Strollerderby : Oprah

Morning News: Deals and Dealers

Amy Kuras — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:01:00 GMT

Chrysler dealers say goodbye! Daytime Emmy nominations for kid’s shows make me sigh! Michael Phelps is back in the drink! And Oprah thinks maybe James Frey doesn’t stink!

First story: Chrysler announced yesterday which of its 800 dealers across the country will close. Sounds like not such a huge deal, if you live in an urban area, but in some small towns, the dealership is one of the town’s major businesses and supports everything from the high school band to the local newspaper. A full list of dealerships to close is here.

Next: Daytime Emmy nominations were announced yesterday. Sesame Street was nominated, as was Johnny and the Sprites and Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman – and a few more baffling ones.

Next: Michael Phelps is competing again, after his three month suspension since photos of him with a bong showed up back in February. He’s swimming at Charlotte UltraSwim in North Carolina. It’s also his first competitive event since his triumph in Bejing this summer.

And finally, Oprah has apparently reached out to disgraced author James Frey, after she pretty much publicly spanked him on her show a few years ago. Ther’s been a friendly phone call and she even apologized to him.

Poll - Portia and Ellen Most Trusted Moms

Brett Singer — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:30:00 GMT

ParentDish did a Mother's Day poll. Over 10,000 people voted. (For an Internet poll, that's a lot, trust me. Or as Paris Hilton might say, "huge.")

The first question on the poll was the following: "Which celebrity would you most feel comfortable leaving your kids with?"

You know who won? Drum roll, please...

With 31%, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi took the top spot. Rounding out the list were Jennifer Aniston (22%), Rachel Ray (20%), Angelina and Brad (18%) and coming in last was Oprah Winfrey with 9%.

The results are interesting. I probably would have put Rachel Ray first, and Ellen and Portia second. (Carrie Prejean, methinks, would put Ellen and Portia dead last.) Putting Jennifer ahead of Angie and Brad seems odd, but I guess that's the way the celebrity winds are blowing this week.

Obviously the fact that the top choice was a same-sex couple is worth mentioning. Or is it? Have a majority of us progressed past the point where we care what sort of family we would leave our kids with? (In theory of course -- as far as I know, none of the famous folks in this poll are offering babysitting services.)

Out of this group, who would you leave your kids with? Would the sexual orientation of the parents factor in to your decision?

Source: ParentDish

image: Daily News

American Incest Dad Gets 109 Years In Jail

Did This Woman Commit Suicide Because She Couldn't Breastfeed?

Buy Your Teen Daughter’s First Vibrator, Says Oprah’s “Sexpert”

Cole Gamble — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Quick disclosure, sex talk has never been taboo in my house. For my 22-year-old sister’s Christmas present, my dad and stepmom bought her a dildo. As my sister limply grasped the 10-inch tower of giggling, Fire Engine Red rubberized flesh, my dad sincerely said, “You haven’t dated in awhile. We thought you’d need one.”

So, onto the topic of sex talks and your kids. Some people, like Oprah’s gal pal Gayle, think girls get too much sex info these days. O's on-call sex expert, Dr. Laura Berman, (couldn’t we all use an on-call sex expert?) says the more info the better. For example, says Dr. Berman, get that girl a vibrator.

Yeah, this freaks parents out, but Berman asserts it’s important for a girl to understand her own body. When you put it that away, is she wrong?

Oprah Gets It Right On Chris Brown

Brett Singer — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT

My mother and I sometimes disagree (shocking, I know) and occasionally we argue about Oprah. (Not a lot -- don't worry, we're not obsessed or anything. We have far more important things to fight about.) She'll tell me that Oprah said this or that, and oh, isn't it wonderful, and I'll say, feh, Oprah, she's not so great, she's responsible for unleashing Dr. Phil on the world. So when mom told me that the Gayle King's best friend was doing a show about the Chris Brown and Rihanna situation, I was skeptical. Too many celebrities have been talking about the incident and not saying the right things.

For example: Sean Combs (aka Diddy or whatever the hell he calls himself these days) kind of missed the point when he told Ellen DeGeneres, "I don’t think it’s right for anybody to hit anybody…. We know sometimes relationships get ugly (but) we don’t know exactly what’s going on (in this one). It isn't right for him to put his hands on her or her to put his hands on him" -- which to me implies that somehow if Rihanna had slapped Chris, it would be OK if Brown gave her a black eye. Which it isn't. Ellen, for her part, gets it right when she says that she doesn't want any girl to think that "it's OK to go back to a guy that hit her," although she says it in a very wishy-washy manner ("I don't want to judge" anyone, that sort of thing) and lets Diddy to the hook too easily ("I want to dance!"). Yes, her show isn't exactly "60 Minutes," but this also isn't a fluffy issue. If you're going to bring it up, you should be clear how you feel, and if possible get the last word. (Here's a clip if you missed it, which would be understandable. I never watch that show.)

Back to Oprah. I didn't watch the whole segment (hey, I'm busy) but I feel confident that the tone she took with was the correct one based on this quote:

"Love doesn't hurt. And if a man hits you once, he will hit you again."

See, it really is that simple. I understand that the charges against Brown are pending, and as Diddy so brilliantly points out, none of us were in the car with the young couple when the incident occurred. But Brown has shown no remorse at all. More disturbing is the way that many of Brown's peers are defending him, and that anyone thinks his alleged actions are OK. Grammy-winning Rapper T.I. said on Carson Daly's talk show that he told Brown "this too shall pass." He went back on that statement, perhaps when he realized that Daly's show is actually broadcast on television, which is a mistake I can understand. And Usher backtracked on his earlier statement that Brown should "have a little bit of remorse" about what happened, and not hit the jet skis at Diddy's house. (Good thing he apologized -- that's crazy talk!)

Brown dropped out of the Kids' Choice Awards, which was a good PR move, but it's also somewhat irrelevant, since his statement just said something about it being difficult to "focus on the music" with all of this other stuff going on. Oprah used my line (OK, other people said it too) and called this a great "teaching moment." Problem is, I'm not so sure that the right lesson is being taught. It's important to everyone, but especially important to parents, since many of our kids are still young enough to not have formed opinions about this issue yet. (Some of those kids, though, are much smarter than our celebrities, which is always nice to see.)

For me this is a simple issue. While legally what Brown did falls into the category of "allegedly," he hasn't denied it, and in fact has basically admitted that he beat up Rihanna. Rihanna got back together with him and decided not to press charges. Anyone who says anything about this issue in public needs to be very clear because many of Brown's fans are young and for better or worse they sometimes take their cue from celebrities. Hitting your girlfriend is wrong. If your boyfriend hits you, leave. Why is that so hard?

