Hosted by Sondra Mitts and Portly Dyke.
I. Love. That. Hair.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Summer in Indiana
[Northwest Indiana, July 2010.]
There's an amusement park in Monticello, Indiana whose slogan, and jingle in the adverts they've run every summer since '85 or so, is: "There's more than corn in Indiana!" This is a True Fact. There are also soybeans.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Priorities
Ezra:
In order to get less Medicaid and teacher funding than we actually need, we're cutting food stamps by $6.7 billion (and closing some foreign tax loopholes, rescinding some spending decisions and changing Medicaid's drug pricing).Current Department of Defense budget, including spending on "overseas contingency operations" for Fiscal Year 2010: $663.8 billion.
…Democrats needed to offset spending on two worthy, important programs. So they're cutting another important, worthy program [the cost of which, during the recession, has ballooned from an expected $20 billion to about $65 billion because the number of people who needed help skyrocketed to more than 40 million]. But you really can't think of a worse program to cut than SNAP. SNAP is an extraordinarily well-targeted stimulus. It goes to poor households, for something they need to buy. According to Mark Zandi's numbers, it's literally the most stimulative way to spend a dollar: Better than state and local aid, or unemployment insurance. You get more than $1.70 of economic activity for each buck you put in.
There's a part of me that wants to use this to knock down the canard that government is full of obvious waste and inefficiency. Democrats don't like to cut food stamps, and they'd avoid it if they thought they could. Budget rhetoric is full of easy choices, but budgets are about hard choices, and this is a hard, and ugly, choice.
But this is also a question of priorities, of what gets cut. Bernie Sanders put up an amendment last month to cut about $35 billion in oil and gas subsidies. It failed. Republicans are arguing to extend Bush's tax cuts for the rich with no offsets, and they may well succeed. But food assistance for poor families? You can get the votes to slash those.
If defense-related expenditures budgeted by departments other than Defense are included, the US will spend, in total, between $800 billion and $1 trillion in FY2010 on defense.
And we're slashing the budget for food stamps.
Daily Dose o' Cute
Video Description: Dudley being silly and playful, doing the greyhound spin. He does this almost every day when Iain gets home, before they go on their evening walk, and occasionally before we head out to the dog park. He won't do it at the dog park—only in a small space, which apparently makes it much more fun!
Also more fun: When I march in a circle and hum. When I act like he's not even there (i.e. not looking at him, sans camera), he goes absolutely wild play-bowing and trying to get my attention. Loop-Chase with Iain is also a huge hit.
Olivia watches this all with great interest (from her perch in the background). Matilda usually strolls away disgusted by such a display of undignified buffoonery, and Sophie is still trying to figure out how to get involved in all the fun spinning!
Still pix of doggie-boy and the girls are below the fold.
"Welcome to my cat condo. May I offer you a mimosa?"
"What the fuck is he doing?"
"I have no idea."
Sophs and KBlogz confab about an important business venture.
"Hi!"
Emergency Care While Trans
[Strong trigger warning for transphobia]
A few days ago, Bilerico posted a [TW for discussions of transphobia in the post and problematic comments]disturbing interview with Erin Vaught, an Indiana woman who had the turpitude to go to the emergency room, on account of how she had "coughed up almost a cup of blood."
The woman in question is a trans woman, so her story takes a depressingly predictable turn:
On Sunday I coughed almost a cup of blood and decided to go to the E.R. The doc told me if I had to go to the E.R. to go to Muncie rather than New Castle, as they would be more tolerant being a bigger city and a university hospital.
Been there, done that. It our case, it's because the nearest hospital has repeatedly demonstrated its suckitude when it comes to treating lesbians (at least my partner and I) with health conditions. Thankfully, there are other options reasonably nearby. Such is the privilege of owning a car and living in a city of 150,000.
Sadly, going to Muncie didn't appear to help things for Ms. Vaught and her family. Believable but extraordinarily disturbing transphobia after the fold.
More from Ms. Vaught:
One nurse finally asked, "So is it a he or a she? Or a he-she?"
So my wife said to the nurse, "She is my wife, not an it."
To which the nurse replied with a chuckle, "Well, what do you want me to say? I can't tell. Until I know then he is an it. Now I know, and I know he is a he."
[The nurse later]...asked a series of bizarre questions. "Do you ever feel so angry you might lose control?" "Are you able to buy groceries every week?" "Do you ever feel overwhelmed?" "Have you ever thought about suicide?" We were confused and still are.
She said, "Well, we don't know how to go about treating someone with your condition."
I responded, "I don't even know my condition. That's why I'm here!"
She replied, "No. Your other condition. The transvestite thing."
Rage. Seethe. Smash.
If only this was a unique story. Robert Eads and Tyra Hunter are two trans people whose stories are widely told in trans circles, but only because they died as a result of transphobia. I pretty much expect medical providers [strong TW for transphobia and violence]to hesitate before giving me emergency treatment, should they discover I'm trans. It's something I'll try to block out of my mind tonight when I go to enjoy a dangerous hobby of mine in small town Upstate New York. Of course, it's something I always try to block out of my mind.
I really can't say anything else that hasn't been said a bazillion times before; it's just too tiring to keep addressing the issue of why people shouldn't kill my trans family. We don't have a choice on when and where we need medical care, and as long as incidents like this one are common, none of us is safe.
Via. Article from today's Muncie Star Press.
Today in Don't Give A Shit
Know what I don't care about? Chelsea Clinton's upcoming wedding (apparently tomorrow). Know what else I don't care about? How much it costs total and/or what every item they have for it costs.
I am, however, fairly sure that if the Clintons (and, really, it's only about the Clintons in this case isn't it?) did not choose to do/say/pay for whatever they are, they'd be raked over the coals for not doing it, too.
Friday Blogaround
(Strong trigger warning for violence on the first two links. Both posts show the same photo of a victim of vicious brutality, and the second briefly describes the violent acts against the woman pictured.)
Matthew Yglesias takes issue with the dubious premise of Time's cover story in Nobody is Helping Aisha.
Scatx of Speaker's Corner has further thoughts about both Time's handling of the cover, and the idea that the U.S. is conducting its war policy in Afghanistan with women's rights in mind: The Cover of TIME: What's Shocking?
While you're over at scatx's place, you might as well check this out: In Texas, Be a Man, because, um, no, thank you.
Ansel Herz at mediahacker has some advice for journalists who drop by Haiti for their earthquake aftermath story: How to Write about Haiti
Phil Cohen of Family Inequality points out two errors: treating the results of a statistical study as specifically applicable to all individuals, and depriving teens of the opportunity to hang out due to generalized fears that They Are Just Trouble Waiting to Happen: Police Your Teens, Or Else?
Bruce Dixon of Black Agenda Report reminds us — and specifically today's black political leaders — that the economic marginalization of communities of color which links violence at home and violence abroad must still be addressed: You Can't Stop the Violence in Ghetto Streets Without Stopping the Violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Elsewhere.
Andy has the sweet and happy pix at towleroad. Congrats to José y Miguel, and to Ernesto y Alejandro! Photos: First Gay Couples Wed In Argentina Under New Law
Please share your links, to your own posts or others', in comments.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
From the Psychology Today blog "The View from Venus" (ugh), the tagline for which is "Beyond spanx and stilettos" (ugh), comes the delightful piece "Trading Roses for Weeds" (ugh), which is subtitled, I shit you not, "Figuring out what women really want may require ignoring what they actually say." UGH.
There is a metric fuckton of ugh-inducing ughery in this piece, but my favorite, ahem, sheerly by virtue of its serendipitous nature, is its author's curious (but not unusual) inability to discern the difference between romance and stalking.
[H/T to Shaker Somebodyoranother.]
Gorillaz North American Tour Dates
Tour dates for Gorillaz first ever world tour were announced today. Here are the North American dates:
October 3rd, Bell Centre, Montreal, QC
October 5th, Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford, CT
October 6th, Agganis Arena, Boston, MA
October 8th, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
October 10th, Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
October 11th, Patriot Center, Washington, DC
October 13th, Fox Theatre, Detroit, MI
October 14th, Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
October 16th, UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL
October 17th, Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
October 19th, Toyota Center, Houston, TX
October 20th, Verizon Theatre, Dallas, TX
October 22nd, Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX
October 24th, Wells Fargo Theatre, Denver, CO
October 26th, Dodge Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
October 27th, Gibson Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA
October 30th, Oracle Arena Oakland, CA
November 2nd, Key Arena, Seattle, WA
November 3rd, Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Worldwide tour dates and ticketing info here. See ya there, Shakers!
[Cross-posted.]
Today in Rape Culture
[Trigger warning for descriptions of sexual assault.]
Submitted without comment:
A 17-year-old girl reported to Berwyn police in 2003 that her doctor, Ricardo Arze, had pulled off her clothes and sexually assaulted her in his exam room, state records show.This story is so blatantly horrible I can think of nothing insightful to say that would not already be manifestly evident to anyone with a functional conscience.
Two years later, another patient reported to Berwyn police that Arze had placed his hands on her breasts, breathed heavily on her neck and tried to touch her genitals, claiming it would help treat depression, according to a police report.
Not until 2007 -- after at least four women had filed complaints -- did police launch the investigation that led to Arze being charged with sexually assaulting patients and having his license suspended, records show.
By that time, the family physician had allegedly assaulted at least 21 women and girls at his Arze Doctors Center in Berwyn, according to criminal and civil complaints that outline attacks stretching at least to 2000.
...That police had received allegations against Arze as early as 2003 came as a shock to one of the women who reported being abused by him in 2007.
"I am disgusted," she said of law enforcement. "They should investigate why they didn't do anything. They were accomplices."
The women said they continue to suffer trauma from the incidents. They cannot see male doctors. One has recurring dreams about her alleged attack.
Arze, who is scheduled to be in court Aug. 16, won't lose his medical license for good even if convicted of all the sexual assault and battery of patient charges.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has interpreted the state Medical Practice Act to mean that it cannot permanently revoke a physician's license unless a doctor has been twice convicted of felonies involving controlled substances or public aid offenses.
A Tribune review uncovered 16 convicted sex offenders who have held Illinois medical licenses within the past 15 years. Not one had his license permanently revoked. One doctor convicted of sexually abusing a patient was never disciplined by the state in any way.
[H/T to Shaker Loquamani.]
"Scraping and Clawing"
On the one hand, Republicans can't stop criticizing President Obama and the Democrats on the basis that they are not doing enough to quickly create more jobs, routinely calling the stimulus a failure in terms of job-creation.
On the other hand, Republicans don't mind ignoring their own rap to reflexively accuse US workers of being lazy shits in order to criticize the Dems for wanting to extend unemployment benefits.
Greg Sargent is keeping a running tally of what he calls the "Let Them Eat Want Ads" Caucus, and Think Progress notes that the latest promulgator of the "Lazy Shits" meme is Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Eprehensible), who is currently angling for the GOP nomination in Tennessee's gubernatorial race:
Wamp, speaking off the floor of the U.S. House in Washington where he had gone for key congressional votes today, said small business, the [National Federation of Independent Business] and he as governor "must resist… any more mandates to small business to help the unemployed -- that we have continued to extend on a federal level, I think, unemployment compensation so long that there's disincentives for people to actually re-enter the workforce or go out and look for a job.I won't even waste my time addressing at length the mendacious fuckery that is asserting unemployment payments to be a disincentive against finding permanent work. It's patent nonsense—and anyone who's ever been on unemployment, or knows anyone who has, understands that it's nonsense. Forget the fact that unemployment payments are a steep reduction in income, especially if they're being gobbled up by COBRA payments to retain healthcare coverage; they are also, even when extended, a finite source of income. I don't believe I've ever known a single person receiving unemployment compensation who sat back on hir laurels instead of proactively job-hunting.
"And this is creating a culture of dependence which we do not need. We want people out there scraping and clawing and looking for work and not just sitting back waiting. And so we've got to not allow any more mandates."
But suppose for a moment that these (straw) people actually exist in vast numbers: Are there legions of employers with oodles of unfilled positions, desperate for a workforce that just refuses to apply for work because of their phat unemployment checks? No.
You know who is being picky at the moment? Employers. Because they can be, because there are millions of people out of work, and that's an opportunity for them to find the best worker for the lowest rate.
It's also an opportunity for them to routinely turn applicants away on the basis of having too much experience, or on the suspicion that someone overqualified will jump ship as soon as the economy picks up again (as if that's likely to happen overnight).
And, best yet, it's an opportunity for them to require existing employees to absorb the work of vacated positions, instead of refilling the positions. With the constant threat of losing their jobs in a shitty economy hanging over the heads of workers, they'll work harder, longer, do more for less, just to retain their jobs. And lots of unscrupulous employers are exploiting this to the fullest, running their businesses on skeleton crews of people who don't dare complain lest they lose the terrible jobs they desperately hate and face the even worse fate of unemployment.
Employment is down, wages are down, but efficiency and profits are up.
But funny how Republicans aren't publicly lambasting employers for using a bad economy and endemic unemployment to maximize profits, for being deliberately stingy with job creation because it's actually in their financial interest to overload existing employees in a market that favors employers.
Did I say funny? I meant typical.
The temerity of a Republican saying that US workers need to "scrape and claw" for work, as if they don't do that even when they're working is beyond contempt. All US workers do is scrape and claw, while the corporations for which they work get richer and richer.
Wamp should be thoroughly ashamed of himself for suggesting that it is US workers who need to work yet harder. Of course, being ashamed of oneself requires a sense of decency, and I've seen precious little evidence of such a thing among Republicans for quite some time.
Everything Is Upside Down
So. Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel has been brought up on ethics charges, and the House ethics committee, in the Democratically-controlled house, appear as though they are going to opt for a trial instead of accepting a settlement deal.
The opening paragraph in the New York Times' story reads:
In laying out 13 charges of ethical violations committed by Representative Charles B. Rangel, the House ethics committee set the stage for a rare public trial of the Democratic Congressman this fall, a potential embarrassment for the Democratic leadership during the election season.Only in the Bizarro World that US politics has become could holding a trial to determine accountability for multiple alleged ethics violations by a member of one's own party be considered "a potential embarrassment."
Three years ago, after a long Republican Congressional majority, former majority leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was headed to prison, former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) was in prison, former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) was in prison, former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff was in prison, and so many sitting representatives and senators were under investigation that Republican strategist Scott Reed lamented: "The real question for Republicans in Washington is how low can you go, because we are approaching a level of ridiculousness. ... Republicans think the governing class in Washington are a bunch of buffoons who have total disregard for the principles of the party, the law of the land and the future of the country."
Republicans were voted out and Democrats voted in to clean up the unprecedented level of ethics violations. And now that Democrats are doing precisely that, the media deems it "a potential embarrassment."
Yeesh.
Question of the Day
Inspired by Shaker BrianWS' evangelizing, and because I've been listening all day to "Closer to You" (which I note has the sort of lyrics that one might find meaningful if one is/has been in a long-distance relationship but could also be fairly catalogued under "creepy stalker anthems") by The Wallflowers, who I've always thought to be an underrated band, today's QotD is: What's your favorite band that deserves more attention?
Although I just mentioned The Wallflowers, my top nomination would be Shudder to Think, who are now disbanded but have long been a favorite of mine (thanks to my ex-husband, who was already a huge fan when we met). I have many fond memories of standing in small, smoky clubs swooning mightily as Craig Wedren's undulating vibrato rattled through my chest.
[Lyrics here.]
Very Cool. Very Dude of You.
[Trigger warning for rape apologia.]
I'm thrilled to see Sports Illustrated getting in on Operation Rehabilitate Mike Tyson. Very cool. Very important project.
I especially love the title given to the interview with this convicted rapist: "Tyson reflects on sex, drugs, spirituality."
Love the subhead, too: "The former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world looks back on a long, strange trip."
Very cool. Very way to minimize the fact that he is a person who served time for raping someone. Very way to recast him as some kind of sagacious icon whose wisdom was accrued through a lifetime of living hard and fast and wild.
Very lifetime-of-fuckery-turns-men-into-prophets. Very cool.
It's Prophesied, Bitchez
[Trigger warning for violent religious imagery, misogyny, and other objectionable stupidity.]
Hey! Remember our old friend William Tapley, aka the Third Eagle of the Apocalypse…? Sure you do! He was the kindly gentleman who informed all of us slutty naughtybitsies who use contraceptives that we won't be raptured—and thank Maude for his warning, because heaven knows I want nothing more than to spend ETERNITY with the likes of William Tapley.
Anyhoo, the Third Eagle is back! And this time with a song called "It's Prophesied (End Times Anthem)," which combines my two favorite musical features: Content about religion and parenthetical titles. What I like, ahem, most about this song is the glee with which Pappy Tapley sings its hideous lyrics. Enjoy!
Tapley, an older white man with a white beard stands at a keyboard next to a river, playing terrible music on what sounds like the organ setting, accompanied by a bosanova beat or some shit. Titles scroll by: "REVELATION UNRAVELED. William Tapley: Third Eagle of the Apocalypse. "It's Prophesied."[Via Gabe.]
Tapley then begins to sing; the lyrics are subtitled across the bottom of the screen:
Your future's coming fast, my friend / You know we're nearly at the end / Your freedom's gone / Your friends are gone / But when I'm raptured / I'll be gone / It's prophesied, it's prophesied / You can run but you can't hide / Some will live, some will die / A few will go to meet His bride.
Tribulation will arrive / By Armageddon, few survive / You must get oil and trim your lamps / 'Cause you won't get a second chance/ It's prophesied, it's prophesied / When those four horsemen start their ride / There's pain and death on every side / When those four horsemen start their ride.
When Enoch and Elijah preach / Seven thunders fill their speech / They will call fire down from the sky / Until the people watch them die / It's prophesied, it's prophesied / Jerusalem is where they'll die / They'll do their best to save us all / But very few will hear their call.
America is Babylon / And her story's almost done / She rides a beast / The beast is sore / And now that beast / Will burn that whore / It's prophesied, it's prophesied / When Babylon the Whore gets fried / The merchants weep / The merchants cry / When Babylon the Whore gets fried.
Obama is beast number three / A leopard which comes from the sea / He's got four heads / He's got four wings / The Bible calls him the "leopard-king" / It's prophesied, it's prophesied / Obama's on the losing side / He'll start a war that he can't win / Obama is the "leopard-king."
The Antichrist is not your friend / The mark you take will mean your end / Yes, you can buy / And you will sell / But then your soul / Will burn in hell / It's prophesied, it's prophesied / You can run, but you can't hide / Some will live / Much more will die / A few will go to Paradise.
"The End."
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
[Background.]
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Quote of the Day
"Seventy percent of unmarried women voted for Obama. And this is because when you kick your husband out, you gotta have Big Brother government to be your provider."—Conservative firebrand, crusader against women's equality, and lady who is not me Phyllis Schlafly, during a speech last weekend at a fundraiser for Oakland County congressional candidate Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski, who later said he was "taken aback by the comments, because they do not reflect my personal beliefs," but defended Schlafly's "right as an American to express her views."
