These ladies are almost as cool as my Grandma. And that is a feat!

Via.

ETA: Grandma's reaction to Margaret and Helen: "Kate my girl, Those are a couple of wild old broads. But they have it right, she [Palin] is a bitch and McCain is senile." As Margaret and Helen say, "Old ladies speak their mind. Deal with it."

I am so excited to hear that Rachel Maddow is getting her own show on MSNBC, starting in September! She'll be on after Keith Olbermann instead of that shouty lawyer guy who's on now. This is great news for anyone who likes real news coverage: Maddow is a policy wonk, not a pundit. And she's not full of herself like Olbermann. Nor does she shout like Chris Matthews. Nor does she stumble over the teleprompter while making sexy faces like some of the daytime newsbimbo hosts. I'm hoping she'll be the savior of Cable TV news. Read more about her offbeat path to cable news host in this awesome article from The Nation.

The other day, I told someone I wish Elizabeth Edwards was running for President instead of her husband. She seems like just about the most capable, genuine, strong and kind person attached to anyone in politics right now. I remember watching her in an interview one time where she said that losing her son was the absolute worst thing that could ever happen in her life, and in a weird way, it seemed like that terrible, tragic loss had given her this incredible strength to get through anything else in life.

When I heard she had stage 4, uncurable cancer, I was very, very sad. Everyone I know has been touched by cancer some way or another. Some friends of mine are dealing with it in a really awful way right now. I have nothing but enormous respect for Elizabeth Edwards' decision to continue campaigning with her husband as her health permits (by the way, this is in no way an endorsement of him). I think she can provide an example of courage and strength for the millions of Americans who are dealing with cancer in their own families. I wish all of them strength.

You know, Gwyn, I think there are a lot of messed up things in this country, too. And I think it's great that some people have the luxury of choosing which country they would like to live in. But you know what makes me align myself with damn near every right wing yahoo in this country? When phony-baloney celebrities talk about how great other countries are and don't do a damn thing to improve things in the U.S. except make crappy movies and talk with fake British accents. If she lived here, I think I would be more receptive to hearing her criticism. But hearing her say all this stuff from her castle in Britain is just infuriating. It's like when someone from outside your family says something bad about your uncle who drinks too much and acts like an jackass on Thanksgiving. You can say it, because he's still your uncle. But Gwyneth Paltrow sure as hell cannot. Do us all a favor Gwyn, and shut up.

Celebrity marriage is leading to the destruction of America. When two celebrities get married, they have to flaunt it in our faces, even though they claim they just want to live their lives in private like anyone else. Well, they're not like anyone else. Celebrity marraige inevitably leads to sex tapes, which leads to pornography, masturbation and all kinds of other obscenities. When two celebrities can get married for 48 hours with no consequences, it's an abomination of God's law. Celebrities often get married three or more times. This is obviously leading us down a slippery slope into a world of bigamy and then into a world where people can marry their pets. Celebrity weddings are all over the news, giving our precious children the impression that marriage is about over-the-top weddings. I'm afraid the only solution we have is to create a Consitutional amendment to ban celebrity marriage. Do it for the children.

Note to the satire-impaired: I'm not serious. But I do think Tom Cruise's heavily publicized lavish third wedding is more harmful to hetero marriages than some average gay Joes or Josephines getting married. I am also getting frustrated at the idea that people have to go into extreme debt in order to have a wedding. It shouldn't be about the wedding, it should be about the marriage. My grandparents have been happily married for 62 years without ever having an extravagent ceremony. My parents' wedding took place during a blizzard, with handmade decorations and my parents' siblings providing the music. They are about to celebrate 35 happy years together. I myself am kind of ambivalent about marriage. I really don't think it's for everyone. . . you know, like celebrities.

But I feel like this, too.

I am not the biggest fan of O'Reilly or Oprah, but I generally prefer Oprah. Let me rephrase: I have issues with Oprah, but I cannot stand O'Reilly. The reasons I don't like him have less to do with politics and more to do with his bully-ing style. But he would probably say I am just a "Fox Hater" or an "S-P" that wants to go live in Holland. I'm writing as I watch. . .

* Did O'Reilly just say he was the fifth or sixth most powerful person in the world? Is he serious? I honestly can't tell.