Source: Oprah.com

Image from here

UPDATE: Chris Brown's Skipping the Kid's Choice Awards

Soldier Gives Birth At Army Barracks

Heath Ledger's Daughter Gets His Oscar

The Dr. Phil And OctoMom Show

Teens Talk Back to the Media on Dating Violence

Grieving a Lost Pregnancy? Sorry, We'd Like a Drug Test

Why Teens Are Quick to Blame Rihanna

Child Raised Worse Than an Animal Gets Happy Ending

Cole Gamble — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

By the age of 6, Dani in no way resembled other kids her age. She spoke only in grunts, her body emaciated and clad in a wet diaper, lice infested her hair, she walked sideways on her toes, couldn’t speak or chew food, sucked at her fists like an infant, didn’t react to hot or cold or pain and lived in a room the size of a closet. When police in Plant City, Florida extricated her from her squalor, one officer wretched in the bushes from the abject filth and fecal of the home where Dani lived. Fecal matter and maggots covered the surfaces. An investigator for the Florida Department of Children and Families sobbed at the sight, calling it the “worst case (she) had ever seen.”

Danielle's birth mother, Michelle Crockett, was charged with child abuse and faced 20 years in prison. And yet, the woman refused to give up parental rights to a child she had given less care to than a stray dog. Who would want to adopt such a child anyhow?

Such people exist and luckily for Dani, just happened to live in Florida. Diane and Bernie Lierow took in the girl; Dani has been living with the Lierows and their son since 2007. Dani, now 10, has been diagnosed with “environmental autism.” She is slow to do things on her own, still throws violent fits and it’s not clear if some of her developmental ability has been damaged forever.

But at least now she has a chance, which is a world more than what she had before.

In return for signing away the rights to Dani, Michelle will not serve any jail time, but instead was placed on house arrest for 2 years.

Photo: [MELISSA LYTTLE | Times]

More by this Author:

6 Reasons My Toddler is a Total Buttwipe

Musical SpongeBob Rectal Thermometer. Fun for Your Kid’s Butt?

10 Things They Don’t Tell You about Parenting

Things You Should Never Say at a Chuck E Cheese Birthday Party

My Wife Says: 10 Reasons to Get Plastic Surgery after the Baby

OctoMom Video Blog at RadarOnline

Brett Singer — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:00:00 GMT

I don't want to be mean here. I really don't. But I'm starting to feel sorry for Nadya Suleman and her children.

I really think she needs help. I don't mean financial help. Help from a doctor not named Phil.

In a new video blog posted exclusively at RadarOnline, she says "I want to be private." She means that she doesn't want people to know where she lives, because clearly she doesn't want to be, you know, actually private. "Being in the field I'm in, I know there's a lot of emotionally disturbed people in the world…I have trust issues."

She's not worried about anything, she's not overwhelmed. She's hiring help. The other moms are supportive, everything is FINE.

What?

You see her interacting with her children, who don't seem all that happy. The tape feels like an audition reel for a reality show.

Other highlights, in case you can't bear to watch the video:

-   New house, a rental. "I'm doing it myself," meaning no help from anyone. Unclear how it's possible to rent a 2800 square foot house with no job.
-    MSNBC says that the video "shows Suleman struggling to speak as one of her older six kids bites her, pulls her hair and slaps her in the face," but I didn't see anything terribly unusual. I mean, the kids don't look thrilled by the camera and are eventually ushered out of the room (presumably to a very weary grandmother, but you don't see that). Still, the kids' behavior looks like a kid trying to get mommy's attention.
-   This part I will just quote: "Suleman said her older children are already jealous of the octuplets. When a friend showed the kids a picture of their new siblings, 'they hit the picture,' Suleman said." Oy vey.

Also bizarre are her hand-written blog entries. In this one she talks about meeting Dr. Phil. (Because that's really what a mother of 14 should be thinking about.) By not typing her entries for her, Radar clearly wants us to see Nadya's nutty side. (Read the PDF file here.)

It's all fairly disturbing, actually. Hard to look, hard to look away.

Source: MSNBC, RadarOnline

OctoMom Says Denis Beaudoin is Not OctoDad

Gloria Allred Offers To Help OctoMom

OctoMom Says No Dating For Her

Really Wanna Let Octomom Have it? Leave Her Alone

"Angels in Waiting" Apparently Still Waiting

OctoMom Loathes Being Pregnant

OctoMom Rejects Angels In Waiting Offer

Brett Singer — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:05:00 GMT

According to RadarOnline, Nadya OctoMom Suleman has rejected an offer from the group Angels In Waiting to "provide her with a temporary new home for six months."

Angels offer was pretty sweet. According to Radar: "around the clock individualized care by pediatric nurses and other early intervention professionals for her octuplets and their six other siblings." This is in addition to giving them A PLACE TO LIVE. Remember that the house she currently lives in -- her parents' -- is facing foreclosure.

Gloria Allred is all red with frustration -- actually, I don't know if that's true but I wanted to write that. Sorry. We'll learn how she feels later today when the attorney to the weird gives a press conference.

I can understand not accepting help from people for various reasons. In this case, I think Suleman should take what she can get, especially since she's already asking for help from anyone who is willing. So why turn this one down? Is it that she doesn't like Allred? She also seems to be rejecting offers of help from Denis Beaudoin, who said he'd give Nadya some money even if he wasn't the father. Can she really afford to be so, you know, choosy?

Commenter FoxyMoxie (thanks for the tip!) says that Allred will discuss the "'disturbing' phone conversations" she has had with the OctoMom. I mean, will this thing ever end?

Source: RadarOnline

Gloria Allred Offers To Help OctoMom

OctoMom Says No Dating For Her

Really Wanna Let Octomom Have it? Leave Her Alone

"Angels in Waiting" Apparently Still Waiting

OctoMom Loathes Being Pregnant

Brett Singer — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:00:00 GMT

When lawyers represent mostly accident victims, we call them ambulance chasers. What about a shrink who only wants to talk to screwed up people who get lots of media coverage? We need a name for them. Oh wait -- there is one. Dr. Phil.

Yes, the man that Oprah unleashed on the world is at it again. This time he's chatting with Nadya Suleman. You know. The OctoMom! Where ya been, people? This is the only important news story in the world right now. Pay attention.

Here's a little video to whet your appetite:

Doesn't she sound like a delusional 'American Idol' contestant? It's not that you're single. It's that you're single, intentionally had TONS of babies, and have no way to support them. It's irresponsible. How much time could you possibly be spending with any of your kids, the six you already had or the octuplets, if you're always out doing interviews?

This quote was the one that got me:

When Dr. Phil asked her if she was addicted to being pregnant, Nadya responding [sic] saying, no, she absolutely loathes being pregnant and she looked into adoption after her third pregnancy.

She LOATHES being pregnant. So…why do it again? And again? (Reminds me of another Dr. Phil 'patient', Britney Spears -- 'Oops, I did it again / I had 8 more kids…')

And by the way. Of course you loathed being pregnant. You were pregnant with eight babies! That's like carrying around a Humvee in your stomach!

Having never been pregnant, I can safely say that I have no idea how it feels. But many of the women I've spoken to say that they do love it, at least at times. The baby kicking, the life growing inside of you -- that sort of thing.

