Suggested by PSoTD: What is your most artistic talent?
I can't draw worth a darn, and I couldn't act my way out of a paper bag. I'm a decent photographer and singer, and I can tap a little, but nothing to write home about. So I suppose mine would either be writing or composing (piano).
Question of the Day
Caption This Photo: Something Wicked This Way Comes Edition
U.S. President George W. Bush (R) walks with Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove along the Colonnade of the West Wing of the White House February 28, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing
I’ve got an idea for dealing with the last three years of King George…
Following a 17th century recipe, one of the eight artisanal whisky producers on the tiny Scottish isle of Islay will produce a dozen barrels of 184-proof whisky, the company announced.Who's with me?
That's 92 percent alcohol, which is about as strong as whisky can get without being sold in a pharmacy.
"The first taste affects all the members of the body," a 1695 description of the elixir reads. "Two spoonfuls of this last liquor is a sufficient dose -- if any man should exceed this, it would presently stop his breath, and endanger his life."
The Bruichladdich distillery said it would install webcams so that customers thirsty with anticipation could watch the potentially lethal concoction come into being.
"If the distillery doesn't explode during the process," Bruichladdich added. (Link.)
A Tale of Two Headlines
Reality: Civil War Looms with 68 Killed in Baghdad
Bushworld: Bush Denies Iraq Headed for Civil War
Looks like Dear Leader may finally have met his match in the long-running game of If I Just Keep Saying It, That Makes It True.
What you need to understand, see, is that all I have to do is catapult the propaganda...
What? What's that?
They're catapulting bullet-riddled bodies into the streets?
Oh, heh heh, well, uh, didja'll hear that Dick shot a dude in the face?
Quote of the Day
“The president's skull is solid granite.”
— Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), quoted by the Havre Daily News, in reference to President Bush’s stubbornness. (Via Political Wire.)
Happy Birthday, Sam
My friend Sam—patient indulger of my endless questions and solicitations of his opinion, sublime writer, and general goofball—turned mumblemmphgrumble today. I have no idea what the actual number behind the mumblemmphgrumble is because he is worse than the worst stereotype of an age-shielding woman one could hope to conjure. And I suspect he would be even if it wasn’t fun to pretend that I give a shit what that number is and that I’m irritated he won’t tell me.
All I know is that he’s well older than I, the dodgy geezer.
Happy Birthday, Sam. That is all.
Nope, no weapons in here!
When Shakespeare's Sister emails me and says "Can you take this one? I'm seriously too pissed off to comment," you know it's gonna be a lulu.
Bush: Bin Laden Helped Me
Here we go. (Bolds mine)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Bush said his 2004 re-election victory over Sen. John Kerry was inadvertently aided by Osama bin Laden, The Washington Examiner newspaper reported Tuesday.
The al Qaeda leader had issued a taped diatribe against Bush the Friday before Americans went to the polls.
Bush said there were "enormous amounts of discussion" inside his campaign about the 15-minute tape, which he called "an interesting entry by our enemy" into the presidential race.
Bush's comments in the Washington newspaper were excerpts from the new book "Strategery" by Bill Sammon, a longtime White House correspondent.
"What does it mean? Is it going to help? Is it going to hurt?" Bush told Sammon of the bin Laden tapes.
"Anything that drops in at the end of a campaign that is not already decided creates all kinds of anxieties, because you're not sure of the effect.
"I thought it was going to help," Bush said.
"I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn't want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush."
So, in other words:
It was worth completely giving up on Bin Laden, because it helped him get re-elected. It was useful that Osama couldn't be found, because he could use him as a political tool and it helped him get re-elected. It was helpful that Bin Laden continues to be a threat, because it helped him get re-elected. He was grateful that his fearmongering techniques worked so well, and Bin Laden is still the monster under the bed, because it helped him get re-elected. He was overjoyed that his attempts to link Bin Laden and Saddam in the minds of Americans worked, because although we "caught" the wrong evildoer, it helped him get re-elected.
As long as Americans are still afraid of the boogeyman, "something must be right with Bush."
There you have it, folks. A "president" that's more concerned with elections and his political image than bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice. He was more concerned with the boost in the election than national security.
As for he victims of 9/11 and their grieving families? They didn't even enter his tiny little brain.
Just a reminder, America. George W. Bush doesn't give a good goddamn about you, your family and loved ones, your community, or your life.
George W. Bush is only concerned with George W. Bush. The rest of you can piss up a rope.
Now... where is that wacky Bin Laden? Nope, not under here!!!
(Any cross-posts under here? Nope! None there!)
Up, up and away.
Away being the operative term.
The Moderate Voice's Joe Gandelman points to an article in The Washington Times' Insight Magazine suggesting Cheney will retire after the midterm elections. Notes Joe:
This story qualifies as a classic message-sender/trial balloon story.Joe speculates that Cheney might even be sent packing on "doctor's orders" before the midterms. That's my notion, too. Cheney's abysmal approval ratings and his recent mishandling of his hunting accident, turning a mishap into a cover-up and a subsequent full-blown scandal, aren't doing the flailing Bush any favors. Before this trial balloon was even filled with someone's (cough*Rove*cough) hot air, the curious "discovery" of 250 pages of emails from Cheney's office relating to the Plame leak had me speculating that we were about to witness a partial coup.
Clearly, some faction within the White House is trying to send out a message to Cheney (Time to think about packing your bags and PLEASE take that shotgun with you when you go) or to Republicans (We may be going down in the polls so low now that weeds are starting to grow around us but if we Dump Dick we can reinvigorate the White House AND get a fresh-face in place who will then have a good chance to win in 2008).
But make no mistake about it: this isn't likely a story that was invented by a refugee from a tabloid. It's a send-em-a-message story...
Cheney may have self-selected himself into this administration, but I don't think any amount of determination on his part to stay can keep him from getting pushed out. I suspect it's just a matter of whether he goes quietly, or goes down kicking and screaming as the White House "discovers" other bits and pieces that may be of interest to one Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald.
(Crossposted at AlterNet PEEK.)
aggrieved idiots
How about a good example of the gene pool needing some chlorine?
Nine women from across the country have decided to put themselves out there to give us one. These women have filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint against RCA and Sony/BMG because they feel betrayed--betrayed!--their precious Clay Aiken might be--gasp!--gay. They also state that by “selling” Clay without disclosing his alleged sexuality, it was like selling them a defective product. No, seriously:
The nine-strong group, listing themselves as “aggrieved consumers” SUSAN J, PATRICIA A, JACQUELYN C, KAREN G, PHYLLIS S, CAROL M, KAREN G, KIM M and LINDA F, hail from all over America.
They allege that employees of RCA, Sony/BMG, and Aiken himself “engaged in collusion to prevent public disclosures they believed might be harmful to their product”.
The angry ladies go on to state, “This is tantamount to a manufacturer concealing information about a defective product. Therefore these actions were both unfair and deceptive to consumers.”
Just what do these women expect the FTC to do about it? Why:
[I]nvestigate the practices of the record companies, to invoke civil penalties where appropriate, and to enjoin the companies from violating the Federal Trade Commission Act.
All because the dream that Clay was really singing to her at the concert was dashed.
(so amusing, I just had to cross-post)
A Modest Imposition*
Good Afternoon, everyone!
You're probably wondering Who on Earth is this woman who's suddenly jumped into the political and humorous fray we Shakers hold dear?, so I'll be polite and properly introduce myself. I am litbrit, a regular reader of, and recent guest-poster at, the venerable Shakespeare's Sister. And Sis has kindly offered me an open-ended invitation to air my thoughts amid those of all the brilliant bloggers whose contributions appear herewith. Such nectar to bees! (And my name happens to be Deborah, Hebrew for Bee...).
Anyway, I'm a little shy to admit that Shakespeare's Sister was my first blogging experience, though I've written plenty of bits and pieces that were published the old-fashioned way. And as you've probably guessed, I too have been bitten by the blog bug (apologies for all the insect references; living in Florida, I can't help myself...). The title of my new effort honors one of my favorite poems, My Last Duchess, by the British poet Robert Browning. At age thirteen, I stumbled onto Browning’s work while composing a paper about his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, she of “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…” fame. Both writers became favorites, soon to be joined by scores of others, many of whom are far less classic in their approach to the language; all of whom inspire, describe, question, amuse, decry, or oftentimes just comfort.
