I never cross-post, but once I saw Monte's, I couldn't resist...

I had friends complain that Barack Obama's TV ad Wednesday night was "dull," but I thought it worked. Maybe that's because I spent the middle of the day getting ready for MSNBC's "Hardball," where I got to hear disgraced GOP… Read full post »

My mother died at 45. So I never had a hard time convincing myself that these last few years have been a gift – watching my daughter graduate from high school, moving her into her college dorm; having fantastic dinner dates when I'm in New York now (that's where we… Read full post »

"My fellow Americans, the choice of a running mate is a presidential candidate's first big decision. And with all due respect (ahem) to my Christian right allies, it's got to be my choice, made in the best interest of the nation. And for me, it's really not a choice at all:… Read full post »

I just got home from Midnight Hardball -- yes, it keeps the kids off the streets -- and I'm watching Bobby Jindal's "rebuttal" to Barack Obama's stunning faux-SOTU tonight for a second time (I wrote about it all here.)

Still, I think you get a few things upon a… Read full post »

I loved hearing that Obama told Republicans griping about his stimulus proposal, "I won," meaning he has the political capital to do what he wants. I was particularly happy when I read what GOP Rep. Eric Canter was griping about: One of the best parts of Obama's proposal, to expand tax… Read full post »

I got War Room's Tom Schaller to post several times on the latest from the Saddleback fiasco. But I still couldn't give it up. I posted on it again tonight. But there is still more for me to say.

What Christian would use the term "sour grapes," as Warren did, to… Read full post »

I've been very influenced by the posts of Stellaa and Redstocking Grandma and others, urging people to stay focused on Sarah Palin's retrograde stance on the issues, not on her decisions as a mother. Occasionally I slip, but on balance, I think that's the right approach.

But I found myself appalled… Read full post »

If the New York Times is looking to cut costs, maybe it's time to cut back on its lifestyle coverage. It's increasingly unreadable, and recently two style stories struck me as hoaxes.  One was definitely a hoax, about the non-existent "Dating a Banker Anonymous" group, supposedly established for… Read full post »

I'm hearing a lot of people say we should just ignore Sarah Palin, but as much as I'd like to, she's engaged in a rehabilitation tour that she clearly hopes takes her to the White House in the next four to eight years.

I wrote about her horrific… Read full post »

It took me half the day to get over my surprise at learning our president won the Nobel Peace Prize, only nine promising months (with few concrete achievements) into his presidency. I did the same dance of cynicism as many people did, and I loved all the satire on here, especially… Read full post »

I really expected the sophomore year goodbye to Nora to be easier, but I'm not sure it is. Partly that's because freshman year, Nora left for college from the Democratic Convention in Denver, getting on a red-eye after Bill Clinton's wonderful speech endorsing Obama. I was sad but distracted. I went… Read full post »

Oh brother. Thanks to my Open Salon and Salon friends who sent me nice emails about my Sunday Hardball performance (last week it was "Midnight Hardball;" I'm getting a name for doing these funny, off the schedule, free-association shows. )

Sunday I got to argue with Pat Buchanan about… Read full post »

In our world of cyber-relationships, it's hard to know how to handle news like this, but many of you noticed that a poster named "Niece of Dakini" posted tonight on Dakini Dancer's blog to tell us her aunt, Josie Ortez, died suddenly on Wednesday. I sent a private message to "Niece… Read full post »

It was a forlorn hope that Bruce Springsteen would mention Pat Tillman, I suppose. Overall, I'm the wrong demographic for the Super Bowl. Obviously.

Maybe it's the Dick Armey toxins from this week, but I thought the ads were more sexist and idiotic than usual. Even though I actually like… Read full post »

I regret recently wading into a raging blog and comments war that is supposedly about Israel's incursion into Gaza, but is actually about...well, I'm not ready to judge what it's about.

All I know is that I believe in nonviolent resistance whenever possible, and to me that means I should… Read full post »

Some of you at the SF/OS party met my sister Susan. I love marytkelly's adorable sister Just Cathy, but as sisters go, Susan is very high up there, and of course for me, she's at the top. For a lot of reasons, including coming to the OS party (which she insisted… Read full post »

My last post was about two things that make me very happy, Baseball and Puppies. And I've been bragging on Sadie a lot.

But as much as I love Sadie, my day was made by Rush Limbaugh calling me "The Magic Honky" because I defended President Obama and called him… Read full post »

This post might just be therapy. Excuse me if it is.

I had a great late-afternoon at the ballpark, my San Francisco Giants v. the Milwaukee Brewers in a strange 4 pm start. I left work early and took my daughter Nora, who's home for Easter. She left in the 7th… Read full post »

As I'm sitting here waiting for Nora to get home tonight, I'm thinking sappy thoughts and they turned to all of you. I'm grateful for many things about Open Salon, but one thing that stands out is the advice so many of you gave me about dealing with her high school… Read full post »

I'm going everywhere I can to try to thank people for all their sympathetic and hilarious commisseration on the Dick Armey, um, incident. So here I am. I was awed by the creativity and heart of all the people who posted their reactions to Open in the last couple of days.… Read full post »

A few hours ago I sent an AP story to our news team, about how Barney Frank and some other Democrats think Barack Obama should be doing more to intervene on the economy. A few hours earlier, I was on MSNBC right after Jonathan Weisman from the Wall Street Journal, who'd… Read full post »

I'm having a major cute-off with Mignon. We just got a labradoodle puppy named Sadie. How cute is this?

I received an update from Dakini/Josie's niece, Judy Kelley, that I wanted to share here. You'll see there are no firm plans yet for a memorial, but Judy will let us know when such plans develop.

Hi Joan,
This is the info I posted on cartouche's memorial post:
Thank you, to… Read full post »

Lots of people here are talking about how important Karen has become in their lives, and I wanted to share a story about how she helped me, particularly, last April. It was a tough time: We were trying to decide between New York and California colleges for my daughter; the primary… Read full post »

Thanks to Saturn Smith for a great post! I have a cry-off candidate I meant to post the other day: