Dog Tired

(Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Meet the Press, via Associated Press)

It's been non-stop fun here in Roxie's World this weekend, kids -- long summer evenings of re-connecting with old dog pals, of showing a new dog pal around my ridiculously large back yard, of listening to the moms and their human pals carry on about the state of the world, their lives, their fragile hearts, their conflicted minds. Your favorite dog blogger is one tired old pup this evening, though, so if it's all right with you I'm just going to toss up a few links and head off to bed. Once the batteries have been re-charged, I'll sit down with the creative team and the political division and draw up a plan for a series of posts guaranteed to get all of us through the dog daze of summer. Feel free to leave suggestions in Comments. You all got As for excellent participation in the Cutest Non-Lady Tennis Player Contest last week, so by all means keep those opinions comin'. Your input is important to us.

• Watchdog of the Week is Virginia Senator Jim Webb facing off against South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham on Meet the Press. Crooks and Liars has video here. NY Times has a re-cap of the Sunday talk shows here.
• This just in from the Department of Unintended Hilarity: Bill Kristol has a piece in Wa Po arguing that Shrub's presidency will probably end up being a successful one. The big accomplishments, according to happy Bill, are that there have been no terrorist attacks on U. S. soil since 9/11, the economy is strong, and the war in Iraq -- though it's been "very difficult" -- is now "on course to a successful outcome." The piece is here, but we urge you to empty your bladder before reading it.
• Michael Isikoff reports in Newsweek that Shrub decided to commute Scooter Libby's sentence in order to avoid angering Vice President Darth Cheney. He quotes an unnamed adviser to the president as saying, "I'm not sure Bush had a choice. . . .If he didn't act, it would have caused a fracture with the vice president." The article is here, and I think I'd approach this one with an empty stomach.
• Also in Newsweek, Anna Quindlen has a column urging Hillary Clinton to try to persuade Barack Obama to be her running mate. We think she makes a pretty compelling case. Here is the last paragraph:

[Obama] would have to decide he would be willing to coexist with a strong woman. But it seems as though he already does that at home. You would have to be willing to let a charismatic man steal some of your thunder, but you do that at home, too. This would be a political marriage of convenience, sure, but one that could excite the country. The president has driven the nation into a ditch, and the American people are standing by the side of the road with their thumbs out. Everyone is poised for big change, big ideas. Do the big thing that also happens to be the right thing. Your Web site says help make history. Go ahead. I dare you.

The rest of the article is here.

• Finally, and with thanks to RutgersAlumna for pointing this out in Comments, Gloria Steinem has an inspired little piece in Huff Po proposing a new form of gender balance in cultural evaluation. Tired of demeaning labels such as "chick flick" and "chick lit," Steinem suggests we start applying labels such as "prick flick" and "prick lit" to films and books that glorify war, violence against women, and female masochism to help consumers navigate the cultural marketplace with greater precision. Moose can't believe that she never managed to come up with such a term, but she gives props to Sister Gloria and predicts that some clever English prof will start offering courses in Prick Flicks and Lit very soon. Steinem's piece is here.
  

Golly, kids, doesn't it feel to you that the Bush years have been just about the longest, scariest Prick Flick you've ever seen? Yeah, me, too. Wake me when it's over, will you?