here comes the groom

The dog groomers always scold me when I drop off Elliott (the black terrier) and Gipper (the white poodle) because, as an inveterate cheapskate, I wait so long between groomings that they both look like Cousin It. But it's hard to argue with these gorgeous results...

joe turncoat

So, Senate Democrats voted to allow Joe Lieberman to hang onto his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Forgive me if I'm not bursting with enthusiasm. In fact, when I had picked all the low-hanging fruit this summer reading about Obama and Hillary slugging it out in the primary, I went off in search of some unflattering stories about Lieberman. I wasn't disappointed (click the link and read a doozy: I wish I could have been there to witness journalist Matt Taibbi unintentionally laughing out loud in the middle of a Lieberman speech and the resultant confrontation with Lieberman supporters).

Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic interprets the slap on Lieberman's wrist in light of the Democratic sweep in the election: the Democratic party has a mandate and Obama tends not to waste time and resources on paltry infighting in favor of focusing on the big goals. And keeping Lieberman in the caucus helps reach those goals. Ironically, the claims about a political party being "a big tent" usually come from Republicans - perhaps because they have a lot of convincing to do on this question. The Democratic party, obviously, is more of a big tent (at best a microcosm of America as a whole and at worst a fractured coalition of feuding interest groups), but the tent gets a bit smaller if Lieberman is essentially kicked out of it.

So, in the favor of the government actually getting things accomplished and having any chance to transcend (or at least curtail) partisan gridlock over the next four/eight years, I guess I'll have to tolerate Turncoat Joe as a quasi-Democrat for awhile...until I move to Connecticut just in time to register to vote so I can help bounce him out of the Senate in 2012.

bust-mart

Just read an interesting slide show in Slate by Julia Christensen about retail big-box store locations that are then used as civic buildings, churches and other stores. I particularly like the Kmart location in Minnesota that was converted into a Spam museum (not the email kind).

Though one has to look far and wide to find a Wal-Mart here in Jersey (much less a Wal-Mart Supercenter; I'm not even sure we have those), Lakeland, Florida, where I went to college, was what I call a 2 Wal-Mart town. This designation applies to third-tier cities (think regional airport) in flyover country that are just big enough to sustain two Wal-Marts. And this dynamic is somehow always the same: one Wal-Mart was average and one was cruddy (yes, cruddy even by Wal-Mart standards). Curiously, in Lakeland, when the cruddy Wal-Mart by the mall closed down in favor of a new Supercenter down the road, the other one across town, which had been the nicer one, went to pot...and fast. It's like the universe balances itself someway.

But all this to say: in spite of its drawbacks, I'm now thoroughly pleased to live in a 0 Wal-Mart town.

don't quote me

Just watched Sir David Frost on The Daily Show and a quote sprang to mind - actually, it's a sort of non-quote because it nullifies an existing cliche:

"Time doesn't heal all wounds. It simply makes people more willing to reopen them."

-Grantlander

And who will play David Frost to George W. Bush? Um, is Tom Snyder still alive? No? Then get me Mike Douglas...

collateral damage

I was just at the gas station getting gas. Well, I wasn't getting it, exactly - Jersey has a peculiar law that you can't pump your own gas, so every station is full service. I've read it adds about a nickel to the gallon price, but we still enjoy some of the cheapest gas in the nation (today it was $1.99).

Anyway, while I was sitting in my car not pumping my gas, the guy who was filling up the tank was having a conversation with a customer about the spelling of "collateral." Eventually, my attendant was persuaded by the guy that it was spelled: collitoarl. (Isn't that a medical condition, by the way?). And he became so convinced that he yelled across the lot, "Jake, you forgot the 'i'!"

