Sept 15, "It's an interesting experience, not needing a vest, either to cover the stretch of my shirt over my paunch, nor the unsightly muffin top. Also, being able to button the neck of a shirt in which I couldn't do that when I bought it for my father in law's funeral in 2005."
Sept 16, "Just read about the Smurfette principle: in any cartoon not specifically aimed at girls (She-Ra, Gem, Princess Guenevere), either there will be only 1 female character, who will B essentially "the" chick, or there may B "feminized versions of the existing male characters" (Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse). The Archies & spinoffs (Sabrina the teenage witch, Josie & the Pussycats) & Scoobie Doo R apparently the exceptions that prove the rule. Tula the Geomancer on Pirates of Darkwater was clearly more than just the "chick", but she was pretty much the only female ever on the show. There were numerous females on Gargoyles, but I don't recall any besides Demona & Angela, Goliath & Demona's "lost" daughter, appearing for more than an episode or 2. Every clan obviously needed an egg layer. I don't know that I'd call Wonder Woman exactly the "chick" of the Justice League. Personally, I always found her ability to stop bullets with manual dexterity & bracelets more impressive that Superman's solar powered invulnerability, but I'm hard pressed to name another "chick" in the pantheon before 1980. Things seemed to pick up (even out?) with Raven & Starfire in the Teen Titans, but I was a big Avengers & Xmen fan, not a DC expert. While later groups did include multiple simultaneous females (Rogue, Storm, Shadowcat, Phoenix, even the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had Mystique & that blind, elderly precog), the XMen only had Wondergirl for years. Reflexively as I wanted to snort derision at this idea, one thing struck me. My daughter LOVED Avatar, partially for the strong, active, independent female characters: Katara, Toph, Azula, Mai, Tai Lee, Katara's mother (Kya) & "Grangran", Zuko & Azula's mother Ursa, & many incidental but significant females. When we looked for action figures, we never found any females. Ever. Even on ebay. We never found an Iroh, either, but she's got Aang, Sokka, Zuko, Bumi, Roku, even a plush Momo. No females, though, & that's a 21st century series."
Sept 18, "Love the Romney response to the Romney take on Mencken, that 47% of America is composed of parasitic fools. Inelegant phrasing. Like there's a way to say, "Screw you guys, I'm going home" that will inspire affection and confidence."
Sept 18, "Apparently, Romney has said something else that deeply outrages the Liberal Blogosphere: "The Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in achieving peace." Oh, My G-d, the man has been reading what the Palestinians themselves have been saying, or accounts of what effect twenty years of concession, appeasement, and political correctness have actually had, instead of clinging limpet-like to a bunch of warm, fuzzy, but baseless assumptions about "universal values". I think THIS Republican must have LEARNED something at Harvard."
Sept 19, "Get this straight: If you say something that upsets a muslim, and he chooses to go on a murderous rampage instead of calling you an idiot or writing a letter to the editor of initiating a lawsuit, it's your fault. Their standards must be
respected everywhere, they have no need to respect anyone else's anywhere. International bodies should make the exercise of free speech illegal HERE because it might "cause" riots in the Muslim world. Or Paris. Or Sweden. This is what they are saying, loud and clear, over and over."
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