[H/T to Shaker Julie.]
...Starring Deeky!
Actual Headline
Inception hunk Tom Hardy admits: 'I've had sexual relations with men.'
He "admits" it. Like one might admit a mistake, or a crime.
I know it's the Daily Fail, but jebus.
Hooray! for responsible media: Shirley Sherrod edition
CNN is reporting that Shirley Sherrod is planning on suing Andrew Breitbart for knowingly misrepresenting a speech she made to a chapter of the NAACP.
The fun thing that you'll immediately notice upon reading the actual story (at least the version that's up at 1:45 U.S. Central Time) is that most of the article is taken up by a discussion of what "the other side" thinks about Sherrod, in this case, the bleatings of a retrofuck conservative who's on the board of the Catholic League.
Maybe existing evidence illustrates that Sherrod was quoted out of context by a bigot who wanted to take down the NAACP and defend his own political movement, maybe Sherrod's a racist who hates America and eats white children. I suppose we'll never know the real truth.
Yay media. :(
I Write Letters
Dear "Charlie St. Cloud":
Got to hell. The world does not need a feel-good version of "The Sixth Sense."
Kthxbai,
Deeky
Apparently this awesome book I read is "child pornography"
[Trigger warning for homo/queerphobia, transphobia, and self-harm]
Well, of course it's not, but whatever. It's still banned in Burlington County, New Jersey, and in Texas.
Like I said, Revolutionary Voices: A multicultural queer youth anthology is a pretty cool book. Here's how editor Amy Sonnie describes it in the front material:
"As youth who have 'grown up' during the '80s and '90s, we are the product of a unique historic moment in which queer youth are increasingly visible and coming out at younger and younger ages. These days many of us have greater access to community and support. From gay-straight alliances to LGBT centers, from media visibility to the Internet, queer youth are finding and creating community all over the globe. Increased visibility, however, also means an increase in the attacks against us. And with youth coming out in larger numbers and from more disparate communities, it is all the more urgent that we talk about how our identities as young queers intersect with our cultural, racial, and economic backgrounds."I ran across this book last winter, when I was browsing at a local bookstore. I snapped up the last copy, which was being remaindered. I strongly suspect that the main reason the bookstore was carrying it was that the book grew out of a project at Syracuse University, which is just up the street. This is really a shame, because I wish more, not less, people had access to this collection.
The book quickly became my winter companion. It's a small paperback comprised of around 70 poems, short stories, and works of art. As such, it's great for reading while riding a train with a fussy toddler on your lap, while waiting at the doctor's office, or really any other time you might have two or three minutes to get a quick fix of inspiring thought from young queer people.
But of course, this is precisely the problem.
As has been discussed in this place previously, some folks have *ahem* issues with queer people. Folks like Glenn Beck and Lisa Harvey, founder of [TW: homo/queerphobia] Mission:America.
Mission:America is opposed to "dangerous" groups like PFLAG, because they recommended books like Revolutionary Voices, which in turn encourage "bisexuality, fluid sexuality and sexual experimentation," "coming out" (which Harvey puts in quotes) and other self-evidentially bad things.
Here's one of the passages that [TW: homo/trans/queerphobia] Harvey singles out from Revolutionary Voices as problematic:
"I first began to come out when I was 11. In terms of my family, I was fortunate because my parents have always been accepting of my sexual identity....So at the age of 12 I came out to my entire elementary school, which included grades K-8...I was in sixth grade and attending a Catholic school in San Francisco when I came out to a small group of people...During this time I started attending LYRIC, the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, a wonderful program and hang-out space for LGBT youth in San Francisco....The next year I was in seventh grade..."Apparently this is dangerous writing, because it might lead one to turn out like Gina de Vries, author of that passage, or like Alix Olson, whose work is also included in the anthology.
Interestingly enough, Harvey quoted about a quarter of de Vries' essay. The parts Harvey omitted primarily deal with two subjects: being bullied, and de Vries' feeling happy with being honest with the world about who she is. This is not a coincidence.
When I came out in my mid-20s (and around a decade after de Vries' coming out in the 90s), I was terrified. I was filled with fear, self-hatred, and emptiness. This goes a long way towards explaining the times I tried to take my own life. You know what helped me finally come out and feel better about myself? Books like Revolutionary Voices (actually, it was this one). That book, along with things like Lynn Conway and Andrea James' websites and GenderTalk saved my life. In that they stopped me from killing myself.
It's also not a coincidence that a lot of the contributors to Revolutionary Voices discuss racism, sexism, religious bigotry and problematic aspects of capitalism. These are precisely the sort of things that Glenn Beck, Mission:America, and their followers want suppressed.
This brings me back to porn, which coincidentally, I was e-mailing folks about yesterday (believe it or not, that's not an every day occurrence for me). So, there's no porn in Revolutionary Voices. There's no smut, either, or whatever word you choose to describe erotic literature.
In conjunction with yesterday's thread on The View, it never ceases to amaze me how some folks talk about queer people (or at least lesbians) by completely erasing sexuality, while other folks talk about queer people by erasing everything but sexuality, even when the sexuality isn't explicitly present. In either case, the message is that something's wrong with us, because we're not like normal (straight) people, who, you know, manage to be people and in many cases also have sex.
This is also one of those occasions where accusations of porn! really do serve as a way of silencing folks with identities, politics, and habits that the kyriarchy finds objectionable. This instance of book banning isn't about porn at all; it's about keeping queer youth from being happy and fulfilled, it's about withholding knowledge that could improve, and yes, save, lives. Of course, very few people are going to ban a book on those grounds. Thus, queer becomes porn. How horribly convenient.
If this isn't terrorism, I don't know what is.
Via Miriam and Jim.
Discussion Thread: Work of Art
So, can we talk about last night's episode of Work of Art? [Spoiler warning.]
It was truly the most abysmal episode since the [TW] "create something shocking" challenge, for plethoric reasons, not least of which was the scarred body of a fat man of color being insistently called a suitable palette upon which to build a representation of hell by a thin white woman.
The title of this episode is "Opposites Attract," and the challenge was "Opposing Themes." With six assholes contestants left, they were paired into three teams, who were tasked with creating individual works of "opposites."
The opposites were: Heaven and hell, chaos and control, and male and female.