I sincerely hope Jake wasn't filling out a loan application and listing his collitoarl. That just might disqualify you with several lenders in this financial climate. Of course, if Jake was looking for a loan last year, he certeinleey would have got it. Maybe that's why we're in this mess. Thanks a lot, Jake!

last time...I promise

Sorry to run this Hillary thing into the ground, but I just read a brief but characteristically great blog post on Slate's XX Factor blog by The Atlantic's brilliant Hanna Rosin (an excerpt):

One brave, path-breaking Hillary rewarded for a lifetime of hard work and suffering, I can handle. But the whole lot of them colonizing the transition is too much. The Clintonites are not dreamers. They came to power during a Republican era and have a constricted view of what they can accomplish. Over the years, they have lost whatever blue-sky instincts they once had and have turned into schemers and professionals.

Indeed. I do think it's prudent, though, that Obama is stacking his administration with seasoned players who have gotten stuff done in Washington in the past, despite his mantle that's supposed to be all about change. I guess he learned from Bush in 2000, who ran as an outsider (a "reformer with results" - remember those callow days?) and brought a truckful of outsiders with him who were able to accomplish...well, nothing good. Looking back, how I wish it would have been: nothing. Good!

doubling down

So, my Google homepage loaded up this morning with a CNN story on the wire about Obama's transition team setting up meetings. Then, in a "meanwhile," it goes onto mention that several Republicans are praising the idea of Hillary for Secretary of State:

Meanwhile, Republicans praised the prospect of Sen. Hillary Clinton becoming secretary of state. Sources told CNN on Friday that Obama has spoken about that job with Clinton and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, another former rival for the presidential nomination.

Former Nixon and Ford Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Clinton would be an "outstanding" selection, Bloomberg News reported.

GOP Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona told Fox News: "She's got the experience; she's got the temperament for it." And California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told ABC it would be a "great move."

Does anyone else see this as a cynical doubling down of the Republicans' support of Hillary in the Democratic primary? It seemed like Republicans were falling all over themselves to offer backhanded support to Hillary, especially after it was clear to everyone (but Hillary) that she wouldn't win the primary. It makes sense: Hillary was clearly the candidate Republicans wanted to run against. One can imagine entire warehouses of anti-Hillary pamphlets printed up by the RNC just sitting there, yellowing away somewhere in Secaucus, NJ (ah, the scenic warehouse district). Once Hillary officially lost the nominations, Republicans simply downshifted into supporting Hillary for veep, practically daring Obama to put her on the ticket. But, alas, Obama didn't want to take Hillary's negatives aboard and didn't want to deal with the drama Bill Clinton would have brought along to the ticket.

So, now Republicans are pushing for Hillary for Secretary of State. I wonder if these Republican "endorsements" aren't laden with a similar cynicism with an ultimate goal of trying to woo female support away from Democrats? But then again, they've never tried to do that before, have they?

team of hillarys

So, when I heard the news that Hillary Clinton was being considered for Secretary of State, I threw up in my mouth just a little bit. Not because I don't think Hillary would do a good job as SecState, but because I've grown so weary of her on the national stage. But then I thought about it a bit more, and here's what I now have to say about it.

When she (finally) conceded defeat in the democratic primary, I was so ready to not hear from Hillary for a long time. Though all politicians do it, I just couldn't take hearing Hillary's stump speech one more time where she offered a few different versions of the "rhetorical relationship" gag, where she highlights one of us peasants in a forced-sounding anecdote: Just like Hazel Simonton, a seamstress from Knoxville, Tennessee, who told me she was counting on me as she sewed stars on American flags bound for the middle east to be burned in anti-American protests...

I was so glad that Hillary was out of the picture. For a few days. Then I began to thirst for a renewal of HillaryNews: was she out there campaigning for Obama? Was she still raising money and siphoning her donors to the winning team? Did she show off any new pantsuits? It was then that I realized I kind of missed Hillary. Now that she is being considered for a place in Obama's administration (maybe State, maybe nothing...we'll see), I'm able to come to terms with the fact that Hillary might still be a major player with mucho national profile (and not merely one in a chorus line of 100 senators). And if she is being considered for State, props to Obama to consider including someone who disagreed (disagrees?!) with him so pointedly on foreign policy matters. This is what a team of rivals would really look like, I guess.