* O'Reilly tells us there is no middle ground in the culture war, and if you go to his site and take this test you will see that you are either a T(raditional)-Warrior or an S-P (secular-progressive). My results said: "You have some S-P beliefs, but have not yet committed to either side." No, I think I'm pretty much an S-P. I just think his questions were worded in a stupid way. According to O'Reilly, how you feel about parental notification in the case of underage abortion is a good indicator of whether or not you are a T-Warrior or an S-P. I think it's a little more complicated than that. Maybe that's because I don't believe there is a culture war. Because I am a loony S-P pacifist. Or at least a culture war concientious objector.

* I have never seen so many dudes in Oprah's audience. Why aren't the women speaking? Four guys in a row just spoke (three apparently moderate and questioning of Bill, one "T-Warrior").

* Lady in the black sweater, I think I love you.

* O'Reilly thinks the ACLU is the most dangerous organization in America. Oprah is pissed that the ACLU defended NAMBLA. O'Reilly says that the ACLU is a political organization, not an advocacy group. Didn't the ACLU come out in support of Rush Limbaugh that one time?

* Another dude is talking? Are only men qualified to talk about politics? I didn't see the Frank Rich episode, was that like this too?

* O'Reilly hates the media. The press is hyper-partisan and not trustworthy. TV News is a bunch of politically correct phonies. Pro-life people cannot exist in network news. No one would talk to a conservative at The New York Times. [That must be very sad for David Brooks.] O'Reilly says to watch Letterman tonight, because Letterman attacks O'Reilly and O'Reilly takes the high road. I will be sure to watch.

* O'Reilly tells a T-Warrior woman to remain calm and strong in her beliefs. My girlfriend, black sweater lady who is friends with T-Warrior lady, tells O'Reilly his advice is bogus because he himself doesn't remain calm. O'Reilly tells her that's because he has to attract an audience.

* O'Reilly says terrorists in Iraq blow up babies. A woman in the audience notes that the U.S. military bombed cities in Iraq and civilians were killed. O'Reilly says that's not true. The woman points out that even by Bush's conservative estimates, 30,000 civilians have been killed. O'Reilly asks her if she thinks that we're the bad guys in Iraq. The woman says there are no bad guys in Iraq, the bad guys are in Washington, D.C.

* Another woman brings up civilian deaths of women and children. O'Reilly asks her if she knows how many women and children Saddam Hussein killed. The woman asks, calmly, if that gives us the right to kill even one.

* O'Reilly says we need to wise up and see the danger of Iran because they will sell wmd's to terrorists who will use it to blow up Cleveland. Really, Cleveland? He thinks North Korea can be contained by China. He thinks Bush caught a bad break with 9/11 and he does not blame Clinton, because he's not a "blame guy."

* O'Reilly says this is the best show he's been on. He's right about that: he is going to sell a gazillion books from this.

I am generally a fearful person. I was freaked out by airplanes long before 9/11. Hell, I think roaches are out to get me. But I'm getting really sick of being told to be intermittently terribly afraid of shoe bombs and liquid bombs and mysterious plagues when there are much more likely dangers that we face in this country, every day, with minimal hysteria.

Yesterday, Atrios and Chris talked about traffic accidents. Holy shit, a lot of people [some 40,000 per year] die in car crashes. And yet, most of us still drive without panicking every time we start an ignition. I am primarily a pedestrian, and I almost got ran over by a stupid SEPTA bus that was blowing through a red light yesterday, but I still walked the exact same route today. My point? I think it's time to declare a war on traffic accidents.

If we do need to be hysterical about things that might kill us, let's direct our mania at the most likely targets. People should not be allowed to drive like drunken lunatics and kill innocent people — a war on them! And let's have a war on cancer, which killed two innocent members of my family in the past several years. A war on heart disease! A war on poverty! A war on AIDS! A war on crime — If Middle Eastern terrorists came to Philly and killed a couple hundred people this year, everyone would be up in arms. When our own thugs do it, for a lot of people, it's shrug central.

I'm certainly not in the position to tell anyone else to stop being afraid, but geez. Let's try to keep things in perspective.

At least 80% of them.