The Guild 3-29-2005 Enquirer's British Invasion

New York Times ^ | 3-29-2005 | DAVID CARR

[BigWaveBetty]

Speaking of shoes, I found the most dreamy sneakers. They're a new kind of Keds called Micro Stretch. They're like strapping clouds onto your feet! Comfy!! Lots of pretty colors too...

Also in Orange, Blue, Green, White and Khaki.

Then I found some cute Ralph Lauren sandal thongs in my Bloomingdale catalog... to die for, AND under $100. Darn it, they don't have a good picture on their site anymore (sold out), but I found one on the Google cache. The strap is covered with leather flowers... cute, cute, cute!

You know, a person could spend hours looking at shoes on line.... :-)

[gopwinsin04]

Laura, her fella with GWB and the First Lady over Christmas

[BigWaveBetty]

Hey I just noticed!

The two guys with the glasses on the left side of the picture are not admiring the model's shoes! The wives must be in the powder room.

Teresa finally emerged from whatever chic spa she's been hiding out in, she looks well scrubbed.

Did you happen to see Mickey Rourke on O'Reilly last night? YIKES!!! He's gained quite a bit a weight and looks like he's replaced all bodily fluids with botox. Oh, and he now has red hair. It was fright night on the Factor. Bill should have posted a barf alert.

This snap does not do the freak justice...

And why does he have his hand stuck in his pants?

[BigWaveBetty]

Poor Joan. Too bad the Kennedy's don't treat their women as well as they give lip service to get the female vote.

Since Joan was found collapsed on the street the story of her inebriation has changed. First she was, then she wasn't and now since the custody mess the story is she was drunk. I feel so badly for her. And Teddy skips through life with his new wife.... ick!!

[BigWaveBetty]

Although I don't wear hats I like them. But those silly things the Royals were wearing don't qualify as hats. Bird nests, yes. Dead shrubs, yes. But hats? No. And what about all the feathers? Didn't the Brits just outlaw fox hunting? I guess birds don't rate and they can pluck the little dahlings naked.

Camila was annoying with all the fussing over her feather headdress. If ya can't stick it on your head and not fuss with it, leave it at home!

[BigWaveBetty]

I hope that upcoming book has some real dirt on the beaste.

This just in:

New Yorkers not sure Clinton should run for president

ALBANY - While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2006 re-election chances look good - unless Rudolph W. Giuliani challenges her - New York voters aren't sure she should run for president in 2008, a statewide poll reported Tuesday.

On the other hand, a slim majority of New York voters think Giuliani should run for president in 2008, according to the poll from the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

Only 19 percent of New York voters want Giuliani's fellow Republican, Gov. George E. Pataki, to run for president.

Last week, Giuliani's top political aide said the former New York City mayor was just too busy with private business interests to run for senator or governor in 2006. But the mayor has not ruled out a run for president in 2008, and national polls have him as the front-runner for the GOP nomination then.

Fifty-one percent of registered voters polled by Marist said they definitely plan to vote for the former first lady when she seeks re-election next year, while 31 percent said they would vote against her.

In head-to-head Senate race matchups, Clinton leads various potential rivals by almost 2-1 margins or better, including Pataki; her 2000 GOP opponent Rick Lazio; Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro; and Manhattan lawyer Edward Cox, a son-in-law of the late President Richard M. Nixon.

Only Giuliani, who pulled out of the 2000 Senate race against Clinton when diagnosed with prostate cancer, would make the 2006 Senate race competitive for Republicans, according to the poll. It had Giuliani favored by 49 percent of voters to 47 percent for Clinton.

While the former first lady's re-election prospects appear strong, 51 percent of New York voters said they don't want her to run for president in 2008, while 44 percent said she should run for the White House. Fifty-nine percent of Democrats said she should run for president.

Conversely, 51 percent of New York voters, including 67 percent of Republicans and even 40 percent of Democrats, said they wanted Giuliani to run for president. Forty-percent of voters said the former mayor should not run for president.

Should Giuliani and Clinton face each other for president in 2008, 51 percent of New York voters said they would back the former mayor while 43 percent said they would support the former first lady.

