Minnesota Politics again

Who’d have thought that I’d talk about Minnesota politics even once on this blog, much less twice? This time, though, my primary focus is Michele Bachmann, a member of the House of Representatives and a total idiot. Representative Bachmann went on Hardball and said that Senator Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, held anti-American views and that they could not be trusted in the Oval Office. Representative Bachmann then went on to say that the media (now she trusts the media??) should thoroughly investigate other members of Congress to determine whether they held anti-American or pro-American attitudes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_pN2IPAw6E]

Just to give you some context, here are other videos of Representative Bachmann:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wX1UnAtynU]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTdbCbbEr64]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJdRHE3ppj4]

I’m pretty sure that Michele Bachmann didn’t get the memo; you’re supposed to imply that the Obamas, Democrats, and liberals are somehow less patriotic than the McCains, Republicans, and conservatives, but you’re not supposed to come right out and say it. Tsk, tsk, Representative Bachmann.

Sick

I’m sick. I’m sick of trying to teach people who have no interest in learning anything, I’m sick of being nice to people who are really just jerks and have no interested of being nice to me, and I’m really just literally sick. I got a tickle in my throat after Saturday’s Mraz concert (waited outside in line for about a half hour, the temperature was in the low 60s, and I was not wearing a sweater), which stayed pretty steady as a small cough until last night, when I sat inside a freezing bar for the better part of 5 hours watching the freaking Phillies beat the Dodgers. Stupid Matt Stairs! Anyway, that meant that today I awakened with my sexy sick-voice, a runny nose, and no desire to do anything as pedestrian as go to work. But I try not to abuse my sick time, so I went in and was convinced by my coworkers that I should use some of my sick time, since I have several weeks’ worth remaining. Before I left, though, a woman came in for my basic Excel class, so I started to teach it. Big mistake. I should have gone home. She wasn’t interested in listening to explanations of things, she wanted to make charts when she couldn’t even format cells, and she then wanted to learn about all the advanced functions she’d heard about at her former job. I understand the curiosity, but why would she go to a BASIC class expecting to learn this stuff? Then she asked me if a master’s was required to do my job,and whether I had one, like “Are you a real librarian?”  I suspect she found me unqualified for my job (which is not Excel instructor, by the way), and she was thinking of applying for it. Good luck, lady.

So now I’m home and am experiencing the healing powers of microwaved tea and TiVoed Monday night television.

Bullet dodged

I got a nastygram yesterday from a guy who I met through the STRICTLY PLATONIC section of Craigslist. He was nice enough, but I knew right away that nothing more than friendship was going to exist between us. He was older than I would have liked and really short. I like my heels. We had an enjoyable time dancing to 80s music, but I didn’t let him buy me drinks or anything, because I knew how I felt about him and wanted to keep things equal and platonic. We said that we might see about hanging out, and later made plans to meet up a few weeks down the line.

Then my work schedule changed and I wrote him to let him know that I wouldn’t be able to hang out on the date we’d settled on. He tried to convince me to hang out for a bit, but I didn’t want to go into the city at 10 only to come home again at 1:30, and I wouldn’t have been able to stay out much past that. He copped a major attitude when I said I didn’t want to go into the city and come home early, and that I also wasn’t interested in paying for car service from Manhattan to my home. He offered to chip in half, but $35 to hang out with a nice guy who didn’t make much of an impression on me wasn’t very reasonable (I didn’t put it like that, though). I had at first considered rescheduling, but he acted like such a jerk about the whole thing that I decided not to even bother. Anyway, I guess he thought that his passive-agressive emails to me were going to make me want to see him again. Not so much, no. So he wrote me out of the blue today to try to make me feel bad for not being in contact with him and to say “bye” to me. Really? Bye? I’d written him off a month ago. I thought about writing him back to bitch him out, or even to be really sweet and make him feel bad about being such a jerk, but it’s not necessary. I’m well rid of that kind of person, and it’s not worth pursuing the matter.

The one where everybody cries

So Project Runway may not be leaving Bravo for Lifetime. Hallelujah! I don’t want my fashion tainted by association with women in danger and endless Tori Spelling movies.

The four remaining designers were really stressed out this week, in their final runway show before New York Fashion Week. Their challenge was to create an evening gown, and everybody felt the pressure. There were tears and mini breakdowns and bleary eyes and glasses instead of contact lenses, and it was pretty much awesome. All of anti-Kenley hostility that has been simmering for the last several weeks kind of exploded tonight. Leanne, Korto, and former Mean Girl Jerell all made very little attempt to hide their contempt for Kenley. As usual, it was pretty impossible for me to feel bad for her, since she caused a lot of this with her poor attitude and misplaced sense of superiority.

