Fan club-worthy video, and John McKay gives a little talk in Seattle

My friend pwrlght sent me the following over the weekend. It seems that Harvard gave Patrick Fitzgerald the Cox-Richardson-Coleman award for outstanding public service. There’s video, ladies… The most interesting part to me was listening to him talk about his job, how exactly the discussion goes when someone is to be charged with the death penalty for their crimes, etcetera. Then again, for those who aren’t quite so wonkish, it’s drool-worthy. http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2007/04/27_fitzgerald.php

I’ll be replacing my keyboard later. Did I mention that it’s nice of Harvard to recognize what we all knew a long time ago?

In the meantime, it seems that John McKay, former US Attorney and now law professor at Seattle University, is giving a little seminar on May 9th with two of his colleagues who’ve also been relieved of their jobs. I’m anticipating fireworks. It’s not free for the general public, so the jury’s out on whether or not I’m attending this little fling. It sounds like a geek’s dream afternoon, though, so I may be ponying up the $110 to see it. If you’d like to check it out, please go to http://www.law.seattleu.edu/cle/events?mode=standard

-S

p.s. I’ll have to reschedule a dental appointment to go to the Seattle U thing. What do you think I should do?

James Comey has a hot date with the House Judiciary Committee May 3rd

I’ve cleared the decks for next Thursday. For any justice junkie, this is better than Christmas morning. I knew there was a pony at the bottom of the box of — excreta, shall we say? — and we’re finally going to have someone in front of a government committee that is not going to mumble “I don’t recall” 70+ times.

For those who don’t know, James Comey is the former acting Attorney General of the United States. He left for a career in the private sector. After all, the Bush administration can’t have any truth-tellers around. It’s bad for business.  If you’d like, you can read about Mr. Comey’s exploits at the following: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11079547/site/newsweek/ One thing’s for sure, he was the only person standing between all of us and unlimited NSA wiretapping. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude.

In the meantime, the brilliant looseheadprop wrote the following at firedoglake this morning about Mr. Comey. I hope she will not mind if I reproduce her post here in its entirety. I forgot the linky earlier, so here it is. http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/04/27/comey-to-testify-before-house-judiciary-committee/#comments (Maybe someday I will learn to do that really cool thing where all that shows up is a few words, but for right now, we’re going with what we know.)

THESE are the kind of people that are being systematically purged from our Justice Department, and we are all the poorer for it.

This is welcome news. Jim Comey has always been a straight shooter and in past public apprearances has been at times startlingly candid.

He knows where all the bodies are buried. If he choses to, he can turn over a whole bunch of really big rocks that have particularly ugly squiggly things crawling around under them.

You know what makes me happy in a totally immature and slightly evil way? The thought of all the creeps who have tried to rape and destroy DOJ running around this morning in a total panic.

Long long ago, someone at SDNY developed a cocaine addiction and stole evidence out of the narcotics evidence vault. I ran into Comey right after he found out about it. That night I understood the term white hot rage.

I totally agreed with his reaction, but found the intensity of it so intimidating that thereafter, I would literally avoid him in the halls.

A few years later, a mutual friend noticed that whenever Comey was around I would slip away and asked me why I didn’t like him.

To the contrary, there are few people who inspire as much admiration in me as Comey does. I geniunely think he is one of the best this country has to offer, a truly decent honorable man and a true patriot. (Totally OT and girly-he has the most engaging thousand watt smile–lights up the whole room)

Nonetheless, I am scared to death of him, and I don’t scare that easily.

I would NEVER EVER want to be a person who had betrayed this country, damaged DOJ or trifled with the Constitution in an era when Jim Comey drew breath.

If those a–holes who have been so busy corrupting Justice have half a working brain cell in their heads, they are soiling their undies today.

 

Thanks, looseheadprop, and Mr. Comey, I’ll see you next Thursday morning. I’ll bring the popcorn.

-S

 

Things that rattle around in my brain, Part Two

First of all, I know this will come as virtually no shock to anyone. I haven’t heard from the Oversight Committee yet. (Can you imagine?)

 Secondly, how much more would the average woman be able to accomplish in her life if she was not worried about her appearance, worried about catching the attention of or keeping a man, etcetera? Just wondering.

