Pimp My Wry

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

So, turns out that Sarah Palin isn't really going away after all. 

Is anyone surprised by this? I'm not. 

Well, That’s a Shocker!

It doesn’t really surprise me to learn that Gov. Mark Sanford’s lost weekend involved “another woman.”  After all, what better way to derail talk of another run at the presidency in 2012 than a good old-fashioned affair involving international travel? Yeah, he was a candidate in 2008, remember? Part of his platform was his position on civil unions; he was (and may still be) big on defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. And he voted yes on the bill seeking to ban adoption by gay couples and other individuals not related by blood or marriage in the District of Columbia . 

Clearly, Gov. Sanford is a man who holds family values dear. That’s why he took off for a romantic tryst with a woman who is not his wife on Father’s Day weekend. 

Gotta love the Republicans. 

Long Time, No See (Again)

I spend a great deal of time enmeshed in my own little world, grappling with my memories, working on making what I hope is “art” out of personal experience. Perhaps, then, it’s not surprising that I a) fall off the face of the Earth from time to time (sorry, Kim) and b) tend to lose sight of what’s going on in the world.

Fortunately, there are other writers who keep an ear to the ground, have an eye on world events and maintain an awareness of the ways things that happen on the other side of the globe may affect people like me (and vice versa).

Since I’m in a crunch period, I thought I’d offer up a link to an interview with Iranian-American journalist Roya Hakakian, that provides a glimpse into the role feminism is playing in Iran during that country’s time of upheaval. Read and learn, as I did, my friends.

Is Pat Buchanan Auditioning For The Lead Role In All In The Family Redux?

I've avoided commenting on the right's racist arguments  against Latina Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor because just about everyone else has covered this ad nauseam. But when I saw  a video montage of Pat Buchanan's rants against the woman (produced by Media Matters), I knew I'd have to share it. 

Buchanan reminds me of a creepy, racist neighbor I can't get away from at a block party. You know the type — a modern day Archie Bunker, who believes that his failure to succeed is not his fault, but rather a direct result of affirmative action. Damn all those pesky equal-opportunity folks with their radical, liberal ideas! They're getting under his milky-licious and heretofore advantaged skin! Who do they think they are? White people?

Here's some of what Buchanan has recently said:

"Sotomayor believes in race bait justice. ... Her entire career is based on advancing people of color, which happens at the expense of white folks. ... She will decide differently for the white male. ... White working class folks are the ones discriminated against most today. ...What's happening now, to white men right now, is exactly what was done to black folks for years. ...What we got is Jim Crow liberalism ... hostility and bigotry toward white males in America."

Right. White males in America are so downtrodden. Poor them.

Buchanan might have a better job than Archie Bunker had, but there's no denying the similarities between the two men, especially when they're featured side by side, so to speak.

Watch Buchanan's tirade below, then watch Bunker argue that God is white in a classic clip from All In The Family. Buchanan, a staunch Catholic, hasn't yet echoed Archie and said, "Let's try to talk intelligent ... If God is black, how come all the astronauts are white?" But his arguments are just as ludicrous, and his attitude just as troubling.

Partly Right

So, Dick Cheney is on the record supporting gay marriage, sort of. In a speech at the National Press Club, he said, "I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."

The problem I have with Cheney's position is this: he believes it is an issue for the states to decide. This completely ignores the fact that marriage is, due to the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, marriage is a federally regulated contract (oh, and thanks for that, by the way, President Clinton). Inheritance rights, tax status, the right to military and financial benefits and spousal privilege (you know, the law that says married people can't be compelled to testify against their spouses) are all granted by the federal government. 

So, Cheney got it partly right. Yet still so very wrong, don't you think? 

Baby Baby

Controversy is, apparently, a-brewin’. I know because Diane Sawyer told me so in her commentary regarding the report that 66-year-old Elizabeth Munro of the UK is going to become a mother for the first time in the next few weeks. 

This controversy may pale in comparison to the recent furor over Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s decision to have twins via a surrogate. And this is hardly Octomom territory. Yet in all of these cases I find myself wondering, “Why is this anyone’s business?”

Oh, wait, here’s the answer, according to an article on the Mirror’s webpage:

“Last night, Christian pro-life lobby group Comment on Reproductive Ethics said: ‘We have to think about the child being born to a mother of 66 and consider whether or not this is the best thing. Nature dictates that it isn’t.’”

It’s against Nature, as are all things made possible by scientific breakthroughs—like the smallpox vaccine and chemotherapy and human beings flying off into space.

Where The Hell Have I Been?

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't posted anything in a while. That is, I hope some of you noticed....

So, where the hell have I been? I've been lost in thought, I've been out in the garden, I actually had a job for a few minutes but that's over with now. 

I've also been swearing to myself that I would NOT write about the whole Jon & Kate + 8 and A Few Other People, Too situation. But it keeps coming up and I just have to say: "They''ve got EIGHT kids. Wouldn't you think sex—with anyone—would be the last thing on these people's minds?" 

Apparently, no. Oh, I get that being a parent doesn't equal the death of the libido; I am, after all, a mother of long-standing and I... well. 

I just can't quite wrap my head around the logistics of it all? When would you find the time? She mops the wood floors three times a day, for crying out loud! Though I guess, given Kate's remarkable organizing abilities

it's not too far-fetched to think she could fit in a little sumpin' sumpin' on the side. But wouldn't you think that Jon would be scared to death to do anything without Kate's permission? 

Perhaps neither Jon or Kate realized that, by taking their lives public—by making themselves and their kids minor celebrities—they would be subject to... oh, I don't know... public scrutiny. And what does the public like more than watching people screw up? Not much. Not much. 

Anyway, I promise to not be a stranger. I further promise to explore some more challenging topics. In fact, if there's something you'd like me to write about, let me know! You know how to get in touch—leave a comment here (and I do mean, HERE—on Pimp My Wry, not that other place that rhymes with spacehook.) 

But for right now, this was on my mind, so this is what you get. 

Someone’s Been Busy

So, today marks the 100^th day that Barack Obama has been President of the United States of America—and what a one-hundred days it has been.

Let’s review, shall we?

• $789 billion stimulus bill

• A budget plan that is being fine-tuned (or beaten into submission, depending on who you listen to)

• Interventions in the housing and credit markets

• Taking the heads of the auto companies out behind the woodshed for “a little talk”

• Some new rules set out for Wall Street (though the boys downtown aren’t quite under control yet)

• A revamping of foreign policy

• International travel

Oh, and there’s probably been some dog training going on.

In those same 100 days here’s what I’ve managed to do: not much. Oh, a few loads of laundry, a trip or 50 to the grocery store, a little writing—sure. I even made the bed once or twice. But when I compare my productivity to that of the Commander in Chief, I feel a little…chagrined. Chastened, even.

I don’t think I ought to feel as bad as a couple of other people.