Tag: politics

In My Opinion: March 4th

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I was having major coding issues with my last version of this post and I ended up deleting it and retyping it. My apologies to anyone who got lost along the way.

In My Opinion Video Meme @ Write From Karen

This week’s In My Opinion video meme asked you to answer one or all of the following questions:

1. How would a woman president be different from a man?

2. If you only had one more year to live, what would you change about your life?

3. How do you think you’ll be different when you attend your 20-year high school reunion? OR, if you’re past that point, like me, compare who you are now to the person you were back in high school. How have you changed?

And here’s my super dorky response:

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more about “In My Opinion: Gender and Politics on…“, posted with vodpod

Did you play along? Don’t forget to Link Up at Write From Karen!

– Edit –

This is just a written version of what I (hopefully eloquently) expressed in the video. If for any reason you can’t see the above video, don’t feel like watching it, or watched it but didn’t really understand me, want more information, etc. The gist of my opinion is that there are a lot of gender stereotypes that I think would come into play with a female president – both in how other people would perceive her, respond to her, etc. AND what her potential strengths and pitfalls could be, taking into account that some gender stereotypes, though not universally true are sometimes mostly true to a large extent. Women are typically perceived as better communicators and better judges of character. I think if this were the case with said female president, that she’d potentially be very good at communicating both with America and foreign countries, she might pick up on feelings of animosity quicker than a male would and be better suited to diplomacy.

However, many women are also known for caring about how others feel about them more so than most males. This could be a weakness – would the woman be emotionally up to the task of being the voice of her people? When shit hits the fan, will they be okay with saying, “I don’t care if you like me, this is what needs to be done?” In my marriage and previous leadership positions I have personally found that I don’t like being that person – I like having that one last person to turn to and say, “What now?” And while not all women will have this same problem (indeed maybe mothers of teenagers have long since gotten used to it) it should be taken into consideration I think by all females wishing to enter into politics, because let’s face it, we spend an awful lot of time disliking the people in power at some point or another and that person in power needs to be able to deal with that, not take it too personally and focus on getting the job done.

So am I saying that a female as a president would be a bad thing? No. People are different, gender aside and I think there are probably plenty of females that would be as good as their male counterparts if not better – but those are the areas I think would be most up to debate insofar as what would be different about a female as president, her potential strengths and weaknesses, and why. Which was the question. 😉

So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? I’d love it if you’d join me in the comments section to discuss!

Playing Favorites: Top 10 Moments in Mommablogsalot History

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Auds @ Barking Mad is giving away a $250 Target Gift Card and all you have to do to be eligible to win is post 5-10 of your favorite posts from your blog. How could I not? Especially since I seem to love my blog like crazy. I found about 20-25 posts that I LOVE (am I a narcissist or what?). But I managed to narrow it down to 10 after long moments of soul searching and these are the results of that search, my 10 favorite posts, ranging from serious to seriously silly, in my opinion, they are the cream of my crop. Or something.

Favorite Book Reviews:

Favorite John Mayer-Related Ramblings:

Favorite Attempts at Proving that I think about important things, too: One Religious / One Political:

Favorite Parenting Post:

Favorite Walking Down Memory Lane Post:

Favorite Sad, Mourning Post That Turned into a Grey’s Anatomy Advertisement:

Now I am sure you have written WAY better posts than that! So if you like Target and you’re not a total tool, you’d better follow suit, and write up an entry of your own to enter in Auds’ Favorite Posts Contest

More Political Yammering: Now With Fist Bumps and An Explanation On That Whole Canada Thing

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Thanks to Jen @ Stuff Jen Says for posting this. It made my day.

So did these:

Obama’s Acceptance Speech & McCain’s Concession Speech

Anyone who hasn’t seen them yet – do it now! I’m not posting the videos directly because I loved watching them directly on the New York Times‘ website with complete transcripts and topic outlines right there to follow along with. Both speeches were very moving and brought tears to my eyes. Some of you might have read my previous post about immigrating to Canada and I hope you all realize I was mostly kidding about that. I’m proud of my decision and that of the majority of America and have a lot of hope for the future. But, last night my husband was feeling cranky cause he had to drive to New York with his boss and blah blah blah and kept talking about the Gestapo and even though I don’t know what that means, he seemed concerned and I told him, “Hey, if this all goes South, we’ll go north, to Canada.” You know, in a teasing way because it’s clichéd and unlikely.

But then the nerds that we are, we had to research all the ins and outs of doing such a thing because we’re laaaaame and needed to know. Then it got exciting, because we really want to move and suddenly it seemed cool because it involved moving and the enormity of the concept awed us and we were like, “and when the world is about to explode (because by now in our silliness, this was an issue), we can find all our favorite family and friends and be like, come with us to Canada,” and we joked about the people that we accidentally on purpose wouldn’t tell. And it was great. But then I got all quiet and serious and was like, “I don’t want to move to Canada. I want to move to Pennsylvania,” and he was like, “Me, too.” And that was pretty much the end of it.

