by Kieran Healy on November 15, 2003
Evidence of a new irregular verb courtesy of an interview with Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America, full-time Washington lobbyist and mother:
Would you like to see American products like television shows flourish in Baghdad as well?
Oh, no. I hope they don’t show ”The Osbournes” over there … Shows like that wouldn’t exist if mothers stayed home with their kids and supervised what they watched.
But you yourself are a working mother. Do you think you could have been happy as a full-time housewife?
Probably not. Probably it would not have been enough for me. I always had a desire to make a difference. That is why I love the legislative process, where you can make a difference.
Thus we have,
I am out there making a difference;
You should really be at home with the kids;
She is undermining the moral foundations of our society.
Such double standards are nothing new in the world of Ladies Against Women, of course, but the barefaced cheek of it is still irritating.
by Henry Farrell on November 15, 2003
!https://www.conservatives.com/siteimages/volunteer/joinus.jpg!
The British Conservatives have recently been trying to get more bright young people to “join the party”:https://www.conservatives.com/join/. It looks as though they’ve got some way to go. It’s no secret that the Conservative party is getting a bit long in the tooth (the average party member is “over 65”:http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tories2002/comment/0,12295,805968,00.html years old). But “Matthew Turner”:http://mattysblog.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_mattysblog_archive.html#106786054030485225 really brings their problems home when he takes a look at the products that advertisers try to flog to Conservatives. Turner provides a complete list of the ads in this month’s issue of _Conservative Heartland_, the official party rag. So what are merchants trying to peddle to the Tories? In consecutive order, it seems to be:
Accountants
Retirement investment advice
Vitamins ‘for a healthy lifespan’
Wine
Savile Row shirts
Medical insurance for the over 50s
Retirement homes on the South coast
Leg ‘relaxa-stool’ supporter
Margaret Thatcher books
‘Back-care’ chairs
‘Easy-bather’ bath aid
Typewriter
Pensioners hearing aid
Branded ‘comfort stretch’ trousers
Reproduction antique gramophone
This is so perfect (especially the comfort stretch trousers, hearing aids and gramophones) that it nearly sounds like a hoax. Apparently it’s not though, and indeed it’s been picked up by _Private Eye_. Found via “Harry’s Place”:http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2003/11/13/shurely_shome_mistake.php
by Kieran Healy on November 15, 2003
The Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation invites you to apply for their latest round of grants. Once you have satisfied the 27-point checklist for the application, you must send “one (1) original and ten copies (10) for review by Friday, January 30, 2004.” Do not keep calling to ask whether your application has been received.
I’m sorry. I’ll have to make a donation to them now or something.