By the seats of their pantsuits

Since all the serious political topics have either been talked to death or are too boring to talk to death, let's look at the great party divide as it applies to fashion, shall we?
At dinner last night, my mom, while agreeing that $150,000 (in 2 months!) for Sarah Palin's wardrobe was a bit much, also said that Michelle Obama could stand to step it up a bit on the fashion. Basically, she says, Michelle needs a stylist. Apparently my mom does not think J.Crew is suitable first-lady attire. What do you think? Here are some examples, both hits and misses in my view, of the possible first lady-elect:

This one kind of started the conversation -- this is the infamous J. Crew getup (which J. Crew is now advertising heavily as what M.O. wore on Leno). It's not necessarily something I would wear, but I don't think it's bad by any stretch. Of course, someone at the show might have helped her put together that ensemble; let's see how she does when left to her own devices:

It's worth noting that last black and white dress also sparked the maker (White House Black Market) to market it as the "Michelle Obama" dress. So girl does alright for herself, fashion-wise. It's no $150,000 Bloomingdales wardrobe perhaps, but since the Obamas are (ironically) the ones being accused of being elitist and out of touch with Main Street, maybe that's a really, really good thing.

Any thoughts / critiques / suggestions for M.O.?

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It's. Just. The. Glasses.

Whoa

Thanks to Brian for the link - should I do this?

It's tempting, since I've been getting "You look like Sarah Palin" for weeks now (except for one lone soul who told me I look like Tina Fey; same thing I think), but I really don't want to go as her for Halloween. I've got a weird, reverse Clark Kent thing going on -- as long as I don't wear my glasses, no one notices me. The second I put on those glasses, everyone thinks I'm a dead ringer for the possible VeeP-to-be. So should I try to capitalize on that and enter this contest? Any ideas for what a "Sexy Sarah" photo would look like?

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It's the pirate shirt all over again!

I just saw an ad for this sweater:

It's called the "Boyfriend Cardigan". If my boyfriend was wearing a purple cardigan with flouncy, ruffled sleeves, I'd question the solidity of our relationship.

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Who do you love?

Or what do you love, really. I got this from Rachel (Ladypug) - 10 things you love that start with an assigned letter. My letter: H.

1. Halloween - totally my favorite, ever! I love everything about it, especially the costumes! I'm going as Amy Winehouse this year, so I have props for my costume: a microphone and an empty vodka bottle.

2. Hair - fake hair, mostly. I wear wigs, extensions, etc like they're going out of style (like they were ever in style?).

3. Home - mine, specifically. I love my house - I saw it in a dream before the real estate agent showed it to me, so I think that God wanted me to buy it. There can be no other explanation for why I would buy it - it was falling in on itself at the time and it's still a wreck. But it's my wreck.

4. Health - I'm very blessed to have this. Every now and then I get a reminder of how easily it can slip away.

5. Heels - I'm known by friends and co-workers for sporting the highest, most torturous stilettos I can find. I can work them, though. I actually walk better in heels than flats. If you see me wearing flats, it is probably not a good day.

6. Honeysuckle - I love the smell. I keep meaning to plant some around my house, but I'm not sure I've ever seen honeysuckle at a garden shop - I think I've only seen it growing wild.

7. Holidays - In the British sense, that is - vacations. I think I need one right now.

8. Humor - I love to laugh, so anything funny makes the list. Comedy Central is a gift from God.

9. Habitrol - It's a brand of nicotine gum, which I am addicted to despite having never, EVER smoked a cigarette. It's a long story. A long and stupid story.

10. Highways - I'm reaching here. I don't like all highways, just the ones where I'm driving with the top down, good music blaring, gorgeous weather and no traffic to hold me up. Those are the good ones. After all, life is a highway.

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Bail!

I’m more than vaguely annoyed that taxpayers like myself (and probably yourself) have to bail out companies that made stupid decisions and gave housing loans to people you shouldn’t lend lunch money to if you ever want to see it again. I realize something probably had to be done to keep the whole country from being dragged under, but I’m still annoyed.
I'm less annoyed (but still annoyed) with the people who bought houses they could in no way afford because a little flash ad on MySpace said they could get a $500,000 mortgage for $500 a month. Not everyone can be good with money; it's just not everyone's gift in life (it's certainly not mine), but can't a person be reasonably expected to know that these loans were too good to be true? Like I said, less annoyed but still annoyed.
But I was reading some news just now, and I'm seriously annoyed, to a pissed-off level, even. Check this out:

I have helpfully highlighted in green what should be blowing your mind about now - an epic bailout was just passed, and there on the side of that very story is one of those ads that got us here in the first place! They didn't even change up the format of the ad to try and make it look like it's not the same shady people as before; it's the same nonsensical dancing people with a link to get your spanking new payment on the house you couldn't pay for the first time you bought it. I can't believe they're using the exact same format for the ad - have people genuinely not caught on to the fact that if the ad involves little dancing people, really low mortgage prices and more than one exclamation point, it's not for a reputable institution?

Granted, it's a little more realistic this time; $133,000 mortgages for $679 is a little more believable than the half million dollar, adjustable rate credit destroyers the pushers were pushing last time. But it still seems to me like it's the same companies getting away with it all again. It's as if crashing the stock market and causing thousands to lose their homes was just a move in an overall strategy to keep bleeding money out of people who don't have any. We're not bailing you out so you can keep scamming people, making bad investments and destroying the economy, jackasses!

PS - did you happen to catch the macabre reminder of how this financial "game" can end? It's down in the corner under "Most Popular": "Woman in foreclosure shoots self."

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