Poetry is the platinum of wordsmiths. The brilliant Southern author Harry Crews, in whose Introduction to Literature course and Creative Writing classes at the University of Florida I was immeasurably lucky to have been enrolled long ago, said he believed a poem was the most challenging thing to write. He had a point: creating a novel is undeniably hard work, and a short story can be more so, both emotionally and editorially: its abbreviated length exhorts the writer to make every one of its handful of pages engaging and fully relevant; it forces him to make choices that often feel painful, cruel even. But with a poem, every word—every syllable—must not only shine like a jewel, but also fit within an impossibly cramped filigree of sentences, stanzas or rhymes already thickly studded with words of dire import.
So I cut my writer’s teeth on poems, most of them dreadful, many of them scribbled in the margins of my geometry notebook as I gazed out the window, theorems be damned (I recall reading that Sylvia Plath did the same thing, and while I covet her literary genius, I'm thankful to have avoided her fate). And how I loved that last class of the day: English. Sure, we also studied transformational grammar, etymology and spelling, but fortunately, we tenth-graders were blessed with a teacher—Ms. Carol Coleman—who loved poems (and stories and novels) enough to make literature, in all its forms, an ongoing and omnipresent feature. Who inspired more readers (and, I don’t doubt, writers) than you could shake a ballpoint pen at. And this was in a huge public high school in Miami (population when I attended: 4,500) that wasn’t computerized (!) or even air-conditioned.
My fondness for the poem My Last Duchess, I’d later come to realize, was really to do with my being so drawn to the spirit of its title character. The poem is narrated by her widowed husband as he woos the father of his next proposed marriage of convenience. While expounding on her portrait and the happy, blushing woman it depicts, he lets the prospective father-in-law—and the reader—in on a nasty little secret: he is a cold-hearted and materialistic cad who found his late wife’s optimism—indeed, her ability to find joy in every aspect of life—to be annoying at best, intolerable at worst:
…She had
A heart how shall I say? too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favor at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech…
Fast-forward to the twenty-first century, in which your humble Bloggeress has put the last small boy to bed and finds herself responding to a friend’s email in the middle of the night, always a gorgeously quiet and indulgent time for mothers in general, writing mothers in particular.
…To answer your question, no, I still haven’t got used to being the only woman in a house full of men, and I suspect I never will. They’re utterly wonderful, but they’re wild beyond description—here, chaos isn’t a theory; it’s a daily reality. The fighting can escalate in a split-second: oftentimes the flashpoint is some tiny plastic creature or piece of Lego that would have no significance or desirability whatsoever if it weren’t, at that moment, wanted by someone else.
No, wait, I can sum it up in two words: underwear everywhere.
The love in my house is palpable and sticky and offered in generous helpings. I'm the only woman in this place! But I don’t exactly feel like a queen (yet).
Off to bed, then. With best wishes, I am
Deborah, the Duchess of Testosteronia
XXX
When I decided to screw up my courage and publish my own blog, I spent a long time pondering what to call it. Ultimately, The Last Duchess was the only real choice: it’s a nod toward the laughable self-righteousness I often affect while trying to keep my balance on the wobbly pedestal of womanhood, and it's also a way to honor the multifaceted interests and eternal optimism of Browning’s character. Finally, it’s my hope that readers won’t assume I’m hinting at royal pretensions—nothing could be further from my intentions!—but rather, will infer some sense of my awe at the creative geniuses past and present who walk among us, as well as my love and respect for family and literature alike, and my faith that a bright future awaits both.
* du'chess (-tsh-), n. Duke's wife or widow; imposing woman.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press, 1942.
(Cross-posted at my new little place in Florida--do stop in soon.)
What is Richard Cohen smoking?
He’s obviously smoking something:
There are times when George Bush sorely disappoints. Just when you might expect him to issue a malapropian explanation, pander to his base or simply not have a clue about what he is talking about, he does something so right, so honest and, yes, so commendable, that -- as Arthur Miller put it in "Death of a Salesman" -- "attention must be paid." Pay attention to how he has refused to indulge anti-Arab sentiment over the Dubai ports deal.Cohen fundamentally misses several important points here. First of all, if irrational anti-Arab sentiment is fueling concerns over this deal, the Bush administration is the group of miscreants who ought to be accepting the lion’s share of the blame for it. Certainly anti-Arab sentiments existed in the US before 9/11, but since that day, the Bush administration has done everything in their power to stoke the flames of that particular ugliness, from “You’re with us or against us” to conflating the secular dictator Saddam at every turn with the religious fundamentalist leader Osama. Who was it that repeatedly invoked the strawman of the “brown-skinned people” who “some say” don’t want democracy? It was George Bush, that’s who. He’s the one who let this horse out of the gate, and he doesn’t deserve a modicum of credit for trying to close it after the horse he freed has trampled and shit all over the neighbor’s pasture.
Would that anyone could say the same about many of the deal's critics. Whatever their concerns may be, whatever their fears, they would not have had them, expressed them or seen them in print had the middle name of the United Arab Emirates been something else. After all, no one goes nuts over Germany, the country where some of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists lived and attended school.
To overlook the xenophobic element in this controversy is to overlook the obvious. It is what propelled the squabble and what sustains it. Bush put his finger on it right away. "What I find interesting is that it's okay for a British company to manage some ports, but not okay for a company from a country that is a valuable ally in the war on terror," he said last week. "The UAE has been a valuable partner in fighting the war on terror." It is a long way from a terrorist haven.
Secondly, Germany and the UAE are not the same—and it’s not only because of the color of the skin of their peoples. “Some of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists lived and attended school” in America, too, for god’s sake. But the UAE was one of only three countries which recognized as legitimate and had diplomatic ties to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime before 9/11. They severed ties with them two weeks after 9/11, even though they had been asked about ties to bin Laden years earlier. While those issues may or may not be reason for concern about the UAE’s relationship with America’s port security, they are clearly enough to create a discernible difference between Germany and the UAE—and to prompt concerns about higher scrutiny.
And let’s not forget that this deal was made with secret and atypical provisions and with a company who has ties to administration members. This administration has given us every reason to not trust them and take them at their word, especially when they operate in secret. Legitimate questions can be raised about the way the deal was made, irrespective of with whom the deal was made. The Bush administration’s history of secrecy and cronyism is enough on its own to raise eyebrows about this deal, without the race of the other half of the deal-maker factoring in at all.
I’ll let Drum make one last point:
[I]t's not exactly insane to be a little more cautious in turning over port operations to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates than to one owned by, say, the German government. Get a grip.Indeed.
As for why George Bush has defended the deal, one hardly has to resort to paeans to his open-minded humanity to figure this out. I don't think Bush is a bigot, but the reason he stuck to his guns on the port deal is because his first instinct is always to stick to his guns. When Bush is attacked, he attacks back, whether he knows anything about the issue at hand or not. Anyone who hasn't figured that out after five years of Bush watching really does need to go back to school, and not just for a refresher in elementary arithmetic.
Breaking…
The Supreme Court dealt a setback toy to abortion clinics in a two-decade-old legal fight over anti-abortion protests, ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations.
Anti-abortion groups brought the appeal after the 7th Circuit had asked a trial judge to determine whether a nationwide injunction could be supported by charges that protesters had made threats of violence absent a connection with robbery or extortion. (Link.)
I’ll post more as I find out about it. Thanks to Holly.
UPDATE: The WaPo has more. It looks like a bit of a mixed bag. Also see Pam for more commentary on the ruling.
Protect your email from NSA snoops.
Really. It is possible, and they don't want you to know about it. I realize that some of you might just glaze over reading something this technical, but it's worth your time. Email encryption is the only way to insure the privacy of your communications. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, I think.
I don't know how familiar you might be with PGP. A brief history can be found here.
