USEDCARSALESMAN

Democratic Actors Holding Public Office

Didn't it used to be the case that only Republican actors would make a go at public office? You know, guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Fred Thompson, Fred Grandy, Sonny Bono and of course Ronald Reagan?  Well it would seem that times are changing.

Recently former SNL performer Al Franken was elected to the U.S. Senate from the State of Minnesota. And apparently actor Val Kilmer is considering running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010.  Both performers -- now politicians or at least perspective politicians -- are Democrats!  

Usedcarsalesman can certainly recall past years when it seemed that actors didn't expect to be taken seriously by voters if they ran as a Democrats. 

Of course this might have had a little something to do with Republican Ronald Reagan's successful bid for President in 1980.  As in: "Hey, look at Reagan... If anybody is going to take a Hollywood actor seriously when he runs for public office, that actor had better run as a squarish, Republican kind of guy."

With that in mind, what has so recently thrown open Capitol and executive mansion doors for Democratic actor/politicians? 

Perhaps Barack Obama's candidacy and victory had something to do with it (Hey Obama is such a change of pace that Democratic actors seem positively ordinary and conventional and almost like 50's era IBM salesmen by comparison)  

Or perhaps their Republican actor counter-parts demonstrated for decades that though they were electable, they were hardly infallible -- a fact giving Democratic actors ammo to shoot down attacks on their own Hollywood, politically-inexperienced backgrounds.  

Who knows, but Usedcarsalesman says that he sees Democratic actors stepping up to run as a positive thing. 

For one, he thinks guys like Franken and Kilmer will provide a valuable voice mostly missing in American politics until now:  The voice of somebody who has actually at some point in their lives received assistance from the government (or who has at least known people who have). 

For example, Al Franken will probably tell you that when he was in NYC in the 70s and early 80s and not working, he probably did have to take public assistance to make ends meet occasionally. 

And over the years, Val Kilmer has probably personally known tons of people who have had to take welfare or unemployment benefits, who've been in rehab, who've had alcohol problems or who've been on a 2 year waiting list for government programs of some sort. 

Franken and Kilmer would presumably not shy away from expounding on their direct or indirect experiences with government social services.  And that might produce improved social services for all Americans in need of such services. 

Anyway, Usedcarsalesman is all for seeing more Democratic actors make a run for state or national office. 

Sure they'll find out its not especially glamorous work, that a politician's pay at best approaches the SAG day rate, that the money you are accorded to run your office(s) is subject to criticism and public scrutiny and that the "audition process" -- in this case seeking election and re-election-- isn't a relatively private activity in front of just a few casting people. 

And they'll find that they are surrounded by a lot of fairly stodgy types -- primarily lawyers -- who may not think much of their background in entertainment. 

Nevertheless, Democratic actors appear to be giving the political game a go and Usedcarsalesman salutes them for it. 

Hacking Reproductive 'Deadlines'

Yesterday, Usedcarsalesman was reading through his usual roster of online magazines and newspaper as is his custom. 

Lo and behold he saw a Newsweek article called, "Have Another Fertilitini"  ("Fertilitini" is apparently a fusion of the words, "Fertility" and  "Martini") a piece which discussed a "slick new promotional campaign (that) reminds women in their 20s and 30s that their biological clocks are ticking."  

Apparently the campaign initiated by the American Fertility Association (AFA) involved meetings at a nail salon in New York so that women might take a nail session and a drink while simultaneously listening to an expert speak on issues of fertility of women in their 20s and 30s.   

Now of course Usedcarsalesman felt a little guilty reading this aforementioned article because it was in Newsweek's Women's Health Section -- A section a dude might be embarrassed if his wife, girlfriend, sister, mother, saw him reading (Or maybe they'd be embarrassed and he'd be nonplussed by their reaction...he doesn't know but somebody would probably be embarrassed). 

But he got over it.  And then he started to think about the situation many urban women -- and for different reasons men too -- in general faced if they sought to have children but failed to do so during their peak reproductive years.   

Would these ladies going to these "Fertilitini" parties now suddenly get "knocked-up" with this "gun" to their heads?  Would they look at declining fertility as some kind of "deadline" that they were forced to meet and that made all their other activities -- career, project, school, political office -- secondary?

Usedcarsalesman didn't see this happening in most cases. 

Instead, Usedcarsalesman figured they'd "hack" their way out of their declining fertility situation and still stay on their respective career tracks.  See how in the following hypothetical situation: 

Its 2013, a woman is 30 years of age.  She goes to the local fertility clinic and pays to have some of her eggs frozen using the new Crytop process-- snap freezing eggs before they stored in liquid nitrogen ("Crytop" eggs are allegedly almost as successful as "fresh eggs" in producing a successful IVF pregnancy)

10 years go by and it's 2023.  Maybe she decides to get married, maybe she doesn't, doesn't really matter.  One way or the other -- whether through husband, boyfriend, donation -- she obtains the necessary missing component in the reproductive process.

She says: 'Hey great, I am 40, I have the money, why don't I finally have a child."  She emails one of the dozens of Surrogacy outfits in India that have been marketing to women such as she incessantly since 2010.  They take her egg and the sperm sample she provides and for $50,000 U.S. (Financing available!) a nice young Indian woman serves as the surrogate for her pregnancy.

Roughly 9 months later, the surrogate has her child.  The new Mom flies in to Bombay and picks the newborn up.  Strangely the young lad prefers his milk flavored with just a hint of curry. But regardless, the woman has a child and has beaten the naysayers!

Usedcarsalesman says count on this scenario! Its as certain as 2 AM "Last Calls" in LA.  And its only going to become more common, more the thing younger adults do: Outsource the pregnancy and use optimal reproductive material they have had harvested while they are still in their 20s and 30s. 

Yes Usedcarsalesman agrees this kind of commoditizes human reproduction en masse.  And It potentially allows for bizarre scenarios where a billionaire megalomaniac decides to have 1000 off-spring at the same time.  But that appears to be par for the course upon which many adults find themselves playing

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Post:  Usedcarsalesman is getting up there himself and recognizes that dudes apparently have issues of their own with regards to fertility.  Not to give too much information, but he has recently utilized the services of CryoChoice.  Count on enlightened dudes in their 20s and 30s to do this in increasingly greater numbers.