[cpbell0033944]

Thanks Sir DCM. 😉  I will say that I appreciated her laid-back style, but I am perhaps born of the post-satirical British approach to politics; ever since That Was the Week That Was, and in a country that has Have I Got News For You on TV and Private Eye on its news stands, I'm not unusual in being sceptical, nay, cynical about the motives of those who choose politics as their profession.  My enthusiasm over Obama is a very rare event in my life.

[cpbell0033944]

I'm trying to remember to post notices of new art here at Amaz0ns.

Here's a sketch I finished yesterday as part of a "chainsketch" over at deviantART.  The request was for, in effect, a buffed librarian:

If that's the result of skill atrophy, I want to atrophy! 😮 ;D

[cpbell0033944]

Nice morphing!

[cpbell0033944]

No need to reveal anything on bank statemnets anymore. Just go to your local convienience store and pick up a VISA or MASTERCARD that you can put money on and use anonymously (sorta like a rechargable credit card). Voila, problem solved  ;D

Not as simple as that in my part of the world!  Anyway, I get my fix here. 😉

[cpbell0033944]

If only the segments of the media who influence young girls would portray curves (whether hour-glass, apple or pear makes little difference practically, setting-aside aesthetic or sexual concerns) as being normal and natural, as opposed to a state of "wrongness" for want of a better word – there's nothing wrong with wanting to lose excess bodyfat for health reasons, but everything wrong with wanting to shed scraps of the same because of the influence of a distorted picture of normality on an obsessive or perfectionistic personality.

[cpbell0033944]

Other past janizariettes would include Nursel Gurler and Meral Ertunc.

Both fine examples of the wonder of the classical FBBer. 😉

[cpbell0033944]

Well, I think the operative caveat here is

Depending on the success of this re-launch, we'll shoot an entire episode around this 'leap', featuring your character as the lead role in a possible future production. If we shoot the next episode, the show will tackle the issues of a woman's acceptance as a legitimate bodybuilder.

If people are not engaged by, or even repelled by this storyline and the way Melissa is portrayed, then they won't be likely to take it further. Of course, I'd love to see it succeed, but I doubt we'll see a Hawkins-style physique being positively-portrayed for the foreseeable future.  There, let's hope I put a jinx on the prevailing view and the public take FBBers to their collective heart! 8)  ;D

[cpbell0033944]

Lol…potato.

Potato?  As in a political "hot potato"?  Or as in Dan Quayle and the "potatoe"?

[cpbell0033944]

Plus, I don't think that our presidential candidates would have been nominated if they were stupid or the other presidential staff being picked if they were stupid.
And if that does in fact happen…I'm moving back to Oz.

Well, as an outsider, I too would love to think that this is true…but how does one explain Dan Quayle?  I'm afraid that I have yet to be persuaded that the selection of Ms Palin was anything other than a clumsy attempt to win-over the female vote who might have been upset enough at the nomination of Obama over Clinton to vote Republican.  As much as I dislike Mr Huckabee's politics, if McCain was solely concerned with winning the right-wing vote, he would have been better-off picking him as running-mate, as he does seem more intelligent than Sarah Palin.

[cpbell0033944]

Very well done!!  I love to imagine that's what she looks like under those conservative suits.

Oh, and cpbell0033944: Elaine Lafferty, former editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine, a Democrat and no fan of Gov. Palin's politics, would take issue with your characterization of her as "dumb as a bag of hammers":

Read the whole thing.

Just because you disagree with a person's politics doesn't make them stupid.

I'm sorry if I caused offence in what I said – we may disagree in matters of politics, but I hope you appreciate that, though I sometimes let my views get the better of me, I'm a huge fan of yours and have no personal beef whatsoever.  I know that seems an odd thing to say here, but I wanted to put it on the record.

The article you linked is very interesting.  I would genuinely like to believe that Sarah Palin is truly an intellectual colossus, but the writer fails to convince me of this.  Why? Well…

…firstly, she admits to having been in the pay of the McCain campaign.  Nothing wrong with that, of course, and I'm going to suggest for one second that this fact renders her insight irrelevant, but there has to be some doubt over her neutrality.  In addition, she frequently repeats that she is a Democrat and opposes Palin's pro-life stance, when one disclaimer would suffice, as though she is trying to convince us or herself that she is writing purely objectively.

Secondly, she is unable to provide any evidence of Ms Palin's intelligence aside from her ability to memorise speeches and ideas – hardly a revelation given that even an outsider such as myself already knew this before polling day.  Indeed, photographic memory in iteself proves little – it is a form of intelligence, but it hardly covers all aspects of intelligence.  In effect, the author is saying "She really is intelligent – I saw evidence of it, but I can't/won't give examples." which means that we are relying on one person's (the author's) judgement of intelligence, as well as her word on the matter.

Thirdly, she muddies the issue by railing against the way that her fellow feminists have pilloried Ms Palin.  The problem is that, unlike the author, others have to base their opinions on Ms Palin on her public performance, not having had any access to her.  Which brings me to…

…the fact that, fourthly (is there such a word?), it might be a little easier to accept the argument she is making had we seen any evidence of this great mind at work, other than her ability to memorise talking points.  In this regard she had plenty of opportunities to prove her brainpower, but never managed to do so.  She didn't seem to understand the job of VP even though she was the Republican Party's nominee for that position.  To many observers, there can only be two plausible explanations; either she is not very intelligent, or she is intellectually lazy, which is probably as much of a problem.  I know that if I had been nominated for a position of high office, I would make it my business to know that position inside-out.  It may be that a great mind is being masked by a lack of public speaking skills, but, even if this is the case, shouldn't this have been a barrier to her being nominated?

Anyway, I've waffled enough.  It is now for the picklocks of biographers to decide how this period of US history will be remembered.  Will Sarah Palin make a comeback?  Will she lead the Republicans back to power?  We shall see. 😉

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