LilSugar

Sarah Palin Is Packing Diapers

LilSugar — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:00:03 PDT

Sarah Palin may be the Republican vice presidential candidate, but she's also a mom. While juggling jobs, the Governor of Alaska stepped off her campaign bus with her baby, Trig, and was flanked by security as they headed in to an Ohio Walmart to purchase a toy and a pack of Parents’ Choice brand disposable diapers for her lil guy.

Lil Links: Presidential Paper Dolls

LilSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:00:32 PDT

Obama and McCain paper dolls - Ohdeedoh
Woman kidnaps first grader to prove it can be done - Parent Dish
Can't stop the beat for Courteney and Coco - Celebrity Baby Blog
Naomi and Sasha run errands - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Cool Mom to be on Dr. Phil! - Cool Mom
Rainbow jello - Alpha Mom
In search of the perfect nursing pad - The Poop
Cutest cupcake photo contest - Women's Day

Texts and Tunes: Children's Political Story Books

babysugar — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:00:00 PDT

Election season is the perfect time to teach your tot a thing or two about the political world around them. In a year where so much is at stake and the candidates are neck and neck, party talk dominates many adult conversations. Don't leave the kids in the dust - keep them in the know with their own stash of political reads.

Christina Aguilera Rocks the Vote With Max

LilSugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:30:25 PDT

Christina Aguilera may not be vocalizing her support for McCain or Obama, but she is endorsing Election 2008. The songstress lent her singing abilities and her son to the "Rock the Vote" campaign. The 27-year-old mama sang, "America the Beautiful" while cradling her five-month-old, Max Bratman, for the public service announcement. And, having her son on board caused the blond bombshell to be a bit more reserved. She said, "Since I'm holding my son, I'm not going to, you know, belt in his face or anything like that. But it was really, really nice to bring it down to a really intimate moment between me and my son."

Would you allow your child to be part of an election PSA?

Game Change Trailer: Julianne Moore and Ed Harris Channel Sarah Palin and John McCain

Shannon Vestal — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:06:27 PST

Is it too soon to revisit the 2008 election? I hope not, because the trailer for HBO movie Game Change looks incredible. The film begins at the onset of John McCain's campaign, as political strategist Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) advises presidential hopeful McCain (Ed Harris, who looks frighteningly like the senator) to select Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his ticket.

Like Harris's McCain, Julianne Moore does a dead-on impersonation of Palin as she initially charms people as McCain's folksy running partner. The film looks like it doesn't hold back as it charts Palin's blunders with the media (being able to see Russia from Alaska is in there) and McCain's dissatisfaction with her. As a citizen, it was an entertaining campaign season, so I think the dramatization of it will be even more enthralling. The movie airs on March 10, but you can watch the trailer for Game Change now after the break.

Hillary Clinton Suspends Campaign and Endorses Obama

CitizenSugar — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:04:27 PDT

Hillary Clinton has just ended her bid for the White House within walking distance of the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue residence she's fought the past 17 months to call home again.

Previewing the contents of the speech to supporters this week, Clinton said, "I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee and I intend to deliver on that promise."

The promise was just delivered on in a speech at the National Building Museum in DC. Supported by Bill, Chelsea, legions of fans, and those parents who watched her campaign saying to their kids, "see? You can be anything you want to be." Clinton detailed the fruits of her remarkable campaign, and then extended her support to her former rival, saying:

Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him. I ask all of you to work as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me. . . ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January, 20, 2009!

Following up that strong endorsement saying:

We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished too much. . . today I am standing with Senator Obama to say, 'yes, we can!'

It's been a long fight, one that ends today not without emotion. Clinton may not be the only person nursing bruises from ending her quest - supporters will have to decide if they can now endorse Obama as wholeheartedly as Clinton did this morning. To see how hard this might be, and what's next for everyone,

read more. The psychiatry correspondent for FOX News said this individual healing process can't be rushed, and supporters will have to warm up to Obama slowly. "Pretending Clinton support translates in a wholesale way to Obama needlessly inserts falsehood into a movement that all of us, regardless of our politics, would have to admit is fueled by passion." Passion and bucks. Now that the end is here, Hillary and Obama are apparently in deep negotiation as to how to retire the $30 million campaign debt Hillary's dug - with the bonus to Obama that she'll in turn fund raise for his campaign. Advisers think she could bring in $100 million for his general fight. When Hillary and Obama had their secret meeting Thursday evening at Senator Feinstein's home, they spoke for an hour and seemed to salve some of the campaign wounds. How long will it take for supporters and the party to follow? Will the Democrats find a way to unite, Unity Ticket or not? Source