-S

I wrote a letter to the Oversight Committee today

Dear Chairman Waxman and members of the Oversight Committee,

I am watching the discussion regarding issuance of subpoenas to multiple people this morning with stunned disbelief. I watched yesterday’s coverage of the Tillman/Lynch hearings as well.

It seems to me that Rep. Davis and Rep. Issa were less than interested in yesterday’s proceedings. They didn’t have much to contribute besides the typical “we’re sorry” platitudes, when the Tillmans and Ms. Lynch showed clear evidence that there is more than enough to keep the Oversight Committee asking questions about the circumstances surrounding what happened. Today, however, Reps. Davis and Issa are quite voluble about the “damage” to the RNC if they are actually asked to comply with a subpoena for information. The willingness of these gentlemen to hurl themselves over the grenade of oversight is truly heroic. I wish there was a fraction of the care and concern they’re exhibiting for the finances and resources of the RNC for the right of the American people to know what is happening in our government.

There is clear evidence that the RNC servers were being used as a “workaround” to the e-mail archival process at the White House. Reps. Davis and Issa were elected to do the people’s business, not to protect the “financial interests” of their political party. If they are unable to provide oversight in a non-partisan manner, perhaps they should resign from the Oversight Committee.

I am angry that my tax dollars have been wasted on several hours now of filibuster and obfuscation in order to protect those who continue breaking the law with impunity.

I don’t know if a private citizen can ask to have something added to the record, but if I can, I’d like to have my e-mail added.

Thank you.

Very truly yours,
my name

I’m over 40, and I need a dress.

Okay.

 I have to go to an awards ceremony at RWA’s national conference in July, and I am already stressed out about it. Why, you’re asking? This requires a DRESS, and a suitably semi-formal dress. I might explain at this point that I have a dress, but somehow, cobalt blue velvet does not work for Dallas in July. Color me shocked.

Typically, I would go for black. Black is never wrong. One can even wear black to a wedding now with no problem. Black, pearls, red lipstick, I’m set. Unfortunately, I hate pantyhose like some people hate going to the dentist. There’s one other teeny-tiny issue that really chaps my copious ass today.

Have fashion designers and clothing manufacturers never met any women over 40? If they have (perhaps once or twice,) have they not noticed that MOST women over 40 have that whole upper-arm-thing going on that we’d all like to hide? I realize this sounds nasty, but I noticed that Oprah even has the bat-wing thing going on, and let me tell you, that was some comfort. One of the richest women in America’s dealing with the upper arm thing, too. Did I mention that the vast majority of the dresses available these days are sleeveless? What are these people thinking?

The Dauphin of Software just came upstairs and approved the dress I was looking at on nordstrom.com. (“Honey, you can wear a wrap, it’s beautiful, it will look nice on you.”)  I, of course, am not only obsessed with the dress, I must find a pair of shoes as well. I suppose I should mention at this juncture that my spike heeled days are over. No stilettos for me, no matter how I might lust after them.

I also have to drag my ensemble on a plane.

Will anyone notice if I’m in the back of the ballroom in dressy casual?

-S

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Hey! Alberto Gonzales testifies today! Looks like a good excuse to post photos!

Okay. As a public service, we’re going to post some photos of PJF in case the Gabbly Girls end up over here Thursday morning. We must have a palate cleanser after listening to Mr. Gonzales insist that he “has no recollection” and “does not remember,” or some other such weasel-speak. No offense to actual weasels, by the way.

Heckuva job, NARAL. What’s next?

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the ban on “partial-birth abortion”, and NARAL’s Nancy Keenan helped them do it.

Nancy sat on her ass (and a large sum of donated cash,) during the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito. She did NOTHING to stop the confirmation of a far-right-wing idealogue to the highest court in our land. She did NOTHING to protect Roe v. Wade, and the millions of women whose reproductive freedom hinge on that decision. It was evidently more important for Ms. Keenan to play patty-cake with Joe “They can just go to another hospital post-rape, can’t they?” Lieberman than to defend the women whose cash she and her organization have been soliciting (and banking) for God knows how long. Let me guess what she’ll do next to help the women of this country who will need a pregnancy terminated in the third trimester in order to save their lives: NOTHING.

