Daily Archives: September 18, 2012

Sep 18

Yes, Another Link Dump

Sorry, folks. I no longer think I had food poisoning, but now suspect I burst an ovarian cyst. And, as such, it’s my prerogative to not write coherent things on the internet. Or something. I mean, it would just be whining about that, and who wants that? (But also not to worry. I now feel fine and am fine.) So, am I admitting to slacking off for no reason? Yes, yes, I am. Also, it’s the 18th, which means just twelve days until the start of October.

Okay, so here’s some awesomeness that is not me telling you about my ovary. Or about how I’m trying to order everyone I know in Denver to meet and be friends.

1. Tracy Moore’s columns on being a mom are literally my favorite thing at Jezebel, followed very closely by anything by Lindy West.

2. Jesus may have had a wife, which is as surprising as nothing! Nothing at all. He was a Jewish dude at a time when Jewish dudes got married. It’s unlikely that he would have not been married by 30. My dad is 67, which meant that he went to seminary forty-five years ago. He went to a fairly conservative mainstream seminary, at which he learned that Jesus was most likely married and that his wife was probably Mary or Martha, Lazarus’s sisters, which I think makes his grief at Lazarus’s death and his raising of him from the dead even more touching. I love the idea that he came to love his wife’s brother as his own. That rings true to me as an experience people have of their inlaws.

3. Sady Doyle wrote this beautiful thing on Bruce Springsteen and dads.

4. And she also wrote this thing on Anais Nin.

Sep 18

Bad for Republicans, Bad for America

I am a liberal and a life-long Democrat. I think if you read me, you know that pretty clearly. And yet, liberals have some tendencies that, when left unchecked, are not good. Just take a gander at the Alyssa Douglas fiasco. That desire to hold a whole community responsible for the actions of an idiot teenager? Not good.

In order for our country to function, we need functioning political parties, possibly more than two, but let’s start with two. If there’s one thing that sitting here in Tennessee has shown me–in a land where there is no functioning Democratic party–it’s that we need the push and pull provided by two healthy parties. People are best served by political tussle and compromise, as ugly as that process can be.

So, frankly, I’m deeply concerned about the state of the national Republicans. I mean, there’s a lot of good analysis about Romney’s 47% remarks already. I’m not going to rehash them. But that’s not something the leader of a party that is doing okay says. And yet, who would have been a better candidate? Romney was literally their best choice and this is him! A man who argues to his audience of rich white people that his life would have been easier if his grandparents had actually been Mexican.

Obviously, there’s just a level of disconnect from reality that would be terrible for this reality-based country if it ever got in charge. And yet, you know, it’s really going to be on Republicans to change this. In a way, I feel like the Republicans are our drunk friends. As long as they are drinking, they’re incoherent with rage, operating under the assumption that they’re wittier and smoother with the sexy-times and more well-liked than they actually are. Plus, they’re wrecking things and endangering everyone.

We really need them to sober up and yet, they want to avoid the hang-over at all costs, so they just keep drinking.

I mean, people, we actually had political conventions this year where the Democrats were better about the military and the needs of the troops. Just let that sink in. The Republicans have squandered that.

I wish I could find this funny, but, like I said, it’s bad for the country. I don’t know what Republican change is going to look like, but I’m ready for it.