I’m never going to be able to move and/or have children

I really love living in the New York metro area, but it’s so expensive here. I have lived in much cheaper places and loved it (Montreal, how I miss thee!), but this is always going to be my home. I would love to be able to live somewhere else for a while, not only to give my wallet a bit of a break, but also because I like to experience new people and places. The South seems like a worthwhile region to consider, since it’s cheap and I have a lot of relatives there, but it’s stories like this one that make me believe that maybe I’m better off staying here and paying the Northeast Premium.

Why would a middle school arrange the student elections so that only students of certain races can hold office? What student government positions are available to those children who are neither white nor black? How could anybody think that this would be okay? This is why people still find it okay to make jokes about Mississippi.

As somebody on Gawker pointed out, it’s good to see that the school practices what it preaches (scroll down)…

Same story, different aims

It’s amazing that Fox News has any quotation marks left, as they’ve used what seems like a week’s worth in this article about the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the state of Arizona.

Also, the Washington Posts’s take.

Yikes

In the course of trying to understand the implications of the UK’s recent elections, I followed a link to a site about the British monarchy. Let’s just say that these people are not at all fans of the Windsors.

Imagine if the Tea Party was Black

Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black by Tim Wise, via Ephphatha Poetry.

Sarah+Michele 4eva!

I feel like the universe should probably have imploded upon the recent convergence of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann upon the unsuspecting voters of Minnesota. I think they violated natural laws about how many concurrent examples you could have of 10 pounds of crazy fitting into a five pound bag. The woman at the end of that article is wrong, though: I’m not threatened by the fact that Palin and Bachmann are successful women. My lack of respect for them stems from the fact that they say crazy and dangerous things which, sadly, is exactly why many people love them. Their sex isn’t of any interest to me, and jeebus knows there are more than enough loony toons male politicians out there.

I’m upset with The Wall Street Journal for taking my favorite imaginary band name (Bachmann-Palin Overdrive) and making it into the headline for a rather run-of-the-mill story. Fools! You need to save that kind of awesomeness for your A-material. No wonder print journalism is dying. Also, I’m not sure whether the idea of Palin-Bachmann 2010 is more amusing, or more frightening than just about everything else ever. It’s a thin line, folks. (Although I already know what should obviously be their theme song.)

I think that somebody could make a reality show of these two saying “Alaska” and “Minnesota” non-stop. I’d DVR the crap out of that program. Oh dear god, the accents! If these two had to exist and come from anywhere, I’m happy that it’s states with such interesting-sounding names. And then Tina Fey and her Mini-Me could spend hours and hours mocking them on SNL. I’d watch that, too.

I so often enjoy the world in my head much more than the one that I’m physically inhabiting.

Let it go, you lost

Dear Bob McDonnell,

If you would stop bending over backwards to commemorate a violent, racist legacy that has been tirelessly whitewashed (yeah, I said it) and romanticized, you wouldn’t have to apologize for omitting any related mention of slavery.

You’re welcome.

**

I googled Confederacy links to include in this post, but many of them made me want to vomit, weep, or perhaps vomit while weeping, so I’ll just skip those today.

Not cool

As loath as I am to agree with the New York Post on anything at all, I have to say that they got this story right. Why is Mayor Bloomberg’s technology commissioner claiming to live in Florida full time? And to save $3,000 a year in taxes? That’s insane. She makes over $200,000 a year by herself, and I’m sure her husband has income, too. There’s no excuse to be so cheap. Of course, today her husband informed the good people of Florida that she is not, in fact, a full-time resident, and hasn’t been since 2001. It’s not as though this was a case of oversight; they actively claimed that she still lived year round in Florida; she had a Florida driver’s license; and she voted in Florida elections. Seriously???

Was it worth the talk of fraud and loss of reputation? I will never understand politicians.

What a dbag

Joe Lieberman sucks, and now the electorate of Connecticut is finally getting sick of him. I think my friend, the Ha Ha Guy, says it best.

I can’t believe this jerk made it onto Kerry’s ticket as the vice presidential candidate, or that I didn’t realize how awful he was then. Live and learn, folks.

I vote, “Aye”

I’m still bummed that the New York State Senate voted on Wednesday not to permit gay marriage in the state (although New York still recognizes as spouses gay couples who marry in one of the states where it is legal), but it’s still worth watching state senator Diane Savino’s floor speech. I really don’t understand how anybody could listen to that and still be against gay marriage.

Finally, something good in the news

It seems like so much of what I read in the news is negative or at least not terribly encouraging, so I really enjoyed reading this article on Michelle Bachelet, the president of Chile. I know almost nothing about Chile, but Bachelet’s approval rating is over 70%, up from a low of 35% in 2006. She saved money wisely and was able to not only shield her country during the economic downturn, but also to place Chile in a position where its sovereign funds gained money during the global crisis. She didn’t get the job by being the widow of a dead politician; moreover, she’s agnostic and a single mother in a heavily Catholic country. I love it when the underdog succeeds.