Marist's telephone poll of 705 registered voters was conducted April 4-5 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points. buffalonews

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I found your Ked's at DSW but I am really in the market for some topsiders.

The Ked's did look comfy though.

[gopwinsin04]

It's a girl!

[mountaineer]

We're leaving for Boston on Saturday. Should we drop in on Mama T and Effin, just in case they're at the Beacon Hill home this weekend? Take Joan out to lunch (no wine!)?

[BigWaveBetty]

From Planet Out Gay and Lesiban news:

Patrick Letellier, PlanetOut Network

SUMMARY: Former President Bill Clinton has suggested that GOP strategist Arthur Finkelstein, a gay man leading the charge against Sen. Hillary Clinton's re-election, is "self-loathing."



Former President Bill Clinton suggested Monday that prominent Republican strategist Arthur Finkelstein, a gay man leading the charge against Sen. Hillary Clinton's re-election, is "self-loathing."


Finkelstein, 59, has spent decades helping far-right, anti-gay politicians win re-election, including notorious North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms. He is now galvanizing conservative donors to raise $10 million for a new PAC, "Stop Her Now," to pre-empt a possible presidential bid by Clinton in 2008 by defeating her 2006 re-election to the Senate in New York.


Finkelstein made headlines last weekend after The New York Times reported that in December he married his male partner at his Massachusetts home. He was quickly denounced as a "hypocrite" by Democrats.


"For years he's worked for right-wing candidates who demonize gays and lesbians, and who have tried to prevent gays and lesbians from being married," said Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman Philip Johnston.


Bill Clinton's remarks about Finkelstein were made during a press conference announcing the Clinton Foundation's $10 million donation to treat children with AIDS. When asked about Finkelstein's efforts to unseat his wife, Clinton responded, "Either this guy believes his party is not serious and is totally Machiavellian in its position, or you know, as David Brock said in his great book 'Blinded by the Right,' there's some sort of self-loathing or something. I was more sad for him."


Log Cabin Republicans had harsh words for the former president, citing the federal Defense of Marriage Act and the military's anti-gay "don't ask, don't tell" policy, both of which Clinton signed into law.


"What's sad here is that [former] President Clinton thinks that he has any credibility whatsoever passing judgment on the life of Arthur Finkelstein or any other gay or lesbian American," said Log Cabin political director Christopher Barron.


"The real outrage here is not the private life of Arthur Finkelstein. The real outrage is that we have a politician using someone's personal life for partisan political gain," Barron told the PlanetOut Network.


John Marble, communications director for the National Stonewall Democrats, said it's important to look beyond Finkelstein's sexual orientation to the larger issue of personal attacks in politics. "The politics of personal destruction has become a cliché," Marble said, though Finkelstein is credited with perfecting it throughout his career.


"Vicious campaigns that seek to personally destroy individuals, whether they are run by Tom DeLay or reclusive Republicans, are damaging our nation and need to stop," Marble said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/po/20050413/co_po/clintoncriticizesgaygopstrategist

---

Gosh Mr. Marble perhaps you could start healing the nation by teaching your Queen hillary and her little beard Bill how to run a campaign without the politics of personal destruction. Then work backwards to Carville, Begala, Shrum, Blumenthal, Ickes, etc...

You see Mr. Marble, Republicans no matter what their sexual preference, want to work to make America a better place to live for everyone. Typically Republicans care about making life better for all Americans. Unlike democrats who are typically power hungry and want to play god because, of course, the masses are too stupid to take care of themselves.

Congressman Delay is a good example of your kind and gentle ways. An effective man with whom your lot doesn't agree. What did your side do when he tried to help Terri Schiavo? You attacked the horrible, painful decision his family had to make regarding his dying father. Delay's father was in no way equivalent to Terri's case but that didn't matter. Delay was attacked for "pulling the plug" on his father and he was just using Terri as a political tool.

