• Laura Bush, proud owner of a 73% approval rating, just called herself a feminist. [HuffPo]

• When you realize you can’t please everyone, call in the soldiers. [Talking Points Memo]
• Al Gore made some jokes about his would-be presidency. Al Gore. Jokes. Presidency. Convulse with fear accordingly. [Wizbang]
• We’ve been pretending Avril Lavigne doesn’t exist for entirely too long. [Booman Tribune]
• Fascist Chic: Because being cloaked in anything other than the comforting musings of George ‘n Jesus is so last-season Republican. [unbossed]

* Women’s Studies professors aren’t just violently pro-choice; they’ll hang up on you without exchanging pleasant good-byes. [Michelle Malkin]
* God loves your embarrassingly out-of-date Blackberry just the way it is. [HuffPo]
* Protestants — surprisingly more oppressed than every branch of government would suggest. [Evangelical Outpost]
* Islam Does America: A Play in Three Awesomely Xenophobic Acts. [Crooked Timber]
* New Orleans makes Tulane Law students fishers of unarmed, possibly dangerous men. [TalkLeft]

operative: if i may go feminazi for a moment…
operative: why do we have to know how condi keeps her goddamn figure?!
wonkette: haha. ’cause it’s SWEEPS MONTH
operative: arguably the most powerful woman in the country and we’re still talking about her WEIGHT
operative: dude, is she gonna be in seventeen next, talking about her period?
wonkette: what’s funny is that we know her workout routine, but not her actual positions on affirmative action, abortion, etc etc
wonkette: ‘08 PRIMARIES FRONT-RUNNER!
operative: her position on abortion is bent at the waist with back straight, neck relaxed, abs tight, delts squeezed… MORE »

Many people didn’t like former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, who today announced his resignation as president of Harvard. Feminists were infuriated by his controversial comments suggesting that inherent gender differences may explain why fewer women than men have succeeded in math and science. Faculty members were incensed over how he handled the departure of a popular dean, William Kirby. MORE »

Readers have asked why we have not commented on the recent Maureen Dowd mediagasm (mogasm?). Honestly, we can’t think of anything to say, though we were fascinated by New York magazine’s illustration of her hairstyles through the ages. As to her thesis — something about how men are scared of smart and talented women — a friend of ours did wonder if that means the single Ms. Dowd believes her married friends are dumber and less talented than she. Speaking of friends, with friends like these, who needs Wonkette: “She insists that the human logic of events is their primary logic. She’s never distracted by the political or economic explanation.” Yeah. Math is hard. MORE »

• Ringing endorsements for Harriet Miers you may have missed: “She wasn’t a leader and wasn’t furniture. . . She was in between.” [NYT]
• “Expecting anyone to journey to the seat of national power and deliver a Mr. Smith-like blow for the sanctity of scouting and motherhood is a bit like wanting the final act of a musical to be all gun battles and explosions: It’s what the critics call a genre error.” [Washington Monthly]
• The State Department gets out its thesaurus: “This is a confederacy of evil that will stop at nothing to advance its radical agenda.” [AP]
• Butterstick bites! [WP]
• More ringing endorsements of Harriet Miers you may have missed: “‘What is your impression of her?,’ the reporter then asked, a follow-up Scalia deflected with ease: ‘Never having met her, I have no impression of her.’” [NYP]
• American Girl-on-Girl? [Feministing]
• “When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer — along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling.” [WP]

Flash back to reading “Highlights” magazine in the pediatrician’s office! Tell us, can you find at least five differences in these two photos?

Bonus question: Which photo came from the “confirm her already” fans of Harriet at “JusticeMiers.com”? MORE »

The Seattle Times reports that Concerned Women for America (a moniker which brings to mind a roomful of worry wrinkles) has found a new battleground in the war against the homosexual agenda, and it is the back of a coffee cup. They’re mad at Starbucks because of an Armistead Maupin quote, saying that the company should “stay out of these issues so that they don’t offend conservatives and people of faith.” Guess the White House won’t need any help with the Roberts nomination after all. Don’t these people have some abortions to stop or something? Talk about fighting like a girl. MORE »

Guess John Dickerson has finally finished that book about his mom:

Actually, this comes from something called “Supersisters Trading Cards” — the collection also includes Jane Pauley and Helen Reddy. They were a noble but misguided effort to promote the image of successful women, and in a little-known start to his legal career, John Roberts had them banned. Of course he didn’t need to work too hard. It’s sort of hard to imagine kids getting excited about them — “Hey, I’ll trade you two Bella Abzugs for a mint Shirley Chislom!” MORE »

Tim Noah seeks nominations for John Roberts’s Bush nickname. Is “Nancy Boy” taken? MORE »