More on health care

Here's an interesting piece on how the health care reform bill is actually conservative policy, and how the Republicans benefit from refusing to admit that. Also, I kind of want to give a "hell yeah!" to this op-ed on extremism in the Republican Party.

Two very different recommendations

First, Maureen Dowd on health care = required reading.

Second, I've been pretending I'm still on vacation, and wanted to eat something that reminded me of places more tropical, so I cracked open the Key West Bahama Village Jerk Sauce that I bought and marinated some chicken. (I also had a Malibu and Coke. I'm thisclose to breaking out the blender and making pina coladas.)

It only rained one morning, on our last day in Key West, so we occupied ourselves by going to a shop called Peppers of Key West, where you could sample lots of their products. Between my parents and me, we managed to come home with the jerk sauce, Key Lime Mustard Sauce, Raspberry Wasabi Mustard, and this Key Lime powder stuff that you mix with cream cheese to make a dip. I swear to God, it's like key lime pie on a bagel. Soooo good. I also liked the Pineapple Coconut Mango Tequila Sauce and I think one of the chutneys, but we tried to restrain ourselves.

Definitely check out their website, but be warned - a lot of this stuff is crazy hot! After we'd gone through about a dozen samples, the lady asked us if we'd like to try some of their hotter sauces. My mother said, mouth burning, "You mean... this wasn't the hot stuff?"

Health Care Reform

You may have noticed that something kind of big happened over the weekend. I'd not been paying close attention, since I was on vacation last week, but I hear through the rumor mill that Congress voted on some controversial bill or something. :)

Be informed - how health care reform will affect you. Also, this is an interesting piece on partisanship.

Blech

Not dead, just sick. Intestinal nastiness lasting for weeks. Couldn't see doctor until health insurance kicked in. Finally got drugs. Hoping for improvement. Still feel nauseous.

Anyway, so, apparently I moved out of Pennsylvania and... they went insane. They still don't have a budget, which was due July 1st, and Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia is taking drastic action to force Harrisburg to act. Fun!

Also, tonight is the season premiere of several shows I care about, including The Office, Fringe, and Bones (roughly in that order, if Bones continues to suck as much as it did last season). I think Thursday is going to be the new Monday in terms of scheduling conflicts.

"The dream shall never die."

Sad news today - Senator Edward Kennedy passed away last night after a battle with brain cancer. I don't have pretty words, but you can read about his incredible life and his impact on US politics for the last 50 years. It's truly the end of an era.

It's sort of timely, I suppose, that I'm currently reading "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy," which I highly recommend. And let's hope that, in his memory, we can fulfill his lifelong goal of enacting health care reform.

My poor baby!

Had to take Chelsea to the vet today - she's been using the litter box way more frequently than usual, and only leaving quarter-sized pee clumps for the last week or so, and the other day we had a little piddly-on-the-sofa incident. (But she's still my very good girl and it's not her fault she's sick.) We had an appointment for her vaccines on Friday, but I pestered them to see her right away because I don't want her to be in pain, and I'd prefer no more piddly incidents. I thought it might be a urinary infection, but it turns out it's an inflamed bladder. She spent the day at the vet, but I'll pick her up when I get home from work.

In other news, work is going well. I really like the new job. It keeps me pretty busy, and I get to go to enough meetings that I'm not stuck in the office all day. The issues are interesting, and I think it's going to be pretty fun. One of the more headache-inducing things we're working on is health care (and that op-ed explains why the headache), most of which goes over my head. I just sit in the task force meetings and nod.

Fun with politics link for the day - be glad you don't live in New Jersey. (And people wonder why I didn't want to work there...)

And don't call me Shirley

Holy cow, this lady is deep-fried crazy!

I'm so proud

Pennsylvania gets a mention in this article about the appalling behavior of state legislatures. Awww.

Random stuff

I'm having difficulty accepting this - Freddie Prinze Jr. on 24? Does. Not. Compute.

Unrelated, see what we're doing in education these days.

Holy shit!

Arlen Specter switched parties!!

Damn

I got all excited for a minute, because I thought it was Wednesday, and so I was going to title my post "happy hump day!" And then I realized it's only Tuesday. That's depressing.

Moving on. Funny NY Times article about Texas being crazy. Not so funny article about waterboarding. Apparently, CIA interrogators used waterboarding 266 times on two terrorists. Now, let's think here. If you've waterboarded somebody a hundred times, and they still haven't talked, what do you think the chances are that they're gonna talk after the 101st time? (Also, let us note that it never takes Jack Bauer more than 10 minutes and a good pen-stabbing to break a suspect.)

In other news, Neil Patrick Harris caught on fire. No, really.

Can you tell my boss is on vacation?

I'm back to posting every day again, lol.

Anyway, interview with FNL's executive producer about the DirecTV deal and what the next two seasons have in store. Warning: If you're like me, and have been saving yourself for the NBC broadcast episodes, this article spoils episodes that haven't aired yet.

LOLs from The Onion: Obama depressed after BSG finale.

An interview with Tamara Taylor about Bones. Important note: Fox will be doubling up episodes (due to all the Obama pre-empting), and will be airing new eps on Wednesdays AND Thursdays for a couple weeks.

