Shakesville: 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008

OMFG

I know I said that this was the Best. Email. Ever.—but I was wrong, Shakers. As my fan mail keeps pouring in from every corner of the globe, we have a new winner:

Sent, no doubt, without a trace of irony.

In case you happen to stop by again, Mr. Coolidge, here's why your email is so funny: See, you're asking me what happened to freedom of expression in an email you wrote in anger because I…wait for it…expressed my opinion. I didn't call for censorship, or a boycott, or suggest the game shouldn't be sold.

I merely expressed my opinion of it.

And you deemed that "the root cause of many problems in America" while also bemoaning the alleged death of freedom of expression.

And then you called me an idiot.

LOL.

[Previous Fat Princess: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.]

Question of the Day

We did this one early last year, but I love this QotD, so I'm recycling it: What movie "theme" song do you totally love that you'd never admit to if it weren't for the safely anonymous nature of the internets?

In Spudsy's original post, he revealed that his favie is the "Howard the Duck" song from the movie of the same name—and he also noted: "Shakes admitted to me over the phone that she absolutely loves 'Playing With the Boys' from Top Gun by Kenny Loggins. She claims that it's because it's 'so bad' she absolutely loves it, but I know better. She thinks it's teh awesome. You just know she dances around to this in front of the bathroom mirror, singing into her hairbrush," which prompted one of my all-time favorite exchanges in comments:

Me: No, that I do to the heterocentric theme from Top Gun: "Danger Zone." To "Playing With the Boys," the homoerotic theme from Top Gun, I dress up like Tom Cruise and pretend to fuck my Val Kilmer doll up the ass.

Deeky: Yeah, who doesn't?

This Is What It Looks Like Inside My Brain

Shaker BGK emailed me the below gif of Conan the Barbarian raving with glowsticks under the subject line: "Sufficiently Goofy for Shakesville."

Sufficiently goofy? It's fucking brilliant. If it were words, it would be my mantra. If it were food, it would be manna from heaven.

All that is left is the utter destruction of the internetz with a Conan-Van Damme dance-off!

What say you, Dolph Lundgren?

I concur.

A Scene, in Five Parts

Part One: I see the headline "World's oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC."

Part Two: I think, I'll bet it's about women.

Part Three: I read—

It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

…A 1600 BC gag about a pharaoh, said to be King Snofru, comes second -- "How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish."

The oldest British joke dates back to the 10th Century and reveals the bawdy face of the Anglo-Saxons -- "What hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole that it's often poked before? Answer: A key."

Part Four: I sigh.

Part Five: I write this post, publish it, and bookmark it—so I can refer to it the next time some misogybag tells me that his sexist joke is "edgy."

Fin.

Marriage Equality Now

Shaker rrp—who, in addition to gracing us with her brilliant and witty comments, has also been a guest blogger—has written a beautiful and thought-provoking piece for The Advocate, "The Avoidable Death of Thomas Disch," about the suicide of a gay science fiction writer whose death may have been precipitated, in part, by an incident from which he'd have been shielded had he been married to his partner of 35 years.

Writer Thomas Disch's life has been hard over the last few years. His partner of 35 years, the poet Charles Naylor, died in 2005 after a long struggle with cancer that used up their savings. His own health was not good: Disch, a big man, was diabetic and had difficulty walking. In October 2007, the landlord of his rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan's Union Square won a decision in appellate court against Disch -- because Charles Naylor's name was on the lease -- and was threatening to evict him.

…Thanks to the 1989 decision in Raviv v. Raviv, their Union Square apartment would have been considered part of their communal marital property in New York [if Disch and Naylor had been married] -- even though the lease was in only one spouse's name. Thomas Disch would at least have had the assurance that his home couldn't be taken away from him; his landlord would have had no legal standing to start proceedings against the grieving widower. But without marriage equality, same-sex couples have no protection against predatory landlords, hostile families, or unsympathetic courts.

Read the whole thing here.

And fuck you, Orson Scott Card.

LaVena post at Crooks & Liars

Crooks & Liars returns to the story of PFC LaVena Johnson with a post by Logan Murphy:

Nicole and I have both written posts about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of PFC LaVena Johnson, and Democracy Now! had a heartbreaking interview with her family last week. LaVena’s family has worked hard to find the truth about her death and have finally had a breakthrough in the case. Unfortunately, the new details they uncovered are so disturbing that they could potentially make the Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch stories pale in comparison. The above video from Cenk of The Young Turks captures my exact feelings about this horrific case. What you’re about to read will sicken and enrage you.

Murphy references a June 2008 article on LaVena from the St. Louis American (last link in the quote), and mentions today's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs hearing on sexual assault in the military.

Woof

The new McCain advert we discussed yesterday, which conflates Obama's candidacy and person with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, continues to garner lots of attention, much of it choosing to avoid any serious cultural discussion and sticking to the usual inane drivel we've come to expect of what passes for grown-up political discourse in America.

Shaker Abby, however, emails a comment that's insightful and spot-on:

I've been thinking about the recent McCain ad - the one with Paris and Britney in it - and some of the conservative reactions to the ad and to Obama's reactions to the ad. It occurred to me that this could be a strategy to poke at Obama with "hidden" racism (the kind that doesn't fit the conservative framework on the topic, which believes that most racism is eliminated and that which remains is the fault of individual bad actors, not systems or institutions) and forcing him to call that racism out. At that point, the conservatives can then turn around and accuse Obama of being "too sensitive" and "hysterical" and "unable to take a joke" - accusations that we've heard leveled at feminists and disability rights advocates, etc. Of course, the underlying racist message will still get out, allowing McCain to have his racist cake and make fun of Obama for being too sensitive to racism at the same time.

