The Political Whore

By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor
Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.

Tummy aches and waves of nausea, that was always my reaction to any reminder of Chamberlain High School and the time I spent there over twenty years ago. Although my memories are mostly positive and my closest friendships formed in its halls, I’d moved on and put those big hair years behind me.

Then something strange happened.

After two decades away from the nonsense, nostalgia started to creep in. Whether we’re talking about the music (New Order kicked ass) or movies (who didn’t relate to one of the characters in The Breakfast Club?), my friends and I eventually started to forget the bad and focus on the good instead.

It also doesn’t hurt to run into the prom king at Publix, his hairline almost completely receded and working on his fourth marriage. He’s more humble and friendlier, too. We laugh about Mrs. Barnes, a favorite teacher long since retired, and share mutual memories.

Suddenly, high school wasn’t so bad.

Then tragedy strikes and you realize you have a lot more in common with these people than you ever realized.

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Slow news week: At the risk of going back to the SNL well once too often, here’s Andy Sandberg as Rahmbo, a Web-only offering from NBC.

• Obama reaches across the aisle to work with … George W. Bush?
• Gov. Crist ponders a foreclosure freeze financed by a cigarette tax hike.
• The Obama economic team is Dr. Doom approved.
• Buy! Buy! Buy!
• Tiger Woods gets laid off by GM.
• Might Cancer just go away on it’s own?
• Hannity and Colmes are splitting up.
• Chuck Klosterman reviews Chinese Democracy.
• “That’s I-75 going through rural Lithia.”
• Don’t bother sending that manuscript you’re pitching to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
• Will Obama disappoint those who want pot reform?
• YouTube goes widescreen.

McCain insists he was right when he said The Surge led to the Anbar Awakening, despite the fact that the Awakening happened in 2006 and The Surge happened in 2007.

• Poor John McCain, he just can’t catch a break. (This is possibly the most ridiculous story ever published by the Washington Post.)
• Obama gets double the airtime of McCain, and double the tough questions.
• “If somebody told me that I would save the people on the airplane by taking my pants off out in public out there, I wouldn’t mind doing it, but this was not necessary.”
• The director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center warns his employees to limit their cell phone use to avoid tumors. Ah, what does he know?
• Jewelry stores and investment banking firms prepare for the rush of new customers as the U.S. minimum wage jumps to just $6.55 an hour.
• Headline of the week: “Motor racing chief wins ‘Nazi’ orgy lawsuit.”
• The Bucs on the verge of landing Brett Favre? Just what they need, another really old QB.
• The Bruce B. Downs “flyover” opens, traffic remains somewhat snarled.

Super duper!

• Welcome to Super Tuesday. Get comfy, we’re gonna be here a while.
• The final polls are in. Obama and Romney lead in California; Clinton and McCain pulling away in New Jersey. Believe it or not?
• No deal to end the writers strike — yet.
• New York prepares for a Giant celebration.
• An even better catch than David Tyree’s.
• The iPhone and iPod Touch get a memory upgrade … but it’ll cost you.
• Things that “probably” don’t cause cancer: Mobile phones, coffee, breast implants. Rest easy Pam Anderson.
• DON’T CLICK THIS LINK! (I warned you.)