happy new year!

for the New Year

sunday funnies – extra!

sunday funnies

albuquerque dangerous for women and girls?

Recent headlines would suggest that it is. Attacks on clinics that provide abortion services are up. There were two attacks last Tuesday at two buildings belonging to Planned Parenthood of New Mexico. The New York Times reports:

An arson fire damaged a surgery center the organization uses for abortions, and the windows of a Planned Parenthood family planning clinic 12 blocks away were smashed, the officials said.

Neither building sustained significant damage, and activities at both of them resumed Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.

The attacks came just weeks after the Albuquerque clinic run by a nationally known abortion provider, Dr. Curtis Boyd, was destroyed by arsonists on Dec. 6.

It isn’t clear whether the attacks are related.

special k fans take note

There is a Pizza Hut ad that doesn’t put your candidate in a very favorable light. Or, as Tennessee Guerilla Women would say:

Pizza Hut Ad Trashes Dennis Kucinich

Note to Pizza Hut: Smearing Dennis Kucinich is no way to sell pizzas. I just lost my appetite for all things made by Pizza Hut.

Here is the contact information for Pizza Hut — For Urgent Matters: 1-800-948-8488 (U.S.) –OR– email:http://www.pizzahut.com/ContactUs/OtherFeedback.aspx .

And from TGW: “You might tell them that if they’re going to trash Democratic candidates, they’re going to lose democratic pizza buyers!”

You tell ‘em, sister!

bad closing week for obama?

Is presidential hopeful Barack Obama having a tough week? What prompted this post is a report from the NBC owned station in DC on Friday night.

“Barack Obama says if he doesn’t win in 2008 he will never run again. Obama says he and his wife will be different people in eight years and not as able to connect with the concerns of the average American. It was just five years ago that the Obama’s still had law school loans to pay off, and were living in a small condo.”

The news reminded me of the time Oral Roberts went on the air and told his followers that God would call him home if they didn’t send money quickly!

Is Obama kidding or is he merely throwing the adult version of a temper tantrum?

How is he going to change? Is he going to acquire great wealth and not be able to connect with the concerns of ‘the little people?’ Will he be too old to understand what ‘average’ Americans want/need? Assuming he stays in the Senate, is he planning to forget about the people who sent him there? What gives, Obama?

Maybe Obama should take a closer look at his Iowa audience and then tell everyone with a straight face why he won’t be able to connect with them in eight years.

I think there is a different motivation behind his comment. He has presented himself as the agent of change. Suddenly he is faced with having to respond to a very difficult international crisis. And during times of crisis a natural response is to gravitate toward stability. It isn’t necessarily a good time to be talking about change.

Obama’s troubles were compounded by an inept response to the assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. And then a feeble attempt by his campaign to spin their way out of it.

Even Chris Matthews, an Obama cheerleader, had to admit the statement was “cold.”

Probably sensing trouble brewing about the remarks, Obama’s chief political strategist David Axelrod tried to deflect attention away from his candidate by claiming that Sen. Hillary Clinton was to blame for her part in a series of events that resulted in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. (Taylor Marsh has a series of posts on this.)

Here is Obama’s response to Wolf Blitzer:

Unfortunately for Obama, the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto has caused some to take a second look at the junior Senator from Illinois. And his actions suggest that he might not be ready for prime time.

It’s no secret that I support Sen. Hillary Clinton. I think of all the candidates she is the best qualified to lead — and here is an example of why I believe this to be true:

So what do you think?

Benazir Bhutto’s final moments

The words belong to Tengrain, from his post at Mock, Paper, Scissors:

Very moving — if you can stand it

The photographer John Moore was at the ralley where Ms. Bhutto was assasinated, and narrates a slide show, The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The final image is especially haunting to me.

Thank you for sharing this, Tengrain.

a “Seven Lies for Seven Splotchies” meme

FranIAm tagged me for the “Seven Lies for Seven Splotchies” … or something like that meme. I guess the purpose is to tell SEVEN UNTRUE FACTS ABOUT YOURSELF. I can do that! ha

Let’s see …

1. In my early twenties I was involved in a torrid romance with … dare I say … Morgan Fairchild. It lasted for months, until one day I told her we were through. It brought her career to a screeching halt. I’ve never forgiven myself.

2. Just as my affair with Morgan was ending I developed a fascination with fast cars and got a ride in an Indy 500 race car. I was inches away from the finish line, set to become the first female rookie drive ever to win the coveted race, when a two dollar part in my engine failed and suddenly … I was coasting to the sidelines. It was a bitter defeat that I still have nightmares about.

3. I was so torn up over the Indy loss that I decided to leave Indiana and moved to Florida to being a new career. For the next several years I worked as an alligator trainer, and let me tell you it’s not easy getting those creatures to roll over!

4. I eventually grew bored with the whole alligator thing and decided to move to Washington, DC where I landed my next gig … with the FBI. It seems my great grandfather is none other than J. Edgar Hoover himself (which could account for my sexual orientation). The Hoover connection opened many doors in the agency, but I eventually had to give it up since as an FBI agent … even with the Hoover connection … I really sucked.

5. It was at a DC mixer that I bumped into the future Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi … and I can’t even begin to tell you what happened next! Let’s just say it’s no accident that she represents San Francisco!

6. Pretty soon Nancy was all busy with Speaker stuff, so it was time for me to MoveOn to something else … I came up with this brilliant idea for how to organize large numbers of people. Well … I really don’t drink but, I was at a holiday party back in the late 90’s and I’d had a few too many when I started telling everyone about my wonderful new idea for changing the world … who knew that Joan Blades and Wes Boyd were listening in! Geezzz

7. After winning $300 million in the Lottery I decided to retire, but I still needed a hobby. You might not know this about me, but I like making movies and I wanted to be able to share them with all my friends at once. And one night it just came to me … You … Tube … and the rest, as they say, is history.

So that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

Now, who to tag next? How about Boxer, Jess at I was just wondering, Dr. Z at Zaius Nation, Swinebread of Atomic Romance and GETkristiLOVE.

thompson thinks no woman should be president

Republican presidential candidate Fred “I’d-rather-be-sleeping” Thompson, while campaigning in Iowa, said that no woman should be president.

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson says there’s not a woman who should be president next year.

It was a jab aimed at Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The former Tennessee senator was in Iowa today, challenging potential caucus-goers to choose the best man to help fend off what he described as a Democratic Party that would lead the country into a welfare state.

Without saying Clinton’s name, he said — quote — “There is no woman on the horizon that ought to be president next year, let’s all agree on that.”

Thompson continued to refer to the next president as a man who should represent conservative principles and values.