Politico thinks that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is really similar to West Wing character Josh Lyman. Well... duh. Josh was based on Emanuel when he worked in the Clinton administration. Any excuse for more Bradley Whitford, though.

Very cranky

I've been quite cranky since yesterday, but here's the headlines.

In case you were dead on Tuesday, you can read about Obama's inauguration, as well as an analysis of his speech line by line that is interesting probably only to me. Curious about Obama's flubbed oath of office? Turns out, Chief Justice Roberts is a grammar pedant.

In Kennedy news, Ted had a health scare at the inaugural luncheon, and Caroline withdrew her name from consideration for Hillary's Senate seat.

And on a completely unrelated note, Bradley Whitford is in negotiations to star in Joss' new movie. Whee!

Kids are so cute

So, Inauguration coverage is on pretty much every channel, and every news outlet has a live feed on their website, so I don't feel compelled to bombard you with stuff. But check this out - children give their advice to incoming President Obama. I love the kid who's all "I heard about Area 51." Conspiracy theorist in the making, my friends.

Also, this dude takes a shot at rewriting "We Didn't Start the Fire" for the 21st century. I think I had to do that in my high school history class.

Drive by posting

If you're like me, and you need a calendar to manage your life, here's the schedule of winter premieres. I've already missed the beginning of season 2 of Damages and the first new ep of The Office, but I'll try to stay on top of that stuff from now on. I'm kind of curious to see Flashpoint (starring Enrico Colantoni of VM fame), and I'm super excited of course about 24 and Battlestar Galactica. I'd also be excited about Friday Night Lights, if I didn't feel like I was the last person on the planet to see it.

Also, Al Franken is now a Senator. Well, probably.

Also-also, check out the mess DC is going to be on Inauguration Day.

Nice weather

It's been snowing all day today, which is really bizarre, because just yesterday it was 60 degrees in DC. And I have to go to the store to get food-type ingredients to make a dish for our office holiday party on Thursday. I'm falling so behind on the Christmas thing. I've gotten some cards out, but the rest will probably be mailed in January. I'm about half done my Christmas shopping (thank goodness for the internet), but nothing's wrapped and I don't have any ideas for the half I haven't bought yet. Oh, and I was going to make cookies at some point. That's probably not going to happen.

I do think my interview went well. At least I didn't say anything egregiously stupid, so there's that. I'm not getting excited or anything, because my mother is all, "It's really unlikely that you'll get the first job you apply for." (I'm like, "But... I've never not gotten anything I applied for." Except that Specter internship, which still kind of annoys me. Bipartisanship, my ass.) ...Where was I? Right. Not getting my hopes up. If I get it, yay. If not, that's okay, too. Might even be for the best, since they want the person to start January 5th, which would mean total upheaval of my life at the busiest time of the year, with probably about a week to quit my job (so much for two weeks notice), pack everything I own, find an apartment (while still paying two months of rent on my old apartment, since my lease isn't up until February) and move. Whee!

Anyway, let's move on to political news. I've been trying really, really hard not to laugh at the Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at Bush, but I can't help it. It's a little bit funny. The Secret Service response time, on the other hand? No laughing matter.

Obama has announced his pick for Secretary of Education. He should be receiving my resume shortly.

Caroline Kennedy says she wants the Senate seat that everyone else is already willing to give her.

And finally, cars that run on coffee?

I saw flurries!

Yep, it was snowing on my lunch break. Not enough to actually stick, but still, disturbing.

Anyway, just a couple linkety links today - an interview with John Noble (from Fringe) and in anticipation of the return of Battlestar Galactica in January, the eleventy billionth "Who's the Final Cylon?" post.

Also, the Democrats are gonna let Joe Lieberman stay at the cool kids' table.

There should be special supermarkets

Special supermarkets for non-holiday shoppers only, so that those of us who are NOT cooking Thanksgiving dinner don't have to wait in line behind people buying eighty-pound turkeys, sixteen tons of sweet potatoes, and ingredients for enough pumpkin pies to feed a starving nation. What about those of us who just want someplace to buy the fixings for our bologna and cheese sandwiches, maybe a frozen pizza or two? Can't we have a place to shop free of turkey madness?

Anyway, the big political speculation now is on whether Obama will ask Hillary to be Secretary of State. Here are pros and cons from two of my favorite ladies.

Also, another sneak peek at the 24 movie. (Seriously, with all the promos and sneak peeks and interviews, by the time the movie actually airs, I'll know the entire plot.)

Neil Patrick Harris is one of EW's Entertainers of the Year, and his interview is awesome.

Politicky stuff

From the past week or so:

President-elect Obama (whee!) is calling for an economic stimulus package to be passed right friggin' now, and if not, he'll do it himself once they let him in the pretty room shaped like an oval. His team is also deciding what issues to start with once he's in office, since the dismal economy may have put a damper on how much he can do.

And for those still recovering from the election, how to be gracious winners and losers and for those in withdrawal, which elections you can still obsess over.

Round Two

Okay, had a chance to go through the articles in my Firefox tabs and whittled it down to just the important stuff.

The Obama team is getting right into the swing of things, naming Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff and the leaders of the transition team, and getting things rolling on the economy (as well he should).

Here are some things to be cheerful about, even if you aren't happy with the election results. And, less cheerfully, more on the gay marriage bans.