What is it?

Italian court refuses "Friday" as
infant's name, insists it would bring
shame and ridicule. Suggest Gregorio

What is it about reporters when writing about female candidates? In an article today ostensibly focusing on Hillary's ability in foreign policy I find the following:
"...Clinton is a 'leader who can command,' West told students and residents as the candidate, standing straight in a brown pantsuit and pink blouse, nodded and smiled."
They never write like this about male candidates. How about "Romney stood nearby in a tailored brown suit with a pink tie, smiling like a Cheshire cat." Or Kucinich appeared in a hundred dollar suit with a natty silk cravat, looking like a million bucks." Or Thompson slouched on stage in a rumpled grey blazer with a red, white and blue tie, carrying a gun in each hand." Or...but you get the picture. What in the hell does what Hillary is wearing have to do with her ability at foreign policy? Why this obvious double standard? This is not an isolated case. Reporters are somehow obsessed with having to comment upon female attire although they would never so report on males (except, of course, on $400 haircuts or, in the case of Nixon, five o'clock shadow). We'll just have to live with this because there is probably no chance it will ever change.

In the latest Atlantic Monthly there is a fine article on Obama that argues that he is the ideal candidate to bridge the gap between the generations and bring about a new era of bipartisanship. He says there are lots of "good Republicans" who are eager to cooperate and bring about necessary changes. Personally, I see no evidence for this. If there are any such Republicans they have certainly remained hidden up until now. What used to be the Republican Party is no more, having been replaced by the Brafia that scorns politics as usual and operates exactly like a mafia mob, an evil bunch of criminal conspirators that have no other aim than forever profiting at the expense of the tax-paying public. With the exception of Hagel they all apparently kiss the hand of their putative "leader."

Here at Sandhill it is cold. Our weather is going through phases: snow, rain, ice, snow, rain, ice. Today we are in an ice phase. We can barely get up and down the driveway which is not conducive to Christmas shopping (which my son and I only do at the last moment). But it was a nice clear, sunny but cold day today and at one point there were seven deer in our backyard no more than 30 feet from my study window). I think they are smart enough to know that if they stay close to the house they will not get shot. At least, unlike the wild turkeys, they don't come up on the porch and poop everywhere. The skunk, I guess, must be hibernating (smart).

LKBIQ:
"Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size."
Virginia Woolf