Your side continues with the lobbyist trips and family paychecks. Funny, all you dems do the same things but for some strange reason that's just peachy. But let a Republican give tit for tat and it's just sour grapes or (my personal favorite) 'they're trying to divert attention away from their lies'! I still can't believe there's more hours devoted to Delay (not guilty of anything) than there is to Sandy Berger, a man who was entrusted with sensitive documents, who then stole and destroyed some of them!! Berger gets a fine and loses his SECURITY CLEARANCE for a mere three years. My mouth is agape.

Try real hard to imagine that Mr. Finkelstein sees through the new democrat dogma and by golly he doesn't agree with the Queen. However he can also see that his sexual preferences are not what makes the world go round. Finkelstein and those like him have your number and that more than anything is the dem's worst nightmare.

Homosexuals who identify as democrat are radicals, victims, loudmouth crybabies who are always demanding not just tolerance but acceptance. Homosexuals who are Republicans are regular folks who happen to prefer same sex partners whose lives don't revolve around making the world gay.

Now, which group would be likely to attack personally? The ones whose lives are all about pointing out how LIFE is unfair to their group, the group that isn't satisfied with tolerance but demand special rights and unconditional acceptance? Or the ones who are busy working to make America better? /RANT

[BigWaveBetty]

If only you had tried them on. You would have left the store with them.

I'm so lucky I was fast enough to get the flower thongs from Bloomingdales! The catalog came the last week of March and I ordered them (after much back and forth, you know how cheap I am) on 4/1 and this week they're sold out.

Have you tried looking on Google for your topsiders? Lots of good bargains out there.

[BigWaveBetty]

Good grief, reports every 15 minutes, Britney's pregnant!!!

This news is being treated like someone developed a skinny pill!

From Jan. '05 - SkyNews

Wannabee mum Britney asks a shop assistant for help in an LA babywear boutique.

Shame the place doesn't sell bras, eh Britney...

[gopwinsin04]

How could we have ever guessed it?

[BigWaveBetty]

When I work out my hyundais now I have to do it in the dark. The meds the doc put me on for my elbow pain indicates, "you should avoid prolonged or excessive exposure to direct and/or artificial sunlight."

Mae, no note from the doctor forbiding housework. *sniff* But as luck would have it, since I can't be exposed to sunlight, I can't help out Mr. B rebuild the fence. Gosh, I can't even pull weeds or dig or nuthin! Darnit!! ;-)

Hey Timeout and everyone, know any students in college? Evan Coyne Maloney is looking for college students to be in his feature-length follow-up to "Brainwashing 101" will be complete by June.

Evan's E-Mail:

We're still looking for more students who want to help us show the political environment on their campus. It's not for the quesy, though; some students understandably fear university reprisals for speaking out. Are you a courageous student who has what it takes to fight back?

Here's what we're looking for:

Students with evidence of professors spending significant class time (at least a total of one full class period over the course of a semester) injecting their political opinions in classes where it isn't appropriate for the subject matter.

For example, many students have reported professors who cancelled classes to attend political protests, etc. Are you one of those students? Then you've been ripped off, because you paid for a class that never happened. We might be able to help you get your money back!

If interested, please e-mail us at:

classtime@academicbias.com

For more information on what we're looking for, visit:

http://academicbias.com/commentary/evan/stop-class-politicking.html

Y'all don't suppose Churchill is/was teaching classes these days?

[BigWaveBetty]

Time to guess what they'll name it (how do we know it's a girl?). Will it be idiotic like, Apple? Or fun and sporty like, Stoker?

If she keeps her maiden name she could go for Asparagus Spears. :-)

[BigWaveBetty]

President Bush meets the captains of Presidents Cup golf teams Jack Nicklaus, right, U.S. captain, and Gary Player, left, international captain, Wednesday, April 13, 2005 in the Oval Office of the White House.. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

[BigWaveBetty]

Oh yes, do drop by the Beacon Hill homestead to chat up T and J. Take some raisins soaking vodka for old gimpy. He's really in bad spirits these days. What with those damn idiot dems in Ohio who lost the election for Kerry because, of course, they is stoopid! I can't believe Kerry actually had the nerve to speak these words in public...

BOSTON - Many voters in last year's presidential election were denied access to the polls through trickery and intimidation, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told a voters' group Sunday.

