Hillary's inner Tracy Flick

This is so awesome.

Polls schmolls

As much as I love politics, I loathe reading about new polls every fifteen minutes. Rasmussen, Gallop, CNN, Zogby, Real Politics, Politico, Fox News, USA Today, Newsweek, AP....there are more polls than there are skin cells covering my body, and it bums me out.

Which is why I love this piece by Penn & Teller. Not only do they catch Fox News using actors as members of a focus group, but they also lay out how totally ludicrous polling is. My favorite line: "Even if 50% of the world likes hobbit movies, they still suck."

Amen. Enjoy.

I think I have to change my name....

Just when I think this Mike Jones is going away, he pops back up again.

Turns out that Jones, the gay escort who outed Rev. Ted Haggard, has also had sex with Senator Larry Craig back in 2004, according to the Idaho Statesman.

I'm starting to wish my parents would have named me what they originally intended: Leslie.

What more could a dork want for Christmas?

It's nearing the end of the year, which can only mean one thing: the latest "Almanac of American Politics" is about to be issued! Woohoo!

Mom and dad, if you're reading this, know that this would be the perfect stocking stuffer (even though it's freakin' $75!). But where else can you find information and photographs of every governor, plus every member of Congress?

Here's also an excellent tip for trying to fall asleep at night: See how many Senators you can name. It's easy. Pick a state, try to name their two senators, then pick another state, and repeat. Before you know it, you'll be asleep before you hit North Dakota (Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad!).

What's the most you've ever lost in a coin toss?

I spent most of yesterday morning and afternoon on a walking tour of Roxbury, Massachusetts, looking at environmental and community concerns that have plagued this community for years. It was an eye-opening tour, especially when you find out that asthma rates in Roxbury are nearly 50% higher than anywhere else in Boston - largely because the air in Roxbury has suffered at the hands of polluters more than any other area in Boston (arguably). I'll write more about the tour later, but in the meantime, check out Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) in Roxbury. A great organization.

After standing out in rather cold Fall temperatures yesterday for eight hours, I pretty much crashed when I got home. But last night decided to go with a friend to check out "No Country for Old Men," the movie where the subject line up there comes from. (It's the latest Coen brothers movie.) The movie was sold out at 8:15, causing my hamstrings to deflate (they got their workout all day walking around Boston). So we waited in this bar for an hour until the next show, and I'm so glad we did. Not only is the movie awesome, but I got to have a mojito. Mmmm.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE. Yes, it's violent. But as the LA Times wrote:

The story of stolen drug money and the horrific carnage it precipitates, "No Country for Old Men" doesn't celebrate or smile at violence, it despairs of it, despairs of its randomness, pervasiveness, its inescapable nature, of the way it eats at the soul of society and the individuals in it.

Really, you will leave the theater thinking, and I love that. It's also eerie to see Tommy Lee Jones in a portrayal scarily reminiscent of my father! But that's beside the point. This is a movie that will (if you're a writer) make you want to write movies. And that might be the best line anyone can say about it.

Check out the trailer on You Tube here:

Wonderfully wicked and devastating

I know I probably shouldn't celebrate this type of politics, but I love it when someone is brought down a peg or two when they think they're all that and a bag of chips. (Baked Lays, perhaps?)

Here's the latest video from John Edwards's campaign, showing how Hillary Clinton changes her opinion depending on how the wind blows.

Eartha Kitt rocks Halloween

I'd rather be burned as a witch, then never be burned at all!

This is why I love Halloween time. Check out this musical montage showing off some Eartha Kitt. Enjoy!

Five years after Wellstone's death

It's weird...it seems like every year on October 26, I post some sort of reflection about the life of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died five years ago today in a plane crash (along with his wife and daughter, three campaign workers and a pilot).

My favorite Wellstone words still stick with me today: Never separate the life you live from the words you speak. It's a challenge I still find difficult to live up to today, as I imagine most people even tangentially involved in politics do.

Though I'm not crazy about politico.com, they have a nice piece today on Wellstone's legacy, five years after his death. For me, I recall a Senator who called me up on my cell phone when my mom had her stroke, and listened to me burst into tears. I recall a Senator who marched with me in Stillwater, MN during one of the ugliest parades I've ever been in (people actually started spraying the Senator with a hose!). And I recall a Senator who told us during the campaign: “The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

So on this day, it seems only appropriate to remember Wellstone's words, that the future belongs to those with passion. As Mark Twain once said, "Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great." That was Wellstone. And that's what I remember every October 25.

Pro-life politicians and their culture of life

Cross-posted at Bring it On!

Pro-life Politicians and a Culture of Life

I meant to write about this last week, but Republican Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-Michigan) went after the group Catholics United in an opinion piece in the National Review, because Catholics United had the audacity to ask the question: Is it pro-life to vote against S-CHIP?

Is it pro-life to vote against health care for children? That’s an easy answer – no. But tell that to Rep. McCotter, who voted against the S-CHIP legislation and by default, voted against health care coverage for millions of children. I wonder if this is another example of a “pro-life” politician failing to recognize that life exists beyond the moment of birth?

McCotter went full throttle on Catholics United, calling them false prophets, characterizi ng them as the devil, and saying that they were committing a sin by suggesting that “pro-life” politicians shouldn’t have voted against S-CHIP. Clearly Catholics United struck a chord with Rep. McCotter.

And for good reason: for far too long, “pro-life” politicians have been able to get away with voting for war, voting against health coverage, voting to scale back social programs for the poor, and voting for education cuts, while failing to recognize that these votes cut against the grain of the “culture of life” they supposedly champion.

McCotter’s mad because someone called him on his hypocrisy – that he may label himself pro-life, but his definition of “life” ends at birth. As a devout Catholic who publicly tosses around his faith, McCotter should know that a definition of life that fails to encompass health care for children is not only incomplete, it’s contrary to the own social teachings of his faith.

More BIO posts

Just cross-posting here the two most recent Bring it On! posts that are live.

1. Mitt Romney proud of Bob Jones Endorsement

2. Peaking inside the religious right's playbook

I don't know what it is with me and the sports metaphors lately....