…I do think McCain sees it as a bonus that the underlying racist message will be disseminated and may influence some people, but it seems like the main purpose of the ad could have been to force Obama to respond to its racism so that he could then be marginalized. (If he's so upset about a campaign ad, he's clearly too sensitive to deal with world issues! He can't take any criticism at all without complaining that it's racism!) See, for example, this post on The Corner: "If nothing else, the 'Celeb' ad forced Obama into a major error yesterday [by forcing him to disclaim it as racism]". And this one: "It's clear he's going to play the race card all the way to November, and maybe beyond. If you criticize him, you're a racist, to one degree or another. Obama is the uncriticizable, unopposable candidate: If you breathe a word against him, you must don the scarlet R (for you know what)."

While a clever technique, it seems to be a pretty morally bereft tactic.

Indeed. Useful, aren't they—those conservative dog whistles…?

The sad thing is that I'm quite certain many of the GOP operatives who will sing the "he sees racism everywhere he looks" and "any criticism will be called racism" songs don't even realize they're being played like fiddles. Their ignorance of how racist dog whistles function makes them useful tools, despite their undoubted certainty they're just callin' it like they see it. They don't even grasp how their own privilege turns them into the damn dogs.

It Beggars Belief, Truly

Or, it would—if this were any other administration, but, somehow, the revelation that "Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President's office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran" during which "an idea was considered to dress up Navy Seals as Iranians, put them on fake Iranian speedboats, and shoot at them" actually isn't all that surprising.

Which pretty much says everything anyone needs to know about the Bush administration.

[H/T to Shaker Constant Comment.]

Quote of the Day

"The executive's current claim of absolute immunity from compelled Congressional process for senior presidential aides is without any support in the case law."—Judge John D. Bates, who ruled in US District Court in DC today that, failing an overturn on appeal, "former White House counsel, Harriet E. Miers, and the current White House chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten, would be required to cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee, which has been investigating the controversial dismissal of the federal prosecutors in 2006."

[More on the prosecutor purge, aka Attorneygate, here and here.]

Hmm. First Rove, now this. One foolishly dares to dream…

Oof.

The Color and Shape of Rugged Individualism

by Shaker Elle, of Elle, PhD

I'm no great fan of fast food. My personal tastes lie elsewhere. I’ve done the obligatory reading of Fast Food Nation. I think it's repulsive that so many food ads target kids. I also know the hell that McDonald's Chicken McNugget and subsequent "further processed" items have wrought for poultry processing workers—think I'm kidding? Read Steve Striffler's Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food.

But something about this is not quite reassuring:

City officials are putting South Los Angeles on a diet. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to place a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in an impoverished swath of the city with a proliferation of such eateries and above-average rates of obesity.

Maybe it's the reporters "cute" use of the word diet, when we all know how well those don't work.
My real complaint is that banning fast food restaurants seems just to skim the surface of this issue.

How will the city bring more healthful alternatives to poor communities? More importantly, how will people in South L.A. afford it? Closing fast food restaurants does nothing to address the underlying issue of poverty. Residents will still have limited resources for buying food, as one man attests:

South Los Angeles resident Curtis English acknowledged that fast food is loaded with calories and cholesterol. But since he's unemployed and does not have a car, it serves as a cheap, convenient staple for him.

On Monday, he ate breakfast and lunch -- a sausage burrito and double cheeseburger, respectively -- at a McDonald's a few blocks from home for just $2.39.

Emphasis mine. With less money to spend on food, people typically by cheaper foods. Inexpensive foods are packed with fat and sugar, the cheapest additives, Striffler argues, to give them taste.

Relatedly, how will declaring a moratorium on fast food restaurants help people who can't afford to eat out anywhere? Within this group, if we focus on the subset who receive food stamps—and I say subset because many, many people who qualify for food stamps don't receive any—and get most of their foods from local stores, a moratorium will not bring more grocery stores with better fresh food offerings to the area. Lack of access to such stores is a problem in South L.A.:

South Los Angeles lacks grocery stores, fresh produce markets and full-service restaurants with wait staff and food prepared to order.

South Los Angeles only has four major grocery stores, as compared to 13 in West Los Angeles.

The emphasis on fast food obscures at least one other detail, as well. Fast food restaurants, defined "as those that do not offer table service and provide a limited menu of pre-prepared or quickly heated food in disposable wrapping," aren't exactly unique in their less-than-healthful alternatives. The menus at so-called "casual dining" and upscale restaurants can be daunting.

In our e-mail discussion of the article, Liss noted that the moratorium brings up employment issues. Fast food restaurants offer entry-level jobs to unskilled workers. I do not claim they are pleasant or particularly fulfilling jobs, but they are often needed. My co-blogger, mrs. o, helped her mother care for a family of five by working at McDonald's. And for a few people, it offers some upward mobility through management jobs.

Finally, this sentence aggravated me:

The moratorium, which can be extended up to a year, only affects standalone restaurants, not eateries located in malls or strip shopping centers.

I'm assuming that it's not poor people who are spending lots of money shopping; I wonder why the city exempts malls. It gives me a whole, "Let's regulate the poor" feeling.

Or, more specifically, "Let's regulate the brown and black poor." Speaking in terms of substances that are legal, we have constructed the process of taking things into our body as highly personal, a matter of free choice. The limitations that the government places on our alcohol consumption or where we smoke, for example, are primarily to protect the safety and well-being of other people. Americans, as the myth goes, are individualists who would not take much more governmental interference with such intimate choices.

Yet, the symbol of that rugged American individual who gets to choose and to benefit from free will has, by default, been white and male. I think it is no coincidence that officials in South L.A., which is overwhelmingly Latin@ and black, decided to enact this moratorium. I think one very valid question is would it be suggested or implemented in poor area composed of primarily white residents? In a country that has typically held the choices and bodies of white men in highest regard? A healthy dose of skepticism is absolutely required when the government claims to act in the best interest of the health and welfare of people of color.

In the same vein, we need to examine other motivations behind the ban. As South L.A. is an impoverished area, many of the residents are probably eligible for Medicaid and Medicare programs. According to one 2005 article, these two programs paid for half of all health-care costs attributed to obesity[1] (quite the blanket category and one of which I am particularly wary given my own experiences with doctors who fault patients' weight for a wide range of problems). Is this moratorium, then, about a nanny state protecting people from themselves, as the link Petulant posted earlier suggests, or is it like other governmental limitations protecting the (economic) well-being of others?

