WHAT THE FUCK?!

So I just listened to a feature on All Things Considered (NPR) about race and the election, Does Race Matter In '08? The View From York, Pa.. For obvious reasons race is an issue this election year, and NPR went to Pennsylvania and put together a group of white, Latino, and black voters. They were asked questions about their own racial identity, how it's influencing their politics, and who their voting for and why. I think it's a valiant effort from NPR to talk about the elephant in the room in such a frank way, and to get people to admit to their own biases, but they should have made the whole 3hrs available. Here's a shocking quote that over shadows the whole show:

Leah Moreland, the woman who said she grew up sheltered from prejudice, plans to vote for McCain. Party loyalty is also part of her decision. But her cultural compass also comes into play. She says her gut tells her not to trust Obama.

"I look at Obama, and I have a question in my mind," she says. "Years ago, was he taken into the Muslim faith? And my concern is the only way you are no longer a Muslim is if you are dead, killed. So in my mind, he's still alive."

Although Barack Obama has said repeatedly he is not a Muslim and has never been a Muslim, Moreland is still unconvinced.

"There is something about him I don't trust," she says. "I don't care how good a speaker he is, I just can't trust him."

I don't even know what to say about this woman, and it disturbs me to no end that she isn't alone. She is the kind of person that would have put me in a camp during WWII. She is the kind of person that is going to destroy the United States.

Anyway, the rest of the segment is decent, and you should give it a listen. I'm going to try and forget about how fucked up everything is...

Soft Pretzels!

So I had this horrible craving for soft pretzels last week and my coworker told me I should get them frozen from the grocery store. Great idea, but i guess my grocery store is lacking... So there I was without a pretzel and then I had a big idea: I'll make my own! I stayed home from work today because I'm sick with a monster cold but after sleeping in and taking a hot shower I felt good enough to bake.

The recipe can be found here and here is a link to the show on youtube. I followed the recipe exactly (which is kind of rare for me) and they turned out amazing! Love, love, love. :)



edit: A friend of mine made pretzels with the same recipe. If you make the pretzels please post a picture and leave a comment. :)

Polar Bear in a Snow Storm

I've always been a fan of the "polar bear in a snow storm" drawing (so cute!). Anyway, this is in poor taste, but it's for Palin Vs. Bears.

Stuff White People Like

So in general, and without doing much research, I find Stuff White People Like to be really stupid. I've never really liked comedy that points out the obvious and SWPL is basically that, yes Yuppies like fair trade coffee, yoga, and gay friends, big freaking deal. Some of the elaborations are amusing (white people like gifted kids, and there for all kids are gifted) but I find most of the humor so obvious that it's boring. I agree with this article's break down of the humor in SWPL:

In fact, all the site's entries, while superficially chiding, can actually be divided into three very comforting categories:

1) Entries that don't reflect your lifestyle choices (in my case: going nuts on St. Patrick's Day, running marathons), and therefore make you feel superior.

2) Entries that do reflect your lifestyle choices (Apple products, recycling), and therefore make you feel like you're in on the joke, and that you're good-humored enough to laugh at yourself (you know--like Gene Simmons!), and therefore make you feel superior.

3) Entries that nod to commonly held comic stereotypes (white people like assists in basketball and standing still at concerts), and therefore, because you recognize them, make you feel superior.

But that sums up all the humor I dislike, so I guess I should get over myself.

The real point of this post is that I just listened to an NPR feature (oh no my whiteness is showing!) on the author. Link! Besides actually being intelligent in his summery of SWPL, Christian Lander points out how white people don't like to be generalized, but that's what they do to everyone else (around 4:50). SWPL and Lander are not making any leaps to making white people more accepting of privilege or race issues, but that did make me dislike SWPL a little less. I'm mostly impressed at how something so stupid can be defended in such an intelligent way.

Now I'm going to go off and enjoy some more stuff white people like (NPR, tea, and expensive sandwiches).