And so we’re now totally professionals on immigration to Canada (okay, not really, but I was impressed with our research) but still planning to move to Pennyslvania instead, like we’d already planned. Really, guys, we just want to move. I don’t really care where. But this whole Obama thing? Heck, y’all, I voted for the man so you know I’m excited and hopeful and that his speech moved me beyond words and brought tears to my eyes and it was beautiful man. I can’t help it that my husband is a paranoid little Republican wanna be. Blame him. But don’t tell him I said that, cause if he really does move to Canada, sorry but I’m going with him. I’m romantic like that.

But seriously, did you check out that fist bumping awesomeness at the top of this post. Awesome.

Thursday Thunks: Random But FUN

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This week’s Thursday Thunks was brought to you in part by Berleen @ StraitJacket Mom.

  1. The election is over… what do you think? A lot of things and not much at the same time. I’m hopeful for the future and proud of this moment in history, but thanks to my dh I’m also cautious and planning for the future. I voted for Obama, dh voted for McCain – time will tell who made the right decision. Best case scenario – I’m proud to be an American and looking forward to lunch. Worst case scenario – I researched the requirements for immigrating to Canada last night. It’s surprisingly easy – a lot of work, but still, easy. And no, I’m not really seriously planning it, it was just a random discussion we got into over a joke, but then the nerds that we are we had to go and figure out the proccess and research so that the next time someone makes a joke about moving to Canada we can be all, “Oh there’s an immigration office in Buffalo, have you filed the paperwork yet?”
  2. Tell us about a snowman. We built our first family snow man this March. It was very cute and dh and MM had a blast building it. We put dh’s baseball hat on it and took a picture. It was gone within days.
  3. What brand of ketchup do you buy? Either Heinz or Trader Joes brand, depending on what store I’m in when I need ketchup. I love the easy squirt bottle by Heinz. But I also love Trader Joes in general.
  4. Do you use a cookbook? Cookbook, online recipe searches, magazine recipes – I get my recipes from a lot of sources, but try to print anything not in a cookbook for my personal files. Admittedly, I’m not the most organized of cooks – I kind of have eight different set ups for things and have a hard time following through with any of them.
  5. Do you blow-dry your hair or let it air dry? Air dry – I don’t think I’ve blow dried my hair more than five times in my life. Except at the salon, they do it so well, why fight it.
  6. When was the last time you were sick? Like Ange, it seems like I’m always sick, but rarely sick enough to get anything out of it. I just get to say ::cough cough:: I’m sick ::cough:: and then go about my day.
  7. What is the strangest letter of the alphabet? I’d have to go with W because sometimes it’s an M and when my 2 year old son says it out loud it could also be an elephant or apple juice. Pretty strange.
  8. Who was the last person you bought a present for? What was it? Will you buy me one? Well tie between my son and my brother in law because I bought them on the same day, same place. A bit of early Christmas Shopping – we got MM the Shrek trilogy on DVD and my BIL a make your own rootbeer kit. I know that might sound lame but it looks very cool and it’s right up his alley. And when he opens it, I’m probably going to say, “Why is he drinking all that soda?” and I’ll laugh and laugh and you won’t understand why unless you are my husband or one of my sisters in law, but trust me, it’s hysterical. Will I buy you a present? Sure, but by *buy* I mean, I will give you this: If you have voted anyway. Otherwise, hands off. Sorry bestie.

  9. Why are we ending at 9 questions? Don’t we always end in nine questions? I haven’t been doing this long and I have a terrible memory sometimes, but I’m pretty sure. Let’s see. There are eight letters in Thursday so that probably isn’t it… Um maybe whoever made this decided 13 was too many?

Regardless, for more Thunking Good Fun, head over to Thursday Thunks and thunk your little heart out.

The Morning After: Thoughts On Obama’s Victory

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For Talk To Me Tuesday this week, Tip Junkie wants to know what my favorite post was in 2008. I had a lot of fun traipsing down memory lane and had a lot of solid contenders, mostly of the funny, gossip hound variety (just search for John Mayer on my blog and you will get a plethora of my favorite posts from last year) but THIS – I think this one might have actually been my best:

Our 44th President – Barack Obama

I am a wee bit speechless this morning, my thoughts are muddled, but I’ll try to voice those thoughts as best I can. My guy won, or as I told MM this morning, “The donkey won the election.” Then we talked about what donkeys say because it’s REALLY cute to hear him go, “eeee awwww!” I am very proud of our country this morning – proud to have our first African American president – proud that we have come so far as a country to achieve such an important historic moment and hopeful that we have made a wise choice in who to elect to this role. And a small voice in my mind wants to add, “But cautious.” I have been extremely cautious throughout this election. I cannot forget four years ago when I voted for John Kerry, bursting with pride, sure the rest of the country would agree with my wise, educated decision. And of course, we all know how that turned out. I vowed that I would not let myself be hurt again this time. What happens, happens, I told myself.

My husband voted for McCain, which I thought was neat. I loved the balance of beliefs in our household over the past few months. Is it weird that I love that my husband and I voted for different people? You have to understand that my grandmother on my father’s side is a pretty typical motivating democrat – she and I have always agreed on politics and I admire her opinions. Her husband is a staunch republican and I’ve always gotten a small thrill out of watching them debate the issues. What better way to get a balanced  view of the issues than in your own grandparents home – where it’s safe to disagree and toss around ideas and ideals.