Since I have no idea, I'll ask the moms out there -- did you "loathe" being pregnant like Nadya?

Source: EverythingOprah

Image: Me

Gloria Allred Offers To Help OctoMom

OctoMom Says No Dating For Her

OctoMom Receives Death Threats

VIDEO-OctoMom And Doctor From Two Years Ago

UPDATE: GMA Snags an Interview with The Octuplet’s Baby Daddy!

Really Wanna Let Octomom Have it? Leave Her Alone

VIDEO-Octo Mom Publicist On GMA

What Octo-Mom Is Spending The Money On

Octuplet Mom Wants TV Career

Best of FameCrawler: Week of January 16th

Whit Honea — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Mr. Roarke Dead; Gen-Xer In Mourning

Golden Globe 2009 - List of Winners

Britney in Sex and the City Sequel?

Kate Hudson is a Hussy

Update! Jen & Ben Reveal Daughter's Name!!

Are Ashanti and Nelly Expecting a Baby Together?

Take a Number: Lance Armstrong Will Fall in Love With You Next

Heath Ledger Wins Golden Globe

Guess Who's Getting Married In April?

Oprah French Kisses Kate Winslet's Breasts!

You Just Got Bacon'd!

WTF, Brad And Angie? Srsly.

Suze Orman's Advice for Babble Readers!

editors — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:01:00 GMT

Last week, Babble had the opportunity to participate in an Oprah-sponsored blogger q&a with financial guru Suze Orman, on whom our editors have an unrepentant crush, leopard-print blazers and all. Below, highlights from our conversation about college savings, credit card debt and how to change your financial situation in an hour or less. -- Gwynne Watkins

Babble:

One thing that comes up in discussions on our message boards is that cash-strapped parents are torn between saving money to their retirement funds and saving money for their children’s college funds. Which would you say should be a priority?

Suze Orman:

Now, without a shadow of a doubt, the parents’ retirement account. Forever I have been saying you cannot get a loan for retirement, that’s number one. Number two: There are today, because of the economic situation in the United States, you’re going to see over time Stafford loans, which are loans for kids going to school, whether they’re subsidized, which you need financial aid for essentially, or unsubsidized. You’re going to see interest rates be relatively low on those loans.

Plus loans, which are loans for parents to help their children, at approximately an 8.5% interest rate: Those loans have been changed now where you do not have to pay those loans back until after the student has graduated school. So that is a new change for how plus loans work. So there are loans that one can get for a relatively good interest rate to see your kids through school. However, there is nothing that will help you retire unless you have money in an account to do so. So first, you have to save yourself before you can save your children.

In today’s day and age, especially with the markets being as low as they are, especially the fact that maybe you’ve already put some money in a retirement account and you’ve seen that money go down, you have got to continue to dollar-cost-average into good diversified investments as long as you have at least ten years or longer until you need this money, so that you can decrease the price of the investments that you have so that when these markets do finally recover, you can make money on it. So especially right now, given this economy, you have got to save yourself first and put money away for your own retirement before you put money away for your child’s college education.

Babble:

We all know we should be budgeting more carefully, but keeping to a budget can seem so intimidating for people who aren’t used to tracking their finances. So what would you say is the best way for them to start?

Suze Orman:

I have a really, really hard time with budgets, and the reason I have a hard time with budgets is that budgets are just like diets. Neither of them work. Neither of them work. You go on a diet, you restrict, you lose – I mean, it happens to me all the time. You lose five pounds, ten pounds, and then you get so frustrated because you didn’t get to do what you want; you now eat everything you want and now you gain 20.

   The same is true with a budget. When you restrict and you restrict, all of a sudden you get so – you’re just so out there that you go and that’s when you all of a sudden start buying Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choo shoes and all these purses that you don’t need to spend that kind of money on. You just give up all hope. So I don’t like diets and I don’t like budgets. What do I like?

   I like consciousness. I like people being able to decide what they should be spending money on and what they shouldn’t; what they want to eat and what they should be eating that’s good for them, versus what they know is bad. And when you stay in touch with who you are and what makes you healthy, so that you can live your best life – whether it’s with food, whether it’s with money, whether it’s with exercise, whether it’s with spirituality – all the topics that that Best Life Week is going to deal with – when you are in touch with who you are, and you make conscious decisions or decisions from a place of consciousness, knowing that it’s an intelligent decision, it’s a wise decision, it’s not an emotional decision, it’s not an irrational decision – then what happens is you automatically choose the right choices for you. You eat what’s good for you, you spend money on things that are wise for you and that you need, and everything falls in place.

   So it’s not about budgets and being restricted. It’s not about diets and choosing the right – and limiting what you can and cannot eat. It’s getting in touch with your own power, so that you make the right choices for you, and when you make the right choices for you, then you live your best life. And when you live your best life, you feel even more powerful; that allows you to make even better choices for you.

Wise Bread:

What are some of the easiest things that someone can improve their financial situation right now? Something they can do within maybe under an hour or two that will totally change your financial position?

Suze Orman:

Truthfully, within an hour, in even less than an hour, what changes your financial position is knowing your financial position – getting honest with the position that you’re in financially speaking. The reason that most people get into trouble when it comes to money is they don’t know how much money they owe in totality. They don’t know the interest rates that they’re paying. They don’t know anything about what it really takes them to live month in and month out, on average, to live the lifestyle that they’re living.

What you can do to improve your financial situation in less than an hour is to get your checkbooks out, get your ATM statements out, get every possible thing over the past year that you have spent money on, and sit down and divide them in 12 different categories. In fact, on oprah.com, when we do the Webinar on January 15th, we will have done this for you, where there will be an electronic expense sheet that everybody will be able to have, so they can see what it really costs them to live month in and month out.

But basically what I’m asking people to do is go back and categorize everything that you have spent money on over the past year. Add them up and add it all together and divide by 12. That is how much money you need month in and month out to be coming in, so that you don’t get into credit card debt. You compare that to the amount of money you actually have coming in. Now we’re getting honest. If you don’t have enough money coming in, you have either one or two things to do: You have to cut down on your expenses and/or you have to make more money. So you can turn your entire financial life around in less than one hour by simply getting honest with what you have and what you don’t have.

Baby Center:
What about parents who have saved perhaps not as much as you advise, three months of living expenses, but yet are threatened with not being able to pay mortgages, daycare and whatnot after that three months runs out, and their husband or whomever still hasn’t found the job -- what do you advise doing now?

Suze Orman:

If I’m getting your question right, they’ve saved for three months, they don’t have income coming in. They’ve used up their three months, correct? Is the wife a stay-at-home mother or is the wife working as well?

Baby Center:

Full-time working.

Suze Orman:

Full-time working. See, here’s the thing, is that when you find yourself in a situation where the bills are still coming in, you have to pay them, and there isn’t enough money to do so, the normal thing that people do is they start charging things on credit cards that normally they would pay cash for. They go to the grocery store and they charge their groceries on a credit card and when the credit card bill comes in, they just pay the minimum.