Either way it is framed is problematic. Either people who are black and brown, poor and fat, cannot be entrusted to care for themselves—a framing that ignores the very real lack of choice mentioned earlier and other obstacles to quality health and health care. Or, their fat, black and brown bodies represent a threat to taxpayers' wallets—and "taxpayers," when we talk about funding of social programs like Medicaid and Medicare, are constructed as white and non-poor.

--------------------

¹Eric A. Finkelstein, Christopher J. Ruhm, Katherine M. Kosa, "Economic Causes and Consequences of Obesity," Annual Review of Public Health, 26, (April 2005): 239-257. Dr. Michelle Mello mentions the same statistic in an article available here (pdf).

Frank, Paul bid to decriminalize marijuana - awful timing but a start

Sure, there are more pressing issues out there, but Barney Frank and Ron Paul's proposal to decriminalize marijuana possession is still worthy of applause. Sadly, common sense has no shot and theres no way in hell this will pass, especially with an election on the horizon. Still nice to see Frank and Paul put it out there, though.

Legislators aim to snuff out penalties for pot use

(CNN) -- The U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users, Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday, announcing a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, almost a quarter-pound, of the substance.

Current laws targeting marijuana users place undue burdens on law enforcement resources, punish ill Americans whose doctors have prescribed the substance and unfairly affect African-Americans, said Frank, flanked by legislators and representatives from advocacy groups.

"The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government's business," Frank said during a Capitol Hill news conference. "I don't think it is the government's business to tell you how to spend your leisure time."

The Massachusetts Democrat and his supporters emphasized that only the use -- and not the abuse -- of marijuana would be decriminalized if the resolution resulted in legislation.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says people charged with simple possession are rarely incarcerated. The agency and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy have long opposed marijuana legalization, for medical purposes or otherwise.

"Legalization of marijuana, no matter how it begins, will come at the expense of our children and public safety. It will create dependency and treatment issues, and open the door to use of other drugs, impaired health, delinquent behavior, and drugged drivers."

Interestingly, alcohol, which creates dependency and treatment issues, and opens the door to use of other drugs, impaired health, delinquent behavior, and drugged drivers, is still cool.

--WKW

Crossposted at Williamkwolfrum.com

SYTYCD: Adam's back judging! w00t!

Yay for Adam! I love him. And did you catch how normal Paula Abdul looked last night? She should so try that on Idol sometime. Anyway...

I bet you all know what routine is first up, right? Katee and Joshua's Tyce DiOrio routine and all its awesomeness:

I love these two. That leap & lift? Holy crow, it gave me chills. Their next routine, the paso doble, was also fabulous. They rock.

My vote for most interesting routine of the evening was Sonya's jazz routine for Mark and Courtney:

Mark and Courtney also had a viennese waltz, which was graceful. Mark did a pretty good job. The use of Idol music annoys me for some reason.

I liked Twitch and Chelsie's mambo:

Personally, I liked that much more than their Napoleon & Tabitha hip-hop routine--both the dancing and choreography.

So. Whatcha think? Who do you think will go and leave us with the final four?

(all videos thanks to "krunkyou" at Dailymotion.com)

Patriotic Image of the Day

Pussy: The Energy Drink

by Shaker Renee, of Womanist Musings

Pussy made its premiere as an energy drink on The F Word. Apparently Gordon Ramsey found it hilarious to teach sales by using a product whose very name is demeaning to women.

After catching the clip I assumed that this was just one of his ridiculous jokes until I investigated the web site and found that pussy is indeed for sale. Isn't it fucking thrilling that we can be reduced in this manner.

According to its creator Jonnie Shearer:

"Pussy is spontaneous, entertaining, optimistic and fun. It’s a starting point. A moment when something happens and when things begin – Pussy starts conversations. It believes in having a good time as often as possible."

Did you know that your genitalia contained all of those values? Did you ever even for a minute envision that it had a distinct personality from you? Most of all did you know that it was always available for a good time? How do we manage with these crazy vaginas between our legs that are always seeking a good time or to engage others?

Turning pussy into a consumable product only highlights the degree to which women's bodies are commodified for the sake of profit. Of course no one wants a drink named penis, cock, or dick—those are active body parts. No we want something bubbly and pleasing, exactly the way that women's bodies are constructed to be.

While the creator may see this as a unique sales ploy, to me it just another example of the way in which women are continually demeaned and disembodied of agency to uphold male hegemony.

(Crossposted.)

Why So Serious?

I just don't get it. What's up with you angry feminists? You're just always pissed off about something. I mean, can't you take a (mean) joke? It's not like things are as bad as they used to be. Can't you screeching harpies just understand that you already have "equality?"

Bush Threatens to Veto Equal Pay for Women

This week, the House is expected to bring the Paycheck Fairness Act to the floor for a vote, legislation that would help close the wage gap between working men and women and “close loopholes that have allowed employers to avoid responsibility” for discriminatory pay. In an official statement, the White House said it would veto the bill:
The bill would unjustifiably amend the Equal Pay Act (EPA) to allow for, among other things, unlimited compensatory and punitive damages, even when a disparity in pay was unintentional. It also would encourage discrimination claims to be made based on factors unrelated to actual pay discrimination by allowing pay comparisons between potentially different labor markets. In addition, it would require the Department of Labor (DOL) to replace its successful approach to detecting pay discrimination with a failed methodology that was abandoned because it had a 93 percent false positive rate. Thus, if H.R. 1338 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

You're always searching for stuff to get mad about. Hysterics.

UPDATE: Oh, get over it. It's a joke. They mean it as a compliment.

Ready For Change?

RKMK mentioned this in the blogaround yesterday, but I'm not sure how many saw it, so I thought I'd relay the story up here since it bears repeating.

Barack Obama recently referred to Ludacris as a "great talent" (yet another thing he's been dead wrong about) and it seems that the two have more than a passing acquaintance, and so, as maybe a thank you of sorts, Ludacris has written a new song in Obama's honor titled "Politics."

And the song's message? "The world is ready for change because Obama is here! The world is ready for change because Obama is here!" Oh, that's nice. What an inspiring message, right? Well, let's hold on a minute. As Rolling Stone blandly notes:

Ludacris … demands "Get off your ass, black people, it’s time to get out and vote" and "Paint the White House black." He then goes off on McCain ("He don’t belong in any chair unless he's paralyzed") and even calls George W. Bush "mentally-handicapped."

What Rolling Stone fails to mention, and it's one of the reasons I'm writing this, is that Ludacris also refers to Hillary Clinton as an "irrelevant bitch."

The world is ready for change, the world is ready for change. Except calling women bitches isn't really much of a change. In fact, it's the same old same old. And yet again, another major media outlet lies complicit, completely whitewashing the story. To RS, it's not even worth reporting. I am going to guess, as far as the editors at Rolling Stone are concerned Clinton is a bitch. They didn't endorse her, so why even mention her? Why even note that yet another Obama supporter called her a bitch?

The article barely even touches on Ludacris' attacks on McCain and Bush. Ready for change? Ready for progress? Making fun of the disabled is all about change. Yeah, I get it: the more things change, the more they stay exactly. fucking. the. same.

The Obama camp did, of course, condemn the song, calling it "outrageously offensive." Wevs. Sure, it's nice and all that his campaign can denounce these attacks. But it would have been nice to see more of that before he had the nomination locked up, back when he was benefitting from the smears.

(A complete transcription of the lyrics is here. (NSFW audio, by the way.) H/T to RKMK and everyone else in the universe who emailed this in to us.)

This Is Why I Don't Do Interviews

MSNBC's Games Editor Kristin Kalning emailed me to ask if I'd speak to her about the Fat Princess controversy. My exact reply by email, after reading some of her other columns, was: "I'd be happy to speak with you—as long as I'm not going to be playing the part of the 'feminist hysteric.' Based on your previous columns, that doesn't strike me as your style, but I just want to make sure there's no agenda going in." She assured me there wasn't.

This is the result. (Spot the hilarious fat joke/pun right in the headline.)

I'll just note that I spoke to Kalning for probably about an hour, about feminism, misogyny, fat acceptance, why this game wouldn't be acceptable if it were Anorexic Princess, being a gamer myself, safe spaces online, and, among other things, the pernicious lie that the entirety of the internet is populated by insufferably rude idiots looking for a flamewar.

I got a 25-word quote in the piece, despite being (mis)used as a spokeswoman for the entirety of the feminist community. ("Feminists argue…" and "Feminist bloggers say…")

An anonymous commenter from Kotaku got a 33-word quote, in which objectors to the game, such as myself, were called "foul-mouthed fatties."

Fair and balanced, bitchez.

For the record, it's not just a disservice to feminists; it's a disservice to gamers. Where are the quotes from gamers who share my opinion? (Or don't gamers in the threads at Shakesville count?) For that matter, where are the quotes from gamers who disagreed with me without sounding like total assholes? It's also just flatly inaccurate to treat feminists and gamers as mutually exclusive groups, because, clearly (refer to comments thread), they're not.

[Previous Fat Princess: One, Two, Three, Four, Five.]

Treason in Defense of Bigotry

Brought to you by Orson Scott Card.

Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.

Biological imperatives trump laws. American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.

Remind me again how it is that liberals are the traitors?

Meanwhile, society in Massachusetts, California, Canada, and everywhere else where same-sex marriage is legal casually continues to refuse to fall apart.

Update: Not a lawyer, but:

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or

Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so;

[...]

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.

Just sayin'.

[Just to be clear, Card stops one short of saying that he advocates the overthrow of the government himself. He uses one of the classic weasel techniques, attributing the above sentiments, which are clearly in line with his own, to a generalized group, in this case "married people." It's textbook protection-racket talk.]

Haves

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday soaring oil prices pushed its second-quarter earnings up 14 percent, again breaking its own record for the highest-ever profit by a U.S. company.

Net income in the quarter rose to $11.68 billion, or $2.22 a share, from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, last year.

Exxon -- the world's largest publicly traded company -- previously set the high-water mark for quarterly earnings in the fourth quarter of last year, when it brought in $11.66 billion.

I literally don't know what to say about this anymore.

Update: I don't know how I missed this from the link below:

Senate conservatives debated yesterday whether to threaten a government shutdown as a way to force a vote on offshore drilling. Congress would have to pass a continuing resolution in September to keep the government functioning, and conservatives are mulling a filibuster.

I Love Starting the Day with Good News!

Last week, guestblogger Juliemania told us all about the plight of Iraqi sprinter Dana Abdul-Razzaq, who was being denied her Olympic hopes because the Iraqi government had disbanded their Olympic Committee.

However, after the International Olympic Committee met with Iraqi officials in Switzerland earlier this week, where Iraq agreed to restore its Olympic Committee, Dana will be allowed, contingent on the restoration, to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Yay!

You can read more about Dana, and another Iraqi Olympic hopeful, and their struggle to train amidst violence, sectarianism, and lack of resources here. Pretty amazing.

[Thanks to Shaker Everstar for passing along the update.]

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Dino Riders

I totally watched this.

Read These Now or The Nanny State Will Destroy You

In Memoriam: The Cassette Tape. (NY)

Bush reportedly overhauls spying rules. (MSNBC)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced his resignation after numerous corruption allegations. (Spiegel)

The NANNY STATE (CNS)

Fears of a government shutdown in September. (The Hill)

"Wiccans and others mystical sects band together for political clout or just healing fairs, and plans are already being made for their annual gathering in October." (LA)

'Hidden' Van Gogh painting revealed. (Eurekalert)

The power of Peter Piper: How alliteration enhances poetry, prose, and memory.

Mathematicians Explain How Insects Breathe Underwater. (Science Daily)

"On August 1, 2008 there will be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible from Canada, northern Greenland, Svalbard, the Barents Sea, Russia, Mongolia and China."

Do-It-Yourself Addiction Cures?

I am a fool for DVD packaging. The 10th Anniversary Edition of The Big Lebowski.

big lebo

My favorite DVD packaging is the Educational Archives Lunch Box set by Fantoma.

(Cross-posted)

Fun fact

I'm having some kind of coughy sneezy thing going on, and I have this very bad habit of holding my nose closed when I sneeze if I don't have a tissue handy.

So now that I've gotten my nose pierced, I noticed that when I do this, the piercing hole whistles!

Project Runway Open Thread

DON'T BORE NINA!!!

Question of the Day

Yay for crops! I love this time of year and walking outside for something to eat.

What veggies, herbs, or flowers are you enjoying from this year's harvest?

Though I lost a couple of plants, my San Marzano and Roma tomatoes are ripening on the vine. This first batch (pictured) will end up as spicy pizza sauce. I am excited about pizza as my favorite pizza to make consists of: my own pizza sauce, thinly sliced zucchini and tomato fresh from the garden, goat cheese, buffalo mozzarella, and sprinkled with fresh oregano and basil. TASTY!

For the last few weeks, I have enjoyed fresh cukes, zucchini and squash. The basil is almost ready to make pesto and freeze. The Cherokee purples are finally turning and I picked ten over the last few days. I think I might mix the purples with a few of the Aunt Gertie Golds and turn into a salsa.

Here is my salsa recipe from last year's harvest. Of course it will vary this year as I did not plant any Brandywines.

Heirloom Tomato, Black Bean, and Corn Salsa

Tomatoes
3 Cherokee Purples
3 Yellow Beefsteaks
2 Black Brandywines
7-8 Red Brandywines

(If you don't have access to these, use whatever fresh tomatoes you have.)

Other Ingredients:

5 Jalapenos
2 Red pimentos
5 Cloves of garlic
1 Vidalia onion
1 Green pepper
3 Ears of corn. (I used a hybrid of silver queen and yellow.)
3/4 cup of Sherry Vinegar
3 cups of Black Beans
The juice of two limes
Sea salt and pepper to taste.

Substitutions depending on taste are more than acceptable.

Basically chop everything into bite-sized chunks, excluding the black beans, and combine all in a big bowl. This makes a lot of salsa but it goes quickly. I cook my own black beans, but a canned variety is acceptable if you rinse the beans.

And I've Got the Red, Spanked Ass to Prove It

[Via Recon.]

Grammar Patrol

Driving home from work, I passed this sign:

NOW HIRING
SHEETMETAL TECH'S
AIRFRAME TECH'S

English majors need not apply.

If Global Warming Exists, Then Why Is It Cold Outside? Haw, Haw

This is really fucking annoying.

Yesterday, the New York Times ran an article entitled "10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List." It's a light-hearted puffy-poo piece "debunking" ideas such as killer hotdogs and an increase in shark attacks. Fine, wev, but a few of the points brought up are obviously there to ease guilt regarding global warming and carbon footprints, and as a result we get this gem:

2. Your car’s planet-destroying A/C. No matter how guilty you feel about your carbon footprint, you don’t have to swelter on the highway to the beach. After doing tests at 65 miles per hour, the mileage experts at edmunds.com report that the aerodynamic drag from opening the windows cancels out any fuel savings from turning off the air-conditioner.

I'm not big on using the A/C in my car, but I know I'm most tempted to use it when I'm stuck in stop-and-go traffic in the sweltering heat. I'd be willing to say that this goes for most other people, yes? And exactly how often do you find yourself driving at 65 miles per hour on the highway? I know that here in the Chicago area, we've got incredible traffic problems, not to mention constant road construction that causes the entire area to be in a neverending state of stop-and-go traffic, even on the highway. (I'm thinking such cities as Manhattan and L.A. might have similar problems, ahem.) When you're creeping along at 5mph, something tells me that "aerodynamic drag" isn't using as much gas as your straining, creeping SUV with the A/C roaring*. Hell, I drive a Mini, and when I try to use the A/C in crawling traffic, you can practically see the gas level dropping before your eyes.

And, of course, there's never any traffic on the way to the beach in the summer.

I suppose I'm just splitting hairs, but this "don't worry about it" crap irritates me. If people want to use air conditioning in their car, that's fine by me, but please don't present its use as nothing to "worry" about. I have further annoyance because I know this study, and this sloppy article, are exactly the sort of thing that global warming deniers love to point to as proof that we have nothing to worry about. "Hey, tree-hugger! Better roll up your windows; you're killing the planet!" You know this will be on Limbaugh's show any minute now.

*(Maybe it's just me, but when the weather is beautiful, I love driving with the windows down. I'm always shocked by the amount of people driving around with their windows up and a/c cranked when it's a perfect high 70s, low 80's day with no humidity. Don't people breathe real air anymore?)

Random YouTubery: Kitten v. Fan

[Via Nothing to do with Arbroath.]

Sex Is Messy

I've got a new piece up at Comment is Free America, "Sex is messy," about what being pro-choice really means:

In a perfect world, every woman of child-bearing age would only have consensual sex in the optimum circumstances - when she is emotionally and financially prepared to handle any and all possible personal or physical consequences, with a man with whom there are no secrets and perfectly aligned expectations, using, if she does not want to get pregnant, whatever form of contraception she prefers, and knowing, should that contraception fail her, that she has access to medical or surgical abortion, or that her partner will be on board if she decides to keep the pregnancy, and that no fiscal or other disaster will befall them in the interim, that the foetus will be healthy—

But, of course, we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world of broken hearts – and broken condoms. And so we need to deal with the complexity that accompanies imperfection.

Read the whole thing here.

The Second Coming of Cheesus

Possibly irate about having his crunchy holiness contained in a tiny display box, Our Lord and Savior Cheesus has manifested once again in this mortal coil:

[Kelly Ramey of High Ridge, Mo.] bought a bag of [Cheetos at] a local convenience store, and inside the bag she felt something unusual.

