Bolivian president Evo Morales has caused a stir in his country by adopting a slogan popularized by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the 1950s. When Morales’ had his army chant “Patria o muerte, veneceremo”-”Fatherland or death, we shall overcome!”-during a military exhibition yesterday, Bolivian conservatives bristled. I don’t blame them. It’s like Ghost said on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, Keep it real. Get your own shit, man. And be original!

“I wasn’t meaning him any harm. Maybe it was a little insensitive. It’s a term that my brother and I use. It was kind of a way of saying, ‘dummy,’ like when I say to my brother, ‘Hey, Buckwheat, cut that out.’ That’s what it was.”
-Corey Poitier, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL), explains why he addressed President Obama using the phrase, “Listen up, Buckwheat.” It’s okay, though, because Poitier is black.

University of Toronto sociologist Scott Schieman suggests that higher economic status does not necessarily preclude a belief in God, particularly among those who regularly participate in religious activities, but that “a close association between conservative, reactionary politics and religion is driving better educated Americans away from church,” a phenomenon he dubs “the Sarah Palin effect.” [Via]

I have to say, when even the interview subjects in wacky animal news stories are not only completely in on the absurdity but willing participants themselves, we, as a nation, have entered some bizarre Mobius strip of humorous post-ironic detachment. There is something disturbing about the fact that we can no longer see a clip about a roving Florida primate without witnessing his greatest antagonist knowingly concede that the animal had “made a monkey out of me.” I long for the more innocent time of “dog carried away by bird,” but I guess we don’t live in that America any more. I blame the Internet.

Now, clearly, we are a very dim, confused country, because a chunk of us are outraged that tanning and rich households are being lightly taxed (historically speaking, very lightly!) to subsidize health care for people who cannot afford it. But are we this stupid? “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared on CNN, explaining how the GOP will run against the health care bill this year. ‘Repeal and replace will be the slogan for the fall,’ said McConnell, explaining that the party will run against the new taxes and cuts to Medicare Advantage.” That’s the plan! They’re going to boot those Democrats out of office by appealing to the common man, who is for some reason under the impression that he is being taxed even if his household doesn’t make a quarter million dollars a year. How hard is it to understand this stuff, even for the conspiracy-minded? “On average, the annual tax bill for households making more than $1 million a year will rise by $46,000 in 2013… The benefits, meanwhile, flow mostly to households making less than four times the poverty level — $88,200 for a family of four people.” The best part? “By Tuesday evening, the Republican National Committee had raised more than $1.1 million through its ‘Fire Nancy Pelosi’ fundraising drive.” Ha, well, if you’re rich enough to donate to that, then you’re basically getting DOUBLE-TAXED, because the feds will take your money to give health insurance to us poors while you’re doling it out to the RNC.

I am totally going to see “Breaking Upwards,” the fictional-documentary-something made by the adorable and super-smart Zoe Lister-Jones and her boyfriend Daryl Wein. (It is “based in part on their real-life relationship — the part in which they got a little bored with each other, and so decided to switch from an exclusive relationship to an ‘open’ one.”) But I’m pre-sad. If two post-NYU twenty-somethings whose looks basically hover somewhere between “catalogue” and “runway” can’t keep it together, then who among us can?

IFC yanked it from YouTube last month, but it’s back again on Vimeo: the pilot of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. (via)

“An obituary on Friday about the actor Fess Parker included several errors. Mr. Parker’s daughter is Ashley Parker Snider, not Parker-Snyder. Eddy Arnold — not Eddie — was the singer who recorded one of many versions of ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett,’ the theme from a series of episodes of the television show ‘Disneyland’ in which Mr. Parker starred in the 1950s. And a line from that song should have read: ‘Raised in the woods so’s he knew ev’ry tree’ — not ‘Raised in the woods so he knew every tree.’”