Normally I would have to say, please don’t do that. You have to find another way. But let’s say in a time – and let’s be realistic about this – unemployment is skyrocketing here. We’re in recession. What if, no matter what, you can’t find another job, you’re already working five jobs, you’re doing everything you can possibly do? It’s at that point in time that if you’re just being realistic, then you might have to put things on credit cards so that you can feed yourself, so that you can possibly just get by day to day.

Is that something that I want to see you do? No. But that’s a reality, which is why you should always, if you can, if you can only have three months of an emergency fund, it would be great for you to also have credit cards that aren’t charged to the max, that have available credit limits on them, that in a dire case – the last-ditch effort after all your money is gone—that at least for a while, you can do ethical things with it.

Now, an ethical thing is not you use this credit card to go to Disneyland.; you use this credit card to go out to eat at a restaurant; you use this credit card to buy one item of clothing. Ethical things, truthfully, are you are going to the grocery store and you are buying beans and rice so that you can feed your kids. Do you see? So those are things that you just have to have as a backup if you don’t have anything else in place, because when you don’t have a backup, what do you do? Do you know how many people – mothers – are now calling in to my own Suze Orman Show to tell me that they are living in their cars with their children?

To avoid that, you have got to plan for the worst and hope for the best. So all I’m asking everybody to do while things are still relatively okay, when you go into a store and you want to buy something, is it a need or is it a want? Are you going through your life saying, I’m going to buy this because I deserve it? What every single mother, especially, deserves is a life that she doesn’t have to worry about where the money’s going to come so she could feed herself and her children.

We deserve a good quality of life and a peaceful life. These things that we think we deserve, which are vacations, eating out, being able to go to the movies – those aren’t things that we deserve; those are things, if you do not have the money to pay for it, will eventually come back and bite you. And as you’re lying in your car at night, you’ll think of, oh, my God, I can’t believe what I did, and look at me now.

Get Rich Slowly:

Having once been over $35,000 in debt myself, I know that it’s one thing to say you’re ready to get out of debt and to stop using credit cards, but it’s another thing to actually maintain the dedication for the days and the years that are needed to pay that debt off. I’m wondering if you have any favorite behavioral tips or tools for maintaining motivation with new goals for a New Year’s resolution.

Suze Orman:

Yes. You know, what’s very fascinating is that the desire to want to use the drug known as credit cards is a very, very strong pull on people. It’s almost as strong – I’m very serious about this when I say this – as a narcotic, as tobacco, as well as alcohol. And in the same way that if you happen to be a drug addict or you happen to be an alcoholic, that normally what keeps you on the road of the straight and narrow is that you don’t hang out with people who drink. You don’t go into bars. You don’t keep alcohol around your house. You make it so that it’s easy for you to not get yourself in trouble because it’s right there.

The same, I have to say, is true when it comes to credit cards. You have to, even though you don’t want to close down your credit cards because that will hurt your FICO score, that doesn’t mean that you can’t rip them up. Doesn’t mean that you can’t cut them up as soon as you’re out of credit card debt where you just don’t see them.

So my advice to people who were once in credit card debt and now they’ve gotten themselves out of credit card debt is I would literally cut up all of my credit cards. I would not be carrying them, I would not even have them in the refrigerator. Some people say they put them in the freezer; oh, give me a break. Anything can come out of a freezer. I would cut them up 100%.

And if in fact I knew that I might seriously be tempted to call the credit card company and say, you know what, send it to me again – I would not care about my FICO score and I would literally call up the credit card company, close down the account and not give me any temptation whatsoever to get myself into credit card trouble. As soon as I got offers in the mail, they would immediately go into the trash.

The key is keeping good company, and when it comes to your money, you usually are keeping good company with other people who aren’t in credit card debt, other people who don’t entice you to spend money, other people who don’t say, let’s go on this vacation, oh, just put it on your credit card debt; other people that say, oh, please, let’s just go out to dinner. Good company are people that, I understand that you have credit card debt and you don’t have the money. Let’s go to your house and I’ll bring food. We don’t need to go on a vacation, let’s just go for a walk on the beach.

Again, when you leave your house, leave your house without any credit cards. You can go to the mall, you can go window-shop, you can enjoy the mall just like everybody else, but do not take your credit cards with you whenever you go out. If you see something that you want and you don’t have the credit cards, fine, you can’t buy it. If you’re still thinking about it one month later, maybe you really wanted it; who knew. But that keeps people in check. So don’t leave your house with credit cards. Cut up your credit cards once they’re paid off. If you need to go further than that, close them down and who cares about your FICO score. And keep good company. That would be my advice.
Suze will present her 2009 financial plan as part of Oprah’s Best Life Week on Thursday, January 8^th.

Morning News: Drinkable, Dressable Obamas

Madeline Holler — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Obama -- the latest American brand to go international.

A French entrepreneur has created a new Obama energy drink. He's got a picture of the president-elect and Change we can believe in right on the label. Profits aren't the motivation (we read with eyebrows raised), but inspiring the poor in France. What next? The Yes, We Can vitamin water?

Fashion designers want a hand in developing the female side of the Obama brand. They've sketched out bunches of inaugural ballgown designs, few of which, they're complaining over at Slate, take into account that Michelle is (stage whisper): black. Check out the WWD slide show and you'll also notice, skin tone aside, only a few of them have figured out that Michelle, like many, many women in America (but few who are considered fashion icons in waiting), has an ass.

Let's check in on the other "O" brand, namely Oprah. Is it starting to slide? Though she's extended an invitation to Sarah Palin, the GOP darling has snubbed her. She has yet to book a date on the show.

Maybe Michelle Obama snubbed Oprah too, because contrary to rumors, the first lady of TV confirms the first lady-elect won't be wearing Oprah's fabulous jewels. (Also confirmed, Oprah will still have a show come 2011. She's "multi-dimensional, she says and can handle it all.)

Perhaps Palin should have asked to borrow some of Oprah's accessories. The RNC says it spent an additional $30K on Palin and her family. That's in addition to the much talked-about $150K.

Get this: while flinging billions and billions of dollars at hoarding financial institutions and, very likely, a desperate auto industry, the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve have had a lightbulb moment. Why not help out struggling homeowners and even, OMG, those who opted to wait out the obvious housing bubble.

George W. Bush and Laura Bush feel your housing pain! Like your neighbors, the first couple are facing eviction from their current residence. The two will move to a less modest and even more exclusive home, this one in the suburbs of Dallas. It's a four-bedroom, 8,000 square foot ranch style home. The county appraised the property at $2.1 million, but, also like your neighbors, the Bushes paid waaaaay more than it is worth. (Don't worry, George, there'll be a bailout plan for you too!)

Congresswoman Slams Down the Phone on Obama ... Twice!

They Say – Most Toys Are Toxic

How Many Clintons Does It Take to ...

