{"id":801,"date":"2012-10-08T17:08:22","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T21:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/?p=801"},"modified":"2015-01-11T23:44:53","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T04:44:53","slug":"is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/","title":{"rendered":"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve heard, but there\u2019s a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two presidential candidates (one of whom is already President) squared off to talk about domestic policy. \u00a0I was prepared for a good show, \u00a0but it was boooooooooooring. \u00a0I mean, generally, no one can know whose proclamations and views are accurate until they read Politifact the next day, anyhow. \u00a0 \u00a0Usually, though, there\u2019s at least\u00a0something<\/em> I can follow, or at least grasp. \u00a0The minutia about tax policy doesn\u2019t fall into that category.<\/p>\n

Also possibly contributing to my inability to follow what Obama and Romney were discussing is that I was tweeting the whole time about the few things I did recognize and understand:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0President Obama likes Obamacare.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Mitt Romney would cut the subsidy to PBS, even though he likes Big Bird and Jim Lehrer.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Jim Lehrer was so flattered that Romney liked him that he allowed Romney to trample him whenever he weakly suggested Romney\u2019s time was up. \u00a0Or maybe Jimmy-boy was so terrified of an impending pink slip if Romney were elected, he decided to be nice to this potential new boss. \u00a0On the other hand, the only sucking up Obama did was to his wife at the beginning because it was their 20th anniversary and he felt bad this was how they were spending it. He should have told Jim he liked him \u2013 maybe the evening would have gone better for him.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Obama played by the debate rules, was courteous, and lost.<\/p>\n

So tweeting during the debate \u2013 even though it was ABOUT the debate \u2013 is not something my brain does well. \u00a0I\u2019m easily distracted. \u00a0I also can\u2019t talk on the phone and drive at the same time. \u00a0Not because it\u2019s dangerous, but because my little brain can\u2019t seem to divide its attention in that particular way. \u00a0So I don\u2019t. \u00a0Also, I\u2019m easily distracted. \u00a0(Is that a cookie?)<\/p>\n

Speaking of divided attention, two other teams are squaring off in a contest of epic proportions. \u00a0Right here in my backyard. \u00a0Birds figure as prominently in this contest as it did in Wednesday\u2019s debate. \u00a0I live in Baltimore, baby. \u00a0We\u2019re talking the Orioles (though the Ravens are usually front and center this time of year\u2026) \u00a0I\u2019ve written before about my love affair with baseball<\/a>. \u00a0If you know me, you understand why I\u2019m having a hard time concentrating on politics AND baseball at the same time. \u00a0I\u2019m easily distracted. \u00a0(Is that an appletini?)<\/p>\n

Like so many events of this magnitude, the presidential debate and the O\u2019s\/Yankees series raise more questions than they answer. \u00a0Both are competing for my attention, which makes it hard for me to focus. \u00a0Because I\u2019m easily distracted. \u00a0(Is that Facebook???) \u00a0So, here are some of the many questions going through my mind as I try to immerse myself in these momentous goings-on.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0If Romney were elected president, would the Orioles bird<\/a> be fired?<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0If Jim Lehrer were umping home plate, would he throw Mark Reynolds out for arguing balls and strikes, but not A-Rod?<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0If Paul Ryan were doing color commentary in the booth, would I be distracted by his blue, blue eyes the way I am with Cal Ripken\u2019s?<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0What percentage of fans in the stands tonight in Baltimore will be wearing pinstripes? \u00a01% or 47%?<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Should the fans only be allowed to clap and cheer at the beginning and the end of the game, like the audience members at the debate?<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Would Big Bird be able to get a birdseed milkshake at Boog<\/a>\u2018s?<\/p>\n

These, my friends, are questions that MUST be answered. \u00a0I hope they\u2019ll get the attention they deserve in the press and the interwebs. \u00a0And in both contests, in case you\u2019re wondering, I\u2019m rooting for the team that begins with \u201cO.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve heard, but there\u2019s a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two presidential candidates (one of whom is already President) squared off to talk about domestic policy. \u00a0I was prepared for a good show, \u00a0but it was boooooooooooring. \u00a0I mean, generally, no one can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1603,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[45,50,62,318,341,346,374,471],"class_list":["post-801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-liberty-genderpoliticsreligion","category-c-happiness-humormemoriesrandom","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baseball","tag-blogforobama","tag-obama","tag-politics","tag-presidential-debates","tag-romney","tag-yankees"],"yoast_head":"\nIs That a Birdseed Milkshake?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I don't know if you've heard, but there's a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don't know if you've heard, but there's a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Worthington Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-08T21:08:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-12T04:44:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aliza Worthington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aliza Worthington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/\",\"name\":\"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-08T21:08:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-12T04:44:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#\/schema\/person\/b25867380e28115b716442c9e3956b5a\"},\"description\":\"I don't know if you've heard, but there's a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/\",\"name\":\"The Worthington Post\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#\/schema\/person\/b25867380e28115b716442c9e3956b5a\",\"name\":\"Aliza Worthington\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70d3a217723ff1c87ff8f8b26ea1ac3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70d3a217723ff1c87ff8f8b26ea1ac3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Aliza Worthington\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.theworthingtonpost.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/author\/aliza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?","description":"I don't know if you've heard, but there's a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?","og_description":"I don't know if you've heard, but there's a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/","og_site_name":"The Worthington Post","article_published_time":"2012-10-08T21:08:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-12T04:44:53+00:00","author":"Aliza Worthington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Aliza Worthington","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/","name":"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-08T21:08:22+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-12T04:44:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#\/schema\/person\/b25867380e28115b716442c9e3956b5a"},"description":"I don't know if you've heard, but there's a presidential election coming up soon. \u00a0In this country. \u00a0America. \u00a0Last Wednesday evening, the two","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/2012\/10\/is-that-a-birdseed-milkshake\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is That a Birdseed Milkshake?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/","name":"The Worthington Post","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#\/schema\/person\/b25867380e28115b716442c9e3956b5a","name":"Aliza Worthington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70d3a217723ff1c87ff8f8b26ea1ac3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70d3a217723ff1c87ff8f8b26ea1ac3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Aliza Worthington"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.theworthingtonpost.net"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/author\/aliza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theworthingtonpost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}