Watch this. Please.

Hold up, Jesse Ventura just made a great point

I've been pretty much disgusted with John McCain and his VP choice in Sarah Palin since he announced her as his choice last Friday. Initially, I was insulted by the clear assumption that women voters will vote for a woman--any woman--regardless of her politics, but the issues since then just keep compounding. I have a hard time championing a white, married, upper-middle class mother of four for not aborting her baby with Down Syndrome, as though she's the only woman in America (pro-life or not) to do so, and as though any pro-choice woman, in contrast, would have immediately run off to the abortion clinic upon learning of their child's condition in the same situation.

Please.

I'm also growing tired of the "She's just like me" and the "She's just a regular soccer mom" and "She is Everywoman" talk. Am I really the only person in the world who thinks that the office of the presidency and the vice presidency demand more than "regular" and "normal"? I don't want a normal vice-president. I want an exceptional vice-president. I want someone who really is beyond reproach. I want the person, as the Obama campaign so aptly put it, who is a heartbeat away from the highest office in the country to be better than a regular old soccer mom. I want her to kick ass. Palin just doesn't. The only thing I've agreed with the Republican delegates about are their comments about her normalcy and her relatability. Yep, she's pretty average. Yep, she's a mom. So let's make her Vice President? Let's not.

And while I find it lovely that the Obama campaign is taking the high road on their "children are off limits" rhetoric with regard to the "Oh yeah, and by the way, my unwed 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant" story, I've been lapping up news coverage on that any chance I get.

In that light, when I heard Larry King announce that he was having Jesse Ventura on as a guest, I immediately thought, "YES! If there's a person in the world who will spout off about Palin, it'll be Jesse."

The thing about Jesse Ventura is this: if Jesse Ventura weren't so crazy, he'd be pretty great. He also took the high road on the 17 year old pregnancy story and talked about what a difficult situation it is for the Palin family, though also pointed out that it's certainly not a situation that's unique to them--that lots of American families deal with that sort of situation every day.

But that wasn't Ventura's good point.

Larry King, like me, wasn't entirely satisfied with that answer.

When pressed a bit further, Jesse made the winning point that perhaps what we should learn most from the Palin teenage pregnancy is that the abstinence only sex education that the GOP loves to endorse doesn't seem to be very effective, particularly so close to home.

Um, yeah. Good point Jesse. And why hasn't anyone else thrown that in the ring?

So, this one's for you Jesse. Somehow, amazingly, you made a point that nobody else had yet, and dammit, I liked it.

Oh, and school started today

My feelings on this, I think, go without saying.

The Good Stuff

Abby makes a good point

Abby makes a good point in her comment on my last post:

abigail emerson said...
Sorry, can't believe I forgot to comment on the title. "If you had to," as if marrying a TV star would be a real chore. And of all of the TV stars (a group, mind you, that includes Michael Vartan and Bradley Whitford) you would choose Bill Cosby. Clueless dad wearing frumpy sweaters sitting on the couch watching chaos unfold, occasionally contributing somewhat witty comments.
August 19, 2008 10:21 PM

Okay, she makes two good points. One, marrying a TV star probably wouldn't suck. And two, how could I have so quickly forgotten my first true TV love in favor of Bill Cosby?

(photo credit ESPN (?!?))

The only point of clarification here, of course, is that I didn't ever particularly care for the real-life Jason Priestley, but I was head over heels in love with the fictional Brandon Walsh.

As a side note, when I was in elementary school, I wrote a "short story" with a character I created named Todd Winters. Here's a shout out to him, as my first fictional crush.

If I had to marry a TV star, I would choose Bill Cosby.

It's been a busy week, and it's not slowing down anytime soon.


Last Thursday, we drove down to Omaha for the kid brother's white coat ceremony at Creighton. The ceremony was nice and we were all proud of Michael for being able to walk across a stage and put on a white doctor's coat in front of a large audience without tripping, stumbling, or getting his shirt sleeves caught awkwardly in the coat like so many others. There was lots of celebrating and toasting and general merriment in getting him off on the right foot:





Cyndy and Dave:



Cyndy and me at the tobacco shop...in old barber chairs...which were in the tobacco shop:

I was sad to come home Saturday night.

Today I took the girls to the beach while Jim golfed with Dad:

I would say that this would have been an excellent activity had it not ended in a citation from the Deephaven police for "failure to display parking permit" (which I don't have) and expired license tabs (which I received a ticket for about three weeks ago also).

Ugh.

This Wednesday morning, Jim and I are headed out on our first serious road trip. We're driving Dad's car down to his house in Phoenix and flying back late on Sunday night. We're hoping to be in Hays, America Wednesday night, Albuquerque Thursday night, and Dad's house sometime Friday afternoon. Talk about eking out one more trip this summer.

Superfluous photo of rainbow out my back window at my house:

I'm thinking I could market this kid.

Anya: When I go to the 'Lympics, I want to be the American.

Me: But Anya, you already are an American.

Anya: I am??

Me: Yeah. You're an American. You live in America.

Anya: Wow! I really LIKE being 'merican!! They get to wear the blue shirts and I REALLY LOVE BLUE!! [jumping up and down and waving arms.]