Bush Acknowledges Crappy Presidency ... Yet Leaving With Head Held High

Photo: Noticias

10 WORST. BABY. PRODUCTS. EVER! (Part 2)

Cole Gamble — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Baby Tattoos

At some point you might think I’m just being a crank, grousing about stuff that’s purely for novelty, a joke. But I argue that the jokes are dumb. Case in point, baby tattoos. However, if the idea behind the joke is to get your kid shanked in the prison yard, than it’s hilarious.

Man Boobs

Please lord save us from this product. That goes double for the men who feel they need them.

The Daddle

Well we just got done turn your kids into animals, now it’s dad’s turn. What dad hasn’t played horsey with his kids? Thanks to the Daddle, you can take an innocent game and turn it into the degrading exercise it was always meant to be. Once that kid gets the Daddle strapped to ya, you’ll never be anything more than a pack mule to her. And hey, what about the Maddle? Can’t mommy give dad a break?

Fortunately, the Daddle comes with a three-month supply of Vicodin for all your impending back pain.

Baby Perfume by Hello Kitty

The perfect way to say to your child, “You stink.” What exactly does Hello Kitty smell like, anyhow? I’m thinking it smells like unicorn barf.

Super Creepy My Little Pony

Ever since my daughter got one of these I haven’t had a night’s rest. I stay up all night staring at the ceiling and say to myself over and over, “Can’t sleep, baby pony will eat me. Can’t sleep, baby pony will eat me.”

Go to Worst Baby Products Part I

More by this author:

Horrifyingly Cute Animals

Cute Overload: White Tiger Kitten and Monkey are Friends (PICS!)

Men with Baby Heads

10 Things You May Not Know About Pregnancy (and might shock you)

The 26 Most Disturbing Kids Movies Ever

Best of FameCrawler: Week of November 14th

Whit Honea — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:00:00 GMT

John Travolta Bald With Love

Who Is Barack Obama? 50 Things You Didn't Know

Will.I.Am: It's a New Day (Video)

Watch Out For Your Soul, Britney: Madonna's HUNGRY

Secret Message in Taylor Swift Lyrics: Pregnant or Not, She's Really Pissed

Rihanna Pregnant With Chris Brown's Baby?

Photos: First Daughter Sasha Obama

Caylee Anthony Remains Found?

Remember The Pregnant Man? He's Knocked Up Again!

Will Smith, Oprah and Obama: The Crying Game (Video)

It's Sunday Rose On Oprah

Presidential Perks for Obama Kids

10 WORST. BABY. PRODUCTS. EVER! (Part 1)

Cole Gamble — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Baby Wipe Warmer

Okay, I love my kid, but making sure he has hot towels for his little ass seems overkill for me. Not only is the baby wipe warmer useless, it’s dangerous too. Wipe warmers carry the risk of causing a fire electric shock. Umm, my kids butt will just have to deal with the cold.

The Child Leash

Many boyfriends, husbands and would-be fathers have had the moment: you hear an alarm go off in your girlfriend’s/wife’s uterus. You can hear the words almost before she says them, “I want a baby.” As a time honored tradition, many spooked men have tried to redirect this mothering instinct by saying, “hey, why don’t we get a dog instead.” I do not believe this strategy has worked in the entire history of mankind. There are cave paintings of Neanderthal dudes getting their offer of adopting a wooly mammoth rejected by their women decorating a corner of the cave in pink.

That doesn’t mean you can’t treat your kid like dog. The Parent Leash takes all the fun of dominating a lesser species and applies to your spawn. Imagine the joy of your kid away when he gets too enamored with sniffing other kids’ butts.

Baby Keeper

What insane super billionaire is turning live infants into wall art? Oprah, I’m looking in your direction.

Baby High Heels

Might as well book your daughter on Jerry Springer now, ‘cause that’s where she’ll go when you get these tacky shoes for her.

Diaper Genie

Genie, eh? And what is so magical about the Diaper Genie? The people at Playtex purport that the Diaper Genie is an odor free diaper disposal system. You know what else works well for diaper disposal? The trashcan outside. My wife and I owned one of these and I can tell you there is no magic here. One problem, the liner refills are crazy hard to install and if you do it wrong, poop everywhere. Also the actual disposal of the diaper requires an inordinate amount of pressure, and pressure is not something a poop laden diaper like. As the poop oozes around your fist, you’ll wonder how you’ll ever get your hand “odor-free” again. Finally, the Diaper Genie seals away each individual diaper so there will be zero chance the thing will ever break down in the landfill. When you’re a grandparent you can take your grandkids to visit the magical poop snake your diaper genie created decades ago.

Go to Worst Baby Products Part II

More by this author:

Will Smith Remakes The Karate Kid, Casts His Son in Lead

Horrifyingly Cute Animals

10 Things You May Not Know About Pregnancy (and might shock you)

Cute Overload: White Tiger Kitten and Monkey are Friends (PICS!)

Men with Baby Heads

The 26 Most Disturbing Kids Movies Ever

Morning News: Now the Dish From Obama's Camp

Madeline Holler — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:30:00 GMT

If you didn't like yesterday's revelations about tensions in the McCain-Palin campaign, the dish we have today from Barack Obama's camp won't make you feel much better.

Because it's all very warm and fuzzy.

Time magazine reporter Karen Tumulty collected war stories from insiders on the president-elect's campaign. Get this: no one greets advisers in a towel. (Bummer.)

The scoop:

When Obama learned the plane he was flying on would have to do an emergency landing, his response was "golly." When the plane landed safely, he pulled out his phone and called Michelle, who had been watching the whole thing unfold on TV.

After he swished a ball on the court of a U.S. base in Iraq, Obama told an aide, "I knew I was going to make it."

On losing in New Hampshire and pressing advisers to tell him why, his response: "This thing is going to go on for a while, isn't it?"

But it's not all hugs and gollies anymore. Obama's choice of Rahm Emanuel for chief-of-staff has some a little freaked out (but they're mainly Republicans).

The president-elect has also named a bunch of people to his economic transition team, arguably the most important group to get in place at the very beginning. Warren Buffet's on the list as is Robert Reich (whom we don't mind saying we have a bit of a brain crush on). There are a couple of women -- but only a couple. In fact, so far Obama's pretty heavy on the white and the male with his appointments or those rumored to being under consideration. Just an early alert to some possible controversy (especially since the economic team includes Lawrence Summers, former Harvard president who resigned after saying that totally crazy shit about men having better brains for math and science).

Oprah, in an effort to insinuate herself as much as possible into this election and our lives, will have that dude whose shoulder she was crying on at Obama's election night rally on her live show today. He was a campaign worker in California. She didn't know "Mr. Man," as she called him on Wednesday, but apparently she liked the way he spooned standing up. Our guess is he'll be repackaged in enough time to join her on this holiday's "Oprah's Favorite Things" episode.

The sadly re-elected Michelle Bachman (R-Minn), of "let's investigate anti-American activity" fame, said she's happy Obama was elected because it proves Americans aren't racist. Using that logic, her re-election proves that her constituents are not smart.

