Erik Vorhes

100+ books to read with Zora

It’s no secret that Zora loves books. So this is noted for future reference: 100 books every child should read.

—4:26 p.m.

This is one of the reasons I will never vote for Huckabee: he’s an honest-to-goodness racist.

—10:16 a.m.

Textivism

In the hubbub of life, I forgot to mention: my portfolio site, Textivism, is live. Next up: the overdue overhaul of this drasty thing.

—noon

I’m listening to Larry Sabato on the Diane Rehm Show (link), who changed his mind about term limits:

If I were a politician, I’d be called a “flip-flopper,” but since I’m an academic, we get to call it “intellectual growth.”

—9:20 a.m.

Football nation

Update: I’m seriously thinking about canceling this thing, now that my Packers are out. I mean, come on, Favre! (And I really could care less about the Cheatriots or the Whiny Manning-led Giants.) Go NY, I guess.

Erica and I have frequently talked about doing a Super Bowl chili party, with “representative” chilies from the two teams’ state(s), or in the case of a few teams, the states they claim they’re from. (This helps to keep Erica interested in the games, since she’s not really a football fan.) This year we might actually pull it off. For the curious, we’ll be using Chili Nation as the source. I’ll update the lists as the teams winnow themselves:

NFC

• District of Columbia: “Serious Capitol Punishment Chili”
• Florida: “Havana Moon Chili”
• New York: “Buffalo Beef and Weck Chili”
• Texas: “Tigua Indian Definitive Bowl of Red”
• Washington: “Seattle Coffee Chili”
• Wisconsin: “Green Bay Chili”

AFC

• California: “Gilroy Super Garlic Chili”
• Florida: “Havana Moon Chili”
• Indiana: “Sunday Supper Chicken Chili”
• Massachusetts: “Rock-Ribbed Bean-and-Beef Chili”
• Pennsylvania: “Homage to Hershey Chocolate Chili”
• Tennessee: “Memphis Barbecue Shrimp Chili”

I’ll post the “results” of the chili Super Bowl, hopefully before the game’s outcome is known.

—9:13 p.m.

Insinuation 101

I doubt that Richard Cohen is a plagiarist or is generally in favor of plagiarism. I’m sure he’s a decent, upstanding guy who doesn’t believe in passing off others’ work as his own. But the eerie similarity of his column (from today) to this one (from yesterday) certainly gives one pause.

(Full disclosure: thanks to Josh Marshall for the tip!)

Oh, and in case anyone wonders, I don’t think the column’s concern is a real one for Obama. Check out the campaign’s response to this BS.

—4:03 p.m.

Partly to blunt Republican fearmongering, our presumptive Democratic nominee should change his name to “Barack Demosthenes Obama.”

—4:04 p.m.

Last night, The Simpsons had fun with the Bayeux Tapestry. You can have fun with it, too. All was not fun with last night’s episode, though: in their parody of presidential politics, all of the candidates—Republican and Democrat—were old white men. I’m pretty sure that’s not the case this time around, at least for the Democratic Party.

—9:23 a.m.

A few thoughts from the debate double-header:

• Mitt Romney seems to have switched his strategy: “Vote for me because I can be Obama!”
• Hillary Clinton also has switched hers: “Vote for me because I’m older than Obama!” (The “I’ve been making change for 35 years” line just doesn’t wash with me.)
• None of the Republican candidates likes Ron Paul. All of them were stumbling over each other to be the first to declare that “Ron is wrong about” whatever topic is on the table.
• The general Republican healthcare plan revolves around the deaths of everyone who can’t make “responsible” choices about healthcare.
• Fred Thompson spent too much time in the tanning booth.

—10:07 p.m.

Gobama!

Last night was awesome! I’m thrilled that Obama won the Iowa primary—I’ve been a fan of his since before I voted for him in the 2004 Democratic primary. Do you like Barack? Feel free to show your support. Better yet, donate to the campaign!

—9:09 a.m.

Viking raiders!

2 out of 2 kids agree: Snow and sleds are wonderful inventions.

—4:05 p.m.