Hit The Road

it's about time...

aw...

and here I was worried Mitch would forget to write his weekly post about me.

I miss you, too...

sorry

I'm in Iowa. If you beg enough, maybe Smartie will come post...

Why Michael Brodkorb is cute as a button...

this made me giggle

Oh NO! Whatever is Mark Ritchie going to DO?

My guess is wait for a court to dismiss it. Since that seems to happen to all of their complaints.

Why is it always the same folks who say government should cut spending who like to waste tax dollars in frivolous complaints?

Today

Elizabeth Edwards is my hero...

Help, I'm naked!

Not sure what happened, but the Powerliberal is without clothes today: our lovely header Tild made for us seems to have disappeared, along with our 331 Club picture.

In the mean time, we have an ad on our adstrip if you feel like checking it out. I decided to let it through mainly because I liked the name of the book; it sounds a bit like Gravity's Rainbow, which smartie has always been telling me I should read. Anyway, there's a little extra color to make up for all the graphics that disappeared over night.

Speaking of the 331, tomorrow is our first fund raiser for the troops (see, liberals can do it, too.). Also, I'll be turning 30, so a little drinking is in order.

UPDATE: in the time it took me to write this, everything came back. Go figure.

We'll be moving to every other week DL's from here on out, since I'm going to be traveling quite a bit, so this is the last DL until April - come join us!

Things to Do Before I Leave Town

I'll be heading to Iowa on Sunday, and have a list of things I still need to get done before I go (please please please make my computer show up on Friday!).

Now I have one more.

I can't top this wisdom (3. One book you would want on a desert island - Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead because then, maybe, I would actually get around to reading past the first few paragraphs.). But I'll try:

Book that changed my life:

Karen Armstrong: Gospel According to Women. It's out of print. Kind of symbolic, huh?

Book that I've read more than once - well, I usually read all of my books repeatedly. The first book I ever read twice though was "A Wrinkle In Time." I was about 8 years old and literally turned back to the first page once I finished it and read it over again right then.

Book for a Desert Island - Maybe Centennial, by Michener. Dude writes really long books.

Book that made me laugh - Out loud? I don't do that.

Book that made me cry - If you didn't cry when Aslan "died", you are made of stone.

One book you wish you had written - The Bible. Is that wrong? I just like the power that would have implied I have...

One book you're currently reading - ok, I'm in the middle of 3 non-fictions - nearly done with It Can Happen Here, Framing the Debate, and James Dobson's biography, which I got for free at the Focus on the Family Rally but haven't made it all the way through yet. Sadly, I have a short attention span and every time I get distracted I start re-reading Orson Scott Card's Ender series.

Book I've been meaning to read - I have a bunch of classics up in the attic I've been meaning to read, and haven't made it: Vanity Fair, Tom Jones, The Awakening, etc. Maybe I'll take them to the beach in May.

Tagging 6 people: Liberal Media Elite, since that will get all 6 at once. Aren't there like 10 of you now?

Friday Quick Hits

Kline is finally meeting with constituents - way to be a Congressman after months of avoiding them!

My fellow reporter Paul has an amazing story up about the Strib Washington Bureau. Or what's left of it.

And Karmarczuks has a website! Just in time, since we're going by tonight for some grillables.
(hat tip the Metro bloggers)

Catch Up Time

Drinking Liberally tonight, since I forgot to send the email again. Next week (the 22nd), we will be doing a fund raiser for a brigade of troops out in Iraq. You kick in, I buy the beer.

Speaking of fund raisers, tossing a little love to Congressman Tim Walz isn't a bad idea right now. Show the DSCC that Minnesota likes him in the 1st, and all those new challengers that he isn't going anywhere (be sure to scroll all the way down to find him. There's a reason I took my husband's name, and it's simply because I hated always being at the end of the line). It's the end of the quarter, and you politicos know what that means. I don't, I just write about it.

And jumping back to senate for a second, since we had the Franken-visit, we'd like to extend an offer to Mike Ciresi to drop by and chat as well,but we don't know where to address our invitation to. Anyone who can help out with that has my gratitude.

Finally, a word from the ladies. The lovely lovely ladies....

...one day "queer" is bad, and the next day "queer" is good. In fact, the latest from the PC police is that it's now "hateful" to call a homosexual a "homosexual" - go-figure. They prefer that innocuous, cutsie and happy-go-fluffy little term "gay" if you please.)

If you don't hear from me for a while

Rest assured I have not been deported.

Although I am looking forward to my trip to Mexico in May...

All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Crayon

Now this is just adorable...


And oddly enough, the only place I found info on gatherings in Minnesota for Sunday:

Some in Minnesota:

*
3/18 Sun 1 pm March and Rally - Minneapolis, MN. Gather Hennepin & Lagoon Aves. March and rally will be held near Loring Park in downtown Minneapolis. Stop the War! OUT OF IRAQ Bring the Troops Home Now! No Escalation! Stop U.S. threats against Iran! Sponsored by IPAC.
*
3/18 Sun 2 pm Regional Anti-war March and Rally -Duluth, MN. MN Power Plaza for a march to a 2:30 rally at the Duluth Civic Center. The Northland Anti-War Coalition will be hosting a regional march and rally against the war in Iraq. Corner of Lake Avenue & Superior St. in downtown Duluth.
*
3/17 Sat 1:30 pm United for Peace as a Global Family - Rochester, MN. Gather at Rochester Public Library at 1:30 to march with banners and flags of all nations to Peace Plaza, then return to library auditorium for DVD “How to Peace,” refreshments, and dialogue.

It WAS a Frog in My Desk

a high double-dog poobah sounds pretty sexy...

Although I'm a little sad that his commentors realized I'm an asshole that quickly. Master of None has only been hanging around the site for a month. It usually takes at least three before I'm an asshole. Then I start to grow on you...so I expect love letters from him soon, as well.

I'm turning 30 in 9 days, boys, should I be expecting presents?

The One Where Mitch Yet Again Tries to Get Me To Register For His Site

So it's Springtime, and young men's fancy turns to thoughts of love, yadda yadda yadda...

I can only assume that's what's going on here, since Mitch has obviously developed a crush on me. He can barely make it a week without pulling my braids or stealing my lunch box or some sign that proves his underlying devotion to me.

Here's his latest Mash note:

When Minnesota Monitor came onto the scene, they said with a straight face (or as straight a face as Robin "Rew" Marty ever affects, at any rate) that because they took their organization's "pledge", they were a step or two above, better, and more reliable than run-of-the-mill bloggers.

Then he does a cute little insinuation that Andy Birkey has a disclosure he's not disclosing:

What is Birkey's relationship with "Soulforce Q"? While his sympathies are apparent in context ("Expect more events like these as Soulforce and the Equality Ride directly confront the institutions that produce this type of hatred"), his relationship is not. If there is a relationship, that's fine - I'm up-front about my own sympathies, so as to help the reader gauge my own detachment, or lack of it, from a story. The tone of the story begs the question.

Obviously not taking the time to see that Andy's been covering Soulforce since October of 2006, he just assumes Andy's making some sort of push in his own interest. I guess Mitch's crush on me is more recent than I knew.

The worst part is, he is still claiming that we must be part of Media Matters since we share offices with them, even though the Center moved offices a few months ago. I hope he hasn't been sending me poetry to the DC office, since I'm not sure how long they forward the mail.

But his little spitballs and stickers on the back of my shirt are noticed and appreciated, and seen for what they truly are - an obviously smitten admirer.

Don't worry Mitch, I'll see you at the garage soon, and you can bring me the flowers.

Getting a Little Class

Now that Smartie and I have worked our way through the entire first two seasons of Lost, it's time for us to go out and get a little culture.

This weekend we'll be hitting the opening of American Noise, put on by nimbus Theatre. The script is original, and since we're huge navel gazers, we're going to see how much of us ended up in the final draft. We used to show up at the author's apartment and drink and wax poetic about the state of society, and he'd record us and see if we had anything at all intelligent to say. Luckily, we were usually drinking, so we won't notice if we were cut out all together.

Plus, there will be cartoons. Who doesn't love cartoon?

An original work by nimbus co-Artistic Director Cockroach, the play mashes up live action theatre with animated scenes from six of the Twin Cities' premier animators. The play's characters confront an America united only by its divisions and immersed in a deafening cultural noise that distracts its citizens with the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of the perfect pair of jeans.


American Noise: The Savage Re-Birth of the American Dream will be presented March 16th - April 1st at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Avenue South, in Minneapolis.