Also not smart? That idiot Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who said of the new U.S. leader, "he's young, handsome, and even suntanned." Damn, Italy, so glad he's yours.

Oh, this is embarrassing. The North Carolina county that Sarah Palin called "real America"? Ummm, totally went for Obama. Like, in a landslide, 59 to 41 percent. We've always kind of liked "real America" too.

Look away, Palin apologists, look away! A few more specks of dirt about her campaign and its (once) hidden troubles: heavy spending on her clothes continued well past the convention and included a custom-made outfit around the time of her appearance on Saturday Night Live (eh. Just send Loren Michaels the receipt). And suuuuper embarrassing: a Republican Party lawyer is being sent to Alaska to inventory and retrieve campaign clothes still in her possession. (Hint: be sure to check Todd's closet, too!)

A little parenting news to slowly transition us away from the election:

Carnie Wilson (the Wilson sister who did gastric bypass ... that one) is pregnant, quite possibly with twins. She and her hub already have a three-year-old daughter.

Not a single racy scene from Little House on the Prairie comes to mind -- though we sort of suspect that ol' Uncle Jack was a real rascal in bed. Still, Finland has marked DVDs of the series as suitable for adult viewing only. Grrrrrrr.

McCain's Camp Starts Dishing On Palin

Yes, He Did!

Palin Bling-gate, Day 3

Palin's Makeup Stylist Gets Highest Pay in Campaign

Photo: MSNBC.com

They say: Obama Wins

Brett Singer — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:11:00 GMT

CNN, The New York Times, and even Fox News have called the Presidential race for Barack Obama. (UPDATE: so has everyone else.)

Amazing to think that it's almost all over after so much campaigning.

Not much to say. I'm still going to watch the news for awhile; I'm like Yogi Berra – it ain't over 'til it's over, y'know? Then again, McCain just conceded. Wow. (Classy speech too, for what it's worth.)

UPDATE: I'm watching Barack's speech now. I can't imagine what must be going through his mind. Think about where he was in 2004. Wow. I know I should have something more articulate to say but "wow" is going to have to do. (It's late.)

My kids don't seem to care that much, which was actually sort of nice in a way. No matter who wins, they get up, go to school, eat lunch, run around, jump on my ribs – a typical day. Eventually I'll talk to them about this election, but not right now.

What about you – how do you feel?

image: me waiting to vote today

McCain's Mom's Morale Super Low

Other Stuff to Vote On Today – Same Sex Marriage, Chicken Cages

McCain Campaign Verbally Abuses an Innocent Child

Obama doesn't say I love you anymore

They say: John McCain is not a maverick

Babble Podcast for November 3, 2008

Republican Candidate Uses Porn-esque Robocall

Jon Stewart says: Ted Stevens is a Cheap Date

N-Word Flies at Palin Rally

Babble Podcast for October 27th, 2008

Babble Talk: The Candidates Health Plans

Joe the racist plumber?

They Say: Obese During Pregnancy? Hatch a Republican!

Sarah Palin Gets Pranked By Canadian Radio Hosts – Video

Which Candidate Has The Best Name?

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

They say: McCain not thrilled with Palin and she wants to run in 2012

Best political shirt ever - Everyone Poops

109 Year Old Daughter Of Slave Votes For Obama

Other Stuff to Vote On Today – Same Sex Marriage, Chicken Cages

Brett Singer — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:15:00 GMT

So the United States is picking a President today. But there are other candidates, and also many ballot measures in play today.

A quick round-up:

ARIZONA:
- Ban same-sex marriage.
- Require that any initiative involving spending or tax hikes be approved by majority of all registered voters, not just those casting ballots.

ARKANSAS:
- Create state lottery.
- Ban unmarried couples from adopting or being foster parents.

CALIFORNIA:
- Ban same-sex marriage.
- Authorize high-speed rail project.
- Require parental notification for a minor's abortion.
- Create 14-member commission to draw state legislative districts.
- Require all utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2010.
- Ban cramped metal cages for egg-laying hens.

I think I'm noticing a trend here.

Several states are voting on ballot measures to "ban same-sex marriage." Personally, I find this bizarre. Isn't it already banned? Are people that freaked out at the possibility of two men or two women marrying each other that they need to put it on double secret probation? (For the record, I think if gay people are crazy enough to want to be married, it's fine. Go for it.)

Looking at the article on MiamiHerald.com, it looks like the to-do of an insane person. Authorize slot machine gambling, check. Allow state's first casino, check. Ban abortion and dog racing, check. Ban cramped metal cages for egg-laying hens, check. (Those are all from different states, not the same one.) That's not to say that all of the measures are insane, it's just funny to think about them out of context. "Let's see, today...Prohibit mandatory union membership and mandatory union dues, authorize slot-machine gambling, and make English the official language of government proceedings. Got it." Busy day.

Sources: Miami Herald, MTV

Read more:

Obama doesn't say I love you anymore

They say: John McCain is not a maverick

Babble Podcast for November 3, 2008

Republican Candidate Uses Porn-esque Robocall

Jon Stewart says: Ted Stevens is a Cheap Date

N-Word Flies at Palin Rally

Babble Podcast for October 27th, 2008

Babble Talk: The Candidates Health Plans

Joe the racist plumber?

Sarah Palin Gets Pranked By Canadian Radio Hosts – Video

Which Candidate Has The Best Name?

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

They say: McCain not thrilled with Palin and she wants to run in 2012

Best political shirt ever - Everyone Poops

109 Year Old Daughter Of Slave Votes For Obama

Brett Singer — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:45:00 GMT

The line to vote for President and other stuff today might be kind of long. If you get cranky, here's an inspiring story to keep you a little bit sane.

From the Austin American Statesman:

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.
…
Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.
Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.

First of all, the fact that anyone lived to be 109 is cool. More importantly, though, is her story. I can't imagine what it must have felt like for Amanda to cast her vote in this Presidential election.

Source/Image: Statesman.com

Read more:

Other Stuff to Vote On Today – Same Sex Marriage, Chicken Cages

Obama doesn't say I love you anymore

They say: John McCain is not a maverick

Babble Podcast for November 3, 2008

Republican Candidate Uses Porn-esque Robocall

Jon Stewart says: Ted Stevens is a Cheap Date

N-Word Flies at Palin Rally

Babble Podcast for October 27th, 2008

Babble Talk: The Candidates Health Plans

Joe the racist plumber?

Sarah Palin Gets Pranked By Canadian Radio Hosts – Video

Which Candidate Has The Best Name?

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

They say: McCain not thrilled with Palin and she wants to run in 2012

Best political shirt ever - Everyone Poops

Sarah Palin Gets Pranked By Canadian Radio Hosts – Video

Brett Singer — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 02:07:00 GMT

When you were a kid, did you ever make prank calls? Call a bar and ask to speak to Dick Hertz? Dial 867 5309 and ask for Jenny? Or "is your refrigerator running? Well, you'd better go and catch it!" (That last one is way old school, dude.)

