John McCain: No, You Can't

John McCain vs. John McCain

TODAY'S AD

TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME.

The new ad put out by John McCain really pissed me off. First of all, Bill Daley isn't a lobbyist. He's a former Commerce Secretary. McCain should remember that, since he voted for Daley's confirmation and praised his performance. And Emil Jones? Trust me, I worked for Emil Jones back in the day and, while I don't think he'd a candidate for sainthood, he isn't 1% as crooked or shady or evil as Grover Norquist or Carl Rove or Dick Cheney or Sarah Palin. I think McCain's douchebags wanted Jones' picture in the ad because Jones is black. (And not just mocha colored -- deepest, darkest Africa black.)

So I'm making my own ads.


I would like to point out that I have nothing against big gay men having big gay sex. I'm not too hot on them doing it in the bathroom. But what I don't like are a) hypocrites, and b) people who live in glass houses who think stones are off limits.

Now that that is out of the way, there are a couple of less upsetting topics:

MY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I know I'm a month late. Forgive me. But work sort of exploded in a way I didn't expect. It may be a little while longer, and I may end up doing it by e-mail instead of post, but I will do it, and you WILL know when I do! I think you're gonna likey!

KNITTING

Does anyone out there have their head around the Swallowtail shawl? I put it down for a couple of weeks (somewhere around 52) and I am feeling very uncertain about whether I have the right number of stitches. I'm knitting it out of laceweight silk, so I added repeats, and I have 175 stitches on the needles. How many stitches do I need in order to knit the border? Sorry to sound so pathetic, except that I am really pathetic.

KRISTY'S PUSHIN' YARN FOR CHARITY

While it is a given that regular readers here do not need to be encouraged to

• covet yarn,
• gamble irresponsibly,
• hoard yarn,
• support a good cause,
  
• NEED yarn,
  
• read a knitting blog, or
• want more yarn.

Well, Kristy has a way for you to do all of the above. But before you read her blog, know this: 100% of the funds Kristy raises goes to support the project run by my Beloved Myfanwe providing free civil legal assistance to people living with HIV or AIDS.

Now, go see Kristy and buy some raffel tickets. Or she'll sick her Wieners on you!

P.S. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share the link to Kristy's blog with your fiber friends!
P.P.S. I am completely covetous of the Intention yarns. I like making knitting a prayerful experience, and that just seems like such an incredible way to do it!
P.P.P.S. I love how Kristy decorated her wall! I'd love to have enough lace yarn to do that!

WORST MOTHER IN THE EFFING WORLD, EVER!

Sarah Palin knew that her 17-year-old, unmarried daughter was pregnant when she made the decision to run for Vice-President.

Think about that.

No matter what happened, everyone in the State of Alaska was going to know that the unmarried, 17-year-old daughter of the Governor had, despite Alaska's abstinence-only curriculum (supported by her mother) and her mother's self-righteousness, been spreading it around the Yukon.

BUT HER MOTHER DECIDED TO RUN FOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SO THAT EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD WOULD KNOW! So much for putting family above everything.

Apparently the McCain campaign knew about the pregnancy before offering Palin the VP slot. (Hard to believe.) It is also being reported by the Associated Press that they released the information on the unplanned pregnancy to dispel rumors that Sarah Palin's 4 month old son was really the illegitimate offspring of her 17-year old.

Sarah Palin sacrificed her daughter's dignity and privacy for her own ambition. She is THE WORST MOTHER IN THE EFFING WORLD, EVER.

John McCain's campaign put out a press release announcing the pregnancy, and in it said "Senator McCain's view is this is a private family matter." Well then why did they put out a press release?

It seems that there are several roads to stupid and the McCain campaign is determined to take all of them. I just wish they wouldn't take them all on one day. It's giving me a headache.

I've Been a Little Busy -- Boston Edition

We stayed at the Beacon Hill Holiday Inn at the Northern base of Beacon Hill. Perfectly acceptable. Great location. Although it did mean a lot of walking up Beacon Hill. (Myfanwe has not completely wrapped her mind around the hill concept until we got there.)

Our first visit to the Boston Common was awesome. It isn't a place that pictures can do justice. It is the oldest, and I believe the most incredible, public park in America.

Norbert, Myfanwe and I were particularly fond of the Frog Pond, as wading through it was cooling and a balm for weary feat. We walked a lot. A LOT. My feet still hurt.

It was Turkish American Day at the Boston Common.

And where there are Turks...

...there's Turkish Coffee.

We didn't understand the significance of the costumes, but these men really, really wanted to have their picture taken with Norbert, who was very kind to oblige.


We saw Senator John Kerry's house.

And the house where Louisa May Alcott died.


There were Lobster Rolls and Chow-dah.


An Unofficial Harvard Tour. (Highly recommended.)



(Note: DON'T rub John Harvard's foot for good luck. Apparently Harvard boys, when not attending meetings of their secret societies, like to get drunk and figure out what nastiness they can do with Harvard's feet, knowing that every day a new batch of people will come through and rub it. Upon since hearing this, I instantly became addicted to hand sanitizer.)


We went to Herrel's for Ice Cream!

This is malted vanilla with Heath bars smooshed in. Possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten.


This was the view of the Charles River from our hotel room.


We went to the Kennedy Library.



We went to the most unusual book store I've ever seen.


Boston's Chinatown, where we had some excellent Vietnamese. (Go figure.)



Everyone knows how much I love Laughing Buddhas.


We went here...



At my cousin Kevin's recommendation we stopped at Mike's Pastry in the North End.




Oh. My. Dog. Everything there was so good. Sinful. So sinful, we stopped in here:


We saw this:

And this:


We ate a Giacomo's -- possibly the hottest table in Boston. We lucked into it, really. If you look closely, you can see some of the 60 people lined up down the street waiting to get in.


We liked the name, so on our last day in Boston we ate lunch here.


We also a number of graveyards. I don't remember who was buried here, but it was someone dead.


I loved this statue of Benjamin Franklin at the old City Hall -- which is now a steakhouse.


The Irish Famine Memorial:



I believe this was the seat of the Colonial government.

Amazing that the lion and unicorn survive.



We got to go out on the water a bit. Just on the ferry to Charlestown. But it was free (we had Charlie Cards) and it was beautiful.




One day we did the Back Bay. This is the Boston Public Library.


The building is truly a work of art.


Shopping on Newberry Street was very pleasant. There was Condomworld...



... and Kitchen Arts.



So wherever we went, we were cookin'!

There is a monument in the Public Garden commemorating the discovery of ether as an anaesthetic.



I still think that is way cool.

We didn't see the signs that say not to feed the ducks until after we had fed the ducks. They ate right out of our hands.


Then we took a swan boat for another water excursion.


It was a glorious day.


That evening we were taken to dinner by an old friend of Myfanwe's from childhood. We dined at a waterfront restaurant.



Now, to close, I offer you a glimpse of the fountain in the courtyard of the Boston Public Library. Absolutely top drawer.




Now I have to go to bed. I start back to work in the morning. And I'm still a little tired!