In what respect, Charlie?

It always feels nice to be vindicated.

Apparently, Sarah Palin said many, many things off the record during the campaign, which are now starting to be revealed.

Today's gem? Gov. Palin didn't know that Africa is a continent, not a country, and she was unable to name the countries that make up the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA). Scary.

Yes, we did.

Thanks to millions of donors and hundreds of thousands of volunteers...

Thanks to one amazing candidate and President-elect...

Thanks to the audacity of hope...

And most of all, thanks to millions of Americans who reached out and voted for hope, change, and a better America.

Fine lines

This just puts it so nicely -

M is for makeup ($5000 worth)
A is for artist ($22,000 for two weeks work)
V is for vetting (epic fail!)
E is for eating crow. Enjoy reputhuglicans! NOM!
R is for going rogue.
I is for I can’t wait for election day.
C is for what McCain is surely muttering every time he hears her name mentioned.
K is for killing the ticket.

Thanks you mavericky mavericks!!!

(via Wonkette's comment section)

Amadeus

Theater season has started again!

Our first tickets of the year were at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater to see Amadeus. As usual, the theater and its ensemble did not disappoint!

The tale of Salieri's ambition, jealousy, and self-centered obsession with the destruction of Mozart was well-told. The actor playing Salieri was magnificent both in his obsessive rantings as an elder Salieri, and his duplicitous dealings as a contemporary of Mozart. And the actor playing Mozart made him a sympathetic character - not easy to do while also conveying the composer's over-the-top personality flaws.

All in all, an enjoyable evening. We're looking forward to the remaining plays in this season (Twelfth Night and Macbeth) - both scheduled for 2009.

Help Needed

New Leash on Life is an all-volunteer dog fostering and adoption program here in Chicago. They do some great work (friends of ours have fostered three dogs - and ended up adopting two of them).

Right now, they're in the running to win $10,000 to help keep their good work going. Please take a moment, click on this link, and vote for New Leash on Life Chicago.

You can remain completely anonymous, and it's free! Thanks for helping New Leash on Life!

Ready on Day One?

All along, Sen. McCain has been insisting that he is the candidate with the experience to be President of this country, that he's the one that will be "ready on Day One."

Oh, really?

Then why is he avoiding the scheduled debate this Friday with Sen. Obama? He claims it is so he can hurry back to Washington to help with solving the economic crisis. Never mind that he hasn't been back to Washington for a single vote in more than 5 months. Or that Congressional leaders have publicly stated that they don't need (or want) either Senator to come back off the campaign trail.

Looks to me like he's just scared that he won't look good in a debate where he has to admit to the American people that he would just continue the policies of the last administration. Especially since the topic of this debate is foreign policy, where he might have to defend his suggestion that we might be in Iraq for another 100 years.

And now the McCain campaign wants to delay Gov. Palin's debate with Sen. Biden, as well. Since there's no plausible connection between Palin and the proposed bailout being debated in Washington, this delay looks even more suspicious.

Coupled with her refusal to answer a single question from reporters, more than three weeks after she was named as the candidate for VP, it simply looks like she's not capable of handling the responsibilities of that office.

Looks more and more like neither of these two are, or would be, "ready on Day One."

Maybe this year?

Congrats to the Cubs on winning the NL Central and securing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs! Maybe this year will finally be "next year"...

Go Cubs Go!