Friday, March 16th - 8:00 pm
Saturday, March 17th - 8:00 pm
Sunday, March 18th - 3:00 pm
Thursday, March 22nd - 8:00 pm
Friday, March 23rd - 8:00 pm
Saturday, March 24th - 8:00 pm
Sunday, March 25th - 3:00 pm
Monday, March 26th - 8:00 pm
Thursday, March 29th - 8:00 pm
Friday, March 30th - 8:00 pm
Saturday, March 31st - 8:00 pm
Sunday, April 1st - 3:00 pm

nimbus has been producing bold, challenging and just plain odd theatre in the Twin Cities since 2001. In that time, we have entertained and baffled thousands of Twin Citians with an engaging mix of under-appreciated works by established playwrights, new plays by emerging playwrights and innovative company-created productions. We're dedicated to creating theatre that crosses boundaries, promotes imagination, and creates new conversations.

A Good Day For the Women

For those of you who don't read my Minnesota Monitor column (yes, I'm talking to you, Antagonostic), I had a little bet going on this week.

I celebrated International Women's Day in my own way. At Drinking Liberally, I got into an argument about how many women bloggers there were in the country with someone who obviously hadn't read my last piece. He told me he's sure the numbers are inflated by knitting blogs and we placed a bet on how many women will have posts up on Huffington Post this Sunday.

Well, I just ran down the left hand column, and here are the results:

Coleen Rowley
Ester Dyson
Harry Shearer
Elayne Boosler
Michelle Krause
Helen Zia
Nina Burleigh
Michael Schmerconish
Stephen Elliot
Bruno Giussani
Jeffery Feldman
Michael Shaw
David Sirota
Joan Z. Shore
Cliff Schecter
Jefferey Buchanan
Bob Geiger
Reese Schonfeld
Mike Lux
Ankush Khardori
Tim Giago
Thomas De Zengotita

7 out of 22 columns is 32%.

"Okay, Robin", you may say. "You barely squeaked though. Is that something to crow about?"

Maybe not, but I spotted him three columns: everything in italics is from earlier in the week, but I left on the list since it was still up on Sunday. Taking those out brings us to 7 out of 19, or 37%.

Is that my 43% the Pew folks told me there were? Not quite. But here's the interesting part of the list: Rowley down through Shaw is the featured columnists - those with pictures. Of those 12, 7 are female, a whopping 58%.

Taking Huffington Post as our microcosm of the blogosphere in general, I'd say the ladies did quite well this week.

And I'm looking forward to my beer.

Tracy, David Strom and....?

Just trying to figure out who sent the third cigar, since I can guess the first two...

In the last two weeks, Tancredo has received 100 in total, three of which came from people in Ellison’s Minneapolis-area district.

Sweet!

I think Mitch just invited me to come to the 2008 GOP convention with him.

I promise to behave.

Jeff said poop

A comic is worth a thousand words...

Supermodels for Christ?

if only I had made that up...

Clutching my pearls

This gives me the vapors!

Here are the recommendations for a Day Without Feminism (sent out by Professor Michelle Kuhl, or should I say, Mrs. Jeffrey Pickron):

For Women:
- Wear skirts or dresses only, no pants.
- No participation in sports.
- During class, sit in the back.
- If you are married, go by your husband’s name. Not “Mrs. Jane Doe,” but “Mrs. John Doe.”
- Do not vote or participate in politics.
- Your only birth control is abstinence.
- Do not enter bars.
- If you are the victim of sexual assault, remember to bring your witness to the police station.
- Do not use credit cards that are in your name. Those in your father’s or husband’s are fine.
- If you are sexually harassed at work, it is legal and there is no one to which to complain.
- No cursing, period.
- Wait to be acknowledged before speaking
- Do not speak to any men unless you have been formally introduced.

For Men
- Wear clothes appropriate for gentlemen: tie, dress shirt, jacket, slacks, and shined shoes.
- Do not wear hats indoors.
- Open all doors for ladies.
- Offer to carry books for ladies and escort them across the street.
- Walk on the outside of the sidewalk.
- Of course, pay for everything on dates.
- Do not frequent bars that allow women inside.
- No cursing around ladies.
- Your only birth control is abstinence.
- Do not speak to any ladies unless you have been formally introduced. Speaking to slatterns, however, is fine.
- Do not use any money in your budget that was contributed by your mother, wife, or girlfriend.

It’s a cold day for skirts and dresses! Women’s History Month Feminism Police will be giving out “Disciplinary Notices” to write up students who exercise “Feminist Privileges” today at the Union from 11-1.