[Insert sound of record scratching here.]
Who the fuck is producing this show—John Gray?!
Male and female are NOT FUCKING OPPOSITES—and defining them in contradistinction to one another is essentially the very thing that underlies the subjugation of anyone who isn't a straight cis alpha male. For a show that continually pats itself on the back for being "progressive" and "boundary-pushing," they would have been hard-pressed to find a more retrofuck, small-minded, oppressive set of "opposites" than the TOTES NOT-OPPOSITE male and female bookends of the regressive and repressive gender binary.
Don't even get me started on what those two dipshits actually produced for "male and female."
P.S. Miles is a terrible, terrible human being.
Number of the Day
6,600. The number of graves at Arlington National Cemetery that Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) believes may be unmarked or mislabeled on cemetery maps.
Army investigators estimate the number is a mere 211.
Among the alleged problems at Arlington: "cremated remains being buried in the wrong gravesites, missing burial records, unmarked graves and burial urns put in a spillage pile."
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
"On Her Wedding Day, Saying the Things Left Unsaid," by Andrew Cohen.
There just aren't enough barf bags in the world for this mess, upon which I hereby confer the Andrew Corsello Award for Public Displays of Cringe-Inducing Privilege While Waxing Narcissistic About a Woman I Could Not Be More Heavingly Relieved Not to Be.
Cohen's colleague, Lizzie Skurnick, responds.
[H/T to Shakers Lord Asparagus, Poodle, and Bernie 83.]
Challenge Target and Best Buy Antidemocratic Donations
Back in January, the US Supreme Court dealt a serious blow to democracy by ruling that corporations have the same free-speech rights as individuals, thus allowing corporate interests to make almost totally unregulated donations to influence elections.
Taking advantage of this delightful expansion of corporate personhood, Target Corp., which is headquartered in Minneapolis, donated $150,000 to MN Forward, a group that purports to be about job creation, but is a Republican front group run by former staff of outgoing Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and actively supporting Republican State Representative Tom Emmer as the GOP nominee to replace Pawlenty.
This has caused some problems for Target, which claims to be gay-friendly, since Emmer is, ahem, not gay-friendly.
Target Corp. on Tuesday defended the use of its new freedom to spend money on political campaigns as employees and gay organizations criticized a $150,000 donation that will help a Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate who opposes gay marriage.If that were true, the company wouldn't be donating egregious sums of money to a bigot. It's really that simple.
Chief Executive Officer Gregg Steinhafel assured employees at the company's Minneapolis headquarters in an e-mail that the discount retailer's support of the gay community is "unwavering." He said employees, some gay, raised concerns that the money is helping state Rep. Tom Emmer, a fiery conservative who is his party's likely nominee for governor.
…He said the company doesn't have a social agenda or necessarily agree with all the positions of candidates it supports. "Let me be very clear," he said, "Target's support of the GLBT community is unwavering, and inclusiveness remains a core value of our company."
Monica Meyer, the interim head of the gay rights group OutFront Minnesota, said the gay community has long viewed Target as a supportive employer, and many are surprised by the large donation to the pro-Emmer group.And it's not just LGBTQI groups who are pissed about the donation.
"A lot of people feel betrayed by this place where everybody goes to shop and you get to see them at Pride and you feel good that you're supporting a corporation that's giving back to the community," she said.
Several shoppers at the SuperTarget in the St. Paul suburb of Roseville — all of them self-identified as Democrats — weren't happy to hear about the chain's political involvement. Viki Karr, 50, said she would like to keep politics out of her shopping and would "definitely" not shop somewhere that supports the GOP.Because the Supreme Court was all too eager to "let that happen," it now comes down to average people tracking corporate giving and making their voices heard in opposition to prevent that from happening.
Pat Mackey, 67, also of Richfield, said she was disappointed in Target.
"I think it is going to drown out the $25, $5 contributions of the average American, and we can't let that happen," she said.
Along with Target, Best Buy (who's really on my shit list this week), also made a significant donation to MN Forward of $100,000.
Contact Target: Phone: 612-304-6073 / Fax: 612-370-5502. Contact Best Buy: Phone: 612-291-1000 / Fax: 612-292-4001.[H/T to Shaker Tiffany.]
Top Chef Open Thread
[Image from last night's show: Homobigot Aaron Schock (R-IL) explains to Padma why he's pro-torture as Cheftestant Andrea ladles up something far less objectionable.]
Last night's episode will be discussed in finely diced detail, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, pack your knives and go...
This is a real thing in the world.
[A man squeezes a melon in the grocery store wearing his Syte Shirt,
which is displaying some sort of Lite-Brite bullshit.]
[A man carries pizzas wearing his Syte Shirt.
His iPad reads: "HOT PIZZA." His face reads: "WTF?"]
[A man demonstrates sliding the iPad into its home.]
[Ta-daaaaaaa! The height of style, for a mere $750.]
[H/T to Kenny Blogginz.]
News from Shakes Manor
This morning, I awoke from a dream in which Iain had left me. I'm not remotely fearful in my conscious mind that Iain will leave, and I've never had dreams in previous relationships about lovers leaving, but I occasionally have them now. Maybe it's a sign that I'm finally with someone I really want to stay; maybe it's a sign that I'm becoming more aware of our mortality; maybe a Freudian would tell me it's about unresolved Daddy issues; who the fuck knows?
In any case, as Iain was getting ready to leave for the train, I rolled over and peered at him through the grey morning light. "I had a terrible dream that you left me," I told him.
"I'm not leaving you," he said, matter-of-factly. He twisted a cufflink through his cuff then looked up at me and grinned.
"I hope not," I laughed.
As is his habit before he leaves in the morning, he came to me and kissed me on the forehead. "Hope is for Obama," he sniffed. "I'm all about certainty."
The Third Term of George Bush Is Going Splendidly
Anything Bush could do, I can do better:
The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.In case you need a reminder of the fun stuff national security letters—which are the intelligence-gathering equivalent of the presidential signing statement: a stroke of the pen to magically turn dubiously ethical and formerly prohibited actions into perfectly legal maneuvers, with no legislation, no oversight, and no knowledge of the American people required—were used for during the Bush administration, here's a refresher.
The administration wants to add just four words -- "electronic communication transactional records" -- to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge's approval. Government lawyers say this category of information includes the addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user's browser history. It does not include, the lawyers hasten to point out, the "content" of e-mail or other Internet communication.
