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Heather Nagel-Doughtie

Director, Skirt.com

Mom of two year old "Little B" and leader of the skirt.com pack keeps me out of trouble and teetering on the edge of sanity. It's a crazy but great ride....

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Unplugging for the Weekend - NOT!

I was trying to avoid the TV, trying to get out of the house and enjoy the weather and wouldn’t know you know, my brother called me and then sent me the link to this weekend’s op ed page of The New York Times.  He knows exactly how to press my liberal buttons.

Three women and their three voices got me fired up agai­n.

The fabulous Maureen Dowd:

A Makeover With an Ugly Gloss

“McCain advisers have been scathing about the “sexism” of critics who dismiss Sarah Palin as Caribou Barbie.

How odd then, to learn that McCain advisers have been treating their own vice presidential candidate like Valentino Barbie, dressing her up in fancy clothes and endlessly playing with her hair.”

Essentially, Maureen goes on to discuss how the McCains aren’t exactly what you would call “Joe the plumbers” seeing as they have 13 cars, eight homes, a private jet, etc...  Now with the Palin $150,000 wardrobe malfunction, it seems the Republicans are back pedaling faster that Janet Jackson.

The hilarious Gail Collins:

Blue State Blues

“Let’s be realistic. There are lots of calls for reform, but we have a country in economic meltdown. The globe is warming, the Middle East is in chaos and “Mad Men” keeps teetering on the brink of cancellation. We’re not going to get around to repairing the Electoral College any time in the near future.

I have given this a lot of thought, and I think our best immediate course of action is to whine a lot.

I want attention! I want to get Republican robo-calls during the dinner hour, telling me that Barack Obama is a terrorist. I want to have college students from other states coming to my door with helpful leaflets. I want volunteers offering to drive me to the polls. Or sitting at my feet, admiring the way I fill out my absentee ballot. I want to hear political ads every time I turn on the television. I want the love!”

Don’t even joke about Mad Men canceling!  I want the love too.  I hate the robo-calls, but at least I can press delete. I must be on some special list since I always get some college age Republican punk that wants to pick a fight with me. Why?  It’s not like he’s going to change my mind or my vote.  Move on Sparky!  It’s like this little piss-ant that I know who is constantly wanting to debate political agendas and whether women really should earn equal pay since they are given leave to have children.  Seriously.  I really want a delete button for him.  delete, delete, delete.

But I digress -- last but not least, the insightful Judith Warner

Nor Ordinary Woman

“In 1977, Bella Abzug, the former congresswoman and outspoken feminist, said, “Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.”

In other words: women will truly have arrived when the most mediocre among us will be able to do just as well as the most mediocre of men.”

She goes on to day that it seems like “real America” wants “something more than  wife, mother or girlfriend in a female political leader. Maybe we’ve come a long way after all.” 

Maybe.  I hope so. But I fear the Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s of the world will untie..I mean unite.  The fact is, while I have intelligent conversations that give me hope that logic will prevail, I realize that it is because I’ve chosen to have conversations with intelligent life forms. 

Timothy Eagan’s column nailed it on the head when it comes to my frustration with both McCain and Palin right now. 

“Whether Americans are real or fake, they can see through Palin, a woman who couldn’t correctly answer a third grader a few days ago when asked to explain the duties of vice president. Somewhere, between the shuffling to costume and accessorize Palin with a $150,000 wardrobe, her handlers never handed her a copy of the Constitution.”

In case she needs a copy (and I would suggest she might want to share it with John too) here’s a link...

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html

In case there is need of the cliff notes version...lemme help,

“The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”

“If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President.”

Even when I step out of my own opinions try and understand their agenda it’s fruitless since it’s like stepping into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

Willy Wonka­: Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.
Mrs. Teevee: That's 105 percent.”

Yup, I’m going to go outside now and see if I can lose my cell signal!