Jane Hamsher and Christy Hardin-Smith of FDL have done everything in their power to get NARAL to wake up. It seems they’re content to go on sleeping — well, as long as we’ll all keep sending those donations. If you’d like to read Jane’s comments (and they’re well-worth the read,) please go here. http://http://preview.tinyurl.com/3ca9bv I’ve donated my last to NARAL. I’ll be writing to ask that I be removed from their mailing list. Permanently.

In the meantime, I have a few words about this. I don’t have Jane’s eloquence, but I sure as hell have the same anger. I thought about what I was going to write in this post for awhile today. All I can do is tell my story. Let’s face it. My life’s been pretty quiet. At the same time, I bring something to the table on this issue that not many do: I am a former fundamentalist Christian, and ardently identified myself as pro-life. I no longer do, and haven’t for many years now. I will fight for reproductive choice as long as there is breath in my body.

What on earth, you may be asking yourself, could cause a woman who once belonged to the Moral Majority and attended anti-abortion marches to change her mind on such an issue? It’s a long story. At the same time, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that my intolerant, unrealistic and smugly self-righteous life view was correct, reality kept intruding. As I slowly emerged from my hiding place behind the church doors, I realized that life wasn’t completely black and white. I’m sure the fact that the pastor’s wife of my former church had an abortion due to a health issue during pregnancy made an impression. (Of course, this was deemed necessary, and she wasn’t like all of those other Evil Women who crammed in a pregnancy termination between a visit to the Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale and a pedicure, was she?) My pastor’s railing against Planned Parenthood from the pulpit was another indicator that maybe I was just in the wrong place.  Planned Parenthood was the only place a single girl without health insurance could get affordable health care. To my surprise, not one of the clinic employees had horns and a tail!

As I went out into the work world after leaving Bible college, I slowly began meeting women who had had to end a pregnancy. I realized that the decision to do so is agonizing. It is not arrived at lightly, and it was not “convenient”. Even more, I understood that it was a deeply personal decision that just didn’t lend itself to bumper-sticker quality logic. I left my church when I realized I no longer believed the things they claimed as truth. I came to know that if I do not have reproductive freedom, for instance, I am not free, in any sense of the word. Neither is any other woman, for that matter.

Today’s decision is nothing more than a gesture to George W. Bush’s conservative Christian friends. It keeps those GOP “let’s defeat Roe v. Wade” dollars rolling in. There is no such thing as a “partial birth abortion”. The procedure they speak of is performed so infrequently in the United States that most people don’t know what it is actually called.  The procedure named “partial birth abortion” by the far Right in order to whip the fetus fetishists into a check-writing frenzy is done to save the life of the mother, or to cease the suffering of a child in utero with such profound birth defects he or she would never have hope of any quality of life.

I spent some time today in a chat room with a group of women I know. One of them told us that her friend had a full-term pregnancy that went horribly wrong. The friend was at a Catholic hospital and too unstable to be moved to another location. The medical personnel in charge decided she would labor to deliver a dead baby, and she did. She spent eighteen hours in labor. Ten years later, she’s still in therapy. It was not her choice. Someone else made the decision they believed was appropriate for her and her family. Someone else, instead of making a humane and merciful choice in consultation with a set of parents already destroyed by their loss, forced her to go through another one.

Another told me that her niece was born with such significant birth defects that she lived a week. It was the parents’ choice to go ahead with the birth. The bottom line? It was their choice. Not someone else’s, who knew nothing about their family and about their wishes.

Would I have an abortion? I’m not sure. The one time my husband and I faced what we believed to be an unwanted pregnancy, it turned out to be a false alarm. Could I ever tell another woman what to do if she were in the same shoes? No. She, her spouse or significant other, and their doctor are the only people on the face of the planet that have any kind of say over what should happen. Any other person interfering has no business there.

I close with the following: It’s always amusing to me to hear those who claim that their Christianity and their Jesus commands them to terrify and harass women visiting abortion clinics, to harm or murder doctors that perform abortions. I wonder if they actually comprehend what they read when they study their Bibles. It seems to me that if Jesus spent time with the most reviled people of his day (tax collectors and prostitutes, evidently,) he may have more compassion for a sixteen-year-old girl undergoing an abortion than they might think. He might show mercy. He might understand far more than we know that life is not always black and white.

