Political trainwrecks, two versions

Tina Fey for VP (on the Queen Latifah ticket!)

I just can't bring myself to blog about the VP debate...

...but if you have strong feelings about it, feel free to leave a comment.

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Check out what Dustin Brookshire is up to: changing the world for queer young writers.

Sarah Palin Candidate Profile

Largest Budget Allocation: The Wasilla Pipeline To God

Advice For Women Beginning In Politics: "If you work hard and keep your nose clean, you too can have a rich, powerful man come and whisk you off to Washington."

Beauty Contest Victories: 1984 Miss Wasilla, 1984 Miss Alaska, 2008 Republican Vice-Presidential Nomination

Unwed Pregnant Teens Receiving Funding From Palin Administration: 1

General Political Philosophy: Chestnut brown with amber highlights

What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick.

Palin has a right to her religious beliefs, as do fundamentalist Muslims who agree with her on so many issues of social policy. None of them has a right, however, to impose their beliefs on others by capturing and deploying the executive power of the state. The most noxious belief that Palin shares with Muslim fundamentalists is her conviction that faith is not a private affair of individuals but rather a moral imperative that believers should import into statecraft wherever they have the opportunity to do so. That is the point of her pledge to shape the judiciary. Such a theocratic impulse is incompatible with the Founding Fathers' commitment to tolerance and democracy, which is why they forbade the government to "establish" or officially support any particular religion or denomination.

McCain once excoriated the Rev. Jerry Falwell and his ilk as "agents of intolerance." That he took such a position gave his opposition to similar intolerance in Islam credibility. In light of his more recent disgraceful kowtowing to the Christian right, McCain's animus against fundamentalist Muslims no longer looks consistent. It looks bigoted and invidious. You can't say you are waging a war on religious extremism if you are trying to put a religious extremist a heartbeat away from the presidency.

B&W BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Palin speaks about the banning of books!

Poet Joy Harjo has posted on her blog a list of books that Sarah Palin tried to get banned while she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

NOW! In an exclusive to this blog, Sarah Palin explains why she requested the following books be banned:

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner: "For a book about dying there's no prayer or heaven or hell! Or that's what I've been told by people who've read it."

Carrie by Stephen King: "I was disturbed by the cruel girls who dumped pig blood on Carrie because they were too much like me . . . I mean King is the anti-Christ."

Canterbury Tales by Chaucer: "People are fooled into thinking this book is a classic. It's just plain smutty, that's what it is!!! Or that's what I've been told by people who've read it."

Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite: "How dare they live in sin! Wait a minute, I don't believe in same-sex marriage. Um . . . ."

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller: "See As I Lay Dying."

East of Eden by John Steinbeck: "While I like the idea that Eden has an East, which suggests Alaska is the Eden of the U.S., which it certainly is--the book is blasphemous because it's about Eden but contains no Adam and Eve. The movie wasn't too bad, though."

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling: "'Potter' sounds too much like 'potty.'"

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: "Huckleberry Finn broke the law by aiding a runaway slave! Do we want a felon to be a role-model for today's youth?"

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl: "This book is totally inappropriate because it's about a young man obsessed with breasts. See: 'really love your peaches want to shake your tree.'"

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman: "Two words: Homo-sexual."

Lysistrata by Aristophanes: "This very, very, very old play (not that I have anything against the aged) has two strikes against it: It's a woman's obligation to engage in intercourse with her husband whether she want to or not! And, I hear this play is anti-war."

My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara: "Horses should not be shot like they're moose or something!"

One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: "The public libraries are trying to undermine all American stands for by sneaking in books by foreign Russians."

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey: "Jack Nicholson is not in it."

Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Collective: "Reading this will encourage teen out-of-wedlock pregnancy."

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "This author neglected to include Creationism for fair and equal treatment."

The Color Purple by Alice Walker: "Even though I couldn't find it, I've been told there's lesbianism in here. And by black women to boot!"

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: "Now, I'm really not against this book. I think it's an excellent vision for the future. I can't remember why I wanted to ban it, but I take it back."

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: "This book is as anti-Christian as they get. There's even a character named 'Boo.'"

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff: "Too many unnecessary words."

I want to convert Palin

Palin church promotes converting gays.

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I'm now very honored to be part of Woman-Stirred. Come over and say hi.

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It's been exciting and a little nerve-wracking to publicly offer up the first chapter of For the May Queen. I guess I better get used to it because the book's at the printer. My publisher has bumped up the publication date to September 20!

Palin by comparison

Some comments about the Palin decision on jezebel:

She's Dan Quayle in drag. (my contribution)

I'm afraid her vagina and mine have to agree to disagree.

I will not cut off my nose to spite my vagina.

You mean you won't cut off your vagina to spite your nose.

Margaret Thatcher. Kim Campbell. Condoleeza Rice.

Like my momma said when she found out, "something in the milk ain't clean!"

Every fact I've heard about her today says she stands against everything I believe in. I think I have more common ground with Karl Rove.

"McCain Vagina 2008." I'm not inspired, I'm offended.

Two X chromosomes does not a woman-positive candidate make!

Palin = Harriet Meiers 2.0.

My vagina doesn't vote . . . my brain votes, and it really hates McCain hiding his horrible policies behind another person's vagina.

I drink a lot when the campaigns are on . . . Otherwise I would get a divorce or kill my husband.

I had a polling place at my house once. I believe this qualifies me AT LEAST for Attorney General.

She is no friend of the polar bears either.

Palin is to women what Clarence Thomas is to African Americans.

"Ma'am, I know Hillary Clinton. Hillary is a good friend of mine. And you, ma'am, are no Hillary Clinton."

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MoveOn just sent a crash course around about her via e-mail. For anyone on the fence/needing more info...


Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:

* She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage.

* Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.

* She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000.

* Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.

* She doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.

* She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years.

* She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species--she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.

Veeped out

Check out this blog. Is Obama a poetry lover?

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So, Creaky McCain chose Hot Mama Palin. She ain't as hot, though, as either Obama.

Besides, Gandhi as a VP couldn't get me to vote McCain.

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I'm off to Santa Cruz to take a long beach walk with my friend, Stacey. She is writing a novel for her MFA thesis, and I'm the lucky one who gets to be her advisor. Gone are the days I had to slog through MA in Education theses written in bureaucratic-ese.