The other designers and the judges all made mention of her attitude, and she basically acted as though the lot of them were making it up. Top American Designer* Michael Kors had it right – how well is Kenley going to in an industry where one’s creative vision may not be appreciated or shared by those on whom one depends for one’s livelihood? Not everybody is going to agree that Kenley is a genius, and she should probably be prepared to think about criticism and evaluate its relevance before dismissing it completely. I like how the guest judge this week, Georgina *married to one half of the bazillionaire duo who produces this show* Chapman was like, “I do not see what I thought I would,” about Kenley. There were no floral prints or 50’s shapes, but the defensiveness was there and Mrs. Bazillionaire still seemed singularly unimpressed.

So what did I think about the way the judges chose to end this challenge? I thought it was pretty darn awesome. Why? Because it’s tv! Drama is always appreciated, as long as it’s is somehow justifiable and not just for the sake of being dramatic. Kenley and Korto have made enough great things on this show that it makes sense that neither of them would be easy to send home. I think that I have been inspired by Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, and Top American Designer Michael Kors, who have been on the receiving end of several of Kenley’s eye rolls, sighs, and ridiculous responses, and still thought that she deserved a chance to compete for a spot at Fashion Week. I also like that nobody gets to rest on his or her laurels. It would have been easy to do what they did last year and only have two people compete for the final spot, but this adds intrigue and an extra bit of motivation that Jerell and Leanne might otherwise be without.

I always like to see what the designers can come up with when they have much more money, time, and sleep to bring their vision to life. I can’t wait for next week, because it’s always fun to see how time away from each other and watching the episodes at home influences how the designers interact when they reunite for the clip show.

The designers:

I really am impressed with how un-ridiculous Jerell’s stuff is of late. Sure, his dress tonight did need a bit of work, but compared to what he was cranking out the first few weeks of this season, his improvement is nothing short of inspiring. Like Kenley, Jerell has been known to talk smack and offer a mean running commentary about others’ work. Unlike Kenley, Jerell’s work mostly backs up that talk.

There’s a special place in my heart for Leanne, who managed to fight her way out of thin, brunette anonymity to become recognizable not only by her face but also by her interesting designs. She’s another one whose first few weeks of work definitely didn’t seem promising, but I’m glad that she’s stuck around. Her designers are infinitely wearable and show a lot of thought and work. Plus, she seems to dislike Kenley quite a bit, which only makes me love her more.

Nobody needs to be told that I am rooting for Korto, right? I love her sense of color and style, and would happily wear whatever she chose to put me in. She’s funny, but knows how to shut a person up when that is called for. I think it’s telling that Kenley hates Korto’s stuff, since the things that Korto makes often seem like they did actually originate in the twenty-first century.

Last, both in my affections and this wrap-up, is Kenley. The girl’s got talent; I’m not going to lie. And I’ve got the shape to rock a 50’s style frock, so I really do appreciate her designs. My main problem with her, aside from the fact that she only ever produces some slight variation on one pattern, is that she has the worst attitude of any Project Runway contestant ever. EVER! And this is the show that gave us Wendy Pepper and Santino Rice. I’ve never seen anybody so unwilling to accept criticism and responsibility for her own choices. Self-confidence is great. It’s necessary, and it’s how you advance yourself through life, but too much is just as damaging as too little. Why can’t she just think about what people say to her, instead of mouthing off? If I mute her while I’m waching the show, I am usually much more inclined to like what she’s done.

* I love this designation and will never again say this man’s name without using what is not doubt a contractually-obligated phrase.

What does it take to get rid of that girl?

Kenley is like the Teflon Don, the way she keeps flirting with elimination and annoying the crap out of the judges, only to be reprieved before getting auffed. Why is she still on this show? She’s ungraciously defensive, moderately talented, and supremely annoying. And, of course, I just saw a preview for next week where she dishes up more of the same petty, juvenile behavior that she has exhibited all season. I would be happy to see that promo and take it as a harbinger of her doom, but the other designers were also expressing anxiety and crying on the runway, so it’s too soon to take the pins out of my Kenley voodoo doll. Plus, after last week’s episode, I just knew she would be toast, and she wasn’t, so I have to make an effort not to get too excited.

I didn’t necessarily think that Suede should have gone home for the boring rock and roll outfit that he made Jerell, but I would not argue that, cumulatively, his missteps outweighed those of the other designers. Despite his relentless use of the third person, somehow Suede wiggled his way into my heart (just a little), and I was actually slightly sad to see him go. He’s like that annoying, boozy barfly whose futile attempts to speak in complete sentences and be taken seriously are so funny that you’re a little sad when the bartender finally cuts him off and pours him into a cab before the night is over. Now who’s going to entertain you?

