. . . gets here in two hours. It's 4:30 in the morning, Los Angeles time. Attila the Hub and I are flying to Chicago for my niece's graduation on Sunday, and we'll be in the Upper Midwest for six days, catching up with family (and, in my case, touching base with one client).

This happened last time we both flew out to Chi-town together, back in 1998. I was up all night and damned bitchy the next morning as my husband dealt with the car-rental people.

I'd like to think I've grown so much in the past several years that I'll get through the next 24 hours without snapping at anyone. But let's just say I'll be putting the old antidepressants to the test soon.

Posting from me will be light to nonexistent; Desert Cat, however, will be checking in over the next week, performing guest-blogging duties and sharing his unique perspective. Be really polite to him; no trolling for the next week.

I'll be 43 in less than a month; I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for all-nighters.

Sweet dreams, boys and girls.

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David Sedaris, in the midst of a very funny New Yorker story, discusses how he handles fighting with his boyfriend:

We’ll be arguing, and I’ll stop in mid-sentence and ask if we can just start over. “I’ll go outside and when I come back in we’ll just pretend this never happened, O.K.?”

If the fight is huge, he’ll wait until I’m in the hall, then bolt the door behind me, but if it’s minor he’ll go along, and I’ll reënter the apartment saying, “What are you doing home?” Or “Gee, it smells good in here. What’s cooking?”—an easy question, as he’s always got something on the stove.

For a while, it feels goofy, but eventually the self-consciousness wears off, and we ease into the roles of two decent people, trapped in a rather dull play. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“You can set the table if you want.”

“All-righty then.”

I donÂ’t know how many times IÂ’ve set the table in the middle of the afternoon, long before we sit down to eat. But the play would be all the duller without action, and I donÂ’t want to do anything really hard, like paint a room. IÂ’m just so grateful that he goes along with it. Other peopleÂ’s lives can be full of screaming and flying plates, but I prefer that my own remains as civil as possible, even if it means faking it every once in a while.

Via Beautiful Atrocities.

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The blogger currently known as "Mayor Sam" has some advice for Los Angeles GOP (and, yes—he's talking to both of you):

We've recounted several times that the Republican party under control of Linda Boyd here in LA has got to make some radical changes if we ever want to elect any GOP candidates in LA.

Its bad enough that Linda and her husband Doug treat the party as their personal little social club and do stupid shit like endorse James Kenneth Hahn for Mayor, while never supporting actual Republicans like Walter Moore or going a step further and trying to recruit someone who could win like Keith Richman to run.

One of the problems the Republicans have is their constant rebuffing of gay Republicans. Now Mayor Sam is not gay, but to me a Republican is a Republican. The GOP in LA could make HUGE strides in local races if they could begin to include gays in the mix. Many gays are high income indiviuals with views that reflect a world with limited government and a strong defense. But for now many gays toss that aside because stormtrooper Republicans have hang-ups about buggery. Hey, no one is having sex in the voting booth, so get a grip. Even though they want lower taxes and less government, most gays still vote Democratic.

I honestly think that purging the homophobes from the party would open things up quite a bit. (And, no: homophobe doesn't mean someone who thinks that civil unions for gays is a reasonable compromise, or someone who feels gay marriage can wait a few more years until everyone's used to the idea.)

Posted by: Attila at 10:40 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Purge the Party? DA! No, really? You can't be thinking that. There would go half the party.

Posted by: Desert Cat at June 10, 2005 10:32 PM (xdX36)

2 All right, all right: bad choice of words. Hasty, etc. Ill-thought out. Hyperbolic. (And I'll bet you were being ironic anyway, but others wouldn't be, so I'll just answer the surface meaning here, since it's bound to be on people's minds.) I do think a position is possible that respects Christian tradition and the fundamental right of the individual to be left alone and make his/her own domestic arrangements. And therefore I think that a lot of people—the hard-core "faggot haters"—could take a hike and I wouldn't cry at all. Not at all. And I honestly believe those haters are a much tinier slice of the GOP than any of my Democrat friends believe.

Posted by: Attila Girl at June 11, 2005 12:45 AM (8e5bN)

3 GOP never would have gone near a "ban gay marriage" amendment if studies hadn't shown that would be the goose that laid the golden eggs in the politics of fly-over country. Homophobia and theocracy aren't front and center in the minds of Republican leadership, but that is indeed the electoral powerhouse of how they get to go into Washington with Majority Leaders rather than Minority Whips. If they turned away from the tent-meeting bible-thumping types, they might as well just adopt the Libertarian Party platform and edit a few of the platform planks on foreign policy. They'd pick me up as a loyal member.

Posted by: Ciggy at June 11, 2005 07:58 AM (F0SRJ)

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I'm now past the 100,000-hit mark. Very small change compared with some others, but satisfying nonetheless. (For instance, James Joyner took three months rather than two years to reach the same watermark. But I'm a boutique blog, and I'm happy.)

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1 Congratulations! I like the term botique blog... I think if you're a botique blog, then I am probaly a kiosk blog.

Posted by: jody at June 11, 2005 01:05 PM (6k5Dz)

2 And I am that staple of storytelling: "The Hidden Prince". See, the Once and Future King

Posted by: Mr.Kurtz at June 15, 2005 10:56 PM (wPte4)

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I had meant to link this post last week: Stacy discusses the extreme misogyny in much of Islamic culture (while showing off her rather impressive arms).

I would assert that there are strains of Islam that are not any more oppressive to women than, say, Orthodox Judaism (in fact, the restrictions are similar: covering the head and so forth). But certainly our enemies, the Islamo-fascists or Islamists (versus ordinary Muslims), view women as slaves. A woman in my country in the nineteenth century was far better off than most women in many Muslim countries.

I don't happen to be against Islam, but I am dead-set against Islamo-fascism, and I don't care for those who believe slavery is A-OK as long as it's "part of your culture."

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. . . in Oldtown Pasadena. I'm having waffles, but everyone else—my husband, my father, and my father's wife—has decided it's lunchtime, even though it's only 1:00 p.m. They're eating seafood or something yucky like that.

Dad ordered red wine like he always does no matter what he's eating. And when it came he complained that the glass wasn't full enough. I instantly mutated into a fourteen-year-old and almost died of embarrassment, right then and there. They poured some more wine into his glass.

Somehow the 2008 elections came up, though my husband and I try to avoid talking about politics with . . . almost anyone in L.A. who doesn't belong to the Bear Flag League.

"It's almost certain that Hillary will run," I point out. My father's eyes light up, and he smiles and sort of coos, even though he hasn't had that much wine. "She has such a nice . . . smile," he tells us.

"And she may be running against Condi Rice," I add. Dad's eyes get big once more and he remarks, "oh, she's so . . . nice, too. Though I could never vote for a woman who was once a Goldwater Girl."

If people knew what Goldwater was about they would have been down on their knees begging for him.

I want to remark that the next presidential election is not Dad's own personal swimsuit competition, but, you know—he's 68 years old. And if I had said something he would have almost died of embarrassment, right then and there.

So I remained silent. Thank you, Mr. Prozac.

Posted by: Attila at 12:36 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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. . . on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." 'Bout time.

(Via Beautiful Atrocities.)

Posted by: Attila at 12:20 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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. . . didn't support the Golden State's "medical marijuana" laws, but it doesn't approve of the Raich decision, either.

Neither do I, and I'm wondering what part of "enumerated powers" the Supreme Court doesn't understand.

(Insty.)

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The FBI may have just broken up a terrorist cell in Lodi, California. Yes: that Lodi. Yipes. Or, rather: Oh, Lord.

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. . . has an interesting discussion going on in her comments section over here. I'm only a quarter of the way into it, since it got Instalanched and is very long. But it's fascinating.

Fighting poverty nation by nation is perhaps the hardest job in the world today. A while back I had an interesting debate with Laura, of the ever-excellent Apartment 11D, on whether or not "unregulated capitalism" was good for the third world. My answer is that when we look at the third world, our heart cries out, as it should, but that doesn't mean that those in the third world are victims of anything but nature. The appalling poverty of Sri Lanka or Mozambique is not some bizarre aberration that can be tracked to a cause we can cure. We are the aberration; Sri Lanka and Mozambique are the normal state of human history.

Via Insty.

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Start with Beth, whose blog got hijacked by a white-trash abortion activist. Then follow the links!

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Miller's Time has an excellent roundup of the Bear Flag League blogs.

For those who don't know, the BFL is a coalition of Golden State bloggers, and it's grown from around 20 members (when I joined) to around 100. We're going to be hosting a political blogging event in July, so stay tuned for that. (Credit for organizing this event—and the League itself, for the most part—must go to Justene of CalBlog. She's a whip-smart lawyer and dedicated mom, as well as being a neighbor of mine in my little town near L.A.)

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Rick at Right Wing Nuthouse has some misapprehensions about female warriors:

“Who guards the louvetrain? The direct approach to Politburo?

Avtari blanched when he glanced down at the map. “Attila.” he whispered.

Superhawk pondered that bit of news for a moment. The former barbarian queen and her horde of Amazonian warriors were a formidable opponent. But ever since her marriage to the son of King Rusty of Jawa Land the Amazonians had forsworn war and taken up farming. Superhawk also remembered AttilaÂ’s tender caresses, the warmth of her kisses, the softeness of herÂ…

The Barbarian King sighed. It woudnÂ’t have worked. Both of them wanted to lead. Neither could yeild. Their parting was for the best. Perhaps he could buy her off with chocolates? It had worked in the past. Or some shiny trinket? ThatÂ’s it!

