Just want to give a shout out to the Best of Blogs award. If your blog gets less than one hundred unique visitors per day, get someone to nominate you (you apparently can't nominate yourself).

Blue Gal, the blog, due to a very recent upsurge in popularity, just barely does not qualify. Thanks anyway.

By now most of us have heard about the Boston Hoax and how a silly cartoon character guerrilla marketing "botched joke" (ahem) fooled the city of Boston into believing bombs were being attached to bridges around the city.

The "controversy" is also being protrayed as a generational battle, between those bloggers who instantly recognized the Aqua Teen Hunger Force character and the totally out-of-it fuddy duddies who got scared by a guerrila marketing campaign. Dude, you are so out of it.

What is not being discussed to my satisfaction is this entire culture's divine right to be marketed to. The trend I hate most is the total acceptance on the part of people in our society that marketing everywhere is okay. It isn't. It's called mental pollution. Not to mention that these marketers left electric items unattended on the street. That's just plain old street pollution. I hope I don't sound like Cheney by asking if someone on the West Bank or Baghdad would have considered this marketing ploy a good idea.

I knew I'd reached total saturation when I saw that the paper on which my son's school menu is printed was provided by cartoon advertisers. It's folded so that the ads are on the outside you open to see more ads, then open again to find out what the public school cafeteria is serving for lunch. On topic, The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education exists to fight this mumbo-jumbo.

It's ironic that the same dudes who think Boston overreacted also think the War on Christmas is cool. Somehow Exxon/Mobil and Wal-Mart are bad corporations, but Cartoon Network? There's no way I could be pwned by a cartoon, man:

I've shown it before but I think today would also be a good day to have Cake's Comfort Eagle playing in your head. I like that this particular version uses video game/cartoon style characters to make the point.

And there's more at Adbusters.org.

Before you think I'm a total hypocrite, I know, I know. I'm getting ready to accept limited advertising here at BG. I joined Liberal Prose because I know them, and because I have complete control over which ads appear here. And I haven't accepted one yet. It'll be a cold day in hell before there's a "you have won a free laptop" pop-up over here, that much I can promise.

I'm not sure I'll even publish this post but it's on my mind so I'm typing it up.

I've been writing a lot lately about Pammy at Atlashrugs and actually reading her blog which I've just got to stop. It's like a car wreck. But I came across this photo of her and I just can't erase it from my brain.

It's got me thinking about conservatism, liberalism, gender, sex, all the things I already blog about.

I am a liberal, and I definitely agree with the C&L commenter who paraphrased Colbert: "Sexual pleasure has a well-known liberal bias." This blog is no stranger to anal sex jokes, and you could tell me one right now and I'd laugh my butt off, no pun intended.

By the way, on another C&L thread we've determined that that snot that comes out of your butt when you sneeze and fart at the same time? It will henceforth be known as "JudyMiller," not to be confused with "Santorum." Pass it on.

But seriously, folks, I'm a liberal gal, and you know I be lovin' the panties, but no woman is wearing the panties on my blog. It's a line I draw here, and it's a conservative line. I wouldn't let my breasts hang out like that, either, out of a sense of decorum, and what is attractive and what is decidedly not the pretty way to display my, um, bodacious rack. I mean, yeah, you could probably put two Pammies on the scale to balance one Blue Gal too. She's got a gym with two TV's in her house, and I don't have one TV or a home gym or her pecs, either. I would not trade my spelling skills for her pecs, though.

Some might say I don't dress like that because I'm a feminist. That's not it, either, though I trust "self-respect" has some play here.

She's actually quite pretty, isn't she? But I think that dress is a challenge to womanhood, and I'm sitting here asking myself if I feel threatened by it, and I'm not sure I like my answer. Still thinking about this. Comments appreciated.

1. Famous Knitter Meg Swanson has posed for a picture wearing a sweater I knit. The picture is hanging on my refrigerator.

True. I went to her knitter's camp in 2003. I wore a sweater knit in one of her yarns, she tried it on, I burst out crying. I was pregnant with number 3 at the time, so that's my excuse for the tears, but really it was Meg wearing a sweater I knit with my own two hands. I could die.