But what officials portray as a technical clarification designed to remedy a legal ambiguity strikes industry lawyers and privacy advocates as an expansion of the power the government wields through so-called national security letters.
That Obama, who strolled into office on promises to curtail exactly this sort of abuse of extrajudicial power, is now petitioning to expand that power is a naked betrayal of spectacular proportions.
The profundity of my contempt for this administration defies description.
[Previously in Third Term of Bush: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, and there are about a zillion more, but you get the drift.]
We need your help now to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
by Elizabeth Shirey, the Grassroots/Policy Advocate for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a national, legal services and policy organization dedicated to ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), with our repeal coalition partner the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, jointly announced today a new grassroots campaign to increase support and to press for passage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal in the U.S. Senate.
Your help is critical. This nationwide campaign will mobilize grassroots supporters of equality across the country. Too many times when I mention that I work on the repeal of DADT, I hear the following response from repeal supporters: "Oh, right! I heard something about that a few months ago. So…what's going on with that?"
As you may know, the Defense Authorization Act – which contains the repeal amendment – passed the U.S. House and the Senate Armed Services Committee back in May. The next step toward repeal is the full Senate vote, which could come just after Labor Day.
We need supporters to contact their senators and tell them to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and follow the lead of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) who will be managing the defense bill on the floor. It is critical that we beat back any filibuster threat, defeat attempts to strike repeal, and stop any corrosive amendments.
With the combined resources of HRC and SLDN, we'll be in a strong position to put maximum pressure on the Senate as we move toward this vote for repeal. Now is the moment where we need your help and your teaspoons.
We need every person on board as we try to flood senators' offices with pro-equality voices and drown out the ever-present opposition. There are many ways to get involved, including writing and calling your senators or participating in an in-district visit over the August recess. In-district meetings are a very personal way to tell both your senators why you support repeal and why this step toward equality is so important for our country.
DADT affects the lives of countless active-duty service members, veterans, and their dependents, discharged under this law. Don't let bigots call the shots – now is your chance to weigh in on this issue with major decision-makers. Let's get this done!
A Brief Encounter
The other night, I happened to glance out the front window just as I saw a big, beautiful pigeon land on the front porch. It's very unusual to see pigeons in this area; because we're right on Lake Michigan, we get lots of seagulls, but we're too rural to get many pigeons.
"Zup?"
I noticed zie had a green tag around one ankle and an orange tag around the other, but I couldn't make out what either of them said. I went out on the porch and brought my friend a piece of bread, in which zie showed little interest. Zie was, however, very interested in my cooing in hir own language, and spoke back to me for a bit while I took hir picture.
I happen to be a person who likes pigeons (it runs in the family) and so I was pleased to spend a few minutes with such a lovely specimen of pigeon-kind.
Eventually, zie decided to move along and took off in a great flutter of powerful wings. I went back inside and pet the heads of the very interested furry onlookers to the whole scene.
What I'm Listening To
(There's no transcription necessary for the video; it's just the song against a static anime image. Lyrics below, transcribed by BrianWS.)
Thanks so much to BrianWS for passing this along. He emails (which I'm posting with his permission):
So the quick back story is that this band, The Rescues, is like my musical fantasy. The two ladies in the band are Kyler England and Adrianne (an excellent lesbian singer-songwriter who has routinely broken my heart over and over with her music throughout the years), both of whom had long and successful solo careers and both of whom I've spent way too much money on in ITunes.Enjoy.
They teamed up with two guys from LA, as they were all sort of doing their own solo things in the local scene, and The Rescues is the end result. The harmonies are amazing, the lyrics are honest and earnest, and the entire sound is just incredibly organic and not manufactured by anything other than their individual songwriting all coming together. Lots of call and response pieces throughout the CD, super-thick harmonies that absolutely blow my mind...blah blah blah I'm a total fanboy, but they're the first band that I really feel like I'm engaging with in a very long time -- and that's something I've missed since I stopped playing shows and writing as much as I used to.
Desert sand fills up your boots
You promise not to run
California won't grow roots
They burn up in the sun
I'm lost but I'm not afraid
So what if nothing's taking hold?
All the plans that you made
Let 'em go
Falling down in the dirt
We're OK
We are tired, we are hurt
We're OK
Crashing cars, dying stars
I can love you like you are
Hit the wall, have to crawl
Even if we lose it all
We're OK
Torn dress, broken heart
Stumble to the ground
Feel the eyes rip you apart
They try to take you down
Oh, but they'll never break us down
Falling down in the dirt
We're OK
We are tired, we are hurt
We're OK
Crashing cars, dying stars
I can love you like you are
Hit the wall, have to crawl
Even if we lose it all
We're OK
I know you don't believe it
Sometimes I don't believe it
Together we'll fall
Don't matter at all
You're the one you gotta forgive
Forgive
Falling down in the dirt
We're OK
We are tired, we are hurt
We're OK
Crashing cars, dying stars
I can love you like you are
Hit the wall, have to crawl
Even if we lose it all
Sirens wail, empty sail
Not enough cups to bail
Bad luck getting good
You don't want it like you should
Empty out your bank account
You know you can live without
Hit the wall, have to crawl
Even if we lose it all
We're OK
We're OK
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
The Ladies of The View Talk Lesbianism
So, here's the thing: I tend to identify as straight because I am in a long-term relationship with a man, I've primarily been attracted to men, I've never been in a long-term relationship with a woman, and thus I get all the privileges of heterosexuality. I've fooled around with other girls, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I've had a queer poly relationship with two men, and I strongly believe that my sexuality is dynamic—and that deviation from a static sexuality at a fixed point on a spectrum makes me queer by most straight standards, but doesn't always make me queer by most queer standards.
So I'm a straight-queer sorta gal. But labels are not what this post is about. It's about the fluidity of sexuality, and how the ladies of The View don't dig variability, man.
[Transcript below.]
Where to begin? Well, although Behar is certainly the voice of reason compared to Hasselbeck's nonsense, I don't particularly love the idea that women who come out as lesbians late in life were necessarily closeted all along. I'm sure that's true for many women, but why is it so hard to conceive of a woman (or a man, for that matter) whose attractions, or choices, change over hir lifetime?