Still, it’s not so much that Suede’s talent is one that I’m going to miss (I’m not saying that he isn’t talented, but I’m not going to lose sleep next week wondering what he would have made if he’d remained on the show instead of Kenley). It’s just that I hate Kenley’s attitude so much, I’m not inclined to be fair or reasonable about anything related to her. Her sense of entitlement is making me ill. I’m all for self-confidence and pride in one’s work, but she takes these perfectly good qualities to unreasonable levels. In Kenley’s world, any time that somebody doesn’t just adore her stuff, it’s not because she’s made a mistake or interpreted the challenge incorrectly, it’s because that person JUST DOESN’T GET IT. She cannot conceive of a universe where her best effort isn’t right the first time out, and doesn’t understand why others don’t love her as much as she loves herself. She lacks perspective and cannot accept criticism in the spirit in which it was intended. How does she expect to learn anything from 1) a well-known desinger, 2) a former fashion magazine style editor, 3) a pretty freaking awesome supermodel, and 4) any number of guest fashion luminaries if she won’t listen to their advice long enough to see how it might apply to her designs? I really admire Tim for even trying to explain to her how her attitude is getting in her way, but I am in no way surprised that she immediately discounted everything that he’d said to her. She’s a brat, and I use such a childish word because she seems to have an attitude more commonly found in 15-year-old girls.

I continue to be impressed with Jerell. He really has made such great strides from where he was at the beginning of the season, and although his attitude sometimes resembles Kenley’s, at least he has the talent to kind of back it up. It would have been really interesting if he’d won four challenges in a row, and his work is such that I would not have felt that Korto was slighted if he’d won tonight. I’m glad that Korto won tonight, if only because that meant she actually cracked a smile on the runway. Usually, she looks like the judges just offered her a choice between the dungeon or a day in the stocks.

Also, I know it’s not fair, but I’m unreasonably excited that there will be at least two female designers officially going to fashion week this year (as opposed to being decoys). It seemed like the women of of season five really had the chops that were mostly lacking in their male counterparts, and I’m excited to see who wins. [Full disclosure: thanks to the wonderful Jezebel, I have already seen the collections of the five designers (those still in the competition, plus Joe and Suede) and know which are in my personal top two, but I don’t pretend to be able to guess what the judges will think.]

Other thoughts:

I’m not even remotely interested in that design show after Project Runway, but the tiny Asian guy with the horrible little voice makes me want to do damage to my ear drums. I know it’s horrible to make fun of somebody for something that he has no control over and that he cannot change, but his voice just bugs me so much. I program my dvr to continue to record for a couple of minutes after Project Runway is over (I’m paranoid about missing something), so this isn’t the first time that I’ve gotten this particularly unpleasant surprise.

Too touchy?

I don’t consider myself easily offended. I make and laugh at jokes about women, black people, New Jerseyans, Americans, Christians, liberals, and a host of other groups to which I belong. And I do believe that non-black people can talk about, or disagree with, black people without automatically being considered racist. So why did it bother me so much today when a white coworker used the word “uppity” to describe an annoying black patron?

I’ve been thinking about it for the last couple of hours, and I think I’m bothered because the word uppity has such a troubling history. When I hear it, I think of a person whose behavior is somehow above what could reasonably be expected from one of his or her station. I don’t know if this is a definition that would be used by that any significant portion of the non-black population when defining uppity, but it’s probably what a lot of black people think when they hear it. This word has been the subject of recent press, after Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican Congressman from Georgia, used it to describe Barack and Michelle Obama, then claimed to be ignorant of any racial connotations to the word. He’s from Georgia. Even if that’s not what he meant when he said the word, I find it unlikely that he could have spent the past 58 years in Georgia without somehow knowing that this word might have had a racist connotation. His explanation that he thought they were elitist and snobbish also makes no sense. They’re pretty high up on the freaking totem pole, buddy. Certainly higher than you. How do you expect them to behave? Also, I’m really love it if I Westmoreland could answer this question: what about a duly elected senator who won his party’s vote to be their Presidential candidate could be considered too elite? Don’t we want our leaders to belong to a relatively high class in society? Who should be of a higher class than those who aspire to lead our nation? And if that higher class does exist, why aren’t they running things?

So this patron was annoying, but in the same way that scores of other patrons are annoying many times throughout the day. She didn’t seem to look down on us, she just didn’t really care that what she wanted didn’t conform to library rules. She was over the whole rules thing, but she never acted as though she was above us. I get along just fine with my coworker and I’ve never thought for a second that he might have a problem with me due to my race, but things like this always make me uneasy.

Poor, dumb, Joe

I always get concerned when people blithely dismiss what Tim has to say, because he often seems to know how the judges are going to feel about a garment. I cringed at Joe’s confidence in his design, in the face of so much serious criticism. Even if he wasn’t willing to listen to Tim, he really should have been concerned at the way the Mean Girls (Kenley and Jerell) gleefully mocked his suit. Would they have done that to a piece that could be considered strong? Doubtful. They were so confident that his design was hideous, and that alone should have made him go back and make some changes.

