Golden Globes

The Golden Globes winners were announced last night, in what I am told was a boring press conference (I didn’t watch, but my sister did, and gave me the blow by blow on the phone).

Basket of Kisses was right on top of it, and I’m feeling really good about it. What’s Basket of Kisses, you ask? That’s the Internet’s only unofficial Mad Men blog. co-authored by Roberta and me. Mad Men won twice last night; best dramatic series, and best actor in a dramatic series (John Hamm), beating out impressive competition.

Eighty percent of EOnline’s respondents have never seen Mad Men. Time to change all that. The first season will be re-run Monday mornings/Sunday nights at midnight (y’know, the Monday that starts after the 11pm Sunday show ends), beginning January 20 on AMC. Watch it, and then visit Basket of Kisses for lively discussion.

Sunday Meditation: Clearing a Block

There’s something that I’ve wanted in my life for quite a while and haven’t gotten. I’ve taken both practical and magical steps for it, and yet I’ve had no results. In fact, I’ve had tantalizing almost-results, and I’ve done things that seemed guaranteed to succeed, so at this point, I’m sure there’s some kind of psychic block, although I don’t know what it is.

This is something that happens to a lot of people. There’s something that you want, something real-world and attainable; a job, a house, a relationship, a baby, that somehow you haven’t been able to get. Or there’s something you don’t want, some persistent pattern, that you haven’t been able to get rid of. If you know it’s something possible, and you’ve taken steps, and you’ve reached out for help with those steps, and you’re still not there, then it might be a psychic block. This meditation is designed to help clear such a block.

Ground and center.

You are in a place outdoors, and you are comfortable and at ease. You are going to go on a journey. Perhaps you can begin from the beautiful area behind your meditation cottage, and choose a path leading from there.

Begin to walk on the path. The way is pleasant and relaxed. Your feet naturally find the easiest steps on the road. The air is soft around you.

Gradually the way becomes difficult. From time to time, you must watch your footing, and you begin to notice a feeling of effort and strain in your body, but it’s fine, it’s within your capabilities. It’s like light exercise, and you are happy to continue.

Notice what the path looks like. Observe its colors and shapes. Listen for sounds. What is this path like?

Now you come to a barrier in your path. Stop and observe this barrier. What is it made of? How big is it? What does it feel like to be blocked in this way? Before trying to change anything about this barrier, simply observe it, and meditate on the experience of encountering it.

Now start removing the barrier. You can use any means you like, and you can get help in any way you choose. You are in your own meditation space, and so you do not have to conform to any normal rules. Perhaps the barrier crumbles easily, perhaps it is stubborn and difficult to remove. Continue the process of removal.

With the barrier removed, you can get to the other side. What is it like there? Enjoy your time on the other side before returning home.

Some people may find that they cannot remove the barrier. That’s okay. Your work was effective and helpful, and there’s more work to do. You can repeat this meditation to finish the work another time. Feel good about the progress you made.

You should make time to return to this path and this journey another time, to walk past the remnants of the barrier and enjoy the path you’ve cleared.

Actual electoral numbers

h/t to Bitch, PhD, here’s how it boils down.

Electoral reality vs. media spin

Very few people will tell you this, but in terms of the actual results of the New Hampshire primary, Clinton and Obama tied.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama each won nine delegates in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary, followed by former Sen. John Edwards with 4 delegates, an AP analysis of primary results shows. All 22 of New Hampshire’s delegates to the national convention this summer have been allocated.

This just kills me, because the entire conversation about New Hampshire for weeks has been predicated on the assumption that there are winners and losers, whereas in fact delegates are assigned proportionately (so that the losers are everyone other than the top three in each party, who took home no delegates at all).

This is a perfect, and maddening, example of how the media urge to create a horserace story actually ends up lying to us about the real process of our democracy.

Who really won the NH primary?

All of the news reports will tell you that Clinton and McCain won, or that Clinton and Obama were virtually tied, with Clinton winning narrowly, and McCain won on the Republican side. But let’s look at this a different way—by actual number of votes.

