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For today's installment of Drawing Obama, we'll start with a terrific companion piece to Dahlia's son's "Dead John McCain." Deanna Newsom swears that she "did not indoctrinate" her 5-year-old son, Jonas. Still, he "came home from kindergarten one day with 'John McCain Falls into a Black Hole.' It was accompanied by another one entitled 'John McCain with Mold Growing on his Face.'"
Breaking into the double-digits for our artists, here's a drawing by 6th-grader Amber Adams-Holecek, submitted by her art teacher, Lindsay Davis. The assignment was to "make a tribute drawing to Shepard Fairey's famous red, white and blue print."
Jonah Goldman got into the game of drawing Obama early—and it paid off. A week before Obama announced his candidacy for president, then 13-year-old Jonah by chance shared a flight to Chicago with the then-Senator, and got him to sign the portrait below.
Keep sending us Obama drawings from the kids in your life.
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This transcript of an interview with Keith Lewis, the co-director of the Miss California Pageant, must be among the strangest artifacts ever produced by the creepily enthusiastic industry that is the American pageant circuit. (Miss California, you'll recall, is the contestant who believes "the way she was raised" to be sufficient justification for her policy preferences.) In the course of explaining that yes, his organization did pay for Carrie Prejean's boob job, Lewis argues that the organization did not "encourage" her to surgically restructure her chest area (but did bankroll it!), that the procedure was paid for simply so Miss California would have a positive self-image (though "of course" size matters in the competition), and that he totally agrees it's time to "look at the way we perceive real women." From an appearance with Maggie Rodriguez of the The Early Show:
LEWIS: ... it's a personal choice. Well, I think that it's about how a woman feels about herself. In terms of, for me, it's not a personal choice that I would recommend. But at the same time, I know so many women that have done the procedure and feel better about themselves and the way they present themselves.
And I think that's the question is, whether or not, when you're looking at that procedure as an option, am I going to feel better about myself? It's not about one night. It isn't about one night of competition. And doing a procedure like that for one night of competition would be foolish...
RODRIGUEZ: ... if you have a flat chest, what are you supposed to do?
LEWIS: You use chicken cutlets. You use tape. You use anything that you can to enhance the line. There's lots of tricks of the trade. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to go to that next level.
RODRIGUEZ: I wonder if you should change the rules and maybe not judge it so much on proportion.
I find both sides of this exchange deeply bizarre, perhaps because I lack the imaginative capacity to envision a swimsuit competition not premised on a certain conception of the female body. What are they going evaluate? Perkiness? Gait? The actual swimsuit?
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Bonnie, FAB idea about Justice Mikulski! I hope you have POTUS's ear on this. Or at least FLOTUS?
In unrelated news, this week the Senates of both New Hampshire and Maine passed bills to gender-neutralize their states' marriage laws. NH's Senate bill now has to be reconciled with its House bill (also passed); no one's sure whether the governor will sign, veto, or leave it alone to become law. Maine's hasn't gone to the House yet; that state also has a nastier referendum process, which could make it harder to keep a marriage law even if passed.
Why is the Granite State getting behind same-sex marriage? Well, there are a lot of possible reasons. It's watched its neighbors (Vermont, Canada, Massachusetts, and a little farther to the south, Connecticut) open marriage to same-sex couples, with yawn-worthy results: no locusts, plagues, or hurricanes. New England LGBT advocacy groups, especially GLAD, have been extremely savvy about working toward equality throughout the region, with a slogan of "6 x 12": equal marriage in all six New England states by 2012, a goal that's looking quite realistic. And, of course, the air is just a little clearer up here than in the more humid parts of the country. (Okay, maybe that was unnecessary...).
Renee Loth, editorial page editor at the Boston Globe, has yet another idea: It's because of women. New Hampshire's legislature is now majority female. And women are more socially liberal on family-related issues in general—including such issues as early childhood education and gay rights. You go, girls!
Yet another reason for at least two female Supremes? I guess this post is related to the potential nomination of Justice Mikulski after all.