I remember asking my grandma four years ago if she’d voted for John Kerry. She proudly announced she had and my grandfather said, “You did what?” as if they hadn’t been having these disagreements for at least my whole life. So it all came full circle this year when my husband and I agreed to disagree and I fell in love with him even more after discovering that we could completely disagree, just like my grandparents, and it not be a bitter or ugly thing. It just was. Again I had a safe place to toss around my ideas and allow my thoughts and opinions to grow. He was proud of me this year for sticking to my own opinions, for learning anything I could to make an educated decision and not budging when he told me his opinions if I still didn’t agree. I have always looked up to his opinions also, he is one of the smartest men I know, and while I understand why he voted the way he did, I simply disagreed. It was beautiful, to me.

And yet last night neither of us thought “our guy” would win. He was surprised that I didn’t think Obama would win. I was surprised he thought McCain would lose – how could we think something like that when we’d voted for them? I think both of us maybe didn’t want to be disappointed last night. If we prepared ourselves for that loss it wouldn’t hurt. So when my guy won – it was kind of weird, to be wrong but proud and elated at the same time. And my husband? He’d already gone to bed and was fast asleep when I tip toed into the room, shook his arm gently and informed him that we had our first black president and he said, “I figured,” and went back to sleep. I don’t think he is even that upset – he was smarter than me four years ago. He was prepared. He’ll be fine. He’s happy for me. Isn’t that cute?

I don’t really have anything profound to say this morning, unless you consider the above ramblings profound. If you are looking for something to be inspired by this morning or something give you a chuckle perhaps, then check out the following political posts that I read this morning – I consider these posts much more poignant than my muddled thoughts today.

  • Patrice @ Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman talks about the Facebook phenomenon of being able to see a very mixed bag of reactions to the results all in one place.
  • Jen @ Daily Mish Mash also talks about her grandparents, their beliefs and how that affects how she saw this election play out with a few reflections on her hopes for her own children and how they will see events like this.
  • Susie @ Raising My Boys wrote a truly invigorating and thoughtful post about her feelings of elation over the results of the election, the historical implications of it and her hopes for the world’s response and her children’s future.
  • ADAM NAGOURNEY @ The New York Times writes about the tearing down of racial barriers after Obama’s victory.

What was your reaction to last night’s election? If you comment please try to be polite and respectful of other people’s opinions.

Choices: Kitties or Puppies? Donkeys or Elephants? The Hot Chick or the Tiger Woods Guy?

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I prepped my son all morning for the election – to put it in words his two year old mind could understand, I told him we were going to VOTE for donkeys or elephants. At various times in the day I asked him, “MM, will you vote for donkeys or elephants?” and his answer, like mine, seemed to vary from moment to moment. Like his mother, he wasn’t sure which one he liked better even as he approached the voting booth, although unlike his mother he seemed to be leaning in the direction of his favorite animal – the elephant, whose name is simply fun to say. Ap-oh-boos. Who could resist? I wish I had such an easy way to make my decisions. Still, in the end, I went with ye ole gut instinct and dh did the same and hopefully this time tomorrow morning the rest of America will have made up their minds, too.

The three of us (dh, MM and I) were decked out in our voting finest as I’d made sure we were all wearing an even mix of red and blue so as to throw off anyone who might be wondering, “Who will they vote for?” Gotta keep people on their toes. Everyone told us our child was ah-dorable and the voting process was over very quickly. I hear there were long lines in many polling locations, but ours was not one of them. We were in and out in minutes. The longest process was choosing between a list of three names I had never heard of somehow. That’s when it’s fun to play games like, “Oh this person lives on a street I recognize” or “That person has the coolest name I’ve ever seen.” Not that I would do that, but it would be funny if I did, right?

My biggest disappointment was that they didn’t offer us any kind of “I voted” sticker or button. How am I supposed to obtain my free coffee and ice cream without a sticker? My husband said I could make one myself but that seems dishonest to me. Whose to say I didn’t make the sticker but not actually vote. I’m thinking it needs to be official. This simply won’t do:

Anyone would see through this feeble attempt at getting stuff for free. So instead I made him take me to Borders where I got a Raspberry Mocha Kiss Latte delicious beverage. It was, indeed, delicious. And probably better than a free coffee with no raspberries, mocha or kisses. Anyway, lets not get into the whole blah blah blah of “I voted for this guy and anyone who didn’t is a pansy.” Instead, I will leave you with more funny videos. Cause we all know that’s WAY more interesting.

See more J’Natalie Portman videos at Funny or Die

See more J’Natalie Portman videos at Funny or Die

Wasn’t that fun? Make sure you vote for whatever dog, cat, donkey, elephant, hot chick or Tiger Woods guy you’re gunning for – I really don’t care WHO you vote for, so long as you VOTE. As a special prize for all of my readers who voted today, if you leave a comment on this post saying you voted (we’re going on trust here people, be honest) I won’t kill you if you put my I has Voted button on your blog. Special, huh?