everything but the girl

But ( Barack Obama seems to be auditioning for an upcoming episode! )

(In other news, he wears *shorts* omgomgflail!!1!!!!! Presidential legs FTW!)

More pics here - they were all taken by White House photog Pete Sevita.

He, um, has a good eye.

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Had a reasonably easy time fasting yesterday - I managed to make it to almost 6, which is a new record for me. I stayed home with the kids in the afternoon - now they're all old enough to go to kids' services in the morning, so we don't go back for family services in the afternoon. There was a massive rainstorm when people were going to their cars after services, so we hung out in the lobby for a while, got to see people who were in town for the first time since our high school reunion last fall, which was nice.

And then I watched Galaxy Quest in the afternoon (kids watched a bit) and as I tweeted yesterday, FAIL to all who did not ever mention that the kid who plays young "Young Laredo (Tommy Webber)" is Corbin Bleu! Kids did not believe it was him, without the corkscrew curls.

The president takes on the Dark Side Defeating evil on the White House grounds, Sept. 16, 2009. Originally from Getty Images.

I know everyone has their own personalized definition of mysogyny and of course hatred of women because they're women is horrible.

But something in today's NY Times really struck me as bizarre.

Kate Zernike wrote a piece in the Week in Review section entitled "Can you cross out 'Hillary' and write 'Sarah'?"

And the print version highlighted the following:

To vote pro-choice or anti-misogyny. It's, um, complicated.

Oh, is it really? Basically, she's saying that the options in the presidential election are: vote for the pair that's pro-choice, or vote for the pair that's anti-misogyny.

In other words, McCain/Palin is anti-pro-choice, or anti-choice, and Obama/Biden is anti-anti-misogyny, or pro-misogyny.

What?

Obama/Biden is pro-misogyny because there's no woman on the ticket? Despite their long record of support for women's rights including equal pay for equal work, child-care support and a woman's right to control her body? And somehow, the McCain/Palin support of a platform that says that their goal is to make all abortion illegal even in the cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother is "anti-misogynistic."

Um, that's bizarre.

The choice is definitely not pro-choice or anti-misogyny, and any woman who votes for McCain/Palin because she believes they are anti-misogyny clearly has not read their position papers or analysis of same, because they'd learn that McCain has opposed legislation that would ensure equal pay for equal work, as explained here. Hell, how hard would it be for the Republicans to reinstate something from their 1896 platform in which they espoused support for equal pay for equal work. It's only been 112 years, guys - let's try and get it back in there next time, please.

I am off to ask the NY Times Public Editor why those sentences - "pro-choice or anti-misogyny" - made it into the paper, but never made it online.

I'd also love to hear Ms Zernike's explanation of why she thinks a website showing photos of Governor Palin as a Miss Alaska contestent hints of misogyny. Personally, although I am sure others would disagree with me, there's nothing misogynistic about saying "Sarah Palin ... Kind of a Babe." I think Barack is kind of hot. I also think my own governor, Charlie Crist, is kind of cute (I know, I'm weird. And I'm also wondering if his engagement is off but that's a topic for another day). And I think Sarah is very pretty and Tina Fey-ish, and I definitely do not hate women. But I'm not going to support her because I like her hair and smile, and I don't think it's reasonable to define misogyny as including any positive commentary about a woman's looks. Calling someone ugly, or saying "she's too sexy to be VP" could, of course, cross that line, but simply admiring someone's looks, even in the bare-shouldered photos she took when she was in a beauty pagent scholarship program is weird.

ETA: Damn, dailykos has a block on diaries by new registrants for a week. hedwig_snowy, I know you have an account there, and I would guess others of you do, too. Does anyone want to take this topic onto a diary there? Off to create an account there, finally, anyway... Will use it eventually.


I know, I have catch-up posts on how much fun I had at Dragon*Con and how terrific it was to see so many friends and just bump into people at random, and why I ended up teaching Nathan Fillion how to make Doctor Horrible ringtones for his iphone but that will have to wait for another day. We have to stock in water and other non-perishables in case Hannah comes towards us in hurricane mode, and also send good thoughts and prayers to everyone along the gulf coast, especially New Orleans. Maybe later today, maybe tomorrow... Hugs and "I miss you!" to everyone still in Atlanta!

( Wired made a Wordle of Hillary's speech last night... )

And Tonner made an adorable Luna doll. Evanna must be thrilled by this!

I just....
( Shook Barak Obama's hand ) ( The margarita I had while waiting )

Andrew Sullivan gives some context for Zell Miller:

Andrew Sullivan summons up his righteous indignation:

Miller's address will, I think, go down as a critical moment in this campaign, and maybe in the history of the Republican party. I kept thinking of the contrast with the Democrats' keynote speaker, Barack Obama, a post-racial, smiling, expansive young American, speaking about national unity and uplift.

Then you see Zell Miller, his face rigid with anger, his eyes blazing with years of frustration as his Dixiecrat vision became slowly eclipsed among the Democrats.

Remember who this man is: once a proud supporter of racial segregation, a man who lambasted LBJ for selling his soul to the negroes. His speech tonight was in this vein, a classic Dixiecrat speech, jammed with bald lies, straw men, and hateful rhetoric. As an immigrant to this country and as someone who has been to many Southern states and enjoyed astonishing hospitality and warmth and sophistication, I long dismissed some of the Northern stereotypes about the South. But Miller did his best to revive them. The man's speech was not merely crude; it added whole universes to the word crude. . . .

Last night was therefore a revealing night for me. I watched a Democrat convince me that I could never be a Republican. If they wheel out lying, angry bigots like this as their keynote, I'll take Obama. Any day."