2. During senior year in college I had breakfast several times with former Presidential candidate John Anderson, usually just the two of us.

True. He was a visiting professor at Brandeis and ate breakfast in the cafeteria. I was one of the only students on campus with the wherewithal and guts to approach him and ask to join him. He was one of the first people on the planet to find out I had gotten into Harvard Graduate School, too. Nice, smart guy, and one of the best breakfast partners I've ever had (ahem).

3. During freshman year in college I watched Qwerty fall backwards into a snowbank. At one point I also danced with him while I hummed "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody."

True. Qwerty and I went to Brandeis together. He had such a mop of hair in Winter '81, I can't tell you. We've been friends for over 25 years? Jeebus. He's also the only housemate I ever had, male or female, who mopped the kitchen floor because he noticed it was dirty. (Fellow Cancerian, natch.)

4. I met Mr and Mrs. John Kerry at a Democratic soiree in Pittsburgh three years before he announced his candidacy for President. Theresa Heinz Kerry told me my hair was "really nice."

Nope. Never met either of them, though my parents do live in Pittsburgh. I do have nice hair, but Theresa doesn't know it.

5. I didn't drive a car or even have a license until I was 32. Some "things" I didn't do until I was 26. But driving a car was 32.

Knitting at 18. Car at 32. Let the record show.

...people are lighting a candle for Molly Ivins, too.

In addition, Molly's paper The Texas Observer has a thread where you can leave a message for Molly.

I certainly wish that brave, funny, inspirational woman well. Kick that cancer in the ass, Molly. We're behind you.

My New Year's Resolution is to read more, and review a book here once a month. For February the book is Jimmy Carter's Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.

Carter's book has angered certain right wing bloggers to the point that they want him censured, primarily for the admittedly incendiary title of the book. I doubt that the particular right wing blogger from whom I discovered the censure movement has read even one word of Carter's book.

I find it fascinating that there is less tolerance for the "anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism" bullshit in the editorial pages of The Jerusalem Post than there is on certain right-wing blogs coming outta New Jersey. Seriously. But I don't like to use the term Zionism because that gets into this whole "Israel's right to exist" mantra which is so NOT the point. Let me state this in as clear a statement as I can: I am not questioning Israel's right to exist. I am (and Carter is, and a great many letters to the editor of the Jerusalem Post are) questioning Israel's "right" to kill everyone (a classic CFAV post), "right" to treat non-Jews as third class citizens of the planet, "right" to ignore the UN, etc. etc.

Sigh. And of course that means Carter and I are guilty of

denying the holocaust.

Don't get me started. (The WTF letters in response to that charge are on point and worth a read.)

This is a good book. (whew. After all that?) I particularly like how readable it is given the subject matter. I could quibble with Carter's timeline starting the Middle East conflict with Abraham ca 1900 BC, but whatever. Carter will never let us forget he is a Baptist Sunday School teacher. The world will not forget that his place in history has more to do with his peace work than with his lackluster Presidency.

I'm delighted that the attacks on Carter have put this book on the bestseller chart. I don't believe that this book will instantly change US policy. But it is a large chink in the armor of AIPAC and Lieberman and Pammy. And it's a start toward fairness.

Carter's first sentence mentions his career-long goal "has been to help ensure a lasting peace for Israelis and others in the Middle East." That much of Carter I totally believe. And what I want to know from those who would censure him is, why would peace which honors the dignity of each human being in the region not serve your purpose? Just asking.

Blue Gal, as a rule, follows the guidelines of Omnipotent Poobah's Anti-Tagging League.

But dammit if her Captain didn't ask this time. So here goes.

Five things about me. One of which may not be true:

1. Famous Knitter Meg Swanson has posed for a picture wearing a sweater I knit. The picture is hanging on my refrigerator.

2. During senior year in college I had breakfast several times with former Presidential candidate John Anderson, usually just the two of us.

3. During freshman year in college I watched Qwerty fall backwards into a snowbank. At one point I also danced with him while I hummed "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody."

4. I met Mr and Mrs. John Kerry at a Democratic soiree in Pittsburgh three years before he announced his candidacy for President. Theresa Heinz Kerry told me my hair was "really nice."

