The official bumpter sticker of Tasting Him

At least I have something to amuse me while I'm in editing hell mode, where I'm too tired to do...much of anything. I cannot wait to be done. Really, really can't.

So glad it's Friday, seriously. This is totes the official bumper sticker of my book Tasting Him: Oral Sex Stories. From the brilliant, twisted mind of Alex Balk, who I watched the 2004 election with at Marion's (feels like SO long ago), at Radar.

Sexualizing Sarah Palin

Since I'm poised to do just that (soon! I promise, just working out the technical kinks), I read these pieces very eagerly, both very smart critiques:

Violet Blue's latest San Francisco Chronicle column is called "No More Palin Porn, Please:"

But the unending tide of Palin porn seems to me to be much more than pointing at a candidate and saying, heh, I saw her play flute in a bikini. Sexist? Too simple an answer -- Palin's platforms are sex-negative, and they were made for walking all over your rape kits, gay marriage and science-based sex education in public schools. She hunts and makes a lot of babies; this bitch is a fertile dominatrix. She's a powerful woman because of her virility, so you can't take it away by making her more sexual. The porning of Palin is more than attempts to strip a female politician of power by sexualizing her; in fact, it's had the opposite effect and her party hasn't backed away from the oozing MILFiness, something we noticed when watching the debates at The
Hat Factory and everyone remarked that Palin was indeed showing some cleavage for the first time as a nominee. I think, perhaps, that we are a nation as depressed as our economy. Everyone knows that in chronic depression, one of the first things to go is the sex drive. We must not let it destroy us. As Americans, we deserve better porn. If a MILF shall lead us, it will be to the dry desert of celibacy. Trust me. I've seen Palin porn.

And she links to something I have no idea how I missed:

Susie Bright on "Why Palin's Sex Life Matters:"

We simply haven't had an overtly fecund, butch, straight-woman sex symbol in so long. She's like Annie Oakley with her six-shooters and her polar bears, her caribou dressing and her moose stew. She's got five kids hanging off of her, and you're like "Hells bells, that woman can fuck in the morning, go out for a long hike on the Arctic tundra, take down a polar bear or two, and be back in time to pass some new creationist legislation." She just kicks ass. I mean, she's just so — mmm. So like a powerful woman. It's exciting, isn't it? I think for every woman who's been appalled at her politics and the platform she's been running on — and this certainly includes me — well, there's this little part of me that's thinking "Oh, If only she was on my side. If only I could kidnap Sarah Palin and just lick her pussy for a few hours, I think we could just work this whole thing out." Do you know how many lesbians are discussing this? My friend Marga Gomez, who's a fantastic dyke comedian, has this line where she says "Sarah Palin? She's having my baby. And we've already named her Drill." If only we could move her political viewpoint around just a little.

image via Violet Blue on Flickr

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE" - brilliant Sarah Palin spoof

Simply brilliant!



"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" by Eliza Jane Schneider and Eric Schwartz (who did the brilliant "Clinton Got a Blowjob" song/video).

Hack the Election

Well, kinda. But do go read Jackson's How to Maximize Your Influence in the Election.

Also, all his other posts at Lifehacker, where is now writer, even though he's a self-professed slacker.

Watch the debate and see political art by Molly Crabapple!

CLik here for more details.

Alaska Woman Reject Palin rally

A bunch of photos were forwarded to me via Barbara L. Franklin from an Alaska Women Reject Palin rally last weekend. I need to track down the name of the woman who passed these on, but her note was included at the end:

[The] Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.

The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchorage talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally "a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots," and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.

I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing "socialist baby-killing maggot" haters.

It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody's trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.

Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.

So, if you've been doing the math yes, The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say.

my Vote-o-Booth photos

from Vote-o-Booth by Hilary McHone

Sarah Palin cupcake

See more political (and other kinds) cupcakes at Cupcakes Take the Cake

Sarah Palin cupcake by The Haphazard Gourmet Girls

In spirit, if not in practice

My family's pretty much all liberal; I was trying to think who the most conservative person I'm related to is, and I couldn't really. By not smoking pot, I'm probably more conservative than a lot of them. Anyway, this was one of my favorites of the My Yard Our Message campaign, found via clicking around at the Walker Art Center website. If you are ever in Minneapolis, you must go to The Walker.