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I agree with Dahlia and E.J. on the importance of another female justice, so thanks to Emily for that list of competent women. I know this is a little out there and, since she is not a lawyer, I doubt she is on anybody's short list (except perhaps in regard to her diminutive height—under 5 feet), but how about Barbara Mikulski for the Supremes? The self-appointed "ambassador to the United States from the United States" is unfailingly liberal, deeply knowledgeable and very accustomed to being outnumbered by males. The Maryland senator may lack "judicial temperament" but, as the longest serving woman in the body, she knows the Hill better than any potential nominee.
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Emily, you aren't convinced that the next USSC justice has to be a woman? I'm startled. If there were eight women and only one man in the Article III branch of government, you can be sure there would be outrage among the minority sex. (Men are a slight minority in the world, since females make up 51 percent of the planet, more or less, except maybe in China.) Women and men have different enough experiences in the world that I find it shocking that we aren't equally represented in all branches. (Okay, maybe that would be hard in the presidency, unless it went back and forth from one to the other.) The U.S. ranks 71st on a list of percentage of women in the lower house of the world's national legislatures, well below such feminist countries as Suriname, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Namibia, and Honduras. The Nordic countries, with the highest percentage of women in legislatures, also have some of the most family-friendly laws in the world—which is hardly a coincidence. Surely an array of female judges with different political perspectives would help our top court better reflect our national realities? Justice isn't blind, you know.
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Keep your eyes open. That sweet little grandma next door: possible heroin dealer. The AP reports that Pennsylvania's Monroe County District Attorney, David Christine, expressed shock that two innocent-looking sisters, age 65 and 70, were raking in $10,000 a week as heroin dealers. You have to wonder why the neighbors never thought it strange that grandma was being visited by a steady stream of addicts...
...but then, it turns out not all heroin addicts look the part. I should know, since you can actually watch my acting debut on YouTube (starting 2 minutes in to the clip—and ignore the weird Chinese subtitles) where I reenact the real story of 16-year-old girl next door, Jenna, who, unbeknownst to her parents, becomes addicted to her heroin and ends up overdosing in her bedroom. Moral of the story: Keep an eye on your kids—and grandma too.
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There's a Q&A with Quentin Tarantino in this weekend's New York Times Style Magazine. (It's online here.) The occasion is the upcoming debut screening of Tarantino's latest movie, "Inglourious Basterds," a war-'n'-gore flick starring Diane Kruger and Brad Pitt in which a band of Jewish American soldiers attempt to kill a hell of a lot of Nazis. (I read the script before it was sold, and it is bloody.) "This was the hardest movie I've ever made," Tarantino admits, before not-so-humbly deeming it a "masterpiece." Interestingly, the photo accompanying the interview features Quentin in a black suit and black patent leather high-heels. In one hand, he holds his drink. In the other hand, he holds a bra. Not sure what's going on there, but while some may say he's a hack, few can ever say he's boring.
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The spectacle of Senator Arlen Specter surely had nothing to do with Justice David Souter's timing—if indeed reports of his retirement plans are true. But it's a pointed, and also rather poignant, contrast. The almost-80-year-old guy who's got every reason to hang it up just can't let go—and hogs the spotlight by grabbing the chance to shift the balance in the Senate. I'm with you, June and Emily, in thinking the time had perhaps come for the gentleman from Pennsylvania to go potter in the garden. Meanwhile, the justice who hasn't yet hit 70 (at 69, Souter's the average age of those now on the bench) reportedly can't wait to head for the hills—and he is giving up a historic role. Maybe the two of them should have had lunch and swapped career advice, though as Souter chomped his apple I somehow doubt he would have changed his independent mind (assuming it is now made up). That's one of the many reasons he will be missed.
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Emily, I suspect that the rumors are true and that most of the serious contenders for David Souter’s seat are women. I was less sure that was necessary last week before the strip search case. Now I think its pretty much imperative.
