It Only Took 238 Days

Senator Al Franken



The unanimous 5-0 decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court declaring Franken the winner also contained language that politely stated the Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty should not hesitate to sign the certification of the election.

...Pawlenty had indicated as late as Monday that he was willing to certify Mr. Franken as the winner once the state’s highest court decided the recount and Mr. Coleman’s battle. On CNN on Sunday, Mr. Pawlenty said: “I’m prepared to sign it as soon as they give the green light.”

A 5-0 unanimous decision sounds like a green light to me. Will Norm Coleman now do the right thing and not appeal to SCOTUS? I'm not so sure he's that smart.

UPDATE (4pm): Coleman concedes! Congratulates Al Franken as state's new Senator. Respects Minnesota Supreme Court's decision although does state he "also thought it was important to stand up for enfranchesing thousands of Minnesotans whose votes weren't counted like others' were."

Seven years

June 30, 2002. Happy anniversary to me and Mr. Fraulein! This was one of the readings at our wedding: Shakespeare's Sonnet 116:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments.

Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Must-read column by Vicki Iovine

I recently decided to make the best of the fact that it's been 60 degrees and raining here in Boston since, oh, April, by starting to read the "Twilight" saga. I figured that if the Northeast is slowly turning into the Pacific Northwest, climate-wise, I might as well find some appropriate reading material for the transformation. I didn't have high hopes for these books as far as the writing goes, and while they certainly ain't Jane Austen, they really do suck you in. As it were.

That's why I laughed so hard when I read this new Huff Post column by the always-awesome Vicki Iovine, author of the Girlfriends' Guide books on parenting. Iovine links her furtive middle-aged-mom addiction to the "Twilight" books with her annoyance over Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer, and their ilk, and it's pretty damn funny. Vampire or no, I'd take Edward Cullen over Mark Sanford any day.

Now I know what I want for my anniversary

A bra that shoots fireworks! You think they sell these at Victoria's Secret?

(Also...old fart alert...am I the only one who doesn't know who "Lady Gaga" is?)

Gallows Politics

by Broadway Carl

Boom! goes the dynamite!

"I think he smells some blood in the water on the national-security issue. It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that's dangerous politics."

-- CIA Director Leon Panetta, in an interview with the New Yorker, on former Vice President Dick Cheney's criticisms of the Obama administration.

Since posting this on Sunday, Ed Schultz has had a run-in with Joe Scarborough regarding this issue. Schultz agrees with the assessment. Scarborough is shocked, shocked I tell you!, that anyone would think Cheney would want "Americans to die" so he could say he was right.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Scarborough tries to discredit Schultz by equating the support he says he's receiving with 9/11 Truthers, but Schultz isn't buying it.

Must Reads

by Broadway Carl

I usually do a Must Reads post every Saturday at my blog. Saturday is a full work day for me with not much posting time, so I collect interesting articles from the week (usually toward the end of the week so they aren't stale by Saturday) and link them for posterity.

It seems Ms. Fraulein especially liked this batch of political cookies, so she's requested I re-post them here. Enjoy.
*****************
Bob Cesca: The Health Insurance Mafia Deserves a Good Screwing

Andrew Sullivan: A Marine and the T-Word

Paul Krugman: The Big Hate

Halimah Abdullah, McClatchy: Senators who opposed tobacco bill received top dollar from industry

Lars Thorwald: Obama on DOMA: He IS Keeping A Promise

Joan Walsh: Why I went on "The O'Reilly Factor"

The Daily Howler: It Happened Last Time! Yesterday’s killing made us think about what happened the last time

D. Aristophanes, Sadly, No!: The Usual Gang of Idiots

Tom Leonard: US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive

No-Work Fridays Summer

With coming up on four years' worth of full-time work under my belt since the Peanut was born, I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to take Fridays off for the summer. As I recently lamented, the thing that I (and pretty much every other mom I know!) desperately need more of is time. Time to exercise. Time to cook a decent meal. Time to park my butt on the couch and read "In-Style" magazine. Time to blog. And most of all, time to spend with hanging out with my precious Peanut while she is still (well, most of the time, anyway) a perky little bundle of cuteness.

Thus the idea of No-Work Friday Summer was born. Thanks to an understanding boss and a family-friendly employer, the request was approved. And whatever income I lose (which won't end up being that much anyway given the corresponding drop in day care costs) will be paid back in spades by having the opportunity, for a little while at least, to take a break from being a cranky person with an aggravating, never-ending commute and just be.