LInX: What’s really going on here?

I just read the following by Marcy Wheeler at The Next Hurrah. I’ve been following the US Attorney purge with a lot of interest. I suppose it has something to do with our former US Attorney, John McKay, being removed for no apparent reason. His supposed successor has an alleged credibility issue as well. In the meantime, Marcy’s writing today about a software information-sharing system called LInX that she believes is behind the carnage, for some unknown reason.

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/04/linx_and_the_us.html

I was also interested to note that five million e-mails were deleted off the White House system from 2003-2005.  Karl Rove was allegedly deleting e-mail after specifically being told it was not to be removed. I suppose Mr. Rove must not have known the penalties for doing stuff like this. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002998.php

It seems a certain special counsel might have something to say about all this, especially if he didn’t already know.

In the meantime, I seem to have some kind of upper-respiratory issues. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow. I hope everyone else is well and happy!

-S

At last: Books I’ve enjoyed, and you might like them, too

Okay.

I read all kinds of stuff. Lately, though, I’m still working my way through Marcy Wheeler’s “Anatomy of Deceit”.  http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Deceit-Bush-Administration-Media/dp/0979176107/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-2466842-9035308?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176229995&sr=1-1 When I’m not reading Marcy’s book, I’m doing research for my book.  I promised book reviews, though, and book reviews are what we will have this morning at the Little Pink Clubhouse!

“Time Off for Good Behavior”, Lani Diane Rich

Lani Diane Rich wrote this book while she was participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, in 2002. It’s like this: You register at the website (www.nanowrimo.org, it’s completely free,) and you agree to the following: You must write 50,000 words from November 1-November 30th. You must write a novel; you can’t spend your month writing “I’m writing a book” over and over. The only way to survive NaNoWriMo is to let your imagination go. No editing. Period.  I’ve done it twice, I’ll do it again in November, and I’ll come out of it with at least the nucleus of what I’d like to build on in the future. (The book I wrote in November will end up being a 100,000 word single-title contemporary romance. I have to finish it by October 9th. Remember that.)  For anyone who’s always said that they wanted to write a book, it’s a chance to achieve that goal!

I love Lani’s book. Lani’s heroine, Wanda, is a mess. Wanda’s life just isn’t going well. She left an abusive marriage to find herself stuck in a dead-end job. After a shocking accident at the office, Wanda wakes up in a hospital room to discover a handsome stranger’s been keeping watch over her. Walter, the hero, is the man we all wish we could meet. He embraces Wanda’s chaos. Walter, it seems, has secrets of his own, though, and you’ll be reading and re-reading one of the better chick lit books I think I’ve ever read.

Let’s face it, if it’s a romance, I have to fall in love with the hero. If I don’t, the book doesn’t work for me. I fell in love with Walter. You will, too. You’ll root for Wanda. You’ll reread “Time off For Good Behavior”, because you’ll want to spend more time with Walter. It’s true.

“On The Way To The Wedding”, Julia Quinn

A confession: I don’t typically read historicals or paranormals. I love history, but the “Lord” this and “Lady” that in the typical historical makes me want to grind my teeth. Paranormals? Sorry, vampires don’t typically do it for me.

I went to RWA’s national conference last July. One of the classes I took was on dialogue, taught by Julia Quinn, who has an astonishing number of New York Times bestselling novels. Julia gave away copies of the above referenced book. I was lucky enough to win one. Of course I’d want it autographed! Upon my confession that I typically don’t read historicals, she said, “Will you read mine and tell me what you think of it?” I think it was one of the more amazing things that happened to me all year. She wants to know what I (unpublished in this genre) think of her (New York Times bestsellers for doorstops,) book?

I loved the book. Julia’s writing sparkles, she’s funny, her characters are real and live in the hearts of anyone who’s read one of her books. I’ll be reading more of them. In the meantime, I think you’ll love her books, too.