Essentially, PGP is bulletproof encryption for your web communications. It's .gov strength message security for everyday folks. There was a big stink back in 1997 or so, when the NSA lobbied congress to ban it, and back then you used to have to go through all sorts of hoops to download it, including having to promise that you weren't living in Afghanistan. Also, the creator of PGP was harassed by the government and threatened with jail time:
Shortly after its release, PGP found its way outside the US, and in February 1993 Zimmermann became the formal target of a criminal investigation by the US Government for "munitions export without a license". Cryptosystems using keys larger than 40-bits were then considered munitions within the definition of the US export regulations; PGP has never used keys smaller than 128 bits so it qualified at that time. Penalties for violation, if found guilty, were substantial. The investigation of Zimmermann was eventually closed without filing criminal charges against him or anyone else.
The attempts by Congress to ban the product never really got going, and then some company bought the rights to what had (up to that point) been free and readily available (coincidence?).
In December, 1997 PGP Inc. was acquired by Network Associates, Inc. Zimmermann and the PGP team became NAI employees. NAI continued to pioneer export through software publishing, being the first company to have a legal export strategy by publishing source code. Under its aegis, the PGP team added disk encryption, desktop firewalls, intrusion detection, and IPsec VPNs to the PGP family. After the export regulation liberalizations of 2000 which no longer required publishing of source, NAI stopped releasing source code, over the PGP team's objection. There was consternation amongst PGP users worldwide at this and, inevitably, some conspiracy theories as well.
In early 2001, Zimmermann left NAI. He served as Chief Cryptographer for Hush Communications, who provide an OpenPGP-based email service, Hushmail. He has also worked with Veridis and other companies.
In October, 2001, NAI announced that its PGP assets were for sale and that it was suspending further development of PGP. The only remaining asset kept was the PGP E-Business Server (the original PGP Commandline). In February 2002, NAI cancelled all support for PGP, with the exception of the re-named commandline product. NAI (now McAfee) continues to sell and support the product under the name McAfee E-Business Server.
Suddenly you had to pay for it, and then it was never ported to OS X (as far as I am aware) (confession time: I am a mac snob) and it sort of fell off of my radar.
Recently, I discovered the GnuPG project.
There is an OS X port and a plug-in for Mail.app.
Here is a Windows tutorial. You should all be using it, especially you retired mil. guys who oppose the war, since you're the Voice of Credibility on this Iraq thing, and you know that the Bushistas have it in for you. You know who you are.
My public key can be downloaded here. (right-click, "save as..." then Import into the GPG key manager.)
Just do it. I wanna see some encrypted emails before the end of the day.
Secret Agent Crosspost I Speak Dog
Support the Troops: Irony Edition
Via T. Rex's Guide to Life by way of AMERICAblog, comes the link to this AP article headlined, bluntly, "Veterans May Face Health Care Cuts in 2008."
At least tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could suffer delayed or even denied care in coming years to enable President Bush to meet his promise of cutting the deficit in half -- if the White House is serious about its proposed budget.T.Rex:
After an increase for next year, the Bush budget would turn current trends on their head. Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing by leaps and bounds, White House budget documents assume a cutback in 2008 and further cuts thereafter.
And let's not forget that the Bush tax cuts would wipe out the deficit in and of themselves, so this is yet another example of Republicans, and President Bush, screwing soldiers and veterans for the sake of their rich friends.John in D.C.:
This is what happens when you have a president who launches wars of convenience on the wrong enemy without a plan for victory. You spend $300 billion the country doesn't have, then have to cut necessary services for patriotic Americans in order to pay for the failed war. Bush's mistakes come at a price.Not much I can add to that.
(Crossposted at AlterNet PEEK.)
34%
That's the number everyone's talking about. It's the president's bargain-basement approval rating, according to the latest CBS News poll.
Say it with me: Bush is not a popular president.
I found this tidbit particularly interesting:
For the first time in this poll, most Americans say the president does not care much about people like themselves. Fifty-one percent now think he doesn't care, compared to 47 percent last fall.I can't imagine what gives them that idea. Or, more accurately, what has suddenly given them that idea, when they didn't notice his utter contempt for the hoi polloi before.
Crooks and Liars singles out another bit:
WTF is this statement doing in the report?Perhaps because Cheney's approval rating can't go any lower, that remaining 18% undoubtedly being primarily comprised of dim, senile, or otherwise confused film fans who think they're being polled about Lon Chaney."In a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident."
Cheney is clocking in at 18 percent, which is down from 23 percent in January, how is that a bright spot for the administration?
(Post-script heh: The Heretik has that sinking feeling...)
Oh, My!
Lou Dobbs is piiiiiiissed off. Apparently, his piece on the Dubai Ports World Deal hit a nerve or two. Now, the company and the administration are attempting to act in concert to shut him up. And he ain't havin' it.
Just go watch the video at Crooks and Liars. I've never been much of a fan, but this is a sight to behold. He's so angry he can barely get the words out.
(i love the smell of cross-posts in the morning...)
To Do Today
Find a Republican.
Confirm that they voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004.
Say, "This whole Iraq thing? Thank you for that. Heck of a job."
Walk away.
(buy one cross-post, get the second free!)
Question of the Day
Is there a piece of advice you've received to which you refer often? I can think of a bunch. Let's see...
Mom:
-Don't spend more than you earn.
-Children are for loving, not for hitting.
Dad:
-You can always do ten percent over the speed limit without getting a ticket.
-A handshake is an indication of character.
Grampa, who otherwise kind of drunk and angry:
-You'll eat dirt before you die.
My dad also told me never to accept a last-minute date, because any man who values me as a person will make plans in advance. Sigh. I'm a much stronger woman in my dad's imagination.
An Open Letter to Women from Conservatives
Secured by my crack investigative team:
Dear Uterati,
Fuck you.
Love,
Conservatives
P.S. Especially you bitchez in the Red States.
P.P.S. Thanks for your votes!
While the FDA dithers endlessly about making emergency contraception, specifically Plan B, available without a prescription, the states are starting to legislate its access—and, predictably, while blue states are looking to expand access, red states are seeking to restrict it.
With the application in regulatory limbo, a growing number of states have passed bills that allow pharmacists working in conjunction with doctors to dispense Plan B to women who do not have a prescription -- with Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Mexico and California acting most recently. The Massachusetts bill was passed last year over Republican Gov. Mitt Romney's veto…Huzzah! Because what we really want is to revictimize rape victims by withholding emergency contraception that could ensure they don't get pregnant with their rapist’s baby. And we definitely want to force women using contraception, but who have an unfortunate and unavoidable birth control failure, to go through the a more invasive abortion procedure. And we most certainly want to make sure that couples who weren’t responsible enough to use birth control in the first place face the possibility of being responsible for a child.But some bills would make it more difficult for many women to get emergency contraception, which is effective for only 72 hours after a woman experiences a contraceptive failure or unprotected sex. Legislation in New Hampshire, for instance, would require parental notification before the drug is dispensed, and more than 20 other states will consider bills that give pharmacies the right not to stock the drug and pharmacists the right not to dispense it, even to women with valid prescriptions…
Efforts by antiabortion groups led to the passage last year of a Texas bill that eliminated the drug from a demonstration family-planning program, and to an Arkansas bill that kept emergency contraception off a list of protected contraceptives.
I suppose it’s also futile to point out, yet again, that parental notification laws are bullshit. In a perfect world, pregnant teens would be able to tell their parents they are pregnant and they could work out the best solution together, but in this world, step-fathers rape their unconscious and dying step-daughters. (And only get 9 years for it, which is a whole other post.)
Because I have a filthy mind…
…this takes on all sorts of ugly, gut-churning connotations.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that President Bush's chief political strategist Karl Rove "spends a lot of time obsessing about me."The thought of Rove “obsessing” about Hillary Clinton is just really about the grossest thing I can imagine not involving Denny Hastert.
What the F?
Someone please tell me this is the most elaborate episode of Punk’d ever.
Paris Hilton is thrilled to be playing Mother Teresa in an upcoming biopic.“Do those babies have flies on their faces? That’s hot.”