Hillary Rodham Clinton 111,899
Barack Obama 104,148

John McCain 87,991
Mitt Romney 74,871

John Edwards 48,434
Mike Huckabee 26,613
Rudolph W. Giuliani 20,304
Ron Paul 18,159

Bill Richardson 13,164
Others (R) 5,485
Dennis J. Kucinich 3,877
Others (D) 3,661

Fred D. Thompson 2,860
Duncan Hunter 1,218

Joseph R. Biden Jr. 626
Mike Gravel 397
Christopher J. Dodd 202

Tom Tancredo 66

So, both Clinton and Obama handily beat McCain. And hello, 66 people who voted for Tancredo? He dropped out. Kthxbai.

Now, I added up the figures, and I have
Total Democratic votes: 286,408
Total Republican votes: 237,567
Total voter turnout: 532,975

Of these voters, approximately 150,000 were registered Independents, but I can’t figure out how many Independents voted each way because so far this morning, I haven’t been able to find the statistics on how many were registered Democratic or Republican. If anyone has that, I’ll update the post.

Daniel: World’s Stupidest Spammer

I get a lot of comment spam exactly like this:

Daniel [email address] [spammy website] [IP address]

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article [blog post title], but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

Daniel doesn’t understand anything. He doesn’t understand Paganism, politics, cats, or movie reviews. But he’s always willing to check more resources. Several times a day, sometimes.

Daniel, read a fucking book and get back to me, okay?

Tuesday Trivia Solutions

Y’all know your political movies!

» Read more..

It’s like some kind of tic

Giuliani has moved beyond being the “Mayor of 9/11” and of playing the 9/11 card tastelessly and often. He now simply says it over and over. I think he has 9/11 topping on his breakfast cereal.

Mentioning it—virtually randomly—in response to Hillary’s “emotionalism” today, and last week in response to his Iowa caucus loss; I mean, what is that except some kind of mental deficit?

Jesus H. Christ.

Tuesday Trivia: Political Movies

Well, y’know, New Hampshire Primaries. We have a theme going.

1. A prop campaign button from this film is on display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History in Washington. It is on display with several authentic campaign buttons.
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).

2. “Nice thing about you, Joe, is that you can sound like a liberal, but at heart you’re an American.”
Solved by Melville (comment #10) and Barbs (comment #11).

3. “There are two kinds of people in this world: Those that enter a room and turn the television set on, and those that enter a room and turn the television set off.”
Solved by Hazel (comment #7).

4. Because the Boy Scouts of America objected to the politics of this film, the fictitious “Boy Rangers” were used.
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).

5. This film about the rise and fall of a South American political figure features a scene in which a group of soldiers shower with their underwear on.
Solved by Melville (comment #6).

6. “You’re right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year.”
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).

7. John Wayne was offered the lead in this film, but refused it in a heated letter to his agent, saying it “smears the machinery of government for no purpose of humor or enlightenment.”
Solved by Melville (comment #8).

Thoughts on the primaries

It’s galling to me that in a Democratic field that has, for the first time, a woman and an African-American and a Latino, the candidate with whom I most align on the issues is a white Southern male. But there you are.

Hillary Clinton is not my candidate, but if she wins the election, I think she’ll be a good president. Not ideal, but good. I was moved by the passion and commitment evidenced in her “display of emotion,” and being a girly girl, I’m not afraid of emotion, nor do I think that it’s inconsistent with toughness or clarity of mind.

John Edwards is my candidate, but the sexism he displayed when asked to respond to Hillary’s “emotionalism” is appalling.

I enjoy watching Keith Olberman very much, but I’m stunned at how visciously he criticized Hillary last night for daring to compare herself positively to Obama. An election is a competition, in which one person wins and others lose, is she really expected not to think she’s the best candidate for the job? Is she expected to campaign for Obama or what?

One final thing: Obama is not my candidate. Nonetheless, the little dance he did on Oprah kinda turned me on. Mea culpa.