There are already a lot of appreciations of Justice Souter up this morning, many focusing on the eccentricities of the man himself (he eats an entire apple, seeds and all, and cup of yogurt for lunch every day. He had never heard of Diet Coke before coming to Washington), and many more focused on his unexpected shift from what John Sununu assured President Bush would be a "home run for conservatism” to a liberal stalwart. When Souter was sitting through his confirmation hearings, NOW was distributing leaflets that read, “Stop Souter or women will die.” But as Jeff Toobin reports in his book The Nine, that same Justice Souter was the fulcrum that eventually held the court together in the landmark Casey abortion case in 1992. And also according to Toobin, for a while after Bush v Gore, Souter would just think about the decision and weep.
But Souter has been a lot more than just a massive disappointment to the right. Watching him at oral argument—as recently as Wednesday in the Voting Rights Act case—you just didn’t see the bookish, reclusive man from another century. You saw an incredibly passionate and eloquent spokesman for equality and racial justice, often willing to dominate an argument and wear his heart on his sleeve in ways his colleagues would not. The public has often underestimated Souter because he shuns the spotlight and writes, for the most part, in a pretty bookish, temperate way. We also tend to glide right past him because given any chance to do so, he will run himself down as well. But if you’ve been watching him for the past few years, you know that more often than not the passionate, fiery and even outraged voice from the liberal half of the bench has been Souter’s. If it’s indeed true that he is leaving, the left of the court won’t just be losing a bright light, but some much needed heat as well.
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Does Obama
have to pick a woman to succeed Justice David Souter, who is reportedly
retiring? I'm not convinced—if he picked a great black male judge, who
would complain? But that's the conventional wisdom. And it sure would
be nice if Ruth Bader Ginsburg weren't all by her lonesome up there. So
below, a list of ten plausible women for Supreme Court justice. Also, a
word about process. Inside the White House, Greg Craig and Dan Meltzer
will be at the center. But don't forget Joe Biden. As chair of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, he presided over more nominations than
anyone else around (six, I think). His chief of staff, Ron Klain, also
has all kinds of experience with nominees, in the White House, the
Judiciary Committee, and the Justice Department. And as Rick Hasen
points out, the Judiciary Committee will get a new ranking minority
leader with Sen. Arlen Specter switching parties—a bit of a wild card.
Knowing the Hill always matters.
First cut at a list:
Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Diane Wood, Seventh Circuit
Margaret McKeown, Ninth Circuit
Elena Kagan, Solicitor General
Martha Minow, Harvard law professor
Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security
Jennifer Granholm, governor of Michigan
Kimba Wood, U.S. District CourtN Southern District of New York
Joyce Kennard, California Supreme Court
Kathleen Sullivan, Dean of Stanford Law School
Pamela Karlan, Stanford law professor.
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Wash your hands. Fill up your tires. Don't stuff money in your mattress. "If you are considering buying a car," Obama said yesterday, "I hope it will be an American car."
As our national crises mutates and fills different corners of American life, Obama increasingly sounds like dad yelling down the driveway as his kid is driving away for college. "He is, I hate to say this, the father of the country," says Irwin Stelzer, director of the Center for Economic Policy Studies at the Hudson Institute.
Republicans, meanwhile, are increasingly filled with horror (or partisan glee) at how perfectly he is embodying their nightmare of Big Government. So, to continue the dad analogy, that would make them...the Deadbeat Uncle? The College-Bound Kid in the Car, rolling his eyes?
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It's nearing prom season, which means...we need the recession angle. From today's New York Times, we have "A Prom With All the Glitz, But Every Dollar Squeezed"—and thus another installment in our occasional series on the dubious science of how women spend in hard times, and what supposedly happens to hemlines.
The prom gown business is doing so well in the recession that it's
expected to outperform last year. Michael Kasher, owner of the Los
Angeles-based gown line La Femme Fashion—whose La Femme gowns cost
about $350 and whose Gigi gowns cost about $225—called the Northeast
his "strongest territory," with sales in New York growing by "double
digits" in the last year.
The parents of Lindsay Rescott are feeling the pinch this year, the story reports, but they don't plan to deny their daughter her beaded, zebra-print gown, or her special side ponytail. I say, if you can still afford to outsource a side ponytail, things can't be that bad.Lipstick Level: 10