The hotel heiress has been approached by award-winning director T Rajeevnath, who is convinced that she will be a huge success…
Hilton explained, "It's such an honour. I'm so excited. I really want to learn more about this amazing woman, so that's what I'm doing in a few months."
In preparation for the role, Paris is apparently joining the Order of Mother Teresa missionaries, and will travel around Bangalore and Calcutta to care for the sick.
Like the desperately poor and infirm of Calcutta really need to have their lives futher worsened by the revolting presence of that ninny-brained waste of space.
On the other hand, if the idea is to make even the most poverty-stricken desperates appreciate their lives, sending a functionally illiterate heiress whose utter uselessness beggars belief to their bedsides is a pretty decent idea.
(Via Dlisted.)
Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?
| You Passed 8th Grade Math |
 Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct! |
Passed on by Shaker Tony, who hat tips Yglesias and reports: “I got an 8/10. Everybody else got a 10/10, of course. I still passed though, but I am sulking and the rest of my day is ruined.” LOL. I feel your pain, T. If it had been a grammar or verbal test of some kind, I probably would have done the same (and then felt the same), but I was always better at math.
Notes from Restoration Weekend
Restoration Weekend is an annual do put on by David Horowitz, the self-appointed defender of minorities and other groups under attack including “Christians and white males,” at which 350 conservative movers and shakers confab and hobnob. The Nation’s Marc Cooper attended the event last weekend (as a liberal panelist), and found that many of these movement stalwarts are worried about the GOP’s chances in the fall elections. Or, as he put it, “there's a lot of fear and trembling going on among Republicans.”
Former Congressman Pat Toomey, current head of The Club for Growth: "We have to acknowledge we have a President who is not popular… The war in Iraq is the 800 lb. gorilla in the room and a major downturn could drown anything we do… We won in 1994 because we promised small government and going into the 2006 elections this is key idea we have abandoned."I honestly was thinking that I wasn’t sure which is a worse position to be in—part of the disillusioned progressive masses almost completely marginalized from federal governance or part of the demoralized conservative masses whose party enjoys near-total dominance and doesn’t see a shred of conservative principle in federal governance—until I read a bit on Cooper’s personal blog about that latter group:
[…]
Missouri Lt. Governor Pete Kinder on the state of the party: "The demoralization of the base is real. I hear it everywhere."
Generally speaking, the audiences at these events are usually quite gracious and easy-going if indeed out-to-lunch politically. It’s a much friendlier venue than your usual lefty gatherings. The Weekend-goers here are disportionately [sic] richer, older, more comfortable, less angry than your average progressive (duh!). And as they will usually admit that their politics are much more about self-interest than purportedly about saving the world, they don’t get very worked up if you disagree with them. Doesn’t really affect the bottom line, y’know.Then I basically thought, Eh, fuck ’em. When you’re only interested in “Gettin' mine,” how sorry can I feel for you?
(I do, however, still gravely pity—and disdain—any average, struggling schmoe who votes Republican thinking they’re going to do best by him.)
In any case, I don’t think most of this demoralized base will ever vote Dem, so this isn’t really news about something the Dems could directly exploit. It is, possibly, a warning that lots of fed-up conservatives may be staying home from the polls come November, though. If the Dems can appeal to the older demographic which is rife with frustrated seniors pissed about the Medicare prescription debacle, and give the rest of their potential voters something to vote for, aside from just trying to shred the GOP stranglehold on Congress, they just might pull it out of the bag.
future bloggers of america
Like many of us, Baby Ciara is easily distracted by shiny, expensive-looking objects.
Hmm. What an interesting contraption.
Opinions! So many opinions! Must record opinions!
Harper's lays it out
Harper's Magazine takes a strong stand in its March issue with an article called: "The Case for Impeachment" with the subtitle of: "Why we can no longer afford George W. Bush". An excerpt of it is available online today. While it is nothing new to those of us who covered Downing Street this summer, it's nice to see all of it in print.
It starts out introducing our favorite man, John Conyers, and questions him on just what he was thinking by introducing a resolution "to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment” in a Republican-majority House, given how the neocon Congress are nothing more than lemmings (slight paraphrase). Conyers goes to brass tacks in answering why:
“To take away the excuse,” he said, “that we didn't know.” So that two or four or ten years from now, if somebody should ask, “Where were you, Conyers, and where was the United States Congress?” when the Bush Administration declared the Constitution inoperative and revoked the license of parliamentary government, none of the company now present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity, can say that “somehow it escaped our notice” that the President was setting himself up as a supreme leader exempt from the rule of law.
Excellent, Mr. Conyers. Most excellent. Lewis Lapham read Resolution 635 and his experience was, shall we say, very familar:
[O]n reading through the report's corroborating testimony I sometimes could counter its inducements to mute rage with the thought that if the would-be lords of the flies weren't in the business of killing people, they would be seen as a troupe of off-Broadway comedians in a third-rate theater of the absurd. Entitled “The Constitution in Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War"
Of course, in the end, Lewis comes to the same conclusion that any rational, non-kool aid drinking person would:
Before reading the report, I wouldn't have expected to find myself thinking that [impeachment] was either likely or possible; after reading the report, I don't know why we would run the risk of not impeaching the man. We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country's good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world's evil, a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation's wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. In a word, a criminal—known to be armed and shown to be dangerous.
SMACK!
I wonder how much traction, if any, this issue will get. What do you think? Think it will go anywhere now?
As a side note, if you live in NYC (or close by), there will be a public meeting with Lewis, John Conyers, Michael Ratner, Elizabeth Holtzman, and John Dean on March 2nd at 8 pm about impeachment. It'll be moderated by Sam Seder of The Majority Report. It will be at:
Town Hall
123 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
(cross-posted @ expostulation)
RIP Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin has died at 83. He was Mike Hammer and The Night Stalker…and he was also The Old Man in A Christmas Story, whose fascination with his Major Award causes his wife all sorts of consternation.
Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian.
Jesus Appears in Sheet Metal
Holly passes on this article, probably because she knows I’m a fan of holy folks presenting their visages on trees, more trees, wardrobes, water stains, grilled cheese sandwiches, potato chips, and all manner of everyday objects.
Thomas Haley was unloading supplies for his job at Hardy's Hardware when he said something odd caught his eye: the face of Jesus Christ on a piece of sheet metal.But not bad enough to not do it. I found the listing on eBay, if you’re interested. You can “Buy It Now” for the reasonable price of $10,000. So far, bidding has reached $510.
Now, Haley and a co-worker are hawking the holy hardware on eBay, hoping potential bidders will agree that the blurry oil stain on the sheet metal does, indeed, resemble Jesus…
Haley said that whatever money is raised will be split between him, Jackson, another worker, and two customers. But he's still a little ambivalent about the sale.
"I feel kind of bad just pawning off Christ," Haley said.
Haley said he was unloading a supply truck two weeks ago at the Manchester hardware store when he turned a corner and was awe-struck by the holy likeness gazing back at him from the $15.49 piece of sheet metal.A pilgrimage to the local hair salon? Why a hair salon and not, oh I dunno, a church? I admit I don’t spend tons of times in either hair salons or churches, but as far as I’m aware, hair salons haven’t become the arbiter of all things holy, right?
Since then, Haley and 18-year-old co-worker Jonathan Jackson have shown the piece to a few other workers and customers, and even took it on a short pilgrimage to a nearby hair salon.
They say several people agreed with their assessment, although a few suggested it looks more like legendary rock singer Jim Morrison of The Doors.I actually think that’s a good question. In truth, it’s why I find these appearances so interesting. Why wouldn’t Groucho Marx appear in a piece of sheet metal, or a hedge, or a turnip? Is there’s a heavenly rule that no one but the holy family is allowed to engage in these little bits of earthly performance art? Are they mad about being sold on eBay? And why would they do it? Doesn’t this, in some way, undermine the principle that Christians are meant to see God in everything? If this is a genuine message from the above, it’s definitely a mixed one, at best.
"Some people said, 'Are you sure it's Jesus?' and I think, 'Who else would come to give us a sign, Groucho Marx?' " Jackson said.