"Last year too many people were denied their right to vote, too many who tried to vote were intimidated," the Massachusetts senator said at an event sponsored by the state League of Women Voters. [Kerry must have zero respect for women.]

"There is no magic wand. No one person is going to stand up and suddenly say it's going to change tomorrow. You have to do that," he said.

Kerry supporters have charged that voting irregularities in largely Democratic areas made it difficult for voters to cast ballots in the November election. A lawsuit in Ohio cited long lines and a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority neighborhoods, but the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the suit.

Kerry also cited examples Sunday of how people were duped into not voting.

"Leaflets are handed out saying Democrats vote on Wednesday, Republicans vote on Tuesday. People are told in telephone calls that if you've ever had a parking ticket, you're not allowed to vote," he said. [Oh my sides!!!!]

Kerry has never disputed the outcome of election, saying voting irregularities did not involve enough votes to change the result. Bush won the pivotal state of Ohio by 118,000 votes, giving him enough electoral votes to win re-election. [so quit yer bitchin' already!]

The Republican National Committee dismissed Kerry's comments Sunday. [Right after they laughed themselves silly.]

"While President Bush and members of Congress are working to move our country forward, it's disappointing that some Democrats are focused on rehashing baseless allegations more than five months after the election," RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said.

Earlier this year, Kerry joined Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in filing voting reform legislation. The Count Every Vote Act would create a federal holiday for voting, require paper receipts for votes and authorize $500 million to help states upgrade voting systems and equipment.

Congress' investigative agency, the Government Accountability Office, has also begun looking into the handling of provisional ballots and malfunctions of voting machines. The study could lead to changes in the election process.

Kerry, using crutches as he recovers from knee surgery, suggested the United States should spend as much time promoting democracy at home as it does abroad in countries like Iraq.

"We need to go about the business of making our own democracy in America work better," he said. [Right-o! So hurry up and retire already!!] Link

In a related story:

THE PROOF: Voters must provide identification in 19 states before casting ballots. Five of those states ask for photo ID but allow other forms of identification, such as utility bills.

THE PROPOSALS: Indiana, Georgia and Wisconsin are considering bills that would provide few alternatives to those without photo IDs.

THE POLITICS: Republicans say requiring photo IDs would restore voter confidence and prevent fraud. Democrats say the proposals are thinly veiled attempts to deprive minorities, the elderly and the poor of the right to vote.

Geez o' pete! Here's my brilliant idea. It would do away with intimidation, fraud and allow all eligible voters to vote.

Design a voter registration card with your picture on it. If you're already registered, then the next time you vote while waiting your picture can be taken and laminated on a voter ID card. VIOLA! Problem solved.

You're Welcome! :-)

[daisyscarlett]

If she keeps her maiden name she could go for Asparagus Spears.

I see you are in rare form today, lol...

I love those tennies and I do need a pair in pink. However, I am wondering how wide they are...says they come in medium width only...I do not have a really wide foot but it is not narrow either and I sometimes wear heavy socks with my tennies. Guess I can always send them back if they don't fit...

[daisyscarlett]

Oh by all means, do check out the Heinz-Kerry abode while you are in Boston...

Did you see this adorable photo of Laura and Miss B. And how nice the Scottie pin looks on her jacket...Gosh, guess they left Barney at home, lol...

Kevin Watson, left to right, Alexus Turner and Trayvib Wheeler, try to touch Miss Beazley, as she is presented by first lady Laura Bush, after reading a book at the Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library, Tuesday, April 12, 2005, in Washington. The American Library Association honored Mrs. Bush, Tuesday for her years of support to the American libraries and librarians at the Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

[BigWaveBetty]

My feet are pretty wide and the medium fits me just fine but I haven't tried them with socks yets.

I found them at JCPenney's. If you've got a store nearby stop in and try them on. They also have the half shoe (?). I don't know what they're called... they're tennis shoes without the back end. All were on sale when I bought them.

I really wanted a pink pair but they were out so I settled for a light blue (really pretty) and a color they call 'twill' but it looks like khaki to me.

When I get a chance I'll check around the net to see what I can find for you.