"I looked at that and I thought, 'Oh my that looks like Jesus on the cross.' It was just like wow," she says.

Family and friends agree with her. Her daughter says, "I thought it was pretty cool." But Kelly Ramey's friend, Sue Edelman, sees something different. "I looked again and I thought a horse head."

Sue Edelman, you are going to hell.

Kelly doesn't plan to sell the Cheeto and will keep it in a safe deposit box.

Cheesus Christ, Kelly! Didn't you learn anything from Our Lord and Savior Cheesus being confined once before? Next thing you know—

—wait, what's this?

I said "Jesus, I know you want me to lose weight somehow. Please, Lord, give me a sign to help me find the courage to do what I need to. I'm so weak – HELP ME, JESUS!!"

And that's when the Miracle happened. I opened the bag, full of guilt, and pulled out a Cheetoh, and THERE WAS LORD JESUS STARING ME IN THE FACE!!!

Something tells me the finder of Cheesus the Third are using Our Munchy Messiah to make mock of fatties. Cheesus will not be pleased.

He'll be back. You can count on that. Cheesus will keep returning until he falls into the hands of someone who appreciates his power and greatness, who will not imprison him, nor use him for nefarious purposes.

Keep your eyes peeled, Shakers. Cheesus just may come to one of you.

CHEESUS WILL NOT BE DENIED!

[Hat tips to Shakers Anthony Cartouche and Constant Comment, respectively. Holy folks Gone Wild: Weeping and bleeding and appearing in Cheetos, pretzels, fire and on pancakes, baking sheets, pizza pans, doggy doors, ice, peanuts, x-rays, turtles, ultrasounds, chocolate, dying plants, sheet metal, trees, more trees, more trees, more trees, more trees, more trees, wardrobes, water stains, plates of pasta, drywall, fish, grilled cheese sandwiches, and potato chips.]

WTF?

Read: There's Something About Mary: Unmasking a Gun Lobby Mole

Discuss.

Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch, #71

Via dday at Hullabaloo, who files this under "Miscegenation Dogwhistle Watch," comes this new John McCain advert:

Says dday, quite rightly:

There's no reason to include Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in this ad. None. It hangs on the word "celebrity" being included, which means it could have just as well been Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Anyway, all the footage is from Obama's Berlin speech, not the red carpet. This is absolutely meant to juxtapose images of white women with images of a black man.

Which is not only accurate, but underlines the misogynist superfluity of Josh Marshall's ridiculous description of Spears and Hilton as "oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women." Anyway…

Once again, McCain reveals himself to be eminently, shockingly willing to embrace the heinous tactics of the Bush team that he once deplored. That anyone still considers this guy an honorable rogue, a maverick, or a hero is beyond laughable. He doesn't possess any lingering shred of integrity, and his alleged independent streak came to a screeching halt as it collided with the stumbling zombie corpse of his credibility the moment he stood in New Hampshire with his arm around the shoulders of the man whose operatives called his wife a junky and his adopted daughter illegitimate. He may have been honorable and brave once upon a time, but he’s not anymore.

And if this advert doesn't prove that once and for all, I don't know what will.

[H/T to Shaker Interrobang, in comments. Shaker Samanthab. also mentioned it here. Thanks!]

[Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Two, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, Thirty-Six, Thirty-Seven, Thirty-Eight, Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-One, Forty-Two, Forty-Three, Forty-Four, Forty-Five, Forty-Six, Forty-Seven, Forty-Eight, Forty-Nine, Fifty, Fifty-One, Fifty-Two, Fifty-Three, Fifty-Four, Fifty-Five, Fifty-Six, Fifty-Seven, Fifty-Eight, Fifty-Nine, Sixty, Sixty-One, Sixty-Two, Sixty-Three, Sixty-Four, Sixty-Five, Sixty-Six, Sixty-Seven, Sixty-Eight, Sixty-Nine, Seventy.]

King of the Fauxgressives

So, just about a year ago, I wrote this piece about Bill Maher's upcoming film "Religulous," which I still maintain sounds less like a cross between religion and ridiculous than Caligula and ridiculous—a perfect name for a Bill Maher project, but I digress.

I said at the time that (total fucking misogybag rape-joking asshole) Maher is not an atheist, but an agnostic anti-religionist, that I will never understand the compulsion to evangelize a lack of belief (separate altogether from speaking against legislated religion, of which I am in support), and that the movie sounded like complete shit.

Well, here's a "leaked" clip of the film—in which, as Tracey (who gets the hat tip) notes, Maher magnanimously "take[s] a break from oppressing women in the U.S. long enough to try (poorly) to make a point about how women are oppressed in other parts of the world"—and it's precisely as dire as I expected:

[Transcript below.]
I mean, wow. What an awesome crusader against the tyranny of religion. Who knew that freedom of oppression was down the same road as fag and bitch jokes?

Snort.

Maher: Woo! Boy, it's good to get outta the cold and into a burka store, huh?

Woman with Maher Whose Name I Don't Know: Yeah.

Maher: The fashion industry, the Islamic fashion industry—you feel that's been hobbled at all by the fact that homosexuality is a sin punishable by death?

[Store owner gives Maher blank stare. Maher and female companion laugh uncomfortably.]

Maher: I mean, the designers, you know.

M. Hasan, Store Owner: Quran is the only book where women are given equal rights.

Maher: Women are equal in Islam?

[Store owner gives Maher blank stare.]

Maher: Okay. We in the West have seen so many pictures of clothing that's a lot more severe than that; I used to call them the beekeeper suits.

Hasan: In Iraq, people are wearing, even some men are wearing these just to cover themselves—

[Crosstalk.]

Maher: But if I can admit that, even in the Western culture, our—Judaism, Christianity—horribly keep women down, it's almost like religion was created as a way to keep women in their place. [Turns to female companion and snaps.] Now go get me a coffee. No, I'm kidding!