Man Titty
I read a lot of non-fiction. A lot of it. When I'm at the bookstore, I'm always browsing the "Current Events," (or "Politics") "Sociology," and "Psychology" shelves. I'll look up books on film for fun, or maybe browse other areas to see if anything new shows up that punches my interest buttons. ("A new book on giant squid? Cool!")
So, after reading the billionth book on the amazing trainwreck of the Bush "presidency," or yet another book on how much it sucks to live in this country if you're not wealthy, white and powerful, I sometimes need a little break. That's where my shameful vice comes in.
I'm completely addicted to crap horror books.
I'm not talking about King. Frankly, I burned out on him a while ago, once I realized he's basically written the same book for the last ten or fifteen years. (Troubled author living in Maine encounters evil alien presence/car/haunted object/crazy person. Also, has anyone else besides me gotten the feeling that King really has a strong dislike for gay people?) So I've left the more well-known authors, and jumped feet-first into the world of pulpy, pulpy horror fiction. I'm a little picky, though:
1. No freakin' vampires. (This is really difficult to avoid, as they're definitely the most popular "monster" to write about. I'm sorry, I just never found vampires to be all that interesting, and they give the book an idiotic "erotic thriller" feel that just leaves me cold.)
2. Bonus points for zombies. Everything is better with zombies. Give me a zombie book, and I'm a happy guy. I picked up a new zombie book this weekend, and I can't even think of the title or author. That's how knee-jerk my response can be.
3. There's gotta be a monster. Or an alien. Or some other-worldly force. Books about maniacs and serial killers just don't interest me. Buh-bye, Dean Koontz.
Anyway, that's my weakness. I'm sure most of you out there have a guilty pleasure when it comes to reading. The one genre that I've really never been able to get into, even on a camp level, is the Romance Novel. I find them endlessly hilarious, but I could never bring myself to actually pick one up and read it.
Enter Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.
Take a look. You're gonna love it.
(Coming soon... "Hard Case Crime" and my love of Crime Fiction.)
(Science Fiction... Double cross-post)
The Accidental Administration
Who knew there was even going to be a report on Bush’s bike accident in Scotland last year when he crashed into a Scottish police constable while cycling in the grounds of Gleneagles Hotel? I certainly didn’t. Pam, who gets the hat tip, notes:
The Scotsman reports that the facts were kept under wraps for "fear of embarrassing Bush" by the local police. When you read [the facts], it's obvious why.Indeed. Because the conclusion is basically that Bush is an uncoordinated doofus who can’t write a bike, wave, and talk at the same time.
The official police incident report states: "[The unit] was requested to cover the road junction on the Auchterarder to Braco Road as the President of the USA, George Bush, was cycling through." The report goes on: "[At] about 1800 hours the President approached the junction at speed on the bicycle. The road was damp at the time. As the President passed the junction at speed he raised his left arm from the handlebars to wave to the police officers present while shouting 'thanks, you guys, for coming'.At the time, it was all chalked up to “slick roads,” and the police officer he hit was described as having suffered a "very minor" ankle injury. But, curiously, the Scotsman article notes that the officer was out of commission for 14 weeks.
"As he did this he lost control of the cycle, falling to the ground, causing both himself and his bicycle to strike [the officer] on the lower legs. [The officer] fell to the ground, striking his head. The President continued along the ground for approximately five metres, causing himself a number of abrasions. The officers... then assisted both injured parties."
John Scott, a human rights lawyer, said: "There's certainly enough in this account for a charge of careless driving. Anyone else would have been warned for dangerous driving.Hmm…minimizing the injuries of someone accidentally hurt by a member of the administration, dubious acknowledgement of personal accountability at the time of the accident, and evasion of charges that would certainly have been brought against anyone else. Am I the only one reminded of a more recent accidental injury at the hands of an administration member?
"I have had clients who have been charged with assaulting a police officer for less than this. The issue of how long the police officer was out of action for is also important. He was away from work for 14 weeks, and that would normally be very significant in a case like this."
Yeah, I know this isn’t exactly taking us to war on trumped-up intelligence or spying without a warrant or even pursuing tax cuts that hurt a lot of Americans. But in some way, I feel that these incidents speak more clearly to the character of the men who are running our country than some of their major policy failures. If we want to know why they stay on vacation while poor black people drown or don’t hesitate to out a covert CIA operative in a game of political retribution, it’s not because they’re conservatives; it’s because they’re men who view themselves and their lives as more important than others’, and because they believe they’re above the law.
Of Squirrels and Monsters
The rightwing blogosphere is all aflutter about a book called Why Mommy is a Democrat, which features a mommy squirrel explaining to her baby squirrel why she’s a Democrat. Funny, but they didn’t seem too concerned about Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed!—which features caricatures of actual prominent Democratic politicians posing as the “monsters” under a child’s bed. I guess that was just all in good fun, unlike these heinous, dogmatic squirrels who talk about sharing and going to school.
I’m not a parent, so take this for whatever you think it’s worth, but I imagine the best way to teach a child about one’s political principles is simply to live by them. The Democrat book doesn’t seem to be all that nasty, serving as more of a primer on Democratic tenets, but the anti-liberal book is a real piece of work, not enlightening about conservative ideas, but just basically denigrating liberal ones instead.
Of course, demonizing those with whom you disagree is much easier and less time consuming than living by example, so I guess the book is helpful for the busy conservative parent whose quality time is diminished by a demanding schedule of picketing abortion clinics and petitioning the legislature to criminalize gay marriage. After all, Take Your Child to Work Day only comes once a year.
Question of the Day
A twist on the old Actors' Studio question about what one hopes god would say upon one's arrival in heaven. Instead, "If there is a god, what would you say to him/her when you arrive?"
I'd have to think about this one a bit for a serious answer, although recently, in a fit of pique on a day with an infuriating number of stories about American conservative Christians claiming persecution, I did email the following to a friend:
I'm starting to hope there is a god, just so I can say "Fuck You!!!" when I come before him for my final judgment.
St. Peter: "Looks like we're going to have to send you to hell, Liss."
Me: "Sounds great! After a lifetime of listening to your yokels babbling incessantly about how persecuted they are, an eternity of hellfire should be a breeze!"
RIP Don Knotts
people are lame.
My best friend Erica and I have been besties since we were four. We lovies each other like sisters. You know, all that crap. So anyway we took a walk along the boardwalk today, and joking that she would make a great boyfriend for me because she's almost six inches taller, she put her arm around he and we held hands, and I put my arm around her waist. This I do not see as a big deal, nor is it an unusual occurrence for us. But as we walked by a rental house with some middle-aged people sitting outside, we definitely heard some kissy noises. And when we looked over, they all definitely looked away at the same time. They were not kidding. They were seriously mocking us. And I'm not being paranoid. I was being made fun of for being gay. Being straight, that's never happened to me before. So that was a first.
People are lame.
Ouch
“The Justice Department has a message for Congress: clean up your house or else we may have to do it for you. A senior federal law enforcement official told TIME that the paralyzed and often lax House ethics committee has created a vacuum that prosecutors won’t hesitate to fill. The House’s internal mechanism for keeping corruption in check is ‘broken,’ says the official.”Snap!
I’ll believe it, however, when I see it.
Morrissey Has Killed Me
Of course he has, the dirty terrorist. The first single from his new album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, due out April 4, is called “You Have Killed Me.” I just listened to it and watched the video (true to form, it sucks; it wouldn’t be a Morrissey video if it didn’t), and now I’m basking in the jittery, giddy glow that ever accompanies hearing the first notes of a new Moz album. April 4 cannot come soon enough.
As I live and breath, you have killed me. Yes, I walk around somehow, but you have killed me…
The album “review” put out by the label is, as they always are, hilarious.
Ringleader of the Tormentors – which those who have heard it are identifying as one of his greatest recording achievements - is a record of a different complexion than all previous Morrissey records. It seems somehow suffused with a new confidence and, dare one venture, happiness?Every Morrissey album has been his greatest recording achievement yet, and every one has signaled a new happiness, if you go by the label announcements. According to them, he’s been on a steady incline toward euphoria since The Smiths’ Meat is Murder.
