I read on The Writer’s Almanac that it’s William Carlos Williams’ birthday today. He wrote one of my favorite poems – The Red Wheelbarrow.
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
It makes me think of looking into crystalline water … absolutely transparent and absolutely mysterious!
Sports is looking a good bit happier than politics and US news this morning, so I’ll begin with news of yesterday’s WPS allocation in NYC. Here’s the Women’s Sports Examiner’s take on the picks. I love it that the Boston Breakers have Lilly and Hucles again – and Mitts seems a solid addition on defense. Let’s go Breakers!
The Red Sox lost a close one in the 9th to the Rays (ugh). Meanwhile in the NL East the Phillies moved into first place on a Ryan Howard home run (his 45th) … while the plummeting Mets continued to plummet.
Okay – on to the political front. I learned a lesson yesterday – something I plan to keep in mind as the campaign and campaign rhetoric heat up. The short story is that I hit the “Reply All” button and responded impulsively to one of those viral anti-Obama e-mails that is making the rounds. I regretted the move almost immediately. While being boisterously obnoxious here – where it’s all aimed at no one but the actual culprits – is one thing … in e-mail, it gets much more personal. Worse – I didn’t even know who I was responding to. (Turns out it was the conservative younger brother of a friend.) So my goal, for the coming weeks, is to take a deep breath and keep my finger off the “Respond All” button. I’ll save it and share it all here!
So what do we have today?
- Salon posted (yesterday) a pretty scary and revealing article by Mike Madden about the “First Dude” (Todd Palin) and his amazing, super powers! (Imagine how the Right would squawk if we were talking about Michelle Obama here!) In another Salon piece, David Talbot looks at some of Ms. Palin’s spending ways while mayor … with particular attention to some redecorating that she did!
- ProPublica’s Paul Kiel gives us an update on Troopergate … and you should check out ProPublica as an unbiased source for election news and lots more on Palin.
- David Brooks penned an op ed piece in Sunday’s NY Times that helps me to understand the adulation that Palin inspires (and to fear it even more). ”Palin is the ultimate small-town renegade rising from the frontier to do battle with the corrupt establishment. Her followers take pride in the way she has aroused fear, hatred and panic in the minds of the liberal elite.”
- Charley James has penned a couple of pieces about Palin. This one – on The LA Progressive offers some commentary from Alaskans who know her (and disagree with her). The second, a follow-up, outlines his process in developing his article.
- The Beehive is where Sarah P. gets her “Updo” and this NY Times piece by Jan Hoffman gives us all the down-to-earth details. I note some passing reference in the article to a shower for Trig -attended by the folks from the Beehive. There’s even a detailed description of the gift basket they put together. Call me cynical and paranoid … but I also note that the owner of the Beehive seems in chronic need of money … hmmm. (JordanCornblog, just let the whole Trig thing go, okay? Okay.)
- Finally – my absolute favorite (thanks MLD) is this line that’s been circulating around the web: “The good news is that history often repeats itself. In the 1984 Miss Alaska contest, Sarah Palin lost to Marilyne Blackburn, the first African-American Miss Alaska.” Yes, it’s true. In 1984, Maryline Blackburn beat our Ms. P. and became the first African American Miss Alaska. You can even visit Playboy and vote on who is sexier (I certainly have – and right now Palin is in the lead)!
- Finally – if you’re a fan of Zimbio – here’s a continually-updated magazine all about Palin.
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Tags: Alaska, alaskans, Angela Hucles, Boston, Boston Breakers, Breakers, Charley James, David Brooks, david talbot, Dude, First Dude, Heather Mitts, Hucles, Jan Hoffman, JordanCornblog, Kristine Lilly, Lil, Marilyne Blackburn, Michelle Obama, Mike Madden, Miss Alaska, Mitts, MLD, Ms. Palin, nl east, NY Times, Obama, Paul Kiel, Phillies, Politics, progressive, ProPublica, Red Sox, red wheel barrow, red wheelbarrow, ryan howard, Salon, sarah palin, todd palin, trig, troopergate, william carlos williams, WPS
I was a big fan of satire in my college days (I loved reading Jonathan Swift) and in today’s Boston Globe is a lovely bit that will make you laugh and cry:
http://www.boston.com/news/nat.....president/
God help us all!
While I like the three players, they’re all kind of….old.
Maybe we’ll get a couple of young Brazilians to counter that…or A-Rod when she graduates…
I really hope they don’t do to the Breakers what the MLS did to the Revs their first several years, and not assign top players because the fan base will be there regardless. It would be nice to have a competitive team!