[Laughter and touching her shoulder. She turns away while he looks into the camera and grins.]

Patriotic Image of the Day

Wednesday Blogaround

What's the frequency, Shakers?

Recommended Reading:

Melissa: Defending Katherine Heigl...Again

WRC: Fat Acceptance and Domestic Violence

Renee: The American Dream Shouldn't Mean Rape and Death

Kevin: Google Alternative?

Andy: Antonio Sabato Jr Can't Decide if He'd Choose to Be Gay or Stupid

BAC: Faith Tradition or Tax-Exempt Pyramid Scheme

Sweet Machine: Learn to Troll Logic

Leave your links in comments...

A whole lotta cabbage…

Crostposted from AngryBlackBitch.com...

Scooter B. (President Bush for the uninitiated) has announced that he’ll be leaving behind a huge pile of deficit-based drama when he leaves office in 2009.

$482 billion dollars worth of drama.

Pause…consider…continue.

Well, actually $482 billion dollars plus the $80 billion in war costs the White House left out in violation of a Congressional mandate. Oh, and apparently we should also add unemployment costs, Medicare fees, the cost of that new housing bill parked in the garage.

You know what, this is like a bitch trying to determine my personal deficit without factoring in monthly soul food expenditures or the cost of fueling up Miss Sister Girl Cabrio.

Blink.

Anyhoo, we’re actually talking about a deficit closer to $600 billion dollars when you add in all the shit Scooter B. and his 'we'll just hide it under the mash potatoes!' minions decided not to...and that’s a whole lotta motherfucking cabbage.

Here’s where it get’s ugly.

See, there are those who like to say that the 2009 projected deficit isn’t that big of a deal because as a percentage of the gross domestic product it implies a ratio of around 3.3 percent which is below previous years and blah, blah motherfucking blah.

White House budget director Jim Nussle gave forth the following statement. “These projected deficits are both manageable and temporary if spending is kept in check, the tax burden remains low and the economy continues to grow.”

A bitch reads that statement and sees code for those vicious assaults on the masses these people like to call deficit reduction plans.

I can almost write this script my own damn self.

Oh, someone could stand up and shout "Last Call, motherfuckers!" on the federal pork binge…or suggest that mayhap we’ve written a war spending check our asses can’t cover…or take a step towards those sanctified holy relic tax cuts that no one I know qualifies for.

But no, these rancid motherfuckers intend to tap a funding vein in the social programs that are already writhing on the floor in wretched agony begging to be put out of their misery. They’ll stand above those pitiful used-to-be-programs....mmmhmmm, like Jack the Ripper....and slash away whilst mumbling maniacally about killing off entitlement programs and how small governments really turn them on.

Ugh.

Someone please tell me that the people who voted for this rancidity...who opened the door and invited the fiend inside our house...Lawd, tell me that they have learned something from this fuck up that just keeps on fucking!

***cue crickets***

Shit.

Do the Frogmarch

Congress holds Karl Rove in contempt.

The House Judiciary Committee has just voted to hold Karl Rove in contempt for failing to respond to a subpoena to the committee.

The final vote was 20 ayes and 14 nays. With Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) voting "absolutely, 100% aye."

In a memo on the Full Committee meeting, Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) summarized the facts surrounding Rove's refusal to even appear before the committee and assert executive privilege:
Mr. Rove has refused even to appear before the Committee and assert whatever privileges that he believes may apply to his testimony, relying on excessively broad and legally insufficient claims of "absolute immunity" - never recognized by any court - in declining to appear.

Odds are that he will never see the inside of a courtroom, much less a jail cell, but hey, I can dream, can't I?

Scene from the Frontlines of the Battle for Family Values

by Shaker GoldFishy

Hello from Minnesota!

It may come as no surprise that yet another member of the "Family Values" party has been caught in an embarrassing legal snare.

Peter Hong, a longtime Republican operative in Minnesota, was arrested Wednesday afternoon on a charge of soliciting prostitution in St. Paul.

..."Hong has been in and out of the Republican side of Minnesota politics since the mid-1990s, when he surfaced as a genial bulldog campaign press secretary for former Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn. He served as a spokesman for Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign in 2002 and for the Bush-Cheney campaign in Minnesota in 2004.

Of course, that was so long ago, right? I mean, 2004? Practically ancient history! Oh, whoops...

Most recently, Hong was a point person for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

So, of course, Hong is still getting support from his "family," right? Not so much.

Gina Countryman, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Republican Party, said Hong is not currently working for any Minnesota candidate.

We in Minnesota are SOOOO looking forward to hosting the GOP convention in September! Pawlenty! McCain! Oh, joy.

Something tells me Mr. Hong doesn't have a golden ticket for the event...

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Police Story

Oversight subcommittee hearing on sexual assault in the military

The parents of PFC LaVena Johnson believe that their daughter was murdered in Iraq - contrary to Army claims of suicide - and suspect that she may have been victim to a sexual assault. The Army has resisted calls for reinvestigation of the matter; public and Congressional attention are required in order to change military minds. Gina at What About Our Daughters? has alerted readers to an opportunity to bring LaVena's case to legislators - a public hearing on sexual assault in the military held by a sub- of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

On Thursday, July 31 at 10:00 am, [the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs] will hold a hearing entitled, “Oversight Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military.” The hearing will take place in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building and is open to the public.

It should be noted that the chairman of the parent committee - Representative Henry Waxman - is the named petitionee of a new public appeal for hearings on the LaVena Johnson case. This petition is authored by the advocacy group ColorofChange.

The chair of the subcommittee is Rep. John F. Tierney of the Sixth District of Massachusetts. The names of other subcommittee members, and suggestions on trying to put LaVena on their agenda for the day, may be found at the What About Our Daughters? post.

Read These Now Because Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves

The "Gay Car Blog" at Vanity Fair.

