima bean, split pea.  I develop cravings for them which cannot be denied.  I like my split pea soup so thick it can stand up straight on a spoon (naturally, proving opposites attract, J considers this an affront to all humanity) so perhaps it's not-quite-soup. Craving protein as well, I bought a pork tenderloin*, and I invented a marinade of garlic, chipotles, in adobo sauce, maple syrup and  dash of soy. It was awesome and there was glaze leftover, so I drizzled it over the top of my not-quite-soup. Now I'm in love and wish it was dinner already tomorrow, but I've already had two bowls of it.

Why are there not more inventive recipes for split pea soup?

*I have a 'thing' about buying pork that isn't organic, due to the way hog farms are run, but I did and feel a tiny bit guilty.

A hilarious meme taken from  holdouttrout  that involves posting trailers from your favourite old favourite tv shows.


The sound effects were taken from Star Wars.


Jan Michael Vincent made my heart go pitter-patter.


And old fav.

And I have to add this one!

Taken from http://scalzi.com/whatever.

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!

Nothing beats listening to a phone-in radio shows about sex  when it comes to working on French comprehension. 

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Oh for fuck's sake Mitt, you bloody twit. A surrender to terror?

This Canadian group is my latest obsession. They are indie/folk, and the lead singer reminds me of Neil Young.

If you'd like to listen to their music for free, go to http://radio3.cbc.ca/

Type Great Lakes Swimmers in the lower search engine (centre of the page.) Click on the band name when it pops up, and 'play all tracks.'

There's a cat in London that regularly  takes the bus. 

Desperate Housewives is seriously lacking Nathan Fillion!!!!!!  Don't you know, dear writers (setting the strike aside for the moment, as I'm complaining about previously completed work), that the highlight of my Sunday is anxiously anticipating what sort of horrific suburban casual attire Nathan will be wearing. Last week it was a Frankenstein costume and tonight it was 'invisible' attire! I am feeling most unsatisfied at the moment.

I saw Daniel Radcliffe on a late night talk-show Friday - my first encounter with him outside of the HP films. Holy mackerel, he is surprisingly hilarious!

Sinopa left me a quarter-sized 'gift' on the old canvas I have laying on the floor.

Worst. Feline. Art. Project. Ever.

I can't stand Elisabet Hasselback or that other new co-host.

Thank gods for Whoopie.

Why am I watching this?