Billionaires Going Rogue 2012 Election | Rise of Superdads | Over My Dead Body | Dating Goes Partisan

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Mini red greenhouses and citrus peel via The Garden Pantry on FB.

Above: Glam Tribale Red Pangi Seed Bone Earring Pierced $66 and Clip $68

Photographer Shannon Rynd-Ray makes her first appearance on PhotoVogue.

Shown here is ‘Mud’, covered by earth Marthas Vineyard 2012

Shannon Rynd-Ray website

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Anne is reading …

Billionaires Going Rogue NYTimes

It’s unclear what the aftermath of unlimited big donor spending will be on American politics. What we do know is that the structural differences between the Democratic and Republican parties pushes Republicans to the extreme right. Unable to control is voice with the rise of the super PACS, big donors can write, say and publish just about anything they wish.

The Florida billboard above shows President Obama bowing down before an Arab Sheik, suggesting that the price of oil has skyrocketed under the Obama Presidency. How many times did we hear this “fact” stated during the Republican primaries?

As a mature adult who remembers paying over $4 for gasoline during the George Bush administration — just one year earlier — I know that the gas price claim is false.

This graph shows the real history of the price of gasoline at the pump. The billboard posted price came as a blip in the financial crisis and represented a momentary plunge in the price of oil. A billboard like this one alienates as many voters as it inspires, writes Thomas B. Edsall, and he is right. (view larger)

On a separate note, it’s difficult to see how having a group of billionaires running America won’t strip the country of its democratic roots.

In Middle of a Messy Election, a Nightmare Makes Landfall NYTimes

Hurricane Sandy threatens to change the course of America’s political election. President Obama is forced to balance campaigning with being an effective leader during a time of crisis.

Republican governor Chris Christie has already has already asked for federal disaster aid before Sandy hits New Jersey.

Politics Not As Usual

The Dating Game Gets Partisan, With Politics a Deal Breaker WSJ

Barbie Adler, owner of high-end Selective Search Inc., Chicago’s high-end matchmaking service, says that in today’s world political party affiliation trumps religious differences, unattractiveness, and low educational and professional attainment as a top turnoff in the dating game. 

Party preference has become the basis for “a knee-jerk, umbrella judgment about who you are, where you are going to live, how many kids you want and how good you are in bed,” says Columbia University psychologist Judith “Dr. Judy” Kuriansky, author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dating.” “It’s like we’re back to the Civil War—if anyone is sleeping with the enemy, they’re keeping it quiet.”

How Dads Became the New Moms — And Why It Might Be Better for Our Kids Philadelphia Magazine

Rise of Superdads

Gen X and Gen Y Philly dads—raised in an era of second- and third-wave feminism—are defining fatherhood and child rearing their own way, and essentially turning baby-raising into a guy thing. To Republicans and the Pope — those who argue that women have natural and equal roles as mothers to men’s roles as breadwinners, these successful men don’t agree.

Today’s dads realize that there is more to life than money and squashing the competition. “I take a certain amount of pride in knowing my wife can leave me with both girls and things won’t go to hell,” says Nakul Warrier, 37, an attorney who lives in Wynnewood. His wife works full-time as a doctor in the city. 

Men are distinctly different caregivers, writes Ashley Primis. Dads tend to go on primal instinct, rather than countless raising baby books and websites.

“The way men are raised, they’re more comfortable learning from experiences and taking risks. Women want to talk to experts and do research and gather info,” says Gill McKenna. “Guys have the philosophy that if I try it and the child spits it out, I’ll just try again later.”

American men are — well more French in their approach to childrearing. Research suggests they are “raising independent-minded, well-adjusted children — kids who don’t get a gold trophy just for showing up.

FRN Shorts

Ignore the Doomsayers: The Book Industry Is Actually Adapting Well The Atlantic

In the first six months of 2012, according to Publishers Weekly, drawing on data from 1,186 companies, the Association of American Publishers reported that trade sales increased 13.1 percent, to $2.33 billion. The most important indicator is the continuing boost in e-book sales, up 34.4 percent, to $621.3 million, which makes it competitive with the totals for hardcover print sales. When you consider that it was only with the appearance of Amazon’s first Kindle reader in 2007 that e-book sales took off, the pace of change is stunning.

Penguin and Random House owners agree to joint venture BBC News

Penguin publisher Pearson says it has agreed to a deal with German media group Bertelmann to join their enterprise with Random House. The decision came as News Corp — which owns publisher HarperCollins — was prepared to bid on Penguin. Bertelsmann will own 53% of the joint venture, while Pearson will own 47%.

Women at Work: Fashion’s Glass Ceiling Prevails WWD

Women may represent more than 80 percent of the purchases in America’s fashion industry, but we don’t get to run the show. Five decades after the modern Women’s Lib movement, only 1.7 percent of Fortune 500 retailers are led by women, according to Catalyst research. This shocking low number is half the equally deplorable 3.8 percent for all Fortune 500 companies being led by women.

Over My Dead Body The Economist

Massachusetts voters will decide next week whether a terminally ill patient with less than six months to live can use a doctor’s help in committing suicide. The polls suggest the measure will pass, making the state the third, after Oregon and Washington, to legalise assisted suicide. New Jersey’s legislature introduced a bill last month decriminalizing the practice. “The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that doctors cannot be prosecuted for prescribing lethal drugs for terminally ill patients.”

In Europe the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg allow assisted suicide. New bills have been introduced in New Zealand, Canada and Australia to allow seriously ill patients to decide the outcomes of their lives.

First Look: Hue LED Bulbs Are Your Own Personal Light Show Wired