Recorded at Forum Music Village in Rome with long-term hero Tony Visconti (who produced favorite records for T-Rex and David Bowie, during their most creative periods of the 60’s and 70s), the album positively crackles with fire.That’s quite cool, actually. (Pic of Moz with Visconti here.) Cool enough, in fact, that it doesn’t need to include a repulsive turn of phrase like “the album positively crackles with fire.”
‘To Me You Are a Work of Art’ may contain the classic Morrissey couplet, “I see the world, it makes me puke.”LOL!
‘Dear God Please Help Me’. Orchestrated by Ennio Morricone (who has over the years made much of his significant work at Forum Music Village), this beautiful song, which for the most part simply describes walking through Rome with an unfettered heart, is almost sanctified in its atmosphere. Yes, the lyrical content is frank-bordering-on-prurient, and yet over its six rousing minutes the song swells to almost hymnal proportions, until you feel that, for all his supposed remove from the human race, few people can deliver a universal emotional message with more power than Morrissey.Sounds great. Let’s get this album in my grubby little hands ASAP!
As I’ve mentioned before, aside from relatives and my lovely, twisted, and immeasurably valuable friendship with Mr. Furious, the longest relationship with a man in my life is with Morrissey, and I have spent countless hours in his presence, mostly at concerts, but there have been a few occasions when I’ve met him as well. I have a little photo album somewhere of all my pictures of me with him, his arm slung across my shoulders, but it’s packed away somewhere and I’ll be darned if I can find it. So these second-tier images will have to suffice in fulfillment of my promise (or threat, depending on one’s perspective) to post some pics of said occasions.
Release Party: Your Arsenal
Shakes with Morrissey as he signs a postcard for her, and she tells him it’s a pleasure to meet him, and he responds, more genuinely than she would have expected and looking at her dead in the eyes, “The pleasure is mine, my love,” from which she has never recovered.
Mr. Furious with Morrissey. I won tickets to the listening party by sending in a postcard to a contest held by Chicago radio station XRT. I got to bring one friend, and there was no chance it was going to be anyone but Mr. F. A few weeks later, we were at Mr. F.'s house late one Saturday night when his stepdad called through, "Melissa's on TV!" JBTV, a Chicago music show and staple of the local alternative music scene, had filmed the Your Arsenal party, and was rebroadcasting it. So we got to watch ourselves meeting Morrissey in slack-jawed awe, failing completely to put in a videotape.
Video Shoot: “Glamorous Glue”
The Mission: Show up clad in black at the Chicago blues club Kingston Mines and the first 100 in line will be permitted to enter and appear as the audience in Morrissey’s video for the single “Glamorous Glue” from Your Arsenal.
We got there early and got in. They told we lucky hundred sods not to take any pictures or rush the stage. It was hopeless. Flashbulbs went off like it was a press junket and fans completely ignored the tables at which we were meant to sit quietly, instead rushing the stage and clamoring for the man. They finally just let us all get things signed, touch the messiah, speak with him, and then we were ushered out. In the end, the video was shot with a single audience member—an elderly black man who had probably never heard of Morrissey, and hasn’t again since.
Album Signing: Vauxhall and I
We wait patiently for our turn with Moz. There were literally thousands and thousands of people who waited to see him. Luckily, we were toward the front of the line. He seemed in no huge hurry, and spent time speaking with each of us and taking pictures with us and generally being his amiable and accommodating self.
Then-boyfriend speaks with Moz while he signs the album cover. When I stood with him to have my picture taken, he turned to look over our shoulders out the window, where waiting fans were lined up for blocks. “So many people who want to see you,” I said. “I’ll never get over it,” he replied.
(Related: The Songs That Saved Your Life, or intro to my adoration for Moz.)
White House “Discovers” Emails Related to Plame Leak
Truthout (via Memeorandum):
The White House turned over last week 250 pages of emails from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office. Senior aides had sent the emails in the spring of 2003 related to the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald revealed during a federal court hearing Friday.The emails reportedly also reference Plame’s identity and CIA status, issues about having not uncovered WMD in Iraq, and suggestions by “senior officials in Cheney’s office” about how the White House should respond to Joe Wilson’s criticism of the administration.
The emails are said to be explosive, and may prove that Cheney played an active role in the effort to discredit Plame Wilson’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s prewar Iraq intelligence, sources close to the investigation said.
Sources close to the probe said the White House “discovered” the emails two weeks ago and turned them over to Fitzgerald last week. The sources added that the emails could prove that Cheney lied to FBI investigators when he was interviewed about the leak in early 2004. Cheney said that he was unaware of any effort to discredit Wilson or unmask his wife’s undercover status to reporters…
Cheney said he was unaware that Ambassador Wilson was chosen to travel to Niger to look into the uranium claims, and that he never saw a report Wilson had given a CIA analyst upon his return which stated that the Niger claims were untrue. He said the CIA never told him about Wilson's trip.
However, the emails say otherwise, and will show that the vice president spearheaded an effort in March 2003 to attack Wilson’s credibility and used the CIA to dig up information on the former ambassador that could be used against him, sources said.
I’m not sure what this means, exactly, in terms of the law. Cheney was, as you’ll no doubt remember, not put under oath when he was interviewed by investigators, so I suspect there’s no chance for any kind of perjury charge, though I don’t think obstruction would be off the table—if, indeed, the “discovery” of these emails leads to any kind of charges at all.
On its face, this seems rather explosive to me, but at the same time, I can’t imagine these emails weren’t carefully scrubbed before they were miraculously rediscovered. On the other hand…Cheney is clearly a liability. He’s got abysmal approval ratings, his handling of his hunting accident created a whole new scandal for the administration, and he’s never been an heir apparent for the conservatives, who would undoubtedly prefer to have a veep in place to walk into a leadership role on a successive administration. There’s a small part of me that wonders if we’re not about to witness a partial coup.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Pazuzu's Petals…
Think of a person you knew only briefly—no more than one year—who nonetheless left a significant and lasting impact on your life. It could be a lover, teacher, friend, boss, whatever. What did you learn, gain, or lose?
I can’t think of anyone who I knew for so short a time. Even my teachers were people I saw often after having their classes, because my parents were teachers, and so it was typical for me to see teachers outside of school. The closest I can come to answering this question is actually someone I never met—Tammy Zywicki.
Tammy Zywicki was driving from her home in Evanston, Illinois back to college in Grinnell, Iowa on August 23, 1992, but she never arrived. Her car was found abandoned, and her mother reported her missing. She was last seen by passing drivers, between 3:10pm and 4:00p.m, speaking with the driver of a tractor/trailer, who was described as a white male between 35 and 40 years of age, over six feet tall, with dark, bushy hair. On September 1, 1992, her body was found along I-44 in rural Lawrence County, Missouri. She had been stabbed to death, and her killer has never been caught.
I was headed for college for the first time that same day. My parents drove me, and all my stuff, and when they left, I was safe, if a bit lonely and nervous living away from home for the first time. I was at Loyola University Chicago’s Lake Shore Campus, just a few miles away from Evanston, from which Tammy had departed earlier that day.
Over the next few weeks, I heard about Tammy, and watched the news compulsively, hoping desperately she would be found. And then she was. And then I started hoping her killer would be found. But the days dragged on and on, and soon the story wasn’t even getting a mention on the news anymore.
But Tammy stayed with me. One of the first searches I ever did on the internet was for news about her case, to see if anyone had been caught. I still search occasionally, and I’m always disappointed to find no news.
I don’t have to remember to think about her; the memory of her comes unbidden. And it’s not that I use her to remind myself that life is precious. There was just something about the way her story fell out of the news so suddenly—one day there was an update, and the next there wasn’t, and then there never was again—that made some part of me keep her with me. And I think of her on important days—my college graduation, my wedding day—as if in some way I’m living life for both of us, since hers was taken away so abruptly on a summer day when we were both headed to college.
(Btw, in case it's not clear, it's Pazuzu's question and my answer.)
