The night we were discussing her impending visit, I noticed a truck in a parking lot covered in bumper stickers. The most notable of these stickers? “I’ll forgive Jane Fonda when the Jews forgive Hitler.” Yeah, seriously. What the…?

However, the real WTF moment was while we were out at the bar. Now Jill and I have always been a bit crass; it’s just who we are. After a couple of beers at a local pub (a classier joint than the outings of our early twenties; the one bartender here puts the shamrock in your Guinness foam!), we were discussing which celebrities we thought would die this year. I mean, 2009 was a year for tragic celebrity deaths with Farrah, Michael, Patrick, Brittany, etc. 2010 has potential. First on Jill’s list was Amy Winehouse. The lady bartender overheard, and joined in our conversation. She also had Amy Winehouse at the top of her list, which made us happy and allowed her to stay in our conversation.

Big mistake.

This woman said that she wouldn’t mind seeing a certain high-ranking political figure die. I don’t even want to write it into a sentence on the internet that’s how “Holy Mother of God, are you SERIOUS?” such a statement is to me.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the Change We Can Believe In™ was too good to be true. That’s not the President’s fault. The people in the other branches of government are working hard to light the flaming hoops for him to jump through. He has a lot of messes to clean up. He’s trying his damnedest and he’s doing a pretty good job with the shitty hand he was dealt. We could be living in a nuclear holocaust by now, or at least in a world where we shoot animals from helicopters. Reacting in a very unJill and unLindsay manner, we tried our best to steer the conversation back to the Isle of Sanity. I pointed out that my friend was from the Capitol, and Jill stated that many people in her land would be very sad if anything like that happened.

The bartender backpedaled a little bit. She kind of went in to why she doesn’t like him. Apparently “naming foreign dignataries” isn’t high on her list of presidential qualifications. She would prefer someone “regular.” Like Sarah Palin.

Really? Really?!

I don’t think we even really responded. The look on our faces said it all. She tried to qualify “regularity” by saying, “or you.” In retrospect, this doesn’t make me feel much better. I don’t want to be in the same category as Sarah Palin for anything but my X chromosomes.

The conversation wrapped up after I steered it to local politics and we politely asked for our tabs. I tipped fairly generously considering she had just grouped me with the newest Fox New commentator, so maybe she will finance some education or something.

I surely hope that my friend comes back to PA after this. I’m not sure I would!

Because that last time they “officially” declared Barack Obama as President, it wasn’t enough, Congress announced on January 8 that–ohmygod–Obama is going to be President! I was so shocked that I fainted. And by fainted, I mean I took a nap. C’mon people, I know it’s more fun than talking about the economy, but that was a good 3 minutes of my local news that could have featured filler stories about farms and/or attempted robberies.

In other (and slightly more hilarious) news, Sarah Palin is whining about the media again.  This time the “reason” is Caroline Kennedy’s campaign for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.  The Political Paris Hilton (although I’m starting to think she’s more of a Heidi Montag as far as level of annoyance goes) wonders if Kennedy will be “treated with kid gloves” or torn apart by the media in a Palinistic fashion.  Well, Sarah, let me answer you briefly, and hopefully without much Capslock.  Caroline Kennedy, should she be appointed to Senate, will NOT be second in line to “LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD.”  She will not be allowed near any red buttons, nor will she play a large role in how other nations perceive us.  To my knowledge, she’s never hunted animals out of a helicopter and, while the Kennedys have always provided plenty of headlines over the years, I’m pretty sure none of them had an unwed teenage daughter give birth to a baby named Tripp.  So, even without the “kid gloves,” it won’t be as easy for the media to mock Kennedy.  Sorry ’bout it.

You know, I could keep going.  I could pull some quotes and make fun of this chick some more, but I’m tired.  Of her, of her thinking she knows jack shit about anything outside of Alaska, of making fun of her daughter and Levi, of the media letting her talk, etc.  I’m just going to link to an opinion piece now; it’s titled:”Sarah Palin Needs to Go Away Before She Does Even More Harm to Herself.“  I only skimmed it, but I’m pretty sure he says things I want to say, but with eloquence instead of Capslock.

Additionally, Governor Car Salesman Blagojevich will be impeached and inauguration is going to wreak havoc on traffic and be a delightful security nightmare.  Well, duh.

Sorry it’s short this week!

