I'm finding myself weirdly fascinated by the Obamas. It's like I have a crush on the whole damn family.

Me too. It's weird.

Three. Ayup.

I used to believe this of myself, until I met John Yoo. He's quite thoughtful, and not a raging neocon. He's even got a great sense of humor. But I can't deal with him because of his positions.

After seeing John Yoo's interviews in Taxi to the Darkside, I'd be hard pressed to not throttle him if I ever met him in person.

This was linked to over at Readerville - I thought some (history buffs) might be interested in it:

Recording from 1818 of a unit being bombarded.

Link to recording at the site and it's also available on itunes.

Edited to say: of course, by 1818, I mean 1918.

Add me to the family-crush list.

I used to believe this of myself, until I met John Yoo. He's quite thoughtful, and not a raging neocon. He's even got a great sense of humor. But I can't deal with him because of his positions.

Oh, I don't mean deal with personally. Mostly I mean respect. Not that I know who John Yoo is.

From McSweeney's: An Electoral-College breakdown for my French in-laws that meets all their preconceptions.

I'm trying to decide if his description of Florida or Ohio is more apt, but they did call Laura, Tep and Cash to mind.

Not that I know who John Yoo is.

Torture Memo guy, unless I'm thinking of a different Yoo altogether.

Aaaaand I'm tearing up again:

South Carolina proved Obama could make a stand in the South. I live in Charleston, S.C., and his win in the state's primary really made a difference to people - both black and white. Several days before the primary, my cab driver told me he was going to vote for Obama but he didn't believe a black man could win against a white man or woman. I called him after the election to see if he voted. With pride in his voice he said, "I did and I took my kid with me and the next day I told him he was right. He could be anything he wanted to be someday, even President."

There are plenty of things I won't agree with Obama on and I think a lot of people are in for some disappointment when they start seeing those things. But he won't be calling us anti-american for it. And he'll try and find the common ground.

I'm also hoping he can unite the party a bit. Rahm Emanuel's hate-on for Howard Dean distresses me. I'll be interested to see how/if Obama reaches out to Dean (who's 50 state strategy has worked twice now). If he can get them to play nice with each other it could do the Democrats a lot of good. The GOP is pretty splintered at the moment, this would be a very good time for the Democrats to put their differences aside.

I'm finding myself weirdly fascinated by the Obamas. It's like I have a crush on the whole damn family.

Me, too. They are just so darned adorable - every one of them.

Obama parenting slide show.

Fascinating article on an ex-missionary turned linguist who's taking on Chomsky's theory or universal language.