Who's Joe Six-Pack NOW, Palin?

I'm off to Mexico for the holiday, so I will leave you with this vacation photo of our dear Prez, dear readers. You can thank me in '09.

Savage on Palin

I absolutely adore Dan Savage. He started a love and sex advice column in Seattle's The Stranger weekly yeeeeears ago, and I've only recently got on the Savage train via his podcast, The Savage Lovecast. I'm reading the archives of his weekly column right now, and came across this gem from September, which makes a great point (in bold below). Read this, then go get the podcast (it's free!).

The 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, the GOP's vice-presidential nominee, is pregnant. The news was released by the McCain camp during a busy week—a hurricane, the Republican National Convention, Dick Cheney getting us into a war with Russia—so it didn't receive the coverage it deserved. To recap:

Seventeen-year-old Bristol Palin got her ass knocked up five or so months ago by 18-year-old Levi Johnston. Among the hobbies listed on Levi's since-yanked MySpace page—"fishing, shoot some shit, and just fuckin' chillin'"—was this revealing tidbit: "I don't want kids." But Bristol, says her mom, "made the decision on her own to keep the baby," and is now engaged to Levi "Shootin' Shit" Johnston.

As the adoptive parent of a child born to a pair of unwed teenagers, I'm certainly not in favor of abortion in all circumstances. But I believe that it's a choice teenagers should be able to make for themselves—with input from their families whenever possible—and, so it seems, does the GOP's VP nominee. Sarah Palin is pleased that her daughter made the decision—on her own—to keep the baby.

But Sarah Palin doesn't believe that other girls should be able to make their own decisions. Sarah Palin believes abortion should be illegal in almost every instance—including rape and incest. So Bristol Palin is being celebrated for making a choice that Sarah Palin would like to take away from all other American women. Apparently, today's GOP believes that choice is a special right reserved for the wayward daughters of Republican elected officials.

Oh, and Sarah Palin also believes that birth control shouldn't be made available to teenagers, she opposes medically accurate sex education, and she backs abstinence-until- marriage sex "education."

Sigh.

The GOP has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into abstinence "education" programs during the Bush years. I believe this enormous investment of public funds begs the obvious question: Is our children abstaining? Sarah Palin's aren't. Despite this massive outlay on the part of the American taxpayer and the example set by her Christian parents, Bristol Palin became sexually active while still in high school. Excuse me, but if abstinence education can't keep the daughter of the evangelical governor of Alaska off the cock, what hope is there for the daughters—and some of the sons—of average Americans?

I'm a cad for writing this, of course, because shortly before Bristol and Levi were paraded before cheering throngs at the Republican National Convention, the Palins asked the media to respect their daughter's privacy.

Another special right: When it comes to respecting your family's privacy, Palin and the GOP see no need. They want to micromanage the most intimate aspects of your private life. And if their own kids fail to live up to the standards that Palin and the GOP seek to impose on your family, well, that's a private matter between the Palins, their daughter, their God, and the thousands of screaming imbeciles in elephant hats waving McCain/Palin signs on the floor of the Republican National Convention.

"This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog."

Pic of the Day

The 100th Post

Yes, I know, it's been nearly a month since my last post. But knowing the next one was the centennial, I knew I had to come with something a bit different, or at least a bit sentimental.

So much has happened since I started this blog, originally just to chronicle my trip to the DNC. Everything turned out as we'd hoped, and even better.

The election hasn't entirely sunk in for me yet. In a way I can only describe as a cosmic-ish, communal afterglow, it hits me at unexpected times...

Teenagers talking politics on the train...

A copy of the November 5th Daily News at my best friend's place...

Flipping through channels and glimpsing replays of the acceptance speech...

A Shepard Fairey button with the caption "VICTORY" in front of me in a particularly challenging spin class... (okay that's a lame one, but it got me through the hills.)

I reluctantly admit that I haven't been as tuned into the news since the election (with the exception of the India tragedy), but there are certainly more than a few things to keep this blog going:

Will the Big 3 actually clean up their act?

Which bank will get bailed out next?

Will the people of New York actually reelect Billionaire Democracy-Eschewer Bloomberg?

Will I get a miracle inauguration invitation?

And most importantly... What will Michelle wear???

Stay tuned.