Kenley seems to be all about trashing people, and it’s hilarious that she has the nerve to talk about anybody else having a limited vision or talent, when she’s clearly making the same thing over and over, too. She has no room to talk, and I like that Heidi sort of called her out on that. The mean girl in me thinks that it will be very satisfying to see what happens when Kenley and Jerell end up turning on each other. That expression on Kenley’s face when she didn’t win was definitely a step in the right direction.

AND WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT MESS ON JERELL’S HEAD??? Dear god, that man is nuts. I can’t believe that he allowed himself to be photographed for a national magazine wearing that crap. It looks like a vine attacked his hair. I hope that gets photoshopped out.

I don’t usually remember what happens in the previews from one week to the next, but I find it amusing that everybody’s commenting on how off the mark Kenley is. I also think they even showed a bit of one of her overly defensive responses, coupled with Tim telling her to ditch the attitude and sarcasm, and I seriously just cannot wait.

Other thoughts:

I kind of loved Nina’s “I will say no more” to Suede. Maybe she’s also sick of his tendency to speak of himself in the third person and knew enough not to engage him in conversation.

Will Korto ever win? I think that her consistent excellence seems to work against her; maybe the judges have come to expect amazing garments from her, and they’re not as highly valued as they might be from another designer.

It seems to me that, in their individual interviews, this group of designers is more likely to focus on the other designers than themselves. I guess a lack of self-absorption is nice, but they don’t ever have anything nice to say about the competition. It gets a little difficult to see such negativity every week. Where’s the love??

What ever happened to kindness?

I am not the world’s most enthusiastic Obama supporter, but enough of my positions are close to his that I feel comfortable voting for him. I don’t feel like the Republican party addresses my concerns, but I’v never actively hated them, or regarded them with the ridicule that I see in a lot of my Democrat peers. I understand that 2008 is an election year, and people will do what they feel necessary to try to get elected. STILL I was disgusted by both Rudy Guiliani and Sarah Palin’s speeches. Guiliani has no hope of getting elected to a higher office than the one he’s already held, so it didn’t hurt him to give a nasty, unsubtle, totally negative speech about the Democratic candidates. He has nothing to lose and it bought him a little goodwill from people who six months ago wouldn’t have spit on him if he was on fire.

But I was totally unprepared for how nasty Palin’s speech was. She’s been raked over the coals by a lot of people in the last week, but the Democratic ticket did not participate in the very public rehashing of all of her family’s business. They didn’t condemn either her or her daughter, and didn’t question Palin’s decision to stay in the presidential race. So why would Palin give such a dirty speech, and take cheap shot after cheap shot at Obama? The qualifications and half-truths were bad enough, but outright lies about death taxes and clean coal really make me wonder why the Republican powers that be would think it necessary to craft and deliver this speech. It definitely played to the rabid base in the convention hall, but I can’t imagine it going over well with moderates. And for somebody who considers herself a strong and committed Christian, I really wonder how such a dirty attack could be considered in any way Christ-like. In terms of delivery, she totally nailed her speech. In terms of content, Ms. Palin did little to solidify her own party’s positions on issues and gave the kind of light-on-actual-information speech that Republicans often accuse Obama of giving.

So dumb

So Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey believes that ‘not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.’ How convenient that Mukasey, a Republican Bush appointee, doesn’t think it necessary to prosecute other Republican Bush appointees for systemically failing to hire those suspected of being: Democrats, otherwise liberal, or -gasp- homosexual! No crime’s been committed here, folks! I’m kind of pissed off anyway about people not accepting accountability for their actions, so this just makes me angrier. The No Justice Department can go suck an egg.

Dumb dumb dumb

I am one of those people who has always agreed with So I Married an Axe Murderer and Men in Black‘s assertions that tabloids often contain more truth than so-called respectable newspapers, so I believed the John Edwards story from the beginning. It seemed like too much of a left-field kind of story not to have some truth to it. Think about it: before this, the most damning story about Edwards was that he paid $300 for that haircut. Plus, the mental image of John Edwards running around a Beverly Hills hotel, trying to outrun The National Enquirer‘s journalist and photographers was too awesome not to be real.

There’s still so much more to this story, and I can’t see how there’s enough spin in the world to protect John Edwards from the fallout. Why would he have lied about this for weeks, only to admit it now? Why is he denying that the child is his? If he had really ended his relationship with this woman in 2006, why wouldn’t he just have owned up to it when all of this came to light? And if that is the case, why is he still visiting her in hotel rooms and playing with her baby? He’s a total moron, and his wife is such a class act. Not that anybody ever deserves to have a mate’s infidelity exposed in such a public manner, but that woman has gone through so much, you think this jerk would have considered that before cheating on her.

And how could he have run for PRESIDENT with this in his closet? What if he’d been the nominee? That is so selfish.