Breaking News: Ghost of Eisenhower Tries to Incapacitate Bush with Glare of Doom
(U.S. President George W. Bush delivers remarks on the global war on terror in Washington February 24, 2006. REUTERS/Jim Young)
Abortion Ban One Step Closer in SD
After passing the State Senate, now it has passed the South Dakota State House.
South Dakota lawmakers approved a ban on nearly all abortions Friday, setting up a deliberate frontal assault on Roe v. Wade at a time when some activists see the U.S. Supreme Court as more willing than ever to overturn the 33-year-old decision.Sigh. I’ll keep you posted…
Republican Gov. Mike Rounds said he was inclined to sign the bill…
"I think the stars are aligned," said House Speaker Matthew Michels, a Republican. "Simply put, now is the time."
…According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization in New York and Washington, similar abortion proposals are in the works in seven other states: Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee.
i shot paper.
I shot paper with a gun. This was actually last Friday, but due to some mix-ups with my camera, I was not able to photodocument until today. But I'd do it again, because clearly, shooting paper with a gun is very fun.
I would not have expected my liberal friend Dan, to own a shotgun, but he does. It turns out he's told me this several times, but I was either drunk or doing that selective hearing thing I do when people I like tell me scary things, like anything having to do with weapons or how they write code for spam email. But when he told me about it again, I said hey, I don't know how to do that. Can't go through life never firing a gun, right?
So after I promised not to make any hilariously apropos Dick Cheney jokes around the Republicans, we went to the shooting range I was walked through the basics of handling and firing a 12-gauge shotgun without falling over. And fall over I did not. And it was a rush! I giggled almost the entire time, and not just from the double entendres ('jack it hard,' etc.) It was the adrenaline, the high from holding something so powerful and feeling the rumble through my body when it went off and fire came out the end. The recoil wasn't what I expected it to be, but nevertheless I was sore in the arms and pink in the chest when I was through. In all it was pretty fun. Plus I liked the way the shells flew out when I cocked it. That was cool.
My aim was not bad, I'm told. The first ten or so shots landed on the belly and arms, as the weight of the gun was causing my posture to slump. But Dan yelled at me to stand up straight and aim for the head, and as you can see, the paper-man met his ultimate demise when I shot him in the neck.
Really, I'm surprised he agreed to take me at all, given this email exchange from Wednesday:
Dan
to me
12:30 it is. I'll pick you up and we'll go from there.
Me
to Dan
Can we drink first or is that considered in bad form?
Dan
to me
Jesus woman. No we can't drink before we handle a fucking gun. I hope you are kidding. We can drink afterwards. God I hope you are kidding.
I was totally kidding.
Self-Reflection
Sarah Elizabeth Richards posts at Broadsheet about the use of mirrors therapeutically to help women change negative perceptions about their body images.
Researchers followed 45 women ages 17 to 31, whose obsession with the weight and shape of their bodies affected their feelings of self-worth. Half were asked to stand in front of a three-way mirror and objectively describe the areas they liked and disliked. (They were also told to stay away from the scale or mirror at home.)Sometimes people just need to be given permission to change the way their perceptions. It’s ingrained from such an early age to look at our flaws disapprovingly, rather than just accept them, and I imagine that’s a big part of why this therapy works. It’s not just learning how to view yourself differently; it’s being given permission to view yourself differently. If you don’t want to obsess about your gut flab, it’s okay; you don’t have to.
After three sessions, the women reported better self-esteem and were less depressed than a comparison group, who participated in traditional talk therapy with a counselor.
One of my mom’s favorite stories to tell about me is how I gave her permission to say no. A few years ago, she was moaning and groaning about some wedding shower (or baby shower, or something) that she didn’t really feel like attending. “I don’t want to go, but I have to,” she sighed.
“No you don’t,” I said.
She sort of blinked at me, surprised, and said, “Yes, I do. I was invited. They’ll be hurt if I don’t go. I have to go.”
“No you don’t,” I said again. “If you don’t want to go, just tell them you can’t come. Send the gift and card and stay home.”
She looked stunned, as if I was saying the most revolutionary thing in the world. Well, I was—in her world. She always felt so obligated to do everything that anyone asked. That’s the way she’d been raised. It had never really occurred to her that she could just say no, that if she simply preferred to stay home and watch a movie or read a book or sit and stare at the wall it was okay.
After a long pause for consideration, she nodded her head. “I’m going to tell them no!” she announced.
“Good for you,” I told her.
She felt very pleased with herself, but made a self-effacing comment about how her daughter had to teach her how to say no. But it’s not like she didn’t know how; she just needed permission to do it. There are things within all of us that go so deeply, we can’t allow ourselves to break with (or from) them. Sometimes we just need a jolt to do it, someone to say, “That’s allowed.”
Realistically speaking…
Mannion’s written a very thoughtful post on the abortion debate, taking up the task of addressing that, on the “when life begins” question, we’re all just guessing, whether our answer is “at conception” or “at birth” or anything in between. In the absence of definitive proof, one guess shouldn’t (and logically can’t) trump another, which is another way of saying that “God says so” isn’t a particularly compelling political position—although Mannion says it (as usual) much more eloquently.
One little thing was niggling at me, though…but it’s not really Mannion’s post to which I’m responding; it’s some other discussions going in various comments threads (especially this one) around here the past couple of days. This was the bit in Mannion’s post that sparked the thought, however:
And if the Supreme Court were to decide or Congress were to pass a law stating that except in cases where the mother's health was at risk, abortions should be banned, or severely restricted, after the fourth month instead of the sixth, I wouldn't be outraged.In theory, I might not be outraged, either. (Although, in addition to provisions made for the mother’s life and health, I’d always add something about the health of the fetus; with grave deformities or other health issues that would make life outside the womb unsustainable, some of which may not always be detectable until further along, I believe the decision whether to terminate early or give birth to a baby that will inevitably quickly die after a short life of suffering is best left to its parent(s).) But theoretical arguments don’t work very well in abortion debates.
It’s to the anti-choice brigade’s credit that they have us focusing on second- and third-trimester abortions at all. They do make for great theoretical arguments, inflamed with all sorts of passion and emotion. But the reality is that second-trimester abortions account for less than 10% of all abortions, and third-trimester abortions account for less than 0.5% of all abortions. It’s quite a coup for them that we spend so much time discussing 10.5% of abortions, as if they’re of more importance than the nearly 90% of abortions that all happen within bounds with which we’re all pretty comfortable.
And then there’s the theory v. reality of that 10.5%. In theory, it’s all about making sure we address the morality of callous or indecisive women who lazily wait until their second- or third-trimester to seek out an abortion. In reality, the majority of women seeking early second-trimester abortions do so because they didn’t realize they were pregnant earlier and/or because they had problem raising the funds to pay for an abortion. (If finding a way to pay for an abortion takes a couple of weeks, pushing a woman into her second term, financial problems become increasingly complicated; second-trimester abortions can be more costly, and they require, for many women, travel costs to a state with abortion providers who perform the procedure.) And the majority of women seeking late second-trimester abortions do so for reasons relating to their own health or the health of the fetus, much like third-trimester abortions.
Here’s another little nasty reality: As of 2000, 87% of counties in America had no abortion provider, and 86 of our 276 metropolitan areas had no provider. Nearly one-third of all American women aged 15-44 lived in counties without providers. The number of providers continues to steadily decrease.
So, why, pray tell, do we spill so much ink (as it were) debating our hand-wringing concerns about second- and third-trimester abortions? Why do we discuss ad nauseam when life begins and when whatever rights we’re willing to confer to fetuses, if any, should kick in, when what we should be talking about, what we need to be talking about, is lack of access?
First, lack of access to comprehensive sex education, which decreases the incidences of unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Second, lack of access to emergency contraception, which is cheaper, among other things. Third, lack of access to safe, legal, and affordable abortion providers. If women’s inability to get cash and get to an abortion provider is one of the main contributors to delayed abortions, then our focus on the morality of second-term abortions is really putting the cart before the horse. Let’s make abortion accessible to women during any stage of their pregnancy, and then see if the whole argument isn’t a moot point.
