Sherry Chandler

over at Huffington Post. This:

Two years to go until the presidential election, and it boggles my mind how many times I’ve already seen this sentence: “Is America ready for a woman president?” That’s usually followed by some stuff about how much you would like to have a beer with the candidate being a predictor of electability.

Maybe this question keeps being written by some of the 79% of Americans who don’t have passports, because here’s a flash: while Americans perceive this country to be on the cutting edge of, well, everything, the world is already waaayyy ahead of us this time.

…

In 2007, a record 13 countries have currently serving, elected female Presidents or Prime Ministers; Ireland, New Zealand, Latvia, Finland, The Philippines, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Iberia, Chile, Jamaica, South Korea, Switzerland, and a Chancellor in Germany. None have renowned ballet companies, or have ever asked neighboring countries if their maps make them look fat. All play some kick-ass soccer.

…

When people write, “Is America ready for a female president?” they need to know how insulting that is to women.

And this:

A word about the beer thing. I remember the”pundits” saying over and over again during the last presidential election, that everybody wanted to have a beer with George Bush but not John Kerry. Well, they should have had a beer with Bush, and elected John Kerry. How did this suddenly become the benchmark of electability? I don’t want a president I’d want to have a beer with. I want someone so busy, brilliant and sterling that I would be terrified to have a beer with her. I want her way too busy, and way too smart and serious for me. I want her having her beers with presidents, prime ministers, scientists, philosophers, and heads of state. But guys, if you can’t get past it? Then vote for the woman you’d most like to get drunk.

This day is the last tepid vestige of the old pagan cross-quarter day Imbolg. Cross-quarter days fall midway between solstice and equinox, hence the thing about six more weeks of winter. In the Celtic calendar, this day was sacred to the goddess Brighid that in the Christian period became St. Brigid’s Day. Catholics call it Candlemas or the Purification of the Virgin (after giving birth, even to God, a woman was unclean for a while). The groundhog is probably left over from Celtic belief that animals had certain magical powers on cross-quarter days.

The cross-quarter day we celebrate the best is Halloween.

Or then again, maybe our real celebration is the Super Bowl.

At any rate, we’ve made it halfway to spring now. Let’s party!!

A correspondent sends a link to an explanation of Groundhog Day from NOAA. However, given that NOAA is pooh-poohing global warming these days, I’m not sure they’re a reliable source.

This country is being torn apart by an evil and unnecessary war, and it has to be stopped. NOW.

— words from Molly.

Thanks Helen for the link to this site, A Poetic Justice, where I found this column quoted and a tribute in verse to Molly Ivins. It’s an interesting looking blog and I look forward to exploring it.

Before Molly died, she vowed to write every column in opposition to the Iraq war. But I had read that she only managed three columns before she got too sick to carry on. So now we have to carry on in her name.

Here are some more words from Molly that Brooks Carver sent:

The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It’s about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief.

If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said, then you go out and find some obscure junior senator from Minnesota with the guts to do it. In 1968, Gene McCarthy was the little boy who said out loud, “Look, the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.” Bobby Kennedy — rough, tough Bobby Kennedy — didn’t do it. Just this quiet man trained by Benedictines who liked to quote poetry.

It’s time for us quiet folk who quote and make poetry to speak out and speak the truth. If we do it, maybe others will have the courage to follow.

And here, from Rosalie, is just some such poetry and a slide show of the streets of Tehran. There is a photograph in the group that reminds me of a colleague I worked with for several years, as sweet a woman as I’ve known. She is an Iranian. Watch this and decide whether you want us to bomb Iran. Look especially at the women who, though forced to wear head covering, are managing to do so with style, grace, and a certain defiance:

Now I’ve been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why can’t we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

— the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens

Here’s something to feed your outrage (my emphasis):

HOUSTON, Feb. 1 — Oil prices have fallen, but Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell left their smaller competitors in the dust and reported record annual profits Thursday.

By making $180 million a day between them, the two largest publicly traded oil companies displayed their ability to ramp up production worldwide over the year, even in unstable places like Chad and Nigeria…

Could this be why Dubya has persisted so long in thinking we’re winning this war? His America is doing fine.

The Rude Pundit

Paul Krugman via Atrios