And with any luck, this poor blog won't be as neglected as it's been the last few years, and I'll have time to come up with more contributions to the conversations over at Broadway Carl's place!

DHS Right Wing Extremist Report Coming To Fruition

by Broadway Carl

When the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning of possible violence from right wing extremists and extremist groups a few weeks ago, there was much outrage. Or fauxtrage as the case may be. For some strange reason, the Republican party took offense at the report.

Wingnuts like Michelle Malkin called the report "one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS", "piece of crap report" that serves as "a sweeping indictment of conservatives." Really, Michelle? A word search of the words, "conservative", "Conservatives" and "Republican" turns up no hits on the PDF of the report. An indictment of conservatives? Why would they equate themselves with extremist hate groups?

No matter to the Republicans/Conservatives who felt the vapors. This was a hit job on the GOP by the duplicitous Obama administration. The "Support the Troops - Buy a Car Magnet" groups were upset about the mention that returning Iraqi vets might be targeted for recruitment by these extremist groups in order to utilize their military talents. The immediate suggestion of course was that this insinuation vilified our soldiers. The bluster was so loud, that DHS Director Janet Napolitano felt the need to apologize to those who were "offended."

The kicker was that it was the Bush administration that ordered the assessments of both right wing and left wing extremist groups, but the reports weren't completed until after Obama took office. And I don't remember hearing any outrage of the left wing report which was released in January.

So here we stand a few weeks later, after the murder of Dr. George Tiller while in church by a pro-life "extremist" and today's shooting attack at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, by an 88-year old anti-Semitic, white supremacist with a previous record and you have to wonder, "What did DHS Director Napolitano apologize for?"

What will Michelle Malkin say now about that "shoddy piece of propaganda"? What will Texas Rep. Lamar Smith say now after categorizing the DHS report as "racial profiling" the pro-gun advocates, pro-life advocates and veterans? What will Joe Scarborough say now after accusing the DHS and Obama administration of targeting veterans instead of Al-Qaeda?

They'll say what they always say: a lone wolf. A nut who was acting alone. They won't see the big picture. They'll refuse to look back and see the rise in vitriol and violence since the election. And as is frequently becoming the case, they will be wrong.


UPDATE (6/10/09 6:45pm): It seems I had some kind of Spidey sense today.

Fox News Reporter: Scandalized DHS Report Needs Second Look

Originally posted on Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania 6/10/09

Jon Stewart Eats Joe Scarborough's Head

Posted by Broadway Carl

Not much to say on this one. Morning Joe sold out. Starbucks is now a sponsor. Jon Stewart calls Joe out on his ass-kissing of Starbucks CEO and product placement. Joe Scarborough claims it was sarcasm... even though THEY ARE sponsored by Starbucks and THEY ARE placing product all over the set. Jon Stewart eats Joe for a snack.

Enjoy.





If you have a problem with this, you can write in to Starbucks and complain regarding their Corproate social responsibility efforts. Some are suggesting to boycott Starbucks and let them know why. I'll write in to say that their choice of sponsorship is suspect, but sorry, Carl can't gives up the Starbucks. If I boycotted every product because some asshole plugged it, I'd starve.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Fake English accents: First Madonna, now the Peanut

What with her continual exposure to "Charlie and Lola" and "Angelina Ballerina," it was perhaps inevitable that the Peanut would start speaking in a fake English accent.

If I weren't so woefully tech-challenged, I'd post an audio file here because it's kind of a hoot. What's a little scary is that she's doing a pretty damn good job. (If we get her a job acting in a commercial, maybe her Screen Actors Guild credentials can list her foreign accent skills.) "Can I pick out your outfit today, madam?" she asked me this morning, emphasizing each word in the appropriate Britishy fashion. She talked like this all morning. "Have fun at your stuuuu-pid work," she said to Mr. Fraulein as he buckled her into her car seat. I just need to emphasize: she is 4 and a half. God, does she crack us up!

I don't think I can bring myself to watch this one

Thanks to Netflix, I've been slowly working my way through Robert Downey Jr.'s entire oeuvre. This one, however, I think I'm going to skip. I have no idea what it's about and I'm not sure I want to know. Above is what he apparently looks like in this movie. Why, I have no idea.

Imagine how long it took the makeup people to cover him in all that hair! Can you say disturbing?

Twirly Girl

The Peanut at the flower girl dress shop, May, 31, 2009.