Okay, so maybe you won’t be thanking me, but according to Condoleeza Rice, you will be thanking Bush for all he’s done. I love ya, Condi, but are you serious? Apparently so:

“This isn’t a popularity contest. I’m sorry, it isn’t. What the administration is responsible to do is to make good choices about Americans’ interests and values in the long run — not for today’s headlines, but for history’s judgment,” she said.

She then goes on to say that diplomats who say people in the rest of the world don’t like Americans are wrong and that historians who think Bush was a craptastic president are also incorrect. Additionally, she says, “there is no spoon.”

Less than three weeks and he’ll be gone! Will you miss him? Me either.

Speaking of (not) missing Bush, Politico has a list of people we will miss in 2009. I totally agree with their pick of Governor Ed Rendell. I kind of adore my state’s governor, even though some people think he’s a prick. A commenter on a Jezebel post referred to him as “the Gregory House of politics” and I think that is the best short description of him I’ve ever read. He’s honestly sleazy–a true political figure. He is also the first major candidate I voted for when I reached legal age. The list doesn’t mean these folks will disappear completely; they’re simply stating that these figures more than likely won’t be fixtures on CNN. Joe Biden, Dick Cheney and Howard Dean also make the list.

Surprisingly lacking from the list is Grandma Palin. Oh, wait, that’s because we won’t miss her. Ever. (Or perhaps because the media plans on keeping her around. Ew.) Sarah Palin’s daughter Talladega–I mean Bristol–gave birth to a son in December. His name is Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston and his baby pictures are worth $300,000 to People magazine. Please insert name jokes, drug-addicted mother-in-law jokes and jokes about babies shooting wolves from helicopters here.

Al Franken might get to be a Senator.  According to one report he’s leading by 48 votes with about 1,600 absentee ballots (thought to favor him) to be counted.  Commenters on CNN’s Political Ticker seem to agree that if these folks don’t want people speculating, perhaps reports with random numbers illustrating who is ahead shouldn’t surface every few hours.  Interesting idea!  If this much attention had been paid to Florida in 2000, we might be driving cars that run on sunshine and love by now.

Speaking of the dude who is responsible for the deployment of my friend’s husband, Georgie made some pardons this week and now he seems to want us to pardon his pardon.  No, I didn’t drink the special eggnog before I wrote that sentence.  Bush wants the pardon of Isaac Toussie, who was involved with some false statements about mortgage fraud, re-examined.  In addition to that sour pardon, USA Today reports that Alan Maiss, who was pardoned of “concealing knowledge of a crime,” donated to Bush’s campaign in 2003 and 2004.  The list of pardons is pretty basic, but at the risk of being totally crass, I would like to point out that Bush also commuted the prison sentence of Reed Prior who was convicted of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. (I apologized because I am now going to make the following joke: It was too soon to let Bristol Palin’s mother-in-law off the hook).

Exhibit A

I really should cover the Illinois Governor and his dumb scandal, but I really don’t see the point.  I mean, look at the guy.  He clearly looks like he sells used cars, so I’m not sure why everyone is so surprised that he was trying to sell a Senate seat.  I don’t think Obama was like, “Oh hey, why don’t you put this up on eBay and we’ll split the profit!”  So that’s the most justification I’m going to give that, because I don’t think it is all that interesting.  Sorry.

Everybody’s been weighing in about Obama picking Rick Warren to do the invocation at inauguration, so I’m going to join in.  Yes, the man disagrees with some foundation ideals of the Democrats and a lot of us have a right to be pissed off about it, but it’s kind of an olive branch to that whole red side of the country that we clobbered in November.  And, in case you didn’t notice, it’s a prayer.  At the beginning of the inauguration.  If we’re going to be pissed about anything, could it be that?  I really would love to see a greater separation of church and state, but that is another rant for a time when I’m not crashing from my sugar cookie high.  Also, can we put a spotlight on the fact that Joseph Lowry, “considered the dean of the civil rights movement,” will be giving the benediction.  Can I get an amen?

Some argue that the Cabinet is not full of “change” as promised in Obama’s campaign speeches. I’m fuzzy on what these folks expected the President-elect to do. Was he supposed to pick cabinet members using a dart board? Ask Sarah Palin how she picks baby names and modify the method for political purposes? What? It’s not like Clinton is Strom Thurmond or–dare I say–John McCain when it comes to years in the Senate.

As Obama says on CNN: “What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking. But understand … the vision for change comes first and foremost … from me. That’s my job.”