We're always so desperate to talk about sexuality as if it isn't a choice, ever, for anyone, lest we create a crack into which homobigots can insert their argument that it's an American-wrecking lifestyle choice that makes the Baby Jesus cry buttplug-shaped tears or whatever, but, you know, maybe we should be talking about sexuality in a way that says even if it is a choice, people who love and fuck and live with and parent with and grow old with or have one-night stands with people of the same sex are deserving of equal rights because it's no one else's goddamned business and MREWYB.
Personally, I'd like to create space for the women who choose to be lesbians later in life, instead of telling tales about how they just "didn't know" they were lesbians until they woke up one morning with a voracious appetite for cooter, or whatever magical awakening they're meant to have had.
And let us not fail to mention how this entire either-or conversation the View ladies are having totally erases the existence of bisexual women.
I'm not even going to bother deconstructing the foolishness emanating from Hasselbeck's garbage-brain. Suffice it to say I do not agree that late-life lesbianism is primarily attributable to sexless spinsters who are just looking for passionless companionship and fall into the arms of the nearest accommodating lesbian because all the good men are occupied applying copious amounts of Just for Men to their temples and chasing co-eds. Yawn.
[Via.]
Whoopi Goldberg: There is a rise…in late-blooming lesbians. More and more women are choosing same-sex partners, even after decades of heterosexuality. Why do you think that is?
Sherri Shepherd: Is that saying as women get older, it's just like a 'been-there-done-that' kind of thing, and I'm open to—
Elizabeth Hasselbeck: No—no, and I'll tell you what's happening: All the older men are going for younger women, leaving the women with no one!
Joy Behar: So that's why they're suddenly sleeping with women? That's ridiculous.
[a bunch of stupid crosstalk]
Behar: You act like women are in jail—we're not in jail! I—
Hasselbeck: No, but you're searching for a companion that understands you, and if all the men who— Say you were in a heterosexual relationships; you're looking for that, but the men who are of your age, have had similar experience, are off chasing a little young—
Behar: Yeah, but, Elizabeth, being a lesbian, being gay is not just, you know, holding hands and walking through the tulips.
Hasselbeck: I understand that, but—
Behar: There are things that people do, sexually—
[crosstalk]
Hasselbeck: Thank you for educating me! [sarcastically]
Behar: Wait a minute; I'm not finished. But I don't think that you suddenly wake up and say, "You know, I think I wanna do that." You wanted to do it; you were just trapped in a system that said "Get married."
Shepherd: So you're saying all along—
Hasselbeck: Maybe, maybe not!
Behar: All along you knew you were gay, and you just didn't either admit it or you didn't acknowledge it or you didn't know it, maybe—
[crosstalk]
Hasselbeck: —but maybe there's also— We've done studies that women aren't necessarily needing something sexual; they're more needing something in terms of—
Shepherd: Companionship.
Hasselbeck: —companionship, at a certain age.
Blog Note re: Recent Donations
I have a policy of writing thank-you notes to everyone who sets up a subscription or makes a one-time donation to Shakesville, and I was just trying to catch up on my note-writing when I accidentally deleted a whole bunch of emails from May and June I hadn't had a chance to respond to yet. I don't even know how the fuck I did it, because they're not even in the trash file—they're just…gone.
I started going through my PayPal records one at a time to recover the email addresses, but that process was so time-intensive it was taking away from the work people donate to support. Ugh.
So, I'm sorry for getting so behind in the first place, and I'm sorry that I totes fucked up and deleted those emails, and I'm sorry that now I'm not going to be able to send personal thank-yous to a lot of people.
Thank you to each of you. I am truly grateful for your support of this community and my work to manage it. And my apologies for not saying that personally.
[I will just quickly acknowledge here that some people will inevitably read this as some sort of backhanded fundraiser. I know I'm opening myself to that charge, but it was more important for me to say thank you than to avoid criticism, and all I can say is that this is not intended as a plea for donations. It is genuinely just to say thank you for donations received and offer my apologies for fucking up.]
Federal Judge Puts Hold on Controversial Part of AZ Immigration Law
In a ruling on a law that has rocked politics coast to coast and thrown a spotlight on the border state’s fierce debate over immigration, United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix said some aspects of the law can go into effect as scheduled on Thursday.
But Judge Bolton took aim at the parts of the law that have generated the most controversy, issuing a preliminary injunction against sections that called for officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws and that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times.
Judge Bolton put those sections on hold while she continues to hear the larger issues in the challenges to the law.
"Preserving the status quo through a preliminary injunction is less harmful than allowing state laws that are likely preempted by federal law to be enforced," she said.
"There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens," she wrote. "By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a 'distinct, unusual and extraordinary' burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose."
Daily Dose o' Cute
Olivia, daydreaming of Two-Legs dropping a tasty morsel of chicken.
Or turkey. Turkey will do, too.
You Know What You Need?
The Brady kids singing "It's a Sunshine Day":
Synopsis:
The Brady kids fucked up and can't afford to purchase the silver platter (it's all Jan's fault, duh) they'd picked out for Carol and Mike's anniversary. So they go down to the Pete Sterne Amateur Hour and perform "Keep On" (dig the jumpsuits) on live television in the hopes of winning a fat check. Their band's name is The Silver Platters. Get it? Well, they lose. (Sad face.) But Carol and Mike and Alice see their performance and buy the platter themselves. Heartwarming. The above clip is their rehearsal number "It's a Sunshine Day."Can't you dig the sunshine? Well? Can't you? I can, sure, but the fucking humidity gets me every time.
[Cross-posted.]
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Deeky's Snark-Packs, for your lunchtime snarking needs.
Recommended Reading:
[TW for stalking] Irin: Stalking Is About to Get Harder
Andy: Only 10% of the Pentagon's 'DADT' Surveys Have Been Returned
Sinoangle: Wardrobe Issues
[TW for sexual assault] C.L.: All Your Boobs Belong To Us: Some Thoughts About Consent While Female
Historiann: Why has The One fallen short?
[TW for disordered eating] Harriet: Poor Dr. Lundberg
[TW for trans-related discussion of names assigned at birth] Jessie_C: "...but she was born as..."
And check out Tami's and Renee's new True Blood podcast.
Leave your links in comments...
Assvertising
Best Buy's got a new commercial advertising its Geek Squad tech repair services:
[Transcript below.]
Well, it's a good thing that women aren't routinely objectified and women in technology aren't routinely marginalized, or else this ad would be wildly offensive!
Best Buy, naturally, has every right to communicate that women's primary value to them is as fetishized sex objects. Message received. The (substantial amount of) money I spend at tech stores (and have in the past spent at Best Buy) will be taken elsewhere.