Drew Barrymore Attends a Star-Studded Obama Fundraiser With Will Kopelman

Allie Merriam — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 08:34:16 PDT

Drew Barrymore and her boyfriend Will Kopelman dressed up for a fancy evening out in LA last night. They attended a fundraiser for the Obama Victory Fund, which benefits the president's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee, at the home of interior designer Michael S. Smith and HBO exec James Costos. First Lady Michelle Obama was the guest of honor, and she was able to catch up with Michael after he helped to decorate the White House in 2008. The soirée raised over $1 million for the cause, thanks to other A-list guests like Ellen DeGeneres, Vanessa Williams, and Ryan Phillippe. Will and Drew have been hitting the town together regularly, including a special Chanel-sponsored NRDC dinner two weeks ago. Drew has been dedicated to supporting her favorite causes lately, but will soon switch gears back to directing. She's gearing up to shoot How to Be Single, but first must round out the romantic comedy's cast.

The US Credit Rating Downgrade: What It Means For You

LearnVest — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:15:35 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

You’ve probably heard the news already-our country’s credit rating just took a dive.

On Friday evening, Standard & Poor’s, one of the world’s three major credit rating agencies, dealt a major blow to the United States’ financial psyche by announcing that it has downgraded the country’s credit rating from AAA to AA+. This marks the first time in history that the U.S. has lost its top-ranked credit rating from one of the major agencies.

The U.S. moves from the company of other AAA countries like Australia, Canada, France, Singapore and Germany to the company of the two AA+ countries, Belgium and New Zealand. The world is reeling with varied reactions to this news, as analysts try to predict what this will mean for the domestic and global economies. Is this media hype or true disaster? Can we fix the situation and earn our AAA score back? And what does this mean for the average American?

We cut through the noise to bring you the cheat sheet on the credit rating downgrade, the various viewpoints on the downgrade itself, its potential effects-and what it means for you.

What Happened-In a Snapshot

As we reported in our story last week summarizing the debt ceiling deal, governments receive credit rating scores that investors use to analyze credit-worthiness. These credit scores are determined by three major international credit reporting agencies: Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s.

After the debt ceiling deal was struck, Moody’s and Fitch maintained their AAA scores for the U.S. (although Moody’s downgraded the U.S. credit outlook to “negative”). S&P, on the other hand, decided on Friday to downgrade the U.S.’s credit rating to AA+. For the first time in history, America lost its unanimous AAA rating across all three agencies. On a side note, however, China’s leading credit agency Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. stripped America, Britain, Germany and France of their AAA ratings last July, accusing the top three agencies of Western bias, and giving greater weight to “wealth creating capacity.”

Read on to find out what it means for you.

Do Politicians' Personal Lives Matter to You?

Mandy Harris — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:49:01 PDT

Yesterday, Business Insider and Gawker revisited a hot topic from the 2008 presidential election: whether Sarah Palin's baby Trig is, in fact, her baby, or whether Palin's entire pregnancy was staged and Bristol is actually Trig's mother. The "new" evidence presented in the article - photos of Palin shortly before Trig was born where she doesn't look pregnant, Palin's failure to produce a birth certificate for Trig - wasn't conclusive by any means. But if it is true, pulling off such an elaborate hoax during a presidential campaign would definitely have an impact on Palin's future bid for the presidency.

The majority of you aren't interested in presidential sex lives, but politicians' personal lives in general are another story entirely. Do you care whether a politician has cheated on a spouse, lied under oath, or, um, faked a pregnancy for political gain? Are these good indicators of a public figure's character, or are you purely concerned with how a politician governs?

Hillary May Not Empower All, but She's No Poster Woman For Nepotism

Colleen Barrett — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:00:00 PDT

Powerful women are supposed to be good for females, especially girls. Held up as shiny beacons of possibility, they're an antidote to the women-can't-be-powerful stereotype. But not all high-profile women elicit empowerment. As soon as a hint of nepotism or a dash of luck is sniffed out, their ability to inspire is extinguished. So for the role-model effect to work, the woman's success must be perceived as earned through innate ability and effort.

This inspiration fail has been dubbed the "Hillary Clinton effect," and even that is tinged with unfairness. Researchers behind the study's finding - and coiners of the term - at Texas Christian University admit Hillary is a divided role model: some perceive her stature as unearned, a torch passed down by her president husband, while others see her as determined and unwavering, no stranger to the grit of hard work.

I'd say Hillary's a bit of both. See why below.