First Lady Hairstyles

So the New York Times has a cool tidbit showing all the inaugural hairstyles of our nation’s First Ladies. There is a problem with the asterisk-ing at the end of the piece–Ellen Arthur’s two asterisks should indicate that she died before her husband took office–but I imagine that error will be fixed soon. Enjoy!

Idle Gossip: Is Joe Scarborough Having an Affair?

So anybody who watches Morning Joe on MSNBC must be thinking what I and many others are thinking: are Joe and Mika having an affair?

Apparently there was some concern a year ago that something was going on between Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski, (both of whom are married, by the by), and anybody who watches now can’t help but wonder:

1) Why Mika needs to accompany Joe all around the country on the tour for his new book, The Last Best Hope, when she has nothing to do with it;

2) Why Joe and Mika always seem to show up so late and/or disheveled looking; and

3) Why the two are practically sitting in each other’s laps during the show. In this clip, notice about a minute and a half in when Mika starts holding Joe’s hand!

Other “evidence”? Joe’s bristling when New York Times interviewer Deborah Solomon asked him why he lived apart from his family, in addition to Joe and Mika’s constant pooh-pooing of the entire Sanford affair, as if it were just a personal peccadillo and not the deep unraveling of a man unfit to serve, and none of our concern. Also, why would Mika go to the trouble to suggest that George Stephanopoulos have Joe as a guest on This Week? Is she really that gaga about him?

Furthermore, there have been whispers of infidelity on Scarborough’s part in the past, which doesn’t help us believe he’s a very good boy.

Now I’m sure there are plenty of reasons to NOT suspect the affair as well. One of which is that the two seem so unpleasant, who would want to sleep with either of them?

UPDATE: Joe Scarborough just posted this piece in reaction to Sarah Palin’s resignation, and he talks about the speculation I noted above that he left office because of an affair; he says he needed to be with his family. My only question to him would be why he is living apart from his family now, as mentioned in the NY Times piece above…it all seems rather disinegenuous.

Lead Found In White House Garden!

Oh no, the New York Times reports that lead was found in the White House Garden! Lest we be too concerned, the levels were not deemed unsafe…but still, it’s probably for the best that Barack and Michelle seem to have put the childbearing to rest, as lead can damage the littlest ones. Let’s hope Bo the Wonderpup hasn’t been pawing the produce too much, either.

Holy Crap, Meghan McCain Really is an Idiot

No, she really is.

If you heard about her appearance on Bill Maher’s show two weeks ago, where Paul Begala schooled her in how not to be an idiot, well, then, you know how dumb she can be. And now, she’s gone one step further.

In her latest column on The Daily Beast, Mc Cain insists that we “forgive” South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford for his cheating/disappearing act, saying, “Was Governor Sanford wrong to have an affair? As a husband, of course he was. But should we burn him at the stake and make him leave office? I don’t believe so. Because sex and politics are two very different things, even if sometimes they seem hopelessly entwined.”

OK, look. I know what Meghan is trying to do here. The Republican party is in such a shambles that she is doing whatever she can to make it become more inclusive, less judgmental, and a part of  this century. I admire that..I think it is necessary for us to have two vibrant, competing parties. I think that the Republicans are so far to the right that they’ve pulled the Democrats over to the right with them. If she can do anything to change this, then I will help her, gladly.

However.

Meghan, you need to understand the full force of the hypocrisy of what Sanford did, plus what his job is as Governor of a state of four million plus people.

Sanford was one of the ones insisting that Clinton be kicked out because of the affair with Monica Lewinsky. So, really, he needs to live and die by the rules he sets. I agree with McCain that politicians’ sex lives are really none of our business, but Sanford’s sex life became our business once he insisted that Clinton’s was too.

Secondly, and much more importantly, he abandoned his job. I can think of few, if any, jobs where one can just not show up for few days and not be fired. There is a reason Governors live in residences provided by their states and get a security detail. It’s because their jobs are important.  They require someone to be available 24/7.  McCain is the daughter of a serious man who had a serious job, and should know this. However, growing up as she has with substantial privilege, she has most likely never had to face this reality herself as a grownup holding down a job.  Hell, the last time she even updated her much-touted blog, McCain Blogette, was in May.

Finally Meghan, if you want to write a well thought-out column talking about Mark Sanford, look at this one. Maureen Dowd is not my favorite person but she knows how to think. Start thinking.  Secondly, going back to last week, if you want to be taken seriously while on national TV,  look at your fellow Real Time panelist Katty Kay, another blonde, but one who has no problem being informed–I never noticed her saying that she was “just a blonde”.   Start reading. And if you want to improve your overall performance on TV, look at, well, just about everyone else you ever see on TV.  They prepare for their appearances and you need to as well. Start preparing. You can do it.

Unless you really are an idiot.

Technology, Twitter and the Iran election

Take a look at Nicholas Kristof’s article in the NY Times about dissident use of the Internet, starting in China and continuing in Iran and other areas where freedoms are limited.

From the Mr. Tweet blog, here is a look at how and why Twitter is being used to effect change in Iran. I don’t know about you, but I find what is happening over there to be terrifying yet amazing. The courage of the people who are attempting to peacefully protest, when it could cost them their lives and livelihoods, is inspiring.

I wonder where we would be if we had had these methods of communications in other historical eras–just imagine what could have been prevented had we had these tools during the Holocaust, the slavery years, the Russian revolution, etc.