Wish You’d Reconsider
I am appalled at the comment you made concerning Michelle Obama in “The Style 100.” Saying she deserved a Congressional Medal for “banishing the nattily tailored First Lady suit” was distasteful. Apparently you don’t know what the medal is since you made such a lighthearted comment.
Judy C., Santa Clarita, CA (InStyle, March 2010)

You deserve a Congressional Medal-thrown at your head. But I know that there’s a lot of you guys working there, so imagine like you’re all standing in a line and the medal just goes through each of you guys’s heads one by one. Blam, blam, blam! It also has a little gun embedded in it.
Natalie T.S., Bozeman, MT

Beautiful Benefits
I’m thankful for the feature on 10 miracle foods [January, “Eat Your Way Gorgeous”]. I have noticed that I look and feel much better when I eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, soy, nuts, and other pure vegetarian foods rather than meats and dairy products. Your article helped me understand why.
Katie M., Baltimore (InStyle, March 2010)

I have noticed that I look and feel much better when I’m drunk, doyoyoy.
Lisa F., Vancouver

The Glamorous Life
Thank you for “The Fashion Insiders’ Diet” [August]. It has really changed my view on dieting. With your examples of what these stylish women eat and snack on, I was truly able to look at my own habits and make some changes. So far, I’ve lost six pounds without starving myself a bit!
Katie M., Quebec, Canada (Allure, November 2009)

I wish I could be a fly on the wall during some of those stylish women’s meals-I’d fly right into their mouths and down their throats before they could spit me out. Then I’d live inside their stomachs for the rest of my life, making little houses out of other stuff they ate-like I’d make a little bed out of a corn kernel and a little toy out of a poppy seed.
Theresa F., Lancaster, PA

Hot or not
In “Click Here for a Good Time” [November, page 128], you stated that although women are taught that good girls don’t look at porn, we should feel normal exploring it alone and with partners. I’d like to remind readers that it’s also normal and healthy not to be interested in porn.
Jane H., Boulder, CO (Self, January 2010)

I’d like to remind readers that it’s also perfectly normal and healthy to think of yourself as just a face with a very vague body underneath that you never think about or look at. For instance, if I had to draw a picture of myself, I’d draw a nice, detailed face with just a light oval drawn below it in pencil to indicate the rest.
Jill G., Grosse Point, MI

I say it often: I want to be Michelle Obama when I grow up! (Does it matter that I’m 34?!)
MsK., on glamour.com

I want to be a button when I grow up. You know, one of those circles that help clothes stay closed? My name is Alice, and I’m 115-the big one one five.
Alice F., Richmond, VA

Lighter side
I’m at a loss. For months, we’ve read about how having overweight friends leads to eating more and gaining weight ourselves because we tend to feast like our buddies. But now, according to the February Eat-Right Flash [pate 82], we pig out when we dine with our slim friends, too! I’m sure people are more prone to emotional eating when they’re chowing down alone, so I’ve got to ask: Who can I dine with and not gain weight?
Rosie M., Oakland, CA (Self, April 2010)

OMG what if a bunch of really fat people ate a bunch of really skinny people?! LOL, imagine if you ate someone because you thought human flesh didn’t have any carbs, but then it turned out the person you ate had just eaten a bunch of bread right before they died? LOL, the joke would be on you! LOL, eat your friends!

Melanie T., Santa Fe

I loved your piece about managers who are incompatible with computers. My co-worker and I have a running joke when our boss can’t find the e-mail icon on her desktop and always asks us where it went. Behind her back, we say, “Oh, here it is-in my pocket!” I am committed to staying up on the latest technology-like Twitter-just so I don’t become a burden on future generations.
Traci M., Waco, TX (Marie Claire, January 2010)

I wish someone would invent a hollow necklace filled with embalming fluid so you could drink it right before you died and save everyone the trouble of cleaning you up afterward. It would have to be a really big necklace, though-it might be more like a plastic sack you dragged behind you-but it would obviously be worth it. It would come with a special pointed straw, too, like on a juice box, and you’d poke it in right when you were ready. Then there would never be a mess and no one would ever be mad at you.
Lynn O., Dubuque

Edith Zimmerman still lives in Brooklyn and also works here.

And now you know how Seven of Nine gave us health care reform.