“Avtari, send a rider and have him fetch the Jewel of Mathwrate. Instruct him to present it to Queen Attila with my compliments and these words; ‘You are my one. I am yours. When next Siddira opens her arms, I will be with you again.”

“But M’Lord, the moon will be full in less than a fortnight. How can…” Superhawk cut him off.

“Leave that to me. Unless I am mistaken, the Queen will take our bribe and slip quietly away. And without her, the Amazonians will not fight.”

Ah, but long-ago peacetime pleasures are lost in the crush of war, and my husband won't let me accept trinkets these days, unless they're from him. So the Amazonians fight. Which is bad news for the wingnuts, since most of my Amazonians are about twice my own height, and they all carry M16 A-2s.

And the Commissar admits that we might have a problem on our hands.

But remember, Kids: sometimes war is the answer.

Posted by: Attila at 09:26 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1

Posted by: Attila Girl at June 07, 2005 09:50 AM (8e5bN)

2 Sigh. M16A2 is a weapon with a birthdefect. A .22 long rifle on steroids. Friends don't let friends carry poodle shooters.

Posted by: jim b at June 07, 2005 01:11 PM (jCKCK)

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The Ladies of the Cotillion are hosting their usual Tuesday morning party, and everyone's invited to read the linked posts:

This week, your hostesses are Merri Musings, American Princess, and American Housewife.

And, of course, the Cotillion has its own site, here.

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Although I never thought I'd see a situation in which O'Conner would get an issue right, and Scalia would get it wrong. What is that man smoking?

Scalia is a piggy cow, I tell you: a piggy piggy piggy cow.

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. . . is running a lot. So he's dutifully cross-training, and that means he's at the gym several times a week. One time he was chatting with another guy who wanted to know what vitamins he took.

"I'm not sure," he told the guy. "Every day my wife gives me several pills. I just take them, and try to stay on her good side."

I try to reassure him that I probably won't administer any poison that way: "don't worry until you see me wearing gloves when I hand you your vitamins."

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Eric remembers.

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A few of us just got featured on CNN's "Inside the Blogs." This particular segment focused on bloggers' reactions to the Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana. Included were Pennywit, ScotusBlog, and—me.

Yipes. But that was fun; I haven't been on CNN in 12 years. (I appeared in a small segment for them in 1994 as a feminist—and female—supporter of the Second Amendment.)

Posted by: Attila at 01:43 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 congratulations!

Posted by: David Foster at June 06, 2005 03:58 PM (7TmYw)

2 I would really like for you to look at my site and tell me what you think. Just click on my name.

Posted by: American at June 07, 2005 08:11 AM (xb27s)

3 You lost me with 1) your implication that the 60-senator supermajority in the Senate is written into the U.S. Constitution, and 2) your statement that President Bush "stole" the election in 2000. But thanks for the tip. Feel free to e-mail me if you want to call my attention to a particular post.

Posted by: Attila Girl at June 07, 2005 08:57 AM (8e5bN)

4 Congrats, as well. However, I cannot seem to find it on CNN's site, would love to read it. Would thou havest a link?

Posted by: William Teach at June 07, 2005 04:48 PM (HxpPK)

5 BTW, that probably came out rude, though not intended that way.

Posted by: William Teach at June 07, 2005 06:50 PM (HxpPK)

6 It didn't come out rude, but I haven't found a link to anything online. There are at least two of those "Inside the Blogs" segments for each edition of Inside Politics, which presumably airs at least once a day--so they just may not keep up with it online. If you want to see what the format looks like, some of them are at Trey Jackson's video blog.

Posted by: Attila Girl at June 07, 2005 07:10 PM (8e5bN)

7 Oh, it's CNN live. Quite frankly, I've almost forgotten that CNN has a tv station, been so long since I watched it

Posted by: William Teach at June 08, 2005 05:02 AM (HxpPK)

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The Commissar has a new map. This one's devoted to those (like me) who didn't feel that the infamous Senate Compromise on Judicial Nominees was likely to end all life in the universe. (At least, not anytime soon.)

The names are lovely and charming, as usual. And it's great fun to guess which blogs they represent.

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For those who need background, here's the previous Althouse summary of the issues. Apparently she plans on reviewing the decision today, and posting a new analysis.

I'm not a lawyer, and I simply don't agree that growing pot for use at home is "commerce." And I think this whole affair is an egregious intrusion into state matters by the Feds.

But, you know: that's me. Just a chick with an opinion. We'll see what Ann has to say.

UPDATE: Ann's got a couple of entries up on the subject; hit her main page, and keep scrolling.

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