Some lucky grown-ups actually make a living doing that sort of thing. And Sarah Palin is their latest victim.

Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel, two Canadian radio performers who go by the name The Masked Avengers, have made calls to numerous celebrities and government officials, including Britney Spears (she's a celebrity, not a government official – just wanted to clarify that.) Now Alaska's governor can add her name to the ranks of the pranked. The Canuck comedians got through to Sarah Palin herself on Saturday and convinced her – for five minutes – that she was speaking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The remarkable thing is how easily they get through. Sure, one would think that Palin would have figured out this wasn't actually the French Prez when he says that he loved the "documentary" that Hustler made about her, "Nailin' Palin." But the really sad part is the staffer who puts her right on the phone. No, "Are we expecting a call from the President of France?" Nothing.

Another good line: "We have the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France. It's called Marcel, the guy with bread under his armpit."

The campaign released the following statement: "Governor Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy and other celebrities, in being targeted by these pranksters. C'est la vie."

So I guess if you catch your children on the phone asking some stranger if they have Prince Albert in a Can (let him out! Ha ha!), maybe you should encourage them? OK, not really.

Here's the entire Sarah Palin prank call for your listening pleasure.

Source: miamiherald.com, huffingtonpost.com

Republican Candidate Uses Porn-esque Robocall

Will Ferrell Returns to SNL

Why the Sarah Palin Shopping Spree Included a Ramones T-Shirt

Sarah Palin on SNL for real

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

N-Word Flies at Palin Rally

Alec Baldwin Discusses Palin with Letterman

Palin Busted! New Ethics Complaint Filed

Babble Talk: The Babies Tell Us Who Will Be Their Next President

Palin Mocks Autism Research

Joe the racist plumber?

They say: McCain not thrilled with Palin and she wants to run in 2012

Best political shirt ever - Everyone Poops

N-Word Flies at Palin Rally

Brett Singer — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:00:00 GMT

This is really ugly.

I hope that whomever you happen to be voting for, this isn't something you can condone.

As the blog We Are Respectable Negroes (the name comes from the Forty Acres and a Mule document) puts it: "It seems that Barack Obama was finally called a 'nigger' at a recent Republican presidential rally."

Palin will get a lot of flack for not responding, and while I can't argue otherwise, I don't know what she should have said. (In a Palin voice: "Oh, come on now! That's a bad thing to say!") Then again, how do you stand in front of a crowd that screams out something like that?

Michelle Malkin is claiming that the person was actually shouting, "Redistributor!"

Yes, of course. I make that mistake all the time.

(Aside: in case anyone is planning to leave a comment along the lines of, "What about that Sarah Palin hanging effigy? Why aren't you railing against that?" It's terrible and should be taken down immediately.)

I'll ask you -- what do you think you heard? I actually closed my eyes so I couldn't see the captioning on the video. Send the kids out of the room and tell us what you think was said.

Source: We Are Respectable Negroes, MichelleMalkin.com

Babble Talk: The Candidates Health Plans

Palin's Ohio Rallies Reveal Frightening Misconceptions about Barack Obama are Alive and Thriving

Morning News: Malia Obama Tells Dad 'Don't Mess With My TV'

Breaking News -- Obama Assassination Plot Thwarted

Babble Podcast for October 27th, 2008

Which Candidate Has The Best Name?

Flip Flopping on Palin's Kids

Palin Speaks Out On Special Needs Trusts

Joe the racist plumber?

Babble Talk: The Candidates Health Plans

Brett Singer — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Kim Mance breaks down some of the key points in the Obama and McCain health care plans. I have a few thoughts to add.

I didn't realize this, but the debate about a national health care system goes back much further than when Bill Clinton attempted to implement one when he was first elected way back in 1992. "Both Roosevelt and Truman called for health care to be an 'economic right.' Truman then proposed a single-payer health program to cover all Americans. But it was called a 'Communist plot' by a House subcommittee after the American Medical Association denounced it." Funny (not ha-ha funny) how one of the current digs at Obama is that he's a "socialist". I guess socialist is the new communist.

A key difference between their proposals is, "how to ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance. Both want there to be no 'state lines' as there are now, so families can shop around for the best plan. However, Obama will regulate and require insurance companies to cover patients regardless of pre-existing conditions, and McCain will not. McCain will instead work with Governors on (fifty separate) plans to optimize access to health care within each individual state."

One thing that I find very interesting, and encouraging, is that at least both sides are talking about getting more people covered. Back in the 1990's, it was much more of an "us against them" situation, with the Democrats wanting a national health care system and the Republicans wanting everything to stay the same.

To me, a sign that the McCampaign is out of touch on this particular issue is the notion that a family can purchase health coverage for $5,000, or even that they can purchase it at all. First, as Mance points out in her Babble article, $5,000 covers less than half of the typical family's yearly health insurance bill. Obama says that the cost is $12,000, Mance cites a study that puts the number at $12,680. Second, as someone who has run a small business and offered health insurance to employees, I can tell you that it is not that simple to just go buy a plan the way McCain says it is. For an individual, it is significantly more difficult. Health insurers simply don't want to talk to individuals about coverage, they prefer to deal with "groups", meaning employers. So while it sounds nice to say, "hey, here's five grand, you can buy whatever health plan works best for you", it's just not that simple.

There are more details discussed in Mance's article, which is very much worth a read. The bottom line? It's hard to tell what will happen no matter who gets elected, but they agree that the current system isn't good enough. "Neither presidential candidate's health care plan brings us anywhere near a true socialized medicine or single-payer system. But they do both point out the many ways our own health care structure can be improved." That's at least something.

Flip Flopping on Palin's Kids

They Say: More Children Have Allergies

New York Times Anthrax Update

Dr. Greene's Vitamins one way to get extra D

Woman leaves toddler in car while she goes to a bar

Santa Claus says: Smoke More

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

Mom and son barbecue grandma's remains

Palin Speaks Out On Special Needs Trusts

Brett Singer — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave a speech in Pittsburgh on Friday where she discussed the challenges facing children with special needs.

Here is a video clip with a few choice digs at the Obama-Biden tax plan:

If the clip does not appear, try clicking here to see it.

And a couple of pertinent lines from the speech:

As families across America know, the care of special-needs children requires long-term planning, and especially financial planning. A common practice among these families is to establish financial trusts. These are known as special needs trusts, covering years of medical and other costs, and for parents they bring invaluable comfort.
Understandably, then, many families with special-needs children or dependent adults are concerned that our opponent in this election plans to raise taxes on precisely those kinds of financial arrangements. They fear that Senator Obama's tax increase will have serious and harmful consequences -- and they are right. The burden that his plan would impose upon these families is just one more example of how many plans can be disrupted, how many futures can be placed at risk, and how many people can suffer when the power to tax is misused.