5. I didn't drive a car or even have a license until I was 32. Some "things" I didn't do until I was 26. But driving a car was 32.

Everybody but Qwerty, who knows me too well, can leave a guess as to which one of the above is false, in comments. Yes, number three is true.

Yes those are my fingers and that sweater has a gobzillion color changes, predominantly blue. Yes I'm knitting with both hands and the back looks as good as the front. Get over it. I'll wear the Blue Gal sweater next year to Madrona in Tacoma, February 14-17. (Many thanks to my good twin for the pic.)

Many thanks to Mr. Blue Gal for taking good care of our kids and funding my once a year run-away from home. I don't think Queen Victoria enshrined Albert's shaving kit as well as he enshrined the dirty clothes hamper, though. Completely untouched for the entire time I was gone. But all three kids were still alive and kicking when I got home, and I get to go again next year. That's pretty much all I ask. Thanks, honey. xoxoxo

And to my readers, I promise no more knitting posts for quite a while. Spending time at the needles is just to sharpen my snark, promise. xo to you, too.

Best comment I've read all year.

from TBogg:

K-Lo held court on this panel as if she were having a Princess Sparkle Pony pajama party theme. It was very frightening and I felt soiled afterward. Mona Charon said things would get better if there were an organized effort to get conservative comics to tell eveyone how cool they were. Seriously.
~
LanceThruster | 01.28.07 - 6:06 pm | #

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A special shout out to Omnipotent Poobah for finding this story and his special allegations linking this blog to the perp.

The cop wants the perp to let the authorities (?) know if someone leaving new underpants around town is a practical joke or an actual crime. He is, um, unclear on the concept.

But OP gets it. If you've got a panties crime I wanna be linked to it. And thanks.

There's been an attempt on the part of old-style conservatives to resurrect the memory and recover the reputation of Senator Barry Goldwater. There was a documentary made last year with the cooperation of his family. I've been listening to the unabridged book on tape version of John Dean's Conservatives Without Conscience. Dean roomed with Goldwater's son in college, was friends with the Senator for decades, and initiallly expected Goldwater to co-author this book, in which Dean claims Goldwater as a model of conservatism's better past.

I've been thinking along these lines myself, particularly like Dean, comparing the civil and educated discourse of a Goldwater, or even moreso, William F. Buckley, with the screaming clowns on Fox News today. Dean is actually downright funny when he writes about the cottage industry arising from fact-checking the Blond Who Must Not Be Named.

So I'm on the plane to Seattle listening and nodding to Dean's call for a more civil and even possibly intellectually honest brand of conservatism when it is time to take off the headphones and return the seat backs and tray tables etc. So I put away John Dean and pull out this academic article on Richard Hofstadter, the historian and author of the seminal "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life." (I know, I know. I'm making all you "intelligence is an aphrodisiac" boys totally hot right now. Moving on.) In the article is this little gem on Hofstadter's opinion of Goldwater:

The Sun Belt conservatism of the 1960's discovered in the iconic Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater a symbol of the frontier individualism it prized, a foe of the welfare state it loathed, and a hawk determined to roll back rather than contain international communism. The nature of this new conservatism seemed to Hofstadter far removed from the Republican policies of the 1930's and 1940's, and he emphasized how litte it shared with its putative ancestor."

John Dean rightly (no pun intended) portrays looking to the past as a better place, seeking a return to earlier values, as one of the hallmarks of conservatism. As it ever was, for many of Goldwater's contemporaries, especially those known as "Rockefeller Republicans," Barry Goldwater was a radical and unwelcome departure from an earlier and better politics.

As a left-wing blogger I have to praise Dean and some others for wanting conservatives to have a conscience, though I suspect even Dean would agree that it's probably too late. Rupert Murdoch ironically has consciously destroyed the kinder gentler and indeed, pedigreed conservatism of John Dean and I would even argue Bush 41, in the name of anti-liberalism, television ratings, and a desire to appeal to the unsophisticated masses. But I also regret that in defense of his definitively conservative call for a return to a better form of politics, lionizing Barry Goldwater is the best Dean can do.