It looks like Maureen Dowd made a similar point in her column (of course, it was mixed in with a heavy dose of Bill Clinton-ness; ah, an oldie but a goodie). Perhaps we will have Hillary to kick around anymore.

things 'n things

So, my wife and I schlepped to Linens 'N Things on Sunday to get some linens...and, also, some things. We went because the store is going out of business, a casualty of the tanking economy (and as a result of the store's overall crumminess). We had a decent-ish experience rooting through the spoils at 20% off, but we were bombarded constantly by dire announcements over the PA that coupons would no longer be accepted. This leads me to a story a friend of ours told us.

Apparently, the week before, the desperation markdown was only 10% off. But Linens 'N Things is a store heavily dependent upon the coupons with which they carpet bomb consumers, just like Bed, Bath and Beyond (though, amazingly, we were the only household in North America not to receive BB&B coupons, despite me registering for their horrible newsletter just to try to snag the discounts; ultimately, it's not worth it if you're only able to stomach shopping there once a year). Anyway, when our friend was there, people were trying to pay with their 20% off coupons, but the coupons weren't being accepted because of the going out of business discount...of 10% off. So people were saying (screaming), I came here for a going out of business sale, and the 'sale' you're offering me is less of a deal that than the staying-in-business sale I usually get?

It's a wonder why the company is going under...

in name only

A brief word on the name of this blog: thegrantlander...

The name "grantlander" was a moniker I chose when posting photographs on the web. It's derived from the legendary photographer Lee Friedlander. After reading an article about Friedlander in Newsweek (not available for free on the web - just one reason I no longer subscribe to that glossy rag) and seeing his exhibition at MoMA with my wife and my Mom, I decided to appropriate the -lander suffix. Of course, my wife pointed out that the name is also reminiscent of Zoolander, a celebrated artifact of the American cinema that includes the immortal line: "Hansel...so hot right now...Hansel."

So, the name has both high- and low-culture appeal. And "grantlander" was already taken as a blog address (it's some ranch where they shoot wooly mammoths from helicopters, I think), so this blog became "thegrantlander".

My only goal was to find a name my wife didn't absolutely hate or giggle uncontrollably when hearing. So, mission accomplished (for the time being, at least)...

wipe the slate clean

So, I've resolved to avoid the mistake I made in earlier blogs and whatnots to do my thinking in isolation. It turns out that I missed out on so many rich opportunities for mudslinging, invective, flamethrowing, culture wars, personal attacks and mini-muffin baskets.

I plan to remedy this by linking to other blogs and sites that I enjoy or enjoy hating. In that spirit, here's the best of the best, the site that I would hook to my veins, were it physically possible: the online magazine Slate.

I digest other magazines (The New Yorker, New York, News about New's Yorky in New York While Yorking the New, and Cat Fancy), but Slate fits me perfectly. It has the perfect mixture of snark, analysis and a refusal to apologize for its appeal to intelligent people that appeals to me. Granted, it's pretty left-brain and needs to be supplemented with something that nurtures the soul, but it's an indispensable resource for me.

We all deserve one slice of media that suits us perfectly and serves as our portal to the world. Well, besides Cat Fancy.

why he blogs

Why cram another blog into the white noise of the net? Good question. I've taken a few stabs at this kind of thing before (armchairperson.com - now defunct; also, a contender for the worst Blogspot name ever, Detrital Omnibus), but there's no reason to wait around for things like...having something worthwhile to say, a new Celine Dion album to drop, etc.

In short, what motivated me to launch this latest attempt at self-expression is this article in the Atlantic by Andrew Sullivan, entitled "Why I Blog." He also has a magnificent blog called The Daily Dish. If you read the article, you might get an idea of why I'm rolling out this blog, though it will still give you little/no idea what my blog will be about.

Well, that makes two of us (and, making an educated guess about who might be interested in this blog, it's probably closer to one of us). We'll navigate those uncharted waters together. What fun.