“Not Another New Year’s”, Christie Ridgway

I’ve read most of Christie Ridgway’s books. I enjoy her characters, the writing’s great, and I know I’m going to spend a few hours with a book I’ll want to read again. “Not Another New Year’s” is no exception. Christie’s embarked on a series based on a group of ex-Secret Service agent heroes. (Ladies love law enforcement!) This time, our heroine, Hannah, finds herself stranded at a bar in Coronado, California. It’s New Year’s Eve. She’s tired of being the good girl her family expects, and decides to spend her New Year’s doing something totally out of character. Of course, there’s consequences, and they’re starring our hero, Tanner. Hilarity (and lots of steamy encounters,) ensues.

The follow-up book, “Must Love Mistletoe”, just got nominated for a RITA, which is RWA’s version of the Oscars. I think you’ll enjoy both of them, and be looking for more Christie Ridgway at the bookstore!

“Chasing Stanley”, Deirdre Martin

I just plain love Deirdre Martin’s books. “Chasing Stanley” is the fifth of a series involving heroes from a fictitious NHL team, the New York Blades.  The writing’s excellent, her characters are real and well-defined, her books are funny and charming. Most of all, though, I love Deirdre’s talent for being able to broach very serious subject matter in her books, let the reader learn a bit about whatever her characters are going through, without getting heavy or preachy about it.  The heroine of “Chasing Stanley” is so shy that it is affecting her daily life, not to mention her relationship with the hero.  Her struggles to overcome her crippling shyness are thoughtful and realistic. Of course, Stanley, the hero’s dog, goes a long way to helping the two finally get together.

I loved this book. I hope you’ll love it, and the other four in the Blades series, as much as I have.

In the meantime, Christina Dodd ran a survey on what readers DON’T like about romance novels.  I think it’s one of the better blog posts I’ve read in awhile. I hope you’ll like it as well. http://www.squawkradio.com/index.php/sblog/brace_yourself_christina_dodd_analyzes_the_whats_wrong_with_romance_poll/

-S

I was twenty feet away from Patrick Fitzgerald, and I said NOTHING!

I promised my friend Leinie that I would finally divulge this story.  The girlfriends at home remind me of it at every available opportunity, and it’s been a year now! Couldn’t they make fun of me for something else? We all know I’ve given them PLENTY of other material by now!

Once upon a time (specifically, last April,) I had to go to Chicago on business. I didn’t actually have to be at the writers’ conference I was attending until the next day, so I had plenty of time to wander around town before then. I’d made a plan before I even left Seattle to meet up with some people I know for pizza that evening, so I dropped my luggage at my hotel and went downstairs to grab a cab.  (I was staying in the Stock Exchange building. There’s a hotel on the top floor. How fun is THAT?)

Back to my tale of woe.

I met my new pals at Gino’s East in the Loop. (I’ve since been told that this is not the best pizza. It was fine to me. Next time, I promise I’ll go to the “good place”.) We had pizza, we laughed ourselves silly, and it was finally time to go back to the hotel. One of my friends was nice enough to initiate me into the mysteries of the EL, so off we went. We walked. And walked. And walked some more. We were looking for the entrance, which seemed to elude us for some unknown reason. To this day, if someone asked me where in downtown Chicago I was, I wouldn’t be able to tell them! Finally, though, my friend spotted the entrance. He’s dragging me across the street. I glanced up to see a tall, dark haired, very familiar looking man in a rumpled gray suit emerge through the doorway, and I stopped.

Now, this happened with lightning speed. He’s FAST. Plus, I was sufficiently thunderstruck that I wouldn’t have been able to say anything if my life depended on it, which should send everyone who’s ever known me into gales of uncontrollable laughter! He turned the corner, blessedly unaware that the red-haired woman in the cobalt blue Polartec jacket and jeans, still standing in the middle of the street only feet away from him with her mouth hanging open, has the Thing For Him That Will Not Die.

My new friend must have seen the (what I’m sure was) astonished look on my face and stopped as well; he watched PJF walk around the corner and down the street and said, “That’s him.”

“Yes, it is.”

We walked into the EL station, I bought a ticket, and we continued on our way.

When I arrived back at my hotel, the first thing I did was to call my girlfriends and giggle into the phone. It’s true. For ten minutes, I was 45 going on 14, and I’d just seen the boy I was crushing on…

-S