The Top 10 'WTF?' Bodybuilding Routines (urlesque)

R.N.C. Deletes Comments on Obama Parody Site (The Caucus)

The R.N.C. are also complete idiots. (YouTube)

Massachusetts is one step closer to allowing out-of-state gay marriage. (Reuters)

Wow! A leader has to face WAR CRIMES. Radovan Karadzic is on his way to the Hague. (NY)

Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) told reporters that China has “carefully plotted to take advantage of the situation of having thousands of foreign visitors on its soil” and “set up a system to be able to spy and gather information about each and every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are located.” (The Hill)

Bush will carry a "message of freedom" to the Beijing Olympics. (Telegraph)

The Second Annual Tranny Olympics will coincide with the other one.

WHHHHATTTT? Sexual harrassment okay as it ensures humans breed, Russian judge rules.

A lesbian couple + IVF=four babies in one day. Congrats and GOOD LUCK! (Daily Mail)

Shrew identified as world's hardest drinking creature. (Times Online)

South African Epidemic Of Schoolboy Sexual Abuse (Science Daily)

The Experimental Aircraft Association

The 1859 Solar Superstorm. (SCIAM)

Ledger's Joker inspired by Sid Vicious. (Digital Spy)

The final Battlestar Galactica season could be longer. (SyFY)

Jeanne Moreau, Fassbinder, Genet, and Each Man Kills.

Feministing, BuzzFlash on LaVena

Apologies for coming late to the July 18 writeup on PFC LaVena Johnson by Ann Friedman of Feministing. The post asks readers to spare just a couple of minutes to sign the Danielle Vyas-authored petition to Congress and President Bush, which has (of this writing) 2374 signatures with a goal of 3000. Friedman references posts on LaVena by a number of feminist writers; some of them have been previously noted here, while others are new to me:

You may have read about LaVena recently on Feministing, or from Cara, Megan at Jezebel, Gina at What About Our Daughters, and Kate at Broadsheet...

I am very happy to add Friedman to the growing list of writers whom I owe thanks for support for a renewed investigation of LaVena's death in Iraq.

Also on that list is Meg White for bringing LaVena's story to the many readers of BuzzFlash in a news analysis piece posted today. It is a capsule of the Johnson family's trials in pushing the Army to revisit the investigation of their daughter's death, and the possibility that she had been the victim of a sexual assault. Like Friedman's entry at Feministing, White touches on the CommonDreams.org article by retired Army colonel Ann Wright on other suspicious deaths of women in service, and references the recently-launched ColorofChange to Rep. Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Governmental Affairs Committee. Many thanks to White for this entry.

Teaspoons in Hand...

If you've not yet read Shaker Bekitty's guest post about the tragedy at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, start there.

Then head over to the Knoxville Relief Fund, which has been set up to help pay for long-term medical care and psychological counseling for the victims, and contribute whatever you can, even if it's just a message of support.

[H/T to Bekitty's fellow congregant Elrod.]

Question of the Day

[We've done this one before, but it was loads of fun, so I'm re-running it...]

What book can you not believe hasn't yet been turned into a movie?

When I first thought of this question, six books instantly flooded to mind all at once, because they are books I re-read, and every time I wonder why no one's ever seen fit to bring them to the screen, because they're all powerful, amazing, unique stories:

1. Donna Tartt's The Secret History

2. Michelle Cliff's No Telephone to Heaven

3. Katherine Dunn's Geek Love

4. Margaret Marshall Saunders' Beautiful Joe

5. Doris Lessing's Briefing for a Descent Into Hell

6. Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

See if you can spot what all six of these books have in common.

Rhetorical Question of the Day

Do you think you're cool or something?

That's a question I just got in the never-ending stream of hilariously idiotic emails pouring in from all corners of the fanboyverse. The answer is, of course, yes. I think I'm cool. Or something.

What about you, Shakers: Do you think you're cool or something?

Pastor Arrested For Stealing Sex Toy

Today was going to be one of my no blogging days, but a story about GOD, SEX TOYS, and BREAKING AND ENTERING changes all that.

On July 25th, "Pastor" Scott Gillis Murray decided to break into a woman's home, rummage through her drawers, steal her sex toy and lube, and then break his leg fleeing the scene. Excuse me. He stole "one adult toy personal entertainment device and one bottle of personal lubricant."

Lock up those "adult toy personal entertainment devices!"

The lord works in mysterious ways. Hallelujah!

Watch!

Random YouTubery: Battle of Song

Via Recon, who has this to say on the matter:

Check out this uber-weird FTW zen moment from an episode of "Fiveman" where instead of fighting in a traditional manner, the robots and monsters decide to "sing" each other into submission. What a brilliant and strange idea. Give me a team with Hanna Montana and the Jonas brothers and I'll raise the dead, make their ears explode, and kill them all over again.

Yes, Please

Johnny Depp to play Mad Hatter:

Johnny Depp is to play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's new film, Alice in Wonderland.

The actor and director's past collaborations have resulted in some of Depp's most memorable roles, including Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd. This will be their seventh film together.

lol your film

[H/T to Shaker Mel.]

Ted Stevens is guilty as fuck

If there's one thing Republican Senator Ted Stevens is, it's guilty. Whether of the indictments handed down against him today or any of, say, 27,000 other different things, Stevens is guilty.

I don't, of course, have any actual proof of his guilt on hand, but if you doubt me, try this - ask an Alaskan.

--WKW

Quote of the Day

"She is proud of her body and doesn't want it altered."—A source close to actress Keira Knightley, who has "refused to allow her cleavage to be enhanced on publicity photos for her upcoming movie The Duchess, according to reports. Film studios bosses apparently wanted to enlarge Knightley's assets in the photos so she appears more buxom in her low-cut period costumes, but the actress has put her foot down and said no."

(As before, yes, I know there are constant reports that she is anorexic, but considering in candid papz shots not at ~~ritualized post-starving celebrations~~ premieres / award shows, she generally looks like a healthy young woman—as opposed to, say, this—and bearing in mind that I always see pictures of her walking everywhere, which is what you do in London, instead of taking limos everywhere, I'm disinclined to let the accusations preempt a commendation of her continued forthrightness about the beauty illusion. YMMV.)