I’m unfamiliar with special needs trusts, but it sounds to me like something only someone with money can do. That is, if a family lives paycheck to paycheck, how much financial planning can they really do? Like most political rhetoric, what Palin says is short on specifics and long on fear mongering. (That's true of both sides; lack of details is non-partisan.) Also, "the power to tax"? Oy vey. You would think no Republican administration had ever raised taxes, or that the tax cuts in recent years actually worked. (That's another conversation, but really. Oy vey.)

She also makes this claim:

In a McCain-Palin administration, we will put the educational choices for special needs children in the right hands their parents'. Under reforms that I will lead as vice president, the parents and caretakers of children with physical or mental disabilities will be able to send that boy or girl to the school of their choice -- public or private.

Just like that? Come on. We're not electing a Supreme Ruler; we're electing a President. And anyone who thinks that a school voucher law like the one that Sarah Palin describes (I know that may be an oversimplification, but hey, I can do it too!) will get passed quickly and easily is at best naïve.

A commenter on the nationaljournal.com article says it pretty well:

I find all these promises far too vague and general to mean much of anything. … What about health insurance? … Sorry, I don't need a 'friend' -- I need someone with a plan that does more than 'hope' that 'market forces' will allow me to afford insurance for my child.

I will say that I think it's interesting to hear this much talk about autism/special needs children during an election year. It's possible that this issue was front and center in the past, but if so, I didn't notice.

Text of the full speech is here if you want to read it.

If anyone has more direct experience with special needs trusts, or any of the other issues Palin raised in her speech, I'd be curious to hear your take on what she had to say.

sources: MSNBC, National Journal

Palin Plays the Race Card, Badly

Piper Palin Carries a Louis Vuitton Bag - Is it Hers? Does it Matter?

Morning News: Pregnant With Palin

Sarah Palin on SNL for real

Breaking News: Maya Rudolph to Play Michelle Obama on SNL

Is Sarah Palin the next Oprah?

They Say: More Children Have Allergies

Dr. Greene's Vitamins one way to get extra D

Woman leaves toddler in car while she goes to a bar

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

Is Sarah Palin the next Oprah?

Brett Singer — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:45:00 GMT

This story from the Hollywood Reporter is making the rounds. It's very odd.

According to HR, "as more and more polls cast doubt on the McCain-Palin ticket, producers and agents across the entertainment world are discussing possibilities for capitalizing on her fame, ranging from an Oprah-style syndicated talk show to a Sean Hannity-like perch in cable news or on radio."

I suppose I could see a Fox News-style show. But Oprah? Come on.

I'm not a big Oprah fan. I think she promotes some questionable stuff, is highly materialistic, and never gets criticized even when her actions might warrant it (she really made some big mistakes with that school she started, for instance). But there's no denying that she is the most successful television host in history, and someone whom millions of people adore. She is also somebody who can say, "I like this book" or "I like this movie" and suddenly that book or movie is number one. (Howard Stern Show producer Gary Dell'Abate told a story on the air about how he tried to get his wife to watch the movie 'Crash' with him. She wouldn't even consider it. Then Oprah said it was great. They watched it that night.) Again, it's not my thing, but Oprah clearly connects with a broad range of people. Sarah Palin is an extremely divisive figure. While that sort of thing plays really well on Fox News and right-wing radio, it doesn't usually work on network or syndicated television. (Anyone remember Rush Limbaugh's late night TV show? I thought so.)

Also, I think Palin has more political aspirations. That's pure speculation on my part, since Sarah and I haven't talked lately. (Actually, we haven't talked ever.) But I'm not the only one who thinks she might want to move into the White House on her own.

Would you watch a show called "Sarah!" starring Palin?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Flip Flopping on Palin's Kids

Will Ferrell Returns to SNL

Sarah Palin on SNL for real

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

Joe the racist plumber?

They say: McCain not thrilled with Palin and she wants to run in 2012

Best political shirt ever - Everyone Poops

Morning News: Palin Bling-gate, Day 3

Madeline Holler — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:30:00 GMT

After two days of shock from, scrutiny over, and (pre- and post-nomination) cataloging of the GOP vice presidential candidate's wardrobe, we're getting an explanation of the controversial designer threads straight from the clothes horse's mouth.

What does Sarah Palin have to say about reports of the $150K campaign clothes?

"That whole thing is just, bad!" she told the Chicago Tribune. "Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are. OK, we're listening ...

Anyway, no offense, Sarah, but John thought you needed new clothes.

Yet another profile of Sarah Palin, this one describing childhood, high school, college and early career. Her parents say she was quiet and bookish, friends said she was devout and bubbly, a college roommate notes her attention to hair and make-up, and her run for elected offices came as a bit of a surprise. Note the last line, in which Palin shrugs her shoulders and doesn't dismiss the idea of becoming president -- back when she first ran for city council (watch your back, John McCain!).

Even if McCain loses, smart people who know such things say this isn't the last we'll see of Sarah Palin. All those coy remarks about going back to family and God in Alaska? Not so.

Final Daily Palin bit: she's going to speak today at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh about children with special needs (and also energy independence and government reform). This will be her first policy speech.

The GOP appears to have conceded the election already in a new ad arguing for voters to support Republicans for Senate and House races. BTW: it's not exactly over for McCain. Here's how he could still win.

If Obama does win, the Daily Mail reports Oprah will be ambassador to Britain -- and a fine one indeed, according to some journalists over there. That's much better than being the Secretary of Feel Good. Oprah hasn't made us feel good in years.

Now, which one is the education candidate again? Because if school reform hasn't felt urgent yet, see how you feel after reading this: kids these days are less likely to graduate high school than their parents were. Um, not being mean, here, but the Palins are truly a modern family!

Piper's Toting a Fake!

Do Sarah Palin and Family Listen to the Ramones?

Salvation Army Says: We'll Take Palin's Clothes!

Campaign Dream Team: Sarah and Liz!

A Primer for Undecideds

Palin's Not Just a Snazzy Dresser ... She's a Voracious Reader!

Photos: charlotteobserver.com

New Obama Cabinet Position: Oprah as the Secretary of Feel-Good?

Shannon LC Cate — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Speculation has begun that Barack Obama, should he win the presidency, might offer a cabinet position to feel-good diva, Oprah Winfrey. A rumor begun in blog from the online version of the Financial Times, but Oprah's spokesperson says there've been no overtures yet, and Clinton press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, reminds us that taking a government position would be, for billionaire Oprah, "like a 100,000 percent paycut."

Still it's interesting to speculate, as The Chicago Tribune does, on what Oprah might offer the world of politics:

Imagine, just for a moment: A small stage, softly lit and stylishly decorated. Four soft burgundy chairs and a faint scent of lavender candles.  Seated from left to right: Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il and Oprah Winfrey. The men hold the fate of the world in their hands. But Oprah holds the keys to three new cars.

  "You get a car! You get a car! You get a car!"

  Bingo.

  World peace.

What do you think? Could Oprah bring something the United States needs to the executive branch?

Image: newsbusters.org