Contact Best Buy's "Diversity & Inclusion Team" here.Scene: A Best Buy store. A white mother and her white, college-aged son are browsing laptops, with the help of a Best Buy employee, who is a young black man. There is a sign reading: "Buy a laptop, get a geek."[Assvertising: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113.]
Son [looking at a particular laptop]: Man, this is perfect.
Employee: Great. Well, with every laptop, you get a geek, so, take your pick. [He gestures at the wall, and they walk over, where adult humans are packaged in clear boxes as if giant dolls.]
Mom: Look at all these fabulous geeks. There are so many. [They walk past an Asian man in a box, then a white man in a box, and then come to a black man in a box.] Look at this one. It helps you [reading info on box] "video chat with Mom."
[Son comes to a stop in front of a white woman in box; she is young, thin, conventionally beautiful, brunette, with her hair up in a bun, and wearing glasses—a sort of classic "sexy librarian" look.]
Son: Bingo.
Mom [pointing at black male geek]: Look at this one—you can video chat with me, honey.
Son [staring, gape-mouthed, and moving closer to white female geek]: Mom, go get the car.
Mom [to employee]: He's in such a hurry to learn!
Voiceover: Buy a new laptop and get Geek Squad support for six months—online, on the phone, or in-store.
Apparently We Don't Miss You At All
Remember that dopey billboard with a picture of W that asked all passing drivers if they miss him yet?
Well, at long last there is a response:
"No."
The mustache is a nice touch.
[H/T to ThinkProgress]
Seen
[Click to embiggen.]
If you can't view the image, it's a picture of the side of a car wash bearing the words "Support Our Troops" flanked by two American flags. Below, there are three sections. On the left: "WWII: 1939-1945." In the middle, a picture of a coiled rattlesnake labeled "Don't Tread on Me," next to "Vietnam: 1959-1975." On the right: "September 11: 2001-Present."
1. I've no idea why WWI, Korea, the first Gulf War, or any other wars in which the US were involved are not on the wall. Maybe the owner(s) of the business only had family members serve in the referenced conflicts, but it's not like the average passer-by knows that (if it's even the case). The Korean War is known as the Forgotten War (or the Unknown War), and its exclusion is cringe-inducing.
2. "September 11" isn't a war.
Question of the Day
What's your favorite snack?
I'm not really a snacky person, but I'll usually pick potato chips before anything else. As of this weekend, I am officially in love with these.
Ambassador Dudley
As I mentioned earlier, Dudley was an ambassador for his rescue organization at the County Fair this weekend. Most of the dogs there were fosters who are available for adoption, but Dudley and another grey girl were there as rescues who had found a home. Dudz did so well; he just worked and worked and worked the crowd—friendly and sweet and gentle with every baby and kid and adult who stopped by. He didn't lie down once for the first three hours, and, when he finally got tired, he laid down then rolled onto his back with his pink belleh in the air and legs all akimbo, looking cute as hell and letting strangers rub his tum.
I was ridiculously proud of him. On the way home, I told him that he saved other dogs' lives by being such a good boy—"Now these dogs will get adopted, and then the volunteers can foster new dogs, which means more dogs will be rescued!"—and Iain couldn't stop chuckling at me. "What are ye LIKE wif that dog?!"
It's just a turn of (Scottish) phrase, but I guess I'm like someone who knows how close her beloved companion came to getting killed, just because he wasn't going to make anyone any money anymore.
Beautiful Brindles.
Duke has a little rest from being professionally cute.
Dudz makes friends with Naomi, while Clayton hangs out nearby.
Greys, greys everywhere!
Naomi, chillaxin'.
Ambassador Dudz.
The gorgeous and tremendously sweet Clayton, who has
the biggest paws I've ever seen on a greyhound!
It was quite genuinely amazing to see Dudley in action. From a shy little guy who peed submissively every time I tried to leash him to a confident guy with an exuberant nature who put a smile on the face of everyone who approached him.
Dudz, right off the track, on left. Dudz at the dog park, two weeks ago.
The rescue saved Dudley. And it couldn't make me any happier that he's eminently willing (and able) to be an ambassador for the people who saved him, in order that we might pay it forward to another deserving dog.
Justice Not Served
[Trigger warning for sexual assault.]
Shaker The Great Indoors just sent me a heads-up that Mormon sect leader Warren Jeffs' rape convictions have been overturned by the Utah State Supreme Court:
Mr. Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an offshoot Mormon sect with an estimated 10,000 members, had been serving two consecutive sentences of five years to life after he was convicted in 2007 of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl from his church whose marriage he had presided over. But in a unanimous decision, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that a state judge had erred when he failed to tell the jury that Mr. Jeffs could not be found guilty unless he specifically encouraged the girl's husband to commit rape, which Mr. Jeffs denied doing.So, here's what I don't understand: In Utah, a 14-year-old can legally consent to sexual intercourse only with someone who is less than 4 years older, thus making any sexual activity between a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old rape, irrespective of whether the 14-year-old gave consent.
The victim, Elissa Wall, had claimed that Mr. Jeffs forced her at age 14 to marry her first cousin, Allen Steed, who then raped her. Prosecutors argued that Mr. Jeffs knew the marriage would lead to nonconsensual sex but insisted that the union go forward anyway and told Ms. Wall to be an obedient and submissive wife, despite her pleas for a divorce.
But Mr. Jeffs's lawyer, Wally Bugden, argued that though Mr. Jeffs had indeed encouraged the marriage and counseled the couple to stay together, he had never intended for Mr. Steed, who was 19 at the time, to rape Ms. Wall.
If Jeffs encouraged these two to marry and have sex, he was de facto encouraging the husband to commit rape.
This whole case is totally fucked.
In the meantime, Jeffs isn't being given his freedom, despite Utah's attorney general admitting a retrial would be difficult, because there is "an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Texas, where prosecutors are seeking to extradite him to face a number of sexual assault charges, including one involving an underage girl with whom Mr. Jeffs is suspected of fathering a child with." Jesus.
[Commenting Guidelines: Please note that there are polyamorous members of this community who do not practice the sorts of gender-inequitable relationships that are a hallmark of the sort of polygamist community Jeffs oversees, so if you reference his polygamy for a legitimate reason in your comment, please be sure to use careful and specific language so as not to alienate those who practice an egalitarian polyamory.]