In theory, I wouldn’t be outraged by lots of stuff—including spending endless amounts of time mounting philosophical debates about abortion (which can be very interesting). But in reality, I’m more interested in giving women the best options possible. Good information, birth control, emergency contraception, full and easy access to abortion when needed. Once we’ve got all that, I’ll spend all the time in the world debating second- and third-trimester abortions, if there’s anything left to debate.
Bush is Stealing My Rap
The enemy we face is brutal and determined. [They] have an ideology. They share a hateful vision that rejects tolerance and crushes all dissent. They seek a world where women are oppressed, where children are indoctrinated, and those who reject their ideology of violence and extremism are threatened and often murdered.Funny, that’s what I say about him and his minions all the time. Sure, he threw in some stuff about murder and WMDs so he could talk about “the terrorists,” but I’m not fooled. His speechwriters are reading my blog.
[They] have aims. They seek to impose their heartless ideology of totalitarian control… To achieve their aims, [they] have turned to the weapon of fear. [They] do not understand America. They're not going to shake our will. We will stay in the hunt, we will never give in, and we will prevail.
Q: What do Bush’s balls taste like?
A: I don’t fucking know. Ask John McCain.
The following is a statement by Senator John McCain on the debate over the Bush Administration’s decision to allow Dubai Ports World of the United Arab Emirates to manage U.S. sea ports.See, that’s just the problem, though. They haven’t earned our trust, but in fact have undermined it at every opportunity, and therefore don’t deserve the presumption that they will do best by the American people on any issue. And no amount of thinly-guised or overt accusations of partisanship or racism can distract from the fact that there’s just no reason to trust this administration with the stewardship of this country, even (and perhaps especially) on national security. This is the administration who ignored warnings about al Qaida strikes, cooked intelligence, deliberately conflated bin Laden and Hussein, outed a CIA operative working on WMD proliferation in a game of political retribution, did a half-assed job in Afghanistan, mismatched the war in Iraq from day one, sanctioned torture, spied on Americans, and the rest of the miles-long list of fuck-ups, all in the name of national security. The president’s “leadership” hasn’t earned him anything except the well-deserved title of Worst President Ever. End o’ story.
“We all need to take a moment and not rush to judgment on this matter without knowing all the facts. The President’s leadership has earned our trust in the war on terror, and surely his administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our security short.”
“I was on the moon…with Steve!”
Who me? Uh, I don’t speak your language.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was not aware a Dubai-owned company was seeking to operate terminals in six U.S. ports and that his agency was leading the review until after the deal's approval, an administration official said yesterday.This is from the Moonie Times, for crying out loud, which has carried more water for this administration than has been broken by Michelle Duggar. If even they're pointing out how ridiculous this "I didn't know" crap is, you know it's bloody ridiculous.
Mr. Chertoff's spokesman, Russ Knocke, told The Washington Times the issue rose no higher than the department's assistant secretary for policy, Stewart Baker.
"[Chertoff] was not briefed up to this until after this story started appearing in the newspapers," Mr. Knocke said.
Mr. Chertoff is the third Cabinet official to acknowledge he did not know his agency had signed off on the plan as a member of the interagency Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS). Both Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow have publicly said they were unaware of the deal.
But Mr. Chertoff's exclusion is more noteworthy because his department headed the CFIUS review and is in charge of security at all U.S. ports.
Can some fiesty journalist (see: Helen Thomas) make it simple for the adminstration and just ask who did know about deal and whether it rhymes with “Gnarl Stove”?
Love It
If an Ohio lawmaker's proposal becomes state law, Republicans would be barred from being adoptive parents.Awesome. This—“Hagan wrote in his mock proposal that “credible research” shows… Hagan admitted that he has no scientific evidence to support the above claims”—is giving me a huge case of the giggles.
State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents." The e-mail ended with a request for co-sponsorship…
Hagan said his "tongue was planted firmly in cheek" when he drafted the proposed legislation. However, Hagan said that the point he is trying to make is nonetheless very serious…
To further lampoon Hood's bill, Hagan wrote in his mock proposal that "credible research" shows that adopted children raised in Republican households are more at risk for developing "emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, and alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities."
However, Hagan admitted that he has no scientific evidence to support the above claims.
Just as "Hood had no scientific evidence" to back his assertion that having gay parents was detrimental to children, Hagan said.
(Hat tips to Kathy at Birmingham Blues and Shaker Constant Comment.)
Friday Blogrollin'
F-Words
The Bellman
Poor Impulse Control
The Reaction
Tangentially, a lot of bloggers have emailed me lately requesting link exchanges. I don't generally do link exchanges, preferring instead to add blogs that I like for one reason or another, which means that I don't "trade," but also means I've blogrolled plenty of people who don't have me on their blogrolls.
The best way for me to find out about your blog—because, as time goes on, I have less and less time, unfortunately, to search out new bloggers—is to leave links in the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Blogwhoring threads. I make an effort to try to read every link left there, because I really enjoy those threads.
And never be shy to email me if you've got something good you want to share. Many of our guest posters have been invited after emailing me with something.
Also, if you ever have any ideas about how I can better incorporate opportunities for other bloggers at Shakes, please don't hesitate to make suggestions. I don't have a huge platform here, but I'm willing to use what I do have in lots of ways to help other bloggers just starting out or struggling to find an audience.
More Love for Mozza
How can you not love a guy who supports Jon Stewart for president, but can’t even vote in America yet? Not to mention having written the definitive lyric of progressives' feelings about this administration, nearly two decades in advance?
The pain was enough to make a shy, bald Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder...
Nicked from Mags.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Litbrit... What is your earliest memory?
Mine is crawling behind my parents' ancient sofa, trying to chase down one of their two white, long-haired cats. It was either Kevin or Shutter. One was dead by then, but I don't remember which.
September (11th) Spawned a Monster
My lord and master, Morrissey, former frontman of The Smiths, after whose song “Shakespeare’s Sister” this blog is named, has been investigated as a possible threat.
Singer MORRISSEY was quizzed by the FBI and British intelligence after speaking out against the American and British governments.The most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard him say at the nine gazillion concerts and public appearances I’ve attended (not to mention the eighty-three kajillion zillion articles I’ve read) was right after Reagan died (it may have been the actual day; I can’t recall). He said onstage, “I bet you’re disappointed it wasn’t your current president,” which received a big round of applause and some scattered boos, the latter of which prompted him to retort, “I can’t imagine what you’re doing at my show.”
The Brit is a famous critic of the US-led war in Iraq and has dubbed President GEORGE W BUSH a "terrorist" - but he was baffled to be hauled in by authorities.
Morrissey explains, "The FBI and the Special Branch have investigated me and I've been interviewed and taped and so forth.
"They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government, and similarly in England. But it didn't take them very long to realise that I'm not.
"I don't belong to any political groups, I don't really say anything unless I'm asked directly and I don't even demonstrate in public. I always assume that so-called authoritarian figures just assume that pop/rock music is slightly insane and an untouchable platform for the working classes to stand up and say something noticeable.
"My view is that neither England or America are democratic societies. You can't really speak your mind and if you do you're investigated."
That said, I suspect songs like “America Is Not the World” and “Margaret on the Guillotine” haven’t exactly endeared him to the American and British governments. (“Margaret on the Guillotine,” which was about Margaret Thatcher’s conservative policies and ended with the sound of a guillotine falling, promted a police search of his house at the time of its release.) Nonetheless, he’s never exactly been Abbie Hoffman.
(Big hat tip to Creature and Ted at State of the Day.)
Speaking of Indiana…
I had no idea Bush was visiting our fine state today.
US President George W. Bush speaks
Apparently, he was speaking at a Republican fundraiser for Rep. Chris Chocola, at Gates Gymnasium in Bethel College. A charming fellow (and, thankfully, just far enough away to not be my representative), Chocola has a 0% rating from NARAL and a 92% rating from the Christian Coalition, probably because he votes for things like the Marriage Protection Amendment.
This is how close Dear Leader and I were today:
Scary.
